AN: Hello readers! I HAVE RETURNNNEEDD!
I'm sorry for being gone for nearly two weeks...I got a random case of writer's block for this chapter.
Started it one day, got to 500 words, and just came to a blank on what I wanted to do. I walked away from it for a while in hopes of breaking it and not burning myself out and finally got to a point where I could actually write it fully these last couple of days.
I hope I can get back to my regular schedule of doing double uploads every other week at some point, but we'll see...
Other than that, thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy this long awaited chapter!
Please leave a review on anything you liked, think I should work on, or just any questions in general! I enjoy reading them and I will answer them at the end of the next chapter:D
Just in case you get confused: Magic Location POV/Time Thoughts [Memories/Flashbacks]
Disclaimer: I do not own Black Clover or any of its characters...the only things I own are:
1. My characters and
2. my ideas
Chapter 16: Finding and Accepting the Unexpected
Black Bulls Hideout
Skylar's POV
Skylar was sitting up in a tree quietly as she spied on the girl walking below her, narrowing her gaze as she painted a target on the tree in front of her.
She had been there for a while, hearing her frustrated mumbles under her breath, all of which piqued her interest slightly over time as she kept herself hidden from view.
"They're just like them, aren't they?" She heard her said to herself with her head bowed. "Hidden behind those stupid faces and words, this filthy squad probably looks down on me about as much as they do. Why can't I ever escape it? Why does it always follow me everywhere I go?"
Skylar's eyes narrowed at that, a small piece of herself wondering what she was referring to whenever she said that, while also feeling another part of herself conflicted on whether or not she should still keep herself hidden.
What does she mean by that? she thought to herself as she laid her head in her hand, watching on as Noelle walked a little ways from the tree in front of her.
She's a Silva…
A daughter of one of now 3 Royal families of the Clover Kingdom, who are constantly praised for their magic, status, and held in high regard by everyone around them.
The same dynamic in terms of House Misuteru and Zeel, or at least that's what I thought.
I may be out of the loop in respects to royal snobs like her, since I haven't been in that type of environment for years, but…
That doesn't mean I haven't forgotten what it's like either.
Whenever I was out with my grandfather, no one ever dared to approach us, knowing that if they did…
They would be heavily scrutinized because of it.
He was ruthless and strict about those type of things, considering he and many others like him did it whenever it came to me…
Even though, I was also considered as much of a royal as they were. But due to something out of my own control, decided it was best to do such things to a child that was not even old enough to understand why they did it….
Something that she still doesn't even fully understand 10 years later….
Skylar's expression fell at that thought, sighing to herself from even thinking about it in the first place and knowing it was something she should stop reveling over after such a long time since it happened.
"Great, now I've bummed myself out more than I already was. I can never seem to catch a break when it comes to getting stuck inside my own head." she said to herself under her breath as she brought her pendant out into view.
But since that's all I could do for a time when I was there, I guess it's a habit that I've picked up and still can't throw away however much I want to….
Still one thing that keeps me connected to that lackluster time and place no matter how much I want to forget about it.
Her thoughts were immediately shattered when she felt the entire area shake around her, almost enough to knock her out of the tree she was sitting in.
She had to hold back either a yelp or curse from that unexpected quake going through the ground, completely confused on how it happened in the first place.
Her eyes widened, however, when she looked at Noelle down below, seeing multiple craters scattered about in the area around her as she sat on her hands and knees trying to catch her breath.
Hold on, wait a second…did she just? she thought to herself in confusion, realizing that everything but the tree she had drawn a target on had been hit, which was almost close to the same thing that she had seen when it seemed like she had targeted Asta before it swerved and hit Magna instead.
I had looked over that when she had done it but now….I don't get it. This doesn't make any sense at all, she thought as she gripped the bottom of the branch she was sitting on, hard, hearing it crack underneath the strain of her death grip.
As she watched Noelle release her water magic towards the tree again…
And again…
And again…
And again…
With each shot not coming close to even hitting its target, feeling her own irritation skyrocketing each and every time she saw it as she started to envision herself in the same position as the girl below her….
Seeing herself striking the same tree and unable to control her mana entirely, which usually made her magic blow up in her face or didn't even work enough to do anything correctly whenever she was trying to learn something new.
From what she could sense from her mana, she had a considerable amount of magic power but seemed to lack any refined control of what royals practically required to be seen as such, feeling very coarse and lacking any type of follow through for some reason or another.
Again, with this very fact making herself even more irritated and annoyed…
And she honestly didn't know if it was directed towards her or herself as she felt her lightning sparking around her in response to her emotions.
Of all people to do this right in front of me…
To show a weakness that I've always seem to struggle in some capacity in all my life…
Why did it have to be royal pain like her?
A girl from a house that embodies something that I've had deep hatred for even existing in the first place.
Their ideals…
Their damn standards of what a royal should have is shared by each of those stupid families …
Something that isn't foreign to me in any way, since I could honestly never reach said standards for myself because of this stupid condition of mine…
Always turning my emotions against me or my magic since they tend to work hand in hand annoyingly enough to make my magic hard to control at times…
What Yami had said to her just last night kept ringing through her head, working in tandem with basically the same thing but said differently from Vanessa's own mouth about the girl she couldn't bring herself to like at any capacity at first since she didn't think she would have something in her life that she could relate to in any way, shape, or form.
But now she watched on as she saw someone…
Someone of royal blood, like her, struggling with magic control just as much as she did at times…
Feeling something growing in her chest that she tried to prevent herself from feeling in the first place, but for some reason couldn't hold it back as much as she had wanted to.
"Damn it Vanessa…And that brute of a captain." she said under her breath as she looked down at Noelle with anger radiating in her eyes with empathy hidden within her gaze. "Tch, why are you holding me back in wanting to despise this girl? Why am I starting to do it myself as well?"
"I don't want to understand her but do want to at the same freaking time. It's so freaking annoying and I want to hate it...I want to despise it. But some part of me can't and it's pissing me off, because I can't decide what I want to feel when I just don't even want to feel anything!" she spat softly as she slammed her fist down on her leg.
In all my years, why does it have to be her? she thought as she gritted her teeth.
Why could she be potentially the only person who has most likely suffered the same amount pain as I did when living in that nightmarish hell of a place?
Noelle's POV
Why isn't it working!? Noelle thought to herself in frustration as she watched on in anger as her water magic curved around the target she was trying to hit.
Why does this always happen!?
She propelled another attack in frustration.
Why is it always like this!?
She created twice as many to hit the tree in front of her, and still could see that it was unscathed and remained standing, feeling sweat cascading down her brow from the strain of repetitive use of her magic.
But she didn't care for it at all and kept on going.
Why….
And another….
Why…
And another after the other without changing the result.
WHY!?
"Why can't I ever hit what I'm aiming for!?" She shouted in frustration as she sent another attack that missed, falling back down to her hands and knees from getting tired.
Tears started to come to her eyes as she looked down at the ground both angry and furious with herself, seeing as she was unable to land a single hit on the tree in front of her.
"Tch, so it's true then…even with her efforts, everything about what they say about me is true." she said under her breath almost regretfully, thinking about the countless times her siblings told her how much of a failure she was…
While also thinking back to each and every time Hikairi was right in front of her…
Trying to defend her from their words whenever she could…
3 years ago…
House Silva Estate
Noelle was sitting there in complete shock and disbelief as she sat on the ground looking up directly at Hikairi's back.
The older girl in front of her was panting tiredly as she stood there trying to defend her from any advances from one of her siblings, Solid Silva.
"Get out of the way, you stupid and ignorant little girl! How dare you try to step into the acts of royalty!" He shouted angrily as the girl's face in front of him was casted in shadows, sending another one of his serpents to knock her down only to see that it didn't work for the 50th time.
"Tch, just because you're Kiyomeru's child, doesn't mean I'm just going to sit here and allow you to disrespect my authority like this! Nozel may allow it, but I won't!"
"Then you should have no problem coming at me for not giving a crap if I'm disrespecting you, Solid. You may be a year older than me, but I should be enough for you right? Not the younger girl behind me, who's supposed to be your little sister. Someone you should protect from such abuse and not be her abuser!" Hikairi said with such anger in her voice that was typically never in it at any capacity.
"Like I care about what you want me to do!" Solid shouted as he sent another one of his water serpents at the silver haired girl into her stomach, seeing her wince and cringe in pain from being injured in that spot from one of his attacks he did previously.
Hikairi couldn't help but to let out a cough she was holding back, causing Noelle's eyes to widen from seeing drops of blood fall towards the ground as the silver-colored light surrounding her form flickered for a split second before it came back at a weaker capacity, hearing a curse come out under her breath because of it.
"Tch …damn…it…n-not now." Hikairi strained as blood trickled down the side of her mouth, hearing Solid let out a couple of laughs in front of her.
"Oh, well now. It seems the great 'Hikairi Guregin' has reached her limit earlier than usual." He mocked with amusement in his voice from seeing the girl in front of him cringing in pain. "Is that weak immune system of yours starting to flare up again? To think you could go against me in your already weakened state from being ill along with that unfortunate defect of yours working against you is such a foolish thing to even attempt…."
"Kairi please stop!" Noelle pleaded, seeing the girl stiffen in front of her from hearing it in her voice. "He's right! You're sick right now, meaning it doesn't take as long for you to strain yourself to the point of getting even more ill than you already are! So please stop it!"
"Sorry, Noelle. But I can't. He would just go on and torment you again and again, and I refuse to allow that while I'm here! So I'm going to do my best to stop that from even happening!" Hikairi responded sternly as she tried to get her breathing under control, wiping the blood that was on her face away as Solid laughed again.
"I don't understand why you care about that failure behind you so much. Someone as high up in nobility as the Guregins, who some if not all consider to be almost on the same standing as royalty, should never waste their time on a girl as incompetent as that one. She can't even control her mana enough to save her life!" Solid shouted as Hikairi began to shake in anger from hearing that.
"Tch, repeat that again? Because the only failure I know of is the cocky idiot standing in front of me. I would entrust my life in her hands before I would ever pick a failure of a brother and a Magic Knight like you!" Hikairi replied darkly as some control of her magic slipped, with Noelle seeing silver metal starting to coat the floor below her.
"How dare you…" Solid said as he gritted his teeth, turning the pages of his grimoire towards a spell of his choosing as it glowed blue. The shape of his magic took on the shape of a swirling mass of water with a single serpent coiling around him. "I think it's time for me to punish your insolence, girl! Water Creation Magic: Slashing Sea Serpent!"
Hikairi's eyes widened at that before crossing her arms in front of her, using her magic to coat a defensive layer of silver on her arms in an attempt to block the attack.
"No! Solid please don't!" Noelle yelled in fear that her friend was going to get hurt because of his attack, hearing her brother scoff in response.
"Like I would ever listen to you! Your pleas for the well-being of this girl's life is falling on deaf ears, failure! It's time for me to put her in her place!" He shouted as he sent his attack, seeing an explosion of water appear as soon as it hit his target.
When the water cleared out of her vision, she saw Hikairi laying on the ground as her magic flickered before shutting off completely around her body as she winced harshly under her breath before she began to cough up blood into her hand and onto the floor below her.
'No, she needs to get help before she gets worse!' She thought to herself before hearing Solid beginning to laugh under his breath as it increased gradually.
"HeheheheheHahaha! That's what you get for standing in my way!" Solid laughed maniacally as he began to walk towards her. "Now it's time for us to have a chat, Noelle."
Noelle backed herself to the wall in fear as he made his way towards her...
But as soon as he passed right in front of Hikairi, she saw her reach out and clench his ankle, causing him to pause in both surprise in anger as he looked down at her and felt her weak embrace.
'That idiot! What does she think she's doing!?' Noelle thought to herself, hoping the girl would have stayed down to not risk her injuring herself more than she already was.
"Aha…ha…ha…a-after….all that ...do you really think…I'm going to let…y-you do whatever you want….to her? How insulting of you…to even think that of me…" Hikairi said as she laughed under her breath, raising her head with a smile on her face as blood ran down the side of her mouth. "Considering…h-how long we've known…each other S-Solid…d-do you think…I'm that easy to s-stop…when I know…that Elle needs me to defend her…from a heartless and insufferable moron… like you?"
Solid remained silent at that as he gritted his teeth in anger as the girl who looked too weak to even stand continued talking to him so confidently.
"You may scare some people…with that…poor of an excuse of power and authority…t-that they and you think you have…b-but you sure as hell don't scare me…with it….I mean no offense…to her b-but….Elle's lectures…scare me a lot more than you ever could….I-I haven't tried…fighting you though…for more Elle's sake…than your own…but just know that I would be someone…you would never want to fight….if you so much as touch a hair on her head…r-right in front of me…"
"GRRGHHHH! You insolent girl! You're dumber than I thought you were!" Solid said angrily as a vein appeared on his head, kicking the girl below him in the gut and sent her flying into the wall behind her.
Hikairi immediately winced harshly under her breath as she tasted more blood rise up in her throat, releasing that and the contents of her stomach on the floor before feeling another hard kick into her stomach, feeling her ribs about to crack under the pressure.
"You wouldn't even have a chance against me as I'm now, Hikairi! You don't even have your grimoire yet, and you still think you can be considered a challenge in a fight when you never have in my eyes? Ha, even with that dual affinity you unfortunately were graced with, you would never come close to beating the likes of me!" Solid jested as he kept kicking and kicking her into submission before seeing Noelle running towards them out of the corner of his eye.
"Solid stop! She's sick and you know she can't take much more of this! Do whatever you want to me and please just leave her alone!" She pleaded as he turned his hateful gaze on her.
"Ah, so you think you can help this girl by telling me what I should do? How cute of you to even try to attempt such a thing." Solid said in amusement as he laughed, moving away from the girl on the wall who seemed to be barely conscious. "Maybe if your magic was anywhere close to hers or that of mine, you would be able to defend yourself instead of just hiding behind her like you always do!"
Noelle flinched at that, knowing that there was a part of her that felt the same.
"But since you so graciously asked me, I'll grant you your request!" Solid stated as he prepared to send one of his water serpents at her, only to freeze up and noticed that he was unable to move.
When he looked down, he saw that silver coated nearly his entire body, only stopping when it reached his neck.
"Hey hey hey! What's going on here!?" Solid asked in annoyance, only knowing Nozel to be able to do something like this before realization fell on his face for forgetting he knew someone else who could do it as well.
"I thought I told y-you….to leave her alone…But it seems that pride of yours is blocking your ears….t-to hear or understand…what I'm saying to you…just like those other siblings of yours that are about as foolish as you are…" Hikairi hissed as she rose back to her feet by using the wall next to her.
"E-Elle isn't a failure…..or as worthless as you say her to be…Her life is precious to this world and to me….and here you are trying to taint…it…b-because of something th-that…isn't her fault….Y-You should be ashamed of yourself…"
"You have no right to get in between our affairs! We're related by blood so what claim do you have ove-Mmmmfff!" Solid tried to say before the silver coating rose to cover his mouth as his voice became muffled.
"I d-don't care that we're not related…..just as much as…I don't care that you're her brother as you sure as heck never act like one in the first place! So don't you dare….try to say that crap to me…thinking it's going to stop me from having her back!" Hikairi replied as she sent him a scathing glare that was intimidating enough for even Solid himself to recoil at the sight of it as Noelle just sat there in shock of seeing tears starting to trail down her face.
Noelle barely ever saw her cry even when she was upset, seeing a rare moment where a smile or a joke couldn't keep her from showing how upset she truly was.
"I should be questioning your rights as her brother…since you should be doing the same thing I do for her 24/7! All of you should! And you all never ever do and it's starting to piss me the heck off from hearing about it whenever I'm not around to stop it! And I'm sick of it..."
"You should be…uplifting her…HELPING her though this but you choose to degrade her every chance you get, and if you think I'm going to sit here and let you do that to my best friend, someone I've held close to my heart ever since she allowed me to be in hers…then YOU are the dumbest one in this hallway to even think I'll allow what you're trying to do to her in my presence or out of it!" Hikairi continued as she slammed her fist into wall, causing blood to fall down it as she injured her hand.
"Keep doing it and see what will happen if you finally get someone as laid back as I am to fully snap at you! I may not have my grimoire yet, but that will not change the fact that I will still hold no remorse from forcing you into the pavement before and when I get one. So, keep that in mind the next time you try to shove that nonsensical garbage on me thinking that's going to stop form protecting my friend!"
Present…
Normal POV
Noelle grit her teeth at that thought, trembling in irritation by being conflicted with what she was feeling…
A part of her feeling helpless by never having the power to defend herself and her feeling of resolve at trying to prove more to herself that she could.
["Why wasn't it you who died instead of our mother? What an abject failure…"] She remembered Nozel saying to her long ago, pushing her anger over the edge.
"Tch, I am not a failure!" She shouted as determination fell in her eyes as she sent more attacks at the tree in front of her. "Somehow I will get them to accept me! And show that reckless and selfless girl that she doesn't need to always risk her life to protect me! I should be the one protecting myself while also protecting her from her stupid decisions!"
As she kept doing this, someone other than Skylar had been watching from afar….
When Skylar had told him to leave before, Asta had wandered out into the forest trying to figure out what he should do with himself before Noelle's water magic had attacked him out of nowhere.
He followed her trail of hearing her screams and the water of her magic to find her, sitting behind the bushes and feeling sympathy ring out in his chest each and every time she shouted at herself in frustration.
"Poor Noelle…I guess someone like her doesn't have it easy either." He said under his breath.
This almost reminds me of…
Before he could complete that thought, an anti-bird that he hadn't noticed was next to him until now, flew up into the air. When it did, it managed to create enough noise for both Noelle and even Skylar to notice he was there, with the latter sweatdropping at the fact that he had got himself spotted that easily.
What is he doing here? They both thought simultaneously as he brought himself to his feet and sent Noelle a 'Hi' and a wave as a nice gesture.
"The little insect…" She said under her breath before looking at him in a mix of shock and anger. "How long have you been standing there!?"
As soon as she said that, it was almost as if Skylar's senses were simultaneously cut in half with a knife, sensing an overwhelming amount of mana welling up in the girl below her.
It's almost as if it's about to… she thought to herself as sweat rolled down the side of her face as her eyes widened, recognizing this feeling of mana on the brink of going out of control from experiencing it herself many times before.
Sadly, Noelle was wrapped up too much in her thoughts to notice that the little control she had on her magic slipped, backing away in fear of the boy in front of her.
Here it comes…the m-mocking, she thought to herself, the voices of her siblings filling her head with doubt to make her unable to see that the boy in front of her was not a threat.
Before he could say anything, she put her hands out for another water attack to prevent herself from hearing anymore words against her.
"No! Take this!" She said shakily as her magic was about to be released, kicking Skylar into gear to try to prevent it from happening.
"Noelle stop!" She warned as she streaked herself in front of both Asta and Noelle, seeing surprise appear on both of their faces from her coming out of nowhere.
But unfortunately, she was too late as the attack left Noelle's hands, only for her magic to turn on her as it began to go out of control.
"Crap, I was too late…damn it." Skylar said under her breath as she bit down on her cheek as Asta gasped in disbelief from seeing Noelle's magic trapping her inside.
"Skylar what's happening?" Asta asked as he saw her eyes flash violet for a couple seconds before returning to their normal silver.
"Her magic is starting to go out of control. So much so that it's probably close or on par to when mine does but with water replacing it." She stated as she grabbed his hand and began running away, causing him to yelp in surprise.
"Hey, we can't just leave her like that! Can't we do something to help her!? If it's like when you go out of control then, we can just talk to calm her down right?" Asta asked as she sent him a glance over her shoulder.
"I never said it was the same. I only gave you a comparison of its power." She explained hastily. "If you didn't notice, lightning and water magic are completely different as they are about as opposite as you can get. Basically, to the extent of when water is compared to fire, meaning our magic is different in terms of when it goes out of control like hers is doing right now."
Before he could get her to explain any further, he saw her eyes widen before she turned to look in front of her.
"Asta… get on my back." She stated with some hesitance in her voice as he looked at her in confusion.
"But why-"
"Tch idiot, don't ask any question and get on my back right now!" She commanded as the earth began to shake underneath them. "Unless you want me to leave you behind with that girl's magic, which if you didn't notice is starting to gain on us, then go ahead!"
Asta stiffened at that as he turned around, screaming in panic as a large mass of water magic was indeed gaining on them, close to hitting them in seconds at the pace that they were going.
"AHHHHHH!" He yelled as he jumped onto her back, nearly causing her to topple to the ground due to how rough he did it and from how heavy he was.
"TCH, Asta what the hell! Are you trying to kill the both of us!?" She asked angrily as she engaged her magic, using it to accelerate her speed enough to be just ahead of it but feeling his weight keeping her from going at her top speed.
"And what have you been lifting to make you so freaking heavy? Boulders?" She strained as her eyebrow twitched in irritation. "For someone as short as you are, I would've thought it would be easier to carry you!"
"Hey well don't blame me for that! You were ordering me to jump on your back, so you got what you asked for!" Asta shouted before he shouted even louder from seeing the water starting to gain on them. "AAAHHHHHHH! Skylar go faster, faster, and faster! It's starting to gain on us!"
"What does it look like I'm trying to do!? It's not like I want to go for a swim today!" She responded in annoyance as sweat came down her brow. "I'm trying my best here without my grimoire, since I left my satchel in my room."
"Can't you just teleport us away!? You were able to do it when you got in between us before, so what's stopping you now!?" Asta shouted as multiple veins began to pulse on Skylar's head, causing a chill to run down his back from how annoyed she was.
"Tchhhh, I can't stand you sometimes! Especially when you're shouting in my ear and I have to repeat myself!" she replied as she pushed herself a little more. "For the last time, Asta, I'm NOT teleporting when I do that! I'm transporting myself with my magic as a streak of lightning to be more exact! And I can't do that right now with the both of us because I'm still running dry on mana form the exams yesterday! It would take too much power for me to do that, and why didn't you think I thought of doing that in the first place!?"
"Hehe…sorry," Asta replied as he scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile on his face.
Come one Skylar you need to go faster! Skylar kept thinking to herself, moving them faster and faster to reach the hideout and get out of danger.
You've gone faster than this with no trouble at all. Don't let being sleep deprived and drained stop allowing you to do just that at this moment!
Even with coaching herself to go faster, she didn't notice how much of her limit she was pushing in which triggered her seal to activate from getting too low as a sort of failsafe from causing her mana to act up due to her condition.
"Grk!" She winced under her breath as she felt her body freeze up and chest burn immensely as they tumbled onto the ground.
"OUCHHHHH! Skylar what-?" Asta tried to say before his eyes widened in shock from seeing her lay a little ways in front of him, cringing in pain as she struggled to move.
"S-Sorry, s-seal activated on me out of nowhere…I g-guess I pushed myself too much…." Skylar said with a wince as she got up to her knees, seeing a massive amount of water coming towards her, unable to move out of the way.
Great…I guess this is some form of payback, she thought to herself, thinking back to when she nearly hit Noelle and Vanessa last night with her own magic.
She was about to close her eyes before she was hit before hearing Asta screaming behind her, turning back and seeing him running towards her instead of away from the water mass.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHHHHH!" He yelled.
"Asta, are you insane!? Leave me and return to the hideout!" She said, trying to get him to turn around before seeing him jump over her and stand right in front of her in an effort to defend her.
"NO! I'm not going to abandon you!" He shouted as her eyes widened in shock before deadpanning when he sweatdropped from the sight in front of them. "And it's a little too late for that isn't it?"
"Yeah, just a tiny bit…." Skylar sighed.
Even though they both tried to hold it in, they couldn't help but scream when the mass of water hit them and sent them soaring into the air….
All of the Black Bulls members were standing outside the hideout in shock from looking at a huge mass of water that didn't seem close from stopping from getting any bigger…
They each had heard or felt that massive amount of mana that had come from the forest, noticing that another one of their new member's magic was going out of control.
"My goodness…./Cool!" Vanessa and Luck said respectively as the other members looked in awe.
"Well that's magic going out of control…" Gauche stated behind Magna as Charmy ate her cupcake right next to them.
"No kidding, it's a whole hell of a lot of it too. Man, what is with these rookies this year?" Magna said in shock. "They have enough magic power to go off and make their own squad if they wanted to. We're probably going to have to do something right?"
As the ball of water came closer and closer, they were finally able to see Noelle within its center, prompting Yami to let out a sigh under his breath.
"Well, attacking it is out. What to do…what to do." He said under his breath as he went through the options in his head that could potentially stop this.
As they contemplated on what to do on the situation, they began hearing screams ring out of the air as the other 2 new members of the squad made an appearance as they were flying towards them.
"AAAAAGHHHHH!" They both screamed, their eyes were wide with panic.
Damn it! I don't have enough magic power for us to land! Skylar thought to herself as she saw Yami casually look up at them.
"Ahhh, just what I was looking for." He stated as he caught Asta and allowed Skylar to continue her descent towards the ground.
I hate him…I hate him…I completely despise him! she thought in annoyance from seeing that he had saved Asta and not her, even though he probably had enough strength to save the both of them.
As the ground came closer and closer, she saw a spatial gate appear in front of her as her direction seemed to flip nauseatingly as she fell into someone's arms.
When she looked up, she saw Finral smiling down at her as her face heated up slightly how from how close he seemed to her.
"Th-Thanks, Finral…" Skylar said as she looked off to the side as he set her down.
"Don't' mention-"
Before he could finish his phrase, they both heard Asta shout out in fear as Yami threw him towards the large mass of water surrounding Noelle, immediately causing Skylar to sweatdrop at the sight.
Yeah never mind I take back all of that… I'm glad he didn't catch me if that was going to be the end result… she thought to herself as she watched him take out his sword and slice Noelle's magic in half, which led to her eyebrow to start twitching from not knowing he had his grimoire this entire time.
He had his grimoire this entire time and didn't say anything!?
It seemed to take care of the primary problem of stopping her magic from getting anymore out of control but…
Sadly, though, Skylar saw that they found themselves in the same position as her moments before as they fell towards the ground below them without probably any means of landing safely by themselves.
That idiot probably can't figure out a way to do something like that, while Noelle is most likely too weak to do anything at this moment, She deduced as she instinctively tried to scrap some of her mana together.
She closed her eyes as the world seemed to slow down around her as she tried to draw on the mana within the area around her without causing it to shift too much or force her condition into overdrive and do the opposite of what she wanted to do.
C'mon focus, focus….. she thought to herself as sweat went down the side of her face, feeling her mana supply increase just enough for her to activate her magic at a weakened capacity.
As Finral was preparing to open a spatial gate, he felt Skylar's magic rise slightly out of nowhere as lightning crackled around her body.
"Finral, as soon as I say, open a spatial gate in front of me!" She said just before she took off with violet lightning trailing behind her.
"Alright on it!" Finral stated as Vanessa looked over at her in surprise, as a small smile came on her face from seeing what she was trying to do.
"AAAHHHHHH, I'm dead! I'm dead! I'm DEADDDD!" Asta screamed in the air as Noelle remained silent.
As the ground seemed to be coming closer and closer, he saw someone encased with a violet vibrance around them, seeing his friend rushing towards them as she grabbed onto the both of them with both of her arms.
"Skylar!" He shouted in relief as she sent him a smirk as Noelle looked over at her in surprise.
"What's with that look for, Noelle? Did you expect me to just watch the both you fall from the sky?" Skylar asked sarcastically with amusement hidden with her tone from seeing Noelle's shocked expression.
"What are you-" She tried to say before Skylar turned away to look forwards.
"Finral, do it now!" She shouted as a gate appeared in front of her, learning from last time to expect the unexpected as she used her lightning to brace her landing, skidding to halt as she create trails into the ground with her feet.
As she bended close to the ground, she released both of the teens that were in her hold, panting slightly under her breath as Asta cheered in relief.
"YEAH! I didn't die!" He shouted as Skylar deadpanned at that statement, rising up to her feet and punching him on top of his head.
"OWWWWW! What was that for!?" Asta asked before seeing Skylar shaking in anger.
"You're such an idiot! You could've just kept running back to the hideout, but no! You decided it was best to come back to somehow block an attack with your body instead of using that head of yours for once and pull out that sword of yours to at least stop some of the magic barreling towards us!" She said angrily before walking away in a huff towards the treeline.
Before she could get too far, she felt something pull her arm back. When she looked down, she saw a familiar pink thread of magic with the barely clothed form of Vanessa walking towards her.
"Where do you think you're sneaking off to, little hero?" Vanessa asked as she saw Skylar's face heat up from that name as she crossed her arms to look off to the side.
"Don't call me that. It's not like I did anything that heroic. Finral could have probably done it himself without me getting involved…" Skylar stated before looking back towards her. "And, I'm just…I don't know. I guess I'm just going to take a seat over on top of one of those trees over there."
Vanessa sighed at that as she walked over to her, seeing surprise fall on her face when she grabbed her hand to pull her over to the other members that were gathering around both Asta and Noelle.
"I didn't think someone with your attitude would be a shy type." She said amusedly as she looked at her over her shoulder. "Stop isolating yourself and at least try to play the part as someone in a squad."
Skylar's mouth gaped at that before she looked towards the ground, unable to bring herself to comment on that.
When they made it over there, they heard each of the members congratulating Asta in his efforts at stopping Noelle's mana from going anymore out of control.
"You pulled it off kid good job!" Yami congratulated as he pointed at him, seeing Asta send him an appreciative nod.
"Thank you sir!" He remarked before turning to look at the girl on the ground behind him. "Hey Noelle!"
When Skylar looked over at Noelle laying on the ground, she looked completely different from the rude, snobbish girl that she had met just last night.
It honestly almost resonated to her core from seeing how helpless she was before and how dejected she looked now, knowing from experience how hard it was to regain control of your mana when it gets like that.
A small shadow fell on her face as she looked towards the ground, hiding her expression from those around her as she kept her focus on Noelle, thinking back to something she had told her previously.
["But a child of House Silva like you…would never ever be able to understand that….all you had to do was stay behind those walls of that estate, while you were pampered and praised from your amount of magic and your standing as a royal of this kingdom….something I've never had the pleasure of doing in my life, though quite honestly would have never wanted in the first place…."]
That's most likely not true…to my surprise, she thought to herself as her eyebrows turned upwards.
She has an immense amount of mana just like a royal is expected to have…but from what I can tell, she doesn't have the control to back it up.
Almost…or basically similar to how my magic is, even if I'd say I have an edge over her when it comes to the stability of my magic…
But only at times when I actually have control over it…in the case I don't then, I'd say…
We're evenly matched.
We both have something we need to work on in terms of that…
Something royals look down at for needing to have that in the first place, since we're supposed to know how to control our magic without any problems…
Meaning…we're…
The same in regard to that….
We actually do have something we can relate to, even if it's hard for me to admit that to her or…
Even myself.
Even though she was trying her best to hide what she was thinking, Vanessa was able to tell that the barriers she had kept on herself were starting to break.
Allowing her to finally see something that she tried to reject without even trying to give it chance of it being true to some degree…
I can tell she still doesn't like it but…. she thought, looking over and seeing the usually tense girl, almost deflating at the sight before her but almost as if some type of weight was lifted off of her shoulders due to that at the same time.
It seems she's starting to get it to some degree…
She's starting to understand that there are others like her that have experienced what she has undergone at some capacity…
That she isn't alone and they're others who can understand and share her pain which will hopefully allow her to…
Trust the people she knows she can trust a lot easier someday.
Word Count of Chapter: 7253 |Pages: 14 pages |Reviews: 11 |Follows: 37 |Favorites: 32
Hope you enjoyed!