Freya stared at Bell in shock, she couldn´t believe that the magic had stopped to work. She looked down at herself, it really was her original body. Freya hastily grabbed the blanket and pulled it in front of her body.
"Goddess, why are you here? Where is Syr?!"
"B-Bell...I...I..."
"Where is she? Is she in the shower? Why did you do these things?!"
She couldn´t tell if he was angry or just shocked, but he looked at her in a way she had never seen at him before.
"Bell, I´m sorry...I..."
Bell pulled the other blanket towards him and wrapped it around his waist.
"Goddess! Tell me! Why did you sneak in my bed when Syr was away?! Why di you...did you do that?! Why did you force yourself onto me?! Why are you speaking with Syr´s voice?!"
"Bell, I didn´t force myself onto you!" He saw that tears gathered in Freya´s eyes.
"Then why? You...I thought...back then...we talked about it...and..."
Freya´s vision got blurry when she looked at Bell, she never wanted it to be like that.
"Bell..."
"What?"
.
.
"I am Syr..."
.
.
"What?!"
"I am Syr."
"Please don´t make fun of me in this situation!"
"It is the truth. I am Syr, I was always Syr."
"Goddess, please!"
Freya shouted with closed eyes, Bell saw tears streaming down her cheeks.
"It is the truth! I am Syr! Horn can use magic that changes our appearance! She looks like me and I become Syr!"
Bell didn´t answer.
She opened her eyes. "Bell?"
"You...lied to me?"
"Bell, no!"
Freya saw the shock in Bell´s face.
"Goddess...you...lied to me? You...made this all up? Why?..."
"Bell, please! I didn´t lie to you! I mean yes, I lied to you! But I didn´t mean to!"
"But you did..."
"I wa-"
"Did you do it to have some fun?"
"What?!"
"Did you play as Syr to flirt with me and have your fun this way?"
"No, I didn´t!"
"Then why?..."
"*Hic* Bell...I´m so sorry. I wanted to tell you the truth..."
She saw that Bell also had tears in his eyes. "So all that with Syr...all these feelings...what I had with her...were lies?"
"No! They weren´t! Syr...I...really loves you! Please believe me!"
"How...how can I...goddess?"
"What I feel for you is the truth! I didn´t tell you because I was afraid! I thought you would hate me!"
"Then why did you play as Syr?!"
"Because no one is able to love me! The Goddess of Beauty and Love! No one can really love me! No one ever did or ever would! Syr is a part of me for many years now! Only as her I can live how I want to!"
Freya sobbed faster and faster. But Bell didn´t go to take her into his arms, he was shocked and felt betrayed.
"When I saw you, I knew you were someone special! I started to like you! And when I met you as Syr, something happened to my heart! I really fell in love with you!"
"Syr or Freya? Which one? Who is the real one?"
Bell´s breath went way too fast, Freya could see that he was extremely agitated and shocked.
"Both! I am both and both are me!"
"But why did you do that with Syr?! Why...why the lie?"
Freya cried openly. "I didn´t want to lie to you, Bell. Syr is a part of me for years now...even before the dark times."
"But you didn´t tell me the truth...you promised you would never lie to me. So all those times when Syr suddenly showed up in the morning...that was just you switching places?"
"Bell...I really love you. I was afraid you couldn´t love me...because I am a goddess..."
She looked pleadingly at him.
"Goddess I...I..."
"Bell?..."
"I´m sorry...I...have to go..."
Her lower lip trembled more, Freya sobbed so strong that she didn´t hear what Bell mumbled.
"I need to get a clear head..."
She saw how he put on his clothes and left. Bell just followed an imporant advice he got from Hedin. It wasn´t good to talk or make decisions when one was shocked or agitated. It was better to get a clear head first and then talk. Bell intended to do exactly that, to sort his thoughts first.
Freya...understood what he did completely wrong.
.
.
And her heart broke.
.
.
Shattered to pieces.
.
.
She couldn´t say a word when Bell left their shared room...a room filled with lies. Freya trembled and slumped down to her knees, the blanket slipped out of her hands. She clapped her hands in front of her face and started to scream from the pain in her chest. Bell didn´t hear her scream, he was already using the elevator to get down.
"Ah...aaah...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Freya screamed and screamed like she never did before. This should´ve been a wonderful day, after their first night making love as a couple and a slightly naughty morning...but now her world was in ruins. All that she had longed for shattered before her eyes. She shivered and trembled, not able to say a word. Her eyes were wide open, tears ran down her cheeks without end.
"Bell...Bell...Bell...I´m sorry...I..."
A wordless scream came out of Freya, she felt a sharp pain in her chest again.
She fell into a darkness inside her mind, not noticing the female attendants that came rushing into her room when they heard their goddess screaming. Freya didn´t react to any word they said to her, she just stammered meaningless words and couldn't stop crying. Freya had a complete mental breakdown.
.
.
Bell left Babel and looked with an empty expression up to the sky. He felt the weight of the Rabbit Fangs at the back of his hip. He didn´t know what to do, he just stood there for a while. Some adventurers passed him, there wasn´t one that didn´t notice him. All of Orario´s adventurers talked about the "Knight of the white flame", Bell´s alias after he got up to level six.
That he managed to do that in just half a year.
What no one except him, Freya, Hedin and Hogni knew, it was thanks to his skill Liaris Freese. His feelings to grow and protect Syr had to remain strong, to be there for the love of his life. Said skill now started to flicker on his back and became dull, slowly vanished.
The woman that Bell loved more than anything didn´t exist, she was a fake...a lie.
It had always been his goddess.
In the worst possible moment, Bell walked past a group of adventurers that complained about their god.
"I swear, he spent all of our money again..."
"Yeah, we were just out of the red..."
"He isn´t even good at gambling!"
"Maybe we should tie him down when we´re out of the house?"
"Good idea. All he cares for is to enjoy himself and have fun."
"Isn´t that why the gods came down to the surface? To play around and have fun?"
Bell started walking aimlessly through the city, thinking about everything that had happened.
Was it that what Freya had done? Just playing around with him and have fun? She often said she loved all of her children in her own way. So was it just that? Was what she did as Syr just a form to show her love? Was it not real love between a man and a woman, but just a goddess to a mortal?
Bell knew that Syr couldn´t have children, she told him it had something to do with her body. That wasn´t really a lie, gods couldn´t reproduce. But she probably said it so that he wouldn´t wonder why she didn´t become pregnant, no matter how often they loved each other. Since he was still young himself, Bell didn´t have a problem that he and Syr wouldn´t be able to have children on their own. Because he loved her more than anything.
But now...he knew the truth.
Against his will, he saw a picture of Syr in his mind, she smiled in a mean way, as if she enjoyed to trick him the whole time.
But her tears had looked all too real.
Many things made sense now.
Why Syr never had a problem that Bell got really close to Freya, that they got very intimate when she helped him to get rid of the effect of the aphrodisiac. When he thought about it, every woman would probably become extremely angry when she heard that her boyfriend had kind of sex with their goddess.
Why didn´t I see it? Was I that blind and deaf because of love?
He thought back about all these events after he saved Haruhime from Ishtar.
.
.
About a week after he saved Haruhime, Bell went to the pub again to visit Syr before he went to the dungeon. Haruhime hadn´t joined the dungeon party at this point.
When he entered the pub, he heard a familiar, beautiful voice.
"We always start to broom from this side, so that the others can start to wipe the tables."
"""Understood!"""
Three female voices answered Syr. Bell was surprised when he came in.
"Oh, Bell. Good morning~~~!" Syr beamed as always.
Together with her were Mikoto, Haruhime and Chigusa. All of them wore the uniform of the waitresses.
"These are our new part timers! And Mama Mia allowed me to show them the ropes!"
Syr had grinned so happy.
So happy.
As if she was really enjoying it.
Did she actually enjoy it?
Bell knew the story about Ryu and Syr. Why Ryu went on a rampage, how she collapsed afterwards. That it was Syr that saved her and that Ryu thought of Syr as her special someone. Not in a romantic way, but Syr was Ryu´s everything.
Ryu had begged her goddess to leave Orario after her familia got slaughtered. Partly because she feared someone would attack Astrea...but mostly because she didn´t want her goddess to see what she would be doing now.
Without Syr, Ryu would´ve died, would´ve shattered under her guilt and maybe even ended things for herself. Ryu was only sixteen during that time and had experienced horrors and losses that no one should.
But Syr was there for her.
Freya...was there for her.
Bell heard that Syr was already in Orario during the dark times. That she gave people soup in a field kitchen...not made by herself of course...and cheered them up.
So while her familia fought against Evilus...Freya had helped the people of Orario in a way that was equally important. Not as a goddess, but as a simple girl.
When Haruhime, Chigusa and Mikoto started to work part time in the pub, Syr soon became friends with Haruhime. With her cheerful, always happy nature, she managed to pull the shy, hurt girl out of her shell. Mikoto and Chigusa also couldn´t ignore Syr´s natural charm.
Was it Goddess´ charm? Or...just Syr´s nature?
Haruhime definetely considered Syr as one of her friends now, Mikoto and Chigusa liked her too. The three got closer to all the staff members of the pub. Mikoto even got a different job, she worked now on some days in the kitchen, so that Mia could add a few far eastern dishes on special days.
All of them had a good time, a happy time.
So...was it just the whim of a goddess, who was just looking for some entertainment?
But wasn´t it Freya in a way that drove Anya away from her familia, because she knew it would destroy her some day?
Chloe. Anya. Lunor. Ryu. Mia. All the other staff members of the pub.
Did Freya play Syr just for entertainment or were they important to her?
Bell didn´t know, because he didn´t ask her.
.
.
Bell looked up to the sky, no clear thoughts ran through his head, only memories and uneasiness.
.
.
Freya didn´t notice anything that happened around her. Not that her attendants called for Ottar, not that he carried her to their home, or that she was brought to her room. Freya couldn´t stop mumbling by herself and crying.
And she didn´t notice how her female attendants talked by themself. How she looked like when they found her.
That she was naked, had Bell´s semen on her body...and was crying alone in her room.
They didn´t know what happened, but they came to a conclusion on their own. It had something to do with Bell, they feared he did something to her.
And that mumbling...was heard by one of the Gulliver brothers, who immediatelly went to his brothers, consumed by rage.
Nothing that happened around her mattered to Freya.
Her mind was turned to the inside, swallowed up by the spreading darkness of her broken and despairing heart.
Syr cried with her.
Syr yelled at her.
Syr slapped her.
Syr begged her.
Freya laughed like a maniac when she saw Syr.
Freya had a breakdown and cried together with Syr.
Freya cowered in a corner of her mind, begging Syr to forgive her while she got yelled at.
Freya whimpered when Syr slapped her.
The room inside her mind that she shared with Syr...the room that was her split, broken personality, got darker and darker.
No one came to save her, no one came to give her comfort. No one could come to her, since she heard no one.
Her "chambermaids" could only watch as the wretched heap of what had once been their elegant goddess sobbed and rocked back and forth in her bed. Talking to herself... yelling at herself... hitting herself... and whimpering.
The only man inside the room was Ottar, the chambermaids only let him inside after they cleaned and dressed Freya, but he had no words for what he saw. He didn´t know if Bell was the culprit...he didn´t believe that it was Bell. If Bell had hurt her on purpose, Ottar would end his life in a matter of seconds. But Ottar knew that Freya loved Bell in a different way from her other children.
She really, really loved him. Not as a goddess, but a woman.
"He won´t love me anymore...nothing matters anymore...eheheheh~~~~...why am I laughing?...ahahahah~~~~heheh...he...*Hic*...he knows it...*Hic*..."
Ottar closed his eyes for a second, he knew Freya long and well enough to guess what she was mumbling about.
Bell somehow got that Freya and Syr were one and the same person.
What now...
.
.
Bell didn´t know in what part of Orario he was, he didn´t notice anyone around him, just kept walking with an empty face.
Not only was he confused, shocked, agitated, felt betrayed and many more emotions...his back also felt weird.
His shock and that he didn´t know if he could trust Syr...Freya...anymore...it sent his emotions and heart into a turmoil.
Only Freya existed...Syr never did...Syr was a role...Syr was a lie...
The woman he loved didn´t exist...
Which meant...
"Oho! If that isn´t the wonderful "Knight of the white flame"! How´s it goin´, boy?"
A cheeky voice passed through the veil around Bell´s mind, he looked up and saw a goddess, clad in light, blue clothes, with long red hair...and a very flat chest.
"Goddess Loki?"
The goddess winked. "´Sup."
"I´m sorry...I need to go..."
"Woah, woah, woah. Hold up there. Thought ya were always the happy go lucky kind of guy? Ya look like a bunny that was abandoned in the rain."
"Sorry...today is not a good day..."
Bell tried to leave, but someone went in his way.
"Oy, quite rude of you. Loki is trying to talk to you."
Bell looked up, it was the werewolf of the Loki familia.
Loki used the chance to get closer and put an arm around Bell´s shoulders. Even when she looked free minded and only teasing...Loki really disliked Bell. Partly because he was Freya´s new favorite, but mostly because people in Orario only talked about him and Freya all the time, not about her familia.
Bell was the super cool guy that beat her dear Ais´ record to get up to level two, let Ais even look slow compared to him.
He was the one that had all these great achievements.
Loki was absolutely convinced he was the one that let her familia and especially Finn look so dumb during the incident with the talking monsters. And in the end Orario celebrated him as the young hero when he fought against the nasty, black minotaur.
And while her dear Ais still struggled with the fight in Knossos, even when she had finally defeated that Revis creature...while her dear Lefiya was eaten up by grief for the death of Filvis...while SO MANY of her children had died in Knossos...Bell and his familia didn´t lose ANYONE!
On top of that HE was the one that defeated the strongest monster in Knossos with ONE attack.
Sure it was necessary to work together and save Orario. But why did her familia have the hard work and Freya´s just came to "clean up" and get the big fishes?
And now this boy had the nerv to be a level six, he was probably climbing up at an alarming speed. That had to be cheating!
"Please...leave me alone..."
Loki squeezed his shoulder slightly, she just couldn´t resist. "Oh myyy~~~. What´s wrong little bunny? Trouble at home?"
"Yes..."
"Ohoohohoho! Don´t tell me Freya already has enough of you and got a new to-..."
Loki stopped when she saw the expression in Bell´s face and eyes. She had expected anger or embarrassement...but not this.
Bell was crying.
"Eh?...Oy, y-"
Bell ran off, tears streamed down his face.
Bete snarled. "Pfff, weakling. Crying because of a few words?"
Loki´s words dug deep into Bell´s wounded heart. Was he just a toy for Freya? One of her many children that she just loved like a goddess did?
Was Syr never real and never really loved him?
Was it all a lie?
Liaris Freese on his back started to flicker...and then slowly faded away.
Without knowing or even intending to do it, Loki dealt a critical blow to the Freya familia. If that would turn out to be a good thing or not...even the gods couldn´t say that.
.
.
"Freya...why didn´t you tell him the truth?"
"And how? Tell him you and I are the same person? We are immortal, Bell is not! How could he ever really love us?"
"He already knew he could never have children with us! He deserved to know the truth!"
"Why didn´t you tell him then?!"
"It was too early...I wanted to do that in the future."
Freya and Syr stood with their backs to each other in the room, that got filled more and more with darkness, the more Freya lost hope.
"I lost him..."
"He doesn´t love us anymore..."
"He really loved me..."
"Loved us."
"LoVeD Us..."
"lOvEd uS..."
"Ehehehe..."
"AhAhAhAhAhAhA!"
"Hihihihi!..*Hic* *Hic* *Hic*"
They didn´t even know why they laughed. It was the same phenomenon that happened to people who received a major shock. Sometimes the brain couldn´t do anything else, the person was so confused that he or she just started to laugh.
Freya and Syr both went down to their knees, covered their faces with their hands and started to cry. Both a mirror image of the other.
Bell...
Bell had been the one, true love for her.
Syr or Freya, Freya or Syr...it didn´t matter which one was the real one...maybe both were...or a mixture...it didn´t matter.
Freya was incredibly old compared to a mortal person. Thousands of years old. The gods came to existence with the first mortals or maybe it was the other way around...not that it mattered. The mind of the gods worked different, a mortal couldn´t bear to live for thousands of years or that person would go insane...or start to forget many things from the past, to protect himself from getting insane.
Not so the gods, they didn´t forget. Well some minor details sometimes got forgotten or were pretended to be forgotten. But the gods rememberred the majority of their lives. For the biggest part of their lives in heaven they were just...there. They did their jobs, cared for and cleaned the souls so that they could get reborn. Some gods found love in heaven, fell in love with other gods. Some gods even fell in love with other beings, spirits or even mortals.
But not Freya.
She was a Goddess of Love and yet she never fell truly in love with someone.
Because no one could love her.
Many "loved" her, because of the divine beauty and charm that was part of her nature. Many gods disliked her for that, Odin had threatened to kill her.
Only Bell was ever able to love her for who she was...because he was immune against her nature.
It was kind of strange. The only person, god or mortal, to ever be immune against her, aside from the three celestial virgins...and he fell in love with her. With her, probably, true self.
And now...this man was gone...he turned away from her.
Because Freya lied to him.
Because she didn´t tell him the truth about her and Syr.
Both halves of her agreed, they did it because they were afraid that Bell couldn´t love her for real then anymore.
Because she was a deity, immortal but sterile. She could never have children on her own. Oh how Freya wished that would work...how she would love to have Bell´s children, as many as he desired.
In her desperate state, Freya even thought there could be a solution.
Ryu.
After Bell went into the dungeon to save Ryu...and he did save her...after they spent so much time isolated in the dungeon, Freya thought maybe romantic feelings would bloom in Ryu. Together it could work...they could love Bell together...Ryu could bear his children.
"Ryu is a good choice."
"They would have cute babies."
"It would solve the problem."
Both images of Freya´s mind shook their heads. ""No it wouldn´t.""
"It wouldn´t work."
"It can´t be."
"It shouldn´t be."
"We love Bell, we don´t want to share him."
"And Ryu doesn´t love him."
"Bell doesn´t love her."
"It would hurt us."
Freya spoke with Syr´s voice, Syr talked with Freya´s voice. Both parts mixed and separated in her mind constantly.
Deep down she didn´t want that. Freya/Syr wanted Bell for her alone...and he did only love her. Also it wasn´t as if there were any romantic feelings between the two. They were good friends, Ryu respected Bell, she called him a special friend. But that was all.
If she was honest, Freya was glad about that. She knew that Ryu would never join such a love triangle and it would only break her heart if she would be in love with Bell but he only loved Syr.
As it broke Freya´s heart.
So it was good that Ryu was spared from such a fate, she would surely find a nice man in the future.
And now...Bell ran away from Freya...
Freya lost all hope, the darkness devoured her.
.
.
After calming down at least a little and stop crying, Bell sat down on a small wall, he didn´t know where in Orario he was.
Am I just a toy for her? Did she do it to have fun? "Play" the role of a loving girlfriend, just so she could experience how it felt like?
But it all felt so real, he was geniuenly in love with Syr. Was...
His heart ached, it really hurt.
But then again...it wasn´t like Freya was ever cruel to him. Sure, she and Syr liked to play their pranks, but nothing hurtful. And both...she...said she loved him. Freya and Syr had never shown anything else than love to him, both in their own yet similar way.
Like when the incident with the Xenos happened.
When he found the young dragon girl in the dungeon, a monster that could talk and had emotions. His party was shocked to find out that he hid her from adventurers that were hunting her. More shocked when they noticed what she was. Bell begged them to not do any harm to her.
He had to bring her out of the dungeon for her own safety, but where to go? Folkvangr was out of question.
In his panic, Bell could only think of one place. So he took the special elevator that moved all the way up to the top of Babel. And brought the dragon girl to Syr´s room. Welf, Mikoto, Haruhime and Lily accompanied him, Syr had allowed this beforehand.
There they had tended the dragon girl´s wounds and talked a bit to her. Bell did the great deed to come up with a name for the dragon girl...Wiene.
They were only about half an hour in the room, when the door opened and Syr came inside.
"Oh, Bell and a-"
She stopped when she saw Wiene. The dragon girl returned her gaze with big eyes.
Syr´s eyes widened in shock, her mouth was about to open to probably scream.
Before it happened, Wiene opened her mouth and smiled. "Hello."
Syr blinked many times. "Eh?"
"H-Hello...I´m...Wiene."
"Eeeeh?!"
Bell walked quickly to Syr. "Syr, please calm down, there is a reason for this."
"Did she just talk?!"
"Yes, pl-"
She didn´t let him finish, to Bell´s big surprise Syr walked towards Wiene and crouched down in front of her, so that their faces were on the same level.
"You can talk?"
"Y-Yes..."
Wiene was a bit taken aback, trying to hide at Haruhime´s side.
"And you have a name?"
"Bell gave me one..."
Syr looked back and forth between Bell and Wiene for a few moments.
"Oh my."
Syr saw that the girl was more than a bit afraid of her. A special shine was in Syr´s eyes, they weren´t glowing...but it was the "special Syr shine".
"I am Syr." She smiled.
Wiene´s afraid expression cracked into a shy smile. She wanted to hold out her hand to Syr, then she rememberred her claws. Syr didn´t hesitate, she gently closed her hand around Wiene´s, avoiding the claws.
"Nice to meet you."
.
.
Thinking back about the moment, Bell now understood why Syr...Freya...had reacted this way. A talking monster was something extremely exciting. And since he knew how strong Freya was, she probably wasn´t afraid.
But what she did then shocked Wiene and the others.
Syr suddenly moved forward and pulled Wiene into a hug.
"Haaaah~~~ You´re the cutest thing I´ve ever seen! You´re so adorable!"
"Fueh?"
Wiene didn´t know what to do, but she held her hands away from Syr, because of her claws.
And then, Syr did what she did to everyone she found adorable. She rubbed her cheek against Wiene´s.
"You´re soooo cuuuute! Even more adorable than Ryu when she is sleepy or drunk!"
The others were very surprised how quickly Syr opened up to Wiene and how easy it felt for Wiene to trust her.
After the hug, Syr moved slightly backwards and looked at Wiene. "Hmm...this won´t go. You need some clothes and a bath first!"
"Huh?"
Syr looked up. "Haruhime, Mikoto, Liliruca, can you help me? We can use the big bath, I have some old clothes that she can use."
It was hard to resist a request of Syr, at this point she already became friends with Haruhime, Mikoto and even Lily. When they left for the bath, Welf excused himself and said he would talk in secret to his goddess. Bell remained in the room and was baffled with everything that had happened.
When the girls returned from the bath...one hour later..., Wiene beamed all over her face, her hair looked really smooth and she wore a cute dress that was just a big too big for her.
"Bell!"
The dragon girl ran to him, she looked really happy.
Haruhime and Mikoto left for about an hour to go to their home and get some stuff, they would have a sleepover here tonight. Lily did the same, they had to discuss what they would do now.
Syr excused herself for a few minutes, she had to do something.
When she returned, she looked surprised for a moment, until her expression got normal again.
Now that Bell knew about the replacement, he understood that this wasn´t Syr or Freya, it was Horn, that´s why she looked surprised. How he knew that it was Horn? Because only minutes later, Freya came into the room.
She didn´t look surprised at all when she saw Wiene.
"G-Goddess?!"
"Bell, come here."
"B-"
"Now."
He got up to his feet, Wiene and the others looked worried, but he followed Freya´s wish.
"Bell, can you imagine why I am surprised?"
"Ahm...yes."
"Then I can tell you, your imagination is wrong. I was sitting in my room when I got a message, from Ouranos."
"God Ouranos?!"
"Yes, he asked me to come down to him, he had to talk to me immediatelly. So I went down, there I met his only follower...and they told me quite the fascinating story. And here I find you and your friends, with my dear Syr...and a talking monster."
"Goddess...I..."
Freya sighed. "Did you run after another girl to save her?"
"Yes..."
She nodded. "I understand...but why did you bring her here?"
"I didn´t know where to go..."
Freya sighed. "Hah...well...whatever..."
Then Freya raised her voice a bit. "You can come in."
The door opened again and a robed figure came inside.
It felt a bit strange how the events played out, but Ouranos and Fels didn´t have another choice, since Freya learned about the Xenos that way.
They decided to help Wiene and Freya got interested in the Xenos. Partly because it was exciting and interesting, but mostly because it was important for Bell, so it got important for her.
Things happened, at some point the Xenos were in the city and tried to flee back into the dungeon. But the Loki familia did their best to catch them. Freya felt immense joy to let Loki´s familia look dumb and even more to help Bell. The Xenos got separated, one of them, the harpy Fear, got wounded while she protected one of Loki´s elves from the attack of an Evilus member.
Freya allowed a few Xenos to secretely take shelter in Syr´s room again, the Al´Miraj, the hellhound, Wiene and the siren Ray. She promised Bell to keep them hidden, while he was in the city and tried to distract the Loki familia from their plans to save the other Xenos.
While Wiene and the other two took a nap, because they were really exhausted, Ray came to Freya´s room, asking shyly if she was allowed to enter. Ray apologized for everything to Freya and thanked her many times. Freya waved to invite her to the big window. There were no windows that could get opened so high up, at least not wide enough for Ray to jump into the sky and fly around. But Freya gave her the chance to look over Orario for a while.
Freya was really fond of Ray, because she was such a beauty, despite being a monster. Or maybe it was this fact that let her look so exotic and appealing.
The goddess couldn´t fight her nature, she saw that Ray was worried about her friends, but they had to wait. Waiting without being able to do anything could eat someone up, so Freya offered Ray a bit wine to calm down. Ray never drank wine before, but she liked it, it made her a bit tipsy.
Freya really couldn´t escape her nature, while she had pledged to herself that no man would ever touch her again, except for Bell...Ray was something different. And it was too exciting...
In the end...Freya and Ray did things that a goddess and a monster probably shouldn´t do together, it was a unique experience for both.
Bell didn´t know about that and Freya kept the memory for herself, as did Ray.
Afterwards, when the embarrassed Ray left the room, dressed with her chest ribbon again, Freya wondered why she did that. Was it really in her nature to be like that? She had shown and given Ray much love, that wasn´t wrong in her mind, she had enjoyed the feeling of Ray´s body and her moans...but at the same time she felt empty.
It was a self destructive behaviour that she had for a long time, without noticing what it was.
The one she wanted to be with was Bell...and only Bell.
The truth was, Freya was a captured maiden that hoped for love and a hero to rescue her.
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In the end Bell´s reputation in the city got restored after they witnessed his fight against Asterios. The minotaur heard about the young adventurer that slew a dragon on his own, he should be a worthy opponent.
The Xenos managed to escape back into the dungeon, things calmed down again.
.
.
Then came the time when Syr came rushing to Bell and begged him to go back into the dungeon, right after he returned from the Expedition, to go and help Ryu.
When he thought about that moment, there was no way the emotions and feelings that he saw in Syr could be fake, she was worried sick.
And when both woke up in the hospital, Syr´s eyes were red from crying, she was so glad to have both of them back.
What Bell saw in her then...this couldn´t be a lie.
He didn´t want to believe it was a lie.
Bell rememberred how concerned Freya looked when Bell started to get along better with Ottar. His captain even invited him for a special training, lifting weights. After the fight in Knossos, Ottar kept one of the destroyed Oricalchum doors, apparently he let them get forged into weights.
Bell had immense trouble to even try to lift one of the weights, but Ottar lifted two of them without problems.
"You´re so strong, captain."
"Remember, muscles are righteousness, they are justice!"
"Yes, captain!"
Freya´s face was pure horror when Bell tried his best to train with Ottar. She would decide to have a serious talk with Ottar, it was okay when Bell got a bit muscular, but she would forbid him to turn Bell into a bulky bunny!
By no means did she want to see Bell and Ottar standing there with bare upper bodies and flexing their muscles. It was already hard enough for her to bear seeing Bell and Hogni throwing poses before they started to train. Or Bell´s more serious and studious behaviour when he worked with Hedin.
She was glad that he got along with these three, but she wanted to keep her cute rabbit!
These emotions also weren´t a lie.
.
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Other things had happened, a dance party of the gods with one of their children again. Bell enjoyed to dance with Freya, very much.
Now that he knew both were one..
Was I attracted to her because she is a bit similar to Syr? Or did I fall in love with Syr because she is a bit like Freya?
Bell now understood the strange feelings in his heart. He had felt things for Freya that he shouldn´t for a deity, at least he told himself that. And his love for Syr was genuine.
He even slowly guessed why Freya didn´t tell him the truth.
Even when he said he thought that love could bloom between a deity and a mortal, he never stated that HE could love a deity.
Was she afraid? Afraid he wouldn´t love her anymore?
Or was she afraid he couldn´t forgive her for lying to him?
I don´t know the answer...because I didn´t listen...I couldn´t listen...
Bell sighed heavily...maybe someone could understand that he was so upset he had to leave the room first to calm down...but he felt horrible for leaving her like that.
I need to talk to her, I have to go and talk about everything.
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Bell rubbed his eyes, took a deep breath and looked up, to see where he was.
No way.
The Hostess of Fertility.
By themself, his feet had carried him somewhere to the pub. He smiled slightly, turned to Babel and was about to make a step forward.
.
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""""BELL CRANEL!""""
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Four voices rang out and were followed by four small figures crashing onto the street, surrounding him.
The Gulliver brothers.
"What?!"
All four pointed their weapons at him, wearing full armor.
"You made her cry."
"You betrayed her."
"You hurt her."
"You will pay for that."
"Wait, I- I just want to talk to her, let me pass!"
"You will die!"
"You will not go to Folkvangr!"
"We will protect her!"
"You´re a fiend!"
"Wa-"
""""Die!""""
Together, all four charged at him.
.
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Panic broke out when five high leveled adventurers started a fight.
Bell was now one of the strongest adventurers in Orario, but he only had the Rabbit Fangs with him, while the Gullivers were fully armed.
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In her room in Folkvangr, Freya sat with pulled up legs on her bed, she saw nothing, was consumed by the darkness in her mind and heart.
Her Odr left her...she had nothing in this world anymore.
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Author´s Note: It didn´t bring me joy to write this and hurt Freya so much, but I think it had to be done, it was the only possible outcome to her reveal. She is lost, hurt, her heart destroyed.
Only one special hero can save her now.
Will he achieve that? We will see.
The next chapter for Change of Fates has to wait for a few days, since now I will write the final chapter for Spirit Child, to give it a proper end. At the same time I have more time to write since I´m on vacation now, so muuuuch more time to write.
Why did I use such a time jump? Because I want to write all the short stories in a slight different way to each other. We will get a few more flashbacks of moments between Freya / Syr and Bell.