Introduction: Fallen Hero Arc.
In a large rather spacious dark yet dimly lit room sat a cloaked figure on what could only be described as a throne. The only source of light was provided by four regal looking lanterns which surrounded the throne, each burning with just enough fire to emit an orangey glow that illuminated enough of the figure to tell that it must've been an elderly man of sorts.
What little could be seen of him was white long hair that just managed to reach outside of the hood of his cloak, along with deadly serious blue eyes that would intimidate any kind of person who happened to gaze into them. His clothing was mostly concealed, but one could tell that underneath his cloak, he wore a white robe and sandals. While the attire could pass as ordinary to an untrained eye, anyone with experience in the adventurers life would quickly decipher that this attire belonged to no man.
The throne sat at an elevated stature from the rest of the room, supported by a set of stairs just a dozen feet in front of its position, which led down to where the single other occupant of the space stood. This other individual dressed somewhat similarly to the elder in the sense that he too was covered in a black cloak. The big difference between the two however was that this person's cloak was far longer to the point that it covered his entire body and even dragged on the ground.
An additional difference could be noted that the standing individuals face was completely concealed by an unnatural darkness. Even though he was a fair distance away from the four lanterns, the light easily should've been enough to give an outline of at least minimal facial features or structure. But for whatever reason that was not the case. Looking beneath the hood one would only be greeted with a disturbing void.
It wasn't difficult to decipher that the relationship between the two was likely a master and student type role, with the man on the throne obviously taking the superior position.
"Master Ouranos, you summoned me?" questioned in a peculiarly supernatural sounding voice the subordinate, who respectfully bowed himself just at the foot of the stairs.
The man, or rather God, now known to be Ouranos, hummed as he took in the presence of his longtime student. "Fels, it's good to see you." He stated simply, glancing at the aforementioned Fels before looking away as if to ponder something for a few more moments. "The time is upon us."
That instantly caught the kneeling Fels attention, making him raise his bowed head to look up at his master in something between surprise or sheer shock. "The time is already here? How can that be so? The boy has only joined the adventuring life for not even half a year. He can't possibly be ready for what's to come." He questioned incredulously, knowing exactly what Ouranos had been speaking of.
"The circumstances of why things are rapidly being thrusted into motion are rather undesirable, but we can only deal with the hand in which we're dealt." The god rested his hands on the golden armrests of this throne, showing signs of his own displeasure through lightly squeezing the precious metal.
"Very soon, I foresee that the boy will be forced into an impossible decision that will decide the fate of the journey that we've set out on for all these years… A decision that should never be thrown on one so young, but one that he will have to face nonetheless." His face grew solemn, closing his eyes regretfully as he thought about the events that were soon to unfold.
Fels continued to look up at the god at a loss for words. They hadn't intended on bringing the young adventurer into their plans for at least another year or so; to give him plenty of time to continue getting stronger at the abnormally fast rate that he did. They agreed that he needed to be well established in the kingdom of Orario and strong enough to at least be able to face the dangers of the deep floors before even approaching him about anything.
The remarkable pace in which he progressed was astonishing to them, and they'd even previously discussed the likelihood of accelerating their plans in the event that he reached level five or even maybe six before the years end. It sounded absurd, but this boy had been continuously doing what would be commonly believed to be impossible, so they accepted the possibility.
This, however, was far too soon to even entertain the idea of bringing him in. They believed that he was still a level three who was on the precipice of reaching level four, and that to put it simply just wasn't near strong enough for the challenges they would need him for. Not only would it be cruel to drop their unreasonable burdens and expectations on him at this time, it'd also be a borderline death sentence. And while Fels may have been willing to go to unimaginable lengths at the request of his master, the idea of what they were about to do to this boy made him hesitate.
"Are you sure, Master Ouranos? Is there truly no other way to put any kind of stall in this?" he questioned desperately, hoping beyond hope that there was an unlikely path they could take.
"I'm afraid it's beyond even us now, Fels. I wasn't careful enough to prevent the meeting between Bell Cranel and the dragon girl. But now that he has met with her, and that I've seen firsthand that he was willing to protect her despite the danger that it would cause him and his familia, we should at the very least be comforted by the fact that he has the heart that we suspected him of possessing."
Hesitating for a moment, Fels pressed on. "It was never the boy's heart that I questioned, Master. But while we're on the topic, what about the rest of his familia? Obviously, Bell Cranel has the heart of a hero, but the rest of them excluding the Renard carry varying levels of disdain for monsters. I'm not so sure that they'll be willing to walk the same path that he is."
Silence befell the room for an uncomfortable amount of time in wake of the question Fels proposed, causing the students anxiety to worsen. Whatever was going on in his master's mind couldn't have meant an answer that he was going to like.
"That very disdain that you speak of, is precisely what will cause Bell Cranel to be confronted with the impossible decision that I told you about." The elder god solemnly responded, looking down at the cold stone ground sadly. "His familia, and the Goddess Hestia included, will likely not be able to accept the possibility of coexistence with a monster."
"They may have tolerated the decision to harbor the dragon girl within their walls for the time being, but I suspect that will not remain the case for long. Even as we speak, their Goddess and members of their familia are allowing their distrust for the girl to boil to an unhealthy level. For Cranels sake they're keeping quiet about it for now, but it's only a matter of time." Pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing heavily, the elder unexpectedly rose from his throne, and took a few exasperated steps to the edge of his elevated floor to look out at something unknown.
Fels noticed that even for an immortal being, Ouranos' old age had been heavily showing as their conversation progressed. The wrinkles on his face were remarkably more pronounced, and he'd even developed bags under his eyes, indicating just how tiring recent events must've been for him. He may have never shown much emotion outside of his stoic façade, but in this moment, he could tell that the elders heart was hurting at what he must've foreseen awaiting Bell Cranel.
If it were affecting his master so much to the point that it was visibly showing, then that could only mean that fate did not have kind plans for the young hero in the near future. The thought of how bad things were likely to get soon, made his own heart begin to ache.
Not knowing any way to proceed in the conversation, let alone comfort his master, Fels simply rose to his feet and placed his skeletal like hands behind his back and conceded himself to waiting for Ouranos to be ready to continue. Which, knowing his master, could take anywhere from a few minutes to even hours.
Evidently it wouldn't take too terribly long for Ouranos standards, as he turned to face his student after around half an hour of silence had passed. "I'd like to issue a formal mission request to the guild for the Hestia familia. And I want it sent out immediately."
That certainly wasn't what Fels was expecting to hear. "Yes of course Master. What would be the contents of this mission?"
The god turned away from the darkness at the edge of the room to gaze back into the void under his friend's hood, and continued, "You mentioned that Bell Cranel has the heart of a hero, but the others of the Hestia familia are a rather unknown factor for us. Therefore, I'm going to put them in a position that will tell us their true intentions. And" he paused, taking a few steps towards the edge of the top of the stairs leading down to Fels before finishing, "will test if the young hero, as early and abrupt as this may be, is truly ready for what destiny courts him to do."
Fels could only look up at Ouranos in wonder as to what kind of matriculate plan he could be orchestrating in that mysterious mind of his. He just hoped that it wouldn't lead towards too dark a path for the little rookie, and that the rest of his familia would prove both him and the elder god wrong.
Outstretching a single yet powerful hand towards Fels, Ouranos prepared to conclude this meeting and set things in motion.
"It's time for Bell Cranel, to meet the Xenos."
"Bell, Bell, Bell!" a young feminine voice giggled out repeatedly as she joyously jumped around the young white-haired adventurer who was sitting in the middle of the large grass lawn of the Hearthfire Manor, occasionally even wrapping herself around him when she just couldn't help herself, earning some laughs from the boy as well.
The girl had amber colored eyes and long silver blue hair with scales adorning several different portions of her body. For clothing, she simply wore red salamander wool which Bell had previously gifted her to conceal her identity from any potential prying eyes. As exotic as her entire appearance was, the most eye-catching feature she possessed was a red stone on the center of her forehead, which was commonly called a Vouivre's Tear.
When smiling, which when in the company of Bell she most certainly was, her teeth were on full display and showed a set of pearly whites with a pair of lengthy sharp canines one would expect to find from a stereotypical vampire. Additionally, her ears were pointy and outstretched like an elf, and her fingernails stretched impressively long and violently sharp to the point that they could be considered claws.
With her full appearance taken in, it wouldn't take long for even a child to figure out that this person was no human or ordinary species commonly found amongst the people of Orario. No, this girl was the recently named Wiene, and happened to be a breed of monster called the Vouivre.
It happened to be earlier that morning that Bell Cranel had found her on the nineteenth floor of the dungeon underneath Babel, shaking and crying to herself all alone, while being hunted by adventurers and monsters alike.
When he spotted her, it was clear that something wasn't normal, and she wasn't like the other monsters he'd come across. The desperation and fear in her eyes, the clear signs that there weren't just urges of violence screaming out in her mind and that she'd been processing actual thoughts, the way she seemed to be wordlessly calling out for someone to come and save her from whatever nightmare she'd been going through. They all told him everything he needed to know; that this wasn't a mindless monster that needed to be hunted in some cold nightmarish dungeon filled with unimaginable horrors, but instead a broken girl who needed a hero to outstretch their hand to her and bring her out of the darkness.
Things of course were never as simple as helping someone up from the ground and then everything just simply being solved. Because while he may have a heart of gold that was willing to accept anyone who truly just needed some help… others, were not nearly as generous.
He immediately gave Wiene his salamander wool cloak to hide her from not only the other adventurers on the floor, but also to conceal her identity from his own team that he'd gone into the dungeon with as well. He never would want to keep a secret from his family on normal circumstances, but Wiene was far from normal.
He knew he couldn't keep her identity a secret for long, not from them, but when Wiene tripped and accidentally let her hood slip back in the dungeon and every member of his familia saw what she was, he was heartbroken at the response that he'd received from everyone.
It was obviously understandable to be enormously apprehensive at bringing a monster into their company without consulting them, especially since no one had ever heard of someone like Wiene existing before. But even with his explanations, and wearing his heart on his sleeve and passionately conveying his feelings that Wiene was not a threat but someone that needed their help, they still rejected the idea of bringing her with them.
None nearly as fervently as Lili, who was constantly trying to get an angle with her crossbow to shoot the Vouivre at the time. Her words along with the others still rung in his mind; the sheer disdain they had for her very existence, and their desire to just kill her and rid themselves of the problem they viewed Wiene as was palpably disturbing.
He hadn't been able to diffuse the situation until he fully invoked his rule as the captain of the familia and ordered his friends to stand down. Even then they didn't want to abide by his rule, but he didn't leave any room for backtalk in the end, and absolutely insisted on their compliance. The reluctance they showed frightened him that one of them might try something on the way back up to the surface if an opportunity presented itself, so he was forced to keep Wiene glued to his side for the entire journey.
His biggest hope was that Goddess Hestia would be the voice of reason for the group once they arrived home, and while she did make the final order that this strange monster girl would be welcomed in their residence once she saw his conviction to protect Wiene, he could still sense the discomfort and pure dislike for her presence even from Hestia.
That dislike bothered him very much, and even made him question Wiene's safety from the members of his own familia, whether they'd been ordered to protect her or not.
"Bell?" Wiene questioned curiously due to his sudden silence and withdrawal from their time together, sitting herself down politely directly in front of him to obstruct his line of sight with herself.
"Oh uh, yes Wiene? Sorry about that, I guess I just got lost in my thoughts is all." He responded while scratching the back of his head sheepishly, slightly embarrassed by allowing himself to zone out to such an extent.
Bell decided on a casual outfit for the occasion, wearing only a loose fitted long sleeved black shirt, along with black pants tightly held up by a beige belt with a silver buckle, and shin high boots. Figuring that nothing too fancy would be necessary for a stay-at-home day with his special guest, it felt appropriate.
"What were… you thinking about?" Wiene innocently inquired, fully interested in learning all about Bell, while also showing that she was still struggling on her quest to speaking fluent English.
"Nothing important silly, don't worry about it." He confidently responded, not wanting to show even the slightest sign of worry to avoid scaring her. For all she knew, the rest of the familia had fully accepted her with open arms and didn't hold the slightest grudge against her, and he wanted to keep it that way.
Her quizzical look made it obvious that she wasn't fully buying it, but he didn't know what else to do to turn her mind away from questioning any further.
"Hello Bell, Lady Wiene!" another feminine voice called out to the pair, causing them both to turn to face the familiar woman.
"Oh, hey there Haruhime! How're you doing?" Bell questioned happily upon seeing his friend approach with what looked to be picnic equipment held carefully in her arms. Wiene also looked up excitedly but stayed quiet as she instead just smiled brightly.
Thinking back on it now, you're the only one who didn't berate me for wanting to save Wiene back then. I know you're shy, Haruhime, but you actually came to our defense a bit. That must've been hard for you. Bell thought to himself, causing him to smile a bit more upon realizing that not all his friends were quick to be against Wiene. Thank you.
"I'm doing well, thank you for asking." Haruhime smiled genuinely in return at the two sitting in the grass before her, tucking a strand of her blond hair behind her ear with a hand she slipped out from the items she was holding. "Would you two mind if I joined you for a picnic? It's such a lovely day that I thought it'd be nice for one."
"Pic…nic?" Wiene asked, again trying to put the puzzle pieces of speaking coherently together.
"Yeah, a picnic! It's basically where you pack up a meal among other things and head outside to eat it!" Bell smiled brightly at the adorable curiosity of the Vouivre.
She merely blinked in mild confusion at the two people smiling before her, causing them to laugh lightly to themselves as Haruhime took the liberty to begin spreading out the blanket she brought so they could show Wiene how a picnic works.
Unknown to the carefree group, a certain Prum girl was concealing herself in the background of the scene, watching their interactions with untrusting eyes as her grip on the curtain she was hiding behind tightened angrily. Her hardened gaze was focused primarily on the source of her suspicions, being the monster that her familias captain had recently forced her group to bring home with them.
Hestia fidgeted nervously with an official letter from the guild held tightly in her hands. She'd received it only a couple hours ago but had only had the chance to read it when she'd arrived back at the Hearthfire Manor not even half an hour ago. She was told that the contents of the letter were regarding some sort of supposed mission they had for her Familia, but she had no idea why they would've been singled out; especially at a time like this.
She paced back and forth from the comfort of one of the rich couches in the room between the window that granted a beautiful vantage point of the front yard of the property. She kept this up because she couldn't stop herself from constantly checking on the three of Bell, Haruhime, and Wiene all having what appeared to be a picnic just outside.
She had a bad feeling about everything from the moment Bell took his group down to the dungeon this morning, and those fears were only doubled when he nervously brought a hooded figure into their home upon their return. No words could describe her shock when he unhooded the girl, and it was revealed to be none other than a monster from the middle floors. She all but screamed out in surprised panic and was almost expecting someone from her Familia to strike down the Vouivre when they saw her reaction.
She was in for a surprise however, when Bell fervently defended the monster, and even proclaimed that they needed to give her protection for the time being. Obviously, her instinctive answer would've been an immediate no, but the look in the white-haired hero's eyes made it clear that he was going to settle for nothing less than her cooperation.
Not only did she not have the heart to tell the boy that she wouldn't stand for him wanting to protect someone, albeit a monster in everyone else's eyes, that he clearly cared about, but she was also afraid of what would happen if she'd try to tell him otherwise.
Everyone knew the nature of his character; if he saw someone that he believed was in need of help, especially if that someone happened to be a girl, damn that Bell, then he would stop at nothing to save them. Even if that required sacrificing everything in the process. His very soul had the essence of a hero carved into it, and while that was one of the many things that she fell in love with him for, it was also what made him so prone to falling into dangerous situations.
And yes, she was in love with him to the point of driving everyone around her crazy, but she was also a Goddess who had the rest of her Familia to think about. And to make matters worse it wasn't difficult to discern the rest of the group's feelings on the matter from one good glance.
Lili was by far the most irate about the situation, and very much would like nothing more than to dispose of the monster as quickly as possible. Welf had his own distrusting glances at the Vouivre, and she didn't fail to notice his hand slipping to the hilt of his sword on multiple occasions. Mikoto didn't let her guard down for a moment in all of their interactions, and hadn't even removed her eyes from Wiene a single time, not even when she was addressed by someone from the group. And Haruhime…
Well, Haruhime was the most interesting case to Hestia. The renard was well known to lack the confidence in herself to speak her mind in just about every tense setting she'd ever find herself in, and usually just limited herself to simple nods to voice which side she agreed with. However, even though she remained silent throughout the meeting, it was not lost upon the Goddess that she had slowly gravitated towards Bell and the Vouivre, and had even put herself in front of the monster as if she were trying to protect her from the others.
Haruhime, who normally is the most scared and frail amongst the adventurers, who frequently looked like she could be blown away like a leaf in the wind if someone were to just blow on her, was actually… protecting a monster?
In any case it made her at least somewhat happy that Bell had someone standing alongside him, so he wasn't getting ganged up on by a bunch of people who disagreed with him. But still, she couldn't fully pledge her heart to a cause that would ultimately be putting her Familia in continuous needless danger. At the end of the day, she didn't just care for Bells happiness and safety, but also Lili, Welf, Mikoto, and Haruhime's. He may have taken her priority by far, but that priority wasn't such a powerful influence on her opinion since this monster girl was also putting him in danger as well. Whether he cared about that fact or not.
So for now she may agree to 'protect' this monster that he and Haruhime insisted on naming Wiene, but when the time was right, she'd make the move that was in the best interest of all of them. Whether that take the form of releasing her outside the city limits of Orario, or it be something far more drastic that could cause strife between herself and Bell.
All of those reasons played only a small part in her current worried pacing though, as strange as that may sound. What truly had her freaked out was the fact that she had just read a mission request demanding that Bell set out for the twenty fourth floor all by himself for some undisclosed reason. She was so sure that there had to be some sort of mistake that she'd been reading the request over and over to make sure that her eyes weren't playing some sort of foul trick on her.
The twenty fourth floor!? All by himself?! Such a request was absolutely absurd and unacceptable. That would be teetering on the edge of getting near the lower floors, and not to mention that it'd be further than he'd ever travelled even with Welf and the others. To ask that he go that far down on his own? Was the guild actively seeking out a way to throw him into an inescapable death trap? It just didn't make any sense.
It did nothing to ease her mind that the guild seemed reluctant to inform them of what the purpose of this mission was, or what Bell was supposed to find on the twenty fourth floor. She would've thought that it was a falsified request if it weren't for the writing along the edges of the paper.
Although not as alarming as what was being requested of her precious Bell, there was also the note written in the language of the Gods requesting that the Hestia Familia keep "the dragon girl" within their home for the duration of Bells time in the dungeon, and to ensure that no harm befell her.
Shivers ran down her spine at the knowledge that the guild had somehow not only known about Wiene, but also that they had brought her home as well. Were they watching Bell and the others when they exited the Dungeon? Even then they had Wiene covered up from head to toe in Salamander Wool, if they got so much as a glimpse, they shouldn't have known enough specifics about her to know that she's a Vouivre. And why do they want us to keep her here?
Nothing was sitting right with the Goddess, no matter how much she tried to see the motive behind these requests. Declining wasn't an option either, seeing as it was a mission sent by the guild itself; although she'd love nothing more than to send them a resounding no and to keep Bell safe within her walls. It would only cause more trouble if they attempted to ignore such orders.
Reluctantly, she resisted the urge to rip the paper in half and say to hell with the guild and moved to exit her office. She needed to think of a way to break the news to her captain.
Haruhime playfully and slowly wagged her tail through the air in an attempt to catch Wiene's attention. An attempt, that did not go unsuccessful as the Vouivre quickly took notice and grew a determined look on her face. Thinking that she'd been the stealthiest thing in the world, she launched a surprise lunge for the object of her attention and tried to grab hold of the furry tail, only to grasp nothing but air and fall plumply face first onto their shared blanket.
Bell and Haruhime laughed freely at the display, while Wiene simply rolled over and puffed her cheeks out in irritation at her apparent failure. Silently she vowed that her next attempt would not be thwarted, eyeing the tail determinedly.
Looking down at the precious girl, Bell's smile grew widely as he interrupted Wiene's careful planning to affectionately place a hand atop her head.
Turning her gaze to the white haired boy, all previous thoughts completely abandoned, she returned his smile as she lifted her hands to wrap around the one that was currently petting her head, giggling all the way through.
"I was hesitant at first…" the voice of Haruhime all but whispered out, catching Bell's attention but seemingly going unheard by Wiene, who was caught up in her own little world with Bells petting. "but looking at her now… how could anyone think poorly of our little Wiene?"
Bell smiled again, now turning to look the renard in her emerald eyes. "I appreciate you saying that Haruhime. I too was reluctant at first when I found her, because of everything us adventurers have been through when it comes to monsters." He now looked back down at Wiene, giving her a few more pets. "but in that moment when I saw the tears and genuine fear in her eyes, I knew that she was different from the rest. There wasn't a trace of hostility, not even an ounce of malice that normal mindless monsters have when they attack."
"To me, she just looked like any other girl who was looking for a hero to save her from a nightmare. Who am I to put the blame on her for crimes committed by other monsters that are entirely unrelated to her? She's not the one who claws away at helpless humans, or mindlessly roams the dungeons until she finds something to kill."
Wiene then paused, as if realizing that she was being talked about right in front of her without her realizing. Bell just smiled affectionately down at her, sending her a silent reassuring message that everything was alright. Which, she understood and graciously accepted.
"The girl right here is an individual, completely clean of any crimes committed by anyone else. Besides, aren't we adventurers capable of the exact same things?" he questioned, turning back the Haruhime who was looking at him in wonder throughout his entire speech.
"Capable of what same things, exactly?" she answered with her own question, seeking clarification even though she had a pretty good idea of what he was insinuating. Gods, she just loved to hear him talk like this. It just reinforced the image she had in her head of Bell being an ultimate hero.
"Killing, assault, or any other atrocity monsters are capable of committing. Whether it comes at the tip of my knife or the edge of another adventurer's sword, we're all capable of doing awful things. What truly matters is what it is we actually decide to do. Actions are infinitely more important than possibilities, and that's why Wiene here," he paused again, struggling to hold back the emotions he felt when he looked down at the innocent girl. "Is someone that I'll protect just like anyone else. No matter if the world scorns me for doing so." He concluded, getting the full weight of his emotions of his chest.
His words moved her so much to the point that the images she burned into her mind from her childhood of her desire to find a hero resurfaced, except now instead of a mysterious figure that she'd not yet met, she now saw the young man who sat beside her.
"I'm sure that one day, Bell, the rest of the world will feel just as moved by your words as I do now." She responded simply, feeling as though not much had to be said to convey her feelings.
"You really think so?"
"I know so. And even if they don't, it doesn't matter. We can't spend our lives worrying about the fear that others allow to dominate their hearts because they're not ready to open themselves to people like Wiene." She stated passionately, turning down to smile and place her own hand on the mentioned Vouivre's head.
Wiene released Bells hand and looked at the two who were now jointly petting her head joyously, a thought entering her mind. "Haruhime, do you… love Bell?" she suddenly asked, shocking the pair above her. Though Haruhime clearly looked to be far more flustered than her friend in question.
"Now now Wiene, you shouldn't go and ask those kinds of questions out of nowhere!" Bell came to the renards defense, trying to give her an out of the question that she clearly didn't have a comfortable time trying to come up with a proper answer to.
"Why not? Does she not love you, Bell?" she doubled down on her question, now putting double the pressure on the renard who was blushing furiously.
"That's not it! It's just that that kind of thing can make someone very uncomfortable and not know how to answer!" he all but too quickly retorted.
"But why?"
"Because!"
"Um, I…" Haruhime interjected, cutting off the struggle Bell was going through with Wiene, but clearly struggling to get her words out. "I for one, I do love Master Bell!" she vehemently proclaimed, clenching her firsts and looking upwards as if she were making a declaration to the heavens.
Bell gasped in surprise at her response, while Wiene just smiled her classic wide toothy grin and looked about ready to burst with giddiness, but then turned to the boy almost as if she were expecting something.
Feeling Wiene's gaze, and easily picking up on what she was looking for; he quickly surmounted his internal shock and found the right words for the situation quite easily. "And I love you as well, Haruhime. And I love you too, Wiene. Just liked I love everyone in my Familia, you're all very important to me and I don't know what I'd do without you."
Smile growing even wider, which Bell and Haruhime originally didn't think was possible, Wiene rapidly looked between the two with jubilation that practically radiated off her very body. The renard wasn't much better, as she resorted to holding her cheek in her hand to try and hold herself together from her heroes affectionate words.
"You love Bell! And You love Haruhime! And you love me!" Wiene all but squealed, jumping to her knees from her laying position to reclaim her spot wrapped around Bells arm, giggling freely.
The trio thought the moment was so pure that it couldn't possibly be ruined by anything, so they were content to just bask in it as the sun rained its warming light upon them, creating the most comfortable loving atmosphere any of the three had been a part of in recent memory. However, fate always has its funny ways of testing such moments to see if it could be potentially tainted by unforeseen misfortune.
"Bell… Bell!" Wiene begun singing the boys name just as she had earlier, attempting to hold his arm tighter and pull him closer to her, only to find that she accidentally made a horrible mistake. Forgetting that her nails were sharpened to the point of being lethal weapons, her fingers slipped as her nails dug into his flesh with disturbing ease, sending blood flying into the air.
Bell instinctually recoiled from the sudden burst of searing pain in his arm, letting out a pained cry as he fell a few feet backwards off the comfort of the blanket into the yards grass.
Wiene too recoiled from what she had just suddenly done and watched in suspended horror as he miserably held the fresh wound on his arm, as if trying to stop the bleeding.
"Master Bell!" Haruhime screamed in horror, briefly stumbling over and holding his shoulders to observe the wound, before taking immediate action. "I'll get the first aid kit!" she hurriedly got up and sprinted off somewhere towards the manner to grab medical supplies.
"Oh, oh no… Bell is… Bell is, in pain?" Wiene questioned in a shaky voice, not even noticing the departing renard. It was only when she reached out towards the young man to comfort him in anyway she could, that she noticed the blood that now not only stained her fingers, but also the strange feeling of liquid on her face as well.
She looked down at the deep gash in his forearm that he was clinging to, and then the realization of what had happened came crashing down on her like an unbearable weight that she had no hope of lifting. She had hurt him. She hurt Bell. She had sliced open the one person who pulled her out from the hell of the dungeon when no one else would, and he was now suffering, because of her.
"Please no! I…" she recoiled once again, bringing the non-blood-stained hand up to cover her mouth in disgust at what she'd done, not wanting to accept what was happening. "I'm sorry, Bell!" she wallowed, as the pain slowly took over with tears breaking the dam in her eyes.
Her heart raced uncontrollably, with a thousand thoughts a second hitting her mind about how in just a mere moment she had ruined everything. He's going to leave you. This is all you are. A monster. You hurt him. This is why Lili and the others hate you. You're disgusting. Monster. You deserve to be alone, to die, in a cold, lonely place. Did you really think you deserved him?
Self-loathing and destructive thoughts took the forefront of her mind, crushing any hope she had that she'd never have to return to the nightmare that she had every night. The hope that she could stay with Bell for the rest of her life just like they were now and be happy together.
It was these thoughts, that distracted her from Bell who had now all but moved on from the pain in his arms to look at the Vouivre in utter concern. It wasn't difficult to tell that she must've been blaming herself for this accident, and that her mind was going on a quick downwards spiral that would be enough to drown anyone if they didn't have something to ground them. But for her sake, he would make sure that she wouldn't drown in whatever was pulling her down in this moment. This little accident did nothing to shake his conviction in the slightest.
Reaching out to the bloodied hand in which sliced him, he gently took it into his own and begun to wrap his fingers around it lovingly.
Wiene gasped in shock, successfully pulled out of her thoughts and processed what was happening. Upon realizing what Bell was doing, fear and guilt immediately gripped her heart; causing her to desperately try and pull her hand away from him. Fear that she was going to hurt him again, and guilt that she didn't deserve any semblance of the kindness that he was attempting to show her.
However, his grip was far too strong, yet impossibly gentle and soothing at the same time. More tears spilled out as she grunted and tried more and more to free herself, but nothing would work. "Please-!"
"Don't worry." He cut her off, forcing her gaze to meet his. "I'll be just fine." Giving her hand one final gentle squeeze, he released her. Smiling the most loving and warming smile he could possibly give; he closed his eyes and gave into his faith that his feelings would reach her.
Looking at him in utter disbelief, she found herself being entirely unable to fight the reassurance that he was giving. The self-doubt that plagued her soul slowly burned away, being no match for the love that Bell was waging battle against it with.
Choking back one final sob, Wiene slightly backed away for a moment, before gathering her strength to open up once again. "Bell…!" she cried in an unstable voice, launching herself at the adventurer and wrapping him into a hug.
"Oh, Wiene." He soothingly responded, returning the hug with his wounded arm, using the other to support both their weight.
As the two of them giggled together, Haruhime's worry washed away upon returning to finding the heart-warming scene. She would be normally intent on allowing it to continue for however long they would've liked, but Bell was wounded and she didn't want him losing anymore blood than he already had.
While she approached the two and gently placed her hand on Bells shoulder to alert them of her presence, they were completely oblivious to the prum girl who had witnessed the entire scene, and was very clearly not happy with what she'd seen. No, in fact she was nothing less than furious. It took nothing short of every ounce of willpower she had not to pull the entire curtain she was hiding behind down as she stormed away from the window to someplace else in the Manor.
While Lili's departure went completely over Bell's head, something in the background of the setting did catch his attention however. Lifting his head just above Wiene's hair which was being smothered in his face while Haruhime attended to his arm, something strange lured his gaze from the highest point of the Manor.
Sitting on top of one of the structures few poles that extended from the roof towards the sky, sat a white owl with two oddly different color eyes. Even more peculiar, was the odd sensation that he knew that the creature was staring directly at him. Or, more specifically, Wiene and himself. All he could do was let his mouth drop silently in confusion as to what this could mean, while the owl spread its wings and promptly flew away once they held each other's gaze for a few moments.
What in the world?
The rest of the day passed by in a rather uncomfortable fashion. Whereas the Hestia familia would normally all gather together for the evening to enjoy some of Mikoto's simply unbelievably good cooking for dinner, as well as other varying activities throughout the night afterwards, none of that transpired.
Haruhime had left Bell and Wiene after they finished their picnic, and that was the last time they interacted with any of their Familia for the night. Welf could be heard hammering the night away in practice of sword smithing, Lili was nowhere to be seen, Hestia was presumably occupied in her office for an unusual amount of time, and Mikoto had simply left rations of her cooked meals for Bell to eventually find waiting for them.
Wiene of course didn't understand the unusual behavior as she had never been around for one of their family dinners before, but Bell was no fool and could obviously pick up on the way everyone was avoiding them. It made him sad, if the frown on his face was any indication, as he slowly picked away at his food in their large extravagant dining room.
Is it really that difficult for them to even try and open themselves up to Wiene? He thought to himself, setting aside his plate while looking to his side at the carefree girl who was mannerlessly devouring her own meal. She made adorable humming sounds to voice her appreciation of the food, while even reaching out whatever item she'd already taken multiple bites out of to try and share it with him. Is she not the most innocent sweetest girl in the world?
"Bell?" the voice of Hestia called out suddenly, slightly startling him out of his questioning thoughts, causing him to turn and Wiene to put a pause on her meal to greet their new occupant.
"Hi, hello!" Wiene excitedly responded, beaming brightly at the goddess.
Bell took notice of the way that Hestia gave a pathetic attempt at an entirely unconvincing smile at the girl, before immediately turning her gaze away and back to him.
Seeing as how she was going to make no other move to acknowledge Wiene who's radiating happiness was rapidly deflating at the lack of response, he decided to jump in. "Yes, Hestia?"
She nervously fidgeted in the doorway, before slowly making her way inside and approaching the two. "I don't really know how to go about approaching this, but the guild sent a mission request specifically for you. I don't know why or any of the details, but since there's no saying no to this kind of thing, I kind of have to give this to you." She informed him, pulling out a previously opened envelope from behind her back and offering it to him.
"a mission request assigned to me?" he repeated to himself, confusion laced in his voice. He hesitantly took the paper from her and opened it up to read it himself.
Dear Hestia Familia,
The adventurer Bell Cranel is to be deployed to the Twenty Fourth floor of the dungeon as soon as possible.
He is to go on this journey by himself. None of his Familia or other outside parties are to accompany him.
-The Guild of Orario.
Bells eyes widened in shock at the request. They want me to go to the twenty fourth floor? By myself? But why? There's no further instructions or anything on here indicating what I'm supposed to do when I get there. If I'm even able to get there that is… he felt genuine nervousness at the prospect of travelling so far down the dungeon by his lonesome. Something that did not go unnoticed by Wiene.
"What is it, Bell? Is everything… alright?" she anxiously questioned, putting a hand on his shoulder to mimic what she watched Haruhime do with him earlier while patching up his arm.
"Oh yeah, nothing to worry about Wiene!" he feinted a smile to ease her concern, before turning back to Hestia, silently shooting her a questioning glance.
Taking a deep breath, she reluctantly took on the role of the bearer of bad news. "Unfortunately, my hands are tied in this matter. There's no negotiating the terms of missions sent from the guild, so the only thing we can really do is suck it up and prepare for your departure." And pray for your safe return… she thought to herself, but would never voice her fear.
"Departure? Where are you going Bell? Are you going away?" Wiene grabbed his attention from the sudden fear glazing her eyes, further dampening the white rabbit's spirit.
Bell looked down sadly at the Vouivre, unsure how to go about giving her the news that he'd have to abruptly leave for an uncertain amount of time. I don't know if she'll be able to understand why I have to leave all of a sudden. We've only been together for about a day; I hope she doesn't start thinking that I'm abandoning her.
"The guild wants you to head out to the dungeon as soon as possible. However, I intentionally avoided giving you the news until now so that you'd have an excuse to get an extra nights rest before having to leave. Ya know, get yourself some more time to prepare and all that." Hestia decided to interject, surprising Bell with the news that she had intentionally delayed the start of his mission.
"Goddess…"
"Look Bell," she further closed the distance between the two, taking the unoccupied seat to his left and turning fully to face him. "this mission will take you further down the dungeon than you've ever gone. That added with the fact that you won't have Welf, Mikoto and the others makes things extremely more dangerous than they would be otherwise." She put a comforting hand on his knee.
"I know that you may seem nervous or unsure about this, I'll be honest, I know I am. But I want you to take tonight to clear your head of any distractions or uncertainties that could inhibit you when you're down there." She gave his knee a gentle squeeze, pouring every ounce of her support that she could. "You're strong Bell. Much stronger than most level fours, and I know that if anyone can go out on a mission like this by themselves and kick some serious butt while they're out there; it's you."
An embarrassed blush dusted his cheeks from the unexpected praise he was receiving, causing him to slightly fidget and bring up a finger to scratch his cheek. "Well I don't know about all that…-"
"I'm serious Bell!" she interrupted him, not allowing his lack of self confidence to get in the way of her words for even a moment. "You're strong. I want, no, I need you to believe that."
Uncertainty slowly rid itself from his embarrassed face, as he showed her his famous smile in appreciation for her kind words. "You got it, Goddess."
"Good, then I need you to make me a promise." She continued, returning his smile before retracting her hand and standing proudly before him. "Promise me that you won't do anything reckless while you're down there! No going out and throwing yourself in dangerous situations because you find a damsel in distress! You go down to the twenty fourth floor, complete whatever this mission is, and come straight back! No unnecessary nonsense!" she emphasized her words by pointing a stern finger in his face.
Bell slightly flinched back from the finger being waved in his face, which caused any part of him that would've wanted to argue with her request to take a backseat. When Hestia got like this, there really wasn't any use in trying to refute her. The only thing that would earn someone would be an even sterner lecture. So instead, the only thing that he could do in this situation would be to comply.
"Alright, I promise you that I'll be careful. And you don't have to worry, I'll definitely make it out of this! I'm sure if it were something involving a lot of danger then the guild wouldn't have just requested only me after all." He confidently replied, while also rising from his seat to meet her at eye level. "However, Goddess, I want you to make me a promise while I'm away as well."
"Huh?" she questioned with a dumb look on her face, clearly not expecting to be requested something in return.
Bell suddenly turned around, smiling down warmly at the nervous and uncharacteristically quiet Wiene, taking hold of her hands and gently pulling her to her feet. She looked up in wonder at what he was suddenly doing, but remained silent to see things through.
Hestia frowned at the display but was also lost in where he could be going with this.
"I need you to promise me that while I'm away, that you'll do everything in your power to protect Wiene!" he passionately declared, still holding the Vouivre's hands as she gaped up at him. He took note of the way Hestia's eyes lowered a bit at his request, but he wouldn't let that deter him. "I know you and the others have your doubts about all this, but I need you to be able to see past your fears and make this promise for me. There's no way I'll be able to uphold my promise and go into the dungeon with no distractions if I'm unsure about Wiene's safety while I'm away. So, promise me Goddess!"
"Bell…" Wiene muttered to herself.
Hestia remained silent for a long while, trying to come up with a way to properly respond to his request without submitting to its contents. Unfortunately for her, she concluded that she wouldn't be able to weasel her way out, especially if she wanted him to truly abide by her own request for him to stay as focused as possible down in the dungeon. So with great reluctance, she let out a heavy sigh and dropped her head.
"I promise, Bell… she'll be safe within these walls…" for now at least. Until I can figure something out for how to deal with this.
Bell could tell there was more behind her submission to their promise, but didn't want to push the issue any further than he already had so he let things be as they were for now.
The rest of the night had passed by relatively peacefully after Bell's conversation with Hestia ended. There weren't many words exchanged between them after he convinced her to commit to their promise, with the only thing she had left to say being wishing him goodnight before retiring to her bedroom.
Once again, the only thing that she provided Wiene with was a passing glance before departing, which wasn't lost on the Vouivre, and he was able to tell that it had bothered her. But just as the case was throughout the entirety of the day they'd spent together, he had no idea how to explain to her the apprehension his familia had felt for her; leading him to let things be.
Wiene wanted to spend some more time with Haruhime after dinner, but the stress of the day had taken its toll on her and drained her of any energy to make good company as she put it, so she had to make an early retirement for the evening. And since the rest of the familia was still avoiding the two of them, it didn't leave very many things they could do together, so he decided it was time for them to follow in the renards lead and get ready for bed.
That led him to the daunting realization that Wiene didn't have her own room, and that she wasn't even familiar with the concept of people having their own private quarters where they did things like spent the night sleeping. He tried to introduce her to the idea of taking up vacancy in one of their many luxurious empty bedrooms, but her reaction went just about how he expected it to.
Without a moments hesitation she had vehemently rejected the idea, and latched herself onto his arm and insisted that they just stay the night together in whichever room he wanted. And Bell being the bashful boy he was, he launched himself into a sheepish fit of embarrassment while pathetically trying to make the girl see reason. As one might expect things didn't exactly go his way, as she was now snuggled up with him tightly under the fluffy wool covers of his massive bed, snoring peacefully while he was stuck in the curse of the world of the conscious.
It was the same way he always struggled to fall asleep whenever Hestia had forced her way into his room to spend the night with him. He'd always struggle due to the problems of either his Goddess suffocating him against her chest, or out of the sheer uncomfortable atmosphere it'd create. At the very least Wiene was nothing like Hestia in the sense that she had only the purest intentions and was doing it out of sheer love and wanting to be with him, instead of the loli goddess using it as an excuse to try and make him fall in love with her.
Sighing to himself, he turned his head from the direction of the curtain covered window that dimly allowed small traces of moonlight to seep through and illuminate the room to look down at his newest companion.
Before she'd fallen asleep, she'd told him of the heartbreaking way her nights usually went. How every time she fell asleep she'd dream the same nightmare of a lonely cycle of life being tortured endlessly in the darkness of the dungeon. Where she was doomed to be forever alone, hopelessly waiting and praying for someone to come along and finally wrap their arms around her. How despite those hopes, the cycle would forever remain unbroken with the same devastating end awaiting her. The cruel end of an adventurer coming along and killing her.
The fear in which she spoke of her nightmare devastated him, and only served to further reinforce his resolve to ensure that nothing awful like those dreams would ever befall her again. Looking down at her sleeping face snuggled up against his chest thankfully alleviated his worried thoughts away, as the permanent smile adorning her face told him that she surely wasn't having any bad dreams now that she was with him.
Bringing up the arm that wasn't awkwardly wrapped around her to avoid interrupting her sleep, he gently stroked her hair, wordlessly telling her that there was nothing to worry about because he would protect her from now on. He was met with an appreciative humming, as she surprised him by somehow snuggling even tighter around him, something that he didn't even think possible.
Remembering the mission that awaited him in the morning, his confidence in her safety started to rapidly leak out from his heart. I won't be able to be here to protect her tomorrow… so how can I really make a promise to keep her safe? He cringed as doubts started to take their icy grip on his mind.
No, I have nothing to worry about. He thought to himself as he retracted his arm from her head, returning it to his side. Hestia promised me that she'd be safe. Even if Lili and the others don't agree with me, they won't go against our Goddess's orders. And Haruhime can look out for her while I'm away!
Content with the affirmations he'd given himself, he finally felt ready to drift off to sleep while his eyes peacefully shut out the moonlight which covered him. Everything's going to be okay.
Right?
Departing the Hearthfire Manor proved to be far more difficult than he'd anticipated the night before. It started with Wiene absolutely refusing to allow them to get out of bed, which caused an extra hour to be added to how long it'd taken to leave. It then took even longer for him to reassure her that he wasn't abandoning her, and that he'd most likely be back by nighttime, if not a little later or even hopefully sooner; if fate would be kind to him.
He then had to deal with an absolutely horrified Familia once the news of his mission had be spread amongst them. Lili practically refused to let him go out the door by himself, and Haruhime had begged them to find a way to get him out of having to go alone. Welf voiced his disapproval with the mission, but remained mostly withdrawn from being problematic towards his departure. And Mikoto simply asked if she could at the very least tail him from a distance to make sure he'd have help incase anything too dangerous arose.
Although Hestia agreed with the majority of the groups sentiments, she was ultimately and unexpectedly the voice of reason that convinced everyone that the orders of the guild had to be followed to the letter on the missions they'd assign. She even made a point that no matter how discrete they went about it, the guild would know if they sent backup for Bell, but for some odd reason refused to elaborate on how she knew of this fact.
No one wanted to adhere to her logic, but they ultimately knew that it was the truth and there wasn't anything they could do to help their Familia captain except for to give him their full support and well wishes. Something that he greatly appreciated, even if he could tell that the group still wasn't fully happy with him after the previous day's events.
One thing that did catch his eye before leaving, was how after getting over her initial shock and uproar over the danger of the mission, Lili seemed rather relieved about something? Almost as if she realized that something just became possible that wasn't formerly. It made him slightly unnerved, but there was nothing he could've done about it at the time, as he was already running much later than when he'd originally planned on heading out.
So albeit not on the terms that he would've liked, he left the Hearthfire Manor after leaving Wiene in Haruhime's loving arms and quickly made his way to the Tower of Babel to begin his mission.
For the most part he wore his usual set of dungeon equipment, with the only new additions being a powerful new knife that Welf had been making for him over the last few days which the Crozzo had named Hakugen, and a brand new Salamander Wool robe that the same smith had given him after he gifted his original to Wiene.
Hakugen was a long white knife made from a Unicorn Horn that measured up to around thirty-five centimeters in length. The white haired adventurer could easily tell that the blade was immensely powerful and well beyond that of the standard weapon that an adventurer would find in their possession. It still might not have been up to par with his Hestia Knife, but it was still wildly remarkable.
He wanted to outright refuse the blade that Welf insisted be a gift free of any charge, but his redhead friend was passionately adamant that he accept it.
It was for that reason that he now tore his way through the sixteenth floor of the Cave Labyrinth with his Hestia Knife residing peacefully within its container, and used only Hakugen against the middle floors monsters to test just how outstanding it truly was.
He ran at incredibly speed through the rocky terrain to both quickly make his way through the floor and get oh so closer to the safety point on the eighteenth floor, Rivira, while also hunting for another pack a monsters to try his luck against. Another reason for his speed of travel was to avoid being caught off guard and suddenly ganged up on by any potential abnormally large group of monsters since he was alone and couldn't rely on anyone else to watch his back.
He recognized the path that he was on perfectly as he had travelled down it numerous times throughout his young adventuring career, and thus he knew that he was nearing the end of the current floor and would soon need to raise his guard to get through the seventeenth floor without having to fight the boss which spawned on it; Monster Rex Goliath.
As luck would have it, he was quickly coming upon a new pack of monsters just before having to worry about the Goliath. Which was something that caused a slight excited smirk to grace his lips in anticipation of using Hakugen some more.
Getting closer, and hearing the monsters take notice of his presence by letting out their battle cries, he could now see clearly just what he was dealing with. Now charging him to meet him in the middle was a pack of six regular minotaur's who thankfully weren't carrying any abnormal weapons like the red one he had to fight not too long ago.
Just like he did when he first entered the dungeon earlier, part of him almost wanted to hesitate battling the monsters as an image of Wiene shot through his mind. But hearing their mindless roars and seeing their eyes glow red with bloodlust eased any doubt he carried that these creatures could've possibly been intelligent like his Vouivre friend.
Upon finding himself about to get within striking distance, he flipped Hakugen into a reverse grip while surprising the closest minotaur by coming to an abrupt halt just a few paces in front of it. The monster, clearly not wanting to waste its opportunity of an easy killing blow, raised a fist for an overhead slam that promised to crush the boy's skull if it connected.
Bell had other plans however, as he took a sudden side step at speed which the Minotaur wasn't prepared for; causing it to crash its fist into the ground and leave it entirely vulnerable to whatever its opponent had instore for it. Launching himself off the ground, Bell used the knifes extended length to slice a fatal blow through its unprotected neck, turning the beast to dust before turning towards his next assailants.
This time two Minotaur's stepped up to the plate; flanking both sides of the young man hoping to catch him before he could gather himself. The one on the right went for a mighty right hook, while the one on the left attempted to tackle him in a spear motion.
Taking advantage of the momentum of the Minotaur on his left, Bell gracefully performed a flip right over the monster, while expertly landing on his feet right behind it and giving it a kick to its leant over backside to increase the force in which it was about to tackle its brethren with. The two creatures grunted in combined pain and frustration as they stumbled to the ground, but Bell paid that no mind as moved to finish things with them.
"Firebolt!" reaching out his non blade hand, he launched a ferocious blast of murderous fire that made lightwork of the two monsters that laid on top of each other, easily dusting them as well when the attack exploded against their helpless bodies.
Three down…
Focusing in on the remaining foes, he was pleased to find that they looked almost hesitant to charge him after the display he put on against their kin. One even took a step back as if it were contemplating whether or not to abandon the fight altogether. It was surprising since Minotaurs were commonly known to be ferocious beasts that charged headfirst into battle while relying purely on their physical prowess to overwhelm opponents, and showing any signs of being intimidated by adventurers was almost unheard of.
The only time he could recall any tale of a Minotaur fleeing from a fight was ironically when the Loki Familia had been making their way back to the surface from one of their expeditions and they ran into a pack of the monsters. The Loki family had apparently beat them down so bad that half of the monsters made a run for it to the upper floors, where one of them ended up stumbling upon Bell back when he was level one.
Holding back a laugh from the embarrassing memory, the now level four adventurer kicked the ground to launch himself at the final three monsters to not give them a chance to make history repeat itself.
While he slashed his way through the remaining monsters with a confident smile plastered on his face, a certain blond-haired knight that had recently been becoming more familiar to the Hestia Captain quietly stepped onto the scene before coming to a halt; staring on completely in awe at what she was seeing but succeeding in not disrupting him.
After wrapping things up on the sixteenth floor, Bell was happy to find that the rest of his journey to Rivira had gone entirely uninterrupted; allowing him to save some valuable time and raise his hopes that he might be able to make good on his word to get home by nightfall.
It was looking like fate had been smiling on him today, for when found his way to the eighteenth floor there was no sign of the floor boss being anywhere around. There were even some signs that a fight had recently taken place, if the burnt stone and unrestored broken-down boulders were any indicator. He figured that either the citizens of Rivira must've swung by to take down the boss, or another Familia had also been making their way down the dungeon recently. Either way, it worked out for him.
The atmosphere of this floor was practically heaven sent for adventurers travelling through the conditions of the dungeon. The air felt almost as breathable and healthy as what would be found on the surface, and the light provided by the ceiling of crystals gave the mistakable feeling that one might've accidentally found themselves outside of the dungeon and enjoying the suns warming rays.
It wasn't hard to tell why an entire towns worth of people had decided to settle down on the safety point and call it home, or why Familia expeditions would setup camp for extended periods of time either. Everything from the forests to the lakes comforted adventurers and would make anyone want to stay a while.
But it was for those reasons that Bell didn't allow himself to relax any more than taking a few minutes to gather himself. He didn't want to get sidetracked in the nature presented before him, and thus he continued his mad dash for the twenty fourth floor by entering the dense forest.
After his most recent rank up to level four, the main difference that he noticed about himself was his speed. He couldn't remember the exact number of his stats that Hestia had been repeatedly making an uproar about, but he did remember that his Agility was supposedly level SSS, which to put it lightly was insane. Unsure about how that was possible, he recalled what he'd heard from multiple people that the max rank for stats was supposed to be S.
In fact, the more he thought about it, nothing when it came to his stats or level made any sense to him. How was it that he was able to progress that much faster than everyone else? Where it would take other adventurers' years to get to where he was now, it only took him mere months. Why was it that his stats were able to surpass what was thought possible? Why was it that when it came to him there didn't seem to be any limits?
I don't want people to misunderstand me and think that I don't want to get stronger as quickly as possible… but I want to understand how it is that I'm doing it. I know that I have an exceptional work ethic, but so does Aiz and everyone else. And they've all brought up to me that they want to know how I'm doing this. It's frustrating to not be able to give the answers people want and have them think that I'm keeping secrets from them…
These were the kind of thoughts that continued to plague his mind throughout his journey across the harmonious forest of Rivira. So self-absorbed in his mind was he that he failed to notice a golden blur fly overhead and firmly plant itself a good distance in front of him in the direction he was sprinting towards.
It was as though he'd put his body on auto-pilot to devote his mind to trying to solve the mystery of his rapid growth, which was likely why he also failed to pick up on a calm voice calling out to him and miserably failing to catch his attention.
The closer he got, the more frustrated and confused the voice he was running towards became at his lack of acknowledgement of her presence. That confusion was quickly replaced by panic when she realized that he truthfully hadn't noticed her at all, and was about to run directly into her with a full head of steam.
"Woah!" Bell yelped upon ramming directly into something unknown, sending him tumbling to the ground and rolling a good several meters before coming to a halt due to the massive momentum he had. He also dully heard another voice not his own grunt in pain from the collision, but he was still too distracted from the daze he was now in to give it any thought.
Letting out one final groan, he slowly started to calm his mind from reeling in pain to become aware of his surroundings once more. The first thing he noticed and the most uncomfortable was the coldness of moist soil grinding against his face, making him realize he was laying facedown in the dirt. "Gross…" he moaned while propping himself up on his elbows.
"Ow…" the same feminine voice from before suddenly groaned out from just a few feet across from him.
Familiar with the voice he heard, horror grasped his heart causing him to shoot his gaze from the ground to the girl he knew all too well laying sprawled out in the dirt looking miserably at the crystal sky above them. "Aiz!"
Gracelessly he stumbled to his feet to sprint over to the swordswoman to make sure that she wasn't hurt. "Aiz! Are you alright? I'm so, so sorry!" he shouted out vehemently, almost allowing himself to fall into a muttering mess of humiliation.
Aloof as ever, Aiz merely turned her gaze from the sky to the boy who ran her over with an agonizingly blank expression. "You tackled me." She simply stated matter of factly, earning another embarrassed and regretful yelp from him.
"It's alright, I'm fine." She interrupted before he had a chance to throw out a thousand apologies, while gratefully accepting a hand that Bell had offered to help her up.
"So, where're you heading all by yourself?" Aiz questioned innocently while they walked side by side through the forest in the same direction Bell had been sprinting in.
After Bell had helped her back to her feet and finished apologizing for the hundredth time for being unaware of his environment and borderline assaulting her, Aiz asked if she could walk with him so they could do some catching up. He didn't have to think for a moment before accepting the request, and thus they exchanged a pleasant conversation about what they'd been up to for the last couple weeks.
Now that the pleasantries were out of the way, Aiz seemed to have wanted to delve into what was really peeking her interest at the moment with her last question.
"Oh, I'm just heading out on a mission assigned to me by the guild. They weren't very specific with what they wanted, but I know that I'm supposed to head a bit deeper down the dungeon." He replied with his hands held together behind his back as they walked.
Aiz remained silent for a moment, a bit surprised by his reason for being down here, and even frowned a bit as if something bothered her. "Do you… want me to accompany you to your destination?" she offered genuinely, allowing an uncharacteristic amount of concern to seep into her voice. "I don't like the idea of you going down to the lower floors alone."
"Aiz…" Bell was caught off guard by the worry in her voice, slowing his pace to look his companion in the eyes. He almost mindlessly took her up on the offer, excited by the prospect of going on a mission with his idol. But before he did the specifications of how he was to not bring any outside parties with him reentered his mind. Disappointedly, he shook his head while replying. "I appreciate your concern, Aiz. But the guild specifically demanded that I not bring anyone with me on this venture. Whether that be from my Familia or outside of it."
Turning to return his gaze, her usually blank eyes voiced a thousand concerns. "I don't like it…"
Dejectedly he turned away, looking at the ground somewhat miserably. "Yeah, my Familia didn't like it either." He didn't like the way the conversation was turning. He'd already spent enough time arguing with his family over how unusual and dangerous the contents of his mission were, and he didn't want to repeat any of that with the girl he was with now. Thinking, he quickly came up with a way to steer things in another direction.
"Anyway, what are you doing down here?"
The sudden question seemed to give her pause for a moment, successfully working in Bell's favor of turning her mind away from concern for his conditions. "The guild assigned my Familia along with a few others a mission of our own to head out on an expedition to the fifty-ninth floor and hopefully even the sixtieth to investigate a group of people who are suspected of being responsible for the rising number of disappearing adventurers." She explained, alarming Bell with the news of an apparent criminal group conspiring in the dungeon.
"The expedition doesn't begin for a few days… but Finn requested that Tione, Tiona, Bete, Riveria, and myself come here to Rivira to check in with Bors for any potential updates on any new disappearances."
"That's awful… I can't believe that there's a group out there causing that kind of trouble." Now it was Bell's turn to feel concerned for Aiz, something that unsurprisingly went right over her head.
"Indeed. We've had a few run ins of our own with the group, and they're quite powerful. That's why I don't want you going down any further alone." She further added on, causing Bell to slightly cringe at the topic he'd attempted to avoid get brought right back up.
"Don't worry too much about me. I'll only be heading to the twenty fourth floor, so I won't actually be delving deep enough to make it to the lower floors. I'll be just fine!" he reaffirmed her, attempting to further dissuade her concerns by providing one of his signature soul piercing smiles.
The action did catch her off guard, and for a brief moment the faintest traces of upturned lips of her own could be spotted adorning her face. But it was gone just as fast as it had arrived with her usual stoic expression quickly returning to take its place. "Just be careful, okay? If you happen to get attacked by a redheaded woman, please just do your best to make a run for it back here. We'll be around for a little while longer just in case."
Once again, he was taken aback by how concerned she was for him, but due to the seriousness of what was being discussed he managed to remain dignified and made a conscious note to remember the small description of the woman he was supposed to look out for. "I will, thank you."
Aiz insisted on at the very least escorting Bell to the exit of Rivira which led to the nineteenth floor and silenced any counterarguments that he attempted to bring up about it not being necessary. There wasn't very much left to talk about for the rest of the way, so the majority of their walk was spent in a comfortable silence.
The only thing that did get brought up was the possibility of them resuming their training sessions at some point in the future, which Aiz had happily agreed to. She'd apparently been eager to see just how far he'd come since the last time they had a chance to spar, and had even been meaning to approach him about the topic herself before he did. That was the last thing they discussed before falling into silence, and Bell having a massive grin all the way to the exit that they were now approaching.
Aiz was the first to come to a halt, while Bell took a few extra steps to place himself a bit closer to the dark opening the would take him away from the safety point and closer to his objective.
"Well, thank you walking with me Aiz. It's been nice talking with you. When you get back from your expedition, we should do this again sometime." He nervously suggested, scratching his lightly reddened cheek as he usually did when feeling sheepish.
Nodding, she smiled politely in return. "I'd like that."
The two of them stood there awkwardly for a few more moments, with Aiz not even realizing due to her rather airheaded personality. Bell however, being far more perceptive in these settings, began to fidget anxiously before blurting out "Well I'll be on my way!" and quickly turning around to continue his mission and get away from the weird situation.
"Alright." She shortly replied in farewell, watching him as he went.
Moments before he was about to turn the corner of the cave-like entrance he was walking into and fall completely out of sight of Aiz, the image of Wiene shot through his mind; sparking an idea of one last thing that he needed to ask her about.
"Aiz!" Bell desperately shouted while turning around; hoping to catch her before she departed and went out of earshot. Surprisingly though, she'd still been standing in the same spot that he had left her and hadn't taken a single step away while she was already looking at him. That brought him to a mildly confused pause for a moment, but he shook his head and sprinted to return to her side despite it.
"Hm?" she questioned with a tilt of her head, seemingly oblivious to how she'd been watching him the entire time.
Now that he was up close with the fearsome swordswoman, the question that he wanted to ask suddenly seemed far more daunting than it had before. Although she was currently looking at him with nothing short of an adorably curious expression, that somehow did very little to mask just how intimidating she was beneath it all. How would she react? If he worded his curiosity poorly, would she grow suspicious of him and start digging into the meaning behind his words? Was what he was about to do potentially going to put Wiene in any danger?
Come on Bell, stop letting yourself drown in cycles of pessimistic thoughts and just do it! This is Aiz I'm talking to, I don't have anything to be afraid of.
Steeling his resolve, he tightened his gloved fist underneath his red cloak and looked directly into her golden eyes. "So, um, tell me Miss Aiz… let's say there's a monster that had it's very own reason to live, and it had feelings exactly like ours… what would you do?" he questioned while trying to keep his voice as unwavering as possible, but ultimately failed with traces of uncertainty leaking through.
Any trace of the adorable visage of curiosity on her face vanished in an instant. Straightening herself to an almost disturbingly proper posture, she met his gaze with one that now radiated something the younger adventurer had never felt from her before. Anger, contempt, malice, and even hatred. The change was like she'd flipped a switch, and the suddenness of it forced him to take a step back as his breath caught in his throat.
If he thought she was frightening before, now she was downright horrifying.
"Doesn't matter. What if that monster were to hurt somebody?" she emotionlessly replied, closing the distance between the two as she approached to be directly in front of him. He almost felt like she was attempting to threaten him in some way and shrunk under the ominous pressure she was exuding. "If that monster were to make someone cry, I would kill it, without any hesitation." She powerfully stated, now undoubtedly glaring down on his stunned red eyes.
Is this really… you, Aiz?
He opened his mouth to say something, but she instantly stopped him from doing so to further cement her point to ensure there wouldn't be a chance of being misunderstood. "Without any hesitation." She repeated in conclusion, with emphasis on the word any.
He'd never felt so intimidated before in all his life. Not when he was fighting alone against the majority of the Ishtar Familia, or when he'd been attacked by the Apollo Familia, and certainly not even when he had to fight the red minotaur. He couldn't stop the fear that crept its way into his hands, making them shake violently from their concealed position under his cloak. Though he was certain she could tell he was shaking anyway.
His fear nearly doubled when a reflection caught his eye. Although her hand made no motion towards her sword, Desperate, he could swear he saw the blade unsheathed just enough to reflect the light from the crystal sky.
Picturing Wiene at the edge of Aiz's sword brought a level of pain to his heart that he never thought he'd ever be capable of feeling, which outweighed the intimidation the sword princess was drowning him in. Fear, pain, confusion, and anger, coursed through his veins and provided him with just enough power to reject the idea that he'd ever allow his Vouivre friend to fall prey to such a fate. All submission and sense of inferiority were scorched from his eyes thanks to this new adrenaline that fueled him, allowing him to rise up and glare right back at the swordswoman.
Clear surprise registered in the irises of Aiz's eyes at the scornful look that she was being met with. It was such a shock that it jolted her back into control over her emotions, leading her to realize what she had just done and how much animosity she had directed towards the man before her. Her mouth fell open in correlation with the guilt she now felt, but any words of apology refused to make their way out while she couldn't pry her eyes away from the angered red ones that glared right back at her, hard.
Bell too wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the right words for the situation. He could be hateful like she'd been, he could be vengeful and make a proud proclamation of how he wouldn't let her lay a finger on Wiene's head. But he wasn't sure. Too many emotions were drowning his senses to think properly, and he recognized how dangerous that was when treading on dangerous waters.
For those reasons, he glared into her softening eyes for a few more seconds, before turning away from her wordlessly, sending his red Salamander Wool cloak flowing behind him in a dance alongside the momentum of his movement as he walked away deeper into the dungeon. Leaving Aiz behind with a heavy heart.
His stride was powerful and unrelenting, telling her that even if she called out for him, he wouldn't have stopped for a second. Regret becoming almost unbearable, she meekly raised a hand towards his retreating figure while he turned the corner to finally leave her sight for good this time. She almost wanted to cry, feeling as though she had just made a terrible mistake, although she couldn't quite figure out why the gravity of it felt so heavy.
She didn't regret her words, for she stood by them wholeheartedly and it was the truth that she carried in her heart. But what she did regret was how she allowed her hate for the damned dragon to surface, and worse yet she directed it onto one of the few people in the world she genuinely thought of as a friend.
Oh Bell…
Bell angrily marched through the area of the dungeon known as the Large Tree Labyrinth while continuously making lightwork of any monster that had the misfortune of attempting an attack on him. Whether it be at the end of his Hestia and Hakugen knives, or through a wild devastating explosion from his Firebolt, no monster had the chance of gaining any sort of advantage against him.
Fast approaching him to his right in the tree line was a group of multiple insect type monsters that thought they'd have an easy going against a lonesome adventurer thanks to their sheer numbers advantage, but they had no idea just how bad of a time they'd chosen to pick on the rabbit man.
Barely even giving the horde a passing glance, he angrily threw his right arm towards the group before shouting his short chant Firebolt spell to annihilate the monsters without a second thought. Normally he would avoid using such tenacious tactics to avoid attracting attention to himself from any more potential monsters in his area, but unfortunately, he wasn't in the right state of mind to think logically about his attacks.
He was at least careful enough to ensure that there weren't any other adventurers in the area that could possibly be caught in the crossfire in his attacks, but that was about the extent of his rationale at the moment.
His mind was far too busy being occupied with the clouding emotion of anger and slight feeling of betrayal at the very image itself that he had of Aiz Wallenstein. He thought the world of her from the very moment that she had saved him from that minotaur on the fifth floor way back when, and he'd even go as far as to say that he'd fallen head over heels for her.
She was the kindest most noble soul that he'd ever had the joy of encountering, and was one of the biggest reasons that he pushed himself so hard every day. In his mind, she was the walking embodiment of a hero and was the picture perfect knight that everyone should strive to be if they wanted to walk the path of a virtuous adventurer.
There wasn't a second that passed since the moment that they met that he considered that she could harbor such dark emotions that she had hit him with not even an hour ago. And what made it worse, was how he was positive that he hadn't done anything remotely close to deserve such treatment. If whatever resentment she'd shown him could be brought out so easily, then that must've meant that the hatred she carried was far more powerful than he'd like to think.
He had no way of putting any pieces together with the limited knowledge he had outside of that it had to be connected to monsters in some way, but in truth he didn't want to make an attempt to justify what he'd seen. The fact of the matter was that she harbored something inconceivably dark, and she was willing to show it to someone that he'd thought she might've seen as a friend.
But now he wasn't so sure.
That last thought paved way for his mind to move away from the anger that'd been ailing him, and allow a crushing sadness to take its place. Does that mean that she really thinks that little of me? That I wasn't even a friend in her eyes?
Hard as he tried to remain composed and mature in the face of the dangers of the middle floors, he couldn't stop the tears that started to prickle at the edges of his eyes. Damn it…
He wasn't sure how far he'd travelled at this point. The only thing he knew was that he certainly hadn't gone too far and passed the twenty-fourth floor, or else he would've found himself in the middle of what Eina had called the Water City and the Great Fall.
He was still traversing the Large Tree Labyrinth if the still strangely elevated wooden hill he was walking on was any indication. It had been his first time going so far into the dungeon, but he had done his research ahead of time to limit as many surprises as he could. As such, he knew that the entirety of the Labyrinth took up the length between the nineteenth to twenty-fourth floor, and that the walls, ground, and ceiling were made entirely out of wood which made the entire area seem like the inside of a giant tree.
Instead of the sunlight glow that the crystal sky of Rivira gave, this area had an odd radiating moss that grew in every which direction and illuminated a blue hue throughout the entire Labyrinth.
Releasing a deep breath he didn't know he'd been holding from the moment he left Aiz behind, he brought the edge of his cloak up to his eyes to wipe away the remaining tears that stained his face. Unfortunately the evidence of his emotional turmoil remained through visibly reddened eyes and deeply moisturized cheeks, but there was little he could do about that at the moment.
Halting his aimless march, he decided to use some breathing techniques that Takemikazuchi had briefly taught him for regulating his emotions if he ever needed a quick fix before treading any further.
The dungeon was a cruel place however that granted no one a peaceful moment should they seek it when within its dangerous floors, evident by the several screeches heard from overhead that informed Bell of the impending aerial attack that was heading his way.
His instincts kicking in, he wasted no time on turning to observe what he was dealing with by instead immediately throwing himself into a perfectly performed somersault that allowed him to narrowly dodge what he now saw to be several featherlike blades that violently stabbed into the ground where he once stood.
Sensing that he was temporarily safe from attack, he raised his gaze to find his offenders. Flapping their wings in the air were three brown feathered Harpies, all glaring down at him with red glowing murderous eyes; killing intent practically drooling off their bodies alongside their dismay that their initial attack ended in failure.
Great, flying monsters with the capability of turning their feathers into projectile blades as tough as iron, just the type of enemy my knives are equipped to deal with. He sarcastically thought to himself, groaning at the prospect of having to fight a potentially prolonged battle against these Harpies.
The three-winged monsters simultaneously stretched their wings as far back that their limbs would allow, seemingly preparing to launch the same projectile attack that they had moments ago. Wasting no time in response, Bell unsheathed his two blades from under his cloak and shifted his footing to prepare to either deflect or dodge depending on how fast the feathers would reach him.
Swinging their wings back to launch the blades, they soared through the air at speed that would undoubtedly be too much for any level three or most level fours to perceive quickly enough to deflect. Bell however, had unrivaled speed amongst adventurers at his level and thus was more than capable of swinging his two blades in perfect tandem, slicing each feather in half that would have struck him while letting the inaccurate ones fly by peacefully.
Slicing the final feather blade in half, he powerfully kicked the wooden ground beneath him to launch himself in the air towards his opponents, breaking and sending splinters of wood in the air in result. The Harpies were vastly unprepared for how quickly he was upon them, leading to one of them falling victim to a vicious vertical bladed swipe that sliced one of its wings clean off. The beast screeched out in pain while helplessly falling to the ground thirty feet below.
Bell had no time to care for the fact that the wounded Harpy hadn't erupted into a cloud of ash even upon it's awful sounding THUD when it crashed against the ground, since the other two monsters were trying to push their advantage of an aerial battle. The moment gravity was about to return its pull on his flying form and send him back to the surface, his other opponents were upon him with raised wings preparing for fatal blows to his neck and waist.
Raising his hand which held Hakugen, he exclaimed "Firebolt!" to launch a defensive blast of fire against one of the attacks, while narrowly bringing up his Hestia knife to deflect the other that was aimed for his jugular.
Neither of the defensive maneuvers were nearly as strong as he would've liked due to the compromising position of being caught midair, but they were enough to escape injury. At least at first they were, but with gravity finally winning its battle against his ascent and bringing him back down he lost all power in his hold against the wing his blade was pushing against, allowing the Harpy to overpower him and push its attack far enough to earn a nasty slice across his cheek.
"Grh!" he grunted in pain from the wound, but knew that he couldn't lose his focus now that he was falling and would've been entirely vulnerable to another attack if he didn't do something to create some separation from the monsters. Acting quickly, he focused all his strength he could muster into connecting a kick against the closest Harpy who's wing was now stained with his blood, successfully both stunning the creature and increasing his momentum to the earth below.
Unfortunately, the kick was like a double-edged sword, because while he did temporarily escape the Harpy, the wind from his fall forced his cloak to flap wildly in the air and impair his field of vision, making it near impossible to project his landing. This caused an excruciating reunion with the ground that rocked his entire skeleton, but mostly injured his legs which made contact first. Luckily however by now after all the battles he'd been through, he'd gained the ability to remain clear minded even through severe levels of pain, and thus he knew he didn't have time to waste drinking a healing potion like he wanted, for the assault wasn't over.
Forcefully grabbing the base of his cloak and pulling it back down to his side, he was met with a face full of a giant talon reaching for his head with foul intentions just inches away. Barely raising his gauntlet covered forearm to take the receiving end of the attack in the stead of his cranium, the Harpy growled to voice its displeasure. The monster wasn't one to waste an opportunity however, still taking hold of his arm and displaying a surprising level of strength to launch the boy into a wild overhead arc through the air to slam him back into the ground.
Once again, his entire skeleton was rocked, but that wasn't the end of his torment. The Harpy grew a sinister smile on its face, signifying that it enjoyed the affect the attack had on him. Thus, it lifted him in the air to repeat the attack as many more times as it could to see how much he could take before becoming a lifeless ragdoll.
After two more times of getting rocked repeatedly against the ground like a child's toy and crying out in pain, he narrowed his eyes and decided that he'd had enough. Heightening his senses for the precise moment to launch his counterattack, he allowed the creature to lift him just enough to plant his feet into the small wooden crater his body slams had created, and brought his free arm which held Hakugen up to cut the talon that held him clean off; earning a shriek from the monster as it miserably stumbled away off balance due to now missing one of its precious talons.
Free from its hold and standing on his own power, he turned to face his wounded opponent and saw that it was the Harpy that he had previously hit with a weakened Firebolt. If the scorched feathers and numerous burn marks were anything to assume from that is.
Briefly hearing what sounded like a strangely quiet flapping of wings behind him, like something was trying to catch him by surprise, he pretended he didn't notice by returning his Hakugen back to its sheath and lifting his now empty hand back towards the crippled Harpy in front of him.
The burned monster paused its limp in fear of falling victim to a Firebolt attack for a second time, while the enemy behind him must've also believed that was what he was going for, because he sensed familiar ripples coursing through the air the same way they had at the beginning of the fight.
Immediately turning away from his faux target, he spun around and caught the hardened feather blade that was aimed for the back of his unsuspecting skull with his gloved hand, before continuing his momentum to spin around again and throw the feather directly into the chest of the burned Harpy. Its eyes widened in shock from the perfectly executed counter, immediately erupting into a cloud of ash afterwards due to its magic stone being pierced and shattered.
After destroying that monster, he about wanted to collapse to his knees to catch his breath and devour a healing potion to alleviate the immense pain coursing through his body. But of course he knew that wasn't an option yet. There still remained one Harpy standing almost unwounded just a dozen feet away from him. Sure, its confidence was probably shaken from seeing how he deflected its attack into a fatal blow on one of its brethren, but that wouldn't be enough to buy him time to recover.
"Alright, let's get this over with." He proclaimed more to himself than the Harpy nervously standing at attention across from him while he less than gracefully turned around.
Just like the Minotaur's that he faced earlier, the expression the Harpy held told him that it was contemplating running away for the sake of survival. He'd honestly even consider letting it flee if it gave him the rest he was so desperately yearning for at the moment, but a screeching battle cry from the monster told that no such thing would be happening after all.
Convincing itself he was more wounded than he was letting on from the brutal attacks he received from the now deceased Harpy, it grew a misplaced sense of confidence to kill the adventurer before it. Flapping its wings a few times to gain some altitude, it threw itself into a nosedive with perfect aerodynamic posture for the maximum amount of speed. It hardened its feathers and brought the tips of them to just in front of its face, practically turning itself into a living spear careening down on the adventurer aiming for his sternum.
Sighing to himself, Bell felt a modicum of relief pass through him that the monster had taken the bait and was coming to him instead of dragging things out in a long ranged fight. Not wasting anytime though, he all but whispered "Firebolt" to launch a light amount of flames at his Hestia knife, setting it ablaze in preparation for the climax of the battle.
The Harpy failed to notice what he'd been conjuring, and mindlessly continued its descent.
The blade now burning ever so brightly with the flames of his magic, he focused all his remaining energy and mind on the fire. The handle in his palm no longer felt like he was holding a weapon, but instead it like it was an extension of his arm itself. Each ember that fell from the knife to the earth was something that he could control.
With that control, he narrowed his eyes in indomitable determination to the assailant that was now directly in front of him; mere feet away and inching ever so closer to his chest. As he did earlier against the Minotaur's, he flipped the knife into a reverse grip and pulled it behind him, gearing up to an epic vertical slash which passed harmlessly in front of the edge of the monsters wings, causing anything that'd been spectating to think that he might've missed his target and was about to be skewered.
However, it wasn't the intention of his attack to strike with the blade itself. No, the intention was to launch an absurd amount of flames from the knife which quickly moved forwards to incinerate anything unfortunate enough to be caught in its path. The poor Harpy didn't even get a chance to react or realize what was happening. Without another sound outside of the cracks of fire passing by, the monsters existence was silently burned away into nothingness; ending the exhausting battle for good.
The blinding flames continued their destructive path ascending further into the air of the Tree Labyrinth, catching the attention of all manners of life occupying the floor from adventurer to monster alike, before suddenly erupting into a massive explosion that sent a heatwave crashing throughout the floor. Small traces of ember and ashes alike slowly drifted over the area like toxic snowfall, but thankfully eradicated itself before it could meet the ground and create an unhealthy breathing environment for whatever was around.
Still holding his knife in the air as if he were striking a triumphant pose for his victory, Bell breathed heavily to gather himself and slow his rapidly beating heart. He didn't stay standing for much longer though; with his knees beginning to wobble before he gave in and promptly fell on his backside.
"Hah… hah… I guess I overdid it there?" he attempted to amuse himself through joking about he situation, his breathing still ragged. Not bothering to return his Hestia knife to its sheath, he haphazardly dropped it on the ground to use his hand to brush aside a sweat soaked strand of hair off his face.
That was way more difficult than it should've been. He thought honestly to himself, reflecting on the way that the fight had gone and how many blows he had suffered. I'm a level four now, and I may still be getting used to my bodies new level of performance, but I shouldn't have struggled that much with those Harpies. he berated himself.
Dropping the matter for now, he fumbled through the few pockets that he had in search of his long-awaited healing potion he'd been yearning for. Relief flooded him in an instant when his hand finally grasped the glass vial, as he then impatiently ripped it out to pop it open as soon as humanly possible. However, he started to think that his luck skill might've been fading away, as he was once again interrupted just as he was about to douse himself in its regenerative liquid. You have to be kidding…
The sound of fluttering feathers was all he needed to hear to face the brutal reminder that he had only killed two Harpies; and the group that had attacked him had three of them. He was horrendously out of position and caught entirely off guard to continue any kind of fight, leaving him vulnerable to whatever was coming his way.
Desperately turning his head around, he found the Harpy who's wing he had sliced off at the beginning of the fight cocking back its remaining limb to furiously launch a flurry of steel feathers at him. It was in clear pain and had suffered a multitude of injuries from the fall he sent it on, but it had evidently clung to its life for its moment of revenge.
Shit! He tried to reach for his Hestia knife, but he knew that in his injured and exhausted state he wouldn't be fast enough to deflect what was about to hit him. I'm not gonna make it in time!
Just before the Harpy could launch the attack that would do heaven knows what damage to him, a blur of gold and blue soared past him and sent a dust cloud of ash through the area faster than he could even think of what was happening. Realizing that he subconsciously raised his arms to protect himself, he lowered them to figure out what had happened.
His eyes widened in shock at seeing that there now was no Harpy anywhere to be seen from where it once stood. Standing in its place now was an entirely different kind of bird creature, which in one of its talons it was holding what he knew to be a monster's magic stone. His mouth dropped in awe as the pieces of what occurred started connecting in his mind. Did this monster… just save me?
Looking above the talon to take in the rest of the birds figure, he was almost stunned by what he saw. This monster was far more humanoid than the Harpy's had been, and she'd clearly taken traits of a female. She may have had talons for feet, and golden fur covering her legs and blue feathers surrounding her waist, but her upper body and head carried dominantly human anatomy.
The bird lady, much like the Harpies, had wings for arms which adorned majestic golden feathers that faded to blue at the tip. The only piece of clothing she wore was a silky white top that was held together by a pink heart shaped gemstone at the bridge of her collarbone, and it partially covered her chest, but still showed off a bit and left her entire stomach and back exposed. That bit of her was something Bell sheepishly tried to keep his eyes from lingering on, so that he could return her gaze.
When he did, he found that she was looking right at him with gentle eyes that matched the same shade of blue as her feather tips. He immediately took note of how her eyes carried none of the malice that regular monsters did, and the distinctive lack of red glow as well. Everything about her screamed how different she was from almost every monster he'd encountered to this point. Almost.
More dots connected in his mind, and he realized that this lady was giving him the exact same aura that Wiene had when he had first found her. His heart began to thunder in his chest at what he was starting to think was going on, but those thoughts were about to come to an abrupt halt thanks to what had happened next.
"Are you alright?" she questioned in the most soothing gentle voice he'd ever heard from anyone aside from Lady Freya, freezing the entire world around him as everything seemed to stop.
Silence dominated the area for a good long while, as the lady simply continued to supply him with her nonjudgmental gentle gaze; seemingly content with waiting patiently for as long as he needed to process everything. The sound that finally broke the deathly silence, was a shaky exhale from Bell, with one thought forming in his mind.
You're not the only one out there… Wiene…
A/N: Well that was certainly fun and didn't take forever to review and check for possible grammatical or spelling errors! (If there are any that you might've noticed through the chapter please forgive me, I'm mortal).
Anyways, I want to thank everyone who supported the idea of this story, as well as the people who took the time to read this. It's one of the many fun projects that I've been wanting to write for a while now, and I hope that I'm able to entertain some of you with it while I work on getting more chapters published.
Also, I think it might be important to clarify a few things. Yes, I know at this point in the story Bell wasn't a level four. However, I'm making that minor adjustment for the convenience of the challenges that he's going to be facing pretty soon. I'm not going to make him brokenly OP and go around whooping the candy ass of everyone he fights, so don't worry about that.
I also recognize that the Hestia Familia wouldn't be nearly this hostile in canon, but alas, here we are on a Fanfic website, where I decide how these characters react to things. I won't make anyone do anything too outrageous from how they'd realistically act though, so don't stress over that either.
Oh yeah, also, Bell is going to be sixteen in this story. I don't like writing about fourteen year old's fighting demons among other things. Fight me.
Lastly, I'm just a college student attending university for writing, and I hope to become a successful author one day. I know that I have a long way to go, and that's partially why I'm on here to get some extra practice in with writing stories like this while also hopefully receiving some helpful critiques from the lovely people on this platform. But I'll also happily accept your general comments and thoughts you had on the chapter as well!
Ight, peace homies. Hope y'all have a wonderful rest of your day whenever it is you read this!