Danmachi ( Fanfiction Volume 18 )

Reunion :"1"

:" bell! ... Bell ! " the mermaid cried, her voice was muffled as she was pushing her face deeply into his chest , already not believing that he was there holding her. Just trying to think about anything else brought her to tightened her clutch around his back. Tears fell from her eyes like a river, soaking his onyx scaled leather armor .Her eyes roamed from his face back to his chest in quick succession , trying to confirm that he was really there and this was not some dream she is having , and if it was a dream she would never want to wake up from

" its alright Marie , I am here " he patted her head while his other hand was holding her tightly in his grasp , her slim small body poked a feeling of protection in his heart towards her.

" So this is that mermaid , huh" Bell heard the melodic voice in his thoughts again , reminded him that his companion could also see and hear what he was doing, however he noticed that she was more talkative than usual these days.

Finally after crying herself out , Marie pushed her self a little back from his embrace while keeping her grip afraid that she will loose him or he will disappear again , the pain from the memories when Lydo brought the news to her still vivid in her mind and she didn't want to believe her fellow xenos that time , however at some point she came to accept the truth , that bell will no longer come back to visit her. A huge tide of loneliness hit her at that time, but now he was here holding her , she could enjoy his smell , and the warmth radiating from his body , if she ever had an image about what the sun on surface looked like ,she would say that bell in front of her was like a sun right now .

Marrie finally sorted her thoughts as she wanted to ask bell many things ," lydo said you were dead , and I ..... I " and tears runned down on her cheeks again.

Bell whipped her tears while trying to calm her down with a soothing voice :" its alright , many things happened back then , but I am here now you don't have to remember that time " those words were also ment for him , yet he couldn't bring himself to forget what happened to him back then. Surprisingly  the mermaid nodded in agreement :" emm " with a cheerful smile drawn on her face .

" this place is too open marie , lets go somewhere else and talk " Bell spoke

Marie thought for a while then an expression of realization hit her :" follow me Bell ! I know a good place !" Marie said

The voice in bell's mind spoke again :" she is cute "

" she saved my life before , I am indebted to her , just like I am indebted to you " said in low pitched voice

However no reply came back. So he steped froward again , following the mermaid. Soon he arrived to a familiar place , he had been to it before , what looked like a cave with a giant pool and a waterfall feeding the pool from the back , he remembered when he fought those fast flying monsters here years ago .As he turned his face to check the surroundings , Marie jumped from a nearby hot pool ,while waving to him " Bell ! Here ! Here " with chirping voice .

It was a good idea for him , as he also wanted to clean his body and rest, soon he was just in his trousers while he kept covering his eyes with that black bandage ,his other belongings on a near rock.

Marie traced his upper naked body and noticed how bell changed , he gained more muscles and he was also taller , his hair got longer and scars , many scars cut all over his body , a prof of whatever hell he was living in for the time he disappeared and there was also his eyes that he was hiding them. She felt an urge to ask him "Bell , why you hiding your eyes ? injured ?" with a worried voice as she looked to some scars on his body .

"Oh , no ,not injured but its only temporary cover , I can still see even with it "as his hand traced cover on his eyes.

"then ! let me help you !" and she started rubbing her saliva on the scars around his body , they were both in the hot pool , and things started getting awkward now ,as bell breathing started becoming heavy with each time marie rubbed an area on his chest. :" marie wait !"

Suddenly bell , picked the sound of two people talking , from their voices they were females and it was kind of familiar voice to him .

The voice in his head broke in:" you have company "