I present you with an angst-fluff sandwich

Fluff, then Angst, then a bit of Humor, then more Angst, and ending on some Fluff

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

"THE MASQUERADE BALL HAS CONCLUDED! YOU MAY REMOVE THE MASKS, BUT ONCE YOU DO, THE MAGIC WILL BE GONE! THANK YOU FOR COMING! PLEASE GET HOME SAFELY!"

you're my end and my beginning

As soon as Asta heard the announcement, he yanked off the mask without much fanfare. The soft snort of amusement from Yuno was cute, as Asta just knew that he was with Yuno all night as his childhood friend and primary rival took off his mask. Asta grinned up at his obnoxiously handsome jerk of a rival and said, grinning, "Hey, Yuno."

"Hey, Asta," said Yuno, smirking.

"So."

"So," Yuno responded.

Asta scratched the back of his head. He knew he had been way flirtier with Yuno tonight than he normally would ever be in normal circumstances. Asta hoped Yuno understood that Asta loved him. They knew each other the best so why wouldn't Yuno know, even if they never said it out loud?

Yuno flicked Asta's forehead. "Don't think so much, you'll hurt yourself."

"You need better insults, pretty boy," said Asta, grinning. And then, he had an idea, "Yuno, close your eyes?"

Yuno gave him a cautious look. "Why?"

"Don't you trust me," asked Asta, cheekily.

Yuno let out a sigh and stood there, eyes closed. "Hurry up. I'm tired."

Asta grabbed one of the chairs from the table and placed it in front of Yuno. Asta climbed on top of the seat of the chair. Nervously, Asta grabbed Yuno by his fancy suit jacket and kissed him. Yuno let out a gasp in shock, as Asta pulled away.

Face on fire, Asta hopped off the chair and moved it out of the way. He forced himself to look at Yuno. The normally unflappable Yuno was dumbstruck, blushing bright red. Asta hadn't seen Yuno so embarrassed in years.

"You're so cute. Your ears are bright red too, that's adorable," said Asta, fondly and laughing. Yuno didn't have a witty comeback. Was Yuno that shocked? Asta stopped laughing and said, "Did I break you, Yuno? Come on, I just did something that I wanted to do since I was seven."

"Seven," croaked Yuno. "You've liked me since we were seven?! What about your crush on Sister Lily!?"

Asta tilted his head and put his hand on his chin, thoughtfully. "One, I've always liked you. And two, you can have multiple crushes, Yuno. I liked Sister Lily and thought that Yuno didn't like me that, so that's why I always asked her to marry me."

A strangled noise came out of Yuno's mouth, "Why would you think that I didn't like you?"

"Yuno," said Asta, sternly, crossing his arms. "I asked you to marry me when we were five and you said, "Dummy Asta, two boys can't get married." Do you not remember everything from our childhood?"

"I was five, what did I know? How was I supposed to know you were serious," demanded Yuno, absolutely flustered. It was always fun to see unshakeable Yuno freak out, just because it was only Asta that was able to make him. "And yes, I remember our childhood, just maybe not the same way as you! Unbelievable."

Sighing, Asta smiled at Yuno. "I love you, Yuno. Do you want to date me?"

Yuno hugged Asta and whispered, "Yeah, I love you too, you pain. And yes, I want to date you and kiss you and hold your hand. And I demand a redo marriage proposal."

Asta chuckled, hugging Yuno tightly. "I like that idea."

always a touch out of view

Zora had been waiting for this since he kissed the guy. After all, he wasn't the type to go around kissing people that he didn't intend to take on a date. His dad raised a gentleman and Zora wasn't about to disrespect his dad. So, as soon as he heard the announcement, he stood up and said, "I'm taking this off."

So Zora did without much fanfare. Zora put the mask in his pocket. He pulled out his personal lower face mask, which he took off for the party, but he waited to put it back on his face.

His companion choked out, "Zora?!"

Stilling, Zora asked, "Oh, good. We know each other." The fact that they knew each other was a positive thing since Zora wasn't normally good with new people. Perhaps that was why he and "Andreas" got along so well since they interacted before the Masquerade Ball…? "So, are ya gonna take off that mask or what?"

"I don't know if I should," said "Andreas," calmly.

Zora glared at him. As with most things in Zora's life (except finding a place with the Black Bulls), Zora realistic, bordering on cynical, way of looking at life was correct that most people were actually terrible. "Why? Ya embarrassed to be consortin' with a Black Bull or is it just that you don't actually care for me as myself."

"Don't be a rude asshole, Zora! And that is not the case, thank you very much."

"Oh, so tell me?"

"I'm afraid that you won't like me," said "Andreas," softly. "Once I take this off, your opinion will shift of me."

"How about I make that decision for myself? If I know you and you haven't run away yet, it means that you're not afraid of me and you, at least, respect me," said Zora, arms crossed, giving what he hoped was the best disapproving look he could muster. "Take the mask off."

"I can't."

"Can't or won't?" Zora snarled.

They had a stand-off. Zora stared at "Andreas" and "Andreas" didn't respond for moments. "I think I should go." And then, "Andreas" ran into the crowd, easily disappearing with the retreating crowd, leaving Zora standing there shocked. Zora didn't even get his real name.

Zora cursed something fierce. But then he sighed. Guess that it was just a one night thing, after all, Zora thought to himself, as he put his lower-face mask back on and headed to find Finral for a ride home. To say that he was hurt was an understatement. He wondered if Charmy would make him brownies when he got home.

switch on the sky and the stars glow for you

Gordon had the best evening of his life, but now it was coming to an end. He almost wanted to run away before the illusion was broken. What if "Melody" went running scared of him because he was too weird? Gordon wouldn't be able to take it, if she did because he thought that she might be someone special.

"Your hands are sweating, are you nervous about taking the masks off," asked "Melody." She said it kindly with no judgement. "I'm a bit nervous too."

Gordon didn't think she had to be nervous because he'd like no matter how she looked. "You should go first."

"Alright," she said, taking off her Masquerade mask. Gordon released the breath he didn't know he was holding as the magic faded immediately from around her. "Letoile Becquerel of the Golden Dawn."

Gordon knew who she was, how could he not? The Black Bulls made it a habit of Learning about all the amazing people in the other squads, so they were able to figure out ways to work with others when the time called for it. And since the Black Bulls were the rivals of the Golden Dawn, it stood to reason to learn everything they could about them. Not only was she skilled as a Magic Knight, her magic was impressive and she was intelligent and dutiful, but she was beautiful and kind on top of it.

He felt the same feeling of inadequacy that bubbled up and over in him sometimes and wondered why the hell hadn't he said anything and why was he just standing there looking like a right buffoon in front of an amazing woman who he liked?

"Um…" Truly, he was a wordsmith, he internally scolded himself. His granny would be disappointed.

Lady Letoile brushed her green bangs out of her face and smiled shyly, "Your turn."

She was beautiful and Gordon was unworthy of her attention. He knew that she wouldn't run away screaming, because they had interacted before in a professional setting. But he already knew that she'd just want to be friends with him (which was great and amazing, because he wanted more friends). Gordon just wanted to be a bit selfish and wanted the person he liked to like him back in the same way.

So, Gordon made an impulse decision to run, because his heart wasn't strong enough for rejection.

He ran and didn't dare look back.

(Because if he did, he'd run back to her, take off the mask he wore, and ask to hold her hand).

I'd trade my soul for a wish

Finral didn't not what to expect at the end of the night, when "Caspar" grabbed Finral's hand before Finral fled the ballroom. Nearly unable to look at the Princely "Caspar," Finral said, "I don't know if you want to know who I am."

"You won't disappoint me," said "Caspar." "I'd like to get to know you better, the real you without masks and rules preventing finding out more."

Finral bit his lip. "That's really sweet of you, but I'm a general disappointment."

"I don't see how," said "Caspar," truthfully. "From what I seen, you're kind, a good Magic Knight and you can work well with others. How's that a disappointment? Did your father really mess with your mind that badly? I'd like to have a word with him." At the end, "Caspar" even began to get a little angry that told Finral that "Caspar" would indeed fight Finral's father.

Cracking a smile, Finral said, "You're the kind one, hanging around me all night when you could have spent time with nearly anyone else."

"Bah! I wanted to spend time with you. I said so, didn't I? Go ahead, take your mask off, it's going to be fine," said "Caspar," nodding.

And Finral believed him. Someone who had that strong faith that everyone would work out was someone that Finral always strived to be. Perhaps, it was why he loved Captain Yami so much and admired Asta's spirit. "Well, okay, I guess. I'll take my mask off first then."

"Awesome!" "Caspar" was cheerful to fault it seemed.

Finral sighed and took off his Masquerade mask, letting the magic disappear. The mask would be a good souvenir for the day. "Um, you might know me? Finral Roulacase, the Black Bull's transportation expert."

"Caspar" started at Finral for one too many minutes, almost in shock. But then, "Caspar" moved to take off his mask, making Finral's heart jump. Was Finral not getting rejected right now? Was "Caspar" the person who Finral had been waiting for his entire life? The smile on "Caspar's" face made Finral have hope.

Unfortunately, Finral was not that lucky, as a grinning Yami dragged a giggling Charlotte (holding hands) barreled towards Finral and "Caspar."

"Finral! We need to move! Jack is pissed," said Yami. "Quick!"

Finral knew better than to ask, but still as he opened a portal to the Black Bulls' meeting spot, "Captain, what did you do?"

"No time," said Yami, as he put Charlotte through the portal and grabbed Finral by the back of his suit jacket through the portal with Finral protesting.

And just like that, Finral was at the gate to the Capital where Yami and Charlotte were giggling like they had way too much to drink, Gauche was holding a sleeping Grey, a pissed and annoyed Zora was leaning against a store, and a crying Gordon stood waiting to get home. Charmy and Rill were doing nose kisses as part of their goodbye routine, as Rill had to go back to the Azure Deer Headquarters. Finral wanted to cry in frustration because he didn't know who "Caspar" was, but the good thing was that "Caspar" knew who Finral was, so maybe "Caspar" would stop by to see Finral.

"Who are we missing, Gauche?" Finral asked Gauche because he looked to be only helpful one there.

"Magna, Luck, Asta, and Vanessa."

"And Lady Noelle?"

"Remember, she's going to stay at that girl Rebecca's house with the underwater siblings," said Gauche, making a face at the mention of Noelle going to spend the time with her boyfriend, even if Noelle was nineteen and responsible. It was Finral's reaction too. Noelle was their precious friend, after all. "If that boyfriend of hers does anything funny, I'm castrating him."

"I'll help," said Zora, scowling. Finral winced. Zora must have had a rough evening, if he was that mad.

Finral sighed. He went over to Captain Yami and Charlotte, "What did you two do to Captain Jack?"

"Just a little prank," snickered Yami, pretty pleased with himself.

"I'm sure Puli will be able to calm him down," said Charlotte. She was giggling, meaning that she must have had one drink in her and Finral wanted to smack his Captain because everyone knew that Charlotte couldn't hold her alcohol.

"You two are Captains, please act like it," said Finral, half-scolding. He wondered if there was time to go back to seek out "Caspar" to finish their conversation.

That's when Bell, the tiny wind spirit, flew towards them. She had a scowl on her face. "I'm supposed to tell you that Asta is going with Yuno to the Golden Dawn castle so don't wait for him. They're dating, by the way, ugh, what a travesty."

Finral felt his eye twitch.

But Gauche said what Finral felt. "What does he think he's doing moving so quickly? You tell Asta he had better get his ass here right now!"

"Yeah, too late," said Bell, pitying them. "Asta and Yuno already left. I'm being punished so I'll be doing errands for the Wizard King for the next two weeks." With that, Bell flew off, leaving Finral with the knowledge that Asta had a boyfriend and that boyfriend was Yuno and while he was happy the two admitted their feelings, Gauche was right. They were moving way too fast.

"I'll leave that conversation up to you two," said Yami, nodding solemnly, to Finral and Gauche. "Zora, do not stink bug the entirety of the Golden Dawn. Vangeance is annoying enough."

Finral felt a headache coming, as he knew he had to stay so no one did anything reckless. He hoped that "Caspar" meant what he said and that he'd see him soon.

"Zora, calm down," said Finral, gently.

"Don't tell me what to do," snapped Zora.

"What crawled in your pants and died," sniped Gauche.

"You wanna go, you sister-loving-freak?"

And then Grey in her sleep turned into her Big Form Grey, causing Gauche to fall over and Zora to cease his griping. "Quiet, I'm trying to sleep!"

Finral sighed again, as a fight broke out (normal for the Black Bulls). What were Magna, Vanessa and Luck doing?

and I don't want the world to see me

"I almost don't want to leave," said "Kalliope," sighing wistfully, as both of them avoided the mad rush to the exit. Since the big announcement to the end of the party, she didn't move so Luck knew it was rude to leave her. They had spent almost the entire evening and early morning together. Anyway, he didn't care for battling the throngs of people leaving. Finral would wait until everyone showed up at the meeting spot for as long as it took.

Luck gave her a look. "Don't you want to whole take the mask of thing reveal?"

"Kalliope" grinned, "I already figured out who you are!"

"Oh really," asked Luck, excitedly. "Then, who am I?"

"Luck Voltia of the Black Bulls, there's no way I couldn't know after your display of lightning and your giddiness for a fight," said "Kalliope."

Luck was pleased that he had some notoriety that he was known to other Magic Knights. He took off his mask. "Great guess!" He felt better having the mask off. Luck wasn't a fan of other people using magic on him. "Your turn. I know that you're an ice wizard and you're in Rill's squad! And I remember distinctly there was an Azure Deer ice wizard on Finral's brother's team in the Royal Knights Exams! You're in the Royal Knights with me, Asta and Noelle! But I'm bad at names, so I can't remember."

"Fragil Tormenta. I'm surprised you remembered that much," she replied, taking off her mask.

And then Luck remembered her face. It meant that she was strong, getting chosen by the Royal Knights and the fact that she also had excess mana from the time being possessed by an elf. "Yes! I know you! You went head to head with Leo! And later fought Asta, Zora and Mimosa, but you lost since Langris was a dick. And, and you also got possessed like me!"

Fragil smiled widely. "That's all true, yes."

"Wild! It was good that I got to hang out with someone who wasn't a weakling," said Luck. Well, now they knew who each other was and this was where Luck didn't know what to do. He wanted to see her again and maybe train together, because training was always a good time. But then again, Finral did always say that he scared off the girls when Finral used to drag him to group dates because Luck was too scary and the girls were too delicate or something. "Um, so I bet Rill is with Charmy right now doing their lovey-dovey goodbye ritual. I can take you to our meeting spot so you can grab your Captain."

"No that's okay," said Fragil, smiling, as a figure approached. "Hello, Vice-Captain, did you have a nice evening off?" The Vice-Captain of the Azure Deer Mackenzie Ruford was fuming mad. Luck was impressed that Fragil didn't look dismayed in the least.

"Oh, I don't know. I got a message from the Wizard King telling me that Captain Rill got into a fight with the Spirit of Earth! Fragil, you were supposed to be supervising him and Miss Charmy!"

"Well, he is Captain and I'm not his mother," said Fragil, without batting an eye.

Luck watched the two women from Azure Deer go back and forth about their Captain and incidents and that was when Luck felt a strange feeling that he hadn't ever experienced before that wasn't related to the Black Bulls in some way. A smile formed on his face, as he realized that he quickly grew fond of Fragil.

And then, Luck froze. Fond? He was Luck Voltia and he was twenty-one and fond of a woman! What was happening? Was this how Captain Yami felt about Captain Charlotte? Was this how Asta felt about Yuno? Was this how Gauche felt for Grey? Was it that kind of fond? Luck didn't know for he was still getting used to having other emotions besides bloodlust and anger.

There was part of him that liked the idea, but there was the other part (the part that still suspiciously sounded like his mother) that rejected the notion that Luck needed anyone romantically in his life.

All he knew as he observed Fragil without the magic of the Masquerade mask and going head-to-head with her Vice-Captain in a verbal spar was that Luck wanted to see her again, a lot. Knowing that he needed time to process and not knowing how to handle proper social situations, he fled without saying goodbye or letting Fragil know. He went to the doors to the balcony and ran into Noelle's sister Nebra and a guy who had to be Magna (as Luck's best friend and rival, Luck knew Magna's mana the best, second only to Luck's own).

And so he grabbed Magna on his way as he jumped off the balcony with Magna screaming profanities at him.

but I know you're so much more

Moments before Luck crashed their moment…

"Viviana" took Magna back out to the balcony where they first ran into each other, as he watched her work up enough courage to take off her mask. Magna offered for her to go first, since as his Ma taught him, ladies first. When she took of his mask and told her name, then Magna would do so.

"It's gonna work out," said Magna, as "Viviana" for the tenth time since the announcement stopped herself from taking her mask off. "I'm not going to run away."

"Ugh, I'm being ridiculous," she said. "I'm a grown woman, I can do this!" In one moment, she took the mask off and Magna was face-to-face with Noelle's older sister Nebra. The Silva Siblings all had similar features, though from Magna knew Noelle was a spitting image of their mother. The more angular features of the older siblings had to have come from their father that Noelle never mentioned so Magna never asked.

"Noelle's big sis, huh? Guess I should have figured it out," said Magna. It made sense from what Nebra told him and what he knew about her. "I'm glad that you're sticking to becoming better. Noelle's real proud of ya."

Nebra blushed, the same way that Noelle did when she was trying not to be pleased and wasn't that cute, "She talks about me? Wait, you know my sister?"

"Yeah, Noelle is my junior," said Magna.

"You're a Black Bull! That makes so much sense," said Nebra. And then hope in her eyes, "Noelle talks about me?"

"Yeah, she looks forward to your letters," said Magna. He nodded. "I should take this off."

"Of course," said Nebra, politely, though a bit eagerly. Magna briefly wondered why the fuck were the Silva siblings that starved for positive attention. He's seen it in Noelle the most the desire to have someone love them, but Magna saw shades of it in her older siblings. Perhaps he needed to enlist his Ma to find out from Noelle what the heck the rest of the Silva family was like. It didn't seem healthy.

Nebra would probably tell him. He definitely wanted to get to know her better, because everyone had layers (Like from that story that Gauche threw at Magna's head the other day). After all, Magna admired anyone trying to become better, because sometimes that's all you can do in this life was just keep trying to be better.

Magna was millimeters from pulling his mask off when he sensed his troublesome best friend immediately barreling out of the ballroom and grabbing Magna in the process. Luck jumped off the balcony of the castle as Magna cursed,

"GODDAMNIT LUCK!"

and she was there all pink and gold and glittering

Vanessa took off her mask immediately. She sighed in relief. The mask was getting a bit heavy on her head. "Ahh, much better." She looked over to her handsome companion to find him taking his mask off and revealing that she had been flirting with Nozel Silva all evening. She snorted. "Captain Yami is gonna flip his shit."

"That was just what I was thinking," said Nozel, easily. It was weird to see him without his braid in front of his face. "But you are not who I expected. I was pleasantly surprised. Noelle speaks very highly of you, Miss Enoteca."

"Vanessa, my name's Vanessa," she said. "No need to be formal. You know if this was before the elf war, I'd have decked you when I saw who you were. But since you apologized to Noelle and become a proper big brother, you're okay."

Nozel opened his mouth to respond, but then nodded his head. "That'd be fair. Thank you for watching out for Noelle."

"It's all my pleasure," said Vanessa, grinning. "But I didn't know that her brother was such a sweet talker underneath that regal demeanor! And you're still taking me for coffee, I hope?"

"If you'll still have me."

Vanessa laughed. "You bet, handsome. You want to walk me to my squad's meeting spot?"

Nozel almost smiled and held his hand out for hers. "I shall accompany you. I might have to fight Yami, though."

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," she grinned.

"That's reassuring," said Nozel, serious and not sarcastic. "You are the cornerstone of your squad's defense, after all."

Vanessa blushed at the outright praise.

Captain Yami was going to be so mad. Because Vanessa was keeping Nozel, no matter what Captain Yami or her overprotective brother figures had to say about it. At least, Noelle would be happy.

to be continued

Notes:

Song lyric in order:
"All of Me" by John Legend
"Polaroid" by Imagine Dragons
"When Can I See You Again" by Owl City (AKA from Wreck It Ralph)
"Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen
"Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls
"Let Love in" by Goo Goo Dolls
"Only If For A Night" by Florence and the Machine

That was a long one!

I hope you enjoyed it! Don't worry! Everything is going to be a happy ending in the next chapter.

The next chapter will be out on Saturday or Sunday because it's gonna be a long one (probably longer than this one)!

let me know what you think
what were your favorite parts?