Original: February 16th, 2018 with 1593 word count
Updated: February 22nd, 2019 with 2430 word count
~
As they were climbing the hill towards the gem, it was silent for what seemed like forever. Kirara trailing beside her as the men were behind her, watching her back as her black/ombre hair swaying behind her. Her olive toned skin glowing in the sun. Her sky-blue eyes shining in the sun, watching in front of her as she took in the scenery.
"So, tell us," began the tall one in glasses as he glanced at her back. "What is your name and where are you from, exactly?"
Bella pinched her light-colored lips gently together without them seeing, trying to think of an answer. When she finally thought of one, she turned to them with a smile on her face. "Well, I will try and keep this answer short," She looks at everyone as she watched their faces. "My name is Isabella, but please call me Bella and this is my companion, Kirara," she points at her companion as Kirara mews. "We both come from a place called Midgar, but we moved to a place called Edge, but I'm originally from a place called Gongaga,"
She heard a snort from the bright blond as Bella chuckles. "Go ahead and laugh, it is a funny name," She continues up the hill as she turns around as she looks down taking a deep breath. "We were walking home one day and suddenly I felt something odd and I was... transferred here to this place."
"Anything else you can tell us?" asks the dark-blue haired one behind her after a moment of silence, she turns around and shakes her head gently. "How come?"
"I think you should earn that privilege, don't you think?" inquires the young woman with a quick wink his way, "I don't just spill the beans on the first date," She joked obviously, and giggled when the men chuckled at the prince's face. It went silent for the rest of the climb, she felt relieved when no one asked more questions.
She'd rather keep it that way.
"Embrace your dreams. If you want to be a hero, you need to have dreams." She remembered her brother reminding her constantly. Looking over at Kirara as she keeps her eyes forward not knowing Bella glanced at her. Bella raised her hand petting her head making her purr loudly.
The four men watch her as she walked ahead of them. "What do you think of her, Noctis?" asked the dirty blond hair man, looking at the prince.
In his own reality, Noctis didn't have the words to tell his advisor about the young maiden. He knew in his mind he was in love with Luna but – something about this young woman was making his palms sweat and butterflies swim around his stomach. Was that his heart racing? He couldn't make heads or tails of it. Snapping out his thoughts, he looked at his friend.
"She seems nice, I don't know if she can fight though," Noctis said with a shrug of his shoulders. They all look at her once more, they could see some of the muscles she has on her arms a bit. "But – I could be wrong,"
"She looks tough," The bright blond told them. "She looks like she could hold her own, probably not against Gladio though,"
The brute scoffs, glaring at the young maiden's back, truth be told he thought she had a chance against him but – he didn't want to say anything about it. Something about her didn't send any red flags to him as he felt like she was someone they could trust. But, looks can always be deceiving.
"Now, gentlemen," She said turning to them with a smile. "Shall we get this over with?"
~
"Oh... Em... Gee!" The sharpshooter whispers loudly as they round the corner at the top of the hill and see the giant bird sleeping.
Bella, in the back of her mind was freaking out, but she giggles quietly turning to them putting her finger to her lips and winks their way as Kirara jumps from her shoulder down to the ground and shakes gently looking up at her companion.
"Don't worry, I'll grab it for you guys, least I can do." said Bella walking towards the bird without hearing the brute behind her.
As quiet at the young woman could, she walks around the bird. Her bright eyes glancing at the bird making sure it didn't wake up. She heard the bird shift a bit and she froze mid-step, eyes widened in fear. She looks over slowly seeing the bird with its eyes opened slightly, she could hear it breathing as it leaned down. Bella could feel the heat from its nostrils as it sniffed her, Bella closed her eyes tightly awaiting the attack from the bird, her heart slamming against her chest and her breath trapped against her throat making it hard for her to breathe.
When Bella barely shifts, the bird lets out a ear-curdling roar almost breaking Bella's eardrums, the bird stands tall flapping its humongous wings knocking Bella down towards the edge of the cliff, she yelps when she tries catching herself and falls off. Kirara, thinking quickly rushes over changing into her sabertooth form jumping down as the guys yell out Bella's name worriedly trying to shield themselves from the bird's wind.
After the bird flies away, the men rush over to the edge preparing for the worst. When they see Bella laying across Kirara's back face first, sighing in relief as Kirara heads up and lands on the ground. Bella puts her hands on Kirara's back and pushes herself off and pats Kirara's head gently as she puts her head against Bella's making her giggle.
"Are you alright?" asked the dirty blond hair man looking over her. She giggles.
"I'm fine, I promise," Bella assured them putting her hands up gently. "Thanks to Kirara here, which I'll always be forever grateful."
"Wait a minute..." started the sharpshooter, trying to gather his thoughts quickly. "She was small," he motions with his hands and then raises them. "Now she's..."
Bella giggles a bit at the men while they were speechless at Kirara's appearance, she puts her hand on Kirara's head gently petting it, even though Kirara's head was as tall as Bella, if not a few inches taller.
"This young girl here was specifically made for me on my birthday from my brother," Bella spoke as her voice cracked at the end. She shook her head trying to regain her composure. She coughs a bit and smiles, "She's someone who kept a four-year-old busy while her older brother was on missions." Sighing lightly, Bella looks at her. "She's the best thing that he ever gave me... Except being the best big brother I could ever ask for..."
"That was sweet of him to do," noted the bright blond, smiling her way while the brute and the prince headed off to get the gem.
Kirara lets out a growl, letting out a purr putting her head on Bella's chest making Bella giggle a bit. After they got the gem, they began walking back to the car as Kirara changed into her smaller form shaking and hops on ahead.
"I'm curious..." said the tactician, glancing back at her pushing up on his glasses making her raise a brow towards him. "You said you're from a place called 'Midgar', I've never seen it on the map. Where is this place and how did you end up here?"
"To be honest with all of you," She began with a sigh looking away, a blush surrounding her cheeks from embarrassment. "I'm unsure about that myself, all I remember is I was carrying groceries to my friends place, then I feel something weird in an alleyway and I blacked out. I ended up here," she wasn't completely lying about it, but – the voice that spoke to her before she ended up here still haunted in her mind.
The tactician turns to his friend, putting a finger to his chin as began to think. The prince glances back at him and shrugs, indicating he didn't mind what he was thinking.
"I honestly don't mind if she comes, as long as she can fight," The prince stated looking at Bella who watches them intently, butterflies surrounded his stomach once more, but he tries to ignore it. "I'm Noctis, by the way."
Bella giggles waving at him, ignoring her own butterflies. "I'm Prompto! But you can call me Prom if you want."
When they got to the car, the tall, dirty blond one stops and turns to her holding out his hand once more. "I'm Ignis, a pleasure to meet you."
Bella smiles stopping and shaking his hand gently and turns to the brute who was silent for a moment, but the young woman understood why. "Gladiolus," He spoke quietly, glaring her way.
She continues the smile on her face, bowing to them. "I completely understand why you don't trust me, Gladiolus," Bella told him standing up tilting her head to look at him in the eye. "I promise you though, I will not get in the way of your journey. You all have your dynamic," Bella touches Kirara's head as she jumped on Bella's shoulder. "We'll find a way to make ourselves a part of that in our own time."
~
After the whole thing, Bella rode on Kirara's back meeting the men back at Galdin Quay while they drove back there. Sitting at the beach since she beat them there, she took in the air once more, the salty air filled her senses. Kirara jumping in the water enjoying her time in the water. Bella's hair surrounding her arms as she leaned against her knees. Bella's electric eyes looked at the ocean closely watching the sea water push against the sand gently.
"Catch me, big brother!" called a voice in the back of her mind. "I'm too fast for you, big brother! Keep up!" her childhood laugh was heard as another laughed filled her mind while a smile broke out on her face gently.
"I will get you, Chibi!" called another voice called, she dearly missed this voice. "You may be fast now, but soon, I'll catch you!"
Thinking back, she missed those days with her brother. He did everything for her, he made sure she was happy. He promised he'd never leave her, but here she is – without him. It wasn't his fault for leaving her though, they took his life away. Letting out a sigh, she had to admit though, this was a magnificent world she was in. It was nothing like Midgar - although she would admit there are days, she'll see blue skies and other days, she won't.
"Bella?" a voice spoke, scaring her. Bella jumps and looks back seeing Prompto walking towards her and then sits next to her. "Are you okay?"
Bella takes a deep breath putting a hand on her chest gently. "I'm fine, just scared me." Bella told him with a small laugh, "I was also thinking back in my past a bit," She admitted to him with a chuckle. "The things we do for our loved ones, right?"
Prompto chuckles with a nod. "By the way, don't take Gladio seriously, he's just – "
"Protecting Noctis, right?" Prompto looks at her almost in shock, wondering how she knew that. Bella puts a hand on her face and giggles at his face. "It wasn't hard to figure out, my brother used to be protecting detail when he was on missions, so I kind of put two and two together," she put her fingers together showing him what she meant.
"Good guess, Bells," Prompto said using her nickname looking over seeing Kirara jump in the water and then come back up walking on the sand shaking herself off from the excess water and does it again. "Tell me, what was your life like?"
Looking down, Bella sighs leaning against her arms once more looking out to the ocean seeing that it was evening time. "There's not much to say, really." She murmurs gently, withdrawing herself from the conversation. "I don't want to say it was hard, but I also want to say it wasn't easy, either. I hate being reminded of my past," Prompto touches her shoulder making her look at him.
Prompto smiles at her. "You don't have to tell me, it's okay, tell us in your own time."
"Thank you," She said thankfully, smiling back.
"If you don't mind me asking," piped a familiar voice behind them, they both turn seeing Ignis walking to them. "What happened to your back? Excuse my next words, but it looks nasty."
"Oh..." She grimaced a bit, lifting her shirt, showing her scar. It was a large scar thinning out at the ends of it, it took up half of her back and she touches one of the ends of it feeling the bump. "I was attacked when I was eight years old by one of our First-Class SOLDIERs, I heard my brother calling me and then – nothing." She pushes her shirt down covering the biggest part of her scar. "It took a while for it to scab and scar up, maybe three months, I honestly don't remember..."
"Sounds like it was rough afterwards," Ignis spoke to her as Bella shook her head. "I couldn't imagine the pain you must've felt."
Bella stands up taking a deep breath, trying not to stammer on her words. "Pretty much after that happened, my brother wanted me to learn how to fight and protect myself and since then, I've been training and fighting for what I think is right,"
Gladio steps up towards her and looks down at the young woman. She didn't feel threatened by him, she faced worse people than him. "Well then," Gladio piped up. "If you can fight, prove it."
Hearing those words, Kirara snaps her head up and rushes towards Bella as quick as she can, jumping on Bella's shoulder and pushed her face against Bella's making Bella smirk.
"I honestly thought you'd never ask, Gladiolus," Bella's hand gently touched the top of Kirara's head as her companions' eyes glowed white and in a blinding light, her companion was gone and suddenly in Bella's hand, she held a single weapon.
The men uncovered their eyes from the blinding light and saw the weapon, a smirk was on the young woman's face and the men's eyes widen. Bella then twists the weapon around her hands, when it landed in her dominant hand, she aims it at Gladio.
"Now, shall we begin, Gladiolus?"
~
A/N: Another chapter done! Yay! I'll write chapter three soon! I'm really happy with how this one is turning out. Who do you think will win, Gladio or Bella? Let me know!