They had gathered in silence, the remaining captains. They had listened to the report and Yami's first hand account of what had happened and then they sat in silence. The world was going to hell around them and none of them could find the words to describe what they felt.
Eventually, it was one of the newest voices who spoke up.
"Well, we need to elect a new Wizard King." The crimson lioness suggested. Everyone knew it was true, but no one had wanted to admit it.
"No one can replace, Julius." one of the others said.
"I'm not talking about replacing him."
"But if we elected a new..."
"We need someone to lead us, or we will fall victim to the in-fighting that's already starting." The thorn maiden of the blue rose squad spoke up, silencing those around her. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat as all eyes turned toward her.
"And who do you suggest, Charlotte?" Nozel Silva's voice was cold and firm.
She looked around at the gathered faces. Six of her collegues sat facing her at the table. The eighth stood at the window, smoking his cigarette and looking out at the city below. Her eyes lingered on him. The ninth chair was empty, a testiment to the one who had betrayed them. She took a deep breath.
"I nominate Yami." She said calmly. She gripped the arms of her chair, bracing for the backlash she was certain would follow.
"What?" Nozel demanded. The Green Mantis and Purple Orca captains were also vocal in their disapproval. Silence came from the window, though she could feel his eyes on her. The Crimson Lioness regarded her carefully.
After a few moments of shouting over each other, the dissenters fell silent.
"Are you out of your goddamned mind?" Yami's deep voice resonated in her ear as he leaned over her shoulder.
"I second it." The eldest Vermillion said from her seat across the table.
"You can't be serious, Meleoleona. He's not even a noble! He's not even from this country!" Nozel protested.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Nozel. This is a horrible idea." Yami said, finally taking a seat at the table.
"Why?" Charlotte looked at him with fire in her eyes. Yami rolled his eyes and took a drag on his cigarette.
"Because no one would accept him, Charlotte. That's why."
"We don't exactly have the luxury of caring about where or not the noble families would approve of him right now, Nozel. What we are facing is a fight for our very survival. You remember Nairn. These people aren't going to play nice. They aren't going to give up. And they are incredibly powerful."
"She's right about that." Mereoleona said. "You weren't there when they... changed. It was like they all got super charged on mana somehow."
"We're still trying to figure out exactly what happened. And why so many of Golden Dawn were affected."
"It wasn't just Golden Dawn. There were people in all of the squads afflicted by this... whatever it was."
"Powerful magic is what it was."
"That's beside the point." Charlotte was adamant. "We need to survive this if the country is going to survive. We need to survive and fight back. And," She looked over at Yami. "I can't think of anyone else who has the experience overcoming insurmountable odds to survive. And not only that, but to thrive. Regardless of his many, various, and innumerable faults, and no matter how much it pains me to admit it, Yami's the best person for the job."
The captain of the purple orcas looked over at the brawny captain of the black bulls.
"I third." He said.
"Well I vote no. This is a spectacularly bad idea." Yami said before storming out of the room.
Charlotte winced as the door slammed shut behind him.
"Well, so much for that idea. Now, do we have an actual feasible candidate?" Nozel asked, unable to keep the small smile from dancing on his lips.
"You are too much, cousin." Mereoleona crossed her arms as she leaned back in the chair.
"Yami is the most feasible candidate, Nozel and you know it." Charlotte slammed her fist into the table.
"He doesn't want the job, Charlotte." The silver haired royal stared her down.
"He was trained by Julius."
"Yeah, and so was William."
"He was practically handpicked as Julius' successor."
"We only have his word on that!"
The pair leaned over the table, glaring at each other.
"Face it. Julius was an idealist who always saw the good in everyone, who always held out hope that people would do the right thing."
"And was he wrong, Nozel?"
"What?"
"Was Julius wrong?"
"About what?"
"People. True, he opened the door to the knighthood wider than it had ever been, allowing commoners, foreigners to join, but was he wrong?"
Nozel blinked as he backed away slightly from the irate captain of the blue rose squad.
"What are the three tenants of the Clover Kingdom, huh? What do the leaves of the clover stand for? Faith, Hope, and Love, right? So tell me. Was Julius wrong to live by those tenants? Was he wrong to expect others to do the same?"
Nozel simply stared at her in silence.
"And hasn't Yami proven time and again that he deserves to be standing here. Sure he's lazy and crude and boorish and drinks too much and smokes, ugh, he smokes, but didn't Julius also have his faults? Don't we all?"
Mereoleona smiled as she watched the younger woman's impassioned speech. She looked at the other captains, convinced that Charlotte was winning them over little by little.
"Look, none of us wanted to be here making this decision. I had hoped to be long retired before it needed to be done. Yet, here we are." Charlotte looked from Nozel to the remaining captains.
"Yami not only has magical power to match our own, he is a skilled strategist. Despite his tendency to go bonkers about surpassing his limits, he knows how to use his people effectively."
"We can all do that, Charlotte. We all have experience on the battlefield." Nozel took his seat. "Well," He looked over at Rill, the captain of the azure deer squad. "You not so much."
"It's fine. Honestly, I don't know if I even have the right to be here anymore, not after, well, everything." The young man shrank into his seat.
"I call for a vote. I'm getting tired of all this talking." The Crimson Lioness blurted out.
"But we only have one candidate right now." Nozel countered.
"Fine, a vote to see if Yami stays in the candidate pool."
"But he doesn't even want the job!"
"All in favor of Yami for Wizard King?" Mereoleona asked. "If you're going to be pissy about it, Nozel, I'm just going to push the vote."
The Silver Eagles captain sat heavily back into his chair and crossed his arms. Slowly, the hands of all the remaining knight captains were raised in the air.
"Did we, just,?" Jack from the green mantis squad started asking, only to be cut off by the coral peacock captain, who for once was not snoring.
"We just elected Yami Sukehiro Wizard King." She said, too stunned for a moment to sleep.
"You better go tell him, Rose Princess." Mereoleona grinned at her. Charlotte took a deep breath and walked to the door.
She was surprised to see him standing in the hall a few meters from the doorway. He was staring out the window again. He looked troubled, his brow was furrowed in thought. She wondered what occupied his mind.
"Yami."
"I can still see it as plain as day, you know."
"See what?"
"Julius' death."
"I'm sorry."
He shook his head.
"People die. That's what we do."
She nodded, and stood a short distance away. After a long contemplation, he turned to her.
"Why would you do something like that? I'm just going to get everyone killed. Don't tell me this is payback for all those times I told you that you would never catch a husband."
"What? No. Actually, I forgot about that. It would make great payback, but no."
"Then why?"
Charlotte sighed. There were so many reasons why; they were hard for her to pin down. She had meant everything she had told the other captains, but there was more.
"Because it is what you are meant to do, Yami."
He rolled his eyes.
"Like some sort of destiny or fate? Yeah, right."
"You're the right man for the job right now. I believe that Julius knew that as well."
"Nozel wants the job though. Just let him have it."
"What's the saying? I believe you've mentioned it before... It was something about people wanting power?"
"Those who seek power are often the least able to wield it."
"Yami, I know you love this place, and its people. It's your home, even if you weren't born here. You've made a life here, You've made friends, comrades, family."
He looked to the ground between them as he flicked the ash from his cigarette to the ground.
"Your squad, they trust you."
"A horrible idea, really, but they're all idiots, so..."
"You've taken some of the most disparate individuals, outcasts in their own rights and you've turned them into a family. You push them until they become something more than what they are. You had a vision for each one of them, of their worth, their value. You see people, no matter their station, their abilities. You see beyond that."
"It wasn't me. It was Asta."
"But they wouldn't be together if it wasn't for your foresight."
He sighed.
"Besides, Julius trusted you too. He groomed you for this."
"Yeah? Well, Julius trusted William also. And how did that end? Oh yeah, with a sword to the gut."
She could see unshed tears glistening in his eyes. The loss of his mentor had affected him far more than he let on. She grabbed his upper arm, hoping to break through his grief. Her heart skipped a beat as she gripped his skin. He looked up at her, wide-eyed, shocked at the suddenness of the touch. She swallowed hard.
Now or never, she told herself. She took a deep shaky breath.
"Yami." She took another breath. Why is this so hard, she wondered. "I trust you."
He looked at her for a long moment, and then at her hand on his arm. Her grip had softened and her thumb was stroking his skin, though he didn't think she realized it. She looked up at him full of hope and faith and, and something more.
"Ok." He whispered. "On one condition."
"What's that?"
"I don't think trust is the word you were thinking of just now."
She took a sharp breath and could feel the color flee from her cheeks.
"Admit it, Charlotte."
"I, I..." She chewed her lip.
"Admit it and I'll do whatever you ask."
She looked up at him, wide-eyed, curious. Her furious heartbeat drowned out all other sounds. She took a deep breath and let it out.
"I love you."
He touched her cheek, sliding his fingers across her skin and down her neck. His thumb drew a lazy circle along her cheekbone. He was smiling, for once his mouth free of the ever present cigarette.
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" He whispered before tilting her head toward him and kissing her. The kiss was brief, but she hovered, eyes closed in the moment as long as she could. She wanted more but fear kept her from pursuing him. She could feel his face inches from hers. His breath was warm against her skin. He seemed to be waiting, but she wondered for what.
"Tell me what you want." He whispered finally. She wanted to tell him so many things. She wanted to pull him to her, to have his body pinned against hers. She wanted his lips on hers again. She wanted to submit to him in a way she had never wanted to submit to anyone before.
He still hovered a few inches above her face when she opened her eyes. His thumb still stroked her cheek and his eyes darted between her eyes and her lips. The look in his eyes was like nothing she had seen in him before. She saw fire, desire in the darkness, where there was typically boredom.
"Lead us, Yami. Please."
He sighed, resigning himself to his vow, as he stood. His hand fell away from her face and his eyes shifted back to normal.
"If that's what you want."
"It is. You're the only one, and everyone's decided."
He took a deep breath and nodded before he turned back to the room. She followed him in and retook her seat, feeling suspiciously like he had wanted her to ask for something else.
"Ok, fine. If you all want to ride this crazy train, who am I to stop you." He addressed his fellow captains.
"Congratulations, Wizard King Yami Sukehiro." The red headed, fiery leader of the Crimson Lions grinned.
"Don't think for a second that if Fuegoleon was able that he would have fought this." He looked at her, only to be met with her laughter. "Gods, you are crazy, aren't you woman? And Nozel, I'm surprised you didn't fight this harder."
"I didn't vote for you."
"As expected. But, will you still follow me?"
"If it was truly Julius' wish that you succeed him, who am I to question? I don't have to approve, but," The Silver Eagle hesitated. "I know you will do right by the people of this country. At least as long as you are able."
"That's good enough for me."
"But, the nobility will never accept you, Yami." The Purple Orca captain spoke up. "They will want some... assurance that you won't overlook their interests."
"By that you mean that I won't put the vastly larger numbers of common people in the Forsaken and Common realms ahead of them." He shook his head. "You nobles and your damn prejudices."
"It would be easier if he had some ties to the noble class. Royal would be better." The Azure Deer captain piped up.
"I'm right here." Yami rolled his eyes as the boy continued as if he were not in the room
"I mean, a marriage would be the easiest." The youngest captain suggested.
Nozel laughed out loud.
"I don't think any noble family would willingly offer up one of their own to this brute, even if he is the Wizard King."
"As Rill said, royal would be better, Nozel. Maybe Nebra would be a good match?" The Vermillion witch chuckled as her cousin gave her a death glare.
"Well what about you then, Mereoleona?" Nozel narrowed his eyes at her.
"Nope," Yami interjected. "Not going near that pile of crazy."
"Aww, Yami, don't worry. I don't think you could keep up with me anyway."
Charlotte watched the banter with a growing sense of determination. She wondered what her squad would think of her, but she knew there was no other option. Nozel was right; most noble families would reject such a proposition without a second thought. And any that accepted it were not likely to be influential enough to matter. Yami did have his own merits to rely on, but having a noble, or royal wife would likely ease the process. And as a fellow captain, she had a level of freedom to decide these things most other noblewomen did not.
Besides, the thought of him with another woman-even if it were a political marriage with no emotion in it-made her irrational. It was the drinking contest at the Star Festival all over again.
"I'll do it." She spoke up as if she were volunteering for a suicide mission. The room grew silent as everyone, including that man looked at her. "House Roselei is well respected and highly connected. Plus, my father doesn't have to approve given my position here."
"Charlotte." Yami started. He looked like he wanted to say more when she looked at him, but he couldn't find the words, or he didn't want to share them in current company. All she could think was that he had called her by her name and not one of the many epitaphs he had given her over the years.
"What about your squad? Those women worship you." One of the others asked. She didn't know who because she was lost looking at him.
"They will learn to live with it. This is a political move and the most logical one. It's for the good of the country, for us all."
"You don't have to do this." He said at last, his voice soft, gentle, as it had been outside when he had asked her what she wanted.
"But I do." She looked up at him with a small smile on her lips.
"Well, are you happy, Nozel? Is this enough?" Mereoleona leaned forward on the table, her eyes locking with her cousin's.
"For now."
Yami walked through the halls that would soon be his home. He felt as uncomfortable as ever as he wandered. He knew the announcement would be made soon, and he should have been working out a plan with the other captains.
But he needed a moment.
He found himself at the hospital ward where Fuegoleon and Finral were still undergoing treatment. He looked at the pair of sleeping men, both trying to fight back from the brink of death, one a comrade, the other the closest thing he had to a confidant.
"What a sincerely fucked up world we're in."
He sat next to Finral's bed, looking over his wounds which were healing well according to the healers. They had been working to patch him up since the exam. Physically, they said he was doing well, but they had no explanation for why he was still asleep.
"Well, buddy. I can't believe you're not here for this, but a lot of shit's been going down. Julius is dead, Vangence turned traitor, and I'm getting married, though I can't believe they are going to force the issue while we're in the middle of a war."
He rubbed his palms against his pants feeling the texture change from course cotton to smooth leather. He thought he should really invest in some new pants given, well, everything.
Finral opened his eyes.
"Wait, what?"
"Have you been faking this whole time, asshole?"
"No, but wait." He pushed himself to a sitting position. "Ow, ow, ow, ow. Damn that hurts. What's this about you getting married?"
Yami looked at his second and shook his head.
"If I had known that a shock to your system was all you needed to wake up, I would have gotten fake engaged days ago."
"But this is like real engaged? Like really real."
"Apparently."
"Wow. Who's the sucker?"
"Do you want to die?"
"No, no. But, Yami, you have to admit that you aren't quite the marrying type."
"I guess that makes me the sucker then." He took his cigarette from between his lips and frowned at the unlit end. The healers had forbidden him from smoking while he was in the room.
"Well, then, who's the lucky girl."
"Charlotte Roselei."
Finral opened his mouth, closed it again, looked around the room, opened his mouth again, waved his hands in the air and finally just stared at his boss in confusion.
"Speechless for once in your life. Huh." He put the unlit cigarette back between his lips. "Oh, and they voted me Wizard King. Ain't that a kick in the head."
Finral lay back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes.
"I'm dreaming. That's it. Because that would never happen. Yami would never consent to be Wizard King and the Blue Rose captain would never agree to marry him."
"I wish that were true." Yami leaned back in the chair in which he was sitting, crossing his arms over his chest. Finral turned his head toward his boss and opened one eye.
"I'm not dreaming, am I?"
Yami shook his head.
"But you don't even want the job!"
"That's what I said, but apparently, the Queen of Thorns convinced them all I would be the best person for it. Well, everyone except Braidface. Finral snorted at the description of the Silver Eagles captain.
"What the fuck, Yami? I mean seriously, what the actual fuck? And how does all of this tie into you getting married?"
"The little cotton ball suggested it as a way to help ease the minds of the noble class. Like I fucking care about that."
"And how did Lady Charlotte get roped into this?"
"She volunteered."
Finral looked at him, speechless once more.
"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better. Up for a trip?"
A healer who had been observing from a distance started to interject. Yami silenced her with a wave of his hand.
"I can't believe Silva didn't fight you for it."
"Oh, he tried."
"Don't tell me you got in a fight with him."
"No, it was a vote, remember? All civil like. He was just out voted."
"Well, shit."
Yami smirked as the spacial mage looked at him in wonder.
"Come on. We gotta go tell the others."
"Yeah, yeah." Finral got to his feet, moving slowly delibrately.
"Hurry up."
"I haven't stood in days, much less walked or used my magic."
"Weeks." Yami fiddled with the unlit cigarette. Finral took a few steps and proceeded to get dressed.
"What?"
"It's been weeks."
"Now you're just messing with me." The younger man frowned at his captain as he once more donned the squad robe.
Yami laughed.
"Everything that's happened and you think that's the joke?" Yami stood. "Come on."
Within minutes, the pair was back at the Black Bull's base. Except the base wasn't quite where it should have been. And it was moving.
"What the hell?" Finral exclaimed as he lost his footing.
"Henry, what are you doing?" Yami muttered as he lit his cigarette before climbing his way through the mobile structure.
"Who's Henry?" Finral called after him as he tried to stand only to be knocked over once more by the motion of the room around him. "Whoa!"
He wove his way through the collection of rooms until he found what he guessed was the head of the beast, and where his wayward team had gathered.
"Alright you idiots, what's going on?"
"Captain!" The cries came up simultaneously as the building screeched to a halt. All of their voiced assaulted him at once with an explanation. He just inhaled deeply on his cigarette and blew smoke at all of them.
"One at a time."
"Everyone started going crazy." Magna said.
"Whatever happened got Gauch." Grey stammered.
"It got me too!" Luck added.
"I got a new sword, Captain. Look!" Asta shoved the new blade into his face. Yami looked at it before pushing it away.
"We ate and ate and ate."
"And the bad people started threatening the town, so I, I moved the base." Henry's slow speech finished out the flurry of voices.
"Where's Gauch now?"
"He went all weird and took off. We're not sure where he went."
"And the bad people?"
"Reincarnation magic. Elf souls possess them and they suddenly want to destroy all humans." Vanessa explained as best she could.
"Hmm. How did Luck get free then?"
"My new sword." Asta beamed. Yami looked at the blade again.
"Right."
Finral gasped as he entered the room.
"You know, I'm still healing, right? Couldn't you have been a little easier to find?"
"Finral!" The rest of the group chorused as they nearly knocked him down once more.
Yami looked at his misfits, his family, wondering which of the idiots he was going to leave in charge of them all. Damn if he wasn't going to miss all of them.
"Right, I can't stay. They need me back in the capital. You guys are going to keep doing what you do best. Protect the people. Asta take those sorry asses down. I don't care if they are your best friend or worst enemy. Right now, we are fighting for survival. Make sure we survive."
"Where have you been, Boss?" Magna asked.
"In the capital. Let's just say shit's bad all over."
"You need to tell them, Yami." Finral said, his voice suddenly serious.
Yami took a deep breath, flicked the ash from his cigarette to the floor.
"The Wizard King is dead." His voice was emotionless, flat as it had been when he told the other captains, but his heart ached with grief. "He was killed in battle with... William, or Licht, or whoever it was possessing him."
The movement of the building stopped as the news struck everyone
"The captain of the Golden Dawn killed the Wizard King?" Magna asked in disbelief. Asta stood there stunned, broken. The others looked at him in various states of shock.
"I saw it happen. I tried to go after him, but he escaped."
Silence fell over the room with only the creaking of wood and stone as the building settled to cut through the thickness of it.
"How? How could he die?" Asta was the first to speak, his voice echoing loudly through the room as tears streamed down his face.
"He had used up his mana to protect the people. He had no way to counter attack when William... Licht... whoever drove a sword of light through him."
"So..." Vanessa started to ask. "Who's in charge now?"
Finral broke into a grin and then into laughter.
"It's not funny." Yami shot him one of his infamous death glares. Finral stopped laughing out loud immediately, but could not stop the shaking of his shoulders from the bottled up energy.
Yami blew smoke out at the gathered group.
"Apparently, I am."
"What?" The cry went up simultaneously from all those gathered and Finral could no longer control himself as he erupted in laughter once more.
"Oh, it gets better." The spatial mage held his gut and doubled over as the laughter shook his entire body. He wiped his eyes as tears streamed down his face.
"I am going to kill you." Yami blew a cloud of smoke in his face, making the laughter turn to a choking cough.
"He, he," Finral struggled with a fit of coughs before collapsing into a sitting position on the ground. He took a couple of steadying breaths. "He's going to get married too!" Another laughing fit washed over him. "To, to Charlotte Roselei." He rolled onto his back and laughed up at the ceiling.
Yami gave him a swift kick in the side as the rest of the gathered bulls looked at him.
"Is, Is this true, Boss?" Magna blinked up at him.
Yami took a deep breath, inhaling through his cigarette.
"Yep."
Silence fell over the gathered members of the squad. Each processed the information in their own way. The group moved nearly as one to congratulate him, but Yami stopped them all with a look.
"Listen. It's not like this is something I ever sought, but it's where we are. These-elves did you say?" The group nodded as one. "These elves are looking to exterminate us. This is no longer a fight for ideals. It's a fight for survival. We may all need to sacrifice things, but we must survive. Humanity must survive. You idiots are probably the best line of defense we have against them. I want you to stop them. Save as many as you can, but the people are your priority. If the choice comes down to saving a town or saving one of our own, I expect you to make the right choice. Now I have to go. I expect you to do what needs to be done." He turned to leave.
Magna sniffed.
"Spoken like a true man."
"Spoken like the Wizard King." Vanessa said. Yami stopped for a moment, feeling like he needed to say more, to do more for them, but he knew it was time to let them fly on their own. He knew they would do what needed to be done.
"Come on, Finral."
"Wait, I'm coming too?"
"Just open a portal, dammit. You're staying here. Someone needs to keep an eye on them."
"But." He started to protest but the look in Yami's eyes silenced him. "Yes, sir."
Finral opened a portal and Yami stepped toward it before turning to look at his comrades, his family once more. Julius had been right. The kids were going to be amazing. He looked directly at Asta.
"I'll be keeping the seat warm, kid."
Asta stood and saluted. The others followed suit. Yami smiled as he stepped through the portal toward his future.