Summary:
Magna Swing and Zora Ideale were an unusual duo, but they both came from the bottom of the pile, only to crawl their way out bit-by-bit. (A 2-part look at the downtime during Magna and Zora's six-month training trip)
Notes:
The fact that I didn't get to see Magna and Zora in ages in the manga is unfair. I wanted to see a bit of their training trip. Since I had wrote the story about Yuno and Mimosa's dynamic, I wanted to explore the dynamic between Magna and Zora. I firmly believe that Zora will be a big bro figure to Magna. Zora and Magna are both very similar-both from the Forsaken Realm and poor as heck, with low mana levels, and both are very stubborn.
I also might be projecting a little on Magna and Zora, oops.
Please enjoy.
From the Bottom
By:
IAmStoryteller
Chapter 1: Open Wounds
"Here," said Magna, handing a bowl of chili to Zora. As it was Magna's turn to cook their dinner, chili was the easiest and fastest, especially since he picked up canned ingredients for it when he and Zora last went to a town for a supply run. It helped that chili was filling and they needed it after their long day of training.
"Thanks for the food," muttered Zora.
Magna unceremoniously dished out a bowl of chili for himself. They ate in silence around the campfire in a mountain range somewhere in the Forsaken Realm. Magna wasn't too sure where they actually were as he never been to this part of the kingdom before, but Zora said it was unpopulated so that made it perfect for training, especially with their kind of magic.
Magna and Zora, members of the infamous Black Bulls Magic Knight squad, were in their second month of their training trip in preparation for the Spade Kingdom's devil-possessed Dark Triad and their disciples. Magna had chosen Zora to train him because Zora was someone who didn't have a lot of mana (like Magna), but Zora was extremely clever in his use of magic. And Zora had a more sympathetic side, unlike that jerk Gauche who wouldn't help Magna train ever.
"So," said Zora, sounding like he'd rather not talk. "D'ya feel like yer improvin'?"
"Yeah and no," said Magna. "Ask me again in a month." The results of his training were hard to quantify without Luck there as his benchmark. He was sure that Luck was getting even stronger in the Heart Kingdom. It always seemed like he was always looking at Luck's back. First Luck got into the Royal Knights and he didn't, then Luck had the knack for the Heart Kingdom training. Magna clenched his jaw at the thought.
Though, he hoped that Luck and the others were doing okay otherwise.
Zora asked, perhaps wisely changing the subject, "How the hell did ya make canned food taste good?"
Magna grinned. "Swing family recipe, 'course."
"Right," said Zora, scoffing.
"No, seriously, my ma taught me all sorts of ways to make the dirt-cheap food better," said Magna. Spices and salt was important to making cheap food taste better. "A little goes…"
"A long way, yeah, my dad always said the same thing, too," said Zora, nodding.
An awkward silence befell them because this was the first time that Zora mentioned anything personal. While Magna knew the story about Zara Ideale (from Asta, who heard the short version from Zora himself), Zora wasn't a big talker and he really hated bringing up personal things. He didn't mind the not-talking, but Magna didn't know Zora well. Sure, Magna knew that Zora was a good person, especially since Asta thought so and Asta was a good judge of character.
"My dad's specialty was stew," said Zora. It was the first real thing that Zora told Magna. Was this Zora's way of becoming friendly? "He'd make a giant pot that would last a month. By the end of that month, I was so damn sick of stew." But it was all they had to eat was the unsaid part of Zora's little story.
Magna knew that story well.
"My ma's was chili and curry," said Magna. He patted his stomach. "I got an iron stomach for spices as a result. I still can't get Charmy to put spice in things."
Zora snorted amused. "Charmy might have a conniption if she ever found out that we both ate the same meals every day for years."
Magna said, "Probably and then she'd feed us. I ate way better once I joined the Black Bulls, but I miss my ma's cooking."
"I miss my dad's cooking too," said Zora. Without any tact, he asked, "Yer ma, did she die?"
Nodding, Magna said, "She died when I was ten. Pneumonia in the middle of winter. She worked her job as a blacksmith until she couldn't get out of bed anymore. She was damn stubborn."
His mother gave birth to him at the tender age of eighteen, worked every day for fifteen hours in the blacksmith shop that let them barely scrape by and then, she died at the very young age of twenty-eight because they were too poor to get a doctor when she got a cold that turned into the pneumonia. Granted, Magna knew, he knew, that his ma would have paid for the doctor somehow, someway, if it was Magna who had gotten sick, but never for herself. After his ma died, Magna became an unruly child who then became a wild teenager with no purpose in life…until Captain Yami took an interest in him. The Black Bulls saved him.
Zora replied, "Blacksmith, huh? That's a pretty old school career."
"Ma mostly made and repaired farm tools and mended pots and pans," said Magna. "I got the few weapons she made at home." Magna reached down to his boots where he kept a knife holster and the knife that his mother made for him for his eighth birthday. He handed it to Zora to inspect. "She'd have loved to meet Captain Yami and see his katana or Asta with his anti-magic swords."
Zora held the knife in his hands and looked it over thoroughly. "Even I can tell it's a balanced, well-made knife."
"Other than the few weapons, I have her favorite pot at the base too. It's in the kitchen," said Magna. Charmy squealed in delight at the cookware when Magna presented to her when he first joined the squad.
"Bet that'd make yer ma happy to know it's getting used well," said Zora, handing the knife back to Magna, who immediately put it back in the knife holster.
"Yeah," said Magna. "It doesn't get easier. I miss her at the strangest times. What I wouldn't give to just get to see her again."
Zora made a strangled noise, which was unlike him. "It never does."
"I hope that she's proud of me," said Magna, earnestly.
"She is. Like I'm sure my dad is of me," said Zora, in a firm tone. "And that's why neither of us can give up or back down. Not when they paved the way for us to go forward."
Magna clenched his fists. "You're right!"
"Of course, I am, idiot. Let's get some rest. Training first thing tomorrow," said Zora, grinning.
~to be continued