Nacht ended up spending the night in Yami's room at Julius's place, so Yami stayed out of the house. He refused to stay at the Grey Deer, where everyone gave him pitying looks and wanted to talk about what happened. He sneaks out to a bar and orders a drink. He looks around in case he sees a certain pink-haired teenage witch; instead, he sees a tall and thin black-haired man with a Green Mantis Magic Knight cape. Scowling, he watches the man caught sight of him, and he takes another sip of his drink while Jack makes his way to him.

"Keke! Well, well, if it isn't Sukehiro! Here for a rematch? I've been looking forward to kicking your ass again." The man laughs. Another member of his squad tried to pull him away.

"Come on man, Leave Yami alone. Now's not the time for-"

"Let go, maggot!" Jack pushes the other man off and leans into Yami's personal space, activating his magic scythes. "Come on. I want a rematch, so let's fight!"

"I'm not in the mood, Jack." Yami knew he had to stay calm around Jack. If he unleashed his mana in anger, Jack would see it as him agreeing to the spar.

"Oh, come on." Jack cackles. "Who's going to stop us? Unless you brought Mr. Sunshine, is that why you don't want a rematch cause you two are fighting? Kekeke."

Yami takes a breath and looks at Jack for the first time. Jack's grin slips from his face at Yami's red, teary eyes. "Morgan's dead, Jack. His funeral was today. We couldn't even bury what was left of him. So no, I'm not in the mood to fight you. Ask me later."

"Well… shit." Jack deactivated his magic and took the seat next to Yami. "I'm sorry, I guess. I know you were friends. How'd it happen?"

"Can't say here." Yami points to the others around the bar.

"My place has better liquor. Come on, if you're gonna get smash tonight, at least I have a couch and food."

Yami pays his tab and lets Jack take him to his house. Jack leads Yami to the kitchen, and Yami raids the fridge. He pulls stuff out while Jack pours a glass of liquor, places it next to Yami, and then pours another for himself. "What happened? They gave us some bullshit speech about being more careful with our magic around buildings and shit, but I didn't know someone had been killed."

"What did tou-san tell you?" Yami puts a pot of water on the stove to boil for stew.

"Toe sand?"

"Tou-san baka. Julius."

"Ah! Some shit about a magic accident."

Yami nods, gulping down his drink. Then he prepares the meat for searing. Jack pours him another glass, and he gives him the vegetables to cut. Jack uses his magic in his finger, and Yami puts everything in the pot while he sears the seasoned meat cubes.

"There was a fire at the Faust Estate," Yami says. "I went to see Morgan, and everyone was dead when I got there. Everyone but his brother, Nacht. The two of us got into an argument about calling the Magic Knights to collect the bodies, but you know how protective Noble Families are of their shit. Nacht was trying to grab my communicator, and I pushed him. He knocked over a candle holder and-"

"It landed on the body? The gases exploded?" Jack guesses. Yami nods, leaning against the counter. "Bet that smelled horrible."

Yami laughed in surprise. "Absolutely horrid. They'd been there a few days."

"Why didn't Nacht call us before then?"

"Shock maybe?" Yami shrugs. "He was holding Morgan's body when I got there. He probably held him while he died. It's bound to fuck him up; losing your whole family in one night like that."

"At least you were there." Jack pours his second drink and tops Yami's glass off, making it his third since he'd come over. "Why were ya looking for Morgan?"

"Julius made Vangeance and me captains of new squads. I went to offer Morgan the role of the Vice Captain." Yami put the empty glass upside down on the table to signal he was done. The two drinks from the bar, plus the three from Jack, were enough to numb him, but he needed to pack up his stuff from the Grey Deer tomorrow. He'd prefer to do that without a hangover.

"Instead, he's dead. That's fucked." Jack cackles as he puts the liquor away. "So now what?"

"I find a new place to sleep while Nacht stays with Julius until I get a base." Yami stirs the stew. "Then I build a new squad and get through one day at a time."

"Why does Nacht staying with Julius mean you can't? It's yer house."

"Besides the fact that Nacht is pissed I saved him from the fire instead of Morgan's corpse? It's awkward, I guess."

"Because you were sleeping with his brother?"

"I was actually banging Nacht," Yami smirks at Jack. "But Morgan was my best friend. So, staying at the same place with my boyfriend and my father figure, while said boyfriend blames me for the fire that he believes killed his brother. Why on earth wouldn't I want to spend my nights there, sleeping with one eye open?"

Jack cackles. "Who was first?"

"I was friends with Nacht before I met Morgan. We bonded over our mutual love for the guy. I only started dating Nacht a few years ago." Yami grins sadly. "I'm not sure where we still stand in our relationship, but I made Nacht my Vice Captain, so he's even more pissed off with me, and I don't want to make it worse. Maybe distance is better for both of us right now, ya know?"

"Welp, I've got a couch you can crash on until you get a place." Jack grins. "If you promise me a rematch when you feel you can finally beat me."

"I beat you last time!" Yami laughs. Jack grabs bowls for the stew.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure you did."

"Jack…thanks."

"I know I'm a bit much, so I ain't got many friends Yami." Jack grins. "I take care of those I do got, though. Now, chow time!"

….

"Are you almost finished?" William was standing in the bunker's doorway at the Grey Deer outpost, watching as Yami finished packing the last of his things into a box.

"Yeah, just about." Yami grunts as he picks up three boxes. Only one of them was his as he kept most of his things at Julius's. The other two were Morgan's things that, by law, now belonged to Nacht. Their Captain had allowed Yami to take everything since he was already dropping his stuff off with Julius and could give them to Nacht when he stopped by the house if the man was even speaking to him. Yami had not seen Nacht since he dragged him in to see Julius.

"I've got my Vice Captain but not much else. How's shit going for you?" Yami and William start making their way out front, where Cobb is waiting for them.

"Well I don't have any members yet but I've been helping a crew clean up our base for the last few days. Hopefully it will be ready to move into before the tournament."

"Oh yeah?" Yami hums. "What did you get?"

"Khrysaor Castle."

"Where did you find a castle to put your brats?" Yami asked William.

William pressed his lips into a thin smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Lord and Lady Vangeance were pleased to hear about my promotion and offered one of their summer castles for me to use as a… gift. They signed the deed over to me, as the base has to be owned by either a member of the squad or by the Magic Knights brigade as a whole but I believe Lady Vangeance spoke to my father and is quite happy to have me out of her home. Even if it did cost them one of my father's favorite castle."

"Fucking bastards." Yami grunts around his cigarette.

"Unfortunately, I'm the only bastard, and I have no plans of having relations with anyone from that estate." Yami busted with laughter, dropping the boxes he was carrying to lean against the wall. Chuckling, William stopped and waited for Yami to catch his breath.

"Let no one tell you that you don't have humor, Goldie." Yami wheezes, picking up the boxes again and following William. "Fuck I needed that."

"I was unaware people didn't find me funny." William glances at the older man. "I heard about Faust. I'm sorry."

"Drop it," Yami says firmly, his voice cracking slightly.

"I remember Marx speaking to Julius about a couple of abandoned estates in the common realm." William changes the conversation. "Perhaps Julius will give you a list for you to check them out. He might even permit you to use it as lodging."

Yami hums in gratitude. William had always been able to read him and adjust accordingly. It was one reason he genuinely admired and respected the younger man. "Sounds good. I'll check with him, but I already convinced Jack to give up his couch. Unless you want to share your fancy place."

"How much of your squad are you planning on keeping a secret?" William asked. "If it was just their missions, you wouldn't have asked Julius if it was possible to keep the Black Bulls from the Magic Knight Registration. None of your members will be public knowledge, and the Magic Council will only be privy to a portion of their records. Your squad will be real on paper but have no paper trail, with only Julius and Marx knowing anything about them and their missions. Could you truly keep them so secretive if you share lodging with another squad?"

"I'm still not quite sure how secret I can really keep the squad in reality. The Magic Parliament still has some sway and we'd need the Clover King to basically sign us away as Julius's personal guard if we wanted to go completely dark." Yami grins. "And ya could have just said no if you didn't want squaters, ya know?"

"If that is what you took from that, then I suppose you received my message." William smiles. "To live so close to my rival, we would destroy the castle before any members joined."

Yami laughed. "You got any ideas for members yet? I pissed my Vice Captain off, and I've been searching the bars around town to find the other, but she's tricky for a kid."

"No, I have not. I believe I will take Julius's offer for transfers from other squads. At least until the Exams. For what reason are you recruiting so young?"

"Don't be weird; she's eighteen." Yami glared. "Her old lady's a piece of shit so she left her place to come with me when I ran into her during my training. I feel responsible for her, I guess."

"I meant nothing by my comment. Forgive me." William stops. "I don't believe you to be such a person and didn't mean to imply-"

"I know that idiot." Yami blows out smoke, "Didn't think you meant anything by it. Besides, I pissed Nacht off. I can't really have that kind of fun when I'm dealing with this shit."

"Ah, I see."

"I'm surprised you can see shit through that mask. Do you ever take it off?" Yami asks.

"Not in public." William paused. "Unless there's brandy."

Yami laughed.

…

Julius had given him a list of inhabited estates. Most of them were in the middle or way too close to towns for the level of secrecy he wanted or were too rundown and would cost more than he could afford to rebuild.

He was returning to the Capital when he felt a shift in the surrounding mana. Looking down into the forest below him, Yami notices a building in the middle of the clearing. Pleased with the secluded area, he noticed the devil skull behind him and the mountain where the noble realm was before him, far enough that no one would stumble upon it, but only an hour by broom to the Capital.

Flying lower, he recognized a garden behind the mansion, even as overgrown as it was. The grass was tall, and there were holes in two windows. Ivy covered the walls, and cobwebs were everywhere. Yami checked his map, and the compass, marking where he was to double-check with Julius and see if the house was on the list of estates. The place looked like someone had taken multiple buildings and compacted them into a four-story mess. No way someone was still living here.

He opens the front door and sneezes at the dust that stirs. There was another swift in mana, and Yami turned to the stairs at the end of a large sitting room. Going up to the third floor, he feels the shift again and makes his way down the hall to the only open door. Walking in, he sees a body lying on the bed. At first glance, he could have sworn that it was a corpse. Then it spoke.

"Who... are... you?" The man spoke slowly as if each breath was a conscious effort.

"Yo!" Yami raised his hand in greeting. "I'm Yami Sukehiro, a new Magic Knights Captain, and I've been looking for a new place. I hope to get this place if you don't mind sharing."

"You... want to... live... here?" The man asks.

"Is there a reason I can't?"

"I have... an illness. I need... mana... from other people... to live. You... would have to... give-"

"You just need people to live here, and you passively take mana from them to stay alive, right?" Yami pulls out a cigarette. He could already feel his mana reserves depleting. "Sounds like a good deal to me for this place. What's your name?"

"Henry... Legolant." Henry smiled.

"Alright, Henry." Yami lit the cigarette and puffed out some smoke. "I got to run before I lose all my reserves, but I'll be back tomorrow to bring you food and a change of clothes. This room smells worse than a stable. You'll need a bath and a hair trim if we can manage it. I'll try to bring the others around soon once I find where they ran off to."

"Others?" Henry asks. Yami risks walking closer to lay a Black Bulls robe on Henry's grimoire.

"Might as well." Yami grunts. "Since we're crashing in your house and shit. Welcome to the Magic Knights, kid."

...

"Legolant Manor." Julius looks over the map. "I remember Lord Legolant coming to the King to ask for land in the common realm because his son's illness meant he needed to be isolated. I believe both him and his wife passed away; the house would go to Henry."

"Yeah, sounds about right." Yami agreed. He points to the spot where the manor was located. "It's close enough to the noble realm that we can get here in an hour by broom and secluded enough that we shouldn't have to worry about people wondering close by. I don't want our hideout to be on record, though. Leave it just as Legolant Manor."

"And Henry?"

"Second member of my squad." Yami rests his hand on his katana. "Seemed rude to take his house and then just ignore him. We'll be taking care of him, which reminds me. I'll need Owen to make a house visit. Henry's bedridden, and no one has been out there for months. I'll need help to get him cleaned up and checked over. I wouldn't be surprised if he's got an infection or a rash from laying in his own shit."

"Of course. I'll come too." Julius says. "At the very least, I'll need to know how to get to the base if something happens."

"Sounds good." Yami clears all the markers off the map and rolls it back up.

He and the Wizard King make their way to the infirmary to pick up Owen, and the three men make the journey out to the Black Bull's base. Julius reminds Owen that this was a national secret, and he was not to give their location away. Yami threatens to kill the recovery mage if the man puts his squad in danger. Yami leads them to the manor, and the design of the building intrigues both men. The only sign that Henry had moved was the Black Bull cloak he wore around his shoulders.

He smiles when he sees them. "Hello… Captain… Yami."

"Yo, Henry." Yami smiles. "I see you can sit up some. That's good. I brought my boss and a recovery mage to help clean you up."

"I'm sorry… you have to."

Yami waves it off. Turning to Owen, "Could ya find a bucket or a bath so we can clean him up?"

"I can… help." Henry shifted.

"Oi." Yami frowns. "Don't try to- fuck!"

The three men enter the room and feel their mana draining as a new door appears across the hall. The floor quivers under them, and Yami sees the hallway wall move. Yami looks at Henry. "The hell was that?"

"My magic." Henry panted. "I can… move the rooms. Bathroom… is there."

Julius was beaming, his eyes shining in the way only new magic could make them. He crosses the hall and opens the door, humming in delight. Owen whistles, impressed, as he starts the bath and sets out supplies.

"Well, alright then." Yami steps forward and pulls the covers off the bed. He gags at the smell that was released into the air. Taking shallow breaths, he picks Henry up and moves quickly to the bathroom. "I think we'll need to burn that room. Fuck."

"I like… my room."

"Then we're burning sage in it and opening a fucking window." The walls rumble for a moment.

"There… is one now."

"I've got it." Julius goes into the room to open the window Henry had moved into the room. Owen helps Julius clean out some of the mess while Yami strips the man and puts him into the bath. Henry sighs at the warmth of the water, his fingers still clenched around his squad robe. Yami planned to burn or bury the rest of his clothes, but the man had refused to let go of his robe. As Yami had guessed, rashes and bites from bed bugs covered Henry's body. Some of them even looked infected. Henry was panting, and his eyes screwed shut in pain. Owen came in and checked him over, his face stormy from the apparent neglect the man had gone through. Yami could see Henry's ribs and every vertebrate in his spine. He was severely underweight.

"I'll take over here," Owen says. "I need to heal as much as I can before I'm drained of mana. Hopefully, I can at least clear the infection."

"Sorry," Henry says, blinking back tears.

"Nothing for you to be sorry for, Henry," Owen reassures him. "I'll give you something for the pain, and then we'll get started. Yami, can you toss that mattress and find him a new one so he'll be more comfortable when we get him back into the bed?"

"Got it." Yami chucked the mattress out the open window while Julius laughed at him. The two men went searching in the different rooms and found one that was decent enough on the second floor. They dragged it into the room and dressed it with sheets and blankets. Owen was still giving Henry his bath, so Yami wrapped his cloak around his katana and used it to get the cobwebs. Julius had grabbed a rag, gotten it wet, and cleaned up as best he could.

Yami returns to the bathroom with Henry's new clothes and some scissors. They get Henry dressed and wrapped in the Black Bulls cloak again while Julius trims his hair. They get him in the bed again, and he sighs in relief.

"Here, kid," Yami passes him a sandwich. Henry tries to grab it, but his arm shakes, and he drops it on the bed. Yami picks it up and holds it while Henry eats.

"We got to get back to the Capital," Owen says, gesturing to himself and Julius. "I'll make a trip out here tomorrow to finish getting rid of the rash."

"I gotta find Nacht and Vanessa so they can meet ya, too." Yami stands and stretches. "My mana is almost depleted, so it might have to wait until tomorrow. You good?"

"I will… be fine, Captain." Henry sighs. "I will… sleep."

"Alright." Yami grabs his things, "and ya can just call me Yami."

"Ok, Captain Yami," Henry mumbled as he got comfortable. He was asleep before the others had gone from the room.

"Geeze that's some illness." Owen says, cracking his back. "I don't think I've ever felt this kind of mana drain before."

"Thank you for bringing us Yami." Julius smiles. "I believe Nacht is still in the Capital, if you would like for me to send him to you."

"Nah, he'll just cuss me out and try to hit me again." Yami says, pulling out a cigarette. "I stole his pack, and he's turning his guilt for Morgan into anger and he's taking it out on me. I'll come grab him tomorrow."

"Very well." Julius nods. "And this Vanessa?"

"The witch." Yami lights the cigarette and breathes in.

"Ah. The young lady you rescued last year."

"Yeah. Is she still at your place, or did she go to the inn?"

"Both, I suppose." Julius laughs. "I won't see her for a week, and then she'll be raiding the fridge when I get up in the morning."

"She on a bender now?"

"I believe so."

Yami sighed. He would have to check the inns when he gets back.

…

Six inns and five taverns, and Yami had yet to find Vanessa. Sighing, Yami decides to grab something to eat at the next place he stops. Following the crowd, he kept his eyes out for pink hair or a witch's hat, which was why he saw the two women with witch's hats duck into an alley and vanish into a brick wall.

The black market. Of course.

Yami follows them through the wall and starts looking for a bar. He heard Vanessa before he saw her and made his way to the noise of a bar fight. What the hell had that girl been getting into? He found her trying to push past a circled group of me. Yami pats her on the shoulder and turns her to face him. His grin fades when he sees the tears in her eyes and the red mark on her face.

"What happened?" He asks.

"Yami." She sniffed. "I was just drinking and talking with Randal, and those guys came up and started hitting on me. I told them to get lost, and they got mad. One of them hit me, and this guy stepped in and tried to stop them, and they keep hitting him, and I can't stop them."

Yami glared at the group of men while Vanessa cried. He grabbed two Black Bull robes and threw one around Vanessa's shoulders. He passes her the other one and winks at her, then shoves his way past the men.

"Hey!"

"Who the hell do you think you are?"

Yami ignores them and goes for the one kicking the man on the ground. He feels Vanessa coming up behind him when he grabs the man by his collar and lifts him. The man shouts while his feet dangle off the ground.

"What's the big deal, man? Let me go!" The man stills when Yami levels his katana with the man's eye. The bar seems to freeze. Everyone was silent.

"I want to know," Yami blows smoke in the man's face, "Why two of my Magic Knights are in a bar fight. And why you think it's ok to be hitting on them."

Vanessa helps the man sit up and wraps the robe around his shoulders. His black lipstick and eyeliner were smudged, his hair sticking out in places, and his nose was bleeding. Vanessa whispered something to him, and he replied in the same low tone.

"Gordon said he ok." Vanessa helps the man stand.

"Well, I guess I don't have to kill you for laying hands on my squad." Yami shifts his grip on his sword. "But then again, I might just for the audacity."

"Yami." Gordon was wearing a pained expression and was panting, one hand holding his side. He was hurt, and Vanessa was swaying under the man's weight.

"I think I need to kill you anyway." Yami lifted the man higher.

"Wait! Wait, please!" The man grabs at Yami's arm. "Cut me some slack. I didn't know they were Magic Knights."

"So any commoners are fair game, huh?" Yami growls. The guy's friend came at Yami with a bottle. Yami balanced on one leg and kicked the guy without taking his eyes off the man in his fist. The man falls onto a table on the other side of the room, breaking it. He doesn't get back up. The others don't help either man.

"Enough!" Randal, the owner, and bartender, roar over the noise. "Yami! You're paying for that table and the bottle. Get your Knights and get them to a healer. I'll call someone about these guys."

Yami drops the guy. He lands on his ankle, and everyone hears the snap. The man howls. Yami kicks his other foot. "You shut up. I didn't see Gordon crying like a bitch when you cracked his rib."

Vanessa was already trying to drag Gordon out of the bar. Yami catches up and throws the other man's arm around his shoulder. "Come on. Let's get you to Owen."

"..." Gordon whispers.

"Huh?" Yami looks at him strangely. "You know what? Stop talking. We'll talk after I get ya to the doc."

"Owen said he'd meet us with a portal. Gordon shouldn't be flying with broken ribs." Vanessa closes the com. A portal opens up, and they step through, ending up next to a cot in the infirmary. Yami sets Gordon down, and Owen comes into the room, followed by Nacht.

"I'd say I'm surprised you ended up in a bar fight, but I know you." His Vice-Captain scowls. "I am surprised you brought children in the middle of it."

"Fuck off." Yami glared. "A guy hit Vanessa. Gordon stepped in and got the shit kicked out of him for it. All I did was threaten the guy."

"And these are?" Owen sat next to Gordon and started healing him.

"Vanessa and Gordon. New members of our squad." Yami answered.

"Last names?" Nacht crossed his arms on his chest.

"I'm sure they've got one." Yami shrugs.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Sukehiro," Nacht growls.

"Vanessa Enoteca. I'm a witch." Nacht nodded and turned to Gordon.

"..."

"Gordon Agrippa?" Gordon nodded. Nacht hums. "The Agrippas are a commoner family that specializes in poison magic and curses."

Gordon shrinks in on himself. Yami notices. "You a runaway or something?"

Gordon nods. "..."

Nacht's face softens. "Not wanting to hurt someone and leaving your family because of different beliefs is admirable. You remind me of..."

Yami knew who he was talking about and didn't meet Nacht's gaze. Nacht notices him avoiding his gaze and scowls. "So Captain, Julius says you found us a place. I was kinda expecting a ring before we moved in together with kids, but maybe that's just a Clover Kingdom thing."

Yami threw a pillow at him. "Not like there's anyone left to ask for your hand, anyway. Who's gonna give ya away?"

Nacht threw a knife at him. He dodged. "Fuck you Yami."

"Not in front of the kids." Nacht threw another knife.

"Stop throw shit in my clinic." Owen snaps.

"What if we don't want to be Magic Knights?" Vanessa demands.

"Do you?" Gordon nods, gripping his robe tightly. Vanessa shrugs.

"So Yami is the Captain and you're the Vice Captain. What's your name?" Vanessa asks.

"Nacht. Heir to the House of Faust."

"So it's us four?" She gestures to the four wearing the Black Bull's robes. "We're the entire squad?"

"Well." Yami rubs the back of his head. "There's also Henry."

"Who is Henry?"

"The house."

Nacht's eye twitches. "What the fuck, Sukehiro?"