Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter One: Memories of a Distant Past

Hestia takes a coin from a small bag, where several other coins are kept, leading to a small chest, so small that it fits in her hands, and opening the lid were two magic stones, not like those left by the monsters of the Dungeon below the city. , these stones were polished, clean, and from within emanated a small light with an image inside the crystal; they were the invention of a relatively small family that settled in the southernmost part of Orario; memorial stones, an very sophisticated and elaborate way of copying and preserving an individual's memories and placing them in an object that shows said memories repeating or static so that the individual can always remember a unique event in their life.

Hestia possessed two very special people, a boy with white hair and red eyes and a girl with long braided white hair and red eyes, both preserved in the memorial stones.

"Another day without you..." Hestia spoke sadly as she placed the coin inside the chest. She gazes at the memorial stones when someone opens the door to her room

“Miss Hestia? It's all right?" A boy asks her from the other side of the door

"Yes, I'm getting ready" she replies without hesitation, trying to hide her sadness.

She closes the box and then grabs the two blue ribbons on the side and heads for the door while tying the ribbons in her hair. When opening the door she finds the boy who was waiting for her, a young human of eighteen years. Raux Mellan, captain of the Hestia family

"It's all right?" Raux asks Hestia as he sees the sadness on her face and a tear trickling from one of her eyes.

“hmm, why?” Hestia wipes away the tear and smiles happily "there's nothing wrong" she forces her smile harder

Raux watches her and just sighs sadly "goddess, why do you keep doing this to yourself?" His voice filled with worry and sadness. Seeing that his goddess doesn't understand him he rephrases the question "why do you keep torturing yourself thinking about them? They're gone and left you. goddess please" Raux puts his hands on Hestia's shoulders "leave them behind and stay with us "

Raux genuinely cares about his goddess and wants what's best for her, a year and a half ago when he joined the Hestia family he promised himself he would do whatever he could for her and maybe one day...

"Raux…" Hestia starts to speak as she takes one of the boy's hands off his shoulders and places it under her heart "I-"

*Click*

"Raux, goddess, are you coming? We are-" a young chientrope girl enters the hallway and stops her sentence upon seeing the scene in front of her "... S-sorry, I didn't know you- I'll wait with Cort outside !" She says embarrassed and leaves through the same door she entered without hearing the protests of the two

"..."

"..."

"Um…. Better we… let's finish this conversation for the night" Raux says embarrassed

"Y-yeah" Hestia replies, her cheeks red with embarrassment 'it's the third time this month alone!' Hestia thinks embarrassed

"Well… shall we?" Raux asks as he steps forward, his hand extended to Hestia, with a smile

"Yes" The home goddess responds with a smile of her own and takes her family captain's hand.

"Don't worry goddess, this is not goodbye" their words echoed in Hestia's head

"Yeah. We won't be gone for long. You wait, when we get back we'll be much stronger and more skilled."

With every step, she relived the day her most important people left.

"and we will no longer be in poverty"

She was in front of her family giving them one last goodbye until the end of the day, when they would return home.

"Yeah. That's a promise"

She walks calmly towards her job, a bittersweet smile on her face and tears threatening to fall from her eyes, like every day 'yes… you promised you would come back…' She looks up to the sky 'I'm waiting for you.'

two stars still shine in the sky, defying the daylight, both stars shining white 'Bell... Venna...'

Orario, two years ago. Inside the Dungeon

"RAAAH!" A white-haired, red-eyed boy roars as he stabs his Dagger into the back of a monster, a kobold, causing it to collapse into a cloud of black smoke and letting a small purple stone fall to the ground.

"Good Job Bell" a girl who resembles him in all but gender compliments him before throwing her dagger in Bell's direction

"Ah!" Bell quickly ducks to avoid the weapon and then hears a groan and looks back, seeing a goblin with the Dagger stuck in its head "could you have warned me?" He asks indignantly before throwing his own dagger at the girl and taking hers.

She grabs the Dagger and blocks the attack of another goblin that was behind her "and what fun would that be?" She asks with a certain humor in her voice, disregarding the precarious situation they were in.

"You don't. Sense of humor" Bell complains between attacks on two goblins who tried to attack him by surprise

"So why are you smiling?" She asks looking at Bell as she dodges a goblin

"I'm not" Bell denies despite the smile actually on her face "your voice is funny, that's all Venna"

"Ah! How dare you? My own brother!" Venna pretends to be offended.

"What is truth"

They both continue to exchange words as they fight the monsters, slowly walking until they bump into each other's backs.

"Eee we're cornered" Venna comments sarcastically

“Don't say it” Bell retorts with an impassive face.

Venna looks over her shoulder at her brother “we can fry these clowns” she speaks suggestively to something they both understand

Bell on the other hand makes a disgusted face "I'd rather walk home and not drag myself" he grumbles without taking his eyes off the monsters in front of him

Venna turns around again to face the monsters and smiles “Come on 'Bellzinho', we can handle this group without much effort. the most we can do is end up tired and dragging ourselves home” she says with certainty in her voice

"I'll rephrase: I don't want to carry you home on my back again" he says in a definitive tone of voice ending the conversation and muttering "You're too heavy" before running towards the monster, leaving his sister wondering what he had muttered, until she understood her brother's words

A goblin jumps out trying to catch Venna off guard but Venna steps aside and stabs her dagger into the monster's eye effectively killing it.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?" Venna screams in revolt charging at the monsters, her fury matching, if not surpassing the fury of the monsters around her.

Bell continues to fight despite the chills that run up his spine at the sound of his sister's angry voice; dodging a few more monsters bell looks at the tunnel ahead of them both; it was the entrance to the room where they were both in the dungeon. both they and the monsters entered through that passage but the dungeon, though made of stone and earth, is a living and cunning creature, never to be underestimated or mocked; many adventurers have lost their lives entering the dungeon carelessly, for this reason and also because he is not alone, Bell guards every passage he and his sister crossed so that no monster comes from behind and catch them off guard.

“BELL CRANEL!!! WHAT DID YOU SAY???" Venna bellowed in fury as she fought the monsters, dealing clean blows to anyone who got too close.

Bell shuddered and was silent, it was better not to force it or she would get annoyed more, it would be better to change the subject while she could.

"!" Bell hears a sound coming from the walls of the cave 'Oh no… the dungeon is creating new monsters!' and to his misfortune, more goblin and kobold monsters emerged from the walls, breaking through them as if they were nothing.

Yes… the dungeon is a living creature, capable of producing monsters from within its walls and in a variety of types of monsters… and for that reason it is also known as "Mother of monsters"

"Come on!" Bell screams with fear and concern evident in his voice.

His sister slashed the throats of two monsters before turning to him, surprise in her eyes to hear her brother's worried voice; he points his hand to where the monsters are and she understands what he's saying: more monsters have emerged from the dungeon walls.

"We have to do this!" She screams with purpose

Bell dodged a kobold's clutches and ran towards her, now was not the time for arguments, they had to. Use her ace.

Grabbing Venna's hand, Bell tucks his dagger into its sheath and raises his hand in the air. "Ready?" He asks rhetorically as he extends his other hand towards the monsters in front of them.

With a smile she puts down her own dagger and responds by pointing her free hand at the monsters behind them "Ready!"

An arc of electricity runs through both of their upraised hands, down their bodies before flowing into their outstretched hands, both of them screaming:

"Twin Thunders!!!"

"Twin Thunders!!!"

Lightning shot from their hands, the arcs of electricity cutting through the bodies of the monsters around him, causing them to explode in black clouds that quickly dispersed.

Both twins stood like this, shooting lightning bolts from their hands for a minute or so before dropping to their knees on the floor, dropping their hands, their breaths panting and heavy.

"... we... we... won..." Venna weakly exclaims.

"...Yeah..." Bell said before falling to his side, exhausted "but now... we'll have to rest... until... we regain our strength"

“Yeah…” Venna falls to her side before turning around and looking up at the cavern ceiling, her face turning serious “So… how far did we go today?”

Bell turned his head around and frowns before muttering

"...I don't speak mumblish" Venna complains with a frown.

“Third floor… like last time…” Bell speaks up, disgust evident in his voice.

"WHAT?!?!?!" Venna angrily exclaims “Third? again? ARGH!”

“yeah…we only went down to the third floor like the last 5 times in the last three weeks” Bell agreed without even moving, using magic was even more exhausting with the spell he and his sister had known since childhood; but now was not the time to think about it, the dungeon awaited them “Let's go”

Bell stood up and extended his hand to Venna. she huffed but grabbed the hand and stood up too, they had to collect the magic stones from the monsters they defeated; the magic stones… wonders hidden in the bodies of monsters, even the smallest of these small purple stones contained a natural amount of magic capable of powering various magical devices in the city above the dungeon.

"Alright. we collected them all” the brother said happily as he collected the last magic stone

“yeah…” Venna says dejectedly

Bell understands what his sister means and just sighs before approaching her "look-"

“it doesn’t even start” Venna says bitterly, already waiting for the sermon, turning her back on her twin

"..." the male twin refrained from retorting his sister, instead, sighing he grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around "I was going to say that maybe I overdid this cautious proceeding thing" Venna blinks in surprise and disbelief. “I think today… we should go deeper, you know… get acclimated to the next floor” Bell finishes his sentence rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

Venna smiles happily before hugging her brother. “You are the best big brother in the world”

"But wasn't I the oldest 'just for a few seconds'?" Bell asks mischievously receiving a light punch to the stomach.

"don't push it" Venna scolds him but still keeps the smile before moving on "let's go"

“right” Bell replies before following his sister

some time later

“…”

“...”

"... there's something very wrong" Venna says finally stopping to walk and checking the environment around her

there were no big differences from the third floor to the fourth but it was evident that monsters would be present and even more, there would be many ambushes by the hands of war shadows, monsters known to be experts in ambushing

"Venna.. don't forget that stronger adventurers pass through here too so they can get to the lower floors, they may have killed all the monsters that got in their way and that's why it's so calm" Bell tried to calm his sister but he too couldn't help but feel something was wrong, they were both supposed to have found something now

"Bell… fine…" his sister tries to counter-argument but leaves the idea aside, they both have to move on

Both continue walking through the tunnels until they reach a crossroads with several tunnels, when they see a small green monster, a goblin, approaching fast, both prepare to fight but the goblin just runs past them.

"..." Bell looks to where the goblin fled and doesn't see him anymore "he..."

"Just ignored us and flee?" Venna completes the equally confused sentence. Dungeon monsters never run away from novice adventurers like them, only from veterans and they always descend to the deepest floors of the dungeon

Then several monsters came from the tunnels ahead of the twins. They both armed themselves for battle, expecting the worst, however the monsters ignored them and passed them by; while it's impossible to say that for sure, Bell and Venna were sure they saw fear in the eyes of the monsters that ran past them. The brothers turned to see the last of the monsters disappear into the darkness of the tunnel behind them, and then they both felt… uncontrollable fury coming from the tunnel halfway there.

"B-bell?" Venna called her brother, frightened

"Did you… did you feel it… too?" Bell asked, swallowing hard.

A supernatural force was in that tunnel... and the mere presence of that force was enough to scare the monsters away...

"Venna..."

"Bell… I think it's better… we-"

"Let's investigate this"

Venna twisted her neck with such force and speed that anyone else would believe she broke it; the look of disbelief on her face said what she thought

"Venna… I…" Bell tries to reason with his sister but sighs before saying "Venna… we don't know what's at the end of this tunnel but we can't let this chance pass either. What if it's a unique monster? Or is it a veteran adventurer injured who is using a Skill to protect himself? We have to go"

Venna tries to counter the possibility of it being an adventurer's Skill but can't. Skill are unique powers developed by adventurers based on their experiences making the idea sound; on the other hand, the mere idea that there is an unknown monster in that direction already makes her completely rethink the idea of moving forward.

Even so, if she doesn't follow him, Bell will most likely go alone and she wouldn't forgive herself if something happened to him.

"*sigh*...okay...we'll go together then. Don't even think I'm going to let you walk into a possible trap just so you can play the hero- or whatever that bullshit grandpa was trying to teach you" Venna spoke to a little apprehension at first but soon got annoyed by mentioning a certainty past situation

"Haha… come on, Venna… I don't think like that anymore…" Bell defends himself a little embarrassed to be reminded of such a time

"Hmph, right" says Venna suspiciously "let's go!"

"C-calm down there!"

Both brothers make their way into the dungeon, arriving at a cave with no exits and inside, something that will change their lives forever.

"...Be-Bell... am I freaking out or is there really... a... weird... thing... here in this cave?" Venna spoke with an emotion not normally associated with her courageous and fearless personality; fear

"I was going to… ask the same thing…" the twin replied equally scared.

In front of both of them was what they would later come to know as a Warp Gate; a strange sphere with spiraling energy and ancient magic that allowed the wearer to cross between different worlds. But the twins didn't know that. Both were astonished to see such a thing, but they both could feel; that same supernatural presence was coming from within the strange distortion in front of them. the male twin steps forward before his sister grabs him by the arm and then smacks him on the head

"What do you think you're doing?" Venna asks irritably but you can hear the concern in her tone of voice.

"Ouch.. did you really need to do this?" Bell asks as he massages the small bump that has formed on his head.

"Don’t change the subject!" Venna screams as she points at her brother and then looks away and points at the distortion "what do you think will happen if you get close to this thing? For all we know it could be a rare monster!"

Bell looks between his sister and the distortion and after a few moments

"If it's a monster… why hasn't it attacked us yet?"

Venna tries to think of a reason but can't find it and hits her brother again again.

"It doesn't matter! Still this thing is dangerous" she counters "we should turn around now and report this to the guild"

"..." Bell doesn't say anything but looks at his sister intensely.

"..." she looks away, knowing what her brother would say "you're going to play this thing the same way aren't you?" She asks sarcastically, knowing the answer

"No" Bell's answer makes Venna turn her face back to him in complete surprise "I know there's something there. I can't say how but… I have this feeling… this feeling, right here in my heart, that there's something calling us"

"Us?!?" Venna is surprised by the answer

"Yes…we" Bell grabs his sister's hand and places it on his chest "I can feel it" he then puts his own hand on his sister's chest so he can feel her heart "and I know you feel it too. Venna, we really don't know what this thing is, but it called us here. Whatever it is, it has brought us here and we can feel that calling. Whatever it is, I'm not going alone in this, for I know that we are both needed"

Bell lets go of his sister and walks away from a look of determination and courage "I will only approach if you go with me"

Venna stands motionless, in disbelief at her twin's words and actions, but still feels touched and joyful knowing her brother would give her the final word, something he only does when something is really serious and that's a serious situation. .

The twin starts to ponder and can't deny that she felt something calling to her since she entered the cave, that something didn't look like fear but she wanted to attribute this to the abnormality of the situation; however something in her heart told her that there is no danger and that she must go ahead, making her look at her twin with determination and courage.

"Okay, let's go" she says before grabbing her brother's shoulder "If we find something terrible or a dangerous monster that we can't beat, I'll kill you myself" she says seriously

Bell looks at his sister, startled until he realizes her gaze doesn't hold the threat, then with a smile, turns to the strange distortion.

"On three we advance," he tells his sister, more to prepare than to warn her.

"Right. One… Two…"

"Three!"

Both brothers leap with their daggers in hand, going above the distortion hoping that it will reveal itself as a monster, but instead the distortion revealed an image of a destroyed wasteland; before the two could understand what it was, gravity started pulling them back down, straight into the distortion. They both passed through the distortion without any resistance and upon being completely swallowed, the distortion closed, taking the two brothers of this world with it.

Chapter Text

Orario City Dungeon, Present Days

 "RAAAHHH!!"  Raux roars as he slashes with his sword, he cuts the monster in front of him, his sword and his superhuman strength easily rips the monster in half.

 Poux, the team's supporter, loadion a small ballista in her arm with an arrow before firing at a monster next to Raux.  With her heightened chientrope (human-dog) hearing, Poux hears a monster approaching from behind and quickly turns around, dagger in hand, slamming the monster in the chest before leaping back.

 "Cort, where are you?"  Poux screams trying to find the third member of her team who should be protecting her.

 A knife flies over Poux's shoulder and hits the monster in the head, effectively killing it.  When Poux turns around, he finds Cort with one arm outstretched, indicating that he has thrown the knife and holding a short sword in his other hand, caught between the fangs of a Kobold.

 "Sorry Poux, but I'm kind of stuck here" Cort says before punching the monster in the snout, making it release his sword, then decapitating it.

 Poux runs to him and they both stand side by side to face the monsters.

 "How did we end up in this trap?"  Poux asks loading his arm ballista with another arrow

 “uh…” Cort tries to think of an answer knowing it was his fault

 "Don't even try!"  Poux yelled, looking annoyed at the young human "we only got into this because of you" shooting his ballista arrow at a distant monster

 “Enough of you two!”  Raux yells from afar as he returns to his companions "we are in this together and if we are going to get out of here alive then we have to stop bickering"

 Poux sighs in both indignation and defeat, for his captain is right.  Cort on the other hand doesn't disagree with anything and just wants them to get out of this situation soon.

 The three adventurers leap into the midst of the monsters with a battle cry.

  some time later

 the members of the Hestia Family were collecting the magic stones from the monsters they had just faced;  the battle was exhausting but they emerged victorious

 “right… Poux… how many this time?”  Raux, the Captain of the expedition and the Hestia Family, asks for support from his family.

 Supporters, adventurers who, even when receiving a god's blessing, are still weak to fight monsters but still have useful abilities in other areas;  unfortunately supports are frowned upon by adventurers and suffer constant abuse from them and are even considered disposable by ill-intentioned adventurers.

 Raux saw talent in Poux when he met her a year ago, along with Cort who they met 3 months later, the two have hidden talents and Raux intends to cultivate these talents until they awaken, although Poux has started to awaken her talents.

 Poux counted all the magic stones she had collected with her companions and after a few more accounts that only she was in charge of while inside the dungeon, she frowned and looked at Cort with some disdain.

 "Unfortunately, captain, we lost some arrows and daggers, so taking that into account, we only have 20 magic stones here, and there were 35 monsters in this ambush. That is, we had a loss" Poux finishes, now looking angrily at Cort

 Raux frowns for a moment thinking about how to compensate for this loss, but then that thought stops later, after all, in the dungeon you can't stay still for long.

 "We'll make up for it by going down to the next floors, have faith, it's not over for us yet" the Hestia family captain spoke in an inspiring manner in order to keep his companions together.

 "*sigh* if the former captains were here maybe-" Cort started to grumble before Raux pinned him against the wall, holding him by the throat.

 "THEY WERE NEVER PART OF THE HESTIA FAMILY!"  Raux yelled furiously, his hand squeezing the young human's throat.

 Poux, scared and worried, grabbed Raux's arm trying to get him to release young Cort but she didn't have the strength to go against an adventurer of a higher level than her.

 "Raux! Stop it, can't you see you're killing him?!?"  The chientrope support screams, trying to reason with the enraged captain.

 Her desperate words reached the captain, who, realizing that his own companion was being hanged by him, released him and walked away from his companions, crestfallen and full of conflicting feelings;  on the one hand he was furious that those two were being mentioned and on the other hand he was ashamed of himself for having done such a brutal act with a fellow member of his family.

 Cort and Poux look at him scared, rightly and still a little apprehensive, they both know how much the current captain of the Hestia family hates that the two former captains are even mentioned in his presence but it's still terrifying to see how altered the captain can get. just talk about them.

 Raux sees the fear on the faces of his subordinates and the guilt gnaws at his heart even more.

 "I-I'm sorry… II… I shouldn't have done that. I… I…" Raux apologizes sincerely and with tears in his eyes, falling to his knees "I'm sorry… I… *sigh* it's not your fault , I lost my patience just listening…"

 Poux, knowing his captain, understands where this almost uncontrollable rage comes from;  Two years ago, the Hestia family had two other members, both captain and captain, serving the goddess diligently and doing what was necessary to keep the family above poverty and want, but one day they both simply walked away, leaving her alone with a promise to return one day.  The young chientrope could not believe the audacity of the two, abandoning her goddess to flee, with an excuse so false that it does not deceive even mortals, since the gods are able to sense when a mortal is lying and never be deceived.

 After a while they both get up and give words of comfort to their captain, they both lift him off the ground and the three move on, towards the lower floors of the dungeon.

  meanwhile on the surface

 Hestia was working at her little Jagamarukun (spiced potato crisp croquette) stall, already totally bored that the day will be monotonous again;  as she stopped looking at the street she looked at the sky, at her two friends: The Day Stars.

 A year and a half ago, Orario's daytime sky lit up abnormally and everyone, both mortals (humans, dwarves, elves, etc.) and even the gods, were surprised by the emergence of two new stars in Orario's sky, two white stars that shone even in broad daylight.  The phenomenon has never been explained;  astrologers from other kingdoms and lands were called by the gods and leaders of different nations to study the two stars;  during the day the two stars seemed to shine with the same intensity of sunlight and at night, both caught the attention of everyone who looked at the sky, but such stars made no sense, their position was unusual, their brightness defies even the sun (something that bothered gods like Apollo, the Olympian god of the sun) and even after months of study nothing had been discovered about the two stars, not even by the gods who considered this strange apparition a sign that something was coming, something big but the question was: what

 There they were, defying the sunshine as they always did.  Hestia felt a strange familiarity coming from the two stars, but she couldn't tell what it would be, it was almost as if-

 “HESTIA!!”

 "Hmm?!"  the home goddess is startled by her name being shouted beside her ear;  looks like her boss was angry again

 “You're on work hours, don't stare at nothing!  We are losing customers this way!”  the owner of the stall where Hestia works yells angrily at the goddess, since they've known each other he has to be hard and rigid with her otherwise she gets lazy and limp

 “Okay, okay” Hestia nods and goes back to work, but her mind continues the train of thought ‘does those stars have anything to do with… no… but they remind me of them both…’

   Badlands, Two years ago

 A figure remains kneeling before a spatial distortion in front of him, this figure has black armor with bronze decorations and red details, the helmet has two raised antennae (like ears) and the front has the likeness of a wolf's face, on the back there was a big white cape.  This figure, in a single description, was a knight, but what broke with the knight's image was his weapon, on which it leaned, a huge key with the shape of a sword, or perhaps a sword with the shape of a key?

 The figure was weak, it had spent almost all its strength in a great battle that it had not long ago, but still, with the few strength it had left, it formed the distortion in front of it, a portal, to attract the presence of its hated one. enemy-

 yes… his enemy… (at this moment several images pass through the knight's head, in particular the shadow of an old man with yellow-golden eyes)

 the man who took everything from his life... the one who deceived him, who betrayed him... (the knight unconsciously clenches his fists around his weapon, while the memories of the death of one of his loved ones, who died in his arms)

 he will never forgive him... he will never forget... he will find him... and destroy him... he will destroy him.  he will end his-

  **Swhirl**

 Suddenly the portal activates and two figures fall through it.

 Moments after Bell and Venna jump in to attack the distortion

 The twins scream as the reality around them shifts;  in one moment they are both inside the dungeon falling on top of a strange anomaly that they thought to be a monster and in the other the anomaly reveals an image of a desolate and deserted land and then both are sucked into it and see lights and abstract shapes running towards them. back while they are in an endless free fall.

 Finally a bright light appears below them both and they both shield their faces expecting the worst.

 "WOOOOOOOHHHHH! Ohfff" Bell is the first to leave, falling on his back on the ground.

 "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"  Venna screams as she falls and lands

 "AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!"  Over her brother "V-vennaa…."

 Venna quickly gets off her brother who turns around, kneeling and curling into a ball massaging his stomach.

 "Bell! No, no, no.. I'm sorry, I couldn't control it- no I don't- ahh" Venna apologizes embarrassed and distressed "I'm sowwy" Venna starts to say before starting to sob and tear up

 "Venna…" Bell says with difficulty before his sister grabs him, trying to hug him "I… said… you're heavy…"

 Immediately after these words are out of Bell's mouth, his sister rages, releasing him and hitting him on the head.

 "You have a lot of nerve to say such a thing, you jerk! I'm here worried about you and you take the opportunity to insult me!"  Venna screams furiously and stands up, until she hears her brother laughing "What's so funny, you jerk?"

 "At least… you stopped crying…" Bell says as he tries to get up.

 "... what…?"  Come on surprise question

 "If I can do anything to keep you from crying… I can handle whatever you do to me later…" Bell explains, finally getting to his feet, still with a hand on his stomach and a smile on his face, "because, you look so much better with a smile on your face than with tears" Bell adds.

 Venna is surprised by her brother's response, before blushing and punching him lightly in the arm.

 "Moron…"

 "Hahaha…"

  *Vroosh*

 "!"

 "!"

 A strong wind blows suddenly startling the two brothers, who look in the direction it blows.

 "Ah"

 "What?"

 In front of the brothers is a mysterious figure kneeling before them with a huge weapon stuck in the ground.

  "..." the figure watches the siblings, both identical except for their genders, but one of them catches the figure's attention, the male twin "Ven?"

 "Oh!"

 "Ah! He talks!"  Venna screams in surprise upon hearing the strange figure's voice.

  "..." the figure remains motionless but the air around her suddenly becomes lighter " Ven… it's been a while…"

 "Eh?"  Bell senses that the figure is talking to him, but the name "Ven?"

 The twin then looks at his sister and starts to form an idea in his head.

 "Venna… do you… know this man?"

 "What? Why would I know him?!?"  The twin asks indignantly

 "W-well… he said Ven-" before the brother could explain, his sister was staring at him head on, anger written all over her face.

 "And just because he said 'Ven' does that automatically mean he's talking about me?"

 The male twin opened and closed his mouth several times trying to counter arguments but nothing came to mind.

  "..."

 "Hic!"  Venn turns around quickly as he feels uncontrollable fury directed at her, but soon recognizes the fury 'wait a minute' "ARE YOU THE GUY WHO WAS SCARING ALL THE MONSTERS ON THE FOURTH FLOOR?"  Venna yells as she points her finger at the figure

 "Ah… Venna, I don't think we're on the fourth floor of the dungeon anymore…" Bell says to his sister with some trepidation and fear

 Venna, feeling irritated but confused, ask "What do you mean Bell?"

 The young adventurer then puts his hands on his sister's shoulders and turns her sideways, showing her the immense desert plain around them and of course, the horizon with the rising sun.  This immediately silences the young albino and makes her realize: if the sun is rising it means that the two of them have spent the entire night in the dungeon and are now somewhere else OUTSIDE the dungeon.

 "Alright you canned nuts!"  Venna starts yelling at the kneeling figure "start explaining how you got us out of the dungeon and where is this place?"

  "..." the figure remained silent and only suppressed the violent intent that was emanating "Ven… What happened to you? You look… different… "

 Bell again senses that the figure is referring to him and in order to confirm this, she begins a dialogue.

 "Sir… by any chance… are you referring to me?"  Bell asks in hopes of having some answer

 The figure said nothing but the air around him changed, as if he were reacting to the figure's will.

 Bell, taking this as a signal to continue and putting his hands on his sister's shoulders, uncomfortable with the situation, he introduces himself.

 "My name is not Ven. My name is Bell, Bell Cranel and this is…" Bell leaves his sentence incomplete, looking at his sister.

 "... Venna, Venna Cranel" the twin responds still suspicious of the figure

  "...Bell? Ven..na?"   The figure says the names confusedly.

 "Yes, that’s us. Could you tell us your name sir?"

 The figure does not respond for a few moments as if trying to remember something

 "Terra"

 "Hmm?"

 "Hmm?"

 The twins are confused.  What does he mean by- Wait.  Is it?

 "Is your name Terra?"  Venna asks a little confused

 Even without words, the figure confirms, just by the mere change of the wind around him

 "...so... Mr. Terra. .. could you tell us *disguised cough* what place this is and why you brought us here with that-" Bell starts asking and as he turns around to point out the strange anomaly, he is startled with what he sees "the... the..." Bell's voice fails but the terror in his voice is evident

 "Bell?"  Venna turns around and sees her brother turned on his side, his face frozen in an expression of total terror "what's up? Bell, talk to me!"

 Venna tries to shake her brother but he doesn't look away from her, so with some trepidation, she also looks in the same direction and soon understands what terrified her brother: the anomaly that brought them here has disappeared.  They were stuck here with the strange figure

 "The…the… the anomaly… is gone" Venna says terrified, that was their only way out of this strange place and back to the dungeon connected to their city.

 Bell quickly turns around "Mr. Terra can you please tell us where we are?"

  "..." Terra remains kneeling but the wind blows towards the twins, as if he's asking if they really want to know this.

 "Please. We got here through some kind of anomaly and now it's gone!"  there was the answer

 "we have to go back, we have someone very special waiting for us" complete Venna worried, not for herself, but for her goddess, who must be worried about the sudden disappearance of the two

  "..." Venna's words touched Terra deeply, who remembers two- not three very special people to him "do you... have anyone important too?"

 The twins are confused by the question, everyone has someone important don't they?

 "Of course. Don't you?"  Bell asks, taken by curiosity

 Venna just looks at the strange man seeing the air around him suddenly tense up, she has an idea why the sudden change

 "you sir..." the twin tries to speak but the words get stuck in her throat

  "... a long time ago... I was a disciple of a great man.. ." Terra begins to speak with great regret in his voice "a man who took me in when I was still small. He raised me as his son... me and two others... Aqua… Ven…"

 The twins immediately understand what the knight is trying to say;  he lost his whole family.

  "!"   The air around Terra suddenly turns violent and begins to form a typhoon "he tricked me… used me as a pawn…"

 The two brothers are scared, the knight's aura was much stronger and more intense next to him than either of them could imagine.

 "W-what Skill is this?"  Venna asks, trying to stay on her feet, the mere pressure of Terra's anger is making her weak.

 "Urgh…" Bell can barely stand up but supports his sister with his own body so she doesn't fall "Mr. Terra! Calm down!"

 Bell's scream seems to have had an effect, as Terra lowers her anger pressure, but it is still palpable.

 What had happened for this man to have so much power and anger in him?

 "Mr. Terra… what… What happened to you? To your father and the other two?"  Bell asked in hopes of being able to understand the situation and perhaps help this person.

 "Please. We don't want to bother you but... if we can help, please tell us what happened" Venna adds, equally determined to help the man who, despite appearing cold and angry, can feel a deep sadness in his heart. your words

  "..." Terra stops the typhoon completely "I'll tell you what happened. With me… with my master… with my friends…"

 hours later

 The two albino brothers expected a lot, but never would they expect to hear such a story;

 An ancient order of warriors that has existed since the beginning of the universe, with swords of unimaginable power, called Keyblades, who only choose those who have a pure heart, but if they allow themselves to be corrupted by power or wrong ideas, they become threats. .

 Such was the story of Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Eraqus and Xehanort.

 Eraqus trained Aqua, Terra and Ventus to be his successors and Xehanort strayed from the path of protecting the universe from the evil that crawls through the darkness and instead sought to recreate an ancient war that was fought even before the age of the gods, where thousands of warriors of that order fought and fell.  All for the ultimate power, the power of Kingdom Hearts, the heart of the universe.

 The order of warriors was almost extinct in that war and Kingdom Hearts was lost to Darkness and Xehanort wanted to recreate that same horrible war!

 He tricked Terra and set him against his master and friends, making them fight each other and when he had no more use for him, he took his master's life, stole his body, and tried to kill his friends.

 He doesn't know what happened to his friends Aqua and Ventus, but he fears the worst as the fallen master had plans for Ventus and ordered his apprentice Vanitas to kill Aqua.

 But Terra didn't let him get away or get away with it, binding his mind to his armor, Terra fought one last time against Xehanort to retrieve his stolen body.  Eventually he emerged victorious from the battle, but his armor was powerless and his mind exhausted, forcing him to sleep and losing his chance to regain his body.

 He has been here ever since, in the Keyblade graveyard, gathering his strength with the residual magic that still permeates the air of this land from time immemorial.

 Venna was kneeling on the floor, tears streaming from her eyes, she didn't want to believe the story she just heard. It was sad, heartbreaking. How can such a vile, cruel man exist?

 Bell was beside her sister, equally in tears, holding her to his chest, trying to comfort her.

 Hearing the story was terrible, but both still asked for confirmation that any of these things were real, Terra just told them to look beyond the mountain passage and draw their own conclusions.  Confused and somewhat apprehensive, the twins went to the region beyond the mountains and there, they found the Graveyard.

 A huge open field with hundreds if not thousands of key-shaped swords stuck in the ground like graves for the fallen warriors. The twins could only imagine how much pain the knight must feel for his loss. 

 Upon returning to him, the brothers asked about his master and friends.  At this time, they both heard comforting things about these people;  like Eraqus, though a hard and rigid master, he was also a fair and wise man;

 Like how Aqua was, she was an expert user of magic and was able to make the simplest things have a deep meaning, which showed her intelligence and wisdom;

 Like how Ventus was an energetic and cheerful young man, always looking to improve and maintain a positive attitude.

 And even without asking, Terra told them about his adventures and how his journey brought him closer to the people he loved, how he swore to protect his friends and stop Xehanort, but now he's stuck here in this place.

 After hearing his story, they felt in their hearts an intense sense of respect and admiration.  What led them to

 "Terra" Venna begins "Would you… could you teach us?"

  "...?"

 "Venna and I want to get stronger, to protect someone we love dearly"

 "And even if we are not worthy, we want to learn from you" Venna completes

  "..." Terra is silent for a few moments "Alright" the knight then rises from his kneeling position, surprising the twins (he was taller than they expected) and grabbing his Keyblade and pulling it off the ground "I will train you two… but be warned, I will not be easy with you…"

 Immediately a strong wind blows, followed by an intense pressure of power, coming from Terra who is in position for battle.

  "Get ready!"   he announces

 The albino twins then feel joy and pride bloom in their hearts and they both jump to put distance between them and the knight- no… between them and their master.  They are ready and they will prove their worth in this fight, both for their master and for themselves.

 On this day… the gods of Orario felt a strange presence permeating the air of their world, but what could that be?

Chapter Text

The Ocean Between, present day

 Two objects fly at supersonic speed, both objects resemble a motorcycle however, this is where any resemblance between the strange objects and a real motorcycle ends;  the objects don't have wheels and their shapes more resemble warped keys than anything else, but what really catches the eye in these strange vehicles are their users: two knights in white armor and capes.  Both knights are traveling in a specific direction but with the stars and worlds flashing past them it's hard to tell if they're really on the right track.

 "There!"  One of the knights, a woman by the voice says pointing with her hand in a direction

 In the distance you can see a world approaching, a verdant world with several bodies of water scattered around, symbolizing its oceans, but what really catches the eye in this world is the huge tower that extends to unbelievable heights, as if it is trying to reach the sky.

 "We're almost there" the other knight, a man, comments with great joy when he sees the world approaching, his companion just nods her head and both accelerate in order to get to that world soon.

  **Skriisshhhh!!**

 A black figure cuts the path of the two knights, forcing them both to deviate from their path.

 "Wow!"  The knight exclaims as he dodges the figure and looks at his companion "are you all right?"

 "Yes" she replies before looking in the direction of the figure that has cut her way to walk away.  Before changing direction and charging them both again, at high speed "He's coming back!"

 The warning comes quickly and both dodge the figure again, before positioning themselves behind him, finally being able to identify the assailant;  It is a strange creature that resembles an octopus, but instead of eight arms the creature has only four and its entire body is metallic with the creature's face staying where its arms retract.  both see the black heart symbol with a cross at the bottom of the heart stamped on the arms of the strange metallic octopus

 "It's one of them" the knight says seriously before looking at her companion "what do you say we get this octopus project done before we get home?"

 "You don't even have to ask" the knight responds with a certain joy in his voice "let's finish him off!"

 With such a statement both knights advance against the creature.

  Orario, same time

 Raux and his team leave the guild headquarters with solemn faces;  today's expedition was a real failure.

 First a trap by a rare monster made them fight for their lives, then said rare monster fled from them to the ninth floor of the dungeon where they were again ambushed by more monsters.  Raux could single-handedly face any monsters from the first to the eighth floors, but from the ninth onwards he was no match for the monsters, as soon as he realized that the hunt for the rare monster was too dangerous, he ordered a tactical retreat to the previous floors, since that many of the ninth floor monsters couldn't follow them back due to the difference in size between their bodies and the passage that led to the previous floor, with that he and his team were able to face the strays who managed to follow them... before being attacked by more monsters from the floor they were on.

 In the end they triumphed against all odds and left the dungeon with a bag full of magic stones but unfortunately... Raux's sword was blunt due to cutting through the flesh of so many monsters and scraping against stones at various times;  Poux had her ballista destroyed by a monster that went unnoticed by her and she could only blame herself for it, but she was more worried about her younger companion and who, by the way, was the most shaken out of this expedition.

 "How's your arm?"  Poux asks in sincere concern, during the ambush that his ballista was broken, Cort jumped in front of the monster, a Killer Ant, and took the hit for her, having his arm nearly mangled by the ant's bite.

 "It hurts, but at least I wasn't useless this time" Cort said listlessly, his right arm was badly hurt by the monster.

 This made Poux lower his head in shame.  She herself had said earlier that he should be more helpful to the team and not put them in troublesome situations.  Before she could say anything, Cort wrapped her in a hug with his good arm and held her tight.

 "Poux… I'm sorry for-" Before he could finish his sentence, Poux hugged him back tighter.

 "No… I'm the one who owes you an apology… I was too hard on you for a mere mistake…" Poux apologized, making the young human shut up and just hug the chientrope back.

 Soon both feel two strong arms encircling them and both look at their captain, who was hugging them with his eyes closed.

 "I think the one who owes you the most apologies is me… I dragged ourselves through the dungeon on this stupid quest as soon as I saw the rare monster. As your captain I sincerely apologize. But as your friend, I beg you" Raux lets go of both of them and leans over. head in an apologetic sign "forgive me for being so reckless"

 Both rookie adventurers looked at their captain with a gentle smile on his face, this was the captain of the Hestia family, a fair man, somewhat temperamental, but good and honorable, always putting his companions above any reward or opportunity for individual glory.  This was the man, they both knew, this was the man they would follow regardless of any circumstance or challenge.

 "It's ok captain" Cort started with a smile "we knew we would get out of this alive, after all you were leading us" he ends with a small laugh

 Poux rolls her eyes but smiles contentedly, before someone bumps into her and nearly knocks her to the ground.

 "Hey! Look where you crazy nut!"  Cort speaks to the adventurer who nearly dropped Poux, angered by the man's lack of respect

 Said adventurer stops on hearing this and turns around, revealing a scarred face and a look of fury.

 "Did you talk to me? Brat" the adventurer replies, his voice thick and full of malice.

 Cort tries to lunge at the man, even with his broken arm, before Poux grabs him and Raux gets between them.

 "No" Raux says with finality in his voice and seeing that Cort has calmed down "it's not worth it. Let's go, you guys in front"

 The three begin to leave the guild when the adventurer calls out to them: "Hey, I'm not done with you guys!"

 The three ignore him and just walk away, leaving the guild.

 The adventurer is annoyed to see this and grabs a dagger from his waist, ready to throw it.

 "Mister Mator!"  One of the receptionists yells when she sees what the now identified Mator would do "it is forbidden to attack people inside or close to the guild space, if you don't lower your weapon I will have to report this action to your god and forbid you from entering the dungeon"

 This made Mator stop and grunt in disgust before putting away his dagger and heading to the magic stone conversion counter.

 The receptionist lets out a breath, relieved that things turned out okay, before sitting down again.

 "You didn't just do it out of business, did you Eina?"  A pink-haired receptionist asked seriously, something that is rarely associated with this specific woman.

 Eina sighs but doesn't deny anything and just continues working on her documents.  Her colleague however doesn't give up talking to her, Eina is no longer the same since not one but two adventurers simply left Orario and both were under the tutelage of Eina and herself.

 "Do you still miss them?"  The pink haired receptionist asks

 Eina ends up dropping her quill into the ink pot upon hearing the question.

 "...Misha, let's not discuss this again" Eina speaks emotionlessly in her voice, trying to hide her face with her hands.

 "... Eina"

 "I miss them, like all the adventurers I was in charge of, but I can't cling to them or anyone else" Eina says, like a mantra since the first adventurer under her guidance died in the dungeon.

 Misha tries to say something more but gives up, when Eina closes herself like that it is impossible to make her open, turning around to continue with her service, Misha looks at a memorial stone she herself had of her last adventurer, a girl from white hair and red eyes

 'Why did you leave?  Can't you see how much I miss you?'  Misha thinks sadly before going back to work

  Badlands, two years ago

"AAAAHHHH!"  Bell screams as he is flung away, rolling on the floor before landing on his stomach.

  "..." Terra just watches Bell, his face as unreadable as ever but the air around him indicates he is analyzing the situation.

 Both Bell and Venna lie before him, both bruised and tired and with multiple bruises and scratches all over their bodies.

  "... you've been training here with me for 2 months now" Terra suddenly comments, with no emotion in her voice

 It makes the two brothers scared

 "But we're getting better!"  Venna speaks desperately

 "It's true, we just… just… we're not in the mood yet, it's early!"  Bell completes a little uncertainly, making his sister look at him with a face of 'did you really say that?'

 The air around Terra gets lighter and seems to carry an air of laughter "I'm not disappointed" the knight says with a certain humor in his voice "actually it's just your progress that made me comment on this. Two months ago when we started your training you could barely defend against one of my weakest attacks"

 The knight's words fell like walls on the rabbits' heads, their master was only attacking them with a simple swing of his sword most of the day and that was their weakest attack??

 They both didn't know if their master was really taking them seriously or if he was just playing with them.

 "You mean that so far you've only used a little of your strength?"  Venna asks annoyed but equally scared, if the last two months her master has been holding back, how strong is he really?

  "No" Terra replies simply "I started holding on for the first few days… then I could see your growth,  I started to let go. Currently I am using 10% of all my strength and that for many who are not chosen, it's a lot of strength" Terra ends his speech cutting the air to his right

 **swoosh** **Ruuuuhhmmmmmm**

 A small rock formation to her right immediately began to crumble as if thousands of blades had slashed through it, causing both rabbits to widen their eyes.

 "And that was how much?"  Venna asks shakily, pointing to the rock formation or rather the pile of rubble that is now to her master's right

 Swinging his weapon and placing it on the ground.  Signaling that her forces are gone, Terra responds

 "Exactly the amount of force I used on you today, 10%"

 Both students could feel their hearts rising to their throats, not in fear or terror but in pure surprise and disbelief.  Was that 10% of ALL his master's strength??

 So all the hits they've received so far have been deadly attacks from level 4 adventurers, maybe 5??

 Since the first day of training when they were both accepted, Bell and Venna have been trying to gauge what level their master would be at if he were an adventurer, at first they both thought he had the strength of a veteran level 3 adventurer but that soon went out the window. weeks later he began to transform, yes TRANSFORM, his sword into a whip and attack them from a distance, tearing up the landscape behind them with each blow dodged by the rabbits.

 Both of them were never able to correctly determine their master's level and frankly it didn't matter anymore, their master was as strong as he saw need and that made him even scarier from one angle, but in all others, he was the perfect example. a hero to both, even if he denied such a thing, both saw a hero in him

 "Oh. I was forgetting" Terra gets up again and when he takes his Keyblade, The ends of the Earth, from the ground and points it forward, opening a warp portal "we can't keep you trapped here, can we?"

 The apprentices smile and get up from the floor where they were sitting and making a brief bow

 "Thank you Master Terra / Thank you Master Terra" both albino brothers speak before running and entering the portal and returning to Orario's dungeon

 As both brothers walk through the portal, Terra falls to his knees, leaning on his Keyblade.

  "Already?… this is bad… I can't abandon them, but I can't continue to train them either…" The Lingering Will speaks with weariness evident in his voice and his concern etched in his thoughts "there has to be another way-" the knight stops when he sees a beam of light reflected in his gauntlet, a strong light… strong light!  That was the answer!

 Forcing himself to stand up once more, the knight points his Keyblade forward and opens a new portal, this time a portal that connects to a world already known to him.  He needs to bring him here and explain the situation and possibly prepare his students for one of the hardest things they will have to do to become stronger.

  "Please… let this be the right thing… I can't fail them, none of them…"

  Orario Dungeon, same time

 After Bell and Venna leave the portal, they both smile and prepare to go down to the fifth floor;  After the first day they met their current master, they both discovered that he could open portals between worlds and that also, the time in their world hardly passed more than 1 or 5 minutes, something about each world having its own time landscape and something else Bell and Venna couldn't even imagine.

 Both went down to the fourth floor and after a good exploration of the fifth floor, they returned to the surface.

 Some minutes later

 " **sigh** ..." Bell sighed as he left the guild, his face twisted between impassive and depressed.

 "...." Venna was clenching her fists in revolt and chewing on the collar of her shirt, muttering curses and intelligible insults.

 The reason for the brothers' sadness and revolt?  They collected about 50 magic stones but unfortunately they were only able to exchange them for a small amount of money.

  (A/N: I won't mess with monetary values because not everyone would understand and the danmachi currency, Valis, is based on the Japanese Yen, and I'm from Brazil, so I don't understand the Japanese economy, no discussion on this subject, the focus is history not economy)

 "And we spent the whole morning and afternoon there…" Bell grumbles annoyed.

 Venna on the other hand is quiet and just grabs her brother's hand before starting to run, forcing him to keep up.

 "V-venna what's gotten into you?"

 "Let's just go home, complaining and whining won't get us anywhere" Venna replies as she continues to stare straight ahead.

 Bell smiles and then starts running side by side with his sister towards their home, to their goddess.

 When they arrive, they both see her waiting for them at the door of the small chapel where they live, but as soon as she sees them up close, she is startled and grabs them both.

 "What happened to you? Don't tell me you went below the 5th floor?"  Hestia was analyzing every one of her children's visible scratches and bruises and the more she saw the more she despaired, some of these bruises seemed to have come from large, bladeless weapons such as clubs and maces.

 "Hahaha… Goddess we're ok, we just had a bad morning, but we made up for it in the afternoon" Bell says as he has his face held by his goddess

 "Yeah, it's not uncommon for us to come back a little devastated from having explored the dungeon" Venna comments and then groans in pain to have her goddess touching one of her bruises

 "...these wounds are too serious to have happened on the first floors of the dungeon" Hestia speaks impassively and notices Venna's slight stagger upon hearing this "...you went to train with that man again?"

 Hestia knew that Bell and Venna were training with someone, a warrior named Terra or something, and from what they could both describe to her the first time they trained with the man, he was at least a level 4 or maybe 5 adventurer. she didn't like the idea but she couldn't do anything about it as the man never stayed in one place in Orario, in fact, from the description of her children, the man never stopped anywhere to sleep, preferring to stay on the street or someplace that only he knew where it was and so he would meet the children in the morning when they went to the dungeon.

 The siblings fell silent and tried to avoid the subject but the goddess just glared at them and they both shuddered under her stern gaze before sighing and telling the truth.

 "We saw him again, yes" Venna says, but Hestia continues to look serious "we found him inside the dungeon and trained right there, in a part of the fourth floor he used to go to"

 The hearth goddess could already feel the headache building, this man, whoever he is, is a pretty strong adventurer but he sure has the strangest habits she's ever heard of;  sleep on your knees, live with your weapon in hand even when it's not needed, always wear full armor and wear it from top to bottom as if it were a garment.

In fact, this man was strange and worrying, as he often trains her children either outside the city or inside the dungeon itself, Hestia could only imagine a man-monster dragging her precious children inside the dungeon as they screamed for help but the man-monster scared everyone, even the dungeon monsters themselves.

 " **sigh** ... no matter how many times I tell you guys not to go after him" Hestia started her sermon before stopping and just pulling the twins inside the chapel "come on, I have to tend to your wounds"

 'again… why don't you see that this man is mistreating you?'  Hestia thinks upset

 Little does she know that her young followers have found a way to tell her the truth without being the whole truth;  while the gods have the ability to discern truth from lies among mortals, half-truths can go almost unnoticed and not arouse much suspicion.

But even if they're both just telling half-truths, it doesn't mean they like it.

 'I wanted to be completely honest with the goddess, but the whole story is so strange and unrealistic for our world that even if she believed it would be too absurd' Venna thought sadly when she saw her goddess's upset face

 'Perhaps it would be better to tell her- no, no, that would be confusing, complicated and without a doubt hard to swallow and even the goddess would deny it.  Venna and I only became aware of the details of the master's story after we returned home on the first day, so far the details are fuzzy' Bell argues and counters in his internal debate.

 After both enter the secret room behind a statue inside the chapel, both brothers are in their small abode: a room hidden beneath an abandoned chapel.  It's not much, but it's enough for them and their goddess.

 A sofa with a crate (which is most often Bell's signature bed), a bed (where both Venna and Hestia sleep together, much to Bell's insistence), a bucket with a few packs of disposable toothbrushes, and a tarp. to let the girls change clothes more privately.  Though small and a bit messy, this was the Hestia family home and it meant everything to them.

"Well… take off your shirts and lie on the bed, I need to see what I'm going to have to deal with today" Hestia orders and stands idly looking at her children

 Both Bell and Venna remove their shirts without question, growing up together and sharing almost everything has made them both get used to each other's presence.  As they lie on their stomachs, Hestia can see the full extent of the bruises.

 Bell had two huge purple spots on his back, no doubt caused by him falling to the ground or hitting a wall;  in addition to some minor bruises on the sides of his body, most likely caused by the Terra guy's weapon.

 Hestia grabs the top of the crate next to the couch, opening it to reveal a set of medical lotions, bandages, and other medical supplies.  Taking out the necessary ones, Hestia begins to apply lotions to relieve the pain of Bell's bruises before covering them with bandages, but upon turning him over, the young man looked like he had been beaten up judging by the dark color of the bruises and yet he hid it. the pain...

 Venna on the other hand appeared to have been attacked by a monster armed with a slingshot and stones, several purple marks that interconnect the huge purple dots on her body, many that Hestia could only see when she turned her over and after finishing the treatment of the two gave them to her. an important announcement

 "Tomorrow you are forbidden to go to the dungeon"

 Bell and Venna tried to protest but Hestia gave them a stern look.

 "Don't even try. You guys are hurt and I don't want you taking any chances in that place while you're like this. My decision is final and you will stay on the surface tomorrow."

 Both brothers wanted to protest but couldn't say anything, although the goddess couldn't use her divine powers, she was still quite intimidating and even the brothers had great respect for her, so they accepted their goddess' decision and the three of them went to sleep.

Following day

  Bell… Venna… come to me

 "!"

 "!"

 Bell and Venna woke up with a snap.  Was that… was that the master's voice speaking in their minds?

  Bell... Venna, come quickly, I don't have much time...

 This time they both listened and silently they both got up, grabbed their adventure gear and walked out the door in complete silence so as not to wake their goddess.

 "... Bell... Venna... why do you do that?"  Hestia asks, showing that she is awake and has seen everything.  She grabs the sheets and starts crying as she keeps repeating "why? Why don't you guys understand?"

  Dungeon, fourth floor

 Bell and Venna run through the halls tirelessly, their goal: to reach the room where their master opened the portal for them.

 When they get there, they both see the portal, already open, and jump

  Badlands

 When they crossed the portal, both ran to their master, but when approaching, both saw him with a person, someone who seems to be their age, has someone else found the portal?

 "Master!"  Bell screams, getting his attention and that of the strange boy.

 Now that both sides are close, the siblings can see the boy more clearly;  he is a young human, probably the same age as them (14 years old, they think), spiky brown hair, sky blue eyes;  strange clothes, appeared to be a mix between an adventurer's outfit and a traveler's outfit, with several yellow X's on the pants, a pair of black gloves with iron plates on the back of the hands, an emblem of a silver crown on his neck (which symbolizes that he is related to some royal family)

Before anyone could speak, Terra placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Bell, Venna, I want to introduce you to Sora" Terra speaks calmly letting the boy, now identified, wave his hand and a huge smile on his face "from today onwards he will be your mentor"

Terra's words were so sudden, so direct, that the twins had a hard time processing what they had just heard.

"WHAT???" they both screamed at the same time, surprise and fear evident in their voices.

“bu-but but, master-” Venna tries to argue

“This is for your sake…” Terra interrupts her with soft, heartfelt words. this makes the siblings shut up and look expectantly at their master “my strength is running out… the energy I've been gathering for ten years is fading faster than I can replenish it”

with these words the twins were shaken, that is to say, that their master is…

“I can't train you anymore… otherwise I will die and leave you stranded here… far from your dearest person…” Terra says with remorse and guilt “but Sora, you can train them in my place… he can continue his training… and to do for you what I, in my present state, am incapable of doing: the bequeathing ceremony"

 Bell and Venna feel something in their hearts, it was regret, their master is dying and yet he wants to help them. They both want to feel happy that their master cares so much about them but… to know that their master is going to die… it breaks their heart…

 Both cannot contain their tears and collapse, falling to their knees on the floor, crying.  How, how can fate be so cruel?  How can fate be so cold?  Terra has a mission to fulfill for his friends Aqua and Ventus and he's trained them as his students and now... is he about to die?

 Terra stood still, the wind around him blowing weakly, indicating his loss of strength but also showing his own sadness.

 Then Sora walked over to the twins, kneeling in front of them both and placing a hand on each shoulder.

 "I can't say that I know how much this must hurt… but I can say that I felt something close" Sora's words took the brothers out of their anguish and even without waiting, Sora continued "not long ago, I lost a very dear friend for me, things ended up bad between us after our world was destroyed, I followed a path hoping to find him again but ended up being against him in a battle that we had nothing to do with... and in the end... he sacrificed himself to ensure that the evil that destroyed our world was defeated..."

 They were both surprised, this boy, who should have been the same age as them, had gone through such great pain and loss…

 "But it's okay" Sora says with a beaming smile "he's alive, I know that. One person who fought alongside us in that battle stood by him when the two of them fell behind and not long ago I saw that same person again, which means my friend is alive and well"

 The light radiating from Sora's face was so pure, so strong, that they both almost mistook him for a god.

  "Sora… our time is short…" Terra spoke and approached the three of them "we have to do the bequeathing ceremony…"

 Sora nodded and stood up and after putting a little distance between himself and the twins, extended his open hand in front of him.  For a moment the twins wondered what he was doing when-

  **Swiish**

 "!/!"  Both couldn't believe

 In Sora's outstretched hand was a huge antique key with a silver body, a golden guard, and a small key ring with three interlocking spheres.  Sora is a Keyblade wielder!

 Sora took his Keyblade by the blade and directed the hilt towards the twins.

 "In your hands, take this key and as long as you have the makings, through this simple act of taking,  your master will one day you shall be"

 Sora's words were simple, but the weight they represented was palpable with every syllable.

 "And you will find me, friends. There are no more oceans or deserts to contain you, there will be no barriers around, below, or above, as long as you champion those you love."

 At the end of this recitation both Bell and Venna again found themselves crying, but this time it was a bittersweet joy.

 Their master recognized them as worthy and although he himself could not pass the legacy on to them, he found someone who could, and that person would now be his new master.  Wiping away tears the brothers stand up, and as one, place their hands on the Keyblade's grip.  Both feel the grip of the weapon and a strange feeling in their hearts, a sense of peace and justice.

  "Very well..." Terra says satisfied

A few hours later, Orario, shopping street

 Hestia was sad; her children disobeyed her and went down to the dungeon even when she had forbidden them and now, they were both in the dungeon, injured and trying to fight.

 She could only wait and work until she goes home and then she'll have a little talk with her kids.

 "Excuse me, can we talk to you for a moment" someone says in the background but Hestia doesn't pay attention and continues working on serving the customers in front of her

 "Of course- oh it's you, what do you want?"  Hestia's boss is surprised to see these two people but she still doesn't pay attention

 "We want to borrow our goddess for a few hours, please be quick" a second person says and this time Hestia finds the voice strangely familiar

"...and the reason for that would be?"  His boss asked a little suspiciously

 "We need to talk about something urgent with her/We need to talk about something urgent with her" they both replied at the same time and now Hestia recognized the voices she was trying to ignore

 Dropping a customer's order in the process, the family goddess turned around and there they were, Bell and Venna.

 "You guys came back!!"  Hestia screams as she throws herself on top of her children, who hug her back without complaining, which reminds her "Wait! You're still hurting, how did you dare dis…obey…me…"

 Hestia looks, looks, and even seeing it, she can't believe it.  Bell and Venna are healed, completely healed, even the bandages she made for both of them had already been removed.

 "What…"

 Before the goddess or her employer could say anything else, Bell placed a bag full of Valis on the man's lap and Venna took her goddess's post for a brief moment tending to all the customers.

 "I'm paying you for the time we're going to need our goddess and a little more so you don't lose out on sales" Bell said all at once and grabbed his goddess's arm, pulling her away "Venna, let's go "

 The twin hearing this delivered the last order, left another valis bag on Hestia's chief's lap, and ran after her brother and her goddess

 For some reason, the goddess felt a huge lump forming in her throat and a huge weight manifesting in her heart.  Why this whole situation felt like a prelude to something horrible

Some minutes later

 "Goddess, we… need to leave Orario"

 The goddess was bewildered, she didn't hear what had just been said.

 Bell and Venna were standing up holding her so she wouldn't fall, her sadness and pain was palpable but they both had to get it all straightened out before things got worse

 "Goddess, when we left earlier today, we were called upon by Master Terra's unique Skill that lets him call friends and allies in emergencies" Venna began to explain before giving her goddess a hug, who began to frown at the mention of their mentor

 "He needed to talk to us, and in order not to have anyone eavesdropping on the conversation, he called us inside the Dungeon. Inside, he introduced us to someone else, someone who... will take over our training from now on" Bell completed and Hestia couldn't take it anymore

 "WHY?!?"  The question and the scream were enough to make the brothers scared, but the tears that flowed from the goddess's eyes, it broke their hearts "Why do you keep going after this man? Why can't you see that he is only mistreating you? I've seen the two of you come home bruised and exhausted, both of you suffering at the hands of this cruel man and you still defend him. Why? WHY?!?"

 Hestia continued to cry after venting all the pain and hurt she had been feeling since this all started.

 Why couldn't they see that she needed them?  Why were they leaving?

 She didn't have time to delve into these questions, as the two brothers hugged her, with something wet falling on her back- are they… are they crying?

 "We… don't want to leave either…" Bell reveals between sobs "but we… are too weak and can barely support you and ourselves"

 "I know that our wounds were serious, we never deny that but… the master… he is not a cruel man… he has been holding back all this time while he trained us and as we were getting better, he was letting go, so that we could grow more and become better, but he… he…" Venna counted through tears and collapsed before she could reveal her master's condition

 "Master… he's dying…" Bell completed for his sister, equally in tears, "he has a very unique condition and if he keeps fighting or training us, he's going to… he's going to die"

 When those words registered in Hestia's mind, she couldn't believe it, not even a word from her children was false;  everything they said was true.

 "And he hasn't trained us until now on his whim. We asked him and he said he saw worthiness in us, worthiness that he wanted to nurture and grow. That's why he hid his condition from us all this time, but now..." Venna continued

 "He didn't want our potential to end with him, he wants us to grow up and be strong, strong to protect you, goddess" Bell completed, releasing her embrace and placing a hand on Hestia's face to wipe away her tears, with Venna doing the same

 The family goddess couldn't be more surprised, they went through all this horrible training, and they suffered at this man's hands because they wanted to protect her?

 "We always saw you as the mother we never had. You gave us a chance when everyone else threw us on the street and accepted us even though we were weak" Venna comments hugging her goddess- no, her mother and putting all the love in her hug of a daughter "and that's why we wanted to give you the best of us and our actions but we never managed to get even the least of it"

"As the master is getting worse, he called an acquaintance of his who can continue to train us and with that bring our potential to the surface, he was even the one who cured us" Bell said before placing a kiss on Hestia's left cheek, with Venna repeating the act on the other cheek.

"Don't worry goddess, this isn't goodbye" Bell tells her, now grinning with a face full of traces of tears.

 "Yeah. We won't be gone for long. You wait, when we get back we'll be much stronger and more skilled" Venna adds smiling, holding her goddess's hands gently.

 "and we won't have to go through poverty anymore " Bell comments with a small laugh

 "Yeah. That's a promise" Venna finishes pulling Hestia's hands to her chest, so the goddess can feel her heart.

To Hestia this whole situation was wrong, none of it made sense, but now…she could see, that none of her children's words held a single trace of a lie.  They were even determined to do what they could for her, even go through absurd things that, apparently, would make them stronger.

 "Okay" she finally replied, her eyes still swollen from crying and radiating joy "I will allow it. But only if you are going to come back in a year. Maybe two, but no more days, understand?"  She seriously warned

The siblings smiled before answering together

 "I would never even dream of it"

 So hours later, the albino twins were on the fourth floor of the dungeon with their relatively small baggage ready for the trip.

"Ready?" Venna asks a little uneasy

 Bell before answering takes his sister's hand and gives it an encouraging squeeze before they both enter the last portal of their master Terra and from there they would travel with their new master, the young Keyblade wielder Sora

Chapter Text

 World of Adventurers, Night time.

 The Day Stars, white lights that defy even the sun itself and win. At night, they are the brightest stars the adventuring world has ever seen, and now, on this night, they are shining their brightest, so bright that night has become the day

 All adventurers, traders, and even the gods stopped everything they were doing to watch the sudden dawn, watching the Day Stars become equivalent to the Sun.

  FOOOWWMMM!

 Suddenly… both Daystars disappeared, again plunging Orario into a night of crescent moon and a faint glow.

 "What is happening?"  A god asked upon seeing this and looked at Apollo who came to the middle of the street equally surprised but with a smile on his face "Damn you! you dare use your divine powers just because two stars are shining brighter than the sun ?"  The god interrogates Apollo by grabbing him

 "Let go of me! I have nothing to do with this" Apollo counter-arguments, removing the other god's hands from his clothes.

 Elsewhere, adventurers were running through the streets heading towards the Guild to seek information about the sudden disappearance of the Daystars.  Even to the oldest members of the guild, this was a mystery and nothing seemed to make sense regarding this disappearance.

 The situation reached a point where Ouranos needed to call all the gods and gave them a high-level mission: to appease public tempers while he prepared a speech to affirm everyone's safety.

Meanwhile, in a small clearing two days journey from Orario

 It was a night like any other for the animals of the forest, until a strange light lit up in the sky and turned night into day.  Leaving several animals confused and disturbed and then the light went out and night returned.  The animals relaxed and went back to doing their thing, whether they were nocturnal or daytime until an earthquake started.

 A distortion manifests itself in the middle of the forest; first, the space started to distort in the middle of the clearing, then a light appeared in the middle of the distortion and small lightning started to manifest from within the light.  The distortion began to grow in size until the distortion became a portal and from within that portal emerged two figures: two knights in white armor.

 The two white knights walked out of the portal and after that, the portal closed, they both looked around and saw that they were in a small clearing.

 "Haha… we… we're back…" one of the knights speaks, the woman, as she puts her hands under her chest.

 "Yes… we… are home…" The second knight, the man, says looking up, seeing all the stars in the night sky, stars he has known since he was a small child living with his sister, the female knight, on the small farm where they grew up.

 They both look at each other before yelling and jumping, saying things like 'we made it' or 'we'll see her again’.  Their little celebration ends with them hugging each other joyfully at the end of their  long journey, but now, the next journey awaits.

 "We'd better keep the armor, don't you think?"  The female knight asks with certain humor in her voice

 The male knight is confused for a moment before understanding and consenting "Yeah, she'll love the surprise"

 With that both begin to walk, looking for the exit of the forest;  not that they need it, the light of their dearest person's heart is visible to both of them even from here.

a few hours later

 "Calm down citizens of Orario. This event certainly raises questions and doubts but rest assured that everything is ok, we gods have a sacred duty to protect you and for this reason, we are temporarily lifting the restriction on the use of our divine powers"

 the ruling god of Orario and leader of the Guild, Ouranos, tells the crowd with the use of a magical artifact that amplifies his voice and broadcasts it throughout the city.

 The people are surprised by the revelation and some malicious gods are already starting to smile and plan how to abuse this situation-

 "HOWEVER!"  Ouranos' voice takes on a harsher and more severe tone "To all the gods who did not attend the emergency meeting. Know that the use of your divine powers is RESTRICTED to PROTECT the city and its inhabitants! Make good use of your brief freedom to the good of the city and its citizens and they will be justly rewarded" Ouranos ends his speech by letting the gods contemplate their current situation and also letting the citizens feel safer

 "Make sure that no god gets stupid ideas and ensure that no one enters the dungeon, until further notice, the dungeon will be isolated. There is no doubt that this event has also affected it" Ouranos orders Ganesha, one of the gods with the most numerous family of orario and is also one of the closest allies of Ouranos.

 The god of the masses bows in reverence before leaving the room of Ouranos to carry on the orders he has been given as the old ruling god leans wearily back on his throne.

 Now there's no turning back, he must use his divine power to protect the city and ensure the situation is under control.  Still… he couldn't help but feel as if something much greater was coming, but while the other gods could only guess and speculate, Ouranos was hard and cold certain that the presence he, like an ancient god, felt coming from the stars for the past two years and now intensely during the glow they generated, it wasn't strange.  almost as if-

 "Ugh!"  Ouranos' eyes widened "is it… no… that's impossible…"

 "My lord, what ails you?"  Fels, the mage who paid the price for immortality by becoming undead and confidant of Ouranos, asks leaving his hiding place in the shadows.

 "The presences that we have felt in the daytime stars in the last two years and that intensified for a brief moment before they went out" Ouranos begins already feeling fear, fear that he has only felt once in his life "those presences… I know such presences..."

 Fels is intrigued to hear Ouranos with such fear and concern "Who could have such power? A renegade god?"

 "No… not even a god possesses such a level of power. In fact… no god of this world…" Ouranos says with a faraway look.

 "'of this world'? What do you mean of this world, my lord?"  Fels can't understand what the old god is saying

"this… is part of the history of the universe…" Ouranos contemplates whether it is correct to say the rest, but if his premonition is correct… "a long time ago… there was only one god… the Creator… he created a single world and filled it with life when he finished his work, he turned..." the old god pauses for a moment to recover his memories, memories that he has been repressing for a long time.

 "He… turned? Turned into what, my lord?"  Fels was curious but something wasn't right

 "He turned into a moon… a moon in the shape of a heart and to ensure that order in his creation was maintained… he created a weapon… a wea-we-weapon… so terrible…" Ouranos put his hand over his mouth. to try to hold back the vomit that was rising in his throat, while the memories of a bloody war, a war he had lived through "so many… dead… so much blood…" the governor of Orario whispered in terror

 Fels approached the throne of Ouranos and placed his hand on the god's back trying to help him "my lord, calm down. Please leave it, the important thing now is to protect the city, regardless of what this presence is, nothing can with the power of a god-"

 "If that's what I think it is, not even all the gods in Orario or the Tenkai will be enough to stop it" the old god interrupts Fels, causing the mage to walk away in shock "when the weapon was created, a war broke out to take control of it, countless lives were lost and the world created by the first god disappeared, destroyed in the flames of war"

Now was the mage truly terrified, an entity with the power to destroy the world, and from an unrecorded age?  How dangerous this entity can be

 "But from the destruction of the original world, our world was born and the elder gods, like myself, swore to protect this world" Ouranos completes looking up to a spot on the ceiling in his room, where, despite the shadow that permeates the ceiling, there is a mural with engravings of gods facing armored warriors, wielding strange weapons;  weapons that resemble keys

 "And if they have returned, then a new war is imminent!" Ouranos says looking furiously at the warriors of the keys.

Hestia familia home

 "Goddess please don't do this" Raux says desperately, he didn't believe for a minute Uranus' words

 Not that he is against the governor of Orario, but ever since (for him, many adventurers and citizens) the gods are forbidden to use their divine powers while in the mortal realm, and if they dare they will be sent back to the Tenkai (the realm of the gods and paradise of mortals) and will never be seen again by the mortals of this age.

 "Raux..." Hestia speaks already manifesting her divine power "this is something that we gods must do to protect you, our children. How can I call myself the goddess of family and home if I don't do the least of it?"  Hestia is serious but still loving.

 Since Bell and Venna have gone, she has matured as a person and a goddess, although she is still somewhat lazy.

 Hugging her captain and giving him a kiss on the forehead, like a mother, Hestia reaffirms that nothing bad will happen to her and with that, she releases all her divine power covering her body in an aura of light and power that lives up to the fact. of her being a goddess

 Both Poux and Cort are also worried about Hestia but before either can say anything to stop their goddess from leaving and meeting the other gods, she interrupts them.

 "Don't worry my children, I'll be fine. All the gods have agreed to bend the rules this time for everyone's sake, which means none of us will be sent back to the Tenkai."

 Young adventurers are still not comfortable with the idea of their goddess using her powers, as the risk of her being sent back is too high for them.  Even so, the goddess leaves the house and heads through the streets of the city she has come to love and joins the other gods heading to the Tower of Babel. Upon arriving at the tower, which is not only the largest building in the city but also the place where the gods gather for important meetings and events that concern them.

  The highest floor of the Tower of Babel

 All the gods were ready, whatever the event that blotted out the day stars would not threaten the people of Orario, not as long as they were here to stop it.

 As one, the gods lifted their hands and released their divine power to the sky.  The divine energy generated by them focused on a single point before expanding and covering the entire city on a huge glowing dome before it disappeared but its presence was still perceptible.

"Wait" one of the gods interrupted Ouranos, this was Loki, the goddess of cheating and one of the two most powerful and influential families in Orario "I think I speak for everyone here, but Ouranos you are not telling the whole truth about this situation "

"... I don't know what you're talking about, Loki. Seal your powers and return to your family" Ouranos denies and tries to leave, but the gods surround him.

"Now now… is old Ouranos keeping secrets again?" Ishtar, the goddess of lust and "ruler" of the red light district, scoffs "come on old man, you've lived longer than all of us and seen more too, what do you know about this event?"

Instead of answering, Ouranos ignores the question and with a surge of power that none of the gods and goddesses have seen, the old god sealed the powers of all the gods again, including his own.

"There's nothing to know about this incident. Just do your duty and protect the city."

With that, the old god withdrew from the precinct leaving the gods to discuss what they could about this situation.

Orario, two days later

It's been two days since the strange event happened and the gods, adventurers and the guild still couldn't say what that strange phenomenon was.

People continued to go on with their lives as usual but the event still resided in their memories and the conversations, speculations and rumors pointed to something strange that had been encountered by merchants coming to Orario.

They say that on their way to Orario, they passed an abnormal landscape; a pillar, but not just any pillar, a pillar made of the purest, most transparent, and coldest ice they had ever seen, the ice was so cold that even the fire of torches went out next to it. the merchants tried to extract this mysterious ice but it was so strong that none of the merchants could, however, they marked the place on their maps to return to the place when they had an escort of adventurers to try again.

Others talked about the rare packs of monsters that are found on the surface, descendants of monsters from an ancient age, which suddenly seem to have become more reclusive and harder to find. It was nothing new, in recent years these monsters have been acting strange and appearing in smaller numbers, and some believe they are going to extinction.

It was to this kind of scenery that two travelers finally arrived in the city of Orario.

Orario main street

the people were going about their days, as they were surprised by the sight that now graces their eyes.

"Who are they?"

“Are they from another country?”

“What are these armors made of?”

“Are they soldiers? I don't see weapons”

these were some of the things people said as they watched the strange travelers walk down Orario's main street, watching the vendors and adventurers stop as soon as they got close.

“they think we are deaf” the female Knight whispers to her companion

"Let them" the male Knight whispers back patiently "I don't think they've ever seen armor with these designs before"

“maybe… but they also don't have to stop everything just to look at us” she comments again, noticing the looks of some adventurers who are staring at them, a look of distrust and challenge

Moments pass with the people giving the two travelers passage, when a child gets in their way, a small cat child, who is transfixed by the imposing appearance of the two white knights. the child is scared and starts to whimper, which makes several people look surprised and also angry, but before the situation could escalate, the female rider approached the child, kneeling down and putting a hand in front of the child, did something surprising: She created an ice flower without reciting any incantations, let alone using a catalyst, such as staff or magic stone

Not only that, but the male knight also approached and handed the child a beautiful necklace, on it the coat of arms of a strange bird that she had never seen. with a huge smile on her face the child accepts the gifts, thanks them both, and runs back to her mother, who watched everything with her face locked in shock but seeing the smile on her daughter's face, she was also overjoyed. both knights continued their walk down the street

Hestia Family House

“aaa…” Raux breathes a sigh of relief after a good shower, nothing better to end the day than a good shower.

today was a relatively good day, although only tomorrow the restriction on entry to the Dungeon will be removed, ok, he managed to take advantage of the last two days to get a new sword; Poux got a new ballista and some potion-making ingredients and Cort bought a round buckle shield, which officially makes him the shield of his group. all in all, things were going well for them

*knock-knock*

"I'll answer" Hestia warns, since she's the closest, when opening the door she comes across two white knights "... can I help you?" she asks politely

“Yes, we are looking for a goddess,” the male Knight says, his voice strangely familiar to Hestia.

"Yeah, she's a little goddess, she wears a very short white dress that hugs her chest" now it was the female Knight who was no stranger to her

Hestia doesn't respond as their voices are strangely familiar to her.

"Goddess? Are you alright?" the Knight Man asks, sensing the goddess's hesitation

"Hmm? Excuse me, I… I got distracted for a moment. Could you repeat your question please?”

both knights look at each other and both decide they better get on with it. then the two put their hands on their helmets and remove them, revealing their faces to Hestia.

The home goddess couldn't believe what she was seeing, right there in front of her, clad in gleaming white armor.

“Bell… Venna…?” The goddess asks, hesitantly and with tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

The twins just smile before replying “Goddess, we're back home!/Goddess, we're back home!”

Hestia's heart fills with joy and she jumps into the arms of her first followers

"you guys came back!"

Never had the goddess of the family felt so happy, it was like a piece of her soul had returned to her, and indeed it was, finally after two long and excruciating years, Bell and Venna Cranel finally returned home.

“STAY AWAY FROM HER!!”

Hestia feels a hand pulling her away from Bell and Venna and suddenly, she is thrown into Poux and Cort's arms as Raux draws Cort's short sword.

“BACK!!” the captain of the Hestia family bellows furiously

“Raux, what are you doing?” Hestia asks trying to break free from Poux and Cort

“Goddess, please stay back here, he might end up hurting you” Cort says worried about his goddess, as he has felt the anger of his enraged captain before.

“Talking to him is practically impossible now. just a miracle for him not to attack you" Poux also warns, even for her, the captain's current state was huge and if nothing was done, Raux could end up killing the two who are in front of him.

Chapter Text

 Bell was in shock, but his time traveling between worlds and the adventures he had taught him to hide his emotions. So he remained with an impassive face, calm and serene.

 Venna likewise maintained a neutral expression but beneath her calm, and collected face was doubt and affront.  Who does this man think he is?

 "I don't think we know each other" Bell begins calmly and patiently, trying to avoid a possible fight, but this only proves to be the wrong decision.

 "And why is it? Is it because you two had the audacity to lie to the goddess and abandon her!"  Raux accuses before advancing against Bell

 Venna intercepts the blow, disarming the enraged adventurer and twisting his arm into a martial arts strike and putting him in a disadvantaged position.

 "Abandon?! You must have a problem in your head. We never abandoned our goddess, we went away because we were training" Venna retorts the accusation firmly and kicks the weapon away.

 "Venna" Bell says putting his hand on her sister's shoulder "let him go"

 Venna understands what Bell really means by these words: nothing they say will be enough to prove the authenticity of their words, only their actions.

 Understanding this, the albino female lets go of Raux and walks away, picking up her helmet that had fallen to the ground.

Bell looks at the people in front of him, more specifically at Hestia, who has tears in her eyes, this time from sadness.  With an apology in his gaze, Bell stares at Raux.

 "You are the current captain of the familia, correct?"

 "I'm not the 'current', I'm the captain of the Hestia familia; the familia you two you scum have abandoned!"  Raux fervently declares with a spiteful, hate-filled face

 Venna and Bell were perplexed, how could this boy have been chosen by their goddess?  The boy had a heart full of hate and rage, but this darkness seemed to be directed, only and only to them, as if they were unwanted elements.  Well, standing here wouldn't answer a thing.

 "Let's try to be civil, okay?"  Bell try again

 "CIVIL?! With animals like you? Hah, soon you'll tell me you're heroes and that you came back to share the spoils of war" Raux speaks furiously and with disdain before giving a dry and bitter laugh "hahaha… you guys are just that… go away when you don't need someone and then come back when things get better just to take advantage of the benefits. Yes… I got it… I already understand how the minds of crooks like you work!"

'This is bad' Bell thinks seeing, not the body but the soul of Raux

 'The darkness in his soul is growing abnormally, this way he will end up transforming' Venna realizes and prepares her hand to summon her Keyblade, before her brother holds it

 'No, it will draw too much attention and we may risk hurting the boy and not purifying him' At Bell's warning, Venna lowers her hand and relaxes her posture, much to the confusion of the others

 During their journey, Bell and Venna have learned to see the hearts and souls of people, whatever they are, and this has helped them immensely in many situations on their journey.  With Raux the situation was no different;  the young captain of the Hestia family was letting the darkness inside him take over and that would be disastrous.

 "Let's do this; I introduce myself first, then my sister, then you introduce yourselves and finally we talk about whatever the problem is, okay?"  Bell makes a proposal and before Raux can burst out again he introduces himself: "I'm Bell Cranel, apprentice to Masters Terra and Sora, and this is..."

 "Venna, Venna Cranel, also apprenticed to masters Terra and Sora and we, are returning from traveling and training with our last master, Sora Shotoko*"

(A/N: * I know Sora from Kingdom Hearts doesn't have a last name but I've seen them (other authors) create surnames for him and other characters in the franchise several times and I chose the Japanese surname Shotoko because it means "holy benevolence" or "holy teaching", emphasizing that he was a good mentor to the twins)

Raux remains silent for a few moments before relaxing his posture, which makes everyone relax thinking the situation has calmed down until he tries to punch Bell in the face again.  This time being stopped by Bell himself, who held the punch with just one finger.

 "DO YOU THINK I WANT TO KNOW OF YOUR LIES?!?"  Raux yells furiously at Bell, several veins in his face stand out from the effort of the punch and the anger rising inside him.

 The albino boy realizing that anger is blinding the boy in front of him decided to appeal to, perhaps, the only resource that can solve this problem

 "How about a duel?"

 Bell's question shocks everyone (except Venna), even more so Hestia who knows Bell as a pure-hearted pacifist.

 "What did you say…?"  Raux asks in shock

 "Venna and I fight as a single person and we are both still Level 1 adventurers, against you, who is Level 2, it won't be the slightest bit unfair to you" Bell elaborates and then pushes Raux back with his finger.

'He guessed my level, how?'  The captain of the Hestia family questions himself as he tries to find a solution to his current situation 'no, it doesn't matter, anyone can guess the level of a veteran adventurer by the punch, there's nothing surprising'

 Raux then remembers something that might help him, perhaps, scare off these 'crooks'.

 "Tomorrow. At the Ganesha family coliseum. I have a friend who is part of it and he owes me a favor" Raux says, confusing the others before explaining "we will fight there, in front of a city crowd and with the sponsorship from the Ganesha family. Do you agree?"

 Raux asks with a smirk on his face, believing the twins would back down from the offer.

 "Well, if that's what you want, fine" Venna replies without any hesitation, shocking Raux "but we have one condition"

 Raux growls in disgust but asks "what do you want?"

 "We're going to fight you toe to toe. What do you think, is it fair to you?"  Venna speaks her condition with no malice in her voice

 Raux is irritated by the insinuation that they are taking advantage

 "Deal!"  Hestia responds before Raux can even speak.

 "Alright, if the goddess agreed, then it's decided" Bell says before putting his helmet back on.

Venna puts her helmet back on, speaking to everyone present "until this situation is resolved, we will stay at an inn near here"

With that, the twins say goodbye and leave, leaving the Hestia familia members alone. Which leads Raux to punch the wall.

"Damn it!" Raux screams in fury before punching the wall again, this time hard, breaking it "Why? Why?!"

Raux continues to punch the wall as Poux and Cort watch in horror and Hestia is shocked at how similar this situation is to the departure of her beloved Bell and Venna two years ago.

"Goddess, why?!? Why can't you see?!? They are liars, crooks, and scoundrels who don't care about you!" Raux says as he punches the wall until he opens a hole in it with one last punch "I'm going to unmask them... prove to everyone they're nothing but scum and make them undo whatever they did to you, for them have left you like this"

With that promise, Raux walks out the door, leaving two very scared adventurers and a saddened and confused goddess.

Sometime later, at night; with the twins

"Can you believe the audacity of that guy? How rude, not even to say his name" Venna grumbled as she removed her shoulder armor; a magical artifact that can hold an entire set of armor within itself and at the touch of a special button, cover the wearer with said armor in all its glory.

Bell just listened, sitting on one of the beds in the room they'd both rented for the night; a room with two beds and a lamp for lighting, it doesn't seem like much, but it's good enough for both of you to rest.

"And he called us scum! He doesn't even know us and he already draws horrible conclusions about us. I hope that coliseum is full because when I get my hands on him, I'm going to-"

"Venna!"

Bell yells, causing his sister to shut up and look at him questioningly.

"*sigh*...rest. We've taken a long journey home, learned a lot in the meantime, and among the things we've learned, what was one of the things that helped us the most at this time?"

The young human frowns for a moment before sighing and replying.

"...don't keep bad things in your heart..."

"They are a poison that corrupts you" Bell completes before going to bed "Tomorrow, we will solve this problem. Really" With that, the brother closes his eyes and goes to sleep

Venna on the other hand pouts and mutters something before finishing changing and lying down right away.

'Tomorrow we'll put that clown in his place. Tomorrow we'll get back to you, Mom.” With these thoughts in mind, Venna follows her brother's example and falls asleep.

Ganesha Family House, a few hours before

"Raux, for the last time… I can't do this" a member of the Ganesha familia, Appu, says to Raux one more time before trying to explain again the Ganesha familia hierarchies and how the one who has to decide such is Ganesha himself or the captain of your familia

"Appu… I need this favor and it has to be this way" Raux tries to appeal again, not wanting to go into details, as he's been avoiding for a while, but he knows he'll have to open the game if he wants help.

"Raux- *sigh* As long as you don't tell me why you need to use the colosseum, I can't do anything. Captain Shakti won't authorize it and Ganesha will question why an adventurer from a different familia asking for something this big" Appu explains the real reason I can't help (again)

There are times when Raux can be incredibly stubborn and not listen to reason, so the best alternative is to keep repeating it until he listens.

Raux is quiet for a few minutes, thinking until he sees that he really has no option but to give the reason: to talk about the ex-captains, something he hates to do.

"Remember I told you about the former captains of my familia?" Raux asks, his mouth getting a bad taste from talking about the two traitors.

“The ones who disappeared with an empty promise that they were going to train to get stronger outside of Orario?” Appu asks not understanding but then the pieces fall into place "Wait, aren't you saying that-"

"They're back" Raux completes without looking at Appu, preferring to stare at the statue of the god Ganesha that was inside the entrance hall.

Appu swallows hard before asking “but… why are you asking for this favor? what did they tell you that made you come here?”

“The brother, Bell if I'm not mistaken, proposed to me to duel; me against them both as they are still level one adventurers and I am a level two on one condition that I fight toe to toe with them" Raux elaborated and then smirked "and I chose the Ganesha family coliseum because I know you're going to sell tickets to the public to watch this fight and when I win, not only will I prove they're a fraud, I'll also show the whole town that they're worthless.”

Appu was startled by the way Raux was looking at him, the malice in his eyes was really palpable and his words terrifying, to say the least; now the young Ganesha family member was at an impasse, he really owed Raux a favor for helping him in a critical situation, but he also had to respect the hierarchy of command. what should he do in this situation?

“I AM GANESHA!!!” The god of the masses, Ganesha, shouted as he entered his house, as he always did “come on my children, we have a lot of work to do tonight! tomorrow we will have a great show at the coliseum”

here is the solution to Appu's problem!

“Ganesha-Sama!” Appu speaks running to the god of his familia

"Yea! I am Ganesha!” The elephant-masked god yells, overjoyed that a member of his familia has spoken his name, but he soon notices his follower's apprehensive gaze “what happened to my child? is there a problem?”

The god of the masses then looks at Raux and sees the fierce look he is directing at his subordinate; Appu notices the god looking hard at Raux, who is also looking hard at him, and immediately tries to dissuade the situation.

“S-s-Sir. I need to ask you something” Appu starts desperate, wanting to prevent a complicated situation from happening

"what would it be?" the god asks not taking his eyes off Raux

"Could you include a fight in tomorrow's show?" the question surprises both Ganesha and Raux "That's Raux Mellan, Captain of the Hestia familia and... well... I owe him a favor and he asked me to be able to use the coliseum for a fight against two people who challenged him"

“and he decided to call in the favor you owed him for that” Ganesha completes with seriousness in his voice

“The two who challenged me are two liars, fakes, and manipulators who blatantly lied to my goddess, breaking her heart and making her suffer. For Two Years in a Row!” Raux explains his actions

Raux's words surprise both Ganesha and the other members of the Ganesha family who were nearby hearing the conversation at a glance.

“I want to make them suffer for what they did to my goddess, but I want to do it in a way that those two can never deceive anyone again. Please, Lord Ganesha" Raux explains putting himself in the position of Dogeza (a form of Japanese bow used when someone asks for a favor or asks for forgiveness for some misconduct) "Let me fight these crooks in your coliseum, to make sure those two are duly punished and everyone sees that they are worthless.”

Ganesha listened to everything the young Raux said and although his intentions were sincere at heart, he could not allow such a thing, both for his family's fair reputation and because he himself was not in favor of such an act of violence and humiliation.

“I'm sorry young man. but I will have to deny your request” Ganesha informs the young captain “I would not, in good conscience, allow a fight for the purpose of humiliating and ridiculing someone to take place in my coliseum, it would be an affront to everything I and my followers do. I'm sorry but you'll have to take your fight somewhere else-”

"I BEG YOU! LET ME FACE THEM IN THE COLISEUM, IN FRONT OF THE CROWD!” Raux bellowed with his head still lowered, touching the ground, “those crooks… they were gone for two long years, leaving the goddess Hestia alone and grieving for the loss of her followers, and now, two years later, they have returned, dressed in pompous white armor, saying they came home! the audacity of those two scoundrels knows no bounds! I have to-"

“Did you say white armor?!” Ganesha interrupts the young human upon hearing about the white armors

"Hmm? d-said… but what-”

"There are reports of two strangers arriving in Orario earlier today, wearing white armor of strange designs..." Ganesha comments before turning to one of his followers and ordering him to bring one of his familia members who guarded Orario's gate today. "And bring two medium-sized memorial stones!"

Some minutes later

Ganesha stood between Raux and the Orario gate guard with two semi-transparent apple-sized stones in hand.

“Very well, I want you to focus on the image of these two knights that you saw today and place their images on this memorial stone” Ganesha instructed the guard and then turned to Raux with the other memorial stone in hand “And you show the faces of these two former members of your family, you saw them without their helmets, correct?”

Raux is a little confused about this but he nods and takes the stone in his hands before focusing on the image of the two albino brothers' faces. After a few moments, a light began to be emitted from inside the crystal and it began to manifest the image of two people; a boy and a girl, with white hair, red eyes, and most importantly, two white armors with extremely complex and strange designs

"AH!"

“Lord Ganesha!”

Ganesha was startled to see both images, those armors, their designs, were- no... Ouranos warned him about these people, but he didn't want to believe that such beings were real, because after all it's impossible- or IT WAS impossible for such devastating beings to exist. , but now the proof was there, right in front of him.

'I don't believe… what Ouranos told me was really true… so these two are- I have to warn him, but if they know then they will- don't wait, maybe' Ganesha's mind was in complete chaos but he thought of a quick solution to the problem in front of you “Young man… okay… I will allow you to fight in the coliseum, but you should do that in the afternoon as soon as the show is over, okay?”

Raux was surprised by these words, but accepted the proposal immediately, fearing that the god would change his mind, and soon left with a smile on his face, ready to prepare for the big fight tomorrow.

“L-lord Ganesha, why?” the guard asked, shocked as were all the other members of his family.

“I have to go to the Guild. I need to talk to Ouranos, this is important, don’t tell anyone about this, understand?” The god commanded in a serious and uncharacteristic manner to his subordinates. everyone nodded and with that, the god left to the guild, to inform Ouranos of this unexpected development of events.

Orario Commercial Street, the morning of the next day

Bell and Venna were walking down the shopping street again, this time without their armor and in their traveler clothes; Bell was dressed in a simple white shirt with a star symbol, a dark green and, yellow jacket, splitting his left side as dark green and his right side as yellow; His pants were light brown and he was equipped with several small pouches for potions and other items.

Venna in turn was dressed in a blue and purple shirt with a star symbol, and a crimson and blue jacket, split like her brother's; she wore a skirt with tight pants underneath and had two belts with dozens of pouches for potions and items.

both walked calmly, enjoying the lively and good-humored atmosphere that the inhabitants have in their daily lives.

“impressive how a wardrobe change makes all the difference” Venna comments sarcastically and somewhat offended before taking a bite of her breakfast, a fruit crepe, and sweet syrup

“haha… come on sister, you know you'd expect us to draw attention with those armors” Bell comments awkwardly, trying to appease his sister's tempers “At least our armors don't have openings at multiple points” Bell comments suggestively

Venna quickly understands and smiles mischievously “Yes… they're not open in easy-to-reach spots. or have attached shields too small to be useful,” Venna continues, her smile growing wider and wider.

"and most importantly, they don't need a fix every time they get punched hard" Bell ends up looking at his sister with a huge smile on his face

“hahahahaha!”

“hahahahaha!”

Both brothers start laughing out loud, attracting the attention of some people who soon ignore them as it is nothing that interests them.

meanwhile in another world

“Atchoo!” a young man with brown hair suddenly sneezes

“Seiya, are you okay?” a girl- (wait... it's a boy!) with green hair asks looking at his friend

“I am… but out of nowhere my nose made me want to sneeze- Atchoo!” the young man, Seiya tries to answer before sneezing again

"Heh, they must be talking about you behind your back" a young blue-haired man remarks with some arrogance, before also sneezing "Atchoo!"

“Heh, you were saying?” Seiya asks with a mischievous smile, which the blue-haired boy doesn't answer and Seiya starts to laugh

Back to Orario, at the Tower of Babel

Freya was bored, after the event of the disappearance of the daytime stars, nothing interesting happened and it bored her. then she turned her gaze to the city below, using her Discerning Eye to see the souls of mortals below; she was looking to find a soul capable of captivating her, at the moment, no soul caught her attention, they were all equally simple

*Shwin!!*

'hmm?' Freya was surprised, withdrawing her view of the city for a moment, she refocused her vision on a specific location; the commercial district, for an instant she could have sworn she saw it.

*SHOOOOOOOWWWWWWMMMMMMMM*

…

…

…

Freya felt a bright light hitting her face-wait for bright light? but she was in her room at babel!

And with that, the goddess of beauty opened her eyes and was faced with a blue sky, full of white and serene clouds. Feeling her back wet, Freya got up and saw that she was standing, on top of a surface of water, which stretched to the horizon with no piece of land in sight.

'What's going on?' the goddess thought in surprise, that wasn't right, she was in her living room looking at the city when-

when she thought she saw something in the crowd, something that caught her eye. but what was it? she couldn't even see before waking up here

so it was you

“!?” Freya quickly turns around to hear a strange voice "what..." was all the goddess could say as she looked at who, or rather, what was behind her: it was one of the day stars!

Was it you who looked at the city with that hungry look?

another voice said behind her again, this one seemed to be female.

Turning around once more the goddess is faced with, again, another day star, this time the second one.

"...the daytime stars...how?" was all the goddess managed to say before the two stars glowed brightly, forcing her to close her eyes.

…

…

…

“Lady Freya!” a voice called the goddess, making her wake up, revealing Ottar, captain of her family holding her “Are you ok? you suddenly fainted”

listening to her stronger adventurer's explanation, Freya turns her gaze away and notices that she can no longer see the strange light that hit her.

"Yes, Ottar... I'm fine, it was nothing" Freya said casually, getting up, now she realizes that she had fallen to the ground when her captain picked her up and goes to her armchair to get her wine glass.

‘For a moment I saw the day stars.. within the city? how is that possible?' thought the goddess before taking a sip of her wine.

Back to the shopping street

"..."

"...... do you think that was enough?" Bell asks his sister looking at Babel

"Maybe…" Venna replies with an air of seriousness "what do you think of us helping to spread the fight announcement? Maybe it will help the grumpy captain to like us" Venna suggests trying to change the subject.

Bell frowns for a moment before replying, “I don't think anything is going to make him look at us with less hate. not as long as that darkness in his heart remains unchecked.”

"Urgh, why don't we just use our k-" Venna tries to speak but Bell covers his mouth looking desperately around.

“Have you gone crazy? we can't go around talking about 'it' like that without caution” Bell reminds her sister of something they both had to learn the hard way some time ago; never speak of Keyblades in public or without caution from those who may hear

“Oops..” Venna says as her brother removes his hand from her mouth “but still, it would have been so much easier and simpler to have just used -you know- and solved the problem!”

Bell flicks his sister's forehead, exasperated by the impulsive attitude she's always had, not that he's any different but at least he tries to be the sensible one of both of them to keep them from getting into trouble constantly.

“Venna… think about it, what happened when we showed our weapons in front of the Konoha shinobi?” Bell asked trying to make Venna understand

"...they sent us straight to jail because we were armed and dangerous..." Venna replied disgruntled.

"Then. we can't just take them off like that. not up here at least, but in the Dungeon, the rules change" Bell elaborates but then starts thinking with his hand on his chin, a habit he and Venna picked up from their master, Sora "But you're right, our weapons are the best solution to free him from that excess of darkness that is eating him away”

Venna then starts to think too, with her hand on her chin, and starts muttering some ideas to her brother "What if we use light magic?"

“It won’t work, we agreed to fight as equals”

“Damn, I shouldn't have suggested that. what if we use them like this: swoosh, one swipe, and then ‘sheath’ them without anyone seeing?”

“The gods who will be in the audience will definitely see it and not to mention the high-level adventurers”

“grr. How about you stop finding problems and find solutions?” Venna asks annoyedly and Bell laughs awkwardly.

"You're right. well… our spells and weapons are blocked, but we can still use our Skills but that's easy because they're not detectable… hmm…” Bell closed his eyes in concentration and then slammed his fist into the palm of his hand “I know!”

“Did you think of something genius?” Venna asks sarcastically, to annoy her brother

“Stop making fun of me” and it worked “ *Cough* well… our weapons have light properties, right? And they can gather that same light in our hands as we wield them, so here's my plan—” Bell starts to detail and the more he says, the more Venna's eyes widen, not because the plan is brilliant, but because it's completely Crazy!

Arena of the Familia Ganesha, end of an spectacle

"That's it!!!" the show's presenter shouted with the use of an artifact that increased the sound of his voice, for the audience to hear him “that was a great show now, isn't it, my beloved audience? come on give me a 'wooow!'” but the audience was silent, waiting for the presenter to announce the next event

“wow… what a boring audience…” the presenter grumbled before clearing his throat “Let's go to the next event of our show! In the corner, we have a first-class adventurer who has come to our coliseum to test two candidates who wish to join his family, but must first pass a trial by fire against him! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WELCOME TO: RAUX MELLAN, THE IRON WALL!” The presenter announced Raux's entry with his adventurer title, causing part of the crowd to scream in anticipation. After all, he was a first-rate adventurer, and even more so with such an imposing title (a rarity among gods; agreeing to give a title that wasn't simple or stupid)

Raux entered one of the coliseum entrances in new armor; now, in addition to his giant sword, he had a gauntlet with a shield buckle attached to his right arm, a simple but sturdy breastplate, chain mail under the breastplate for extra protection, and a dagger he borrowed from Cort.

'This afternoon, I'm going to put an end to it' Raux thought with great determination and conviction as he marched to the center of the arena. When he got there, he took his sword from his back and stuck it on the ground in front of him.

"And on the other side, we have the challengers: two foreigners in the most flashy armor the city of Orario has ever seen, ladies and gentlemen welcome the challengers, the mysterious white knights!!!" With these words the crowd burst into an uproar, shouting and waving to the arena, hoping to see the challengers

The Ganesha family insisted on fulfilling the part of announcing the battle, even more so when Ganesha himself insisted that everyone knew that the strange knights who arrived in the city yesterday would be in the coliseum. this generated a large income in tickets and the coliseum was crowded, several influential families were present, such as the Loki family, Freya, Hephestus, and Apollo. 

Everyone was interested in these mysterious knights, there were rumors that both were from Rakia, who had deserted the army, but the armor did not match the known armor; other rumors said they were princes of a distant kingdom; there was also a rumor that both were able to use magic without the use of recitations or catalysts, but without proof, it was impossible to confirm. they all wanted the same thing: The identity of the mysterious knights and this duel was the golden opportunity to have just that

“tsk, all this fuss over two strangers. we don't even know if they'll show their faces" young silver-haired werewolf grumbles as he looks at the arena with suppressed anger

“That's enough, Bete. we are here on behalf of the lady Loki to verify if the rumors are true” the captain of the Loki family, Finn Deimne, scolded the young and bad-tempered werewolf.

"Yeah, be quiet, you rude!" Tione, the Amazon in love with Finn, scolded Bete with the intention of pleasing the captain (who made a point of ignoring this in favor of watching the knights enter)

“I KNOW why we came here, my problem now is whether they will show up. Grr! How I wish I was down there, to punch those two!” Bete comments punching one of his hands

with Bell and Venna

“This is a bad idea,” Venna repeats once more, dressed in her armor.

“News: I know. It's still the best I could think of in such a short amount of time" Bell replies, equally equipped in his armor. “But now, this is the plan we're going to follow” Bell says firmly to ward off any doubts and fears “Ready?”

Venna looks at her brother, with a smile under her helmet "Always"

They both walk to the entrance of the arena and before they leave, they both shout loud enough for everyone in the audience to hear them.

“DEACTIVATE!”

With that cry, a strong light sprang from the entrance tunnel, and from there came several spheres of white light, enchanting the audience.

And, too, came out two young teens, a boy, and a girl, with cracked and amateurishly repaired chest armor and two daggers at their waists.

Now, the battle between Bell and Venna Cranel, former captains of the Hestia family, and Raux Mellan, current captain of the same family, is about to begin.

Chapter Text

back to the audience

  Bete's eyes widen when he sees who came out of the tunnel; it's just two nobodies! And worse, they are one and the same!  (Bete ignores anything and everything if whoever he's staring at doesn't look strong and in his eyes, both twins are weak)

 "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?"  Bete screams with fury and revolt, drawing the audience's attention to him "HEY!! ARE YOU OF THE GANESHA FAMILY CRAZY?!? YOU SAID THOSE TWO TIN CANS WOULD FIGHT HERE IN THE COLISEUM, SO WHAT ARE THESE TWO WEAKLINGS DOING IN THE ARENA?!? WHERE ARE THE KNIGHTS? IF THIS IS A JOKE, I DON'T THINK IT'S FUNNY, BRING THOSE TIN CANS HERE NOW!"

 Finn facepalmed in embarrassment hearing Bete's stupid speech, who still hadn't realized that the two there in the arena WERE the knights, just without their armor (although he was surprised that both had shouted "deactivate" before entering the arena, but maybe there was an explanation for that)

 As soon as Bete's speech ended, many in the crowd believed what the enraged adventurer had said and started protesting and demanding their money back.

 "ACTIVATE!"

They all heard two people shout over the protests of the crowd before a flash of light appeared and there, where the two siblings had been, now were the knights;  much to the confusion of many who were watching.

 With the audience's attention back in the arena, Bell and Venna removed their helmets so everyone could see their faces, confirming that they, indeed, were the knights.

 "Do we have your attention now?"  Venna asks sarcastically "now before the nervous guy over there starts screaming nonsense about us, we were already going to introduce ourselves and show this, however, something didn't work, what could it be, right?"

 Venna ended her little speech by striking a thought-provoking pose, with her hips swaying and her face making a sensual expression and looking in Bete's direction, which caused many men in the audience to look with other eyes (not the good eyes).

This caused Bell to facepalm himself before tugging at the collar of his sister's armor to make her stand up and flashing an intimidating glare at every male in the audience, a look loaded with all the protective intent of an older brother. (even though he was only the oldest for a few seconds);  Immediately, all men were terrified of the pressure generated by Bell's simple gaze, a pressure that did not go unnoticed by the gods or higher level adventurers like level 5 or 6, who immediately took note of how potent and extensive this pressure was. In theory and sometimes in practice, only adventurers of level 4 and higher should be able to generate.

 "Now that we've solved this problem, can we get on with the fight?" Bell asks with dissatisfaction in his voice, before putting his helmet back on.

 Venna does the same and they both again yell "deactivate" and in a flash of light their armor disappears.  This immediately impresses several mages and blacksmiths, who start asking questions about the twins' armor but they ignore them paying attention to the captain in front of them.

"I hope you enjoyed this theater!"  Raux yells above the noise of the crowd, silencing everyone "because now, I'm going to prove you two are nothing but a fraud and I'm going to make sure you confess the truth before you surrender!"

 With that statement Raux pulls his greatsword from the ground and charges at the twins, striking with his sword in a downward arc.

 Hestia, who was in the audience with Cort and Poux, covered her eyes with her hands to avoid seeing the attack hit Bell and Venna.  But both brothers just leapt to the sides, completely avoiding the attack.  Raux then moves to attack in another arc, this time an upward arc, in Bell's direction;  he dodges it with a simple step to the side and with a somersault avoids a second attack from Raux, who tried to punch Bell with his other hand using the first attack as a distraction.

 Venna runs close to her brother and the same, when he sees her coming, makes support with his hands;  Venna puts her foot on her brother's support and he hurls her over to Raux, who sensing this is a distraction, attacks Bell again, forcing him to dodge his attacks.  Raux then pulls out Cort's dagger and throws it in Venna's direction.

"Look out!"

 Hestia screams in terror, but Venna with an elegance only seen in elves, grabs the dagger and a dance pass throws the dagger to the ground before running back to her brother, this time she makes her brother jump over the enemy captain herself.

 Raux tries to attack Venna with his sword, but Venna proves to be much faster and more flexible than her brother, easily dodging all of the enraged adventurer's attacks.

 The audience that before was in a racket wanting to watch a show, now found itself in silence totally immersed by the beauty and elegance of Venna, who seemed more to be dancing with Raux's attacks. Soon Bell arrives behind the Hestia family captain and jumps over his head, landing next to Venna and they both begin to dance;  both dancing in an unfamiliar style, dodging attacks with each dance step and making Raux's attacks seem like part of the dance, further enchanting the audience.

Five minutes later

 Raux gets tired of the twins dodging and dancing around his attacks

 "FIGHT BACK!!"  he orders "FIGHT BACK! AREN'T YOU WHO ASKED FOR A DUEL?!? FIGHT BACK!!"  The enraged captain orders as he continues his furious onslaught of attacks

The twins stop dancing and stare at the captain before crossing their arms, confusing everyone in the audience and Raux himself.

“I didn't ask for the fight to kill each other” Bell starts talking, confusing everyone, including his sister who looks at him out of the corner of her eye with confusion “but you didn't want to calm down or listen, so I decided to show you the results of the training that my sister and i have spent the last two years outside of Orario”

Bell's words get the crowd talking about it;

“Did he say they spent two years training?”

“Is it possible to get strong without fighting the Dungeon monsters?”

“This is ridiculous, there is no way to get stronger if not fighting the dungeon monsters and accumulating Excilia for your stats to be upgraded! ”

“Is that why they have those armors? because they are some kind of training equipment”

“Who trained them and why did they choose to take the two of them out of town? there aren't many monsters out there and they are also often much weaker than their dungeon counterparts"

“Tsk! what a waste of time, what do they want with this litany?” (A/N: credits to whoever guesses who said that)

"You saw it just now, didn't you?" Bell speaks and then looks at Venna, his gaze carrying his real intention: 'we're going to provoke him so that his darkness is exposed, and what better way than to tell the truth he wants to deny'

Venna understands, showing no physical reaction, and nods before turning her attention to the confused adventurer and saying, “yeah, you saw it, didn't you?  You are a level two adventurer and yet how many of your attacks hit us?”

Venna's question, while simple, leaves everyone in the audience confused for a moment.

"Hmm? what does she mean by that?”

"Is she talking about something we didn't understand?"

with Finn's entourage

“Hah? what is that weak dancer talking about?” Bete asks annoyed

"hmm"

"Captain?" Tione asks seeing her beloved captain in his deep analysis state

“Bete, Tione” Finn draws both their attention to himself “By any chance… at some point in the last 5 minutes, were they hit by the other adventurer?”

For a moment both Bete and Tione don't understand what Finn means by this question until they both realize and in shock look at the twins in the arena.

“no way…” Tione says in surprise, which in itself is a rarity for the young Amazon

“no f#!$ing way" Bete swears in shock

Both twins are intact with no scratches OR cuts on their clothes.  even the twin sister's long white braided hair is in one piece.  At no time were both of them harmed in any way by the level two adventurer.

 "OI!!  IS THIS A JOKE??”  Bete screams in fury, drawing the audience's attention back to him “YOU TWO, WHAT LEVEL ARE YOU?”

Venna points to the area reserved for VIP guests, where Ganesha and his captain are, before announcing “Lord Ganesha, please confirm to everyone that what my brother and I are going to say is true or not.”

Ganesha is surprised to have been thrust into the spotlight so suddenly, but he smiles happily and starts lecturing.

"Yes! I, Ganesha, will be the judge who will determine if your words are true!"

with this little presentation, everyone in the audience is in expectation, after al,l gods are able to discern when a mortal is lying and are never deceived by it.

with that, the twins turn to Ganesha's reserved area and then reveal their levels

“My name is Bell Cranel, I am a level 1 adventurer” Bell reveals, his voice steady and serious.

“My name is Venna Cranel, I am a level 1 adventurer” Venna reveals, her voice steady and serious.

everyone in the audience heard the twins but didn't believe it, starting to laugh and make fun of them

 “Hah!  level 1?  with all that skill, what an absurd lie!”

 “Ahahahaha, are you level 1 adventurers?  so in this case I am a level 7 veteran”

 “with such a big fib, not even a person needs the help of a god to know they are lying”

 The mockery and insults continued along these lines, irritating and much Hestia who was being held by Cort to not try to attack the people closest to them until Captain Shakti demanded silence from the audience with the use of a voice amplifier equipment.  As soon as the crowd was silenced Shakti consented to Ganesha and the god then rose and with a serious look uncharacteristic of Ganesha himself

 “Pay close attention, all of you;  My next words will be the absolute truth and nothing else, so don't you dare question if I'm lying, because I won't be.  Am I clear?”  The elephant-masked god asserts and asks with seriousness and authority, like the god who is

 the audience is taken aback by the god's harsh words, but everyone remains silent, not wanting to test their patience;  with that, the lord of the masses looks at the Cranel brothers and asks them to say their levels once again, they both do

“my name is Bell Cranel, I am a level 1 adventurer”

 Bell repeats, his voice still steady and serious, as well as having a tone of respect and honor that Hestia hadn't seen in him before;  two years ago he was very shy and straightforward, but now, he looked like someone else: a man, who has lived through great adversity and challenges.

 “my name is Venna Cranel, I am a level 1 adventurer”

 Venna repeats, her voice steady and serious, her facial expression exemplifying her words, steady and serious.  Hestia watched her dear children in the arena, they didn't seem to be the same children who left Orario two years ago, they looked more like a mature man and woman, for their age.

 "I don't feel any lie in your words" says Ganesha seriously, then he turns to the other gods who are in the VIP area of the audience "tell me you my fellow gods and goddesses can you feel any lie in the words of these two?"

 The other gods who came to watch the fight get up and step forward, look at the two interrogated and seeing their hard and serious eyes, take a step back, surprised by the attitude of the two brothers.

 "They…" Apollo begins with disgust and confusion "Are telling the truth…"

 Hephaestus composes herself before speaking "there is not a single trace of falsehood in their words" the red-haired goddess speaks firmly "they are telling the truth"

Freya doesn't say anything, just sits down again and then comments "if three gods have confirmed the veracity of these claims, why do they need more witnesses?"  She says disinterestedly, but inside she's in shock, discreetly using her * Discerning Eye * she can see the souls of these two and they're so bright and radiant, she thought she looked at two stars

 "Hah? Are you kidding Freya?"  Loki asks in annoyance, although she has come to watch the fight, only her best adventurers have the acumen and experience to be able to correctly assess would-be adventurers.

 The goddess of lust just sighed in boredom before speaking loud enough to be heard.

 "I can't feel any lies in the words of these two. What do you think, is it good enough for you Loki?"

 "Tsk, you pompous ass" Loki grumbles before turning to the arena "there's something about the two of you that bothers me, but even so, there's not a single lie in your words, which is strange given the situation. being sincere here"

 With those words, Loki and the others sit down again and this time the arena is filled with murmurs and whispered conversations.

"The gods confirmed, they really are level 1 adventurers!"

 "But how? No level 1 adventurer has the ability to go against a level 2"

 "it's like comparing a wooden sword with a real sword, the difference is clear"

 "Do they both have high level 1 stats?"

 "Even high stats of level 1 shouldn't be able to face a level 2 adventurer! They're completely different levels!"

 "Silence!"  Ganesha orders, his voice amplified for all to hear, "Now that this issue has been resolved for you, I have a question for you both. How, how did you become so formidable even though you're level 1? It's not possible that in just two years you have reached that level of power without having upgraded their Falnas once"

 The god's question makes sense and unfortunately both had no satisfactory answer

 "To be honest, Lord Ganesha, we have no idea either, we just became strong like that with the training of our two masters" Bell answers sincerely.

"We started our training here in Orario with our first master, Terra, but… he had a condition that deteriorated while he was training us and so he left us under the teachings of a friend of his, our second master Sora Shotoko" Venna adds smiling as she remembers from your master Terra

 "That for personal and important reasons, he couldn't train us here in Orario; so we accompanied him on his journey, training under his tutelage" complete Venna sincerely complements

 "They both tell the truth" Ganesha confirms to the audience, who are in awe of the story and curious to find out how it is possible that they could have become so strong without upgrading their Falnas.

 "What a joke!"  Raix screams in rage, a slight and almost imperceptible black aura begins to manifest from his body "DO YOU REALLY WANT ME TO FALL FOR THAT LIE?"  The captain asks with contempt in his voice

"TWO YEARS AGO YOU TWO ABANDONED GODDESS HESTIA TELLING HER THAT LIE. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF THE PAIN SHE FELT WITH YOUR LEAVING?! THEY DON'T LOVE HER AND JUST WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HER!!"  And more the black aura became visible around the young man with dark skin and blond hair.

 Bell lowers his head, his hair falling out and covering his eyes.

 "..." Bell mutters something, which isn't heard but everyone sees his lips move.

 "Hah? What did you say?"  Raux mockingly asks "Speak up! What lies you have to tell us now, liar?"

 "YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH SHE SUFFERED?!?"  Bell screams so hard in his voice that even the sand on the ground at his feet rises in a leap.

 Everyone is surprised by the strength of the young man's words that made the sand jump, but it was the pain and hurt in his words that surprised them the most;  the young albino's words were charged with sadness, hurt, and pain.

 Bell lifts his face again, showing the tears that were streaming from his eyes.

"DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE WE DON'T LOVE HER?!?"  Venna was the next to scream, her eyes hard and angry, but the tears that streamed down them showed how hurt she was by the captain's words, "Do you think we're clowning around? That we've turned our backs on her? You…you weren't there. You didn't see how many nights we spent awaken, crying because we could hear our goddess crying!"

 "We wanted to go back sooner, we wanted to be here with her, but we couldn't because we were still too weak! Too weak to protect her, too weak to make any difference!"  Bell continues, his words heavy with emotion and guilt.

 "Even so... we persisted, we went through with our training; we sweated and bled to get stronger and be able to come back with advances and make our mother happy! For us, Hestia is our mother; nothing and no one will ever change that. " Bell and Venna speak at the same time, in perfect sync, the weight of their words only affirming how true they were to everything they said and everything Raux said about them.

 Hestia had heard Venna call her mother before, but now, hearing them both say that, even after two years, somehow filled her divine heart with pride and love, motherly love for her two most devoted children.

"You're only saying these horrible things about us because you don't know us and want to prove the truth is a lie! Venna seriously accuses

 "Open your eyes! We are not your enemies, nor are we liars. We just want to be back with our mother and be part of the family again!"  Bell ends with his firm voice and commanding respect.

 While the audience and the gods were in awe of the twins' words, Hestia was crying with joy, joy that her children wanted to solve this without using brute force.

 But Raux, the more he listened to them, the more their light tried to reach his heart, the more the darkness inside grew.

 "DON'T MOCK ME!!!"  Raux screams in fury and then darkness begins to spurt from within his body, with long tendrils and black flames covering his body like a cloak.

 This scares many of the people watching the battle, but the most annoyed are Ganesha and Ouranos (who came to watch the fight in secret), and they are both in a cold sweat at the presence of darkness emanating from the adventurer's body.

'Now/ Now!'  The twins thought at the same time, seeing the darkness manifest, and finally went on the offensive;

 Both siblings run at full speed, leaving blurs behind themselves; they are running so fast, surprising the audience who go silent as they witness such speed that shouldn't be possible for anyone but first-class adventurers with levels of 5 or higher.

 The siblings run in circles around Raux, who even without understanding what is happening to himself, uses his newly acquired power of darkness to attack the albino twins with blasts of black flames.

 But by fate's will or perhaps by experience, Bell and Venna dodge all the black flames and move forward, slowly closing in as their feet lift the sand in the center of the arena.

  Flashback, shopping street, earlier that day

  "THIS IS YOUR IDEA?!"  Venna asks in disbelief with what she heard

 "Have you got a better idea?"  Bell asks rhetorically and Venna doesn't object but still tries to argue

 "That idea is as risky as wielding them in broad daylight" the twin retorts.

 "True, but in theory, the light from our weapons transfers to our hands moments before they appear, so in that split second we can use that light to cover our fists and deliver a blow."

end of flashback

The twins continued their onslaught, getting closer and closer. Raux, seeing the approach, lets the darkness inside him break free, causing him to scream and shoot several black flames in all directions.

The black flames released by Raux begin to re-direct themselves, heading towards the twins as if attracted by their light. Even trying to dodge or run faster, the albino siblings couldn't dodge Raux's flames.

"I don't know what this power is, but if you're so afraid of it, then that's all the more reason to believe there's something good in it!" Raux speaks with insanity in his voice, not noticing the tiny tendrils of darkness penetrating his skin and climbing up to his eyes and heart.

'Oh no!' Venna thinks scared and changes direction to run straight to Raux 'if that darkness reaches his mind and heart, he will turn into a Heartless!'

Venna gets as close as she can to Raux without being hit by any of his darkness attacks and when she is close to the possessed captain, she prepares to summon her Keyblade and unleash her attack.

"VENNA!" Bell screams, throwing himself at his sister's body; throwing her away from Raux

They both roll on the floor for a few moments before getting up.

"Why did you do that?" Venna angrily asks but her brother points to Raux and she sees several blades of darkness pointing to where she was moments before "Thank you"

"You're welcome, but you're also right, we have to act soon!" Bell says urgently “the moment we got too close the flames went out and those blades came out. if we get close enough, we can trick him into attacking in the wrong direction and then hit him from another angle” the twin explains his plan

“Nice plan” Venna comments “do you have any idea how to do it?” she asks uncertainly

“More or less…actually, I think we're going to have to risk a more direct approach like you tried” Bell reveals and starts running, with his sister not far behind.

Both run in circles around Raux again, trying to confuse him and get closer to deliver the blow. But the dark-possessed captain would not let them approach without resistance; this time Raux used his sword, now covered in an aura of darkness, and swung his sword in an arc, creating a blast of darkness that rushed at the twins.

(A/N: think of those special anime moves like Bleach where Ichigo launches an energy blade from his sword)

Seeing the energy attack coming their way and knowing that the same attack could injure the audience behind them both, the Cranel siblings brandished their daggers, now covered in several strange symbols and runes, and launched a joint attack against the energy blast at in front of them.

the collision of blows sent a shock wave to the entire stadium and stands, many were pushed back by this wave, but everyone was surprised to see the brothers facing the onslaught of darkness launched by their opponent. the wave of darkness ended up breaking down after a few minutes with both brothers pushing it back; for a moment the twins and the captain stare at each other for a brief moment, like light and dark facing each other

“you have progressed well”.   a voice speaks in the twins' minds;  a noble and mature voice

 “!”

 “!”

  “You two got really strong.  How nice!"   a second, younger and more youthful voice speaks to both

 'who is saying this?'

 'how they got into my mind'

 the twins thought in surprise but then felt a strange force manifest in their arms;  on Bell's left arm and Venna's right arm, where they both held their weapons

  "We will lend you our power" the mature voice said with authority

  “Make good use of it!  Good luck!"   the jovial voice encouraged with joy

 even without understanding what was happening the twins knew they had to run, because literally moments after receiving this strange power, Raux attacks them both with a new wave of shadow blades and this time goes on the offensive and attacks Bell with his sword while casts a black flame with his other hand trying to hit Venna.

 Both brothers dodged by rolling on the ground, close to Raux, and with their daggers dropped to the ground, both preparing their punches to hit the heart of their opponent, in order to eliminate all the darkness released from the adventurer at the root.

"Concentrate, focus the power of light and visualize your target: the darkness being struck! Scream! name the force that will purge this darkness!"   The mature voice said one last time to the twins before they both rolled over to Raux.

 "purgans lux!/purgans lux!"  The twins screamed together, their fists covered in the light of their nearly summoned Keyblades;  they both punched Raux's chest armor, shattering it to pieces from the force of the punches' impact, launching Raux into the air and causing him to roll a few feet before coming to a stop.

 the audience is shocked by the scene they see: two level 1 adventurers, who haven't upgraded their stats in two years, have defeated a level 2 adventurer in just one punch.  even the gods;  Apollo, Ganesha, Freya, Hephaestus and Hestia are surprised, not understanding how this is possible, but Ouranos, in his hidden location, is terrified, as he knows how both of them are so strong.

 "That... was the light of the copy weapons, made in the image of the original weapon..." the old ruling god speaks with trepidation in his voice "they... are strong... I need to prepare the city and its inhabitants for eventual evacuation"

 the old god sneaks out of the coliseum, his last words leaving the air around him heavy “after all… it will be necessary to use all the power of a god to eliminate those monsters that threaten the world”

Bell and Venna drop to their knees, both exhausted, not from the time they've run, but from the sheer amount of magic that was pumped to deliver that single blow.

 Who were those voices speaking in their minds?  Why did they manifest now?  What were their goals in aiding them in this battle?

 Questions roamed the minds of the two albino brothers and unfortunately it didn't look like they would find an answer anytime soon.

 "BELL! VENNA!'  Hestia yells from the stands "YOU DID IT!" The home goddess rejoices in her two children's victory as it means they can now be part of her family again and any other problems can be resolved without the need for violence.

 Hearing this, the presenter of the Ganesha family remembered that he was still on duty and had to announce the end of the battle.

 "AND WE HAVE OUR WINNERS! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. THE KNIGHTS, BEEEEEEELLLL AND VEEEEENNAAAAA!!!!"

 With that the entire coliseum erupted in a flurry of cheers and congratulations to the victors of the battle.  The people and the presenter went on talking about things that both siblings weren't even giving importance to, because what they cared about at the moment was to help the captain they had just taken down and reconcile with him, in order to avoid new problems.

Both approach the fallen and still unconscious captain, and with Bell catching him in his arms and Venna pulling out a potion from one of her belts; opening, the albino young woman slowly pours the invigorating liquid into the blond young man's mouth, in moments a small green aura covers his body, indicating that he has recovered.

 With their (possible) friend recovered, Bell puts Raux on his back and carries him through the tunnel to meet his goddess and family on the other side.

Chapter Text

Ganesha family colosseum, present day

"So how is he?" Venna asks her brother after he examines the Hestia family captain

"Well... I think we broke one or two of his ribs and the potion just helped speed up the healing, besides we broke all of his chest armor" Bell starts to say before his sister looks at him indifferently "haha... okay I know what you want to know and yes it is clean now, that massive darkness from before is gone"

Venna crosses her arms, sinking into her thoughts, after all, who or what were those voices from before? For some reason these voices were familiar to her but she doesn't remember where she heard them before.

Bell has the same thoughts in mind, but an aggressive presence makes him dodge a hidden attack. The attacker is a young Caucasian human with black hair and green eyes, with one arm on a crutch, bandaged.

The young man continues to try to punch Bell with his face scrunched up and his teeth grinding

"Grr" the young grunts after Bell continued to easily dodge his attacks "fight back you coward!" He says angrily throwing another punch

Bell grabs the punch in his hand and looks at it with a neutral expression "and why should I return your attack?"

"You lied!" The young man shouts in anger "You said you are only level 1 but you defeated the captain with just one hit! You liars!" Cort pulls his arm back and tries to throw another punch.

Bell dodges another punch before twisting the young man's arm, placing him on his back and keeping his wrist trapped.

"You heard the gods, didn't you? We weren't lying" Bell said sincerely and calmly

"Cort!" A young brown-haired chientrope screams from the other side of the tunnel, accompanied by the goddess Hestia; but seeing her companion being attacked, she takes out her hunting knife "let him go!"

"Wow, Wow, calm down princess, your boyfriend is not at risk to his life" Venna says jokingly as she tries to stand in front of the young Chientrope

"That's really good, because otherwise-" Poux starts to speak before realizing what the other girl said to him "W-w-what?! He's not my boyfriend, he's a member of my familia" the chientrope responds blushing and trying to maintain an expression angry

Even in the dark, Venna can tell that Poux is blushing, and this makes her smile mischievously.

"Oh, you are siblings and lovers" Venna pretends to be surprised "don't worry I'm not one to judge other people's relationships, although I can't say I understand why you fall in love- ouch!"

"That's enough Venna, poor Poux is redder than a tomato" Hestia scolds her 'daughter' while pulling her ear

"Ouch,Ouch, Ouch, mom, you're hurting me" Venna whimpers as Hestia continues to pull her ear

"Goddess" Bell draws Hestia's attention to himself, before placing a mischievous smile on her face, "she deserves to stay like this for a few minutes, don't you think?"

Venna is horrified to hear this and notices the mischievous smile Hestia is making.

"You traitor! I thought you were my brother, and brothers help their sisters!" Venna screams with indignation

"Do you really want me to go against Mom?" Bell asks with a serious expression but his tone shows that he is just joking.

"Ha! That's right, if one of my children messes up, the others must NOT interfere no matter what, because I'm the one who has the last word" Hestia declares arrogantly, although it is possible to see that she is also joking " and I think you deserve worse punishment than a simple ear tug" continues Hestia with a smile

Venna, not realizing the joke they are playing with her, becomes more distressed and continues trying to take Hestia's hand away from her ear, without success (mothers have this range of power, superpower logic doesn't work with them XD).

“urgh”

Raux's waking voice made everyone stop, but the young captain went back to sleep after the commotion died down.

“let’s not wake him… please… he’s still recovering from the fight” Bell says, worried about the young captain

This causes all members of the Hestia family (former and current) to calm down and start talking again, this time calmer.

“...what did you do there in the arena?” Cort asks after Bell lets go of his good arm.

“*sigh* I wish I knew” Bell says with his head down with a hand on his head, feeling his head hurt with confusion and worry

Cort looks at Bell perplexed “what do you mean?”

“To this day, we have NEVER made our hands glow like that” Venna comments, waving one hand in front of her while she uses the other to massage her ear.

“you two spent TWO years AWAY learning things to get stronger and now that you’re back you don’t know what that was?” Hestia asks, needling her children about a certain promise, “I wonder if you've actually trained for the last two years.”

“urgh. Mom, that hurts!” Venna speaks placing her hands under her heart, really hurt by the harsh way Hestia spoke

“Why do you insist on calling goddess Hestia your mother?” Poux asks, completely confused by the way Venna and Hestia were interacting.

“Guys” Bell says, in a tone loud enough to be heard by everyone, but not too loud “Let's go home. all of us” after giving his order, the former captain of the Hestia familia took Raux in his arms, placing him on his back and began to carry him out of the Colosseum

Venna glanced at Hestia before nodding and following alongside her brother.

Hestia just smiled fondly, happy that her errant children bear no resentment from Raux's words. Turning to Poux and Cort, Hestia gave them her happiest and most sincere smile telling them "let's go home, my children"

Cort and Poux saw the resplendent smile of their goddess, a rare sign from her, but given the situation that happened just now, it was something that the young adventurers needed very much; then, consenting, everyone left the coliseum as a newly united family.

Hours later

Raux wakes up with a snap, his mind filled with the memory that he was in battle with the two albino brothers. In one jump, the young warrior gets up, preparing to continue the battle - only to realize that he is in his room, back at the Hestia familia home.

"What the?" Raux was perplexed, how was he at home? he should be in the coliseum

“Hahahaha” hearing laughter coming from outside the room, Raux thought that the whole situation with… with ‘them’ was just a terrible nightmare.

Grabbing the door handle, Raux feels pain shoot through his ribs before letting go and hugging his sides.

When leaving the room, Raux notices that it is already night, looking out the hallway window, and that everyone is in the kitchen.

 “and then, we realized that we were scammed and the seller took more money than the products were worth” a voice that was strangely familiar to Raux spoke from the kitchen

 The Hestia familia captain stopped halfway in shock.  ‘that voice… I’ve heard it before but where?  I just remember hearing that voice in my-' the brown-skinned young man's eyes widened, 'but that's not possible... they couldn't be real, I heard them in a dream...

speeding up his steps Raux opened the kitchen door with force “Goddess!”

"Hmm?" Hestia is surprised to see Raux at the door, with a scared look on his face. “Raux, I'm glad you're awake!”

Cort and Poux are at the table, both next to Hestia, while there are two white-haired people that Raux doesn't know sitting on the other side of the table, with their backs to him.

"...Goddess...who are these?" Raux asks, concern evident in his voice.

Hestia's smile falters for a moment "Raux… how are you feeling?" Hestia asks apprehensively. Cort and Poux are equally worried, whenever the albino twins were mentioned the captain became superhumanly angry.

“... in pain... but that doesn't matter. who are these two-” Raux tries to redirect the conversation to the topic from before when he finally remembers something: he saw two people with white hair. two individuals he can't stand and the two people who made his beloved goddess cry for a year.

and these two people were sitting right in front of him

“…you…” Raux began to speak, his face frozen in a neutral expression “what…what are you guys doing here?”

Hestia was visibly apprehensive; Cort and Poux were distressed, but the Cranel brothers just stood up and turned to look directly at the dark-skinned young man.

“... in pain... but that doesn't matter. who are these two-” Raux tries to redirect the conversation to the topic from before when he finally remembers something: he saw two people with white hair. two individuals he can't stand and the two people who made his beloved goddess cry for a year.

and these two people were sitting right in front of him

“…you…” Raux began to speak, his face frozen in a neutral expression “what…what are you guys doing here?”

Hestia was visibly apprehensive; Cort and Poux were distressed, but the Cranel brothers just stood up and turned to look directly at the dark-skinned young man.

Before Raux could react, Bell placed his left hand under his right shoulder and Venna placed her right hand under Raux's left shoulder; both held tight to the captain's shoulders

Before Raux could react, Bell placed his left hand under his right shoulder and Venna placed her right hand under Raux's left shoulder; both held tight to the captain's shoulders

Then they both hugged Raux, surprising everyone inside the house and even more so the young captain who wasn't expecting such an action.

“Thank you…” Bell said, his voice low, almost a whisper, tightening the hug

“thank you very much for everything” Venna spoke louder than Bell to be heard

Then they both hugged Raux, surprising everyone inside the house and even more so the young captain who wasn't expecting such an action.

“Thank you…” Bell said, his voice low, almost a whisper, tightening the hug

“Thank you so much for everything” Venna spoke louder than Bell to be heard before she let go of the hug with her brother “Mom told us everything”

Raux didn’t understand “Mom?”

“Hestia” Bell replied “since we arrived in Orario, we were rejected by everyone and we were without hope” the young albino turned his face and looked with joy at Hestia “... Until she, goddess Hestia, welcomed us. She was the only person who gave us a chance.”

Raux hears everything with surprise and intrigue, until he hears someone crying.

“she… welcomed us… and treated us like family” Venna said between tears and sobs

“We have spent the last two years training and fighting almost without respite” Bell continued in a firmer tone, staring at the young captain “and although I want to return home, to the family that accepted us in the first place. I- No, we can't just go back to this family without everyone's approval. That includes you”

This surprised everyone, even Venna who didn't expect such words from her brother.

"..." Raux was quiet for a moment just taking in the situation and the twins' words "Before" the young captain began with a hard and firm tone "why?"

Hestia felt the anger in her captain's voice.

“Why did they abandon her?!” Raux starts to scream with all the anger and pain that he himself could feel “Why did they leave???” Raux is clenching his fists, that strange feeling from the day before completely gone.

"..." Raux was quiet for a moment just taking in the situation and the twins' words "Before anything" the young captain began with a hard and firm tone "why?"

Hestia felt the anger in her captain's voice.

“Why did you abandon her?!” Raux starts to scream with all the anger and pain he could feel “Why did you leave???” Raux is clenching his fists, that strange feeling from the day before completely gone “why did you leave her alone? Why didn't they stay and train right here?? What was so special out there that you abandoned her without considering how sad she would be? why-"

SLAP

“!”

“!”

“!”

“Bell!!”

To everyone's surprise, Bell Cranel slapped Raux across the face.

“…” Bell lowered his head and remained quiet

Raux touched his cheek, still hurting from the slap, being surprised by the young albino's sudden action

"I'm very sorry. I… I lost control of my temper…” Bell sincerely apologized for his conduct

Raux felt strange... before... something like that would have made him explode, but now... all he could feel was just a little irritation at the way this humanized rabbit acted.

"... I... must also apologize..." Raux admitted, shocking everyone, even Bell "I've been... rude and cruel to you up until now, I'm sorry"

"...I also owe an apology, both to you and the goddess Hestia, my mother" Bell looked in Hestia's direction with a smile

Hestia smiled happily, ready to finally welcome her beloved children back.

"Perhaps. but” Raux speaks before any words can be uttered by the goddess “You still left her alone and with little money to support herself-”

“We did not take a single coin with us when we set out on our journey. just our personal belongings and that's it” Bell interrupts Raux, turning to look at him again with a serious expression on his face, before he can continue to degrade them for the grudge he holds for both of them.

“...right” Raux concedes realizing he is becoming spiteful again “but I need, NEED, confirmation”

Bell understands exactly what Raux really means “how?” the question carries no doubt, just the desire to hear it from the young captain's mouth

the young captain starts thinking, trying to think of a FAIR way to evaluate the albino brothers, until he finally remembers substantially important information

“...what was the deepest floor you ever managed to get down from the Dungeon?” Raux asks seriously, looking between the two white-haired youths

“4th floor” Venna responds with a certain harshness in her voice

“YOU GUYS WENT ONLY WHERE???” Cort screams in outrage and surprise, standing up placing both arms on his head- only to regret it when his injured arm hurts again “ouch oh oh oh oh oh oh”

“ *sigh* Cort… seriously…?” Poux asks feeling ashamed of the young human's action; helping him lower his arm and starting to see if the injuries have gotten worse

“... so this will be your test” Raux says, returning the focus of the conversation to himself “us; Me, Cort and Poux have already gone down to the 9th floor and back. So, I want you to pass your record and reach ours” the brown-skinned captain speaks with authority and finality in his voice

Venna approaches Raux and placing a hand on her own hip, asks him “What if we pass you?”

Raux notes the sincerity and inquisitiveness in Venna’s words “We’ll see how to deal with this- IF that’s EVEN possible”

This made Venna roll her eyes in frustration but put a mischievous smile on her face.

Bell places his hand on Raux’s shoulder again, making him look at him “we can- and WE WILL surprise you. that is a promise"

both captains look at each other with authority and recognition “Alright then. But I’m going to put some conditions in place to make this more fair, after all, those armors of yours are kind of a cheat from the way they look and that weird spell they have.”