Chapter Eighty-One: A Wondrous Celebration

Greetings, readers, Day 2 is here, this one is quite packed with content, the story's longest chapter to date as it surpasses 16,000 words, so I hope you enjoy it. Cya.

That same day, someone else was waking up from their slumber, awakened by the ray of sunlight and the sound of chirping birds. The person in question was Letoile as she slowly sat up, her most notable feature currently being her obvious bedhead.

"Is it morning already? I could've sworn the sun was still down just a second ago. Well, no point in complaining," she begrudgingly got out of bed and grabbed her glasses resting on her desk nearby. Putting them on, her eyes immediately fixated on something, the large, yet empty space that was the wall above her bed.

"Hm, I could really use something to utilize this space, it feels like such a waste keeping it empty, but what could work with it, because hell if I know," she mused, grabbing her towel and leaving for the shower.

Coming back a short ten minutes later, she got dressed and tied her hair into a ponytail. Upon finishing, she walked over to a calendar nailed to a wall close by the door and checked the date. "Ooh, it's almost here," she couldn't stop the big smile forming on her face as she exited her room.

Arriving at the dining hall, she got in line and loaded her plate with food, and looked around, eventually spotting the familiar trio, walking toward them.

The compass mage's big smile was still there as she sat down. "Good morning everyone. What're you talking about?"

"Langris," Klaus replied, souring her smile immediately.

"Oh,"

"It's been two weeks, but he's still under interrogation," Yuno revealed. "Sure what he did to Finral during the exam was messed up, but there's no way interrogating just that takes so long,"

"I heard that it's possible Langris could be a spy working for the Eye of the Midnight Sun," Klaus said. "After all, Gueldre was one too,"

Mimosa took a bite of her breakfast before giving her two cents. "It's a possibility, but an unlikely one in my opinion. Didn't you say that you felt a weird shift in his mana during the match?"

"I did,"

"Perhaps there could be some kind of mind control involved. With all the types of magic that exist in the world, there's bound to be at least capable of manipulating others," she concluded before her eye caught a glimpse of her friend's saddened expression.

"Is everything alright, Letoile?"

The compass mage was startled by the sudden attention placed on her. "Me? I'm fine,"

"Okay then. I noticed you had a pretty big smile earlier, I never saw you with that look before. Did something good happen?"

"It's not exactly something that happened, but something that will happen," she answered, playing with her hair a bit. "You see, my birthday is in three days,"

"What?" the three stated, shocked.

Klaus fixed his glasses. "Wow, I didn't know, I don't think you ever told us your birth date,"

"Yeah, but I feel like we've been getting closer recently, so I wanted to change that," Letoile reached into her satchel, pulling out three red envelopes, and handed them to her friends. "Here are the invites, the party is at my house,"

"Is there a dress code?" Mimosa was curious.

"Yes, formal wear,"

"Formal wear?" attention shifted to an uneasy Yuno. "I..well, I've never owned anything fancy like that before, let alone wore one,"

"I bet you'd look great in it," Bell commented.

The steel mage pointed his fork at him. "Worry not, I will help you get situated with that, but for now, the three of us have that stakeout mission after breakfast,"

Yuno nodded. "Right, the one we've been prepping for all week, I'm ready,"

"Great, if we're all done here, we should get a move on," Klaus said as the trio rose. "Cya around, Letoile,"

"Good luck with your mission, in the meantime, I have to give invitations to the rest of the squad," she waved them goodbye. "Along with one other group,"

"Morning everyone!" Asta cheered, bursting inside HQ with both swords in hand, sweat glistening off his bare chest.

"Morning!" everyone else present replied.

The magicless mage placed his swords back in his grimoire, stretching. "Man, what a session. I don't know about some of you, but losing during the exam has gotten me to train extra hard,"

"I couldn't agree more with that statement," Emmanuel said from within his partner's tome. "Kenos and I have been doing a lot of work together lately,"

The solar mage nodded. "Yeah, we're finally starting to get past the mana and energy deficiency I go through after using Angel's Child, and not just that, I unlocked both a new heaven spell and a new solar spell. We're just that awesome,"

Noelle sat down next to him with a plate of food. "I will admit, it is impressive, but it pales in comparison to the new spell I learned recently,"

"What, you mean those waterballs Zuka told me you used in our match?" he raised a brow. "It's a cool spell and all, but you haven't yet seen what my new ones are, there's no way they measure up,"

"They totally measure up,"

"They do not,"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"DO TOO!"

"DO NOT!"

"Woah, chill you two," Asta got in between them. "Kenos, since you're improving with Angel's Child, why don't we have a spar later today? Your form against mine like usual,"

"Works for me," he agreed, shifting his attention to two other squadmates. "Magna, Luck, what about you? Haven't you been upping your training?"

"You better believe I have!" Magna proudly declared. "Cleaned up my Time Bomb Explosive Fireball a good deal, no way anyone can guess the rhythm now,"

"That's because you haven't tested it with me," Luck cut in. "One go and I'll predict each fireball with ease,"

"Like hell you will!" the flame mage fired back. "What have you been doing for training?"

"Um, nothing that I don't normally do, I haven't really changed anything, not like it's necessary,"

"Not necessary, did you forget you lost your last match like the rest of us?" Magna asked.

"No, but my opponent was a captain. Facing Rill may have been a total blast and losing against him sucked, but if I'm being honest, I don't think I stood a chance of winning that one," he answered.

"Asta, Kenos, sit down for your breakfast!" Charmy called, commanding a sheep cook to deliver breakfast for the two boys.

"Thanks," they sat down and started digging in. Kenos took a few bites before he spoke up again. "What about you four? Charmy, Gauche, Gordon, Grey, I know you didn't participate, but it wouldn't hurt to improve a bit,"

"I am improving," the mirror mage said, sitting at a lone table, working on something. "This sculpture of Marie looks way better than the one I made last month,"

The solar mage sighed. "Dude, can't you ever do anything that isn't related to your sister?"

"Of course, if the situation is serious enough that is,"

"How's everyone doing?" Vanessa greeted as she walked into the main room, a bottle of wine in hand.

"We're doing fine, come eat, " Charmy instructed.

The woman grabbed her food and sat next to Kenos and Noelle. "Has the captain gotten back from the infirmary yet?"

The latter shook her head. "He hasn't,"

"I see," she took a spoonful of eggs. "I just wish he let us go with him, we need to be there for Finral,"

"I understand your concern, but we go to visit him every day, sometimes even twice a day. Besides, it's best if fewer of us go at a time anyway, it's an infirmary and we aren't exactly the quietest group of people to ever exist," Kenos told her.

"I guess, I suppose I'm just worried, I just wish he'd wake up soon,"

"So do the rest of us," a voice spoke up, attention shifting to the entrance where Yami was standing, the door open behind him.

Vanessa stood up. "You're back. How is he doing? Has there been any progress?"

The dark mage shook his head. "There hasn't been, but Owen is doing everything he can,"

"Alright then," she relented.

"You seem more worried than everyone else is. Why?" he asked.

"I feel kind of responsible. I encouraged him not to stand down against Langris if they were to fight, and now he got hurt because of it,"

Yami lit a cigarette. "What kind of nonsense is that? If Finral were here, there's no way he'd ever blame you for what happened, if anything, he'd more likely blame himself. Don't be too hard on yourself,"

The thread mage was left agape for a few seconds before she smiled. "You're right, I'm sorry,"

"No problem,"

"Oh, the door's already open, I guess I don't need to knock," a voice spoke from behind the captain. He turned around, spotting the compass mage.

"Hey, it's you, um, glasses girl,"

"Who's outside?" Asta inquired.

"That isn't my name, but I forgive you," the golden dawn said, walking past him and inside the base.

"Letoile!" Luck ran to her. "What are you doing here? Have you finally decided to-,"

"I'm not going to fight you, Luck," she cut him off with a chuckle. "I've come here because I want to ask you all something,"

"You need something from all of us?" Magna narrowed his eyes. "Is it a dangerous mission? If so, you can count us in,"

"A mission? Not at all," she waved the notion, pulling envelopes out of her satchel. "I would really appreciate it if you could all attend my birthday party,"

"Birthday party?!"

"Yeah, are all of you present?" she asked, getting a unified nod to confirm it, so she gave an envelope to each Black Bull.

Asta stared at his invitation. "Cool, I've never been invited to a party before. I take it you invited Yuno?"

"I did, I actually invited my whole squad,"

"What, a party full of Golden Dawns?" Gauche scoffed. "Can't say I'll enjoy that,"

"I don't think they'll give you a hard time, especially with what happened between Langris and Finral," she reminded him.

Noelle held her chin. "Is there a dress code?"

"Yes, formal wear, but I understand that not all of you may have some on hand, so I'll make an exception for you,"

"Well, if that's it, we'd love to go," Kenos said.

Letoile clapped happily. "Thank you so much. The party is in three days and starts at noon, the letter in the envelope has directions to my house, see you then," she ran out of the base and flew off.

Luck gazed outside. "She looked so happy,"

"True, but we should address a more pressing matter," Charmy began. "We don't have any formal clothes!"

"Speak for yourselves," the water mage flicked her ponytail. "I've got some dresses on standby in my closet,"

Kenos lazily raised a hand. "Same here, I always have some just in case,"

"T-Then what a-about the rest o-of u-us?!" Grey stuttered.

"We shouldn't have to worry, glasses girl did say we'd be an exception," Yami reminded her.

"Yeah, b-but that w-would only make us s-stand out,"

"Perhaps, but standing out has never been too big of a deal for us," the captain blew smoke before realizing something. "Wait a minute, you actually want to go? Is that development I'm seeing?"

Grey looked down nervously, twiddling her fingers. "W-Well, she invited me. I d-didn't w-want to be rude,"

Vanessa suddenly slammed her hands on the table. "Y'know what, Grey, I'm going to make sure you don't have to worry about standing out," she said. "And speaking of standing, all of you except Kenos and Noelle, stand up! Gordon, notebook me!"

The poison mage pulled out a spare notebook and pencil, throwing them to her. As she caught it, she opened her grimoire and pulled out some thread before speeding over to Magna.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking your measurements, duh," she replied, switching over to Asta.

"Our measurements for what?" the swordsman was confused.

"Measurements to make you all a set of formal wear for the party, of course," she answered, arriving at her last target, Luck.

"Works for me, just make sure we all look good," Yami said.

"That's a given. I'll be in my room working on them, nobody better bother me!" the woman raced toward her room.

"My first suit, I'm so excited," Asta squealed, but then he stopped. "Hold on, Yuno's in the same boat as me. How's he going to get a suit?"

Later that night, three moving objects were seen soaring through the sky, and as they flew by Golden Dawn HQ, they landed.

"Great work on that mission you two," Klaus stretched. "We were able to completely derail that trafficking ring,"

"And I'm glad we did too, those sick fucks needed to be taught a lesson!" Bell declared.

"You're talking like you did much," Yuno remarked.

"What do you mean? I took down five goons all on my own, five of them," she retorted.

"You took on five, while the rest of us took on at least fifteen," he retorted back.

"C'mon Yuno, cut her some slack, she did a decent job," Mimosa advised.

The wind mage sighed. "You're right. Good work, Bell,"

"Glad to have been of help,"

The royal turned to her other squadmate. "So Klaus, do you have the report ready to hand to the captain?"

"Not yet, but it's getting late, I'll complete it and hand it in tomorrow," he responded. "Besides, there's an important thing we need to take care of,"

"And what's that?" the three asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Yuno's suit!"

"That wasn't very obvious, Specs, it wasn't even the topic of discussion," Yuno pointed out with comedic indifference.

"Whatever, do you want a suit or not?" the steel mage comedically pointed.

"Okay okay," he surrendered. "So, is there some person you're going to take me to? Or…,"

"You don't need another person, all you need is me!" Klaus suddenly grabbed a hold of his hand and rushed forward.

Soon, the four were in his room. "This is your room? It's quite large, odd how I haven't been in here before," Mimosa commented.

The older teen pushed up his glasses with a smirk. "Thank you for the compliment, but my room isn't what you should be in awe of, it should instead be of..," he ran over to a pair of doors and opened them, revealing a plethora of different clothes. "..My closet!"

"Woah," Yuno was awestruck. "There are so many things to choose from, how will I know which one to pick?"

"You won't have to worry about that, you won't be picking anything,"

"I'm sorry, what now?"

"We aren't exactly the same size, so not everything I own will fit you. I'll search for what will and help you change into it, afterwards, Mimosa and Bell can rate it,"

"Cool, we'll be like judges," the spirit squealed.

"Okay then, I just hope I don't look ugly in them," Yuno said, hints of nervousness in his tone.

Klaus detected this. "Ugly?"

"Yeah, I've never worn one of these before, who knows how it will make me appear,"

"You're getting worried for nothing, now let's see what works for you," Klaus said encouragingly as the two entered the closet and shut the door behind him.

Mimosa and Bell stood on the other side, hearing banter between the boys. "That doesn't look too bad," they heard Klaus say, and in about five minutes, the doors opened.

Yuno had departed with his squad uniform and was now clothed in a solid white dress shirt with the collar unbuttoned, accompanied by a plain black pair of dress pants and dress shoes of the same color.

Klaus stood beside him. "There we are,"

Yuno faced his two female companions. "Be honest,"

Bell held her chin. "Hm, I don't know, it's certainly not bad, but it isn't screaming 'amazing', you feel me,"

"I agree with her. I love it, but I'm just not in love with it," Mimosa added.

The wind mage buried his face into his hands. "Oh no, I'm a disaster!"

Klaus placed a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, you look fine,"

Yuno lifted his face up and turned to him. "Fine? Fine is not an option, this is my very first event in formal wear, I need to look great,"

"Alright then, if that's what you want," the steel mage pointed a thumb back at the closet. "We've got more to pick from,"

The two went back into the closet and reemerged twenty minutes later, this time Yuno was wearing a turquoise dress shirt with solid white dress pants along with the same shoes as before and a red bowtie.

"No,"

They returned and reemerged thirty minutes later, now the bowtie was the one to stay as it was placed upon a yellow dress shirt with short black dress pants, brown shoes, and black overalls.

"Hell no,"

They went back in for the third time, coming out the quickest of them, but for a different reason as Yuno was dressed in a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants, Klaus doing his best not to laugh.

"Stop screwing around!"

Both of them were once more in the closet, sorting through pairs of clothes. "Damn, those two are tough, they've sent back everything,"

"Perhaps, but they want me to look good as much as I do, the toughness is necessary. Now all I have to do is-," he said, stopping midway.

"Is there a problem?"

"No, something just caught my eye. Um, Specs, would it be okay if you stepped out while I put it on?" he requested.

"Uh, sure then," he exited the space and closed the door behind him.

"What's going on?" Mimosa asked.

"Apparently there's something he wants to try on, I guess he's planning to surprise us with it,"

The three stood and watched the closet in anticipation, but that anticipation died down when fifteen minutes had elapsed with no changes.

Bell crossed her arms impatiently. "Yuno, what's taking you so long in there?!"

"I'm coming, don't rush me," he said from the other side, a few more minutes passing. "Okay, I'm done. Are you all ready?"

"We're ready, show us!"

With that, the doors opened and Yuno stepped out. He wore a dark green dress shirt with a light green necktie, and over his shirt was a beige dress jacket with dress pants of the same color along with brown shoes.

The three onlookers gasped in shock, but it was the spirit who spoke first. "Amazing,"

The wind mage blushed in a mix of embarrassment and joy. "You really like it?"

"Yeah, is there a smoke-detecting magic item around here? Because you are on fire," Mimosa grinned.

Klaus, on the other hand, was crying comedic tears. "Oh you beautiful child, you have got the goods,"

Yuno couldn't hide the goofy smile forming on his face. "Aw, you guys, thanks a lot,"

"You're welcome, you can take it to your room, but make sure it doesn't get wrinkled, now we should all get some rest,"

The three left his room. "Goodnight,"

Two days had passed, and perspective was still on the Golden Dawn, but instead of being in Klaus' room, Yuno, along with the entire squad, were kneeling at the meeting hall.

"The captain must have something important to tell us if he summoned us this early in the morning," he said aloud.

"But what important thing could it be?" Hamon wondered.

"Quiet, Captain Vangeance is coming," Alecdora shushed the others as William emerged from the top of the stairs.

"I must thank you all for coming so soon," he started.

"It's no problem sir, but with all due respect, what would warrant an action like this?" the steel mage humbly inquired.

William wasted no time in answering. "I want to address the situation with Langris," as soon as he mentioned the spatial mage's name, murmurs erupted from the knights, only silenced once the captain silently raised a hand. "I'm told he's no longer being interrogated and is now in holding. I've also been informed by Julius that interference from a second party is very likely responsible, but that's not what I called you here to tell you,"

He looked down, seeing his subordinates stare back up at him. "Langris' actions during the Royal Knights Exam were completely unacceptable, we are the Golden Dawn, the nation's top squad, and as such, we have a reputation to uphold. Such actions or anything similar are not to be repeated, no matter what squad one is a part of, we are all Magic Knights, and there must be basic decency among us, if you can't uphold that standard, then you have no place here. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!"

William's eyes became somber for a moment, a strange look of guilt present, but it was noticed by no one as he continued. "Good, now that we have that out of the way, I can address some more positive news. As you all know, tomorrow is Letoile's birthday and we've all been invited to the party being held at her family estate, so I'm giving you all the day off to prepare how you need to,"

"Thank you, sir!"

The world tree mage nodded. "You're all dismissed,"

All the knights stood up and headed in different directions, but the trio approached Letoile. "How are the preparations going?" the question came from Mimosa.

"It's going great, but there's still one more component that needs to be handled, I should go," she sprinted out of the base with her broom in hand and mounted it, flying off somewhere.

And that somewhere was Black Bulls HQ, she dismounted and walked to the door, knocking on it, it was then opened by Kenos.

"Letoile, how's it going? I didn't think we'd be seeing you today, come in," he let her enter, where she was greeted by the others who were present. "Is there something about the party you need to inform us of?"

"Yes and no," she replied. "What I need is for the party, but it's not something I need to inform all of you of, I just need one person,"

"Who do you need then?" Noelle asked.

"I need Luck," she answered.

The lightning mage jumped gleefully. "You need me! Ooh, what for?"

"I need to come with me somewhere, there's a thing I want you to do," the compass mage said, but then she narrowed her eyes, scanning around suspiciously.

"Are you looking for something?"

"Where's Vanessa?"

"Her? She's been cooped up in her room since the day you invited us, she's working on clothes for all of us to wear at your party,"

"Really, she didn't have to go through all that trouble, although, if that means she's not out here right now, I won't complain," she said. "C'mon, you can ride with me,"

"Okay, I'll be back," Luck said as the two of them left, closing the door.

Kenos turned his attention to Noelle. "Speaking of Vanessa, should one of us go check on her? She hasn't left her room in two days,"

"She'll be fine, Charmy brings her her meals, as long as she's getting sleep, there's nothing to worry about,"

"Only problem is, she's not getting any sleep," the small glutton revealed. "I've tried coaxing her to bed, but she said she'll rest once everything is done,"

"Damn, that's some commitment," Kenos muttered before a knock was heard at the door again. "What? No way Luck and Letoile are done already, maybe they forgot to tell us something,"

He motioned over to the door and opened it, expecting to see the lightning and compass mages, but instead of them, he was met by a different duo, one he thought he'd never see at the doorstep of his base.

"Dante? Oxanna?"

"Greetings, little brother, I hope this isn't a bad time?" the former asked.

"Um, no. Why are you two here?"

"Now that things are good between us, we figured it's about time we came and visited, there's something we want to talk to you about," the latter replied. "And that's not even it, we didn't come alone,"

As soon as she said that, a third person emerged. "Ryu?"

"Yeah, I was talking about coming to visit you at my squad's base, and Ryusei overheard me and asked to tag along," Oxanna explained.

"Strangely enough, I've never visited either," the dragon mage confessed, glaring at the base's exterior. "But I must say, the outside of this place looks weird as hell and kinda cool,"

"Then why don't you come and see the inside-," Kenos turned to invite them in, but was stopped by the fact that everyone was staring at him. "Uh, guys?"

"Your siblings are actually here," Asta said, noticing the other person too. "And Ryusei too,"

The three visitors walked in, the dragon mage looking around. "Okay, this part looks better, way better," he then directed his attention to the Black Bulls. "What up, guys? Great to see you all again,"

Asta ran over and high-fived the teen. "Great to see you as well. What brings you to our base? Other than to see Kenos that is,"

"I actually came here to see you," he replied.

"Me?"

"Uh-huh. Remember back during the day of the exam, and I proposed we have a spar? I'm here to see if today is the day you'll take me up on my offer,"

"Wait, you want us to fight? Like, right now?"

"If it works for you,"

The magicless mage pumped a fist in the air. "You better believe it, we can battle outside. Let's go," he sprinted out the door.

"I'm right behind you," Ryusei ran after him. "If any of you guys want, you're welcome to watch,"

"Hm, I think I might want to watch this," Oxanna said. "I've never seen Ryusei fight,"

"Me neither," Dante added before turning to his brother. "Um, Kenos, I'm kind of thirsty, do you mind getting me some water?"

"Sure thing, I'll meet you outside," the solar mage made his way near the pantry and pulled out a jug of water, pouring it into two cups. "Do none of you want to watch the fight?"

"Nah, we're good," they all answered.

"Suit yourselves," he exited the base, seeing the two mages standing across from each other, doing an assortment of weird stretches, with his siblings standing by the sidelines.

He quickly met up with them. "Here's your water, Dante,"

"Thanks,"

"You're welcome. So…how have things been going? We haven't seen each other since the exam. Anything cool happen?" Kenos tried to make small talk.

Dante shook his head. "Nothing really exciting on my end. You?"

"Same, I learned some new spells, but I wouldn't really call that exciting per se," the younger brother answered, but that's when he noticed a smile on his sister's face.

"I take it your two weeks have been more eventful, Oxanna?" he asked as both he and Dante took a long sip of their water.

"Yeah, they really have been more exciting, you see," she began, placing both hands on her reddening cheeks. "Rama and I went on our first date recently,"

Immediately as she said that, her brothers spit out their water simultaneously. "What?!"

"How recently was this date?" Dante asked, the disbelief obvious on his face.

"About a week ago,"

"And you never thought it would've been nice to tell us?" Kenos then asked.

The phantom mage crossed her arms. "No way in hell, if I told you, there's no doubt you'd go into your 'overprotective brother' mode and do something weird,"

"Nonsense, the two of us approved of Rama, we wouldn't do anything weird," the solar mage said in their defense, but his sister only glared at him. "Okay, maybe we'd do something a little weird,"

"And the only reason you would is because you aren't in my situation, which leads me to a question I want you both to answer honestly," she slung her arms around her brothers. "Are there any special girls you know, girls you may like?"

"No," Dante answered quickly.

"Really? Then what about you, little brother?"

Kenos put up his hands defensively. "Don't look at me, there are no girls that are into me anyway, no point being in a one-sided crush,"

"No girls that are into you, aye?" she narrowed her eyes suspiciously, changing her gaze to his grimoire. "Emmanuel, is he telling the truth?"

His grimoire opened. "From what I have observed, he is, no girl likes him,"

"Wow, that's kinda sad, but don't worry, I know you'll find that special someone,"

"You ready, Asta?!" Ryusei bellowed, catching the attention of the Rossius.

"Yup, but I gotta say, I've never done so many of these kinds of stretches at one time," he confessed.

"They're really good for the muscles, I always do some before I train,"

Asta's grimoire came up to him as he pulled his swords out. "Nice tip, I might use it myself,"

The Kaiyo grinned. "So those are the anti-magic swords? Awesome,"

"Thanks, say, what should I expect from your magic?"

"What to expect from my magic?" he opened his grimoire. "Well, I'll let you in on something: my attribute commands five different dragons, two majors, and three minors. Prepare to meet one of them," upon saying that, one page glowed, and from it emerged a large crimson-red serpentine dragon.

Asta gasped. "Woah. Which one is that?"

"Meet the first of my major dragons and my overall main one, L-Drago. And with his power, I can do this," he rushed forward, L-Drago beside him, his grimoire flipping to a page. "Dragon Magic: Dragon Emperor Soaring Bite Strike!"

At the declaration of his spell, he came to a standstill once he was right next to Asta, raising his fist in an uppercut motion, the dragon coming right up at him.

Asta quickly crossed his swords, protecting himself, but was unable to stop the dragon from propelling him into the air. "Man, what power!" he was sent flying, on a path to the ground, but he positioned himself to land on his feet. "Awesome move!"

"I'm glad you think so, because there's more where that came from! Dragon Magic: Dragon Emperor Meteor Shower!" L-Drago soared into the sky and fired an array of fireballs from his mouth.

"Crap!" Asta shouted, dodging the projectiles that were falling his way and cutting others that had gotten too close.

"Nice work, Asta, you're doing great!" Oxanna cheered.

Ryusei nodded respectfully. "You're pretty light on your feet, but I wonder if you can stop attacks from two different directions. Dragon Magic: Spiral Demolition!" he exclaimed, conjuring a spiraling ball of magic, launching it at his opponent.

"Be careful, Asta, that's one of Ryu's stronger spells!" Kenos warned.

The swordsman was in the middle of evading more fireballs when he heard that. "Stronger spell, you say?" he glanced up at L-Drago for a split second, diverting his attention to the new attack approaching him, he temporarily lodged the Dweller and grasped the Slayer with both hands, slamming the ball of magic toward the crimson dragon, wounding it severely.

"No! L-Drago, return!" Ryusei commanded, the dragon reverting the red magic before shooting into its page. "An impressive move, but to be honest, the result was my own fault. I saw what you were capable of from the exam matches, I should've known better than to think that would catch you off guard, so I'll use a new approach, one with a few more…numbers,"

Asta raised a brow. "How many more numbers?"

"I'll show you right now," he replied, casting three spells in quick succession.

"Dragon Creation Magic: Draig Teine!"

"Dragon Creation Magic: Draig Gaoth!"

"Dragon Creation Magic: Draig Dealanaich!"

In no time at all, a trio of blue, orange, and green dragons stood beside Ryusei. "I'd like you to meet my minor dragons, the Draigs. They're a really useful bunch, you see, each one uses one element,"

He approached the orange dragon first. "When it comes to Teine over here, his special element is fire," he then moved onto the blue dragon, patting his head. "And Dealanaich uses lightning, he's gotten me out of a few pickles in the past," he ended on the green dragon. "Last but not least, controlling wind is Gaoth,"

Asta reequipped himself with the Dweller. "Three dragons will be no problem, they are the minor ones,"

"Perhaps, but you'd be wise not to underestimate them," Ryusei warned him. "Attack!"

At his call, Teine let loose an array of fireballs while Dealanaich fired a straight beam of electricity. Asta reacted fast, using swift slashes with the Dweller to cut the fireballs before using the flat side of the Slayer to tank the lightning beam.

"Now it's my turn!" he charged, ready to strike one of them down.

"Gaoth!" the green dragon flapped his wings, sending a gust of wind that caught the magicless mage by surprise, blowing him back as he landed face-first.

"Ow," he groaned as he stood up. "That's strange, I couldn't read that green dragon's Ki. I guess I just wasn't paying enough attention. I need to get rid of him first, once he's out of the equation, I won't have to worry about wind attacks anymore,"

"Don't let up!" Ryusei declared, all three dragons firing long-range attacks.

In response, Asta spread his arms out and began spinning like a tornado, and as the attacks got close, they were only deflected elsewhere, causing the dragons to cease, but that was what the black bull wanted as he quickly stopped his rotation and blitzed toward the wind dragon.

"Say goodnight!"

The crimson-clad knight put a hand up, not to command his draig to return, but instead to do something else. "Dragon Creation Magic: Gaoth - Shooting Zephyr!" the dragon became a green light and raced to its master, who caught it as it then became a bow.

Asta, on the other hand, found himself with no target as his swords hit thin air. "What did you do?"

"I used the unique ability of the Draig Trio, while they themselves are spells, they have a corresponding spell that transforms them into a weapon," he explained before scratching his head. "Only problem is, I kinda never got used to using more than one at a time, so don't expect to see some awesome dual-wielding like what you do,"

"Fine by me,"

From the sidelines, the siblings continued to watch the battle rage on. "Y'know, we should have a spar like this the next time you come to visit," Kenos suggested.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Dante agreed. "It's been quite a while since the three of us have actually sparred,"

He nodded, but that's when he recalled an earlier memory. "And speaking of visiting, you said you came to discuss something with me. What is it?"

The faces of his older siblings became serious, Oxanna was the one to answer in a whisper. "We came to discuss the deal with you and father,"

Kenos' adopted the same expression. "What do you want to know in particular?"

"You told us that father wanted you dead, but what are the exact details?" Dante asked.

"He hired a hitman by the name of Zaxon to try and kill me. Zaxon came to our base and left the others unable to fight, so I took him on alone, but I stood no match, that's when he revealed father was the one who sent him. As you can likely guess, I didn't take it very well, but oddly enough, if it wasn't for all of that, I would've never met Emmanuel when I did," he explained.

"Once we met, he used Angel's Child to take him down," the angel finished.

"And right now, we're trying to find out who else could've been in on the plot with him," Kenos continued. "I deduced with my squad that it had to be someone in the Rossiu family or connected closely to us. I already ruled out Eleanor and Ves, that just leaves mom, Aunt Reyna, and Uncle Marcus,"

Dante held his chin. "I don't know, it doesn't seem likely that he'd work with someone, especially if they're in the family. Taking father out of the equation, everyone has known you since you were well…born, if their conviction isn't as strong as his, that could lead them to sabotage his plans or warn you in advance out of love for you,"

"I have to agree with him, while it's still very possible he's cooperating with other people, working alone would lower the risk of anyone else finding out," Oxanna added. "But since Dante and I know, should the two of us confront him?"

"I'm not sure, back during the exam, I was worried about him finding out I was still alive, but at this point, he may already know what with Zaxon being dealt with," Kenos replied. "I guess you could, if you really want to, but I would advise caution,"

"Of course,"

"Alright!" their focus was brought back to the fight, where Asta had finally managed to destroy Teine and Dealanaich while Ryusei was no longer equipped with his bow.

Both mages were breathing heavily. "Damn, Ryusei, you're pretty good, I'm kinda glad you didn't participate in the exams, facing you would be a hassle,"

"Likewise, but I know you still have an ace up your sleeve,"

"That's right," the magicless put the Dweller back in his tome, placing both hands on the Slayer, transforming seconds later.

"And of course, I too have one more option," the dragon mage's grimoire flipped to a new page before a red outline of L-Drago came to life behind him, but no words were spoken by the teen as the dragon became pitch black, looking like its crimson counterpart.

"The second major and final dragon: Erebus, she's a force to be reckoned with. Would you like me to show you?"

"Bring it!"

"You heard him, girl, go!" he commanded, the dragon charging forward.

"He isn't casting a spell with her?" Asta was surprised, by both that and the speed at which it was moving, leaving him no option but to use the flat side of the Slayer to protect himself. The force behind her strike though was massive, even transformed, the swordsman was being pushed back, only stopping and turning into a struggle for victory once he got a proper footing on the ground.

"Shit,"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Kenos' grimoire started to flash a very bright orange color, startling his brother and sister. "What's happening?"

"It's a trait of my grimoire, it flashes when it detects exertions of devil power," he informed them.

Their eyes widened. "Devil power?"

"Oh yeah, I never actually told you, Asta harnesses the power of a devil,"

"I suppose that makes sense, it certainly explains the look," Oxanna said. "I didn't know devils were real,"

"Kenos, the grimoire has never flashed this bright though," Emmanuel pointed out. "There appears to be an even stronger exertion of devil power, and it's coming from the battle,"

The solar mage looked at his squadmate. "Something must be going on with Asta,"

Asta was doing his best to push back Erebus. "I never knew these major dragons could be so tough in terms of raw strength, but I won't give up,"

"You better not, kid, you can't lose!" a voice spoke in his head before he felt anti-magic surging through him at an even stronger level.

The magicless mage was absolutely shocked as he recognized the voice. "Roth?" he thought, but he pushed it aside for the time being, using his newfound burst of power to begin forcing the black dragon back and eventually succeeded.

Strangely enough, a smirk came to Ryusei's face. "Erebus, return!" he called the dragon back. "I think that's a good place to end our spar. Thanks for accepting,"

Asta transformed back and walked to him as they shared a handshake. "It was a pleasure, getting to fight you was a blast,"

"I know, I've never had a spar force me to use all five of my dragons before. You're going to make it far one day,"

"I hope so, after all, my dream is to be the Wizard King,"

"The Wizard King? That is no easy task, but I have no doubt it's possible for you, although, only if you get a lot stronger than you are currently, or else you're pretty much screwed,"

"I intend to do so,"

Kenos watched his two friends chat, smiling, but his attention was on his squadmate. "If my grimoire felt a stronger exertion of power, that can only mean one thing: Asta is getting stronger, his training to get a hang of his form is finally starting to show some results,"

That was the conclusion he had come up with in his head, and he was right.

Almost.

"We're here," Letoile said.

Luck bobbed his head to the side from the back of the girl's broom, seeing a large building before them. "What is this place,"

"My house,"

"Woah, your house is so big,"

She chuckled. "Why wouldn't it be? I'm a noble," they soon landed near the entrance and dismounted.

"So why exactly are we here?" the lightning mage asked curiously.

"There are some people I want you to meet," she answered as they strolled down a paved sidewalk toward the door. Letoile opened it as they walked inside, the boy was initially startled by the number of servants all over the place, doing an assortment. "Don't worry about that, the servants are just getting the decorations ready. The people I want you to meet should be nearby,"

"Letoile, we weren't expecting to see you right now," a voice said, the knights seeing it came from their right, at the base of a large flight of stairs stood a pair of adults, one man with short light green hair and one woman with dark blue hair in a ponytail wearing glasses, both wore casual white collared shirts with blue outlines, but while the man had on brown khakis, the women wore a long blue skirt.

"Mom! Dad!" the compass mage exclaimed, grabbing Luck's arm as she went to them. "What are you doing?"

"Finalizing some stuff for the party," her dad replied, noticing Luck. "Hello there, who might you be?"

Letoile got the three acquainted. "Mom, dad, this is Luck Voltia, a friend and fellow magic knight, and Luck, these are my parents, Percy and Natalie Becquerel, the ones I wanted you to see,"

"It's nice to meet you, Luck. But, why is he here?" Natalie said before asking.

The black bull nodded. "I was just asking the very same thing,"

"Well, the reason is, I wanted to ask all three of you if it'd be ok for Luck to be my escort for the party,"

The blonde was unfamiliar with a word she used. "Escort? What does that mean?"

"Hm, how would I describe it?" Percy mused. "In this case, an escort would be like a sort of companion during the party. You would meet Letoile as she comes down these stairs before the event goes into full swing, you'll then escort her over to the banquet hall where you'll eat with her, dance with her, along with some other things,"

"Oh, I see," Luck touched his chin with a finger. "I don't mind doing that,"

Letoile held his hands in her own. "You will?!" she squealed, but quickly composed herself, letting him go as she coughed. "I mean, I appreciate it,"

Natalie crossed her arms. "So you're going to have two escorts this year?"

"Two escorts?" Luck was confused again.

"Yeah, there's a person who's usually Letoile's escort," she clarified, turning to her daughter. "Did you tell him the news yet?"

"Not yet, I didn't know if Luck would say yes, but since he did, I can," she replied. "C'mon Luck, there's one more person I want you to meet,"

"Okay," he waved at the two adults. "It was nice meeting you!"

In no time, they were on the broom and in the sky, flying off somewhere. The ride was quiet for a few minutes before Luck broke the silence. "Your parents are pretty nice,"

"I know, I'm so lucky to have them, they always go all out for my birthday," Letoile smiled, looking back, but her smile vanished as she saw his gaze elsewhere, hints of sadness. She turned her head back up front. "Did…your parents ever throw you a birthday party?"

"No, all my mom wanted from me once she started giving me attention was to fight, my birthday was no different from any day of the week. In fact, I don't even think if she remembered when it was,"

"I see. Just curious, when is your birthday?"

"Two months from now," he answered.

"That's not too far away," she commented optimistically. "Are you going to celebrate it with the Black Bulls?"

"No, I've…never told any of them when my birthday was,"

The compass mage found herself getting a little flustered at the revelation. "O-Oh, I see. Would you look at that? We've arrived," she quickly landed.

"Where are we now?"

"The merchant district of the capital, the person I want you to meet runs a stand here," she told him as they walked around. "It's pretty early, so he should be busy right now,"

"Is this guy close by then or-,"

"There he is!" the girl broke into a sprint, the boy behind as they arrived in front of a stand with an old man behind it. "Hanz!"

"What? Letoile?" he said as they hugged to the best of their ability. "I wasn't expecting to see you until tomorrow. Is there something wrong?"

The golden dawn shook her head. "Not at all, I came because I want to introduce you to a special friend of mine," she pointed at the lightning mage beside her. "Luck, this is Hanz Aldon, he used to be my caretaker, and Hanz, this is Luck Voltia,"

A lightbulb went in the bull's head. "Wait, I remember you, Letoile mentioned you one time when we went on a mission together. If you don't mind, can I try some cotton candy?"

"I would like to, but I'm waiting for my daily delivery of sugar, until then, I can't make any,"

"Hanz, I got your sugar!" a voice called, making the man laugh.

"Wow, that's some excellent timing," he said as the deliverer came into view of the teens.

"Sylvester!"

The lunar mage walked behind the stand and put down the box. "Hey there, you're Kenos' friends. What brings you here?"

Hanz motioned a hand to the girl. "This is Letoile, she's the girl I told you about, the one I took care of, I didn't know that you were acquainted though,"

"We just know each other, we haven't actually spoken before," Sylvester clarified.

"Ah, gotcha. Also, I have some news for you, my stand will be down for all of tomorrow, it's Letoile's birthday,"

"Really? Cool, how old are you turning?" he asked.

"17,"

"Great, happy birthday then," the lunar mage said with a smile, it was dashed by Luck coming right up to his face. "Uh, yes?"

"The mana you have is off the charts, so you're Kenos' cousin, and Kenos is pretty strong. Are you stronger then?" the bull asked ecstatically.

"Well, I am technically referred to as the strongest Rossiu of the generation," he replied.

"That's perfect, we have to fight then,"

"I kinda have a lot of stuff to do today," he politely declined, backing away from the stand.

Luck was persistent though, following him. "You have all day to do whatever you're planning, so c'mon,"

"The stuff I do usually takes all day, sorry,"

"Then let's do a quick battle, maybe for about ten minutes,"

"I don't know about this,"

"We can go for five minutes then, or four, whatever works for you,"

"The only thing that works for me is zero minutes,"

"Zero minutes? I get it, you want the fight to be for a few seconds. Not exactly what I deem an ideal amount of time for a throwdown, but I can make an exception,"

"Uhhhh,"

Letoile and Hanz watched the two engage in a back-and-forth, the latter speaking up. "So, what did you come here to tell me? If introducing me to your friend was the only thing, surely you could've done that at the party,"

The girl fidgeted with her hands before responding. "Yeah, the thing is, I introduced you to Luck because…I want you both to be my escorts,"

"Two escorts? But that's untraditional, there's only to be one escort, the only exception is if the ones having the birthday are twins or a similar case. There's never been such a thing to happen in the history of the Becquerel House," he challenged.

"I know, but I thought things this year could be different. You've been my escort for as long as I can remember, I can't replace you, but I want Luck to be one as well," she rebutted.

Hanz gave her a long, solemn stare, and she looked back at him with the same expression, he then sighed. "Y'know what, I'll step down this year,"

"What? No, why?" Letoile was shocked.

"Tradition states that there's just one. I know why you're doing this, it's like you said, I've been your escort for a long time, I can take one or two years off. This is your birthday, it should be a happy day for you, so I won't stress you by making you choose between me and your boyfriend,"

The compass mage tried her best not to react in a guilty manner. "My…boyfriend?"

"Yeah, Luck, you know, the kid over there pestering Sylvester," Hanz said. "I'm kind of surprised you didn't tell me about him until today, but I suppose I can understand, things like this can be embarrassing for teens to discuss with adults, especially if he's your first, at least, I'm hoping he's your first,"

"You've got it all wrong, there's nothing between us, I don't even like him like that," she quickly denied.

Her former caretaker stared at her, switching his gaze to Luck and then back to her. In contrast to the smirk Vanessa would give in this situation, Hanz's face revealed an expression of slight disbelief.

"Really?"

"Yes, really,"

He sighed. "Okay then, if there's no ulterior motive and you just want us as escorts, I suppose I can bend the tradition a bit,"

"Thank you so much!" the girl hugged him. "I'll see you tomorrow,"

"C'mon, just cool it," Sylvester was still trying to get the cheery blonde off his back.

Letoile came over to them. "Luck, Hanz is good with it, we should head back to my house,"

"Your house, again? What for?" he questioned.

"For rehearsal obviously, Hanz doesn't need it, but you do," she replied as they both mounted her broomstick and flew off.

"Damn, that Letoile is nice enough, but Luck can be quite the riot, I can't even begin to wonder how Kens deals with him," Sylvester breathed a sigh of relief.

"A riot he may be, but perhaps there's more to him," Hanz said as he saw them in the air.

"You don't like him like that? Letoile, I've done a lot for you during my time taking care of you, I practically helped raise you, but I don't remember raising a liar,"

"You caught onto that pretty well," Letoile praised, the two on their way back to Black Bulls HQ.

"Yeah, I thought rehearsal was going to be a little more difficult, but it only took me an hour to get all the parts memorized," the lightning mage agreed as they arrived at the large building.

The compass mage flew down as her passenger got off. "Hey, thanks again for doing this, tomorrow is going to be so much fun,"

"It was my pleasure, see you then," he waved her goodbye before walking inside, being greeted by his squad.

"You're finally back, you were gone for longer than I thought you'd be," Magna said.

Luck slumped down on a nearby couch. "Yeah, there were some people she wanted me to meet and some stuff to practice, it wasn't bad actually. Oh, and Kenos,"

"Need something?" the solar mage asked lazily, laying back-first on the couch next to him, reading a book.

"Your cousin is no fun,"

"What?!" Kenos almost fell off. "My cousin? You mean Ves? You met him?"

"Yup, Letoile was taking me to meet some guy who she knew as a kid, turns out Sylvester knows him too. I wanted to fight him, but he kept saying no, even when I tried negotiating,"

"That's because Ves has a lot of stuff to do on a daily basis, and that's not even counting the fact he's helping Julius select candidates for the Royal Knights," he explained.

"Well I'm not a fan of it," Luck groaned before he remembered something. "Wait, have any of you seen-,"

"I'm done!" a voice yelled out of nowhere, startling everyone, the voice belonging to Vanessa as she rushed into the room, her hair messy and visible bags under her eyes.

Noelle looked worried. "Vanessa, are you good?"

"Good? I'm great," she answered, her left eye violently twitching as she raised eight garment bags. "Anyways, I've got your clothes all finished,"

She quickly handed over each bag to its respective owner. "Thank you so much, I know this will look great on me," Asta said excitedly.

"I gotta respect your hustle though, all of this in just two days, I didn't even know you had experience making clothes," Yami added.

"It was something Glynda helped me learn," she answered. "By the way, is it late?"

"No, there are still three hours until noon," Gauche replied.

"Nice, now, if you'll excuse me," the woman said before proceeding to faint, snoring on the floor.

"Don't worry, I'll take her to her room," Charmy summoned a cloud of wool and a quartet of sheep to lift the thread mage onto the cloud before it floated off.

"What am I going to do now?" Luck groaned.

"If you want a fight so bad, I'll take you on," Magna raised his hand.

Kenos did the same, putting his book down. "And I'll join you, I'm not Ves, but I'm close," he said as the three of them walked outside.

The flame mage glanced at his friend. "So Luck, you never actually did tell us what Letoile specifically needed you for. Do you mind sharing some more details?"

His squadmate turned his head to him and gave a mischievous wink. "You'll just have to wait and see tomorrow!"

At last, the day had come.

The Becquerel estate was heavily decorated both inside and outside as a multitude of guests made their way inside, handing in their invitations to one of the six guards that stood at the entrance.

Not too far from the entrance, the golden trio was standing and chatting among themselves. While Yuno donned his new suit, Klaus wore a white dress shirt adorned with a light blue tie with white stripes along with khaki dress pants, brown shoes, and a light blue blazer. Mimosa, on the other hand, wore a gold bell sleeve dress with silver dress sandals, but that wasn't it as she also had her hair fashioned in a ponytail.

"Amazing," the steel mage remarked, noticing the number of people present. "The party only started fifteen minutes ago, but it's already packed and you can feel the cheerful mood,"

Mimosa nodded. "I know, I'm so glad Letoile invited us this year. I hope she does next year too, it would be fun to invite the whole squad as a tradition, we can even do that with our birthdays,"

"That would be a great idea, if I lived in a big place like this, I'm neither royalty nor nobility," Yuno reminded her.

"Then we can have your party at HQ, I'm sure the captain wouldn't mind," Klaus said in response. "When is your birthday anyways?"

"Not for a while,"

Bell flew out, wearing her usual attire. "Ooh, I can't wait for your birthday to come up, I should start planning it now in advance,"

"I'd rather you not,"

A servant walked up to them, holding a tray of appetizers. "Would any of you care for some Hors d'oeuvres?"

"Don't mind if I do," Hamon came in out of nowhere and grabbed two, popping them into his mouth, surprisingly not staining his white suit. "Thank you, my good man,"

The trio each took one. "Hamon, I take it you're enjoying the party as well?" Klaus asked.

"Of course, this is such a wondrous celebration, not to mention the tasty food," he replied. "And Yuno, I must say, you look quite sharp in that suit,"

"I appreciate the compliment, Specs let me borrow it,"

The steel mage chuckled. "It may be mine, but it suits him so much better,"

"That it does, ta ta," the glass mage left.

"Ah, a compliment for Yuno," Bell said. "Can this party get any better?" just as she finished, a loud set of voices got everyone's attention.

"Are those the Black Bulls?!"

"No way, it is. They got invited?!"

The wind mage turned his head, being in full display of his rival's squad. He could only grin. "Yes Bell, it did just get better,"

Asta and Kenos stood next to each other, grinning. The swordsman's arms were crossed, his attire consisting of a white dress shirt with a black necktie and a black dress jacket along with pants and shoes of the same color. The teen next to him wore a navy green dress shirt with a burnt orange necktie along with navy green shoes, dull orange dress pants, and a long dull orange dress jacket that reached to his knees with pockets he was currently resting his hands in.

Beside them were Yami and Magna. The suits of both men had forgone ties, but they were still stylish, and in the case of Magna, a tie wasn't the only thing that was gone as he didn't have his shades on and his hair was unruly, but those changes only served to amplify the mahogany dress jacket he wore, draped over a lavender dress shirt with pants and shoes of the same mahogany color. The captain instead wore a white dress shirt under a dark purple dress jacket and identical pants with black shoes. The similarities in their clothes weren't the only thing they shared as they both had their hands on their chins, marveling at what the other was wearing.

Attention shifted over to the ladies with Vanessa and Noelle. The royal performed her signature duo of a ponytail flick with a proud facial expression, as if in a way showing off the silver pencil dress she had on and gold dress sandals. Vanessa on the other hand, wore a scarlet bandage dress with long dress gloves of the same colors, her hands converged at the center holding a small purse-like object while her eyes were instead on the crowd staring at them.

After them were Gordon and Gauche. The poison mage was wearing a dark gray three-piece suit, keeping his usual cap on. The mirror mage though had differed from the rest of his male squadmates as instead of a dress jacket, he wore an unbuttoned beige vest and pants with brown shoes, and under his vest was a white dress shirt adorned with a hollow purple tie. But whether it was Gordon who positioned his hands to fix his necktie, or Gauche whose left hand rested in his pocket while his right propped his hair up, both shared indifferent facial expressions.

Charmy and Grey were up. The older one of the two dawned a turquoise empire waist dress with dress sandals of the same color, but it wasn't easy to see as she was hiding behind the shorter girl who stood confidently with a hand on her hip wearing a light blue sheath dress.

Last, but not least was Luck, who stood on his own at the center with his hands at his side, wearing a tamer version of his signature smile, but that wasn't all he was wearing as he was dressed in a royal blue tuxedo with a bow tie of the same color and black shoes.

The crowd gasped in a mix of awe and shock. "Dang, they may be the Black Bulls, but they sure know how to clean up nice," someone in the crowd commented.

Vanessa let a small giggle escape. "Seems like we've caught everyone's eye,"

"Why wouldn't we? We look good," Noelle proudly stated.

"You're damn right," Kenos agreed.

"Hey, Asta!" Yuno called.

The magicless mage locked his eyes with his foster brother. "Yuno!" he called back as they all approached the trio. "I wasn't expecting to run into you so soon,"

"That makes two of us," he nodded. "You look great in that,"

"Yeah, you look really good," Mimosa added to the compliment.

"Thanks, you're looking quite good in that suit, Yuno, and Mimosa, you're rocking that dress," he said back, making the wind mage smile and the plant mage blush.

But she wasn't the only one blushing as the cotton mage gazed at her tall crush. "Amazing,"

He noticed her quickly. "Charmy. Hmph, I'm not surprised at all, of course you'd look amazing in blue,"

"Yeah girl, work it!" Bell joined in.

Klaus cut into the conversation. "It's nice that both our squads can come in peace for the party, especially…with what happened during the exam. How is Finral?"

"He still hasn't woken up, but luckily, he's not in a critical condition, all we can do is wait," Vanessa informed him.

"I see," he bowed his upper half. "I would like to apologize for what our squad has put yours through,"

"Klaus, lift your head. The Golden Dawn didn't do anything, that Langris bastard is the only one responsible," Kenos said with a clenched fist. "And speaking of Langris, what's happened to him recently?"

"He was recently in interrogation for the past two weeks, but now he's in holding," Mimosa answered. "But Captain Vangeance said something strange, that another party could've been influencing him,"

Kenos narrowed his eyes. "Another party? A conclusion like that makes some sense, it at least explains what happened when I saw his mana undergo a massive shift,"

Asta punched his palm. "Another party interfering means nothing, Langris will be held responsible, and soon, these other bastards will be too,"

Luck watched from behind as the other chatted, as much as he'd love to join in, only one thing was on my mind at the time.

"Ah, Luck, there you are," the blonde turned to see Hanz behind him, oddly enough, the older man was wearing the exact same thing as him. "Are you copying me?" he jokingly asked.

The lightning mage laughed. "Nope, this just seems to be the biggest coincidence I've ever seen,"

"Likewise, anyway, we should head to the base of the steps. Letoile showed you everything you need to do?"

"She did,"

The two made it to the base of the stairs, standing a good distance with their hands at their sides. There was a silence between them for a few minutes, but during that time, Hanz kept stealing glances at the teen, the brief topic of his talk yesterday with the girl he took care of had made him curious, and now he wanted to see the other perspective, breaking the silence to do so.

"Tell me, how exactly did you and Letoile meet?"

Luck didn't hesitate to answer. "We met during a mission. Both of our squads were sent to explore a dungeon that had recently surfaced, we butted heads at first, but we eventually started working together. As for Letoile, the two of us teamed up to fight a super strong mage and she was awesome,"

"Awesome, you say? So, is she just awesome, or a special kind of awesome?"

"The special kind," he replied without a second thought. "It turns out her attribute is virtually the opposite of mine when it comes to certain qualities. I don't know a form of awesome more special than that,"

Hanz held his chin. "... Interesting," he said with some uncertainty. "Um, he certainly is a bit of an…oddball, but I suppose she's into that," the older man chose to persist. "Okay, I'm going to be a bit blunter, when I say 'special', I mean how do you feel about-,"

"Excuse me, may we have your attention?!" a loud voice cut him off, the voice coming from the top of the stairs where Natalie and Percy stood wearing a green dress and suit respectively, the action making the two escorts straighten themselves as the latter continued speaking.

"Good afternoon to you all, it's such a pleasure to have you all present for such an occasion," he said.

His wife took over. "If I'm not mistaken, I think this is the first time we've had this many people here. We're grateful you've decided to join in the celebration of the most special person in my and my husband's life. And speaking of her, please welcome our daughter, Letoile!"

She snapped her finger, turning around to a well-sized door close by guarded by two servants as they opened it and the girl of the hour walked out into view for all to see. Gasps arose from the crowd at the sight of her in a beautiful dark red ball gown, not just that though, but also the fact that her glasses were off and her green hair was no longer in a ponytail, instead flowing freely.

"Wow, I've never seen Letoile look like that before," Mimosa said.

"I know, she's so pretty," Bell remarked.

Hanz watched as she slowly descended down the stairs toward them, wiping a tear with a proud smile on his face, but at the corner of his eye, he noticed something regarding his fellow escort: Luck was staring intently at the girl, a small, yet noticeable blush present. The older man chuckled in his mind. "Well damn, it appears you've already answered my question. Good for you two,"

Letoile finally arrived at the base of the steps where the two males were waiting for her, a strange look present. "Were the matching suits planned, or…?"

"A complete honest coincidence," Hanz told her. "Isn't that right, Luck?"

The lightning mage was unresponsive for a few seconds, answering late. "Yeah, totally unplanned,"

"Is everything okay?" the compass mage asked.

"I'm fine, it's just that you caught me off guard, you look beautiful," he replied bluntly. "How are you seeing without your glasses,"

The girl blushed. "T-Thanks, you look really nice too, Vanessa outdid herself. As for my glasses, my mom thought I would look better without them, so she gave me a magic item that I put in my eyes to help my sight, although I can't keep them on for too long or else I'll get a massive headache,"

Hanz appeared normal, but he was resisting the urge to laugh. "One second he's blushing with a delayed response and the next he makes such a blunt compliment. I like this kid,"

"We should get moving with the program," Luck got everyone on track.

Letoile nodded. "You're right. Shall we?" she extended both hands.

"We shall, my lady," they replied together, taking her hand and putting their available one behind their back. Upon doing so, the three started a rhythmic march toward a long hallway, entering it, and once five minutes passed, Natalie and Percy entered before allowing the guests to walk through the hallway as well. Emerging on the other side, they were all welcomed to a massive banquet hall, multiple round tables set throughout the room with an elevated portion holding a rectangular table and a large tiled space not too far below.

"Incredible," the guests muttered.

Letoile, Luck, and Hanz took their seats at the elevated table, with the girl in the middle, the bull to her right, and the merchant to her left. The others took that as their cue to find a table and sit down as well.

Natalie and Percy remained standing, the man opening his mouth. "I hope you're all comfortable and that your appetite is with you, because dinner will commence soon!"

"But before that, I must bring to your attention that besides the woman of the hour, we have a special guest with us today, the honorable captain of the Golden Dawn, William Vangeance!" Natalie exclaimed. "Would you like to say a few words?"

"I would," the world tree mage rose from his seat, garnering claps from the crowd as he was handed the microphone-like item.

"It's such a pleasure to be here for Letoile, so far this party has been amazing, but nothing about it is more amazing than the one it was thrown for," he directed his attention to the green-haired girl. "Letoile, you've been a part of my ranks for just about two years, and in that time, you proved yourself to be a valuable asset, in both skill and heart. I remember the day I saw you at the exam, I felt something in you, something that I wanted in my squad, so I chose you, and not a single day goes by where I regret that choice. You're a year older now, a year wiser, a year kinder, a year stronger, and I'm honored to be here to see it. Happy birthday,"

Claps and cheers erupted as he sat down and relinquished the item back to Natalie. "What strong words, thank you very much. Now, without further adieu, let the party commence!"

A multitude of servants came out, heading to each table and informing the guests of their choices for dishes, upon getting their orders, they returned to the kitchen, coming back sometime later with the food. The main group of the bulls and the trio were one of the first to get their meals, the choices were one of two possibilities, the first, which was served to Asta, was a trio of baked chicken drumsticks drenched in a savory sauce resting elegantly on a bed of fluffy citrus rice mixed with various vegetables. Kenos had the second choice, which was grilled lamb accompanied by a generous helping of mashed potatoes and honey-glazed asparagus on the side.

Two hours passed before all the guests received and ate their meals. "Man, was that great or what?" Asta sighed with satisfaction.

"It was great alright, these nobles eat good," Magna added.

"Meh, it was alright," Charmy commented. "My food would've totally put this to shame, it's not fair, Letoile asks Luck to do..whatever that is, but she doesn't ask me to cater for her party,"

"I'm pretty sure her parents were the ones in control of that," Klaus tried to calm her. "Otherwise she totally would've asked you,"

"You raise a good point,"

Suddenly, a new overwhelming sound echoed throughout the hall: music. Everyone's eyes shifted to the edges of the room where musicians sat, playing their instruments, some began noticing pairs of people approaching the tiled space and began dancing.

Vanessa stood up. "Ooh, I didn't know they would be doing that," she turned to her male companions. "And which one of you gentlemen would care to dance?"

Yami raised his hand. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt,"

As they took off, the cotton mage spoke up. "Yuno, Bell, would you two like to dance with me?"

"We'd love to, although I think I might be a bit too small," the spirit replied.

"It doesn't matter, I just want you both there,"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Yuno stood up, taking her hand as they went.

Gordon pulled out his notebook and began writing something, showing it to the flame mage who read it. "We should go to the dance floor as well, it's a great chance to meet new people," he held his chin and thought about it. "Not a bad idea, who knows, looking like this, I might even get asked to dance,"

Gauche wanted nothing to do with it. "Count me out,"

"Oh no you don't," Magna grabbed his arm and lifted him up along with Grey who was right beside him. "You need to start interacting more with girls that aren't one of us or your sister. And Grey, you just need to interact more in general,"

"B-But, I don't w-want to,"

"Trust me, you'll thank me for this later," he turned to one more person. "Hey, Klaus, you wanna join us?"

"Why not, it would be rude to decline, besides, some enjoyment would be good," he got out of his seat to leave with them.

Only four people remained at the table, Noelle gazed at her magicless squamate, she was about to rise from her seat, but she suddenly sat back down, shaking her head. To her dismay though, her cousin had not been so timid as she approached her target.

Being brave enough to approach didn't mean she wasn't nervous though. "U-Um, hi Asta, w-would you like to…dance? It's okay if you don't want to,"

Asta didn't pay attention to her nervousness at all. "That would be awesome, but I've never danced before. Do you mind?"

Mimosa's nervous demeanor vanished instantly with her big smile. "I don't mind at all, I can help you,"

"Great, then lead the way," he followed her.

Noelle saw the exchange, a frown appearing on her face as she stared at the two.

"You wish you asked Asta to dance?" a voice asked, she recognized it as Kenos' as he sat next to her.

"Me? Ask Dorksta to dance? Whatever possessed you to think something so ridiculous?" she tried to deny.

"I don't know, you were staring at him," Kenos pointed out, but she still refused to admit it, so he asked something else.

"Why can't you be more honest?"

Noelle was caught off guard by the question. "What?"

"You always put on a kind facade, and it makes you say one thing when the opposite is true, like what happened with Zuka during your battle in the exam. That way of acting can come back to bite you,"

The royal's shoulders slumped, looking away from him. "Because when I'm honest, I'm vulnerable, and I can't let myself be vulnerable, it's what made me suffer as a kid," she confessed.

"Because of your family?" he was met with a silent nod. "When I joined this squad, everyone became my family, you're like the little sister I never had, I won't make you suffer, none of us will," he stood up and reached out his hand. "If you can't be completely honest right now, that's okay, but try the best you can for the time being,"

She took his hand. "I guess I can take you on that," she said as they walked to the dance floor. "Hey,"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks,"

"No problem,"

"I must admit, it's been quite some time since I've actually danced," the thread mage commented as she and Yami neared the dance floor.

"Same here, let's just hope I didn't forget what I learned,"

"Oh yeah, now that I think about it, Glynda did teach you a few moves,"

"Ah, Yami, Vanessa, it's so great to see you two," a voice spoke to them, belonging to William who was standing some feet in front of them.

Yami put his hand up to greet the fellow captain. "Goldy, how it's going?" he took note of what he was wearing. "Nice duds,"

William looked down at the gold tuxedo he had on. "Thank you, you're looking quite sharp yourself, if I may ask, where did you get it?"

Vanessa inserted herself into the conversation. "He didn't get it from somewhere, it was handmade by yours truly,"

"My, what skill, I was unaware you had such talent as a seamstress," he complimented. "I also wasn't expecting you to be here, Letoile didn't tell me she invited your whole squad,"

"Yeah, but…not the whole squad,"

The world tree mage knew what those words meant. "How is he?"

"For now, his life is no longer in any danger, but he's still unconscious, and we don't know when he'll wake up," Yami informed him.

"I see, then allow me to formally apologize," the masked man bowed his upper half. "Langris may be responsible for himself, but I carry most of the blame, it was my lapse of judgement that led me to promote him to vice-captain, and it seems the power went to his head if he thought he could get away with such an action,"

"It's alright, you couldn't have known he'd do something so drastic," Vanessa said.

"Uh, yes, you're right," he raised himself and nodded. "I wish Finral a speedy recovery,"

"As does the rest of my squad, but right now, let's enjoy ourselves, after all, it is a party. I'll catch you around," Yami spoke his last words to him as he and Vanessa walked away.

"I don't know if it's just me, but I have the strangest feeling this isn't going to work very well," Bell stated, flying in between Yuno and Charmy, noting the decent difference in height. "What if you did non-contact dancing?"

"No way, look around us," Charmy instructed, as they did so, they saw how everyone else was doing it. "It has to be hand-in-hand. Hold on, that reminds me, Yuno, have you ever danced this way before?"

"I know the basics," he answered. "The sister at the church I was raised taught me,"

"Really?" a short giggle escaped her lips. "The thought of you and Asta dancing is kinda funny,"

"Oh, Sister Lily didn't teach Asta, he was always busy with training. If he plans on coming to the floor, his partner is in for a rough time,"

The cotton mage nodded in agreement. "I'll say. Wait, I think I got it!"

Bell raised a brow. "Got what?"

"The solution to the height problem, behold," she replied, summoning a cloud of wool and stepped onto it before he floating up to the wind mage's level. "Now we can dance without issue,"

"Are you sure that's going to fully work?" Yuno asked. "This kind of dancing will need us in sync, and Sister Lily always said the best way to stay in sync is to keep our footsteps the same, it's not going to easy to do so with your feet off the ground where I can't see them too well,"

"We'll be fine. It's a good piece of advice, but we gotta improvise, besides, a few mess-ups can be fun," Charmy said, managing to convince him before she cleared her throat. "Now, may I have this dance?" she extended a hand.

The golden dawn took it. "It would be my pleasure,"

Bell joined in too. "As would it be mine,"

"Get your damn hands off of me already," Gauche pulled himself away from Magna's grip. "I'm not doing this,"

"C'mon, Letoile invited you to her party, you can't just spend the exciting parts just sitting around," Magna tried to persuade him. "Or else you might as well not have come,"

His words accomplished nothing unfortunately as the mirror mage walked out of sight.

"It's his loss, that doesn't mean the rest of us can't enjoy ourselves," the flame mage shrugged as he started scoping the area. "Now, who looks like they're up for some dancing?"

Just as he said that though, two women walked right past them, each glancing at him for a few seconds before going on their way. Magna grinned. "Would you look at that, I caught their attention, then again, I do look pretty fly in these threads,"

"I know those two, if you want, I can introduce you to them," Klaus offered. "You may be a Black Bull, but with what's happened recently between our squads, and the fact that this is a party, I don't think they'll mind too much,"

"Those are some odds I don't mind taking," the bull accepted, turning to his two squadmates. "Gordon, you don't have a problem keeping an eye on Grey, do you?"

The poison mage merely shook his head. "Awesome, then Specs and I will be off,"

Klaus was a little surprised. "How'd you hear about that nickname?"

"I heard Yuno call you it during the exam, if you ask me, Specs sounds super cool, and if you want, you can call me Shades or something,"

"Shades doesn't sound half bad. We should hurry though, we don't want the ladies out of our field of vision," the steel mage stated as they both head off.

Gordon and Grey stood together, taking glances at the other guests every so often, but it was obvious one was more nervous while the other looked more curious. Eventually the former pulled out his notebook and wrote something, showing it to her.

She lowered herself down a bit and read it in her head. "I'm heading to the restroom, if there are people there, it can be a great chance to see if I can engage in small talk," panic took over as he left quickly after that, leaving her by herself among people she didn't know.

"T-This is b-bad," she stuttered. "I have t-to get o-out of her and f-find another b-bull, I n-need to be q-quick," the transformation mage was ready to leave her position, but it turned out she had decided to go too late as her worst fear came to life.

"Excuse me?" she turned around and was met by a golden dawn who appeared to be younger than her, an almost shy look on his face. "Hello,"

The woman was unsure of what to say, so she said nothing, merely sending him a shy wave paired with a smile of the same nature.

"I noticed you from not too far away, I hope I'm not inconveniencing you. I just wanted to say…you look absolutely stunning. Would you care to share a dance with me?"

At that point, Grey was too much at a loss for words to even stutter. Not once had she ever received a compliment about her appearance from a member of the opposite gender, let alone a request to dance. She didn't know how to respond, but unfortunately for her, that was just the start.

"No, please share a dance with me instead, miss," another man came up to her with the same offer.

"Back off, I asked her first," the first man pointed.

"Just because you asked first doesn't mean she has to go with you," the second man retorted.

Meanwhile, Grey's face became like a tomato, still unable to say something, at least, until a third voice joined in, catching their attention. "Hey, can't you see you're making her uncomfortable?"

Unlike the last two, the voice was one the blue-haired woman recognized as it belonged to Gauche, the mirror mage approaching them. His gaze was primarily fixated on the two guys, who were silent as he gave them a death glare.

"Scram," was all he needed to say to scare them off.

Grey fidgeted with her hands as she cooled down from the situation. "Thanks,"

"Why didn't you say anything to them?" he ignored her word of gratitude to ask his question. "I'm guessing you didn't want to dance with either one, you should've just said no,"

"B-But I c-can't. I'm not b-brave e-enough,"

"Then you have to become braver about this, you can't just expect someone to swoop in to handle your problems every time they occur, you're lucky I was keeping an eye on you since crowds aren't naturally your thing,"

"T-Thanks again for that,"

The mirror mage sighed, hesitantly extending his hand. "Follow my lead, if we're dancing, then guys won't bother you, just don't step on my toes, and you better not tell the others I did this,"

His squadmate slowly placed her hand in his, a smile that only lasted for a split-second gracing her features. "I'll try,"

Contrary to what his rival said, Asta's partner was not in for any such rough time. Mimosa couldn't be happier as the two of them came to the dance floor. "Alright, I'm ready to learn," the swordsman eagerly said. "What do I start with?"

The plant mage giggled. "I admire your readiness, but what I'm going to show you is pretty simple, you should be able to pick it up in a snap,"

"Awesome,"

"Awesome indeed. Now, the first thing to do," she began, stepping up to him. "Is to get closer,"

"That part does seems simple enough," he joked. "What's next?"

"Now you'll put one of your arms around my waist," she told him.

He instinctually opted for his right arm, wrapping it around the girl's waist, giving it a firm grip to latch on, the action startling her before her face slowly became red. "Uh, Mimosa, are you alright?"

U-Um, yes, I'm fine," she managed to calm herself down. "You chose your right side, so I'll do the same around your shoulder area on my left side," she took quiet, yet deep breaths to maintain her composure.

"And as for my free hand?"

"You'll join it with mine, like this," she coupled her hand with Asta's, raising them a bit above shoulder level. "And this is the basic starting position, the rest is up to your feet. For now you can just try moving one at a time, and as you get better, we can advance to something a little more complex,"

"Hm, move my feet one at a time, you say," the magicless mage glanced around at other nearby pairs that were dancing, some in a similar position to them, but he mostly ignored that part, his attention instead on their feet.

"You mean like this?" he began to mimic the footwork near perfectly.

Mimosa couldn't help but gasp as the two were already dancing. "Amazing,"

"I'm impressed, Dorksta, you managed to pick up the skill rather quickly, of course, you'd go even quicker if I were teaching you," another pair neared them, the one consisting of Kenos and Noelle, both of the water mage's hands were around his shoulders while both of the solar mage's hands were around her waist.

The Rossiu grinned. "Don't listen to her, Mimosa is a great teacher, but I can't underestimate you either, Asta, you've always been a quick learner,"

"I appreciate the compliment, but I must say, you two are an odd pairing, definitely one of the last duos I'd expect to dance with each other," the royal stated.

"We were the last two at the table, and what kind of squadmate would I be if I left her by herself? The Black Bulls are like my family, which means Noelle is like my little sister, and no older brother would let their little sister dance alone,"

"Aw, that's sweet,"

"Granted, I do wish my actual older brothers could act like this, but I'll take Kenos and the rest of the Bulls over them any day," Noelle admitted.

All the groups danced with each other for the next thirty minutes before Percy made an announcement. "Good to see all of our dancers are having fun, but I must ask you to exit the floor for our special dance between Letoile and her escorts!"

They all did so as Hanz and Luck led her down to the tiled space, standing at the center of it while everyone else was around the dance floor, awaiting what was to come.

"We only had one rehearsal for this, but I hope you can do it," she said.

"One was all I needed," he playfully said back.

The dance then began, the two escorts let go of her hand and took a step back, but Luck took an additional step back as Hanz and Letoile bowed their upper halves before joining hands, facing a direction and moving twenty steps forward before halting, they then performed a slow rotation which led into the older man placing a hand behind her back and leaning her down while leaning down a bit himself.

"It appears you've still got it, Hanz, I just hope this isn't too much stress on you,"

"Nonsense, I may be close to 70 years old, but I can still pull it off as long as I don't go overboard," he grinned, lifting them both back up as he held her hand above her head as she spun in place, her gown spiraling beautifully around her. She then stopped as they joined both hands again and marched back to where they began, ending their portion of the dance.

Hanz and Letoile separated and shared a quick bow before the former walked to Luck, the two of them sharing a quick bow as the younger of the two approached the compass mage, sharing yet another bow as he extended his hand and she slowly, softly took hold of it.

"Oh man, I can't wait to see this," Magna said before seeing something in the corner of his eye, the thing being Vanessa with a big smile on her face. "What's up with you?"

"It's nothing, it's just that…I'm so proud,"

The two teens kept their hands connected and their arms extended as they spun around slowly, eyes on one another. Luck then came to a sudden halt, quickly spinning Letoile once as they split apart, taking ten steps back.

The lightning mage stood at attention while Letoile began spinning around as she got closer to him, their two hands then caught each other and once again entered a spinning motion, but this one was stronger as the compass mage's feet eventually left the ground before he let go.

Gasps arose from the crowd, but they calmed down when the girl summoned two compass needles, landing gracefully on one, Luck didn't stay on the floor either as lightning covered him and he jumped up, landing on the other needle, the two standing back to back as they flew around in a circle for thirty seconds before leaping off hand in hand, landing without a hitch.

"That was awesome!" the crowd cheered as they returned to their seats.

Natalie and Percy approached the three. "Breathtaking," the mom said, hugging her daughter tightly.

"And you two were great as well," the father congratulated. "But now that the dance is over, there's one more thing for you all to do,"

Letoile knew what it was. "My portrait with the escorts, that's my favorite part, c'mon, let's go," she grabbed the two guys and speed-walked down the long hallway, her parents not far behind as they made it to the other side, and were met by a middle-aged man.

"Ah, Hanz, Letoile, it's great to see you again. Sorry I couldn't make it in time, something important came up," the man greeted.

The compass mage went over to hug the man. "Zhane, it's good to see you too. Don't worry, the only fact that matters is that you're here now,"

Zhane chuckled. "Good to see I'm forgiven," he then noticed Luck. "Who's this?"

"My name's Luck Voltia, I'm the second escort," he introduced himself.

"Second escort? That's a new one, but if that's what the birthday girl wants, why don't you three go stand by the stairs and we can get this started,"

The two knights were already on their way, but Hanz lagged behind, a plan circulating in his head, one he was determined to execute. So execute it he did, secretly waving a finger around, using his magic to untie his laces, now all he had to do was sell the part. "Hold on, I have to tie my shoe," he bent down as far as he safely could. "Ah!" he convincingly dropped to his knees.

"Hanz!" everyone rushed to his side.

"What happened?" Letoile inquired.

"I…I tried to tie my shoe, but I must've bent my back too far. It seems my age is catching up with me," he lied as Natalie helped him onto a chair.

"Hold on," the girl reassured him. "I'll go get Mimosa, she can help you,"

"No, don't bother your friend, she's enjoying the party, I just need to lie down," the man dissuaded her.

"Then we'll postpone the portrait until you recover,"

"Nonsense, do the portrait without me, I wouldn't want to slow anyone down," he calmly protested.

"You won't slow anyone down,"

"Yes I will, it's okay, just go on,"

Letoile looked at him uncertainly. "You're sure?"

"Of course I am, but don't feel too bad, I've had a portrait with you since you were young, I can miss one," he told her.

"Okay then,"

"Servants!" Percy called. "Help us take Hanz to a room to rest," two servants emerged to help the parents carry the older man.

"Make sure you feel better," Luck wished.

"I will, as for you, make sure you smile," Hanz said back as they left the room.

"That was quite the turn of events," Zhane spoke up. "Well, are you two ready?"

Letoile took a deep breath as she and Luck walked to the stairs. "We are,"

Hours passed and the party eventually came to an end as all the guests left the estate and went their separate ways. Soon, night fell over Golden Dawn HQ.

"Here's your suit, Specs, thanks again for letting me borrow it," Yuno returned the article of clothing.

Klaus accepted it. "Glad to have been of help, you succeeded in your task of looking good for your first formal outing. But man, wasn't that party fun?"

"I know, the dancing was the best portion of it in my opinion," Mimosa agreed, hiding a small blush.

"Yeah, I can't wait for Letoile to invite us next year," Yuno finished.

Speaking of Letoile, the compass mage was in her room, sitting by her mirror and brushing her hair. "It's a good thing Hanz's injury wasn't too serious, he recovered pretty fast. Other than that, this was a fun day, a party with my family, my friends, and my squad," she mused before standing up and walking to her bed, she then stopped, an object in her view.

"But you…you were my favorite part," she got into bed and went to sleep.

What was the object in question? Hanging in the formerly empty space above her bed, was the portrait of her and Luck, both of them smiling.