Yami stood outside Julius's office, waiting for his mentor to call him in. The man across from him was another member of the Grey Deer squad, though he now worked as the Wizard King's advisor. Marx was sitting at the desk in front of the office doors, waiting for something.
"Yami." The voice came from the hall to his right, and Yami saw William Vangeance, his Co-Vice-Captain, coming to a stop next to him.
"What's up, Van-strudel?"
"Now that you're both here, we can begin the meeting." Marx stood, motioning for them to go into Julius's office. The two men come to a stop in front of their mentor.
Julius Novochrono looks up with a smile. "Ah. Yami, William, please come in. I've heard that your recent mission was more fruitful than we imagined. The two Magic Knights that were organizing bandits to steal magic items to sell on the black market have been questioned, and it seems they are the only ones in on it. I'm very pleased with both of you, and you will both be rewarded."
"Thank you, sir." William bows his head.
"We better be getting stars for it, Julius; we kicked ass out there," Yami smirked. William sighed. Laughing, Julius waved it off and agreed they would also get stars.
"Alright, now what did you really call us in here to talk about?" Yami rested one hand on the hilt of his katana.
Julius smiled. "You always were never one to beat around the bush. Very well, the real reason I've called you in today is that I want to discuss something with you two. I trust both of you to be honest with me. I want to form two new Magic Knight Squads to even the groups out and increase our numbers without forcing the captains to take on members. We don't need another incident like Zara Ideale."
Zara Ideale had been the first peasant to join the Magic Knights and had ended up dead at the hands of one of his own squad mates. More peasants had joined over the years, some squads becoming almost exclusively made up of them, but Julius was still trying to find the men responsible for killing Zara, his friend. Yami scowls. "Sounds fine to me, though I'm not sure how you're gonna even out the number of squads when you're going from seven to nine of them."
"I agree with Yami. And I don't understand why the two of us are the only ones here for this discussion." William gestures to the two of them. "Shouldn't the Captains and other Vice-Captains be here to decide who will be in charge of these new squads?"
"Ah, but that's why I've had you two come. If you're willing to take the jobs." William and Yami exchanged bewildered glances but saluted the Wizard King in acceptance.
"Guess that means our competition is a drawl, huh, masked boy?" Yami chuckles.
"Indeed." William agrees with a smile. "Though it just means we'll have to agree on a new one, doesn't it? I am sure my squad will grow stronger than yours."
"Is that a challenge?" Yami grins. "Bring it on then, William."
"I'm glad to see you both are excited." Julius claps his hands. "Now, what do you want your squads to represent?"
William thought for a moment. "I'll create the Golden Dawn. My squad will prove that even when our people are in trouble, we as Magic Knights will constantly be in service to them, as the sun is constantly rising to chase away the darkness of night."
"You should take that to a poetry slam, mask boy. I might even snap for you." Yami ignores the condescending smile William sends him.
Julius hands him a form to fill out for his new squad. The name, colors, squad crest, and robe design. While William was filling it out, Julius turned to Yami. "And your squad?"
"My squad is going to be a place where status, bloodlines, and shit don't matter, a safe space for the outcasts, who'll get overlooked by the other Captains because they don't fit in a perfect little bubble. I want to give those people more than just a job; I'll give them a home and a family. Just like you did for me."
William looks up and snaps his applause. Yami grins. "So you want to die before you even get your squad, huh? Who am I to deny you?"
Julius stops Yami from stepping closer to William and hands him his form to fill out. "And what shall you call these misfits of yours?"
"Let's hope they're not all as bullheaded as you are." Marx scowls.
"I'll call 'em the Black Bulls." Yami grins at Marx. The younger man rolls his eyes while William and Julius chuckle. Yami kicks William under the table, who replies with a kick of his own.
"Childish." Marx huffs. He takes both forms and leaves the office. "I'll be back with your first sets of robes."
"You still haven't answered my question." Yami turns to Julius. "How are we balancing the squads when we still have an odd number of them?"
"Because one of your squads won't be in the public eye much," Julius says. William and Yami look at one another. "I want one squad to take on missions that would be better if the public doesn't know about them, like your last mission. I'll let the two of you figure out which it will be."
"So one of us will work as a Magic Knight in secret?" William asks. "We already have reputations, and as Vice Captains, it would be strange for one of us to just disappear."
"How much of a secret you want your squad to be will be completely up to you," Julius says.
"I see." William says.
Marx comes back into the room with two boxes. He places a larger box on the table in front of William and the other in front of Yami. "There are five robes, plus patches you can add to other clothing. Should you need more or change your mind about the styles, we will update and provide them."
William opens his box and pulls out a full-size layered cloak. The bottom was long and red, the top layer a rich cream, with a blue feathery collar. Yami noticed they were the same colors as his mask; the crest was a sun peeking over hills with a castle in the center. He pulled off his Grey Deer cloak and put the new one on. It looked just as showy and tacky as his mask.
Yami pulled one of his shoulder capes out and looked it over. It was black with gold trim and a simple clasp, unlike William's, who was now trying to attach a rope to it. Yami shook his head and pulled out a patch with his crest on it. He smiles. It was a bull skull with a star in the middle of its forehead. He places the pouches in his grimoire holder, folds the capes into tight balls, and places the other four into the hood of the first one, tying the ends together and knotting it to his belt loop.
"Now, how are we going to fill in your squads?" Julius hums. "I suppose we can start with seeing if anyone would want to transfer, and then, of course, there are the entrance exams in a few months. Do either of you have anyone specific you want in your squads, or do you have an idea about who will be chosen as your Vice Captains? You'll also need to pick a base as your squad's headquarters."
"I've already got some people picked out for my squad," Yami says. "I'll just need to check with them, and then I'll let you know."
William shook his head. "I'll need to think about it."
"Of course." Julius smiles. He hands them scrolls for their squad Captain. "Then I'll let you get to it."
Marx shows them out, and the two men make their way to the Grey Deer headquarters. They would need to inform their Captain that they had been promoted and start preparing to move. Yami waited long enough to give their Captain the scroll and be dismissed before he went looking for Morgan. He knew who he wanted the first two members of his new squad to be, and he would need Morgan's help to convince Nacht.
Yami stopped by the training fields because his best friend was usually helping the newer recruits practice their magic. A few Magic Knights greet him as they pass. By the time Yami got to the field, the recruits were done training. Not seeing a tall black ponytail amongst the kids, Yami sighs. He must have missed him.
"Oi, brats!" He calls. "Y'all seen Morgan?"
A few of the kids startle; one even reaches for her grimoire. Seeing Yami, they relax, and one calls back, "No, Vice Captain Sukehiro. Morgan-sempai hasn't shown up today."
"Right. Don't forget to get something to eat after y'all been out here practicing."
"Yes, Vice-Captain Sukehiro." They reply. Yami chuckles; only the new recruits called him Vice-Captain. The other members of the squad only acknowledged William with the rank.
Checking their barracks was the next thing he did. The Grey Deer squad was stationed in an old Crimson Lion outpost in the Common Realm from a time when only Royalty and Nobility could become Magic Knights. Most of their squad mates lived on the base, so they had their own rooms, but for those like Yami and Morgan, who had other homes, there were sleeping quarters that held up to four people for them to sleep if they spent the night. Morgan and Yami typically had the room to themselves, but a few squad mates from other outposts also stayed there.
"Oi, you guys seen Morgan?" Yami asks one of the Magic Knights that were sleeping in their room.
"Ah, welcome back Sukehiro." The Magic Knight was an older man. When Yami came in, he was lying in his bunk, reading a book. "I believe Faust went home. Something to do with his brother getting into trouble or something. He left the other day and hasn't been back yet."
"When did he leave?"
"Maybe two days ago." The man shrugs, going back to his book.
"Right, thanks." Yami grabs his broom and leaves the man to his reading.
He flies towards the Faust Estate, closer to the Noble and the Common Realms border. As he steps on the front lawn, something about the building looks off to Yami. The last time he remembered the house being this quiet, Nacht had snuck him in to fool around while his parents were away and Morgan had been on a mission. Yami grins at the memory, wondering if Nacht was home or terrorizing the nearby village.
Madam Faust, the twin's grandmother, was usually on the front lawn watering her garden. Yami couldn't see any of her tools in the flowerbeds, though he noticed a few weeds. Making a quick stop, he pulls them up, knowing Madam Faust would be appalled to see her flowers not being taken care of. If she wasn't out here to take care of it, it was Morgan. He drops the weeds on the lawn to be taken care of later and goes to the front door. Banging on it slightly, he waits for someone to open it. After a few minutes go by, he frowns. If the main family wasn't home, there were at least a few aunts, uncles, cousins, or even the staff going about their chores. But no one answers the door. Yami pounds on the door again. Nothing.
"Oi! Morgan! Where you at?" Yami opens the door in frustration and has to step back as the smell comes pouring out into the open air. It was horrible—the smell of death and decay on stale air. Yami had had this smell burned into his nostrils during the war with the Diamond Kingdom when they would have to carry their dead away. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, Yami unsheathes his katana and charges in.
"Is anyone here?" Yami calls from the entrance. "Morgan! Nacht!"
The smell was strong coming from the hall. Yami runs. Checking in each of the rooms, he finds nothing. He finally makes it to Lord Faust's study, opens the door, and gags. He wasn't sure who all the people were, but one look around the room at their ki, and he knew they were all dead. They had probably been dead since last night, at the least. In the middle of the study was an enormous shadow. Yami knew it was Nacht's magic, and with no hesitation, he jumped in.
His landing was rough, as he hadn't expected to land on a corpse. He rolls over his shoulder to avoid breaking his ankle and comes face to face with Madam Faust. Or at least half of her face. Scrambling back, Yami stood up with his sword clenched in his hand. He was in some kind of basement, surrounded by flickering candles and the dead bodies of the members of the House of Faust. He scans for Morgan and Nacht among the faces of the bodies still together.
Turning around, Yami stiffens. The structure could only be considered an altar. Large stone columns with inlets contained thousands of human skulls. The pillars encased a magic circle in the raised stone, and a chandelier hung low to bathe the entire area in warm light. But Yami was focused on the two figures lying in the middle of the circle.
"Nacht! Morgan!" Yami sprints. Dodging bodies, jumping over candles, and taking the stairs two at a time, he drops to his knees beside the twins. "Nacht! Nacht?"
Yami didn't look at Morgan. His ki was gone, but Nacht's was still flickering with exhaustion and pain. He leaves his sword on the ground and pulls Nacht closer to check him over.
"No!" Nacht screams when Yami tries to pry him from Morgan's corpse. "No!"
"Nacht! Look at me!" Yami pulls his face closer, his voice cracking with tears. "What the hell happened? What is all this?"
"He wasn't supposed to be here!" Nacht sobs. "It should have been me! It was my contract! That thing should have taken me, not him!"
Nacht pulls his little brother closer to him and sobs into Morgan's messy black hair.
"Contract?" Yami looks around at the stone pillars of bone and the magic circle. He reaches for a bracelet close to Morgan's hand and can feel its rotting mana. Nacht shifts his hold on Morgan to bring it closer, and Yami notices a braided leather necklace with four charms. A claw, a tooth, a feather, a small braid of fur.
"Fuck. Nacht," Yami swallows, "Were you two summoning devils? That's forbidden magic; what the fuck, Nacht!"
"No!" He sobs. "He was trying to stop us! Morgan tried to talk me out of it, but Father said I was ready for a higher-ranked devil. It killed everyone, and Morgan forced the contract to end, and it killed him too!"
Yami stood and backed away. "This is forbidden magic for a reason Nacht, there are consequences. They're all dead, everyone in the house. All except you."
"Fuck you!" Nacht roars, turning to Yami in anger. He was sobbing and glaring at the other man. "Fuck you, Sukehiro, you bastard foreigner!"
Yami stiffens. He stares at Nacht, tears blurring his vision, and Nacht's face crumbles as he continues to sob.
"The bodies are already rotting." Yami states. "You've been down here since they died, haven't you? No one at the Magic Knights knows Morgan is dead yet. We have to inform them so they can send someone to come get the bodies. They deserve to be buried."
"To hell with the fucking cape club, Yami." Nacht scoffs. He gestures to their surroundings, and a little louder, he says, "They can't know about this."
"Then use your fucking magic to bring them to your father's study. Then we'll call the Magic Knights." Yami pulls Morgan's body into his arms, carrying him to the shadow portal he'd appeared through.
"Yami! Stop, wait, please!" Nacht calls after him. He follows him on shaky legs, weak after staying in the same position for the last two days.
"Grab the others," Yami demands. He holds Morgan's body close and secured. Nacht uses his magic to deposit them in one of the estate's greeting rooms on the west side.
"They won't all fit in father's study," Nacht says. Yami lays Morgan on the couch and pulls out his Magic Knight communicator. It went directly to Julius.
"No!" Nacht tries to pull it from Yami's grasp. "You can't tell them!"
"Fuck, Nacht, stop it!" Struggling against Nacht and his shadow magic pulling on him, Yami shoves Nacht away from him. The blonde bumps into the center table and knocks over the lit candle holder. It lands on a corpse and pierces the swollen abdomen. The smell is horrible, and Yami pulls Nacht to him and turns, shielding him with his body as the corpse explodes into flames. The shock wave knocks them out of the room, and Yami gasps as he hits the floor, Nacht tucked underneath him disoriented.
Looking back at the greeting room, Yami sees a wall of flames as each body expands as the gases build. Yami shoves Nacht to his feet. "GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! GO!"
"Morgan!"
"He's dead, Nacht; his body's already on fire! Come on, before the whole damn place explodes!"
Nacht pushes past Yami and goes into the flames. Yami follows and grabs Nacht, picking him up and running as fast as possible with the flailing man in his arms. The next shock wave hits them as Yami exits the front door, throwing them off the porch and into the garden. Yami scrambles to his feet and grabs Nacht before the older man can run back into the house, holding him to his chest while he screams.
"Morgan!" Nacht wails. "Yami, let me go!"
"He's gone!" Yami tries to reason. "He's gone, Nacht, and if you go back in there, you will be too! Morgan's dead. They're all dead, Nacht!"
"I hate you!" Nacht smacks Yami in the face. Yami pulls Nacht's head down onto his shoulder, allowing the man to hit him as he watches the house go up in flames.
Yami hears people calling to them as Nacht loses energy, collapsing against Yami and wailing into his shoulder. Yami ignores the gathering crowd, even as a portal opens and water mages douse the flames. He holds Nacht and cries silently while the flames die away, and mages go into the house looking for survivors.
"Yami." A hand lands on his shoulder, and he turns to look at Julius. The Wizard King was staring at him with solum eyes. "What happened, son?"
"Tou-san." Yami leans against his mentor, tears flowing down his cheeks. He hiccups and pulls Nacht closer. "Morgan's dead. They're dead."
Julius held both boys as they cried.
….
While Yami paid his respects to Morgan's headstone, Nacht curled in on himself, smoking a cigarette. He had been looking forward to seeing the grin on Morgan's face when he made him the Vice-Captain of the Black Bulls. His grave was stoic at the news. The last place he'd dreamed of telling his best friend he'd been made a Captain of his very own Magic Knights squad was in this graveyard, a headstone the only marker for Morgan as there hadn't been enough of the body left for a proper burial.
Nacht scowls through his tears when Yami drops the patch on his lap. "What the fuck is that?"
"It goes on your cloak, Vice-Captain." Yami plucked the cigarette from Nacht's fingers and took a long drag from it.
"Oh fuck you, Yami!" Nacht stood up and threw the patch at him. "Why the hell would you give me that?"
"Because Morgan isn't here." Yami glared. "So the job is yours now."
"Excuse me?" Nacht's voice quivered. His shadow seemed to split into four. The demons he contracted with were part of why Morgan was dead. "You expect me to just go along with this?"
"I expected to find Morgan at the base or your estate to give it to him and get his help to bully you into the robe too. But he's dead, so I guess you're just going to take responsibility."
"Fuck you, Sukehiro!" Nacht slaps him across the face, panting. With a scream of rage and pain, he goes to smack him again, but Yami grabs his arm and pulls him closer. Nacht's glare wavers at the tears in Yami's eyes.
"If you think hitting me will help, fine." Yami blinks the tears away. "I want to punch the shit out of a lot of things right now. But it will not bring my best friend back. Morgan's dead, Nacht; he's gone."
"Your best friend?" Nacht snares, "He was my brother!"
"I know."
"He's dead!"
"I know."
"It was my fault!"
Yami pulls Nacht into a hug, both collapsing at Morgan's grave. Yami holds him as Nacht sobs and screams. He didn't have to say anything for both of them to understand what Yami couldn't say.
I know.
"I hate you, Yami!"
I know.
…
"Are you sure about this, Yami, Nacht?" Julius looks at the two men before him. Yami held Nacht by the back of his cloak while the older man scowled.
"I never said I was joining this pompous boy gang." Nacht glared. He wore a long black cloak with the Black Bulls crest on his grimoire holder. His bleached hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and he was scowling at the other two men.
"And I told you that you don't really have a choice, Vice-Captain," Yami said, stealing the cigarette Nacht pulled out.
"Go to hell, Sukehiro," Nacht growled.
"And if Goldie hasn't already claimed it, I want the Black Bulls to be the little cryptic squad, working in the shadows to serve the kingdom or whatever other bullshit." Yami puts the cigarette in his mouth and inhales.
"Very well then." Julius nods.
"I'm not becoming a Magic Knight. Screw this!" Nacht hissed.
"And I told you, you don't get a choice. Either accept this, or you could be imprisoned for messing with forbidden magic. I'm trying to help." Yami turns Nacht around to look at him.
"Oh, now you're doing me a fucking favor by forcing me into this?" Nacht pulls away from Yami. "I'm not Morgan. I don't give a rat's ass about this fucking Magic Knight bullshit."
"You're right; you're not Morgan. Morgan wouldn't have been stupid enough to get caught messing with that shit." Yami scowls.
"You son of a-" Nacht swings at Yami, who dodges.
"Enough!" Julius stands. "Both of you are right. Nacht, joining the Magic Knights is probably the only way you'll avoid imprisonment. Yami, we cannot force him to stay here and be a member of your squad. As you first approached me about my idea, this squad will have different rules to abide by. Nacht, if you are at least willing to keep the title of Vice-Captain of the Black Bulls, I believe I have a mission for you to keep you away from the squad for long periods."
"What is it?" Nacht moved closer to the desk where Julius was sitting, away from Yami.
"Infantry into Spade. I've heard rumors I would like checked out, and your shadow magic seems perfect for the mission."
"Why? What rumors?"
"Spade might be making deals with devils to add strength to their army. There are rumors of a rebellion against the royal family and others that they were killed, and a new ruling house is stepping in. I was hoping you could go to Spade and investigate. You'll start your mission in a few weeks once we've caught you up on everything we know."
"Fine." Nacht turns to Yami, "Where do we start, Captain?"