Rain had begun falling long ago. The cave that had been there not to long ago had turned into mere debris. No proper shape left. Lightning struck in the distance. Yuno counted to five, six, seven. Seven seconds later thunder followed loudly. He didn't know what to do, though he doubted anyone was left inside the rubble of stones. Not alive at least.
Yuno had seen the members of the midnight sun. they had been a pawn in this game the devil played with them. And they had no chance to win it. Not now. But he refused to leave. Refused to accept that Asta didn't recognize them. Didn't recognize him. the first person that he fell in love with. Yuno couldn't accept that.
Other than the rain and thunder, it was quiet around them. No one knew what to say or do right now. The teen would love to destroy something right now. Preferably Zagred and wipe that smirk off his face. Turn back time and be faster. There were a lot of things he would like to do.
The silence was broken when he heard almost silent sobbing coming from behind him. Yuno expected a lot to happen right now. But when he turned his head, he didn't expect it to be Liebe who had begun crying.
The devil was clutching his arms. Tears mixing with the rain as they ran down his face and hit the ground. This must feel weird for him. Liebe had never been without Asta before. Not like this. They were opposites of each other and yet the same.
Charlotte was quick to act, wrapping her arms around the young devil. "It's okay" she whispered.
Liebe clung to her like his life depended on it. This was wrong. Everything about this was wrong. He shouldn't be here. He should be with Asta. With his brother. Instead, he felt alone and empty. "Mama" he whimpered.
"It'll be fine. We'll fix this" she said softly, rubbing a hand down his back.
Though Yuno had only known the devil part of Asta for a few weeks, he never expected him to act like this. He always seemed confident and cocky. Never vulnerable.
"How do we fix this though?" Finral asked. "We don't even know what happened or what will come next." He sounded panicked. Not good.
Yami took a deep breath, steadying himself. "Today we lost. None of us have the power to fight them right now. All we can do now is rest and figure out a plan in the morning" he said.
Resting. The last thing Yuno wanted to do right now. But the Captain was right. He was tired. Mentally and physically. Even if they found them, they had no chance of winning. Not with Asta against them. He wondered how strong he could get now. What limits his power had. Still, he protested.
"I can't rest now! I doubt that I will even be able to sleep" the wind mage said.
"I can understand you. And I would love nothing more than to help my son, but we don't even know how" Charlotte sighed.
"But Asta needs our help now! We can't wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow could be too late" he protested.
"Listen kid, I admire your courage but none of us have much magic left right now. Even if we find them, we won't win like this. Not without a plan to help Asta" Yami said.
"But I-" he didn't know how to deal with this. He never felt like this before. Going to sleep sounded so wrong.
"Nothing will happen to Asta, I'm sure of that. Otherwise, Zagred would've already killed him" Charlotte said with a bitter voice.
"That's what worries me" Yuno said. "He already tried to kill Asta once. I don't see why he wouldn't try again once he has what he wants."
Could they not see that? Zagred had full intention to kill Asta once he was useless or decided to rebel against him. Zagred knew what he wanted and that didn't leave Asta much time.
"We are all worried, Yuno" Finral said. "But the Captains are right. Nothing we can do right now will help him. He won't listen. All we can do right now is gather our strength and make a proper plan when we can think straight again."
The spatial mage opened a portal back to the Black Bulls hideout.
"You can stay with us for the night, if you want to" Charlotte offered. "None of us should be alone tonight."
Yuno took a deep breath to calm himself. He hated it, but they were right. Being honest, he could barely keep his eyes open. It was no long fight, though they had to fight through the members of the midnight sun on the way. But seeing Asta like this was enough to feel knocked out.
"Alright" he sighed. The teen followed the rest of them through the portal. Letoile though insisted on going back to the Golden Dawn. She would give everyone a brief update.
Arriving at the Black Bulls made him sick. They would have to go inside and tell everyone else what had happened. Though he doubted the reaction some of them would give.
Yuno opened the large front door, only to find the rest of the squad gathered around the large table in the main hall. Oh god, this would be even worse than he thought.
"You're back" Vanessa smiled as she stood up. Though her smile fell when she saw them standing there in silence. Everyone else got up as well, but silence remained for another solid minute.
"I'm getting a bad feeling here" Magna said, taking his sunglasses off.
"Indeed" Noelle said sadly, rubbing her arm. "Asta is…"
"He's not dead…..is he?" Vanessa dared to ask.
"No" the royal shook her head. "But I wouldn't count on him helping us in the near future either."
Yuno didn't know if he liked the way she said it, but he had no way to properly explain it either. Never in a million years had he thought that Asta would count as an enemy. Even if just for a minute.
"I don't get it" Luck said. It was kind of creepy that he wasn't smiling.
Charlotte cleared her throat. "Asta is… not on our side anymore. The devil used his magic to turn him against us."
More silence swept through the room. Yes, that was a good explanation. More lightning flashed outside, thunder following just two seconds after. That and the rain crashing against the windows outside were the only sound anyone could hear in that moment.
Yuno didn't have the strength to listen to the chaos of voices that followed. They had every right to be upset and confused. This was not what they were hoping for. And he wasn't either. For the first time in his life, Yuno felt like something was missing. Like the sun had been stolen from him. And it was.
Asta was like the sun. Always shining brightly and refusing to give into anyone's will. The sun does as it pleases and so does Asta. But not anymore. And Yuno would make sure it didn't stay this way.
While trying to cancel out the loud noises, Yuno begun to wander towards Asta's room. It was the only place he would feel some peace tonight. If he could sleep at all that is.
Closing the door behind him, silence washed through the room. Sure, he could still hear the storm outside, but it was better than the noise. The confused and panicked voices of a whole squad wishing to get answers. To get told that it was some bad joke they had come up with. But it wasn't.
Leaning against the door, eses closed, Yuno took another deep breath. He couldn't focus on anything. His thoughts were running wild.
But the others were right. He at least had to try and sleep some. And tomorrow they would find a way to help Asta.
The teen was about to lie down when a knock came from the door. He didn't have the energy to talk or argue with anyone right now, but he opened the door anyway. Liebe stood in the hallway; pillow clutched in his hand while he looked at the ground in embarrassment.
"Can I…stay with you for the night?"
That, Yuno did not expect. But denying him didn't feel right either.
"Thought you would want to stay with Charlotte or Yami" he said dumbly.
Liebe shook his head. "I need to stay with my brother."
And he didn't mean Yuno. He meant the room that still belonged to Asta. It would make him feel close to the other in some way.
"And I don't want to be alone" he admitted silently.
And how could he say no to that? There was no way Yuno would deny the young devil that had never been alone in his entire life.
"Get in" he said, gesturing towards the bed.
And Liebe did. Quickly jumping into the bed and shuffling himself against the wall. Yuno sighed as he closed the door and joined the devil in bed. He didn't know if Liebe needed or wanted any sort of comfort, but that question answered itself five minutes later.
Liebe must've thought that he was already asleep when he snuggled closer, trying to get as much comfort as possible.
Yuno laid an arm over the demons back, inviting him to come closer if needed. There was no need to be embarrassed for needing comfort every once in a while. He did too. Actually, he very much enjoyed the times he would cuddle with Asta when the blond would come over to his squad for the night. No one ever said anything about it.
But Yuno could feel that Liebe was holding back. That he was trying his best to keep it all in. There was no need for that right now thought. During the night, when no one else would notice but them, it was okay to let go. To be sad. He had been earlier. Why not now?
"You can let it out" the teen said silently.
"I'm fine" came the grumbled response.
"You're not" Yuno insisted. "If you were then you would stay with Captain Charlotte. But you wanted to be here because this is Asta's room. And I'm here too. You basically insisted on staying here."
"Well, basically this is my room too" Liebe said.
Yuno could feel him clutching the bedsheets. He was still trying his hardest not to cry. He sighed.
"Let it out" he insisted. "You'll feel better afterwards."
"I don't see you crying your heart out" the devil hissed.
"No" Yuno shook his head. "Once I thought it was wrong to show any kind of weakness, but then came Asta and everything changed" he smiled to himself.
Liebe shifted to get a better look at the wind mage. "Yeah, he's like that."
"He is. And I learned that keeping everything bottled up was bad. That it actually made things worse. So let it out. It'll help."
"Can I do it silently though?" Liebe asked, burying his face into the side of the other.
Yuno shrugged. "Sure."
He felt the devil nod into his side. "Thanks" he heard the mumble.
Shortly after, it was silent again. Yuno closed his eyes, holding the devil close in an attempt to comfort him silently. If he felt his shirt getting wet at some point, he didn't say anything about it.
Things would turn out okay. They would help Asta as soon as they could.
Zagred smirked as he walked down the path towards hells gate. He finally had everything he needed. Everything he needed to be king. The boy was following him blindly now. Not even asking questions about his motives. Because his offspring knew exactly what was going to happen.
And there was no stopping him now.
