A/N
Welcome back everyone! I hope the wait wasn't too bad!
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Enjoy!
4,647 Words in total.
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Eina watched the sky.
Off to her west, a column of smoke stood out from the otherwise peaceful sky.
Everyone else was watching as well. It looked like the smoke was growing as it rose, in reality, the plume was getting closer, the winds over building height moving north east at the present.
Freya and Horn stood silently nearby, both almost shaking with anxiety. Freya, being a goddess, couldn't do anything in this situation, she'd never make it in time if she could.
Horn couldn't help but ponder the chances of her actually being able to help if she left now. But she couldn't, the Level Four was the only person from her Familia preset, and needed to ensure her goddesses safety at all costs.
Alicia and Lefiya were in much the same boat, stuck here guarding Loki without anything they could do.
Everyone in Orario's main plaza just… Watched. An irrational sense of something wrong seeping through the cracks, though nobody truly knew why.
.
Until the golden pillar flashed into the sky.
.
It took only a second, before people realized what they were seeing.
Nobody moved in the dead silent plaza of more than two hundred people.
Every other person began to realize, then some more, until everyone started to panic.
Mob mentality erupted as Alicia, Lefiya and Horn pulled their shocked goddesses towards the guild doors, hoping to escape the inevitable stampede and escape to the back rooms of the Guild.
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Eina was standing firm, not taking her eyes off the golden bridge to heaven.
Memories flickered, overlapping with reality.
Three of them, they stretched up, no end in sight.
Blood rushed into her throat, unable to breath as her body weakened.
"-Artemis-?!"
Eina turned as Lefiya violently shook her, trying to get her inside and to safety.
"Come on, we need to go!"
Lefiya was taken back by her eyes and the horror inside them.
The Half Elf reached up and grabbed at the sides of her head.
An audibly *pop* like a loud soap bubble, her head flew back as she lost her balance, nobody but Eina hearing the noise.
Before she simply lost the ability to control her body, falling onto the shorter Elf.
Lefiya was understandably confused, but she had no time to think about it.
She grabbed Eina by the top of her uniform's vest, and began dragging her into the guild.
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Bell's body refused to move from his knees.
He fought, but was losing the battle to turn around, just hoping desperately that the light around him wasn't real.
His heart reached dangerous speeds.
He finally got the muscles in his neck to untense, his head almost getting to the side.
Before his back burst into an unbearable heat, his Falna being ripped off his back, from his very being.
The pain brought tears.
But it ended, and he finished turning.
The few tears of pain renewed under a different feeling.
The gold faded, and there was nothing behind him.
Nobody, behind him.
The wind lifted the dust from the road, the top layer pulverized into arcanum infused golden dust.
'...NO…'
'...No…'
'...no…'
He was still on his knees when the sick and twisted smile of Hyakinthos became visible.
Bell was shaking, the Apollo captain made the mistake of thinking this was in fear.
He almost got up to charge.
Bell's hands went to the ground in support of himself, the joints across his body each making a sickening cracking sound, his bones feeling as though they may break.
He slowly looked up, his face not hiding the pain running through him.
His mind went numb with the physical and emotional turmoil running through him.
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Ais and Bete ran at full speed, neither ever having gone this fast.
They had simply left the two girls in the alleyway, not caring about them anymore.
Riveria and Ryuu had almost caught up, but now gradually lost ground.
Roof.
After roof.
After roof.
They were half way from when the pillar went up, now gone.
A loud explosion roared out from ahead.
Ais' heart jumped, her lungs having the air sucked out of them by the boom.
She stumbled, but caught herself.
Directly ahead, on the Western Main Road, a sudden wall of smoke rose.
Anyone headed to the scene double timed it, including the Sword Princess as her winds became even more vicious.
She ran, and ran, and ran, leaving everyone in her dust.
She didn't hesitate to jump into the billowing wall of smoke.
Her mothers winds cut through the thick atmosphere as it slowly diffused into the air.
She hit the ground, forcing herself to stop in as little of distance as possible.
She frantically searched left-right-forward, sending waves of air with each swing of her weapon.
She couldn't find him anywhere.
She turned and nearly swung as Bete, Riveria and Ryuu all landed in various spots beside her.
Ais refocused and continued her search.
"BELL?!" She shouted.
"Bell!" - "Bell?!" Mimicked the two elves.
Moaning could be heard all around them, desperate cries to be saved from the calamity which had overcome all on the street.
Ais' wind swept through even further.
More bodies.
Riviera was feeling more and more sick as the moments passed, seeing burned and sometimes mangled bodies strewn about in disturbing positions.
Another sweep of wind.
More bodies.
Another.
More.
It never seemed to end.
Not one of them had anything but burns and blunt force damage.
Until a faint movement in the smoke caught Ais and Bete's eyes.
She wordlessly swung, relieving the silhouette from the smoke.
Bell's back was to them as he kneeled, holding his breastplate up over his head.
She almost called to him, as he brought it down with all the strength he could muster.
They both froze.
A fleshy-cracking-thunk followed.
...
...
...
"Bell?" Ais called weakly.
Bell was motionless aside from his harsh breathing, black shirt and pants, the only things keeping him covered now.
Riveria and Ryuu slowly found Ais and Bete stopped, staring off.
They saw Bell, his shaking and heaving silhouette.
But none had the courage to go to him.
None of them.
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In the following minutes after Hestia's death, the streets were silent.
People ran to wherever they felt safest, be it home, a place of work, or the Guild.
The roads were barren.
The Genesha, Loki and Freya Familia's launched a joint security effort, sending patrols down every notable road, street and avenue found on Orario's map.
They weren't alone, it seemed as though anybody over Level Two was doing the same.
People were not quick to forget the terror brought on by Evilus.
Nobody wished to live in that fear again.
Everywhere you looked, there were people armed to the teeth.
It is arguable that this was the safest Orario had been in decades.
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Along with the security effort, a temporary hospital sprung up on Western Main.
The effort was joint-operated by both Miach and Dian Cecht Familia's, further assisted by anyone with notable healing magic that would volunteer.
The exact nature and make up of the spell used was unknown, they didn't even know who casted it.
There were an estimated Forty-one victims.
Twenty were confirmed dead, ten were expected, three had amputated ligaments, and seven were unstable but expected to be by nightfall.
The only one considered 'stable' from the start, was Bell Cranel.
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Of those dead was Hyakinthos, the Apollo Familia Captain.
His head was all but gone, being smashed in from ear to ear.
When those first to the scene were questioned, they claimed not to know who was responsible.
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There was no collateral damage.
It wasn't discovered for some hours that several of the critically wounded Apollo members had inhaled too much smoke, causing swelling in the lungs.
All but one survived the night, the rest making as best of a recovery as possible.
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As the noon sun rose, and began to fall, information started making its way around Orario.
A goddess had died from those who pursued her child.
People were appalled by the Apollo Familia.
In the same way that the people of Orario were willing to defend the city, going on their own patrols.
They were equally willing to take revenge.
Orario was a city of lies, deception and immorality, wrapped in a thin veil of kindness.
As mob mentality took over, witch hunts began.
There were very few safe places in Orario.
What was still present of the temporary hospital on Western Main was on the verge of being overrun.
The Ganesha Familia held the line while members of Loki Familia and Dian Cecht Familia desperately moved what was left of the Apollo injured from the scene, ending up in the Dian Cecht Familia home/hospital.
They only just got out in time as the mob forced their way through.
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Around the city, on-the-run Apollo members were rounded up and slaughtered by the same type of mobs seen on Western Main.
Smoke from pyres streaked across the night sky as the faint glow of their sources took over.
It wasn't until day break that the 'hunt' ended.
A total of eighty bodies were recovered from the scenes of these massacres.
This was made public, scratch that, Ganesha himself enforced a policy of pushing this information onto every citizen of Orario.
Apollo Familia had one-hundred and ten members, forty were injured or killed in the Western Main attack, and somehow EIGHTY died to these mobs.
And even worse, multiple Apollo members turned themselves in the day after the murders, further increasing the collateral damage count.
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The Hermes trial still occurred on the middle floors of Babel.
Shortly after a number of high ranking Freya Familia members arrived, the goddesses Freya and Loki made their way to Babel.
Word had not reached the guild, and subsequently the goddesses and associated children of what exactly had happened.
They each had their suspicions, but no way to confirm the exacts of the sight seen just an hour ago.
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The room was rectangular with a clear walkway down the middle, the seating area cut off by a thin railing (The bar) the judges side of middle.
To the judges left was a stand for the jury, though there wasn't one present.
On the right were the doors from which the judge and defendant would emerge and disappear to.
Upon closer inspection of the wood furnishings, such as the benches for observers, the jury stands, judge stands and anything else. One could determine the material to be anything but that, being soft as silk, but sturdy as steel.
As Loki and Freya took their seats in the front by the railing, realizing that Hephaestus and her child Welf wouldn't be showing up.
Horn and Asfi took seats behind them.
Alicia, Lefiya and Ottar were also present, though they sat in various places as they were not needed for the hearing.
Ouranos was quick to enter, paying no mind to those behind the divide railing.
As he took his seat, he finally noticed those in the room, first the absent expected, then the several unexpected.
Hermes was soon escorted in by Ganesha guards, he was seated front and center ahead of Ouranos' podium.
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Ouranos was understandably confused when Horn stood and entered past the bar in Bell's stead as the opposition of the messenger god.
Upon questioning from the Ouranos, Horn simply responded.
"Bell Cranel was met with resistance when trying to arrive, it is as of late, uncertain if he will be able to appear here. I will serve in his place.
Ouranos couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Hermes' just noticeable grin after hearing this.
.
The back and forth between Horn and Ouranos was 'exhaustingly boring' in the words of goddess Freya.
It would be evening, turning night now.
Nobody in the court was aware of the massacre that had begun outside Babel.
Not even Bete who had just barged into the courtroom dragging Apollo by his shirt truly knew.
All heads turned as the Werewolf moved swiftly, coming straight down the center aisle.
The room ran cold when Bete opened his mouth, speaking in his typical blunt and short way, informing the court of the confessed crimes of Apollo and Hermes.
Hermes became so pale he was nearly see through.
All while Apollo stood up, thrown to the floor by Bete just a moment ago, as he tried to weasel his way out of the crimes committed that day.
He blamed Hermes, claiming that the other god had manipulated his children to attack Bell Cranel and goddess Hestia.
Unfortunately, both Loki and Freya testified to the events of the banquet, and how Apollo openly attempted to declare a war-games against the small Familia.
Ouranos was sickened by the two gods before him, sickened that gods would conspire to murder one of their own.
It wouldn't be long until Ouranos, the judge and jury of this session, declared that they both were to be exiled from Orario.
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Further questioning of Apollo the next day would lead to angered Ganesha Familia going after Soma Familia, leading to the arrest of Zanis Lustra.
Liliruca Arde was found imprisoned in the Familia's cellar, now freed with Zanis' arrest.
Soma himself wasn't involved with the incident, so he was instead placed under watch by the Guild, allowed to maintain his Familia.
Reform would come to the Familia, an unknown event suddenly making Soma willing to lead his children again.
Though nothing would be thought of it, Liliruca Arde was allowed to leave the Familia the same day as Soma's shift in ambition.
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In the following days, Ganesha Familia would release the gods Hermes and Apollo at the main gate of Orario, neither meant to ever return.
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Day after the Apollo attack.
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Bell slowly came to.
He couldn't move his head very much at the moment.
He breathed.
His whole body seemed to loosen, but at the same time, allow his aches and pains to call out freely.
He lay there, unable to comprehend as he adjusted to the feeling of being in the present again.
Bell huffed in and out through a clenched jaw.
In, out.
In, out.
In, out.
He felt the pain dull, but not disappear.
He forced his eyes closed, blinking hard, before trying to figure out where he was.
He saw light coming in, a window with old but sturdy wood framing around it.
The wall was made of the same, but with a brighter stain.
The ceiling was just a normal ceiling, and the floor was smooth, worn in wood.
He laid his head back a moment, a good idea of where he was.
He breathed.
Then swung his arm out over the edge of the bed, only then noticing the wrappings on it.
Bell breathed, then brought his leg over the side, pain lessening with use.
He continued till he pulled himself up to sit at the edge of the bed.
Bell breathed exclusively through his nose for nearly a minute.
He stood up, faring better than he had on the Eighteenth Floor.
.
Bell eased the door open, it creaked, Bell flinched.
But nobody came, he knew he was on the second floor of the Blue Pharmacy.
He'd just been here to prepare for the banquet.
Bell slowly placed the ball's of his feet down, easing his foot into every step creeping down the hall, headed for the staircase.
He hesitated before taking that first step, praying that it wouldn't creek.
.
Miach and Naaza were currently trying to keep their 'guests' sated, each one here to see Bell for different reasons.
For the most part, they were here to see Bell and make sure he was well.
These people included Ais and Riveria, Syr(Freya) and Horn, Welf and his goddess Hephistus, and Mikoto with Ouka.
Ryuu was back at the Hostess, planning to visit during one of her breaks later.
But most annoying was the Ganesha Familia investigators, not trying to arrest Bell, but they believed he might have information they wanted.
"For the last time! As his doctor, I forbid you to interrupt his recovery!" Naaza shouted at the two men.
"Mam, we need to ask him these questions, it could help us better understand what happened out there."
Naaza held her tongue. "There have got to be other people than him who could tell you the exact same things!"
Miach placed his hand on her shoulder, diverting her attention for only a moment.
"Mam, for the last time, we need to see him now."
Naaza lost her temper, sick and tired of hearing the same thing over and over from the Ganesha grunts.
"GIVE HIM TIME TO REST, he lost his goddess yesterday! At the very least, the kid deserves that!"
They both jumped back a step, they also became overly aware of the looks coming from the waiting adventurers behind.
The one who had been speaking to her nodded before they both made their way out of the now silent room.
...
After a moment, Naaza sighed, slowly looking between the four groups, not sure at all how to do this next part.
It's not like she could just kick them out, they were Bell's friends and we're here to make sure he was alright.
She sighed. "Okay then!" Naaza proclaimed loudly. "We need to figure out how this is gonna work."
.
Bell slowly stepped back from the door, just having heard Naaza yell at the Ganesha investigators.
'She's…'
'...Dead?'
'What does-'
His breathing became panicked, face contorting as his hands came up to press on his ears, fingers digging into the back of his head.
'Dead?'
'How-why?!'
'She-She's'
His thoughts ran wild, shaking, nobody on the other side of the door separating them from him even aware of his breakdown.
'NO'
'No'
'no'
He turned all around, trying to find anything, anything to tell him otherwise.
He stopped, still shaking.
His equipment was sitting on one of the beds in the long medical room behind the storefront.
At the top of the gear.
The Hestia Knife.
...
He didn't know how long he stared at it, his body refusing to move.
It had part of the goddess inside it, it's how the enchantment functioned.
His foot lifted, then dropped lifelessly ahead, the same with the other, and again, until he stood over the bed.
His arm slowly stretched forward.
His hand shook, nothing of the outside world registered.
Until the hilt of the blade lay comfortably in his palm.
He slowly pulled the blade from its sheath, feeling his heart slowly calm.
Until the blade freed itself of the final few millimeters of black protective guard.
Bell stared at the blade.
And stared.
And stared.
But the faint shimmer that always followed him wielding it never came.
He waited still.
Before slowly moving his other hand to it.
The blade's edge pointed up, Bell's fingers slid around the back side of the blade, grasping it for leverage.
As he pushed his thumb down on the dull edge.
He hoped, prayed, that the vial red, iron smelling liquid would come rushing down.
But it didn't.
Even as he pressed harder.
The blood still eluded him.
Bell wasn't shaking anymore, he was calm, his entire body still as red irises shifted up.
His hands dropped down, falling to his sides, knife still in hand.
He lifted his foot, stepping forward, towards the back of the room, and he kept going, not caring as he pushed his way through the different few doors between him and the outside world.
.
Naaza's ear shifted as everyone tried to discuss who should see Bell now, and who should come back later.
She wordlessly turned to Miach, who was silently watching her mediate more than a half dozen people who all wanted to see the same injured boy upstairs.
"Can you take over, I need to check something."
"Of course." Miach responded, seeing as Naaza was already opening the door.
As the door closed behind her, Miach suddenly became the center of attention.
Miach was not good with that sort of thing.
.
Naaza ran with all her might towards the back door, having just heard it slam.
She had no idea if it was really the back door or not, but her instincts were firing off.
She came to the door, finding it to have not closed properly and hung ajar from the force of Bell's slam.
She didn't even bother with it as she started running, hoping that she was going the right way.
Hoping that she knew where Bell would be heading in this moment and circumstance.
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Bell had no idea when it was, as he passed the grey and sun damaged buildings in the abandoned district.
But he started to run.
He couldn't stop.
The buildings around him blur together as his mind was singling out one sole objective.
He recognized the outlying green blur as the abandoned bakery that was on the corner he passed every day.
Another dilapidated red, an abandoned book shop.
Until finally, he could see it, the building tucked away between a set of taller ones.
The church he and Hestia had lived in for so long.
He slowed, eventually coming to a stop some ways from where the door would have been.
The entire building had collapsed, what had once been standing with old wooden support beams, now lay burned down from 'Firebolt'.
It was a mess of stone brick, charred wood, and black stained dirt.
He stared at it, just not understanding.
The church was there just yesterday, why wasn't it still there?
His expression was blank, even as he heard footsteps slow off from where he'd come.
It was just… Gone.
His home, his safety, his goddess.
Just... Gone.
Naaza slowly approached, scared as to the lack of expression on him.
He didn't know why.
Why didn't it hurt more?
Why did he feel… nothing?
He wasn't jumping up and down shouting and cheating, but he stood there and felt, just… nothing.
He questioned himself.
He questioned if he truly had loved her.
He would've said yes, he still would say yes.
But, shouldn't it hurt more?
"Why does it not hurt more?" He asked.
Naaza froze.
She didn't know how to respond to that.
"I-I don't-"
His face was getting more and more red with frustration as he stared at the rubble.
"I loved my goddess-... Hestia. She cared about me, and I did for her. So why doesn't it hurt more?!" His voice got louder and louder.
She slowly stepped closer, almost to the point of getting her hand on his shoulder.
Before the sound of shifting debris came out of the silence.
Naaza froze, now watching the once church alongside Bell.
Another shift in the rubble, and a small grey and white speck popped up.
"Mwooaaaah" Trje cried, pulling himself out of a small opening, having been stuck inside his hiding spot since the attack.
Bell's eyes widened, his heart breaking from it's calm and rhythmic pattern to become more frantic.
His foot moved forward, and the next.
Trje noticed him, and felt compelled, like he sensed one of his caregivers in distress, needing help and comfort.
The cat started to run towards him.
Bell lightly ran, not able to properly run before Trje got to him.
Bell fell to his knees.
He hunched over the cat, cradling it in his arms as he snatched him from the ground.
The top of Bell's head came to rest on the hard ground, fully enveloping Trje, not daring to let him go.
Almost like the cat, the one Hestia held and played with every opportunity, would fade from reality the same as she had.
It happened.
The first tears came down his face.
His heart flipped, the contents came rushing out.
He couldn't stop it, especially once Naaza wrapped her arms around him.
All sorts of different emotions fell upon him like thunderbolts in the night.
He had no hope of holding back as he, for the first time since his goddesses hand disappeared, could feel the physical love and care of those around him.
There was no going back as the three remained there for what felt like an eternity as Bell wept uncontrollably.
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Airmid was busy as always.
Trying to keep the infirmary operational was a hard task, not just anybody could do it.
She went through pages of documents, all of them having the same name at the top beside their own.
Apollo.
It was late in the day, the one just after the actual attack.
Said infirmary was filled to the brim with patients, and, to be honest, the Dea Saint was working on shipping some of the overflow to Naaza at the Blue Pharmacy.
They were competitors in their field, both were two of the best medical professionals in all of Orario.
The catch was that they were medical professionals.
Both bound to put the safety and wellbeing of those in their care first, personal grudges second.
They had all of the remaining Apollo casualties who survived the night, many having now woken up, feeling the pain caused by the attack.
She glanced to the window at the end of the room, not really seeing anything but the building across the street, her mind slowly wandering to those outside.
The building was surrounded by Ganesha Familia guards.
They arrived late in the night, along with the first wave of injured from Western Main.
Riveria's team was fighting tooth and nail to get them out of there before the mob broke through, it was only inevitable that they did.
The team had only accomplished this goal as the security line fell, leaving nothing in between themselves and an irrational crowd of people.
Airmid sighed, returning to now, looking back to her clipboard.
She was compiling a list of the least injured, hoping to find all who were safe and reasonable to move, then send them over to Naaza, no matter how much it pained her.
She moved on from the Apollo Pallum who received burns across his torso, marking his name with a dash for 'No'.
Next was a Guild employee, she had been one of the hundreds of people in Orario who had fainted, or otherwise reacted in a physically negative way to the goddesses death.
However, she was an especially odd cast.
The woman, Eina Tulle, had yet to wake up.
She was Half Elf with shoulder length brown hair, blue coming in at the roots.
"Does she dye her hair?" Airmid asked quietly to nobody.
Her eyes are also of note, though still asleep, she had checked them upon her arrival.
At first they appeared a dark green, Emerald to be precise. But now, they looked a paler colored, now just plain green.
Her wounds weren't prevalent, most likely stress induced.
She probably just needs some rest, a safe choice for moving.
Airmid made a small check mark beside Eina's name, for 'yes', before moving onto the next patient.
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Ais walked silently through the halls of the Twilight Manner, lost in her own little world, as Mini Ais ate Potato puffs in her mind.
She blinked, finding herself suddenly outside Riveria's door. She wasn't sure of when she'd arrived, but nonetheless had.
She pondered this for a moment, before nodding to herself.
Her hand rose, knocking on the door.
"-Come in!-"
Riveria called out to her, the Elven woman was beaten to hell, exhausted from the night before and this morning. She was also kind of bitter about never seeing Bell earlier.
Ais opened the door enough to peak in.
"R-Riveria?" Ais was nervous.
"Yes, is something the matter, Ais?"
"..."
"..."
"Well?" Riveria's patients wore thin fast, again, exhausted.
"...I-I figured out why I can remember him…"
Riveria was caught by this, confused. "...Who?"
"...Bell…"
Riveria's eyes widened with realization and interest.
"Go on."
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Fun Fact!
Bell is the only person in Orario who knows what a 'musket' is. They were invented at roughly the same time as the Crozzo 'magic swords', so they were immediately overshadowed and the design was lost to time.
Do not expect them to show up in this story, they are lost to time.
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A/N
You made it! Awesome!
I hope it was good, sorry if it wasn't.
I'm really trying to make Bell in a depressive state that is not just straight up emo, there will be none of them here!
Another thing, Bell is going to be a bit off while he takes the brunt of this lose, but remember-
Bell's life up until now is not a series of epics and adventures, but of happy moments overshadowed by long and everlasting sadness for those he loses and outlives.
-So don't expect a massive character shift from him after the forefront of this tragedy goes by.
.
Next, I don't hate Hestia, I understand that many of you are likely upset with this decision I've made, but it was for the story, not my own personal vendetta against her.
.
This was a kind of depressing chapter to write, so I think I'll be writing a 'Freya Edition' next.
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As always, I hope you all have a good day and/or night!
As the weekend draws near, stay safe and be well!