Chapter 11:
XxXxX
Despite the giant wooden doors being closed, Bete could still hear the shouting coming from within the chamber. It made him glad that he wasn't on the receiving end of whatever was happening in there, but he knew that some of the blame would fall on him too. It was just a matter of time.
He gave a side glance to the rookie seated next to him, who was looking at him with a cross expression.
"What?" Bete demanded to know with a growl.
"You threw me at a baby dragon," were the first words that came out of the mouth of the rookie, making Bete confused for a moment. "Back at the Goliath's chamber, you threw me directly at a baby dragon."
Oh, that.
Bete snickered to himself. At some point of the battle against the horde of monsters, both groups somehow ended up together. The Europa Familia managed to pull their weight during the carnage, but somehow pissed with the situation in general, at one point Bete threw a random object at a baby dragon that was getting bothersome.
That random object was unluckily enough the weakest Level 1 of the Europa Familia, R-something or the other, Bete couldn't care less. The baby dragon was pretty beat-up itself, and the weakling had his sword pointing forward, managing to nail the monster into its eye socket. It was a gruesome death, but the Level 1 pulled it off.
"Why are you still looking at me?" Bete noticed that the rookie was still looking at him, so he growled again.
The rookie sighed exasperated. "You really don't care, do you?" he asked while slumping his shoulders.
"Not really," Bete admitted with a shrug. He came out alive of the whole ordeal, that piece of information was enough for Bete.
CLANK
The doors finally opened, an irritated Loki coming out first, a sheepish looking Finn second, followed by a grumbling Riveria, and a sheepish looking Ais.
Bete couldn't help the involuntary wince that he gave once he saw Ais' right arm. What was previously unblemished skin was now sporting scar tissue all along. Those who weren't there would certainly blame that mage from the Europa Familia for her job, but they would never know anything.
Ais managed to kill the Goliath, but in the process she almost lost her arm starting a bit above the elbow. Whatever Ais did, it didn't sever the limb, it tore it apart. They found the remains of it under too much rubble, but it was still enough for the mage, Irisviel if he remembered right, to do her thing.
Ais didn't lose her arm, but she will always have a reminder of what happened tonight.
The Loki Familia owed the Europa Familia a big debt.
"So!" Loki's cheerful tone didn't matched the terror-inducing expression on her face. "You are all grounded for a week, you brats!" she then turned to Ais. "And I will not be updating your Falna for at least a month," she then relaxed, before taking a worried expression. I know that you have been wanting to reach Level 5 for a long while now, but facing the Goliath in solo combat as a Level 4 was a foolishness on your part, Ais," she then proceeded to give Ais a hug.
Unlike other times where she would try to grope Ais, and in consequence be beat up by the blonde, this hug was out of genuine worry for her child. She traced Ais' left arm with her fingertips, trembling when she touched any patch of scar tissue in the limb. If what Finn and Riveria told her was true, Ais could have been a cripple for the rest of her life.
Bete watched the whole interaction, feeling a pang of sadness at remembering his previous Familia. He knew that it wasn't uncommon for Familias to dissolve after one of their strongest members was seriously injured in the dungeon. There were many scenarios that could have happened after tonight. He was glad that this was the outcome.
He noticed the member of Europa Familia still seated next to him. His expression was…odd. It made Bete curious.
"Something on your mind?" he asked the rookie. May as well.
"Something that Loki said," the rookie seemed unsure of himself. "Ais is a Level 4?" he asked him, only receiving a slight nod. "I thought that she was Level 5," his expression was hard to describe for Bete, but he could recognize the worry he carried.
"After tonight, she may as well be one," Bete shrugged, before stretching his back. "Well, she may have to wait a month to confirm it, but we will see," Bete then asked something that has been on his mind for a while. "By the way, the blonde chick of the sword, is she fucking anyone?" his expression was now that of a perverted old man.
With the smugest expression on his face, the rookie answered. "Sorry bro, but yeah, she is," he then pointed to his Captain, who was kissing…
"GAGH!"
Bete was almost knocked off his chair when he saw the blonde chick and the mage kissing each other on a corner.
"And they are loud at night."
"You lucky bastard!" Bete never wanted to kill someone as much as this guy over here, then an idea occurred to him. "And what about her tw-"
"Rigo!" the twin of the blonde swordswoman walked towards them, squatting slightly and giving the rookie a kiss on the mouth.
"He dies!" Bete swore to himself.
XXX
The walk back towards the Europa Familia complex was a silent one. It was close to 4:00 am when Loki, Europa, and Uranos finished their talks/berating of the Captains. Rigo wore a solemn expression on his face, something that had his retinue slightly worried about him.
"Beloved, is something wrong?" Sita asked once they were only a couple of minutes from the compound.
"..." Rigo grumbled something under his breath, unheard by his lovers.
"Rigo," Artoria's tone was firm when she talked. She wanted answers, now.
"It is something Bete told me while at the guild," Rigo admitted, his expression constipated. "He told me that Ais was a Level 4, when I remembered her being a Level 5."
Now they knew why he was so worried.
"You yourself said it, we were inserted before the arrival of Bell Cranel," Arturia exposed.
"But we were supposed to arrive just a couple of months beforehand," Rigo denied with his head, his expression dark now. "This is at least a couple of years earlier."
"And what about it?"
With a surprised look on his face, Rigo turned towards Europa. The regularly air headed blonde had a serious expression on her face for a change.
"You yourself said that this world already has a hero destined to save it," she shook her head and looked Rigo straight into the eyes. "We didn't choose this world hoping to save it, we chose it for you to grow in strength on your own," her expression softened a tad bit. "I think that you are feeling overwhelmed right now, Rigo. You need a breather of some sort," then an idea crossed her mind. "How about you go and visit Waver and little Sakura. Who knows, a more modern setting may help you decompress."
Rigo adopted a thinking pose. Truth be told, Europa's proposition actually sounded tempting. He could decompress from all this craziness for just a short time. And honestly, he really didn't took advantage of being inserted into 1994. Being originally a Y2K baby, there was a lot of cool stuff he missed out on. It was his chance now.
Rigo let out a deep breath, before looking at Europa. "You have convinced me here, I will do it," he declared.
No one ever died from taking a short vacation.
XXX
The last two months had been rough on Waver.
He had a hard time getting off Japan, and he was pretty sure that he was now part of their 'no-flight' list, by himself. Not to mention how hard it was to get to the UK with a young girl without any sort of ID and that didn't look anything at all like him.
Not to mention that the moment he set foot in London, thugs from the El-Melloi Family 'gently escorted' him towards the new head of the Family after his late teacher's demise at the hands of the Magus Killer.
Waver had to handle it to that man, without his 'gifts', he was pretty sure that he would be a slave on anything but name of that brat Reines. The fact that she had taken a fancy to his 'sister' has only a saving grace.
Opening the door to his way too small apartment after working into hellish hours at the Clock Tower, the last thing Waver was expecting was for a 22 year-old man playing video games in his living room.
"Yo Waver, wanna race?" Rigo asked in a happy tone of voice, before pointing to the screen. "I can let you be Mario if you want to."
Waver fainted.
XXX
AN: I ask for an apology guys, but I am seriously feeling under the weather this week. This is the best I could do for this week. Next week we will have the usual stuff.