Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long to come out, it ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated (over triple the length of last chapter!), I went on 2 vacations and drastically overestimated how much free time to write I'd have, and I'm also in the process of moving so it was a perfect storm of non-productivity lol. This chapter is pretty heavy on the dialogue, so let me know what y'all think about it in the reviews cause I've never really written a bunch of dialogue before. So yeah, like, review, follow, etc if you enjoy!

Help Editing By: u/MeguZuma12 and u/Grimij_liffith on reddit


Chapter 2: Dungeon Date


"I wonder what's taking her so long." I say aloud to everyone at the table.

"Maybe she fell into a ditch." Lili says with a jealous aura around her,

"Oooh, or maybe she got attacked by Freya familia." The Goddess chimes in, a similar jealousy exuding from her.

"Come on Lili, Kami-sama, that's not funny." I say in response, "She's never late. I'm actually getting kind of worried."

"Ahhhhh, the most beautiful, the strongest, and the most punctual girl in the world you got there eh? You keep adding more and more to her resume, please tell us more about how lucky you are Bell. We're absolutely dying to hear about it again. It'll only be, what, the 100th time now?" Welf says, a teasing but friendly and brotherly tone behind his words.

"Hehe I'm sorry," I say with a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of my head with one hand, "I just can't help but talk about her y'know?"

"Hey, you don't hear me jabbering on about Hephaistos 24/7 do ya?" Welf responds, still viciously teasing me.

"Come on now Welf." Haruhime interjects, "I, for one, think it's cute."

I was glad to hear that, it seems Haruhime has really warmed up to Aiz. They had butt heads fairly often initially which was really out-of-character for Haruhime. I wonder what had caused her to act like that, I think to myself. Ah no use thinking about it, that was all in the past now.

"Don't worry Bell, I'm sure she just got caught up talking to some of her Familia or something trivial like that, nothing to worry about." Mikoto says, steering us back to the previous topic.

Almost as if on cue, a knock rings out across the large halls of Hearth Manor, "I'll get it!" I call out before rushing to the door. Sure enough there stands Aiz when I open the door, looking as beautiful as ever.

"Good morning Bell-kun." She says to me with a smile.

"Good morning Aiz." I respond back with an equally cheerful grin, "what took you so long to get here today? I was worried."

Aiz giggles happily, "You're gonna have to guess. See anything different about me today?"

"Ummmm, is that a new dress?" I respond.

"Nope!" She says, still giggling to herself like a little girl "Guess again!"

Wow, I think to myself, she's in an especially good mood today. "Hmmm. New… armor?" I say to her.

"You really can't tell that there's anything different?" She pouts, not even giving me a chance to answer before saying, "Riveria did my hair this morning!"

Truthfully, I can't tell any difference but I say to her, "Oooooooh, of course! It looks great!"

She isn't buying it.

"Bell you Jerk!" She says still pouting and hitting me playfully over and over again with the bottoms of her fist.

"Alriiight Alriiight I'm sorry, I yield I yield!" I say laughing, "Come on, everybody's been waiting, let's go have some breakfast."

"Alright." she says, still sounding a little upset. I take her hand and lead her through the halls to the breakfast table. She really doesn't need me to guide her any more, she's been over here every other day for months after all, but I still lead her around because it's an excuse to hold her hand.

"Ah, greetings Aiz. Your hair looks lovely." Haruhime says as we enter the room.

"Well thank you," Aiz says in response, her spirits once again lifted, "Somebody didn't even notice."

"Bell!" Haruhime yells at me.

"Alright alright, I already said I was sorry. Jeez." I say while laughing a little. I pull Aiz in for a quick kiss and that seems to make her completely forget about it finally.

"Alright lovebirds, we've already waited long enough for you two. Now come on, I'm starving. Let's eat!" Welf says with his usual friendly tone. I pull out a chair beside mine for Aiz and we sit down. With that, we all dig in. Over breakfast we all have a lively conversation, we talk about Welf and Hephaistos, trying to find more members for the Familia, another possible expedition, and more.

Although met with a few groans, and an exclamation of "Not this again!" by Lili, Aiz and I steer conversation towards the One Eyed Black Dragon.


"Alright, so we know the eye is a weak point, we should take that out first if we can. It'll be a lot easier to kill a blind monster."

Much to Hestia Familia's chagrin, the topic around the breakfast table had once again turned to killing the One Eyed Black Dragon. It had been bearable at first, Bell only talked about it as the next big step in his journey, but now that he had once again levelled up, it was all he would talk about. Hermes was to blame for that much, Hestia suspected. Aiz, however, only fed into it, continuing the conversation with just as much fervor whenever the boy brought it up.

She had become a regular face to see at Hearth Manor, it had been 4 months since Bell snuck off to the Harvest Festival and finally made his move on her. Damnable sneaky little rabbit, Hestia thinks to herself. She had long since came to terms with it though, as long as her Bell was happy, she was happy, even if it meant having to share her Bell-kun with the Sword Princess. What she was NOT happy about, however, was having to play nice and pretend to be all buddy buddy with Loki when the two of them were around. Neither of them liked the situation very much. But their children had wanted each other so bad that they went right under the respective Goddess' noses.

Well, not really, both Goddesses had given their permission to go to the Harvest Festival, but they didn't know what they had planned! Once Loki and Hestia had seen how happy they made each other, though, there was no way they could split them apart. Loki even claimed she hadn't ever seen Aiz this open and happy before. Even Hestia could see it, the stoic, often aloof and emotionless face of the Kenki broke down into cheerful smiles and the bright eyed-ness of a child when she was with Bell.

Bell wasn't much better, she hasn't even seen the two of them together once with him having anything less than a huge smile plastered on his face. Not to mention how confident he had become, gone was the timid little boy that Hestia had fallen in love with, Bell was a man now and he acted like it. It made her sad, but at the same time it made her happy for him, despite how terrible the situation was for her personally. Bell was growing up and there was nothing she could do about it, that was just the way of the Children.

It did have some perks however, whenever Bell and Aiz aren't going to Loki Familia's house in the mornings or after a long hard day in the dungeon, they're coming back to Hearth Manor. Usually they'll shut themselves up in Bell's room for a while before coming down to greet everyone and, at first, this made Hestia very angry. However, she had quickly learnt it had certain, ah, "benefits." It had become an almost daily secret ritual for her to sneak up to the second level whenever they would disappear and listen at Bell's door.

She would hear talking, kissing, and, quite frequently now, the two of them being together physically. She had heard that for the first time a little over a month ago after they went on a couple days long trip to the dungeon. She was so angry at first that she wanted to beat down the door but she managed to stop herself. She told herself that they, that Bell, had earned it, and ultimately she decided to just let them have their fun. Besides, she didn't exactly mind the idea of some little rabbits running around, in fact she even hoped they would slip up. Maybe he'd stop going into that dungeon then before he got himself killed. She felt especially bad for Haruhime though, knowing she would've had to wash Bell's sheets the next morning.

She would listen to all this, close her eyes and pretend that she was the Kenki, that Bell was talking so happily and flirtily with her, that he was kissing her, and that she was the one being intimate with him. It made this whole thing a little bit more bearable, she wondered if Loki did the same.

"Goodbye Kami-Sama!" Hestia was pulled out of her sweet daydreams by the voice of her Bell-kun, he had Aiz' left hand in his right one and a picnic basket in the other. Oh, right, she thought to herself, their "date."


"Goodbye Kami-Sama!" I shout out to my Goddess while leading Aiz out towards the door with her hand in my right and a picnic basket in my left. Today is the day of our second "Dungeon Date." Usually we go out to the city or to the bar or somewhere else like that for dates, just to give us a break from the day to day life of an adventurer but today we were just going to go into the dungeon. The only difference between today and and our regular days will be the fact that we're going to go alone, not go as deep as we can, and have a picnic. Today is about fun, not training.

The first time we went on a date to the dungeon was about a month ago, we didn't really have any set rules or expectations like that and we ended up being down there for 2 and a half days. It got pretty grueling and by the end wasn't really that fun any more. Though I didn't mind because the night we came back I got a, erm, special reward. So it ended up being a pretty fun date in the end.


Bell and Aiz walk, hand in hand, down West Main towards the dungeon.

"Have a good day today Bell!" She hears the waitress with silver hair, Syr, shout from the balcony of The Benevolent Mistress.

That's one I've gotta watch out for, Aiz thinks to herself, she clearly has a thing for Bell but something else just feels off about her.

Bell had been very dismissive when she brought it up, waiving it off and saying, "What? No, Syr's a great friend. She's done a lot for me, more than I could ever properly thank her for." But Aiz still doesn't fully trust the girl.

"Here we are!" Bell's declaration brings Aiz out of her thoughts and before her looms the giant Babel tower. A lot of adventurers are out today, it is friday after all, but none of them look particularly strong. At least not on their level.

They make their way in through the mass of people, hearing people talking about them in hushed voices saying things like "Is that the Sword Princess and Rabbit Foot? They're holding hands! Guess the rumors are true huh?"

"Damn shame, fine babe like that's off the market." and

"Is that a picnic basket?"

"Are they going.. on a date? To the dungeon? Man, top class adventurers are insane."

Aiz was used to it all, none of it bothered her, not even the degrading comments of some of the men. Bell, though, Bell not so much. He only recently gained notoriety relatively speaking, and still isn't used to having people talk about him in voices they think he can't hear. She could tell he was very uncomfortable and angered by some of the comments just by the way he gripped her hand.

She's learned a lot about the boy over the last few months, but every little detail, every odd quirk and new personality trait only made her love him more. He's changed a remarkable amount since their first encounter in the dungeon, and he changed her too. They grew as people together, and that was just another reason for her to love him.

"YOU'RE WHAT!?" Aiz was once again pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of Eina Tulle, Bell's dungeon advisor, yelling at him. "That is so stupid Bell! I know you can handle yourself very very well but don't start to treat the Dungeon as a laughing matter. It's gotten many, many adventurers killed!" She was berating the boy so hard that his whole face was turning red, Aiz knew she had to say something before he broke down. Few people could get to Bell like this now, but Eina was an exception. She was like an older sister to Bell and her words had a lot more weight behind them than almost anyone else's to him.

"...Do not worry Eina-san, I will take good care of, and protect him down there. We'll not push too far and be extra careful." Aiz' declaration seemingly calms Eina down, though honestly if anyone will be doing the protecting it'll be Bell, he's far surpassed her by this point. If it was anyone else she would feel jealous, she still wonders how the boy grew so fast. "Fine, fine. I'm still not very happy about it but you two know what you're doing….. have fun I guess." She says with an exasperated sigh.

"Thank you Eina-san!" Bell says, back to his usual cheery self.

And with that, they were on their way.


"Rooooaaaahhhhhhh!" The last Lygerfang pounces towards me from behind. I pivot, bend my knees and, using it's own momentum, throw it as hard as I can into the dungeon wall, cracking the wall and most likely every bone in the creature's body. It goes limp on impact and explodes into a cloud of ash. Did I seriously break the magic stone just by throwing it? I thought level 7 was insane but my new power as a level 8 is off the charts.

"UUOooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" The tell-tale call of a minotaur rings out, I hear it before I see it but soon enough it's right on top of me.

I scream and run away.

It follows, massive tree trunk in hand, and corners me against a wall. It raises it's arm to strike when, with an almost invisible flash of steel, it's arm flies off. "Uoohhhh?" It lets out, looking at the stump where it's arm used to be for a split second before the silver tip of a saber emerges from just above it's waist and slices upwards, chopping the creature in two and coating me in blood.

"Why did you pretend you were scared and run away?" Aiz asks me, seemingly a little annoyed.

"What? I thought you'd appreciate the throwback." I respond with a smile.

Her stony visage breaks down into laughter at that before she regains her composure and says, "You truly are something else, Bell Cranel."

"I love you too." I reply in a joking manner before taking her hand and letting her pull me up.

"Uuggh. Was the joke really worth getting covered in disgusting, smelly blood though?" She says to me, pinching her nose in disgust.

"Totally." I reply.

"Well you aren't getting another hug, kiss, or getting near me until you clean up." She says, still holding her nose.

"Guess we'll just have to go to the lower levels for a bath then." I say, getting an idea at that very moment, "Oooooo! We can kill the amphisbaena and then go swimming!"

Aiz seems to shudder at the thought of that for a moment, "... You know I can't swim." She pouts.

"I'll teach you!" I cheerfully reply.

"Wellll…. fine.. Ok." She answers, still looking a little intimidated by the thought.

"Don't worry, it's gonna be really fun! Come on, let's go!" I excitedly shout to her, despite her being well ahead of me already due to the stench of the blood that was now coating me.

"Come on then, rabbit." She says, teasingly, to me.

"Right behind you, Princess." I answer back with just as much teasing energy. She just looks back at me and smiles her radiant smile. Gods, I really am the luckiest man in the world.


Aiz turned to make sure Bell was still behind her. She knew that he was because even from where she was so far ahead, she could still smell a faint whiff of stench from the Minotaurs blood that was now coating him. Still, it gave her peace of mind to check and make sure. Did he really have to do that, she thinks to herself. She was glad he did at the same time though, it gave her pleasant memories of the first time she had met and saved Bell.

The first thing she thought when she saw him was that he looked like a scared little rabbit, he reminded Aiz of herself when she was younger. He was special to her before she had even spoken to him, just seeing him had brought back memories Aiz didn't even know she still had. That night in the bar all she had wanted to do was to chase that rabbit but she thought she couldn't at the time, she thought that he would've only held her back. Little did she know then, that scared little rabbit wouldn't have held her back at all.

He ran away from her the first time they met, after she saved him. He used to run from her a lot. It was almost too weird to think back on, he changed so much since then, the scared and weak little boy in need of protecting that had ran away from her that day no longer existed. In his place stood a strong and brave but still kind and compassionate man, one that had risen through the ranks of adventurers with unprecedented speed and surpassed even her in strength in only a matter of months.

He is truly remarkable, and he's hers. The thought brings a happy smile to her face. Of course, he isn't the only one who's changed, Aiz herself has changed a lot in the time since their meeting too. While still relatively aloof and emotionless seeming to outsiders, anyone who really knows Aiz will tell you that she seems like a new person. She gets comments from Loki, Riveria, Tiona, Tione, Finn, Gareth, Lefiya, and even from Bete all of the time now saying how different she seems. She seems happier now they say, like she isn't afraid to show her emotions any more. And the truth is she really isn't, at least not to those who are close to her.

Bell taught her a lot about herself and about the value of family and love. Thanks to him she now made a conscious effort to be more outgoing and to show her appreciation to everyone in her life. He taught her that not all monsters were deserving of hate. He extinguished most of the flames of hate in her heart, though the small amount of black flames that remain still burn with just as much vitriol for the beast that took her father from her and stole her mother away. Bell helped her to really come out of her shell and to grow emotionally, and for that she would be forever grateful.

Aiz spends the next hour or so deep in thought, killing monsters on reflex and hardly saying a word.

"Aiz, are you ok?"

"..."

"Aiz!" Bell's voice once again cuts Aiz out of her own thoughts.

"Huh? What?" she questions him.

"I asked if you were ok. You've just been really quiet for a while now. We're almost to the 26th floor and you've barely said a word." He responds, sounding concerned.

"Oh, it's nothing. I've just been thinking."

"What's on your mind?" Bell asks.

"Well, I've been thinking about you, about my Familia and myself…… and about my mother." She responds, talking in a very quiet voice for the last part.

This is the first time Bell's heard Aiz mention her mother, he knew her father had died when she was a kid but she had never talked about her mother to him before.

"This is the first time you've mentioned her to me, what happe-" Bell was cut short by an insanely loud roar that came from two places at once.

"Well, sounds like the Amphisbaena is already up." He says.

Aiz' eyes light up, their conversation can wait, they have a dragon to kill. Aiz and Bell draw their sword and daggers respectively, and wait. The amphisbaena is the only Floor Boss capable of moving between floors so it'll be coming to them.

"Before we do anything we need to take out it's right head," Bell says "that one breathes out a gas that'll negate our magic."

"Got it, commander." Aiz teases, she knows all of this of course but seeing Bell take charge like that is cute.

A very tense minute or two passes before, in a gigantic spray of water, the giant Amphisbaena emerges with another ear-splitting roar from both heads. The Monster Rex is a giant white dragon, at least 20 meters long and insanely broad. It has twin heads, one with eyes of crimson and the other of sapphire. The right head breathes out a mist that will dispel magic and the left can breathe a fire so hot it burns even on water. Bell shouts loudly to draw it's attention towards him and without a split-second's hesitation Aiz jumps towards the beast's right head.

"Awaken, Tempest." She says, surrounding herself with a cutting veil of wind. She channels it into her sword and spins midair, slicing clean through the monster's neck with a blade of steel and air. It's right head drops to the ground with a wet thunk and it instantly turns it's other head towards Aiz and opens it's mouth, preparing to shower her in flames.

"Fiiiiireboolllttt!" Bell yells, sending an arcing wave of scarlet flaming lightning into the beast's side. It lets out a massively pained roar and flails it's remaining head wildly, catching the still airborne Aiz and knocking her backwards.

"Aiz!" Bell cries out and lunges towards the beast, daggers in hand. He avoids it's flailing head with his jump and lands, planting his daggers into the beast's chest, just below where it's right head once was. He puts all his weight into it and drags himself down with his full force, tearing the creature's chest wide open. As he does this he sees Aiz regain her balance and land gracefully on the ground

"Now Aiz! Finish it!" The boy yells out to her, flinging himself off of the monster, withdrawing his daggers in the process and landing in the water.

At least that finally cleaned most of the Minotaur's blood off of him, Aiz thinks to herself.

Without missing a beat, she launches off of her left foot, sending herself 10 meters into the sky, and shouts "Lil Rafaga!" letting out a ferocious roar of her own. She puts all of her mind into channeling Ariel into her blade and uses the wind to fling herself forwards towards the beast. She dives, sword first, straight through it's chest piercing it's hide like a speeding bullet and emerging in a spray of blood behind the creature.


The gigantic Monster Rex lets out one final pained roar before disappearing into a cloud of ash. Aiz must have hit the magic stone. Something drops to the floor still though, upon closer inspection I see it's a large reddish brown and rubbery organ.

"Liver!" I exclaim, "Dragon Liver! We should take this back with us and ask Mikoto to fry it up!"

Aiz sticks her tongue out in a look of disgust. "That sounds absolutely disgusting, Bell." she says.

"What, have you never had liver before?" I ask.

"Ew, of course not." she answers, still sounding just as disgusted.

"Awww come on, my grampa used to cook us liver on the farm all the time. It was one of my favorite dinners we would have. Those were just cow livers though, I wonder how this'll taste."

"I'm not gonna try it, Bell." She replies curtly.

"Pllleeeease, I'll cook Jagamarukun too." I promise, offering to cook her favorite food if she agrees to try the liver.

"Fiiiiiiiine, if you insist so much… I'll try it. But if I don't like it I'm spitting it right out in your face." She tells me, punctuating her words by sticking her tongue out towards me. She sounds like a child who's just lost an argument. I just laugh in response, she's so adorable when she acts like this.

I stuff the liver in my bag and say, "That went quick, couldn't have been more than 2 minutes. That's gotta be a new record right?"

"Yeah." Aiz says, wearing her usual aloof expression, seemingly lost in thought once again.

"Well come on, let's eat!" I cheerfully announce, lifting the picnic basket that we had brought with us.

We set up the small blanket that we had brought in the basket on the edge of the floor facing the water, unpack the food we brought with us, and begin to eat.

"You mentioned your mother back there," I say, bringing back up what I was about to say before we were cut off, "I've never heard you talk about her before, what was she like?"

Aiz gets a very sad and downtrodden look on her face before replying with "... she's like the wind, a kind wind that brought happiness to everyone she came into contact with."

"It sounds like she was a wonderful woman." I say, putting my arm around her shoulder and holding her close.

"That's not all." she says, seeming to brace herself for something. She looks up at me with her big, sad, golden eyes and says to me, "She isn't just an ordinary woman, she's a spirit. That's where I get my magic from, I inherited it from my mother."

So that's where she gets her otherwordly beauty from, I think to myself.

Before I can say anything she continues speaking, "My mother's name is Aria, and my father….. my father's name was Albert Waldstein, 1000 years ago he died fighting the Black Dragon, gauging one of it's eyes out in the process."

A million questions are racing through my mind upon hearing that, but I end up just asking, "How is that possible?"

She pauses for a few seconds before responding with, "I don't know… I just know it's true. I have no idea how I got here or why, all I know is that 10 years ago Loki found me as a 7 year old child. It felt to me like my parents had just died."

She quietly continues on, "I know I'm not 1000 years old physically because I've aged since then, all I or anyone else knows is what I've told you. I don't know what I am or why or how I'm here now. I wish I knew. it eats away at me every night, I dream about them and I see memories and I just wake up more confused. Nothing makes sense to me, my existence doesn't even make sense."

Her composure breaks down after saying that and she calls out, "Please don't look at me any different Bell!" suddenly bursting into tears.

I wrap both of my arms around her and pull her in close to my chest, hugging her and petting her hair with my hand, "Shhhhhh, shhhhhh, it's okay." I say to her, "We may not know how or why you're here but the fact that you are is the best thing to have ever happened to me. You feel like my destiny, like you were meant to be here, and I was meant to be here with you. I could never look at you as anything other than the woman I love. You stole my heart and my soul when I first saw you and I'd never willingly take them back, you could secretly be a shape-shifting slime monster for all I care, I'd still love you with every fiber of my being."

"Really?" She sniffles and replies with a slight giggle.

"Really." I say back to her.

This makes her burst back out into tears, although this time they're not tears of sadness, "I love you too Bell-kun, more than anyone or anything in this entire world." She says, hugging me extremely tight.

"My mother is still alive." Aiz declares, suddenly extremely serious once again, "I know it, I can feel it in my soul."

"That's great!" I exclaim, "We can find her together!"

"... The One Eyed Black Dragon has her." Aiz says in a voice barely above a whisper.

"What?" I say, unsure if I heard her right.

"That's why I strive so hard to get stronger. That's why I hated all monsters so much before you showed me the error in that. I still hate that thing though, I hate it with every single bone in my body. I dream every night about tearing it apart and pulling my mother out from it's grasp. That's why I can never be a hero, not like you." she begins to tear up once again with those words, "I'm selfish, all I want is revenge, I could never be like you."

She's full on crying again at this point, "You're selfless and brave and care so much about everyone else and are motivated by nothing more than the desire to do good. And I'm just a hateful little girl who's desperate to get revenge for her father and to get her mother back no matter what!"

I pull her back into my arms and let her cry on my shoulder, it hurts me to my core to hear her talk about herself like that.

"Aiz," I say, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that you've had to go through all of this, and I'm especially sorry that you've had to go through this all alone, but I'm here for you now. I love you, and nothing will ever change that. You're wrong. You aren't selfish, everything you do is for someone else.

"It's not selfish to want your mother back, and to do anything you can to get her back. And it's not selfish to want to avenge your father, in fact, that's one of the most heroic and selfless stories I've ever heard. The brave hero avenges her father's death and rescues her mother from the clutches of a legendary beast, it sounds like something straight out of Dungeon Oratoria." I tell her.

"You are a hero Aiz, you're my hero. You rescued me at my lowest point, and showed me kindness when nobody else at your level would have. You helped me in so many ways. I never would have gotten to where I am now without you. You're my main motivation, you're the reason I grow so fast."

She sniffles a few times before asking, "Really?"

My Goddess had finally told me the secret behind my growth shortly after Aiz and I got together. I've been waiting for the perfect time to tell her about Liaris Freese and this seems like it.

"Yes Aiz, the day I first met you I fell in love. I remember thinking to myself, 'my soul is gone, it belongs to her now.' All I aspired to do in life was to get stronger so I could stand beside you, my hero, and earn your love. I wanted that so bad that I developed a wholly unique skill, 'Liaris Freese - Fast growth as long as feelings last. The strength of the effects correspond with the level of the user's feelings.' You used to ask me all the time how I got stronger so quickly and at the time I didn't know the answer myself but it's you. It's always been you."

"Oh Bell-kun!" She cries out and grabs ahold of me once again, sinking her head into my chest. "You're my hero too, you've done more for me than anyone else. Anyone other than people in my own familia only saw me for my looks or liked me because they thought I was mysterious, but not you. You looked through all of that and saw the real me, a me I didn't even know existed, and you reached through and pulled her to the surface. You made me who I am now, you saved me too, in more ways than one."

"Aiz…" I say, tearing up at her words and wrapping my arms around her, pulling her even closer to my chest, "I love you."

She looks up at me and smiles, happy tears in her eyes "I love you too, Bell-kun." She snuggles her head back into my chest and we just sit like that for a long time, holding each other close.


Aiz and Bell had been sitting in the same position, not talking just enjoying the closeness of each other for at least an hour before Bell finally said, "Alright, how about we start swimming practice now?" Being this close to the water was already scary enough to Aiz, the last thing she wanted to do was immerse herself in water deeper than her head. But she had promised Bell that she would let him teach her to swim so she had to live up to her promise. That was one of the things she loves about Bell, he pushes her out of her comfort zone and it helps her to grow. She trusts the boy when he says that this will be fun, just him being there is enough to make her feel completely safe even if she is still uncomfortable about the whole idea.

Fear still apparent in her voice, she replies to his question with a reluctant, "Ok…. Let's get started."

"Yeeeeah, alright! Don't worry there's nothing to be afraid of, I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you." Bell reassures her.

"I know." She responds genuinely.

"I just got dry finally so I'm not too crazy about the idea of getting my clothes wet again. I doubt anyone's gonna come down to this level so it'd probably be best to just do this without any clothes, but that's up to you."

Aiz loved that idea, any excuse to see Bell's body and muscles she'll take but she decides to tease him a little, saying, "Hmmmm… that sounds familiar." Doing her best impression of the boy she continues with "'Nobody's gonna walk in on us, Welf's the only other guy in the entire house and he's out in the forge. It's just a quick bath, don't worry.'"

"But I was right!" Bell exclaims, "The chances of him walking in right then were like a million to one, how was I supposed to know he'd pick that exact moment to come take a bath?" Bell's face starts to turn pink as he desperately tries to defend himself.

Aiz can't hold her laughter in any more at that point, her teasing has really gotten to him this time.

She takes a moment to regain her composure and looks at him through the tears that had welled up in her eyes saying, "Don't worry, I know. It was just bad timing, is all. I was just teasing you."

"Oh." He says, blushing even harder now.

"Come on then, rabbit. Get naked." Aiz seductively says.

Her sultry words seem to pull the boy out of his embarrassed state, as he rapidly begins to undress. Aiz follows suit, unhooking and taking off the armor she was wearing, pulling her silky white dress over her head, and finally sliding her panties down her slender legs. Fighting back the urge to cover herself with her hands, she glances over at Bell still undressing himself, I really am lucky to have someone like him she thinks to herself.

Bell finishes getting his clothes off and looks up at Aiz' naked body, taking in all of her luscious curves with his eyes. Now that's a sight I'll never grow tired of, Bell thinks to himself, growing visibly excited.

Noticing Bell's eyes on her and his "growth" Aiz takes a step backwards into the water, ignoring her fear in an attempt to be provocative. Her body covered up to the base of her neck by the water, she reaches out and motions for Bell to come in with 1 finger. Bell follows her instructions and walks into the water after her, covering his body up to just below his pectoral muscles. Wow, he's gotten even taller than I realized, he must be at least 175 celch now, Aiz thinks to herself.

Bell wraps his arms around her and pulls her wet body close to his and begins to passionately kiss her, Aiz leans into it hard and deepens the kiss. Without warning, Bell begins to lift her up and position her waist causing Aiz to quickly pull out of the kiss and scold the boy, saying "Being naked down here is one thing but I'm definitely not doing that here. We'd be completely vulnerable, even more than we are now, and if anyone saw us I wouldn't be able to show my face in Orario again."

"Ok, sorry. I just got a little carried away, it's hard to think straight when you're hard y'know?" He says, making a crass joke.

Letting out a small giggle, Aiz playfully hits Bell on the shoulder and says "Pervert."


"Well then," I say, moving past what just happened, or didn't happen more like, "let's get these lessons started."

"Alright, just don't try anything perverted, little rabbit." Aiz says to me with a wink.

Gods it's like she's trying to torture me. "No promises." I say back with a cocky half-smile, two can play at that game.

"First we're gonna start with basic kicks." I say.

Aiz looks puzzled at that and says, "But I already know a bunch of kicks. I'm the one who taught you how to kick, remember?" She really can be a bit of an airhead sometimes, but it is pretty cute.

I let out a small chuckle and respond with, "Not those kind of kicks, swimming kicks and fighting kicks are two very different things."

"Oh."

"Just watch my legs." I tell her, and get into a floating position laying on my stomach. I kick out a few times, pushing myself forwards to demonstrate and say, "Now it's your turn."

"But I don't know how to float.." she admits, sounding embarrassed.

"Don't worry, I'll teach you that next. For now I'm just gonna hold you up while you practice."

"...ok"

"Don't be scared, I won't let you sink. Just hold your head up above the water and kick the same way I did." I say, picking her up into my arms. I gently tilt her body to the right, immersing her chest in the water but being extra careful to avoid immersing her head.

"Alright now kick." I tell her. She begins to vigorously kick her legs out, splashing and coating me in cold water. She's just kicking wildly at first but then seems to get the hang of it eventually so I tell her "Alright that's good." And tilt her back into a standing position.

"That wasn't so bad." Sputters Aiz, "I got some water in my mouth though." She finishes, sticking out her tongue.

"Sorry," I respond, "but the next exercise is on your back so don't worry."

"Ok." She says, sounding slightly relieved.

I gently lift and position her so her back is flat with the water, my hands being the only thing keeping her afloat.

Only her face, her slender hips and her above average bust are above the water. Just a few months ago I would've turned red in the face, screamed, and ran away at the sight of her like this, but now I just feel an overwhelming temptation to reach out and grab them or to bury my face in her chest.

Maybe doing this naked wasn't that good of an idea after all.

Shaking my head to help clear my mind of those thoughts I tell her, "The best way to backfloat is to fill your lungs up with air and poke your belly out a little bit, just relax your entire body and do that and you'll float on the surface of the water."

"I'll try my best." She says, sounding nervous.

I hold her there in that position for a while, her lungs full of air but her body still tensed up at every muscle.

I start rubbing her back with one of my hands under the water and softly remind her, "Just relax, I've got you."

"I'm trying, it's just hard to relax in the water like this for me. It brings back bad memories."

Bad memories huh? I gotta ask her more about that. For now though, the best thing is to try and take her mind off of it. Getting an idea, I bend down and kiss her gently on the lips. All the tension in her body seems to melt away with my kiss. Still holding my lips to hers, I slowly let my hands fall from her back allowing her to float alone on the surface of the water. I slowly lift my lips off of hers and hold my hands in the air, "Open your eyes." I tell Aiz. Her big golden eyes flutter open and she looks at me, noticing my hands.

"I'm doing it!" She exclaims, sounding actually excited for the first time since we got into the water.

"Yeah! See it's easy isn't it?" I grab her and put her back on her feet, "Next I'm gonna show you how to float on your stomach. After that all that's left to do is to show you how to use your arms, then you'll be able to swim!"

"I'm actually…. Excited." Aiz admits.

"Alright," I say, tilting her slowly, "don't let your face go in the water yet, we're gonna practice relaxing in the water some more first." Aiz' body rests face-first on the water, her chest and hips hidden underneath the surface but her face being held above by her neck. "Now, just try and relax again the same way you did a second ago." She closes her eyes in a look of pure concentration, attempting to just let her body relax and go limp.

"Just think about relaxing stuff, picture flowers and cute animals in your head, or think about that kiss." Slowly but surely all the tension begins to leave her body and I feel her start to rise in the water a little.

"Good," I tell her, "now hold your breath and let your face rest in the water too."

She timidly looks back at me, seemingly searching for approval so I nod my head at her, you've got this, I try to say with my body language. She closes her eyes once again and puffs her cheeks out, trapping air inside of them then slowly dips her head into the water. I let my hands fall from under her and allow her to just float there on her own for a little while. She's been floating for a couple minutes now so I gently tap her back, I'll let her get herself back onto her feet this time. With a great flailing of limbs and a lot of splashing she finally manages to right herself.

"I….. I.. did… it." She says, pausing for a breath after every word.

"Yup! Good job. You're really getting the hang of this."

"I have a good teacher." She says to me with a cute little smile.

"What did you think about to relax?" I ask her out of pure curiosity.

She looks at the ground and blushes a little bit. Sounding oddly embarassed, she softly replies with, "baby rabbits."

"Awww that's so adorable!" I say, picturing Aiz petting a baby bunny in my head.

She looks up at me with a sweet smile and bounces lightly on the balls of her feet.

So adorable

"You ready for the last of the basics?" I ask, eyebrow raised in a questioning manner.

"Yes. I'm eager." She says in response.

"Alright then, here's an example of what you should do with your arms." I say, once again getting on my stomach.

I kick out and use my arms to push myself forwards in a basic freestroke.

Reassuming my standing position I tell Aiz, "I'm just gonna hold you up and move you around the water while you practice. Just use your arms how I showed you and kick just like you were a little bit ago at the same time, alright?"

"Sounds good." She replies with a small thumbs up. She gets into a front floating position on her own and I gently place my hands up and on her stomach.

She starts with a very messy stroke, just dipping her hands in the water and taking them out so I lean forwards and tell her, "The point of using your arms is to help propel yourself forwards, don't just splash your hands in the water. Use your hands to push the water away from you and it'll help you go forwards, make a circular motion with your arms while they're in the water." She listens and corrects her stroke almost immediately.

Wow she's a quick learner, though I wouldn't expect anything less from the Kenki. I walk her around, letting her practice her stroke while I hold her. Eventually, I let my hands slowly start to fall away from her body. She's actually doing it! She's swimming around now like she's known how to since she was a child. I let her just swim around for a few minutes. With a huge smile on my face, I start to clap.

Aiz, noticing my clapping, positions herself back onto her feet.

"I was doing it! By myself!" She squeals happily "How long was I doing it by alone?" She asks, a bright and cheery tone in her voice.

"I took my hands off you about 3 minutes ago, you're a real natural at this!" I answer back with a huge smile still plastered on my face.

"You really think so?" She eagerly inquires of me.

"100 percent, keep practicing and you'll be swimming laps around Poseidon in no time."

She lets out a happy squeal and rushes forwards to hug me, "Thank you for teaching me," she says, looking up at me from my chest, "I love you so much."

I brush a wet lock of hair from in front of her eyes and pull her in for a kiss, "I love you too." I tell her once our kiss is over. "We should probably start heading back now, it has to be getting pretty late."

"Yes, I'd imagine Riveria is beginning to get concerned." With her words, we begin to get dressed.

"Hey, Aiz." I call to her while pulling up my pants.

"Yes?" She pulls her dress back over her head before responding, "Wanna just stay with me tonight?" I ask.

"Yes, that sounds lovely." She answers, smiling at me through the soaking wet hair that's clinging to her face.

Nice, I think to myself, now I can finish what I tried to start earlier. With our short conversation finished and our clothes and armor back on our bodies, we begin to make our way back. We make a quick stop on the 17th floor to catch our breath for a moment.

"So, what were those bad memories you were talking about earlier?" I ask Aiz.

"When I was a little girl, I called Riveria an old woman. She tied adamantine to my legs and tossed me into the water, calling it 'swimming lessons' as punishment." Aiz answers, shuddering at the memory.

"That sounds horrible," I say in response to Aiz' story, "I'm sorry you had to go through that." That's crazy, I think to myself, I'd never expect Riveria to do something like that. She always seems so calm and collected, maybe there's something a little darker lingering beneath that polished Elven exterior

"It's alright, I bear no ill-will towards Riveria for what happened." She assures me, "Ever since that day, though, I've been scared of drowning. I don't even usually bathe in water that goes above my head. Not being able to be in deep water was one of my only weaknesses, one that you just helped me rid myself of. Thank you."

"It was no problem at all, I had fun teaching you." I tell her

"Welp, we should probably end our little rest now though. I'm glad we took out Goliath a week ago, one floor boss was enough for today." I say.

"I think it would've been fun to fight it." She replies to my statement.

"You wanna do something else that's fun?" I ask.

"I already told you, we're not doing that in the dungeon Bell." She coldly responds.

I let out a little laugh before telling her, "I meant we should race. Who's the pervert now huh?"


"Alright then, we'll see who's laughing once I beat you." Aiz responds, accepting his challenge.

"Alright, then. We start on 3...2… 1!" Bell says, the two of them taking off on 1.

They rush forwards at seemingly impossible speeds, the kind only achievable by those who have the blessing of a god or goddess.

Many unfortunate monsters end up in their paths only to be cut down in an instant before they even get a chance to see their attacker.

Damn, he's getting ahead of me, Aiz thinks to herself. Bell had indeed begun to aquire a hefty lead in their race. I can't lose, not in a race, Aiz thinks to herself. Normally she wouldn't mind losing a contest to Bell, but her speed and agility have always been what she prides herself on. Her competitive side was starting to come out, hard. Widening her stride in an attempt to catch up, Aiz puts all of her strength into her legs and bounds forwards. Still no good, and we're already on the 4th floor, this calls for drastic measures.

Focusing all of her mind, Aiz chants "Awaken, Tempest." Allowing herself to be overtaken and carried by a gust of wind. Her legs lift off the ground, her whole body being carried by the strong current. Gliding through the air, she uses her magic to propel herself forwards at a speed invisible to the naked eye. All Bell sees is a silver and gold streak as Aiz passes him by. With the speed granted by Airiel, Aiz clears the last 4 floors in the matter of a minute and takes up a victory pose at the exit of the first floor. After a couple of minutes Bell finally makes his way to the first floor and eventually to the door Aiz was now guarding.

Still panting from running 17 floors, Bell forces out, "No….. fair…… cheated….. used magic to get ahead…"

"Hey, you never said that magic was off the table." Aiz responds nonchalantly "I used a …. non-traditional technique to win is all."

"You know, I still say you cheated." Bell tells Aiz as they ascend the stairs leading back to Orario together.

"You're just being a sore loser, little rabbit." Aiz mocks in response, "Now you owe me a drink."

"WHA- Hey! We never agreed on any terms like that!" Bell argues back.

All Aiz answers with is a tilt of her head and a devilish smile, the kind that always makes Bell melt.

"Fiiine. We'll go tomorrow. I'm beat after today, I need some rest tonight."

The two of them make their way out of the dungeon and turn down the street, heading towards a large castle with many overlapping towers and walkways. They make their way to Twilight Manor, the home of Loki Familia. As they approach the front gate, they notice something strange. Instead of the usual guards, standing side by side in front of the gate are Bete and Raul.

"Well lookie what tha cat dragged in!" The young werewolf calls out as Bell and Aiz approach.

"Where are the usual guards?" Aiz asks.

"All the rookies decided they were gonna have a little night on the town tonight, so we got stuck with guard duty until they get back. Where the hell have you two been all night?"

"Well, judging by that picnic basket, I'd say a date." Raul interjects, not giving Aiz nor Bell a moment to answer.

"A date huh? Well a'right I guess, just hurry up an' get in here. Loki's been bitchin' us out all day about finding you." Bete tells Aiz.

"Actually, Bete, that's why I'm here. I would like you to inform Loki I will be staying at Hearth Manor with Bell tonight."

"What!?" Bete and Raul say in unison.

After a moment of stunned silence, Bete continues on by saying, "No way am I tellin' her that. You want 'er to be pissed off it's on yer ass, leave me outta it."

"I agree Aiz, I do not believe that is a wise decision." Riveria adds.

She had heard the commotion at the gate and, unseen by everyone until this very moment, arrived just in time to hear what Aiz had to say.

Riveria wasn't alone, trailing a good distance away were the Amazonian sisters Tiona and Tione, and Lefiya.

"AIIIIIIIIIIIIIZZZ WELCOME BAAAAACK!!!" Tiona yells out from across the courtyard.

"Miss Aiz, what's going on?" Lefiya asks, having made her way to the gate along with the young amazon sisters.

"She's tryin' ta get me to tell Loki that she's stayin' tha night with the Little Rookie there." Bete responds, diminutively using Bell's old title.

Crossing over to the gate and looking directly at Bell, Lefiya says "No! Absolutely not, I will not allow you to strip Miss Aiz of her purity! Out of the question!"

"If ya think he ain't already 'stripped her of her purity' by now, then yer outta yer damn mind Elf." Bete cuts into Lefiya's tirade.

"How dare you! Miss Aiz would never participate in such.. such debauchery!" She argues back to him.

"Don't worry Lefiya, Bete's just upset cause he's still hung up on Aiz." Tione interjects.

"What? No way!" Bete vehemently defends himself.

"Oh that's right, you've got your little Amazon girlfriend Lena now, isn't that right?" Tione says, a mocking tone in her voice.

"She's not my girlfriend, it was just one date!" Bete argues back.

In the midst of Bete, Tione, and Lefiya's argument, Tiona makes her way over to where Bell and Aiz are standing and says to the two of them, "Just go, you're gonna be here all night otherwise. I'll cover for you with Loki just get out of here."

"Thank you Tiona." Aiz responds and begins to walk away.

"Hey!" Tiona calls out to her back, "Get lucky tonight for me, will ya?"

Aiz just gives a coy smile and walks away, pulling Bell along by his hand. The last Bell sees of Twilight Manor is Raul giving him a thumbs up.

As the two of them walk back down the street they had just came from they both hear a faint yell of, "MY AIZU IS DOING WHAAAAT!?" from behind them.


"Jeez, I didn't expect to cause such a scene back there." I say to Aiz.

"Yes, they can be quite…. dramatic." She responds, taking a moment to think of the right way to describe her Familia members.

"I don't think Lefiya likes me very much." I state, thinking back on her sudden outburst.

"I doubt she'd like anybody in your position, she's very….protective of me." Aiz answers.

"Eh, I'm sure she means well." I say as we reach the gates of Hearth Manor. "Here we are. Be quiet coming in, I told everybody not to wait up for me so they're probably all asleep by now." I tell her, though I suspect my Goddess will most likely still be awake waiting.

We open the door and quietly slip through into the main hall. Sure enough, a light is on in the living room. I better talk to her so she doesn't just think I never came home, I think to myself so I lead Aiz into the living room. Surprisingly, instead of the Goddess, sitting in the living room is Haruhime reading Dungeon Oratoria.

"Ah, there you are Bell, Aiz. Lady Hestia was falling asleep waiting, so I told her I would just wait here for you."

"Oh, that's a relief. I was worried how the Goddess would react to the news Aiz was staying the night." I say, rubbing the back of my head in relief.

"Well, I think it's romantic. The hero and his princess sneaking around under the disapproving noses of their family leaders. It reminds me of a story from this very book in fact."

"Thank you, Haruhime. We'll probably just head up to my room now, I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight!" I tell her as I take Aiz by the hand and lead her towards the stairs.

"Goodnight you two!" She calls up after us.

"I never thought about it that way." Aiz says as we approach my bedroom.

"Thought about what?" I ask.

"About us, sneaking around under our Goddess' noses like characters in a tale of forbidden love." She answers.

"I think it's nice. Being called a Hero is always good, and you definitely fit the bill of a Princess so she wasn't very far off."

"Oh is that so?" Aiz asks, opening my bedroom door.

"Absolutely." I respond.

"Well then, Hero," she says while taking a step backwards into my room, a mischievous smile on her face, "come bed your Princess."

"Gladly." I say, stepping into the room.

I wrap one hand around her waist and use the other to close the door behind us.


Up Next: A Homecoming Gone Wrong, A Mad Dash Through The Dungeon, Citywide Panic, Preperations for War Begin In Chapter 3: Eve of Battle!