I do not own Familia Myth or any of the characters.

Not Enough

Ethan slashed his way through a group of Imps, then ducked under an Orc's fist, slashing along the underside of its arm before splitting it down across the torso. It collapsed before dispersing and he sighed, resting the tip of his blade on the ground, panting. Floor Eleven was not being polite. It was even worse than Floor Ten had been. However, he was making a lot of money. Granted, two days was pushing it. He was already out of potions, as usual, and his mind wouldn't be recharged enough to use for about another thirty minutes. He glanced at the gash in his left side, which was bleeding heavily. He sighed, kneeling and pulled his shirt off, tearing it into strips, and bandaged his side. Then, he stood, using his sword to stand just before hearing a voice he really didn't want to hear right yet call out to him.

"Ethan!" Bell called out.

Ethan sighed, turning to look back at Bell and Lili, only to find a guy with red hair, simple black clothes, and a large, single-edged sword on his back with them. He pushed himself up, making his way over to them.

"Welcome to Floor Eleven, Bell," Ethan said.

"What the hell are you doing down here?" Bell asked. "You're not a high enough level!"

"I'm well aware," Ethan said flatly. "My advisor loves to remind me that I should barely be reaching floor five by now. But I need to get as strong as I can as fast as I can, and I want to make enough money too..." he stopped, glancing away and gritting his teeth as the reason for Hestia needing money flashed through his head, along with a pang of jealousy, as he'd come to recognize the sick, angry feeling he had once in a while when he thought about the fact that Hestia was in love with Bell. "Anyway, I come down here to hurry things along."

"You're hurt pretty bad," the red-head said. "And you're not wearing armor. Was it destroyed?"

"If I wear armor, it slows down my Vitality's growth," Ethan said. "I'll get some whenever I'm satisfied with my status."

"Speaking of your status," Bell said. "What happened? You asked our goddess to upgrade them then took off before she could."

Ethan felt his eyes start to narrow and looked away, scanning for monsters to hide what probably would have become a borderline glare. "It's fine. I'll have her do it eventually."

"But you've been down here for days!" Bell argued. "Again."

"Again?" the red-head asked. "How often do you stay in the dungeon?"

"More often than I stay out of it," Ethan said. "I have to try and catch up with the Little Rookie. Hell of a title, by the way."

Bell grimaced. "Yeah. Our goddess did the best she could."

"Of course she did," Ethan said, a hint of bitterness slipping into his voice. "It was your title. So, who's the new guy?"

"I'm Welf Crozzo," the redhead said. "Bell's new contracted blacksmith."

"I see," Ethan said. "Let me guess, you asked him to help you get your blacksmith ability."

"Yeah," Welf nodded. "You know a lot for not being high enough status for this floor."

"I was a level two before my last Familia zeroed me out," Ethan said. "Hestia took me in but I had to start over."

"Ouch," Welf said. "Well, you want to come with us? It'd be safer. You wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt anymore."

Ethan snorted. "I'm not afraid of getting wounded. Fighting wounded increases your Vitality rapidly. But sure. I'll come with you."

Bell nodded and the four of them headed deeper into the floor together. After a few minutes, a Hard Armored, an armadillo-like monster, and a swarm of Imps burst out of the ground around them. Ethan spun, tearing into the Imps as Bell blasted the Hard Armored with a Fire Bolt, killing it. Ethan spun around an Imp's slash and split it in half before slashing two more before the last slashed him down the back.

"Ethan!" Bell shouted.

"Fast Heal," Ethan growled, shining green as his wounds all sealed before he spun, slashing the last Imp.

Off to the side, Welf was finishing off a group of his own, Lili using a forearm-mounted crossbow to cover him.

"Are you okay?" Bell asked.

"I'm fine," Ethan said, leaning on his sword, once again exhausted. "I've only lasted as long as I can because I can heal myself."

"Oh, I see," Bell sighed, nodding.

Ethan began to collect the crystals his kills had dropped as Bell went to talk to Welf, Lili collecting the others' crystals. Suddenly, however, several other adventurers who were off to one side screamed, running toward them, a massive silhouette slowly emerging from the fog behind them, forming into a dragon's shape.

"Oh crap!" one of the fleeing adventurers shouted. "It's a baby dragon!"

"Run!" another shouted.

Ethan looked toward the dragon again, seeing it chasing Lili. Ethan's eyes widened as his brain replaced Lili with his sister for a half second. He sprinted forward. He wasn't sure if Lili had any siblings, but he'd make sure she got home all the same.

The dragon snapped at her, only for his Light-Blade-shrouded sword to slash the side of its head, making its head swing to the side. Its tail whipped around, crashing into his sword as he tried to block it, only to go bouncing backward, blood flying from his mouth.

"Ethan!" Welf shouted, sprinting over. "Damn! You barley took damage." He glanced at Ethan's eyes and his own widened. "Whoa! Your eyes!"

"Admire them later," Ethan growled, standing. "We need to deal with-"

"Firebolt!" Bell shouted, except instead of a fireball, he sent a ball of shining blue energy, the recoil of which blue him backward, and which erupted int a sphere of shining white-blue energy where the baby dragon's head had been, leaving nothing behind as it faded, the rest of the body disintegrating a moment later.

"What the fuck was that!?" Ethan gaped.

"I...don't know," Bell said, staring at his hand as Lili picked up the massive crystal the dragon had dropped.

Ethan sighed, spitting the blood left in his mouth out. "At least you killed it."

"Hey, your eyes changed back," Welf said.

"Changed back?" Ethan frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"When you went to fight that dragon, your eyes turned red," Welf said. "That was why I brought them up. But now they're brown again."

Ethan frowned, glancing at Lili. "That might have been my skill. It doubles my stats when I fight to defend someone. Which would also explain why I wasn't killed."

Welf nodded. "Sounds awesome!"

"Let's take a break," Bell said. "Then we can get back to fighting."

"You go ahead," Ethan said. "I'm going to head back and restock on potions."

"Have our goddess upgrade your status too," Bell said. "She was worried when you disappeared."

"I'm sure she's fine," Ethan said, walking back to the stairs, then up them and out of the dungeon.

As he walked, he glared at the ground. What the hell had Bell's attack been? And where could he get it? With a power like that, he really would be able to defend his sister from anything. He sighed. He was so jealous of Bell, for multiple reasons. Not only had he apparently leveled up in a month and a half, but he'd also found some kind of power that could kill a baby dragon in a single shot. Lucky him.

Ethan stopped by the guild, exchanging his crystals for money while ignoring his advisor yelling at him for again going deeper than he was supposed to, then went potion shopping for a little bit before he headed back to the church. As he arrived, Hestia glared at him.

"There you are!" Hestia snapped. "Where the hell were you? You were supposed to be there for Bell's celebration too!"

"Can we skip the yelling, please?" Ethan asked. "I'm too tired for it, and I just got chewed out again by my advisor for going too deep into the dungeon without permission."

"How deep did you go?" Hestia asked.

"Floor eleven again," Ethan said. "I've been living on ten for the last few trips, so I decided to try eleven this time."
"What!?" Hestia demanded. "Your stats aren't high enough for that!"

"Speaking of would you mind upgrading mine?" Ethan asked.

Hestia glared at him before beckoning him over. He walked over and knelt, and she pricked her finger, dripping it onto his back before beginning to upgrade his status.

"I don't know why I'm bothering," Hestia growled. "You obviously don't care about being a part of this Familia since you're always running off into the dungeon for days at a time and the only thing you do here is sleep. All you care about is raising your status. Nothing else matters to you."

"That's not true," Ethan said.

"If it wasn't true you'd actually do something, basically anything, to help support the Familia," Hestia said, finishing and pressing a paper to his back, only for him to stand and walk away. "Hey! Where are you going!?"

"Back to the dungeon," Ethan said, grabbing his sword. "Since I'm obviously not welcome here, and the money I've been giving you and Bell is obviously worthless, clearly there's no reason for me to stay here."

Then, he slammed the door behind himself, kicking a chunk of stone lying in the grass on his way past. His chest ached at the same time as anger flooded through his veins. How could she say he wasn't supporting the Familia? Every single valis he didn't spend on clothes or potions he left in her room of the church. And it was always gone the next time he came back, so it was definitely being used. How else could he possibly support the Familia? The only thing he could do was make money in the dungeon. It just took him longer than it did Bell because Bell was a high enough level to kill monsters faster than him, and had a supporter to collect the crystals for him while he fought, saving him time. Ethan was alone and under-leveled. It wasn't his fault.

"Ethan?" Bell asked as he passed them just outside the dungeon. "You're going back in already?"

"Get out of my way, Bell," Ethan growled.

"Wait!" Bell said, catching his arm. "You can't just go back! Our goddess will worry again!"

"She's not worried," Ethan snarled. "She doesn't want me around. As always with divines, nothing's ever good enough." He slapped Bell's hand away. "Nothing but you, at least."

Then, he turned and stormed back into the dungeon.

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