Disclaimer: I do not own Black Clover nor any of it's characters. They belong to the genius Yuki Tabata.
Author's Note: I recommend listening to the song "Child and the Guardian Angel" by Peter Roe as you read this. It is not required, but will elevate the experience.
KenosDC1: Thank you again for taking the time to review my last fic! I will most likely write either Acier or Nacht next. I want to see how the situation with Yuno and Langris unfolds a bit more before I finish up their one-shots. I will likely write about the Dark Triad once I have finished the fics that I already have preplanned.
A Knight Like Chevalier
By: S.C. Tucker
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"Once upon a time…"
Young Klaus Lunettes gazed up at the elderly woman from where he lay in his poster bed with wide magenta eyes. Klaus loved evenings most because it meant that he would get to listen to the heroic stories of eld. This was the one fraction of time where he wouldn't get kicked or ridiculed. Evening was both safe and comforting for the young noble. Klaus listened to her aged voice as the rain tapped against his window pane.
"... there was only one Magic Knight squad in the entire Clover Kingdom, and every single knight was a true hero of the people. Each morning the knights would wake up and search for someone new to help. Some days, they fought off evil beasts and wicked people. Other days, they would offer their assistance to the citizens: planting crops and providing medicine for the sickly…"
Klaus squeezed his eyes shut to better picture the story being shared with him.
"... but, among those knights was one who was very special. His name was Chevalier and every day he would seek to protect the future of the Clover Kingdom."
The concept confused young Klaus and so he opened his eyes once more to ask. "How do you protect something you can't see?"
The old woman smiled kindly at the young child. "But Klaus, you can see the future. I am looking at the future right now."
He tilted his head in response. "I don't understand. You are only looking at me."
"Of course. You children are the future. One day I will be gone and you will still be here shaping the world long after I depart."
Klaus clutched his duvet and teared up at the thought of living without his caretaker. "But I don't want you to go."
Her rich warm laugh reached his ears. "We don't get to decide that young man. But, I am touched nonetheless."
The boy chewed on his lip for a moment before asking: "What was he like?"
"Well, I'm glad you asked." Her smile filled the room. "Chevalier was loved by many. Each day he would dress his horse in bright armor and polish his lance. Then he would venture out into the kingdom in search of the children who needed his help. Chevalier would come to the aid of any child who felt lost or afraid. It was on a day like this that the knight met a young boy named Perdu who had been crying in the forest…"
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Thunder crashed against his tranquil dream: jarring the steel mage awake away from memories long passed. He reached for his eyeglasses before lighting the bedside lamp. Rainwater rushed down the window panes of the Golden Dawn's headquarters in rivulets. The soft flicker of the candle flame depicting a blurred silhouette of his late caretaker onto the glass. Klaus slowly slid the stylized eyeglasses up the bridge of his nose revealing only the reflection of himself. Cursing slowly under his breath; his mind traveled back to the remnants of his dream.
His caretaker had been a part of his life for seven years providing young Klaus with love and sanctuary. The elderly woman had worked for the Lunettes household since she herself was a teenager. Swaddling and nurturing generations of the noble family until her own passing. She had once been the shield that guarded him against the storm that raged within the estate.
Without his caretaker's protection Klaus had been thrust into the unforgiving jaws of violence and neglect. His older brother at the time had been nearly an adult who had found great pleasure in tricking and hurting Klaus. At first, he tried to avoid his older brother who glared down at him with piercing yellow eyes ready to strike. But, being older he was smart enough to find most of Klaus's childhood hiding spots. Being in his brother's presence had often earned Klaus a swift kick to his ribcage or a vicious strike to the back of his head that left him reeling on the ground biting back tears. In the beginning Klaus said nothing. He let his brother snap his fingers around his head like a hovering wasp before receiving a sharp jab into his magenta eyes. In his mind there was no way that a seven year old boy could stand up against a man more than twice his age.
And so Klaus withdrew into himself and endured. The terror had started to fade leaving him numb and alone to face the never ending assault. It wasn't until Klaus realized that the world around him was starting to permanently blur that the sensation of fear had returned. The thought of trying to survive in a darkened world petrified him.
The fear of losing his eyesight forever allowed him to manifest his first magic spell to defend himself against his cruel brother. Shoddy walls of steel enclosed around him forming a stalwart box to protect his vision. He yearned to keep his ability to see the future like his caretaker had.
Klaus stayed locked inside his magic until the furious screams of his brother abated. Until he couldn't hear fists, boots, and blunt objects strike his steel barriers any longer. Only then would he emerge and scurry to his room.
The only saving grace that Klaus had in the world at the time was that his brother had inherited the prized Lunettes family magic. A magic that was useless against his steel barriers. Illusion magic that would only affect him if he could be seen. Once Klaus was tucked away inside his steel magic his brother's illusions would dissipate. No longer able to be seen as they melted away against the shadow.
However, this reprieve was only effective against his brother. Not their father. The man who laughed when his eldest pummeled and taunted his youngest. The man who called Klaus the shameful disgrace of the Lunettes family. A pest with a stolen right to live. A freak who couldn't even be born with the proper magic. A bastard without the right eyes.
In order to avoid any extra violence Klaus had trained himself as a young boy to only look at the ground. Since his cursed eyes angered the family so much. He learned how to identify people by their feet rather than their faces.
When Klaus had first manifested his steel magic his father had looked stricken with eyes widening in horror. Shortly after the initial shock had fallen off a smear of disgust had risen in its place. His father had retreated into his office snarling under his breath.
As time passed this older brother became only motivated by the presence of the steel barrier. Undeterred he had begun to seat himself outside the metallic box and spit venomous words. When words were not enough he would start clanging against the steel making his ears ring. But, Klaus knew what was awaiting him outside was worse than the pain in his ears. So he continued to hide.
It wasn't until his brother in a fit of rage spoke ill of his caretaker that Klaus first experienced the foreign emotion of anger. Rather than shape the magic into his familiar barrier he warped the metal and sharpened his steel into fine points. His brother continued to taunt him. Disparaging the one good person Klaus had known in his life. Eager to have found a new wound to prod.
The seven year old boy felt a cold fury overtake him. In retaliation he lanced the thin sharp barbs of steel at his older cackling brother. The metal pierced his body easily electing a chorus of squeals that rang out across the estate. This action did not come without consequence as his father arrived quickly to investigate the disruption. It was almost surreal how much their father favored his malevolent older brother. He was the chosen one, while Klaus was the outsider.
His father roughly grabbed Klaus by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him down into the basement. Trapping him in the dark room for hours and assailing him with illusions of grotesque monsters that were strong enough to persevere in the dark.
He screamed and cried for forgiveness for wounding his brother until his voice was hoarse. Curling up and pressing his tearstained face into his knees he tried to ignore the all too realistic illusions around him and instead retreated into the memories spent with his caretaker. Wishing more than anything for her to come back and save him like the knights from her bedtime stories.
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"... 'Why do you cry so little one?' Chevalier had asked the boy. Perdu looked up at the gleaming knight with wonder in his eyes. Tears forgetting to fall, he answered. 'An evil monster is attacking the village. I went to find help, but now I am lost. Please Sir, can you save them?' The knight patted the young boy on the head. 'Of course! Leave it to me.' He said."
Klaus frowned. "How are they supposed to find the village if Perdu forgot where it is?"
"Impatient are we?" His caretaker laughed. The gleam in her crinkled eyes spoke to the youth still in her heart.
Klaus squirmed. "But it's impossible. The village could be anywhere."
"Does that mean they shouldn't at least try?" She responded sagely.
The young boy paused at her question. Klaus shook his head. "I guess trying is better than giving up."
"Precisely Klaus. Now where were we? Ahh yes." The storyteller cleared her throat before continuing. "... 'What is your village like, young man?' Perdu thought hard about how to describe it to the grand knight. 'It's small, but we have lots of fields where we grow tatoes.' Chevalier's eyes lit up right away. 'I know exactly where your village is. Let us hurry…"
Klaus interrupted once more. "What is a tatoe?"
His caretaker smiled patiently at the young noble. "Well a tatoe is a vegetable that is grown out in the forsaken realm and eaten by villagers in the North. They are quite dry, but tasty."
"I should like to try a tatoe someday." He replied.
"Make sure that you do." She answered mirthfully.
Klaus beamed. "So what happened next?"
"When Chevalier and Perdu arrived at the village there was a great fire covering the land. But, to a knight as great as Chevalier this raging inferno was not enough to stop him. Valiantly the knight charged into the fray with his lance aimed at the great beast who bellowed fire and shook mountains with his roar…"
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By the time Klaus had reached the age of fifteen it was apparent to the Lunettes family that the steel mage would stop at nothing to become a magic knight. He had matured much in the past eight years. No longer did he fear the older brother who was weaker than him or the dark basement filled with his father's illusions. Unlike the torment he had faced almost every day as a child: his teenage years were filled with a resentful silence.
So it had come as a surprise when his father summoned him to his office. The aging man leveled him with a baleful glare as he delivered the news that Klaus would be getting an opportunity to join the Golden Dawn.
At first, Klaus had been suspicious of the arrangement to meet the Magic Captain. He wholly expected it to be another ploy of humiliation. While it was common for nobles to join a magic knight squad through the back door; he never expected to earn the favor himself. His father had sneered that a even if he was a bastard; a Lunettes would never take a peasant exam.
After receiving his grimoire from the tower he felt no astonishment about the nature of his magic being revealed in the tome. Klaus was however perplexed when he exited the grimoire tower and found William Vengeance, captain of the Golden Dawn waiting to greet him.
Klaus pushed his eyeglasses up the bridge of his nose before slowly reaching out to shake the outstretched hand of the mysterious man. The prestigious magic knight was nothing like Klaus had anticipated.
Rather than in an office or somewhere remotely professional his interview to gain membership in the Golden Dawn was held on a journey through the sky. Captain Vengeance had been both amused and fascinated by his magic steel chariot that pulled them across the horizon. Klaus found that the man was not intimidating to talk to and expressed kindness with every word. He couldn't help but wonder if this is what having a kind older brother would be like.
It wasn't until they were deep into the skies of the forsaken realm that Klaus was offered a robe of the Golden Dawn. The captain shared with him that he felt a kinship with the younger man. He too was a noble that had been raised in a house of people who were repulsed by him. That day Klaus became one of the few people in the world at the time to be privy of the scarred visage that resided under William Vengeance's cheerful mask.
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"... with one clean strike the beast was slain. All around the villagers cheered, grateful for his assistance. Perdu, however, surveyed the decimated area with tears gathering in his eyes. Noticing this, Chevalier turned to the young boy and spoke..."
His caretaker's voice stopped momentarily. Undoubtedly checking to see if he had fallen asleep yet. Klaus met her gaze with his own pensive eyes.
"... 'Do not be so hopeless young one. No matter how bad the situation can be, good will always follow. You see these fields that your people love. They might be gone now, but because of the fires next year's crop will be better than anything you have ever tasted.' Perdu looked up at the heroic knight beside him and wiped his tears for the last time. 'Thank you Sir, I hope to grow up and be half as brave as you…"
Quietly Klaus asked. "Do you think that I could too?"
A fond smile met him halfway. "Klaus, I know that you will grow up to be twice as brave."
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Klaus pulled himself from his memories and rose up to face the approaching storm. The day before, Klaus had received a summons from his mother to the Lunettes estate. The father he hated with all his heart had passed away. Today he would have to face the terrible beast that was his past.
The estate of his childhood loomed before him like a poisoned chalice. The noble guardsmen grew antsy as Klaus approached. No doubt praying to be left out of the inevitable crossfire.
His mother sat in the reading room with trepidation stretched across her aged features. He supposed that some might have viewed her as beautiful once, but to him she had always been hideous. Her expression constantly contorted in anguished disapproval. Her lemon colored eyes greeted him with a sour tinge. "Have a seat Klaus. I have something very important to tell you."
Klaus cautiously settled down onto an ornate chair and viewed his mother with an air of suspicion. He could count the amount of times they had ever shared words on one hand.
"You are not my child, but my grandchild. The bastard of my beloved daughter and a heinous man-servant."
Of all the scenarios that Klaus had envisioned coming to unfold on his way back to the estate: this had not been one of them. While Klaus always understood that he did not entirely belong growing up he did not ever stop to think that this was the truth of his lineage. He truly was a bastard child. But of who?
"However, I still do not acknowledge you as my family. You are the reason my beautiful daughter is gone. If she had never been bewitched by that man I wouldn't be cursed with you. She died because she tried to abandon us for you. The little rat flaunting his eyes. Spewing his vile magic with no regard for others. You are the spawn of evil." Her breath was starting to come out in ragged puffs as she pointed a boney finger at him with accusation.
"You will leave this family." She continued. Her eyes reached a frenzied state. "And never come back. You are not worthy of holding the Lunettes name. My SON will inherit the estate and become the next head of the family. You will get nothing." The last word left her lips in a hiss.
Klaus could no longer sit there and be degraded by a woman who had lied and resented him his entire life. Without speaking he stood and walked back towards the foyer. Her words followed him though he had nothing to say to a woman who wasn't worth his time and respect.
"Klaus. Get back here this instant. I was not finished speaking, you disrespectful rat."
He let the main door fall shut behind him with a loud bang.
"KLAUS!" Her awful voice reverberated through the outside air even while she was still inside the house.
The young magic knight continued on his way down the cobbled path leaving behind the Lunettes estate that he had grown to hate so much.
He would no longer be Klaus Lunettes, but Klaus of the Golden Dawn and that was enough.
Still Klaus couldn't help but want to scratch that itch. To find out more about his real father and who he really was. But for now he would continue to work hard as a magic knight alongside all of the wonderful friends that he had made along the way. The answers he craved would come in time.
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"... Perdu was not sad to see the knight leave, for he knew that Chevalier would continue to save others just as he had been saved too."
Klaus drifted to sleep with a smile across his lips dreaming of all the people he would help when he grew up. He vowed to become a knight like Chevalier.
"The End."