The Life of an Argonaut

The Anniversary

Missed me?

Ais P.O.V

Slash, parry, slash, duck. Slash, parry, slash, and duck. Slash, parry, slant, dodge, slash, duck. The movements are so familiar, that it becomes my body doing it by itself, as though it did not need my mind. Speaking of my mind, I decided to take a turn and head in another direction. That is to say, it started to drift. And soon, it drifted to my familia. The anniversary of when I joined the Familia was coming up, it would mark 9 years. The time spent there has been fun. We would probably go to Mama Mia's to celebrate. "We" would be Me, Riveria, Finn, Gareth, Bete, Tione, Tiona, and Loki. I always enjoyed it, even with Loki constantly trying to get me drunk.

It was a familiar, heart-warming procedure. It's one of the only times that I would let down my walls and relax. It would seem, however, that we would have another member to accompany us, Bell Cranel. Riveria had taken a shine to him, and Finn seemed charmed by him as well. She thought of him as a cocky, arrogant fool who most likely wouldn't last a day in the lower levels of the dungeon. Then again he only was a level one. She was rather surprised at the fact that Loki invited him to join the familia. It wasn't often that a level 1 was inducted into the familia. Cranel was the exception and not the rule. An exception to more than a few things, it would seem. No level one could have produced that powerful of magic. Indeed, it had the ability to rival hers if it hadn't already surpassed it. And that made her feel... something. It wasn't a positive emotion. Au contraire it was negative. It was jealousy.

That was surprising. It wasn't often that she was jealous. Oh well.
——————————————————
As Bell and Riveria walked back to Twilight Manor; a comfortable silence between them as Bell, who was rather injured, leaned on Riveria. A sudden thought invaded Bell's mind. How? How was he able to kill the Minotaur? How was he able to survive its hits. What had happened during the Minotaur fight in the first place?
"Riveria"
"Yes, Bell?"
"May I ask you a question?"
"You just did, nevertheless I shall allow another one"
Bell literally could hear the smirk in her voice.
"How did I beat the Minotaur?"
She paused in her walk.
I had startled her.
"What do you know of family magic?"
Family magic? What in the name of the deities is that?
"Absolutely nothing"
"I can't blame you" she sighed.
"Family magic is magic that has been passed down over generations. Thousands of years ago, when the gods were allowed to use their arcana, they would reward their most loved, their most devoted, and their most powerful families with magic that would be passed down from generation to generation. The firstborn would usually inherit the family magic but there have been cases of the second-born inheriting the family magic. However, usually, there is only one type of family magic that is present in a family line, however, you seem to have three, which is very rare".
Bell was speechless
"Wow, okay I wasn't expecting that, oh look, we're here"
And Bell was correct, they were at Twilight Manor.
"And just where have you been?"
Ah. How had Bell forgotten about her?
"Her" was the devil herself.
Lefiya.
Lefiya was fiercely possessive of Riveria and Ais and due to Bell being rather interested in the human anomaly that was Ais, it led to an... interesting confrontation between the two.
"We have been out, why?" Bell said, but not unkindly, rather it was curiosity.
Lefiya looked Bell up and down and did the same with Riveria, faltering when she saw Bell leaning on Riveria and his hand clutching her shoulder like his life depended on it. He looked... awful.
"Well Lefiya, if you have done your mental analysis I will have to take Bell to the infirmary. As you have no doubt seen, he isn't in the best shape"
Bell was thanking every god and goddess, and Loki, for this woman. Why? Because she had got him out of an extremely awkward situation.
"Come on Bell"
And with that, she tugged his arm, and away they went.
——————————————————
Ais P.O.V
Jealousy was an... unfamiliar emotion, to say the least. After all, what had she to be jealous of? She didn't love someone and was considered to be one of the most powerful adventurers in Orario. No, there was one thing that she was jealous of. Family. She considered her familia to be family, but the closest thing she had to a mother was Riveria. And now the brat named Cranel was coming to take it away! She walked over to the wall that oversaw Twilight Manor, and what she saw only proved her point, at least, to her anyway. There, was Bell, hugging her mother like his life depended on it! How dare he!
She stormed down into twilight manor and encountered Lefiya.
"Where are they?" she practically growled out
Lefiya was shocked and rightly so. Ais was usually so... emotionless and aloof, so to see a very angry Ais was terrifying.
"Where are who?" Lefiya near enough squeaked out
"Cranel and Riveria, that's who" Ais once more, growled out.
"They a-are at the infirmary" Lefiya stuttered out.
"Good, that means I won't have to haul his body all the way there once I'm finished with him" and with those ominous closing words, away she went.
——————————————————
When she arrived at the infirmary, what she saw stopped her in her tracks. Bell was there, and so was Riveria, but they were lying on the beds, although it was clear that Riveria was in a much better shape than Bell.
"Hello Ais, how are you?"
Ais was flummoxed.
"How am I? How am I! You're the one who's lying down in the infirmary!"
Riveria chuckled
"It's not as bad as it looks. Bell's much worse"
With a start, she realized that the youngest Loki familia member was hooked up to an IV.
"What's wrong with him?"
Riveria sighed.
"We ran into adventurers. Must have been level 3 at least. However, they were all brute force and no finesse. No skill whatsoever however what they did have was numbers, I took care of mine easy enough and Bell was doing fine until one of them landed a shot on his ribs"
Ais winced.
"Didn't he break his ribs from the Minotaur?" A pointless question, they both knew he had.
"Will he be alright for tonight" Ais enquired
"Yes he should be fine" Riveria answered.
"Speaking of tonight, shouldn't you be off to take a shower and get into your dress?" Riveria asked
"Yes I suppose I should"
And with that Ais was off.
——————————————————-
3rd person p.o.v
Time skip 3 hours
As Ais slowly descended the stairs she saw someone missing, despite him apparently being alright for tonight.
"Is Cranel not coming?"
Immediately, Bete burst out laughing.
"That loser, why would he?"
"Because he's a part of our familia"
"Oh Ais, if everyone who was a part of our familia came along to these little getaways, we would have to buy out all of the buildings!" Finn said.
"Besides, only the important familia members come with us," said Lefiya
"Yeah not the little weaklings" Exclaimed Bete.
And as Riveria and Finn, weakly, scolded them, and with Ais' question answered, away they went.
As Ais walked with them, she had one thought in her mind. Family. Her family consisted of Riveria, of Finn, of Loki, of Gareth, Lefiya, Bete, Tiona, and Tione.
But as they went, they didn't notice the small white-haired boy with Riveria's staff who was hidden in the shadows or his bright red eyes that shone with tears