-Presumption of innocence-
Chapter 2. Life
The most beautiful curvature Yami had ever seen in his life wasn't a smile, but the belly where his daughter grew little by little. He had never considered himself a loving person at all, but it was completely inevitable for him to stroke Charlotte's belly every time they were alone.
She played with an advantage; She felt it daily and at all hours. However, he only had those fleeting moments when he placed the palm of his hand against her skin and could experience that sensation, which was the strangest thing he had ever experienced, but it was also the best.
She was still a month and a half away from being born, but they already felt that Hikari was going to be very restless. Yami could tell as soon as he approached, because even before he put his hand on Charlotte's belly, he could see her legs moving energetically.
That night, when they were both about to fall asleep, he stared at her. There were times when he didn't want to disturb Charlotte too much, so instead he watched her sleep without touching her, because he figured it must be very burdensome to have so many people constantly approaching her and especially with her pregnancy being so far along.
But the blonde woman knew him all too well, so she stared at his determined gaze, his dark eyes vibrating as he watched the girl's every slightest movement through her flesh. Then, Charlotte held his hand cautiously, brought it to her lips to kiss it slowly, and then placed it on her belly. Hikari moved even more intensely, as she always did when she noticed her father nearby, making Charlotte smile and leaving him enraptured as she continued with his gaze fixed there.
"She loves it whenever you're around."
"Huh? Why do you say that?" Yami asked somewhat confused.
"Well, because she moves a lot. It also happens when I eat certain foods she likes."
"Really?"
"Really," she said. "Why do you watch her so much?"
Yami blinked a couple of times and fixed his eyes on Charlotte, who had a rather calm look on her face. It was true; she had been pregnant for a while now and yet he was just as surprised by all that entailed.
"I don't know, I…"
"It's your daughter," she interrupted, realizing he couldn't find the right answer. "It's completely normal, I just wanted to see what you said. I also spend hours watching her, although I can't do it directly like you. But I can't wait to meet her."
"If she's lucky, she'll look like you."
Charlotte laughed quietly and then laid on the bed, making Yami imitate her. These last few weeks Yami was working a lot more, so they weren't together as much as they would like.
"What's it like?"
"What is what like?"
"Being pregnant. How does it feel?"
"Well... The first few months were horrible because I was nauseous at all hours, couldn't stand strong smells and was almost always tired. When your belly grows, there are many things in your daily routine that you can't do normally and sometimes you feel a little useless when you need help for very simple tasks. And that's nothing, because there's still worse things to come: childbirth and postpartum, so you can ask me this question again in a few weeks."
"And she's still worth it to you?"
Charlotte looked at him strangely. At first, the question bothered her, but after analyzing it for a few seconds, she understood it. When looked at objectively, the nine months of pregnancy were a rather hopeless, annoying and uncomfortable process. And if she was honest, she would have liked someone to warn her about the effects of carrying a baby inside her before she had gotten pregnant, because normally pregnancy is imagined as something wonderful and radiant, when the reality is that, on many occasions, it involved the transformation of a woman's body in completely radical and irreversible ways.
"Yes. It's worth it. Every time I feel her moving inside me or imagine her eyes staring at me, I feel this sense of relief and feel rewarded. Although I also think it would be nice if there was more information about what pregnancy is and its phases out there for women. Then we would at least be more prepared."
"That's something we need to improve then."
"Yes," She said in a faint whisper, stroking her husband's chin and kissing him. "Can we go to sleep yet? I'm kind of tired."
"Of course," Yami muttered, kissed her forehead and caressing her belly for the last time while reaffirming internally that he would never forget that feeling, no matter how many years passed.
Yami woke up somewhat bewildered. He didn't quite understand why he had had that dream, which was actually a memory of Charlotte's first pregnancy.
However, he liked remembering that time. When he found out that Charlotte was pregnant with Hikari, he didn't have the best reaction. It was true that it wasn't something that was in his plans, but he always regretted how cretinous he had been on that day.
Perhaps, Yami's subconscious was indirectly reminding him that he needed to have a conversation with Gauche, because he hadn't liked his attitude when they told them the news of Grey's pregnancy. And he didn't want him to regret his actions that day since they had come from a place of fear and uncertainty.
He rolled to the other side of the bed before getting up. He saw Charlotte's bare back. Her breathing was tremendously slow and that indicated she was still sleeping. It must have been early, because she usually got up earlier than he did, so it was rare that he was the one who woke up earlier.
He moved over and pulled her hair away to give her a kiss on the neck. She stirred a little between the sheets before rolling over to look at him. He knew that if he got up and left her sleeping there she wouldn't like it, because she has said before that she preferred to take advantage of the morning rather than laying in bed all day, something that Yami could never fully understand.
"Good morning."
"Good morning," he greeted as he placed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Would you mind waking up the kids? I have something to do."
Charlotte nodded, gave him a kiss on the lips, and got up to start her day. When she left the room, already dressed and ready to go, she wished him a "good luck", although he knew that she sensed what he was going to do.
He took a shower and left the base. He headed towards the garden to think about the best way to approach the situation, but soon reality fell upon him, because he found Gauche sitting there, looking towards the horizon.
The situation could turn out incredibly well or truly disastrous, but he decided to sit next to him and tell him the first thing that came to his mind.
"Do you want one?" He said, offering Gauche a cigarette that was sticking out of the packet once he sat down next to him on the grass.
Gauche frowned in annoyance as he turned to look at him.
"You know perfectly well that I don't smoke."
"Yes, but I have a feeling you'd need it."
"Is smoking that shit how you calm down?"
"You may not believe it, but yeah it is," he replied simply. "What's wrong with you?"
"Me? Nothing."
"Brat, do you really think you can fool me? Don't tell me if you don't want to, but don't treat me like I'm an idiot."
Gauche sighed and looked up at the sky again with a sense of weariness. It was obvious that his Captain was going to sense his unease, first because he had known him for so many years and second, because he was the kind of person who didn't know how to hide his emotions very well and each and every single emotion, especially the most negative ones, showed clearly on his face. That had always been a habit with him, and it was too late to try to change it now.
"I didn't want to have any more kids," He said truthfully.
Yami was surprised at Gauche's confession. He hadn't expected him to say those words so directly, but he was glad he had, because then he wouldn't have to beat around the bush, since it was one of the things he hated the most.
"Are you scared?"
"Of course I am," he said, then intertwining his fingers to try to calm his nerves. "Grey nearly died giving birth to Gael. I don't want her to go through something like that again, or for my son to have to see his mother in that condition."
Yami took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a long drag. He expelled the smoke and continued his spontaneous verbiage.
"Why don't you admit that what scares you isn't that, but is actually the thought of being alone? You weren't acting like that for Grey or Gael's sake, but for your own. 'Cause those two were very happy about the pregnancy."
Gauche opened his eyes, clenched his fists, and turned to look at Yami with exorbitant fury. However, watching him smoking, calmly, and without even looking at him, a stroke of reality surrounded him.
He was right. His motives were completely selfish and his attitude towards Grey had been disgusting and more than reproachable, because she really looked completely excited about the idea of being a mother again.
He rubbed his face heavily, and even pulled his hair slightly. He was angry that he was feeling this way, because he just wanted his family to be okay. He didn't understand why he had behaved like this so far, but his mouth kept moving, almost involuntarily, and continued to dig into his deepest thoughts.
"I... I'm nothing without Grey. If something happened to her and she wasn't here anymore, I wouldn't be able to look my kids in the face. I don't want to lose her. I can't live without her. So yes, I'm a shitty egoist, but it is what it is."
Yami laughed at that assertion and Gauche looked at him frowning again, somewhat angrily.
"Well, if you can't live without Grey, then take care of her. Nothing guarantees that this birth will be the same as Gael's. Just support her, listen to her... Because I'm convinced that she's equally or more frightened than you. And ask her for forgiveness, 'cause I'm completely sure that you've behaved like a real idiot these last few days."
Gauche was going to reproach him for those choice of words, but Yami got up and left at that moment, giving no room for reply and leaving him there alone, with the only company of his guilty thoughts swarming through his brain incessantly.
Yes, he definitely had a totally horrible attitude the past few days, so he would go talk to Grey and ask for her forgiveness, because he wanted, from that moment on, to only think better about everything and to try to be more positive. He really owed it to her for all the years they had been together.
After entering the base, Gauche went to their room, where he had left Grey asleep. They hadn't talked too much in the past three days. Upon learning that she was pregnant again, his whole world fell apart hopelessly. He didn't want to accept his fears regarding the end of that process, but Yami had made him understand that he was wrong.
He walked into the bedroom. Grey wasn't in bed, so he went to the bathroom door to check if she was there. As he did so, he heard some gagging coming from inside the room, the toilet flushing, and then the water from the sink running.
He waited for her to come out. In doing so, he noticed her somewhat surprised to see him standing there, looking at her seriously.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-yes," Grey replied, hesitating.
Gauche sighed. He put his hand to his forehead to push his hair away a little, and looked at her again. He inhaled and exhaled several times, because he knew he had to be soft; He had already been too demanding and upright the last few days.
"Don't lie to me, Grey. Come here," he said, holding her hand to lead her to the bed and for them to sit down together. "Were you vomiting?"
Grey swallowed. She moved her eyes around different parts of the room, not sure how to answer, until Gauche held her chin and moved her face delicately so that she looked at him and calmed down.
"Yes," She replied, almost whispering. "But it's normal. When I was pregnant with Gael, the same thing happened to me. The first few months are always like this."
"I know."
They fell silent. Gauche watched her. It seemed that she was about to cry, because her lower lip trembled slightly and her eyes were shining, and not in the way he liked to see. She was clearly scared. And not only because of pregnancy, childbirth and the possible consequences, but also because of his reactions, his opinion and his attitude towards it. He felt like the stupidest and most selfish being on the planet, but he swore to himself that he would fix it, so he hugged her without saying anything else.
"Gauche-kun...?"
"I'm sorry. I'm very sorry for having behaved in this way. You don't deserve this. I... I'm just afraid of what might happen to you. But I realized that if I feel this way, then you must be feeling this way even more."
Grey separated slightly from his body and stroked his left cheek. She knew perfectly well the reasons why he had been acting like this, but she was glad that he had been the one to be honest with her and not have to be the one to squeeze it out of him with an uncomfortable conversation.
"It's normal to be afraid. I am too. But... It makes me very happy to think that I am going to have another child of yours and that Gael is going to become an older brother."
"It'll be pretty interesting to see."
Grey laughed, and two tears rolled down her face. More than provoked by the tension of the moment or by disappointment, they were the product of the relief of seeing that her husband was still the same as always.
"What do you want our baby to be?" She asked as she wiped away her tears.
"I don't care too much, but... Maybe, a girl."
She nodded energetically upon hearing those words and hugged him. Gauche just stroked her hair slowly and kissed her forehead.
At this moment, they heard three small knocks on their bedroom door. They separated and Gauche went to open it, because he knew who was there.
"Gael, what's wrong?" He said after finding his son in the hallway. Grey came over too.
"I'm sorry, angel, I'm so late today. Do you want us to go down stairs for breakfast?"
"Don't worry, Mom, I've already had breakfast with Hana."
Grey smiled and stroked his head. Gael was very independent even though he was still small. He looked a lot like his father and that's why she assumed she understood him so well. The past few days had been very difficult for the both of them, because they loved each other but didn't understand each other normally and she always had to mediate between them. However, having that estrangement with her husband, the situation between father and son had become a little more complicated.
"Dad, can I go to the valley with her?"
"Sure," the man replied quickly, showing that he was much more relaxed. Gael, accordingly, smiled slightly, for he missed so much that his father was not constantly in a bad mood. "But don't come home late and be careful. Have you told Captain Yami?"
"Yeah, Hana's telling him now."
"Good. Have fun."
The boy nodded and left under the watchful eyes of his parents. Gauche hugged Grey by the shoulders and she smiled, completely calm at last and proud that he had been able to recognize his mistakes, amend them and move forward.
Yami wandered around the corridor of the base while yawning slightly. He took a cigarette out of his pocket and started smoking, taking advantage of the fact that Charlotte was working and couldn't scold him.
He stood still as he passed by a window, which overlooked the forest. He leaned on the windowsill with his forearms and continued to smoke as he felt how the spring breeze lightly disheveled him. That year, it was a little warmer than usual, but he didn't have much time to think about that, because there was always something to do.
It had been a few months since Asta was crowned as Wizard King, although it was still a little strange that it was he who entrusted him with missions, but that he continued to call him "Captain Yami" with that voice so jovial that he still had.
The kingdom was still very close minded and backwards, so Asta was having a hard time changing everything that didn't work due to prejudice and discrimination, but he wasn't doing anything wrong, in his opinion.
Just that same day, he had a meeting in the Capital with him, so he turned away from the window, closed it and went to the living room. As he walked downstairs, he heard the voices of Finral and Vanessa, who seemed to be fighting or, rather, she was scolding the spatial mage for something.
Finally, after divorcing Finesse definitively, Finral had returned to the base of the Black Bulls to live. When he got married several years ago, he decided to move in with his wife. However, the relationship fractured to the point of completely falling apart for a reason that everyone at the base knew, but no one ever talked about, because they knew it was extremely painful for him.
Yami was glad that Finral had decided to return to his family. So, at least, he could heal little by little in the company of his family until he recovered completely.
"Why are you so useless?"
"Should I remind you that I've already made four trips? My magic has a limit y'know."
Yami saw Vanessa sigh and close her eyes.
Afterwards, she apologized to Finral, but insisted again that they had to leave quickly.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Yami interrupted, cutting off their conversation.
"Captain, Grey's gone into labor early. I'm still here because I had to pick up her stuff and Finral's taken a lot of trips, so his magic hasn't fully recovered yet."
"Oh, shit, I don't want to imagine how hysterical Gauche must be. Do you know how early she is?"
"Only two weeks, but you know what Gauche is like; I don't plan on approaching him all day," Finral admitted as he snorted.
"Charlotte's not here? If you let Mirai know, she might be able to come and get us."
"No, she left early to go to the Blue Roses base and everyone else has already left. Your kids too."
"Well, damn, there's really nothing we can do," said the man as he took out another cigarette and lit it, immediately putting it in his mouth to start smoking, "We'll just have to wait. Anyway, being there we'd have to endure the bad face of Gauche, so at least we're free from seeing that."
Vanessa and Finral looked at each other and composed a gesture of exhaustion.
After all, their Captain was right; All they could do was wait.
As soon as Finral was able to use his magic again, he opened a portal that led the three of them directly into the hallway where the vast majority of the Black Bulls were waiting for news of Grey and the baby.
Charlotte and Asta were missing, and as far as Yami knew, it was because they were both urgently needed, probably because the Blue Roses were going to receive an urgent mission soon.
He looked for Gauche with his eyes. To his surprise, he was much calmer than he imagined —or perhaps, he was hiding his restlessness well for the first time in his life— as he talked to Gael, who did seem more worried and serious.
He smiled almost imperceptibly. He was sure the nerves were eating him up inside, but he didn't want to be noticed so his son wouldn't become even more overwhelmed. When you have children, something in you lights up that changes you and makes you much less intense.
"Dad, are we going to be able to see Mom soon?"
"Yes. We have to wait for the doctor to come out, but I don't think it'll be much longer."
"But it's going to be all right, isn't it?"
"Of course," Gauche blurted out, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Mom's very strong."
The boy nodded, but his mouth was still tight in a stiff line and his fingers, intertwined to hide his nervous state. Gauche stroked his head, and his dark blue hair moved a little.
Yami walked over and stood still in front of the two, causing Gauche to stand up and Gael to bow his head. He hadn't yet been able to fully overcome his fear of the Captain of the Black Bulls, despite the fact that it had diminished considerably in recent years and that his daughter was his best friend.
"Has she been inside for a while?"
"About three and a half hours."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," He said almost without thinking, though they both knew it wasn't entirely true.
Just as he was going to bring up a different topic of conversation, the door to the room Grey was in opened and Owen came out. Gauche seemed to disappear and teleport to where the doctor was, with Gael next to him.
"How did everything go? Is Grey okay? Can we go in now?" He asked quickly and without making a single pause, causing his questions to come out all blurred together.
"She's..."
"She's what?!"
"Everything went perfectly and Grey's fine. You now have a baby girl. And yes, you can go inside just the two of you at first and, when they rest a little more, the others can go in."
Gauche's sigh made Gael smile shyly for the first time since he learned his sister was going to be born. He felt his father holding his hand and they both walked into the room.
Grey was lying down. She looked quite tired, so the first thing her husband did was approach her to ask how she was, while telling her that he was very proud of her strength and kissing her forehead.
Gael, meanwhile, slowly approached the crib next to the bed Grey was in. He peeked inside after standing next to him and observed the girl, who was sleeping peacefully.
She was very small.
Gael remembered seeing Ayla, Aren and Einar born and none of them were that small. Suddenly, he was afraid that something would happen to her seeing as she was so tiny and vulnerable, but he quickly calmed down because he didn't want his parents to worry. He continued to watch her. She had a rather pale complexion and purple hair. She seemed similar to her mother, although he couldn't be sure, since she was a newborn.
As he stared at her, he saw her suddenly opening her eyes. They were gray and their shape was identical to Grey's. He reached out towards her cheek to caress it, but, just as he was about to touch it, she moved a little and he got scared, so he pulled his hand out of the crib with some quickness, causing the baby to burst into tears.
"I'm sorry," the boy muttered as he took a couple of steps back.
"It's okay," Gauche told him.
Then, he came to take her out of the crib, sat in an armchair, next to the bed, with the little one in his arms and made a soft gesture with his head for his son to approach. The girl stopped crying, and Gael was able to do what he planned and smiled when he saw her closing her eyes again.
"Since she's a girl, we'll give her the name we chose among the three of us, right?"
"Absolutely. Her name will be Margaret."
"Hey Dad, isn't Aunt Marie coming?"
"In a few hours. She was on an important mission that she couldn't put off."
Gael nodded and stared back at his sister, while inwardly affirming that he would care for and protect her forever.
When Asta got to his room, he lay on the bed directly. He was dead tired, so after coming back from the hospital, all he wanted to do was sleep.
Being a Wizard King was a very arduous task. In addition to attending to all the paperwork, scheduling squad missions, and checking the prisoner registry, Asta was formulating laws that would propel the real equality of all citizens of the kingdom. And it was costing him a lot, but little by little, he was achieving it.
He also took out the necessary time for his family and to visit the Black Bulls, so his rest time was negligible, because he couldn't neglect his training, which was the main activity to which he devoted his scarce leisure time.
Even so, he had a full life. He was watching his children grow up, his wife made him immensely happy and his work, although complex, made him feel very fulfilled, because he could see the progress that society was making and, above all, was going to make with the passage of time.
Noelle arrived at the bedroom, but she didn't come in alone, she was accompanied by their two children. It seemed that she was angry, so he sat on the bed to find out what was going on.
"Asta, talk to your children."
"What's going on?"
Asta looked at Ayla, who was pouting sadly. Then she realized that Aren was behind her, holding her pajama shirt by the back.
"Ayla is determined to sleep here with us and Aren doesn't want to be left alone in their room. They are already big enough to have these whims."
"But Daddy, I just want to sleep with you. Only today, I promise."
The girl looked at him with a sad face and Asta, who wasn't able to refuse his daughter, ended up accepting, although he knew that he would have to deal with the anger of Noelle, who was already looking at him with a frown.
"But only for tonight. Come, climb up."
He helped them get into bed and they both laid down in the center. Noelle, a short time later, got into bed. The children fell asleep immediately and she took the opportunity to scold her husband for his permissive attitude.
"Don't you realize that if you spoil them too much you're going to make them rotten?"
"Noelle, it's only one night. They're still very small. If they don't behave this way now, when will they?"
Noelle rolled her eyes in annoyance, realizing that he was somewhat right. For now, she would give in, although she still didn't agree to say yes to everything.
She lay on her side as she watched her husband and children.
"Margaret's very pretty, isn't she?" He asked, and his eyes shone with every word he spoke.
"Yes she is."
"Noelle... don't you want to have more children?"
The question surprised her a lot, but she soon answered it because she knew the answer well.
"Nope. The four of us are fine. Right now, we don't have time to take care of two three-year-olds and a baby. It would be crazy."
Asta sighed, knowing that she was right. Perhaps, deep down he had only entered nostalgia for the time when the twins were newborn babies. He had to focus on many issues, and it was absolutely true that having another child right now would be irresponsible, because neither Noelle nor he had enough time to devote to them as they deserved.
Perhaps, later he would raise the idea with Noelle again. The timing at that moment wasn't right, but it could be in the future.
What Asta didn't know was that the idyllic and happy future he had always imagined would soon become dark, gloomy and stormy, because in just three years, he would have to face the worst moment that would occur in the entire duration of his reign.