Julius decided that after what the teenager had been through, William should take a break from the Squad to try and recover from emotionally. Patry whole-heartedly agreed. As they spent the day resting, William and Patry found themselves becoming restless, despite the injuries that the human teen had previously sustained. There was only so much they could do around the house, or in the forest, and reading had become boring after several days straight of the same activity. "*sigh* I'm so bored" William complained, laying on his bed and staring listlessly at the ceiling. Patry had been quiet since he'd realised that his people had still been murdered by Zagred despite everything they'd done to stop it. William could guess that he was probably really depressed, but he felt lonely without the other Soul there to talk to. He knew that his friend had every right to be depressed after realising something like that, but the human was beginning to become concerned for Patry.

The Elf had always been there for him, and William wanted to do the same, help Patry through this and reassure him that everything would be okay somehow, but- he couldn't think of anything to say. How do you make someone feel better about their Tribe having been murdered hundreds of years ago? William knew that if it had been him, he would be heartbroken and full of despair and emotional agony. Maybe he would even want to end it, and be able to be with the people that he loved instead of living, especially if he felt guilty about their deaths. William watched Patry's Grimoire from where it sat on his bedside table along with his own.

The Four-Leaf Clover on it's cover was still the same, and it's colour was still the same gold it always had been. He sighed, despite everything that had happened the Spell Book had stayed the same. The human teen was just grateful that the pain and despair the Elf had felt when he'd realised the truth of his people's fate hadn't corrupted his Soul and Grimoire. Putting aside the fact that if Patry killed himself, William would die as well- even if that wouldn't happen, he didn't want his best friend to suffer from that. Thankfully it seemed that despite the immense pain he could feel coming from the Soul who shared his body, he had been broken yet, and William was so grateful that his will was so strong.

But still- it hurt him to know that his dear friend was in so much pain and he couldn't do anything to help. That's why William was laying on his bed, and feeling helpless. "Patry, I know you're in pain, but I care about you and I hate that you have to go through this. I want to help you as much as I can. So please, just talk to me" he begged. There was still no response. William clenched his fists and squeezed his eyes shut against the threat of tears, "I- I don't know what to do. I want to heal your heart, but if you won't talk to me, then-" the scarred boy felt tears begin streaming down his face. He was now beginning to feel hopeless due to his inability to do anything to help the Elf who was pretty much his older brother, and he could feel his heart beginning to break, "Patry, please don't do this to me! I don't want to lose you like this! Talk to me damn it!" William yelled. There was silence, and the human was just about to try to do something, anything, that had a chance of reaching Patry, when- "William?" the 17-year-old Elf replied, mental voice sounding strained. "Patry!" The World Tree Mage exclaimed in shock and relief, sitting up on the bed so suddenly that his head spun.

"Are you alright!? You stopped responding to me, and I was so worried! I was scared that it had been too much for you and you were going to break, without me being able to do anything to help you!" William exclaimed in a rush. "Woah, calm down! I'm okay now, really. It was just, a bit too much for me all at once. I needed some time to come to terms with everything," Patry replied, before pausing and sighing, "I'm sorry for making you worry about me. I'm not so much 'okay' as I have allowed it to sink in. It still feels like my heart could break any minute, but- I'm not alone after all. I have you and Julius. So, despite everything- I think I'll be okay eventually" Patry replied. William frowned at the pain he could hear and feel from his friend. "I know, but I'll still be here to help you- with anything, okay?" the scarred 16-year-old asked. "I know, thank you William" the Elf said gratefully.

"So, do you want to- talk about it?" the human Teenager asked hesitantly. Patry sighed again, "I don't know. I don't even know how I'm feeling at the moment. I know it hurts, but there are so many other emotions swirling around in my head that I can't even figure out what they all are." The Elf paused for a moment, "even so, I'm grateful for the offer William. You're a really great friend" he replied sincerely. Suddenly a knock was heard at their bedroom door. William stood and went to open it to find Julius standing there with a smile on his face, "I thought it might be a good idea for all of us to get out of the house for a while. The Squad is on a break right now due to the investigation into Liam's actions and the reason behind it, so I don't have any work to do either" their Caretaker explained cheerfully.

"What are we doing?" the Scarred boy asked. "I was thinking about it, and I decided that you two might like to choose a place for us to go today" Julius replied. "William, do you mind if I make a suggestion to him?" Patry asked. 'No, of course not' his friend replied. The two switched control of the human's body. "It still amazes me when you do that" the blond man chuckled. Patry looked down, feeling nervous, "go on Patry, ask him. This is important to you, right?" William asked. The Elf took a deep breath and let it out, "well, there were a few things I wanted to do, but it will take a while to get there from here" Patry began. "I'm sure we can figure something out," Julius began, "what were you thinking of?" he asked curiously. "Well, first, I- about, the Demon Skull in Hage Village," the white-haired Elf began, making Julius frown seriously, "I, feel like I need to see it for myself, to confirm- besides, if it really was L-Licht who turned himself into that monster to prevent Zagred from possessing him, I want to pay my respects. Also, in that area, there was this tree- it was something extremely important to my people, and I wanted to go see it" Patry explained.

Julius smiled, "sounds fine. I don't mind doing that" he replied with a smile. The Light Mage smiled slightly, "thank you" he replied softly.

Black Clover

The small group sat on Julius' broom as he flew them towards the Forsaken Realm. Before they'd left home, Patry changed into a sleeveless shirt, due to the currently melt-inducing temperatures. It was the middle of summer right now after all. Despite wanting to do this so much, Patry had become increasingly nervous the closer they got. He was torn. One part of him was desperate for closure, to just get it over with and know for sure that the Massacre had actually happened. It would be painful, almost Soul-crushingly so, but even so- the pain that he was feeling now, the pain of not knowing with 100% certainty that his fears were true, was turning Patry into a complete mess. No matter what, he had to do this. For the sake of everyone that he'd loved. If they really had all been killed, he had to know about it so that he could properly pay his respects. "Patry, don't worry. Julius and I will be here for you no matter what. I swear" William assured. 'I know. It's just- I don't know what's driving me crazier: the anticipation of confirming the truth, or not knowing for sure what happened to everyone after I died' the 16-year-old looking Elf replied.

"We're almost their Patry!" Julius called over the wind rushing past them, a gentle tone in his voice. Patry began trembling now, the wind having nothing to do with it. Soon, the blond human stopped flying, the broom slowly lowering down to the ground until they touched down. All three of them climbed off and soon stood on solid ground once more. The young Elf clenched his fists tightly, trying to will himself to look up and not let his fear control him. He felt warm and strong arms wrap gently around him from behind, "you can do this. We're here for you" the Magic Knight Captain assured softly. Patry shuddered, before forcing himself to open his eyes and look up at the sight before him. His eyes widened in horror and tears of agony and guilt welled in them. Sitting in front of them, giant and imposing, were the skeletal remains of a giant Demon, and he had no doubt that it had to have been Licht. Patry screamed in pure horror, his heart so full of pain that he felt like he was dying inside. "Oh God nohooo!" he screamed, despair overwhelming everything, as tears streamed endlessly down his face.

"Please, this can't be real! We stopped it! we saved them! I fought so hard! I was tortured! But I didn't let myself give up because I believed that we could stop all of it! But now- it, really was all for nothing. Licht fought so hard to keep us all safe. He and Lemiel did everything they possibly could to save us and create a peaceful world for everyone to live in together! Bethany was from another world entirely, but she still worked herself to exhaustion to save all of us. After all of that, shouldn't we have had a happy ending? Didn't we deserve at least that much after everything we went through and sacrificed?! And yet, it turns out that Bethany was right after all. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't change anything that really mattered! Even time itself wanted us to die! None of it mattered in the end. Our love was turned into hate, our faith seemingly betrayed and our hope- was crushed. Now, our despair, is all that's left" Patry screamed, before his horror turned into despair, screaming subsiding, but his heart still felt like it was being crushed inside his chest.

The Elf clutched his head with one hand and his shirt over his heart with the other, "now, I have no reason left to-" he spoke in a broken voice. Julius had at first been understanding of the young Elf's suffering, trying his best to provide comfort, but Patry hadn't even seemed to notice his presence. Now, he was becoming increasingly concerned, moreso than ever when the Elf's Grimoire floated out of his bag. The man's eyes widened in horror when he noticed the clover on the cover slowly turning black. "Patry, your Grimoire!" he cried, looking down at the teenager in horror. But the white-haired boy seemed to be too overwhelmed by everything he was feeling to even notice his presence. "Patry, I know it might seem like too much, but you have to try to fight it! I'm truly sorry for your loss, but you aren't alone. Please, be strong!" Julius begged, reaching out to the Elf and wrapping his arms around him, "I know that you're stronger than this!" the Magic Knight Captain called. Slowly, the blackness that had been spreading over the Four-Leaf Clover on the Cover of the Light Magic Grimoire faded and Patry slumped to the ground

Julius looked between the Spell Book now laying on the ground and his young Ward. Looking at him now, the Time Mage didn't see the powerful, mature Elf who had beaten Liam, the Elf who'd always seemed so strong and brave in comparison to his more timid and fearful human host. All he saw was a small boy who was struggling desperately against his own inner demons. The Magic Knight Captain sighed, before kneeling down to Patry's level, "you'll be okay, come here" Julius said gently, reaching down to lift the Elf under the arms. He wasn't expecting the response he got. Patry flinched violently and shrieked, immediately trying to squirm away. Julius blinked in surprise, before a wicked smirk took over the man's face, "so, you're ticklish, hm?" he asked playfully, seeing an opportunity to finally break Patry from his funk. "STO-HOP IT!" he squealed as Julius continued to tickle him. His underarms had always been insanely ticklish, and his mother used to play tickle games with him all the time as a toddler. Unfortunately for Patry, he had never been able to get used to being tickled.

Even as a teenager, he'd still been just as insanely ticklish as when he was little. Once Licht found out about this fact, he would use it to his advantage whenever his younger friend had been sad or depressed about something. Patry remembered that even though he'd adored Licht, after the older Elf had found out about how ticklish he was, he would torture him mercilessly. Once he'd even been tickled to tears, though his Leader had apologised profusely for going too far afterwards. Right now though, he wasn't dealing with Licht, who knew what his limits were. Instead, he had to deal with a Julius that was in mischievous mode, and he didn't seem like he was going to stop tickling him anytime soon. Patry tried desperately to push Julius away- or even teleport with Light Magic: Swift Movement, and escape the tickles that were driving him crazy, but the young-looking Elf couldn't muster the concentration to try any Magic either. "PLE-HE-HE-HESE! STO-HO-HO-HOP!" Patry begged, trying to get away, laughing uncontrollably, unable to stand the torture. Julius snickered, "wow Patry. So you can fight Devils and possibly-possessed crazy Magic Knights, but a little bit of tickling-" here, he wiggled his fingers a bit more, causing the Elf to shriek again and try even more desperately to get away, "causes you to fall apart? I never would have guessed it" Julius teased.

"ME-HE-RCY! PLEA-HE-HE-HE-HESE! I CAN'T STA-HAND IT!" the Light Mage pleaded desperately, tears once again streaming uncontrollably down his cheeks. The tickling in his worst spot overwhelmed his nerves, making them spark to full awareness. This just made everything worse as the unbearable tickles now felt even more intense, traveling in waves from his underarms and going directly to his brain. Julius was highly amused by the reactions he was getting. After all, he was barely moving his fingers at all. 'I wonder just how ticklish he really is. And if this is really the limit to his endurance or if he's just saying that because of how ticklish he is?' the adult thought. Eventually he slowed his tickling, the young-looking Elf's laughter increasing again, "so, what do you think, are you still feeling depressed Patry?" the blond man asked. "Nohohohoho!" Patry replied. "Are you sure? I can't really know that for sure with you moving around so much. I can't see your face clearly enough to tell" Julius asked teasingly. "No-ho-hoho! Oh pleeeese! No more! No mo-ho-ho-hore!" he begged.

"You have to be the most ticklish person I've ever met. If you were this ticklish, you really must have been nervous about wearing a sleeveless shirt." Julius paused his words in thought "I wonder if you're so sensitive because this is William's body? Maybe I should see if he's ticklish too? What does William think of that idea?" the Magic Knight Captain teased. "I don't even want to know if I'm ticklish or not if it's as unbearable as it looks!" William whimpered. Julius observed Patry with a serious eye, watching the writhing Elf, who was squealing in tickle-induced laughter. "If you're not happy enough, you'll be in danger of becoming corrupted, that's why I have to make sure that all those dark feelings are really gone" the adult explained. Patry kicked out with his feet, desperate for relief, "okay-hay-hay-hay! I'm not eeeeeeeee- ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Sad! I swear! Oooooho!ho!ho!ho!ho! pleeeeeease! I'm happyhe-he-he-he! I'm ha-ha-ha-happy! Please, ma-ha-ha-ha-hake it stoooop!" the Elf cried. Finally, Julius stopped and pulled his hands away. Patry lay on the ground, gasping and continuing to laugh as the feelings kept up for several minutes. Eventually, the boy calmed down.

Patry sighed, finally managing to catch his breath from laughing so hard, before fainting right there on the ground. Julius sat next to his Ward, a fond smile on his face. "Heh, I may have gone too far there" he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, before looking up at the sky and waiting for the boy to wake up again.

To Be Continued