Dreams before (Nightmares)
Rabbit
Everything went wrong after Viole went unconscious. Not only did Welf get inflicted with Mind Down, but Lily fell unconscious shortly after. Even with carrying three people I somehow made it to the eighteenth floor after running past a spawning monster rex only to fall unconscious myself. That's how I ended up here...waking up to LADY AIS' STARING DOWN AT ME! IN CASUAL CLOTHES NO LESS! "AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'M SORRY!"
"Good Morning, Bell." I had just woken up in a strange tent with bandages wrapped around my head and Lady Ais looking down on me. Of course I had the reasonable response to jump up and fly to the opposite side of the tent. That's when I noticed Welf and Lily were in here with me, both still asleep. Thank god they're okay. Wait... "If you're worried about...Viole, then don't be. Riviera is healing him at the moment."
"That's good. He was in really rough shape earlier." Lady Ais flinched at my sentence for some reason before letting out a sigh. "Lady-"
"The group leaders would like to hear your explanation of what happened, given that one of our own got hurt. But...can you please tell me what happened first." I was caught off guard from Lady Ais' sincerity. Honestly I'd never seen so much emotion in Lady Ais. Although it was just a tone of voice, her face was still as neutral as possible.
"U-Um, yeah. No problem Lady Ais." And so, lady Ais began to lead me to her team leader's tent. All the while, I explained our journey here. All the while she barely emoted or spoke. Only tensing her eyebrows every now and then. Finally when we reached the head tent, I was almost done with my story. "And that's how we ended up here. Any more questions Lady Ais?" To be honest I'm on cloud nine! Speaking with the Sword Princess for so long and only stuttering around twenty times, I was doing great! Please don't let it end!
"No...thank you Bell. I would accompany you but...I have to visit someone. Please take care." With that she bowed and went in the opposite direction. Leaving me alone, in front of a tent filled with the team leaders of Viole's Familia. I'm dead.
SSS
Capped
PainPainPainPain! It hurts, it hurts, make it stop please! Please help, Dad Dad please save me! Mom, please help me! Abby...Abigail! Please please please! Anyone! Make it-
"Stop!" I woke up in a frenzy. My body was screaming at me and my mind was fuzzy but I still forced myself to sit up in whatever it was that I was resting in. My arm was on fire, my entire body aches and I felt like I was swimming in my own mind. After taking deep breaths I finally started to decode what was going on. I was in a tent, most likely on the eighteenth floor and most of my body was covered in bandages. My torso, my arm, even my head. In fact my right arm was in a sling resting in front of my body. Finally, I noticed a single thing in the room that made me want to scream. "Riviera?!"
"Good morning, Sir Keres. How'd you sleep?" At the very back of the tent sat Riviera, reading a book and drinking some tea. "I'd imagine not well. You were thrashing around quite a bit. Made it quite difficult to heal you."
"Thank you for helping me. Sorry I'm not being so formal, I'm in quite a lot of pain right now." While my mind was back to normal...mostly, my body still feels like I'm laying on needles while being punched in the gut. "Wait...where's Bell, Lily and Welf?"
"Have no worry. Your party's fine. None of them were as injured as you were." I let out a sigh as Riviera stood up from her chair and walked over to me."Now then, how the hell did you break your arm in such a disgusting way? Not only that but you had a concussion and were close to Mind Down. I was under the impression that you weren't going to do anything stupid after the Minotaur incident."
Flinching under her cold gaze I nodded my head and explained to her what happened. When I got to the fight with the Minotaurs however, she froze solid. "Riviera?"
"So you inherited Nightmare Rage..." Inherited? Wait then the one who Ais was talking about was... "Never mind. I've got more important things to do than take care of a suicidal idiot."
"That's..."
"So, here is my advice for you to recover. You're lucky your arm even still works so listen, you fool." I sat up straight unconsciously at her angry tone. "Don't use your right arm for two weeks, stay rested and don't let yourself get too stressed. Also do NOT use Nightmare Rage. If you feel it coming up then try and calm down. If not, I'll make sure to rip off all four of your limbs. Understood, Viole Keres?"
"Y-Yes. Understood, Lady Riviera." It's been a while since I'd last been chewed out like this. Last time was two years ago when mom caught me pulling off pranks with Grey. I hope she's alright. I haven't seen her since that day.
"Good. Now then..." With that Lady Riveria went to walk out of the tent only to be interrupted by someone coming in. "I expected you to be here sooner."
"I was assisting Bell. How is..." Mid Sentence, Ais spotted me sitting up and practically teleported to my side. "Viole, how are you feeling? Are you okay? Do you need anything? Would you like some food or a drink?" Her constant questions were beating into me like a drum, I just sat there confused. She noticed it and took a deep breath to compose herself. "I apologize, I was simply worried about you."
"Huh? You were?" Well, I suppose it's only natural to be worried for your fellow Familia and friends. "Sorry to worry you Ais." I noticed that since she'd appeared by my side, her eyes didn't leave my broken arm. "Ummm..."
"Well, Ais, take care of him. Make sure he doesn't do anything dumb. I've got some questions for Cranel. Not to mention my own duties." With that, the great Elf Princess walked out of the tent whispering to herself.
"Well, would you like to go visit your party? They should be awake by now."
"Yes, I'm definitely worried about them." As I was getting up, Ais stood around me, as if waiting to catch me if I fell. Do I look that injured? I don't think I've ever seen her this worried before. Though I did meet her just over a month ago, so I can't say much for her normal behavior.
SSS
"This isn't the way to their tent is it?" Ais had been leading me around the eighteenth floor for about twenty minutes and I've got to say she's bad at hiding her intentions. It would have made sense if we were walking around the camp that was set up. But instead we were walking around some woods aimlessly. "And would you please stop staring at Ais, it's making me feel uncomfortable."
"Ah, I apologize." She was still only looking at my broken arm, and it was starting to creep me out. "It's just...seeing you this injured makes me feel strange."
"Huh? How so?"
"Never mind. It's something that I must take care of myself." A part of me wanted to push forward but then I remembered something.
"Hey Ais, Lady Riveria told me something interesting. When I was explaining to her what happened to me and my party to take us here she said something that stuck in my mind. She said I inherited Nightmare Rage." Ais didn't show any response to this, except for a light flinch in her hands. "The person that you knew who had it. Was it my Dad?"
She stayed silent for a bit and stopped walking beside me. "I... I did not want to be the one to inform you that your father was also Capped. I apologise." She gave a respectful bow.
I let out a sigh. "I suppose that makes sense but you don't have to worry about me like that, Ais. I'm an adventurer just like you,I can take the hard truths." Ais just gave me a simple nod. "It does mean a lot to me that you worry about me this much Ais, so thank you. But you don't have to treat me like glass. I know we only just met but please have some faith in me."
"Just met..." She took a step back when she repeated those words.
"Huh? Well I guess 'just met' is a little wrong but it's only been a month."
"Viole… may I ask you a question?" I nod. "Have you ever been to Orario prior to last month?"
"Oh. Well apparently I did come here with Dad a while ago, but for the life of me I can't remember anything that happened. Guess it was just that long ago." No matter how hard I tried to remember, all I got was blanks. I remember talking with my family about going there but nothing of what the conversations held. Why does it feel like it's only recently that I can't remember it.
"Five..."
"Ais? Are you-"
"I'm fine, thank you. Let's head back to the camp. Bell should be back with the rest of your party by now." For the rest of the trip back, Ais didn't say a single word. While she didn't show anything physically. I had a feeling that what I said really hurt her somehow.
"Ais, did I say something wrong?" No answer. "I'm sorry if I did, truly. It's the truth, I truly can't remember a thing and I don't know why." Nothing. "I'm sorry Ais."
"..."
The Sword Princess left me in front of another large tent and left without a word. While I wanted to try and see how I could help her or make amends, I knew that I wouldn't get through to her. Ais can be quite stubborn. Her training regimen beat that into me. So I took a deep breath and walked into the tent. The sight I was met with was Bell, Welf and Lily sitting in a circle, laughing. "Sorry to interrupt. But I'm glad to see you three are okay."
"Viole!" Once again, Lily had tackled me into a hug, although she was much more gentle this time. That didn't stop the wave of pain that erupted into my body but I tried my best to not show that on my face. "I was so worried."
"Sorry Lily. But I'm fine now, mostly at least." I look up to see Welf giving me a dumb smile with a thumbs up and Bell smiling at me. "I'm so glad to see you three are okay.
SSS
Night had come and the Loki familia had decided to have a large feast to celebrate our rescue. I guess our survival is celebration worthy but our whole being here was a mistake that I... Shaking my head to get rid of such thoughts, I looked out at the giant circle that everyone was eating in. I was sitting against a tree that was outside the circle and just looked on as my party was enjoying their time. Bell was surrounded by the Amazonian sisters and Ais. Welf and Lily were having what looked like a fun conversation and the entire familia was having a good time.
"..." I'd wanted to join in but a piece of me told me not to. It still felt weird to be around Ais and I don't know any of my other Familia members well enough. Not to mention the fear of interrupting them or being out of place. Well to be fair, as a Capped I'll always be out of place. "I need to take a walk." Standing up, I left my food where I was sitting and began to walk around the woods that surrounded the camp.
Red...red...red...
"Ugh. My head." I could hear what seemed to be a woman yelling far behind me but I ignored it. They can take care of it. "Ugh, It feels like my head's splitting." REDREDREDREDREDREDRDREDDDDDDD "Stop it!"
"My my. Are you alright there sir?" The strange voice cut through my pain and pulled me back to reality. Standing in front of me was a man in a black suit and tie. His grey hair cut into the shape of a bowl and covered his eyes. "Helloooo?" His tone struck me as strange, it felt playful but with a strange edge to it.
"I'm sorry. I'm fine sir, thank you." I had somehow ended up in front of the gate to a town. Rivira, if my information is correct. "Sorry, I was just taking a walk and ended up in my head, I suppose."
"Hmmm, well that's fine. You were walking around like a dead man, had me worried for a second. But I suppose that I shouldn't worry for a Loki member."
"How'd you..."
"Well everyone in Rivira knows that the Loki familia are camping outside of town. It's quite hard to not to notice in fact." The man pointed behind me and I took a look. Sure enough the tents were huge and could be seen through the trees. Not only that, but the bonfire that I had just sat at was lighting up the entire floor. "Hehe, quite the view, wouldn't you say?"
"I apologize for this. I should tell the higher ups not to make it so hard for the people here." I turned back to the man and bowed.
"Haha, it's no problem for me. But shouldn't you be going back? Wouldn't people be worried about you? In fact, I see someone coming up right now. Is that who I think it is? Oh my~" Looking back I saw a blond head of hair coming my way. Oh, this is going to be awkward.
"Yes, I suppose you are right. Thank you sir." I put my hand out in an attempt to get a hand shake. "My name is Viole. Thank you for your help."
The man's, up till now, neutral expression turns into a wide smile that sends a chill down my spine. "No problem. It was my pleasure. My name is Ophis. I hope we meet again, Viole. You should Rest." The moment he took my hand my mind pulsed in pain. Ugh... "Oh my. Excuse me!" The man yelled behind me. "It seems like this man is in pain!" What...? Images were flowing through my head. Blood, fire, tears, wheat, blood blood blood! "Stay safe."
"Who..." No one else can see it. No one can see the colors. Why can't anyone-
SSS
Trickster
"Ahh, I need a good drink." It's been weeks since I'd last seen most of my familia and days since I last saw Angy's kid and the midget. So it was the perfect time to just relax and skip on work! I haven't picked up a pen in days, but that didn't mean that they weren't stressful. Finding out the truth of why I haven't seen my children was annoying on multiple levels. The weirdo plant monsters were far more dangerous than I had given them credit for, so that was one issue. The other was finding out that Takemikazuchi's kids had Parade Passed Vy's party and that was the reason why they'd been missing for days. While I would be worried, the pallum's smart enough to get them to floor eighteen and the boobie brat's going in as a rescue team. So I have nothing to worry about.
"But why won't this anxiety go away?" Walking to Mamma Mia felt way longer than usual. "I've got faith in my brats. They'll be fine."
"You are simply worried for your favorite's child. There is nothing wrong with that." Now it makes sense. I had been walking for twenty minutes, so there is no way I wouldn't have gotten to Mia's by now. This bitch had to be the only reason I didn't get there yet.
"What the hell are you doing here _!" As if appearing out of thin air, a short being in a brown cloak that covered their head suddenly came into my vision. Ugh, this party trick's gotten old the first thousand times I've seen it. "You bitch, you even erased your name?!"
"You know just as much as I do, that I would get in trouble for being here." Her voice would have made me swoon if she was anyone else. But god do I hate this bitch. "It's been a while, Goddess Loki. It's a pleasure to see you. How have you been?"
"Shove it _. What the hell do you want? You took the time to get out of Heaven just to talk to me so this better be important."
The enigma giggled before nodding her head. "Why yes, this is quite important. But first, I must indulge my curiosity. Tell me, how is Keres' boy's growth."
"Viole? Why the hell are you...you better not be trying to pull a Freya. I'll stab you right now, you snakey cunt." She just went into a full on laugh, going on for a full minute. Oh, I wanna punch you in the face.
"My my, Your insults have gotten cruder, I'll give you that. But no, I have no intention to own him, as Freya enjoys doing. She's always been quite selfish, wouldn't you say? I happen to believe it's better to let the things I love free."
Love? You? "Get to the point! All I wanted to do tonight was get a drink!" She tilted her head and shrugged her shoulders. "Fine. he's growing great! If things go well he could bump up a stat soon. That's enough?'
"Ahh...how amazing..." Ew. She obviously got off to that. "No, I must calm myself. For now at least... but good. That is all I wanted from you."
"Great, can I-"
"I've got a couple of things to tell you however." Of course, you time sucking- "You are planning on going to Melen soon, correct?"
"Huh? Yeah, wait how the hell do you know that?!"
"If you go on vacation, you will break your promise." What? "Viole will die. The Susanoo familia has already made their first moves." Her sentence made my entire body freeze. No, it'd be better to say my world itself stopped moving.
"W...h...a...t?" Why are you smiling at my reaction?
"I've already done my best to change the early outcomes, it is now up to you if Magenta should die. I hope the beach is worth it."
"W-What the hell are you talking about?! Outcomes? Magenta? You aren't making sense!"
"Ah, it seems I've had a slip of the tongue. Ah well, all I can do is believe in you. You are the one I choose after all."
"Wait!" I grabbed the cloak in front of me. "We aren't done talking!"
"Ah, Lady Loki. But that is where you are wrong. After all, you never met me tonight."
The world shifted for a millisecond and I was standing outside of Mia's bar. Holding onto a random piece of cloth that had fallen from the air. "Dammit! I hate it when she does that!" Taking in all that had just not happened, I decided to head into the bar anyway. I'll need more than just one or ten drinks.
SSS
Capped
Once again, I found myself waking up with a start. Sitting up in a familiar tent, feeling the same pain and covered in the same bandages. "What the hell happened?" I asked myself as I placed my good hand on my forehead. "I was sitting at the edge of the campfire and then..." I'm drawing a blank for some reason but I know something strange happened last night. Something that I should be careful of. "Orphis... huh?"
"Viole? Are you aw-" Before I could react, once again Ais Wallenstein was sitting by my side a millisecond after she opened the entrance to my tent. "Are you feeling well? What happened to you last night?"
"Ais, I uhh..." Looking her in the eye was awkward to me. But I sucked up my pride, what little there was, and bowed my head. "Once again I apologize for whatever I had done to you yesterday to make you upset. I hope you can forgive me."
"Hm? Oh, that. You have no reason to worry, that had nothing to do with you. If anything it gave me more motivation." She radiated in an honestly scary energy before returning to her normal airheaded self. "But that doesn't matter at the moment. What happened?"
"To be honest I don't remember. Last thing I can think of, I stood up for a walk and that was it."
"..." Ais stared at me for a while in complete silence before nodding her head. "Very well. By the way, Hermes said that he would like to meet with you."
"Sure, I'll head out- wait what?!"
It turns out that almost immediately after I ran off to do whatever it was I did, our rescue party showed up. Lady Hestia, Lord Hermes along with his captain, the party that had Parade passed us and ...Ryuu Lyon who was standing in front me at this very moment. After Ais told me what happened last night she pointed me in the direction of the meeting and left me on my own. So here I was, in the middle of a clearing in the forest with Lord Hermes, his powerful captain and the waitress of Mia in a very revealing outfit. "Lord Hermes, Lyon and Miss Captain. It is a pleasure to meet you. How may I help you today?"
"You seem in good shape." Lyon whispered but it was just loud enough for me to hear. Great. Just what I needed. Another snide elf getting on my case.
"Well well! You look just like Daddy Dearest! The Pleasure is mine Sir Keres. How have you been?" Just as the rumors said, Lord Hermes is quite the casual God. His western style clothes and hat put an aura of carelessness on him. But there was still something else there. Something strange that I couldn't put my finger on.
"Thank you, Lord Hermes." I made sure to give the man a polite bow. "Other than my injuries, I'm doing well. Just a bit of a headache." The orange haired man smirked and nodded his head. "Enough about me, how may I help you?"
"Well, first of all, I'd like to just know about your... situation. If that's alright?"
"It's not. I apologize, Lord Hermes, but I don't like to delve into my past if unneeded. Even for someone as esteemed as yourself."
"Is that so...oh well! I just wanted to check up on ya is all! You see me and your dad had a bit of a...strained relationship if I had to put it in words." Strange, dad never did mention any of the other gods in his stories about his time as an adventurer. I suppose he simply didn't see them as necessary to his tall tales. "Now I don't want to repeat history here so I hope we can get along." The god tipped his hat to me and put out his hand for me to shake. Which I respectfully took.
"Sure, Lord Hermes. I'm fine with the two of us getting along. My father never did mention you so I'm sure your disagreements weren't that large." He just playfully chuckled and quickly made his way away from me, with his captain following suit. Though she did give me a polite bow before she followed him. "So, what can I help you with, Lyon?"
The green haired maid glared at me before shrugging her shoulders. "I was simply here to make sure everything went well with your meeting with Hermes. I have no interest in a man willing to throw his life away."
What the hell do you know, you bi- "You sure do know how to push my buttons, Lady Lyon. But if we are done here, then I have to go rest some more." I turned around to make my way back to the camp but was stopped by Lyon's voice.
"I went down the same route as you, you know."
"Yeah, you mentioned something like that a couple days ago. So what? While I appreciate your concern, I don't need it. My mind's made up and I-"
"You can't just ignore what's already happened. I understand that feeling. But let me tell you one thing.'' Lyon walked in front of me and gave me what I think was her most concerned face. Elves aren't very good at showing emotions huh. "Getting revenge won't bring them back, whoever you lost. It'll only make the void in your heart larger. If your father was alive, I'm sure he would say the same."
"...I didn't ask you. Now leave me the hell alone." I brushed past her and made my way back to camp, but she had to have the last word, I suppose.
"Then you will die horribly and leave behind people who will miss you." The elf shouted at me as I left. Not if I Kill Him First.
SSS
"..." For the third time in two days, I awoke to the tent ceiling, but this time it felt far less jarring. Granted I did fall asleep on purpose this time, so I didn't wake up with a start or anything. But one thing I found strange was that I heard people moving outside my tent. A lot of people. Is something going on?
Sure enough, outside my tent were a large group of people moving things around. "Are they packing up?" I recognized some of them as being from the Loki familia but that just made me more confused. "No one told me we were leaving early."
"We didn't want to stress you out." A familiar voice came from behind me. "Good Morning Keres." Sure enough, it was Riviera, carrying a box of equipment. "You will be joining us. I'm sorry to say, but the rest of your group has been added to the reserve party, meaning they will be going up tomorrow."
"Huh? Is it because they're from different familias? But Lily's staying with us!"
"She'll be joining us, don't worry. But you are correct, there's also the fact that Lady Hestia is here as well. Bell doesn't like the idea of leaving his goddess behind." She said as she readjusted the box in her arms. I would offer to carry it for her, but given one of my arms is broken, that's not going to happen.
"I see...will it be a problem if I don't go with you guys right now? I... I want to go back with my party if that's alright. I came down with them, then I'll go back up with them. It's only right in my eyes." Mom did say to never leave a friend behind. In more colorful words than that, yes, but still.
"I had a feeling you'd say that. It should be fine but given your condition, one of us will probably stay with you to make sure you aren't an idiot." Thanks for the vote of confidence, I suppose. "By the way, it seems like that bell kid was going over to the crystal over to farthest from here. You should probably check that out as their leader."
"I'm not-'' Before I could correct her, Lady Riviera left me to continue packing. Fine, whatever. Guess I should check on em. Haven't seen them all day.
So I made my way over to where Riveria had pointed me to. But, halfway there, the strangest thing happened. The entire floor's lighting changed to light, and a large Black monster came falling into the floor.
AN: Hello there! Long time no see... sorry bout that! I have to apologize for the 11 months of inactivity. A lot of things had piled up and it's been quite the year for me. But that still doesn't excuse my laziness when it comes to publishing. I've been writing a bunch of stuff but I keep getting nervous when it comes to publish. I've also got to stop being in my own head so much and just publish chapters as they come and not just hold them off for a dump. But thank you for coming to read this again and I truly am sorry for causing you to wait so long.