James Miller

I awoke to sweet whispers from Dazu as I felt her shifting on top of me. "You're so kind," she whispered, her hot breath tickling my cheeks. "I'm so blessed to have you by my side," she continued, kissing me on the cheek. I kissed her back on the lips as I sat up.

"Good morning, Dazu," I said back to her, she blushed.

"Good morning to you, James. Would you like to get some breakfast?"

"Sure," I said, stretching my arms with a yawn as I climbed out of bed and got my clothes on. Dazu quickly followed as we walked out of the inn, finding a nice cafe. We had some tea with a few sugar cubes in it. We continued to walk along the street. I felt an odd happiness within me. The tea had a nice taste and sandwiches with it were cold and refreshing.

"You know, I think today is gonna be a good day," Dazu said with a smile. I had to agree with her. The sun was shining, birds chirped above, everything was tranquil.

I heard whispers from an alleyway. "The traitor. Kill her."

I snapped my head around to the source of the voices. There was nobody there. I continued walking down the street with Dazu. She seemed happy, and so I was happy for her. We continued walking along the street. I failed to notice the two men who were tailing Dazu and I. We stopped at the corner, and time seemed to slow as the two men flanked us. One lunged at Dazu, his knife going hilt-deep into her side as she gasped in pain. The second one swiped the blade at me. I blocked it with my hands, both of my palms getting a deep cut on both of them. I reached out to Dazu, only for the man attacking her to pull out his grimoire and fire a small cluster of ice spikes into her abdomen. The one attacking me sent a fist of rock punching me in the gut. I gasped out, my breath escaping me.

"This is what you deserve, traitor!" the first shouted.

"You and your conspirator!" the second one joined in.

It hurt so much. I couldn't reach Dazu fast enough. I saw the blood draining out of her as her eyes began to glaze over. "Stay with me Dazu!" I shouted. The first fired a fist-sized ice spike at Dazu blowing a crater in her head. The two men ran into a nearby alley and moved out of eyesight. I joined Dazu, taking her hands in mine. Miraculously she was still alive.

"James… I love you," she whispered, a small smile on her face as life left her.

"I'm a failure. I couldn't save Gean. now I've failed to save Dazu. I'm still a weakling in this world. Oh god. Maybe I should've stayed at the Black Bulls base. They could have trained me. What about Vanessa?! She's probably worried about me… I… I don't know what to do anymore." I cried as Dazu's blood soaked my clothing.

Vanessa Enoteca

Elvira, Samantha, and I arrived in the town of Nairn at sunrise, the orange rays of light peaking through the trees.

"So what do we do now? This is where that captain said that your boyfriend would be."

"For the last time Elvira, he's not my boyfriend! He's just someone I care about," I said, trying to convince the stubborn girl. "But to answer your question we scout out the town once day breaks. The three of us perched on top of an inn and restaurant where Asta had met the red-head girl, Rebbecca Scarlet. I decided to take a nap.

I woke up to Elvira and Samantha saking me frantically. "Get up!" Elvira whispered in a panicked tone. Samantha had a worried expression on her face as she guided me. There were many people running away from a scene where a man was crouched over a dead woman. As I got closer I recognized the back of the coat he was wearing. It wore the Black Bulls sigil on it. "It's him!" I finally found him! I made a fast approach as I gave him a tight hug from behind, tears of joy falling from my eyes. He was shaking. James was shaking and his clothes were wet and sticky. I moved away from the hug and looked at my arms and hands. It was blood, and there was a lot of it. He turned around to face me, streaks of tears staining his cheeks.

"V-Vanessa? Is that you?" he choked out in between sobbs. I could hear a hint of relief in his voice. He hugged me back, tight and shaking as he continued to cry. I hugged him back.

"Yea, I'm here." I waited a few minutes before asking my question. "James, who was that?"

"Her name was Dazu. I was learning about some of plants in the kingdom," he explained.

"Dazu, she was a part of the Devil Banishers…" I thought. "What do you want to do now?"

"Bury her then leave her to rest," he said solemnly.

"Ok," I said, raising him to his feet. We found a cemetery and paid the owner for a spot to bury the remains of the girl.

James and I lowered her corpse into the hole as he whispered a small prayer. "Rest easy, Dazu," he finished, grabbing the spade and filling the hole. The headstone was small but it had a kind message carved into it. 'Though her life was short, her kindness was never lacking.' It was a sweet sentiment.

I placed a consoling hand on his shoulder. "Are you ready to go?"

He was silent for a few minutes, just staring at the filled-in hole. Then he placed a hand over mine, looking over his shoulder to look at me. His eyes were lifeless, just blank orbs staring back at me. No sadness, no anger, just that blank look. It sent a chill down my spine the longer he looked at me. Finally he sighed and gave a weak smile. "Yea, let's go back. By the way, who're your friends?"

"Ah! Yes! My name is Elvira, a pleasure to meet you, Sir James." the young witch gave a bow, James nodded.

"M-my name is Samantha, it's nice to meet you Mister Miller," she said with a timid wave, to which James waved back.

"While I'd love to speak with you two, I need my rest. Would it be alright if we returned to the base, Vanessa?"

"Of course," I said, leading him to our brooms. Elvira and Samantha left for the forest of witches while James and I arrived at the base.

Nacht greeted us in his insipid way. "Ah, so the weakling and whore return. Welcome back."

"Fuck off," I shot back. I led him into my room and laid him down on the bed. "You should rest, is it alright if I join you in bed?"

"Yea… sure." I moved myself next to him, wrapping my arms around him.

"James, are you ok?" He held me close, his grip was tight, like a frightened child.

"Vanessa, That woman, Dazu. She wasn't the first person I failed to save. My lifelong friend. Both of them died in my arms."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"I don't want to be responsible for your death-" I gave him a kiss on the cheek to which he blushed a bit. "Vanessa, I want you to be safe. Please don't get close to me."

"Aaaawe damnit, James! I should give him his emotional space, but he needs company." I thought as I cuddled up with him.

James Miller

I heard Vanessa take off her clothing, then taking off my shirt as she laid on top of me. She kissed me on the lips. I separated her lips from mine. "Vanessa, I appreciate everything, but I'm not in the mood for something like that."

"Ok…" she seemed disappointed. "But I'm not leaving you alone. Last time I did that you ran off!" she protested.

"That's fine. I never mind company." Vanessa snuggled up to me as she laid her head near mine.

"James, I'm sorry for-"

"It was never your fault. I just needed to find myself," I said, placing my hand in Vanessa's palm. She lightly held it.

"Enough talk, now its time for sleep," Vanessa said as she climbed on top of me and rested her head on my chest. As Vanessa fell asleep, I looked over to where I placed the books of plant life in the Clover Kingdom and was reminded of Dazu and Bow. I fell asleep shortly after.

So why did I kill off Dazu? Well its twofold: first I felt as if her role in the story was becoming stale and I didn't want to bore you all, secondly the fic is an OCxVanessa fic not an OCxDazu fic so they would've found each other eventually. Next chapter the vice captain of the Black Bulls arrives!