Hello good people. We'reI'm back, and with a proper chapter this time. Thank you all very much for the kind words of support as well as the valid criticisms, both are greatly appreciated as it warms my heart my heart, inspires me, and gives me points of which to consider and improve upon, so thank you. Now, why don't we get back to our story, shall we?
I do not own Danmachi
Achilles checked over himself one last time before, satisfied that he had everything he needed, he turned to the others.
"Everyone ready to go?"
"I'm all ready," Bell said.
"Me too," Welf seconded.
They all added their own voices, ending with Lili who, after a thorough check of her inventory, finally was ready to go.
"Alright, let's head out," Achilles declared.
"Take care everyone!" Hestia called out, beaming at her familia.
"We will. See you soon Hestia-sama," Bell replied, giving her his own smile.
They all turned to leave, which allowed Achilles and Hestia to share one final look before the ex-captain departed with his young compatriots
The familia made their way through Orario as they normally did except for one detail that they all quickly noticed. They were being watched.
"Why's everyone staring?" Bell asked.
"Can't you guess?" Achilles inquired.
Bell looked at him and shook his head.
"Bell, you stood up to the most powerful goddess in Orario and threatened her, and did so, effectively, in front of all of Orario. Did you think that people's eyes wouldn't turn to you?"
"I...I didn't really think about it. When it happened, I was just so angry that I wasn't thinking straight and the words just came pouring out of my mouth."
It was plain to see that Bell regretted what he'd said, an understandable position given that it was said in anger and not the wisest of actions. However, given the circumstances, and that this was Bell, the response of his family was not even in question.
"We don't blame you, Bell," Welf said.
"Lili thinks what you did was both justified and brave," the prum lady said.
"You were pushed too far. I can understand that better than most," Ryuu stated.
"You did what you thought was right, as you always have, and I will proudly stand beside you through any challenges," Mikoto added firmly.
Lastly, Haruhime moved next to him and took his hand.
"You are a hero, Bell-sama. Nothing will change that in my eyes and no matter what comes next, I will follow you," she said, staring directly into his eyes.
"Haruhime," Bell replied, his eyes a bit wider at her proclamation and the emotion burning in her eyes. Now, Bell wasn't an idiot, but he could be a thick-headed when it came to the opposite sex, namely when a lady had feelings for him. This was mostly due to his own tunnel vision towards Aiz and his drive to be worthy of her. However, with what happened with Hestia during the invasion, Freya and her attempts to capture his heart, his numerous discussions with both Aisha and Achilles, and the general life experience he had gathered these last few months, his eyes had begun to open towards how others felt about him. This, in turn, made him able to recognize what was happening with Haruhime at the moment, with a gaze so fierce that it pierced any thickheadness he may have had so that, even had he not known what she felt before, he could no longer claim such. As such, he did not take long for a small blush to come to his cheeks.
"Oh."
Achilles smiled.
"The seed is planted. Now, just to ensure it grows."
Snatching up the boy and pulling him towards him, he began to affectionately stroke his hair.
"And I'm certainly in no position to complain. You saved me from an eternity of mental enslavement, a debt of which I will never be able to repay, but which I will spend my life trying to."
"Dad," the young man looked up. The raw power of his words was a tad overwhelming, but it touched his heart profoundly. Indeed, there was only a handful of moments in his life that could compare or beat in terms of how it warmed his heart. Hestia accepting him into her familia, Aiz confessing she would consider herself lucky to have him, and finally when the man before him became his father.
"You...you don't have to repay anything. I'm just glad to have you in my life. I'm glad to have all of you."
"We feel the same way," Achilles said, getting resounding agreement from the others. "Now, as happy as this all makes me, I think we've given our onlookers a bit too much of a show and should probably proceed."
Everyone quickly checked around them and found that, indeed, all eyes were still on them, some of them even appearing misty as a few in the crowd had taken the lovely scene to heart and were now cooing appreciatively at the display of warmth. A series of blushes appeared and they quickly agreed to keep moving on.
Now once again on the move, Lili spoke up.
"Do you think we're being watched by Freya familia?"
"Oh undoubtedly. I can feel the presence of adventurers and the tingle up my spine is telling me that the eyes are hostile. Likely they didn't appreciate a certain collection of words our dear white rabbit had to say to their goddess," he explained, making sure to give Bell a smile so that he didn't start blaming himself again. "But it's all small fry. No one above a level three. As such I can say they haven't been sent by Freya. If they had, she would have sent better."
This didn't necessarily make them feel better as concern over what the goddess was doing entered their minds, but they all decided to put those thoughts aside for the moment and focus instead on the matter at hand.
The arrived at the entrance to the Dungeon when, to their surprise, they found Nahza, Daphne, and Cassandra came walking out and heading right towards them.
"Good morning," Bell greeted.
"Morning, Bell-san," Nazha replied.
"What are you doing here so early?" the young captain asked.
"We just wanted to get some adventuring in before we opened the store. There's not much time for us to explore the Dungeon as a team and improve our coordination, so we decided to take some time today."
"I want to go back to sleep," Cassandra whined, and it was clear to all that the idea of early morning training had not been hers.
"Stop complaining. We got a good haul today and may even be able to afford a nice dinner tonight," Daphne stated.
Cassandra continued to pout, but the prospect of a nice dinner did ease her mind a bit.
"Well, I'm glad to see you adventuring again, Nahza-san," Bell said happily.
"Still a bit rusty, but it's coming back to me. The training we did certainly helped some," she replied, looking at Achilles.
"Glad to be of service."
"I'm still sore from that day!" Daphne declared.
"Good. If you weren't I'd say I wasn't doing a proper job."
Daphne pouted while the others smiled.
"We'd best be on our way. We need to open the store soon. Make sure you guys come by later and stock up on potions," Nazha said.
"We'll do that," Bell replied.
The two familias split up, the Hestia heading for the Dungeon, the Miach for home. Neither of them realized that the collection of malevolent eyes had now switched targets.
The Hestia familia made their way down the first few floors rapidly, as their combined fifteen levels were more than enough to deal with the monsters, even without Achilles's help.
"So far so good," the ex-captain stated. "Just make sure not to push yourself too much. I want to see how far we can get today so make sure to conserve your energy."
"Right!" they all readily agreed.
They continued down, making it to the middle floors, but pushing through them just as easily, with Achilles jumping in a few times, more to warm up than out of concern. Finally, they reached floor seventeen.
"If I'm not mistaken, the Goliath is suppose to resurrect today," Lili said.
"Nothing we can't handle," Achilles said.
"Actually, Achilles-san." He turned to Ryuu. "I would like to ask that you allow me to fight the Goliath on my own."
Interest and worry passed along among them before Achilles asked the natural next question.
"And why's that?"
"I'm ready for a level up. My stats are all level A, except for my speed, which I managed to get to S class. As such, I would like to ask permission to go on this adventure."
"I see. Hm," he thought for a moment. "That's not really my call is it? Bell's your captain. Ask him."
They all turned to Bell. He looked concerned when he met Ryuu's eyes, but seeing her conviction, he eased a bit and a small smile appeared.
"Permission granted. But if things get too rough, we're jumping in," he stated firmly.
She smiled.
"Agreed."
The familia made their way onto the floor and found the residents of the eighteenth floor gathered there in preparation for the resurrection of Goliath.
"Well, if it isn't the Rabbit Foot. Perfect timing. The Goliath's about to resurrect and we could use the help" Bors said, noticing their arrival.
"Hello, Bors. I actually have a small favor to ask in regards to the Goliath," Bell stated.
"Huh? What kind of favor? Whatever it is, you'd best know, my favors don't come cheap," he explained.
"Then it's a good thing that this is also a favor to you," Achilles cut in, a tad annoyed at the idea of someone trying to gip his son.
"And you are?" Bors asked. He began to look Achilles over. "You look kind of familiar."
"There's a good reason for that," Achilles replied.
"Let me introduce you," Bell cut in, seeing his father's annoyance. "Bors, this is Achilles Caesar, he's the former captain of the Zeus familia."
Bors eye widened.
"And Bell's father," Achilles decided to add just to make Bors that much more nervous.
"W-What's the favor?" the now alarmed Bors asked.
Ryuu stepped forward.
"I'd like to ask that you allow me to deal with the Goliath."
"What? You mean by yourself?" he asked.
She nodded.
"That's correct. I'm close to leveling up and thus need to go on an adventure."
"Well, it's no skin off my teeth, but this is a floor boss we're talking about. I know you're a tough one, but you sure you handle it?"
"I'm confident," she said.
"And we'll jump in if need be," Bell added.
"Then have at it. Not like I or the others wanted to risk our lives or nothing, it's just all part of living down here," he said.
"Great. Then we'll take it from here," Bell said.
"I'll go tell the others. Maybe we can start selling tickets."
Bors went off to inform the other residents, leaving the Hestia familia to prepare.
"Are you sure you don't want us to help you Ryuu? I'm know how strong you are, but this isn't your usual monster," Bell inquired.
"I appreciate your concern, Bell-san," she replied with a smile. "But this is something I need to do, not just to level up, but to pay back all you've done for me and so that I can truly feel apart of Hestia familia."
"You are apart of our familia," Bell said, taking her hand.
The honest, pure way he said that, all while looking directly into her eyes, hit Ryuu's unprepared heart harder than any minotaur. Her cheeks soon flushed, which was not missed by the others, which caused a mix of reactions, from Welf's amusement at his younger brother's ability to capture hearts to Lili's blinding rage. The only one who wasn't aware of her reaction was Bell due to his sole focus on her eyes.
"Ryuu?" he tilted his head.
"I-I can't tell you how much I appreciate that, Bell-san," she said, her head falling to hide her blush. "But I won't feel right unless I go through with this. I owe you a great deal, and I owe an even greater debt to Caesar-san, both for my attacks against his person and for what he did for me in spite of that."
"You don't owe me anything." The two turned to see Achilles looming over them. "I did it for Bell, whom I assume will say much the same," seeing Bell smile and nod, he continued. "We support your decision, Ryuu-san, but don't think you need to do it to pay us back. This is your family now. It will be here for you no matter your decision."
A mass of smiles and nods showed the mutual agreement with that statement.
"Caesar-san. Bell-san. Everyone," a smile soon appeared on her lips. "I understand."
"Good. Now," Achilles turned his eyes. "I think you'd best get ready. Our big friend's waking up."
They all turned and found that the shadow of the Goliath had appeared in the crystal wall.
"Everyone, take your positions," Bell ordered.
Everyone did as ordered and Ryuu took her place at the front with Achilles and Bell behind, ready to jump in if necessary.
"We'll be right behind you," Bell said.
"Which means you are forbidden to die," Achilles added.
Ryuu smiled.
"Noted."
A moment later, the sound of shattering crystal rumbled through the floor as the Goliath returned.
"Ooowraaaar!"
"Now in the sky, above the distant forest; o infinite stars, scattered across the cloudless night sky; grant my foolish voice the blessing of starfire; and grant your compassion to those who abandon you. Come forth, wandering wind; nomadic traveler crossing the sky and wilderness. Bear within thee the light of stardust, and destroy my enemy! Luminous Wind!" Ryuu cried out.
A barrage of green magic suddenly began to pound on the ill-prepared floor boss sending it crashing back against the wall it had only just been born from.
"A heavy opening barrage, huh?" Achilles noted. "Interesting beginning. Might backfire if this fight drags on."
The Goliath now stunned, Ryuu jumped into action. She aimed for its legs first, cutting both its ankles then hitting its knees. The attacks had the intended effect as the boss fell to its hands and knees and cried out in pain.
Determination burning in her eyes, Ryuu launched at the Goliath's eyes and used her knives to stab them out.
The floor boss screamed out in pain. It began to flail about wildly, trying desperate to punish the one who had caused its turmoil. Ryuu however, was in no danger as she was far out of its reach.
Moving wide around the monster, she got behind it, then leapt into the air, onto the back of its neck and began to slice away at its spine in an attempt to sever it. The Goliath cried out its agony and tried to batter her off, only for her to smack away its hands and continue her assault.
The spinal cord of the monster was clear before the young elf's eyes and beginning to crack under her assault when the Goliath decided it had had enough and pushed itself off its knees with all its strength.
The move surprised Ryuu who found herself flying off the boss's back. Luckily, she was pushed towards the Dungeon wall and was able to use it to push herself back towards the monster with the intent continual her attack. However, the Goliath recognized, instinctually or otherwise, that this was her plan and swung around to backhand her.
Ryuu's eyes widened as the hand came towards her. It was too close for her to dodge, no matter her speed and she brought her arms up to block the attack as best she could. However, she suddenly felt a tug on her body, and a moment later she found herself being pulled away by an unknown force. A second later a sword appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the Goliath's hand, piercing it and sticking it to the wall.
Ryuu flew across the floor until she was caught by Achilles.
"Careful," he said, putting her down.
"How...How did you do that?" she asked.
"Magnetism," he answered. Seeing her confused eyes, he held up his hand and electrified it. She suddenly felt a tug on her belt and looked down to see her knives being pulled towards him. "A benefit of my electrically based powers. I can magnetize most metals and move them as I see fit. Seeing the pickle you put yourself in, I decided to step in," he said, signally towards the now stuck Goliath.
Looking back towards the floor boss, which was now trying desperately, and failing, to free itself from the wall, she realized that she had been saved from a potentially nasty injury by the former captain.
"Thank you," she said.
"Of course," he replied. "Will you let us help you now?"
"I…," she paused. "This is still my fight."
"That doesn't mean you have to fight it alone," Bell jumped in.
She turned to him and the two silently looked into each others' eyes for a moment.
"Alright," she conceded with a small smile. "But please allow me to be the one to finish it," she requested.
"What do you need us to do?" Bell asked with his own smile.
"Distract the Goliath so that I can get behind it again. You don't need to heavily engage it, just enough that it will focus on you," they all nodded. "And, if I may bother you as, Haruhime-san, if you'd be so kind as to use your magic, I'd greatly appreciate it."
"Of course," the renard said with a smile.
"Thank you. With the added strength and speed, I should be able to finish this."
"Good," Achilles stated. "Then hop to it. I stuck him in the wall pretty well, but it's only a matter of time before he gets out, if only by tearing off part of the Dungeon wall."
They all nodded and turned to face the Goliath.
"The moment Haruhime is done with her chant, I'm pulling back my sword," Achilles stated.
"It would be easier if you left it, Achilles-sama," Lili said.
"We're not here for easy, my dear. We here for an adventure."
A small, unseen smile grew on Ryuu's lips as she silently agreed.
"Alright," Achilles said as Haruhime neared the end of her chant. "Get ready."
"Uchide no Kuzuchi!"
A tower of gold fell upon Ryuu, leveling her up and filling her with strength.
"Go!" she cried.
Bell, Welf, and Mikoto all charged directly towards the Goliath while Ryuu shot off towards their right. Once they were in motion, Achilles summoned back his sword, freeing the Goliath.
"Ooowraaaar!"
The monster turned to them, finding the three charging towards it, with Bell in the lead.
Eager to take up their challenge after its frustrating ordeal, it launched at Bell.
"Firebolt!" he cried, hitting it directly in the face.
"Ooowraaaar!" it cried again as its advance was suddenly stopped by the attack just long enough for Bell to jump up and stab out one of its regenerated eyes.
As the floor boss cried out in pain, Welf and Mikoto reached its legs and began hacking away. The Goliath began to try and stomp them, wildly moving about as it attempted to kill the members of Hestia familia.
A short ways away, Ryuu was circling around to get behind it. All the movement it was enacting attempting to quash Welf and Mikoto served that purpose as it suddenly presented its back to her. Seeing her chance, she threw one of her knives at the back of its head, logging it deep in its skull.
Having suffered another attack, this time of a more serious nature, the Goliath turned again and, seeing Ryuu, roared and charged at her.
"No you don't!" Bell cried.
Jumping again, Bell stabbed the creature in the top of its back, then proceeded to drag himself all the way down its spine.
The cry of agony the Goliath unleashed almost had Achilles feeling pity for it. Almost.
The attack had had the intended effect and the Goliath had been stopped in its charge towards Ryuu.
"Bell-san!" Ryuu cried. "Get it so that it's back is facing the wall!"
"Got it!" he returned.
Running and joining up with Welf and Mikoto, Bell opened his hand towards the monster and unleashed another Firebolt at its face.
Furious beyond measure, the Goliath was all too happy to turn and face its assailants, eyes screaming bloody murder.
"I think you made him angry Bell," Welf said with a smile.
With the opening made by Bell and the others, Ryuu put her plan in motion. She jumped in the air towards the wall, making sure she was the exact height she needed to be to match the knife that was now lodged in the Goliath's skull. The moment her feet touched the Dungeon wall, she turned and, with all the strength her now level five status could muster, she kicked off the wall, aiming directly for the knife.
"Don't you dare move," she growled.
Luck was on her side as the knife remained just where she needed it to be when she came crashing into the back of the Goliath's skull, kicking the knife with all her might, causing it to pierce the rest of the monster's cranium, shoot through its brain, explode out the other side of its head, and fly through the air, only to have Achilles pull it towards him, a smile on his face.
The Goliath's expression fell the moment the knife went through its head. All signs of anger, pain, or even recognition disappeared as its eyes rolled up into its head, it fell to its knees, and, as the Hestia familia scrambled away, fell on its face before evaporating into a cloud of ash.
Ryuu landed gracefully, though her breath was noticeably heavier. Even so, there was a clear smile of satisfaction as she watched the ash fall to the ground.
"You did it!" Bell cried out as he ran up to her.
"We did it," she clarified.
"That you did," Achilles said, walking up to them alongside the rest of the Hestia familia. "Well done."
"That was amazing, Ryuu-sama!" Haruhime said happily.
"You can say that again," Welf added.
"I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without all of you," Ryuu said, her head falling and a tinge of red coming to her ears.
"That doesn't negate the accomplishment. Familias are supposed to come together like this. To push themselves higher and higher and share in the success," Achilles stated.
"I suppose you're right," Ryuu said, her embarrassment easing away.
"Lili agrees. However, Lili does wonder what we're going to do with the magic stone."
Everyone turned and realized what she meant.
The magic stone was easily bigger than any of them and while it wouldn't be a big deal to bring it back to the surface, that would mean they wouldn't be able to continue any further that day.
"We can help with that."
Everyone turned to see Bors and the other Dungeon residents approaching them.
"Oh? And how do you plan to do that?" Achilles asked skeptically.
"You guys are going deeper into the Dungeon, right? Well, we'll hold onto it for you until you get back," Bors offered. Seeing Achilles's wary eyes, he quickly added. "It's the least we can do for dealing with the Goliath for us. We could have handled it, sure, but not without getting scuffed up a bit, so you saved us some trouble. Just want to repay the favor."
Achilles continued to eye him until Bell pulled on his arm, grabbing his attention. He turned and Bell nodded.
"We can trust Bors," he said.
Achilles's eyes turned back to the Dungeon resident, staring at him for just a moment longer, before relenting.
"Excellent," Bors said, signally for the others to grab the stone and begin dragging it down to level eighteen.
"Come on," Bell said with a smile. "We've got a Dungeon to explore."
The Hestia familia, plus one, happily followed after him and entered the eighteenth floor.
"Ugh, today's been so boring," Tiona groaned, leaning on her weapons.
"Stop complaining. We're following the captain's orders," her sister said.
"You know that excuse only works for you, right?" Tiona pointed out, earning a glare from the other Amazon. "And I thought Hermes familia was in charge of exploring this place. Why do they need us?"
"It's not safe. A group of Hermes familia were ambushed only yesterday by monsters and were heavily injured," Riveria stated, cutting in. "They asked us to stand guard while they investigated the labyrinth."
"But there hasn't been anything to guard against, not even a gate to knock down," Tiona continued to whine.
"Then perhaps you wouldn't mind running back to camp and bringing us back some food and water," Riveria suggested.
"Sure. Better than standing around here," Tiona said, picking up her weapon and running off back to camp.
"Finally, some quiet," Tione said with relief.
Tiona ran through the forests, happily humming to herself, relieved to finally be doing something other than standing around and doing boring guard duty.
Making it back to camp she quickly bumped into Lefiya.
"Hey, Lefiya!" she called out happily.
"Tiona-san. What are you doing here?" the young elf asked.
"Riveria asked me to pick up some snacks for everyone at the weird Dungeon thingy."
"Oh, well I'll help you," Lefiya offered.
"Really?! You're the best!"
Lefiya blushed, but smiled nonetheless and led Tione to the kitchen area of their camp, and the two grabbed their bundle of goodies before heading out of the camp and back towards the rest of Loki familia. It was while they were walking that the Amazon noticed a familiar sight.
"Argonaut-kun!" she cried, nearly dropping everything she was carrying when she ran over to him, leaving behind a startled Lefiya to catch up.
The Hestia familia and Achilles all turned and Bell smiled as Tiona came running towards them.
"Hello Tiona-san," he greeted cheerfully.
"Whatcha ya guys doing here?" she asked.
"We could ask you the same thing," Bell returned signally towards the food in her arms.
"Oh, yeah," she laughed. "I'm just going to get snacks for everyone. We're helping Hermes familia explore that Dungeon around the Dungeon," she explained.
"Knossos?" Bell asked.
"Yeah, that."
"Tiona-san, don't just run away from me like that," Lefiya complained when she finally reached her fellow Loki member.
"Oops, sorry Lefiya. I was just excited to see Argonaut-kun."
The way she phrased that got more than one pair of female eyes to glare at her though she seemed completely oblivious.
"Hello Lefiya-san. How are you?" Bell greeted
"Uh, quite well. Thank you. I'm just helping Tiona-san deliver some supplies to everyone," she replied.
Truth be told, Lefiya wasn't sure how to deal with Bell at the moment. She had certainly not appreciated the level of attention he'd received from Aiz, but he was undoubtedly a respectable adventurer, her viewing his fight versus the black minotaur had cemented that idea in her mind. But now, with the added information that he knew Aiz's secret, and knew it before she and most of the Loki familia did made her uneasy. Add that the Sword Princess was opening up in no small part due to him and she felt very much like she was losing a race.
"Why don't I help you with that?" he suddenly said.
"Huh?" was her reply. Before she knew it, Bell was taking from her bundle and filling his arms with food and water. "Oh! There's no need for that!" she declared.
"It's okay, I think we can spend a few minutes helping you deliver this. Besides, it'll be nice to say hello to everyone," he replied with a smile. "Is that okay with all of you?" he asked, turning to his familia.
"I don't see a problem with it," Welf said.
"Helping out friendly familia is an important part of adventuring," Mikoto added.
"Of course," Haruhime said.
"As long as we're only there to say hello, Bell-sama," Lili warned, eyeing him warily.
"Great! Then lead the way," Bell said.
"You're the best Argonaut-kun!" Tiona stated, happily pushing some of her own bundle into his arms. "This way!" she declared.
The Hestia familia followed after her, leaving Lefiya to wonder for a moment.
"Is this the person I've been worried about for so long? But he's so kind," she thought. However, not a moment later, another idea came to her mind. "But what if he's just trying to get closer to Aiz-san?! Oh, I knew he was no good!"
She ran after them, intent on keeping Bell as far from her Aiz as possible.
However, unknown to everyone, Bell actually had a motive for joining up with the two members of Loki familia, beyond his usual kindness and want to help.
"I wonder how they took finding out about Aiz's past and if they know that we know," he thought, quickly looking over his familia. "I hope they're not mad especially since," he turned to Achilles. "It was Dad who figured it out."
Feeling eyes on him, Achilles turned and caught Bell's eyes. He tilted his head curiously, Bell's only reaction was to smile at him before turning back towards where Tiona was leading them.
"Hm. How curious," Achilles thought.
They all arrived at the entrance to Knossos where Riveria and Tione had been joined by the rest of the 'monsters' of Loki familia.
"Hey Riveria, we're back!"
"We're?" the elf replied, suddenly finding herself face to face with the man who she had so vehemently defended yesterday, the memory of which caused a burning sensation to come to her ears.
"Achilles," she said as calmly as she could muster, though a tinge of surprise still came through. Little did she know that the second she had said that name, Finn had turned and began to focus quite intensely on her.
"Surprise," Achilles greeted. "Met these two on our way through the level and Bell decided to take the opportunity to say hello."
"Ah," she quickly glanced at the young man, growing a smile. "I see."
"So, this is the Dungeon around the Dungeon," Achilles said, looking at the entrance.
"Yes. Quite surprising for all of us."
"Meh, when you find out it was Daedelus himself who came up with it, it's a bit less surprising. He was crazy after all."
She laughed lightly.
"I suppose so."
A few paces away, Aiz had caught sight of Bell and was now smiling herself.
"Hello Bell," she greeted.
"Hello Aiz," he returned, a bit of red on his cheeks. "How are you?"
"Very well. I told them."
"How did it go?"
"Well enough. There was some anger. They were upset that you learned before they did."
Bell's eyes fell.
"I can imagine how they felt. I am an outsider after all. If you wouldn't mind, can you tell them I'm sorry."
"For what?" she asked, losing her smile.
"For forcing your hand. It was your secret yet you were forced to tell me and indirectly my familia. We shouldn't have put you in such a situation."
Aiz's smile returned and she reached out and took his hands.
"You didn't force me in anyway, Bell. In fact, I'm actually glad Achilles found out as it was the push I needed to tell my own familia. So I should be thanking you Bell, if anything."
Bell's blush had returned with a vengeance, however, seeing Aiz's smile, he quickly grew one of his own.
Naturally, no one had failed to notice the affection the two were sharing at that moment and many a pair of eyes were looking at the scene with complete hostility. The noticeable exception was Riveria who watched the two come even closer together with contentment. Achilles did not fail to notice this and turned his attention to her.
"So you and Bell have formed a little alliance I hear," he said.
"Indeed we have," she replied, completely unashamed.
"Don't think that means I'm going to give up on my girl."
"I wouldn't dream of it."
"Also, I'd like to know who this mystery person that you're smitten for is."
Riveria's head shot to him causing him to smile.
"So it really is true. And you were so adamant about keeping it close to the chest when we were talking. Yet all of a day later you tell my boy. So...you gonna share so I can make sure they're worthy of you?"
There was no way Riveria could have prevented the mass of red from coming to her face. The idea that the one she loved was now questioning her about it and stating his intent on making sure that they...nay, he, was worthy of her, was far too much for her.
"I think I'm beginning to understand how Bell-san has been feeling."
She was saved from any possible push for answers from Achilles by the sound of screaming.
Everyone turned to the Knossos entrance as a group of adventurer's ran out.
"Monster!" they cried.
"How many?" Finn asked, immediately turning on his leader role.
"Only one. A spider like monster with a women's upper half, at least level three in strength. It managed to sneak past Raul while he was distracted by a small horde of them."
"Is his group alright?" Finn asked.
"I think so. We didn't have much time to check before the monster was on us. We tried fighting it off, but we were no match for it."
A roar caught their attention and moments later the monster appeared.
Bell's eyes widened.
"That looks like…"
"Hello there," Achilles said, pulling out his sword. "It's not nice to scare people like that," he said before rushing at it.
"Wait Dad!" Bell cried.
Achilles stopped just before the monster, his sword raised.
"Wait?" he asked turning towards Bell.
"Look out!" someone cried out.
Achilles turned again, seeing the monster taking a swipe at him. He easily blocked it then, on pure instinct, delivered a mortal blow across its torso.
The strike caused a spray of blood to go up, covering Achilles's face and chest in gore, but this was of little consequence to him as he focused on finishing the monster.
A look of pain filled the monster's face and it fell to its knees. It wasn't quite done yet as, with hateful eyes, it reached up its human like hands and wrapped them around Achilles's throat. He was completely unaffected by the attempt to end his life, but what happened next, he was not prepared for.
"I...hate...adventure…" its hands fell away and a moment later it burst into ash.
This all went completely unnoticed by Achilles as the moment the words hit his ears, he was lost to the world.
"Did...did it just…"
A memory pushed to the forefront of his mind, appearing before him like a vision.
"Did you really think you could beat me, insect?"
Achilles's arm fell to his side and a second later, the grasp on his sword gave way and he dropped the blade as all strength left his body.
"It can't be."
So deep within his thoughts was Achilles lost that it was only when he felt himself being violently shaken did he finally blink and turn his head to a clearly concerned Riveria.
"Achilles, are you alright?!"
He blinked a few more times before his mind had returned enough for him to answer.
"Yes...I'm…," his eyes fell to the magic stone that once belonged to the monster he had just killed. "I'm fine."
The cold, emotionless way he said that did not sit well with Riveria for a moment, but she didn't know what was wrong. One moment he was fine, fighting a monster like normal, the next he was frozen and his weapon had slipped from his head, something which she had never seen before in her life.
"Are you sure? Did it hurt you somehow?" she asked, checking him for injuries.
"No. No," he said with more conviction, shaking his head. "Just got distracted for a moment. Won't happen again," he said pulling his sword to him, and putting it back in its sheath.
Riveria watched him walk away when a voice to her side spoke up.
"What was that?"
She turned and found Finn staring at Achilles with just as much confusion in his eyes as she felt.
"I...I don't know.
"Dad are you alright?!" Bell cried out. He, and everyone else had seen his reaction to the monster and assumed the worst.
"Yes I'm fine. Just got distracted for a moment," Achilles said trying to calm them.
"That didn't look like 'distracted'," Ryuu stated.
Achilles's turned his eyes to her and the two stared at each other for a moment, the young elf trying to figure out what was going on in the elder man's mind, only to have him shrug.
"Don't know what to tell you. Maybe my old age is catching up with me."
No one believed that, and all of them wanted to push the issue, but they silently agreed not to do it there, in front of the others. But the conversation wasn't over, and everyone, including Achilles, knew that.
"Alright, as long as you're okay," Bell said.
"Perfectly fine. Now, it seems the young Raul has returned with his group," Achilles pointed out, seeing his much needed diversion. "Why don't we go make sure that everything's alright?"
Everyone nodded and made their way over to the now bowing Raul who was busy begging for forgiveness from Finn.
"It's alright Raul," the prum captain said. "You handled the situation admirably and no one was hurt."
"Captain," the young Loki member stared at his captain with tearful eyes.
"Everything alright?" Achilles asked.
"Yes. Some monsters appeared from one of Knossos's many hidden pathways, but the situation is under control now.
"Good. Good. Then I guess we'll be off," Achilles stated.
"Maybe you should go clean yourself up first," Finn suggested.
"Why?"
Finn gestured at his current state. Achilles looked down and finally remembered the fact that he was covered in blood.
"Oh. Eh, no biggy. I'll clean up later. Certainly isn't the worst I've looked."
"The smell of blood might attract other monsters to us," Ryuu said. "It would probably be wise to clean off the mess."
"Hm, true, but we did come down here with the intent of pushing ourselves so attracting more monsters isn't necessarily a bad thing," he countered. Seeing the looks he was getting, he sighed. "Geez, fine, I'll go wash off. Feels like I'm a child being scolded by my mother."
A few of them chuckled as Achilles wandered off to clean off.
Achilles found the nearest pond and fell to his knees. He stared at his bloody reflection as what had just transpired filled his mind.
"No. No, you just heard things. It was just your imagination," he thought, shaking his head, quickly filling his hands with water and splashing his face over and over again with water.
Finally a bit calmer, he took a deep breath then removed his bloody shirt. Instantly, his eyes fell to the reflection of his chest in the water.
His grip on his shirt tightened at the sight, to the point it threatened to rip.
Unable to stand the sight anymore, he quickly shoved the shirt into the water and began to scrub it viciously, as if he hoped to scrub away the vision that had imprinted on his brain years ago.
"Dad?"
His head snapped to find Bell standing a few feet away.
"Bell!" without even thinking he quickly put his shirt back on, not even noting that it was still very wet. "What's up?"
"Are you alright?" Bell asked, his eyes filled with concern.
"Yes. Just fine," Achilles replied too quickly.
"Dad."
There was no way for Achilles to ignore the clear concern he heard in Bell's voice nor the anxious look in his eyes.
"I just...got caught off guard for a moment."
"Why?"
Achilles's fist tightened as he didn't want to answer. He truly did not. He honestly wasn't sure if there was a time in his life that he didn't want to answer someone more. And yet, he knew he would. Because it was his son.
"Please don't think I'm crazy, Bell."
"I thought...I heard the monster speak."
Achilles's head fell as he waited for Bell's reply, hoping beyond hope that he wouldn't think worse of him for it. It was because of this that he didn't see Bell's eyes widened.
"So they were a Xenos," he thought.
"I know it sounds crazy," Achilles continued, hoping to find some excuse that would ensure Bell didn't think less of him. "Maybe I am getting too old. Hearing things and all that. I just-."
Arms wrapped around him, cutting him off, and he looked down.
"I don't think you're crazy," Bell said, looking up at him. "I'd never think that."
Relief washed over Achilles and he felt the weight of his fear being lifted off his shoulder.
"Thank you Bell," he said, returning the hug, that was until he realized he was still wet and immediately drew back. "Oh I'm sorry."
It took Bell a moment to realize why his father was apologizing, but when he did, he laughed lightly.
"It's no problem. However," he paused. "Why did you put your shirt back on?"
All Achilles's relief vanished as the second question he didn't want to answer appeared.
His silence was noted and once more, curiosity and concern filled Bell's eyes.
"Dad."
Again, he knew that he had to answer and so he sighed.
"I suppose it was going to come up eventually," he said.
Achilles took a deep breath and pulled off his shirt.
Bell's eyes could not have failed to widen at the sight before them if he had tried, and he felt his heart sink into his stomach at the sight.
The wound on Achilles's torso was monstrous, there was no other way to describe it. Stretching from the just below the base of his neck all the way down to his navel, it had clearly never fully healed. The skin was discolored and deformed in some places, in others, to Bell's horror, it was non-existent and he could see muscle that was normally hidden behind the skin and he had to wonder how his father was not constantly bleeding given this fact.
"A little gift from an old friend," he said, doing his best to make the moment light-hearted, but failing utterly as his voice was unable to muster anything beyond cold acceptance and pain.
"Dad," Bell said, shock radiating from his entire being.
"Yeah, it's not very pretty is it?" now Achilles wasn't even trying at humor, he was simply stating the fact. "Even after all these years, and all my attempts, it's never really healed. I suspect it's cursed, or maybe it's just because, by all rights, this should have killed me."
"Don't say that! Don't ever say that!" Bell screamed.
Achilles looked at his son with tender affection.
"I'm sorry I upset you, Bell," he said, going up to the young man and gently stroking his hair. "But it is the truth. I shouldn't have survived this. I got stupid lucky. That's the honest fact of the matter."
"I don't care," Bell replied, his head down. "You survived because you should have. Because the world needs heroes and it wasn't willing to let go of its best one."
Achilles's heart swelled and tears came to his eyes.
"Oh my sweet boy," he said, pulling Bell into a hug and kissing the top of his head. "My heroic boy."
The two were silent for a moment, basking in their familial warmth, before Bell pulled back.
"Wait here a moment," he said.
"Bell?"
His son gave him a smile.
"I'll be right back."
Not knowing what else to do, Achilles nodded, and a moment later, Bell disappeared. With his son gone, he decided to wring out his shirt a bit before putting it back on.
"Dad."
He turned back around and found that not only had Bell returned, but he had brought someone with him.
"Riveria?"
"Bell-san said he had a favor to ask."
Achilles turned his confused eyes to Bell who returned his gaze with a resolute one of his own.
"Show her."
While Riveria was confused by this, Achilles was not and his eyes widened.
"Bell...I'm not-."
"Dad. Please."
Riveria watched their exchange with confusion, but also interest, noting the firm, but tender way Bell was requesting, whatever he was, of the elder captain. Turning back to the former captain, she found him resigning himself and nodding.
"I apologize for ruining your appetite," he said, before grabbing the hem of his shirting and lifting it up.
Riveria gasped.
"Achilles," she said, her voice barely able to summon forth the strength for even a whisper.
"Yeah, I know. It's not pretty."
"How-," she was about to say, when she realized that there was only one way he could have gotten that wound.
"As I said to Bell," Achilles replied, hearing her question anyway. "An old friend."
Bell decided now was a good time to cut in.
"Riveria-san, you know healing magic, correct?"
She turned to him and nodded.
"I do."
"Then may I humbly ask that you do what you can for my father?" Bell asked, immediately bowing before her.
Achilles and Riveria were surprised and his father quickly tried to stop him.
"Bell, that's not necessary. It's more ugly than anything else. No reason to bother Riveria," Achilles said.
"Dad," Bell looked at Achilles from the corner of his eye. "Please."
Achilles wasn't going to be able to say no to that and he knew it. So, for what felt like the umpteenth time that day, he sighed and turned to Riviera.
"If you're willing," he said to her.
"Well…" naturally she would answer in the affirmative. That wasn't a question, however, before she answered, she caught Bell's eyes and noticed the intensity within them. It took her a moment to realize what they were telling her, but when she did, her eyes widened.
"Take this opportunity. Take this opportunity and heal more than just his wound."
A tinge of red came to the tip of her ears, unnoticeable to all there, but clearly felt by her.
"Oh."
Bringing herself back to reality, she refocused on Achilles, who was still looking at her, awaiting her answer.
"Of course," she quickly said, unsure of how long she had kept him waiting.
"Thank you," he said. He turned back to Bell. "You can go back to the others. Tell them we'll be a moment. Say we're talking, or something."
"Right," Bell replied before turning to leave. However, before he left, he made sure to capture Riveria's gaze one last time.
"Take this opportunity," he repeated to her.
She gave him the tiniest of nods, and with that, Bell left, leaving the two behind.
"Alright. Give it your best shot, but don't worry if it doesn't make a difference. Fifteen years and probably over a hundred attempts and the thing still isn't healed. I'm not expecting a miracle."
Riveria stared at the wound for a moment before turning her eyes back to his.
"Healing magic was never your strong suit, whereas I have quite the talent for it," she joked, hoping it would ease the mood.
Achilles recognized what she was doing, but allowed it to pass without comment, instead opting to smile.
"Well then, Talented-san, show me what you've got."
Glad to see his smile, she went up to him, placed her hands above his chest and began to chant.
Within a few moments a green glow appeared and covered the damaged area in light as it worked to repair what had been done.
A warm, comfortable feeling filled Achilles chest, easing away the constant, dull pain he felt from the area and allowing him a breath of relief.
"Everything alright?" Riveria asked.
"Yeah," he said with a nod. "It's just that, given it's never fully healed, it does bother me, and though I've mostly gotten used to it, it is nice to have that pain dulled for a while."
"I'm glad I could help," she said.
Though her words were honest, she was wondering if she was truly doing any good. She was pouring her magic into the wound, but no matter how much she poured or how much time passed, it didn't seem to be healing even the slightest.
Not inclined to let it remain as it was, she redoubled her efforts only for Achilles to call out to her.
"Easy, Riveria."
She looked up at him, confused.
"No need to stress yourself to try and fix this," he continued. "As I said, I'm pretty sure it's cursed."
She was silent for a moment before she sighed and pulled her hands back.
"I think you may be right. As far as I can tell I'm not repairing the damage at all."
"I didn't figure you would be able to. No insult to you of course, it's just been my experience that no one has been able to pull it off. I only agreed to do this because Bell asked."
She nodded.
"I understand. Though I must say, to have survived such a wound truly is impressive."
"As I've said before, I got lucky."
"That's clearly not the case. Luck would not be enough to save you from this wound," she said looking over the damage.
Riveria suddenly found things going oddly quiet. Not understanding what had happened, she turned her gaze back to Achilles to find him staring at the ground, a look on his face that clearly indicated that he had something on his mind.
"Achilles?"
His gaze remained towards the ground, the look of contemplation burning ever more brightly on his features.
"You're going to think I'm crazy," he finally said.
That surprised her.
"Why would I think that?"
He was silent again for a moment before responding.
"The reason I say I got lucky isn't out of some sense of modesty or heroic good nature. It's because I didn't escape the One-Eyed Black Dragon. I was rescued."
That caught her attention.
"What?"
"It's hard to believe, but someone...a woman, suddenly appeared and put herself between me and the Dragon, and...stopped it, somehow. I can't remember…" he grabbed his head. "She healed me," he continued. "As best as she could then disappeared, along with the Dragon, leaving me to crawl back to Orario."
"Why have you never mentioned this?"
"Because I wasn't sure if it was real," he replied, a hint of desperation and fear in his voice. It took a moment for Riveria to realize why and her heart tightened as she realized he truly was afraid she would think he was insane. "She came out of nowhere," he continued. "And somehow… stopped the Dragon. Just froze it. Not literally I mean...just...it stopped. Something happened but everything is such a blur, even after all the time I've spent trying to remember. To remember why it stopped. But I still can't." he grabbed his head. "Then she comes up to me, heals my wounds so that I won't die, then tells me…," the lost look in his eyes intensified and Riveria was worried that she would get lost herself looking into those desperate eyes. "'Live' and smiles at me. It's just," he shook his head. "It doesn't even sound real when I say it, and it happened to me. I saw it. I'm here because of it, and I still can't really tell if it was a dream or not. I mean...it sounds like a fairy tale you tell children to make sure the hero survives. Either that or I really am insane. It's hard to tell sometimes."
His head fell into his hands as the memories rushed through his head, filling him with confusion, anxiety, and dread. It was all too much for Riveria to bare and without even thinking she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into her warm embrace.
"You're not insane, Achilles," she said resolutely. "I believe you entirely."
"You...you do?" he asked, his head resting against her shoulder.
"Yes. You wouldn't make something like this up. Not with regards to the Dragon."
He was a bit surprised by this, afterall, if it sounded crazy to him, he could only imagine how it sounded to others. It also didn't help that this was the second time today he was worried for his sanity and he felt he had used up all his luck in that regard with Bell. Yet, here she was, someone who had many reasons to not only distrust him, but outright hate him, doing neither, and offering her comfort.
"Thank you, Rivieria," he said, wrapping his arms around her.
"No need to thank me. The only person that should be thanked is this woman for allowing you to come back to me."
Instantly, everything stopped.
Riveria's eyes widened as she realized what she had just said and Achilles did not fail to notice the interesting choice of words she had just used.
"Come back to you?"
She didn't reply. She couldn't. She could feel heat coming to her ears and cheeks and she certainly didn't trust her mouth after that. Unfortunately for her, Achilles felt the sudden warming of her ears, and pulled back enough to see them rapidly reddening. Even more confused than before, he pulled back fully and looked down.
"Riveria?"
The motherly elf had her face firmly planted in his chest and desperately did not want to look at him at that moment. She knew what her face would look like and she knew that this, in turn, would bring questions to Achilles's mind that she very desperately did not want him asking right now.
"Riveria? Why won't you look at me?"
She couldn't answer.
"Riveria. Look at me."
The way he said that ensured she couldn't deny him. It wasn't an order. Far from it. He would never order her around. She knew that. No, this was the request of a friend. A warm call of affection asking her to help him understand. And as much as she wanted to deny it, to prevent him from seeing her and therein bringing forth questions she could not answer, she couldn't. And so, she lifted her head and looked him in the eye.
The sudden burst of red that came to Achilles's eyes honestly surprised him. He had only ever seen Riveria blush on a few occasions and nothing to this extent. From her neck to the tips of her ears, her skin was the most radiate rosy color he had ever seen. This fact was only made all the more exquisite by the look in her eyes. He actually felt his breath catch when he saw the demure look she was staring at him with. After staring at her for a few moments, breathlessly taking her in, he suddenly realized that she was shaking, as if she was stuck in a blizzard or terribly frightened of something. And that something, he instantly recognized, was him.
"Riveria," he said slowly. Her eyes widened and he felt the shaking increase. "What am I missing?"
She tried to answer, she truly did, but her mouth could not form any words.
"Riveria," he leaned in closer to her, something which caused the shaking to suddenly stop as a new emotion entered her eyes. Anticipation. "What don't I know?"
Two paths were open before Riveria at that moment. One, the path that was built upon her suppressed desires, that entailed doing the following: pull the man before her down for a soul-searing kiss powerful enough to break a goddess of beauty's hold on a mortal man before confessing her feelings for him and putting her heart in his hands. A high risk, high reward path that part of her roared for her to take. The second path however….
Before Achilles could respond, Riveria suddenly pushed herself away from him and fled as quickly as she could without outright running, not even sparing the ex-captain a glance as she did her best to hide her burning face from him.
"Riveria!" Achilles called out. Naturally, he received no response and he was left standing by himself, confusion etched into his face. "What just happened?"
Done! Whew. I am so sorry that this took so long. As I said last chapter, I'm trying to get everything in order, both in this story, and in life, and this chapter was fighting me for some time with what to do with it. Anyway, that all said, I do hope you enjoyed it. If you did, or even if you didn't, please tell me what you thought. I do like hearing back from you guys and it's a great way for me to improve. I promise I'm going to go back and fix the little mistakes I've made in previous chapters, but I wanted to give you another chapter first, at least. Alright, with all that said, I really do hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time, so, until then, bye for now.
P.S. I just wanted to add something that I noticed while I was editing. I do not hate Lili. As I was ready I was worried things might be coming off that way. I actually enjoy her character, and her portrayal is merely how I think she'd act in the given situation. So, for any Lili fans, I just wanted to make that clear, and apologize if it appears my portrayal is unfair.