"Well Bell? We're waiting?" Hestia was getting impatient.

Bell and Ryuu, along with the whole of Hestia Familia, had moved to the common room. Hestia had her arms crossed, while Lili was looking at the ground and tapping her foot. Mikoto, Welf and Haruhime were all standing by waiting eagerly for an explanation as well.

The two began to explain everything to Bell's familia. All that happened on Floor 37, the Safe Zone, their secret relationship since they had gotten back, and of course, them being assaulted earlier tonight.

The entire familia wore different reactions on their faces. Haruhime and Mikoto smiled, both nodding in approval. Welf had a big smirk on his face while holding a "thumbs up" sign at Bell. Lili was looking down dejected, but she was doing her best to try and not make a scene and be supportive. They all understood that Bell and Ryuu had grown very close on Floor 37 and that they both would never have made it out of their alive without each other to lean on.

Hestia was pouting. How could she not? Bell had been stolen away from her by this elf and it just wasn't fair! She should have locked Bell down the second he had joined her familia.

"Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Ugh! This sucks!" Hestia thought, scolding herself for not being even more forward with the boy early on.

Eventually, Hestia sighed and began to speak.

"Ryuu Lion."

"Yes goddess Hestia?"

"Do you promise to treasure Bell?"

"Yes, I promise. Now, and forever." Ryuu grabbed Bell's hand and squeezed it tight. The white hair boy began blushing at such bold words from his lover.

"Will you always look out for him?"

"Always. I have his back and he has mine."

"Do you swear to never betray Bell? To always be faithful and honest to him?"

"I swear. Bell is my hero. I don't think I could live with myself if I hurt Bell."

Ryuu looked straight into Bell's eyes as she continued to speak with Hestia. She wasn't just telling the goddess how she felt, she was telling him as well.

Bell couldn't stop blushing. She was saying all of this in front of his entire familia and his goddess. It was so embarrassing, but also incredibly sweet. His heart felt like it was gonna explode.

Hestia nodded her head, satisfied with the elfs answers. A mortal couldn't lie when in the presence of a god. So she knew every word Ryuu had just said was the truth.

She turned to Bell, and began to ask him something as well.

"Bell."

"Yes goddess Hestia?

Hestia only had one question to ask the white hair boy.

"Does she make you happy?"

"Yes! More than anyone else in the whole world. She makes my heart explode with happiness every moment I'm with her."

Bell returned the favor to Ryuu, gripping tightly onto her hand, and looking deeply into her eyes as he answered his goddess's question. Now it was Ryuu's turn to blush and be embarrassed.

Hestia was content. She knew that their love was genuine and true. A mortal can't lie to a god after all. And while she was upset that she had lost the battle for Bell's heart, as long as he was happy, she was happy. She was his goddess after all. She would always be there for him...no matter what.

"Alright then everyone! I officially approve of Bell and Ryuu being together!" Hestia shouted as she pointed her finger into the air, declaring to the whole familia that she had made her decision.

Bell was relieved. He had been so worried that his familia would react poorly, that he would have to fight them over Ryuu, which he would do in a heartbeat. But it hadn't been necessary. Everyone was super supportive and even his goddess had accepted Ryuu.

Soon, they all came over to the happy couple, congratulating them in different ways. Welf had already started to tease Bell, and he wasn't gonna stop anytime soon. Haruhime and Mikoto both were wishing Ryuu "good luck". Even Lili came over and gave Bell a big hug and said she was happy for him.

"Everyone, it's getting late. Ryuu and Bell must be exhausted from today. Let's all get some sleep and we can continue harassing the love birds in the morning." Welf suggested to the group.

The entire familia couldn't have been more in agreement. They all started heading off to their own rooms, tired from today's activities.

"Ahh wait a minute." Hestia stopped Bell and Ryuu from heading off together.

"Ryuu, you're sleeping separate from Bell. You can room with Haruhime tonight. I mean, we don't want any little half elves running around anytime soon, now do we?" Hestia teased through a smirk.

Ryuu and Bell were both blushing madly, shaking their heads quickly at the suggestion of them having kids right now. They looked at one another and burst out laughing. After calming down a bit, they leaned in to one another and gave each other a quick goodnight kiss, before separately heading off on their own for the night.

"Their kids would be really cute though." Hestia thought to herself as she made her way through the manor to her own room for the night.

Syr was walking down the street. The sun had just come up and she was on her way to the Hostess of Fertility. She had been away from the pub long enough. She needed to get back to Mama Mia, explain things to her coworkers, and talk to Ryuu again. Maybe try to smooth things over for the time being. At the very least, until she figured out her next move. She hadn't heard back from Allen yet, but she wasn't too worried. She was sure Ottar would have his report to her by the time she got back tonight.

Syr entered the building and noticed that there wasn't a single soul around. No Ryuu, no Lunor, no annoying cats, and no Mama Mia. This was usually the time everyone would be cleaning up and preparing for the evening. But no one was here.

"What's going on? Where is everybody?"

She was about to leave the pub when she noticed a streak of red on the floor. Syr felt her stomach sink as she soon realized what it was, blood. She followed the trail of blood with her eyes, and it led towards the bedrooms at the pub. She cautiously made her way over to them, careful not to make too much noise.

She could hear voices on the other side of one of the rooms and immediately recognized them as her coworkers voices. She knocked on the door and opened it up to see Mama Mia and all of her friends, except Ryuu, standing around an injured cat in bed.

Anya Fromel was lying in bed. Bandages were wrapped around her head, a bruise had formed on her right cheek, and one of her arms was in a sling. She was conscious, but exhausted.

"Anya are you… what happened?"

"Easy Syr. Anya appears to have been attacked. She managed to drag herself back here somehow after getting tossed around. She was bleeding all over the place, looking about ready to drop dead. Mama, Chloe, and I did our best to fix her up, but she's still hurt pretty bad." Lunor explained.

"The dumb cat bit off more than she could chew on her own and nearly got herself killed. It's a miracle she made it back in one piece." Mama Mia said, eyes full of worry for her employee and familia member.

Syr couldn't believe it, not many people could just beat up a high Level 4 former adventurer of her familia.

"It was Allen…" Anya muttered, not meeting anyones eyes.

"Huh?" Syr swore she had misheard Anya.

"It was Allen, Syr. He attacked them. Ryuu and Bell. I tried to stop him and..."

"Tell me exactly what happened." Syr needed to know everything that Anya had seen and went through.

Anya explained the events that had transpired last night to Syr, telling Syr how she had picked up on Allen outside the pub and had decided to follow him. Recounting the beating Ryuu took, and then the beating she took. She was shaken up pretty bad. Syr could hardly believe when she heard that Anya had stood up to him like that.

"What if Freya familia doesn't stop? What if Allen was just the first? Bell and Ryuu won't ever be safe in this city. They may never be safe anywhere! " Anya started to shake, terrified of the full might of Freya Familia.

"I can't fight them! I can't fight him again... I just can't." Anya began to cry, completely overwhelmed by the thought of having to try and protect her friends against the strongest familia in the city.

"It's okay Anya, it's gonna all be okay." Chloe grabbed onto the crying, injured cat and held her close.

Syr was confused. No, Freya was confused! She didn't understand. She had told Allen not to hurt those two in any way. Why had he disobeyed her? What was wrong with him?! Why had he decided to attack the two of them?

Syr froze, her eyes went wide as she remembered something Anya had said.

Allen had punched Ryuu near the stomach.

Had Allen….had he killed it?

Syr began panicking. This was all her fault! She should have never sent Allen! She knew he was jealous of Bell, they all were! She knew something like this might happen! She had never meant for things to spiral out of control like this, and now not only were her friends beaten and missing, but an innocent child may be dead because of her.

"I'm gonna take away his falna and then have Ottar rip off his damn arms!" Syr thought to herself, fuming at the situation Allen had put her friends in.

"Anya, where are Bell and Ryuu now? Where did they go?" Syr needed to know where Bell and Ryuu were immediately.

"I have no idea Syr. Last I saw them, Bell was running off with Ryuu in his arms. They could be anywhere, nya." Anya managed to choke out between her sobs.

The whole room had a dreadful and depressing atmosphere. None of them knew what was going on, or if Ryuu and Bell were safe at all.

"It's gonna be okay everyone. I'm sure it's gonna all work itself out." Syr tried to be soothing and reassure everyone, but none of them seemed convinced.

Sensing that she couldn't really help with the current crisis as Syr, she decided she would sneak off and tackle this situation as someone else. Starting with Allen.

"Where do you think you're going huh?" Mama Mia glared at Syr as she tried to sneak out the door.

"Mama please. I need to go and try and fix this. This is all my fault, and I need to do something about it." Syr pleaded with her boss, praying she would let her escape this bar.

"Fine. Go on ahead. It's not like we're in the shape to serve customers anyways. You find Ryuu though and you tell her she is in for an earful when I get my hands on her. "

"Thank you so much! Oh everyone, by the way..."

The whole room turned to Syr, waiting to hear what she had to say.

"I love you all. Please, take care of yourselves."

Everyone nodded their heads. Syr left the room and then the pub, heading off straight towards Folkvangr, the Freya Familia home. She figured Allen would be getting his wound treated there.

"His ass is mine." Freya thought, as she walked off into the city.

"Allen, how did this happen?"

Ottar was inside the Freya Familia infirmary, looming over the vice captain. Allen had appeared at Folkvangr this morning with his forearm completely torn through. He was suspicious of the situation to say the least. The simple reconnaissance mission he had sent him on should not have resulted in any injuries whatsoever.

Allen applied one of the many potions they had to his wound, and then began wrapping his entire forearm in bandages.

"I already told you Ottar. I was doing the assignment, followed the targets just like you asked. They were just walking around, talking with one another. Then before I knew it, I had lost track of them. I searched around, but I couldn't find them. I was about to give up the search when all of a sudden Bell Cranel rushed out of nowhere and skewered my arm with his knife in a surprise attack. I tried to run but they both cut me off. They were way stronger than I expected and they managed to get in a few hits. After I finally managed to lose them, I came straight here to fix my arm."

Ottar narrowed his eyes as he looked at the injured cat. Allen was the vice captain of Freya Familia and the fastest adventurer in Orario. If he had really executed his mission the way Freya had ordered him too, then there should have been zero chance of a confrontation. Allen should have been able to react to anything, and then just retreat in the blink of an eye. Allen was hiding something from Ottar, hiding what really happened.

"Mhhhh...very well. I shall inform Lady Freya of your findings, or rather, lack their of. Though you were supposed to observe only. She will be quite disappointed with you."

Ottar turned around ready to leave, when suddenly the door to the infirmary opened up and his goddess was standing there. A look of rage spread across her face as she glared at Allen.

"Lady Freya, is everything alright?" Ottar bowed, ready to assist her any way he could.

"Ottar! Bring Allen up to my room, now! No need to be gentle."

Freya was furious. She didn't pay any attention to the other members of her familia as she stormed off towards her private quarters. She primarily lived at Babel, but of course she had a room here at the manor as well.

"Wait Otta-ghh."

Allen was cut off as Ottar wrapped his hand around Allens neck and began pulling him across the floor.

"What have you done now, Allen?" Ottar thought to himself, as he dragged the cat through the halls of Folkvangr, following behind his goddess closely.

Authors notes:

Happy New Years... almost. Hope you all made some wonderful holiday memories! Personally I had a ton of fun. I'm feeling much better as well, for all those who were wondering. Thank you for all the wishes to get better. It meant a lot to me.

Bell and Ryuu were my favorite to write this time around, they're just so dang cute. Hestia interrogating Ryuu about her true feelings for Bell was something that I had planned from the very beginning. Since you can't lie in the presence of a god. Meaning every word she says is 100% true. Not that it wouldn't already be, since elf's hate lies. Hope you all liked it.

Oh, by the way. Ryuu is gonna find out about her little "surprise" soon. So stay tuned.

Trying to keep every character as "in character" as possible. I think I have done a pretty good job so far. Anya and Allen were maybe slightly "out of character" in the last chapter but I think given the situation they were both in, they would have reacted that way in canon. It's my fault for not conveying how much fear and hesitation Anya had about standing up to her brother. But Anya would ultimately do anything to help her friends. And Allen is just a dick. Felt bad putting Anya through all that though. She is a bit traumatized now.

For anyone wondering, Allen's plan was to have Ottar relay the report to Freya so that he didn't have to, cause if he did, she would be able to tell he was lying about the whole situation. Obviously that plan isn't gonna work now, and Allen is about to become catnip.

Anyways, as always leave your thoughts and let me know what you guys want to see next. I read every single comment and take all feedback into consideration when writing my chapters. It's very helpful. Next chapter will probably be New Years Day… or maybe a day or two after. At the latest Sunday but I'm aiming for Friday/Saturday.

Thank you,

CGQ