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Bell opened his eyes slowly..The room was completely dark.
His head hurt a lot. He tried to move his hands.
They were tied behind his back with thick, rough rope. He tried to move his legs.
They were tied up too.
"Where am I?"
Bell whispered to the empty room.
He felt very confused. He tried to remember what happened. He remembered walking in the market.
He was buying food for the new members of the Familia.
A very sweet smell hit his nose. Then, everything went black.
He was kidnapped.
"Are you awake?"
A soft voice asked from the dark.
Bell turned his head quickly.
A girl sat in the corner of the room.
The moonlight shined through a small window and hit her face.
She had long blonde hair and animal ears.
A large, fluffy tail curled around her legs.
"Who are you?"
Bell asked.
"My name is Haruhime,"
The fox girl said.
Her voice shook. She looked very worried and scared.
"I am Bell. Bell Cranel. Where are we?"
"We are in the Night City,"
Haruhime answered.
"Inside Ishtar's tower. They brought you here an hour ago."
"Why?"
Bell asked.
He pulled on the ropes. They didn't break.
"I don't have any money. I didn't do anything wrong to them."
"They don't want your money,"
Haruhime said. She hugged her knees tight.
"Lady Ishtar wants to trap you."
"How?"
Bell asked. He felt a cold chill go down his back.
"What is she going to do to me?"
"She is going to use her charm,"
Haruhime whispered. A tear fell down her face.
"Lady Ishtar is a goddess of beauty. She will use her magic to make you fall in love with her. She will break your mind."
"That isn't fair,"
Bell said angrily.
"I won't let her do that."
"Nothing here is fair,"
Haruhime cried quietly.
"I am sorry. I am so scared for you. I am scared for myself."
"Don't cry,"
Bell said quickly.
He hated seeing people cry.
"My friends will come. They will find me. Elias will break the door down."
"No one comes here to save people,"
Haruhime said sadly.
She shook her head.
"This place is a cage. We are never getting out."
Back at the Hestia mansion, it was total chaos.
"He is gone!"
Hestia screamed loudly.
She ran down the long hallway.
She threw open the heavy wooden doors to the library.
Elias sat in a large leather chair.
He was reading a thick book about old magic.
He didn't look up from the pages.
"Elias! Bell is missing!"
Hestia shouted.
She ran over and grabbed his arm.
She shook him hard.
"He didn't come back from the market! Someone took my precious Bell!"
"He is fine,"
Elias said calmly.
He turned a page.
"How can you say that?"
Hestia cried.
She was panicking.
Her face was red and covered in sweat.
"He is just a boy! Orario is a very dangerous city! We have to call the Guild! We have to send out a search party right now!"
"No,"
Elias said.
"We will wait."
Hestia stared at him.
Her mouth dropped open.
"Wait? Are you crazy? What if he is hurt? What if monsters took him?"
"He isn't hurt,"
Elias answered.
He kept his eyes on his book.
"I know exactly where he is."
Hestia grabbed the book and pulled it down.
She glared at him.
"Tell me! Where is he?"
"No."
"Why not?!"
Hestia yelled.
"Because it isn't time yet,"
Elias said.
He took his book back from her small hands.
"Bell needs to learn how to survive on his own. He can't always hide behind me. He needs to see the real world. He needs to face real problems."
"He is kidnapped!"
Hestia yelled again.
She stomped her foot on the floor.
"That is a real problem!"
"And he will be fine,"
Elias repeated smoothly.
"The people who took him want to use him. They won't kill him. When the time is right, I will go get him. Until then, stay calm and go drink some water."
Hestia pointed a shaking finger at his face.
"You are impossible! If he gets a single scratch, I will never forgive you!"
She ran out of the room.
She slammed the door shut behind her.
Elias sighed in the quiet room.
He knew Ishtar had Bell. He knew the whole plot. It had to happen this way.
Bell needed to meet the fox girl. He needed to hear her story.
Outside the mansion, Dee walked down the busy street.
She felt completely bored.
"It is no fun today,"
Dee said to herself.
She kicked a small stone across the road.
She looked at the food stalls.
She bought a large crepe filled with fresh strawberries and sweet cream.
She paid the man with a shiny gold coin and didn't wait for her change.
She walked toward the center of the city.
She watched the adventurers laugh and drink in the sun.
"Everything is so normal,"
Dee sighed.
She took a big bite of her crepe.
"I want to see something break."
She walked past a magic shop.
She looked at the magic stones in the window.
"Too weak,"
She muttered.
She walked past a weapon shop. She looked at the shiny swords.
"Too brittle."
She was from the beyond.
Everything in this world felt like cheap toys to her.
She saw a group of men bullying a small merchant.
They pushed his wooden cart over.
Red apples spilled onto the dirty street.
Dee smiled.
This was a good chance to play.
She snapped her fingers.
Suddenly, the men's belts broke at the exact same time.
Their pants fell down to their ankles.
The men tripped over their own clothes.
They fell face-first into the mud.
The people in the street started to laugh loudly.
They pointed at the bullies.
The men grabbed their pants and ran away with bright red faces.
Dee giggled softly.
She walked over and helped the merchant pick up a few apples.
"Thank you, little girl,"
The merchant said.
"I am not a little girl,"
Dee told him.
She walked away, eating the last part of her crepe.
"I am just bored."
In the dark room, Bell finally managed to sit up.
He leaned his back against the cold stone wall.
"Haruhime,"
Bell said.
"Why are you here? Did they kidnap you too?"
Haruhime shook her head slowly.
"No. I was sold,"
She said, her voice was barely a whisper.
Bell's eyes widened in shock.
"Sold? By who?"
"My own family,"
Haruhime answered.
She looked closely at the floor.
"I come from a noble family in the Far East. But I disgraced them. So they threw me away. I ended up here."
Bell felt sick to his stomach.
He couldn't imagine his family selling him.
"That is horrible,"
Bell said.
"You don't belong in a bad place like this."
"I am dirty,"
Haruhime said.
"I am a worker in the Night City. This is exactly where I belong."
"No,"
Bell said firmly.
"No one belongs in a cage. You are a person, not a thing to be bought and sold."
Haruhime looked up at him.
Her green eyes were full of surprise.
"You are very kind, Bell Cranel,"
She said softly.
"But kindness doesn't work here. Lady Ishtar is very powerful. Her captain, Phryne, is a real monster. If you try to run, she will break your legs."
"I am not going to run away,"
Bell said.
He looked down at his tied hands.
He flexed his muscles.
"I am going to fight my way out. And I am taking you with me."
Haruhime gasped loudly.
"You can't! They will kill you!"
"I promised my Goddess I would get stronger,"
Bell said.
His eyes burned with sudden fire.
"I promised my friends I wouldn't be a burden anymore. I will save you, Haruhime."
Haruhime covered her face with her hands.
She started to cry again.
But this time, it wasn't from fear.
No one had ever offered to save her before.
No one had ever looked at her with such pure, honest eyes.
Back at the mansion, Hestia paced back and forth in the living room.
Welf and Lili stood by the front door.
"We should go look for him,"
Welf said.
He rested his heavy hand on his sword.
"I don't care what Elias says. We can't just leave Bell out there alone."
"Lili agrees,"
Lili said.
She crossed her small arms.
"Bell-kun is too trusting. He could be in real danger right now."
Mikoto and Chigusa walked into the room.
They had just finished cleaning the large courtyard.
"Is something wrong?"
Mikoto asked.
"Bell is gone,"
Hestia said.
She chewed on her thumbnail nervously.
"And Elias won't tell me where he is. He said we have to wait."
Mikoto frowned deeply.
"Master Elias must have a solid plan. He sees things we don't see."
"I don't care about his stupid plans!"
Hestia shouted.
"I care about my Bell!"
Upstairs, Elias could hear Hestia shouting.
He closed his heavy book.
He walked over to the open window and looked out at the city.
The sun was going down behind the tall towers.
The Night City would be waking up very soon.
"Just a little longer,"
Elias said to the empty room.
"He needs to hear her whole story. He needs to find his own reason to fight. If I just go and help him, he learns absolutely nothing."
He looked at his naginata.
It leaned against the stone wall.
"But if they touch a single hair on his head before I get there,"
Elias muttered.
His eyes turned entirely cold.
"I will turn Ishtar's tower to dust."
Dee sat on the edge of a high roof far away.
She looked down at the Night City.
The red lanterns were starting to glow brightly in the dark.
She swung her legs back and forth over the street below.
"The stage is finally set,"
Dee smiled to herself.
"The rabbit is in the cage. The fox is crying. The Goddess is angry. And my handsome boyfriend is waiting."
She pulled a small silver watch from her pocket.
She checked the time carefully.
"It is almost time for the show to start,"
Dee said happily.
She put the silver watch away.
"I hope the Toad puts up a good fight. It is no fun if Elias just kills them all in one second."
She stood up on the roof.
The cool wind blew her hair.
"Don't let me down, Bell,"
Dee whispered to the wind.
"Show them what a real hero looks like."