Part II- Run Rabbit, Run

The streets of Orario were unusually quiet since the ground trembled. A fraction of the people remained going about their business outside as Aiz made her way through the streets. They seemed bare, too devoid of life. It wasn't a state she was used to seeing one of the busier sections in. Yet she marched forward. People caught glimpses of the Sword Princess, and immediately it was like hope itself was reinvigorating the people just by her presence alone.

If only she felt deserving of such a thing.

With heavy thoughts the walk from the Twilight Manor seemed so much further to the Hearth Manor, where Bell and his familia reside. When she finally arrived she hesitant to knock, to announce her presence. A part of her wanted to slink away. To forget about it, for the stress of memories from the past wrought themselves in the forefront of her mind. If it weren't for the added fact that she asked by Finn to ensure greater chances of success for this coming operation, she wasn't certain whether or not she'd be here at all.

Even now, as one of Loki familia's strongest members it was a gamble to show up to another familia's home unannounced. If tensions were high, it would be taken as an act of aggression. The first sign of an attack. Well aware of this, she waited with hands tightly grasping each other in front of her. A sort of defensive position as her the thoughts preoccupy her mind.

"Umm..? Aiz?" A youthful boys voice breaks through the deafening silence. Aiz's eyes dart back and forth as she comes back to reality, realizing who it was standing in front of her on the other side of the gate.

"Bell.." Her voice trailed off as her golden eyes locked with his rubellite eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong? Why aren't you with your familia?" Bell's voice shook with uncertainty.

Aiz's eyes dropped as she mustered the strength to find the words to say, in what capacity she could.

"I.." She froze as her eyes drifted up, trying to look into his as he stands behind the gate. The last line of protection between them.

The last line of protection between them..

She took a deep breath in, before she could speak she heard a metal and the groan of metal rubbing against each other. Looking down she could the gate opening and a pair of adventurer boots stepping out to her.

"Would you like to come in? We could talk.."

He already had the gate open for her, before she could answer. Welcoming her, a person who she struck and scorned all in an attempt to get blind revenge against a being who came to call itself more human that she could.

Bell waited patiently, holding the gate open with one arm, and leaving himself open with the other.

"Yes. Please."

On the second floor inside, a muffled scream tried to break through the fabric that was held against her mouth. A short woman, twisted and fought against her capturers as she watches the scene unfold down below at the gate. It was Hestai, her dark hair bobbed up and down as she was being restrained by Mikoto and Welf. It wasn't easy, as the Goddess fought with a strength they didn't know she possessed. Apparently her viewing Aiz as a rival, like most of the female population, incited such strength. But at a time like this it would make for the most unpleasant of environments.

"AGH! Wallen-ersomething! Geraw!"

"Goddess, please calm down!" Mikoto hushed as she held Hestia who momentarily broke free from the gag, seizing the brief moment of Mikoto's mercy as she lessened her grip only to tighten it once more to counter her angry goddess.

"I! Won't! Let! Her! Hurt! Bell!" She screamed through the fabric.

Welf groaned at Hestia's declaration.

"She doesn't look like she's here for that. This might be a good time to let them make up. You know as friends." Welf said, attempting to defuse the easily irate Hestia. With Hestia only giving him a glare. As if the word friend was something she could comprehend when it came to Bell and other women. For her, it was always a battle of his chastity. "You think you can let it slide this one time. She's important to him."

"Plus she could have some information to share on what's going on in the Dungeon, if ya don't yell at her." Lili urged as she leaned against the window frame, peeking out over the edge. Down below she could the two walking side by side as Bell guided her to the side of the building.

It was easy to spot Aiz's approach, as she walked alongside the fenceline to the main gate. Certainly anyone inside facing the street had seen her as soon as she crossed the street. But it was Bell that was the first to race out, while Welf and the others restrained Hestia. All unknown by Bell.

Hestia spoke, but the words were muffled after connecting the dots. Welf gave Mikoto a look, and she released the wound of cloth and immediately prostrated herself in front of Hestia, apologizing profusely.

"I guess we'll have to give that a shot.." Hestia pouted crossing both of her arms. "But as soon as we get what we want, she's out! Got it?"

Everyone in the room gave each other an exasperated look and finally nodded in unison. And Lili returned to peering out the window. Her eyes burning a hole in the back of Aiz's skull.

"She better not try anything to Master Bell.." Lili growled to herself. Knowing all too well that Aiz wasn't here to fight, but fearing something else entirely.

Out on the yard, the grass was soft beneath each foot step. Each stride was quiet with no words being exchanged between them. For Bell, it was a strange sensation, having Aiz Wallenstein walk beside him. With everything that has happened, he couldn't imagine something like this happening. In his heart, he knew that there was a lot to say. But as they stepped, there grew a comfort and understanding in the silence. Slowly they venture to the back of the manor where he leads her to a stone slab of a bench placed before a mass of flora. With a small path leading to the center of it.

"Here." He gestures for her to take a seat. Sitting side by side, they look on and around through the garden. Moments pass where nothing is said as Aiz fought with herself what to say and how to say. Ultimately choosing on something completely different.

Before them, amongst the trees lays hidden a plethora of small pink flowers nestled on the branches. Venturing deep into the mass of green.

"It's pretty." Aiz says as her eyes stop at each individual flower on the branches of the trees.

"Huh? Oh yeah, it really is. We have an inner garden too. Haruhime put a lot of work into that.. That one's a lot nice. "

Bell spoke nervously, something that Aiz could sense. Though it only fed into her own anxiety.

"If it were anyone else, I'd be able to show it. But even letting another familia here-.." Bell trailed off and sighed as gripped the kneecaps of his armor. Finally after a few seconds, he relaxed his arms and looked up to the pink flowers the sit before them. "But you know, I'm glad you came over.."

"You are?" Aiz replied after a breath second of confusion.

"Yeah.." He nodded as he gazed upon the pink flowers. "I've wanted to say something, anything after what happened in Daedalus. I can't imagine that it was easy coming over here. So I'm sorry. I just couldn't bring myself to say anything and I feel like such a coward for not being able to speak to you."

Aiz couldn't understand it. She couldn't fathom why the boy who chose to sacrifice his reputation was apologizing to her.

"No." Aiz spoke plainly, almost sharp like the blade that she carries, that it stopped Bell in his tracks. "I hurt you. I didn't listen and I hurt you. The girl too. I'm the one to apologize to you. That's why I'm here.."

At first the guilt manifested itself in feelings she couldn't understand. After having a one track mind for so long, after having such a firm belief and view of the world, she didn't need to have it be any different. It was just to hunt monsters. It was for revenge. And she was so willing to satisfy that need for revenge that she was willing to harm someone who for a time, made her happy. Through training, or their brief encounters. But after that day, that feeling of happiness was replaced by the guilt of her actions. Despite his warnings, his pleads for her to listen, she didn't. And while she warned him, she couldn't see what was happening in front of her at that time.

"You chose to stand up for something more human than I could ever be. I'm sorry, Bell."

She struggled to find the words. And when she spoke it felt like it was one of the hardest things she was putting herself through. Expressing herself in a way she wasn't used to, it left her feeling vulnerable. That no amount of armor could protect her or make her feel safe. And with the silence that followed between them it was unbearable.

"It's ok. I forgive you."

His words were warm and clear, its like they pierced her armor and enveloped her. The sense of guilt within her groaned against it's warmth.

"I hurt you." She said with a faint sense of tenacity. Searching for admonishment. The look she gave him, sent him leaning away as he tries to ascertain what she was really going for. "I hurt her.."

"I know. It's ok, Aiz.." He said once more, as his eyes darted back and forth between hers.

It wasn't the response she was looking for, so she shook her head as she looked away from him.

"Uh, hey what does that mean? I just said it's ok!" Bell's voice grew a concerned and a tad louder at the sudden silent reprimand. "Why are you shaking your head?!"

"I don't understand any of this.." Aiz says silently as she stares at the roots of the trees and bushes before them.

"Maybe I can try to explain it a little better?" Bell anxiously offered, but still Aiz shook her head.

"No. But there is something else."

Before she could say anything, Bell made an expression as if he was dunked into a pool of freezing water. The expression of which caught her off guard, so she watched him as he turned to face what lays behind him.

The stone slab of a bench was placed right in front of a large window to one of the many rooms within the manor. On the other side of the plane of glass was none other than Hestia peering over the edge, keeping a watchful glare eye on the two. More specifically on Aiz. And once Aiz made eye contact with the familia's Goddess, Hestia slowly sunk down below the frame of the window. But the sensation still remained for Bell.

"Ehh, sorry about that.. What was the other thing you wanted?" Bell nervously chuckled. It was the most he could do to move on from the strange antics of his Goddess.

"My familia received a letter from the Guild.. It didn't say much about our operation, so my captain suggested to reach out to you and your familia to try and gain a better understanding of the situation the dungeon is in before we run into something."

"I see.. May I ask what your letter said?"

Aiz repeated what Finn said in their meeting, word for word. It was an easy in easy out recon mission. There wasn't much more to report on it and as she spoke, Bell silently nodded as if he understood something she didn't.

"It sounds a lot like our own letter. We've been ordered to do the same, except we were told to wait thirty minutes after the team ahead of us leaves Rivira and then we go down and hold at the twenty-seventh floor."

Aiz made a faint groan as she listened and thought about the plan. It didn't make sense to leave such a gap between teams. Though she could only wonder if the other familia's were given similar orders to recon and hold at locations.

"I don't like it." She said plainly.

"Huh, why don't you like it?"

She couldn't stop shaking her head. "It's like a barricade to keep something from breaking through. I must get going."

"Huh?! A barricade?-" Aiz was already standing up, and waiting for him too.

"Mhm.." With both of them on their feet, he begins walking her to the gate. "There's not much else I have to offer you."

They backtracked their way through the yard to the front of the manor, passing the windows that Bell was sure that his goddess was peering out of. Drawing closer and closer to the gate.

"But there is this.." Aiz stopped at the gates and turned to Bell's rubellite eyes. "Loki said if we see something we don't know, we run. I suggest you do the same."

The words from the Sword Princess sent shivers down his spine. Much like how Ryuu begged for him to just some time before when the Juggernaut attacked.

"Be careful, Bell."

"Yo-you too.." Bell uttered as he held the gate open for her.

She left, but he stood in the same place. Frozen. Almost shaking. His grip on the metal frame of the gate was unrelenting, and the tremor that shook through his body rattled the metal.

"Not again.." He said under his breath, as the phantom pain in his left armor crept into existence. The arm that was turned into a pulp from using it as a shield while it was wrapped in an altered cloak. And the memory of all of the pain and terror that he and Ryuu faced down on the thirty-seventh floor. And he was going back to where it all began, on the twenty-seventh. "Oh god, please not again.. Please don't let it be back.."

He could still remember the feeling of being sprayed with adventurers blood, hearing their screams. Hearing Ryuu's screams.

"Bell! Hey Bell!" A young voice called out as it approached, but it instigated no reaction. As the bubbly voice fell silent, and the footsteps slowed at a few steps away, it called out once more. "Bell, what's wrong?"

Still nothing as he faced away from her. Her words falling upon deaf ears.

"Bell?"

His shoulders jumped at the faintest sound of her voice and slowly Bell turned around gripping his once injured arm. There Hestia saw the faintest trembling in his eyes, and heard the shivering in his breath. Immediately her brow knit into a mad glare.

"She said to run.."

"Did that Wallen-something-or-another do something?!" She was already rolling up the non-existent sleeves on her arms, about ready to chase down the Sword Princess and give her a piece of her mind before Bell spoke.

"It might be back.." He said faintly.

"Huh? What might be back, Bell?" The tension in her loosened as she took a step closer.

"The Juggernaut might be back.." His eyes raced back and forth around the manor. "I have to warn Ryuu!"

Immediately Bell darted out into the barren street and to the Hostess of Fertility. Cafe by day, tavern by night. Where some of the strangest and most beautiful women work. That place just so happens to be where Ryuu Lion resides.

"Ryuu?-.. Bell! Bell, wait!"

"I'll be back! Tell everyone that I'll be waiting for everyone at the Dungeon entrance!" He shouted as he raced, and in an instant he was gone leaving Hestia standing at the gate of her familia's manor with a look of pure concern and confusion on her face.