Eastward Bound 1/4

DanMachi: The Dragon's Return

Hey, everyone! Thank you for your reviews! Here, the story will start to break up into rotated sections to focus on each group. About three or four chapters to focus on each group arch should be sufficient. Of course, this may change depending on how quickly everyone happens to come back together. In either case, I figured that the order of the arcs would be Lefiya, Tiona, then Bell. I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

(Musical inspiration was from LOTR's "The Seduction of the Ring," Sword Art Online's "A Tiny Love," and The Elder Scroll 5: Skyrim's "Ancient Stones.")

Warning: Some sexual content. Blah.

Chapter 10

Eastward Bound

Part 1

The Hope of the Thousand Elf

…

In the dark of night, a wolf slept and dreamt he was under the moon. Yet, he was not alone. A woman appeared to him, naked. She was tall and beautiful, with hair as dark as the night sky, but her grey eyes were cold and empty. She studied the wolf and smiled cruelly at him.

"The hell do you want?" the wolf growled.

"I want what you want," she sang. "I want strength. Power. Vengeance. And you are so perfect. So very strong."

"Who are you?" the wolf raised an eyebrow as the woman pressed her naked body against him.

"A goddess," she purred seductively into his ear and blew into it, causing the wolf to shudder. "A goddess who will grant your wish. Don't you want her? Don't you lust after her even now? Don't you hate the one who stole her from you? All because of a silly minotaur. He should be dead. You can kill him. You are so strong, and he is so weak. The weak don't deserve to breathe the same air as you. Kill him…, and that old fool masquerading as a god who humiliated you, and I promise to make the Sword Princess yours."

"Y-you can do that?" the lone wolf asked as he felt her song lure him in.

"Yes," she pressed her lips against his. "I will make Ais Wallenstein yours, my sweet Bete. All you have to do, is swear yourself to me."

…

Lefiya had heard Tiona have her way with Bell two other times that night, much to the great annoyance of Hestia, Lili, Syr, and the young elf-maiden. Ais and Haruhime seemed disappointed, though Lefiya also took notice that the Renard also seemed oddly excited as well. The whole incident only worked to convince Lefiya that foxes and Amazons were both perverted. Despite knowing that Tiona was blessed with the same influence of the enchantment that Lefiya was under, the elf couldn't help but feel a little sad. Michael had called the enchantment a "marriage of the soul," but Lefiya couldn't understand what that truly meant. All she knew for certain was that she saw Bell Cranel as something different than the rival she had seen him as before.

Every time she looked at him, if felt much like how she would look at Ais, but with far more intensity. She also knew she didn't want to be parted from Bell, though it comforted her that Michael had also told them that their minds and spirits were bound together so they could hear each other's thoughts and visit each other's dreams from great distances. Still, despite what comfort she had, the elf wept quietly. She didn't know how long she cried, only that she stopped when she heard Bell get up in the middle of the hours of twilight. He slowly went up a hill where Michael was, but the elf could not hear his thoughts in that moment, but rather strongly felt his emotions. He was as uncertain as she was as he spoke to the Titan, who stared northwards. The elf was unsure how long they spoke, but she knew that every waking second Bell spoke to the Titan put a weight on him that worried Lefiya. Bell was afraid, and she did not know why. Yet, it was that same fear she had when she and Ais faced the demi-spirit together. It was through that fear, however, that a thought of Bell's did leak through that Lefiya heard: "a god's blood."

When the Bell and Michael finished their talk, and Lefiya saw the Lucky Rabbit slowly come down the hill in his thought, she went towards him. Tears were in her eyes once again: not the tears of anger, or even the tears of the heartache she felt only a little while earlier, but fear she felt in Bell and for him. The Thousand Elf called out to the boy and grabbed him from behind before he could even turn to meet her. For the second time that night she wept, and her tears stained the back of his shirt. She allowed Bell to turn towards her, but it was only so she could cling tighter to him and bury her face in his chest. Bell hesitated, but embraced her as well, gently rubbing his hands up and down her back. He closed his eyes, bowing head so the elf-maiden could feel even more of him.

"…. I forbid it," the elf whispered.

"Lefiya?" Bell opened his eyes once more and looked down only to see her eyes staring directly into his. Her face was red, and sorrowful, yet serious.

"You are not allowed to die," she repeated and clung tighter to him. "I forbid it. You're my rival…. You have to come back… to me."

Bell frowned and his eyes for a moment wandered back to the hill Michael, who still stood alone on top of the hill the pair spoke on. When his eyes returned to hers, he gritted his teeth. Leaning down, he pressed his lips to hers, holding onto her as if his very life depended on the warmth he felt from her embrace. He backed her into a grove of trees not far from where they were and pressed the elf-maiden to a tree.

She looked up at him, her eyes filled with fear, but also with wonder and admiration. Bell didn't say a word, but there were tears on his own face. Lefiya felt his uncertainty once more and cupped her hands around his cheeks and pulled him in for another kiss. It was stronger and more passionate than the last. They both knew what they were doing, but each movement, despite the flame that ignited between them. He peeled her clothes from her skin, which seemed like a pale-white gem in the moonlight. Color rushed to Bell's cheeks. She was so much different from Tiona, but no less beautiful. He knew he had to answer to vulnerability in kind.

It was Lefiya's turn to blush when Bell's clothes were removed, but she was not going to let her embarrassment rule over her. She wrapped her arms around him once more. Her blue eyes sparkled in the pale moonlight when she looked up at him, and his red eyes reflected her eyes back at her. They kissed again, slowly, neither wanting the feeling of warmth they shared together to end. Lefiya knew that the kiss only lasted a few seconds, but it felt as ages.

"L-Lefiya, are you sure?" Bell whispered when they both pulled back.

"Don't you dare ask me that now," Lefiya smiled sadly and caressed his cheek. "P-please, Bell…. I need your promise."

"You know I can't promise I'll definitely be back," the boy said softly, earning the quiet tears of the elf once again. "But…. I can promise to do everything I can to protect you. And I can promise to do everything I can to try to come back."

"Idiot," Lefiya choked back a sob. "You're such an idiot! Stupid human!"

Bell pulled her into his body once more, hating himself more for every quiet wail she made in his arms. His grandfather told him to never make a girl cry, and now he understood why: to force the tears of a girl alone and afraid was a cruelty and fate worse than death. He kissed Lefiya once more, though not on her lips, but rather her eyes and her tears.

"And," Bell whispered, "if I do manage to come back, I promise to never let go."

Lefiya blinked what tears she had left away and looked at the boy. She looked so fragile, like a porcelain doll. She nodded and kissed him deeply. Using the tree behind her as support, she wrapped her legs around his waist. He entered her slowly, and she gasped in some small pain, but the boy kissed her again and again until that pain went away. The pair moved together slowly, and Lefiya whispered his name again and again, sometimes in pleasure, sometimes out of a need for him to stay by her side. She bit into his shoulder, marking him and making Bell let out a soft cry of both pleasure and pain.

"If you ever think about forgetting your promise, I want you to remember that mark," the elf moaned softly, gazing into the eyes of the Lucky Rabbit. "Y-you belong to me."

"Lefiya…," the boy whispered. "I won't forget my promise."

"Please, Bell," she sighed happily in a whisper and hugged her arms and legs tighter around him. "Inside. Inside!"

The Lucky Rabbit obeyed and kissed the Thousand Elf before their climax together. They slid down the tree trunk together in their kiss onto the soft grass. The sunlight of the dawn graced them both as they laid together, panting. Lefiya smiled and nuzzled into Bell as she blushed due to the feeling of warmth he left behind inside of her womb. However, they could not stay like they were for long, and Lefiya felt loneliness consume her when their bodies broke apart.

Lefiya left the grove of trees first after getting dressed again. She moved towards the place where they had set up camp, but the voice of Michael called out to her. The Thousand Elf turned to the Titan, but Michael simply gazed at her before offering a small smile.

"Negai," (1) the Titan said warmly. "That will be her name."

"Wha-" the elf looked at the Titan with surprise, but he walked past her with no response.

The elf shook her head and sighed, believing she must have heard Michael wrong. At the campground, everyone was either eating breakfast or making some kind of preparation for the journey ahead. Still, the thought that everyone would be splitting apart so soon as they came together troubled Lefiya. The more she tried to understand Michael's mind, the more she found herself lost and confused. She did, however, find comfort that she would be traveling with Ais and Riveria, and was excited about the chance to get to know Syr and Ryuu better.

"Where have you been all night?" Lefiya heard Riveria call out to her. The older elf crossed her arms over her chest and frowned as a much older sister or a mother would. "Staying awake for as long as you have before leaving on our journey was not wise."

"Ah, I… I'm sorry! I… had some thinking to do," Lefiya said nervously, her face feeling hotter as she thought about what she did with Bell.

"Just get to work helping us pack," Riveria sighed. "And have your things put away. We should leave as soon as possible."

"Were you feeling unwell last night, Lefiya?" Ais asked softly.

"I guess you could say that," Lefiya offered a small smile. "But… I feel better now."

The Sword Princess returned the Lefiya's smile. Ryuu, meanwhile, had brought horses for the girls while Syr helped prepare them for travel. Riveria, however, spoke briefly to Michael.

"I have sent word to Eina and asked her to stay with Loki," Riveria told the Titan as they approached the horses. "Should it come to that, she will be the next in line…. But I will do everything I can to protect Lefiya. You have my word."

"Your word is more than enough," Michael smiled. "But, it isn't who succeeds the throne if the worst should happen that bothers me as much as it is your father's foolishness."

"My father… is cautious," Riveria sighed.

"A cautious fool, then," Michael narrowed his eyes at Riveria. "He may well have secured the protection of the Alf Royal Forest from invaders wanting to plunder in, but it means nothing if he fights an enemy that means to exterminate the elven people. Especially if that enemy is capable of burning the forest to the ground."

"Do you think the Dragon will go there?" the High Elf frowned.

"The less attention we have from Enyo, the better," the Titan muttered. "Her mind has not yet fully melded with it, but she is strong enough that she can at least communicate with it. Yet, if Zeus and Hera were successful in anything despite their failure, they caused the Dragon to retreat and rest. No one has seen it in over fifteen years, but many things do not last forever. Everything depends on speed, and the secrecy of your mission, both your group and Tione's. Enyo's obsession with destroying Asgard may buy us time that we need."

Lefiya slowly mounted her horse, as the others mounted theirs. As she sat upon it, she locked eyes with Bell, who offered a small smile to her. Lefiya smiled back and nodded, though her heart cried in longing. When Michael joined with Bell, Welf, and Lili, he mounted his own horse. He smiled at everyone and lifted staff, its crown glowed under the sunlight.

"May the blessings of the divine go with you, and with it all the hopes of the mortal races," Michael cried. "Farewell! May the High God smile upon you. Farewell!"

With that, Michael led Bell, Welf, and Lili into the Beol Mountains, which are called "evil" by those of Orario. And the rest took the road east until they, too, would have to break apart. Yet, despite the fear that both Tiona and Lefiya felt, the warmth of hope grew inside them.

…

In the very first rays of the morning light, Bete, whom the goddess he met in his dreams renamed (2) Fenrir, the Dread Wolf. And under the song of her corruption, she whispered to him to go north, and to find the Black Dragon, and awaken him her name. And the goddess bade Fenrir to learn from the Black Dragon and grow stronger, to kill for the object of his ravenous lust.

…

1. Japanese word meaning "wish," prayer," or "hope." It seemed most appropriate to attribute Lefiya with such a name considering her birthplace is "Wishe Forest."

2. In Norse mythology, Fenrir was a monstrous wolf who was a son of Loki. According the myth, Odin raised the wolf amongst the gods, out of respect of Loki's friendship (they were blood-brothers by pact) with Thor, but the gods came to fear him as he kept growing stronger and more ravenous. As a result, the gods bound him to a chain that was supposed to be unbreakable. Somehow, the wolf breaks the chain and slays Odin in the events of Ragnarök, only to be slain in kind by a son of Odin named Vidar. Vidar, supposedly, is fated to have survived the events of Ragarök.

…

Hey, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please leave your reviews. Have a great day!