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

Pushed Too Far

"I don't understand!" Syr said. "Why isn't he healing?"

"I don't know," Ryu said worriedly. "He wasn't healing during the War Game either. It was like there was something blocking it."

"He's resisting my health potions too," Asfi said.

"And mine," Miach said. "Something is terribly wrong."

"There's nothing that could cause that, is there?" Hestia asked. "No poison, no curse, nothing!"

"Not nothing," Hermes said. "I can think of one thing, though if you haven't mentioned it, he probably doesn't have it, since you upgrade his status."

"What does his status have to do with anything?" Hestia asked.

"What I'm thinking of is a specific skill," Hermes said. "But you'd know if he had it, since you have to upgrade his status personally."

Hestia opened her mouth to speak before paling. "I wasn't paying attention when I upgraded his status before we..." Her eyes widened rapidly. "Sit him up! I have to see!"

Bell and Ryu gently lifted Ethan, his face scrunching up as his wound was agitated. Hestia pulled his shirt up and quickly updated his statuses, staring at the skills in wide-eyed shock, then pressed a paper to his back and quickly translated his statuses to it before staring at it, her disbelief fading into guilt as she saw the same thing as before, like confirmation that she had seen it right. Her eyes widened and tears began to fill her eyes as the paper fluttered to the floor.

"What is it?" Ryu asked, looking to Hestia just as Ethan's eyes opened a tiny bit as his brain struggled to rouse him.

"He has..." Hestia stared at his back, eyes watering. "But...how?"

"Because of you," Hermes said. "You never realized what you were doing this whole time, did you?"

"I...I don't..." Hestia stared at him as Ryu knelt, lifting the paper, only for it to fall again.

Then, her hand snapped out, slapping Hestia, hard.

"What are you doing!?" Lili gasped.

"He's got a skill called Hero's Sacrifice," Ryu said. "This really is all Hestia's fault."

"You know what it is?" Hermes asked.

"Yes," Ryu said. "It's a horrible skill. More akin to a mockery. An insult added to injury. One of my former companions had it."

"What's it do?" Welf asked. "Hopefully not what it sounds like."

"Exactly what it sounds like," Ryu said. "Having Guardian Heart is already a very dangerous skill to achieve, because Hero's Sacrifice is only half a step further. To get Hero's Sacrifice as a skill, you have to have absolutely no regard for your life. You almost have to want to die. And yet, you have to be so devoted to someone that you would do absolutely anything for them, including commit suicide, just because they asked. You have to devote yourself to them so completely that you make yourself into nothing but a tool to be used and thrown away, and you have to see yourself as such and be okay with it."

"I'm not sure I follow," Welf said.

"And I don't see how that makes this our goddess's fault," Bell added.

"You don't?" Ryu asked. "He's in love with her! Completely! He lost everything in a single day, including the ability to protect his sister, but then Hestia took him in and gave him a second chance, even when no one else would. She risked becoming a pariah for him. So he fell for her. And then the entire time he was in your Familia, time and time again, you proved that he was barely a part of it. That his second chance was little more than in name alone. He talked to me about everything. He would disappear into the dungeon for days because he was desperate and driven to become strong, so in return, you ignored him and spent all of your time trying to make Bell fall for you. He came back exhausted and asked you to take a few minutes at most to upgrade his status before he went back in, but you were too busy spending time with Bell and celebrating Bell Leveling Up.

"You even told him he was only barely a part of your Familia, as though that would make him think anything other than you didn't accept him. He disappeared for over a week into the Dungeon without telling a soul and you didn't bat an eyelash, but when Bell was gone for more than a day, you posted a quest with a massive reward to save Bell. He came back exhausted and wounded from the Dungeon and instantly agreed to help find Bell, despite being fatally under-leveled for the floors we'd be going to, and you never once thanked him. On the way down, he was nearly killed by the Goliath buying you a chance to escape it, and you didn't even visit him once! Hell, even Bell's weapon is a reminder of how differently you see them. Bell was in your Familia for half a month and spent it trying to level up and pining for someone other than you, and you rewarded him with a priceless hieroglyph dagger. Ethan, in the same amount of time, been leveling up and leaving all the money he could for you, which you used. More money than you needed, allowing you to live more comfortably and without having to worry about money as much, then risked his life over and over on the quest to save Bell for you, and yet you haven't given him anything. Including a 'thank you.'"

"There's more to it than that," Hephaestus said, walking in with a pair of boxes.

"Hephaestus?" Hestia asked. "Why are you here?"

"I'm dropping these off," Hephaestus said. "And there's more that led to him being like this. For example, when Apollo challenged you to a War Game, and threatened to take both Bell and Ethan, you refused to allow him to take Bell. Not your children. Not Bell and Ethan. Just Bell. You didn't care that Ethan would be taken too, even though it would mean he was either killed or zeroed out all over again. You only cared that you might lose Bell."

"He also overheard you telling me how you felt," Bell said, blushing but staring at the floor. "You were talking about running away with me. Which, if you think about it, means leaving him behind."

Hestia stared at him, then at Ethan, eyes closed again and face contorted in pain. Ryu and Bell gently lay him back down as tears flooded down her face.

"Your new Familia emblem is another example of what you've been doing to him, even though he hasn't seen it yet," Hephaestus said. "A bell surrounded by a flame. Bell and Hestia. Nothing relating to Ethan. As always, it's just you. It was always just you. You just never admitted it."

"Everything that's happened to him is your fault!" Ryu spat. "He can't be healed now, so he might actually die, because of you!"

Hestia began to sob finally. "I never wanted this! I never wanted him to suffer! He's a part of my Familia! I was afraid he might die if he kept staying in the Dungeon for so long, so I was harsh to try and make him stay around longer! But I never wanted him to suffer! Especially not for me!"

"It's too late for regrets," Hephaestus said. "The damage is done."

"Can we get rid of the skill?" Bell asked.

"No," Hermes said. "Not without zeroing him out."

"The only way to make the skill go away is to make him value his own life again," Miach said. "He'd have to want to live, and see that he is more than just a tool. Without something for him to live for, that's not going to happen."

Everyone fell silent, but after a while, everyone separated. Bell convinced Ryu and Anya, who had been silently crying ever since Ethan was brought home wounded, to rest at the mansion they'd taken from Apollo, and everyone but Hestia finally left. After several hours, late at night, Ethan's eyes finally slid open.

"You're awake!" Hestia gasped. "How do you feel?"

Ethan remained silent for a long moment before pushing himself up and swinging his legs off the bed. Hestia caught him by the left arm instantly.

"Wait!" she gasped. "You can't move around! You're still badly wounded! You can't be healed by potions or magic anymore! You have a skill called Hero's Sacrifice. It increases your power and your status growth rate the closer you are to death, but in exchange, you can't be healed by any means. Potions, magic, even divine power. It's all useless on you now. You can only heal naturally. So, you need to rest!"

Ethan remained silent, what he'd groggily overheard from when he woke up before, leading all the way up until everyone left, filtered lazily through his head. Finally, he reached up to Hestia's hand, only to pull it off his arm and push it away. He gripped the hilt of the sword Ryu had taken from Lissos, which had been left leaning beside the bed, and used it to support himself as he stood, limping slowly toward the door.

"Ethan!" Hestia gasped.

"I'm a Level Two now," Ethan said, looking down at the paper on the ground, which read all statuses as having reset when he Leveled Up. "My Guardian Heart skill is useless now. I have to go fix that."

"You can't!" Hestia argued, taking a step forward.

"Stay away from me!" Ethan snapped, Hestia staggering back a step. "I heard everything you were all saying. I need...I need time to think. Just...stay away from me."

He limped out of the room, stopping in his room to pick up the safe where he kept all of his money, happy it had remained hidden and unopened all this time. Then, he left the room, making his way to Babel, heading up to Hephaestus's shop. As he'd hoped, she was waiting when the door opened.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Hephaestus demanded. "You're supposed to be resting so you can heal, not shopping!"

"Hestia's debt," Ethan said, sweat running down his forehead from the effort of moving around. "How much is it?"

"Two hundred million valis," Hephaestus said. "Why?"

"Here," Ethan said, holding out the small safe. "It's not nearly the full amount, obviously, but it's all I have."

Hephaestus stared at him, then opened the safe, staring at the neatly stacked piles of gold coins. "This is...This is a hundred million valis. Where did you even..."

"A double-income skill before I was banished," Ethan said. "Since we took everything from Apollo, I was able to get this again."

"I can't accept this," Hephaestus said.

"I'm not asking," Ethan said, pressing the down button on the elevator, the gate rattling shut as Hephaestus stared at him conflictedly, watching him descend again.

Once he'd gotten out of the tower, he walked into the Dungeon, carefully and slowly making his way down the floors, finally stopping as he reached the Seventh Floor. He could go lower if he were fully healed, but he couldn't possibly hope to survive much lower as he was. Even the Seventh Floor would be risky. Sure enough, just as he stepped off of the stairs, a Killer Ant scurried out of a tunnel to his left, scrambling toward him with a high, piercing cry. He slashed it, instantly falling to the ground as it landed off to the side, wounded and missing half its legs, but alive.

He groaned, slowly pushing himself up to his knees as Killer Ants began to swarm from the tunnels. He fired a Chain Lightning, wiping out almost half of them. He fired another. Then another. Then another. He began to rapidly fire the spell over and over, careful not to expend all of his mind. After nearly twenty minutes, his head began to spin slightly and he swallowed hard. He needed to leave. An ant charged him and he grunted, slashing upward and killing it, only to fall to his knees. He turned to the stairs again, beginning to stand, only for an ant to crash into his back, biting hard. He rolled, shoving the ant off before stabbing it. More swarmed him. He managed to slash several, but he could feel them tearing into his body. Finally, he blasted them with another Chain Lightning, clearing himself some room. However, as he moved to retreat up the stairs, his sword snapped and he collapsed to the ground, head spinning rapidly. An ant's jaws bit into his back, but then it was suddenly gone. Ethan let out a weak groan, his consciousness fleeing.

Ryu and Bell quickly finished the last of the Killer Ants around them before Bell picked up Ethan and they quickly climbed the stairs.

"Why would he come down here?" Bell asked. "He's so badly hurt already."

"Because his statuses all reset," Ryu guessed. "He probably felt like he's weak and useless now that his Guardian Heart skill is useless."

"Why?" Bell frowned.

"It multiplies his stats," Ryu said. "But if all his stats are ten, that means it only goes up to fifty at the highest."

"Oh, I see," Bell nodded. "I guess I understand, then. But he needs to heal more before he can increase his stats. Even he should know that."

"He does," Ryu said. "Remember what I said. In order to have Hero's Sacrifice, he has to have no regard for his own life. In his eyes, he probably sees himself as worthless now that he can't use his Guardian Heart skill. Since he sees himself as a tool to be used by Hestia and thrown away when he's of no further use, his current situation is the same to him as having a hammer with half the head and both prongs broken off. He thinks he's worthless."

Bell fell silent as they headed back to their new mansion, returning Ethan to his bed. This time, however, Ryu stayed with him. After a few minutes, Hestia walked in and had Ryu gently sit him up so she could update his statuses, just because she knew he'd want her to. After she finished and transcribed it to a piece of paper, Ryu lay him back down as Hestia stared at the paper. All of his statuses had risen at least fifty points, with his Vitality already over a hundred.

"I don't understand," Ryu frowned. "How?"

"Hero's Sacrifice increases status growth rates the closer the adventurer is to death," Hestia said. "And fighting wounded increases Vitality. This close to death...it's a wonder it didn't hit two hundred."

Ryu remained silent, and after a few minutes, Hestia left. A couple hours later, Ethan's eyes drifted open, slowly roving around the room before he began to push himself up, only for Ryu to push him back down.

"You're not going anywhere," Ryu said flatly. "You have to heal naturally now, so you're going to rest until you're healed. I will not bury you just because you were too impatient to take the time to heal. I'm not letting you die."

Ethan smiled slightly, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I need to be stronger."

"And we'll get you there," Ryu said. "Later. After I no longer have to be afraid of losing someone I care about."

Ethan sighed, nodding, and allowed his eyes to slip closed again. Within seconds, he'd drifted back to sleep.

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