Disclaimer:
I do not own DanMachi or any of those series characters. Nor do I make any money off my writing.
Synopsis:
It's been six years since the fall of Zeus and Hera familias and the world has changed. Its a time where civilians and adventurers alike are terrorized by Evilus, a group that seems content to slowly seep the great city into a pool of chaos. And it's at this time that Gareth Landlock, high-executive of the Loki familia, stumbles across a six year old dungeon orphan in the middle of a crowded street.
Ch 7: Stony Ambushes
Stony Ambushes (Alise)
The clouds had rolled in, obstructing the silver sliver of moon that had first risen and then started to sink in the night sky. What little light the night had started with had gradually decreased until individual objects and people in the night turned from distinct entities to vague shades of gray among the black. At least they did for any mere mortal eyes.
But for those that drove and strove through the bends and endless tunnels below the city of Orario, the dim light was more than enough to carry out their charge. Afterall, these Adventurers were used to working with less than ideal conditions.
A half dozen forms crouched in the deeper shadows of an alley just inside Orario's Industrial District main street. The ring of hammers on metal, squelching iron, and a hundred other sounds of industry ensured that for any who could hear, it was apparent that though the rest of Orario may rest, this district carried on, lively as any part of the entertainment district. It was as much a testament to the willpower of the district's many workers if anything else. The looming threat posed by Evilus may hang over all their heads, but the iron heart of Orario still carried on.
The night's cool breeze shifted one of the form's fiery red hair, first one way and then the next, reminiscent of the flicker of a dying flame. The form was unquestionably feminine with the burnished metal of her half plate armor molded over distinct curves. She stared out of the alley she and the others were waiting in, one hand lightly resting on her sheathed sword and watched for any sign of movement around a warehouse across the main. Another of the figures, this one hooded and enfolded in a deep green cloak that looked almost black in the current light, slid up beside the first.
"Alise, it's been four hours... are we sure they were going to show?"
The green cloaked figure raised one delicate hand to pull down a green cloth mask away from their nose and mouth before brushing a stray strand of golden hair back beneath their hood as they looked from the warehouse to the fiery redhead.
Alise Lovell, captain of the Astrea Familia, pursed her lips slightly in thought before she glanced at her companion with a wide smile that even now bore brightly under the impatient girl's obvious stress.
"Patience Leon." Alise said, raising one gauntleted hand up to rest on the blond haired elf's shoulder. "The informant was solid. Remember, Lady Astrea was present during the questioning."
"Well, they better be bloody quick about showing them." Piped up a higher pitched voice from just behind them. "I'm tired of freezing my ass off waiting for the degenerates."
Alise took a moment to glance behind her at the other members of her familia. Apart from her Ryu, Kaguya, Lyra, Neze and Nion each crouched on the stone cobbles of the alleyway, blending into the shadows to various degrees. The rest of the familia was either resting or keeping watch of the Stardust Manor. Kaguya, who's straight raven hair hid her eastern features better than a cloak in this darkness, pulled her battlecloth Kimono tight around herself and scowled as she continued to shiver.
"Well you should have taken one of the thermal warmers." Said Lyra, her pink hair sticking out in all directions from beneath the leather helm she wore. "I told you it was going to be cold tonight!"
Kaguya turned her scowl toward the pink haired pallum, apparently to give a piece of her mind on the topic, but backed down with a look of warning from Alise. Soft voices and minor adjustments of armor were largely muffled by the surrounding noise of the industrial district, but if they cut into a shouting match now they might as well kiss this opportunity goodbye.
"I understand you are all cold…" Alise looked pointedly at Kaguya before re-adjusting and focusing on the pallum in their company, Lyra. "...and probably tired. Regardless, we need to treat this like any other dungeon dive. We don't know exactly when…"
"Alise! There!" Nion's excited whisper was barely loud enough to be heard, yet it instantly caught the attention of her nearby sisters as she raised an arm to point across the street at a pair of figures near the entrance of the warehouse. An overhead magic stone lamp gently bathed the two figures in its wan light.
If the two figures had hopped to blend in by skulking around in the middle of the night, they were woefully ignorant in the ways of subterfuge. At this time of night most of the people walking around the industrial district were artisans of different trades working late on one project or another at a time when most of Orario's citizens and even Adventurers were fast asleep in their beds. These two stood out like two minotaurs at a ball. They wore large black and gray cloaks that may have hid them more in the deep shadows of an alley but simply highlighted the pair from the lamp above.
"Just the two of them?" Ryu breathed, sliding her mask backup to cover her mouth and nose. "Are we at the wrong place?"
"The informant indicated that this was going to be a crucial operation..." Alise wet her lips in anticipation. "I had expected there to be more."
A shark crack echoed across the street and the Astrea familia watched as the door before the two figures swung open and the two black forms slid inside. The door continued to rock back and forth on its hinges, its now broken lock unable to hold the door fast against the night.
"Captain…" Neze asked, "Should we wait for our backup?"
"No time…" Replied Alise, flexing one gauntleted hand to get the blood recirculating. "Here we go."
The interior of the warehouse was almost patch black as the only light spilled in from the now open door. Alise whispered a quick incantation under her breath, ending with the distinct sound of a spell.
"Agaris Alvesynth…" Alise whispered into the surrounding darkness of the room.
Flame enshrouded Alise's form which danced lightly, almost playfully, just overtop the skin of her arms and legs. 'Agaris Alvensynth' was a rare fire-based enhancement magic that acted as both a form of defensive shield and offensive weapon. Not only granting her an increased resistance to heat and flame but also seemingly increasing her speed and reflexes. And while the Astrea Captain could feel its warmth, Alise did not burn. The flames were hers to control after all.
Alise closed her eyes, momentarily focusing, and reduced the flame dancing across her extremities to just cover just her left hand which she raised like a torch. She had long ago learned that walking into a burnable structure wreathed in fire was a recipe for disaster..
"Captain, you're a show off." Kaguya muttered as she and the other Astrea members pulled small hand held magic-stone powered lamps from their pockets. They were one of the newer designs, crafted by a relatively new up and coming member of the Hermes familia.
In its dimness, the Astrea familia members found the warehouse stuffed with row upon row of carefully stacked wooden boxes that were as large as coffins. They had been arranged in such a way that allowed for dark, narrow pathways between each individual row.
"Spread out, and be ready. We still don't know what exactly they are after here." Whispered Alise as she glanced back to see the last of her familia file in through the warehouse's door. "Lyra, remind me, were we able to nab the warehouse's inventory list before heading out?"
The pallum shook her head in the negative, trailing her short pink hair from side to side. "It was missing, whatever is in here, Evilus didn't want people to know about it after they stole it."
"Perhaps it's because of these?" Neze pointed at a set of markings on the side of a wooden crate.
And as the light of the flame over Alise's hand trailed over to crate Neze pointed at, it illuminated a series of stark red lettering.
WARNING: EXPLOSIVE
REFINED INFERNAL STONES (2)
The flames surrounding the Astrea Captain's left hand reflexively died down by more than half.
"Blast, not another one of these!" Alise exclaimed in a hushed whisper. Her right fist's gauntlet lightly banged over top of the wooden crate.
Infernal stones. They were a drop item from far into the depths of the Dungeon. Functionally, each stone held an essence of fire within its core. Which seemed like a truly amazing prospect when one initially thought about it. Heralded by artisans of all kinds, infernal stones could be used in everything from powering a blacksmith's forge to a baker's oven. The stones themselves stored a plethora of energy that they would give off as heat, and that had a lot of different uses. The only problem? If infernal stones were MISS-handled they had a tendency to explode. All that energy stored unleashed in a single wave of destructive energy. And it was a tactic that the various members of Evilus were fond of using when they could get their hands on them.
It turns out that making an infernal stone into a bomb was quite easy. While the individual stones themselves were largely stable, if they were subjected to an exceptional amount of force, it could cause the internal workings of the stone to cause a thermal cascade event. Or in layman's terms, a big fiery explosion. A simple drop of the stone wouldn't do it, even a drop from a dozen or more feet wouldn't do much more than mar its surface. But adventurers collecting the stones had to be careful of wayward attacks that could set them off. A mage was more likely to set them off with a spell if anything. And there was more than one account of an artificer with the mystery skill who cut their time short on the lower world as something they designed using one accidentally caused the stone to go off in their face. In short, infernal stones, while useful, were exceptionally dangerous at the same time.
And as such, the trade of them was designated as a class 1 restricted dungeon drop by the guild.
"By the gods I thought we had accounted for all of these..." Alise breathed out under her breath, words cutting like daggers through the grass. "Make sure you don't do anything that would set these off."
"I found a shipment request Alise!" Lyra scoured through a small stack of papers that were resting on a desk just inside the room. "Looks like this is a shipment request for mining equipment out east." Lyra ruffled through a few more pages before adding, "Shipment was held-up after their scheduled caravan failed to show."
"And I wonder why that would be..." Alise muttered once again. She didn't like the way this was starting to look. Best to take precautions.
"Neze, Nion make your way to the Guild and then to Ganaesha familia. We'll need the manpower to secure all this before something bad happens. The two younger members nodded to their captain before sprinting out the open door.
That left Ryu, Kaguya, Lyra, and herself. "Spread out." Alise called.
Lyra rubbed her chin against the back of her wrist in agitation. "Something feels off..." She said, her mouth pulling down into a slight frown.
"I'm with you there..." Alise scanned from side to side, her eyes trailing from shadow to hidden shadow. "Heads up sisters. Be ready for anything."
A glint from the darkness was the only warning before a crossbow bolt sailed toward Alise's face.
And with a reaction born and honed in the dungeon, the low flame that enshrouded Alise's left hand raced up her left arm to the shoulder. The enhancement spell quickened her movement, and allowed her just enough time to bring the back of her left metal gauntlet between her and the incoming arrow. A shower of sparks and flame spat from Alise's still fire-wrapped arm as the arrow was deflected into the side of a nearby box. The lightshow briefly illuminated the warehouse, including the individual standing a several dozen feet away holding a now empty compact crossbow.
A roll of maniacal laughter spilled out of that individual, high and shrill.
"Valletta..." Alise growled before she noticed several other forms rushing out of the warehouse's shadows to surround and harass the rest of her familia. Valletta herself let out another shrill laugh as she drew a long thin sword and rushed the Astrea Captain. Soon the ring of steel on steel was almost deafening in the cramped confines of the warehouse's interior as the Astrea familia fought to hold back the tide.
Kagaura, eyes narrowed and hand resting gently over the handle of her katana's grip, had waited until her enemies were near enough to touch before she drew her katana in a single fluid motion. Two slashing cuts later, a quick draw technique she had mastered over the years, left two of the three Evilus members on the ground, motionless as marionettes whose strings had been severed. A third enemy locked their sword against Kagaura's blade, forcing her to violently disengage as additional Evilus reinforcements crowded the warehouse.
Ryu blocked and then pushed back a fourth opponent who had attempted to flank the far side of their little group, pulling back and starting to chant in the sing-song melody only the elves could.
"No!" Alise bellowed, extinguishing the flame from her left arm as she dodged one of Valletta's swings . "NO. MAGIC. We could ignite this whole warehouse if we're not careful."
The young elf's chant broke into a grimace as she diverted an incoming thrust with her sword. She was able to keep up with the press of attackers, if just barely. As one of the Evilus fighters got tangled up in his comrad's swing, Ryu was finally able to take advantage and bodily forced both opponents away with a heave. "They were waiting for us Alise! That's the only thing that makes sense!"
Kagaura scowled from where she just bloodied an Evilus member's bicep, temporarily removing the use of their sword arm, but was unable to finish them in the chaos. "Of course they were waiting on us you dumb Elf! Just like I said, this was obviously a trap from the very beginning!"
"Don't call me a dumb Elf! And you didn't even say that!" Ryu retorted, slashing out at her next opponent with a fury.
Lyra had covered the group's rear, regretting every second the unusable assortment of bombs she now carried with her at the moment. Because, well, fat chance she was going to use any kind of explosion when surrounded by a warehouse full of Infernal Stones. She was in the perfect position to see an Evilus ambusher that ducked around Ryu and rushed the Pallum.
But, just because she couldn't use her bombs for their usual functionality... didn't exactly mean they were useless...
And as the Evilus member closed the very short distance between the two, Lyra brought around from behind her back a half disassembled bomb housing palmed in her left hand. With a characteristic sly grin, she brought the half shell close to her mouth and BLEW. A fine cascade of powder spread out into a small cloud right in front of her and into her attacker's face. She could have just thrown the powder, but it wasn't like she needed much for this trick, and if Alise decided to turn on her flames again… well it would have been another way to make sure that Evilus wasn't going to get their hands on the Infernal Stones.
So as her opponent was blinded and coughing up a lung, Lyra moved in and sank one of her Carnivore, a boomerang-like bladed weapon, several inches into the attackers abdomen. She got unlucky as the ambusher thrashed in a death thro and caught her forearm ripping a shallow cut from elbow to wrist.
Stepping back, the pallum brought up a mini health potion to her mouth, the pink hair that poked from underneath her leather helm falling back from sweaty cheeks, before downing most of its contents in a single gulp and spilling the remainder across her wound. However, instead of quickly knitting together, the wound started to spit and sizzle as the potion ran into it.
"Watch their weapons! They're cursed!" Lyra shouted as she tore a wide strip from her tunic and used it to quickly bind her arm.
Cursed weapons had always been a favorite in Evilus' arsenal. Like any other magical weapons, cursed weapons were created with specific magical gifts inside of them. However, unlike the usual magic swords that were made to hold an elemental essence and release it at an owner's command, cursed weapons included a whole array of potential negative status effects and had a specialty for targeting other adventurers. At least some of the weapons here seemed to have a curse that prevented their wounds from healing, at least in the short term.
Alise grimaced as Valletta rained down another hammer blow, seeking to break through Alise's defense. Her thin sword, Crimson Order, shook violently with each blow.
The Evilus leader had long been rumored to be a mid to high level 4 adventurer and Alise was feeling it through every stroke of that cursed weapon that screeched and spat as it bit into her own sword. But despite their level difference, as Alise was a mid level 3 herself, she would bear it. She had to.
Truth be told it was a well executed trap. Pinning down the Astrea familia hard hitters in such a way that they would be unable to retaliate with their most potent abilities. If she used her fire magic she might be able to turn the tables… but then she'd have to be willing to set off those infernal stones. And while her enhancement magic might give her protection from the ensuing inferno, it would mean a death sentence for the rest of her familia. She couldn't risk that… and Valletta knew it.
"Ahhhhh, my dear Alise how you've grown!" Valletta chuckled, pulling back her sword for another overhead rush. "But you've really gotta LET LOOSE. I'm afraid you're a little too uptight!"
Valletta's sword descended and Alise caught the weapon once more upon Crimson Order, bracing herself against the weight of Valletta's blow. The weight on her sword arm suddenly vanished as Valletta reversed her motion. And as Alise stumbled, Valletta lunged, drawing a shallow cut above Alise's right eyebrow. Blood flowed down that side of Alise's face, effectively blinding that eye.
"But you're not the one that I really wanted to see. Tell me, where is my dear Finn? I wanted him to meet the end of my new sword!" Eyes wide, Valletta emphasized her point by lashing at Alise's blind spot. Alise turned, ensuring that her opponent's weapon never strayed out of the vision of her good eye as she dodged, blocked and tried to press what advantage she could… but with that damn head wound still bleeding she was severely limited. Finally Alise found an opportunity and backed away, just far enough to hopefully give her some room to think.
They couldn't wait for support. They needed to find or make a way out. Kagaura, Lion, Lyra… they all looked exhausted as they continued to push back the wave of seemingly endless enemies. But while they were not overrun, they were effectively pinned down. Alise glanced toward the door that was still a dozen feet away and where two additional Evilus members entered from the street. Just how many reinforcements did Valletta have?
"Oh no…" Valletta said moving her own body to block Valletta's view "You don't get out of this one. The bait doesn't wiggle off the hook."
We'll see about that… Alise thought. If they needed she'd punch a hole in the wall itself to get her familia out.
They just needed a distraction to take off the pressure. And sure enough, someone answered.
Gareth Landlock, level 5 High-Executive of Loki familia, barreled through the nearest brick wall of the warehouse, scattering nearby Evilus members in the confusion. And as he dove into the frey, his ax sailing in large sweeping arcs whilst bits of brick dust clung to his beard and a grim set of determination set in his eye, he pinched what remained of the Evilus forces on that side between himself and Lion. Alise's heart sang, and her own jubilant yell echoed into the din, settling into a fierce grin as she swung at Valletta in a surprise rush. Valletta cursed and jumped out of the way, further back into the warehouse, using several lower level Evilus members as a buffer of flesh and steel. Gareth's sudden arrival must have truly unsettled whatever plan Valletta had envisioned as she began barking orders to those around her.
And even as two figures turned toward Alise, no doubt at Valletta's instruction, the Astrea Captain could feel the tide finally starting to turn with their opponents moving toward the defensive.
They closed and Alise took a moment to down a health potion from her hip flask, pouring the remainder over the still bleeding wound on her forehead. The hiss, sizzle, and stinging sensation confirmed what she had already known from Lyra's earlier shout. That Valletta's sword has also been a cursed weapon.
"Hey old man!" Alise yelled over the sounds of fighting as she blocked a thrust from one of her two opponents. "What took you so long?" She followed up her defense with a solid punch to her opponent's face, crumpling them to the ground.
"GRAHH!" Gareth cried as he raised one armor plated boot and kicked an Evilus member directly in the chest, sending the unfortunate body sailing across the warehouse floor and through two rows of wooden boxes. "Well, got tied up with this lot a street over." The dwarf hoisted up his ax, preparing himself for another push. "And I'm not old lass!"
The Astrea captain grinned as she sidestepped her second opponent's slash. When she received Gareth's response saying that they'd send assistance she didn't expect the dwarf to come himself, but she should have known. Looking outside the now dwarf-sized hole in the wall Alise could see the additional Loki members Gareth brought fighting in the outside street and keeping Evilus on their toes.
She parried a second attack before setting up a quick sequence of jabs… and scored blood as her last thrust bit deep into the form's thick thigh muscle, making the Evilus member hiss in pain and hobble back to disengage. Alise let them, as the pursuit would have undoubtedly left both herself and the others exposed.
They were going to make it.
Yet above the sounds of fighting, Alise heard a shrill whistle that echoed from outside the warehouse. It was incongruous with the rest of tonight's events, almost as if…
Alise glanced to where she last saw Valletta, only to find that the Evilus leader was no longer there. Shifting shadows and swirling dust motes filled that space where she once stood.
Gareth pummeled the last Evilus fighter standing between him and Ryu with the butt of his ax, crumpling the poor soul into an incoherent heap. With the immediate threat on their flank largely gone Ryu turned first toward Alise to give a weary but determined nod before her and Lyra rushed to reinforce Kagaura's position.
"Alise!" Gareth yelled as he pulled up alongside the Astra Captain. "My team outside can hold but we should get the word out. Did you already notify Ganaesha or the guild?"
Alise's mind was only half paying attention to Gareth as she finally grasped the shape of Valletta's plan. She didn't have the time to explain everything she wanted to. So, she just pointed to a nearby wooden crate and punctuated the gesture with, "We need to get out of here, NOW!"
Gareth's eyes went wide as he read the crimson words sprawled across the side of one crate. He quickly glanced around the room, making note of the rows upon rows of similar wooden boxes. Alise heard the old dwarf growl "Not again…" before he clenched his eyes shut and shook his head violently once as if to clear it.
Months before Alise had read Gareth's report detailing the warehouse explosion that took 5 souls, one of which from his own familia. No wonder the old dwarf looked haunted. This situation was too damn close. Uncannily so.
It was a short second before Gareth nodded at Alise and glanced at the other three Astrea members left in the warehouse. The Evilus members they had been facing had retreated deeper into the warehouse leaving them in a weary and wary formation. "Let's get them out."
Alise just reached Ryu, placing a shoulder underneath the elf's arm to steady her, before they heard Valletta's voice echo out of the shadows. "Hum, interesting. Well… you might not be Finn, but you'll have to do." Maniacal laughter faded away as they heard a clink of metal on wood and a round acid-green glowing cylinder rolled out of the shadows and among the crates.
There was no time. Even if they tried to flee there was no way they would be able to make it out of the blast radius. Anyone would be incinerated in such a conflagration. Well, almost anyone.
"Sorry Ladies…" Gareth gruffed as he shoved Kagaura into Alise and Ryu causing all three to crash to the ground in an undignified heap. Tossing Lyra on top of the pile Gareth huddled close and braced himself, arms semi-circled around the tangle of women and armored back facing the rest of the warehouse.
"Hold On!" Gareth shouted.
And the world went white.
Hospital Awakenings (Gareth)
Gareth awoke to the smell of antiseptic and sterile air, a distinctively pleasant alternative to the
chaotic warehouse he last remembered. In his mind the dwarf could still hear the ring of steel on steel and loud shouts, could still see the flare of a burning fuze, and a flash and roar that ultimately ended in dark emptiness. Something must have gone right after he passed out, how else would he have made it to... Gareth turned his head and was met with a wave of pain that emanated from his neck and back as his movement stretched the skin there.
It wasn't that he was unused to pain, but the unexpected nature of it prompted the stout dwarf to momentarily cringe.
"What in the cursed mines..." Gareth breathed out hoarsely between cracked lips. But as he moved to sit up, a hand entered his vision and applied just enough pressure to hold him down.
"Just lay back you old firestarter, before I call in one of the orderlies to sit on you."
Gareth caught sight of a loose mop of red before his eyes were able to make out Alise's distinct features. She was still wearing her battle armor which bore several new scars from their most recent skirmish, and a white bandage wrapped around her head, covering over the wound above her right eye. She looked weary and tired, especially around the eyes. Knowing her, she probably had planned to keep watch till his familia showed up. And the lack of a certain demure high elf was another good indication that his familia were still on their way. Just behind the armored red-head, right in the center of the far wall, was the crest for Dian Cechet Familia. Where else had he expected to wake up? In his own bed? But he gathered that was probably too much to hope for.
"Bah, I'd like to see them try. Got things to do." Gareth grumbled. He wasn't exactly angry, but waking up to pain definitely put a sour taste in the dwarf's mouth.
"Well then." Alise replied, a slight glimmer of mischief playing behind her large green eyes. "I'll just have to make sure it's one of the new apprentices around here. Perhaps that Airmid Teasanare that's been following around Dian Cecht's Captain Octriuil? Would the mighty Elgarm stoop so low as to terrorize a doll of a girl like that?"
Alise said that last with a look of exaggerated alarm. They both knew the truth. Gareth would sooner cut off his own arm then purposely frighten a child. Taking care of Bell had only made that instinct stronger. Alise had teased him about it on more than one occasion when they had carried out their inter-familia duties.
"You're too young to be this manipulative Lovell."
"And YOUR not old enough to be this stubborn. Now relax for a bit. The doctor, Octriuil, will be back shortly and your familia should be on their way."
And so he did, at least for a few minutes. However, it didn't take long for his mind to wander.
"Everyone make it out alright then?"
Alise's red hair bobbed as she turned slightly to glance out the window. "Nicks and scrapes, nothing that won't heal. Except perhaps some bruised egos from being shown up by a dwarf twice their age." For a moment a small glimmer of a smile ghosted Alise's lips before she continued. "But the warehouse was lost in the resulting fire. The team you brought stayed to secured the scene, but my familia reported that it is nothing but a burned pit of ash at the moment."
That finally put to rest a worry that Gareth had always carried with him when he went out on assignments, losing another member of his own or another party member under his command like when they lost Soja.
"We never should have been able to survive that. Did all the infernal stones go off?" Gareth said out loud. The one thing that was warned time and time again was the temperamental nature of those blasted stones.
"We had wondered the same thing..." Alise started, her voice dropping an octave or two below the usual. "Lyra believes that most of the infernal stones must have been moved before we were lured in, and of those that remained, they seem to have been set in crates around the front of the warehouse until some bull of a dwarf kicked an opponent into them and scattered the contents into the back of the building."
"Anyway, we know from guild manifests that they were brought to the warehouse for temporary storage after their caravan was reported lost." Alise brought both arms up in a shrug. "But after that?"
"Evilus has them..." Gareth said. A slight coldness tightening around his abdomen once more.
"That was our conclusion too."
Which in all respects was an altogether scary situation. The random reports over the years that half addled Adventurers filed with the guild about monsters carrying crafted weapons didn't bother Gareth. Nor did the pointless speculation that some Adventurers took about what was awaiting in the depths of the Dungeon. Those were like boogeymen. Stories told by mothers to children with hopes to put the fear of Gods into them.
But now there were a bunch of lunatics with a pension for violence that had access to the type of wanton destruction a high level magic user could call on the drop of a hat. How many more Sonjas would Gareth have to lose before they could put a stop to Evilus' potential for widespread mayhem and destruction?
The door to the room slammed open as a young Bell charged through still wearing his training clothes. Sweat soaked the worn battlecloth fabric and it was hard to distinguish if the beads of moisture running down his face were from the sweat on his forehead or intermixed tears. No doubt word of Gareth's predicament had reached the Twilight Manor just as everyone was getting ready for their morning routines.
Quick as a rabbit, the boy covered the few feet toward the bed and more or less dove at the bedridden dwarf. Releasing a single shaky breath as he wrapped both still small arms around the large dwarf figure and hugged him tight with all the force of a level one Adventurer. Which wouldn't normally be an issue if Gareth hadn't already been hurting.
"Ahh!" Gareth gasped. "Careful lad. Still a bit sore around the edges."
"They... they said you were hurt..." Bell slightly hiccuped, digging his face further into the dwarf's chest. "They said you hadn't woken up yet..."
"Bah, what do I keep telling ya boy?! I'm made of adamantite and pure stubbornness. Gonna take more than that to take me down. Besides…'' Gareth rested one shovel sized hand over the young boy's windblown hair. "We have company."
A slight look of confusion crossed Bell's face before he glanced around and finally spotted Alise largely failing to hide her half concealed grin behind one hand. Bell straightened up and quickly wiped the remaining tears from his eyes.
"Good on ya." Gareth whispered to Bell in a hushed tone, and winked as he continued, "Don't want to ruin the image of ya being a hardened Adventurer."
"Like your one to talk..." The response hadn't come from Alise, but rather the direction of the door. Riveria strode in, Ais quick on her heels. And while Riveria was as poised and put together as always, the young girl obviously was sweating as hard as Bell in order to keep up.
The room quickly descended into general mayhem. Riveria chastising Gareth for his brash regard to stay with the living. Gareth defending himself against both Riveria and Alise's proddings. Bell blushing as Alise told him that the girls missed him coming around, and Ais silently watching wide eyed as Alise caused Bell's face to slowly turn into a tomato.
When the Dian Cecht familia captain Octriuil finally returned, the middle aged doctor had to clap his hands to be heard above the ruckus. "EVERYONE, OUT! This is a hospital, NOT the colosseum!"
Gareth ruffled his young ward's white mop of hair before Riveria ushered both youths out of the room, only stopping herself to trade a few words with the doctor in the hallway.
"Gareth?"
His one eye opened and caught Alise's frame where she had stopped in the doorway. "Yea?"
"Thanks for protecting my girls."
"Bah! No need to get sentimental, we're all Adventurers." Gareth replied as he half heartedly waved her on. However, Alise continued to stare at him until he let out a soft sigh and added in a quiet voice. "Anytime."
A definite unladylike snort came from Alise as she turned and started down the hallway, leaving Gareth with the soft, melo tone of Riveria still talking with Doc Octriuil.
A small smile crossed Gareth's worn face as he settled back into the hospital bed. Perhaps he would take what little time he could to relax. Give it a day or two and he'd be back to his usual. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
Author's Note:
Hello there reader, we meet once again! *offers a steaming cup of coffee* Come in and know me better man! (Just a little bit of Dickens for the season)
So with the holidays in full swing now I found myself with a bit of extra time, so this chapter was able to come out sooner than I dared hope. We took a bit of a detour away from following our favorite duo of newby adventurers to build upon more of the overall plot and while I do like how the chapter flowed overall I'm worried that I may not have been able to capture the Astrea familia members' individual personalities…
And just because people had been asking in the reviews, I just wanted to confirm that Bell will end up meeting Alfia/Zald at some point. It'll be a bit though.
I'd like to give a BIG thank you to everyone that's followed/favorited and/or reviewed this story. I truly appreciate hearing your feedback.
Also for anyone interested I ended up coming out with a small short story called 'Endgame' a few days back. It's an alternative ending/story that I chose not to pursue for my FFs but still wanted to write out the idea out, so it was kneaded until it grew into a functional short story. I'll warn ya though, it's a tragedy - So it's a sad one. You've been warned.
Like always, please stay safe out there everyone. Sending good vibes and well wishes.