Danmachi: Old Friends

Chapter 4: Moving forward

Bell and Ais are currently walking towards the guild, the walk has been uneventful as the pair remained quiet, they were in a bad mood, they were angry at something and it could be seen on their faces, and the cause of this was a single dream, even if they don't remember much, they can still feel the emotions they felt during the dream, Anger, sadness, sorrow, and happiness, although happiness was what they least felt right now, they decided to continue with they day no matter what expression was on their face.

Earlier when they left the twilight manor everyone wanted to know what had happened but they were ignored by both Ais and Bell, when they tried to get answers from Finn and RIveria they said it was nothing to worry about, but that was a lie, both Finn and Riveria were both worried about the state of mind of Bell and Ais, and only time will tell. Earlier that morning when Finn and Riveria Entered Bell's room, they had seen Ais in tears while Bell was not far from tearing up, if anything he had seemed angry, and when they asked what had happened, Ais and Bell explained something very similar, they had said they only remember black flames engulfing each other while feeling despair, Like they lost something very precious to them.

After the little interrogation Finn let them go on with their day while he was in deep thought. 'Why did something like this happen to both of them at the same Time?, Was it the curse?,' Finn had more questions than answers, and if this kept happening they would need to find answers fast. Riveria had the same thinking as Finn, since the morning she had been invested in her books and trying to come up with a reason as to why this was happening.

Everyone else in the Familia was simply worried for Ais, since it was the first time any of them have seen genuine fear from her and that startled everyone, as for Bell they didn't know him enough to say anything but he was familia and familia needed to look out for each other, and some of the members did worry for Bell because his face, unlike Ais had shown anger and hatred and that scared them even though it wasn't directed towards them.

But there was one member of the Familia that didn't care at all; he didn't care what happened to the boy because he didn't like him at all, he didn't like how close Ais got to him and he didn't like how close Bell got to her, He had liked the old Ais better, Her thirst to get stronger is what drew him to her, but now she is acting like a little kid and is smiling, and he hated that side of Ais, he liked it when she was emotionless and power hungry, he felt like he need to do something because he could feel her drive slowly withering away and it was because of the boy, he felt that something had to be done."

*Outside the Guild*

Bell and Ais have calmed down quite a bit since the morning; both of them have been sitting outside the guild for 10 minutes slowly eating a bunch of Jagamarukun since they skipped breakfast, They both loved eating Jagamarukun it had been something they both had in common.

Neither of them said a word since this morning and both of them knew they couldn't keep it that way, so Bell decided to speak first.

Bell: "How are you feeling?." Ais turned to look at him, and when he saw how she looked he could help but chuckle, Ais had puffy cheeks while she was taking small nibbles of the Jagamarukun, it was a cute sight. When she saw him chuckling at her she puffed her cheeks more and glared at him but that only added to the cuteness and he started to laugh a little harder.

Ais: "Why are you laughing?." She spoke up after finishing her potato snack.

Bell: "I –I was Laughing at you." Bell was wheezing a little.

Ais: "What? Why?." She was taken aback.

Bell: "I was trying to cheer you up."

Ais: "How is laughing at me supposed to cheer me up?."

Bell: "It just did, didn't it?." Bell had seen that she took her mind off of the nightmare. He just stared at Ais because he knew he was right but they also had to talk about it.

Bell: "We can't let a simple dream control us, we need to move forward, we need to view the dream as a motivator to get stronger and not to wallow in despair."

Ais had been listening to every word that came out of, she knew he was right but she just saw it as fuel for her hatred, she saw it as an absolute evil that needs to be destroyed.

Bell could see that Ais was having dark thoughts and decided to intervene the only way he knew how and it was a hug, and it worked. Ais was startled by the sudden affection that all dark thoughts were replaced with warm and fuzzy thoughts.

Bell: "Ais, you need to remember that you're not alone anymore, I will be with you every step of the way, and it's not just me it's your fam- no our familia will be there to support us, so stop with these nasty thoughts and move forward step out of the darkness and into the light."

Ais: "I-I don't think I can, that thing still has my mother, I can't possibly her there, you expe-." Ais had been cut off when Bell did a little chop on her head.

Bell: "That's not what I'm saying; going at the Dragon with eyes full of vengeance is the wrong approach, it clouds your judgment and makes things incredibly difficult in the long run… trust me." The last thing Bell had said caught Ais's attention. 'Did he also go for revenge at some point?' Ais had been thinking about what Bell had said until she snapped out when he started talking again.

Bell: "Plus you also forget that Aria is a mother figure for me to and that I want to free her as well, my drive to get her back is just as strong as yours, you're not alone in this fight…. You don't see me drowning in hatred for monsters or a drive to get stronger for revenge, there is a time and place, and when that time and place comes we will face it together."

Ais had been looking at the ground taking in every word Bell said, and when Bell had finished talking she looked at him, contemplating on what she should do.

Ais: "I-I will think about it." She truly didn't know what to think or do.

Bell: "That's fine, take your time…Now let's go and get myself registered." They had finished of the potato snacks and walked in, immediately they were noticed, Bell had been holding onto Ais's hand and was receiving hostile glares from the male adventures while others were gossiping about the pair.

Adventure 1: "Is the Sword Princess dating him?."

Adventure 2: "Who is he?."

Adventure 3: "Why are they holding hands?."

The whole guild was talking about the two but Bell just ignored everyone and walked up to the counter with Ais.

?: "Sword Princess?, How can I help you." Ais just pointed at Bell and the guild employee looked at Bell.

Bell: "Yes, I would like to register as an adventure." The guild employee nodded and handed him a form, it only took a couple of minutes for him to complete. Bell handed the form back to the employee an confirmed everything

?: "Okay everything is in order, My name is Eina and I will be your guild Adviser from now on, Do you have any questions?." Bell just nodded.

Eina: "Great, have a nice day."

Bell nodded and walked out with Ais.

Bell: "Now What?." Bell and Ais thought about what to do until Ais got an idea.

Ais: "How about I show you around Orario." Bell thought about.

Bell: "Okay, that sounds fun." They walked, talked and looked around for Hours until it was time to go home. When they reached the gates the guards opened the door and left a message for Bell.

Guard: "Loki wants to see you in her office alone." Bell just nodded at the guard and started walking towards Loki's office while Ais followed behind; Bell knocked, and then heard Loki's voice.

Loki: "Come in." Bell turned to Ais.

Bell: "I will be alright." Bell reassured her then walked in.

As Bell walked in and closed the door he saw all three captains sitting around a table while Loki was sitting on her desk.

Bell: "You wanted to see me?."

Loki: "Yes, have a seat."

Bell did as his goddess said and sat on an empty chair across from his goddess, when he did sit down he could see the uneasiness coming from the captains, and when he saw it he began to question what was going on, but before he could speak Loki spoke up.

Loki: "By chance did you see your status sheet." Bell thought about it for a minute, and realized he didn't see it.

Bell: "No I didn't, why?."

Loki: "Before I show you your status sheet, I want you to promise that you won't tell anybody and that you won't freak out."

Bell: "Okay, you telling me not to freak out makes me want to freak out…. But I promise." Loki got down from her desk and grabbed Bell's status sheet; she looked at it one last time then passed it to Bell. In complete silence everybody was watching Bell.

Bell was looking at his status and he was shocked.

Bell Cranel

Loki Familia

Lv. 1

Strength : I 0

Endurance : I 0

Dexterity : I 0

Agility : I 0

Magic : I 0

Skills:

(Liaris Freese): Rapid growth, Stronger the desire stronger the growth, Stronger the will stronger the growth.

(Strength): When fighting an opponent stronger than the user, status is temporarily increased.

(Connection): ?

Curse:

(Curse of the Black Dragon): ?

He had three skills, but the last thing he saw made him upset, 'Curse of the Black Dragon'.

Bell: "Shit." Was all bell could say, he put his hand on his forehead and leant back in his chair. 'Why?'

'Why did this appear?."

Everyone in the room could visibly see how upset Bell was; Riveria wanted to comfort him but decided that she should stand her ground because she knew Ais could probably do a better job than herself.

The room was eerily silent, the captains wanted to give Bell time to think and after a few minutes of silence Bell spoke up.

Bell: "Do we know what it is or what it does?." The three captains looked at each other and then Finn answered

Finn: "Sorry Bell we have no clue what it does or how it works, I have Riveria researching this." Bell was silent for another minute until he finally responded.

Bell: "Thank you Finn."

Finn: "It's not a problem, you are familia and we need to look out for one another." Bell nodded, then Loki spoke up.

Loki: "Remember, you can't tell anyone, especially Ais." Bell nodded again and after Loki Was done talking Finn spoke up.

Finn: "We also want to talk to you about training." Finn explained how Ais was not a good trainer and how she is no good at controlling her power.

Bell: "So I'm a guinea pig then." Finn thought about and Bell was really a guinea pig.

Finn: "Yes." Bell got his answer; it was a straight yes and nothing more nothing less.

Bell: "Fine I'll do it." After Bell agreed, everyone talked about trivial matters, until Bell saw how late it was getting then he excused himself.

Bell went to go look for Ais and when he found her they just talked until it was time to go to sleep, this time they slept in their respective rooms and tonight there were no nightmares.

*Early in the Morning*

Bell and Ais were up early and the reason for that is to train. Last night Bell had asked Ais to train him; she accepted but didn't know how to start.

When they sparred against each other Ais had used all her strength and knocked Bell out more than once, on the third time she remembered what Riveria had said and decided to put Bell on her lap, to Bell the feeling was heavenly it was warm and he was comfortable it was…. Relaxing.

Last night Ais had gone to Riveria after she was done talking to Bell and Riveria had given her some advice and one piece of advice had been lap pillows.

After an hour of training Bell and Ais decided to go inside for breakfast but Bell was stopped because of a sudden wave of killing intent, when Bell looked where it was coming from he saw a werewolf walking in his direction, and when he got close the wolf swung at Bell.

Bete: "What did you do to Ais?."

A/N: I looked and some people were confused with the dream sequence, I guess I should have explained it better but I believe it will make sense later.

I do have more adventures planned before everything unfolds.

I did see some ideas for this to become a harem story, and the short answer is…. No!, this one is strictly Ais X Bell, I can do a separate harem story, and I already am making a draft for it if you want to see it.

Now that some things have been cleared up, I'm signing off.