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Chapter 25: Puzzle pieces

The Black Bulls' base was surprisingly quiet. Partially, it was due to the fact that the majority of the members were away on missions, which was a rare thing. Another part of the reason was that Nova was there. Vanessa had told her once how Magna and Luck were surprisingly docile whenever she was around, which had made her giggle, the image of them as two wild, feral beasts hissing at one another appearing in her head. But, in retrospect, Nova did agree with the beautiful witch. There she was, abusing Luck's extensive library without much protest of the owner, while Magna did sit-ups and Luck struggled with the bench press at their base's gym.

Nova flipped a page, skimming over the part she didn't quite understand and then diving into the explanation of curse magic, or imbuing one's spells with ill-intent. It was a rather fascinating subject, and after putting into motion her application for access to the restricted section of the Royal Library, Nova was eager to prepare for entering it. She was using whatever means were at her disposal to research the conventional uses of curses before she dealt with the tightly-guarded ones, literally under lock and key. Luck, as good fortune would have it, had a lot of books from his academy days which detailed all sorts of magic uses and abuses, curses included. Nova really was fascinated with the usage of poisons in one's magic, regardless of attribute, in order to add a cursed layer to the spell which would then affect the opponent.

"M-Magna," Luck struggled to say, the first words anyone had spoken since they entered the gym and settled down. "S-spot," he grunted and Nova looked up from her book once more, seeing the Fire Mage rush forward and help Luck get the weights up and off him.

"That's what you get for adding that final kilogram," Magna grumbled, but helped the Lightning Mage up. Luck looked rather nice like that, Nova mused. All flushed from the workout and only in a thin cotton shirt, without the usual long tunics he wore. It showed off the muscles he'd been working so hard on building. Sure, Luck was still a skinny little thing, but she knew firsthand just how hard his muscles were. She just hadn't known that he worked out regularly at the base's gym.

"It wasn't that hard in the beginning," Luck huffed, reaching for a towel and wiping his sweat. Nova followed the motion. His face was really wonderfully flushed from the workout. Not even the sweat bothered her, for some reason. It usually did. But, seeing the redness on Luck's face, which was almost never there, made her stomach flip. Luck almost never blushed. At least, she had never seen him blush. And, while this wasn't exactly that, his face was red. And, Nova found it adorable.

"You okay there?" Magna asked, making Nova shake her head and quickly look away from Luck to glance at the Fire Mage. He had a sly smirk on his face, like he knew something she didn't. Or something she did. It annoyed her.

"Did you know that there's a curse to make you impotent?" Nova's brow rose in a challenge. Magna immediately got flustered.

"What?" He asked, stepping away from her even further.

"Yeah, it says so here," Nova pointed to the book she was going through. "Some thousand years or so, the warring factions among the nobility in Clover decided to make certain that their opposition wouldn't have any more children, so they made a curse to do so." Luck's head popped up and he peered from under the towel, making Nova's heart squeeze annoyingly. He was just too irritatingly cute sometimes, and his obliviousness made it all the much worse for her. She was torn between wanting to kiss him and squeeze him in a hug, but made herself do neither.

"I read about that!" The boy eagerly commented. "Apparently it crippled the Silva family so bad that they started having at least three sons in every generation of their main branch of the family in order to prevent such a disaster again."

"Yeah," Nova pointed at him in excitement, her thoughts finally clearing up from their impure direction. "Because during that time they had do switch from-"

"The main branch to the side branch in order to keep the bloodline going!" Luck finished her words, the two excitedly smiling at each other.

"You're both freaks," Magna settled the matter, shaking his head. "History freaks."

"Knowledge is power, my friend," Nova sagely nodded, making the Fire Mage huff.

"Knowledge only gets you so far," he countered. "Power is power." They turned to Luck, who hummed, thinking about it.

"Knowledge is a kind of power, but mana is stronger in the end!" He put his two cents in, making chaos erupt between Magna and Nova yet again.

That evening Charmy made them food. And, Nova, as was becoming customary, stayed for dinner at the insistence of the short Magic Knight who was all too eager to feed everyone. So, while they were sitting in the large room which served as both the living room of the Black Bulls and their occasional cafeteria, Nova was squished between Magna and Grey, all of them shoveling food into their mouths at incredible speeds. There was some conversation in between the bites, but not much, mostly arguments about who wanted to eat what next.

"Where's Finral?" Yami wandered in, breaking a wall in order to enter the common area. Magna piped up.

"Mission," before a sausage was slurped whole into his mouth.

"Ah," Yami scratched his chin, annoyed clearly. "Give me some of that." The man sat down on the opposite side of the table from Nova, picking up a steak without a plate and biting into it. "Needs some more salt, Charmy," he complained, but the young woman immediately complied.

"La!" One of her sheep extended the salt shaker to the Captain. He salted his steak, continuing to bite into it and send sauce onto the table. Nobody paid attention to it. So, Nova decided to ignore it, as well. Finally, after half an hour of messy dinner and odd conversations about missions, food and Luck's challenges to everyone to fight him, but primarily Yami, the Captain looked straight at Nova.

"Oh, you're not one of mine," he noted absent-mindedly.

"Not yet, sir," Nova giggled, extending the sugar to him for his coffee. He didn't take any. The sheep cleaned around the table, setting up sweets for each of the members still seated, distributing coffee and tea. Magna was leaning back in his seat, patting his stomach. He burped loudly.

"You sure like coming here, don't you?" Yami lit up a cigarette, taking a long drag of smoke into his lungs.

"It's a great Squad," Nova nodded. Luck burped right back at Magna, making his louder and longer.

"You taking the exam in a few months?" Yami asked, ignoring Magna's clear reply to the burp challenge.

"Maybe," Nova shrugged. "I haven't decided yet." Luck's next burp rang out even longer, if that was possible.

"Oh?" Yami questioned.

"I want to improve my close-combat skills," Nova sighed, then sipped her coffee. It was perfect. Sweet and with a dash of milk. "Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who uses a blade who could teach me."

"I use a katana," Yami answered bluntly. Magna opened his mouth, after a clear build-up, to answer Luck's burp, but Nova absent-mindedly smacked him across the back, causing him to swallow it instead and start coughing.

"Oh! You have some time to help me out?" Nova cheerily asked the Captain, patting Magna on the back as he coughed.

"Sure, got time tomorrow afternoon?"

"Nova, damn you!" Magna yelled, but the girl ignored him.

"Sure, thanks so much, Captn!" She cheerily answered the terrifying Captain of the Black Bulls, not paying attention to Magna's yells and Luck's eager laughter and proclamation how he was the burp champ.

Surprisingly, or more like, unsurprisingly, Captain Yami wasn't a person who knew how to 'go easy' on someone. In fact, his teaching methods included one-sided complete beatdowns. After one afternoon with him, Nova hurt in places she didn't know she could hurt in. Her arms were trembling when she took a shower after their little training session. She barely managed to lather herself in soap. And, Will had a fit the following morning when a bright new shiner blossomed into fruition on Nova's face. But, that didn't stop the girl.

The very next day she was at the Bulls' base, seeking out the terrifying Captain for yet another lesson. Magna and Luck laughed as she got flung about their back yard, but they didn't look to interrupt or help her. They cheered, tossing rather unhelpful advice at her, which they surely meant well by.

"Get your arms up faster!"

"Turn to the side! Smaller target, Nova, smaller!"

"Ouch! That looked like it hurt."

"Get your legs under you!"

"Come on, arms up!"

"Hit him where it hurts!"

Yami laughed the whole time, perhaps due to her meager attempts at striking him with her scalpel, perhaps at the enthusiastic cheer squad which had gathered. But, he never really let up. Nova had to appreciate him for it. While he didn't use any magic, his skill with the sword spoke for itself. He'd briefly told her that against an opponent like himself, with longer reach due to the blade, she had to be craftier, quicker, nimble and to play dirty. But, he didn't provide much guidance as to how exactly she was to achieve that. So, Nova was left to get up, and to keep getting up, until her strength ran out or someone called for Yami and he had to leave.

Weeks passed with her doing her best against the beast. And, despite him not using any of his vast mana, Nova really could see how he was a force to be reckoned with. Even when she did manage to land a hit on him, Yami brushed her off, more liked flipped her over onto the ground, like she was a rather persistent, annoying fly. She had to admit, she understood Luck's obsession with fighting the man, at least on some level, after all that sparring.

Speaking of Luck, he wasn't about to be left out. Whenever Yami was busy, him and Magna came to fetch Nova and took her out into the woods for training on their own. She'd gotten rather good at evading the fireballs Magna threw at her. While, she had to admit, he'd gotten rather crafty at how he used them. They started switching directions mid-flight during their second week, as if she was a magnet for them. Luck was still a peak which she would never conquer. The boy was too much, really. He had too much mana, too much stamina and too much bloodlust. Whenever he was her opponent, Nova sighed before getting ready to go a few rounds with him. He was always difficult to handle because he was always doing something new. It wasn't always perfect, but it was always annoying to counter or evade. Her favorite tactic against him was definitely attaching herself to him like some kind of a monkey and then slamming her forehead into his. For some reason, he always gave up after that. Whether it was because she was knocking some sense into that battle-hungry head or because he didn't want to hurt her, she wasn't sure. She'd watched him go against Magna and electrocute the poor Fire Mage when he attempted to copy Nova's Anti-Luck Tactic #1. But, with the Magic Knights Exam coming up, Nova wasn't willing to dwell on the details of Luck's odd behavior. Instead, she focused on getting stronger in between her work at the Tower. She even began joining the boys at the gym, much to Magna's amusement and Luck's confusion. She still remembered the first time.

"How heavy is that?" She put her book down and walked over to where Luck was training his arms. He peered up at her from the bench press, tilting his head to the side.

"About fifty kilos, why?" He grunted out, doing another press. Nova stood above him, watching his brow furrow whenever he lifted the weight. She was somehow able to ignore the redness of his face which had proven a terrible distraction a few weeks ago.

"Think I can give it a go when you're done?" She asked, then quickly turned when a yelp sounded behind her. She saw Magna had dropped the dumbbell on his foot, staring at her in shock.

"You're gonna lift, Novako?" She nodded. Then, Magna guffawed. "Well, better start off with like twenty and then go up. Fifty's too much for a starter." The boy instructed her sagely. Nova nodded, turning back to Luck who had put the weights on the bar and sat up in the meantime.

"Why do you wanna lift weights?" He asked, head tilting. Nova quickly looked away from him and towards the weights. While she could somewhat handle his flushed face, the head tilts were doing her in. She just wanted to pat his head. She really did. Especially if the head tilt caught her off guard. She'd once or twice had to literally stop her hand halfway and pretend she wanted to take something in Luck's vicinity.

"Well, I've noticed in my sessions with Captn that even when I do hit him, which is rare, I don't do enough damage," Nova explained. "Maybe if I was stronger I could, you know, fix that."

"Why weights, though?" Luck asked again.

"Oh, come, it's fine, innit?" Magna grunted, walking over, too. "Let her try." Then, he smirked at Luck. "At least we're here to see her cry uncle." That had apparently been incentive enough to get the both of them fiends to let her give it a go. However, Nova was a colossal disappointment when it came to crying uncle. She would simply grit her teeth and power through the pain and the fatigue, which in turn made Luck and Magna insufferable, trying to make her laugh while she was lifting the weights and get her to drop it.

Regardless, Nova persisted. Between Yami's training, Magna and Luck's chases in the woods and her own personal building of muscles, Will had even commented how she wasn't huffing and puffing when she moved cots around the ER anymore. That, alone, told her that if she continued her grueling training regime, she might be ready in time for the Exam, if she decided to take it.

Nova stretched in her seat, before sitting back in the position she'd been sitting in for the past few hours, continuing her work. Her muscles ached in the same way immediately, because nothing had really changed. Also, her legs hurt. They hurt mostly because Yami was away on a mission and had given her the task of getting faster, which meant practicing 'air sitting' as Luck and Magna had helpfully suggested. So, with her behind a few centimeters off the chair while charting, Nova was suffering through her evening. At least she was able to do it now, unlike the last time she'd tried and miserably failed after the first minute. Now, she could hold her air seat for five minutes straight before collapsing. Then she would rest for five to ten minutes, and then repeat. For at least two hours, as Magna had explained, if she planned to see any effect. Nova would agree, if it was anyone else that was supposed to be doing the workout. However, she knew that the path to strength never was easy. With a grunt, Nova forced her behind up from the chair once more.

"How're your legs?" The question threw her off and she promptly collapsed from the air sit, hit the chair in a weird way, and then went down along with it. However, as misery loves company, Nova did her best to catch the edge of the table and keep herself up, but all that did was bring some of the charts she'd been working on down with her. So, with a loud clatter from the chair and in a flurry of papers going up into the air and then slowly fluttering down around her, Nova fell to the ground. "Nova?"

"Ouch." Luck's face appeared over the edge of the desk, peering curiously down at her.

"That was amazing," he commented cheerily. "Is it some kind of a gag?" Nova glared up, reaching her hand for him.

"No," she replied as he took her hand and pulled her up. "You surprised the living hell out of me and I went flying." The way her tugged her up was too forceful and she barely managed to grab onto the edge of the table and not run into it.

"You fall over every time someone catches you off-guard?" Luck asked, looking her over. Nova huffed, bending down to right the chair and collect her charts.

"No." The charts were a mess. Now she had no idea until she actually sifted through every single paper which one was from which Knight. Her work had suddenly doubled. At least they were all her patients and she still remembered all the things which she'd done to help them after their troublesome mission.

"You shouldn't really be so oblivious to mana signatures," Luck scolded, leaning over the desk to watch her collect papers in mild amusement. "What if I'd been an enemy combatant?" Nova glared up at him flatly.

"I'd be dead," she replied with heavy sarcasm. "Butt off my work." He obliged, moving charts away before hopping back onto the desk.

"Maintaining mana alertness is easy," Luck spoke up again, just as Nova came up from behind the desk with her papers. "We've been teaching you that for months, now." Nova sighed, placing her papers down onto the desk and looking over to the boy. Something about his visit was… unusual. It was odd that he was there, in the records room, bugging her. Often, he and Magna came together. That, she minded sometimes, but she'd gotten used to. However, they'd been to visit her that very afternoon, together. So, why was Luck there again, and so late at night?

"Trying and doing are two different things, Lucky," she told him, deciding to figure out his odd behavior later. If there was one thing she'd learned about Luck, it was that giving him any less than a hundred percent of attention could prove fatal for any kind of work or damaging to the surroundings. Or her ass. He'd been zapping her ass for so long that at this point, she wondered if she'd even have an ass by the time he was done electrocuting it. She looked up at Luck, miffed at the mess she'd made with the charts, only to see him curiously tilting his head at her. He was doing it again. Completing some puzzle in his head. "Luck?"

"Good night, Nova," he grinned at her, hopped off the desk, and went out the door. And, Nova fumed. The little fiend had caused her to make a mess and then just left? After wishing her good night… whatever he was figuring out, she hoped that he would figure it out soon. Because she wasn't sure what to make of it, or whether she ought to be making something of it, or if she even wanted to get involved in the potentially electrifying mess he was surely about to create. Damn him. Damn him and her heart.

Nova's spoon stopped halfway to her mouth, her expression like a deer in headlights, when a bang sounded from underneath the common room. Then, she sighed, frowned, and decided to promptly ignore the cause of the noise – because she knew exactly what it was.

"Oh, hell no!" Will grumbled, closing the book he'd been reading and pushing his food away. He was about to get up when a menace burst into their kitchenette.

"Morning!" Luck's cheery face appeared to be beaming. Nova ignored him and kept eating, her expression blank. Will was already on the verge of blowing a fuse.

"Did you break the doors again?" The healer asked in a hiss.

"Walt," Luck greeted, patting Will on the back as he passed him. "Good morning, Nova," he said, finally sitting in front of her. Nova quirked an eyebrow at him, swallowing her spoonful of rice omelette.

"Morning, Luck," she greeted back. Her confusion was rising by the minute. Sure enough, Luck behaving oddly for one evening was fine. Usually it resulted in some kind of an elaborate prank on Magna, which he needed to bribe Nova for, either for her help or for keeping quiet. This, however, didn't spell well for her. It seemed like Luck had finally decided to seek out a new target for practical jokes.

"Are you training with us today?" He asked conversationally, reaching over and grabbing a cracker from the plate in the middle.

"Is Captain Yami back yet?" Nova asked. When Luck shook his head, she nodded. "Then I'm with you guys today." Luck cheerily nodded.

"See you after lunch!" And with that, he hopped up, collected a few more crackers and promptly left. Will turned to Nova, opening his mouth to undoubtedly scold her about her choice of company. However, when he saw her confused expression, he stopped.

"I'll fix the door," he grumbled, getting up and picking up his book, then leaving the common area. Nova frowned at her omelette.

This time, Nova expected it. Despite the training they did together with Magna in the afternoon, and the small break for snacks which they had together in the woods, she felt like Luck would appear unexpectedly again. And, he did. He snuck up on her while she was watering the herbal garden on top of the Tower.

"Got better control of the mana sense, now?" He asked, hopping down from the ledge, seeing as he'd come from above, rather than from the stairs, and then sat down on the stone railing of the Tower, deactivating his boots.

"Somewhat," Nova shrugged. "I can do it if I need to, but not for long." He pouted at that. And damn, was it cute.

"You need more practice," Luck told her, legs swinging. He was looking around the herbal garden curiously, but wasn't making any comments. Then, as Nova turned away in the comfortable silence to finish her evening duties, she felt it. His eyes on her back practically burned. She didn't react, however. Whatever Luck was figuring out, he hadn't asked for her help. So, she would let him be as annoying as he needed to be. And, if he wanted another head to help him brainstorm, he knew that she was there. "Do you think we'll get snow this year?" Nova almost dropped her watering can at the abrupt switch in topics. Now he's talking about the weather? Still, she slowly turned around, some curiosity there in order to see just what kind of an expression Luck was making. He seemed in a harmless enough mood, despite the usual smile on his face.

"Don't think so," Nova shrugged. "We've had the cover here ready for a while, but the temperatures at night have been rather mild."

"What?" The head tilt of confusion.

"What?" She returned the sentiment with her own confusion.

"What cover?"

"I thought you were asking about snow because of the plants?"

"No."

"Oh." This time an awkward silence stretched out between them. Nova couldn't help but wonder. Had Magna put something in Luck's head again which he was figuring out in a roundabout way? A really annoying and particularly confusing roundabout way. It wasn't that she minded the visits. In fact, her heart leapt at each and every one of them. But, the confusion which she was experiencing was difficult to deal with. The confusion and the hope which kept appearing inside of her, no matter how much she tried to stomp it out. "Then, you want snow or don't want snow?" She selfishly continued the meaningless conversation, purely because she couldn't handle the thoughts in her head.

"Might be nice this year," Luck shrugged. "I'd like to have a snowball fight with you." Seriously, he wasn't good for her heart. He really wasn't. It was beating so fast that she thought it might just burst. Or something. A friend. Just friends. Keep it together, for Wizard King's sake. Just friends. "Good night, Nova."

"Sleep tight, Luck," she replied almost automatically, with a soft smile of her own, but she caught the way his face brightened before he was speeding away with his magic boots. Damn that boy. Damn him and his adorable, confusing, bad-for-her-heart, annoying and utterly irreplaceable ways. Nova suddenly understood poetry and why all of those men back then wrote about how despite their one-sided affections, they wouldn't change their situation. Indeed, suffering was a small price to pay, when she was allowed to be in the presence of the storm.

That's all for now folks!

Reviews:

AmericanNidiot:
Thanks so much for the reviews!
I'm glad that you enjoyed the little episode with the plague, I had a lot of fun planning it out and writing it :D
Hope you will like the update!
Best!

KEZZ 1:
Thanks so much for the feedback! It's my pleasure to keep you entertained :D