Chapter 4

(I don't own Danmachi guys)

Joining Up

As, the sun came up Bell had started to awake. He felt so comfortable like he never wanted to move. He never remembered his pillow being this comfortable so, he snuggled against it more. He then noticed that something were running through his hair and petting him. They made him feel so safe like everything would be okay

Knock knock knock Bell hears then his door opens.

"Hey Bell, breakfast is... Sword Princess?" Welf says and then slowly shuts the door.

"Nice!" Bell hears him exclaim from the other side.

That is when Bell remembers about Aiz and sits up quickly and scoots to the opposite side of the bed as fast as he can scurry blushing extremely red.

"Are you okay Bell?" Aiz asked

"You've been there... all night?"

Aiz nods "I gave you a lap pillow and you fell asleep. I didn't have the heart to move you. Did you sleep well?"

"Very well but, you didn't have to.."

Aiz leans towards Bell and looks him in his eyes."I know I didn't have to. I did it because, I wanted to. I enjoyed it, didn't you?"

Bell starts blushing madly again and barely loud enough to hear he says ,"Yes, very much."

She moved to sit beside him. "Good, Now if you aren't busy today, I would like you to come by Twilight Manor with me."

"Sure, I don't have any plans for today but, why?"

"I was hoping you would join us."

"Would a strong familia like yours even want me?"

"Bell! You are the fastest to level up to level 4 ever, have a little confidence in yourself! Every familia in this city would kill to have you. I was the record holder for getting to level 2 in 1 year. You were level 4 in 6 months." She turns to face him and boops his nose and says "You are a catch. Now let's go." Bell again was blushing from getting so much praise from his idol.

So, they left Hearth Manor and headed to Twilight Manor. In the event a God dies, Ganesha familia visits every familia home to identify the fallen deity so, the news of Hestia's death was already wide spread. He got plenty of looks of pity that he didn't really enjoy. Aiz noticed how uncomfortable he was and grabbed his hand.

"Don't worry about them." Aiz says as she strokes the back of his hand with her thumb. This made Bell calm down and feel much better.

When they finally arrive at Twilight Manor, they walk to the gate and are greeted by our favorite Amazon twins. "Hi Aiz!" They excitedly greet before noticing Bell and walk to in front of the pair.

"Agronaut, I am so sorry about Hestia.." Tiona starts to reach out to give him a hug as a comforting gesture but, Aiz intercepts the attempt and gives her a big hug with a very strong grip.

"I missed you too, Tiona" she says loudly. Tiona is very confused by the turn of events. Aiz is never so affectionate and they had just seen each other yesterday morning but, then she hears Aiz whisper in her ear.

"Don't touch my Bell."

"Yeah, Bell I am very sorry too." Tione starts to reach out to give Bell a hug but her sister puts a hand on her shoulder and stops her. Tione gives Tiona a confused look but then Tiona explains

"She's captured her man." Tiona says and Tione just makes a small "o" with her mouth.

This was something they understood as Amazons. There was a rule amongst Amazons that once someone captured and claimed their man that you left that man alone. If there was a dispute amongst the Amazon's over a man, they could give a challenge that was a battle to the death, the survivor got the man. This is why the twins would never go after the same man or do anything to make the other uncomfortable in that way. They saw Aiz like a sister so, they of course would give her the same respect.

Although when Bell heard what Tiona said he blushed extremely red. Meanwhile Aiz just gave a small smirk before grabbing Bell's wrist and dragging him away towards Finn's office. She was happy they understood. She didn't want to have to kill her friends. She already hated all those other girls so, they were easily disposable. She hoped it wouldn't come to that with her friends.

When they get to Finn's office, he is busily working on paper work.

"I brought a new recruit."

Finn looks up from his papers "Oh, hello Bell. I am very sorry about the loss of your goddess and I just want you to know that we are doing everything in our power to find out what happened and catch the perpetrator."

"Thank you very much." Bell said with his head a bit hung

"So you would like to join up?"

"Yes sir, Aiz said you guys might be interested."

"Oh we are. You could join any familia in Orario so, why did you pick us?"

"Well, I know all of you, you guys have helped me alot and you guys are the strongest. It was an easy choice."

"Sounds good, let me get Loki and we can make it official. Aiz how about you give him some privacy."

Aiz nodded and went for breakfast. Loki came in and gave Bell his falna

"So, dat's how ya grow so fast"

"What?"

"Ya first ability"

"Agronaut?" Bell asked confused

"No, yer first ability Liaris Freese. Did Chibi never tell ya?"

"No"

"Oh well basically, ya got a real strong desire for sumthin, the stronger da desire da faster ya grow. Ya mus really want sumthin. What could dat be?"

Bell turned red again for about the millionth time today as, he realized it was his desire to get strong enough to stand by Aiz's side that fueled his growth. It turned out that meeting Aiz was even better then he had thought, something that would have seemed impossible just a few minutes ago.

"Doncha worry bout it kid. I won't make ya tell me" but, then Loki changes from her normal jovial joking self to very serious "and Bell we will find who did this to Hestia. We may have fought alot but, I really did like her. We will understand if you don't feel up to normal familia activities for a bit and if you need something just ask me or one of the executives, okay?"

Bell nods. "Now Finn get someone to show him to his room."

"I'll do it!" Aiz burst through the door and volunteers grabs him and runs off.

"She acting awfully strange doncha think?" Loki ask Finn after the duo runs out of the room

"She always does when Bell's around. She is quite protective of him. " Finn replies

Aiz ate a small breakfast and rushed back and waited for this moment for a reason. She knew just the room she wanted him in. There happened to be an empty room next to hers and this was the perfect spot if she wanted to keep an eye on him. It was when they got there that they realized Bell had none of his stuff and nothing to put in there so, they went to go get all his stuff at Hearth Manor. The place had no people there as, Mikoto and Haruhime were at Lord Take's home joining/rejoining his familia and Welf was at Hephaestus familia rejoining her. Bell and Aiz were in Bell's room packing his stuff when they heard a knock on the door. Aiz volunteered to get it, since Bell would be better at packing his own stuff obviously.

"Hello Miss Wallenstein! Is Mr. Cranell here?" Ryuu cheerfully greets

"What do you want?" Aiz replies quite rudely, ignoring the question

"I heard about Hestia and I wanted to see how he was doing."

"He is fine and I would appreciate it if you would leave him alone. I know you have helped him in the past but, you also almost got him killed."

"How do you know about that?"

"There isn't much that happens in the dungeon my familia doesn't know about and I take special interest when it involves my Bell."

"When did Mr. Cranell become YOUR Bell? I haven't heard anything about that and I would know."

"He has always been my Bell." Aiz glares at Ryuu

"That sounds like he isn't your Bell to me."

"You really don't want to know what happened to the last person who told me that." Aiz says threateningly fist clinched

Ryuu just looks at Aiz in a confused manner.

"If you know what's good for you, you will leave town Gale Wind" Aiz says the last part in an exaggerated manner. She would have just dragged her to the Yandere Chamber and chopped her to bits but, Bell has gone through enough these last few weeks so, another friends death might break the poor boy. She didn't want her bunny to break especially because of her own actions.

"...You know about that?"

"I do. I look into all the women my Bell associates with and you had an extra interesting past. It was a bit hard to uncover but, Hermes is quite talkative for the right price. I am sure The Guild and Ganesha Familia would love to know about the whereabouts of our local serial killer though."

"Who is it Aiz?" Bell finally turns to the top of the stairs with his stuff packed up. He couldn't see who was on the outside because Aiz had only opened the door enough for her to stand in the opening.

"It is nobody Bell, they were just leaving" Aiz says as she gives Ryuu one last glare. Ryuu knows her life as, she knows it is over and she complies.

"Okay?" Bell says confused

"They were just looking for information and I helped them." Aiz told him, it was technically true. She didn't like lying to her bunny anymore then necessary so, this half truth would have to work.

Once Aiz thought Ryuu had enough time to be out of sight, she and Bell left with his stuff. It was when Bell arrived he noticed lots of jealous stares from around the manor. The news of him joining had already spread around but, for a new member to get this much attention from their Princess was unheard of and many were very unhappy especially a certain Elf. Most members of the familia barely could get Aiz to say much more then a single sentence to them. It wasn't that she was rude, she just was the quiet type but, she was chatting away with Bell like it was nothing. Many members could barely believe their eyes, it was almost like she was a totally different person around him. She didn't look like a doll for once, she looked like a girl doting over her boyfriend. They didn't like it and their stares let Bell know but, one glare from the Sword Princess stopped most of them. She wanted Bell to feel at home and rude glares wasn't it. They went up to his room and unpacked all his stuff anyways. Bell was officially a member of the Loki familia and moved in. Aiz was very happy.

It was about a week later when Ryuu was finally packed up and ready to leave. She had tried to think of a way out of it but, she couldn't drag all her coworkers into it. This was her problem and her sins had finally caught up to her. It was her time to pay. She was happy that Aiz didn't turn her over to the guild. The punishment for killing all those guys would have her imprisoned for life. They may have been Evilus but, that didn't mean they could be murdered on sight even the bad guys had a right to a fair trial but, even then the death penalty was illegal in Orario so, there was no legal justification for the killings. She decided she would try to find her Goddess and maybe then she could redeem herself and enforce true justice instead of revenge. She said good bye to all of her friends and told them that this is what she was doing including Bell. She was sad to have to leave them all but, this would be a fresh start. That was exactly what she needed after the last few years, she had convinced herself.

As, she left she kept feeling like someone was watching her but, she shrugged it off. She was probably just being paranoid she thought. She made it out of the gates but still felt the stare. She took her time and about 2 hours she was out of sight of Orario but still felt the stare. She saw a forest and entered it, forest just felt like home to Elfs. She walked a while in it but, never felt like she got rid of the feeling of the stare. She was alone in a forest, this was ridiculous she thought but that was when someone dropped directly in front of her.

"Miss. Wallenstein what are you doing all the way out here?"

"You are going to learn what happens to people who don't understand Bell is mine" Aiz pulled out Desperate.

"You killed Lily... and Hestia... didnt you?"

Aiz didn't answer and only started her attack. Ryuu did her best to defend. Aiz's speed was a bit limited in such a heavily forested area but she was two levels lower then Aiz. Aiz cut her leg, Aiz cut her arm, Aiz cut her other leg. Ryuu was pretty sure, Aiz could have already killed her so, she was a bit confused then, she heard Aiz counting each cut.

"7-8-9-10-11"

After the 11th slice from the Sword Princess Ryuu could no longer stand

"12-13-14"

Then Aiz stopped and Ryuu just looked at her.

"That is one cut for every scar your trip to the 37th floor left on my Bell." Aiz had counted them when he was still passed out from Phryne's blindside shot in the torture chamber atleast, that was all the ones on his chest and arms, Phryne had exposed.

Aiz didn't end her there though, she stood and watched as Ryuu suffered until Ryuu finally met her end to blood loss. Aiz didn't try to hide the body or anything. She would just sneak back into the city and let the animals deal with Ryuu's body. Ryuu was pretty deep in the forest so, nobody would be likely to find and identify her before then. This was perfect for Aiz. She dealt with a rival who she believed wronged Bell and Bell wouldn't have to be sad because, nobody would be expecting Ryuu back in Orario and nobody would be expecting her outside of Orario. It would be just like she disappeared

A/N

I know I killed off Ryuu so, some of you Ryuu fans will probably be upset at me but, Ryuu seemed like a pretty natural choice. It seems very much in her nature to be worried enough to try to visit him and check on his wellbeing. I thought about killing off Tiona because she would be overly affectionate with Bell but, I assumed Aiz would atleast give her friends fair warning and more chances because, she loves them like sisters and would be more hesitant to kill. Plus, I love Tiona and killing her off would make me very sad. I was never a Ryuu fan so, she was easy to kill off. I also acknowledge the nose boop is cringe but, I absolutely love it anyways.