I am back (briefly)! So, I read the manga´s latest chapter and I had thoughts about it. I got a bit of inspiration and decided to write something. Three days later, here I am. I don't think it is of actual quality, but I needed to get it out of my system. See the end of the story for a bit of a rant.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead. If you are not up to date with the manga, read at your own discretion. This fic contains canon events included in the 330th chapter and also something I´d like to happen after those events.

English is not my native language: feedback is always welcome so I can keep improving and learning. Thanks for reading and I hope you like this story!

PD. I published this a few hours ago but then I noticed I missed the line breaks that would help this to be read. I tried to fix it but only made it way worse, so I deleted the story and reuploaded it. I am sorry for the inconvenience


To the shadows

A Black Clover fanfiction

The silence of the night during sleepless nights was a different level of torture, Charlotte had thought on many occasions. And those many occasions were mostly caused by one thing: unrequited love. She had read novels -that at the time seemed rather boring- she had deemed exaggerations but damn if she hadn't gone and fallen hard for a man that most likely would never be hers; not necessarily because he didn't want to, but because she didn't want him and at the same time wanted him to be hers. A walking contradiction, honestly.

Charlotte was not vain, and though she didn't particularly give much importance to the praise she constantly got about it, she was well aware of the fact that she was outstandingly beautiful. If rumors were something to be guided by, most likely she would be able to get whatever man or woman she wanted: chances of whatever person she took interest in liking her back were high if one were to take into consideration only her looks. Though she was of reserved and shy nature, Charlotte also liked herself as a person and was very proud of the person she had become, so maybe if someone liked her by the way she looked, they might fall in love with her as a whole: her body, her personality, her brains, her behavior… and her heart. It was obvious that just by her appearance she might have stolen someone´s heart already. She took no pride in it, but she knew she could use her looks in her favor, had she wanted to win someone over.

However, Charlotte had been the one whose heart had been won over by the least likely person -she dared to say- in the entire world. The whole Clover Kingdom would go as far as to call her the most beautiful woman and yet Yami Sukehiro had absolutely never said a thing about her looks. So, when it came to him, looks wouldn't work. What he had often commented about was her personality: he had said she was stubborn, clumsy, and a troublesome woman. Flattering, really (?). The man was audacious enough to call her Spiny Prickly Queen. For sure she wasn't the easiest person to deal with due to her stern demeanor and her strong desire to keep her emotions controlled and hidden, but his words kind of revealed how he really felt about her. Her personality was not on the table as a winning card when it came to Yami. As such, with not enough attractive looks and no endearing personality, she didn't have anything else to offer. And it hurt a lot because she was a fighter and she backed from no challenge, yet she knew that, in the matters of the heart, there were battles one could never conquer.

It was ironic, truth be told. She was loved and cherished by her subordinates, got flowers and poems and love letters from people from all over the kingdom, yet the one man she so much wanted seemed to be completely unaffected by the charm she seemed to have on everyone else. During those sleepless nights in which the silence grew all the more torturing, Charlotte would think that maybe her suffering was a result of her own doing: she had harshly turned down many men and their absurd marriage proposals and she never took into consideration their feelings. Not that they had at all cared about what she felt and the difficult position they were putting her in, but for some reason, it is women who are always shamed for prioritizing their feelings rather than giving into social pressure when it comes to public declarations of love. Staring at the ceiling in her room, Charlotte would second-guess her decision-making. Maybe, just maybe, had she been nicer her suffering would feel less excruciating. She didn't believe in karma or fate, so obviously her current predicament was not a direct result of her past actions but being alone with her mind for long periods would play tricks on her.

What could be worse than wondering about the possible answers to the unanswered questions of "what if"? What if Yami loved her? What if she had a chance? Those sorts of things would keep her up at night. The fake scenarios didn't help at all. Because yes, Charlotte would try to appease her aching heart imagining situations in which there was a romantic story between her and Yami. Fantasies in which she could finally cup his face in her hands and stare into his eyes for as long as she wanted without having to look away to not get caught; fantasies in which she could put her palm against his and compare their sizes before finally interlacing their fingers; fantasies in which she could embrace him and stand on her tiptoes to kiss him on the lips. She knew she was delusional, but trying to trick herself to think otherwise would sometimes ease her mind.

Because it was hard pretending she wasn't in love with him. There were so many reasons to conceal her feelings. Charlotte knew she would be subjected to ridicule if someone found out and nobles were ruthless bastards that would go to any length to bring each other down. Her being a powerful woman was a threat to their established norms and Charlotte not wanting to get married to a royal -or anyone- was bad enough for their already strong situation when it came to ruling the country: scorning the Roselei heiress, who was at the same time the Blue Rose captain, would be convenient for far too many people. The scandal that would erupt just by the smallest rumor about her interest in Yami kept Charlotte fretting overnight after night. But the most important reason to pretend she wasn't head over heels for the Black Bulls captains was very simple: it wasn't reciprocal; Yami didn't harbor romantic feelings for her. There was no point in pursuing something that was doomed from the start. It could only lead to more heartbreak.

Pretending took a toll on | her. Keeping in check her facial expressions and the tone of her voice when her heart was beating a thousand miles per second was a herculean task that became less and less achievable. Not laughing at his jokes or jabs at other captains. Fretting for days on end after harshly answering him because she had been nervous. Seeing him from afar and involuntarily smile, only to double-check nobody had noticed. Fighting tears back the moment he turned around after what seemed like an innocent flirty comment. In all honesty, she loved her subordinates and had trusted them with her feelings, but Charlotte didn't think she could pour her heart out to them, and having no one to talk to made it all the more difficult. She didn't want to get questions or judgment over her feelings: she just wanted someone to listen to her. Maybe advice. But there was no one, no one she could trust. Her subordinates were much younger than her and not as introverted; Mereoleona, whom she respected, had had her fair share of both men and women but only in a fleeting way: Charlotte had been in love with the same man for almost a decade and her affection was still going strong.

She had tried to let him go many times. And to no avail. And it was aggravating to think she was suffering so much about something that had never taken place. And that was the kind of judgment she was afraid of: the lack of sympathy towards her unrequited love. Because she had heard it in other people´s voices the contempt for someone who resisted marriage because they were in love with someone who didn't love them back, the contempt for a woman who mourned the death of a person who died without knowing they were loved by her. Charlotte was afraid someone would mock her because for ten years she had loved a man, and in those years she had never gathered enough courage to get it out of her chest. She was certain Yami didn't think of her the same way she did, but for weeks she had considered telling him just to get an answer and try to move on without the burden of the "what ifs" putting an immeasurable weight on her shoulders. But those weeks had turned into months, and months became years and years were about to make up for a whole decade.

Yami was just a man and she was just a woman, and therefore they were equals and he had no power over her, so there was nothing to be afraid of. Yet Charlotte felt utterly pathetic because the smallest gesture from him had her heart fluttering. Like that moment ten years before, when Yami told her she could rely on others. No one had ever told her that: she had been strong for so long that people thought they could rely on her. No one except for Yami had thought she might need someone to lean on. That sole event was engraved in her memory and it was the reason Charlotte held Yami so close to her heart. It was endearing beyond words realizing that Yami remembered this interaction after so many years, as it was made clear during the award ceremony when he finished her beer for her so she wouldn't push herself too far. It could have been human decency to remember and say such things, but it meant the world to her. A world that shattered when she thought she was reading too much into it, without mentioning she was probably hurting herself by getting her hopes too far up. At some point, she had thought that, while possessed, she had confessed her love and, when the moment of owning up to it came, she panicked and ran away. She was finally sincere about her feelings to her subordinates and they, hopeless romantics, liked her election when it came to a man to love and encouraged her to tell him. Indecision got the best out of her and she tried to form a coherent sentence that came out as mumbling, her mind went completely blank when Yami told her that he understood she hated him and that he was at peace with that but at the same time it hurt his heart -HIS HEART!- to see her run away like that.

Her brain stopped working at that moment and, though she wanted to confess her feeling, she knew clearing up the misunderstanding was more important. However, she didn't have the chance to, as Asta, whom she had never thought to be perceptive, said she trusted Yami because of all the experiences they shared. Charlotte almost giggled upon figuring out that Nozel´s little sister was in the same predicament she was in since Asta was just as dumb as his captain. She would have giggled but bitterly: Yami listened to his subordinate say such things and did not suspect a single thing. How on earth could someone be so oblivious? That night, she had burst into nervous laughter upon remembering what went down at her quarters and later on during the dinner, but soon her laughs turned into bitter sobs that made her pillow get wet. It wasn't the first time she had cried over Yami, but it had been the first time she had been so close to revealing to him her best-kept secret.

The event had given her a bit of courage, but the ongoing crisis prevented her from actually saying a thing: her feelings could wait a little longer. All the squads started training hard and it wasn't long before chaos befell upon all of them: the Golden Dawn had been defeated and decimated and its captain had been kidnapped by the enemy… just a little before said enemy went and kidnapped Yami as well. Reality came crashing when it was revealed no one knew if Yami and William were still alive. Was she about to lose a man that was never hers? The man who had always been nice to her -in his way- despite her harsh words and over-the-top reactions? The realization shook her to the core. Because Asta had been right: Charlotte trusted Yami. It wouldn't take a heartbeat to trust her life to him and there were very few people in her life she would commend her life to. He had saved her many years before and now his life was on the line. It was her turn to help him

Her training paid off. Her power, which had been blocked by her curse, was finally unleashed to its full potential. But it hadn't been enough. Enemies were so strong that magic knight after magic knight was defeated before those enemies were finally taken down. Charlotte was beaten to an inch of her life and it had seemed apparent she had witnessed the death of a comrade right before her very eyes and she and Rill almost followed him. Hadn´t one of the Golden Dawn members arrived, the three of them would have met on whatever other side was waiting for them. But they had survived. And then, something magical happened: the man whose close call she had witnessed didn't miss a chance and confessed his love. It came so out of the blue that even the woman in question was stunned: nobody seemed to have suspected it the smallest bit. What made the whole situation all the more impressive was the fact that this woman was no other than the queen of the Heart Kingdom. And the man was her subordinate. In very few words, he professed his devotion to her as a woman, not as his queen. Charlotte was blown away by the situation, yet not as much as Loropechika was. The Blue Rose captain realized it was his close encounter with death that pushed the man to overcome his fears and be upfront about the way he felt. Charlotte was bewildered.

And a desperate resolution flared up in her chest: if they made it alive, Yami would be up for one hell of a surprise from her. Since there were still enemies that needed to be defeated, she and her group ran to where the last seeds of the fight remained and joined forces to defeat a demon that seemed to have brought everyone to their knees. Captain after captain was defeated by the monster. She was beginning to lose hope when Yami joined the fight and her heart was overjoyed upon confirmation of him being alive. Others joined the fight and trusted Yami and his vice-captain to finally takedown on the abomination, alongside Asta. And the demon fell victim to the combined effort of the Black Bulls.

As it turned out, though, Charlotte had been too hopeful and overestimated Yami´s well-being. In the immediate aftermath, everyone was so close to breathing their last that no one had enough mana to keep the deadly injured alive. And Yami and his vice-captain were the deadly injured ones. Right before her very eyes, she was watching the life of the man she loved slowly fade away. And there was nothing she could do about it. Ten years before, Yami had risked his life to save her from her powers and then had protected her possessed body so she wouldn't get hurt… only for her to be useless when the moment to save him came. Everyone had come to the rescue and they had all fought the hardest to bring back Yami and at the very last moment, they were about to lose him. Forever. With no second chances. Not a tomorrow to see him again.

This was their goodbye. And her unspoken love would forever haunt her. Because Yami was about to pass without knowing the impact he had on her life; oblivious to how happy -even from afar- he had made her. Before she knew it, bitter tears were rolling down her cheeks. All the feelings she had bottled up for years undid the knot in her throat as the found release upon her walking towards his soon-to-be corpse.

"I came all the way here to save you. What´s the matter with you? Get up! Where did your usual insolence go? Don´t die, you idiot!"

Her voice came in silent whispers as she knew she was helpless at the moment. And then…

A pathetic sob came off her mouth as her tears fell to the ground. She was aware nothing would change but Charlotte was so lost in her pain she just didn't care.

"I love you. I love you, Yami. So please… don´t die!"

There was no reaction from him. Or from anyone. The world stood still and Charlotte closed her eyes and kept sobbing. There was a commotion, but she only kept crying as she thought about the things she should have said before. It was only a few seconds before a miracle befell in front of her eyes: the girl who had saved her before was now able to save Yami and his vice-captain. A heartbeat later, the two of them opened their eyes, and though there was an exhausted look in their eyes, it was obvious they had been brought back from the death realms. All the Black Bulls came around their captain and one woman jumped on him and affectionately hugged him. It felt as though the sun had started shining after a long storm. There was happiness and they all heaved a collective sigh of relief. Tears still rolled down her cheeks but this time she was happy and her heart swelled with joy.

Until Yami noticed her.

"Oh, Charlotte"

Her name. Her name sounded strange in his raspy voice.

"I´m still alive thanks to you"

That meant her words had reached him and as such he was aware of…

"By the way, what were you saying earlier?"

All the blood rushed to her face and she could feel her heart stop beating. She had indeed asked for his insolence back, but she didn't expect it to come and slap her in the face. Charlotte felt like a joke and was unable to answer. He was alive and she was happy for it, yet the courage she had mustered bore no fruit. She was exhausted, having been close to death herself, and that was the last thing she could take, so she fell on her face, as though passed out. But there was no unconscious woman, only one whose tears proved her heart had been shattered into pieces.

Charlotte hated herself sometimes. Because there was jealousy and jealousy is an ugly thing. She hadn't had a chance to feel that uncomfortable sensation until the moment that woman -the one who had previously challenged her to a drinking contest- had hugged Yami as soon as he was safe. She had experienced jealousy even from Dorothy and many times from this beautiful woman, but not at that time. And as Charlotte silently kept shedding tears after her failed confession, there was a realization for her, something that hadn't dawned on her before: Yami was very much capable of being loved (as he was)… and loving. There had never been rumors about him dating or sleeping around, so Charlotte had believed he was just not interested in romance. But it was at that moment, after that Black Bull woman hugged him with such familiarity, despite him being adamant about physical contact, that Charlotte realized that Yami was extremely protective of his privacy and not much was known about him and his love life would not have been made public at all. Hell, he had told no one about what went down between them when her powers got out of hand and he took no credit for saving her: no one knew he was the reason her curse had been kept at bay. If he had never spoken about someone else´s business, much less would he talk about himself. And he loved his subordinates, he loved Julius, he loved his stupid smelly cigarettes and he loved riling her up with his jokes… so he was very much capable of loving someone romantically. It didn't have to be his subordinate; it could be just about anyone.

And Charlotte was jealous. Jealous because it was not her he loved. She was jealous she couldn't hug him the way all his subordinates could, the way one lover would. There was hurt bottling up in her chest since she now had to pretend nothing had happened. Only this time pretending would be twice as difficult: several people must have seen her swollen face, all covered in tears as she approached Yami. He had seen her face and had her voice mumbling nonsense he didn't understand but was dense enough to completely ignore the implications. There was a greater obstacle to her pretending: at least one person had heard what she said. So, her secret was out in the open. Or not. That woman had a thing for Yami as well: most likely, she wouldn't tell a soul. But the woman knew and had witnessed Charlotte breaking down and crying for Yami not to die on her, only for her confession to go unnoticed and unheard by everyone except for her.

Unrequited love, she thought just before passing out, hurt like no other pain.


Vanessa loved Yami. But hers was not the kind of love that would be considered romantic. He was hot, yes, but she had lived with him for so long that his good looks did not affect her at all. Same thing for him: she could walk around naked and he wouldn't bat an eye. So, yes. They loved each other but there would never be a romance between them. She might have joked about it and she had challenged one or two women for his affection, but she wouldn't say she loved him more than any other Black Bull. She wasn't even the first person to join Yami´s squad: just like he had pulled her out of the dark place the Witch Queen had submerged her into, Yami had helped many others as he walked the path of life. No squad member could say whose life Yami had made a greater impact in. She and her captain were very close in age, so they got along a bit better than the other members, who were mostly under twenty-one years old. Some of them called her "older sister". And all the youngsters looked up to Yami as a paternal figure… or as their older brother. To Vanessa, he was a friend, a comrade that had overcome the blood bond and had become a big bro to her.

In all honesty, though, she had had a crush on him in the past. So, she kind of understood why women would be attracted to him. Not that there were many swooning their way over to him but she understood the logic behind it. No one -man or woman- seemed to think of Yami romantically. Magna idolized him so much that it seemed like he loved his captain more than anyone else, but the kind of love that comes from admiration is very different from the romantic/erotic process of falling in love. Vanessa had never fallen in love herself, but she had witnessed other people catching feelings and starting relationships, even falling out of love as well. At the same time, Yami did not seem to be built for romance: he was kind of dumb, tactless and the whole courting/flirting deal seemed way, way beyond his wits. From what she had heard, he did have a soft spot for the Blue Rose captain, though. And by soft spot, she meant Yami did not ask Charlotte to surpass her limits right there and instead almost scolded her to lean on someone else so she wouldn't push herself too hard. To everyone else, Yami had a thing for intimidation and instilled love in a tough manner, but he was less aggressive when he was trying to rile up the Roselei heiress and instead provoked her in a more teasing manner. Vanessa, for some reason, had considered she shouldn't lose to her and challenged her to a drinking contest. The rumors were thus confirmed when she heard her captain tell the other woman not to push herself too hard, as he had told her before.

Still, Vanessa didn't think much of it. No one would have ever thought Yami had a thing for his colleague just for this sort of interaction. Yami was a nice person to pretty much everyone, and though he liked driving people crazy with his antics, the Black Bulls captain had a heart so big he wouldn't hesitate to help even those whom he didn't like. So, his nicety towards her must have been his kindness showing the nasty nobles he was a far better person than them. Because Charlotte Roselei was a noblewoman and her cold personality was almost as famous as her beauty. Attention she got wherever she went and the woman was arrogant enough to look down on everyone else, so Vanessa wasn't particularly fond of her. Obviously, she respected her and understood the Blue Rose captain had fought very hard to become one of the few female captains and Vanessa was certain the other woman was fed up with unwanted attention from men, so she didn't have it out for her for that. But her indifference and goody-two-shoes personality rubbed Vanessa the wrong way.

Until she witnessed first-hand her vulnerability. Of all people, Charlotte Roselei, the Blue Rose captain, cried upon Yami´s imminent death and confessed her love for him as she begged him not to die. Vanessa was bewildered. She was taken so much by surprise that, for a whole second, she forgot her captain had half of himself into the other side. Rouge came back to her and the arrival of help prompted Yami back to life. She was overjoyed and couldn't fight the urge to hug him and celebrate the fact that they had made it: they were all safe and sound. It wasn't until a few days later that she remembered what had happened between Yami and the Blue Rose captain. And she only thought about it because she heard Finral comment Charlotte had been unusually quiet during a meeting. The memory of the confession flooded her mind just a little before Yami, as he took a long puff at his cigarette while staring into the distance, nonchalantly replied the spiny prickly queen indeed seemed sad. There was just this hint of… something that had Vanessa wondering if Yami was worried about the Blue Rose captain… on a more personal level. As in wondering if something was troubling her because he cared about her well-being. Until that moment, Vanessa didn't stop to think about the implications of what she had heard.

The most beautiful woman in the kingdom, the most sought-after maiden, and heiress to wed, one of the smartest captains was in love with no other than Yami Sukehiro, the Black Bulls captain. A foreigner, a commoner and probably the captain the people despised the most. Vanessa did like Yami, but hell it must have stroked Charlotte´s ego to have fallen head over heels with such a man. And it must have been a long, long time since those feelings had started, since -as Vanessa suspected- the Blue Rose captain wasn't one to be very open about her feelings: hadn't Yami´s life been on the line, most likely Charlotte wouldn't have said anything. Certainly, she was a cold woman but in no way was the Roselei heiress heartless: Vanessa wasn't a fan of hers, but she didn't think so ill of the other woman as to believe Charlotte would steep so low as to make up feelings just to get her voice to reach a dying man. Which meant she was genuinely in love with Yami. Once again, as realization hit her, Vanessa was bewildered. Excitement bubbled up inside of her as she figured she had such quality gossip and that now she had a chance to relentlessly taunt her captain. The Blue Rose captain would have no mercy from her and all the nobles were up for a good teasing once they found out their potential golden egg was in love with the man they despised to no end. And as Vanessa ran with excitement to the main hall to tell the others, she was stopped in her tracks because there was a second -and a painful one- realization: Charlotte had opened her heart to Yami and he hadn´t heard a word from it. He had seen her grief-stricken face and had heard her voice but didn't register her words. He had come back to life, thanked her for being the reason for still being alive, and then… AND THEN asked her about what she said.

That must have hurt. A whole lot, Vanessa presumed. If Charlotte´s ego had been stroked by falling in love with such a rascal, listening to those words must have felt like a knife piercing her heart. So, there was a lot of sympathy coming from Vanessa and she was actually saddened at the thought: seeing the object of one´s desire about to pass away, confessing one´s deep love, and then finding out those words have been not heard certainly would break about anyone, even the cold Blue Rose captain. If she had been so desperate as to throw all caution to the wind and beg a dying man to not die, then certainly that woman´s affection ran very, very deep. And her confession had been -thought not consciously- ignored. Yami owed her no reciprocal feelings but at least an answer, regardless of a positive or negative one, would have been the right thing to do, so she could get either happiness or closure. But she got none of it: she didn't even get an answer. Whatever had held her back in the past -her status as noblewoman and him being a foreigner, the implications of dating a colleague- certainly would not pair up well with such a failure and there was no way in hell Charlotte Roselei would ever do the same thing again. Vanessa felt bad for her, and Finral´s word about the woman being unusually quiet and Yami saying she seemed sad convinced Vanessa that it all had been a hard blow for Charlotte.

There was only one thing Vanessa could do: tell her captain so he could go and relieve the Blue Rose captain out of her misery. For good or for bad, she deserved an answer. And Yami deserved to know he had missed out on one of the most extraordinary events in the whole world. It was late at night when Vanessa wrapped her mind around the matter and finally decided to go and face her captain. The base was unusually quiet and her nerve faltered as she found out Yami was not within the premises. He was out, not too far away from the building and it had been just a matter of luck Vanessa had been able to spot him from afar. It was a chilly night and there were lots of stars in the sky. She walked slowly, indecision holding her back: should she tell him? Should she not? Would he react in a good way? In a bad way? Would it make it worse to tell him? Would it put Charlotte at ease or would it fill her with dread? What would Yami do once he found out? When she reached Yami, she noticed there were far too many cigarette butts around him, meaning he had been smoking much more than usual. He was absent-minded and for a second, she thought it was at the very last second that he took notice of her approaching. Thankfully, she had had a bit of liquid courage.

"Beautiful night, isn´t it?"

Silence.

"Would you like to have a drink, captain? I brought a bottle with me"

He eyed her with no suspicion and appeared rather thankful for the distraction. Neither spoke and the bottle was about to be empty when Vanessa, having reached her natural tipsy state, lost all inhibition and forgot about her plan to approach him in a subtly manner.

"What do you think about the Blue Rose captain?"

Yami stopped midway from the cup he was about to drink.

"The spiny prickly queen?"

"The very one"

"What about her?"

"Do you perhaps… fancy her?"

"Have you seen me swooning around her at all?"

"No, but you did have dinner with her before asking Gordon to go back to his family and learn about the curses. She was the one who told you about Noelle´s curse as well"

He narrowed her eyes at her.

"Why are you bringing up the thorn sulkiness?"

"I´ve been thinking about her… and you. The drinking contest, remember? You went up and helped her, comforted her. But you did not say anything to me. I was wondering why offer sympathy to someone so unconnected to you"

"I am sorry, Vanessa, but are you jealous or something?", there was an uncomfortable look in his eyes, as if the implications of her answer would put him in a very compromising situation.

"Haha, you wish, captain! Please don´t think so highly of yourself. Come on, as if"

"Then why are you asking?"

His usual casualness was absolutely gone. There was uneasiness and nervousness in his voice. To Vanessa, it looked like he had been busted. His aloof demeanor briefly changed and he seemed like a deer caught in the middle of the night.

"Were you just thinking about her, captain?"

"No. I was smoking before you kindly interrupted me"

"Charlotte Roselei is a beautiful woman. And an outstanding captain and a respectable person, though not as nice as she should be. Many men are fancying her and trying to win her affection. I was just wondering if, by the slimmest chance, you had a thing for her as well"

"I must have been dead for far too long for you to be comparing me to nobles"

That was dodging the question.

"My question remains, captain. Do you like her?"

"No"

Vanessa genuinely felt bad for Charlotte: she was up for another heartbreak if such were the case.

"There is something you need to know. And as incredible it may sound, I swear by my grimoire and on my Black Bulls robe that this is the absolute truth and that this indeed took place"

Yami only gave her a quizzical look. Vanessa took a deep sigh and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Right before Noelle´s cousin healed you and the vice-captain, the Blue Rose captain came by your side… and said she loves you. She was begging you to not die"

The wind blew by, breaking the absolute silence than befell them. Yami kept staring into the distance, alternating from drinking from the cup in one of his hands to smoking from the cigarette in the other.

"I heard her, Vanessa. I did"

"Then, why is…"

"It´s just that I thought I had dreamed the whole thing on my way to Hell"

There was a lot of commiseration filling Vanessa´s heart as soon as it was evident Yami thought his mind had played tricks on him.

"I guess that´s the reason why you thanked her for still being alive. Then, does that mean you do have feelings for her?"

"I´d rather not talk about it if you don´t mind"

"Fine. But what are you going to do?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"About that woman! Now you know she actually said those words. I do believe she deserves an answer"

"Whoah, and I thought you came to enquire about my feelings"

"I would never. I am not a gossip"

"Not at all"

They burst into laughter and Vanessa knew her job was done. She grabbed the almost empty bottle and decided to leave. She heard him light a cigarette and she was a bit far when she heard him say:

"Thanks for that, Vanessa"

Whatever that meant, she thought, she was glad she had done it.


The smell of flowers and their bright colors, alongside the sound of rustling leaves, put Charlotte so much at ease that there was no place in the world she liked better than the Roselei Gardens. There were large portions of ground she had planted as a child and the plants that grew she had taken care of as well and kept doing it now as an adult. Her flowers put her mind at ease, made her happy, and kept her occupied in her leisure time. In solitude, her flowers represented all the company and consolation she needed. Her insomnia had worsened, so for several days, she went out at night to take care of her roses. That particular night, she went far away from her house and the place was dimly lit so, when she tried to caress the petals of one particularly good-looking flower, she ended up prickling her finger. Strangely, the wound was deep and it hurt. She was cursing under her breath when she noticed a figure jumping over a wall and walking over to the building, using the plants as a cover. It was a person covered in a cloak that was swiftly advancing on his way. She followed him and the person seemed to realize she was there, so the person stopped and turned around.

"Yami?", her heart stopped upon realizing it was him.

"I was on my way to see you"

She didn't have it in her to answer. Why had he come all of a sudden?

"There´s something I´d like to hear from you", he went on, "The same thing you said in the aftermath of the battle. Perhaps you are more comfortable being open when there´s no one listening to you"

"It was nothing, Yami. I was just wondering why an uncouth man like you was lying on the ground without putting up with a fight against Death"

"No, Charlotte. I meant what you said after"

Realization struck her.

"Did you… play dumb about not listening to it?"

"No, I heard you but I thought it was a dream. Someone else listened as well and confirmed your words did come out of your mouth. I´d like to listen to it again, now that we are all alone and that I can give you an answer"

She hesitated.

"What kind of answer?"

"One, I hope, you will certainly like"

Charlotte let go of the breath she didn't know she was holding. He smiled in complicity and there were bubbles inside of her. Yami, ever the blunt guy, hugged her and lifted her in his arms.

"Come one, spiny prickly queen. I´ve waited for years to hear it. It´ll break my poor, old fragile heart if you keep me waiting any longer"

"If so, then perhaps… you should say it first"

As they stared into each other´s eyes with happiness adorning their faces in the form of a smile, in the back of their head they both thought they owed Vanessa a good bottle of liquor.

The end


If you are here, I hope I haven't ruined anything in the story for you. When I read on Twitter the spoilers for this chapter, I was so mad so I started writing to let go of my frustration. I just don't see the point of NOT LETTING THE SHIP SAIL ALREADY, agh. I do hope Yami listened to Charlotte´s words and will talk to her privately so she can feel comfortable and less pressured. Still, at the same time, I am almost certain the author will drag on the confession until the very end and I kind of hate it hahaha. I am sorry if this story is not of much quality, but I had a crazy weekend moving from one house to another, so after the sudden burst of inspiration, I was forced to write in a rush. I hope the author decides to give us more glimpses of Yami and Charlotte´s relationship so that I get more material to write a bit more often😊

I decided for Vanessa to become the -somewhat- deus-ex-machina in this story because I think she´s very compassionate and I noticed the only interaction she had with Charlotte was that one during the drinking contest. I believe in one of the novels Vanessa asks Yami to buy a gift for Charlotte and Yami confesses he had been thinking about buying her a gift anyway, so I think Vanessa doesn't have it out for Charlotte (as in thinking of her as a rival). In that same novel, Charlotte is looking for a gift for Yami and bumps into him and he tells her about Vanessa´s words and his initial intention of getting something for Charlotte. If I remember correctly, the two of them go shopping together after their encounter (I haven´t read the novel and I read this summary a long time ago so don´t take my word for granted). With that said, I just wanted to make it obvious that I tried to throw in a sorority moment, with Vanessa trying to uplift Charlotte and looking after her. Girls supporting girls, yay!

I also want to thank SSJYT, Redsalad, RaiNiccle, Nekoko09, Icecat62, Darklight-phoenix, TuryA, telling-lolka, skschin, pumpernickel21, jmj48, Otaku393, KingKdiamond, Hohlraumversiegelung and Carichi for following, reviewing, or adding my story Growing out of it to their Favorites list, as well for following me or adding me to their Favorites list. I am very thankful for your support and, though I don´t publish very often, I hope I can bring a bit of joy to your lives.

Also, thank you all for reading my stories and bearing with me, despite me not publishing regularly. Let´s hope this ship sails soon!