If you have a favorite Black Clover character and would like to see them, the me know.

My favorite is easily Gordon, he's basically my spirit animal.

-NinjaBurrito

Chapter 3

The trip to the Capital easily took an hour, Cyan taking her time and watching her mana reserves this time. Diving through shadows was like jumping into inky cold water that shocked the system and stole the air right out of the lungs. She couldn't stay in one dive for more than a few minutes before coming up for warmth and air but all the training she did around town helped her build a resistance to it.

Since she had been to the Capital before it was easy for her to dive through the correct shadows to find it but going to new places was risky and she learned how easy it was to get lost.

Once she was on the outskirts of the city, she decided to walk in the warm sunlight the rest of the way, enjoying the feel of the light on her body. She kept her traveling hood pulled tight and avoided the eyes of other travelers as few people tried to stop her and ask for directions.

She would shake her head and walk away as fast as possible.

The small-town girl was not expecting the sheer size of the capital once she entered the main gate. Every building was taller than the tallest building in Clearwater, the roads large enough for several wagons to pass one another and no one had to bump into each other on the spacious sidewalks.

There were many people in the capital, every person that passed her made her hair stand on end and her skin itched with anxiety. Off in the distance she could see the towers of the royal family in the center of the city and knew the Vermillon royal family lived there. But the captain of the Crimson Lion Kings would be kept at the squad headquarters, now if she could find it.

Maybe this would be harder than she thought.

Glancing around she looked for anyone that might know how to help her without asking too many questions. Her eyes landed on an angry looking man leaning against the wall to a tavern with a cigarette hanging from his lips. He looked like a no-nonsense man that shouldn't hassle her too much.

Pulling her light pack tighter she slid up beside him and cleared her throat waiting for him to notice her.

The man tried to ignore her till she cleared her throat a second time, keeping her head down so he wouldn't look at her strange eyes. "Whaddya want kid?" His gruff voice shot down at her, making her flinch.

"Umm I'm trying to the headquarters of the Crimson Lion Kings, do you know where that is?" She mumbled locking her eyes on her shoes.

The man took a long drag of his cigarette. "Gotta speak up small-fry."

Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the man and really looked at him this time. He wasn't just big; he was huge with straight black hair and a black cloak with a gold bull emblazoned on it. So, this guy was a magic knight.

Gritting her teeth, she glared up at him reading herself to the shocked look that followed when people saw her. "Where is the Crimson Lion Kings headquarters?''

The man didn't blink, he didn't look shocked nor did his eyes dart back and forth between the different eyes. Instead, he flicked his cigarette and shoved his hands in his pockets with stiff movements. "First time in the capital huh. Well just head up that street there and hang a left at that shitty pub that claims to have the best drinks in town. Take my word though kid, his drinks are watered down spit."

Even though she asked this man where to go because he didn't look like someone who would ask questions she was still surprised when he didn't. In Clearwater you couldn't go anywhere without people wanting to know every reason for everything you did. This guy really didn't give a crap about anything, it was refreshing.

"Thanks mister." Cyan pushed off the wall and began walking in the direction he had pointed. After a few steps she stopped and looked at him. "What's your name?"

The man had fished out a new cigarette and was lighting it. "Do you care?" He asked gruffly.

She shrugged. "Not really."

The man laughed, a loud rumbling laugh that started deep in his chest and exploded out of his wide mouth. "I like you to kid. The names' Yami. Be careful kid, the capital seems nice, but it can be dangerous."

She waved at him and began walking, the sun setting below the buildings. As she walked towards the center of the city she noted holes in walls, cracks in the pavement and sagging roofs. She had almost forgotten that the capital had gone through a major battle a couple of days ago. The people seemed to have cleared up a large portion of the damage, but the signs still scarred the city.

Eventually she found a sign claiming to have the 'best drinks in town' and turned left as instructed. The headquarters should be obvious since Yami had not given any other directions, but it was getting dark fast and being in an unfamiliar place was starting to freak her out.

Just when a full-blown panic attack was about to take her, she walked past a massive compound with iron gates and men and women in red uniforms. She stopped and crossed the street to what looked like a closed clothing store and sunk into the shadows. This wasn't a dive, this was a different spell, one that allowed her to wrap the shadows around her so she could blend in and disappear from prying eyes.

Cyan waited for almost an hour, watching people walk in and out of the headquarters. The members on the squad looked tired and restless, their eyes darting around at anything that moved. These people were on high alert and on edge, the attack still fresh in their minds and the worry of their captain evident as they spoke in low tones about him.

She waited till most of the city and the compound was asleep before making her move. There were still people patrolling the wall, their red uniforms snapping sharply as they moved. She would need to get across the entire courtyard in one try, if she chose the wrong shadow and came out in the middle then even the shadow cloak wouldn't protect her, it was too well lit and open.

She dropped the cloak around her and dived in the shadow of the street to the cold water of her shadow magic. Cyan floated lazily for a few moments, staring up at the pools of the outside world above her, she couldn't rush it and needed to focus on what the other side of the courtyard looked like. She waited till she floated past the spot she had memorized and shot to the surface, bursting up out of the shadow stepping onto solid ground.

She ducked down behind a hedge of flowery bushes and held her breath listening for any alarms from the people stationed along the walls. There were no sounds outside of the usual noise of wind through trees and rumbling late traffic on the street. Summoning her cloak back she stood up and looked through large bay windows into a dark room that seemed to be an office of some sort. The room was empty, and she only looked long enough to get a good idea of what it looked like then dropped down behind the hedge and released her cloak, not for the first time she wished she could use both spells simultaneously. Taking a deep breath she made another dive, floating in the darkness and watching the changing shadows above her.

She floated past several dark rooms till she saw the layout to the room she was looking for and popped up under a desk, smacking her head on the solid underside.

"Fuck!" She hissed as she furiously rubbed her throbbing head and peeked out over the desk.

So now was the hard part, finding where they kept the captain without anyone seeing her. The Shadow Cloak was a great asset when standing still in already shaded places but if she walked around with it on the people tended to freak out, knowing that it was unnatural.

There was a light shining under the door meaning the hallway was well lit, so the cloak was out of the question, she would need to do a blind dive. Since she was already in the compound then it would be easier but the compound itself was massive and the last thing she wanted was to pop up in an occupied bathroom or in someone's room.

This dive would be a long one and she was not looking forward to it, the longer she stayed the more she could feel the very essence of her being slipping away. Cyan steadied her nerves and dove once more watching the odd shaped pools above her shifting. She knew he would be in a lit area despite the late hour, something that would resemble a sick room and would be housed away from the main infirmary because of his status.

It took only a few seconds before every limb in her body went numb and her bones felt frozen. Panicking she pushed out her magic and forced the scenes above her to move faster and faster till they were nothing but a blur. Her brain started screaming with urgency and at the first dark room she popped in quickly and took a deep warm breath. Cyan found herself wedged under a bed, just barely enough room for her to fit. That was another thing she had to be careful of, moving through the right sized shadows and not getting smashed between things.

She didn't move and only allowed herself enough time to calm her mind and get the feeling back in her extremities before diving back down.

There had to be an easier way to control where she wanted to go, a way to use her magic to locate the exact place. After her father died, she didn't experiment much with her magic anymore and now she was regretting it.

Just as her brain was about to panic again something caught her eye. The pool was table shaped meaning the shadow was below a table. What caught her eye was a vase of dead, purple-colored flowers with a familiar nickname written on a card sticking out and the corner of a bed with crisp white sheets.

Sending out a prayer to whoever was listening she jumped up out of the shadow almost knocking over the table and vase. As soon as she was out, she cloaked herself in shadow, if anyone was in the room, they would notice her right away, but she was more worried about someone being able to identify her.

No one moved and there were no sounds other than a light breathing coming from the bed. Cyan stood up and looked around trying to get her bearings and let her body warm up again noting the room was empty. She instantly spotted an open door to the hall, she quickly moved across the room and slowly shut the door, wincing at the click. Once she felt safe, she dropped her cloak and walked over to the bed.

Fuego laid out before her, his long red hair splayed across the sheets and his pale face a stark contrast to a dark red diamond on his forehead. That was new, she didn't remember him having a tattoo on his face when they met.

Now that she saw him in person, she noticed he had changed a lot and yet somehow looked the exact same. The soft curves of a young face were gone, replaced by the harsh lines of war and pain. The lines on his face stemmed from anger and scowling, he supposedly wasn't a man that smiled much, and the change was startling.

Well now he was an angry man with no arm. She could see the stump wrapped in bandages peeking out from the blanket tucked tightly around him. An odd aching sensation found its way up her throat as air fought its way to reach her lungs at the sight.

Cyan took a deep breath and dropped her pack to the ground and removed her hood and draped it over the foot of the bed. She picked up the remaining hand and gripped it tight waiting till she could swallow around the lump in her throat. She reminded herself she just needed to use a spell she had never used before; it would be a piece of cake.

She flicked open the flap on the leather book carrier at her side and pulled out the grimoire. For this spell she would need the book to activate to help focus her magic since she had never tried to use this spell before. The book floated from her hands and flipped to the spell she needed, shadowy smoke spilling from its pages surrounded by muted ruby light.

Nightmare scaping was like the dream magic that the captain of the Coral Peacocks used, only she could create an entire world which she controlled and Cyan could only enter others dreams. Or so the spell said when she read it the first time.

Not sure what to do or how to start, Cyan crawled up further on the bed and straddled the unconscious man's chest, gripping his face between her hands. His skin was ice beneath her fingers, the rise and fall of his chest slow and shallow between her thighs. She tried not to look at the bandaged stump of his arm, Cyan couldn't even begin to imagine life in this world with only one extremity.

"Just do what you came here to do." She whispered to herself as she shut her eyes and focused where her skin and his met. Minutes ticked by as she waited for a connection to form between her mana and the spell book, waiting for the spell she needed to activate.

Her neck began to itch, then her foot fell asleep and then her lower back began to complain at the uncomfortable position. Irritated, she looked over at the undulating grimoire next to her, all happy and content to be a completely useless waste of space.

"Can you give me a break? What do you want? My kidney, nice words...WHAT!?" She hissed at the book, the inky shadows still spilling from the pages. The book of course didn't answer back, it continued to shine as if waiting for her to do something to make the connection herself.

"Oh, right this is my fault, not because you're a lazy piece of shi-" Cyan snapped her jaw shut realizing she was arguing with a book quite loudly in a room she broke into.

She took a deep breath and sat up to stretch out the knots in her lower back and work some feeling back into her feet. The spell was simple to activate, like most spells she just needed to connect it with her mana and speak the spell's name and when she was proficient at it then she wouldn't even need to speak. Simple.

So, fucking simple!

The girl closed her eyes again, let out a slow breath and this time only focused on the mana that resided low in her belly. It felt like an endless pool of swirling dark power with no beginning or end. Reaching with her mind she pulled at the depths and imagined a ribbon of that power flowing out of her and to the shadows pouring from the book.

The two dark magics met and a thundering sound shot off inside of Cyan's head as if she had been struck with actual lighting. Cold power shot through her body at the connection, the power of her grimoire and its spell more than she could physically handle. Warnings ran through her brain telling her to stop before she unleashed a power she couldn't control. She ignored them thinking only of how to save the sleeping captain with the angry face.

She spoke the spell through clenched teeth, forcing the words past her lips "Nightmare Scape, Nightmare incubus!"

The light of her grimoire flashed brightly through her closed eyes, blinding her with its red light as Cyan fell into the mind of the captain.