Gladiolus

by IAmStoryteller

Three years after the battle against the Elves, everyone thought that the biggest threat was over. No one expected a foreign wizard to screw everything up for a lot of the Magic Knights of the Clover Kingdom. PART 1 Gladiolus Verse (Black Clover Canon Divergent AU)

6. Chapter 6

SPOILERS

So everything's canon divergent for real now. My Heart Kingdom is clearly different than the canon Heart Kingdom. I just didn't expect to get to the Heart Kingdom. I swore I thought they were going to go to Spade Kingdom next, but ah well.

Also, believe me or not, I guessed that Acier's death had something to do with a devil/demon, so it's in here, but I planned it before the reveal in the manga (shrugs)

WARNINGS: HEAVY ANGST IN SPOTS, MENTION OF KIDNAPPINGS, POWs

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FLASHBACK
19 Years Ago
Kingdom of Clover
Noble Realm
Silva Homestead
November 13th, two days before the birth of Noelle Silva

"She's getting so big. My little niece is so cute," said Acier, cooing at Nickole's baby in her arms. Acier was pale and looked like death and she was nearly bursting at nine months pregnant. The baby was due any day. Nickole hated to see her older sister in such a weak state. "She's really so beautiful, Neeks."

Nickole took Mimosa from her sister's arms. Mimosa was only three months old and Nickole loved her immensely. She held her baby girl close, as she spoke to her sister. "Thanks. She's a quieter baby than Kirsch. Though, if she's upset, she definitely lets me know."

Acier laughed softly. "I'm glad that you're happy with being a mom. I know that wasn't what you wanted. You married Sazerac for me, so I could marry Argent."

Nickole sighed. "We don't need to keep rehashing this, Acier. I'm fine. I have my position in the Blue Rose Knights and I have my kids. That's all I need."

"Hmm," said Acier, humming. "You'll look after mine, right?"

"Shut up, don't be stupid. Of course, yours, mine, don't matter, I'll take care of them," said Nickole, snapping at her sister. "Our kids are our kids. If it was the other way around, you'd look after Kirsch and Mimosa."

Acier smiled, weakly. "You're the best."

"No, you're the best," said Nickole, honestly. "I don't know what I'm going to do without you." She and Acier had been impossibly close as sisters. Being the illegitimate children, and then suddenly recognized children of a noble (when their father's first son had become a disappointment) had not been an easy life. Nickole and Acier were noble by birth but their mother was a commoner, who thought that she was getting a fairytale when their father starting flirting with her. Their father was an unloving man and their mother was a ditz. The only reason they even managed to not be sent off to God knows where as babies had been thanks to their step-mother's kindness, the actual wife of their father.

But there step-mother's kindness only went so far, as it went with adults.

Therefore, Acier and Nickole only had each other, until they managed to get themselves accepted by the Blue Rose Knights. Acier was exceptional, eventually landing herself the Captain of the Silver Eagles, while Nickole was content with rising to be a 1st Class Senior Magic Knight.

Nickole watched her sister breakdown into tears, after Nickole's confession. "I'm so, so sorry, Neeks. I don't want to leave you all."

"It's not your fault," said Nickole, soothingly. "I…will be ok. And Lady Solace will help me, if I need it."

"Thank Goodness, Solace is a god-send in this den of royals," said Acier, grinning, as she moved to lay down, instead of being sitting up. "Mereo's upset at me."

"She looks up to you," said Nickole, wisely. "Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on her, despite me suddenly having six kids."

Acier laughed. "I love you, sis."

"Love you too, you reckless sister of mine."

Back to Present
Heart Kingdom
The Red Palace
The Grand Heart Library
24th Day of the Curse
Morning

Julius regretted not letting Ophie take him into the meetings, but it would look strange if the random Clover Kingdom Magic Knight, who was only 16, was present in Heart Kingdom state meetings. It was not that Julius was unable to occupy his time. He had plenty to do, because somehow Ophie pawned half of her non-classified paperwork off on him, while he was busy researching in the library on some obscure law that could possibly work in their favor to avoid war.

No, the problem was Prince Jules. The young Prince was everywhere around Julius these days, even intruding on the normally private conversations. It had been that way since Ophie told Prince Jules that "Edward Kairos" would be staying on as an assistant to her, thanks to the grace of the Wizard King of Clover. The young Prince just did not like him.

Prince Jules was also sharp as a tact and quite observant. He, as King of the Heart Kingdom, would be formidable as he got older.

It was unnerving, as he sat in the library with Prince Jules sitting in a nearby chair, not really doing anything but watching Julius work. And here he thought that he was good with kids. After all, Yami and William and the others had taken to him in their teenage years.

Ignoring the fact that Julius looked at Prince Jules and saw Ophie in all his features, which made Julius immediately fond of the boy, he couldn't live like this if he were to stay for the duration of this situation. "Prince Julian, do you require something of me?"

Prince Jules raised an eyebrow, one of the many mannerisms he picked up from spending too much time with his mother, and he said, "Well, I doubt that Mom would want you to get lonely while she's busy with her Queenly duties, Lord Kairos."

"Ah-ha," laughed Julius, nervously. "Well, no need for such formalities. Just call me Edward. We are, after all, the same age, Prince Julian."

Prince Jules smirked. "Oh, are we? Should I just call you Uncle Julius then?"

Julius didn't have enough mana to even turn back the time of this conversation. He hated being back to square one. It's been a slow process of gaining his power and abilities back. Ophie would probably be annoyed at him, but, he was not going to have Prince Jules hate him this whole time. "Please don't call me Uncle in front of other people, Jules. How did you figure it out?"

Snorting, Prince Jules rolled his eyes. "Mom only has one friend outside of the Kingdom. You both seemed to buddy-buddy to have only met recently. And you talk like an old man, and not like a kid."

"Ah well," said Julius. "Let's just be discreet about it."

"No shit," said Prince Jules, glaring daggers at him. "I hope you apologized to Mom. You made her cry, you know. When you "died." She mourned you. Wouldn't get out of bed for two days after the news broke."

"I did."

"Well, she may forgive you, but Uncle Julius," said Prince Jules, standing up and pointing at him. "I'm watching you. I don't care who the hell you are but my Mom is the most important person to me. I won't let anyone hurt her anymore."

Julius smiled. "You're a good son, Jules. Why don't you help me do some research? I'm thinking of a terrible plan to get us all out of a war situation."

"Fine."

Spade Kingdom
Coliseum
24th Day of the Curse
Morning

"Okay, you worthless pieces of trash, here are the damn rules, again, 'cause we got some new prisoners," said one of the guards, standing before the shackled and mana-blocked prisoners from the Heart, Diamond and Clover Kingdoms. Vanessa felt crowded in the near the entrance to the amphitheater. Not only did most of these people seem like they hadn't a proper bath in months, she heard the thundering of the crowd above in the stands. "There are no weapons, no magic. Everything is hand-to-hand. Battle royale style, the last man standing wins. Killing allowed."

Vanessa felt sick to her stomach. Nozel grabbed her wrist to steady her. He whispered in her ear, "We stick together."

She nodded. She just had to think like Asta. Asta grew up without magic. She and Nozel had magic and now they had no access to their mana. Having no magic was hard. She just respected Asta more for working so hard to make a name for himself, while staying true to himself. Vanessa wanted to go home and give him a big, smothering hug.

"ALRIGHT, MOVE OUT, HEATHENS," roared the guards, as the gate creakily opened and the prisoners trickled out to the ring, across the bridge that showed them water around the ring.

The first thing Vanessa noted was that he was gray and cold. She had heard that the Spade Kingdom was always winter or near it. Not only was she going to be fighting in a fight that she doesn't want to be in, now she'll be cold.

Once everyone was out on the ring, the gate closed behind them and the shackles came magically off of them. The spell blocking their mana was, however, still in place.

"Welcome citizens of the greatest kingdom in the lands, Spade! Today we got two new prisoners to watch struggle in out Battle Royale! Hailing from the Clover Kingdom, we got one of them fancy royals from House Silva, the Captain of the Silver Eagles Magic Knights squad, Nozel Silva. And we also have the beautiful witch, daughter of the Witch Queen herself, Vanessa Enoteca of the Black Bulls Magic Knights squad. Will they survive? Well, no matter, Battle Royale Start," said announcer through some sort of sound magic, no doubt. "Last one standing wins!"

Vanessa almost covered her ears when a loud booming sound started the Battle Royale. Both she and Nozel barely had time to assess the situation, as men and women were already flying off the ring into the pool of water surrounding it.

Were those sharks in that water?

"Oh, Sonovabitch," said Vanessa, whacking one of the incoming people with large smacks to the head. "Captain Nozel, there's actual sharks in that water."

"Don't fall in, then," said Nozel, unhelpfully.

The ring was a mess. There were all sorts of people in the ring, fighting for their lives. Vanessa and Nozel didn't have time to talk. Vanessa had to dodge and take out some of the men that were targeting her. Nozel had more people attacking him. The others were clearly ganging up on them, since they were new and from the Clover Kingdom. The other Clover Kingdom prisoners were all the way on the other side of the ring.

"I gotcha, witch," snarled one of the big strong men, grabbing Vanessa and picking her up.

Vanessa promptly kicked the man in the face, causing herself to fall to the ground. The pain sat through her side as she landed on the stone ground. She was unable to get up fast enough and someone stepped on her, on purpose or maybe on accident.

Another someone grabbed her and got her upright.

"Keep moving," hissed the woman, before bolting off into the crowd. She recognized the accented Common Tongue. It was a woman from the Heart Kingdom. Why did she help Vanessa?

But she had no time to think about it, as the ring started to shake. Someone out there had some sort of earth magic and it was just making things harder for everyone. Then the ring was raised and titled causing anyone not balanced to immediately slide into the water. Vanessa barely managed to hang on a lose piece of tile.

Her fingers strained against the tile, praying that it would stay.

Suddenly, the ring was moving again, this time to go up right, balanced and even again. Vanessa stood up, shakily and froze.

Where was Nozel? She whipped around and found that he was fishing himself out of the water near the gate while the Heart Kingdom wizard fought off a shark with her bare hands. Sighing, she was glad that Noelle's brother was safe.

"Well, look at that folks! THE CLOVER WITCH IS THE LAST ONE STANDING!"

Wait, what?

Clover Kingdom
Noble Realm
Raquey
24th Day of the Curse
Morning

Sal sat in a bistro, hair hidden under a cap, and a fake pair of glasses on her face. Since she had taken a break from the investigation of the former Heart Kingdom citizens living in Clover Kingdom, she had to find some of them again that were always on the move. Sal knew that most of them were perfectly fine people who left the Heart Kingdom for one reason or another and wanted a new life in Clover.

She bit into the breadstick and grimaced at the staleness of it. Some of these Noble Realm shops were such scams. The rouge Curse wizard's name in the Clover Kingdom was Radcliffe Laibrook and it was any wonder that no one noticed how fake that name sounded. Sal was following Radcliffe's last known associate, former ex-Heart Kingdom Special Forces Captain Oira Stowe. The other two checked out as completely normal people who did nothing suspicious (so she may have entered their house while they were at the market and found nothing).

Oira Stowe was ex-military and that may be a problem because Sal found in Oira's apartment early a pamphlet preaching anti-monarchy and anti-noble sentiment. While she knew there was some well-built-in problems in the rigid magic-based class system, being a commoner herself, it was dangerous talk, considering that the last few years for Clover had been rocky times at best. It was understandable that some were not happy with being cannon fodder from the Magic Knights and the Clover King's enemies.

However, the only reason that everyone in the Clover Kingdom was still alive was because of some Magic Knights (Asta, the Black Bulls and Yuno in particular).

So far today, Sal felt like Oira knew that someone was following her, while Sal had to change her disguise every thirty minutes. It was honestly time-consuming—Oira was in her forties, probably the same age as the Queen of Hearts. She wondered if that had anything to do with it. Sal knew from experience that Queens and Kings had to do some things that were unsavory for reasons.

Oira went into a stationary shop and hadn't come out again, for the last ten minutes. Was she getting more copies of the pamphlet made? If this spread to the populace, the literate populace, it wouldn't be bad. Most people lived like they had blinders on and they didn't see the bigger picture or they just cared for themselves and the ones close to them.

"Miss, another cup of coffee," asked her waitress, who definitely wasn't her waitress earlier.

Sal nodded, as the young woman poured it. Sal Vermillion was no idiot. She knew who exactly this young woman was and she was not a waitress. Mariella was a Diamond-wizard on the run with her mentor and his wife and the former possessed member of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, Fana. What Mariella was doing here was beyond Sal, but if there was one thing that Asta assured them (meaning Julius, Fuego and therein, Sal) was that Fanzell, Mariella, Fana and Dominante were on the side of Clover. And they trusted Asta's word.

Oira Stowe came out of the stationary shop, empty-handed.

Was this another dead end?

Sal sighed. She had to leave the new cup of coffee behind to change her disguise again to continue following Oira. She both hated and loved investigative work.

"To-Go, then, Miss," asked Mariella pretending to be the waitress. The girl was a bad actress.

"Nah," said Sal. "Tell Fanzell to keep to himself, girlie. This ain't his business."

Mariella merely smirked. "I'll be sure to tell him, Lady Sal."

Clover Kingdom
Golden Dawn Headquarters
Yuno's Room
24th Day of the Curse
Mid-Morning

"Yuno, would you stop acting like a big baby or I'm calling Sister Lily here immediately," threatened Mimosa, furiously. She, William, Klaus, Langris and Finesse (who was here as a guest of Langris temporarily, while the Black Bulls did some stupid stuff) were standing in Yuno's room at the Golden Dawn Headquarters, while Bell was comfortably resting on Yuno's shoulder.

"Go away, cough can't you leave me in peace," Yuno asked, deadpan, sitting at his desk. "And don't you dare get Sister Lily."

"For the Lord's sake, I will move your entire village into this base," said Mimosa. She was in complete lecturing mode and after meeting her mother in the infirmary, Yuno saw the resemblance between them. "Langris can get them here in an instant. Now will you just come down to have lunch with us and socialize with everyone? I know you're upset that Asta is doing something stupid. I'm pissed at Noelle right. Langris and Finesse are mad at Finral. And Captain William is mad at Yami, but you don't see us holed up in our rooms sulking. We brought you home so you could be more comfortable and not be confined to bed."

Yuno glared at his second best friend. "If it gets cough cough cough you to stop invading cough my cough personal space, fine. cough cough But don't expect me to talk cough to anyone."

Mimosa frowned. "Fine. Now, did the flowers change again?"

"Not yet," said Yuno. He held his chest, instinctively, feeling the continuing build-up of flowers in his lungs. Asta was on his mind all the time since the other night. He just prayed that Zora and Lady Nickole made it to wherever Vanessa and Nozel were imprisoned to rescue them. "And cough you are going to let me walk."

Mimosa relented. He knew that she didn't like arguing much, and got tired of it easy. He just had to wait her out long enough. She stormed out of the room, muttering under her breath. Finesse went after her.

William and Langris gave him hard looks.

"You had better be careful not to push her anymore," said Langris, knowing first-hand what it was like to piss off Mimosa Vermillion. "Stop this pity party. You're not the only one suffering from this shit."

"She just cares about you. And she's got a lot worries right now with Asta, Zora, and her mother and Noelle and Nozel," said William, slightly scolding, but in a soft way.

Yuno frowned. He was going to have to talk to Mimosa to apologize for being difficult. And maybe, she could tell him what he should do about his feelings for Asta. He was going to confess the other night when Asta was still here, but maybe he should go after Asta and tell him before things got worse for him.

The petals already turned to full flower heads. Once the flowers came out with stems he was royally screwed and near death.

He coughed again, as he followed his former Captain and his Vice-Captain out of the room to the communal dining area.

FLASHBACK
Clover Kingdom
Magic Knight Headquarters
Office of the Wizard King
2 years ago

"Congratulations, Yuno. With William Vangeance stepping down from his Captaincy and with your recent deeds in the War against the Elves and your actions thereafter, you proved your leadership and ability to think under pressure. I expect great things out of you," said Fuegoleon, only a year into his reign as the Wizard King.

Yuno stood there, quietly. He did know why Captain William woke him up at the crack of dawn to come to the Wizard King's office, but now Yuno knew that this was an important moment. "Thank you, sir. I'll be sure to do you both proud. But may I ask something that may be inappropriate?"

Fuegoleon and William traded looks. Fuegoleon spoke, "Go ahead. You are a Grand Magic Knight now, so speak your mind."

"Captain William, you are still in your prime. Your capability to lead the Golden Dawn had never wavered," said Yuno, eyes narrowed. "What's actually going on?"

"After the failed attempt to make Asta take the fall for everything immediately after the battle, the Magic Parliament is slowly make their way ridding those they deem dangerous but quietly," said Fuegoleon, sternly. "While the Magic Parliament and the Clover King are both powerful entities in their own ways, I am the Wizard King and there are various members of the Vermillion and Silva Houses that are backing Asta, William and others. Yuno, you have an extraordinary amount of mana. You have been exceeding leaps and bounds since becoming a Magic Knight, so don't think that I didn't earn this spot. You did."

Yuno paused. "Captain William, are you going to be staying in the Golden Dawn?"

"I will be," said William. "Patri and I are now on some sort of modified house arrest. I'll be there if you need me."

Yuno had one more question that had been bothering him the last year. "Sirs, the Magic Parliament hates Asta, don't they? They are going to go after him again because of the devil in his grimoire."

William smiled sadly. "We suspect it won't be for a while, but we had rather have his biggest supporter, namely you, in a high position. Asta's going to need your help someday."

Yuno clenched his jaw at the thought of more people trying to keep Asta down. When will people see how amazing Asta was, all the good in him? He just didn't understand people. Why did they have to be so close-minded?

Fuegoleon interjected, "Being a Captain is a huge responsibility, but one I know you'll be able to do it. Langris will remain your Vice-Captain, as he is experienced at his job, but do think about making someone else a co-Vice-Captain for yourself. Don't worry too much about the Magic Parliament. It is part of my job to protect all my Magic Knights from the dirty, political stuff. Asta is too important as a Magic Knight to lose to some nonsense prejudice, okay?"

Yuno nodded, but still unsure.

"Now, let's get you sworn in and ready to work."

Back to Present
Spade Kingdom
The Great Path, the main road of the Spade Kingdom
Off to the side in the woods
25th Day of the Curse
Mid-Morning, not that you could tell because it was cloudy, foggy, wet and cold

It was honestly strange to be on a mission with someone who was not only competent at their job as a Magic Knight, but also not crazy stupid or insane. Despite what the mission being, Zora found that he didn't mind the quiet presence of Nickole Vermillion. The older woman only spoke about the mission. There was no idle chit-chat, something Zora despised, especially on missions with people he didn't know.

They stopped a little ways off of the Spade Kingdom's main road, known as the Great Path, to eat. Zora hadn't wanted to stop, but Nickole insisted that they rest and eat enough, so Zora relented and agreed to stop for ten minutes so they could rest, drink some water, and eat something.

Zora hadn't been in the habit of packing too much food, since he always had to travel light, but Charmy made crackers that didn't go bad quickly. Whenever Zora went back to base, there was always a restock of light but filling food for Zora to take on his missions.

"Here, have some beef jerky," said Nickole, handing him some of the dried meat from her neatly packed small bag of food. Nickole was a Magic Knight similar to him it seemed, one that was always on the move. Nickole packed for a mission really well, but light for easy movement.

Zora took it. "Thanks." He munched on it, enjoying the salty meat flavor. He recognized this particular flavor because it had some other spices in it that didn't come from a butcher's beef jerky. He had eaten this before when he was missions with Mimosa or Kirsch. "So, you're the one that taught Kirsch and Mimosa how to make beef jerky."

Nickole finally smiled at the mention of her children. It wasn't a big bright smile, but it was a smile. "Well, most Magic Knights have a bad habit of forgetting to pack food on missions. I wasn't having those two be that stupid."

Zora snorted. "You'd get along with Charmy then."

"I do," replied Nickole. "I've met her a lot. She's snuck into the Blue Rose base when I had happened to be there cooking for the girls, more than once."

Shaking his head, Zora replied. "Yeah, that's Charmy alright."

"I had been wondering why she asked me if I knew a recipe for crackers that stayed," said Nickole, eyeing the couple of crackers in Zora's hand. "Now I know. I'm glad that you're taking care of yourself. Mimosa and Kirsch worry about you."

Zora's felt his face get red. "Yeah, well, they don't have to…" It was always strange these days to have people care about him. For three years he had been feeling like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. He had no one since his father died when he was a boy and suddenly here came these two stupid kids (Asta and Mimosa) making him feel again. And the Black Bulls latched onto him thereafter and he found that he didn't want to get rid of them. Mereoleona kidnapped him sometimes to train. And Kirsch was annoying as all hell sometimes, but maybe they were friends.

It was weird being loved again.

"Hmm, that's just their way," said Nickole, magnanimously. "Finish up eating, we have to get back to it."

The Neutral Zone
The Black Bulls moving base
25th Day of the Curse
Mid-Morning

The Black Bulls squad was stopped for a break, so that everyone who was eating Charmy's mana-restoring food could take a breather. The only way to move the base fast enough was combining Finral's spatial magic and Henry's mana-draining disease and his building magic affinity. It was still draining on everyone, because Finral hadn't been everywhere, they could only go places that he had been before. It was still a couple days until they managed to get to the border of the Spade Kingdom with the Neutral Zone.

Asta was on lookout since he couldn't help since he had no magic. He was getting rather restless. He wanted to save Vanessa and Nozel, but he really wanted to get back to home to help Yuno. Yuno seemed so upset when Asta left.

"Hey, Little Rasta, care to come and talk to me and Finral for a few minutes," said Magna, not giving him a choice, slinging his arm around Asta to drag him to where Finral was standing, off to the side away from everyone else.

"Yeah, ok, sure," said Asta, wondering what his seniors needed from him. He wondered if it was about Miss Finesse who would be living with them once they got back to Clover. At the moment, she was staying at the Golden Dawn headquarters as it was too dangerous to bring her with them. "What's up?"

"So, ah, uh," said Finral, scratching his face. "Magna, you start."

"Really," said Magna, scoffing. "You coward. Anyway, Asta, we want to talk about Yuno."

Asta startled. "What? Is he ok? Did you get a message from the Wizard King or Mimosa or Klaus?"

Finral and Magna gave each other looks that Asta did not understand, when Magna said, "No, Klaus said he's fine, when I talked to him last. No changes in the flowers. But Asta, we have to talk about Yuno and his feelings."

Asta made a face. "Okay, why?"

Finral sighed. "Yuno's in love with someone, someone that he needs to tell his feelings to so he won't die."

Asta nodded, frowning. "Yeah, I know."

"Little buddy, you don't sound too thrilled about it," said Magna, bluntly. "You've been in a damn mood lately. Yeah, you've been smiling and carrying on like normal, but we all can tell. You're very upset."

Shaking his head, Asta said, "I'm just worried. I'm not upset that Yuno's in love with someone. It's great news! Yuno's amazing, strong, confident, handsome, so of course, he'd be in love with someone someday and be with that someone. Yuno deserves to be happy."

"Oh my God," said Finral, sighing and shaking his head in disbelief.

Magna had a pinched expression on his face. "Asta, you damned idiot!"

Asta was confused. What were his seniors talking about? Why were they so baffled and annoyed? "Uh, guys?"

"Who is Yuno in love with, Asta," asked Finral and Magna, at the same time, raising their voice just a bit.

"How am I supposed to know," snapped Asta back, sounding more pissed than he wanted. "Yuno doesn't tell me everything you know?! He's like that. He keeps things inside. If he wanted me to know, he'd tell me. He's probably shy about it, since he always had a hard time with people!" Asta did not want to talk about the mysterious person that Yuno was probably going to wind up spending the rest of his life living side-by-side with that person.

He grumbled to his seniors that he was going to the bathroom and left.

It was fine that Yuno was in love with someone.

It was.

Clover Kingdom
The Clover King's Castle
The Chambers of the Magic Parliament
25th Day of the Curse
Mid-Morning

As always, Fuegoleon hated being in chambers with the Magic Parliament. All the royal and noble house heads were members, and each noble house head were allowed to invite two people of their family to chambers, like Magic Parliament wasn't the freaking legislative and judiciary arms of Clover Kingdom. Any royal can show up whenever they wanted to do so, at their discretion. Fuegoleon's own father only ever brought Fuegoleon to teach him about how to conduct himself in the future.

It was a full house for once, even if some were there by astral projection via magic. Like usual it was loud with inter-house bickering and old grudges that last centuries. Fuegoleon was in the section reserved for the Vermillion House, despite being the Wizard King. It was apparent to him that the moment he stepped into the Chambers of the Magic Parliament, Damnatio Kira thought himself above the Wizard King, whoever was in that position. It was no secret that Damnatio hated Julius and what he stood for as Wizard King.

No wonder Julius told Fuegoleon to be on guard around the royal.

Sitting with Fuegoleon were his father Aldebrand and his second cousin Bennett.

"You think they would take this seriously for once," said a voice.

Fuegoleon turned to the sound of the voice and found his aunt standing there. Tarian Vermillion was the middle child, born after Aldebrand, and before Sazerac. She had a strong wanderlust growing up and opted out of the Magic Knight squads for the University—while she did get married and had twin boys (Fuegoleon's cousins Nathaniel and Theodore AKA Cousin Nat and Cousin Theo), as soon as the twins were walking age, she took herself and the twins on a world-tour. They come back every once in a while.

Tarian was a tall woman with vermillion hair, kept in a long braid, and blue eyes. She dressed in travelers' clothes, not even looking like she was a royal of House Vermillion.

"Glad you made it," said Aldebrand, going over to hug his sister.

"Well, when Saz messaged me telling me to get my ass back here, me and the boys hightailed over as fast as we could," said Tarian, grinning. "Considering that it took three days to convince the dock-master that we were, in fact, citizens of Clover, I'd say it was best that I came home. Shall I give that asshole Damnatio a heart-attack?"

"Oh would you," muttered Bennett, who was busy trying to write everything down going on in the meeting. The Vaudes were arguing with the Kira; the Silva were pissing off everyone; and the Clover King was whining.

Fuegoleon sighed. "Aunt Tarian, sorry about that delay at the docks. We have some temporary travel bans. This is what this meeting is about—whether or not to make a permanent inter-kingdom travel ban and a limited inter-realm travel ban."

Tarian narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "I haven't been home in four years, so you had better give me an update. I can handle Damnatio then. He was my student back at the University, after all. Impudent brat, thinks he's so high and mighty. I'll hand his ass to him on those scales he's so damn proud of…"

Fuegoleon now understood why his father and his uncle sent messages to their sister to bring her back home.

Damnatio had no chance in hell of winning against the might of Tarian Vermillion's scholarly might.

Clover Kingdom
Silver Eagles Headquarters
Office of the Vice-Captain
25th Day of the Curse
Afternoon

Vivian stared at the pages in her shaking hands. What was this nonsense? What had Captain Mereoleona asked her to do? She had made sure after checking the medical registry of blood types on file at the University to cover her tracks. Thank God, she was extra careful. Vivian had not minded helping Mereoleona with the girls, but doing blood tests on all three of them, with orders to keep a close eye on Blue's blood test, was pushing it.

She wouldn't even be able to tell Nebra what she found. What Vivian learned was far too dangerous for more than a handful of people to know. She breathed in and out to steady herself. She was not going to panic.

She wasn't.

"Hey! We got the Captains' Meeting to go to," said Nebra, startling Vivian out of her revere.

Vivian jumped and shoved the blood test results under one of her books on her desk, pretending she was just reorganizing something. "Yeah, I know. Just finishing some stuff up. Need to stay on top of things so Captain won't have too much to do when he comes back."

Nebra smiled and Vivian's heart-rate spiked because Nebra was actually really pretty when she smiled kindly and warmly. The two hadn't started on the right foot back when they were both fifteen and just joined the Magic Knights. Nebra originally saw Vivian as a rival. Vivian didn't want a rival. She wanted a friend. It took years, one war where everyone's lives were at risk, and a few apologies later but they were friends.

And now, Vivian was a selfish brat because she wanted so much more than that now. God, she needed to control herself.

"Big Brother will appreciate it. Let's go! Can't wait for all the drama."

"Oh my God, Nebra, no."

Clover Kingdom
Magic Knights Headquarters
Captain's Meeting Room
25th Day of the Curse
Afternoon

Fuegoleon stood in front of the table of Captains (those that were there or their temporary placeholders) and said, "Alright, I know that we are all very mad at the Black Bulls and stressed about the impeding war, but let's focus. The Magic Parliament, after much deliberation, has decided to implement the travels bans for a year."

"Seriously this is a bad idea," said Kaiser, shaking his head. "The only thing that will do is unsettle the people and hurt businesses who rely on trade."

"Not to mention, it'll hurt those in the Forsaken Realm the most," said Dorothy. "There's three months until the next Magic Knights Exams, if the young recruits can't travel between the realms to get to the site of the exams to register on time, it'll be little choice this time."

Fuegoleon blanched. In all the chaos, he forgot about the Magic Knight Exams that were due to take place this year. "Yes, well, I think that the Magic Parliament is aware of that fact."

Charlotte scowled. "Then, if that's the case, there will be only about 5 new Magic Knights from the nobles and royals then, because that's all who's coming of age this year." Needless to say, Charlotte was indeed correct. If only nobles and royals entered the Magic Knight Exams, as they had done up to only 17 years ago, the number of Magic Knights would suffer.

They need more young wizards now these days with the increasing threats. Everyone in the room were quiet at the thought of lacking manpower in these trying times.

Thankfully, Jack knew when to break out into the silence, "So, Fuegoleon, what are you going to do to Yami when he comes back?"

Fuegoleon sighed. "I don't know. Let's just hope that before the Black Bulls can do anything stupid that Zora and Nickole rescue Nozel and Vanessa."

"Oh, nuts," said Rill, jumping up on the table, excited at his new idea. He was 20 but he was still so…youthful. "Um, um, what are we going to do about protecting Asta from the Magic Parliament? They might take it out on him again!"

"Ah, don't worry about that," grinned Mereoleona, who shown up late to the Magic Parliament meeting because no one dared challenge her. "Aunt Tarian is back and Damnatio fears her, pretty sure he wet himself when he saw her in Chambers. Besides, even if they do, we aren't going to let me mess with Asta."

"Right," agreed everyone in the room.

"SIR! CAPTAINS! We have a situation at the door of headquarters" came Marx, running into the room. Everyone automatically stood up and ready to head off the situation. "WAIT, IT'S ONLY A WOMAN!"

"What is the problem then," asked Fuegoleon.

"She's, uhh, screaming for you to come out and her magma almost broke though the steel gates," said Marx. "She kind of reminds me of someone…I can't place who…"

Fuegoleon racked his brain to remember if he had upset any women lately and came up empty. "Well, Mereoleona come with me and we'll see what the problem is. Meanwhile, the rest of you start planning the Magic Knights Exams for this year, we're behind on planning it."

Fuegoleon and Mereoleona walked after Marx, headed towards the gates of the Magic Knight Headquarters' Castle. When they got there, there was an obvious red spot in the center of the gate.

Several Magic Knights were on guard, looking a bit pale.

"Hey, who knew that someone else had magma as an affinity, like Father," said Mereoleona, grinning.

"Well, it's not like wizards with similar abilities don't exist, Mereo," said Fuegoleon, sighing. He gestured to the guards to open the gate.

Fuegoleon and his older sister came face-to-face with a woman probably a few years older than Mereoleona, but Fuegoleon knew exactly who this woman was because her striking resemblance to her son.

"Miss Swing, I assume," said Fuegoleon, looking at the very pissed off woman's face. "What can I do for you?"

"My name's Shula and where the fuck did you send my boy," she snarled, the area becoming increasingly warm due to her magma magic affinity.

Mereoleona nudged Fuegoleon.

"Ah, well, why don't you come in and we'll explain," said Fuegoleon, cautiously. "But let me assure you that Magna's actions were his own. I ordered him against the actions."

Shula Swing, Magna's mother, crossed her arms, and calmed her magic down. She was still heavily glaring and scowling. She had similar split hair color of black and gray (though more gray in it than Magna). She was clearly blacksmith from the strength in her arms, the soot on her clothes, and the way she had the insignia of the Blacksmith's guild on her belt.

"Fine. Where can we talk?"

Clover Kingdom
Magic Knights Headquarters
The Office of the Wizard King
25th Day of the Curse
Afternoon

"I'm gonna kill him," said Shula, as Fuegoleon finishing telling her everything. And by everything, he meant everything because she was that mad that only the whole truth would calm her down.

"Now, I'm sure Magna meant well…"

"Oh," said Shula, cutting off Fuegoleon with a wave of her hand, "not my boy. I'm gonna kill Yami Sukehiro. That asshole. We had a fucking agreement but no, he just does what he wants." Shula was more reasonable when she was not spitting fire out of her mouth (metaphorically, of course). Whatever agreement Yami had with Shula, well, that was not Fuegoleon's business.

Mereoleona burst out laughing watching everything unfold. "Oh my God, I would pay money to see it."

Fuegoleon coughed, awkwardly. "Well, I won't stop you."

Shula grinned, not unlike her son. Really Magna was truly a spitting image of his mother. "Good." She stood up from the chair. "Sorry about barging in here all hot. But he's my only son, and this note he sent me jostled me."

Fuegoleon shook his head. He had read the note Magna sent to his mother. It was vague stating: "I'm sorry, Ma. I'll be back in Clover soon enough. Went to rescue Vanessa and Noelle's bro in Spade."

No wonder she was so mad. Shula must have heard rumors about the war brewing between the Heart and Spade Kingdoms and worried that Magna was going to get in the middle of it. If he or Leo or Mereo ever sent something like that to their mother, he didn't think anyone would stop her.

"Ah, it's not an issue as everything was cleared up, Miss Swing," said Fuegoleon, "Let us escort you…"

He was cut off by the door to his office being kicked open to see his three nieces and his mother enter the room. Solace smiled at everyone. "Mereo, the girls have been asking for you. They miss you."

"Mereo," cheered the girls, running up to Mereoleona, who preened under the attention.

"Ah, Mother, how many times do I have to tell you not to burst into my office like that," asked Fuegoleon, sighing. No wonder Father just kept his door to his home office and his office at the Clover Castle open at all times, to avoid damage to the door.

"I wasn't aware that you were allowed to tell me anything. I'm your mother, after all," said Solace, sweetly. "Ah, you're in a meeting. Hello, I'm Solace Vermillion, these two here are my kids and these three sweeties are my grandbabies."

Shula shook hands with Solace. "Name's Shula Swing. My son is in the Black Bulls under the command of your boy."

Solace was immediately sympathetic. Fuegoleon noted his mother once again stopping herself from hugging. His mother was a hugger and had to restrain herself all the time. "Ah, Magna. He's a good boy, that one! Yes, I'm afraid the Black Bulls are being themselves and causing trouble, but I'm sure everything will work out."

"Troublesome brat," said Shula, sighing.

"You're all the way from Rayaka, aren't you? I believe Magna mentioned it when he was in the infirmary," said Solace. "Why don't you come and stay with us, so once Magna and the rest of the Black Bulls return, you can see him right away?"

"What do you mean infirmary," asked Shula, eyes narrowed. "Was he hurt recently?"

"Oh dear, he didn't tell you! Unbelievable," said Solace, frowning. "Well, I treated him! So he's okay now."

Shula nodded, thoughtfully. "If it's not trouble for y'all, I'll be sticking 'round since my son won't tell me things."

"Excellent! Mereo, I'm leaving the girls with you," said Solace. "Miss Shula, let's go get something to eat."

"Ahh, awesome, I'm starvin'." The two women walked out of the room. Mereoleona and Fuegoleon traded looks.

"We'll now all they need is Aunt Nickole back in the Capital," said Mereoleona, amused, as Blue and Sabriel pulled at Mereoleona's hands, while Hanima was somehow now climbing up Mereoleona's back.

"Did they just become instant friends?"

"Yep."

FLASHBACK
Clover Kingdom
Vermillion Homestead
The Gardens
12 years ago

Solace sat at the table, reading a medical text, watching Fuegoleon and Bennett, two young men, play-train with their respective siblings. Leo and Astride were a rambunctious pair, already both skilled with their magic. She knew that they were anxiously waiting for their fifteenth birthday to get their grimoires. It was good to see that Fuegoleon and Bennett took the training of their siblings seriously.

She always wanted her children to be close, to be able to depend on each other, if she or Aldebrand weren't around anymore. Solace was a healer and Aldebrand, while skilled in mana and a Magic Knight, was more of a statesman. The fact that Acier took to training Mereoleona was a miracle in itself. In turn, the training of Fuegoleon was left to skilled Magic Knight Teresa.

"Hey, Mother, look at that! Leo's not falling on his face anymore," said Mereoleona, laughing.

Solace grinned over at her oldest child and only daughter. "I didn't know you were coming home."

"Stopped by since it was nearing Father's birthday," said Mereoleona. She raised an eyebrow at her two brothers and two second cousins. "I'm gonna mess with them."

Solace smiled with a sigh as Mereoleona charged over to them, flames blazing (the poor gardeners), and the four screaming at Mereoleona to stop. Mereoleona challenged them all to a fight that they were forced to accept.

"Lady Solace, shall I douse them with water," asked Miss Sharise, grimoire at the ready.

"No, let them. Just get the gardeners for the aftermath."

"Yes, My Lady."

Back to present
Clover Kingdom
Coral Peacocks Headquarters
Kirsch Vermillion's Room
26th Day of the Curse
Morning

Dorothy knew it was time for tough love. She was done with coaxing and coddling. She needed Kirsch back in action as her Vice-Captain. There was just too much going on that they needed everyone where they were supposed to be. It was why she charged into Kirsch's room first thing in the morning after that horrendous Captains' meeting and kicking the healer out of the room.

"Captain?"

"Kirsch," said Dorothy, scowling, arms crossed, attempting to look stern. "I'm going to be frank with you. I know who you are in love with and you need to talk to me about it, so I can help."

Kirsch was sitting in bed, several texts from the University Library on his bed, clearly researching something. He was pale, no color in his cheeks, and he really looked bad. Ever since hearing the news that his mother and Zora were out in the Spade Kingdom, he had been worse than usual. "Captain, I don't think cough that it's appropriate…"

Dorothy cut him off. "Tell me about Zora, Kirsch."

Kirsch startled and started to cough up more red carnations. "What the hell cough are you talking about, cough cough Captain?"

"Your feelings for Zora, obviously," replied Dorothy, unamused.

Kirsch attempted to talk, but only coughs came out. "cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough coughI cough cough cough cough cough cough don't cough cough cough coughhave cough cough cough cough feelings for cough cough that guy! cough cough"

Dorothy gave him a look, as she got the bin to clean up the pile of flowers uncontrollably coming out of his mouth. She did not say anything but look at him while she cleaned up the flower petals.

For five minutes, she stared at him without saying a word.

Kirsch snapped like Dorothy thought he would; she knew him too well. "Fine, fine, Captain! God! Yes. cough cough I love Zora Ideale. cough cough cough cough I don't know why. I don't know how. cough cough But I love him and his sarcastic ways and the way his grin is both endearing cough cough and terrifying. I love that he cough cough challenges me and makes me think. I like that kindness under all his walls…"

Dorothy listened him go on and on, saying things that she really did not want to hear at a certain point.

"Alright, alright! That's enough," said Dorothy, clapping her hands together. "Now that you admitted it. Let's work you through it. Let's figure out where the feelings started and what you should do!"

Kirsch miserably pouted.

Dorothy was going to help him no matter what.

FLASHBACK
Clover Kingdom
Forsaken Realm
2 and a half years ago (about 6 months after the War against the Elves)

He cursed his cousin for the hundredth time on this mission. Kirsch had been assigned to lead a four-man squad to track down a magic beast that was rampaging through several towns in the Forsaken Realm. But of course, dear cousin Fuegoleon had to stick Kirsch with the annoyances of Asta, Yuno, and Zora. He didn't hate them, but they were annoying and they had a hard time listening to Kirsch's excellent battle advice.

While they had completely the mission (as noted by the slobbering mutt that Asta had on a leash to bring back to the Black Bulls), Kirsch was just done with this mission. Yuno and Asta were up front, talking, as the big beast followed Asta like an obedient puppy. The two childhood friends were clearly in love and it was gross.

"God, it's gross, isn't it," commented Zora, as the two older Magic Knights took up the rear behind the smelly beast. Zora gestured to Asta and Yuno. "Them being so oblivious and happy without knowing why."

Kirsch smirked. "Very."

Granted that Zora was five years older than Kirsch and had more experience being a Magic Knight, Zora was quite observant. Kirsch didn't know that Zora was able to pick up on the subtle love between the two upstarts. Asta's love was more difficult to discern, because he clearly wasn't aware, unlike Yuno, who clearly was aware.

Zora grinned, as he took out some stink bugs and threw them at the back of Asta and Yuno's heads.

Asta went to the ground, yelling and complaining of the smell, while Yuno used his wind to immediately be unaffected. Yuno knelt to Asta, teasing him as he blew away the smell for Asta.

"See, gross."

Kirsch snickered for a moment, before catching himself being un-royal-like. Who knew Zora was actually funny?

FLASHBACK
Clover Kingdom
Common Realm, near the border of the Noble Realm
Windlass Town
Noon
2 years ago (about a 1 year after the War against the Elves)

"Is this the town," asked Zora, raising an eyebrow. He and Kirsch flew down to the ground on their brooms. Once again Kirsch found himself, courtesy of his troublesome cousin Fuegoleon, on another mission with Zora (this is the seventh one, but who was counting? Certainly not, Kirsch). This time it was a two-man retrieval missions, low-priority.

Kirsch knew that they were being sent to appease some noble, who thought that he was beyond important. Kirsch just did not understand why Zora was sent—generally, Fuegoleon kept Zora away from nobility and royalty that were not in the Magic Knights and even then, Zora messed with them. Perhaps, this noble irritated Fuegoleon, but Fuegoleon was not a petty person like that to send the one Magic Knight who had a hatred of nobility and royalty (in general), thought Kirsch to himself.

"Oi, flower boy, you in there," asked Zora, throwing a stink bug at Kirsch's head. Kirsch, to his credit, had gotten used to the other man throwing the stink bugs at him, so he was able to dodge.

"Yes, let's just get this done," said Kirsch, scoffing. The two walked into the town and immediately found the biggest house in the town, which was right in the center and clearly took up way too much room. The architecture did not even match the town, so it stuck out badly. "How tacky."

"For once, I agree with you," said Zora, snickering. "Someone's got his head up his ass."

"Please, behave for once," said Kirsch. "And maybe, let me do the talking."

Zora gave a mock-offended look and gasp. "Are you saying that I would insult him and cause an incident?"

"You know you would," replied Kirsch, easily.

Zora cackled. "Not like you're any better, Kirsch. I've seen you make nobles cry all the time."

Kirsch waved him off, dismissively. "I do not! It's not my fault they can't handle some criticism. I am very diplomatic, you know! Captain Dorothy depends on me for it!" He was only bragging a little bit, not that Zora would ever be impressed with anything he did.

"Okay, sure," said Zora, still grinning. "We'll just see. If I break the guy, I'll owe you a drink. But if you do, you owe me one."

Kirsch took the challenge. "You're on, Zora." The two Magic Knights went to the gate of the tacky manor of the noble and knocked loudly at the front gate. A guard let them inside once Kirsch told the guard who they were and why they were here. Another servant led both Kirsch and Zora to the main foyer of the house.

Zora was already getting antsy. Kirsch could tell as Zora crossed his arms and he was dead-staring. He noticed over the time that he had known Zora that when the red-head was uncomfortable with something, he crossed his arms and his face went blank.

"Relax," said Kirsch, softly.

Zora just ignored him.

It took 15 minutes before the lord of the house bothered even showing up to greet them and now Kirsch was the one antsy. How dare some common noble keep Kirsch, a royal and a Vice-Captain of a Magic Knight squad, and his partner for the mission waiting? Did this fool know that both Kirsch and Zora had better things to do than play courier?

"Thank you, Lord Vermillion, for coming all this way. I would normally use the magical mail service, but this was just far too important to just land in anyone's hands," said the smelly, slimy man, handing Kirsch a sealed letter. Kirsch noted it was addressed to his Uncle Aldebrand, the Head of House Vermillion, meaning that it was to get to Fuegoleon and then given to Uncle Aldebrand. Kirsch pocketed the letter.

"Well, we shall just see ourselves out, then," said Kirsch, wanting to get back to the Capital immediately and beg his cousin not to send him on stupid missions anymore.

"Ah! I would love if you stayed for lunch, Lord Vermillion," weaseled out the nobleman. "And of course, your servant can eat in the kitchens."

Kirsch felt baffled. Kirsch never had servants attend to him, what was this man talking about? And then, to his horror, Kirsch realized that the noble thought Zora was Kirsch's servant.

"His what," snarled Zora, murderous intent clear, mana spiking in clear irritation. Kirsch already saw the stink bugs piling up in Zora's hands.

Kirsch held up his hand in front of Zora, not that it would stop him, but said to the noble in the haughtiest and most arrogant tone he could manage, "How dare you insult my fellow Magic Knight? What an appalling assumption, sir! What a travesty! Let's go Zora. We don't need to be in this terrible, awful man's presence any longer." The nobleman was red, and sputtering with fake apologies, but Kirsch did not want to hear it. With a dramatic turn (and he almost wished he had his longer hair, because that would have been an epic hair toss over the shoulder), he turned up his nose and grabbed Zora to get the hell out of there.

Zora, however, didn't resist the urge and threw a few dozen stink bugs off in the foyer of the man's house for good measure. "Hah, have fun getting the smell out of your tacky house, sucker!" Zora cackled all the way down the lane to the gate, while Kirsch just shook his head.

"I guess we owe each other drinks."

Zora kept laughing, as each summoned their brooms. "Yeah, I guess, you're right. Let's get back. What a dickhead."

"Quite," replied Kirsch.

The two flew off, not talking while they headed straight from the Magic Knights Headquarters. This letter had better be something important.

Sometime later, they landed on one of the towers of the headquarters. Kirsch sighed. "Well, that was a waste of a morning."

"So what do you think is in the letter," asked Zora.

"Ah, no this is for my uncle. We can't read it!"

"Why your uncle?"

"He's the Head of House Vermillion, of course," said Kirsch. "If there is some sort of a deal with the Vermillion, it must go to my uncle first."

Zora scowled. "Why kind of deal?"

"Nothing shady or illegal. We, Vermillion, don't play at those games," said Kirsch. At least, he hoped the majority of his extended family were on the up-and-up. Zora just gave him a pointed look as if he didn't believe Kirsch. "Normally, it's…Oh, no."

"What," Zora asked.

Kirsch took out the letter and glared it. "Marriage proposals. That's the main reason why any noble would contact my uncle."

Zora grumbled. "I still can't believe you all do arranged marriages still. It's so stupid."

Kirsch was quiet. He agreed with Zora's thoughts on arranged marriages. His parents did not marry for love, but Aunt Solace and Uncle Aldebrand did, so did Aunt Acier and Uncle Argent. Kirsch opened the sealed letter and would deal with the consequences later. Zora opened his mouth to say something but instead, grinned.

"Well?"

Kirsch was silent as he read the letter. "Over my dead body. What the fuck is this shit?"

"Wow, I haven't heard you curse like that before," said Zora, snatching the letter and reading it for himself. "Oh, hell fucking no. Let's go back and murder the fucker right now!"

Kirsch breathed through his nose. "No! Then, they would know it's us. But Mimosa is not marrying some 40-year-old asshole! Never! Absolutely not!"

"Fuck right, she ain't. She's barely seventeen," said Zora, in a strange protectiveness over Mimosa that Kirsch appreciated. He knew that Zora had a soft spot for Mimosa and Asta, who had been his Royal Knight Exam teammates, even if he did not admit it out loud. "She's a damn kid!"

"I am talking to Uncle Aldebrand. He's going to reject this," said Kirsch, taking the letter back and pocketing it, fuming mad. He did not know that men were sending proposals to his little sister. How dare no one tell him? "Report to the Wizard King would you?"

"Sure," said Zora, for once helpful. "Just make sure that this is dealt with, Kirsch."

"Deal."

FLASHBACK
Clover Kingdom
Common Realm, near the border of the Forsaken Realm
North of Nean
Afternoon
1 year ago

He and Kirsch were in the forest somewhere north of Nean. They were sent out on a mission to track down rumors of a bandit group. They were posing as travelers. Kirsch was in the plainest outfit (Zora had to pick it out for him at the Nean shop because everything Kirsch wanted to wear was so loud) and he was rather uncomfortable in the commoner clothes.

However, Kirsch's biggest problem was Zora's face. For the mission, Zora took off his lower-face mask. He knew that the rumors of the red-headed, sharp-toothed masked Black Bull had been spreading throughout the Clover Kingdom, so the mask had to go if they were going to lure the bandits out.

Why was Zora so attractive? Certainly, there was a sort of dangerous handsomeness to Zora with the mask and his whole badass vigilante type, but here was Zora, sitting on the ground, poking the fire with a stick as the rabbit they hunted earlier roasted over the open flame, being amazingly handsome.

It was honestly an offense that Kirsch hadn't noticed that with or without the mask that Zora Ideal was an attractive, strong man.

"You're being too quiet, it's freaking me out, pretty boy," said Zora, grinning at him.

The grin had not the same effect as with the mask. With the mask, the grin-smirk was more terrifying yet endearing. The small quirk of the lips in the small grin, barely showed the sharpness of his teeth. It was kind of…cute on Zora.

"Nothing," said Kirsch, trying to change the subject. There was no way that he was going to accidentally let Zora know that the other man was attractive.

"Alright, if you say so, weirdo."

FLASHBACK
Clover Kingdom
Forsaken Realm
South of Rayaka
Evening
9 months ago

Kirsch felt the pressure on his chest and the pounding of his head as he awoke. His opened his eyes with great difficulty. When they were opened, he had to blink a couple of times because his vision was full of Zora's face peering down at him.

"Thank fuck, I thought you were dead, you asshole," complained Zora. Zora's eyes were watching Kirsch closely.

"Are you alright? Where's the enemy," Kirsch asked, almost drunkenly. Belatedly, he realized that Zora had been hovering over him because Zora had been doing chest compressions.

"Tied up and ready to go to jail. But more important, are you okay," asked Zora, helping Kirsch sit up. "Rest a minute. Don't move. I'm gonna check on the enemy."

Kirsch sat up and tried to regain his equilibrium. He was kind of dizzy, maybe it was the lack of oxygen? What kind of magic did the enemy have again? "Oh, yes, water. Wonderful. I'm wet."

Zora came back in Kirsch's line of vision. "I called for backup on your fancy magic item thing, so just sit tight. An actual medic will be here soon."

"Ah, thank you, Zora."

"Yeah, whatever. I just didn't want to have to explain to Mimosa or the Wizard King or Asta why you died," replied Zora, blithely. But Kirsch heard the underlying worry in his Zora's voice for once.

Zora cared a lot about other people, people he deemed important.

Zora cared about him.

And Kirsch felt like he was going to faint.

"Oi, I told you to take it easy!"

Back to present
Clover Kingdom
Coral Peacocks Headquarters
Kirsch Vermillion's Room
26th Day of the Curse
Morning

"Oh my God, cough I'm an idiot," moaned Kirsch, hiding his hands in his face, after he recounted several stories to his captain. Captain Dorothy cooed sympathetically, ruffling his hair. "How did I not notice cough that I was falling cough cough in love with him? Oh my God. cough Pathetic. cough I am cough pathetic."

"It's not so bad, Kirsch," said Dorothy. "At least, you know now."

Kirsch looked at his captain. He felt overwhelmed with all sorts of feelings. "Uhh, Captain, what I am cough cough supposed cough to do?"

"Well…"

Captain Dorothy was cut off when Levi bursting into the room. "Captain Dorothy, Captain Mereoleona and Vice-Captain Vivian are here to see you. They say it is urgent!"

"AH! We will talk later, Kirsch," said Dorothy, zooming out of the room to see what their guests wanted, leaving Kirsch in the room with the third-in-command in the Coral Peacocks squad. Kirsch liked Levi Roe well enough. They clashed sometimes, because Levi was rather dismissive, but they both had a grudging respect of each other. Levi was good in a fight to have at your back due to his barriers.

"All good, Vice-Captain," Levi asked, once Captain Dorothy was gone. He came to sit down in the chair that their Captain was using.

Kirsch weighed his options. Captain Dorothy was not one he wanted to get romantic advice, considering her own unrequited love. And Kirsch knew that Levi had both girlfriends and boyfriends in the time that they had known each other as squadmates. "Levi, you've cough been in love before?"

Levi looked at him and laughed. "Yeah, of course. Haven't you? Or is this person that the flowers are for the only one?"

"Yeah," said Kirsch, flushing immediately. While he came off as confident, Kirsch was actually inexperienced with any kind of romance, due to the fact that he was a workaholic.

"Vice-Captain," said Levi, sobering quickly. "Be it far from my place to tell you what to do, but you should just confess. Not only will it make you feel better to get it off your chest, so to speak, but you never know what will happen. It might be a good thing."

Kirsch was afraid of that advice. "I can't. cough cough"

"Why?"

"Because I'm a cough cough royal, cough cough Levi," said Kirsch, realizing that he was very much never going to be happy in a relationship because he wasn't attracted to girls at all and not many men either.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm cough cough cough betrothed, cough cough cough unfortunately."

"What," Levi asked startled. "Seriously?"

Kirsch frowned. "I'm the oldest cough cough son of the cough cough second son of the cough cough Vermillion main house. Of course, I am. cough cough cough cough cough It helps to also keep Mimosa cough cough cough from being betrothed against her will too. Not that my uncle or my cough cough father would force her, cough cough but there's a lot of people cough cough in the family that are very traditional, you know."

"But they'll force you? Have you even met this girl," asked Levi, getting offended for Kirsch, which Kirsch very much appreciated. Levi grabbed the other waste bin to give it to Kirsch to put the newest petals in it.

"It is cough cough what it is," said Kirsch, simply. "And no, cough I have not cough met her. She's a cough young lady from a cough small noble house, studying at the cough University."

Levi made a face. "I don't like hearing you like this, Vice-Captain."

"Like cough what?"

"Defeated. It's very much unlike you," said Levi, matter-of-factly. "I suppose your duties and responsibilities made you force yourself not to realize that you were in love with someone who you weren't supposed to be in love with…So, who is it?"

Kirsch sighed. "Don't tell. cough cough cough cough cough cough cough"

"I won't. Besides, Captain knows already."

"It's Zora." Kirsch heaved when he admitted. Red carnation petals spilled out of his mouth.

Levi looked at him, eyes filled with pity. "Oh, Vice-Captain. Sorry."

"Yeah, I know. cough cough Kind of hopeless, isn't it?"

"But, you should tell him when he comes back," said Levi, softly. "You need to get it out and he deserves to know that someone loves him. And…this will help you move on…and stop the curse. And I'm sure even Zora doesn't want you to die because of a stupid curse."

Kirsch frowned. He really did not know what to do. On one hand, he wanted to confess and tell Zora all his feelings, but then again, there was a lot stopping him—rejection, knowledge that Kirsch himself was promised to another, his duty as a royal and a big brother, and his responsibility as a Magic Knight. What would his parents say if they found out? His mother might be okay, but his father might not.

"Hey, you need to calm down," said Levi, standing up and patting Kirsch on the back. "You need all the oxygen you can get, so don't get yourself in a panic attack."

Kirsch didn't know what to do as his squad-mate fussed over him. Why did this have to happen to him?

Technically the Clover Kingdom
Technically Coral Peacocks Headquarters
Dorothy's Dream Realm
26th Day of the Curse
Morning

"This is not good," said Dorothy, wide-eyed at Mereoleona and Vice-Captain Vivian. "I see why you needed the dream realm to speak in private without private ears." Mereoleona was tensely sitting in one of the chairs, while Vivian sat, pale and very nervous. "How accurate is this, Vice-Captain Vivian?"

"Ninety-five percent accurate," said Vivian. "I checked and cross-checked all available blood samples at the University medical school. Blue is a Kira Clove royal. And Hanima is definitely related to the Diamond royal bloodline. And Sabriel is related to the Spade royal bloodline."

Dorothy pursed her lips and looked at Mereoleona. "You suspected Blue was a Kira?"

"Well, yeah, of course. She's got light magic. And look at her," said Mereoleona, grumbling. "This is all my fault. I should have never helped him…"

"Helped who?"

"Zach."

Dorothy opened her mouth. "As in Zacharias Kira Clover? That one? The one that should be our king right now, instead of that ass clown?"

"Yes! For fuck's sake, yes. I helped Zach fake his own death," said Mereoleona, standing up and began pacing. "That idiot just had to find some girl and have a kid, then probably fucking die after everything I went through to help his ass. What I want to know is how Blue wound up in that place in the northern Spade Kingdom, that anti-magic village." Mereoleona was raging.

Dorothy winced. "Mereo, calm down. We can't worry about how the girls wound up in that village or how they escaped. All that matters right now is protecting them. Hiding Hanima and Sabriel's heritages will be easier. It was most likely that they were illegitimate children that were shuffled off to never be heard of again. However, Blue's parentage is a problem…if anyone in the Kira House or even the Silva or Vermillion Houses found out…"

"You don't need to tell me! I know!"

"Damnit, Mereo, I know that you're worried, but we have to think!"

"I'm confused," said Vivian. "How bad is it that Blue is this Zach Kira Clover's kid?"

Mereoleona and Dorothy traded looks. It would make sense, not many commoner people knew how the Clover Kingdom succession worked. "Explain it, Dotty!" Mereoleona continued her pacing.

"Well, Vivian, simply put, Blue is the rightful heir," said Dorothy. When Julius had taken her in, Julius gave Dorothy an education. "The previous king, King Augustus Kira Clover XII, had five children. His first child, the oldest, was born out of wedlock to a barmaid, but later that child was recognized by her father. She is the University Head Librarian and Lady Finesse's grandmother. The second child, the first son and the first legitimate child born of number 12's first wife, was Zacharias Kira Clover, and he was the heir."

"He was the best," said Mereoleona. "He would have been a great king, but he was unhappy."

Vivian nodded, "You thought you were doing the right thing at the time because he was your friend."

"Yeah," said Mereoleona, sighing.

"Well, after Zach "died"," continued Dorothy, frowning at the memory. "Augustus the 13th became the heir. Zach's mom died in childbirth, so the number 12 had to remarry. The second wife gave birth to first a girl, who was married off, and then number 13, our current King. Some years later, the second wife also gave birth to another son, who is the husband of the Queen of Hearts. Right now the heir is our current king's son."

"And where does Blue come in all this," asked Vivian.

"Because of the succession laws, Blue was born, she's the rightful heir. Girls may inherit the Throne if they have a better claim to it than the male heir," said Dorothy. "Everyone adored Zacharias, so if people found out that Blue was his daughter, she'd be used to get rid of Augustus 13th and his two kids."

Vivian frowned. "We need to destroy these papers. I covered my tracks when researching, as I did it in the middle of the night, so no one should have noticed. The three of us can't tell then. Blue would be in danger."

"Agreed," said Dorothy. "Mereo? They are your kids soon enough. What do you want to do?"

"We don't say a word to anyone. Ever. Not to my mother, not to William, not to Nebra, got it?"

"Got it," chorused Dorothy and Vivian.

Dorothy knew it had to be that way. The girls would safe not knowing that information, at least, until they were older and could understand better. It was best to focus on their recovery and taking those seals off of them first.

Heart Kingdom
The Red Palace
The Office of the Queen of Hearts
26th Day of the Curse
Afternoon

"So I take it the meetings haven't gone well," Julius asked as Ophie stepped into her office, looking annoyed and tired. Ophie glared at him, meaning that he was, indeed, correct. "What happened?"

"The Generals and the Parliament are arguing over how much money we are funneling into the Army and on top of it, I have people calling for me to back down and undeclared war," said Ophie, getting into her seat at the desk. She buried her face in her heads and muffled screamed.

"You can't take back a declaration of war," said Julius, frowning. "So, is the Spade forces moving yet?"

"No. But if my Generals and the Parliament don't agree, the Generals can't start plans and then we'll be unprepared. I know that the Spade Kingdom wouldn't have done this, unless they had a surefire plan to get through the magical barrier," complained Ophie. "I don't want a war, but I can't let that asshole Spade King walked all over me."

Julius nodded. "Well, I think I may have something from one of the older law books, if you want to hear. Jules and I found it together earlier."

"Oh? Glad you two are getting along," said Ophie. "But yeah, let's hear it. What's this law and how can it help?"

Sighing, Julius said, "Before that. First I should tell you that Jules knows who I really am, because he's just like you and not an oblivious moron."

"What?!"

FLASHBACK
Silva Homestead
Outside of Acier Silva's Room
19 years ago
The Day that Noelle was Born

Tears in her eyes, Nickole exited her sister's room. She barely made it a few inches when she just slid to the ground to sit herself in a fetal position and cried into her hands. She heard the sounds of her newest niece crying in the midwives' arms. The midwives and the doctor were handling everything. Nickole tried to muffle the sounds of her tears when a small someone sat next to her. She quickly wiped her face and found her oldest nephew, 12-year-old Nozel there.

Nickole forced herself to stop the crying, despite the tears coming out, as she pulled young Nozel into her arms. For once, Nozel did not resist a hug as he was not big on physical affection even from his aunt.

He was shaking, as she held him. His face pressed against her shoulder and she knew he was crying. Nozel was a smart kid, a quiet but smart kid and she had a feeling that he knew what went on his mother's last pregnancy.

"I'm here, Nozel," said Nickole, running her hands through his hair.

She heard a muffled sound come from him.

"What?"

Nozel moved his head so that he was able to talk. "Is the baby okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. Your new sister is fine. Your momma protected her," said Nickole, softly.

Sniffling, Nozel asked, "Can I stay here for a while?"

Nickole tried to smile but her grief made it hard. "As long as you need."

Back to the present
Spade Kingdom
Coliseum Town
Blue Bunny Inn
27th Day of the Curse
Morning

Zora felt naked without his mask on his face. It was rare that he had to take it off for missions, but it was necessary. He and Nickole had to look like average people in order not be suspicious as there were plenty of travelers that came to watch the fights at the Coliseum. Their Magic Knight cloaks were hidden; all of Nickole's symbols of her royalty were stored in her grimoire; and they were wearing average civilian clothing. They were posing as mother and son, because anything else would be weirder.

"Here eat while we plan," said Nickole. She was in her food supply bag. She handed him a sandwich. "You saw the Coliseum itself, correct?"

"It's pretty fuckin' big," said Zora.

"They house the prisoners underneath it. It's divided into three sections—one for each enemy kingdom. We need to find the Clover section tonight and get a message to Nozel and Miss Vanessa," said Nickole, putting together a sandwich for herself.

Zora took a bite of the slightly stale bread and peanut butter sandwich, chewed and then swallowed before responding, "You really have been here before. So how can we get them out?"

Nickole sighed. "There are two ways—first would be in the dead of night during guard shift change, we can break in and get them out. Once you undo the binding seals on them, we'll be good to go."

"A preferred plan, of course," said Zora. "But there's another way."

Fishing around her in bag for something else, Nickole replied. "Well, we can always do a mass breakout during the matches tomorrow—disappear in the chaos, while giving the Spade Kingdom assholes a headache."

Zora liked that idea a lot better.

Spade Kingdom
Coliseum
Clover Cells
27th Day of the Curse
Morning

"This is only going to get worse," said Vanessa, as she retied the bandage on her leg. She and Nozel had been placed in one fight a day, at varying times throughout the day. Today was a holiday or something for the Spade Kingdom, so there were no fights. They were in three fights already and no one got medical attention afterwards.

"Stop picking at it then," said Nozel, slightly irritable. But she did not take it personal. She wasn't in a good mood herself. The fact was that the fights were clearly rigged and dangerous and the only way they survived was thanks to help from the same Heart Kingdom wizard prisoner from Vanessa and Nozel's first battle royale fight. "Do you think she's a spy?"

"Not this again," said Vanessa, groaning. They had been trying to figure out the Heart wizard's game—if she was there in the Coliseum for a reason or just an actual prisoner. "She probably is a spy. There's a confidence in her and it doesn't look like she's broken like the rest of them."

"But why would the Heart Kingdom send a spy to the Coliseum?"

"Who knows? We both know that the Spade King and the Queen of Hearts hate each other," said Vanessa.

"I am concerned as to why she's helping us."

"Orders maybe? Because I don't know her."

"Neither do I," replied Nozel, sighing, leaning his head against the wall. They lapsed into silence.

Vanessa observed Nozel. His hair was a mess, no silly braided bangs, but all loose and hanging down. He was paler than normal and bruises, cuts and gashes littered his exposed skin, just as Vanessa. But he was still ridiculously attractive, which was completely unfair as Vanessa felt like she looked like a mess. She wanted to go home, she thought to herself, not for the last time throughout this whole ordeal.

"I hope everything is alright at home," said Vanessa, remembering her family of Black Bulls and worried about the rumors she had been overhearing from the guards.

Nozel looked at her and nodded. "I'm sure it is. My siblings and cousins can handle things."

"You know, you should give Noelle a hug when you see her again," said Vanessa, smiling. Nozel flushed; he really was an awkward guy underneath the cold exterior. "She loves you a lot, you know?"

"I'm not big on affection," said Nozel, mumbling, red-faced.

"Hugs are a good thing," said Vanessa. "And Noelle is huggable…wait, is that why you don't like me because I get to hug her all the time? Are you jealous?"

Nozel turned his head away from her and muttered, "You're a better older sibling than I could ever hope to be."

Vanessa huffed and grabbed him into a hug. "You idiot! You're her big brother! I can't replace you or Nebra or Solid as her siblings. I can be her big sis, sure, and I think of her as a part of my family, but there's no replacing…only adding."

"You're embarrassing."

Vanessa laughed and let Nozel go. "She says the same thing."

Then, Vanessa and Nozel heard something with their sharply trained ears. Bugs. Vanessa looked down and saw a familiar sight. "Zora?" The bugs were quickly forming words, explaining that help was near and the plan for tomorrow.

"Aunt Nickole is here too?"

Vanessa couldn't help herself as she hugged Nozel again. "We're gonna go home, Captain Nozel."

"Yeah, we are."

Orange Roses
(meaning) Passion and Energy

Clover Kingdom
Golden Dawn Headquarters
Yuno's Room
27th Day of the Curse
Mid-Morning

"I'm sorry for cough being an asshole."

"I'm sorry too, for being so pushy."

Yuno and Mimosa were sitting on Yuno's bed, sitting across from each other, playing Go-Fish with some cards. Yuno was coughing up flower heads and that morning when he woke up, the flowers changed again. This time orange rose heads were coming out of his mouth, stained with blood. Mimosa was using her magic to ease his pain. They had been playing cards in silence when Yuno decided to apologize for being a stubborn asshole to her.

"Mimosa, I don't cough cough know what cough I should do."

Mimosa sighed, "You got any eights?"

"No, go fish," said Yuno.

Taking the next card from the pile, Mimosa responded. "You're telling Asta once he's back. You can't get out of it."

"He's cough cough gonna blame himself," said Yuno.

Mimosa grimaced. "He was so upset when he found out that Leo was in love with him."

"For my entire life, Asta cough cough cough has always wanted to try to fix things for everyone cough cough. He'll think it's his fault, but they are my feelings and it's cough not my fault either. cough cough We can blame that former assassin wizard from cough cough Heart," said Yuno. He breathed heavily as the flowers came out the more he spoke about Asta or thought about Asta. "The last thing Asta cough cough wants is to hurt someone, especially cough someone he cares about…cough cough cough cough cough"

"Take it easy," said Mimosa, tiredly increasing her healing mana. One of her vines grabbed another wastebasket for him. "I know that you're always worried that if you tell Asta, Asta will feel so guilty that he'll say he loves you too and you're afraid that he won't mean it the way you do."

Yuno didn't respond. Logically, he knew that Asta cared about him, loved him as family. But romantically, Yuno wouldn't risk the heartbreak for either one of them. Asta deserved to be happy with someone, even if that someone was not Yuno.

"Would you rather we talk about something else?"

Yuno nodded.

"You want to tease me about my non-existent love life?"

"How is cough cough attempting to court cough cough Langris anyway? I still don't know how you went from being in love cough cough with Asta to being in love cough cough with Langris."

Mimosa just groaned in defeat. "I think my subtly is not reaching. Next time, remind not to go to Klaus for courting advice. It's not like Klaus is making headway himself."

Yuno laughed, despite it hurting his chest.

"Guess us Golden Dawn cough cough members just suck at love."

"Considering that Captain William has been pining over Captain Dorothy for years without saying a word, your love for Asta, my fat crush on Langris, Klaus' crush on Magna, Alecdora failing to get Solid's attention and Letoile's crush on the new Purple Orcas Vice-Captain Erica, it's safe to say that we are all giant fat messes," said Mimosa, succinctly breaking down the Golden Dawn's inability to know what the hell they were doing when it came to love.

"Wow, we're kind of pathetic, cough cough cough aren't we?"

Top squad in stars earned? Check. Best (arguable) squad? Check. Always gets the job? Check.

Talk to the love of your life? Hah. If only.

"Yep."

FLASHBACK
Magic Parliament Courthouse
Private Chambers of the Head of the Vermillion House
19 years ago

Nickole stood in front of the head of the Vermillion House, her father-in-law, Maximillian Vermillion, as he gave her a cold stare down. He was not a bad man. He was a harsh and stern man, who wanted his second son to marry the stronger of the two Steele sisters. He had a soft spot for his grandchildren, however, and that may be the only thing that redeemed him in Nickole's eyes. Maximillian clashed regularly with Nickole and Solace on how they were raising their children.

"You can't just claim to want to raise the Silva children, especially the heir to their house," said Maximillian, rubbing his scruffy chin.

"Argent is a goddamn mess. I don't know why my sister fell in love with that fool, but she did and now she's gone," said Nickole, steeling herself. "And leaving my sister's kids to Meliora and Nerio Silva is not an option, Father-in-Law."

Sighing, Maximillian replied, "It would be so that both my sons married stubborn women and my daughter had to be one. Nickole, you know you can't have them. Argent's siblings will look after them."

"They won't. They didn't when Acier was on bedrest. Nozel was the one taking care of Nebra and Solid the whole time," argued Nickole, getting angrier and angrier. "Thank god the servants had some sense to remember to feed them. You know Lady Meliora and Lord Nerio hated my sister for not being good enough for their oldest son."

"Be it as it may, young lady. I cannot have you disrupting the order and balance between the Royal Houses! We will speak no more of this matter! Mind your own family! Kirsch is behind in his studies."

"He's four," hissed Nickole. She had enough of talking to this man. "You know what? Forget it. Go fuck yourself." She stormed out.

Back to the present
Clover Kingdom
Magic Knight Headquarters
The Wizard King's Office
28th Day of the Curse
Morning

Fuegoleon rubbed the back of his neck, tiredly, as the door to his office opened and in entered his wife and lead investigator. Sal looked as tired as he felt. She must have had a rough time of it. Still, it was good to see her.

"Hey, husband, I demand a date at some point when we don't a war brewing amongst two major Kingdoms, and one of our Magic Knights squads gone rogue," said Sal, teasingly, as she sat down in the chair across from him.

"That sounds like a good idea," responded Fuegoleon, smiling. "So, I take it the investigation went somewhere?"

Sal sighed. "Well, yes and no."

"Why don't you ever give me straight answers to investigations, Sal?"

"Because nothing is black and white, despite what some people may think," replied Sal. "Do you want me to start at the top or just summarize?"

"Please just summarize. I'll read your full report later," said Fuegoleon. "I forgot about the Magic Knight Entrance Exams so I'm trying to put it together." Sal snorted and took out her report and plopped it on his pile of paperwork.

"Have you figured out how you are getting the kids from the Common and Forsaken Realms that want to enter the exams here without breaking the travel bans?"

"I'll send all the spatial wizards to fetch the applicants when it comes to time to host it. Instead of making them register at the sight of the Exam, we will send out a registrar form for each eligible 15-year-old," replied Fuegoleon. "It was Vice-Captain Vivian and Vice-Captain Erica's idea."

"Smart ladies," said Sal, smiling. "That way, we might get a good amount entering the ranks, actually."

"That's what I thought too," said Fuegoleon. "So, what did you find?"

"Radcliffe Laibrook, so he was called, was not working alone, like we suspected. However, Oira Stowe and the other Heart Kingdom ex-citizens were not involved. While they have anti-monarchist tendencies, we can't do anything about that unless it becomes violent," said Sal. "Radcliffe was working for the Spade Kingdom, which, of course, makes perfect sense, considering what was happening."

"Ah, so the plan was to take out Queen Ophelia and have her son, Julian, take the throne. A young boy with no experience would rely on the Council and the Generals, who would definitely take the bait if Spade declared war," said Fuegoleon, rubbing his temples. "However, they didn't count on the Queen of Hearts surviving, which is why they kept sending assassins after her."

"Right, so the Spade Kingdom has a sleeper cell of intelligence agents living in the Royal Realm, so I recruited some people to keep an eye on their activities," said Sal.

"Who?"

"Fanzell and his group."

"Ah the Diamond wizards and the witch," said Fuegoleon. "Good choice."

"The Spade Kingdom is quiet since they are getting their army together," said Sal, "we ought to be careful. They are going to try to drag us into it too."

"Queen Ophelia and Julius are working on something to prevent the all-out war from breaking out, but they haven't told me what yet," said Fuegoleon. He sighed and she sighed. "Well, in the meantime, why don't you get some rest? Or would you rather help me finalize the plans for the Magic Knight exams?"

"Aww, sweetie, you sure know how to keep the romance alive," said Sal, glibly, as she stood up. "I'm going to head home and sleep for a couple of hours. Make sure you remember to eat."

"Yes, dear."

Spade Kingdom
Coliseum
28th Day of the Curse
Morning

Zora hated crowds. It made him feel underprepared for an attack and a lot of people did not know what hygiene was so the smell was rough. Thankfully, it was bitter cold and not sweltering hot. He and Nickole had all everything to go. Last night, Zora ran around setting traps everywhere that would activate when necessary and Nickole kept look out. Neither got much sleep with the preparation that this "make a riot and runaway" plan worked.

"So, you never said why you have been here before," asked Zora to his companion as they sat in the quickly filling stands of the Coliseum. They were waiting until the stands were filled and the POWs were being released into the center stage to activate their plan. It was taking longer than they thought.

Nickole did not respond for a moment, until she pulled out some beef jerky and gave him some. "When I was young, about 18 or so, my sister and I ran into some trouble on a mission when we were both in the Blue Rose Knights. We fought here until we escaped back home, after rescuing some younger kids from them."

Zora's mouth twitched, threatening to smile. "Oh, yeah? Sounds like you two were troublemakers."

Nickole snorted. "You have no idea. But that was the first time I was here."

"And the second time?" He bit into the beef jerky as she responded.

"The second time was about 14 years ago when Mimosa was about five," said Nickole, solemnly. And she did not say anything more about it, so Zora figured that it was not a good thing.

He decided that if the older royal was not going to tell him, he needed to change the subject. "Mimosa's too young to be getting hitched, you know? You and your husband better not think about marrying her off."

Nickole startled. "What? Oh, right. You're friends with Kirsch. He's so dramatic about it. We are not marrying Mimosa off. Mimosa will marry who she wants, of course, the rest of the family doesn't know I have made that executive decision. We just have to keep hearing the assholes out and rejecting them properly."

"Good, because you're not half-bad and I wouldn't want to have to fight you," said Zora, waving the beef jerky at Nickole in a threatening manner. The mother of Mimosa and Kirsch raised an eyebrow at him. "What?" He suddenly felt like he needed his mask back on his face. It was in his pocket for when they were ready to run, but at the moment, his face was for anyone to see.

"I'm glad that Mimosa and Kirsch have so many reliable people looking after them," said Nickole. "I fear that I have not been a very good mother to them, so to know that they have such good friends, it makes me breathe easier."

Zora had no response to her. He didn't know much about Mimosa or Kirsch's relationship with their mother. Maybe she was right, maybe she wasn't. Zora suspected that it was somewhere in the middle—clearly, she loved her children and that was half the battle, not that Zora knew anything about being a parent.

"Ah, it's starting," said Nickole.

Zora looked at the stage where the gates were opening down below, letting out the Prisoners of War from three kingdoms. Smirking, it was time to go to work.

FLASHBACK
Magic Parliament Courthouse
Judgement Room
18 years ago

Maximillian and Hedy Vermillion were near ready to go to blows with Nerio and Meliora Silva in the Magic Parliament Courthouse and it was all Nickole's fault because she did something reckless and stupid. The Judge was Lavinia Kira Clover and she was letting it happen because she just did not care.

Nickole was standing in the center of the room—having all the nobles and royals stare down at her from the balconies. Her hands were chained and her mana was temporarily bound as she stood waiting to see what her fate was. Her husband Sazerac was normally unreliable and flighty at best, but he was standing behind her, wringing his hands together, while Aldebrand and Solace stood on either side of Nickole.

Miss Sharise had the children, and none of the children, except Mereoleona knew why they having an afternoon of arts and crafts with Miss Sharise.

"I want her exiled!"

"That's my daughter-in-law you are taking about, Meliora, watch yourself," roared Hedy Vermillion, the spitfire wife of Maximillian.

"She and Acier have dirty blood and always been troublemakers! Nickole is mad with grief. Unstable," argued Meliora Silva right back. "I don't want her near my grandchildren! Never!

Nickole snapped. "Don't you fucking dare insult my sister, you cold-hearted bitch!"

Solace grabbed Nickole's shoulder, to try to calm her down because Nickole was unable to vault herself to punch the Silva matriarch in the face.

"See? Unstable! Unsuitable to be a mother!"

"You can't ban her from seeing her nieces and nephews," interjected Maximillian, who was the last person that Nickole ever thought would be arguing in her defense. More arguments broke out in the galley, noble lords and ladies taking sides, drowning out the heads of the Silva and Vermillion Houses' yelling at each other.

"Steady yourself," said Solace, whispering in Nickole's ear. "We'll get through this, Neeks."

"ENOUGH," roared King Augustus Kira Clover XII (the 12th), finally standing up from his seat (his children all sat around him). Their King was a fearsome and respected figure, ruling with a sometimes iron fist. Everyone shut up. "I have had it up to here with the Silva and Vermillion arguing about everything from children to foreign policy! Enough! I want to hear from 1st Class Senior Magic Knight Nickole Vermillion and what she has to say for herself. Speak, Lady Nickole and tell me why I shouldn't just order your execution you right now."

Nickole breathed in and out before speaking to gather herself. "Your Highness, if you wish to execute me, then you are going to have to take me down fighting and I swear to God that I will take some of you with me. I don't have to explain myself to a bunch of self-important assholes who don't understand that my sister's children are mine."

"Oh my God, Nickole, really," exclaimed Solace.

"Oh, Nickole," said Sazerac, sadly.

"I can't even," started Aldebrand.

Nickole ignored them as she stared at the Clover King, who stared back intently.

"Should I pass judgement, Brother," asked Lavinia.

King Augustus Kira Clover XII raised his hand to stop his sister, the Judge of the Magic Parliament. "Lady Nickole Vermillion, 1st Class Senior Magic Knight of the Blue Rose Knights, for your crime of causing trouble amongst the Royal Houses and attempting kidnapping of four royal children, you will be hereby banned from speaking to or coming within 50ft of Nozel, Nebra, Solid and Noelle Silva until they are 18 years old. In addition, your son Kirsch Vermillion will remain with your husband, Lord Sazerac Vermillion, from now on. Visits only permitted under supervision by a member of the Vermillion family above the age of 16. As for your daughter, she is still a baby, so she will remain under your care until she is 5 years old, when she will also stay with her father and her brother. You are hereby banished from Royal Houses complexes and the Capital City itself."

Nickole stilled, but the King continued, "However, you are an exceptional Magic Knight and wizard, as your record indicates, that it would be a loss to the Magic Knight squads if you were to be gone. Therefore, you will remain as a 1st Class Senior Magic Knight in the Blue Rose Knights, taking upon yourself solo missions and unwanted missions for the remainder of your life, so I decree it. And if you do not comply with these orders or cause more trouble by being belligerent and disrespectful, I will issue the worst punishment for you—banishment from the Clover Kingdom and never seeing your children again. It's up to you."

Nickole made a face and choked out. "Very well, Your Highness."

Back to the present
Spade Kingdom
Coliseum
28th Day of the Curse
Morning

Knowing that Zora and Lady Nickole were out there boosted Vanessa's spirits tenfold as she and Nozel followed the mass of prisoners out to the center stage. Zora told them that they had to wait for a cue and that they would know it when they saw it. Vanessa knew that Zora was going to do some sort of spectacular trap.

The two old-timers finally spoke to them last night—wanting to go home in their old age, so they were going to come with them. Vanessa found out that their names were Locke and Styles, so it was good to have more help once Zora took off the binding spells stopping their mana from being used.

"Ready," Nozel asked.

"Hell yeah," said Vanessa, grinning. The prisoners of war stood on the stage like the last few times. The gates closed them inside the Coliseum. Vanessa tuned out the announcer, scanning the stands for the familiar shock of red hair and any signs.

Before the fighting could begin in earnest, screaming from the stands began—Vanessa grinned, as she saw the amount of bugs coming out of the seats. Attendees were screaming, fainting, running for the exits. It was then noticed by all the prisoners.

Even without magic, the prisoners were dangerous as they also realized this was their chance to escape. Vanessa grabbed Nozel's hand and searched for the two old-timers who were already making their way through the throngs of people. Together, she and Nozel searched out for Zora or Lady Nickole. Once their magic was back, it was smooth sailing for the most part.

"Come on," said Vanessa, dragging Nozel, but not before feeling someone sticking something in her free hand. It was a piece of paper, so Vanessa shoved it in between her breasts for safekeeping.

"Looks our friend needs to get a message out of here," said Nozel, taking over pushing through the crowds of rioting prisoners, as Spade Kingdom wizards descended to restore order, but it was a little too late. Zora really unleashed mass chaos in this Coliseum. It was an impressive feat even for him.

Suddenly, she and Nozel were being floated up by the wind. It was Locke. The old-timers were quick to find Zora and Nickole. Locke was floating a large piece of earth being held together by Styles. Vanessa and Nozel were set down.

"Well, looks like you owe me one, 'Nessa," said Zora, as he and Nickole were on the piece of earth. Zora immediately took off the bindings and Vanessa felt the flood of mana in her system. Her grimoire appeared at her side and Rouge reappeared on her shoulder. Vanessa laughed happily and lunged at Zora to give him a hug. "Gah! Get off, woman!" Zora didn't resist much.

Vanessa spotted Nozel thanking his Aunt profusely for the trouble of coming to rescue him, only to get a big hug in return. She grinned. "So, you've met Locke and Styles, I take it."

"Yeah, at first, I wasn't sure but Lady Nickole recognized them as former Magic Knight Captains of a couple of defunct squads," said Zora, shrugging. "Let's get home. We probably have to stop off because I have a strange feeling that our squad is doing something fucking real stupid."

Vanessa giggled. "Yeah, you're probably right!"

Neutral Zone, near the border of the Spade Kingdom
Black Bulls Hideout
29th Day of the Curse
Early Morning

Asta scowled as he sat a top of the Black Bull hideout early in the morning, keeping lookout. He normally was super relaxed, loving spending time with his teammates-turned-family, but he can't talk to Noelle because of Ember, who had become very overprotective of Asta's best friend. Finral and Magna kept trying to talk to Asta about Yuno's mystery love interest and Asta was not interested in that conversation, thank you very much. Captain Yami had been stuck in the bathroom for most of the journey.

Tensions were high, worry about Vanessa and Nozel were making everyone on edge, and Asta wanted to get to the Spade Kingdom immediately.

"It's not like you to brood too much," said Secre, appearing at his side.

"I'm not brooding," said Asta, rolling his eyes. "Can't a guy think?"

"Really, Asta? Don't think too hard, or you'll hurt yourself," said Secre without missing a beat. "It's about Yuno, isn't it? Just admit that you're jealous that someone caught Yuno's eye romantically."

Asta snorted. "Why would I be jealous?"

"Because you're in love with Yuno," stated Secre, matter-of-factly. She crossed her arms and stared at him, tilting her head sideways confused. "Did…you not know that?"

Asta blinked once and then twice. What did she just say? "I'm what?"

"You heard me. You're not that stupid," said Secre. "You've been in a mood since this whole mess with the curse started with Yuno because you're upset that he didn't tell you that he's met someone because you're in love with him and think you have no chance in hell. Did you really talk yourself into believing that you're not in love with Yuno?"

Asta replied, softly, "Stop saying that."

"What? That you, Asta, are in love with Yuno," said Secre. She was pushing him. He knew it. She knew it. "Why are you scared of admitting it?"

Because, he thought to himself, then it would be real and he'd have to deal with his feelings that he pretended didn't exist and hid behind the ridiculous idea of marrying Sister Lily. It was better for Yuno if Asta did not burden his childhood friend and rival with his feelings.

Asta grimaced and did not answer Secre. And luckily, she was distracted. "There's six people coming towards us at 3 o'clock!"

Asta looked off and saw that she was correct. He jumped down to where Henry, Charmy and the others were working to keep the hideout moving. "HENRY STOP!" The Black Bulls hideout came to a near-crashing halt as the six people on a floating piece of dirt landed right before them.

It was Vanessa, Zora, Nozel, Mimosa's mother and two old guys!

Asta rushed to them immediately to give Vanessa a big hug. "Miss Vanessa, you're okay!"

"Asta," cheered Vanessa, hugging him back tightly. "I missed you." She looked a little tired and worse for wear but the healers would definitely be able to fix her right up. Asta didn't let go of her. He really did miss her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nozel approaching Noelle, finally giving his sister the hug she deserved. Asta grinned. "Was that you? Getting him to hug her?"

"Hah, maybe," said Vanessa, grinning, snuggling him. "Is that Finral? He's cured!"

"Yep!"

Vanessa let Asta go to smother Finral, who just looked beyond happy to see Vanessa again. Asta's grin was stalled when he smelt a familiar smell—Zora's stink bugs. "Zora! Not cool, man!"

Zora bopped him on the head. "What the hell is wrong with you idiots? Did you think I was gonna fail to get Vanessa back? Huh? What about believing in me? Honestly, you don't think. Almost starting an inter-kingdom incident, while I was gone. For fucks' sake."

"Good to see you too, Zora," said Asta, grumbling. "And I do believe in you, but we thought maybe you needed backup!"

"Ah, you runt, Mimosa and Kirsch's mother was all the backup I needed," said Zora. "For a fifty-year-old lady, she's pretty alright."

"So, who are the old guys," asked Asta.

"Former Magic Knight Captains that were imprisoned with Vanessa and Captain Braids," said Zora, shrugging. "Who's the big guy death-glaring Noelle's brother?"

"Oh, that's Ember. He's a dragon. Secre and I found him," said Asta.

"Right," said Zora, blandly.

Suddenly there was a roar of their captain, bursting out of the bathroom. "FINRAL, PORTAL US BACK TO THE CAPITAL NOW!"

Clover Kingdom
Magic Knight Headquarters
Outside
29th Day of the Curse
Morning

Fuegoleon and Marx were standing in the courtyard as Finral's magic portal opened and the Black Bulls hideout crashed on the ground before them. Fuegoleon breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted his best friend/second cousin and Miss Vanessa. It looked like Aunt Nickole and Zora rescued them before the Black Bulls reached the border of the Spade Kingdom.

Yami jumped out of the hideout and landed right before Fuegoleon. "I'm back."

"You asshole," grumbled Fuegoleon. "I don't have time to punish or scold you idiots. Yami, Asta, Finral, we have another Captains and Vice-Captains' meeting. Marx, make sure that Vanessa, Nozel, Zora and Aunt Nickole and the two older men get to the infirmary. Call my mother."

"Yes, sir," said Marx.

"I'm fine, Fuegoleon. I can go to the meeting," said Nozel.

"It's fine. Vice-Captain Vivian is fine in your place until you get cleared," said Fuegoleon. "Don't make me order you." Nozel, Vanessa, Aunt Nickole, and Zora went with Marx. "The rest of you Black Bulls stay here and don't you dare leave." Yami, Asta, and Finral followed Fuegoleon inside of the Headquarters.

"What's going on, sir," asked Finral.

"The Queen of Hearts called an Inter-Kingdom Summit to Prevent War," said Fuegoleon. "There's a lot to do."

"Ah, this has to be Julius plan," said Yami, bored.

"It is," said Fuegoleon. "Oh, and Yami, be prepared. You've pissed off quite a few people with this stunt."

"Oh, well," said Yami.

"Ugh, Captain Yami," said Asta, wincing as the group reached the Captains' Meeting Room, a vine of blue and red roses whipped out of the room and smacked Yami in the face. Finral, Asta and Fuegoleon moved out of the way. "Captain Charlotte is gonna kill you."

"Fuck."

Ch. End

---

Thanks for reading. As always let me know what you think.

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Yes, that's right. I am expanding past this main story, so expect sequels, prequels and side-stories!

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