A/N: I struggled to finish this fic. I had an outline for it from the beginning, but it really took a turn lol. Thank you for the couple of people who took their time to review & for those who have followed along! •3•


"All you had to do was ask," he teased, but it sounded more like a proposition. A dare.

Her face burned crimson now at Yami's ribbing, but Charlotte caught the challenge in those words. Charlotte was many things and competitive was one of them. Refusing to lose, she stepped closer towards him, despite her mind going berserk at their proximity. She could feel his breath on her lips, raising the fine hairs all over her body.

His smirk wavered at her movement ever so slightly. Not wanting to be outdone, the captain of the Black Bulls continued his barrage.

The nearness of her drowned all else in the world. He could only hear the roaring of his blood rushing as he gazed upon the promise of the wide sea in her eyes, the same shade of blue that whisked him away to this faraway land. Maybe it knew it would bring him to her, right here and right now.

Yami moved even closer than before, but something stopped him just a hair's breadth away from her rosy, expectant lips.

"Well?" he whispered, low and sultry. He was so close that she could taste tobacco on her tongue.

"I don't need your permission," she said, softly this time.

"But I need yours."

"When did you ever speak before you act?"

Her body moved on its own accord, launching herself at the invitation his lips extended. His hand had closed in around the small of her back, pulling her nearer to him. Charlotte's hands slipped their way up past his firm chest, to his shoulders, before settling on the nape of his neck.

He smiled as his mouth collided against hers. He seared into his mind the taste of her, the way her fingers rooted themselves on his hair like her vines; the way she would gasp for air before falling back to the gravity of his lips.

The desperation he felt when their lips touched told him more than any words could say. She was right; he was more a man of action than he were a man of words.

The last ten years since the day he rescued Charlotte from her overwhelming curse flashed across his mind, and suddenly, it all clicked into place.

He broke away from the kiss.

Charlotte frowned, somewhat unsettled. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," he said reassuringly, "I just need a minute."

Yami stayed silent in contemplation. He reached for a cigarette from his pocket, put it in the corner of his mouth, but never lit it.

"Charlotte." Her breathing stopped at the sound of her name hanging on his lips like that damned cigarette. "Do you have something to say?"

She looked at him, puzzled at the inquisition. Did my kiss not tell you enough?! How dense could you be? she thought to herself.

As if he heard her cursing him inwardly, he uttered her name once more, "Charlotte. I need you to be honest, how do you feel about me?"

His eyes searched her longingly, expectantly. Charlotte became frustrated. They just shared a passionate kiss. How could he not tell that she wanted him? That she had longed for and dreamt of this day for a decade now?

The excitement that grew within her was quickly replaced by anger. Of all the times he decides that words weighed more than actions, why did it have to be today? Charlotte wondered.

She took a shaky breath. "Yami, I do...I-I'm in love with—" He grinned as he stashed the cigarette back into his pocket, kissing her before she could finish the sentence. With his ki he could sense the wave of relief that passed over her.

Of course, Yami knew. He just wanted to hear her say it.

From his peripheral, Yami spotted their room amongst the rubble of the fight that had just occurred. He wagered that they had about fifteen minutes before someone would come back to the currently desolate hotel.

He pulled away for another second, which bothered the Prickly Queen. He smirked, "You like me that much?"

She huffed and looked off to the side, but her downturned lips couldn't fight against the force that tugged at the corners of her mouth into a smile.

He gestured with his arms wide open, and raised a brow.

The briar maiden surveyed him with a quizzical look and hesitantly nodded.

Yami encircled her waist and hoisted her up, kissing her fully. Her mind was caught off guard by the motion, but her body welcomed it by wrapping her legs around his muscular frame.

The captain of the Black Bulls expertly stepped over the debris scattered around them. How he managed to do that without falling and dropping Charlotte were beyond both of them, but they made their way into what once was Philip's and Briar's room. He leaned against the door to shut it from the rest of the world. Yami knew that they only had so much time before people will begin to pour in and assess the damage they had caused, but his body ached for Charlotte's touch.

They had ten years of things to catch up on.

He pulled away again, the act of which has annoyed Charlotte the more he did it. Yami could feel her frustration, but he reassured her once more. "Don't worry, Prickly Queen," he set her down to the bed.

He towered over her, smoky eyes undressing her in his mind. Yami just loved pushing Charlotte's buttons, like a schoolboy who could only show affection by being annoying.

"I want you to say it," he commanded. Her cheeks were still flushed, but this time they were not from embarrassment, but more from the desire that consumed her. Charlotte could no longer deny her hunger for this dark-haired foreigner. Each kiss they shared before had emboldened her, so without hesitation, she invited him, "I want you, Yami Sukehiro."

Like a caged animal suddenly set free, Yami pounced on her, eliciting a gasp between Charlotte's lips.

He nibbled on the flesh of her smooth jawline and committed to memory the way her alabaster skin burned a red roadmap of where his lips had been.

Yami looked at her earnestly.

In spite of his reputation as a crass brute, Yami hadn't slept with as many women as the rumours around him would lead someone to believe. He was a foreigner, with unusual magic, and an intimidating aura, who looked after what was considered the worst Magic Knights squad. In the few dalliances that Yami did have, the nameless women always sobered up and left him the morning after.

But now, to see the most desired woman in all of Clover laid down on the bed before him, Yami faltered. Would she leave the morning after too? After all, Charlotte could get any man that she wanted. Charlotte could easily throw him away without so much a thought. He worried that he wouldn't live up to the image of him that she had built in her mind.

Charlotte sensed the doubts that shrouded him. She also knew that their time alone would be over soon. And as much as her body yearned to be in union with his, Charlotte didn't press the matter.

She sat up against the headboard and motioned for him to come.

"Sorry," he muttered. His body slumped against her chest.

Yami wanted her. He knew that she wanted him, too. But the memories of his hurtful past had cast a dark shadow on him, one that he couldn't easily shake off as they laid together.

Charlotte's delicate fingers drew circles on his wide back, while the other hand patted down the unruly crown of his hair. She felt his weight on her lap, and instinctively, she kissed the top of his head.

"It's alright," she whispered. "A long time ago, someone told me that there is nothing wrong in trusting others sometimes. He was right, but it took a while for me to listen."

He looked up at her, hating the fact that she was using his own words against him. She smiled tenderly.

They could both sense the people beginning to gather around the inn.

"You've waited this long," he began in protest, but he knew that his heart wasn't quite in the right place at the moment.

"Yes, and I can wait longer," she said, half-truthfully.


The two captains made their way back to the mess that was the lobby, carefully avoiding each other's touch in fear that they wouldn't be able to hold back again. Yami berated himself for not taking advantage of the time they had together, but he knew that she was right. And if he were to give himself to Charlotte, he wanted to give himself fully, without reservation.

The Wizard King had summoned them back to the Capital after Charlotte had dutifully reported on the events of the past few days. A portal hovered midair before them, and a round spatial mage of the Wizard King appeared through its centre.

Yami's mind wandered, hands reaching for a cigarette from his pants pocket to ease the edge that he felt. He was glad that the mission was over, but that also meant he couldn't be alone with Charlotte anymore. And here they were, at the precipice of finally acknowledging these feelings they've both suppressed from so long ago. He exhaled a plume of smoke in an attempt to vent his frustration.

He couldn't quite find the words to explain why he had stopped himself from being with Charlotte, even knowing that their feelings were shared.

Yami searched his mind for the answer, his face scrunched up as the gears in his head turned.

He tried to remember all the way back from the beginning, when he was some fisherman's kid who drifted asleep on his father's boat, then waking up on the shores of a land he had never even heard of. He thought of the way he was forced to abandon his childhood, to beg, to lie, and steal in order to survive, when he could neither understand the language nor express how lonely he felt away from his family.

The captain scratched at the stubble on his cheek. Through it all, not a single insult of foreigner, scum; streetrat bothered him in the least. Not when he could feel the ki of those who spoke in hushed whispers, or the blatant sneers of the nobles when he joined the ranks.

Not until Charlotte had come along.

She was younger than he was, but both worked as magic knights even before Julius' ascension as Wizard King. He knew of her tenacity in battle, dubbed the Briar Maiden for her magic power. Her mana was plenty strong, even in its incomplete form. She always pushed herself and exceeded far beyond the limitations set on her, which Yami greatly admired.

He realized that he wanted to become someone who could stand as her equal. True, they were both captains, but Yami lacked the title and the mannerism to be considered worthy of her in this kingdom.

"Yami?" the Wizard King's voice called him back to the present.

Charlotte looked at him with concern. Without words, she conveyed her worry, in her crinkled forehead, and the tightness of her lips. She wondered if he had been thinking about what the Spade kingdom's mages meant when they said they needed him in the fight.

"Hm?" the head of the Black Bulls asked. "Sorry, I was distracted."

"We were just trying to figure out the reason why the Spade kingdom's mages were particularly excited to meet you," said the Wizard King, who noted Yami's absentmindedness about the situation directly involving him.

"Yeah. I don't know. Been a long day."

"Thank you for the information, Captain Roselei, Captain Sukehiro," Marx said.

Each captain stood up and placed three fingers over their hearts in salute to the Wizard King, before leaving. Julius asked Yami to stay behind. Charlotte idled at the door, her fingers drumming against the frame. She looked at Yami to check if he had been telling the truth about feeling alright. Yami saw her waiting by the door and gave her a tired nod. She walked away after his signal.

Julius dismissed Marx, and soon he was left alone with Yami, who held his face between his hands.

The Wizard King laughed, eliciting a glare from the crass captain.

"What's so funny?"

"Why are you here, Yami?"

"I have a feeling you know why."

Another chuckle from Julius. "Sorry. I take it that your mission went well? Better than you thought?"

"Sure, it went well. We only almost died."

"But you didn't," the time mage smirked, "Do you think Briar had fun, Philip?"

Yami groaned upon realizing that the old woman who convinced them to pretend being lovers was Julius all along. Prick, he thought.

"So what seems to be the problem, then? I mean, other than the fact that the Spade kingdom had set a target on your back?"

That was currently the least of Yami's worries. He took a deep inhale, "She told me that she loved me."

Julius feigned surprise at the revelation, but was absolutely brimming with joy. "And?" he coaxed Yami to tell him everything.

The mentor sighed. "Yami, both you and Charlotte are strong and capable in your own ways. That's why I've entrusted the both of you with your own squads. You've never cared about what anyone else thought of you. I'm surprised you'd even entertain these thoughts."

"I don't care about myself, but I care about Charlotte. I don't want people to think less of her because I'm just a foreigner."

He had been so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Charlotte had reentered the room.

She drew a breath, "You've risen through the ranks and became a Captain, even though you barely understood the language. Created a place for misfits and outcasts to call their home. You've fought armies and demons all by yourself. You... have broken my curse." His grey eyes glistened at hearing her speak of him so highly.

Julius quietly exited the room and left the two on their own.

"Charlotte."

"Yami Sukehiro, I... I love you. And if you think that what other people will think of us could stop me, then I would have stopped loving you a long time ago. Yes, they've kept me from revealing my true feelings for you, but today made me realize just how much time we've wasted skirting around each other." She strode towards him and stopped short of his arms. With an unsteady voice, she asked, "So? Do you want to take care of each other now?"

Yami grinned and extended his arms around her, then pulled her a little too quickly towards his chair. She fell over and their lips met once more.


"And that was the story of the Foreigner and the Prickly Queen," he said to the children who lay in the midst of their bed.

"Ugh, Papa, you always tell this story," a black-haired four year old girl complained. She knit her brows, her blue eyes narrowing in frustration.

Beside her, a blonde haired and grey eyed boy smiled, "But onee-san, this is my favourite story."

A blonde woman appeared at the door, stripping away the armour that covered her body. She laid her helmet on the table and smiled through a curtain of golden hair. "Why are you two still awake?"

The children ran to their mother and hugged her legs.

"Alright, kids, go to sleep," their father warned. He tried to look menacing, but it rarely ever worked on these kids.

The children asked their mother to tuck them into bed, of which she happily obliged. She planted a kiss on top of their heads. Their father tried to do the same, but his daughter pushed his face away. "Prickly," she said about his stubble, which made him laugh.

As the children drew nearer to sleep, the boy had looked up to his parents with a question, "Do they live happily ever after?"

The parents shared a look and nodded, sending him away to dream of the Foreigner and the Prickly Queen.