Mana Amare (The Church Bell Rang)
Fandom: Black Clover
Summary: When the Church bell rang, the sound echoed across the country.
When the Church bell rang, the people knew.
When the Church bell rang, the people rejoiced, for their emperor had returned to them.
When it rang twice, they paled.
The second reincarnation.
Who else could it be, then the demon?
Disclaimer: I don't own Black Clover.
For those who watch the anime: This is entirely the same, the only difference being that Wizard King = Sorcery Emperor.
When the Church bell rang, the sound echoed across the country.
When the Church bell rang, the people knew.
When the Church bell rang, the people rejoiced, for their emperor had returned to them.
When it rang twice, they paled.
The second reincarnation.
Who else could it be, then the demon?
And as the people fretted the Sorcery Emperor and the demon had reincarnated, the children were rounded up.
''We cannot kill them,'' whispered the court. ''The Emperor is among them!''
''But so is the Demon!'' the others said back.
And they fretted all day, all year, all decade, while the children born on that fateful day grew up in court.
At least, all children born on that day, except for two foundlings, in the outskirts of the land. Where grassy plains stretched as far the eye could see and the people were clothed in bare threads, that was where they were found.
Two children, babies, crying out.
Taken in by the Father of the church.
Two little boys, cribs next to each other, reaching out, as if to hold each other close.
Their blood sang, you belong with me, you belong with me! And just like that, Asta and Yuno grow up, legs, hands and hearts entangled. Won't you love me?
Darling, that's a soul-
Dark and light are opposites that can only exist when they are separated.
''He walks in the shadow,
Springs in the day,
Follows the sun,
Forks the hay,
And if the hay is set ablaze,
The night will fall
Oh, in the night!
A shadow of light.
The peasant boy
Freed from his cage,
Dances alight
In demon haze!
Defend thy village, oh sorcerer!
Protect, safeguard,
Mana, amare.''
Children's voices, sopranos of youth, die away against the church beams. The young woman leading them claps in her hands. ''Now, children, you must know who this hymn is dedicated to!''
Yuno looks up from his Bible, peeking through a crown of dark hair. ''The Sorcery Emperor.''
''Really, sister? Really?!'' With stars in black hole eyes, Asta scrambles forward. ''I didn't know he was one of us! Ha! See, Yuno! I can become the Sorcery Emperor!''
Sister Lily's smile wilts. ''Asta, that's a lovely thing to say, but… That isn't what this is about.''
''Sister, sister! But we sang it ourselves! He forks the hay, he's a peasant boy!''
The Sister shakes her head. ''The Peasant boy/freed from his cage/dances alight/in demon haze. The first two parts tell of the outer ring of Clover Kingdom rebelling against the inner circles. They could never defeat them on their own, so they made a deal with the devil.''
With wide eyes, the children listen.
''We danced with the devil, but couldn't pay the price, so the demon turned on us, and ate us alive. The whole Kingdom lived in fear, but out of the midst of the people, a sorcerer stood up. With the power of mana and the blessing of God almighty, he defeated the fiend of hell. The skull of the beast is still residing here, with a statue of our saviour on top of it so we may remember him forever.''
Asta cheers, throwing his arms around Yuno's neck from behind. ''The Emperor!''
''Please don't make light of it, Asta,'' Lily's voice breaks like glass. ''God's wrath was horrible- he cursed us, so that all our descendants may be of lesser mana than those who did not stray from the Heavens.''
The silence is a heavy burden.
As always, Asta breaks it. ''That doesn't sound right!''
Sister's answering smile is wobbly.
Yuno no longer cries. It worries Lilly, though a fire was lit in his soul on that night he came back with Asta on his shoulder, nearly dead.
There is a fire, not blazing like Asta's inferno energy, but glowing, ever so softly, embers shining through silken skin.
There is something beautiful about the boy, something fey, with his pitch-black hair and amber eyes, and the way his expressive face has turned to stone. Petrified, are all those who behold him.
All, except for his counterpart. Asta is a hellion, blonde head popping up wherever trouble goes- or perhaps trouble follows wherever the boy appears. It wouldn't surprise Lily in the least.
They… They're a sight to see, the two of them. Black to white, peach to brown, slender limbs to muscle, mana, no mana.
Where will they go, once the church bell rings?
''Ha,'' says Father, once they're gone. ''Asta will be back soon! Magic Knight's entrance exam without magic? He'll always have a home here!''
Sister pats him on the back. ''Of course, Father.''
But still, she wonders.
What about their rivalry? Yuno has always seen things Lily cannot.
What attracts his gaze to Asta's heart?
In a sea of untruths, there are three absolute certainties in Yuno's life.
First, Yuno will be the Sorcery Emperor. Second, Asta will be the Sorcery Emperor. Third, this does not conflict each other, and when the church bell rings, all will know.
There is a fourth truth, but it is so obvious Yuno had never thought he would have to utter it out loud. But then again, the populace tends to disappoint.
He slams down the reptile curse with a wind hawk.
The sore loser- the petty luck thief- tries to excuse himself, and implies he can compete with Asta.
And that, that Yuno cannot forgive.
''You're nowhere near good enough for Asta.'' Shadows rising, cast by the flames flickering in his heart.
Luck, the fourth leaf, is his domain, and so is Asta.
''Get lost,'' he hisses.
This is what Yuno does: he protects, safeguards Asta's back.
''This is your room, mine is-''
Asta gasps. ''I'm so happy! I've never had my own room before! There were six of us to a room back home!''
Three beds only. Six children. Two a bed, unless the young ones had nightmares.
He tosses around. The room is squeaky clean, the bedding not worse than the one at home, but still he can't sleep. No breathing, no snoring, no Hollo kicking in his sleep, not even Nash gnashing his teeth.
Strange, how he didn't notice before.
Perhaps, it is because, for the first time in his life, Asta falls asleep without Yuno.
It hurts.
Sometimes, Yuno dreams of curling around Asta in a way a human body cannot. Of being one, in the way no other can. Of this divine power, that is his.
He caresses the four-leaf clover on the grimoire's cover. It has given him back what he had lost- good faith was in his hands, hope in his eyes, love in his heart. Luck? Luck lives in his third eye.
Oh, in the night, a shadow of light, and Yuno knows where it came from.
They meet again, words and souls mirroring each other- Yuno the empty space around Asta, Asta the black hole inside of Yuno.
"We're teammates!" They scream in unison.
Being one means breathing, how can their companions misunderstand that? When your heartbeats synchronize, when your hand glides into one another's, when you want to press closer than skin, to devour whole just to be- except that is not teammates, isn't it?
Not just family?
…It doesn't matter. Not yet.
Their counterattack begins.
Asta is held up, blood pouring from his stomach, and Yuno breaks free from the crystal.
Earlier, Lotus had used an attack called ''Smoke form: Fallen King's Cell,'' and Yuno wanted to cackle, completely out of his mind, because that was not what imprisoned him.
Perhaps it is this human body, too slow to rescue his other half. Perhaps it was his intangibility, in the time before he can remember.
Perhaps, it is this same desperation that awakens his light, makes it shine through all three (four) eyes, and frees the Wind Sylph.
The peasant boy, freed from his cage, dances alight in demon haze.
''I'm not going to die before I become Emperor!'' For a man half dead an hour ago, Asta looks pretty good. His eyes are shining like small suns caught in the universe that Yuno calls home.
''Yeah, you'll be alive to see me crowned as emperor!''
''Handsome jerk!''
They grin over the dumb joke.
Back then, before he inhabited this body, Yuno's world was a web of sparkling colour, atoms moving in plain sight, spirits in front of his eyes, the layers of the world.
It is no wonder so little phases him now- living in a singular layer is so drab. With his third eye, though, he catches glimpses of the world as it is.
He can't help but smile at the gaping hole around Asta.
That's his place- That's his form. The hole his soul left when he was ripped away.
This is the truth: once upon a time, human beings were perfect. But God feared they would gain too much power, and separated them, one by one, until only a single whole person was left.
They called him the Sorcery Emperor and gasped at the power he wielded.
This is the truth: Grimoires are pale shadows of a connection humanity yearns for.
This is the truth: Yuno is magic, born in human form, the embodiment of mana.
The four-leaf clover was not given to him- Yuno is the four-leaf-clover. Four eyes, four minds, good faith, hope, love and luck.
And Asta? Asta is the blade-wielder, the swordsman.
God separated perfect beings, and Asta and Yuno were such thing once.
One. The Same. Magic and man. Entangled forever.
They might not be the Sorcery Emperor anymore, but they will be again. They will free those who were born on their name day. They will free everyone, will make them proud. They will speak the truth, even if they cannot kill the untruth, but know they will, because they're not done yet. Not just yet.
There is no demon, they want to scream. No demon, except for the one that resides in humanities soul.
And now? Now they each count five eyes- the hole where the other used to be, included. In the fifth, that human demon resides.
Don't you taint him with your measly power- Asta is Yuno's (Yuno is Asta's). And when the church bell will ring, they'll be whole again.
Mana, amare.
Mana, to love.