The Song and Bells of Hope
Hey you beautiful people, nice to meet you I am Lewsia.
This lil story of mine will be taking place before the events of Danmachi Vol.15 and after Sword Oratoria Vol. 12. I will also be using some events from the mobile game, Memoria Freese, along with the movie, Arrow of Orion. To be fair I don't really know which events from the mobile game I'm specifically going to use but I thought I should say it for future reference due to the main focus of this which is Bell x Lefiya...so yay.
Timeline will probably be screwy.
Also forgive me if there's another story similar to this.
A week had passed since the invasion of Knossos, the successful invasion to be even more accurate. The demi spirits were killed. The members of the Demeter familia, that were still alive, were saved. Levis was defeated by Aiz. Enyo was sent back to heaven, albeit by his own hands. Even Enyo's familia...was defeated. Of course there were other issues to handle now but all in all the final operation and invasion of Knossos was a success, the fallen members of the Loki familia were avenged, and Oraio was saved.
Unfortunately, regardless of success, a certain elf had been feeling quite depressed since the ordeal. Understandable considering what she went through.
Since the week they had been back Lefiya had spent a majority of her time cooped up in her room. While she did come out of her room and talk to the other familia members, everyone around her could tell she was still in pain after she had to kill her friend, Filvis. Tiona and Tione tried constantly to bring the girl out with them, hoping that some outside air would, at the very least, clear her mind. The executives, Finn, Gareth, and Riveria were concerned for the girl however they too had a difficult time cheering up the girl. Which is saying a lot if even Mama Riveria was having a tough time at the task. Loki tried too, but all she could really offer her miserable child were some words of wisdom, hoping that Lefiya wouldn't let this hold her down and would continue to move forward. Even Lefiya's beloved Aiz couldn't pull her out of her despairful state. Aiz tried everything she could think of to help the girl. She took her to the dungeon, she trained the girl, and even got jagamarukun with her. To be fair Aiz wasn't the best at consoling people however she still did want to try for her friend and familia member.
Lefiya obviously knew what her friends were trying to accomplish and while seeing Aiz try so hard to cheer her up did make her heart skip a beat or two, she still felt saddened by the death of her friend. The death that she had brought her friend.
Deciding that she didn't want to cause any further issues for her familia and not get in their way she decided to go out by herself today. She had no real destination in mind so she just let her feet carry her wherever. Within fifteen minutes of walking around Orario she ended up at a particularly interesting place. She was at the high city wall, where she first saw Aiz and Bell Cranel, or as Lefiya would refer to him, "that perverted, disgusting human." Wondering if her subconscious was just trying to torment her or not, she decided to go atop the wall. She felt like the wall would show her a great view and if her familia did get concerned about her whereabouts she figured Aiz would probably come to her if she were here.
Of course though, things would not go as smoothly as she hoped they would today thanks to a certain white haired boy.
Yet again, Bell had put his well being in danger, all for the sake of others, but then again that's what makes him Bell Cranel. That's what makes him a fool, or rather, a hero.
While Bell did indeed change the outcome of the Knossos invasion that took place a week prior, not everyone was happy for the boy's actions. Especially the Dea Saint herself, Amid, who was quite upset that the boy had put so much strain on his arm during the ordeal when he used his fully charged Argonaut shot to take down the dragon demi spirit. He was now forced to wear the metal braces for a bit longer and was told to not apply too much pressure to it. Amid understood that if it weren't for Bell's actions that the outcome of the invasion might've ended with their failure, so she decided not to scold him too much, however as a doctor, she was still quite angry and annoyed. Not wanting to further enrage the girl who had done so much for him and his arm, Bell decided to really sit back and try to take things easy.
Emphasis on try.
There were many things on Bell's mind these days, from his desire to get stronger, to the Xenos, to even his latest expedition. He hadn't really had the chance to relax in these last few weeks, so when he suddenly got one it felt a bit strange to say the least. Despite this though he didn't think taking a break from training and the Dungeon was a bad idea, in fact he realized that he needed to take some time off considering all recent events. Unfortunately ever since he returned from the 37th floor his nerves had practically been shot. Haruhime had been there to comfort him through the nights, which helped tremendously but he was still having a hard time readjusting to whatever an adventurer would call normalcy.
Deciding to take it easy today and spend some time outside, Bell decided to go to a favorite place of his that he was shown thanks to a certain Sword Princess. The city wall had become a place special to him, it was where he trained with his crush, Aiz Wallenstein, where he got to get a bit closer to her, it was also the place where the two made up after their fight during the Xenos incident. It was at that same place he told her of his desire to train with the girl again and grow stronger, however, for once that desire of strength did not stem from wanting to stand beside the aforementioned Sword Princess.
Upon reaching the place Bell immediately took in the view of Orario, he saw various people walking around, vendors trying to sell their goods, people window shopping, kids walking hand-in-hand with their parents, adventurers walking toward the giant tower in the center of the city. When his eyes finally decided to acknowledge the stark white tower he couldn't look at anything else. Babel. The tower that sat upon the entrance of the Dungeon. The place where he fought and escaped it's cruel embrace, and where the Xenos are forced to stay. Bell let his mind wonder as he stared at the limestone tower, completely oblivious to everything going on around him, becoming completely oblivious to the rest of the world.
Which would come to explain why he didn't hear the steps slowly approaching him.
There HE was. The stupid human who had recently taken the interest of Miss Aiz.
While Lefiya would normally either scoff or yell at said human, there was something about him at the moment that felt...different. He was just staring at Babel completely in his own world. Actually she was sure by this point that he didn't even notice that she was there. She realized that she could probably walk away without him ever noticing she was there but the thought left her mind just as quickly as it came as she soon got lost in her own traIn of thought.
'Why is he just staring at Babel like that? Has he finally gone and lost his mind or something? I remember Miss Tiona saying something about him having a rough expedition in the Dungeon, maybe he went crazy down there and doesn't want to go back? Wait why am I even thinking of him so much?'
Lefiya had heard about Orario's one-of-a-kind rookie sustaining some pretty bad injuries after his familia's first expedition, and while she didn't know the details of what exactly happened, she knew exactly how cruel the Dungeon could be. There was a part of her that shuddered to think what exactly could take down this persistent human especially after she witnessed him fight that Black Rhino monster that came to surface a few weeks ago. She knew that monster was easily on par with a level 7 and yet the boy fought against it in a merciless and brutal battle to the death. However even that fight didn't leave him looking so ragged.
Before she could continue to let her mind wonder, the white haired boy seemed to finally be out of his trance as he stopped looking at Babel and turned around.
"Miss Lefiya…?"
Being broken out of her own trance now she looked at the boy who was now paying attention to solely her, his rubellite eyes staring directly into her dark blue ones. The suddenness of it all actually caught her off guard and startled her a bit, however she would never admit to this fact.
"What are you doing here…?"
"Hmph why should I tell you anything you filthy human?"
"Ah...sorry I didn't mean to offend you...or anything."
He turned his gaze downward, and his expression softened. Lefiya realized that she was being a bit rude by this point but when it came to Bell Cranel she just couldn't help herself. However now was not the time for petty squabbles, she could not disgrace her elven blood with such rude manners. Besides she wasn't even really in the mood to fight or yell right now, there were too many other things weighing on her for that.
"No...I'm sorry...I shouldn't have acted so...harshly."
"Don't worry about it Miss Lefiya...it's okay."
"..."
"..."
"You were...staring at Babel pretty intently you know..."
"Oh...yeah I was uh...a bit lost in thought…"
"..."
"Miss Lefiya...I hope you don't mind me asking again but...why are you here?"
"...I wanted to clear my mind...and get some fresh air…"
While it hadn't been a lie, it wasn't the full truth either and, unfortunately for Lefiya, Bell was perceptive enough to catch onto this. He could tell there was something bothering her, something bringing down the usually feisty and overly competitive Lefiya that he knew. If there was one thing his grandfather had made sure Bell understood completely, it was that a true man doesn't leave a woman by herself when she's sad.
"Miss Lefiya is...is something wrong…?"
"..."
"...It just seems like there's something...bothering you…"
"..."
"..."
"...I'm fine."
"If...if you want I can get Miss Aiz or Miss Tiona if you'd like to talk to someone else."
"I said...I'm fine, so just leave it at that…"
"But...there's something bothering you isn't there."
"..."
"I...may not know what's wrong...but I want to help...I know how hard it is to try and deal with something on your own…I just-"
Before he could finish his sentence, he was cut off. Lefiya didn't know what exactly set her over the top, maybe it was the fact that the human she despised so much was in front of her, maybe it was words that angered her the most as he tried to sympathize with her, or maybe...it was the undeniable fact that she could tell in this moment...this one terrible moment...that he truly did care for her wellbeing.
"...why...?"
"What was that Miss Lefiya?"
"WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE?!"
"...!?"
"Why is it that you of all people would care about me?! I have been nothing but cruel and rude to you every time we've met! Yet here you are trying to make me feel better!"
Lefiya could no longer contain her whirlwind of raging emotions that had been building up within her. She let everything come out all at once, letting the poor boy take the full impact of it all.
"And how dare you act like you know what I'm going through! You have no idea what I'm dealing with! You have no idea how hard it is to deal with the death of someone you practically loved and cared for! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD IT IS KNOWING THAT I HAD TO...I HAD TO KILL HER! THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO...AND I HAD TO KILL HER OR ELSE FILVIS WOULD'VE KILLED THE REST OF US!"
"...Filvis…?"
As Bell said her name, all Lefiya could do was just break down and cry. She hated so many things about this situation, her overwhelming emotions, her powerlessness against the cruel world, the fact that it was the boy standing in front of her and not someone like Miss Aiz. All she could do was let out all the pain, sorrow, and rage bottled up inside her as she fell to the ground. She only let out her cries as she let her knees hit the cool, hard stone.
Bell wanted to do something, anything to comfort the girl but he knew that he should probably let her have her space, so he sat down across from the girl, and stayed with her.
After a few minutes had passed Lefiya had stopped her grief filled wails, and buried her face into her knees as she sat, her back pressed up against the wall, right across from the white haired boy she claimed to despise.
More time passed as neither said a word to the other. Lefiya didn't dare look up, she didn't want anyone to see her face after she had just cried, especially not Bell Cranel. They both just sat there, neither moving much, or saying anything. As she sat there though, one question kept popping into her head.
Why? Why is he still here after all that? Does he want to ridicule me or something? No...I can take a guess as to what he's waiting for...but why?
Deciding to finally break the silence, Lefiya spoke up as she continued to hide her face.
"...why...why are you still here...?"
Her voice was soft. It held none of the anger and grief it once did minutes ago. It was just a quiet question to the boy who sat across from her.
"I didn't...want to leave you alone."
"..."
"..."
"...I truly don't understand you Bell Cranel."
"...Sorry about that Miss Lefiya…"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Miss Lefiya...do you remember a few months back...at the Holy Moon Festival when Lord Hermes was on stage telling anyone to come up and pull out that spear?"
"...Yeah I remember...what are you trying to gloat about how you could while Miss Aiz couldn't?"
"Not at all...I just thought I'd tell you everything else that happened after that…"
What's he going on about? Everything else? I mean the only eventful things that happened back then was the weird moon shaped thing appearing in the sky...I think I heard Loki say that was arcanum...then there were the monsters in the Dungeon going into a frenzy...maybe he's talking about that? But why now?
Deciding she might as well let him go ahead and talk she lifted her head, a sign telling the boy to continue with his story. Perhaps it was her curiosity that made her want to hear where he was going with this, maybe though she just didn't want to go back to the deafening silence.
When she raised her head to give him the go to continue on with his story Bell's eyes slightly widened. There Lefiya was, her eyes a little red and puffy from all the crying. Her gaze was sorrowful, she was still hurt. A fairy with a broken heart. At that moment Bell wanted to do anything he could to help the girl, he wanted to protect this little fairy more than anything in the world right now. A part of him deep down wanted to even pull the girl into his arms. Deciding to shake away these thoughts Bell steeled himself and continued on his story.
"Well I don't know if you saw her...but there was this blue haired Goddess who ran up to me when I did pull out the spear...her name was...Artemis…"
Bell had a bit of a hard time when it came to talking about her. Lefiya could tell that he was having a hard time saying all of this. She sat back and listened to the story as a few more questions pop up in her head.
"See my familia, or rather Goddess Hestia and I, along with Lily and Welf who had decided to tag along, were tasked with going outside of Orario to go take on a special quest issued by Goddess Artemis herself. We had to go and take out a monster that had killed the entirety of her familia, the monster's name was...Antares. We had traveled for a few days and overtime Artemis and I had gotten pretty close. I had promised her I'd protect her at all costs, as I didn't want anything bad happening to her. Even though she had told me she could handle herself. She even actually fought some monsters! I was so scared that she was going to get hurt!"
He had a strange glint in his eyes as he told her of Artemis. A small smile even appeared on his face when he told Lefiya about the fact that she fought against some monsters.
"Our destination was the Elsus Ruins and as we got closer more strange monsters, unlike anything I've seen in the dungeon, appeared, along with the sight of dead forest. It was there we were suddenly attacked by spears made of light, they rained down on us till we were forced to land our tamed dragons and fight off some more of the strange monsters, only to be saved by the Hermes familia along with someone they had hired to help. It was there we were informed of the upcoming fight against Antares. On that night before the fight Artemis and I talked some more, and we danced together in the middle of a pond."
As the words left Bell's mouth his lips ever so slightly curled up into a small smile. His eyes though were filled with sorrow. Lefiya listened intently, she could tell every single word that left his mouth were memories important to him.
"As the day of the fight came, we were ambushed by those strange monsters and had to separate from the Hermes familia, while my familia, along with Lord Hermes, Asfi, their hired help, and Goddess Artemis and Hestia went to the ruins to put an end to Antares. As we entered it didn't take too long before we got to Antares, and that's when we all saw it...Goddess Artemis...she was encased in a crystal...she had basically become Antares' magic stone…it had eaten Goddess Artemis and had gained her divine powers...her arcanum...and since she was a part of the monster she wasn't getting sent back to heaven for breaking the rules...the one I had gotten to know was...just a fragment of the original that came with the spear or rather...the arrow."
Lefiya couldn't believe what she was hearing. A monster that was using arcanum! She would have said it was impossible however she remembered the 2nd moon in the sky. Bell was looking down at the stone floor at this point. He may have come to terms with what happened but...it still hurt.
"Artemis and I had gotten separated from the rest of the group, where we had come across the dead members of her familia. It was then Artemis told me everything and I soon realized what I had to do...but...I just couldn't. I didn't want to. The arrow she gave me was apparently strong enough to kill gods but I couldn't bring myself to kill her...so I foolishly threw it away and charged at it with my knife. Of course it wasn't enough and I was knocked away, powerless against it. At that moment it was about to fire an arcanum at me but before it could...Goddess Artemis, the fragment of her had jumped in the way...to protect me from the shot. She had then faded away...she had used all her remaining strength to protect me. She told me to 'fire my arrow before her arrow could claim me.' Shortly after my Goddess came up to me with the arrow...and told me to save Goddess Artemis…"
Lefiya knew what he was gonna say next and even still it did not diminish the utter shock she had felt upon hearing the words come out of his mouth.
"I had charged up my skill and used it to throw the arrow at Antares...and while it did defeat the monster it would still regenerate as long as it...as long as it had its...core...so I had gone up to it...and I had...I shattered through the crystal with my knife...and stabbed...Goddess Artemis right through her heart...I had killed her."
Bell had a hard time getting the words out, his chest felt heavy, he couldn't look at the girl sitting across from him, he even felt some tears welling up in his eyes. Lefiya saw his discomfort and pain, she could tell the events really shook him down to his core. While she would never, ever admit it, probably, at that moment he had looked like a scared and fragile bunny, she wanted to go over there, hug him and make sure he'd be okay. Pushing that train of thought to the deep depths of her mind, she decided to speak up.
"Hey...are you...are you okay?"
Her voice was filled with concern for the boy, it was a bit shocking to the both of them actually. Bell lifted his head to meet her gaze where she could see the tears that threatened to fall out of his eyes. She thought for a split second that she was about to witness the boy break down into a fit of sorrow like she had early but this idea was gone within a second with the boy's next action.
His eyes widened when he looked at the girl. She looked so concerned and worried for him. As he gazed into the deep blue eyes, all those feelings of pain and sorrow were gone. Here in front of him sat a girl who had usually called him all sorts of insulting things, the two hardly knew each other, and yet here they were trying to make sure the other was okay. The only thing Bell could do was smile at this fact, as the final moments he had with Artemis played through his mind.
It was a smile filled with relief, acceptance, and care. It was almost radiant to the girl. It was a bit unexpected considering what he had been saying a minute ago, but then she remembered that this was Bell Cranel she was thinking about, the boy who was surprisingly more resilient than she thought. Unbeknownst to her, her cheeks had developed a small pink tinge after seeing that smile of his.
"Thank you Miss Lefiya. I'm okay."
"Ah! Well then...that's good to hear…so you were saying...you..."
"Yeah...I killed her...I couldn't just sit there and continue to let her suffer, I couldn't let her continue to be used by that monster...so I did what had to be done. I promised to save her but in the end I couldn't save her in the way I wanted to...my Goddess told me I did save her as I was greeted with the beautiful sight of the once dead forest living again, I like to think she's up in heaven telling me not to cry and watching me from above laughing at all the things I do. Look Miss Lefiya I can't claim to understand exactly what you went through but I wanted you to know that I can understand having to put someone who you cared for to rest with your own hands."
"Ah! I am so sorry I said what I said, I had no idea that you had to do something similar!"
Lefiya scrambled to get out an apology after she realized that in her fit of rage and grief she had told the boy that she couldn't possibly understand what it's like to kill someone you cared for.
"It's alright, you didn't know...not many people do...actually hardly anyone does...I was told not to tell anyone about the events...but I felt like I needed to talk about it with you."
As Bell said this he sheepishly raised a hand to the back of head and scratched as he recalled being told to not recount the events concerning the quest to anyone. Upon hearing this and seeing Bell she just burst out in laughter.
"Telling me something you weren't supposed to share with anyone all for the sake of making me see that I'm not alone? Bell Cranel you are truly a foolish human!"
She said as she tried to stifle down some laughs. While Bell felt a bit embarrassed at the sudden outburst coming from the girl.
"But still you really are very kind. Thank you for telling me all of that Bell."
As the words left her mouth Bell saw the brightest smile he had ever seen on the girl at that moment and it was for that brief second that he could've sworn he felt his heart skip a beat and his cheeks rising in temperature. All he could do was smile in response to what she had said.
"You are very welcome Miss Lefiya, I'm just glad to have been able to see that beautiful smile!"
Now it was her turn to feel her heart skip a beat or two and blush at the boy's words and smile.
"Trying to be a womanizer and get into my heart huh?"
"No, no! That was not my intention at all! I just wanted to say I was really happy to see you smile cause I thought you looked so pretty! AH! WAIT!"
Bell was quickly holding his head as he had realized all the embarrassing things he was practically yelling at this point. All Lefiya could do was laugh at the boy's actions as he continued to scramble his hair while trying to defend himself then to go back and compliment her again. It was a vicious cycle for the poor boy.
Yeah he's way too innocent and kind to be a womanizing pervert. I bet there are various girls around him that have feelings for and he doesn't even realize it. Hmm why does my chest kind of hurt when I think about that?
"It's okay! It's okay! I think at this point you're just torturing yourself more than anything."
Lefiya let her own laughter die down a bit as she tried to console the embarrassed and cute mess that was Bell Cranel.
Wait cute?
"Sorry about that Miss Lefiya...I'm not the best with words at times."
"It's all right and just call me Lefiya, you've seen me bawl my eyes out and you even told me a secret that you were told not to share with anyone. At this point the 'Miss' part feels a bit too formal."
"Alright then Mi-, I mean, Lefiya, please continue to just call me Bell."
"I suppose I shouldn't call you 'perverted, disgusting, filthy human' all the time so alright then...Bell."
"Ah yeah thanks for that...well sorry for taking up so much of your time today Mi-, I mean, Lefiya. I'll get it right the first time eventually."
"I actually have nothing to do today, my familia has decided to take it easy after the Knossos invasion so now we're currently on break from anything big. I don't really feel like training or going into the Dungeon though...so I'm just wondering around today."
"My familia is doing the same, after our expedition we had decided it would be best if we all take it easy from the Dungeon and wait for me to heal up too. I wanted to get away from them for a bit, I know they care but they can be a bit overbearing at times too. So I came here with no real plans for the day other than just going out."
We both don't have plans for the day...I wonder if he'd stay and talk with me some more...it's been surprisingly nice.
Just as this thought ran through her head, he had gotten to stand up.
"Well I don't want to bother you anymore than I have so I'll be off now."
Wait what? Oh wait that's right every time he's been around me I usually shoo him away quickly! This must all be so new to him! I mean it's new to me too but still that doesn't mean I want him to go! WAIT, WHAT AM I EVEN THINKING?!
Before he could go though she had spoken up.
"Wait! You...you d-don't have to go...actually I would like to talk some more...if you don't mind that is."
"You sure...? I would love to stay and talk some more if that's what you really want Lefiya."
"Y-yeah stay. I've really enjoyed talking to you, it's been surprisingly nice and plus...the company has been good."
That time Bell was definitely certain that his heart had skipped a beat. He sat back down across from her and smiled yet again. His actions did a surprising amount of damage to Lefiya's emotions as she felt her already apparent blush turn an even deeper shade of red, along with her heart rate increase as she continued to look at that adorable smile of his.
ADORABLE?!
Well this is my first ever fanfic so please forgive me for any grammatical errors. I do sincerely hope you've enjoyed it though. I know I wasn't really able to capture both of their characters just right, kind of went off in my own way with Lefiya there. I like the dynamic these two have whenever they're together along with obvious parallels in character between the two, I just felt like there was something there that would be fun to explore and go into.
As I said this is my first ever fic so please feel free to criticize, give feedback and such, I do plan to continue this it may take some time but I want to build up the relationship between the two a bit more before they get all lovey dovey...or something like that I dunno. Anyways like I said I hope you enjoyed it and if there is a fic similar to what I've written please do inform me and let me apologize beforehand. Have a good day and expect more! At some point!
