I do not own Familia Myth or any of the characters.
New Moon Festival
Ethan smiled as he watched the excitement and curiosity on Anya's face and just barely showing on Ryuu's own face, betraying the fact that she was just as excited and curious as Anya was. Ethan handed both of them the gift-wrapped, cubic box he had for them, both boxes about double the size of his fist. Anya ripped her box open instantly and squealed in delight as the gold chain lined with diamonds caught the light. She pulled it out instantly, glowing with joy as she put it on. Ryu raised an eyebrow before opening her own box in a slightly more civilized manner, staring into it for several long seconds before reaching in and pulled out a ring. It was a silvery metal with a teardrop-shaped emerald in the face of it. Ryu's eyes widened slowly and she looked up to Ethan in surprise and confusion, Anya covering her mouth.
"Ethan...I can't...I'm not..." Ryu stared at the ring again, eyes watering.
"I'm not asking you to marry me," Ethan assured her, Ryu's eyes widening before relief washed over her. "It's just a way to thank you for everything you've done for me."
Ryu smiled in relief, nodding a her tears began to fall, and Ethan reached out, wiping her eyes for her and pulling her into him, holding her as she trembled. Anya gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before taking her leave. After a few minutes, Ryu began to calm herself, remaining encircled in Ethan's arm for nearly a half hour before pulling away.
"I'm sorry," Ryu said, staring at the ring now on her finger. "I do want to. I just-"
"You have nothing to apologize for, Ryu," Ethan said, cupping her cheek and making her look up at him. "I don't care if we're married or not as long as we're together. In my opinion, it changes nothing except what other people see us as. I'll love you just as much without a gold ring on your finger as I would if you had one. My feelings don't depend on titles or status."
Ryu smiled and nodded, kissing him. "I love you. And I would marry you. I swear to you that nothing would make me happier. But I can't marry you while I'm blacklisted by the Guild."
Ethan smiled and nodded. "Thank you for telling me."
Ryu smiled, nodding, and kissed him again, both remaining there for a while before walking down to the others. Most of the girls instantly went to admire Ryu's new ring while Cassandra and Haruhime followed Ethan over to the wine sitting off to one side.
"Anya warned us all you aren't engaged," Cassandra said. "I'm sorry."
"Are you okay?" Haruhime asked.
"I'm fine," Ethan smiled. "It's not that she doesn't want to. It's because she's blacklisted by the Guild, so she can't."
"Have you tried appealing to Ouranos?" Cassandra asked.
"It's not that easy," Ethan said. "She broke a lot of laws in the eyes of the Guild. Something like that doesn't just go away."
"It should," Cassandra said. "She's done so much good!"
"A murderer who saves a village is still a murderer," Ethan said. "It's fine. They know where she is and aren't actively hunting her down, so there's nothing to keep us from being together. As far as I'm concerned, I don't need to marry her because I can already spend my life with her."
Cassandra and Haruhime both smiled widely and nodded before rushing off to join the others in admiring the ring. As they did, Ethan brought Ryu a glass of wine as well and she smiled appreciatively, using her free hand to accept it and take a drink. After a couple more minutes, the door opened and Bell, Welf, Lili, and Hestia returned from their respective tasks for the day, all looking excited.
"Why didn't anyone tell me there's a festival tonight!?" Hestia demanded.
"A festival?" Ethan frowned, looking around at the others. "What festival?"
"The Full Moon Festival!" Lili said.
"Oh!" Ethan gasped. "Is that tonight? In all the commotion of Hestia being kidnapped, I totally forgot!"
"What's the Full Moon Festival?" Haruhime asked.
"Unacceptable!" Aisha said. "You're going!"
"We're all going!" Hestia said. "Everyone go get ready!"
Everyone scrambled away to decide on an outfit, except Ethan and Ryu, both deciding to go in what they had on. Ethan was currently wearing a light grey tee-shirt and a pair of black pants, and Ryu was wearing a white shirt and a light green skirt that reached to just above her knees. They walked over to the couch together to wait, both refilling their glasses with the last of the wine before Ethan sat, Ryu sitting in his lap, allowing him to wrap his arms around her.
"I don't usually go," Ryu said.
"Well, you're going with me whether you like it or not," Ethan said. "And if you don't like it, we can always sneak away later."
Ryu smiled, giving him a kiss. "Deal."
Ethan smiled, kissing her back before pulling away, both continuing to sip at their wine until everyone else arrived. They both drained their wine and stood, following the others out of the house. The festival was fairly simple, as far as Orario festivals went. There were food stalls everywhere, mask shops selling various moon-decorated half masks, and several stalls selling half-capes and cloaks decorated with various different phases of the moon.
"This is less incredible than you made it sound, Lili," Ethan said.
"Well, what else did you have to do?" Lili asked.
Ethan shrugged, restraining his smirk as Ryu nearly crushed his hand warningly.
"He could be having some personal time with Ryu," Aisha grinned knowingly. "Come to think of is, why didn't I keep Haruhime back at the house, too?"
Haruhime's face went scarlet instantly. "Aisha!"
"What?" Aisha asked obliviously.
"Bell, let's get some fried calamari!" Hestia said suddenly, dragging Bell toward a food stall.
Lili followed, beginning to argue with Hestia over Bell, but Ethan and Ryu ignored them, heading to a teriyaki stall instead.
"Those confident in their physical strength, please come forward!" Hermes' voice shouted suddenly, Ryu and Ethan turning instantly, seeing him standing on a stage in front of a large crowd of adventurers. "Come! Who is the hero amongst us who can remove the spear!?"
Sitting in front of him was a massive chunk of jagged, turquoise-blue crystals with a silver shaft sticking up out of it, Ethan able to just barely make out a spearhead inside. Ethan glanced at Ryu and the two of them walked over to the crowd, stepping up beside the others.
"What kind of stunt is Hermes pulling now?" Hestia asked.
"Only the chosen one shall pull the legendary spear from this stone!" Hermes declared. "The prophecy says the Goddess of Chastity will bless the one worthy of claiming it!"
"Which one?" Ethan asked Ryu under his breath, Ryu elbowing him in the ribs but smiling slightly.
"Additionally!" Hermes shouted, whipping a piece of paper out of his coat. "We're sending the winner on an all-expenses-payed trip around the world! Preauthorized by the Guild, of course."
"What's the catch?" Ethan asked over the cheering crowd.
"No catch!" Hermes said. "As long as you can pull the spear out."
"Sounds like just another one of Master Hermes's schemes," Lili said.
"Scheme or not, it sounds kind of fun!" Hestia said. "You should give it a try, Bell!"
"Yeah?" Bell asked. "Alright."
Just then, Ais stepped up on the other side of Ethan and Ryu, along with a female elf with red hair.
"I'm trying," Ethan decided, giving Ryu a quick kiss before pushing through the crowd.
He reached the steps just as the adventurer who tried to fight Bell just before the battle against the Black Goliath gave up. Ethan walked up onto the stage and over to the spread, ignoring Hermes. He squatted down, staring at the crystal for a moment before standing again.
"It's not about strength, is it?" Ethan smirked at Hermes, wrapping his hands around the spear.
"We'll see," Hermes said.
Ethan closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on the memory of he and Ryu being ambushed in the dungeon. When he opened his eyes, his sclerae were black and his irises were shining crimson. He gripped the spear and pulled upward with all of his augmented might. The boards below the crystal began to bow upward and groan, cracks beginning to form, but the crystal didn't budge. He stopped, letting the stage settle.
"I thought not," Ethan said. "Oh well. Not a huge spear fan anyway."
He walked off stage and rejoined Ryu as the elf girl with Ais, Lefiya, tried and failed. Then, Ais went. However, after a few seconds of pulling, she stopped.
"You can do it!" Lefiya cheered. "I believe in you Miss Ais!"
Ais released the spear. "No, I can't. It won't move."
Everyone stared in shock, until Bell walked onto the stage, bowing as he asked Hermes permission to try. Then, just as soon as he wrapped his hands around the spear, shining white hieroglyphs spread along the spear from his hands before the crystal all but exploded, knocking Bell onto his rear, staring at the spear still held out in front of himself in shock. Everyone else stared at him in shock as well, except Hermes, who lowered his head, tugging the brim of his hat lower in order to hide his face. Ethan glanced at the spear, seeing the head of it was roughly teardrop-shaped with a blue crystal in the center, then two curved extra blades extended from the sides of the main point.
"Bell!" Hestia cheered, leaping onto the stage and tackling him with a hug. "You did it! I knew you could!"
"I don't believe it," Ryu breathed, staring at Bell.
"What part of this surprises you?" Ethan asked.
Ryu shook her head. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Bell does seem to always surprise people."
Ethan nodded just as a hand landed on his shoulder. He turned and stared at both his advisor and Eina, Bell's advisor. Both were in uniform, and his own Advisor's long, silver hair was tied in a braid tonight.
"Sophie, Eina, what are you two doing here?" Ethan asked.
"We have a message from the Guild's leadership," Sophie said.
"Specifically, one from Ouranos himself directly to my former adventurer, Ryu Lion," Eina said, staring at Ryu sternly.
"So you finally decided to arrest me?" Ryu asked, Ethan's irises darkening to crimson instantly.
"No," Eina said. "The message is that Ouranos will grant you a full pardon in exchange for successfully completing a quest for him."
"What kind of quest?" Ethan asked suspiciously.
"An escort mission," Eina said. "There's an individual within the Guild who needs to make it to the Eighteenth Floor. However, the task is to be carried out in secret. Even the other members of your Familia are not to know anything is happening. It can only be the two of you."
"That would include fighting the Goliath," Ryu said. "He expects us to be able to defeat the Floor Boss with only three people?"
"Two," Sophie said. "Your charge would not be participating in any battles. To include any minotaur incidents."
Ethan and Ryu glanced at each other knowingly before looking back at the two Guild employees.
"What's the timeframe for the quest?" Ethan asked.
"You would-"
"Without further ado, I think it's time to reveal the sponsor of the prize trip!" Hermes announced, cutting Eina off.
Ethan looked around, then followed everyone else's gazes to a woman standing just behind the crowd. She had blue hair in a gathered into a ponytail behind her with her bangs hanging down over the top of her forehead and a few locks of hair hanging down in front of each shoulder, a dress with white up the middle and pale blue on the sides as well as the strip that wrapped around her neck, crossing itself over her collarbones with a small window between it and the top of the dress. The dress ended high on her thighs and was coupled with an orange cloth belt, a cloth hanging from the belt to mid-calf on her right side wrapping from the middle in front to the middle in back, a strip of metal on the top end of the white cloth, which was folded out over itself so that the metal was a few inches below the belt, a metal hip-guard on her left side shaped vaguely like an arrowhead, a gold bracer around each bicep and wrist with a dark blue cloth wrapping loosely around each arm between the bracers, dark brown, thigh-high, boots with high heels and a lighter shade of brown along the bottom and on the heel, then up along the boots in crisscrossing spirals, and there was a black-hilted, gilded dagger peeking out from behind her on the right side with a teal-colored tassel on the end of the grip. She wore a pleasant smile, and her green eyes were staring at Bell.
"No way!" Hestia gasped. "Artemis! What are you doing down here!?"
"Oh, is she a friend of yours?" Bell asked.
"Artemis and I used to be very close back in Heaven!" Hestia said. "She's one of my best friend! I've missed you!"
Hestia jumped off the stage and ran to give Artemis a hug as Artemis also ran forward, only for Artemis to pass Hestia, leaving her stunned and confused. Then, Artemis leapt at Bell, tackling him with a hug.
"I found you!" Artemis cheered. "My Orion!"
Ethan's eyes went wide as the spear clattered to the stage, then leaned close to Ryu so he could whisper. "Does that mean Bell has another member in his harem?"
Ryu shrugged.
Finally, Hestia managed to snap out of her shock and turned to see a still-stunned bell sitting on the stage with Artemis seated in his lap and clinging to his torso. Hermes was off to the side, trying not to laugh into his hand and Ethan grinned, bracing for Hestia's meltdown.
"Wha...wha...wha...wha...WHAT THE HECK!?" Hestia finally shrieked.
Everyone began to laugh, except Bell, who finally snapped out of his shock and began to scramble to tell Hestia that it wasn't his fault and Artemis who remained resolutely cuddled into his chest.
"Anyway," Ethan said, still grinning as he turned back to Eina and Sophie. "What were you saying about the timeframe of the quest?"
"It will need to be within the week," Sophie said.
Ryu and Ethan glanced at each other before looking back to the stage where Hestia was trying futilely to drag Artemis off of Bell.
"We're going to be going on whatever trip Bell just won," Ethan said. "So let us see when that is, then I'll come to the Guild to discuss the terms of the quest."
Sophie nodded and the two of them turned and walked away.
"This is a very bad idea," Ryu said.
"I agree," Ethan nodded. "But we've slipped past the Goliath once before with only me fighting it. If all else fails, we can do that again. And I'm better at manipulating my skill into functioning this time, so I won't be almost killed next time."
Ryu hesitated a moment before nodding. "We'll need to be careful. And you'll need armor."
"Definitely," Ethan nodded. "I'm satisfied with my stats as they are. I'll gladly get some armor now."
Ryu nodded and they headed up to the stage as Hestia finally managed to pry Artemis off of Bell and they all headed back to the mansion.
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