Chapter 8 Memories
Disclaimer: I do not own God Eater or Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darouka / Danmachi
Note: I know that doing this chapter now may seem presumptuous, but I really wanted to put closure on Bell Pennywort's old "Family". Honestly, Famfiction has been having some problems for me, I try to get to my chapters of my Fanfics, and it shows me an error message. I probably won't even be able to see this chapter once I've released it. One more thing, chapter 7 should have already been updated for Hephaestos and Hestia's meeting with Penny, but anyway, let's get to reading.
[Hilda's caravan].
From the metal walls of Hilda's caravan, you can hear the sound of punches hanging in the air. On the dormitory floor, Zeke punches Hugo in the face, causing him to immediately fall to the ground. Zeke seems to have a few tears on his face as he looks angrily at Hugo.
"Why, why, why did you leave him there!?" Zeke shouts so loudly that he could have woken up all the caravan crew.
"I did what was necessary." Hugo says as he wipes his cheek. He gets up, but before he can react, Zeke grabs him by the collar of his jacket.
"You were his best friend, shouldn't you have gone to save him?!" Zeke growls while still crying. "Where was all that talk about one for all and all for one?"
"Do you think I don't feel broken too?" Hugo says with tears coming out of his eyes. "I know you better than anyone here. I know that if we'd simply gone to save him, he'd have turned us down right away."
"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" Zeke shouts louder.
While the two boys were arguing, Lulu was in her dorm room trying to prevent the children from overhearing the argument.
"Lulu, why are Zeke and Hugo fighting, and where's Bell?" Lil asked with concern in her voice.
"Where's Bell? He always stopped these fights." Marr asks, sounding worried.
"Bell, where's Bell?" Sho asked, sounding like he wanted to cry. "Where is he?"
Lulu despairs, trying to calm them down. "Guys... the... Bell..." Lulu tries to speak, but the words get stuck in her throat. "He..."
"He... he's not dead, is he?..." Sho lets out a few tears, "Please tell me he's not dead..."
"Shut up, Sho!" Marr yells at him. "Bell would never die! And he promised we'd be together, didn't he... didn't he?" Marr turns to Lulu.
"Lulu..." Lil approaches Lulu and grabs her pants. "It's... it's a lie, isn't it?... Bell... Bell didn't die, did he..." Lil starts to shed a few tears. "Isn't it?..."
"You're talking nonsense!..." Marr yells at Sho and Lil, but even he is shedding tears. "Bell wouldn't die like that... Bell..." Marr sits on the floor, hugging his own legs, he starts to cry.
While the boy was crying on the floor, Lil and Sho hugged Lulu's legs, and they both started crying too. Lulu, without much choice, crouches down and hugs them both. Allowing herself to get emotional, she also began to cry while hugging the children.
She hugged the children while the four of them in the room cried and shed rivers of tears. The children were by far the most sympathetic to Bell. They adored him. Bell and Hugo always went out on missions to kill Aragami and tried to bring them medical kits when they got sick. Bell always told the children bedtime stories, and when Sho had nightmares, Bell always played his flute to calm him down.
(Sho flashback.)
(Dawn - Men's dormitory.)
"Bell... hey, Bell..." Sho whispers as he climbs the stairs from his bunk to Bell's bed. "Bell..."
"...hmmmm..." Bell mumbles in his sleep.
"I'm scared... can I sleep with you?..." Sho whispers to Bell as he sleeps.
"You already have your bed... what is it..." Bell mutters in a hoarse, tired tone.
"Please... I... I'm scared..." Sho whispers pleadingly.
Bell opens one eye to look at Sho, it's clear that the boy is in a mixture of exhaustion, tiredness, sleep and many other things. Bell raises one of his arms, indicating Sho to lie down next to him.
Sho, with an excited smile, quickly settles down on the bed. Sho snuggles closer to Bell and puts his arm over his body to feel more secure. Bell didn't mind this so much, since for him, Sho was like a little brother he never had.
"Thanks... Bell..." Sho whispered as he slowly drifted off to sleep.
Bell just let out a murmur as he went back to sleep. The two of them stayed there, asleep and just sleeping.
(End of flashback.)
"I want Bell!" Sho shouts sadly while crying in Lulu's arms.
"Why... why..." Lil cries as she hugs Lulu.
"Why didn't you save him! Why, why, why!..." Marr slaps Lulu on the back as she cries, but even he doesn't have the strength to hurt her.
"I'm sorry... I was weak..." Lulu said tearfully, even though she hadn't known Bell for long, he already considered her a friend. Lulu hugged the children as she burst into tears.
On the command deck, Amy was analyzing data obtained after the recent arrival of Hugo and the others.
"What's up? Did you find anything?" Keith asked worriedly.
"No... the data from Bell's bracelets is gone for good... I think... he really..." Amy wipes her tears from her eyes. "No, he must be alive, I just need to look harder."
"I'll try to find his God Arc signal." Keith said, going to the computers in the boarding wing and starting to analyze them.
Keith and Amy continued analyzing the data and coordinates of the area, trying to find anything that might lead them to Bell. Meanwhile, Hilda was in her office, putting her hands to her face and sighing.
"Bell... why did you have to act on impulse..." Hilda stops sadly. Even for her, a woman who has lived through terrible things, she has seen many of her companions die, but Bell... this boy was different.
(Hilda flashback.)
Hilda was in her office analyzing important papers, now that she has bought Bell, Hugo, Zeke, Sho, Lil and Marr for her caravan she must give them a surname. Hilda rubs her temples trying to think of something.
"Well... now that they're part of my caravan I need to give them a surname..." Hilda looks thoughtful, but her attention is diverted when Bell enters her office.
"Miss Hilda, do you mind if I make a small request?" Bell enters the room, he seems to be hiding some kind of paper behind his back, but she decides to put it aside.
"It will depend on what exactly you want, but do tell." Hilda speaks, resting her elbows on the table while keeping her hands together and in front of her mouth.
"Well..." Bell takes the paper off her back and shows it to Hilda. "I recently found these papers in some ruins."
"And?" Hilda asks.
"Well, I realized that they're musical notes, so I was wondering if I could have them so I could play music." Bell says a little embarrassed.
"And why is that? You have the speakers to play any music you want." Hilda raises a curious eyebrow.
"Yes... but I wanted to try it for myself." Bell speaks excitedly, he approaches Hilda and hands her the papers. "There are some musical notes in there, along with a recipe book."
"A recipe book?" Hilda asks as she looks through the papers.
"Yes, as well as playing music I want to try cooking, but for now I just want to try playing music." Bell said, smiling at the woman. "You know, sometimes you have to do new things so you don't stay in a bubble."
Hilda is a little surprised by the statement, but smiles. "Well, what exactly do you want?"
"Well, I want to try playing the flute. Could you get one for me please!" Bell gives her a puppy-dog look.
"Well, all right. I'll do my best." Hilda gives a slight smile as she laughs at Bell's cute little face. Most of the time, Hilda is a serious, unemotional woman, but somehow Bell manages to make her smile.
[Days later.]
Hilda walked around the caravan as she checked in with Amy to make sure everything was in order.
"Engines active and fuel stable!" Amy said, confirming everything.
"Understood, if anything goes wrong, contact me." Hilda says to Amy. Saying goodbye, she starts to walk to the elevator to go back to her office, but she stops when she hears a flute.
(Play Bealtiful World - Evangelion 1.0.)
Hilda walks to the pantry shed. She hears clapping and as she gets closer, she sees Faith and the children clapping as they listen to Bell playing the flute. Bell was playing a catchy, soothing melody.
"You've really learned to play the flute in just a few days." Hilda crossed her arms as a slightly proud smile surrounded her face.
"Oh, hi Hilda!" Bell stops playing the flute and looks at Hilda. "Children, you should thank Hilda, thanks to her I managed to learn to play the flute."
"Really!" Lil says excitedly. She turns to Hilda and smiles at her. "Thank you Miss Hilda!"
"Ruf! Just because she got you a flute doesn't mean you're the coolest. Hugo is still better than you." Marr says while frowning, but he still liked the song too.
"Thank you for letting Bell learn to play the flute, Miss Hilda." Sho thanks her while smiling.
"Boss Hilda..." Faith goes up to Hilda and elbows her in the arm. "You're acting like a proud mother."
"O... what do you mean?!" Hilda asks as she blushes slightly.
"Woo Chief Hilda is blushing! Everyone come and see Chief Hilda blushing!" Faith shouts to the children, and they all follow her.
"Woo that's rare!" Marr says
"Wow, Miss Hilda looks so cute all red like that." Lil says
"Are you Bell's mother? I thought you were his boss." Sho says.
The children are all over Hilda and asking very embarrassing questions. Hilda tries to dodge the questions, but the children give her no room to escape. Bell smiles at the situation.
Bell has never really seen Hilda as a mother, but she treats him as she would a child. Even if Bell doesn't know what it's like to have a mother, he can consider Hilda a mother.
Bell smiles in amusement at the situation.
(End of flashback.)
Hilda laid her head on the table as she allowed herself to cry, even for her, who had seen many of her companions die, she was only sad, but she never cried. So why... why is she bursting into tears?
"Bell... why Bell..." Hilda mumbles as she cries even more. Yes, she regarded Bell as a son she never had. Even though Hilda had already looked after several children in the nursery, and the children had called her mother, she had never felt that feeling with anyone, that... maternal feeling.
[...]
"Attention everyone, we've found something related to Bell!" Amy says through the caravan's loudspeakers. In a few seconds, everyone who was crying arrives in the control room and checks with the girl.
"What did you find?" Hugo asks breathlessly.
"Is it about Bell? Where is he? Is he alive?" Zeke asks abruptly, already exhausted from crying and running all the way here.
"Please tell me he's alive and I'll save him!" Lulu says, sounding the most tired.
"Is Bell all right? Where is he?" Lil asks.
"Did he survive? Tell me he survived!" Marr says.
"He survived, didn't he? Tell me he's okay..." Sho said, sounding like he wanted to cry more.
"Everyone, quiet!" Hilda speaks, and at the same moment, everyone in the room falls silent. "Amy, tell us what you've found out."
"Well..." Amy swallows dryly. "I got a weak signal from Bell's trackers, but still, there might be a chance of-"
"It doesn't matter." Hugo says and puts his hands on Amy's counter. "Where's the signal, I'm going there now!"
"I'm going too!" Lulu speaks in as serious a tone as she can manage.
"Count me in." Zeke says clenching his fist.
"Easy there, Zeke." Keith says approaching the guys, he shows a tablet showing the signal from the bracelet coming from Valley: Abandoned Mines. "The signal is still weak and it's coming from where Bell fell.
"So it could just be the bracelet..." Hugo says, sounding broken.
"No, it must be him!" Zeke shouts at his brother. "If the signal from the bracelet is active, then it means he's alive!"
"Not exactly..." Hilda speaks in as calm a tone of voice as she can manage. "It means that the bracelet is intact, but not..." She gathers her strength to speak. "... but it doesn't mean... that he's alive..."
"No..." Lil put her hands in front of her mouth as she began to cry again.
"Shit!" Marr growls as he slams into a railing.
"Hugo!" Sho runs over to Hugo and grabs his pants. "Please... you have to go and rescue Bell..."
"Sho..." Hugo feels his eyes fill with tears again. "Sho..." Hugo crouches down and stands at Sho's height. "Sho... I can't tell if he's still alive... I'm sorry... I'm sorry I didn't save him..."
Sho starts crying again, he jumps into Hugo's arms and begins to shed tears again.
Lulu goes over to Hugo and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Hugo... let's go and check."
Hugo slowly nods, he lets go of Sho and wipes the tears from his eyes.
"Come on..."
[Valley: Abandoned Mines]
Hugo, Zeke and Lulu walked back to the Valley. With the three of them silent, no one dared utter a word. They just listened to the sound of the wind around them
Hugo walks over to the wall that was broken by that Pita. He inspects the place, walking a little further, he comes to the spot where Bell had fallen.
"Let's go down." Hugo says, no one there would disagree with the order.
Using a hook provided by Faith, Hugo hooks him onto a large rock, and throws the rest of the rope into the abyss.
Hugo switches his God Arc to pistol mode and traps him behind his back with magnetism, both from his God Arc and from his clothes. Hugo begins to descend to the bottom. With Zeke and Lulu following him and making the same movements as him.
The three of them reach the end and descend to the ground. Looking around, they see something.
"There." Lulu points to Bell's God Arc. The God Arc (straight sword) was stuck in the ground, with one of Bell's bracelets placed on the handle of the weapon.
"Let's go." Hugo says, and he starts to walk towards the God Arc, but stops when he sees something. "It's him."
Lulu and Zeke are confused, but quickly see two red eyes in the darkness in the background. Zeke and Lulu grit their teeth at the sight of him. Pita, the bloody Pita who had made Bell fall.
Pita looks at the three in front of him, he starts walking towards them and laughs a little. The three of them grab their God Arcs as Pita approaches. Pita reaches for Bell's God Arc, running his tongue along the handle, he ignores the God Arc's defensive attack and grabs Bell's bracelet with his teeth. He snorts at the three of them, then swallows the bracelet.
"Damn..." Zeke growls.
"On Bell's honor, I will exterminate him here and now." Lulu speaks as she prepares her God Arc for slaughter.
Hugo remained silent. The Pita snarls and lunges at the three of them, dismissing them, the three separate. Hugo lunges at Pita and tries to slash him, but Aragami defends with his wings.
Lulu advances from behind and pierces one of Pita's hind legs with her swords. Pita tries to use his tail to push Lulu away, but his tail is ripped off by a hammer blow from Zeke.
Pita growls in pain, but doesn't have time to wail. Hugo, with one swift movement, cuts out one of Pita's eyes. The Aragami growls and leaps to try to escape, but is hit in the front legs by Lulu and Zeke's shots. Pita stumbles and falls to the ground.
Hugo leaps towards Aragami and pierces his back with his sword, Pita screams and quickly turns his body, causing Hugo to be thrown into a wall and hit it. Hugo gets off the wall and wipes the blood from his forehead.
The Pita growls and leaps towards Hugo, but he is hit by a hammer blow to his chest. Without Pita realizing it, Zeke goes under him and hits him with his hammer.
Pita tries to hit Zeke before landing on the ground, but his belly is pierced by Lulu, who manages to get on top and hits Pita's belly with her God Arc in double blade staff mode.
Pita screams in pain, while Hugo advances on Pita and cuts out his other eye. The Pita screams even more furiously, Zeke gets out from under him and switches his God Arc to Pistol mode and starts shooting at the Pita with divine-type bullets non-stop.
Lulu, who was still on Aragami's back, grabs his God Arc and makes a spinning motion. He manages to cut off half of his belly. Jumping back, Lulu switches her God Arc to Gun Mode and starts shooting.
Hugo does the same and the three of them keep shooting at Pita while he agonizes in pain. The three of them take something from their belts, a cylindrical thing with a trigger, they pull the trigger and throw the cylindrical thing at Pita. The three cylindrical things hit Pita and exploded at the same moment. With the whole place filling up with smoke and dust, Hugo, Lulu and Zeke start to remember earlier moments.
(Hugo's flashback.)
"That's it! Let's go and test those m12 bombs!" Bell said excitedly as he walked through some ruins.
"Aren't you too excited to test these bombs?" Hugo asked, laughing a little.
"What? We can barely get out of that prison. And when we do, we can only exterminate Aragami. If these bombs aren't so powerful, we can use them to break through a wall of that prison and escape with the children." Bell says while inspecting the bomb.
"Even so, if we escape now, they could find us and punish us severely, or worse, they could put the children at risk." Hugo explains to Bell.
"Yeah, you're right." Bell sighs. He looks to the side and sees a Gboro-Gboro approaching them. "First one to kill it gets the loser's lunch!" Bell runs up to Aragami.
"There! That doesn't count! I didn't even know we were competing!" Hugo laughs as he runs after Bell.
(Zeke flashback.)
Zeke was in the training wing as he practiced his aim. At a distance of about 15 meters was a red and white target. Zeke took aim with his gun in his hands and fired, but ended up missing by 10 centimeters.
"Shit!" Zeke growls in frustration.
"What's up Zeke, practicing your aim?" Bell asks as he approaches him.
"HAHAHa, as you can see I'm practicing to improve my performance on our missions." Zeke shrugged. "You wouldn't understand since you're such a bad shot."
"Are you sure? Can I try?" Bell asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Be my guest, but I warn you, it's very difficult." Zeke hands Bell the gun.
Bell takes the gun and inspects it, seeing that it looks well calibrated, he aims at the target and starts firing at it. Leaving even Zeke startled by the action, Bell unloads the gun's ammunition clip into the target.
"That's it." Bell blows the point of the gun proudly.
Zeke doesn't understand anything, but his mouth drops open when he sees the target and realizes that the center of it has been completely destroyed by Bell's shots.
"How... how did you do that!" Zeke demands of Bell.
"I just did, what? Are you feeling defeated and humiliated?" Bell asks, laughing a little.
"Of course not!" Zeke walks over to a nearby table and picks up another gun. "Then let's see who's the best at this!"
"Fine, but I'll warn you..." Bell walks over to the table and picks up another magazine of ammunition, reloading his gun and standing next to Zeke. "I might not let you win."
"What does it matter?" Zeke said angrily, but he felt frightened inside. After Bell's gratuitous humiliation, he doesn't know if he can bear to compete with him.
(Lulu flashback.)
Lulu was in her room, sitting at a table and reading a children's book. She doesn't really know, but she ended up taking an interest in these fictional tales of dragons, knights, princesses and magic.
"*Knocks on the door* Lulu, can I come in?" Bell asks from behind the door.
Lulu quickly hides the book. "Yes, you may."
Bell enters the room. "Miss Hilda asked us to meet in the departure lounge, she seems to have a new mission for us."
"I see." Lulu gets up and starts walking, she passes Bell to go to the control room.
"You know, you should open up more."
"What do you mean?" Lulu turns and looks at Bell.
"You're quite closed off and don't seem to want to get involved with other people." Bell walks over to her side. "Lil told me that there are times when she gets really scared when she's next to you."
"A... Lil..." Lulu mutters. She hadn't realized that her roommate was afraid of her.
"Lulu, try to be a bit more open with people, especially Lil. After all, you share the same room." Bell taps Lulu on the shoulder and starts walking again.
"Lil... yes, I can try... but I can't promise anything." Lulu speaks so quietly that it was practically inaudible to Bell. She walks on while following Bell.
(Later that night.)
Lulu was making her bed for the night. She looks over and sees that Lil is reading a book, the same book she was reading earlier. Lulu is a little afraid, but decides to speak up.
"Hey, Lil..." Lulu says, catching the girl's eye. "What are you reading?"
"Oh, it's a book about a young knight who saved a princess from a dragon." Lil says a little nervously.
"It is, and how did he save the princess?" Lulu asks curiously.
"Well..." Lil seems to get less nervous. "He hatched a plan, managed to trick the dragon into falling into a trap."
"Really? And how was this trap he set?" Lulu sat on her bed as she listened attentively to the girl's words.
"Well, first he slaughtered a lamb and took a few pieces of its meat. Then he put the pieces of meat hanging above a hole." Lil explains to Lulu.
"But wouldn't the dragon see the hole that was under the meat?" Lulu asks, looking very interested.
"Yes, it would, but the knight put leaves over the hole, so when the dragon tried to pick up the meat, it fell in!" Lil starts laughing. "It was quite funny! I could only imagine the angry look on the dragon's face when he was tricked."
Lulu smiled when she saw that Lil no longer seemed uncomfortable with her. She seemed much more at ease next to her.
"Hey, Lil. Do you mind telling me more about this book?" Lulu asks with a smile on her face.
Lil is surprised to see Lulu smiling, but she smiles back. "Sure!"
(End of Flashbacks.)
The smoke clears and only Pita's remains remain. Hugo approaches Aragami and activates his Devour Mode to start devouring Pita. Arriving where he wanted, Hugo deactivates Devour Mode and picks up Bell's bracelet next to Pita's core. Without thinking twice, Hugo throws it up and destroys it with his sword.
"What now?" Lulu approaches Hugo.
"Let's take the bracelet. We can't touch the God Arc or it might kill us." Hugo says.
"So, she's staying here?" Zeke asks, already looking quite exhausted.
"We don't have a choice." Hugo sighs. He starts walking towards where the rope was.
Lulu and Zeke look at each other before silently agreeing and walking over to the God Arc. The two of them come together and grab it, Lulu with her left hand and Zeke with his right. They both groan in pain as they do this and lift the God Arc off the ground.
"What are you doing?" Hugo asks worriedly.
"We're not leaving Bell's God Arc here." Lulu says as she groans in pain from the God Arc's Aragami attacking her arm.
"That's right! We'll give him a proper funeral!" Zeke says as he growls in pain.
The two of them walk over to the rope while holding the God Arc, but they drop it. Hugo walks over to the God Arc and picks it up with his free hand. The God Arc starts to attack Hugo's arm, but he doesn't care.
"Come on... let's do it."
[Days later]
On a mountain, a small tomb is made. Bell's God Arc was stuck upright in the ground, the bracelet was placed on the handle, just in front of the blade there was a picture of Bell on the ground on top of a wreath.
Hugo, Zeke and Lulu, who had their spleens bandaged after having surgery so that the Oracle Cells of Bell's God Arc wouldn't kill them. Next to them, Sho, Lil, Marr, Hilda, Amy and Faith were there, with their hands together and their eyes closed, praying for Bell.
"Bell, I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough not to save you." Hugo stops praying and opens his eyes. He stares at a photo of Bell, a photo in which he is smiling. Hugo smiles as he sees the photo and has some memories.
(Hugo's flashback.)
In Hilda's caravan, Bell and Hugo were in the kitchen preparing a pizza.
"Bell, are you sure this is going to work?" Hugo asks, seeing that Bell is twirling his hands as he prepares a dough to make a pizza.
"Of course, the cookbook I found in those ruins is old, but it must have good recipes." Bell says, stirring the dough. He places the pasta on the counter and starts preparing the other ingredients.
"I've never heard of anyone putting cheese, tomatoes and pepperoni in bread dough." Hugo says impressed.
"Neither have I, but let's try it! Is it any good?" Bell shrugged. He finishes preparing the pizza and puts it in the oven. "Now we just have to wait."
"Look, if this is bad, you'll eat it all by yourself." Hugo says, crossing his arms.
"What? You're not even going to help me eat it all?" Bell asks in surprise. "But if it's delicious, I'll eat it all myself."
"That's the thing, if it's delicious I'll eat it too." Hugo laughs at Bell's assertion.
"But then, that book is full of recipes. I wonder if the other foods would be any good." Bell leans on the counter and sighs.
"Hey, if you don't make them and eat them, you'll never know." Hugo taps Bell on the shoulder.
"Yeah... you're right." Bell laughs, he looks at Hugo and punches him lightly in the chest. "Hey, thanks for being with me all this time."
"I should be thanking you, without you I don't know if I could have survived everything we've been through." Hugo smiles at Bell. "Thanks... for being my friend."
"Come on, don't be so sweet!" Bell laughs at Hugo's statement, but he's also happy about it.
(End of flashback.)
"Bell..." Lulu approaches God Arc and sighs, with relief, frustration, sadness, she was in a strong mix of emotions. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry for not following your advice sooner, I... I wish I could thank you."
"Bell, you're such an asshole." Zeke sighs. "Why did you go and play the hero, you're not a hero, you... you were our friend..."
"Bell... I..." Sho gathers his strength. "Bell, I promise to be braver for you, I... I'll be stronger for you."
"Bell... I'll become stronger for you too!" Lil says firmly. "I promise to be stronger."
"Bell... I will become stronger, and I won't let any Aragami hurt my friends!" Marr speaks with conviction.
"Bell... I'm sorry I didn't detect the Aragami who ambushed you." Amy says sadly. "I just... I just hope you're in a better place."
"Bell, I hope you're in a better place. I'll be sad because you were my best client, so I won't make as much money as I used to." Faith laughs lightly. She sighs. "But you're missed."
"Bell, I know you might not hear that..." Hugo pauses. "But... thank you... thank you... for being our friend."
"Enough of that." Hilda finally speaks. "Let's get back to the caravan, other Aragami might appear nearby."
Reluctantly, the guys start walking back to the caravan, but Hilda stays there, just looking at the photo. The others thought about calling her, but decided to move on.
Hilda, who was still motionless and just thinking, thought about memories with Bell.
(Hilda flashback.)
Hilda went into the kitchen to get something to drink, but was surprised to see Bell stirring the oven. Bell, who was wearing a pink apron and protective gloves, was taking a tray of cookies out of the oven.
"Huhu! They look good!" Bell said proudly. He placed the tray on the counter and, shaking it, the cookies detached themselves from the tray. "Now all that remains is to see if they taste good."
"Did you really try cooking?" Hilda approaches Bell.
"Oh, hi Hilda! Yes, I've been practicing cooking for two days now, and I've already managed to make quite a few recipes." Bell explains to her. "And well, I wanted to try making some simple recipes."
"Can I have one?" Hilda looks at the cookies curiously.
"Sure, I'd even call the guys over to taste them, so make yourself at home." Bell takes a cookie and bites into it, feeling the crunch and softness of the chocolate. "And it's good!"
Hilda takes one of the cookies and bites into it. She savors the taste of the cookie and feels the chocolate chips inside. "Hmmm... it's very good." Hilda says, she finishes eating the cookie and smiles at Bell. "You're really good at this."
"Coming from you, the compliment is worth even more." Bell says debauchedly, but he still likes hearing it from Hilda.
"Don't get too excited, a good cook isn't born overnight." Hilda mocks Bell.
"Yeah, I might be good at killing Aragami, but that doesn't mean I can't make delicious food." Bell retorts.
"We'll see about that." Hilda goes to the fridge and takes out a bottle of milk, taking off the cap, she starts to drink the milk straight from the bottle.
"Nice to see Miss Hilda, the leader of the caravan, is also a little pig." Bell sneers.
"Quiet, that's because I'm very busy at the moment." Hilda shrugs. Most of the time she's polite, if she were with someone else, Hilda would get a glass to drink the milk, but as she's with Bell, she doesn't mind too much.
"Well, I'm going to share the cookies with the guys, see you later!" Bell picked up the tray and started to leave the kitchen.
Hilda watched the situation and smiled at the boy.
(End of flashback.)
"Bell... may you be in a better place." Hilda smiles, but it's not a smile of joy, but one of melancholy. She turns to leave, even if the boy she was so attached to is no longer here, that won't stop her from honoring his name.
Hilda turns one last time to look at the tomb, smiles and walks back towards the caravan. She's still devastated by the death of her best soldier, but she won't let it get to her, even with the pain, she'll keep moving forward.
End of chapter.
Note: After reading a comment I realized something. Penny's Burst skill (Bell Pennywort) was a bit vague, so I've decided that I'm going to make a small change to this skill, which will be as follows.
Burst: When devouring a living being, the user can speak the word "Burst" to activate Burst Mode. When activating Burst Mode, the user gains an extreme increase in their physical attributes. Burst Mode has a total of three levels and can further increase your attributes by continuing to devour living beings, but it shouldn't be used all the time, or the user could lose control.
That said, as soon as this chapter comes out, I'll edit the chapters in which Penny's statuses appear to change this. Well, the next chapter will be Bell and Penny's battle against Aragami in monsterphilia, and as I want to make it a real battle, it may take a while to come out, but I promise it won't be until Sunday.