Chapter 36: Night-Time Capture
Disclaimer:
Hi guys, you're in for another one! Just before I leave you to read, I'd like to address a few things.
E.T. 2000 and OceanMaster 32, I do read all your reviews and I'm very thankful you do review the chapters in the first place. Is there a way for you two to turn on your messages because it would be much easier for me to respond to your reviews if I can. Perhaps there's a way to do it in the settings?
And finally, there's a Guest that has started to read the fanfic and I'm happy he has. He was only on chapter 6 with his latest review so by the time he sees this, who knows what would've happened. I just wanted to address what you said about Lucas being wimpy, or him being abused is an excuse for him to be that way… You see characters like Deku from MHA, or Subaru from Re:Zero that initially start off crying/being cowards etc but eventually they turn it around, and that's called character development. Also, you said "He teared up when insulted by someone" as if it's something crazy… Lucas was abused and look at what sort of insults Richard Kira used to him. It hit him right where it hurt so I don't really understand your problem with that. I hope you understand that the character I portray Lucas as won't be the same character in 50 chapters time or whatever.
With all that said, I hope you guys enjoy.
The Clover Kingdom was a silent landscape at the dead of night. The bright and shining moon was at its peak in the sky with plenty of glowing stars scattered about.
The people in Nean were sleeping and this was the same with Lucas who had decided to spend the night at Daisy's house.
The bed he was sleeping in was slightly makeshift as it was just a white mattress on the floor with plenty of blankets to keep him warm. The mage was in a spare room upstairs with a singular window that looked towards the church in the distance.
In the middle of the town, however, the silence there was eerie in comparison to the rest.
"Okay, I'll start the mission". A tall figure stood on top of the church and had his grimoire floating right next to him. Eventually, he began to cast a spell from his grimoire and the effect of it was chilling.
Snow started to fall from the sky at an alarmingly fast rate. Each and every roof of the buildings started to turn a different colour with a thick blanket of white powder.
A few minutes after, almost every single house's door flung open and out came a bunch of children. They all started walking to meet in one spot and they carried on in a single file line. The children all had a blank look to them with their eyes being devoid of all colour and emotion.
"Yes! My brother will be happy with this!" The man who stood at the church smiled. He took out his broom and flew away, leading all of the children to place far away.
Back at Daisy's house, Lucas was tossing and turning in his sleep as whatever he was dreaming about made him uncomfortable. The mage was floating in an entire black space, devoid of any light except from the ones that the three figures in front of him were emitting, but as he tried to look closely at them, he couldn't quite make out clearly who they were.
"Who… are you?" He mumbled in his sleep.
"You know who we are… it's just… the memories of… are… mixed up".
"What? None of what you just said makes any sense!" Lucas replied back.
One of the beings he saw was just a dark-blue silhouette that stood tall, well above the height of Lucas. He looked down at the orange-haired mage and their broken and jagged blue wings flapped in the dark silence.
"You… don't… me? I'm…".
The other being who was next to the blue silhouette had spoken and much of what this one was saying couldn't be understood either. This individual had a golden-yellow silhouette to them, and they also had a pair of wings, these ones being different to the silhouette's before. These wings were complete.
"I do not understand. Are you saying I know you two? I've never seen you in my life!" Lucas responded, confused.
"Remember… before… spirit… castaway…".
Lucas shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He turned to the third and final figure that looked at him. It was a clearer individual, and the silhouette had some facial features to it. The colour of it was a rosy red and it dressed in a white coloured dress that went below the knees. The most distinct feature of this person was that they had long, light-pink hair.
"You must remember me, right? All those years we were together… don't tell me you forgot?"
"I can actually understand you. Do I remember you?" Lucas repeated as he looked up and down at the figure. "I don't… but your entire presence, I feel like I'm not a stranger to it…", he responded. "I've had this nostalgic feeling before…", he thought on.
"Perhaps you'll see me soon… if you wake up",
"Wake up…",
"Wake up…",
"Wake up, Lucas-san!"
Lucas shook his head in immediate response and bounced up from the mattress. He had almost hit his head on the ceiling with how strong the reaction was, but when he took in his surroundings, he realised something.
His entire face was mere inches away from Daisy's. However, there wasn't a fun or teasing interaction between the two, instead there was the look of pure fear in her pale face.
"Are you okay, Daisy?" Lucas said, quickly readying himself for what was about to be revealed.
"It's my siblings again… th-they're missing!" Daisy replied in haste.
Initially, Lucas sighed thinking it was a case of them being troublemakers once more but then that feeling was quickly removed by the person who started knocking at the house door in an impatient manner.
Quickly, Lucas threw on his squad robe as well as his boots and ran to the door where Daisy already was in tears.
The person at the door was none other than the red-haired girl that they met the day before at the restaurant. It was Rebecca.
"My siblings… as well as every other child in Nean has gone missing! I- I told Asta and Gauche who were around but I had to tell you guys too", she spoke with haste as well as she was worried to no end.
Though, when she saw Daisy's tired and pained face, she realised that she already knew this information.
"This isn't good… just a few hours ago, Daisy broke because of her stress when it came to taking care of her siblings and now this happens". Lucas looked at Daisy and she was trembling a little and her hands were clenched.
"Let's go find them", Lucas spoke out. He took the Ice mage by the hand and the three left to go towards where Asta was.
A few minutes went by as the trio ran towards the centre of the town. The night sky showed no sign of brightening up, but another thing Lucas realised was how there was so much snow around.
Lucas shivered and clutched his shoulders. "H-how did this snow come so suddenly? Is this why it was so cold earlier?"
"It's definitely not normal at this time of the year. The thing that worries me the most is that since all the children were sleeping, they would've left without anything like sweaters or jackets. Marco and Luca didn't even have their shoes on!" Rebecca said, shivering and worrying.
Lucas and the other two reached the centre and saw Asta on the floor with Gauche standing on top of him, kicking him repeatedly.
Gauche was a taller man around the age of 19. He had light-brown hair that had an undertone of purple to it that also hung over his left eye. He wore a purple t-shirt with a brown belt that held up his light-brown trousers. The mage also had dark-brown boots with the Black Bulls robe completing his look.
"H-hey… aren't they from the same squad? Why is he doing that?" Lucas asked Daisy.
"I mentioned him earlier… that's Gauche Adlai. He's unhinged and lets his anger dictate what he does", she replied.
Asta covered his face to avoid being stepped on. "L-leave me alone you sister-loving freak! I barely talk to you since you're so hard to approach, and one of the first things you do to me is this?!" He screamed, eventually standing up and holding his ground.
"You… why would I want to speak to someone who stole Marie from me?!" Gauche screamed, bringing out his mirror and closing in on the Anti-Magic mage. "Mirror Magic: Reflect Ray!"
The angry mage shot out a purple beam of light at Asta who easily dispersed it with his large sword upon impact.
"Can you guys stop fighting? We need to work together for this since we're the only Magic Knights here!" Lucas shouted, prompting the both of them to turn towards him. One greeted him with a warm smile whilst the other looked far from happy.
"Lucas! I didn't know you were here in Nean. The more help we have saving the children, the better!" Asta walked up and slapped his back.
"… He didn't see me when I was in the restaurant? Well, I guess he was busy eating so much", Lucas thought in his head before smiling back at the mage.
Two voices were heard from the side of the group. "Wow, why is it s-so cold and wh-why is it snowing in the first place?!" One of the two said as they walked forward.
"T-tell me about it!" The other replied.
Asta, Lucas, and the others recognised the two voices.
"Noelle and Mimosa? What are you two doing here?" Asta asked.
"Hmph! I was just here on a walk and seeing you here was a coincidence", Noelle answered.
"Uh—h… yeah! It's the same for me!" Mimosa replied quickly.
Asta tilted his head and crossed his arms. "You could've told me you were coming to Nean, Noelle. Magna and I would've taken you", he said.
Lucas also tilted his head, in a similar and confused manner. He was about to question Noelle since he clearly saw her in the restaurant looking at Asta but as he opened his mouth, Daisy nudged him in the hip and waved her head to stop him from inciting something.
"Hm, this girl business is so odd", he shook his head.
"Mimosa, I thought you went home?" Lucas asked, waving.
"I was about to but then I saw Noelle, so I stayed with her and then all this happened", she replied.
Meanwhile, during these interactions, Gauche was grinding his teeth in anger. "Look. I don't care about these missing children or whatever. I just want to kill Asta", he turned and flicked through his grimoire.
As he was about to attack, another person came towards the group. It was Sister Theresa and she looked frustrated.
"I wouldn't say that you bad-mouthed sis-con. Marie is also missing", she said . This prompted Gauche to leave Asta and grab the nun by her collar.
"Marie is gone?! Isn't it YOUR job to look after her?" He shouted, winding his other hand back and forming it into a fist to punch her.
"Put her down!" Lucas shouted. "This is no time for this".
Gauche went to punch the old woman in the face when he was stopped by someone's magic in front of him that blocked the punch. It was a light-blue construct that formed as a barrier.
"Ice Creation Magic: Crystalised Barrier…", Daisy whispered as she blocked the punch from the Mirror mage.
Gauche turned his head and looked at the mage angrily. "I've seen you around here. You've played with Marie before and yet you protect this old hag?!"
"Shut up! For once in your life think about the wider picture… the kids are missing; your sister and my entire family is gone! I want to go and find them right now and doing whatever you're doing is pointless!" Daisy shouted, growing angrier.
Lucas looked at the scene in surprise. "I've never seen her like this… it makes sense though considering…".
"Mirror Magic: Reflect Ray!" Gauche quickly broke the defence spell from the Blue Rose mage and went in for the punch once more, completely ignoring what Daisy said.
This time he was quicker which didn't give anyone time to react. That is, except for one mage.
Asta ran in front of the punch and took it to the face instead of Theresa. He fell to the floor, but not before getting up quickly and headbutting the bad-mouthed Black Bull.
"We need to be calm at times like this. Never act out and assess all the options!" Asta shouted.
"Oho… he reminds me of a certain idiotic royal", Theresa thought to herself and smiled.
After a few minutes, things had calmed down and Gauche sat on the snowy floor looking down frustrated.
"I don't know if you've realised this, but the snow that's falling has magic emitting from it. Whatever happened was done by a mage", Theresa mentioned.
"Hmph. You just noticed that you old and wrinkly hag? I'll be able to pinpoint Marie through the magic item she carries on her. My mirror is connected to it", he stood up.
"You should have mentioned that earlier…", Lucas mumbled. He looked over at Daisy and Rebecca and saw how lost they looked without their siblings. "Whatever the case, Gauche. Take us to wherever Marie is".
"Tch, fine". Gauche brought his broom out along with Lucas, Daisy, and Sister Theresa doing the same. Asta went along with Lucas.
Before leaving, Asta and Lucas turned to their respective squad mates.
"Mimosa, are you okay staying here?" Lucas asked.
"I'll be fine. You have a Recovery mage in the Sister and besides, I need to make sure the families that are here are fine too", she smiled. "Go get them!"
"Thanks!" Lucas hopped on his broom.
"Noelle, you sure you don't wanna come?" Asta asked.
"N-no way! Like I would follow you around! I'll stay here just in case the children come back so I can tend to them", she replied.
"Okay. We'll be off then", he answered back and sat on the Light mage's broom.
After half an hour on the brooms, the mages lost sight of Nean behind them and were heading into a territory where there were nothing but caves. These places had a lot of different structures to them with some of the caves being as tall as mountains, whereas some were mostly under the ground. A lot of them were regular caves as well and that is where it looked like Gauche was leading them.
"What do you know about this place, Sister?" Lucas asked as he flew.
"I'll be honest with you, not much. It's been a long time since I've come to these caves but what I do remember is that a lot of bandits and criminals used to use them as a place where they could store treasure", she replied.
"I see. So, the caves must have a lot of space in them underground as well", he noted.
The Sister changed the topic of conversation though as they knew where they were headed. "You two… Asta and Lucas. What is your goal with the Magic Knights?"
The two replied in unison. "To become the Wizard King!"
Theresa just smiled.
Asta, however, before this point didn't know what Lucas's goal was. He knew he was interested since he asked about how to become the Wizard King to Julius along with him and Yuno, but this clarified it for him.
The magicless mage turned his head back to the Light mage and smiled with a wide mouth. "Then, I guess you're my rival!"
"You bet!" Lucas replied, but internally he was so happy he had another rival. He had only cemented his rivalry with Yuno a few days ago and now another presented itself.
"Why do you guys want to become the Wizard King? I've always wondered about you Lucas-san, but I'm also interested in your reasoning, Asta". Daisy spoke from the right as she sat on her own broom.
"It happened from when I was five-years-old. Sister Lily, Yuno, and I were together when she started telling us about the Clover Kingdom. She spoke about the different classes, discrimination within them, as well as how unfair things are with certain people. I want to change all that and give the people hope that they can become great if they put their hearts to it. Yuno and I went through some things which also really cemented our goals in our hearts and minds… we'll do anything and everything we can to become the Wizard King!" Asta answered with a look of sheer determination and will.
"That's definitely something, Asta. It's a great reason to want to become the Wizard King", Daisy smiled. "And you, Lucas-san?"
Lucas twiddled his thumbs with each other, and his cheeks grew red with a slight embarrassed look. "I-it's nothing as inspiring as Asta's reasoning… but I want to become the Wizard King because I want every child in the kingdom to have a good life, free from abuse and the heavy expectations of those around them. I… I hate unnecessary violence and I want to change all that to make the world more peaceful. I'd like to face these problems and fix them… and save these people", he answered back.
"What are you talking about, Lucas? That's a great reason!" Asta spoke.
"It is?" Lucas replied.
"Sure, it is. You have a clear goal and it's for the betterment of the kingdom", Theresa answered.
"That's right!" Daisy added with a punch to the air.
The group of five carried on flying towards where the signal from Marie's magic item was. Gauche remained silent as he continuously thought about saving his sister, whilst the other four thought about saving everyone.
"S-sis…? Wh-where are y-you?"
Alice slowly opened her eyes and saw nothing but darkness as she did. Eventually, as her red eyes adjusted to the lack of light, she saw that she was sat down in a field of other children from the same town as her. After that initial realisation, she also noticed that they were in a cave with freezing cold air blowing all around.
She realised her body was under some sort of spell that prevented her from moving. The only thing that was active was her mind and her eyesight, and that's how she could see and understand the things around her.
The nine-year-old diverted her eyes all around and saw her sisters. Chloe was sat in front of her, whilst Grace and Sonia were on either side of her.
"Just what is going on? Maybe if I use my magic, I can figure something out?" The long-haired sibling tried to generate some magic to use. Her hands were unable to move but she had her mind that was working. However, as she was about to do something, she heard a loud scream from the left of her.
"AH!"
Alice slowly turned her head, trying not to be obvious and she saw what had happened.
"Oh no… not Marie!" Alice's eyes widened.
She saw a tall man with long, white hair and a blue scarf slap the girl in the face. The man had a white attire on with a white shirt and trousers.
"Wait… is Marie able to respond to things like me? For some reason my sisters can't do anything, they're just sat there with blank expressions. Marie is a bit different though since I can see her moving her body. Is it something to do with that magic item her freaky brother gave to her?".
Another voice was heard from the back of the cave, and it sounded quite angry. Alice squinted her eyes and she saw a fat man with black hair, blue shirt, and trousers, as well as a white scarf and some weird-looking glasses.
"Neige… I've told you time and time again to not ruin the merchandise", he spoke slowly as he stood up from his chair. He scratched his stomach and burped as he did.
"Sorry, Brother Baro… It's just I spent a long time on my Snowfall Trance spell, and she thinks it's okay to discard that effort", he said softly.
Alice realised what this could have meant as soon as she heard what the children were being described as. "Are we… being sold? I need to help everyone here… a lot of the people are my friends, not to mention my own sisters. Big Sis, Daisy always taught me to be there for others… and that's exactly what I want to do!"
Alice calmed down and tried to get Marie's attention. First, she tried a slight cough as it seemed to be the most natural thing to do. The other children were coughing and sneezing, so doing exactly that wouldn't give anything away. The little girl tried a bit louder until she managed to get the Adlai's attention.
"Alice? She regained her senses too, then… maybe we can do something to help?" Marie slightly nodded to show that her and Alice were on the same page. "It doesn't look like she can move too well. Maybe I should use my magic on her to make her move a little so the spell can break?"
The small girl stared at Daisy's sibling and focused. She used her Eye Magic to forcibly move Alice's arm which broke the spell enchantment.
"Marie, thank you!" Alice signalled. The girl then lifted her hand up and counted down from five to show that they'll attack the two men to try and escape with the others.
Finger by finger, the time came to make their move and the two girls stood up and ran towards the enemies. Marie focused her eyes on Baro, whilst Alice focused her magic on Neige.
"We're only children, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't do what's right!" Alice shouted. She put her arms forwards and let out a small beam of blue magic that headed for Neige.
Marie used her Eye Magic to stop Baro in place.
"Neige, do something! Their magic isn't strong at all but if this keeps up, all of the children will break free from the spell", he shouted.
"Snow Magic: Snowball!" Neige casted a spell that formed a snowball in his right palm and used it to strike at Alice who quickly went down.
He walked up to her slowly and picked her up by her long, orange hair.
"So, you use Ice Magic… it's so cool, but to be friends you shouldn't have attacked us like that. You've been a very bad girl". Neige punched the Calor sibling in her mouth, causing her to jerk in pain.
It was much of the same with Baro and Marie. Her magic wasn't strong enough to immobilise the fat bandit and he quickly walked up to her, punched her, and threw her back to where she was sat before.
Marie lay on the floor, hurt. "Brother… please come", she teared up and closed her eyes.
"As for you", Baro turned to Neige who was still holding Alice. "You'll be the first we extract mana from since you've made us angry. That blonde girl before already has a good amount of mana, but you have a bit more".
Alice started to cry as she was placed in a chair in the middle of two, large and cylindrical green tanks. She was chained and strapped up with no way to move.
She could only think what was about to happen as she thrashed about.
"You seem a bit confused, so I'll tell you what's about to happen", Baro stood next to Alice. "Our employer wants us to extract every child's mana from here. You see, I don't really care what the job is unless I get paid, but since I can see you have a high amount of mana, I'll just take yours for myself! They won't notice a one child difference", he cackled.
As he stood and as Alice cried. He looked at a child behind Neige through his weird glasses.
"Since these glasses tell me how much mana someone has, I can tell who is going to be useful or useless. That red-head kid behind you… throw him away", he ordered.
Alice and Marie turned around and tried to react, but they were so terrified that they couldn't move. More tears left their eyes as they saw Marco, one of Rebecca's siblings, being lead to a cruel fate.
Neige picked up the boy and threw him out of the cave. There was a small crevice in the cave that was big enough for a child to fit in and it lead all the way outside. Marco slid down and landed in the cold blanket of snow that was waiting for him, still enchanted by the spell from Neige.
"No!" Marie screamed. Alice had tried to, but her mouth was covered by the straps that were attached to the chair.
Neige walked up to the Eye Magic girl and slapped her once more in the same place as earlier, leaving a large red mark.
"You! I told you to calm it down a notch… now, help me with her mana", he ordered and rubbed his hands together.
"Daisy… someone… please…", Alice thought with desperation.
Another half-hour had passed on the brooms and the gang of five finally reached the point where Gauche said Marie would be. They jumped down on to the soft, white blanket of snow on the floor and walked forwards.
It wasn't too long before Asta and the rest saw something in the snow. Gauche didn't care for whatever it was since he rushed right into the cave to find his little sister.
"You can deal with that; I have to save Marie!" He flew into the dark and cold cave.
"That's… a kid!" Asta ran ahead and picked up the little boy. He was covered in bits of falling snow and his face stated to turn blue from the sheer cold.
"That's Marco!" Daisy added, covering her mouth with a gasp. "Why is he out here?!"
Sister Theresa looked closely at Marco and deduced that he was under some kind of spell. "It's the same feeling as before. The snow from earlier… it's magical effects are still in play. We need to get rid of it somehow", she said.
"Well, we have Asta for that", Lucas said. "If you use your sword then I'm sure it'll negate the effect".
"Great idea!" Asta took his large weapon out from his grimoire and gently tapped the red-hair child with its crossguard. It quickly put colour into Marco's eyes once more and he woke up from his trance.
Marco started to sneeze. "Asta…? Everyone?" He looked around. Suddenly, he jolted up and ran to Daisy and grabbed her. "I… whatever happened to me, all I seemed to hear in my head were Alice's shouts! You have to save her… she's in trouble!"
The Ice mage gasped and immediately ran into the depths of the cave.
"We need to go in too. Who knows what could be happening?" Lucas mentioned and tried to get the other two to move.
Marco sneezed again and Theresa stopped them. "We need to take care of him… Flame Recovery Magic: Sacred Healing Light". The nun enveloped the small child in a warm and inviting orange light which had floating candles scattered around to generate heat from.
"This is so warm! Thank you, Sister", Marco hugged her.
"That's a high-level spell. She's definitely experienced", Lucas thought.
"That should treat your wounds. Now, we need to go inside and save the rest", Theresa stood up.
"I- I don't wanna be on my own! Asta, please let me come with!" He clutched on the magicless mage's clothes and teared up.
"It's way too dangerous for you, Marco. Though, I do have a way to make you stronger by yourself!" Asta knelt down, took off his Black Bulls robe and put it on the small child. "This gives you a cool look and you get the Magic Knight courage from it!"
Marco held on to the robe that was around his neck and body. "I… I think I'll be alright now!"
Lucas patted the kid on his head. "Besides, we need your help anyway. Once we save the kids, they'll come here, and you need to protect them!" He smiled.
"You're right!" Marco jumped with joy.
Asta mounted Lucas's broom with him, while Theresa did the same. The three rushed into the cave after Daisy and Gauche, as well as to save the other children.
"Alice… please be okay. I can't deal with thinking what might happen. Chloe, Grace, and Sonia… I hope you're alright too!" Daisy pleaded in her head as she caught up to the Mirror mage who was also rushing ahead.
"Hmph. You're that girl again. You planning to save my sister too?" Gauche spoke in disgust.
"Yes. I'm here to save Marie, as well as all of the other children. It would be good if you could act your age and as a Magic Knight for once. I honestly can say that I see no redeeming qualities in you, so it's a mystery how someone as good as Asta, or even your own sister, have accepted you". Daisy went in on the foul-mouthed individual. All of the talk of Marie as well as the clear negligence of his Magic Knight duties had got to the Blue Rose Knight in a bad way.
Gauche's reaction seemed indifferent. "Someone like you who has had no problems in life would never understand what Marie and I have had to endure".
Daisy mumbled to herself. "Oh, trust me. I've had more than my fair sure of upsets…
… You can be damn sure about that".
The Ice mage and the Mirror mage managed to get to an opening of the cave, and they immediately saw around a hundred children sitting on the floor, looking towards the two men in front.
"Marie!" Gauche spotted her on the floor in the midst of all of the children. He picked her up and she opened her eyes and smiled weakly.
"You came… you really came", she said softly.
Gauche tried to comfort her but when he realised the red handprints that were on Marie's left cheek, he became furious. "Who did this to you?"
The Eye Magic girl pointed at both Baro and Neige who slowly stepped backwards as they realised that Magic Knights had found them.
"You two will die now", Gauche stated and flicked through his grimoire.
Daisy saw her sister, Alice, on the floor in front of her other sisters. She wasn't unconscious but Daisy was confused as she could feel that something was missing.
"Sis… you came…! I'm sorry that I can't be like you… I guess it's karma for always annoying you… haha", she weakly smiled before falling unconscious.
"Alice, Alice! Are you alright, what happened to you?!" She checked for injuries and saw that there were many bruises that resembled tape, wire, and straps on her sister. She quickly looked at her other siblings and saw there was nothing of note on them. "Why is Alice in this state then?"
That was when she realised the difference.
Daisy's voice trembled and her breathing became irregular.
"All of your magic – your mana – is gone…".
Daisy slowly put her sibling down and looked at both Baro and Neige. She saw the contraption behind them as well as a steel chair in front which clearly showed that Alice was tied up. The mage also saw a few other children lined up in front with very low levels of mana.
"How dare you… do something like this?!" She screamed before reaching for her blue grimoire and flicking through it violently.
"It was simply the job. You won't stop us now!" Baro screamed.
"Oh, I'll see about that", she said back.
NOTES:
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Do you see how certain events are differing, yet staying the same? I'm enjoying this arc I'm adapting in my own way, and I hope you do too.
Marie and Alice teaming up… who would've thought? It's obvious they won't have spells yet since they're so young and without a grimoire, but their determination is something.
Alice with no magic… what does this mean in the long run?
