Bella was pacing while the men were in the tunnel to get to the Tomb. Kirara sat on the ground watching her owner intently in her big form in case anything happens. Bella stops pacing quickly and looks around the Wastleland around her. Frowning heavily, it reminded her much of the outskirts of Midgar. Taking a deep breath, she looks at Kirara.
"Do you think I'm in way over my head here?" asks Bella. Kirara looks at her as Bella throws her hands over her head. "'Cause I really feel like I am,"
"I honestly don't think you are, Bella," Kirara told her quietly, making sure no one heard her. "You're doing a good deed by helping them with their mission,"
"Why does it feel like... I'm not doing a lot, I don't know this world at all." Bella said putting her hands down gently looking down on the ground plopping down. "I don't know anyone here, other than you..."
"I wouldn't worry about it, Bella," Kirara told her standing up shaking her fur walking towards her friend. "I feel you're right where you belong."
Bella looks at Kirara as she helps her owner stand up as they stand by the tunnel waiting for the men to come back. Kirara stands behind her while they look around the Wasteland making sure enemies didn't bother them.
"I see you, Little Butterfly," A voice spoke behind them where the tunnel was. Bella tenses up looking behind her seeing no one behind her. "You think you can hide from me, but you have another thing coming."
"No... It can't be," Bella gasps out looking around for him as Kirara growls making sure he doesn't come around Bella. "You can't be here."
The voice disappeared, Bella was tensed up because of the whole thing. She knew he couldn't be here. He was dead, wasn't he? Taking a deep breath, Bella hears talking behind her. Kirara turns her head seeing the men walking towards them, Kirara walks towards them to make sure they were okay.
"Bella?" asks Prompto looking at her as she doesn't move. Bella jumps turning around seeing them there staring at her with confused looks on their faces. "You okay?"
"Oh, uh," Bella shakes her head taking one last look behind her then back at them with a smile on her face. "I'm fine! Did you find the Tomb?"
"Got it," Noctis told her showing her, his weapon he got. Bella admires it, touching it gently feeling the steel on it. It was authentic, but she wouldn't put past this world and their weapons. Smiling his way but then Noctis puts his weapon away and picks up his phone that began ringing. "Yeah?"
Bella didn't hear the conversation as the men around her began talking leaving her out of it. Pinching her lips together, she looks back at the Wasteland. Bella didn't want to burden her problems with theirs. They had enough to worry about, she didn't want to put that on them, in time, she'll take care of it.
"Bella?"
"Yeah?" Bella said looking at the prince feeling the closeness of him. Her heart began racing against her chest and she was hoping he didn't hear it. "What's up?"
"You ready?"
Bella nods and begins to follow them. "People to see, bases to burn. Let's go see Monica at the outpost." Noctis informs them after Prompto asks him what's going on.
"Come to think of it, we did spy a large structure." Ignis begins remembering they did at one point during their trip.
"Yeah, hard to miss an ominous thing like that." Noctis nods in agreement with a light sigh.
Gladio grunts and chuckles a bit. "Ain't gonna be easy takin' down a whole stronghold."
"Can we really do this?" asks Prompto looking at everyone.
"The marshal believes we can, or he wouldn't have asked us. But first things first." Ignis suggests looking at Noctis who nods in agreement.
"Right. Let's head back to the outpost."
~
After approaching the Outpost, they saw Monica in the distance and began heading towards her. Bella began to feel nervous but she knows she can do this. "Your Highness," Monica bows Noctis' way when they approached her, "the marshal has apprised me of the plan. We've found a backdoor into the imperial base. I'll mark the route on your map. The way is secure. You should be able to gain entry relatively easily."
Noctis nods as he hands his map towards her as she marks it on the map and they all began heading to the designated spot she marked.
"From here we will split into two groups. Prince Noctis, please join the marshal up ahead. The rest of you will assist me in the diversionary effort."
Noctis looks at everyone as they cheer him on, he looks at Bella as she smiles touching Kirara's head making the Gunblade appear. "You got this, Bella?"
"You underestimate me, Noct," Bella winks at him putting her weapon on her shoulder. "I was trained by the best, give them hell, Prince,"
Noctis nods heading to find the Marshal, Bella looks at everyone else as they began heading out. Bella follows closely, seeing a soldier in front of them. Bella shifts the Blade into the Gun and aims it at the solider. Keeping the finger on the trigger, Ignis was motioning her not to shoot yet. Bella aims closely towards the head, Ignis motions her to shoot and she does as the soldier falls dead.
The men and Monica run ahead created the diversion needed for Noctis to come through. Bella rushes towards the soldier and cuts him before he could shoot her. Bella felt a bullet graze her cheek as she turns seeing Prompto shooting the soldier that shot her. Bella could feel the burn on her cheek but she tried to ignore it
After beating them, she hears the gate opening and sees Noctis and Cor running through.
"Noct!" Prompto calls out waving towards him, the men and Bella walk up them with smiles on their faces.
"Marshal. It's good to see you again." Ignis greets making Cor nod their way.
"Alright on your end?" asks Noctis looking around.
"Right as rain," Gladio answers with a grin on his face. "The Niffs couldn't take their eyes off us."
"Thanks to you we were spared their attention," Cor told everyone but then Bella heard something turning around she sees something coming their way.
An imperial drop-ship suddenly flies in; the imperial officer aboard addresses Noctis and the others, Bella swallows thickly, wondering who this is. "Stay right where you are," The voice began making Bella take one step back. "Well, well, if it isn't Cor the Immortal. So you survived the Citadel. But you won't survive what I have in store for you. It's past time your legend came to an end."
Loqi enters the cockpit of his MA-X Cuirass magitek armor, then deploys to the ground. Bella smirks shifting her Gunblade into the Bow-Blade and aims the arrow, ready to shoot. Taking a deep breath, she aimed her Bow-Blade at the enemy making sure ht armor doesn't hurt her friends.
"Say, Marshal, how 'bout you show us how it's done?" asks Prompto with a smirk on his face aiming his gun.
Cor smirks back and readies his sword; "No wimping out. Let's move."
Bella shoots her arrow at the knee as it hits his shin making her groan in annoyance. Bella rushes towards him and then two magitek armors attacks her, she yelps shifting her bow into a blade and slices both of them seeing them fall down. She turns her head seeing Noctis and Cor taking down Loqi, making her chuckle releasing Kirara from the weapon she had and she kicks the enemy behind her while Kirara pounces on one that was running at Bella.
Bella saw Noctis beat Loqi and the smile on Bella's face grew. She felt happy for him, but disappointed she couldn't help beat him.
Cor puts his sword away and faces the prince. "Impressive," Cor said putting a hand on Noctis' shoulder. "Seeing you in action puts my mind at ease. It's clear I don't need to worry any more. I'll return to watching the Niffs. 'Til next time, take care.
Cor and Monica leave; a moment later, Noct and his retinue move toward the open gate of the blockade, Ignis slowly driving the Regalia alongside the other four, who are on foot; Gladio's sword is resting on his shoulder. Kirara in tow behind Bella in sabertooth form, Bella puts her hands up above her head as she stretches.
"Ain't so bad out here once you get used to it." Gladio states a smile on his face.
Prompto looks at everyone; "Still a lot we haven't seen, though." Prompto looks at Bella who puts her hands down and looks at him. "A lot more you haven't seen,"
Bella chuckles a bit. "I'll get to explore it with all of you," Bella tells them.
"And a lot for us to do." adds Ignis with a soft chuckle.
Bella and Prompto nod as Bella gets on Kirara's back as Kirara catches up to the men with a loud growl. "Yeah!" Both say with grin.
"Buck up. We're just getting started." Gladio encourages everyone as everyone keeps smiling.
~
After several hours of traveling, they have decided to set up camp near the Alstor Slough. Bella sits on Kirara watching them set up camp, she didn't know what she could do to help when she asked, she didn't quite get the answer she was wanting.
Sighing, she watched them finish up camp, it only consisted of one tent and four chairs. Bella got down from Kirara's back and walked towards the fire and sat on the ground, Kirara follows and lays down behind Bella as they listen to the men talk about Lestallum.
"Tell me, if you don't mind me interrupting," Bella started making the men go quiet as she looks up at them. "Say we get to Lestallum, what do we do then? I mean, we find Gladiolus' sister, then what?"
Ignis looks at her. "I suppose that is a valid question," Ignis begins his answer. "I don't want to prolong our stay, we do need to locate the rest of the tombs so Noctis can gain their power to become the True King,"
Bella stares at him with a raised brow. "And I'm still curious about Noctis' calling... "True King"? What is that?"
"I'm the Chosen King to harness the power of the Crystal to bring back the light to the world," Noctis responds looking at her while Ignis continues making food for everyone. "I'm casting Darkness out of this world, whatever it may be."
"Doesn't sound like a safe destiny to have," Bella shakes her head closing her eyes. "From what it sounds like he might lose the battle," Bella looks at everyone and sighs, "I worded that wrong, let me start again," she could feel the glare from Gladiolus. "After the battle I mean, when he wins against the enemy but - afterward is when it will happen,"
Noctis shrugs. "As long as everyone is safe," Noctis stands up. "I saw a fishing spot nearby, I'm gonna go," Noctis walks off to the fishing spot. Bella sighs.
"I'm... I'm gonna go for a walk and... forget what I just said..." Bella said standing up walking away trying to ignore Gladiolus' glare.
~
"You know she didn't mean it like that, Gladio," Prompto told him as he watched Bella leave, Kirara standing up and following her.
"Doesn't matter," Gladio told him and looked at Prompto. "She's gotta understand that's why we're here, to help him achieve his goal, she doesn't need to remind him that he has to lose his life in order to achieve his rite..."
"But she doesn't understand, Gladio," Ignis reminds him. "Let me be the one to remind you that she's from a different world, she doesn't know all this stuff. She's used to stuff from her world and all this stuff that we have... is much different."
Gladio lets out a huff and crosses his arms. "This is why we're teaching her," Prompto told him. "She will eventually get it, but we don't want to overwhelm her,"
"Yeah, yeah," Gladio said looking at the fire.
~
Bella walked down to the fishing spot seeing Noctis standing there fishing, looking down seeing a few fish he caught. She lightly smiles and slowly walks up to him.
"Hey, Noctis," greeted Bella stopping behind him with her hands behind her back.
Noctis glances back and then goes back to his fishing. "Hey,"
"I really didn't mean to upset you..." She said stopping behind him. "I..."
Noctis shakes his head. "It's okay," Noctis assures her. "I've known of my destiny since I was a little boy, it doesn't surprise me," Noctis motions her to come stand next to him. Bella hesitates but Kirara pushes her up and Bella stumbles a bit, catching herself before she fell and sees him still fishing. "You wanna try?"
Bella looks at the fishing rod as he pushes it towards her gently. Bella takes a big gulp and nods gently taking the rod, unsure of what to do. She held it so awkwardly, Bella felt embarrassed.
"I'm not gonna lie to you, I haven't done this before,"
Noctis chuckles. "Clearly," joked the prince, walking up behind her, pushing his chest up against her back. "Relax and hold this way," Noctis adjusts her hands gently as Bella took a deep breath letting him do it. "There you go," He compliments holding his hands there, the closeness was driving Bella crazy.
Bella didn't know why her body was reacting this way; her heart was racing against her chest, her palms were becoming sweaty, the butterflies were fluttering in her stomach. Is this what her big brother felt when he saw Aerith? Taking another deep breath, she watches the water where the fish were swimming trying to take her mind off Noctis and the closeness.
Noctis, on the other hand, was feeling his heart thump hard against his chest. His hands were sweaty as well, but he couldn't let those feelings take control. He was in love with Luna.
Wasn't he?
The rod jerked both of them out of their thoughts, and Bella froze. She didn't know what to do, Noctis takes the rod and begins reeling in. Bella watches, fascinated by what he was doing. Her hands stay on the rod while he was reeling, they both pull on it when it was necessary. When they got the fish, a fifteen-pound Alstor Bass. Noctis was impressed.
"Good job, Bells," Noctis told her making her smile gently.
"Thank you, Noctis," Bella responds and turns her head to look at him. His blue eyes staring into her own sky-blue ones. Turning fully as her chest touched against his own, she could feel the muscles on his stomach.
He released his fishing pole and it disappeared and his hands rested against her forearms, she felt the sparks in her body making her spine tingle a bit. Her hair flowing with the wind that was gently blowing against them. Her bangs gently covering her face, Noctis takes one of his hands brushing the hair behind her ear. Bella tried hard not to look at his lips, but she glanced at them seeing how full they were, glancing back up at his eyes.
Noctis watched this motion and his eyes trailed down her own features, seeing how thin her face was, and then landed on her lips, he could see how perfect they fit on her features. Glancing up back at her own bright eyes, his heart continues thumping against his chest that he was sure she could feel it, the butterflies surrounding his stomach.
Before they knew it, they were leaning into one another, their eyes slowly closing. Bella began standing up on her tip-toes just so she could reach him. They're lips barely grazing one another.
"Noctis!" They both heard Prompto calling out their names. "Bella!" They were knocked out their daze, eyes widened and Bella yelps falling back into the water. Kirara quickly went to the edge of the dock and looks down for her best friend. "Oh, there you are... Where's Bella?"
"I'm here..." They hear Bella speak meekly, her neck just above the water. "I just fell in the water and you know... I need to bathe anyway... So, if this is about the food, I'll be right there..."
Prompto nods, looking at Noctis as he grabs the fish he (and Bella) caught. "Let's go," Noctis told his best friend as he nods once more as they both walk away.
When they were out of hearing range, Bella yelps leaning back down in the water. "What the hell is wrong with me, Kirara!?"
Kirara sits down on the dock looking at Bella who floated there. "I don't get your meaning, there's nothing with what you did,"
"I almost kissed him!" Bella groans loudly standing on the ground of the river. The water just reaching her waistline. "He's getting married to someone else, I can't go and do that! I can't kiss him!"
"... I still don't see what the big problem is," Kirara stated tilting her head.
"Kirara..." again, groans Bella getting out of the water and sits next to her feeling the warmth of her best friend. "We can't go around kissing people who are in a relationship and about to get married, it's just... laws and rules and such..."
"Sounds like you're making an excuse, Bells..." Kirara told her nudging her head against Bella's shoulder gently. "You love the prince."
Bella sighs putting her head into her hands. "What do I do..." questions Bella towards her, but it sounded muffled in her hands.
~
Bella walks back to camp as she gets up there, Ignis hands her the food he cooked. Bella quietly thanked him, taking her food and going to the spot she was sitting at and sat down while eating her food quietly while the men talked amongst themselves once more.
Noctis yawns loudly as Bella watches him. "I'm going to bed," Noctis announces getting up and walking towards the tent going in. Prompto follows him as does the other two.
"Night Bella," Prompto waved to her.
"You gonna be okay out here?" asks Ignis as Bella nods leaning against Kirara. "If you need to come in, make yourself comfortable,"
Gladio walks in waving towards her. Bella waves back towards them. Kirara was already asleep and Bella lays down on Kirara's stomach looking at the stars.
"I hope you're all doing okay back at home... I miss you..." Bella whispers closing her eyes letting tears fall down her face landing on Kirara's fur. "Cloud-Cloud... Tifa... everyone..." Opening her eyes she looks at the stars again, seeing two shooting stars go by. "Big brother... Aerith..." Bella whimpers quietly turning to her side facing Kirara's head. "I miss them..."
"I know..." Kirara whispers putting her head near Bella's as they both fall asleep. What they didn't know was a certain prince was listening to Bella's cry. Noctis sighs quietly sitting up rubbing his head getting up.
As he walks out of the tent, he sees them sleeping. Noctis walks to them touching Kirara's head and then goes to Bella. Touching her head gently and then pecks Bella's hair and then walks back to the tent and falls asleep himself.
The next day would surprise them all when they reach Lestallum.
~
A/N: YAY! Another chapter down, I will try to write more on this and finish up "Road Between" as well, please vote and comment what you think<3 much love my lovelies!<33