OoOoOoO

Part V

Mary Sue groaned as she turned to her side. A fiery pain seized her chest, rudely awaking her. Her hands frantically patted around the front of her body, trying to understand where she had been injured. The burning sensation intensified when the palm of her left hand skimmed the top of her breast, just above her heart. She pulled down the collar of her shirt to assess the damage. Dark ink staining her skin was soon revealed.

"What the?" Mary Sue squawked before ripping off her shirt entirely. Her emerald eyes gawked at the purple four-leaf clover branding her chest. "When the fuck did I get a tattoo?"

"JULIUS!?" Mary Sue screeched, summoning her captain. Her captain could surely pick up her high-pitched voice even if located in another town, region or Kingdom.

Within ten seconds, Julius appeared. He moved to her side before she could blink, then his eyes narrowed in intense assessment as he reviewed the room for any signs of danger.

His tense expression softened when he confirmed there was no threat, but his eyebrows shortly furrowed in puzzlement as he finally looked at Mary Sue.

His eyes widened before a blush coated his cheeks. "Ahhh-hem," he cleared his throat before turning away from her. "Your shirt?" he suggested.

"Wearing my undergarments is intentional. Is this your doing, Julius? Some practical joke on me?" Mary Sue complained, not understanding why Julius would go so far to have fun at her expense. A constant trademark of his. Usually it was light fun, but this crossed a line and she would make that known.

"What are you referring to?" He asked, genuinely, concerned. Julius turned around to understand what Mary Sue was talking about despite his embarrassment in her dress apparel.

"This!" She pointed at the four-leaf clover above her chest not really caring about her indecency.

He gaped as he reviewed her tattoo. Now realizing it was not his doing, Mary Sue yanked her shirt over her head while denying her need to wince.

"Ahhhhhh…so, not you then I take it."

Julius pressed his lips together and shook his head, speechless for once and Mary Sue rather enjoyed this turn of events. She was going to roll with this and see where it led. "I will go show Kent then, maybe he knows what occurred."

"No!" Julius's neck corded with muscles, shaking his head adamantly. "I was with you from when you passed out until returning you to your room. Kent would know nothing more than myself. You don't need to show him." He was flustered, Mary Sue bit her lip to stifle her giggle.

"But, my concern is the same as yours. How did you get that?" He inquired. And was it her imagination or did her ears detect that his concern seemed to outweigh his curiosity for once with her.

"Oh, um, we're in the same boat."

"Hmmmm?"

"Well, you know. We agree on our question," she responded way too awkward for her own liking. "Shall we have another look?" She teased, tracing the collar of her shirt.

"Once was more than enough." Mary Sue would have taunted him further if Julius had not schooled his face to calm composure after his gruff response.

She shrugged her shoulders but still threw Julius a devilish grin. "Yami should-"

"Mary Sue," her captain warned.

"-apologize for calling me ballsy," she finished, shrugging her shoulders again. "There are so many other better terms he could have used in that moment. Like confident, amazing, hero, or something along those lines." The false self-praise just bubbled up and spilled out of her lips like she actually believed it. In reality, she held great disdain for what had occurred. She now too schooled her expression into a cheery state to wave off her captain, insisting she needed to get ready for breakfast. She would worry about the origin of the tattoo later.

OoOoOoO

"You spoil her, you know?" Yami not so casually mentioned as he watched Julius exit Mary Sue's room. "You have the captain's meeting soon and you just left to the capital minutes before she called out for you." Yami scrutinized his Captain with unflinching assessment. "I don't get it, Julius. How did you hear that brat?"

"She is important, Yami. To my vision for the future of the Clover Kingdom."

"She got lucky with her last spell, Julius. Sheer, dumb luck. Where is this potential? I don't see it. The kid would have died if we hadn't showed up when we did." If anything, Yami was honest, even if brutal.

"We don't know that." But there was a lack of confidence in his words. Masking a fear Julius had. A fear that he was wrong about Mary Sue and her potential.

Yami's eyes flickered, revealing a kernel of softness for his captain before they hardened. "She could be what gets one of us killed someday. Did you not remember Kent mentioning he discovered her hiding behind some rock? She wasn't fighting."

"She stepped up eventually."

"Julius, stop defending her and take a step back from whatever bullshit filter is clouding your vision. The reality of what you won't admit is that after the month she has been here, her progress has been non-existent. You aren't pushing her. You and Kent baby her. Push her, found out what she really has and decide if she is worth keeping on this squad or in your vision of the future. Because right now, she is not cutting it."

Confusion glimmered in Julius's purple eyes before he nodded. "I know." If anything, Julius understood the push in the battle was just the beginning of what extremes they needed to take with Mary Sue. To discover her true potential. He believed in her and her luck. She just needed to do the same. While Yami offered his harsh truth, Julius was also not swayed to think any less of Mary Sue.

A certain purple four-leaf clover popped into his mind and Julius froze. "Train her when you can and if you still want to," Julius informed Yami before traveling back to the capital. Not quick enough to erase the image from his mind so he could focus on the upcoming meeting.

OoOoOoO

Her thoughts poured over every detail she could recall for what had happened.

She uncovered a new spell.

She saved Kent.

She saved innocents.

Yet…

Bile trailed up the back of her throat as she dissected what had really happened. Despite being a coward for an hour on end, her 30 seconds of bravery was rewarded with a new spell. And a magic item? Of all the preposterous things to occur. If luck be a lady, that lady was Mary Sue. She raked her hands through her perfect curls as she assessed her face in the mirror. Her nose scrunched up as she found a pathetic loser in her reflection.

A typical Mary Sue.

Everything comes too easy or works out favorably. Okay, she did make bare minimum progress in her last month of training, but her luck sometimes only shined out of necessity. Wasn't that the worst of the worst? She didn't have to push pass limits to truly earn it?

"Hey twerp." Mary Sue dropped her hands and went very still, refusing to turn around. She saw enough of his face in the top corner of the mirror.

"What the hell are you doing? You're not going to get any uglier by staring at your reflection. Time to train."

Her mouth twitched, delighted by his no-nonsense attitude. Cue in Yami for a sanity check and to prove to Julius that Mary Sue was dead weight to their team. Despite that recent fluke.

"You draw the short straw?" She asked, modestly curious.

"No. I volunteered. It's time to face the facts to see if you're cut out for this squad. No offense. But you just don't seem to have what it takes to be a magic knight."

"I know," she agreed too easily. Yami's eyebrows arched, either in surprise or in question of her response.

"Only Dreggo sees the truth. I am sure you will discover the same," she relented.

"You listen to that snot nosed little bastard? I didn't think you were that dumb, Mary Sue."

She shrugged her shoulders in response. "No wonder you don't apply yourself. If anyone believed a word that came out of that that shit bag's mouth, we would be sitting ducks in any fight." Yami moved forward to retrieve the gray cloak hanging from a chair. He tossed it to her. "Only what I say has value. You got that? Now let's see if you pass. I didn't see you in the magic knight's exam so all I have to go off is word of mouth and that new spell of yours. Think you can handle it?"

A flame of hope sparked in her chest, reminiscent of her Clara Wood days. A fundamental core of herself she thought she lost was only in slumber, ready to be awakened.

OoOoOoO

Note:

Once again this was meant to be longer...but there was a gap in this chapter that was supposed to detail her training. So, the rest of this chapter will resume in Part VI.

This didn't add too much story progress, but I figured a small update was better than nothing :O

~pixelephant