Grey sprinted through the main hall, past all the remaining Black Bulls, covering their face. The real Magna, realizing his plan had just fallen apart, got up to chase after them. The rest of the bulls stared, putting two and two together, followed suit. Aside from Captain Yami who just sat in his chair reading the paper.

"Hey! Grey what happened! Why are you back?" Magna shouted, chasing after Grey. "What about the plan!"

Grey opened a closet, ran inside and slammed the door. "I-I-I dropped the s-spell when, when!"

"When what?" everyone else shouted. With Magna gently trying to open the closet.

"WHEN ASTA ASKED HER TO MARRY HIM" Grey blurted out, slamming the door on Magna's hand. The world froze, Magna, Charmy, Gauche, Gordon stopped moving. Outside, Captain Yami felt his cigarette's light go out, and his newspaper grew cold. The beasts in the basement fell quiet.

All of the people who heard it screamed. Magna, crying tears of happiness for his youngest friend. Charmy, dropping her food. Gordon, his mumbles being audible. Gauche, a sinister smile on his face. "WHAT?"

"a-a-and she said." Grey whimpered.

"she said what?!" the group shouted.

"SHE SAID YES!" Grey blurted out from in the closet.

The ensuing scream from everyone in the building sent birds roughly one kilometre away flying.

"The little guy is gonna get married," Magna said, wiping his tears away. "And to a princess! Our little kid from the sticks married to a princess."

"Hmph, good for him, now my little Marie can stay unbetrothed," Gauche said, taking a small photo out and looking at it lovingly.

"Didn't Finral tell him not to propose immediately though?" Charmy said, picking some food back up and munching on it. With Gordon mumbling incoherently.

Magna tried to open the closet again, hearing some light sobbing from Grey. "Grey, hey come on, let me open the door."

"no!" Grey said, "I'm not coming out till everyone's home!"

Magna sighed, "well, they'll be back tomorrow, so ill hang with you till then," giving everyone the cue to leave. "Even if it gets me in trouble, I'm not gonna leave my junior alone when they need someone, that isn't a manly thing to do."

"I'm older than you" Grey giggled.

"I'm not gonna leave my seniors alone then! Still unmanly to do that!" Magna said with a huff, before joining in with Grey's laughter.

Back in the dungeon, Vanessa, Finral, and Luck were all coming clean about the plan Magna had.

"We were going to set you up for a ton of date adventures." Luck said, "Or Dateventures! But Magna didn't like the name."

"It's also why we didn't make Asta come in the other day while you were training." Finral said, "and why we all hid, so you carried Asta to bed."

"We know we shouldn't have been trying to push you two together," Vanessa said with a sigh, "we just saw how close you were and felt like giving you an extra push. Magna also planned this dungeon exploration as well."

"Yup!" Luck chimed in, "this place was cleaned out years ago, so all that's left is the great view at the end!"

Noelle took a deep breathe, calming down from her tears of happiness. "I know," she said, "we're the black bulls, we aren't known for being subtle." she smiled and grabbed Asta's hand.

"You did what!?" Asta shouted, his jaw dropping.

"Asta?" Noelle said, putting her free hand in front of her mouth to hide a smile.

"I swear I didn't notice! I just thought we were alone in the base for a lot of the time!" he shouted. Looking between his friends who were all laughing. "Y-you guys," he said, shaking a little. "ARE THE BEST!" Pulling everyone into a hug. "I wouldn't have realized how I felt if it weren't for you guys! I'll buy you all dinner with my next pay!"

"Hey, I'll chip in too!" Noelle said, pulling Asta away from the group hug. " I'm part of this relationship too you know" giving Asta a small kiss on the cheek.

Luck's voice took on a playful tone, "so, the last one to the end has to clean the beast cages for a week!" he shouted before using his lightning magic to dash down the hallway.

"Hey no fair!" everyone else yelled, starting to sprint after him. Finral using his magic to warp ahead to any area he could see. Vanessa using her strings to try and slow everyone else's movement. Noelle and Asta running together, Noelle on Asta's back using her barrier spell to block any of Vanessa's strings and Asta's physical strength to carry them forward. Catching up and passing Vanessa, seeing finral sprinting as fast as he could while opening portals to jump ahead. However, the spatial warping magic wasn't enough to prevent Asta's physical speed from catching up. Noelle stuck her tongue out as they passed him, leaving him in the dust. Asta ran for another minute before having to stop, his stamina drained.

"Are you okay Asta?" Noelle said, climbing off of his back. "sorry was I making running too hard?"

"I'm fine!" he panted, "It's kind of fun running with you on my back, but I have an idea!" he said a huge smile on his face as he started walking forward. "we're going to use your magic!"

"How? I only have the two spells?" Noelle said, her eyes widening. "Unless you want me to, flood the tunnel?"

Asta nodded, "Then you use your Cradle to carry us through the current!"

Noelle laughed, "this would work if I knew how to do that!" starting to run ahead, "but at least I can make sure I'm not last! See you at the end Dorksta!

"Oh no, you don't!" Asta shouted starting to run after her.

"We may be engaged, but I'm not losing~," Noelle said, sending blasts of water backward to slow Asta down. Him using his short sword to deflect and cut down the magic away from him. After a moment he caught up with her grinning.

"That's not gonna be enough to stop me!" he said, sending his sword back into the grimoire. "You better be ready for my counter attack!"

"if you think I'm just gonna let you pass me then-" Noelle said as she was cut off, Asta scooping Noelle up and carrying her down the tunnel at a full sprint. Her arms were flailing for a moment before putting them around his shoulder. The passage was getting brighter as they saw the end, with Luck sitting on a rock with a giant grin on his face.

"I won~!" he said, juggling a few small rocks out of boredom, Nero perched on his head.

"It's because you got a head start you asshole!" Asta yelled, setting Noelle down. "Next time let's all start at the same time!"

"Hmph, I agree there," Noelle said, before breaking out into a laugh. "Asta I can't believe you suggested flooding the tunnel!"

"You were going to what?!" Finral and Vanessa said, running in panting. "We were still in there you jerks!"

"But we didn't!" Asta said, "Besides Noelle couldn't figure out how to do it!"

"Hey! I was worried about our friends," she shouted. "I wouldn't have done it even if I could!"

"that didn't stop you from trying to blast me with water!"

"that's different! you have your swords!"

Everyone else started laughing. Finral and Vanessa both wrapping arms around Noelle and Asta before walking over to the cliff.

"Well, here's the view!" Luck said joining the group, as the four of them looked out. "Though I think I prefer the one outside."

All four of them were stunned, the ocean was flowing calmly, giving a glass-like appearance to it. Rocky outcroppings were creating a woven pattern for boats to cross through. Birds chirped, and the sound echoed up into the cavern. The sun, now at a mid-afternoon height, made the entire scene glow orange. For a brief moment, Noelle forgot where she was, her heart raced.

"It's beautiful," She said, her hand slowly closing on Asta's, she turned her head slowly to look at Asta, "don't you think-."

Asta had a blank look on his face, "It's so pretty I don't understand what I'm looking at," he mumbled, causing everyone to burst out laughing. "Hey be quiet! It's not my fault I don't get this fancy stuff!" he shouted, turning to face everyone. And that's when he saw the most beautiful thing he could comprehend. Noelle, laughing, the sun reflecting off of her silver hair. Her smile, the brightest he had seen in what felt like a long time, he slowly grabbed one of her hands with both of his.

Noelle kept laughing, her hand held in Asta's. Both of them looked at each other, the sun shining on both their faces as it got lower in the horizon. They leaned into each other, not noticing their friends laughter slowing as their lips met. For both of them, this was their first real kiss, and it felt like an eternity. Even with all the confusion, their pasts, and their uncertain futures. Those didn't matter for them at this point, breaking slowly as their friends stared. Then they kissed again, longer this time, before letting go and turning back to their friends, smiles both a mile wide. Nero fluttered over and curled up in Asta's hood, as they all nodded and walked back.

Once they had left the tunnels, Finral opened a warp gate, "I figured we could stay at an inn for the night. Relax to the sounds of the ocean and get some rest from all the running."

Vanessa chuckled, "are you sure it's not because of a cute girl or something?"

"I mean, you aren't wrong," He said as Luck jumped through the portal. "you coming you two?"

"Yeah!" Noelle and Asta said as they walked through, hand in hand with Vanessa and Finral following them.

"It's not the fanciest place, but it the view of the beach is fantastic in the morning."

The group went up to the hotel, Vanessa immediately went to the bar and ordered drinks for herself. Finral went and got the room keys with Luck carrying everyone's bags, leaving Asta and Noelle alone in the lobby. Asta was blushing as he turned to face Noelle. "Noelle, I uh..." he muttered, "could we talk outside?"

"Sure Asta," Noelle said, starting to walk with him. "are you okay?"

"I'm more than okay!" he said, a goofy smile on his face, "I just wanted some more alone time with you, and I wanted to ask you something." his face blushing as they started walking on the beach.

Noelle's mind was racing; they had kissed, they had spent a night together, and had confessed their true feelings. "What else was there to ask?" she thought, nodding and letting Asta continue.

"Could you teach me how to swim!" he shouted, his eyes serious. " I never learned how too!"

Noelle smiled, "you never learned how to swim?"

"the only thing we had back home was a creek that went up to my ankles."

"hmph I guess you are just a country bumpkin Dorksta," Noelle said playfully, "I suppose it is the responsibility of a princess to help teach you."

"then let's get up bright and early!" Asta said, "and it's nice to hear you say things like that again Noelle."

"W-whats that supposed to mean Dorksta!" Noelle said, blushing.

"I think we were both on edge! So it's nice to get back to normal" he said, taking one of her hands, "well not normal but... You know, familiar."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head or something, this is sounding way too smart for you," Noelle said, starting to walk back to the Inn, Asta in hand.

"No more than usual!" He said, causing Noelle to laugh and hold onto his arm.

"Well, as long as I'm here, I don't think you have to worry about getting hurt." she laughed. "a princess has to protect her subjects after all," giving Asta a small kiss on the cheek.

"How cute." A menacing voice said behind them. The pair turned to face the sound as a woman rose out of the ocean. Her crimson hair drenched over her face, with her knight robes equally as soaked. The Crimson Lion logo of her squad still clearly visible. Behind her, several figures floated onto shore; their half drowned bodies resuscitated by their comrades.

"You'd better be here training, and not slacking off!" she said, her flame magic drying herself off instantly. Her eyes were glowering menacingly, "if you are goofing off, you'll be joining these punks in training tomorrow. Speaking of which, anyone who almost drowned will have to do it again! Understood?" which got a response of "yes ma'am" from the knights.

Asta and Noelle both swallowed, they knew for a fact that if they lied they would receive a nightmarish punishment. They both briefly looked at each other and nodded slightly, "we, uh." Noelle whispered, "Captain Mereoleona we were..."

"Yes, you were what?" she said, her voice taking on a dangerous tone. They both had to tread carefully.

"We were," Noelle said a little louder, Asta grabbing her hand tightly.

"We were on a date!" Asta and Noelle said together, catching the attention of everyone in earshot.

Mereoleona smiled menacingly as two flaming lion paws came out of her back, grabbing the pair by the head and lifting them up. "Dating you say? Good for you," she said happily. "But, that means one simple thing right now. You are going to train," Her face took on a violent expression as she spoke. Asta's head turning to look at Noelle and catching a glimpse of Luck, Finral And a drunken Vanessa slowly backing inside the Inn, not wishing to share their fate. The pair was nodding as they both gave the same answer.

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Good choice," She said, lowering the two onto the ground, "now get some rest, training starts at dawn."

Both nodded as they started to walk away, "Oh I almost forgot" Mereoleona said, leaning right in-between them. "Congratulations you love birds. I have a special training session planned for you two." She left laughing menacingly as the rest of the Crimson Lions dried off and marched to their camp.