Disclaimer: I do not own DanMachi or any of Omori's original characters, nor do I make any profit off of my writing.


Bell's breath caught in his throat. The girl's beauty strangling him for air far faster than any one-ton bull monster could. Honestly, with her golden hair, fair skin, and innate beauty, the only thing that could make this better is if she had a beautiful–

"Art thou alright?"

–voice..

.. what?

The two simply blinked at one another for several suffocating moments, neither one willing to fill the void that seemed to stretch on endlessly.

Bell was fairly certain that in another world, had she said anything else, maybe even the same thing but said it normally, he probably would have run away screaming. This isn't that world though and he was far more concerned about why she was speaking all 'olde' like.

He licked his lips nervously as his eyes flicked around the cavern before landing back on her. "Did– " She swallowed nervously as he narrowed his eyes. "Did you just say 'art thou'?"

"No?"

A wonderful defense from Orario's youngest attorney at all.

Bell scoffed. "You totally did!"

The girl, apparently, did not take to his accusations lightly. It was bad enough that she'd let her accent slip in he worries, but now he was going to make fun of her for it? She wasn't even the one who spoke weird! Ever since she was transported a thousand years into the future it was everybody else who said all these weird words!

Riveria had stressed just how important it was for her to blend in with the people of the dungeon city. Why couldn't they just blend in with her?

"I said, 'are you alright' not.. not.. whatever thou thought!"

Damnit!

"You did it again!"

"I didst not!"

Gah!

Bell was back on his feet now, approaching the girl as one would a wild animal. He shuffled forward somewhat sideways, one of his hands held up in the space between them. His palm faced forward as if expecting the swordswoman to press her face into it as a good would.

Did he think she was a dog?

He chuckled somewhat as he took another step forward, slowly closing the gap between them. "You sooo did, Wallenstein-san."

She huffed petulantly, blowing a few strands out of her face as she scowled down at him. "Fie! Confound it all! Aye, this ist how I speaketh! Doth thou has't a problem with it?"

Bell shook his head with a mirthful smile, a chipper 'nope!' escaping his lips as he took another step.

Despite herself and her situation, Aiz returned the smile in kind. Hers was far smaller in nature but to Bell it was twice as bright.

"Ist not weird?"

"Oh no, it is so weird, but also like really cute and– "

Bell didn't get to finish with his once-in-a-lifetime burst of confidence as Aiz grew too embarrassed by his words and tried giving him a playful punch on the shoulder, sending the blood-soaked boy careening into the cavern wall.

Thump!

"Bahahahah! Look at the Tomato Bitch fly! Bahahaah! Good one, Aiz!"

She scowled at Bete's sudden entrance, a muttered 'dalcop!' escaping her lips before she could stop it. Behind her, the werewolf's ear twitched as he picked up the whisper but ultimately had no idea if that was a word or not.

On the bright side, he'd already turned away to return to the family by the time she discretely bit her thumb in his direction. That'll teach him!

Aiz sighed as she threw the peculiar boy up into a princess carry and began her journey to the surface. It wasn't like she could just leave him there. Bete didn't say a word as she held him with far more concern than she did most things in life, his eyes widening before they narrowed with a scowl.

Bell's head shifted causing his hair to slide down her bicep with it.

.. soft..

Aiz smiled once again, simply happy to have found somebody she could speak openly with. Ever since Riveria had tried to train her accent out of her Aiz had grown quiet. It was just too much work to constantly monitor her own speech and was far easier to be more of a passive observer.

Well, that was one reason.

The other, of course, was the significant childhood trauma that led her to feel both physically and emotionally isolated from her peers in which nobody would be able to relate to her. She chose to put her focus into mindlessly slaughtering monsters and training to one day take revenge for her parents. It was simply far easier to suppress all of the overwhelming emotions she expressed as a child and lock them far away; deep, deep inside of her. The small child in her head was already going on quite the tirade about how cute the boy was in her arms and with the number of expletives the little girl was saying, Aiz found herself inclined to agree.

She glanced down at the white-haired boy in her arms and smiled once again before stepping out into the bottom of Babel and continuing up the stairs. She pressed him a little further into her chest when everybody's eyes locked on them, quickly finding herself scowling as they refused to look away.

She always hated this attention.

Without further ceremony, she activated her mother's winds and took off down the rooftops that line the main streets of the city. Did she know where the boy lived? Nope. Did she care? Not in the slightest.

That wasn't even where they were headed.

The northern wall of the city was always a place Aiz found comforting, somewhere she could simply sit and be at peace. Her familia would never hear those words come from her mouth, far too taken with the image she created for herself. The Doll Princess. She scoffed internally with Little Aiz doing so in tandem. She hated that name, the picture it created.

That wasn't who she was.

She ist Aiz Waldstein. Not Wallenstein. Not Doll Princess. Not Sword Princess. Not War Princess.

Waldstein.

"Nnggh"

The boy stirred beside her, pulling her gaze from the Beol mountains on the horizon. He was opening and closing his mouth while he rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand and damnit! He tryest to look even cuter! It was hard enough for Aiz to separate from him, to begin with, now she was consumed by a desire to hold him close and mess up his hair. It wasn't fair! How did he get to do this to her without consequence?

"Thou awakest."

His eyes shot open and sound somewhere between the yip of a dog and a deflating balloon escaped his lips. Almost immediately, his face turned several shades darker as he blushed. Aiz couldn't really guess as to why that was, maybe he ist hot? She leaned back onto her heels, not entirely sure when she had sat down. The action finally gave the cute boy room to breathe as she was no longer mere centimeters from his face.

From his.. lips.

Oh.

Aiz face turned similarly crimson as she squeaked and hid behind her hands.

"S'rry!"

He snorted.

She scowled.

Had it all been a lie? Had he just pretended to think her accent was cute? Did he really think it was weird like she had worried for so long? Was he going to–

He smiled.

Her thoughts cut off as the skin of her cheeks practically boiled under newfound warmth. This. Wasn't. Fair!

".. as cute as ever."

Aiz balked. "Eh?"

".. "

".. "

".. did I say that out loud?"

Aiz just nodded behind her hands.

The next few hours were spent with a young, blood-soaked boy listening to a beautiful, young (less so blood-soaked) maiden as she went on the longest tirade, she'd been on in years. It was amazing. She felt so liberated! She'd gone so long without speaking freely for fear of her accent slipping away that to just do it once was amazing. Simply amazing.

And despite it all, Bell – and wasn't that such a cute name for a cute boy? – listened with rapt attention the entire time. And then (get this) and then he asked if they could do this again sometime! He wanted to hear her speak more!

She was in love.

Wait, sorry.

The lady lovest the poor knave.


Fin.


I had the idea for a Shakespearean Aiz and I just went for it. She was born a thousand years in the past, of course, she was going to have some differences in the way she speaks! It would be ridiculous to consider anything else! This is canon and you cannot convince me otherwise.

Good day.