"It's done."
These two words echoed in the silence as Shirou extinguished the heat of the forge, and turned to face Hestia who had been spectating from the side.
Something wasn't quite right with her expression, but it wasn't really directed at him, and prying at the thoughts of a Goddess was never the best of ideas. Then there was also assuming that she'd glimpsed something from him.
To Shirou, this was the most likely case. His inner world hosted a plethora of energies, both obscure and divine, that were related to numerous pantheons from the origin of weapons dating back to the legend of King Gilgamesh.
Considering that the Gods of this world were in weakened states in exchange for walking among mortals, their perception would not have been as omniscient as it would have been in their true forms.
Still, Shirou was suddenly doubtful when Hestia began punching the air and stomping her feet like a child throwing a tantrum.
He really, really could not jump to conclusions.
"Muoh! Hmph! Hmph!"
Hestia scratched at her head, her eyes growing indignant as her hair done in pigtails seemed to turn into rotating propellers.
Shirou's face twitched.
That was a God of equal genealogy to Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon.
Due respect. Due respect.
Shirou reminded himself to remain steady if nothing else before interrupting whatever it was Hestia was thinking about. "Is there something wrong?"
Hestia froze, her eyes rolling to realize that Shirou had finished smithing and had been staring at her for an indeterminant amount of time.
"Ahem. Ugh, N-No, just thinking." Hestia adopted airs and folded her hands behind her back.
More than willing to not dwell over the prior matter, Shirou hummed before carefully handling over his finished product. There was no sheath, so he held the bladed end and offered the leather wrapped hilt to Hestia.
"Here, please inspect if it's to your specifications," he offered.
Hestia made an 'O' shape with her mouth and tentatively inspected the dagger. She was no God of the Forge, but she was still a God and could tell the wheat from the chaff. Primarily, she was quite pleased with how easily the dagger was reacting to her energy. That alone spoke of the daggers durability and make as most crude weapons could not withstand the power of a God for long if at all.
The Hestia Familia symbol shone on both side of the flat of the blade, causing Hestia's lips to tug upward in appreciation.
"Forgive my lacking skill, but I wasn't able to make it exclusive to Bell." Shirou began to explain while Hestia mused to herself. "Instead, it should be usable only to those with your specific energy, or granted Falna. Ah, rather than just a sole exclusive user, it's more accurate to describe it as a Hestia Family exclusive."
Hestia mulled it over.
The weapon wasn't forged by Hephy, but it was clearly at the pinnacle of what could be made in the lower world. No, in some aspects it was even better.
"Hey, Shirou, right?" Hestia's eyes suspiciously darted left and right before she leaned a bit closer and whispered in a low voice. "You wouldn't happen to know when you were born do you?"
Shirou smiled wryly. This answer was all too easy.
"No. I don't have any memories of my early childhood."
Hestia balked as she could tell that Shirou wasn't lying. "T-Then, may I see your hand for a bit?"
Hestia wet her dry mouth when Shirou obliged her request and offered his hand out. Tentatively, Hestia grasped his hand in her own.
Her Divine Perception should be able to gleam a better idea of who Shirou was through prolonged contact. It only helped when certain memories could be triggered through prompts that the recipient placed in the subject's mind.
Early childhood.
This was Hestia's final verification, and the result was nothing but fire, heat, and an ominous black curse that linked it all.
From the origin, the very beginning, this child started in flames. Moreover, the darkness that lingered in the fires, it was unnatural. So utterly wrong that Hestia could only describe it as a deformity on the level of...Hephy's right eye.
Oh, God, was that passed on?
Hestia gradually released Shirou's hand, and then stared at him in silence.
"About the weapon?" Shirou trailed off, trying to avoid the awkwardness.
The sudden gap between Hestia's childish actions, and the worry now reflected in her eyes made him sheepish.
"It's fine. I only have Bell anyway, so it's basically his," Hestia murmured as she returned to inspecting the dagger. It wasn't all that she'd hoped for, but she wasn't going to be picky about a minor thing. "Thank you! Bell will love it!"
Gratitude was something Hestia would always express in earnest.
Besides, no one would feel bad to feeling praised.
"It should suit him." Shirou said, scratching the back of his head. "I made it with Bell in mind by basing it off the weapon he was currently using."
Huh?
"Y-You can do that?" Hestia fumbled. "Is it like a warrior thing where you can look at a person and know?"
"It's a unique skill of mine." Shirou decided to be truthful. Relationships were built on trust, and if anything, Hestia was the warmest Goddess of the Greeks. "Aside from certain absurd weapons, there is no weapon I've seen that I cannot analyze."
That's Hephy's skill.
A distant part of Hestia's inner voice muttered to her.
"...P-Prove it."
"How?"
"Give me a bit!" Hestia sputtered before sprinting out of the church and returning an hour later with-
"You stole that." Shirou was not amused. Admonishment was due where it was due. "You should return it before your friend gets angry."
"H-How?! I didn't even say anything yet!" Even Hephy wasn't that good. Rather, Hephy could immediately tell how a weapon was made down to the materials, but Shirou's seemed to have another step.
Regardless, Hestia grew startled at Shirou's stern expression. Excuses and justification poured from her mouth.
"And it's not the first time I've done it so she shouldn't be that mad. Yeah, that's right! In fact, I'm the one that should be mad."
"Hestia."
"Me. Me. How could she keep this to herself when we even lived together?"
"Hestia."
Shirou's eye twitched. He was done, convinced that the Hestia he envisioned in his mind had crumbled into Hestia's current image.
"They even look alike when irritated. Ah! I-It's genetic…oh, and call me Aunty. Greatest Aunty even!"
/-/
"Stowwwp. Stowwwp pullling my chwweeeks!" Hestia pouted while weakly trying to extricate herself from disciplinary action.
She failed, mostly because she didn't have the heart to hurt others or family.
"Stop acting like a child and return what you stole before you give your friend another headache." Shirou sighed and finally let go, the elasticity of Hestia's cheeks clapping back in place with red dimples on the pinched spots.
She carefully massaged them.
"How could you. Y-You'd bully your best aunty…" Hestia wilted.
"If you're done, didn't you want to give Bell his gift?" Shirou pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Ooh, you're right! There's no time for this!"
Shirou froze, stunned at how quickly Hestia could snap back from depression at the sound of Bell's name.
In any case, the dagger was going to be a surprise which was why Hestia had sent Bell off to practice in the Dungeon's Higher Floors. At least there, it wasn't too dangerous and help could be provided by the guild or nearby Adventurers in an emergency.
Hestia deluded herself.
She could already picture the sheer gratitude in Bell's eyes when Bell would look only upon the divinest and sexiest Goddess he knew.
Ehem, that is her.
"Hestia, you're drooling." Shirou cast away any vestiges left of the Hestia he'd always envisioned.
Hestia didn't like the look on Shirou's face.
"Eh, ah? No way! Erase it!" She hurriedly wiped at her mouth. "W-We do not speak of this!"
-BOOOM!
Both suddenly glanced in the direction of Babel, a loud reverberating explosion halting all thoughts.
In a forest just outside of Orario, a layer of mist formed a line that gradually expanded into a doorway four feet wide and ten feet high. On the sides, mist poured down like cold gas that spread across the ground, and then rapidly vanished into droplets of condensation.
At the center of the doorway, the mist shimmered before a hand popped out followed by a foot and a head with glass-like eyes. Peeking through the veil and ascertaining that there was no danger nearby, the mist began to shimmer.
Thereafter, Iris stepped through the doorway completely while adjusting her glasses. Ryuu Lion came next, features dark and clouded, not in the mood for pleasantries.
A moment later, Thetis stepped through with her thumbs needling together. She was still pouting at Iris.
Iris was the Goddess of rainbows, communication, and messages. The mist was her veil, and her perception equaled all places the mist touched. In her weakened form, she couldn't easily perceive everything at once, but her authority over the mist remained. She could venture from place to place by creating cloud doors through her divinity.
"The horse thief is near," Iris divined, light glinting off her glasses.
Iris's words were all Ryuu needed to hear.
All around Ryuu, green spirits of light began to dance and disperse around her. She was serious, not wasting a single second to the point that it was clear that her mental state was fraying.
Glancing at Iris, Ryuu wordlessly urged Iris for direction while Thetis moped in the corner, a cloud hanging over her head.
Iris shook her head at Ryuu. "There is no general direction. He's just somewhere here. Shall we split up and search?"
"Hn," Ryuu didn't argue and immediately started scouring the area, vanishing up onto the branches of the nearby trees. As an elf, she was essentially like a fish to water in the present scenery.
"Thetis, will you help?" Iris asked.
"I think I'll rest a bit." Thetis huffed. "You guys can go search around if you want."
Iris figured as much from Thetis's attitude.
"Suit yourself."
Iris began her own search, leaving Thetis alone as the doorway through the mist closed.
Pursing her lips, Thetis sighed and slumped her shoulders. Even until now, a part of her didn't know how to feel let alone approach recent developments. Perhaps the source of her greatest confusion was 'how?' more than anything.
Thetis was sure that if she had a kid, she would know it. What mother would forget their own child?
At least for Thetis, the guilt of such an action would debilitate her.
Shaking her head, Thetis realized that she was in no condition to think too deeply on anything. For all she knew, there was a logical answer to her musings, and she was simply getting ahead of herself.
However, how could she?
What if Iris or that Ryuu Lion girl found who they were looking for and brought him back? What would she do then? Break him free?
Thetis had some confidence against Iris, but Ryuu looked like she'd kill if anyone got in her way. It would be no problem if Thetis wasn't restricted to a weaker self in the lower world, but Gods could die here just as easily as any mortal if they weren't careful.
Fortunately, it didn't seem as if Iris or Ryuu were having any luck.
"One, two…six."
Thetis began to count the number of times she spotted both Ryuu and Iris rounding back where they started before then resuming to search in another direction.
Thetis could only marvel at the spectacle.
A person dared to play hide and seek with Iris, and was actually succeeding in eluding her. Either the target had a divine authority of concealment and stealth, or the target knew Iris's habits well enough to work around them. But such a case denoted a relationship that was closer than mere acquaintances.
'Aunt Iris, did I finally win this time?'
'You brat.'
Thetis pressed her hands over her eyes and rubbed them with a hint of melancholy. There really had been such a scene depicted in the vision she'd witnessed, hadn't there?
Iris had been indispensable to Thetis in the vision she'd had in order to help conceal her young child away from those who'd do him harm. It was inevitable that they spent a lot of time together.
He was a mischievous kid, utterly unable to keep still unless…he was near water.
Thetis perked up, her gaze shifting to where she could sense a small pond hidden within the jumble of trees.
Thetis was a Divine with ties to the ocean and water itself. The water practically called and resonated with her, allowing her to subconsciously make her way through the forest until she reached her destination.
The trees parted in a small clearing that formed a tranquil meadow surrounding a pond. The pond was in the center of a small depression, creating an elevated hillside that sloped around the perimeter of the pond's water banks.
Thetis felt her breath catch in her throat.
It really was as she'd expected.
The man, Rider, lay resting by the elevated hill of the pond with his back on the ground, and head supported by clasped hands behind his neck. He'd been staring at the small pond while lost in thought until the sound of grass and twigs crunching beneath Thetis's feet caused him to glance in her direction.
For a second, Thetis was hit with apprehension, but that died when she finally got a good look at Rider in full.
Her face, Peleus's hair, the same snarky grin, and most of all, a divinity that dwelled within him identical to Thetis's own.
Thetis ended up swallowing, something like instinct forcibly pushing back all doubts and uncertainty.
It was an inherent intuition. A certain knowing that was difficult to explain.
"...May I sit?" Thetis broke the tentative silence in the air.
No longer alone, Rider cautiously sat up and collected his expression. "If that's what you want."
"Mhm," Thetis nodded.
She chose to sit a couple feet away from Rider, neither too far or too close, conscious not to agitate him with her own nervousness.
She wet her lips as a hand tentatively brushed back her hair behind her left ear.
"It's a beautiful pond," she murmured, a soft wind blowing and dancing around her as if in welcome.
She was a Nereid, a Goddess of water, and a sea Nymph.
Nature itself welcomed her, and in that regard, Thetis could feel the soft wind blowing around Rider gather near him with the same regard.
He too was loved.
"It is." Rider agreed.
Thetis pulled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, leaning her chin over her knees.
"The waves are clear by the shores, and the scent of water lilies linger in the air," she said.
Thetis would have been more believable if she'd actually been looking at the pond, but the entirety of her attention was focused on Rider. Of course, that didn't mean her words were wrong. She knew these things intuitively with any lake, pond, or sea she was near.
"Yeah." Rider agreed again, growing conscious of Thetis's staring and focusing his gaze on the pond. "I've always found water to be calming."
"Hehe," Thetis covered her mouth with a hand to hide the smile threatening to split over her face. "Me too."
The two fell into silence. Rather than awkward, there was a type of familiarity that filled the air such that Thetis could picture a little boy playing in front of her as she stood guard. The boy was a little gremlin, always getting into trouble, and worrying his mother to no end.
Thetis blinked, realizing that she'd somehow inched closer to Rider, a hand reaching out to him.
Catching herself in the act, she blushed and quickly pretended that she was just fixing her hair. Fortunately, Rider didn't seem to notice as his gaze was focused on the pond.
"Uhm ugh, may I ask what you are doing here?" Thetis quickly composed herself.
"Thinking."
Once again, the answer was short, but in no way did it come off as dismissive. Rather, it was full of inexplicable nostalgia.
"Oh."
"What about you?"
"Thinking." Thetis splayed her fingers out, staring at her nails in a bid to make herself seem nonchalant. It was a failure. "Maybe we could think together? If there's something troubling you, I'll listen. Surely, no- without fail. I will do so. If I can, I could just take care of it!"
"Even now, huh?" Rider snorted with melancholy. "Still the same as always."
Helplessly doting, to the point of tears when it ended in tragedy.
Thetis inwardly flinched but outwardly pretended not to understand even if she did.
The same as always?
Thetis had seen glimpses in a vision that came and went like a mirage, but she was a Goddess that was still able to piece things together.
She bit down on her lips, her stomach cramping from that feeling of despair she'd endured at the end of her vision while staring helplessly at a broken body.
"Y-Yes?" She stammered.
"No," Rider shook his head wryly before his lips tugged up into a depreciating grin. "It's nothing but the words of a bastard who made someone who deserved better, grieve for him. He's not about to make the same mistake again-"
"He already is!"
Thetis glared at the back of Rider's head, her eyes wavering before shooting down to stare at her feet at her outburst. She swallowed the lump in her throat.
Was she cursed? She couldn't even get angry at him.
"Hmm?" Rider shifted his gaze away from the pond, then back at Thetis whose hands were clutching anxiously at her heart.
Thetis opened her mouth, having gathered her courage through a rising sense of bitterness.
Why are you blaming yourself?!
The words were on the very edge of her lips, but someone ruined it.
"-Thetis! What did I tell you about wandering off on your own without our Familia?!"
Iris's calls suddenly began to echo throughout the general quiet of the secluded meadow. She was nearby.
The tension in the air was shattered.
An immensely petty part of Thetis immediately started cursing Iris in her head when Rider got up onto his feet.
"Well then, I guess I'll get going."
The words were like ice pouring down Thetis's back, as she too shot herself up to a standing position. "Wait, please. Just a bit longer!"
Rider shook his head and let out a low whistle. "I'm afraid not. Your friend's eyes are too much for a game of hide and seek to be fair."
Dammit Iris!
Thetis started panicking. There was so much she still had to say and know.
"Hold on, don't go!"
Stubborn until the end, Rider would not change his mind once he'd decided on an action. A chariot pulled by three horses instantly appeared, Rider hopping on and grabbing the reins.
"Until next time-"
"...Achilles?" Thetis blurted the name that had always been at the tip of her tongue.
The man froze in his tracks, body going stiff.
Thetis could tell that Rider likely knew her Divine Perception wouldn't work unless she touched him, but from the very beginning, there had been no need. Rider was the spitting image of the Achilles that Thetis had held so dear.
Her dearest baby boy.
"D-Don't leave me."
The words Thetis had said at the end of the vision she saw came gushing out, resonating with her current emotional state.
"My entire life," Achilles sighed, muttering to himself. "Nothing but regrets."
Shifting inside his chariot, Achilles suddenly grabbed something with his hands and then tossed it to Thetis.
"Here. Take it."
Stiffly, Thetis raised her arms and caught the object before it could land on the ground.
"A shield?" She murmured, one that was familiar to the shield she knew, yet different in that it was now also a crystallized legend.
"I won't be needing it anymore." Achilles shrugged, making up his mind. Once that was done, there really was no going back. "Use it well. It will protect you."
"Then-"
"Thetis!"
Iris's voice cut in once again, causing Thetis's expression to fall miserably, and Achilles to laugh in fond amusement.
Nothing ever changes, but even without saying it, Achilles could guess what Thetis wanted.
In the end, he played a prank and said nothing.
With that, Achilles urged his horses forward, riding off into the horizon.
/-/
"Thetis, you're glaring."
Iris knew that she often bickered with Thetis, but even she could tell that this time was worse than any other.
"Am not." Thetis hissed, unable to even look at Iris for fear of homicide.
"You are." Iris raised a brow. As far as she was concerned, she was on the side of reason and Thetis was overreacting again.
"You're annoying. AAAAHHHHH! You're Annnoyyying!"
Iris sighed. Thetis was throwing a tantrum again for no reason.
A lost cause. That's what Thetis was right now.
Then there was Ryuu who was biting the nail of her thumb out of desperation, but Iris wouldn't judge. She partially knew Ryuu's circumstances. She'd heard from Astrea before Astrea departed Orario at the murder of Astrea Familia.
Ryuu was the last surviving member, or at least she should have been.
Now, Ryuu's anxiety was driving her down a rabbit hole of no return. A pity because her level was fairly high as a former adventurer.
-BOOOM!
Birds took to the air as a shockwave sent a gust of wind as far out as where Iris and the others stood.
All three glanced in the direction of Orario where the tower of Babel was now oddly tilted. It was far from a good sign considering that both Thetis and Iris had their Familia lodging in an inn near the tower.
The thought was sobering.
"P-Peleus!" Worry immediately clouded Thetis's mind while Ryuu paled at the thought of losing even more people dear to her.
Thetis and Ryuu anxiously stared at Iris whose countenance twisted in grim apprehension.
With a thought, Iris tore a two-way portal through the mist.
Smoke was rising over the horizon as screams and the snapping of wood had another building broken into ruins.
Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.
Why was this happening?!
Loki gnashed her teeth.
How could she not be worried when her Familia was out there and likely at the forefront?
The situation was dire given the chaos, but there was no choice as one of Orario's foremost powers. She had to resolve the situation somehow.
Fuck you Freya- Where are you?!
/-/
Somewhere, Freya's expression twisted in frustration.
"Ms. Syr, quickly, this way!" Bell shuddered while pulling Freya along through the rubble.
This had not been the best time to be posing as a waitress…
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