Chapter 5: The Duel of Captains
Bell was in shock, but his time traveling between worlds and the adventures he had taught him to hide his emotions. So he remained with an impassive face, calm and serene.
Venna likewise maintained a neutral expression but beneath her calm, and collected face was doubt and affront. Who does this man think he is?
"I don't think we know each other" Bell begins calmly and patiently, trying to avoid a possible fight, but this only proves to be the wrong decision.
"And why is it? Is it because you two had the audacity to lie to the goddess and abandon her!" Raux accuses before advancing against Bell
Venna intercepts the blow, disarming the enraged adventurer and twisting his arm into a martial arts strike and putting him in a disadvantaged position.
"Abandon?! You must have a problem in your head. We never abandoned our goddess, we went away because we were training" Venna retorts the accusation firmly and kicks the weapon away.
"Venna" Bell says putting his hand on her sister's shoulder "let him go"
Venna understands what Bell really means by these words: nothing they say will be enough to prove the authenticity of their words, only their actions.
Understanding this, the albino female lets go of Raux and walks away, picking up her helmet that had fallen to the ground.
Bell looks at the people in front of him, more specifically at Hestia, who has tears in her eyes, this time from sadness. With an apology in his gaze, Bell stares at Raux.
"You are the current captain of the familia, correct?"
"I'm not the 'current', I'm the captain of the Hestia familia; the familia you two you scum have abandoned!" Raux fervently declares with a spiteful, hate-filled face
Venna and Bell were perplexed, how could this boy have been chosen by their goddess? The boy had a heart full of hate and rage, but this darkness seemed to be directed, only and only to them, as if they were unwanted elements. Well, standing here wouldn't answer a thing.
"Let's try to be civil, okay?" Bell try again
"CIVIL?! With animals like you? Hah, soon you'll tell me you're heroes and that you came back to share the spoils of war" Raux speaks furiously and with disdain before giving a dry and bitter laugh "hahaha… you guys are just that… go away when you don't need someone and then come back when things get better just to take advantage of the benefits. Yes… I got it… I already understand how the minds of crooks like you work!"
'This is bad' Bell thinks seeing, not the body but the soul of Raux
'The darkness in his soul is growing abnormally, this way he will end up transforming' Venna realizes and prepares her hand to summon her Keyblade, before her brother holds it
'No, it will draw too much attention and we may risk hurting the boy and not purifying him' At Bell's warning, Venna lowers her hand and relaxes her posture, much to the confusion of the others
During their journey, Bell and Venna have learned to see the hearts and souls of people, whatever they are, and this has helped them immensely in many situations on their journey. With Raux the situation was no different; the young captain of the Hestia family was letting the darkness inside him take over and that would be disastrous.
"Let's do this; I introduce myself first, then my sister, then you introduce yourselves and finally we talk about whatever the problem is, okay?" Bell makes a proposal and before Raux can burst out again he introduces himself: "I'm Bell Cranel, apprentice to Masters Terra and Sora, and this is..."
"Venna, Venna Cranel, also apprenticed to masters Terra and Sora and we, are returning from traveling and training with our last master, Sora Shotoko*"
(A/N: * I know Sora from Kingdom Hearts doesn't have a last name but I've seen them create surnames for him and other characters in the franchise several times and I chose the Japanese surname Shotoko because it means "holy benevolence" or "holy teaching", emphasizing that he was a good mentor to the twins)
Raux remains silent for a few moments before relaxing his posture, which makes everyone relax thinking the situation has calmed down until he tries to punch Bell in the face again. This time being stopped by Bell himself, who held the punch with just one finger.
"DO YOU THINK I WANT TO KNOW YOUR LIES?!" Raux yells furiously at Bell, several veins in his face stand out from the effort of the punch and the anger rising inside him.
The albino boy realizing that anger is blinding the boy in front of him decided to appeal to, perhaps, the only resource that can solve this problem
"How about a duel?"
Bell's question shocks everyone (except Venna), even more so Hestia who knows Bell as a pure-hearted pacifist.
"What did you say…?" Raux asks in shock
"Venna and I fight as a single person and we are both still Level 1 adventurers, against you, who is Level 2, it won't be the slightest bit unfair to you" Bell elaborates and then pushes Raux back with his finger.
'He guessed my level, how?' The captain of the Hestia family questions himself as he tries to find a solution to his current situation 'no, it doesn't matter, anyone can guess the level of a veteran adventurer by the punch, there's nothing surprising'
Raux then remembers something that might help him, perhaps, scare off these 'crooks'.
"Tomorrow. At the Ganesha family coliseum. I have a friend who is part of it and he owes me a favor" Raux says, confusing the others before explaining "we will fight there, in front of a city crowd and with the sponsorship from the Ganesha family. Do you agree?"
Raux asks with a smirk on his face, believing the twins would back down from the offer.
"Well, if that's what you want, fine" Venna replies without any hesitation, shocking Raux "but we have one condition"
Raux growls in disgust but asks "what do you want?"
"We're going to fight you toe to toe. What do you think, is it fair to you?" Venna speaks her condition with no malice in her voice
Raux is irritated by the insinuation that they are taking advantage
"Deal!" Hestia responds before Raux can even speak.
"Alright, if the goddess agreed, then it's decided" Bell says before putting his helmet back on.
Venna puts her helmet back on, speaking to everyone present "until this situation is resolved, we will stay at an inn near here"
With that, the twins say goodbye and leave, leaving the Hestia familia members alone. Which leads Raux to punch the wall.
"Damn it!" Raux screams in fury before punching the wall again, this time hard, breaking it "Why? Why?!"
Raux continues to punch the wall as Poux and Cort watch in horror and Hestia is shocked at how similar this situation is to the departure of her beloved Bell and Venna two years ago.
"Goddess, why?! Why can't you see?! They are liars, crooks, and scoundrels who don't care about you!" Raux says as he punches the wall until he opens a hole in it with one last punch "I'm going to unmask them... prove to everyone they're nothing but scum and make them undo whatever they did to you, for them have left you like this"
With that promise, Raux walks out the door, leaving two very scared adventurers and a saddened and confused goddess.
Sometime later, at night; with the twins
"Can you believe the audacity of that guy? How rude, not even to say his name" Venna grumbled as she removed her shoulder armor; a magical artifact that can hold an entire set of armor within itself and at the touch of a special button, cover the wearer with said armor in all its glory.
Bell just listened, sitting on one of the beds in the room they'd both rented for the night; a room with two beds and a lamp for lighting, it doesn't seem like much, but it's good enough for both of you to rest.
"And he called us scum! He doesn't even know us and he already draws horrible conclusions about us. I hope that the coliseum is full because when I get my hands on him, I'm going to-"
"Venna!"
Bell yells, causing his sister to shut up and look at him questioningly.
"*sigh*...rest. We've taken a long journey home, learned a lot in the meantime, and among the things we've learned, what was one of the things that helped us the most at this time?"
The young human frowns for a moment before sighing and replying.
"...don't keep bad things in your heart..."
"They are a poison that corrupts you" Bell completes before going to bed "Tomorrow, we will solve this problem. Really" With that, the brother closes his eyes and goes to sleep
Venna on the other hand pouts and mutters something before finishing changing and lying down right away.
'Tomorrow we'll put that clown in his place. Tomorrow we'll get back to you, Mom." With these thoughts in mind, Venna follows her brother's example and falls asleep.
Ganesha Family House, a few hours before
"Raux, for the last time… I can't do this" a member of the Ganesha familia, Appu, says to Raux one more time before trying to explain again the Ganesha familia hierarchies and how the one who has to decide such is Ganesha himself or the captain of your familia
"Appu… I need this favor and it has to be this way" Raux tries to appeal again, not wanting to go into details, as he's been avoiding for a while, but he knows he'll have to open the game if he wants help.
"Raux- *sigh* As long as you don't tell me why you need to use the colosseum, I can't do anything. Captain Shakti won't authorize it and Ganesha will question why an adventurer from a different familia asking for something this big" Appu explains the real reason I can't help (again)
There are times when Raux can be incredibly stubborn and not listen to reason, so the best alternative is to keep repeating it until he listens.
Raux is quiet for a few minutes, thinking until he sees that he really has no option but to give the reason: to talk about the ex-captains, something he hates to do.
"Remember I told you about the former captains of my familia?" Raux asks, his mouth getting a bad taste from talking about the two traitors.
"The ones who disappeared with an empty promise that they were going to train to get stronger outside of Orario?" Appu asks not understanding but then the pieces fall into place "Wait, aren't you saying that-"
"They're back" Raux completes without looking at Appu, preferring to stare at the statue of the god Ganesha that was inside the entrance hall.
Appu swallows hard before asking "but… why are you asking for this favor? what did they tell you that made you come here?"
"The brother, Bell if I'm not mistaken, proposed to me to duel; me against them both as they are still level one adventurers and I am a level two on one condition that I fight toe to toe with them" Raux elaborated and then smirked "and I chose the Ganesha family coliseum because I know you're going to sell tickets to the public to watch this fight and when I win, not only will I prove they're a fraud, I'll also show the whole town that they're worthless."
Appu was startled by the way Raux was looking at him, the malice in his eyes was really palpable and his words terrifying, to say the least; now the young Ganesha family member was at an impasse, he really owed Raux a favor for helping him in a critical situation, but he also had to respect the hierarchy of command. what should he do in this situation?
"I AM GANESHA!" The god of the masses, Ganesha, shouted as he entered his house, as he always did "come on my children, we have a lot of work to do tonight! tomorrow we will have a great show at the coliseum"
here is the solution to Appu's problem!
"Ganesha-Sama!" Appu speaks running to the god of his familia
"Yea! I am Ganesha!" The elephant-masked god yells, overjoyed that a member of his familia has spoken his name, but he soon notices his follower's apprehensive gaze "what happened to my child? is there a problem?"
The god of the masses then looks at Raux and sees the fierce look he is directing at his subordinate; Appu notices the god looking hard at Raux, who is also looking hard at him, and immediately tries to dissuade the situation.
"S-s-Sir. I need to ask you something" Appu starts desperate, wanting to prevent a complicated situation from happening
"what would it be?" the god asks not taking his eyes off Raux
"Could you include a fight in tomorrow's show?" the question surprises both Ganesha and Raux "That's Raux Mellan, Captain of the Hestia familia and... well... I owe him a favor and he asked me to be able to use the coliseum for a fight against two people who challenged him"
"and he decided to call in the favor you owed him for that" Ganesha completes with seriousness in his voice
"The two who challenged me are two liars, fakes, and manipulators who blatantly lied to my goddess, breaking her heart and making her suffer. For Two Years in a Row!" Raux explains his actions
Raux's words surprise both Ganesha and the other members of the Ganesha family who were nearby hearing the conversation at a glance.
"I want to make them suffer for what they did to my goddess, but I want to do it in a way that those two can never deceive anyone again. Please, Lord Ganesha" Raux explains putting himself in the position of Dogeza (a form of Japanese bow used when someone asks for a favor or asks for forgiveness for some misconduct) "Let me fight these crooks in your coliseum, to make sure those two are duly punished and everyone sees that they are worthless."
Ganesha listened to everything the young Raux said and although his intentions were sincere at heart, he could not allow such a thing, both for his family's fair reputation and because he himself was not in favor of such an act of violence and humiliation.
"I'm sorry young man. but I will have to deny your request" Ganesha informs the young captain "I would not, in good conscience, allow a fight for the purpose of humiliating and ridiculing someone to take place in my coliseum, it would be an affront to everything I and my followers do. I'm sorry but you'll have to take your fight somewhere else-"
"I BEG YOU! LET ME FACE THEM IN THE COLISEUM, IN FRONT OF THE CROWD!" Raux bellowed with his head still lowered, touching the ground, "those crooks… they were gone for two long years, leaving the goddess Hestia alone and grieving for the loss of her followers, and now, two years later, they have returned, dressed in pompous white armor, saying they came home! the audacity of those two scoundrels knows no bounds! I have to-"
"Did you say white armor?!" Ganesha interrupts the young human upon hearing about the white armors
"Hmm? d-said… but what-"
"There are reports of two strangers arriving in Orario earlier today, wearing white armor of strange designs..." Ganesha comments before turning to one of his followers and ordering him to bring one of his familia members who guarded Orario's gate today. "And bring two medium-sized memorial stones!"
Some minutes later
Ganesha stood between Raux and the Orario gate guard with two semi-transparent apple-sized stones in hand.
"Very well, I want you to focus on the image of these two knights that you saw today and place their images on this memorial stone" Ganesha instructed the guard and then turned to Raux with the other memorial stone in hand "And you show the faces of these two former members of your family, you saw them without their helmets, correct?"
Raux is a little confused about this but he nods and takes the stone in his hands before focusing on the image of the two albino brothers' faces. After a few moments, a light began to be emitted from inside the crystal and it began to manifest the image of two people; a boy and a girl, with white hair, red eyes, and most importantly, two white armors with extremely complex and strange designs
"AH!"
"Lord Ganesha!"
Ganesha was startled to see both images, those armors, their designs, were- no... Ouranos warned him about these people, but he didn't want to believe that such beings were real, because after all it's impossible- or IT WAS impossible for such devastating beings to exist. , but now the proof was there, right in front of him.
'I don't believe… what Ouranos told me was really true… so these two are- I have to warn him, but if they know then they will- don't wait, maybe' Ganesha's mind was in complete chaos but he thought of a quick solution to the problem in front of you "Young man… okay… I will allow you to fight in the coliseum, but you should do that in the afternoon as soon as the show is over, okay?"
Raux was surprised by these words, but accepted the proposal immediately, fearing that the god would change his mind, and soon left with a smile on his face, ready to prepare for the big fight tomorrow.
"L-lord Ganesha, why?" the guard asked, shocked as were all the other members of his family.
"I have to go to the Guild. I need to talk to Ouranos, this is important, don't tell anyone about this, understand?" The god commanded in a serious and uncharacteristic manner to his subordinates. everyone nodded and with that, the god left to the guild, to inform Ouranos of this unexpected development of events.
Orario Commercial Street, the morning of the next day
Bell and Venna were walking down the shopping street again, this time without their armor and in their traveler clothes; Bell was dressed in a simple white shirt with a star symbol, dark green and yellow jacket, splitting his left side into dark green and his right side as yellow; His pants were light brown and he was equipped with several small pouches for potions and other items.
Venna in turn was dressed in a blue and purple shirt with a star symbol; a crimson and blue jacket, split like her brother's; she wore a skirt with tight pants underneath and had two belts with dozens of pouches for potions and items.
both walked calmly, enjoying the lively and good-humored atmosphere that the inhabitants have in their daily lives.
"impressive how a wardrobe change makes all the difference" Venna comments sarcastically and somewhat offended before taking a bite of her breakfast, a fruit crepe and sweet syrup
"haha… come on sister, you know you'd expect us to draw attention with those armors" Bell comments awkwardly, trying to appease his sister's tempers "At least our armors don't have openings at multiple points" Bell comments suggestively
Venna quickly understands and smiles mischievously "Yes… they're not open in easy-to-reach spots. or have attached shields too small to be useful," Venna continues, her smile growing wider and wider.
"and most importantly, they don't need a fix every time they get punched hard" Bell ends up looking at his sister with a huge smile on his face
"hahahahaha!"
"hahahahaha!"
Both brothers start laughing out loud, attracting the attention of some people who soon ignore them as it is nothing that interests them.
meanwhile in another world
"Atchoo!" a young man with brown hair suddenly sneezes
"Seiya, are you okay?" a girl- (wait... it's a boy!) with green hair asks looking at his friend
"I am… but out of nowhere it made me want to sneeze- Atchoo!" the young man, Seiya tries to answer before sneezing again
"Heh, they must be talking about you behind your back" a young blue-haired man remarks with some arrogance, before also sneezing "Atchoo!"
"Heh, you were saying?" Seiya asks with a mischievous smile, which the blue-haired boy doesn't answer and Seiya starts to laugh
Back to Orario, at the Tower of Babel
Freya was bored, after the event of the disappearance of the daytime stars, nothing interesting happened and it bored her. then she turned her gaze to the city below, using her Discerning Eye to see the souls of mortals below; she was looking to find a soul capable of captivating her, at the moment, no soul caught her attention, they were all equally simple
*Shwin!*
'hmm?' Freya was surprised, withdrawing her view of the city for a moment, she refocused her vision on a specific location; the commercial district, for an instant she could have sworn she saw it.
*SHOOOOOOOWWWWWWMMMMMMMM*
…
…
…
Freya felt a bright light hitting her face-wait for bright light? but she was in her room at babel!
And with that, the goddess of beauty opened her eyes and was faced with a blue sky, full of white and serene clouds. feeling her back wet, Freya got up and saw that she was standing, on top of a surface of water, which stretched to the horizon with no piece of land in sight.
'what's going on?' the goddess thought in surprise, that wasn't right, she was in her living room looking at the city when-
when she thought she saw something in the crowd, something that caught her eye. but what was it? she couldn't even see before waking up here
so it was you
"!?" Freya quickly turns around to hear a strange voice "what..." was all the goddess could say as she looked at who, or rather, what was behind her: it was one of the day stars!
Was it you who looked at the city with that hungry look?
another voice said behind her again, this one seemed to be female.
Turning around once more the goddess is faced with, again, another day star, this time the second one.
"...the daytime stars...how?" was all the goddess managed to say before the two stars glowed brightly, forcing her to close her eyes.
…
…
…
"Lady Freya!" a voice called the goddess, making her wake up, revealing Ottar, captain of her family holding her "Are you ok? you suddenly fainted"
listening to her stronger adventurer's explanation, Freya turns her gaze away and notices that she can no longer see the strange light that hit her.
"Yes, Ottar.. I'm fine, it was nothing" Freya said casually, getting up, now she realizes that she had fallen to the ground when her captain picked her up and goes to her armchair to get her wine glass.
'For a moment I saw the day stars.. within the city? how is that possible?' thought the goddess before taking a sip of her wine.
Back to the shopping street
"..."
"... do you think that was enough?" Bell asks his sister looking at Babel
"Maybe…" Venna replies with an air of seriousness "what do you think of us helping to spread the fight announcement? Maybe it will help the grumpy captain to like us" Venna suggests trying to change the subject.
Bell frowns for a moment before replying, "I don't think anything is going to make him look at us with less hate. not as long as that darkness in his heart remains unchecked."
"Urgh, why don't we just use our k-" Venna tries to speak but Bell covers his mouth looking desperately around.
"Have you gone crazy? we can't go around talking about 'it' like that without caution" Bell reminds her sister of something they both had to learn the hard way some time ago; never speak of Keyblades in public or without caution from those who may hear
"Oops.." Venna says as her brother removes his hand from her mouth "but still, it would have been so much easier and simpler to have just used -you know- and solved the problem!"
Bell flicks his sister's forehead, exasperated by the impulsive attitude she's always had, not that he's any different but at least he tries to be the sensible one of both of them to keep them from getting into trouble constantly.
"Venna… think about it, what happened when we showed our weapons in front of the Konoha shinobi?" Bell asked trying to make Venna understand
"...they sent us straight to jail because we were armed and dangerous..." Venna replied disgruntled.
"Then. we can't just take them off like that. not up here at least, but in the Dungeon, the rules change" Bell elaborates but then starts thinking with his hand on his chin, a habit he and Venna picked up from their master, Sora "But you're right, our weapons are the best solution to free him from that excess of darkness that is eating him away"
Venna then starts to think too, with her hand on her chin, and starts muttering some ideas to her brother "What if we use light magic?"
"It won't work, we agreed to fight as equals"
"Damn, I shouldn't have suggested that. what if we use them like this: swoosh, one swipe, and then 'sheath' them without anyone seeing?"
"The gods who will be in the audience will definitely see it and not to mention the high-level adventurers"
"grr. How about you stop finding problems and find solutions?" Venna asks annoyed and Bell laughs awkwardly.
"You're right. well… our spells and weapons are blocked, but we can still use our Skills but that's easy because they're not detectable… hmm…" Bell closed his eyes in concentration and then slammed his fist into the palm of his hand "I know!"
"Did you think of something genius?" Venna asks sarcastically, to annoy her brother
"Stop making fun of me" and it worked " *Cough* well… our weapons have light properties, right? And they can gather that same light in our hands as we wield them, so here's my plan—" Bell starts to detail and the more he says, the more Venna's eyes widen, not because the plan is brilliant, but because it's completely Crazy!
Arena da Familia Ganesha, end of the spectacle
"That's it!" the show's presenter shouted with the use of an artifact that increased the sound of his voice, for the audience to hear him "that was a great show now, isn't it, my beloved audience? come on give me a 'wooow!'" but the audience was silent, waiting for the presenter to announce the next event
"wow… what a boring audience…" the presenter grumbled before clearing his throat "Let's go to the next event of our show! In the corner, we have a first-class adventurer who has come to our coliseum to test two candidates who wish to join his family, but must first pass a trial by fire against him! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WELCOME TO: RAUX MELLAN, THE IRON WALL!" The presenter announced Raux's entry with his adventurer title, causing part of the crowd to scream in anticipation. After all, he was a first-rate adventurer, and even more so with such an imposing title (a rarity among gods; agreeing to give a title that wasn't simple or stupid)
Raux entered one of the coliseum entrances in new armor; now, in addition to his giant sword, he had a gauntlet with a shield buckle attached to his right arm, a simple but sturdy breastplate, chain mail under the breastplate for extra protection, and a dagger he borrowed from Cort.
'This afternoon, I'm going to put an end to it' Raux thought with great determination and conviction as he marched to the center of the arena. When he got there, he took his sword from his back and stuck it on the ground in front of him.
"And on the other side, we have the challengers: two foreigners in the most flashy armor the city of Orario has ever seen, ladies and gentlemen welcome the challengers, the mysterious white knights!" With these words the crowd burst into an uproar, shouting and waving to the arena, hoping to see the challengers
The Ganesha family insisted on fulfilling the part of announcing the battle, even more so when Ganesha himself insisted that everyone knew that the strange knights who arrived in the city yesterday would be in the coliseum. this generated a large income in tickets and the coliseum was crowded, several influential families were present, such as the Loki family, Freya, Hephestus, and Apollo.
Everyone was interested in these mysterious knights, there were rumors that both were from Rakia, who had deserted the army, but the armor did not match the known armor; other rumors said they were princes of a distant kingdom; there was also a rumor that both were able to use magic without the use of recitations or catalysts, but without proof, it was impossible to confirm. they all wanted the same thing: The identity of the mysterious knights and this duel was the golden opportunity to have just that
"tsk, all this fuss over two strangers. we don't even know if they'll show their faces" young silver-haired werewolf grumbles as he looks at the arena with suppressed anger
"That's enough, Bete. we are here on behalf of the lady Loki to verify if the rumors are true" the captain of the Loki family, Finn Deimne, scolded the young and bad-tempered werewolf.
"Yeah, be quiet you rude!" Tione, the Amazon in love with Finn, scolded Bete with the intention of pleasing the captain (who made a point of ignoring this in favor of watching the knights enter)
"I KNOW why we came here, my problem now is whether they will show up. Grr! How I wish I was down there, to punch those two!" Bete comments punching one of his hands
with Bell and Venna
"This is a bad idea," Venna repeats once more, dressed in her armor.
"News: I know. It's still the best I could think of in such a short amount of time" Bell replies, equally equipped in his armor. "But now, this is the plan we're going to follow" Bell says firmly to ward off any doubts and fears "Ready?"
Venna looks at her brother, with a smile under her helmet "Always"
they both walk to the entrance of the arena and before they leave, they both shout loud enough for everyone in the audience to hear them.
"DEACTIVATE!"
With that cry, a strong light sprang from the entrance tunnel, and from there came several spheres of white light, enchanting the audience.
And, too, came out two young men, a boy, and a girl, with cracked and amateurishly repaired chest armor and two daggers at their waists.
Now, the battle between Bell and Venna Cranel, former captains of the Hestia family, and Raux Mellan, current captain of the same family, is about to begin.