Bell walked through the streets of Orario. His gaze unfeeling, his platinum armour reflecting moonlight.
Smoke and dust trailed in his wake, the smell of blood clinging to his plates.
He reached his destination in short minutes.
His home stood ahead, its lights turned off. Everyone had likely retired for the night.
Bell jumped soundlessly, vaulting over its structure entirely to land straight inside his backyard, releasing no impact from his landing.
He turned toward the back entrance, but froze.
There in the backyard, Goddess Astraea sat motionless, hair tousled, expression blank, her gaze fixed on the night sky.
A moment passed. Then he moved toward her, one hand coming up mid-motion to pull his hood down.
Long snow-white hair spilled down his back.
Her gaze lowered.
Blank indigo and void black met.
Her eyes widened.
His eyes flickered between ruby red and abyssal black.
She scrambled up from her position, staggering toward him.
"B-Bell... Where have you been!? Do you know how worried I was!? I barely even feel my connection to your Falna." Goddess Astraea trembled, palpable relief radiating from her as she cupped his cheek, rubbing it once, twice, thrice... making sure he was real.
The black of his left eye had dissolved by now, returning it to its natural shade.
"Goddes—" His voice was cut off as she buried her face in his neck, trembling against his frame.
Bell ran his hand down her walnut-brown hair, soothing her instinctively.
"Tell me, where have you been?"
Silence fell.
"Why aren't you answering me? Where have you been!?"
Bell did not answer.
"Do you know how worried I was? What if you had died?"
Her nails dug into the back of his neck.
"How would I live? If you had left me like Alise and Kaguya... how would I live?"
He felt his neck growing wet where she had buried her face.
"Tell me!?"
Goddess Astraea broke down, pouring out all of her pain and anxiety that had accumulated over the past days.
Bell's other hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer against his chest plate.
He did not justify himself, nor did he try to reason.
Instead, he let her vent, accepting it all.
They stood like that as their brown and white hair intertwined beneath the moon.
...
..
.
Minutes passed.
The trembling in her shoulders slowly subsided, her breathing finally evening out.
Yet, she kept her face buried in his neck, clinging to him like a lifeline.
Bell's hand continued its slow, rhythmic path down her back.
"Feeling better?" He murmured.
"Hm." She acknowledged with a muffled sound, clinging to him as though he would vanish the second she let go.
"Let's go, then." Bell spoke as his arm around her waist shifted, while his hand along her back supported her weight as he scooped her up.
"Bell?"
BOOM!
Air shredded apart. He and a bewildered Goddess Astraea vanished from their home.
Bell moved from one rooftop to another, their surroundings blurring past as Goddess Astraea kept her eyes trained on his face.
Her gaze traced along his jawline, to his cheeks, his nose, his eyes, and finally settled on his lips.
Bell glanced down at her.
"Goddess... won't you ask where we're going?"
"I don't care where you take me, as long as you're with me." Goddess Astraea replied absentmindedly.
His grip on her shifted, just slightly tighter.
Silence fell between them.
Bell soon reached the Tower of Babel. His speed accelerated even further as his vitality burned, his strength rising proportionally. Each step landed against Babel's surface and acted as a pivot, launching him higher.
They soon reached a protruding ridge. Bell set his foot down and let Goddess Astraea go, then sat on the ridge's very edge, his hand patting the space beside him.
She sat down and looked out at the barely visible Orario below, not an ounce of fear on her face.
"Goddess Astraea... I'm sorry for worrying you." Bell's voice was swallowed by the strong winds at their altitude.
"Promise me... next time, you'll take me with you, wherever you go, alright?" Her voice trembled imperceptibly at the end.
"I..."
Goddess Astraea heard the slight hesitation in his tone and turned her face toward him.
Her eyes were two whirlpools of emptiness as she asked, her voice flat.
"You care for me, right?"
Bell felt goosebumps rise across his back, yet gave a serious reply nonetheless.
"Yes, very."
"Then, prove it to me." Her voice gave nothing away as she tilted herself forward.
Bell's eyes constricted—too late to react as she pushed herself off the ridge, falling straight down.
His body moved instantly, throwing himself over the edge right behind her.
Wind screamed through their surroundings as both of them plummeted.
Steam hissed from between his lips as flames erupted beneath his heel, pushing him further as he closed the distance between them.
He reached Goddess Astraea in a moment, his arms wrapping around her waist.
Mid-fall, he flipped them over, bringing his back toward the ground rushing up to meet them.
Their hair rippled wildly as Bell looked at her face above him, utterly calm.
"Goddess... Are you not scared of dying and being sent back to Heaven?" He asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice even as their lives hung by a thread.
"Would you let me?" She countered, her voice unwavering.
A pause.
"Besides... dying with you would be fine too."
Bell looked at Goddess Astraea's face, really looked.
Even as they fell toward their deaths.
Even as wind ripped their surroundings apart.
She meant it.
Bell's chest seized, a sudden, violent tightness gripping his lungs as he stared into her accepting face.
There was no fear in her eyes—only him.
It took a moment for him to process it, then...
Bell brought his hand to her cheek and closed the distance, capturing her lips with his own.
Goddess Astraea responded with fervor, and Bell matched her with growing intensity.
Both of them got lost in each other.
Uncaring of their surroundings.
Just before they were about to hit the ground, one of Bell's hands jerked. Countless strings of flame superimposed atop one another beneath them, weaving into a fiery carpet that caught their fall.
The carpet bowed downward from their residual momentum, but neither paid it any mind. The flames didn't so much as singe Bell's back, his body long since adapted to the heat.
As for Astraea, his fire never touched her, curving away from her form thanks to his supernatural control.
"Bell... take me home," Astraea murmured, her voice heavy.
"Right now."
"As you wish, Goddess." Bell replied.
...
..
.
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[8 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
...
[Authors Thoughts]
You all know where it is going. No R-18 though, I'll just imply that it happened and maybe a little scene after they're done with it to show that it happened.
Our boy Bell is about to become a man, we've come a long way. From nearly crying under the rain to rizzing up virgin Goddesses.
I'm proud of him for sure.
...
So... did it feel romantic or nah? I honestly don't know, reviews would be appreciated.