(A/N: Hello readers. Welcome to Chapter Two! I honestly should've done this in Chapter One, but it just kinda slipped out of my mind. Whoops! Anyways, its been like 10 years since I've posted! I won't go into the details of it, but I did want to make an update! So I have placed a personal update to my Bio on my profile! The update are about the current stories that I am currently working on, so if your ever curious about my progress on the stories then you can look at my Bio to see its current condition of the story! It will contain the condition of each story and the day of update on the bottom. With that out of the way, I wanted to say one last thing. Reviews are always welcomed! Negative, Positive, or Neutral; it doesn't matter any and all are welcomed, and I'll try to read them when I can. PM's are also fine too, just keep them friendly please. Thank you and enjoy the Chapter!)

Chapter 2

The five people, Bell, Ais, Tiona, Tione, and Welf, were walking down main road together on their way to the Hostess of Fertility. They finally reached the pub that they're all acquainted with, as they met Syr, and they were given a table that all five could sit at. The pub wasn't too busy, but it was steady, at most, since it was the afternoon. There weren't many customers eating at this time. The usual waitresses were at the pub, and they were going about their business trying to keep the pub clean and themselves pre-occupied. Since, if they didn't, they would get an earful from Mama Mia.

Ryu went up to the table that the group was sitting at and asked them what they wanted to eat, except for Bell. When Bell tried to order his food, Ryu couldn't and wouldn't comply with him since her mind and heart went into overdrive just seeing his face. Eventually, Ryu jot down a random dish for Bell, with a straight face, and went about her business. The group confused from this kind of reaction from Ryu herself as they could all sense an awkwardness from the two of them. Bell was the only one who was saddened by this type of reaction from her. He couldn't understand why she was reacting like this and what he had done that might have caused this type of reaction. He simply ignored this for the time being as he decided to focus on the topic that was currently important to him right now.

They all shared information between themselves; the only person who didn't really have information about Lefiya was Welf, but an external and more mature line of thought was important to this kind of discussion. The group started to talk about the personal information that they all know about. Each person at the table talked about their personal experience with Lefiya and how she expressed herself while in their company.

Ryu and Syr both came back with the food that the table had ordered as they both gave them their food. Both Ryu and Syr couldn't help themselves but be curious about what the group was talking about and asked them about their situation. The group talked to them about their friend, who was grieving, and their attempt to try to help her regain former self.

Syr brought up a question, "Why not let her handle her situation by herself? Usually, time mends all wounds that can't be seen, if it's not a disease."

Ryu was visibly a bit concerned about the question that her best friend Syr had brought up. To Ryu, personally, in the current condition of her Elven friend, she wouldn't want to leave her friend alone as well. Ryu could understand and liked the reason the group had come together. Ryu also didn't like the suggestion that Syr brought up, but it also wasn't a bad suggestion, in its own right. Syr was Ryu's dearest friend and a person she was indebted to; she couldn't bring herself to oppose this suggestion. Ryu didn't want to lose this friend and her respect.

Bell, on the other hand, didn't like this suggestion.

"No," Bell started, "We can't leave her be."

Syr looked into Bell's eyes as his eyes were filled with determination. As they locked eyes, Syr saw something different from within Bell as she couldn't believe she saw.

Bell continued, "I personally know what it feels like to be like this. It's a sad state to be in and it's a place that no person should be left in. I don't want to let someone go down that rabbit hole because the worst thing could happen to that person."

Bell looked away from Syr and down to the meal that was brought to him, "And I don't want that for Lefiya."

Syr stayed quiet and slowly walked away from the table. Ryu couldn't help but smile at Bell's retort to Syr, albeit she also had mixed feelings about all that they had talked about.

Syr went past Mama Mia as she went into the kitchen and out to the back of the building. When she was alone, she gripped her fist tightly as she had mixed feelings about what had happened. She was mad, frustrated, and dejected at Bell for responding back to her that way. On the other hand, she was also proud, happy, and had admiration towards him.

Ryu left the table a little later than Syr but instead of following her she made her way to the sink and decided to wash dishes. She was in a tempestuous mood as she was proud of Bell, but she was also sad and jealous because Bell was focusing on another girl. She continued to do the dishes to keep her mind from her emotional turmoil.

The group continued their conversation as they were eating their meals.

The three ladies started first.

Ais started first, "Lefiya was a shy and reserved person at first. She had a hard time trying to fit into our Familia, but she would always nice and sincere."

Tiona jumped in, "She was always hard working, cheerful, and a bit of a klutz, at certain times. As an elf she also had her pride, but she was more open than most other elves."

Tione added with a devious, "Although, she did have a thing for Ais as similar to all of Ais' admirers."

Bell was shocked as his face flushed a bit from this surprising confession along with Ais herself.

"EHH!?" Bell responded.

Tione looked at both Bell and Ais, "What you didn't know? It was always so obvious."

With this, Welf got an idea, "Why not use this as an opportunity?"

The other four were curious about Welf's plan as he began to discuss his own plan with the other four members of the table. When Welf was finished, Bell turned red real fast as Ais slightly blushed with a bit of confusion on the side. Tiona and Tione both gave Welf a thumbs up on the plan as Welf himself gave one to the twins in return.

Bell's face was steaming up smoke, until Bell finally cooled himself off as he sighed to reset himself emotionally and mentally.

Bell looked up as he gave a sheepish smile, "Well, any plan is better than no plan at all. If this is to help Lefiya to return to her former self, then I'll do anything to help."

So, the four continued with coming up with a plan to bring Lefiya back to her former self as they continued to dine away at their food. They eventually finished up their conversations and decided on a day to try this plan they had formulated. A few days later, they would set everything up to enact the plan.

Meanwhile, Lefiya was stuck in her room for three days. Each day, her condition became worse and worse. As each day went by, she would start eating less and less, until she stopped eating all together. She would ignore all of Celty's pleas and commands as her will to live would slowly devolve into nothing. Eventually, her body would start to take its toll because of her malnourishment on the final day.

Another day arose as the morning was beautiful and cheerful. Bell's group knew that today was the best day to enact the plan; they had everything ready and in place. The only problem was Lefiya because this is the fourth day in the row that she has not eaten anything at all. When Tione, Tiona, and Ais had seen her condition, they knew that this plan had to be now or else they were never going to save Lefiya. Bell and Welf had kept this secret from the rest of their Familia members, since in honestly, this would put the plan in jeopardy because the other women would just get in the way (especially Lili and Hestia). All five of the group members would meet up by the clothing stores, north of Babel. They took time to purchase some nice apparel for both Ais and Bell.

For Ais, they picked out a beautiful white sundress that barely met her knees, a sunhat that matched the color of her dress, but it had one, single yellow, golden stripe that was tied in the back of the hat. The ribbon that made the stripe hanged from behind the hat and it matched her eyes. The ribbon ran across the hat, and sunflower was pinned on the front side of the hat; she also had a sunflower pin for her hair. She had a pair of blue thong flat sandals with a tie leg design cross strap design.

For Bell, he wore a pair of black jean slacks that had white seams on the side of the slacks, with a white cotton shirt that buttons from a few inches from the chest up around the neck area. He also wore a red Harker's vest and a black mid-coat over that vest. His hair was slightly combed over (as best as he could) to his right side. He personally paid for a uniquely tailored suit; it cost him a fair amount of money that he had saved up, but he wanted to do this.

As they both left the clothing store, both adventurers looked and admired each other and the clothing that they had chosen. Bell stared at Ais with a sheepish look on his face as he was slightly flushed. He was admiring the simple contrast that her new outfit had on. It might've been simple, but her beauty was flawless enough to simply wear this outfit and impress anyone. Ais took a long gander as she saw Bell in an impressive suit. Naturally she wouldn't care to look at him, but the sophisticated look on him made her feel different than she ever felt before. She made her feel something unique and that something was something that she couldn't understand. She's never looked at him that way, except when they both had danced at the Banquet of the Gods. Now, she was staring at him with an allured look.

Suddenly, Tiona exclaimed loudly, "Wooow!"

She circled Bell as she was checking him out for herself, and she was enjoying the sight she was taking in.

"You look insanely good like that Argonaut! You should dress up more often!" Tiona exclaimed beaming with happiness and satisfaction.

"She's right, you know. You look great in that. You should dress up more often," Tione adds in as she turns over to Ais to see that she was too busy staring at Bell.

Out of nowhere, Welf puts his arm over Bell's shoulder and pulls him closer as Bell struggles a bit to keep his balance.

"Well then, seems like you're a charmer Bell. You're able to charm three women on the spot-," Welf attempts to tease Bell when suddenly gets cut off by Tione grabbing Welf's shirt and lifting him up in the air.

"I am strictly for the Captain, no one else! Do you understand?!" Tione threatens Welf as he's suspended in the air.

"JEEZ, ALRIGHT! SORRY! JUST LET ME DOWN ALREADY!" Welf yells back at Tione.

Tione does as Welf says. Welf took his time to readjust his shirt as Bell smiles sheepishly and chuckles in an intimidated manner as Welf looks at him for help.

Tione looks back at Ais as she was still busy staring at Bell. Tione bumps into Ais' side to finally get her out of the trance as Ais started to slightly blush.

Tione got close to her and whispered to her in a devilish tone, "Like what you see?"

In response, Ais' blush increased as it was made apparent to the others, but she still tilted her head over to the right as she responded, "What do you mean?"

Tiona picked up on this as she joined in rather loudly, "Oh, you know, doesn't Argonaut make you want to go to him and cuddle with him?"

Bell heard this as he couldn't help but slightly blush from this, not that he didn't want that as well.

That's when Ais started to blush and fluster in response to Tiona's question as she furiously shakes her head in disagreement in a more flustered manner.

Ais turned around and responded to try to cover herself up, "I-I don't know what you mean…"

Eventually, Tione broke away from Ais and over to Bell himself.

She placed both of her hands on both of Bell's shoulders and asked Ais out loud with a nonchalant smile, "So, Ais. What do you think of Bell over here."

Ais was stunned at this maneuver as Bell looked at her with a sheepish smile on his face as he scratched the back of his head. Ais wormed and wiggled in place as she had a hard time trying to convey her answer.

"Y- -ok g-." Was all that she got out as she whispered shyly out.

Tiona immediately responded, "Huh? We can't hear you."

Ais looked pleadingly at both sisters.

Bell looked at Ais with a sympathetic look in his eyes and responded with a similar tone, but slightly louder, at Ais, "It's ok, Ais. You don't have to answer that. Now let's go."

Bell started to walk to Ais as he took initiative as he walked up to Ais' side and lent Ais his arm so that she can take it. In response, Ais did what Bell wanted and wrapped her arm around Bell's arm as he escorted Ais throughout Orario. They both started to walk towards the tower of Babel as many envious onlookers were staring at them with envy as they passed through the streets. The people who saw them intensely stared at Bell himself as Bell himself stoically ignored all the stares that were aimed at him. Ais saw all the stares that were aimed at the couple, and she finally became self-conscious about the two of them as she fiercely blushed as they walked through the trip.

The couple would walk from babel towards the southwestern part of Orario to the Amor Square as this was the only spot that Bell knew, thanks to Hestia. The couple walked throughout enjoying each other's company. Meanwhile the other couples in the vicinity would look as if they were watching a miracle unfold in front of them.

For Bell, this was a dream come-true, and he wished that this moment would last forever. Although, there was something deep within him that made him unsure of himself and Ais. Perhaps it might have been the situation that he last met with Ais. There was still a sense of awkwardness deep within himself and it didn't want to leave either. There was friction from within and, because of that, he couldn't truly enjoy this moment.

For Ais, she was feeling multiple emotions at once. Her face wouldn't stop heating up and her heart was beating quicker than ever. She had never experienced something like this in her life. She didn't understand the new sensation of this emotion, and that led to confusion in her mind. Even though she was confused herself, her miniature version of her persona was giddy about this whole thing. Ais' emotions had made Bell more handsome and even more dashing in his getup than ever before. Ais also noticed that Bell had a sense of newfound confidence within himself that was never there. He was also so awkward and timid whenever they would talk and spend time with her. Ais had started to see Bell in a new light, especially when he had saved her from the dark flames that had plagued her soul from within. Slowly and subconsciously, Ais had started to fall in love with him.

The time would pass by as the afternoon day would quickly turn into the evening sunset. The couple returned to the plaza as the whole square was lit up with candles. They would take a break and sit down on a bench in the side of the plaza of the square; they would also meet up with both Tione and Welf as they both gave the couple a special edition meal from the Jagamarukun stall that Hestia ran. They would secretly order it from Hestia (who didn't know a thing about this plan) and would deliver them to the couple.

Ais would be the person who would get excited, since she loved the snacks.

"The snacks would be specially made and designed to share with a special person that they loved," Tione told the couple with a wink and a smirk.

Welf continued where she left off as he let out a smirk, "Heh, yep! So, make sure you share your portions together."

Both had said their pieces, before both Tione and Welf gave the couple thumbs up and left the plaza smiling and giggling. Bell had smiled sheepishly as he felt an awkwardness from within. On the other hand, Ais had turned red from the thought of sharing her first indirect kiss with Bell. Ais had been told by Riveria that a couple should do these kinds of things after they were married. For Ais though, this kind of advice went over her head since Riveria was extremely conservative and old-fashioned. Tione was giving her own advice to Ais behind Riveria's back and, since they were basically the same age group, Ais felt more comfortable around her. Ais was feeling emotions that she had never felt before, and they felt like a wave pushing her to do and think certain things.

Ais was enjoying the meal that they were sharing; her eyes were constantly shifting between her potato croquette and Bell himself. She loved the food but enjoying it with someone you love felt even better. Bell looked happy eating his croquette as he would ask if they wanted to swap each other's to enjoy both flavors of the croquettes. Bell was doing his best to hide the embarrassment on his face from swapping indirect kisses with each other. Bell watching Ais eat and enjoy the food makes it much easier as he finds it slightly mesmerizing to watch her.

Ais would see him watching her as her heartstrings would tug from within her own chest. She subconsciously scooches herself closer and closer to Bell as he would finally notice until they both were sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the bench. They both were enjoying their croquettes as they were abnormally larger than the average sizing portion. Ais felt comfortable and soothed around him as she gently placed her head on his shoulder in a rather intimate move from her. She didn't truly understand what she was doing or what she was ultimately feeling, but she was following her own sentiments as they were motivating her own passion that she was growing from within. What she was doing felt right to her.

She finally stopped paying attention to her halfway eaten croquette and started getting carried away from her own emotions finally overflowing from within her heart. She placed her croquette on her lap as her newfound emotions gave her the push she needed.

Bell was becoming more and more conscious of his predicament with Ais next to him. He was starting to revert to his former self as the pressure was starting to finally get to him. The following thing would surprise him.

"Bell," Ais suddenly called out to him.

Bell was slightly startled as his emotions were starting to get to him as well. Ais had turned to him with an intense, passionate look on her face and passionate gaze from her.

She slowly leaned into him as both croquettes dropped to the floor. Both faces were close to each other as they could both hear their breaths. Ais had been swept by her own emotions as she closed her eyes and slowly let nature take its course.

To say that Bell was surprised was an understatement. He did come close to imagining that this would happen to him, but he never expected it to actually happen in real life! He froze on the spot and was scared to take a step forward. He knew that this was all an act but seeing Ais leaning for a kiss felt way too real for him.

He needed to keep the act up, because she was watching from not too far away. In fact, he was able to feel them both watching what was being unfolded.

He went for it.

Bell leaned in to meet Ais and he slightly closed his own eyes as well in the heat of the moment. He was waiting for the moment to be stopped by her. Both their lips came close to contact as Ais lost herself in the heat of the moment. Bell kept a lookout for both of them when he realized that something was wrong. One of the shadows had ran away in a hurry instead of rushing over to stop them both!

Bell stopped Ais just as their lips were about to touch, and Ais had opened her eyes. She turned red as a tomato as she realized what she was about to do. Her heart was beating erratically and irrationally as the heat of the moment was still stuck in her own mind. She couldn't move from her spot, but that didn't stop Bell as he immediately rushed from their spot.

Bell rushed to Tiona and asked her, "Which way did she go?!"

Tiona pointed the way. They both raced off in the same direction, but before they had veered in different directions as they split up to find her.

They had to find her.