Okay! After a LOT of thinking, considering EVERYONE'S opinions, and realizing things... I came to the conclusion that Finral HAS to tell at least three people...
Person number 1: Vanessa. She and Finral are best friends in this and I've officially got a plan for the Underwater Temple arc with Vanessa, Finral, and Fatry.
Person number 2: Henry. Henry needs to get food some how on days he can't physically move and Finral is the perfect person to do that BECAUSE even though Charmy would be the least suspicious to sneak of with food it is in fact Confirmed that she did not know about Henry until till the other Bulls found out... Finral is the only one that is not confirmed on weather he knew or not because we never got to see him actually meet Henry during the fight against the elves. And Henry can sense everything that goes on in the hideout in my stories.
Person number 3: Luck. Because Luck has such high mana sensing skills he can probably sense to people's mana in Finral which would be extremely suspicious. And I've got an amazingly funny plan for this I think you all are going to love! 😁 (Thank you, Avery_CK on AO3 for this amazing idea)
Gordon might be a 4th person to know but not be told because he keep those journals on his friends... so during his "observation of my friends" (aka stalking the other Bulls) "mission" of his, he could easily over hear Finral talking to Fatry out loud when Finral thinks he's alone. (Which I can do a side story on because I don't see a way to fit it into the main story).
Thank you everyone for your input. Everyone had amazing reasons from both options. I did not take anyone's opinions and wishes lightly and I hope this doesn't discourage any of you to stop reading and enjoying this story. As I was thinking about this... and I mean really thinking... it just doesn't seem logical that Finral could keep this a complete secret from ALL of the Black Bulls... But don't worry! There is still secrecy! A lot of it! Can you imagine the Bulls trying to keep a secret from Yami? Who can tell something is up because of everyone's ki? Who they all love but at the same time are terrified of?
A big think you to:
David Alejandro Gmez Fernandez and Amaya the Neko on Fanfiction; Averyl_CK, TrueLove17yugi_yami, CheetosVsRuffles, David123gomez, and XarexRaven on AO3; holyromanDISASTER, Hello-I-am-Caru, and Sabl18 on Wattpad for the help.
Tell Her? Tell Her Not? Part 2
"You can talk to me about it. If you need it kept a secret, I can do that."
Finral shook his head, "no, I can't."
Finral... I need you to tell her... or at least someone.
Vanessa sat waiting and watching Finral as his expression skittle changed.
No! I can't!
Yes you can... Do you remember what you promised me?
Which promise?
When you said you wouldn't let me hurt anyone... I still don't see how you can do that if we don't have our own bodies. I need her or someone to know so they can help you keep that promise. You don't have to tell her everything.
"O-okay. Okay... L-let's tell her," he mutter but not as quiet as Gordon.
"Let's?" Vanessa finally said.
"I-i-it's not bad...," he said as tears slowly began to fall, "It's not... Don't... Don't hate me..."
"Why wou..." she started to say but stopped when Finral's ears slowly pointed and a red mark began to form on his face.
"She's not your parents, Finral. She's not going to hate you over something so petty," Fatry said not looking at Vanessa.
"F-Finral?"
Fatry shook his head, "no, I'm Fatry. I'm an Elf."
Vanessa stared at him in confusion and shock.
"Finral didn't want anyone to find out," Fatry said looking up to the ceiling. "He's afraid of how people will react, of what they might do. He doesn't seem to realize that you guys aren't his parents. They're so cruel to him, it makes me sick."
"I don't understand..."
"I'm sorry... I should explain better. I'm an Elf from five hundred and one years ago. I died while on a hike up a mountain with my little brother. I got to close to the edge of the cliff at the top and slipped."
Vanessa stared at him in horror.
"The night before Finral's fifteenth birthday, I found myself reincarnated into Finral's body."
"Reincarnated? How is that possible?"
"I don't know. Finral's been trying to help me research it but we haven't had any luck yet" (a part of my really wants to capitalize the "L" in luck lol)
"You have to tell Yami," Vanessa said calmly. "I mean you two have to tell him."
Fatry shook his head.
"Can I talk to Finral?"
"Of course," he replied as the tattoo slowly vanished and his ear returned to normal.
"Finral?" Vanessa asked unsure how this worked or if it really was Finral now sitting in front of her.
He nodded but did not look at her.
She then punched him in the arm perhaps a little to hard. He jumped, grabbed his arm, and stared at her wide eyed.
"I-I-I'm s-sorry," he said not know what he did this time.
"You don't even know why I punched you and you're apologizing? The first thing you should be saying is 'what did I do?', not 'I'm sorry'!"
"I-I-I'm s-sorry," he repeated.
"No... it's 'what did I do?' Come on, say it."
"I don't need to know what I did... I'm always doing something wrong so it doesn't mater if I know what exactly it was or not."
"That doesn't sound right... just ask."
Probably because it's not, Fatry thought.
Finral sighed before replying in a mutter, "What did I do?"
Vanessa jumped to her feet and faced Finral, "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?!"
"T-tell...? s-sooner...? W-w-wh...?" Finral tried to talk but was finding it hard to get his thoughts straight.
"Yes! You're like my little brother now! You should tell me important things...! Even if there not normal."
"L-little brother...?"
"Well yeah. You're fifteen and I'm eighteen after. We're family! So no more big secrets like that! Got it?! And stop thinking that you're always doing something wrong. I'm not sure who told you that but it's not true."
"Y... you don't... You don't think... that I'm... that I'm a... a f-freak... or something?"
"You? A freak? Have you seen Gordon? He's creepy... but I don't think he's a freak... so why would I think that about you?"
"B-because... Gordon doesn't have two souls sharing his body..."
"That just means I only have three brothers."
Finral tilted his head in confusion.
Vanessa chuckled, "Gordon, You, and now Fatry."
"F-Fatry...? But... you just... you just met him..."
"So? ...?..." Vanessa leaned down and wrapped Finral in a tight hug. "Why are you crying?"
Finral buried his face in her shoulder. "M-mother and F-F-Father... t-they'd... they'd d-disown m-my..." he sobbed. "L-Langris... L-Langris w-would... H-he'd h-hate me e-even more."
"We aren't your parents and brother, Finral. We love you," She said pulling him closer, if that was possible. "Come on, we have to tell Yami!" She said grabbing his hand and pulling him off the bed to the door.
"NO!" Finral said not realizing he yelled as he tried to wipe the tears away. "We can't!" He added pulling his hand out of her grip.
"Why not?" She asked turning back to him. "This seems like something he should know about."
"There is a dead person's soul sharing my body! If Yami finds out about Fatry, he'll tell the Wizard King! Or worse threaten to kill me if I don't tell him myself! If the Wizard King finds out he'll ether want to do some magic research with Fatry and I as the guinea pig! Or worse, find a way to rekill Fatry! NO! WE ARE NOT TELLING ANYONE!"
"From what Yami says, I don't think the Wizard King is into using people as guinea pigs... or killing people for that matter."
"WE DON'T KNOW THAT! NO TELLING YAMI!"
"Okay, okay, sheesh... but only on one condition."
"C-condition?"
"I get to have a drinking contest with that little friend of yours. If I can drink more of that stuff I found in the kitchen this morning then Fatry, then we tell Yami... but if Fatry can drink more then I'll keep your little secret," she smiled at him triumphantly.
"Yami already told you that you're not old enough yet. And if you're not old enough then I'm definitely not old enough."
"That maybe true but if Fatry is over five hundred years old then technically isn't he old enough?"
I never really drank when I was alive... But you are right, we can't tell Yami or he'll definitely want to tell the the Wizard King... Tell her I'll do it.
"I am not telling her that!"
Why not?
"Because! If you get drunk then I'll be drunk too! I'm only fifteen, you have to be twenty before you can drink alcohol! (20 is the legal drinking age in Japan, so I'm assuming that's also Black Clover's legal drinking age if they have an age restriction. Noelle said they did but that was also anime only stuff from before Tabata started working on the anime.) Besides if Yami finds out he'll kill us! No, he'll kill me!"
"Come on Finral, don't be such a baby," Vanessa jabbed.
"I'm not! Just because you are older doesn't change the fact that I am your superior! And as your superior I say no!"
"If you pass out drunk I'll let you rest your head on my lap," Vanessa said. It hadn't taken her long after joining the squad to figure out how to get Finral to do what she wanted him to.
"No!... wait... you would?"
At that moment Fatry wished he had his own body so he could smack Finral upside the head and Finral was glad he couldn't.
"Mhmm," Vanessa nodded.
Finral quickly opened a portal to the kitchen, "Let's go!"
"Don't you think we should wait until Yami and Gordon are in bed?"
"Oh... r-right."
Instead they went back to the living room.
Yami gave Vanessa a look and she walked over to him.
"Get anything out of him?"
"Nothing really. Just some random stuff that didn't make any sense. You know how he gets when he's tired from mana drain." It wasn't entirely a lie. None of this made any sense to her. She's never heard of anyone being reincarnated before. Not that she had anyone to talk to her about things like this... or anything really... before joining the Black Bulls. She just hope Yami couldn't tell it wasn't the full truth.
"Yeah, the kid does talk a bunch of gibberish when he's out of mana. Let me know if he starts making sense," he said before looking towards Finral who was now sitting at the bar. "He seems to be feeling better now."
"A little, I think," She said before going to sit next to Finral.
"What did Yami want?"
"He told me that he was going to pry information out of you and if you didn't give it to him he'd kill you."
"What~?!"
"Which is why I went to talk to you instead. He's done enough damage today without threatening to kill you again."
"Thanks... I'm still not talking to him be the way."
"I didn't figure so," she said.
"He promised there wouldn't be any fighting... but he knew there probably would be."
Vanessa turned to face Yami. "Yami Sukehiro! You told me you only with held information from him!"
"I did." Yami said looking up from the paper he was now reading.
"No you didn't! You straight up lied to him!"
"I told you, if I didn't he would never have gone."
"And I'm telling you that you deserve what ever Finral decides to throw at you, be it fifty gallons of water or the silent treatment."
"Whatever," he said going back to his paper.
Finral and Vanessa sat at the bar talking and waiting for both Yami and Gordon to go to bed. It's didn't talk much longer for Gordon to mutter something before letting out a yawn and leave the living room.
"You two kids should probably get to bed too," Yami said.
"Finral says to tell you that he's not tired. Nether am I."
"I did not," Finral whispered to her.
"I know that was a lie. But if you're not ready to go to bed then stay up, but not to late. I'm going out tomorrow and I'm taking my wheels with me. I need him awake."
"Not happening," Finral said just barely loud enough for Yami to hear. "Tell him I'm not taking him anywhere for a month at least."
"He says..."
"I heard him. You got some kind of death wish kid?" He said standing up and walking up behind Finral. He placed a hand on Finral's should and leaned down between the too so he could see the spacial mage's face. "You can not talk to me all you want, however you're going with me tomorrow whether you like it or not."
"Vanessa?" Finral asked.
"Yes, Finral."
"Did you hear something? Like some sort of a monster growling? Or was I just imagining it?"
"I think you were just imagining it."
Yami placed a hand on Finral's head.
Uh oh, Fatry thought as Finral's eyes went wide.
Yami lifted him off of the barstool.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Frinal said quickly as Yami turned him so they were looking at each other. "I'm..."
"Way don't you shut up."
"Sor~... k-kay."
"What the hell is your problem?"
"M-my problem?"
"Yes! So what if there was a little fight on your mission? That's what happens on Magic Knight mission!"
"Y-y-you think that's why I'm not talking to you?! I wouldn't have as big of a problem right now if you would have told me the damn truth! YOU PROMISED NOTHING WAS GOING TO HAPPEN! YOU LIED!" Finral yelled as he began to punch Yami in the chest. "YOU PROMISED THERE WASN'T GOING TO BE ANY FIGHTING! YOU PROMISED NOBODY WAS GOING TO GET HURT! YOU SAID IT WAS JUST A DELIVERY! YOU PROMISED! YOU PROMISED! YOU PROMISED!"
Finral. Finral, stop, Fatry said calmly trying to get him to calm down.
"I TRUSTED YOU! I TRUSTED~... I trust... I...," He tried to continue as tears began to run down his face when he realized what he was doing. "I... I... I-I'm... I-I-I'm sorry."
"No. You're right. I abused your trust. I'm the one who should be apologizing."
"But I just..."
"Stop it. You didn't do anything wrong. And if you try to say that you hurt me; why don't you take a look at your hands before you so much as think about it?" Yami said sit Finral on the ground.
Finral looked down at his hands. His knuckles where already starting to turn black and blue. A second later he realized how sore they where.
"How the hell is you body so hard?!" He said through tears of pain as he clutched his hand to his chest.
"Muscles, idiot. If you're staying up, go to the kitchen and gets some ice on that. I'm going to bed. Don't stay up to late."
"Kay," they both said.
As soon as Yami was out of the room Vanessa turned to Finral.
"A portal to the kitchen please."
Finral slowly shock his head, "sorry, I don't think I can move my fingers right now to open one."
"That's okay. We can walk. I think it was on the second floor today."
Finral nodded as he wiped his tears with his shirt sleeves.
"Here, let me see," she said taking one of Finral's hands. "How hard did you hit him?"
Finral shrugged with a whimper. "I didn't mean to. I didn't know I was... I was hitting him..."
"Hey, it's okay. Come on, Yami said you should put ice on them," She said gently holding his hand and led him to the stairs.
Vanessa went to the freezer as soon as they reached the kitchen and took out some ice. She handed it to Finral before going to a cupboard.
"Oh, good! Yami didn't move it! He seemed a bit annoyed earlier. I thought for sure he would try hiding it," she said reaching in and grabbing several bottles and setting them on the counter. "Is Fatry going to be able to do this with your hands like that?"
"I don't know," Finral sniffed. "This is cold."
"It's ice, it's supposed to be cold. Come on, let's see how much of this stuff Fatry can handle," she smiled widely.
Finral sighed, looking to the floor. When he lifted his head it was Fatry who looked at Vanessa.
"Hello again," she said.
"Hmm," he smiled.
"You don't want to do this, do you?"
"Not really. I never saw the appeal of hangovers, memory loss, and the other things that came with getting drunk. That said, don't expect me to ever agree to do this again."
"Consider expectations in check," she said handing him a bottle. "How's Finral feeling?"
"Anxious... He still thinks Yami's going to kill him... other then that, he's being quiet."
He is, Finral said. He already said that he needed me tomorrow morning. What if he has a captains meeting.
"I take that back... He's freaking out because Yami said he needs his magic tomorrow."
"Just remind him what I said earlier."
"I'd much rather smack him in the back of the head for earlier," Fatry chuckled.
That's mean, Fatry.
"Not too hard. Just hard enough to be satisfying after the number of times you've ran off after random girls."
I just wanted to let them know they where pretty. What's so wrong with that?
"Nothing except for the fact that it's every girl you see."
"You two can argue about whatever it is you're arguing about later. I want to drink."
Fatry sighed, "alright, let's get this over with."
"Were you trying to stall?" She teased.
"Maybe," he shrugged.
"Alright. On the count of three, then."
"Wait... How are we doing this? You got ten bottles out... So whoever drinks all five of theirs wins? Whoever drinks drinks more... doesn't have to be all five... wins? Whoever can drink all five fastest?"
"No! You can't drink it fast! Saver the flavor! But I guess just whoever drinks the most..."
"Okay."
"Great! One," she began without giving him any warning. "Two. Go!"
They both managed to finish the fifth one at about the same time and Vanessa got three more bottles for each. She was already on her seventh bottle when Fatry reached for his seventh, picked it up before sitting it back down.
"Nope... I can't... If I drink any more I'll pass out before Finral and I switch back... We can't risk us falling asleep while I'm controlling Finral's body and have Yami or Gordon seeing me."
You realize this was your idea, right, Finral thought in a doll tone.
"I know. I know. Sorry, Finral."
"Are you admitting defeat already?"
"Fraid so. We'll tell Yami in the morning."
"What are you talking about?" She said as the two spacial mages switched back. "Why would you tell Yami...? He'd want to tell the Wizard King."
"Whaaaat?!" Finral said taking a wobbly step towards the counter. "But you said!"
"I was joking. I wouldn't tell anyone about something this weird. They'd think I was insane," she said walking up behind him as he began to fall backwards. "You can sleep," she added helping him to the floor and letting him rest his head on her lap.
"I 'ought you 'ere 'oking...," he slurred.
"Nope. A promise is a promise. Apparently Fatry can hold his alcohol better then you can though," she teased.
"Shu'p."
"Sleep, little brother."