Opening his eyes, the first thing Asta saw was red. Like, literally. The space around him was colored in a dark shade of red. Not like blood, but darker.
He took a deep breath and looked around. But he saw nothing. Nothing but that red color everywhere. His mind was blurry as he tried to remember what had happened. The devil burning down the forest, his friends all tied up and…
And Yuno
The teen felt confused about the others actions. He had lied to him. And whatever was going on, his parents knew about it too. Wait, were they even his parents? From what he understood, they weren't.
Talk with yourself, Zagred said. How was that supposed to work? Asta could imagine that the space he was in was his own consciousness. He wasn't awake. He left the others alone with the devil. Or demon. Was there a big difference?
"Hey, are you going to continue ignoring me?" a voice asked.
Asta didn't remember that voice. He had never heard it before. Turning around, the teen saw a being that looked like himself, yet it didn't. So close to him and yet nothing like it. It felt weird, just looking at the creature.
"Who are you?" he asked.
The being rolled his eyes. Red eyes staring at him with some annoyance and a bit of understanding.
"I'm you" it answered.
The teen leaned his head to the side in confusion. That made no sense. That thing wasn't him. Well, there were some things they had in common, like the spiky hair. But other than that, Asta couldn't imagine the thing being him.
"No you're not" he said as a matter of factly.
The creature sighed, this time with full annoyance. "Yes and no. I am the devilish part of you, the demonic part. The part we inherited from Dad" it explained.
"Dad's not a devil" the teen said with way too much innocence.
A groan sounded from the being. "Did you not listen to him? The guys that raised you are not your parents. He is though."
"He is not!" Asta hissed back.
There was just no way in hell that he was related to a devil. That he could turn out just like that. He knew his parents and his friends would say the same.
"Look" the being sighed, holding its hands out in front of him as if trying to show that he didn't mean harm. "I don't like it any more than you. If I could decide, I would totally cut him out of our bloodline and accept the family we have."
"We?" the blond raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, we. I am you, remember. I'm just a part of you. The part that isn't dominant. You didn't even know that I existed, did you? Of course you didn't. Not like anyone intended to tell you" he scoffed.
"Feeling a little confused here" Asta confessed.
Really, he didn't know what was even going on anymore. In just a few minutes his world seemed to have turned upside-down. Nothing made sense anymore. Or did it?
Well, he didn't really look like either Mom or Dad. They had always said that he looked more like his grandparents. The people he never got to meet because they died before he was born.
What a coincidence, he thought. The people he was supposed to look like have never been in his life to make him suspicious of any sorts. He didn't know why though.
Why had they lied? What had happened.
"To make it short: I am you and you are me. That guy out there is Dad and Mom is dead. That's basically it" the devilish him shrugged.
The teen bit his lip. "Talk to yourself" he whispered. That was what Zagred hat meant. "So, you're the part that will try to convince me to help him and that humans are evil?"
"Nah" the devil shook his head. "There are a few good reasons to fight against him and leave things as they are."
Asta raised an eyebrow. Not exactly what he expected, but he'll take it. If this devil-version of himself didn't want to convince him to help Zagred, then what?
"I know some things that you don't. While you were young and innocent, I saw everything. I was mature right away. Like I had been born like this. So, I saw the thing that happened our whole life's" he explained.
"I don't understand how that would work" the blond shook his head in confusion.
"Me neither" the devil shrugged in a playful manner, before his whole appearance changed.
His aura and Ki became dark, Asta noticed. Like some bad memory made itself noticeable in his doppelgangers mind. Eyes narrowed and lips pulled into a snarl.
"There is" the devil seethed with venom, "not a single reason to help him."
Asta crossed his arms over his chest. "I have a feeling that he wants you to tell me the exact opposite."
"Probably" the devil nodded. "But he doesn't seem to know himself that I knew everything that he did."
"You seem pretty focused on the past. What happened?" the teen asked.
"Let's start at the moment we were born. First: he lied to Mom about who he really is. He only took interest in her because he needed a kid, nothing more. Second: he killed her!" he hissed.
"What!?"
A silent nod. Arms crossed, the devilish him looked at the ground. A look of anger and sadness on his face. Asta didn't know what to think of this. But he didn't find any reason not to believe him.
If this was what happened, then he could understand his doppelgangers anger. Someone who killed their mother wanted to call himself their father? No way in actual hell was that going to happen.
"What's your name?" Asta suddenly asked.
He couldn't constantly keep calling him 'devil' or 'doppelganger'. They were basically the same person, sure, but he was his own person too. He had to have a name.
"My name?" the devil repeated.
Asta nodded eagerly. "Yeah! You've got to have a name, right? You can't just be the other me."
"But I am you. I don't have my own name" he shot back.
The teen hummed in disapproval. That didn't sound right. Maybe they were the same person in some way, but he needed his own name.
"But you need your own name" he pouted.
He was rewarded with a roll of red eyes. "Fine then, pick one."
Pick one? He could really choose one himself? Didn't he want to decide that? Sure, parents usually picked the name of their children. One of the reasons was though, that they couldn't talk themselves. Newborns didn't even understand that concept.
But now, before he even had the time to think if he ever wanted children of his own, probably adopting a few with Yuno, he had to pick one for literally himself? There were so many things that could go wrong with that.
What if he didn't like it? What would happen then. Would it come to the point where they never talked with each other again? Asta shook his head. No reason to overreact.
Just a name, he could to that. So, what kind of name did you give to yourself? The only times he could remember such things happening was with criminals. Where they changed their name so they could avoid being caught.
Yeah, wrong situation. Asta wanted something that would be similar to his own. Something that had a meaning, like his own. His own name meant 'star-like' or 'love'.
Ah. He smiled. "Liebe. I'll call you Liebe."
"Liebe?"
"You don't like it?" he almost pouted, almost.
"No, it's pretty good" Liebe waved him off, a hint of a smile replacing the frown.
Asta grinned for a moment before turning back serious. There were still a few things they had to talk about. And if his own consciousness allowed it, they would be able to discuss a few more thing.
"You said he killed our real Mom. Do you know more?" he asked.
"Everything" Liebe nodded. "Emily, Mom, found out the truth about him. She tried to hide you. He killed her for it. But the magic knight Captains interfered. They took you with them and the rest is history."
"Why are there two of us though?" the teen dug deeper.
Liebe hummed. "Possibly because she was a human and Zagred is not. Thus, two beings were born in the same body. The human part was more dominant, so you are in full control. Not like I want to be present out there anyway. Too much trouble" he grumbled.
"But can you come out?" the teen asked, curious.
Liebe nodded. "Now that he opened the connection between us, I can do what I want. I can move out of your consciousness and have my own body. I am my own person after all. More or less."
"So, like a split personality? With you own body? I don't get that"
"You could say that" he nodded. "You don't have to understand. I don't really get it either. Back to the main topic, there was an agreement amongst the magic knight Captains and the wizard king. Charlotte and Yami took care of you, and you grew up as their kid."
Asta bit his lip. "So, that's what Mr. Poizot meant back then. He wanted to betray them. That way he wouldn't be the only one standing in a bad light."
"Possibly" Liebe nodded.
"I don't get why, though. Why didn't they tell me?"
"The main reason could be that they didn't know that you were related to Zagred. You should talk with them about it. And your boyfriend too. Like everyone, he was trying to protect you" Liebe tried to be as gentle as possible.
He wasn't the kind of person to be gentle and soft with others. That was where he and Asta where different. Asta was more human. Kind and loving towards others. Liebe was the demonic part. The part that made sarcastic comments.
"This will be a big change" the teen sighed.
"Yes, it will" Liebe nodded. "But I am here to help you now."
"I thought you didn't want to come out" Asta said with confusion.
"I don't. But now we have access to each other. I can give you access to my power now" the devil said.
"You have magic!?" Asta shouted with excitement.
Finally. Finally he would be able to use magic just like everyone else around him. The moment he had been waiting for, for such a long time now.
"Eh, sort of" Liebe scratched the back of his head. "But it'll help you fight against him." Stretching out his hand, Liebe waited for his other self to take it.
He meant what he had said. Nothing that Zagred had done was for them, for Asta. It was out of pure greed. For the sake of gaining more power. Even if he had technically not met Charlotte and Yami yet, he saw them as more fitting parents.
"Do me a favor though" the devil said as Asta took his hand without hesitation.
"What?" the teen asked.
"Kick his butt"
Asta woke up with a weird stinging sensation on the upper right side of his back. He groaned as he sat up. A feeling that he was unfamiliar with made itself noticeable.
Using his left arm, the teen tried to feel the source of the pain. It's possible that he fell onto something hard when he had hit the ground. Something was there, he could feel it.
It wasn't a rock or anything else that would've been able to burry itself into his skin. The way he had to move his head to see the source of the uncomfortable feeling was not easy at all. But what he saw was very much surprising.
Something that looked like a wing was sprouting from his back. Pitch black and not very little either. The skin around it was black too. He noticed that his whole right arm was black, blending into parts of his torso. It didn't cover everything. The wing looked large enough to carry him, but….
Asta looked to the other side. Nothing. There was no wing on his left side. He understood what Liebe meant. He allowed him to use his power. It wasn't exactly magic, but enough so that he could possibly win a match against Zagred.
Maybe that was enough to put up an actual fight.
For a moment Asta wondered if his right eye was red now too. Liebe's had been. And his skin was black too. Since they seemed to share appearances when he borrowed his power, it was possible that this had changed too.
Oh, explaining this to Mom and Dad would be a pain. They had a lot to talk about once they came home. But there was nothing they had to worry about. He wasn't angry at any of them. What they did was just to protect him.
How could he blame them for that?
Right now, though, there were other things he had to worry about. Standing up, Asta noticed that both Zagred and Yuno were nowhere in sight. They must be fighting somewhere.
"Asta?"
Turning around, the teen saw his friends still bound by their arms and legs. Vanessa looked nervous and worried, Finral just confused. Noelle though, Noelle looked terrified. Well, he must look very different right now.
And from the talk with Liebe, he knew that Zagred would be expecting him to fight for him now. Which would not be happening. The devil apparently didn't thing about the possibility that his demonic counterpart hated him just as much.
"Hey guys" he smiled, trotting over to them.
"Are you okay kid?" Vanessa asked.
"Just fine. There are still some things that I don't understand, but I'm sure Mom and Dad will explain them" he shrugged, taking the large broadsword out of his Grimoire. Maybe he could get rid of these bindings.
Trying his luck, the blond put the blade flat onto the stone-bindings. Nothing happened.
"Huh, guess that didn't work-WOAH!"
With a flash of light, the stone vanished. Vanessa quickly caught herself, only falling into a crouching-position before standing up properly. Asta moved to do the same to the other bindings.
After the moment of shock had passed, Noelle put a hand on her hip and studied the other teen. Other than the black right side, everything seemed perfectly normal. His behavior hadn't changed one bit.
"Well" she spoke with a bit of sass in her voice. "Seems like there is only one thing left to do" she pointed at the two figures in the sky.
Huh, how did he not notice that before.
Asta grinned. Time to see what new things he could do!
Finally! I waited a long time to give you this chapter. I wanted to incluse Liebe into the story and this was the only thing I could think of. Works just fine.
Anyway, I have to admit that I don't have many more chapters written at this point. Maybe I'll get some more done soon. I really want to keep the weekly updates.
Bye
