Chapter three: the bequeathing ceremony and bitter departure
The Ocean Between, present day
Two objects fly at supersonic speed, both objects resemble a motorcycle however, this is where any resemblance between the strange objects and a real motorcycle ends; the objects don't have wheels and their shapes more resemble warped keys than anything else, but what really catches the eye in these strange vehicles are their users: two knights in white armor and capes. Both knights are traveling in a specific direction but with the stars and worlds flashing past them it's hard to tell if they're really on the right track.
"There!" One of the knights, a woman by the voice says pointing with her hand in a direction
In the distance you can see a world approaching, a verdant world with several bodies of water scattered around, symbolizing its oceans, but what really catches the eye in this world is the huge tower that extends to unbelievable heights, as if it is trying to reach the sky.
"We're almost there" the other knight, a man, comments with great joy when he sees the world approaching, his companion just nods her head and both accelerate in order to get to that world soon.
*Skriisshhhh!*
A black figure cuts the path of the two knights, forcing them both to deviate from their path.
"Wow!" The knight exclaims as he dodges the figure and looks at his companion "are you all right?"
"Yes" she replies before looking in the direction of the figure that has cut her way to walk away. Before changing direction and charging them both again, at high speed "He's coming back!"
The warning comes quickly and both dodge the figure again, before positioning themselves behind him, finally being able to identify the assailant; It is a strange creature that resembles an octopus, but instead of eight arms the creature has only four and its entire body is metallic with the creature's face staying where its arms retract. both see the black heart symbol with a cross at the bottom of the heart stamped on the arms of the strange metallic octopus
"It's one of them" the knight says seriously before looking at her companion "what do you say we get this octopus project done before we get home?"
"You don't even have to ask" the knight responds with a certain joy in his voice "let's finish him off!"
With such a statement both knights advance against the creature.
Orario, same time
Raux and his team leave the guild headquarters with solemn faces; today's expedition was a real failure.
First a trap by a rare monster made them fight for their lives, then said rare monster fled from them to the ninth floor of the dungeon where they were again ambushed by more monsters. Raux could single-handedly face any monsters from the first to the eighth floors, but from the ninth onwards he was no match for the monsters, as soon as he realized that the hunt for the rare monster was too dangerous, he ordered a tactical retreat to the previous floors, since that many of the ninth floor monsters couldn't follow them back due to the difference in size between their bodies and the passage that led to the previous floor, with that he and his team were able to face the strays who managed to follow them... before being attacked by more monsters from the floor they were on.
In the end they triumphed against all odds and left the dungeon with a bag full of magic stones but unfortunately... Raux's sword was blunt due to cutting through the flesh of so many monsters and scraping against stones at various times; Poux had her ballista destroyed by a monster that went unnoticed by her and she could only blame herself for it, but she was more worried about her younger companion and who, by the way, was the most shaken out of this expedition.
"How's your arm?" Poux asks in sincere concern, during the ambush that his ballista was broken, Cort jumped in front of the monster, a Killer Ant, and took the hit for her, having his arm nearly mangled by the ant's bite.
"It hurts, but at least I wasn't useless this time" Cort said listlessly, his right arm was badly hurt by the monster.
This made Poux lower his head in shame. She herself had said earlier that he should be more helpful to the team and not put them in troublesome situations. Before she could say anything, Cort wrapped her in a hug with his good arm and held her tight.
"Poux… I'm sorry for-" Before he could finish his sentence, Poux hugged him back tighter.
"No… I'm the one who owes you an apology… I was too hard on you for a mere mistake…" Poux apologized, making the young human shut up and just hug the chientrope back.
Soon both feel two strong arms encircling them and both look at their captain, who was hugging them with his eyes closed
"I think the one who owes you the most apologies is me… I dragged ourselves through the dungeon on this stupid quest as soon as I saw the rare monster. As your captain I sincerely apologize. But as your friend, I beg you" Raux lets go of both of them and leans over. head in an apologetic sign "forgive me for being so reckless"
Both rookie adventurers looked at their captain with a gentle smile on his face, this was the captain of the Hestia family, a fair man, somewhat temperamental, but good and honorable, always putting his companions above any reward or opportunity for individual glory. This was the man, they both knew, this was the man they would follow regardless of any circumstance or challenge.
"It's ok captain" Cort started with a smile "we knew we would get out of this alive, after all you were leading us" he ends with a small laugh
Poux rolls her eyes but smiles contentedly, before someone bumps into her and nearly knocks her to the ground.
"Hey! Look where you going, crazy nut!" Cort speaks to the adventurer who nearly dropped Poux, angered by the man's lack of respect
Said adventurer stops on hearing this and turns around, revealing a scarred face and a look of fury.
"Did you talk to me? Brat" the adventurer replies, his voice thick and full of malice.
Cort tries to lunge at the man, even with his broken arm, before Poux grabs him and Raux gets between them.
"No" Raux says with finality in his voice and seeing that Cort has calmed down "it's not worth it. Let's go, you guys in front"
The three begin to leave the guild when the adventurer calls out to them: "Hey, I'm not done with you guys!"
The three ignore him and just walk away, leaving the guild.
The adventurer is annoyed to see this and grabs a dagger from his waist, ready to throw it.
"Mister Mator!" One of the receptionists yells when she sees what the now identified Mator would do "it is forbidden to attack people inside or close to the guild space, if you don't lower your weapon I will have to report this action to your god and forbid you from entering the dungeon"
This made Mator stop and grunt in disgust before putting away his dagger and heading to the magic stone conversion counter.
The receptionist lets out a breath, relieved that things turned out okay, before sitting down again.
"You didn't just do it out of business, did you Eina?" A pink-haired receptionist asked seriously, something that is rarely associated with this specific woman.
Eina sighs but doesn't deny anything and just continues working on her documents. Her colleague however doesn't give up talking to her, Eina is no longer the same since not one but two adventurers simply left Orario and both were under the tutelage of Eina and herself.
"Do you still miss them?" The pink haired receptionist asks
Eina ends up dropping her quill into the ink pot upon hearing the question.
"...Misha, let's not discuss this again" Eina speaks emotionlessly in her voice, trying to hide her face with her hands.
"... Eina"
"I miss them, like all the adventurers I was in charge of, but I can't cling to them or anyone else" Eina says, like a mantra since the first adventurer under her guidance died in the dungeon.
Misha tries to say something more but gives up, when Eina closes herself like that it is impossible to make her open, turning around to continue with her service, Misha looks at a memorial stone she herself had of her last adventurer, a girl from white hair and red eyes
'Why did you leave? Can't you see how much I miss you?' Misha thinks sadly before going back to work
Badlands, two years ago
"AAAAHHHH!" Bell screams as he is flung away, rolling on the floor before landing on his stomach.
"..." Terra just watches Bell, his face as unreadable as ever but the air around him indicates he is analyzing the situation.
Both Bell and Venna lie before him, both bruised and tired and with multiple bruises and scratches all over their bodies.
"... you've been training here with me for 2 months now" Terra suddenly comments, with no emotion in her voice
It makes the two brothers scared
"But we're getting better!" Venna speaks desperately
"It's true, we just… just… we're not in the mood yet, it's early!" Bell completes a little uncertainly, making his sister look at him with a face of 'did you really say that?'
The air around Terra gets lighter and seems to carry an air of laughter "I'm not disappointed" the knight says with a certain humor in his voice "actually it's just your progress that made me comment on this. Two months ago when we started your training you could barely defend against one of my weakest attacks"
The knight's words fell like walls on the rabbits' heads, their master was only attacking them with a simple swing of his sword most of the day and that was their weakest attack?
They both didn't know if their master was really taking them seriously or if he was just playing with them.
"You mean that so far you've only used a little of your strength?" Venna asks annoyed but equally scared, if the last two months her master has been holding back, how strong is he really?
"No" Terra replies simply "I started holding on for the first few days… then I could see your growth, I started to let go. Currently I am using 10% of all my strength and that for many who are not chosen, it's a lot of strength" Terra ends his speech cutting the air to his right
*swoosh* *Ruuuuhhmmmmmm*
A small rock formation to her right immediately began to crumble as if thousands of blades had slashed through it, causing both rabbits to widen their eyes.
"And that was how much?" Venna asks shakily, pointing to the rock formation or rather the pile of rubble that is now to her master's right
Swinging his weapon and placing it on the ground. Signaling that her forces are gone, Terra responds
"Exactly the amount of force I used on you today, 10%"
Both students could feel their hearts rising to their throats, not in fear or terror but in pure surprise and disbelief. Was that 10% of ALL his master's strength?
So all the hits they've received so far have been deadly attacks from level 4 adventurers, maybe 5?
Since the first day of training when they were both accepted, Bell and Venna have been trying to gauge what level their master would be at if he were an adventurer, at first they both thought he had the strength of a veteran level 3 adventurer but that soon went out the window. weeks later he began to transform, yes TRANSFORM, his sword into a whip and attack them from a distance, tearing up the landscape behind them with each blow dodged by the rabbits.
Both of them were never able to correctly determine their master's level and frankly it didn't matter anymore, their master was as strong as he saw need and that made him even scarier from one angle, but in all others, he was the perfect example. a hero to both, even if he denied such a thing, both saw a hero in him
"Oh. I was forgetting" Terra gets up again and when he takes his Keyblade, The ends of the Earth, from the ground and points it forward, opening a warp portal "we can't keep you trapped here, can we?"
The apprentices smile and get up from the floor where they were sitting and making a brief bow
"Thank you Master Terra / Thank you Master Terra" both albino brothers speak before running and entering the portal and returning to Orario's dungeon
As both brothers walk through the portal, Terra falls to his knees, leaning on his Keyblade.
"Already?… this is bad… I can't abandon them, but I can't continue to train them either…" The Lingering Will speaks with weariness evident in his voice and his concern etched in his thoughts "there has to be another way-" the knight stops when he sees a beam of light reflected in his gauntlet, a strong light… strong light! That was the answer!
Forcing himself to stand up once more, the knight points his Keyblade forward and opens a new portal, this time a portal that connects to a world already known to him. He needs to bring him here and explain the situation and possibly prepare his students for one of the hardest things they will have to do to become stronger.
"Please… let this be the right thing… I can't fail them, none of them…"
Orario Dungeon, same time
After Bell and Venna leave the portal, they both smile and prepare to go down to the fifth floor; After the first day they met their current master, they both discovered that he could open portals between worlds and that also, the time in their world hardly passed more than 1 or 5 minutes, something about each world having its own time landscape and something else Bell and Venna couldn't even imagine.
Both went down to the fourth floor and after a good exploration of the fifth floor, they returned to the surface.
Some minutes later
"*sigh*..." Bell sighed as he left the guild, his face twisted between impassive and depressed.
"..." Venna was clenching her fists in revolt and chewing on the collar of her shirt, muttering curses and intelligible insults.
The reason for the brothers' sadness and revolt? They collected about 50 magic stones but unfortunately they were only able to exchange them for a small amount of money.
(A/N: I won't mess with monetary values because not everyone would understand and the danmachi currency, Valis, is based on the Japanese Yen, and I'm from Brazil, so I don't understand the Japanese economy, no discussion on this subject, the focus is history not economy)
"And we spent the whole morning and afternoon there…" Bell grumbles annoyed.
Venna on the other hand is quiet and just grabs her brother's hand before starting to run, forcing him to keep up.
"V-venna what's gotten into you?"
"Let's just go home, complaining and whining won't get us anywhere" Venna replies as she continues to stare straight ahead.
Bell smiles and then starts running side by side with his sister towards their home, to their goddess.
When they arrive, they both see her waiting for them at the door of the small chapel where they live, but as soon as she sees them up close, she is startled and grabs them both.
"What happened to you? Don't tell me you went below the 5th floor?" Hestia was analyzing every one of her children's visible scratches and bruises and the more she saw the more she despaired, some of these bruises seemed to have come from large, bladeless weapons such as clubs and maces.
"Hahaha… Goddess we're ok, we just had a bad morning, but we made up for it in the afternoon" Bell says as he has his face held by his goddess
"Yeah, it's not uncommon for us to come back a little devastated from having explored the dungeon" Venna comments and then groans in pain to have her goddess touching one of her bruises
"...these wounds are too serious to have happened on the first floors of the dungeon" Hestia speaks impassively and notices Venna's slight stagger upon hearing this "...you went to train with that man again?"
Hestia knew that Bell and Venna were training with someone, a warrior named Terra or something, and from what they could both describe to her the first time they trained with the man, he was at least a level 4 or maybe 5 adventurer. she didn't like the idea but she couldn't do anything about it as the man never stayed in one place in Orario, in fact, from the description of her children, the man never stopped anywhere to sleep, preferring to stay on the street or someplace that only he knew where it was and so he would meet the children in the morning when they went to the dungeon.
The siblings fell silent and tried to avoid the subject but the goddess just glared at them and they both shuddered under her stern gaze before sighing and telling the truth.
"We saw him again, yes" Venna says, but Hestia continues to look serious "we found him inside the dungeon and trained right there, in a part of the fourth floor he used to go to"
The hearth goddess could already feel the headache building, this man, whoever he is, is a pretty strong adventurer but he sure has the strangest habits she's ever heard of; sleep on your knees, live with your weapon in hand even when it's not needed, always wear full armor and wear it from top to bottom as if it were a garment.
In fact, this man was strange and worrying, as he often trains her children either outside the city or inside the dungeon itself, Hestia could only imagine a man-monster dragging her precious children inside the dungeon as they screamed for help but the man-monster scared everyone, even the dungeon monsters themselves.
" *sigh* ... no matter how many times I tell you guys not to go after him" Hestia started her sermon before stopping and just pulling the twins inside the chapel "come on, I have to tend to your wounds"
'again… why don't you see that this man is mistreating you?' Hestia thinks upset
Little does she know that her young followers have found a way to tell her the truth without being the whole truth; while the gods have the ability to discern truth from lies among mortals, half-truths can go almost unnoticed and not arouse much suspicion.
But even if they're both just telling half-truths, it doesn't mean they like it.
'I wanted to be completely honest with the goddess, but the whole story is so strange and unrealistic for our world that even if she believed it would be too absurd' Venna thought sadly when she saw her goddess's upset face
'Perhaps it would be better to tell her- no, no, that would be confusing, complicated and without a doubt hard to swallow and even the goddess would deny it. Venna and I only became aware of the details of the master's story after we returned home on the first day, so far the details are fuzzy' Bell argues and counters in his internal debate.
After both enter the secret room behind a statue inside the chapel, both brothers are in their small abode: a room hidden beneath an abandoned chapel. It's not much, but it's enough for them and their goddess.
A sofa with a crate (which is most often Bell's signature bed), a bed (where both Venna and Hestia sleep together, much to Bell's insistence), a bucket with a few packs of disposable toothbrushes, and a tarp. to let the girls change clothes more privately. Though small and a bit messy, this was the Hestia family home and it meant everything to them.
"Well… take off your shirts and lie on the bed, I need to see what I'm going to have to deal with today" Hestia orders and stands idly looking at her children
Both Bell and Venna remove their shirts without question, growing up together and sharing almost everything has made them both get used to each other's presence. As they lie on their stomachs, Hestia can see the full extent of the bruises.
Bell had two huge purple spots on his back, no doubt caused by him falling to the ground or hitting a wall; in addition to some minor bruises on the sides of his body, most likely caused by the Terra guy's weapon.
Hestia grabs the top of the crate next to the couch, opening it to reveal a set of medical lotions, bandages, and other medical supplies. Taking out the necessary ones, Hestia begins to apply lotions to relieve the pain of Bell's bruises before covering them with bandages, but upon turning him over, the young man looked like he had been beaten up judging by the dark color of the bruises and yet he hid it. the pain...
Venna on the other hand appeared to have been attacked by a monster armed with a slingshot and stones, several purple marks that interconnect the huge purple dots on her body, many that Hestia could only see when she turned her over and after finishing the treatment of the two gave them to her. an important announcement
"Tomorrow you are forbidden to go to the dungeon"
Bell and Venna tried to protest but Hestia gave them a stern look.
"Don't even try. You guys are hurt and I don't want you taking any chances in that place while you're like this. My decision is final and you will stay on the surface tomorrow."
Both brothers wanted to protest but couldn't say anything, although the goddess couldn't use her divine powers, she was still quite intimidating and even the brothers had great respect for her, so they accepted their goddess' decision and the three of them went to sleep.
Following day
Bell… Venna… come to me
"!"
"!"
Bell and Venna woke up with a snap. Was that… was that the master's voice speaking in their minds?
Bell... Venna, come quickly, I don't have much time...
This time they both listened and silently they both got up, grabbed their adventure gear and walked out the door in complete silence so as not to wake their goddess.
"... Bell... Venna... why do you do that?" Hestia asks, showing that she is awake and has seen everything. She grabs the sheets and starts crying as she keeps repeating "why? Why don't you guys understand?"
Dungeon, fourth floor
Bell and Venna run through the halls tirelessly, their goal: to reach the room where their master opened the portal for them.
When they get there, they both see the portal, already open, and jump
Badlands
When they crossed the portal, both ran to their master, but when approaching, both saw him with a person, someone who seems to be their age, has someone else found the portal?
"Master!" Bell screams, getting his attention and that of the strange boy.
Now that both sides are close, the siblings can see the boy more clearly; he is a young human, probably the same age as them (14 years old, they think), spiky brown hair, sky blue eyes; strange clothes, appeared to be a mix between an adventurer's outfit and a traveler's outfit, with several yellow X's on the pants, a pair of black gloves with iron plates on the back of the hands, an emblem of a silver crown on his neck (which symbolizes that he is related to some royal family)
Before anyone could speak, Terra placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Bell, Venna, I want to introduce you to Sora" Terra speaks calmly letting the boy, now identified, wave his hand and a huge smile on his face "from today onwards he will be your mentor"
Terra's words were so sudden, so direct, that the twins had a hard time processing what they had just heard.
"WHAT?" they both screamed at the same time, surprise and fear evident in their voices.
"bu-but but but master-" Venna tries to argue
"This is for your sake…" Terra interrupts her with soft, heartfelt words. this makes the siblings shut up and look expectantly at their master "my strength is running out… the energy I've been gathering for ten years is fading faster than I can replenish it"
with these words the twins were shaken, that is to say that their master is…
"I can't train you anymore… otherwise I will die and leave you stranded here… far from your dearest person…" Terra says with remorse and guilt "but Sora, you can train them in my place… he can continue his training… and to do for you what I, in my present state, am incapable of doing: the bequeathing ceremony"
Bell and Venna feel something in their hearts, it was regret, their master is dying and yet he wants to help them. They both want to feel happy that their master cares so much about them but… to know that their master is going to die… it breaks their heart…
Both cannot contain their tears and collapse, falling to their knees on the floor, crying. How, how can fate be so cruel? How can fate be so cold? Terra has a mission to fulfill for his friends Aqua and Ventus and he's trained them as his students and now... is he about to die?
Terra stood still, the wind around him blowing weakly, indicating his loss of strength but also showing his own sadness.
Then Sora walked over to the twins, kneeling in front of them both and placing a hand on each shoulder.
"I can't say that I know how much this must hurt… but I can say that I felt something close" Sora's words took the brothers out of their anguish and even without waiting, Sora continued "not long ago, I lost a very dear friend for me, things ended up bad between us after our world was destroyed, i followed a path hoping to find him again but ended up being against him in a battle that we had nothing to do with... and in the end... he sacrificed himself to ensure that the evil that destroyed our world was defeated..."
They were both surprised, this boy, who should have been the same age as them, had gone through such great pain and loss…
"But it's okay" Sora says with a beaming smile "he's alive, I know that. One person who fought alongside us in that battle stood by him when the two of them fell behind and not long ago I saw that same person again, which means my friend is alive and well"
The light radiating from Sora's face was so pure, so strong, that they both almost mistook him for a god.
"Sora… our time is short…" Terra spoke and approached the three of them "we have to do the bequeathing ceremony…"
Sora nodded and stood up and after putting a little distance between himself and the twins, extended his open hand in front of him. For a moment the twins wondered what he was doing when-
*Swiish*
"!/!" Both couldn't believe
In Sora's outstretched hand was a huge antique key, with a silver body and a golden guard, and a small keychain with three interlocking spheres. Sora is a Keyblade wielder!
Sora took his Keyblade by the blade and directed the hilt towards the twins.
"In your hands, take this key and as long as you have the makings, through this simple act of taking, your master will one day you shall be"
Sora's words were simple, but the weight they represented was palpable with every syllable.
"And you will find me, friends. There are no more oceans or deserts to contain you, there will be no barriers around, below or above, as long as you champion those you love."
At the end of this recitation both Bell and Venna again found themselves crying, but this time it was bittersweet joy.
Their master recognized them as worthy and although he himself could not pass the legacy on to them, he found someone who could and that person would now be his new master. Wiping away tears the brothers stand up, and as one, place their hands on the Keyblade's grip. Both feel the grip of the weapon and a strange feeling in their hearts, a sense of peace and justice.
"Very well..." Terra says satisfied
A few hours later, Orario, shopping street
Hestia was sad, her children disobeyed her and went down to the dungeon even when she had forbidden them and now, they were both in the dungeon, injured and trying to fight.
She could only wait and work until she goes home and then she'll have a little talk with her kids.
"Excuse me, can we talk to you for a moment" someone says in the background but Hestia doesn't pay attention and continues working on serving the customers in front of her
"Of course- oh it's you, what do you want?" Hestia's boss is surprised to see these two people but she still doesn't pay attention
"We want to borrow our goddess for a few hours, please be quick" a second person says and this time Hestia finds the voice strangely familiar
"...and the reason for that would be?" His boss asked a little suspiciously
"We need to talk about something urgent with her/We need to talk about something urgent with her" they both replied at the same time and now Hestia recognized the voices she was trying to ignore
Dropping a customer's order in the process, the family goddess turned around and there they were, Bell and Venna.
"You guys came back!" Hestia screams as she throws herself on top of her children, who hug her back without complaining, which reminds her "Wait! You're still hurting, how did you dare dis…obay…me…"
Hestia looks, looks, and even seeing it, she can't believe it. Bell and Venna are healed, completely healed, even the bandages she made for both of them had already been removed.
"What…"
Before the goddess or her employer could say anything else, Bell placed a bag full of Valis on the man's lap and Venna took her goddess's post for a brief moment tending to all the customers.
"I'm paying you for the time we're going to need our goddess and a little more so you don't lose out on sales" Bell said it all at once and grabbed his goddess's arm, pulling her away "Venna, let's go "
The twin hearing this delivered the last order, left another valis bag on hestia's chief's lap and ran after her brother and her goddess
For some reason, the goddess felt a huge lump forming in her throat and a huge weight manifesting in her heart. Why this whole situation felt like a prelude to something horrible
Some minutes later
"Goddess, we… need to leave Orario"
The goddess was bewildered, she didn't hear what had just been said.
Bell and Venna were standing up holding her so she wouldn't fall, her sadness and pain was palpable but they both had to get it all straightened out before things got worse
"Goddess, when we left earlier today, we were called upon by Master Terra's unique Skill that lets him call friends and allies in emergencies" Venna began to explain before giving her goddess a hug, who began to frown at the mention of their mentor
"He needed to talk to us, and in order not to have anyone eavesdropping on the conversation, he called us inside the Dungeon. Inside, he introduced us to someone else, someone who... will take over our training from now on" Bell completed and Hestia couldn't take it anymore
"WHY?!" The question and the scream were enough to make the brothers scared, but the tears that flowed from the goddess's eyes, it broke their hearts "Why do you keep going after this man? Why can't you see that he is only mistreating you? I've seen the two of you come home bruised and exhausted, both of you suffering at the hands of this cruel man and you still defend him. Why? WHY?!"
Hestia continued to cry after venting all the pain and hurt she had been feeling since this all started.
Why couldn't they see that she needed them? Why were they leaving?
She didn't have time to delve into these questions, as the two brothers hugged her, with something wet falling on her back- are they… are they crying?
"We… don't want to leave either…" Bell reveals between sobs "but we… are too weak and can barely support you and ourselves"
"I know that our wounds were serious, we never deny that but… the master… he is not a cruel man… he has been holding back all this time while he trained us and as we were getting better, he was letting go, so that we could grow more and become better, but he… he…" Venna counted through tears and collapsed before she could reveal her master's condition
"Master… he's dying…" Bell completed for his sister, equally in tears, "he has a very unique condition and if he keeps fighting or training us, he's going to… he's going to die"
When those words registered in Hestia's mind, she couldn't believe it, not even a word from her children was false; everything they said was true.
"And he hasn't trained us until now on his whim. We asked him and he said he saw worthiness in us, worthiness that he wanted to nurture and grow. That's why he hid his condition from us all this time, but now..." Venna continued
"He didn't want our potential to end with him, he wants us to grow up and be strong, strong to protect you, goddess" Bell completed, releasing her embrace and placing a hand on Hestia's face to wipe away her tears, with Venna doing the same
The family goddess couldn't be more surprised, they went through all this horrible training, they suffered at this man's hands, because they wanted to protect her?
"We always saw you as the mother we never had. You gave us a chance when everyone else threw us on the street and accepted us even though we were weak" Venna comments hugging her goddess- no, her mother and putting all the love in her hug of a daughter "and that's why we wanted to give you the best of us and our actions but we never managed to get even the least of it"
"As the master is getting worse, he called an acquaintance of his who can continue to train us and with that bring our potential to the surface, he was even the one who cured us" Bell said before placing a kiss on Hestia's left cheek, with Venna repeating the act on the other cheek.
"Don't worry goddess, this isn't goodbye" Bell tells her, now grinning with a face full of traces of tears.
"Yeah. We won't be gone for long. You wait, when we get back we'll be much stronger and more skilled" Venna adds smiling, holding her goddess's hands gently.
"and we won't have any more crunches or needs" Bell comments with a small laugh
"Yeah. That's a promise" Venna finishes pulling Hestia's hands to her chest, so the goddess can feel her heart.
To Hestia this whole situation was wrong, none of it made sense, but now…she could see, none of her children's words held a single trace of a lie. They were even determined to do what they could for her, even go through absurd things that, apparently, would make them stronger.
"Okay" she finally replied, her eyes still swollen from crying radiating joy "I will allow it. But only if you are going to come back in a year. Maybe two, but no more days, understand?" She seriously warned
The siblings smiled before answering together
"I would never even dream of it"
So hours later, the albino twins were on the fourth floor of the dungeon with their relatively small baggage ready for the trip.
"Ready?" Venna asks a little uneasy
Bell before answering takes his sister's hand and gives it an encouraging squeeze before they both enter the last portal of their master Terra and from there they would travel with their new master, the young Keyblade wielder Sora.
Ok... this was the longest so far... and by extension one I worked the most (I wanted to get this idea done with before I hit a author block or lost the will to write)
hopefully this was an Ok chapter, sorry for the mistakes that I know many will find in this chapter
thank you all for you time reading this little project of mine.