Spoiler Warning: If you haven't seen the anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica, then prepared to be spoiled.
I own neither Puella Magi Madoka Magica nor Black Clover. They belong to their respective owners. For entertainment purposes.
It was twilight by the time Kahona and Asta reached Noelle's labyrinth near Clover City docks on the day they decided their plan should take effect. For a newly hatched demon, she had moved territories pretty fast. Yet the bay around them seemed undisturbed, waves crashing against the concrete structure they were walking on from time to time.
Briefly, Asta wondered if Yuno had noticed his absence by now. He always seemed to be one step of ahead of Asta, after all. Perhaps he would have been willing to help if Asta had explained the plan to him. He wondered if he should ask Kahona, seeing as they seemed to know each other for the most part.
"Do you think we should have included Yuno?"
Kahona popped an ear-bud out and hummed in contemplation. Looking back at Asta, she answered, "Nah, he's not that kind of person."
"Aren't you two friends?"
"Not really. More like our goals, at the time, aligned," she replied, twirling the headphone as she directed her attention ahead once more. "We teamed up to beat enemies we couldn't take on alone," she clarified after a moment, "Demon or otherwise." She looked towards Clover City. "A few days from now, 'Walpurgisnacht' will be coming to this town," she stated. Asta blinked wondering why he hadn't heard that name before now except in his dreams.
"Walpurgis…" he tried to say.
"It's an insanely huge and powerful demon," Kahona explained, "To be honest, neither of us could beat it alone." Glancing at Asta through the corner of her eye, she added, "That's why we decided to team up." Letting out a puff of air, she concluded, "That's usually how it is." They walked in silence a bit more along the docks until Kahona's soul gem glowed from her necklace.
They stood in front of a chained door to an abandoned warehouse by it's appearance. In a flash of red, Kahona transformed into her Magical Knight self. "This is it," she said to Asta, "Ready?" Seeing him nod, Kahona summoned a sonic boom from her grimoire to break the chains apart. They carefully made their way through the warehouse and up to a metal walkway.
"You're sure this is Noelle?"
"The magic patterns are the same as yesterday. No doubt, it's her."
They came to the end of the walkway where Kahona threw two music notes at the wall with a spray-painted seashell on it. "Let me ask you again," she said to Asta, "Are you sure you're ready for this?" Asta smiled and laughed lightly.
"I'm used to this already," he replied. Looking at the wall where the music notes were stabbed into, Asta continued, "All I've ever been able to do it trail along behind others." His hands tightened into fists. "I've wasn't able to help Noelle at all," he admitted, remembering their last conversation together. He turned back to Kahona. "But even still," he exclaimed, "I've come too far to just give up! Please take me with you!"
"You really are an odd one, aren't you?" Kahona asked smiling, "Always have to be loud too, huh?" Had none of this happened, Asta could see Kahona and him being good friends. Maybe in a different life. Her grimoire glowed as the music notes exploded and opened up the demon portal.
This labyrinth reminded Asta of the inside of Noelle's house, except it appeared to be a single reoccurring hallway. Cracked pictures showing a blurred-out family lined the walls with the face of the youngest member, judging by their size, cut out. Each photo held a new scene as the girl aged, but each one showed the little girl becoming unhappier and unhappier.
"Kahona?"
"Hmm?"
"I haven't been able to use magic and fight like you and Noelle did, even though I held the means to make a contract multiple times. Does that make me a coward?"
"After everything, why would you ever want to become a Magical Knight?"
"'Why?'…"
Kahona stopped walking and turned back towards him. "Don't underestimate it," Kahona stated, "This isn't a job just anyone can do." Before Asta could object, Kahona continued. "If you get to eat good food every day and live a happy life with your family," she asked him, "Why would you give it all up to become a Magical Knight on some stupid whim?" Asta looked down. "I'd never allow that to happen," she told Asta plainly, "I'd beat you up first." Her words sounded like Charmy's and Yuno's advise rolled into one, making a stab of guilt hit Asta in the gut.
"I mean, putting your life in danger," she explained, "Only people who've don't have any other choice should do that." Twirling her hair, she added, "Anyone else would just be moronic, playing around like that." Asta's fingers tightened into fists, once more. "But maybe," Kahona said, grabbing his attention again, "There'll come a time when you have no choice but to risk your life and fight." Her face smoothed into a kinder expression. "You should wait until then to think about it," she added as she turned around with Asta at her heels.
When they reached the end of the hallway, they opened the doors to find a room full of dynamic crosses, lining the walkway like a graveyard. In each cross, what appeared to be a memory of Noelle's was playing like a film. Briefly, Asta could see himself and Kahona. Then the doors slammed shut, and everything went dark. "She knows we're coming," Kahona announced as both Asta and Kahona were propelled to the labyrinth's lair. The lair welcomed them in a flash of bright light.
Asta and Kahona appeared to be in a child's room. The walls lined with a misty mimicry of animal wall paper depicting eagles. Crosses that carried three main silhouettes littered the ground with silvery eagles, almost mercury in colr, perched on them. In the center of the room was a clam-shaped like bed was surrounded in water, with multiple underlings appearing as torn-up toy rabbits danced around at its feet. On the center of the bed, a demon taking the shape of deep-blue sea-dragon laid with clovers as scales. The demon saw them and let out a painful roar.
"Ready?" Kahona asked as her grimoire sparkled, "Do just as we planned." Asta nodded and began. He took a step towards the dragon.
"Noelle!" he called out as loud as he could muster, "It's me! 'Dorksta!'" The serpent gave no sign of understanding her as it began to rise like a cobra coiling to strike. Undeterred, Asta persisted. "Can you hear me?!" he hollered, "Do you recognize my voice?!" The beast let out a roar and summoned some of the eagles. They circled above them, creating a storm-cloud of feathers.
"Don't give up!" Kahona commanded as she rushed in front to defend, "Keep calling to her!" A familiar barrier of music notes surrounded him.
"Noelle, please stop!"
Kahona gripped her grimoire fiercely as she watched the circling eagles.
"Please remember!"
The Sea-Dragon's water shield fell as the beast rose from its bed.
"I know you never wanted to hurt anyone, Noelle!"
Several eagles began to swoop down.
"You wanted to fight for justice, didn't you? Like Charmy?"
The demon coiled itself around the room, trapping them.
"Please, Noelle! Go back to your old self!"
Kahona defended against several eagles, using sonic booms to redirect them. But they kept getting closer and closer with each passing attack. "There should be a limit to how stubborn you are, Noelle!" Kahona shouted as she narrowly dodged an eagle's talons. The beast let out another roar, and suddenly the eagles turned into an acid thunderstorm with feather raining down like knives. The sound barrier broke, and in the mist, Asta could see Kahona clutching her side.
"I'm fine," she panted, "I'm not even breaking a sweat yet." She took a deep breath and re-summoned the sound barrier. "Keep calling out to Noelle," she told him. Asta could only watch as Noelle's demon sent out wave after wave of attacks, hitting Kahona harder each time.
"Noelle, stop! Please just recognize us!"
After a particularly hard hit to the neck that nicked her soul gem, Kahona laughed humorlessly. "I get it," she wheezed, "This is payback, isn't it?" As she got barraged with another assault of sharped feathers, she murmured, "For the first time we met? Is that it?" She looked towards Asta who was pounding his fists against the sound barrier.
She focused back on the sea-dragon. To think she had thought Noelle was weak at first. Asta wondered if Noelle was mad that Kahona had even felt that way in the first place. Perhaps it was just too hard for Noelle to let go of past frustrations? He could understand that. "When you've had enough," Kahonna whispered, getting Asta's attention once more, "Come back, okay?" Failing to dodge another eagle, she was slammed back into the barrier and shattered it upon impact. Asta ran up to her in concern.
The serpent's tail whipped towards Kahona, but Asta intercepted it at the last second. Kahona watched in shock as it lifted him up off the ground. Still, he looked towards Noelle with compassion even as his breath was being squeezed from his lungs. "N-Noelle," he wheezed, "Please." Just as he was about to lose consciousness, Kahona cut him free with a sonic wave. He hit the ground in a daze, listening to Kahona's angry cries.
"Didn't you tell me you believed?" she demanded, "That you could use this power to make people happy?" An explosion from another sonic wave rocked the floor, breaking it. As they fell, Asta wondered dizzily if this was the end. His body was still damaged from being a human stress ball. It wouldn't respond fast enough to get him to roll into hitting the ground to minimize the damage.
Cool hands gently reached under his arms and knees, lowering him carefully to the floor. He cracked an eye open and saw a blur of familiar purple. His favorite color. Before he could focus too much on it, Asta heard a light thump ahead of him. "Kahona," he heard Yuno call out softly.
Kahona shakily stood up. "Hey, you," she greeted as cheerfully as she could manage, "Take care of him for me, 'kay?" She clutched her side. "I was an idiot for dragging him into this," she gasped. Thrusting her arm out towards the two of them, a new sound barrier was created. She looked over her shoulder at Yuno. "You said you wouldn't fight when weighed down with a burden, right?" she confirmed. Turning her attention towards Noelle, she stated, "That's fine, and you were right."
"You gotta focus on the one thing that means the most to you," she whispered, "And protect it to the end." Yuno shifted, carefully bringing Asta closer to himself. Kahona giggled at his action. "It's funny," she murmured to Yuno, "All this time that what I thought I was doing." She pulled her ponytail grabbing the pin, clasping it over her soul gem. "Go," she told Yuno, "I'll take care of her." The area around her blazed as speared microphones pieced through the ground.
Yuno stood up, making sure not to jostle Asta. He began to make his way towards the exit. Just before Kahona was out of earshot, Asta heard her faintly say, "This'll be my best performance yet - a duet between you and me, Noelle. Just what I always wanted."
Yuno had exited the labyrinth just as it collapsed. "Kahona," he muttered looking back at the seashell on the wall like a it was a grave marker. He tightened his grip on Asta ever so slightly before continuing on. The static cleared in Asta's head as it unraveled a hidden memory before exhaustion could take him.
Noelle was gone, and it felt like the world exploded with her. Asta watched the labyrinth disappear, too numb to move. He fell to his knees, tears dripping down his face. Demons. Yuno was right all those weeks ago. Magical Knights became demons, and Noelle just died as one. The proof was the chaos jewel in his hand. Distantly, he heard Kahona cry Noelle's name. "Dammit," Asta whispered, his voice sounding warped to his own ears, "How could this happen?" A new wave of tears ran down his face.
"It's horrible," Kahona sobbed behind him, "This isn't right!"
Suddenly, Asta felt Charmy's magic activate and heard Yuno's startled gasp. The sound of her cotton sheep gun went off, and Asta turned to see Kahona's soul gem shatter. Her final breath left her lungs, and she fell to the ground lifeless as her body returned to a human corpse. Seeing that, Yuno struggled against his restraints.
"Miss Pappitson?!"
Charmy was shaking, pointing her grimoire at Yuno. Asta could hear imagine tears running down her face as her voice wavered. She took a shaky breath, before hysterically exclaiming, "If soul gems give birth to demons, then we have no choice but to die, don't we?!"
Asta could feel despair plucking at his heart at her words. Charmy who felt that fighting demons was her only purpose after having lost everything to the accident that made her a Magical Knight. Charmy who had learned to be a Magical Knight after having the job thrust upon her without choice. Charmy who had been his mentor and close friend these past months. Upon hearing those words, Asta knew there was no way he could talk her down. She would kill them all and herself. More tears streamed down his face as he summoned his bow as silently as he could.
"You and me!" Charmy screamed.
Asta let loose a sword arrow aimed at her soul gem.
"S-stop!" Yuno cried desperately at Charmy.
The arrow connected with the gem and shattered it.
For a heart stopping second, Asta thought he had failed as he heard the cotton gun go off. But the sheep bullet vanished just before it could hit Yuno as Charmy's magic vanished with her death, leaving only a cloud of dust behind.
"I don't want this," Asta blurted out, the words tumbling from his mouth. For once in his life, the words "give up" echoed in his head as his bow dispelled. "I can't take any more of this," he whispered in pain. He had just lost two of his closest friends, murdering one of them by his own hands. He had almost lost Yuno. It was too much. He buried his head in his hands, tears streaming through his fingers.
He heard Yuno's footsteps approach him, but he didn't look up. He saw Yuno kneel in front of him from the corner of his eye. He hugged Asta to his chest. "It's okay," Yuno tried to soothe, "The two of us will keep going by ourselves." Asta wondered how he could be so strong after all that had happened in these few hours. "We'll beat Walpurgisnacht," Yuno exclaimed, trying to convince him, "Just the two of us!" He tightened his hold on Asta, as if to prevent himself from shaking. "After all," Yuno told him, "Not giving up is our magic."
Asta thought back to Noelle, Charmy, and Kahona. They had all become Magical Knights and died. They had all done so, at one point or another, to protect the people they cared about. To make a miracle happen. Before today, all of them had been making plans to stop Walpurgisnacht, to save their Clover City. Didn't Asta owe it to them? To see their last mission as Magical Knights through? Asta tightened his grip on Noelle's chaos jewel hidden in his hand.
And Yuno. Yuno would mostly fight Walpurgisnacht on his own if Asta refused. That was a death sentence as itself. He couldn't do it, not to him. "Okay," Asta whispered, pulling back to look Yuno in the eyes. He wouldn't abandon Yuno to fight alone. The teary, relieved smile that Yuno gave him told Asta all that Yuno didn't say.
Yuno sat on the center ring of cushions in his room that resembled the interior workings of a clock, staring at the table in front of him. The encyclopedia of witches he had carefully crafted still cycled through to his left, no doubt having taken so much time to gather and complete. The entries were focused more on Walpurgisnacht's status now. A map of the city with red dots around a couple of locations lay splayed out ahead of him. The gears clinking above, casting shadow pendulums that swung above him. Asta was laid beside him with his head on Yuno's lap, resting and recovering from the final confrontation involving Noelle and Kahona. Yuno unconsciously traced patterns through Asta's hair with his fingers, adjusting his headband from to time, as he seemed to wait for what conversation he knew was coming up. Nero appeared on the table in front of him.
"Could Kahona Sakura really have saved Noelle Silva?"
"Of course not. She should have known it was impossible from the start."
"Then why didn't you stop her?"
"Naturally, I would have stopped her if her death had been needless," Nero stated, "But getting her out of the picture served a very important purpose." Yuno's hand stilled. "Because now," the bird elaborated, "There is no one left but you to battle Walpurgisnacht." Yuno looked down at the boy in his lap. "You have no chance of beating him alone," the incubator told Yuno, "In order to protect this city, there is no choice but for Asta to become a Magical Knight." For the first time in their conversation, Yuno looked at Nero.
"I won't let that happen," he swore. The incubator vanished from the room, leaving Yuno alone with his thoughts. Asta twitched, and Yuno carded his hand through Asta's hair again to settle him. Yuno gently brushed some unruly bangs off Asta's forehead with his free hand. The same hand then cupped Asta's cheek, stroking tenderly with his thumb. "I won't let that happen," he vowed to Asta quietly. Shifting slightly, Yuno bent down and brushed his lips against Asta's temple. "I swear it," he promised. Had Yuno not been so lost in thought, he would have noticed that Asta was blushing and that he had been awake for a while. Through his closed eyes, a forgotten memory rose to the surface.
Asta watched Charmy examine the barrel that just one second ago had not been smashed. Yuno was sitting on some stacked logs nearby, panting slightly. He was surprised to see the boy had a soul gem in class. He was even more surprised when the boy came up after school, acting like he knew Asta. "What do you think, Charmy?" he asked his mentor.
"Time magic," Charmy hummed, "Incredible, but it'll be tricky to learn how to fight with it."
"Right," Yuno sighed, seemingly deterred by that fact. For some reason, Asta couldn't stand that expression on his face though. A tiny feeling nagged at his chest, but Asta ignored it. Walking over, he slung one arm around Yuno's shoulders.
"Don't give up! I'm sure you'll find a way!" He exclaimed. Snapping his fingers, he added, "Tell you what, Yuno. From this day on, we'll be rivals!" When Yuno gave him a confused sideways glance, Asta clarified, "That means I see you as someone worthy enough to be my equal." Smiling, he finished with, "So as my rival, that means it's your job to find a way. I know you can." Yuno didn't reply, but Asta could see a determined flame ignite in his eyes.
Later at home, Asta could see the light from Yuno's room shining long into the night.
