The restaurant was packed, and Gauche wasn't sure if he preferred it that way or not. On the one hand, he absolutely hated crowds. Walking into the restaurant had been its own type of hell. According to Asta, Rebecca had needed to close it for months to do all the renovations and had just reopened that day, so the place was packed. They were all just lucky that Asta had saved them tables.

On the other hand, however, he was currently sitting directly across from Mariela, who was trying—and succeeding—to look everywhere but at him. Which was really only fair, seeing as he was doing his absolute best not to look at her. So having all the background noise and movement was making this much less awkward than it would be otherwise.

For the fifth time since they showed up, Gauche cast an annoyed look at Finral—who also was steadfastly refusing to meet his eye—and Vanessa—who smirked at him and raised her wineglass in a mock cheers. She had been on the fence about helping set this up at all and had made it very clear once she'd gotten back from inviting Mariela that it might not happen because she clearly needed sleep. Weirdly enough, the only time Gauche had gotten any kind of positive response at all from Vanessa had been when he'd told her that they should cancel the whole thing if Mariela was actually getting some rest—as if he wasn't already guilty for slipping up and saying something stupid, it was twice as bad now that he knew she still hadn't slept because of him and his big mouth. Vanessa had actually smiled at that and had told him that Mariela was looking forward to it, so there was no reason to cancel anything as long as she woke up.

And, as much as he'd wanted to see her, right about now he was wishing she'd stayed asleep.

"So, how's everyone been?" Asta asked loudly, smiling around the table and scarfing down the food in front of him.

"Manners," Noelle snapped. She was sitting across from Asta, and Gauche was almost positive she'd looked at him even less than he'd made eye contact with Mariela. Every time Noelle tried to look up and at Asta directly, she turned bright red and dropped her eyes down to a completely untouched plate of food.

"Good luck with that," Yuno said, quietly eyeing his foster brother with disgust. "I don't think he knows the meaning of the word." He had declined on both food and anything to drink but water, and would look almost annoyed to be there if it wasn't for Charmy sitting in his lap, his arms wrapped tightly around her as she shoveled bite after bite into her mouth.

"Charmy is eating just as much as I am!" Asta pointed out, and Yuno looked at him drolly.

"Charmy can eat as much as she wants, she doesn't look like a rabid animal when she does it." He tightened his hold on his girlfriend ever so slightly and smiled down at her.

"Hey!" Asta shouted and was cut off by a splash of water to his face, seemingly splashing up from his cup totally unprompted. He sat back in his chair, sputtering, and looked at Noelle with wide, disgruntled eyes. "Was that really necessary?"

Noelle turned her head, nose high in the air and eyes shut tightly as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't know what you're talking about, Dorksta."

Asta rolled his eyes before mopping his face with a napkin and turning to look at the rest of the table. "So, what's up? What did I miss?"

"Nothing," Finral laughed, leaning over and putting an arm around Vanessa. She poured herself another glass of wine from the bottle Rebecca had left for her on the table, then leaned into Finral's side. "You've only been here for about three days, and I don't think things go down nearly as often when you're not around. You're like a magnet for weird things happening, Asta."

Asta laughed and shrugged before going back to clearing the food on his plate. Gauche grimaced; the kid really could be an animal, sometimes.

"… okay?" Gauche jumped in his seat, then looked at Gordon, startled. The curse mage was almost impossible to hear in the best of circumstances—and an overly crowded bar filled with increasingly drunk patrons was definitely not the best of circumstances. But after spending so much time with him, Gauche had gotten better at understanding Gordon's whispers… or, at least, had gotten good enough at it that he could hear him if he leaned all the way in to basically whisper in Gauche's ear, like Gordon was doing right now.

"What?" he asked as he leaned back and away from Gordon in his seat while turning to look at him.

The curse mage was looking at him intently, which was the only reason that Gauche could read his lips when he whispered, "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" he mumbled, grabbing his drink and downing half of it in one go to avoid having to look at either Gordon or Mariela. When he put it down, he managed to make eye contact with Noelle for a split second—just long enough for him to know that she was dying in a very similar way. Standing, he nodded toward the door and raised an eyebrow. Without hesitation, Noelle stood.

"I need some air," she announced. "I'm royalty, I can't take this, anymore."

Gauche shoved his hands in his pockets and did his best to maneuver out of the restaurant without bumping into anyone. When he finally got outside, he took a deep breath and leaned against the side of the building. Noelle, right on his heels, stood next to him in the darkening evening and crossed her arms.

"Having trouble with the meathead?" Gauche asked after a moment. Noelle shrugged and turned her head away. He couldn't help rolling his eyes at that. "I thought you were excited about this."

"What would make you think that?" she snapped immediately but quieted just as quickly. After a second, she said quietly, "It's just a lot going on all at once."

"At least that girl who's been spending all the time with Asta has her own thing going on, right?" When they'd first showed up, the redhead that Asta had introduced as Rebecca was also introduced with a man who'd been helping her with both her restaurant and her brood of kids. From everything Gauche had seen, they seemed to be much more than just coworkers—or friends, if the spontaneous kisses meant anything. "Isn't that a good thing?"

Noelle just shrugged, still not looking at him. After another moment, she asked, "Well, what's going on with you and Mariela? Have you even said a word to her since she showed up?"

"I'm working on it," Gauche mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets and staring at the ground. The second she'd shown up with Finral and Vanessa, they'd made eye contact once… and he hadn't even tried again since. The look on her face, like she was immediately regretting coming, got too firmly under his skin. He wasn't even sure why she'd taken the seat across from him; Yuno and Charmy, along with the two other Magic Knights he worked with, hadn't shown up until after she did. She could have sat somewhere else at the table. It would give him hope if he wasn't almost positive that Finral and Vanessa had made her take the seat. Seeing as this whole thing was set up so he could try to talk to her, it only made sense… even if he had yet to even meet her eyes since she'd taken her seat across from him in the restaurant.

"You could just apologize to her," Noelle pointed out. When Gauche looked up at her, she'd turned back to look at him and was giving him a look that let him know she thought he was an idiot. "It really is that simple sometimes, you know."

"And you could just talk to Asta," Gauche snapped defensively. "Why don't you just do that?"

"It's not the same thing," Noelle hissed back, her face pinkening. "You owe her an apology, it's the whole reason why we're all here. And Mariela is, like, one of the sweetest people ever. You should have asked her to come out here with you."

"I thought you needed some fresh air," Gauche grumbled. "Are you not grateful to be out of there?"

"That isn't the point." Noelle rolled her eyes. "You're avoiding talking to her. Or looking at her, from what I could tell. Just go and apologize to her, and the night will be a million times less awkward for you."

"How do I apologize for what I said, though?" Gauche groaned and threw his head back against the wall behind him. "If there was one thing I could have said to make her hate me, it was probably telling her I don't care about her brother."

"But you don't," Noelle pointed out. Gauche looked away, up the road toward the church where both their siblings were. Part of him wanted to bail on the whole night and go see his precious little sister; fighting with the old nun was annoying, but at least it was familiar. And at least he'd get to see his angel. The other part of him, however, hadn't been able to sleep since he'd snapped and said what he had to Mariela. It was like the whole thing was haunting him.

"It isn't that I don't care about her brother," he said finally. "It's that I care about her more, and that's the only reason I care about her brother at all. Isn't that normal, though?" he added, frustration leaking into his tone. "Wouldn't it actually be a lot weirder if I cared about him outside of that?"

Noelle cocked an eyebrow and tilted her head just a bit. "I don't think that she wants you to care about her brother the way she does. But I'm also pretty sure she'd never be involved with someone who didn't want to help her care about her brother, so what you should actually apologize to her for is lying about helping him when you actually had no intention of actually doing that."

"I was going to help him," Gauche snapped, even more defensive. "I already told you and Vanessa; I thought anything that I found—"

"—would help him, too," Noelle finished for him with another eyeroll. "Yeah, I remember. Seeing as you told her you didn't care about him the second you got frustrated, however, that doesn't really mean much. Just go apologize for lying to her and then hurting her feelings, it isn't that hard, Gauche."

"And it isn't that hard to talk Asta, seeing as you two work together basically constantly," he grumbled under his breath. After a moment, and with a frustrated sigh, he mumbled, "You're right."

"Of course, I am," Noelle sniffed, brushing her silvery hair over one shoulder delicately. "I am royalty, after all."

"Whatever." Gauche rolled his eyes dramatically. "Are you ready to go back inside, or what?"

Noelle stood quietly for a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "You used to be noble, right? Do you remember what it was like?"

Gauche's face immediately contorted into a vicious scowl. "I try my best not to," he said stiffly. He was sure that Noelle didn't know about the details of how his family line had been disbanded. Even if she recognized his last name, it was unlikely that anyone from her family, especially anyone as young as her, would know anything about what had happened after his parents had died. None of that changed the fact that he had no desire to be talking about it, particularly right outside a busy restaurant up the road from the beloved little sister he was only allowed to see once a month.

Noelle was studying his face like she was trying to read him. Finally, she said, voice tense, "I didn't think I would ever feel like that. But then…" she trailed off, glancing past Gauche to the busy restaurant door—even from out here, and even with all these people, he could hear Asta's loud, raucous laughter. When she met his eyes again, Noelle gave Gauche a tight smile. "It sucks, how judgmental they all are. Doesn't it?"

Gauche looked away and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I've never cared about any of that." After a pause, he met her eyes again and added, "And you shouldn't, either. Besides, shouldn't being royal let you do whatever you want? What else is it good for?"

Noelle barked out a laugh at that, covering her mouth quickly and clearing her throat as if she were trying to hide it. "Only someone who isn't royal would ever say something like that."

Gauche rolled his eye but gave her a small smile. "Whatever. Are you ready now to go back inside, or are you okay with that girl being all over meathead while we're out here?"

Noelle's head snapped toward the door, face immediately going bright red. "What?"

Gauche couldn't help it—he burst out laughing. "I don't know, it isn't like I can see through the wall." He grinned as she glared at him, her face not losing any of the red. "But he's laughing at something, right? Might as well make sure it isn't another girl."

Noelle shoved past Gauche, slamming her shoulder into his with a loud huff. "You're such a—"

A loud crash cut her off and stopped her in her tracks, startled. The yell that happened next made Gauche turn and nearly shove her out of the way on his way back into the restaurant.

Because it was definitely Mariela he was hearing shouting.

x

"Are you doing okay?"

Mariela nearly jumped out of her seat before turning and giving a big smile to Vanessa that she hoped so very much didn't look as forced as it felt. "I'm doing fine!"

Vanessa, who was sitting next to her with Finral's arm around her shoulders, gave her a concerned look over the rim of her wine glass. "If you're not comfortable here because of… anyone, we can take you back." She threw a clear look over at Gauche before meeting Mariela's eyes again. "It really isn't a problem."

Mariela laughed and shook her head. "No, no, I really haven't even thought about…" she trailed off awkwardly, glad that the restaurant was so crowded and that, from what she could tell, Gauche was doing everything in his power not to meet her eyes.

Originally, she'd felt guilty about it. The current distance between the two of them was entirely her fault, after all; now that she'd gotten some sleep, she was a lot less sure that she'd been fair with how angry she'd gotten. It still hurt to think that he'd lied to her for so long, but he'd also spent weeks researching into things that had nothing to do with him… for her. The more she thought about it, the less sure she was that she should be holding any sort of grudge. Not that she'd really been holding a grudge—but how was she supposed to talk to him after arguing with him and kicking him out? It was all enough to make it basically impossible to meet his eyes when she'd first sat down.

All those problems, however, disappeared the second Charmy and Yuno showed up—with the other two Magic Knights that he worked with. Charmy had talked about them before, and Mariela had met Yuno once or twice while they'd all been out together; he had always been very nice, if very quiet as well. The fact that he was a member of the Golden Dawn didn't hurt, either—the charm she wore around her neck was a constant reminder of the fact that they were the last Magic Knights her own father had trusted. She even remembered him mentioning the two Magic Knights he usually worked with once or twice—the names 'Klaus' and 'Mimosa' even sounded familiar, when Yuno had introduced them both to the table. It hadn't been until they'd all sat down and Mimosa had taken a seat on the side of Gauche that Gordon wasn't sitting on that Mariela had finally realized why she looked so familiar…

Mimosa Vermillion. She looked just like the woman in the picture that Mariela's mother used to keep on her bedside table—her cousin, she called her, from a different side branch of the family. One that hadn't needed to be disbanded out of shame. Her mother's best friend from when she'd been growing up. Mariela remembered her mother mentioning her having a daughter, too, about the same age as Mariela.

She'd tried to sink into her seat and disappear once she'd pieced it all together, and that had been her situation ever since.

Mariela jumped again as Vanessa grabbed her hand under the table and squeezed lightly. When she looked over at her friend, Vanessa was giving her a reassuring smile and nodding toward the door. Turning in her seat, Mariela was just in time to watch Gauche and Noelle walk out of the restaurant.

"Are you sure that you're not uncomfortable?" Vanessa asked quietly—or as quietly as she could manage, at least, in the loud restaurant. Her cheeks were pink after finishing her first bottle of wine, but as always, her eyes were sharp, clear, and full of care. "You haven't said a word the whole time we've been here. If you're not comfortable, or if you're still tired—"

"No, no!" Mariela cut her off quickly, bringing her hands up in front of herself and shaking her head quickly. "No, that isn't it at all, I'm just…" not able to help herself, her eyes darted over to Mimosa before she met Vanessa's eyes again. "… I'm just still waking up, I think."

Sharp as ever, Vanessa's eyebrows shot up. Downing the last of her wine, she put the glass back down on the table lightly before tightening her grip on Mariela's hand and standing, pulling Mariela up along with her. "I need another bottle," she announced.

"Rebecca will be around in a second to take the order," Finral pointed out. Vanessa looked down at her boyfriend and winked.

"But I don't want to wait. Don't worry, babe, I'll be right back." Blowing him a kiss with her free hand, she slipped around her seat and pulled Mariela along with her up to the crowded bar.

"So, spill," Vanessa said the second they were definitely out of earshot of the table. "What's going on? Are you okay? Because you don't look okay."

Mariela hesitated a moment before sighing and drumming her fingers on the top of the polished wooden bar. Not meeting Vanessa's eyes, she said flatly, "It's just… a family thing."

"I obviously won't make you tell me anything more if you don't want to," Vanessa said after she'd smiled down the bartender and ordered another bottle of wine, "but I don't want you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. We're all part of your family now. Right?" She gave Mariela a big smile and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to give her a tight half-hug. "So, any family problem you have involves the rest of us now, too. Right?"

Mariela didn't know what to say for a moment—she just knew that if she said anything, she was sure she'd start to cry. Stupid disease, she thought to herself, glad that if she had to have it, it gave her an excuse for any emotional outburst she had. When she was sure she'd gotten a grip on herself, she turned and hugged Vanessa tightly back. "Thank you, Vanessa," she said quietly.

Vanessa squeezed her one more time before letting her go and grabbing the new bottle of wine off the bar. With a glance over at the glass she'd left on the table, she shrugged and tipped the bottle up and directly into her mouth. After a deep swig, she put the bottle back down on the bar in front of herself with a contented sigh. When she looked back at Mariela, she was still smiling. "So. Are you going to tell me? Or are we just going to figure out how to fix whatever's wrong? Because you're the whole reason why we're all out here tonight, and I don't want you to have to stare at your hands all night." She glanced at the table before adding, "And I don't know which of the other Golden Dawn knights are… bothering you, but it looks like they've got each other for distraction."

"They're not bothering me," Mariela insisted immediately, but couldn't help looking back over at the table, regardless. Mimosa and Klaus were deep in conversation, heads bent toward each other at the table and faces barely an inch apart as they whispered to each other and laughed together. They both looked happy—and neither were even glancing at the rest of the table. Mariela couldn't help the sigh of relief she let out at that. When she turned back to Vanessa, she mumbled, "I just. I have a sort of… family history with… Mimosa. That I don't want to get into. I don't…" she trailed off, then squeezed her eyes shut before forcing a smile onto her face and finishing, "… I don't even know if she's aware of it. So, really, I'm just being dramatic, probably."

Vanessa frowned. "That isn't—"

"Mari? Is that Mari?"

The voice that boomed out behind her froze Mariela solid. It's not real, she thought to herself desperately. It's not real. It's not real. It's not—

"It is her!" A hand that swallowed Mariela's shoulder came down to clamp itself on her and yank her around to face a grin she had hoped she'd never see anywhere but in her nightmares ever again. Though he was grimy in the way that only someone who lives traveling the beaten dirt roads throughout the kingdom can be, and his face had aged beyond its years, she knew the man who had grabbed her was only a few years older than she was. The men behind him, all the same kind of travelers, ranged from even younger than she was, to old enough to be her father.

Bandits. They were all bandits. And aside from the thin dirt layer that covered each of them, there was really only one thing she could think of that they all had in common. Only one thing that mattered to her, anyway.

For a brief second, she was totally petrified, eyes huge and fixed on the toothy grin inches in front of her face. Then, without missing another beat, Mariela snatched the bottle of wine out of Vanessa's hand and slammed it down over the head of the man holding her.

"Get your fucking hands off of me," she shouted as he crumpled to the ground, the shattered bottle still gripped tightly by the neck in her hand. Unaware that the restaurant had gone silent around them, she held it up toward the rest of the group, face bright red and voice so steady it was almost enough to help her ignore how her hand was shaking. "Touch me again and I'll slit every single one of your throats right here. I'm not going back."