Summary:

Magna's training hits a wall...

Notes:

And here's the second part I promised! I really liked how this story turned out!

Chapter 2: Expectations

Zora stirred the pot of wild mushrooms, wild potatoes, wild thyme, salt, pepper, chicken broth (from a can from their stockpile), and water over the fire. Dinner was almost done, but there was still no sign of Magna. As it was his turn to cook, he left Magna to continue training about an hour ago. They were more than halfway done within the six month timeframe they were given and Zora was at a loss.

He grimaced. Zora used every bit of his knowledge to help Magna come up with new spells and work around the "not enough mana" problem that plagued them both. Training had been going well, up until two weeks ago when Magna's training plateaued and his progress halted. It was frustrating for Zora because he didn't know how else to help, but it was even more frustrating for Magna.

Magna was loud, talkative, and quick to rise to provocation, but lately he had been quiet and prone to moodiness and stupid mistakes in simple training exercises.

Honestly, they were friends now, Zora had to admit to himself, and thus, Zora worried. He wasn't that adept at handling interpersonal relationships, as he only had his father until he was twelve and then spent the next thirteen years on his own. In his heart, he knew it was the right choice to stay with the Black Bulls after the whole elf deal and make himself a proper member of the team, but Zora wasn't very good at being nice or caring as he assumed friends should be.

"I'm back," said Magna, appearing out of the forest where they had their camp.

Zora said, "About time…what the fuck did ya do?" Zora scowled at Magna's appearance. It looked like Magna used his own magic against himself. Magna's clothes were singed as was the tips of his hair. Soot and ash were all over Magna's face and arms. There was blood dripping down Magna's hands from his knuckles. Zora snapped, "Did ya have an argument with a ball of fire?"

Magna sneered. "Maybe."

"Sit down. Yer gettin' blood everywhere," said Zora. Magna sat down, crossed his arms, and glared petulantly at Zora. Zora dug the medical kit that Mimosa Vermillion had forced on him the last time he had seen her. He opened it and threw gauze and tape at Magna, who caught them reluctantly. "Tape yer hands up. So, where are the burns?" Zora pulled out the burn ointment and hoped that it'd be enough to stave off an infection.

"I don't have burns," said Magna, sniffing in annoyance.

"Magna, I swear to fuckin' God, I will drag yer ass back to base and then, ya can explain it to the others why ya look like ya had a fight with a volcano," Zora snarled. "Where. Are. The. Burns?"

Magna blanched at the thought. "On my back, mostly." Then, under his breath, he said, "Vanessa and Finral would nag me to death if I came home with injuries."

"Finish taping yer hands and then lift the back of yer shirt," Zora commanded.

"You know you're a kind of bastard," said Magna.

"Yeah, I'm proud of it," Zora replied, glibly.

Magna glared, but didn't affect Zora since Zora was the far more threatening of the two. Magna grumbled as he taped up his own bleeding knuckles. Once that task was finished, Magna lifted the back of his shirt. "Hurry up."

Zora inspected the burns on Magna's back. Thankfully, they didn't look too bad. Zora used extra gauze to scoop the burn ointment and roughly slathered on the burns.

Magna yelped in pain. "Ow, ow, can't you be gentler? Where's the bedside manner?"

"No. I ain't Doc Owen," Zora sternly. He finished putting the burn ointment on Magna's back. Zora took out the large bandages, which he slapped on the burns so the ointment would do its job properly. "What the hell were ya tryin' to accomplish with whatever stunt ya pulled?"

"You know how Captain Mereoleona is basically like a fire goddess," said Magna, pulling down his shirt roughly.

Zora said, annoyed. "I'm aware."

"Well, her Mana Zone is near perfect, so…"

"You were trying to upgrade your Mana Skin to a Mana Zone," said Zora, blankly. And then he scolded, "Yer a moron trying to get yerself killed in a training accident! Ya don't nearly have enough mana to use that shit! I've seen Captain Mereoleona in battle. She's a monster because she's a freakin' Vermillion Royal and has a large amount of mana. And ya don't!"

"You're mean when you're worried," Magna replied, not taking any of what Zora said to heart.

"And yer a little shit." Sighing, Zora moved away from Magna and fetched their bowls for dinner. He made two bowls and handed one to Magna. "Eat."

They ate in silence, until Magna spoke up, "I'm sorry."

"For?"

"Being stupid. I'm just…frustrated that it doesn't seem like I got any stronger," said Magna. Magna shoved another spoonful of stew in his mouth.

Zora stared at him and finally asked a question that he didn't want to ask for the longest time, but knew that he needed to address it. "Why is it Luck?"

"Huh?"

"Why is it Luck that yer fixated on? And don't give me that bullshit about him being yer rival. I heard that enough from Asta," said Zora.

"Luck is unfairly strong," said Magna, without pause. "He's a commoner but he's got a lot of mana, his mana sensing it top notch and he's powerful. If he wasn't a battle-nut, he'd have made it big in any other squad, like even the Golden Dawn. He pushes, and pushes and it never seems that he hits a ceiling, you know. I…admire him for it."

Zora frowned. "So you want to be like him? Or do you want his respect?"

Magna scrunched up his face and grimaced. "Both I guess…"

"Yer not him," said Zora, bluntly. "Ya can't be him. And Luck respects ya, even if he can't show it. I've only known ya guys for a while, but even I can tell. He chooses to provoke ya over everyone else and he expects ya to catch up to him."

Magna went silent.

Zora continued, "So, what if ya hit a wall in yer training? Is that really gonna stop ya? You of all people?"

"Expectations are scary," Magna said, softly. "What if I can't meet Luck's expectations? What if I can never get stronger than I am? What if I get left behind?"

Zora interjected before Magna went down the dark, dark rabbit hole of self-doubt, which was something that Zora knew far too well himself. "None of that bullshit, Magna. We'll figure it out. Hell, we'll go pick a fight with a magic beast or somethin' and see how you fare. I ain't putting my time and effort to help ya for nothin'. What's Captain always saying?"

"Surpass your limits. Right here. Right now," Magna said, verbatim for what their Captain always said.

"People like you and me, we get a terrible hand from the get-go. We don't get fancy grimoires, or high mana, or anything that would remotely give us a leg up. But look at us. Two assholes from the boonies in a Magic Knight squad, moving ahead despite all that, right," Zora asked, wondering if he spent too much time with Asta already and the kid's optimism rubbed off on him. "Are ya giving up?"

Magna grinned wildly. "No way. Luck ain't gonna know what hit him when I come and save his butt this time."

"Finish your food. We'll pack up and go find a magic beast. Hopefully, ya won't get eaten," said Zora, rolling his eyes.

"And, you're back to be a jerk again," said Magna, glibly.

Magna's mood seemed lifted and his drive to become better came back.

Zora smirked to himself as he turned away to clean his bowl out while Magna had another helping of stew. They were going to get stronger and help protect the people of Clover.

Those Spade devil-possessed creeps won't know what hit them.

"Hey! I'm done. Let's go!" Magna was already haphazardly throwing their gear in their bags.

Zora rolled his eyes. "Yer in such a damn rush. Just to let ya know, I won't save ya if ya get eaten."

"Liar!"

"Shut up! And fold the tents the right way!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

~fin