Bells of Love Part 1 - Erza and Saika (Patreon)

(Erza pov)

I can’t believe this. How did it come to this? This… this… wonderful moment…

I am Erza Scarlet, feared by my adversaries in all rival guilds, and one of the strongest in my own. I have won countless battles, brought victory to my guild with my swords more than a hundred times already. Yet today, I lost that all… and gained even more…

Here under the moonlight, playing music with magic I have never even heard of before, I dance with a person I have just met, yet left a bigger impression on me than any other person I have ever met before. Holding my hand, leading me into a dance… I have never even considered letting anyone take the lead over me.

But today… But with Saika… I’ll make an exception…

—

(Saika pov)

This is crazy. Totally crazy. Never in my wildest and wettest dreams would I have ever imagined this. I don’t even know how it came to this… I just followed my instincts and here I am…

Me, Saika Totsuka, a regular everyday high schooler, shrunken down to palm size, with bat-like wings on my back, dancing in midair with a lady knight who got turned into the most stunning fairy i have ever seen.

Well… to be fair she is also the first fairy I have ever met, so I guess that isn't a high bar to clear, but that doesn't take away from the fact that she definitely is the single most wonderful girl I have ever met.

—

(Erza pov)

It all started with these bells, the sound of which I will never be able to get out of my head now, which honestly I can't tell if that's a good thing or not. They did sound rather nice and… Ah, I am getting sidetracked again already!

I was in the middle of a fight when I first heard them, just about to deal the finishing blow. Then everything went white, as if I was being teleported, yet not with any sort of spell I was familiar with. It caught me off guard, and because I felt another presence near me, I immediately rushed and pointed my sword towards them, only to regret it moments later.

This other person was innocent, his name was Saika. There wasn’t a drop of magic within him, so he really posed no threat at all. But my actions alone were enough to scare the daylights out of him, especially since he claimed to have never seen magic or a sword so upclose in his life before. Which was weird to me, but I guess made his reaction very believable. He said that he was just on his way back home from school, and considering my own circumstances I had no reason to believe otherwise.

Although… When I first met Saika… I really couldn’t believe that he was a boy…

I mean… he looked so… girly…

—

(Saika pov)

After the sword lady lowered her blade and we briefly introduced ourselves, we both noticed that we weren’t anywhere either of us had seen before. It was a mostly open field, with sometimes more trees and sometimes less scattered across the plain. But with neither of us knowing where we were, neither of us had an idea what we should do then. Until a voice rang out across the field.

You contestants, seekers of love, heed this call so true,

Escape before the bell's grasp tightens its hold on you.

In the day's peak and the night's deepest embrace,

The bell shall toll, bringing change to your chase.

Know, it's no punishment, this journey you pursue,

For after three days, joy and love will imbue.

So strive, dear hearts, let love's sweet melody sway,

Break free from the bell's grip, seize your love's bright day.

Ding~

Then the bell I heard back in my world rang once again, but this time I could very much feel it on my body. I don’t exactly know what had changed, but I felt a bit stronger, powerful even. A hint of a force inside me that I have never felt before. My first grasp on magic was what I felt back there, although back then, I didn’t know that yet.

Erza went through a more drastic change, as all of her armor basically poofed out of existence right away, and she seemed very angry that she couldn’t call it back. And without the armor and more regular clothes, she actually looked like a very normal girl. Although even back then, it got me to think if that bell took her magic away and gave it to me… thought that didn’t feel right either…

—

(Erza pov)

I would like to say that we made a lot of progress walking through that unknown land on that day, but I really couldn’t tell. Everything looked different from before, but there was no end or exit in sight. Not even a bit of civilization. Yet somehow, It didn’t get to me. In fact, I had lots of fun with Saika on the way.

At first I thought he was just silent and uninteresting, but that wouldn't be further from the truth. He is a great listener and the questions he asks often have me stumped at how much he is thinking about the topics. It had me giggle a lot around him.

Hmm… Did I used to giggle so much before I came here? I don’t think so, it was like a completely new side of me. Which I didn't mind. Honestly a break from fighting was exactly what I needed, so no wonder I was so eager to talk with someone who could keep up with me both physically and in conversation.

Oh yeah, physically. For someone who has never used magic before he sure is powerful. I mean, we pretty much meanered around the entire day and he easily kept pace with me. Truly impressive.

Although when night came, we both became a bit worried, though we somehow managed to reach a house that just suddenly appeared near us for some reason. I just headed inside without any hesitation, when Saika brought up that there might be traps or something. Whoops, yeah, I should have been more careful.

But now we know that there really weren’t traps around, so there really was no harm in staying in the cozy little cottage. Well, except when midnight came around.

Ding~

—

(Saika pov)

After the bell rang we both were ripped out of our sleep, as I felt my body changing again. Erza went through a similar thing. This time, it was very noticeable for both of us, as Erza was very clearly shrinking while I was growing, even if not that much.

I always had a bit of a girlier frame and honestly even prided myself in it a little bit, but now I looked much different. I was most likely taller than most of my classmates and my shoulders gained a lot of broadness too. Still within human proportions, but just… much more manly.

Erza meanwhile was mostly just shrinking in size, even beyond what was normal for a girl. Well, a girl her age that is. I am sure she was around 1,3 meters at some point in her life, but as she was now, it was practically unheard of. So yeah, with me now reaching an astounding 1,8 meters of height and she now barely reaching my stomach, the magical grasp on us both ended.

I expected Erza to panic after losing so much of her height. She was a knight or something, so being mistakable for a little girl surely couldn’t be good for her. But instead, her reaction surprised me.

She smiled. It was a worried smile, but a beautiful smile nonetheless. She asked me if I would join her on the terrasse of this house and watch the stars for a little bit, as she was still shaking from the magical effect on her. Naturally I accepted.

And that might have been the best decision of my life.

—

(Erza pov)

Oh man, how embarrassing that was, now that I am thinking back. Hehehe~

I can’t believe I talked with him the entire night, watching stars and then fell asleep on his lap. This is so unnecessarily romantic I can’t even anymore~ Ahh~

Uhm… how did it continue the next day…? I guess making it through the night caused both of us to sleep in, hehe~ So the thing that woke us up was…

Ding~

…another bell sound. This one was way less intense and much more gentle. Still enough to wake both of us up. Once again, I was shrinking, becoming even smaller and smaller. I think I was barely 0,7 meters anymore, not even half the size I originally started. But in all that shrinking something good happened as well, as with a small and slightly uncomfortable ‘Pop~’, two wings sprouted out from my back. And man, my reaction to them is still so on point, because I still think they are just the most beautiful and cute butterfly wings anyone has ever seen anywhere. They are that amazing.

Though Saika was definitely confused by it. But when I turned, oh man, holy crap. I don’t know what it was, but Saika this time, his aura and appearance have taken to a whole new level of handsome, a level that I didnt even thought possible to reach. Seriously. When I saw him, I almost started drooling over him. He was THAT handsome.

Oh yeah, and he also had batlike wings now. Neat.

Meaning we could both now fly to check the area. Helped a lot. especially since my steps were now WAYYYY shorter than his, so he would outpace me easily. Although walking under the harsh sunlight definitely wasn’t as easy as before, that's for sure…

—

(Saika pov)

It was and still is interesting. Many things had changed since we first arrived. There were the obvious ones with our bodies, but there were also less obvious ones. Like how both of us seem to get affected by the sunlight more and more, as if it was draining us. And that theory even got affirmed more when the sun went down, as after sun set, both of us felt way stronger and more energized than before, despite both having flown for hours before.

Might also be because of the rest we took along the way. Whenever either of us got tired, our cottage would just magically happen to appear near us, so that we could take a short rest in the shadows of a roof. Which was spent most of the time with Erza happily zipping around the room and telling stories of her grand adventures, which I have a feeling not all are always true, but oh well. She seemed to have so much fun with them, who was I to doubt her.

During the early hours of the night, Erza asked me to try out my magic, which caught me a bit off guard. I hadn’t thought about that much since the day before, but since i am flying with two wings that are clearly not big enough to carry me without magic, I was inclined to believe her.

And it was one of the most mind blowing and fun experiences of my life. She showed me what magic is and how one would use it. How it depended on the person and how much time one put into perfecting their spells. Hours flew by before I knew it, I had cast my first successful spell, but only a few seconds later…

Ding~

The bell rang again. It must have been midnight. This time change was very drastic, yet neither of us minded them all that much. My legs contorted in ways no human legs should twist as fur grew all across it. My toes fuse together into a single mass, which quickly became fully fledged hooves for my now digitigrade stance. But in my focus I barely even noticed that change.

Erza had shrunk once again, this time to an extreme amount too. She was now palm sized, with her entire body barely hitting the 2 decimeter mark. She was like a doll, but with infinite energy and a bright smile that could lighten up even the darkest of nights. Was this the point when I started to get enchanted by her beauty? I wonder…

—

(Erza pov)

The sun came rising from the horizon and a wave of tiredness instantly hit me. Saika too, he was yawning, even if that handsome hung of sexiness tried to hide it. Yeah, staying in the sun really wasn’t for us anymore. So I suggested going back to the cottage and resting for the day, even if that sounded so ridiculous at the time.

But the logic was simple. If “sun” equals tired and “moon” equals energy, then we practically have no reason to stay awake during the day. Right? Saika naturally agreed, so we headed back together.

Not sure if I regret that or not, but I teasingly told him that I am too tired to fly and that he should just let me ride on his head, since I am so tiny now. He agreed. I got a ride back to the cottage… and I was blushing the whole time.

I really didn’t expect his hair to be so soft and so… comfy… I wonder how he felt about that…

Ding~

I woke up to the sound of the bell ringing at noon, and honestly the bell might have been the least important thing on my mind back then. I was lying on Saika, with him only wearing a tiny shirt barely covering his pecs and super short shorts that were barely covering his cool goat legs.

I WAS SLEEPING ON HIS SIXPACK! AAHHHH! How did that happen?!? I slept so amazingly I didn't even get to enjoy it enough. Holy crap that was amazing. I want to do that again! Yes please!

Anyway my clothes now also look quite a bit different than I remembered. Whereas before I was forced to wear casual but practical clothes, now I am wearing a loose dress, with quite the nice boob window and gloves. Hehehe, I might be a lot smaller now but my chest is still first class and that will never change~

I can get behind this getup. Not my preferred style, but I can make the best of it. And the best of it I made indeed, because when he woke up around sunset, Saika’s reaction was priceless.

—

(Saika pov)

I needed a few moments to fully process her. A lot of moments. A lot of words and phrases, descriptors and attributes flew through my head, and ultimately nothing but the most direct words were used to describe Erza in her breathtaking new outfit.

She simply looked beautiful, and I was more than direct in telling her that. And my words took both her and me aback.

It was a bit awkward between us for a short while, but not for long, before Erza's smile and energy returned, and we went to train a bit more in magic. With her guiding me and encouraging me, I felt like I could understand and master anything without any problems at all.

But as the night came to its deepest hour, Erza suddenly fell silent. She expressed concern about the situation, how the end of the third day had come and we still haven't found a way out. She definitely was forcing a smile now, which absolutely didn't befit her at all, so I tried to come up with a solution. Something that could take Erza’s mind off the negative and make her positive again, like the shining star she usually is.

I didn’t want to admit it before, but there is pretty much no denying anymore. Erza was a fairy and I was an Incubus, a demon specialized in being exactly whatever girls want to see most at that very moment. And I decided to take full advantage of that.

So I told her to watch me and tried to use my Incubus magic for the first time. And so I made myself shrink, smaller and smaller, watching as the world got bigger and bigger around me, until I was just barely taller than Erza anymore. Her mouth was wide open and she clearly was impressed, so the moment was here. I somehow knew exactly what to say, so I reached out my hand and asked as smooth as I could “May I have a dance under the moonlight?”

And that’s how I got here, dancing with the world's most beautiful fairy under the moonlight. We might be small, but her light is shining brightly through the land, as if it wanted to spread her beauty wherever it went.

—

(Erza pov)

Even so, I don't know how to handle this. He is so close and he is so skilled and… and…

Ah, I can’t concentrate around him. I always just smile and go along like a derp, I hope he didn’t notice that. Who am I kidding of course he noticed that, but maybe that's not a bad thing. Maybe he is just having fun. Just like me. Having fun, being together… It's so romantic.

—

Erza: “Hey, Saika. I wanted to tell you something.”

Saika: “What is troubling you?”

Erza: “Please let this moment not be the last one. It’s so fantastic to be here with you…”

Saika: “I could say the same thing. In fact, I would even go a step further.”

Erza: “Me too. Let’s say it together, okay?”

And as we stared into each others eyes, we both knew that there was no mistaking it. We both knew what the other had on their mind and what they were going to say. So for a brief moment, we stopped dancing and stared at each other. And as we opened our mouths, a sound could be heard in the distance, which we both chose to pay no mind to.

Ding~

Saika & Erza: I love you! Please stay together with me!

And then we kissed, under the moonlight, being the sole light in the darkness. Together.