Preface: This arc takes place during the Heart Kingdom Training Arc. This is before Asta gets his demon arm, and before he meets Liebe. The timeline will deviate from there compared to the manga/anime. Unlike the original, this rewrite takes the canon future arcs into consideration (since they are technically canon here too) and also contains higher quality writing. Thank you for your support.
It was a normal night at the Black Bulls hideout. Asta, Gauche, Grey, and Charmy were eating after their hard day of training, with Noelle taking occasional glances at Asta's terrible table manners from the side. Zora was nowhere to be seen, but knowing him, he was probably nearby. Nero was sleeping in Asta's room, as she had spent all of her energy that day practicing her sealing magic, and Gordon was in the corner by himself, as usual, writing in his diary. Yami was in the bathroom… as usual, with Finral teleporting him extra toilet paper… also as usual, and Vanessa was drinking- she had recently got her hands on a 25-year vintage wine that she was very thoroughly enjoying- at least until Magna came dashing down from the second floor.
Obviously out of breath, Magna asked, "Vanessa, did you see Luck anywhere?"
"No, do you expect me to keep an eye on him all the time? You know how he is… wait, are you going for a new look? It's refreshing," Vanessa remarked, referencing Magna's currently sunglass-less self, taking yet another swig of her wine bottle. Magna was visibly less than pleased at her mentioning this. Scrunching up his face, Magna started screaming,
"AHHHHHHHH! HE TOOK MY DAMN SUNGLASSES! AHHHHHHH!"
...Well, it was as normal a night as it could've been, considering the fact that the threat of the Spade Kingdom was looming on the horizon.
"Look at that idiot.", Noelle remarked, sighing, obviously referring to Magna, who was currently pacing around the room with his hands in his pockets, as she naturally sat down next to Asta. Asta stopped eating for a second, and replied frankly, "But that's pretty normal?" making Noelle feel a little more than just awkward. The rest of the group chuckled softly between bites, except for Charmy, who just continued to eat.
"Where the hell is THAT considered normal?", Noelle continued in vain.
"Here, no?", replied Asta again, quite frankly, garnering some more chuckles from the group, which now included Vanessa, who had decided to save the wine for a quieter time. Noelle leaned backwards into her seat and sighed, pushing out the last bit of breath that she still had. She was at a loss for words. This was one of the very rare occasions that Asta was actually right. All of this WAS normal, and she was the one that had to get used to it.
Swearing in her mind that she'd attempt, at least for now, to put up with the Black Bulls' usual antics, Noelle took in a deep breath, sat up straight, and took a glance at Asta, who was now eating very fast… and very sloppily. This, while also technically normal, would not stand.
"Stupidsta, could you maybe eat a bit slower? Your food is getting everywhere."
"Oh, okay," responded Asta, his voice muffled by all of the food in his mouth.
"Also don't talk while eating like that…", Noelle sighed, facepalming.
"Oh, sorry," responded Asta, his voice clear, as he swallowed his food before he spoke this time.
"Hahaha!" Vanessa laughed, "I swear, you're like his mom or something!"
Gauche chuckled at Vanessa's remark, a trace of a nosebleed appearing in his left nostril, "No, I'd say she's more like me when I'm with my little sister…"
Grey just smiled.
"No...", responded Noelle almost immediately with a squint, seeming almost upset.
"Then what are you then?", inquired Vanessa with a subtle smirk on her face.
Since Noelle did not respond, Vanessa continued.
"Would you have rather I said the other thing I thought? That you two were almost like lo…"
"NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!", Noelle screamed, face bright red, cutting Vanessa off with such vigour that she just had to laugh.
Asta, obviously not listening to the racket around him, stopped eating for a second and looked up at Noelle.
"Huh? Did ya eat somethin' spicy? Your face is as red as a tomato."
Everything went silent for a second as everybody's eyes, except for Asta's, widened. Asta was going to get blasted again.
"AHHHHHH, STUPIDSTA!", Noelle yelled, blasting Asta with a water jet, sending him into a wall, which made Vanessa laugh even harder. Everybody else just went back to what they were doing. Noelle's unfortunate inability to express her feelings properly was also, of course, business as usual.
At that point, the front door blasted open with a thud.
"Ah, Luck came back.", noted Charmy, who had been uninvolved in basically everything, as she had just been eating. Magna ran to the door.
"Where the hell are my cool sunglasses?!"
Luck just winked in response, "Those? I lost them."
"YOU FUCKING WHAT?"
Magna grimaced, taking out his grimoire and conjuring a flaming baseball bat. Luck smiled, talking out his own grimoire in response, blue electricity starting to envelop his body.
They really looked as if they were about to fight… again… at least until Yami came into the room, finally finished with his bathroom business, with Finral right behind him.
"What the hell is happening here? Can I join?", Yami said, rendering the room silent as he also took out his grimoire, which developed a slithering, ominous black aura to match his equally terrifying expression.
"...Nothing, sir.", said Magna, putting away his grimoire, the flaming bat fading from his hand.
"Aww…", Luck said, frowning, as he also put away his grimoire, the blue electricity dying down. Yami took a glance at the group eating, and immediately noticed that Asta was drenched.
"And why the hell is the kid so wet… and unconscious… eh, I can guess. Magna, go dry him and also go dry his seat. Can't have Henry cleaning up too many of our messes."
"Uh… yes sir.", replied Magna as he ran to Asta to dry him out.
Yami sighed, put away his grimoire, and sat down at the bar with Finral taking the seat right beside him. It wasn't long until the awkward silence between the two got to Yami.
"Finral, why are you even here? Go over and talk to the guys over there. I'll be over after I have this drink.", said Yami, grabbing a half empty wine bottle and pouring himself a glass.
Finral shrugged and replied, "Well, okay… wait-", he leaned in towards Yami and started whispering, "isn't that Vanessa's? She was talking to me about finally getting this amazing 25 year vintage, and I'm pretty sure that bottle says '25 years' on it."
"Oh. Shit. Uh. Captain's privilege, I guess.", replied Yami nervously.
"So I can tell her."
"No, I beg you, please don't."
Finral smirked, "Let's make a deal then. Let me off toilet paper duty for a month, and I won't tell her."
"A month?" Yami started to make a somewhat complicated expression.
"...okay, a week.", Finral corrected.
"Okay. Good. If it was a month, I think I would've had problems. Ok, deal.", said Yami, with a face on that seemed a little bit too serious for the occasion.
"Yeah, deal.", replied Finral, a look of relief and accomplishment on his face. He had just gotten himself out of toilet paper duty and dodged a bullet at the same time.
"Well, I'll be over there, have fun drinking your wine!", Said Finral, dashing to the group eating, a smile plastered onto his face.
"Oh, Finral! What's got you in such a good mood?", asked Vanessa, noticing Finral's bright smile, "You're never like that after toilet paper duty- you're usually all dejected, complaining about 'how Yami made you do this' or you seeing something that you seriously wanted to unsee."
"Well if you really want me to complain-"
Vanessa cut Finral off before he could say anything.
"Hey I'm not saying that you have to complain or anything- actually I'd rather you not-" Vanessa paused, a confused expression on her face. "Wait, no, seriously, what's got you smiling like that?"
Finral's smile became even wider, "You see, the Captain took me off toilet paper duty for a week! A full week!"
Vanessa laughed, "A week? Just a week? You're that happy about being off duty for a week?"
"Hey, you do not know how hard toilet paper duty can be. All the shit Yami says to you when he's on the toilet… he's terrifying! Plus-"
Vanessa playfully cut him off again, her laughter contagious. "And there's the complaining again! Knew you had it in you!"
"Well shit, sorry for wanting to vent a little, sheesh! I know damn well you would, too, if you were in my shoes!", Finral retorted, his expression a mix of playful annoyance and genuine relief. Vanessa chuckled and gave him a friendly pat on the back.
"Maybe, maybe not." Nobody knew of Vanessa's one-sided crush on the Captain, save for Noelle, who was eavesdropping on the conversation and smirked at the slight hint. So obviously, Finral could never pick up on the fact that Yami's bathroom presence was more of a source of secret excitement than terror for her.
Finral raised an eyebrow, clueless about Vanessa's inner thoughts, and continued, "Anyway, I'm just glad to have a break, even if it's just for a week. I'll actually be able to enjoy my meals without images of… that coming to mind."
Vanessa smirked, her playful demeanor still intact. "Well, I guess it's nice to see you so happy for once. Why did the captain even agree to let you off for a whole week anyway?"
Finral started sweating. Visibly. If there was one thing that could be said about Finral, it would be that he was sometimes a damn idiot.
"Oh… uh… Yami told me to not say anything about that as it would be really embarrassing… for him…", Finral replied, voice slightly shaking.
"Oh, okaaaay, that sucks…" Vanessa raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. She could practically smell the lie in the air, but she didn't feel like pushing the matter. If Finral wanted to keep his little secret, that was his business. She was sure she would probably figure it out at some point anyway. Finral was a terrible liar—so bad that even the densest people could see through his lies (Asta and Yami, for example), let alone someone as razor sharp as Vanessa. Plus, she had her own secrets to guard.
"Yeah, hahaha…", Finral said as he sat down. Thinking that he had just dodged a bullet, he shidted the conversation towards Magna, who was currently drying off a now conscious Asta.
"Magna, how're the menial tasks going?"
"It's going fine, you… toilet paper dispenser.", Magna said, slightly dejected, the ball of mana in his hand glowing brighter and hotter as he lost focus.
Asta responded to this unwelcome adjustment, "Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! Could ya turn that down a bit?"
"Oh, sorry…"
Finral stood up and walked towards Magna, chuckling. "If I'm a toilet paper dispenser, you're a glorified hair dryer, and not even a good one." Magna's ball of mana grew brighter again, but this time out of anger.
"Ok! So what if I'm a glorified hair dryer? AT LEAST I'M NOT THE ONE THAT THE CAPTAIN USES TO LITERALLY WIPE HIS FUCKING ASS!", Magna yelled, his volume getting louder and louder every word.
"Ahhhh! Turn that down a bit, will ya?", Asta said as the ball of mana in Magna's hand got so hot it started to singe his hair, "Also, Finral, stop bullying Magna. Hair dryers are cool."
Magna nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's right, hair dr- wait, did you just call me a hair dryer too?"
"Well, that's what you're doing now, isn't it?",
Finral started to cackle in response to Asta's innocent remarks.
Magna was about to scream even more loudly, this time at Asta, but realized that this was just Asta being Asta.
"Huh, whatever…", said Magna with a resigned tone, continuing to dry Asta.
"Ahhh, this is awesome. Thanks Magna! Whatever Finral says, hair dryers are cool! I really respect you!", Asta said in a misguided attempt to get Magna's spirits up.
"Thanks… I guess…", Magna replied flatly. He couldn't get mad because he knew that Asta's feelings were completely genuine, but he also couldn't really be happy about the compliment either, for obvious reasons.
"Those guys really are entertaining, aren't they, Noelle.", said Vanessa quietly, noticing that Noelle's gaze was firmly fixated on Asta, who was now all dried up and sitting at the opposite corner of the table with Finral, Magna and a new plate of food.
"Y-yeah, I guess they are." Noelle replied nervously.
"Especially Asta, huh", teased Vanessa, smirking.
"...Yeah."
"Do you maybe wanna… talk about it?..." continued Vanessa, now smiling mischeviously.
Noelle paused and thought about it for a second, "Sure… Yeah, let's do that."
Vanessa was genuinely surprised, "Oh? Really? Well, let's go upstairs then."
As Vanessa and Noelle stood up and started walking towards the stairwell, the front door slammed open with a loud crack, rendering the entire room silent. There was nobody in the Bulls missing from the hideout, so the person who opened the door could not have been one of them. More questions were created rather than answered as the visitor in question appeared in the doorway, the man muttering just three words under his breath,
"Oh, it worked."
He looked to be in his twenties, and was large, even larger than Yami, and somehow even more muscular. He wore a pitch black cloak that extended all the way to his shins, with a small silver insignia that nobody in the room recognized sewn onto his shoulder. He had a grimoire, encased so that nobody could see its cover attached to his hip, a black katana strapped to his back, and a small dagger attached to the hip opposite his grimoire. But by far his most visible features were his stark white hair and his sharp grass green eyes. However, the things that the people in the hideout noticed the most weren't visual at all, it was the deeply tragic expression the man wore on his face, and the deep, dark feeling of emptiness that followed behind him as he walked inside and sat down in an empty chair at the dining table across from Asta.
Author's notes: Thanks for reading the rewrite! Rewriting chapters is waaaay easier thanwriting them from scratch, so expect updates to come pretty swiftly. I sorta wrote myself intoa corner in the original story, so hopefully I can fix that with this one.