The Familia
(A/N While many of you might not like this choice I encourage you to keep reading I think you will find while it may be similar to other fan fics I'm going to go in direction with it and also I give Jacks thoughts on each familia I thought was worth mentioning. Also this choice may not be permanent as who knows what will happen in the future.)
Jack going over the list again starts to go through some names from what he remembers. He told Kyra to mark on the map the head quarters of the familia he wanted and where the current God or Goddess of that familia is.
He first thought of Hestia and that was an immediate no in his mind. Jack did not want to take away the familia from Bell in a sense and he also did not want to deal with Hestia. While Hestia is a nice and caring Goddess she is a bit of an airhead Jack thought. He also did not want to care for her remembering how lazy she is. Even though she had signs of working hard for the people she cared about he did not want to have to deal with it.
The next name he took notice of was the Goddess Demeter. While he liked the good willed Goddess and even thought she was very beautiful. Her familia is not really combat oriented. Now that he thought about it he was not even sure how strong they were in general. Then he saw Ishtar and he did not even have to think about that one. He just kept on looking.
The name after that was Freya. While he always thought Freya got a bad wrap in the anime an actually liked her character a lot there was one serious problem. Jack does not seem to recall if Freya even had girls in her familia. While he thought Ottawa could give him a good battle and help him become stronger Jack figures he could challenge him whenever he wants if he just said something bad about Freya.
The next name was Hephaestus. While Jack new she had strong members like Tsubaki and frequently went on expeditions with the Loki familia there was one problem and that was Jack did not care about black smithing at all. He has no interest in it. This made him worry if he would even be allowed to join. He did like everything about Hephaestus herself though as she is hard working something a certain other Goddess is not. They were also the richest familia because of their production so they had that going for them.
The last name he cared about was Loki. While Jack knew this would be the most optimal choice with what he wanted. He just thought about Loki and couldn't help but think how she uses people. Jack not that their is anything wrong with that and she treats her familia good. He just thought that she might get too many ideas if she saw him.
After going through all of it in his head he starts walking out the Guild thanking Eina. But then he pops back in as he never actually got her name from her. "Excuse me sorry for not asking early but what is your name?" Jack asks her with a blush as he was somewhat embarrassed. While Kyra was inside his head laughing at the interaction. "Oh it is Eina Tulles sorry for the late introduction." She says slightly embarrassed. " Oh nice to meet you. Thanks again for the help." Jack says as he walks toward his destination of hopefully his new familia.
It gets later in the day around 6 at night. However his walk does not take him too long as the guild is close by Hephaestus workshop. He approaches close to the workshop and sees there are many guards around he walks up to the one by the entrance and sees a guard there who looks like he is in charge. Jack trying to walk by him gets blocked by the guard. "Who are you, state your business." The guard says staring him down. "Hi I'm Jack Saber and I wanted to talk to Hephaestus about joining her familia." Jack says not scared of the guard at all. After the guard looks him over a bit he heads in the workshop after telling Jack to stay there. After a couple minutes he comes back out and lets Jack through. Jack goes into the store and sees Hephaestus.
Hephaestus looked beautiful Jack thought as he looked at her red hair and red eye. Then he saw her eyepatch and thought how cool she looked.
(Hephaestus point of view)
As she was just wrapping up she was actually about to sleep on the couch outside her forge as she didn't feel like going anywhere else. When all of a sudden her head guard Adam came knocking at the door. Hephaestus yelled "What!" As she was just getting comfortable. "There is a young man who wishes to talk to you about joining your familia." The guard said in haste. Hephaestus thought it over and thought she would just tell the kid no after seeing him. "Let him in the store!" Hephaestus yelled. The guard hurriedly left. As she gets up thinking we'll let's get this over with. She comes out to the store section of her place and sees the young man. In her head "Damn he is handsome and has some armor I have never seen before. 'While putting her hand on the bridge of her nose.' This is going to be a long night" she thought.
(Back to Jack)
"Hi why don't we go to my office to talk" Hephaestus said wanting to ask him questions about his armor behind close doors. "Sure" Jack said not thinking much about it. Hephaestus holds open the door for him and tells him to sit in the chair in front of the desk. As she locks the door to the office. Jack not really caring sits down and waits. She sits behind the desk. "So who are you and why do you Yeah want to join my familia?" Hephaestus asks while evaluating him. "I am Jack Saber and I just want to get stronger and see where things go. I want the freedom and fun your familia will help me have." Jack said not wavering under the pressure that Hephaestus is putting him under. "What kind of fun? Blacksmithing?" Hephaestus asks curiously. "Fuck no. I actually do not like blacksmithing at all." Jack says confidently. Hephaestus almost falls out of her chair and gets a little upset that someone would come to her and not show any interest in blacksmithing and still want to be a part of her familia. "So let me get this straight you want to be in my familia. Even though you hate blacksmithing and I am the blacksmith Goddess." While she holds the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed. "Yep." Jack says nonchalantly. " I can offer you my other services though." "What other surfaces?" Hephaestus asks in awe of what Jack is saying. "Well I know your group goes on expeditions a lot with the Loki familia and I figured that's a good way to get stronger. Also I can just make your familia stronger in general." Jack says excitedly. "Why not join the Loki familia then?" Hephaestus knows the Loki familia is more powerful than hers when it comes to adventurers. "Honestly I feel like I would butt heads with certain people there and you are more beautiful than Loki." Jack says staring in Hephaestus eye that is a similar color to his. Hephaestus notices his staring and her heart skips a beat for a second as no one usually complements her on her looks. "Wait what level are you?" Hephaestus asks intrigued. "I would be willing to tell you however my skills help my level a bit so I don't want you to judge me based on that. Your free to look if you put your Falna on me." Jack says trying to set up a certain event. "I will tell you what though I will let you look at my status board if you let me look at your covered up eye." Jack felt like he might have crossed a line but he wanted to see. "Fine but depending on your reaction you will either join my familia, or I will make it so you will have a hard time joining any familia, or with all my power I will make you banished from Orario." Hephaestus says with a sad look on her face because she already knows what the outcome is going to be. "Okay" Jack said like it was no big deal with his usual smile that seems slightly more gentle then normal.
Hephaestus uncovers her eye. She then stares into the eyes of Jack. After staring into his eyes and seeing his reaction. She tries to hold back tears but they just start coming out. As she puts her elbows on the desk her hands in her face as she is looking down. Trying to hide her crying face from Jack. Jack immediately freaked out for a second. "Did I do something wrong?" Jack really worried about his future but more importantly Hephaestus right now. Hephaestus crying "No... No it's just that only one other person has looked at me the way you have when they saw my eye." As she continues to cry. Jack not knowing what to do just pats her head.
Hephaestus gets confused for a moment and stops crying as she is not use to this kind of treatment. She can not help but feel this kid is a little different. So she stops crying "So you want to join my familia?" Jack with a huge smile on his face "Yes!" "Usually I require that you take some part in blacksmithing but I will let it slide" as she puts back on her eyepatch. "Get on the couch lay on your stomach and take off your shirt." She says while pointing to the couch on the side. As she puts the falna on his back she is shocked by the stats. "How is a level 4 with your skill set not in a familia and how have you improved so much without one." "Honestly never really cared to been doing stuff by myself. Haven't even been in the dungeon yet." Hephaestus started to face palm. "I can have Tsubaki take you down there. She is very experienced." Jack thinking it over "I'm good I want to see how I do by myself. Don't worry though I won't die got too cute of a Goddess now not to." Kyra gets a little jealous and Hephaestus blushes. "Okay fine but be safe." "I will I'm just going to go as far as I can." Jack not thinking much about it. Hephaestus let's out an audible sigh. After everything is done Jack was about to leave but realized something. "Do you know somewhere I can stay for the night." Hephaestus let's out another sigh wondering how this kid has stayed alive so long. "Just sleep here." As she starts to lay on the couch. Jack walks over and lays next to her and kind of on top of her. Hephaestus immediately shoves him. "What were you thinking?" She says with an extreme blush that matches her hair and eyes. "You said to sleep here" "I meant like in the chair or floor or something anything but on me!!" Jack not thinking it is a big deal "but you look comfortable." Hephaestus immediately punches his head knocking him out for the remainder of the night.