(Lido POV)
I looked at the note one last time as we were walking, I was starting to get a different feeling though about the letter.
"Hey," I called out to my human team, which consisted of many elves.
The head of the group turned around
"What?"
"This letter...Couldn't it also mean the guild? Or maybe a place where Ais goes where she gets mad?"
"...Let's just check the warehouses first. If we find nothing there, then we'll look into that,"
"Right,"
Naturally, I knew my position here well. My opinion would hold less value, as would my life.
'But...We're close!!!'
So close, to finally being able to be free on the surface.
(Bell POV)
"..."
"..."
There was silence between Ais and me as we walked.
She quite clearly loved those graves, as did everyone else. But in order to plunge a city into chaos, what better way to do it than to take away forever what they loved most?
"Ais, can't you cut me some slack?"
I broke the silence with a snarky remark, she turned back around coldly
"Just be quiet for now,"
"Fine..."
We finally arrived at the guild, where I was placed in an interrogation room. Ais left after dropping me off.
After around five minutes a guild member walked in.
"So, you're going to be watching over me, Eina?"
"Please tell me this is just a misunderstanding Bell. You're under too much fire to have such a face,"
"Ok, so what would you like me to do?"
"Just stay here, answer questions if we have any. That simple,"
"Sounds good," I said as I leaned my head back in the chair.
(Finn POV)
We had just arrived in front of the Warehouses with Asterius with my group. Ais was with Bell, so it was just the rest of us in the Loki familia with the monsters in toe. I brought the whole familia with me.
"Everyone split up and search them all!" I yelled out
"Yessir!"
Everyone followed my directions and went looking around, I went with my group which consisted of Me, Asterius, Tione, and Tiona.
We entered the first one, did a quick search, and found nothing. Asterius was helping as well by using his sense of smell, but he didn't find anything in here either.
We left the warehouse, not even sure of what we were trying to find. When I did though one of the soldiers called out to me.
"CAPTAIN FINN! OVER HERE!"
I ran over and looked inside the warehouse, and my jaw dropped.
Maybe around 100 Prums were all tied up, knocked unconscious.
'Impossible...'
How did this go unnoticed? Did they all have no connections at all?
The worst part of this though, was that I knew this was a trap. One meant for me at that.
"What does the note say?" I said, anticipating that some sort of note was left.
"It says that a bomb will go off the moment anyone enters the warehouse, and that if we try and defuse the bomb it will go off. However, it said that if we wait 10 minutes the bomb will not explode, but if we choose to do that they will Kill Bete,"
"WHAT?!" I grabbed the note and read it over.
'...'
No one knew where Bete has been for the past few days. Is it possible he was caught by the enemy? He would seem too fast for that, but if it did happen...
My mind which was normally composed started racing. I was nervous, a feeling I hadn't felt in a very, very long time.
"What's your call captain?"
"..."
There was no good choice, however, as a leader, I am burdened with this responsibility. I must choose, loyalty or pride.
I took a deep breath and tried to calmly think it over, and then I came to a decision.
"...We will save Bete,"
Everyone in the familia's face dropped at that. They were all probably thinking about how the person who loved Prums and was the pride of Prums would throw nearly 100 lives away, but...Bete is more important in this situation.
"Wait, Captain-!"
"I'll do it myself," I said, cutting off Tione
I took a step into the warehouse, preparing to take on the large force of the explosion, however, when I walked in, nothing happened.
"...What?"
"Captain..." Tione continued "Couldn't you have just woken them up and have them try to untie themselves, or...Used a rope from above to get them out?"
My mind broke then and there.
'How...How did I overlook that?'
Did I think that there was no way such an obvious choice would be allowed? Or maybe I was so focused on saving Bete, that I didn't even think of finding any loopholes.
I slowly, with a shakey head turned around to look at my comrades.
"Ah..."
The moment I said it, was when I saw it.
The looks of distrust, or maybe it was disgust, peering straight at me.
I buckled to my knees.
"And...There won't even be a choice to save Bete..."
I muttered. They said nothing about releasing Bete, I just assumed it.
'I...I fucked up,'
(Bell POV)
"Hey, Eina," I said casually
"Yes?"
"You wanna know what would be crazy? If a super genius leader actually folded under pressure. That would make quite the story right?"
"...What are you talking about?"
"Like, imagine if someone everyone loved, turned out to be a super selfish guy that would choose the 1 over the 100"
"...Well, that's subjective," She countered "What if the 100 were all criminals? Or what if the 1 would be one of the people to end up clearing the dungeon?"
"Use your imagination a bit, you're too realistic. Say...The 100 were all innocents, and the 1 was a good friend of the person choosing. Which choice is right?"
"..." She sat in thought before answering "None,"
"Ding Ding Ding!"
"What was the point of that?"
"Just a question of many," I said with a smile
When Finn encounters that trap, or maybe he already has, it's going to hit him hard. The best part about it though, is that fact it's all in his head. He's going to think that everyone hates him, that everyone distrusts him when in reality they're just grateful nothing bad happened in the first place.
(Mikoto POV)
We all met back up at the mansion. We all assumed that would be the place to meet up after all hell broke loose. However, we were missing two. bell and Haruhime.
"Where are those two?" Hestia wondered aloud.
It should have been an obvious reaction. I'm sure Bell went off on his own, but Haruhime? I know she isn't quite the sharpest, but she would know to meet back up here.
"I can't believe Bell went that far..." Lily muttered as she looked down, talking about the explosions.
"Well, we can't berate ourselves now. We had a chance to back out, and Bell even said again that he would get into more trouble," Welf countered
"Do you guys think...Bell kidnapped Haruhime for something?" I asked
"Why would he do that though?" Hestia questioned back
"...For her level-up ability?" Lily responded this time
Then it hit me like a wave.
He had just hit level 5 the other day, he has some strange power of his own that lets him get super strong and Haruhime. With that...he could fight Ottar and outclass Ais.
My hands turned into a fist.
Unlike everyone else, while I agreed to stay, I didn't agree with it anymore. If he was going to take Haruhime- if he was going to hurt my friends...Then I'll have to handle this myself.
"What's up Mikoto?" Hestia asked seeing my look
"O-Oh, nothing," I said as I regained my composure.
Lily eyed me, and I have a feeling she knew what I was thinking, but then she turned her head to the side. I assume that's her way of saying do what you need.
I quickly excused myself.
'Hold on Haruhime, I'm coming to save you.'