Gladiolus
(Meaning) character, faithfulness, honor, strength, moral integrity
ANOTHER MONTH LATER

Clover Kingdom
Capital City
Family Day Celebrations
Morning

Blue Vermillion did not like crowds. Crowds were unsafe, especially in cities. But she and her sisters were with Mama and Uncle Leo, walking through the streets of the Clover Capital after listening to Uncle Fuego's boring speech about family at the opening ceremony. Blue found it weird that there was a whole holiday to celebrate family, because according to Grandmamma, family was supposed to be celebrated every day.

Sabriel conned Uncle Leo into giving her a piggy-back ride, so she could take a nap. It was good to see Sabriel so comfortable to sleep these days. When Blue had first met Sabriel, Sabriel hadn't slept more than a couple of hours a day.

Hanima, with enough food and rest, was energetic and enthusiastically curious about everything to do with magic. Mama held one of Hanima's hands so Hanima wouldn't run off and get herself lost. Hanima, Blue remembered, had a horrible sense of direction. Blue and Sabriel would spend hours looking for Hanima, when they had lost track of her while they were traveling together.

Mama also held Blue's hand, even though Blue didn't need it. Blue would be the biggest idiot in the world, if she ever thought about running away from Mama for no reason.

The moment that Blue and her sisters ran into Mereoleona in the wilds, Blue had, for some reason, instantly trusted the fiery, strong woman. Blue didn't trust easily. Sabriel and Hanima were one thing, they were the same age and had similar…issues. Blue even took a while to warm up to her new grandparents and uncles, despite them being some of the warmest people she had ever met. But Mama had been different.

Mama hadn't looked at them with pity or saw them as weak. No, Blue knew that Mama originally took them to train into Magic Knights. Somewhere along the way, Mama changed her mind and wanted to be their mother. Blue learned that when something came to her Mama's mind, she did it. Mama was a woman of her word and so Blue trusted her.

Blue didn't remember her birth mother. She remembered bits and pieces of what her Pa told her about Blue's birth mother, but not much else. But Blue would like to think that Pa and her Birth Ma would have liked Mereoleona.

Not since Pa died had Blue felt safe and loved as she did here and Blue was happy that fate brought Mereoleona to her and her sisters. Blue had been trying her best to get them to safety and out of that hell, but they were weak, hungry and tired.

"Look who it is," said one of the many familiar voices that Blue had gotten used to since coming here. It was Asta, the only man in the world with no magic whatsoever. Mama was fond of him. Asta was walking with his boyfriend, the quiet Captain of the Golden Dawn, Yuno and other fellow Magic Knights, Cousin Mimosa and Captain Langris. "Are you girls having fun?"

Asta was a nice man, smiled brightly all the time. He was fun.

Hanima and Sabriel still had some trouble with Common, but Asta seemed to understand their responses in a positive light. Blue was able to speak in complete sentences. Her father taught her enough Common to understand what was happening, but the speaking part was hard.

"Everything is good," said Blue, with her own response.

"You all have such pretty outfits! Did you get those from your shopping trip with my brother," asked the soft voice of Cousin Mimosa. Blue was shocked to learn that when she and her sisters joined the Vermillion family that they had gained a lot of relatives. Cousin Mimosa was so pretty and sweet, but she was dating a guy with a grumpy face, the new Captain of the Silver Eagles.

"Yes," said Blue, nodding.

"Big Brother does love shopping," said Cousin Mimosa, brightly.

Cousin Mimosa's big brother was Cousin Kirsch and he was a riot. Grandmamma had wanted to take them shopping for Family Day outfits, but she had gotten called away to do some healing for the King. Since Grandmamma insisted they get new outfits, Mama had to get them, but Mama said "Like fuck, I'm going to the shopping district," and promptly called Cousin Kirsch.

Cousin Kirsch was weird, but in a good way. Blue and Sabriel both balked at the idea of dresses and frills (though Hanima's eyes got bright with the thought or pretty dresses and Blue was glad that Hanima would get the chance to have them). He knew all the best places to get outfits, guiding them to the best, most comfortable, but still age-appropriate and Grandmamma-approved outfits. Blue also liked Cousin Kirsch because his favorite person was Zora and Zora was Blue's favorite non-family person. Zora was really cool and kind, in Blue's opinion.

"So, Captain Mereoleona, are you taking the girls to eat somewhere awesome," asked Asta. "We think that Captain Yami and Captain Jack opened up food stands again, so we can get some good food from their competition."

"Girls, are you hungry?"

"Mama, we always hungry," said Sabriel, sleepily from Uncle Leo's back.

Mama let out a rough laugh. "Right, right. Let's tagalong on these brats' double date."

"Wha? It's not a double date," retorted Langris.

"It is," said Mimosa, countering her boyfriend's statement. "He's just shy, don't mind him."

Blue held back some laughter. These people were always so funny. Being here and having people who cared made Blue not-so-sad anymore. She felt happier these days. Sure there were days where she was really sad and angry, but those days were getting less and less as time went onward.

"OH! I think Gauche brought Marie with him," said Asta, suddenly. "Marie loved playing with you guys at the party we had last month. We can go and find them before we eat and drag them with us."

"Marie," asked Hanima, bouncing. "I like her!"

"Mhmmh, me too," sighed Sabriel, falling back asleep on Uncle Leo, who was chuckling.

Blue liked Marie. She was cute, pretty and really smart. Marie didn't even mind that she, Sabriel and Hanima had a hard time communicating because she said that her brother Gauche wasn't good at communicating his feelings into words either, so Marie had to get good at it. Blue wanted to make a lot of friends, but Marie was the first one. "Okay. But then food."

"Let's go get them," cheered Mama. "Which way do you think, Blue?"

Blue concentrated—it turned out that she was the best at sensing mana and she vaguely remembered Marie's. Mama was strict about giving little tests like this to keep Blue on her toes. Hanima had training with Lady Noelle and Sabriel trained sometimes with Captain Yuno and sometimes with Uncle Leo. Other than Mama, Blue trained with the elf Patri, who was really good at light magic.

"That way," said Blue, pointing down some street.

"Awesome, let's go," yelled Asta, excitedly.

The group headed down the street to find Marie and Gauche and then to get food.

Blue really liked her new family.

Ch. End

But the story isn't over yet…

AND THIS IS DONE! Holy moly, I never thought it be past 100K words. This Hanahaki AU started as a simple YunoAsu story, but then I just had so many ideas! Thanks to everyone for your support!

So, now, what you've been waiting for, what comes next?

1-Bellflowers - Aubrey of Rayaka, Magna's little sister of sorts, joins the Magic Knights; and she keeps running into the annoying Heart Prince Jules. - Listen, I love Prince Jules, I honestly didn't expect that he'd grow on me so much. And Aubrey (you can read a bit about her in Butterfly Flowers) has a story that I wanted to write. I know that they are two OCs and some may not want to read it, but I'm gonna do it anyway!

2-Freesia & Magnolia Petals - As Kirsch's impending wedding grows closer, Zora becomes more and more irritable. It doesn't help that he and Kirsch gets thrown into a mission together that's more dangerous than it seems. - Zora/Kirsch is one of my favorite ships and I'm the only one that writes them, but that's okay. I'm pretty excited for this story. I think you'll like it too.

3-Geraniums - Magna never thought that he'd fall in love, let alone fall in love with the rule-abiding stick-in-the-mud member of the Golden Dawn, Klaus Lunettes. Life was funny that way. - There was not enough Magna or Klaus in Gladiolus. Shame on me. I love these two senpai (they are at the opposite ends of the senpai spectrum). You're going to enjoy this one too. It'll have more flashback chapters!

So the plan is to work on these three stories, as they are going to be happening simultaneously (Around the same time-frame, starting one month after the Gladiolus Epilogue).

Don't worry, I'm putting together the guide to this AU and I'll post in in the endnotes in Gladiolus and the upcoming stories, but also in the series description.

ONCE AGAIN,

Thanks so much for reading and your continued support! See you in Part 3 of the Gladiolus AU!