"I've done it! I really, really did! Oh my Gods, I'm a Magic Knight now!" Astara looks up at the dark sky. There aren't as many stars out compared to Hage, but she can still point out where her favorites are.

"Asta." Astara turns her head at the call of her name. She smiles brightly and runs towards Yuno. She jumps up and wraps her arms around his neck once more. Yuno easily catches her and wraps his arms around her waist.

"Yuno! Yuno, we did it! We did it! You're Golden and I'm a Bull! We became Magic Knights!" Astara releases her hug to stare up at her brother with a grin. "We're one step closer! The true battle between us begins now!"

"Yeah. Let's see who'll become the Wizard King, or Queen," Yuno states with a smile of his own.

Astara laughs brightly and lifts her hand up to ruffle Yuno's hair, standing on her toes. "Be careful, alright? We won't be near each other anymore, so I won't be able to come and save you every time you get into trouble!"

Yuno tilts his head away from Astara's hand with an eye roll. He places his own hand on top of Astara's head and smiles just a bit wider.

"That's my line, Asta. Try not to get yourself killed by tripping over air," Yuno teases, making Astara cross her arms with a pout.

"I don't trip over air! Handsome jerk!"

"Stupid shrimp."

They glare at each other for a few moments before Astara bursts into giggles. Yuno chuckles quietly and lowers his hand.

"Oi! Brat! Get over here before I kill you!" Captain Yami's shout makes Astara yelp in her surprise and makes Yuno look over her head.

Captain Yami stood near one of the other exits of the arena with his two squad members behind him. Yuno sighs quietly as Astara turns to give the captain a wave.

"Okay! Just a few more seconds!" Astara turns back around and gives Yuno one last hug. She rests her chin on his shoulder and stares up at the night sky.

"If anything is ever troubling you, I'll be here, okay?" She speaks softly before breaking the hug.

Yuno pokes Astara's forehead, making her flinch in surprise, before he turns around. "That's my line, Aneki."

Astara laughs brightly and gives him a bright wave. She hums quietly before spinning on her heel to run over to her new captain.

"Who said you could make me wait, brat? Do you want to die?" Captain Yami asks angrily. Astara smiles nervously and scratches the back of her head.

"Sorry, sorry! I just had to say goodbye!" Astara states before forcing out a small laugh.

"Whatever." Captain Yami turns towards one of his squad members. "Let's go, Finral."

Astara blinks before finally taking the time to inspect her new squad mates, now that her head isn't being squished and she isn't dealing with an exam.

Kind. Self-loathing. Happy. Intelligent. A spinning vortex, loudly humming with a brightness for freedom. Unruly brown hair, droopy purple eyes, fair skin, and a certain posture that reminds Astara of Sister Lily.

Kindkindkindkindkind. Empathetic. Quiet, but ready to roar in defense of others. A dark and cold poison that gently washes across skin. Not deadly... unless provoked. The black eye shadow and black lipstick is a bit... off-putting against such pale skin, but Astara still smiles up at him.

"Right-o!" The brown haired man, Finral, states before opening his grimoire. Astara gasps in delight when a portal opens up in front of the man.

"So cool! What kind of magic is that?! Does the portal go somewhere?" Astara jumps up and down, only for Captain Yami to grab her head.

"Quiet, brat. It was clear that you're horrible at flying magically until you get better control over your... ability. And you can't learn transport magic, can you?" Captain Yami asks as he lifts Astara up. She yelps and instinctively grabs her captain's wrist.

"E-eh, n-no. No I can't..." Astara trails off quietly, having a bad feeling about this entire situation.

"Er, sorry to bug you, Yami-san, but it's a bit hard to keep a gate this size open, so could you just go through quickly?" Finral asks carefully, his voice strained the longer he keeps the portal open.

"Who do you think you're ordering around? Tough it out and surpass your limits," Captain Yami growls with shadows covering the top part of his face.

"W-what?" Finral exclaims nervously before Captain Yami pulls Astara back.

"Off you go."

"W-wait! C-Captain Y-YaaAAAAMIIIIIII~!" Astara screams loudly as she's thrown through the portal. She lands with a loud yelp before sliding to a stop. Her face stays planted on the ground before she bolts up with a loud gasp.

"At least he didn't try to squish my head again..." Astara grunts as she stumbles to balance herself on her feet, reorienting herself to mana that isn't constantly fluctuating or bearing down on her. She pats her skirt to get rid of the dirt that landed on it before looking up.

A tall building stood in front of her, looking like a conglomeration of buildings stuck together like a puzzle. It looked old, and not at all like a base for a Magic Knights Squad... but it was clearly well-loved.

"This is the Black Bulls'..." Astara trails off with a gasp. She claps her hands while jumping up and down.

"Well? Pretty magnificent, isn't it?" Captain Yami states with a grin.

"It's actually pretty rundown, especially compared to your own beauty, Asta-chan!" Finral corrects brightly and with a smile.

"Welcome to the Black Bulls," The other squad member speaks softly; if it weren't for Astara's heightened hearing, she wouldn't even have heard him.

She smiles over at her quiet squad mate as she clasps her hands behind her. "Thank you!"

Forest green eyes focus back on the building. She blinks before tilting her head at the mana flowing through every single stone of the base. Her smile turns beaming as she claps her hands in front of her once again.

"You can move the base around?! Can it move locations too? That's so cool!" Astara shouts in her excitement before facing her bemused captain.

"You can tell? Creepy," Captain Yami states with his hand slightly covering his mouth. Astara feels her face burn bright red before she ducks it away while biting the inside of her cheek.

"N-nothing. I–nevermind. It's really cool though!" Astara exclaims brightly as she forces a smile on her face.

"You have Mana Sense?" Finral stares at the teenager with wide eyes. "But you–you don't have mana... do you?"

Astara laughs brightly and shakes her head. She scratches the back of her head as she stares up at the building.

"I was born with no mana at all, so I can't sense it, but I can feel it! E-eh... it's hard to explain, but I–I can... perceive mana. Eh... that doesn't really help, does it?" Astara chuckles nervously as she watches the complete loss of comprehension cover all three faces.

Captain Yami points his cigarette at the ash blonde. "You're weird."

"I don't understand completely, but that sounds cool," The quiet Bull speaks up, barely louder than the quiet night.

"Hehehehe... th-thank you! And yeah, I know–" Astara yelps loudly and ducks her head when the doors to the Black Bulls Base are blown off their hinges by a large, fiery explosion. She watches as one of the doors fly through the air where her head once was before landing a few feet behind Finral.

"Oh, dear..." Finral doesn't even look the least bit surprised. Or worried.

"Welcome to the absolute worst Magic Knights Squad, the Black Bulls," Captain Yami welcomes the teenager calmly, clearly amused by the entire thing.

"E-eh... thanks..." This squad will be the thing that kills me, isn't it? Yuno's gonna kill me if I die!

"Well?" Astara makes a small noise when a familiar hand grabs her head. "Go introduce yourself!"

Astara cries mentally in her head. This is going to be a common occurrence isn't it? As she flies through the open entrance and slams into a wall, Astara quickly realizes that it will be.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Astara falls to the ground, stumbling forward to keep herself standing. She rubs her lower back before shaking the dust and debris out of her hair.

She sighs quietly as she notices the dirt already stained on her skirt. "I guess I should expect to wash this more often than usual."

"Wow! An intruder! Are you here to fight? Are you? Are you?" Astara yelps as she leans back when almost glowing blue eyes appear inches from her own green eyes.

Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Violent. Win. Win. Win. Lightning that's constantly dangerous, constantly active, constantly determined.

"O-oh, no. I-I'm not an intruder. I'm–"

"Oh, you are quite adorable!" A drunken woman giggles loudly as she wraps an arm around Astara's neck. She offers up her bottle of wine. "Would you like some, cutie?"

Caring. Relaxed. Joyful. Free. A cat relaxing in the sun. Slow and lazy, but perceptive and cunning.

"E-eh, no thanks. I'm only–"

"What's a shorty like you doing here?! Little brat, how'd you even get out here?" Astara tries to lean back from the finger pointed directly in her face.

Hot-tempered and not afraid to burn anyone with his inferno. Loyal and protective and determined.

"If you've come to steal my picture of my little sister, Marie, I'll kill you, wretch."

Selfish. Worriedworriedscaredworriedworried. Untrusting. Loving. Protective and kind. Cold in the way a mirror always is; reflecting the darker side of the world, yet protecting the light within.

"Eh? Gauche, it's rude to call–call women that word!" The woman who still had her arm wrapped around Astara's neck leans forward with a small pout.

"Every woman is a wretch in Marie's light," The man who threatened Astara in the first place retorts without hesitation, holding up a picture of the cutest little girl. Astara blinks at the blood dripping from the man's–Gauche's–nose.

"This is the Black Bulls?" Astara smiles as she laughs nervously. Yuno will kill her if this squad doesn't kill her first.

Astara takes a deep breath before she gives a bow. "I–my name is Astara! I'm from Hage Village and I'm going to become the Wizard Queen! Nice–nice to meet you all!"

"Hage Village? Talk about way out in the sticks!"

"Oh! Are you a new member? Can you fight? How good are you in a fight?"

"Um–yes! I-I'm a new mem–"

A loud crash echoes through the entire base. "Hey, stop being loud!"

Astara blinks at the wall Captain Yami had destroyed to gather everyone's attention. She startles like a cat when everyone pounces towards the man.

"Captain Yami's back!" The squad exclaims loudly. "Welcome back, Captain!"

Astara blinks again as the Black Bulls‒her squad‒talk over each other. Warmth, happiness. Genuine love. Admiration. A small smile grows on Astara's face as she tilts her head. They truly love their captain, huh?

"I see, I see. So you guys love me that much, eh? But you need to shut up." Captain Yami's threat immediately silences all of the Black Bulls. All of them kneel in front of him as if they were waiting to receive an order, all sitting in a perfect line.

"Sorry."

Captain Yami takes out the cigarette from his mouth and breathes out the smoke. He points it towards the ash blonde teenager, making her scramble to straighten up her posture.

"This weirdo is our other new recruit," Captain Yami states indifferently. Astara startles when everyone turns to stare at her.

Silence fills the air before Astara smiles with a small wave. "H-hi! Nice to meet you all! My name is Astara, but you all can call me Asta if you'd like!"

"Finral, introduce her to the other members," Captain Yami speaks up when the rest of the Black Bulls continue to simply stare.

"Oh, right. Well, you've already met him, but..." Finral turns towards the quiet Bull and lifts his hand towards him. "This is Gordon Agrippa."

"Nice to meet you," Gordon greets quieter than a whisper.

"He's pretty gloomy, and you never know what he's thinking, but he's a good guy. And over here is Vanessa Enoteca. She'll get in your face when she's drunk, but she's a good person," Finral continues with the drunk woman.

"I won't get in anyone's face. Hage... isn't that a small village out in the boonies?" Vanessa asks for confirmation.

"Yes!" Astara exclaims brightly, somewhat excited that someone actually knows where it is.

"Huh... To come from out in the boonies and join the Magic Knights... you must've worked really hard, cutie. How about a drink with me as a celebration?" Vanessa states cheerfully while placing a bottle of wine in Astara's hands. Astara feels her cheeks burn as she laughs nervously.

"S-sorry, but I'm only 15..." Astara tries to hand the bottle back, until Vanessa suddenly throws up. Astara yelps and jumps away to avoid the puke.

"Let's continue with the introductions," Finral states like this was a normal occurrence.

"Okay?"

"I'm next!" The energetic boy with the violent mana stands with his hand raised.

"This is Luck Voltia. He loves to fight and is obsessed with battle, but he's a good guy," Finral continues brightly.

"Nice to meet ya!" Luck leaps forward, causing Astara to back up as he leans mere inches from her face. "Do you like to fight?"

"E-eh... sure?" Astara feels dread fill her stomach as she answers.

"I love to fight! Wanna fight? Wanna fight?" Luck asks brightly while he starts to lightly punch Astara's hand that she had raised for him.

"Huh? Uh‒"

"Hey." Astara tilts her head at the call and looks over Luck's shoulder. Gauche loomed over him with a picture of the cute little girl and a blood dripping from his nose.

"Look."

"Huh?" Astara looks at the picture with more focus, trying to make sense of everything that was happening.

"This is my little sister Marie. She's an angel," Gauche states it like it was a very law of nature.

"R-right. She‒she definitely looks like one!" Astara compliments nervously.

"Listen well, wretch. You are ugly compared to her beauty. If you lay a finger on Marie, I'll kill you," Gauche threatens with a murderous aura. He was completely serious

Astara backs away with a nervous laugh. "I‒I wouldn't dream of it... eheheh..."

"This is Gauche Adlai. He's a bit too obsessed with his little sister, but he's a good guy." Finral doesn't even look the tiniest bit worried about the very real threat and waves a hand towards the next Bull. "This is Charmy Pappitson. She eats way too much, but she's a good person."

"Nice to meet you!" Hunger. Hunger. Hunger. Generous and caring and carefree. Wise and easygoing, yet ruthless when threatened. A lot of power and strength hidden behind her young appearance. A wolf in sheep's clothing.

"Nice to meet you!" Astara greets just as brightly as the small girl.

"This is Grey. I don't really get him, but he's a good guy." Shyshyshyshyshy. Kind. So, so kind. Playful and happy and so, so sad of things in the past. A constantly shapeshifting flow; ready to reshape and trans-mutate anything around. And... a girl.

Astara simply smiles up at the large not-man. "It's nice to meet you!"

"And then we have Magna Swing. He's a delinquent, but he's a good guy," Finral continues with the one who pointed directly in Astara's face. Astara sweatdrops at the scary scowl on Magna's face.

Finral finally points to himself with a weird looking smile. "And I'm Finral Roulacase, my beautiful Asta-chan! I'm super popular! And last but not least, the captain of the Black Bulls, Yami Sukehiro!"

"He's not going to call him a good guy?" Astara thinks with a slight shiver crawling up her spine.

She squeaks when the captain fully focuses on her and gives a bow. "Th-thank you for having me!"

"There are other members, but they're either on some mission, taking a break, or slacking off. Try to get along with them all," Yami finally speaks once more. Astara beams towards him and raises her fists in the air.

"Of course! I'll super get along with them all! Once again, it's nice to meet all of you!" Astara exclaims brightly with one more bow.

"Ah, so loud... my head hurts..." Vanessa winces at the loud volume.

"Your height and the volume of your voice are all out of proportion," Yami states, making Astara smile.

"Yes, sir!"

"Shut up," Yami growls with a murderous glare.

"S-sorry!" Astara rushes out with sweat forming on her forehead. Scary!

"Anyway, put her to work, but don't kill her," Yami addresses the rest of the Bulls.

"Hey, hey! Asta! I can't sense a lick of mana from you! Why is that?" Luck asks brightly as he leans into the teenager's personal bubble once more. "It's like there's a bubble of nothing around you! It's so weird!"

"Oh! I was born without any mana!" Astara answers cheerfully with a bright smile.

"What? No mana?! Like at all?!" Magna cackles loudly as he stands up. "You really are from the sticks!"

"But the Magic Knights Entrance Exam... how did you pass? Did you pass?" Vanessa asks in her shock.

"Oh, well..." Astara trails off, ringing her gloved hands. "I‒um... well, while I don't have mana, or magic... well I guess it'll be easier to show you all..."

Astara backs away from Luck while taking off one of her gloves. She hums quietly while she focuses on her hand.

A small grin grows on her face when her Anti Magic flickers into existence in her hand. She shuffles her feet to stay balanced as the Anti Magic starts to drain what little energy Astara has left.

"What is that?! Oh that's so cool! You have to fight me now!" Luck exclaims brightly as he tries to touch the dark mass. Astara releases it from her control and the Anti Magic dissipates into nothing before Luck could touch it. He tenses the moment his fingers brush against Astara's uncovered palm.

"I call it Anti Magic. It's basically magic's opposite. I don't really know where it comes from, or if it even existed before... and I was born without magic, so I don't know if it works the same way, but it worked well enough for me to become a Magic Knight!" Astara exclaims with a bright smile as she pulls on her glove.

"So–so..." Luck's soft voice brings everyone's attention to him. "So... cool! Just touching your hand completely took my magic away and now it's back! Fight me! Can you stop magic with your hand?!"

Astara leans back with wide eyes. "W-what?"

She backs up as lightning magic starts to surround the cheerful and childish man. Her lower back hits a table, making her glance over her shoulder. She sees a half eaten flan sitting on top before she whips her head back towards Luck.

Dodgedodgedodgedodgedodgedodge! Astara ducks under the sudden lightning covered punch with a loud yelp. She hears glass shattering and something wet splatter against a surface before she leaps to the left.

"Fight me! Please? Please? It'd be so fun!" A deranged smile covers Luck's face as he begins to chase the short teenager.

"My flan! Why you–" Astara screams when a fireball almost slams right into her face, singing some of her bangs.

"What are you doing?! Th-that could have killed me!" Astara shouts loudly while pointing accusingly at the infuriated Magna.

She sees lightning in the corner of her eye and instinctively holds out her hand. Her grimoire floats out of her satchel and glows in the same crimson sheen as her Anti Magic.

"Anti Magic: Binding Barrier!" Anti Magic ribbons shoot out from her gloved hand, thinner than before, and quickly braid themselves into a small netting. Some of the lightning gets past as it forms, but only one manages to hit Astara in the arm. The rest quickly dissipates the moment they pass through the holes of the netting.

"I wasn't planning on giving you a baptism, 'cause you're a girl... but you destroyed my flan!" Magna shouts angrily as he starts rapidly hitting fireballs towards Astara.

"E-eh?! B-but it was Luck-san that–" Astara yelps as she jumps onto a table to dodge both the fire magic and the lightning mage chasing after her. She crouches before leaping up into the air, reaching a hand up and grabbing onto one of the support beams to keep the ceiling from caving into itself.

"Oh wow! You must be really strong to jump so high without magic!" Luck exclaims brightly as his lightning magic quickly transforms into a pair of boots and gauntlets. He jumps high into the air to follow Astara.

Astara flips up and lands on the support beam before she leaps towards another. "Well, I can't exactly use magic! And I can't–stop throwing fireballs at me–please?!"

Astara falls back towards the ground and barely lands before she darts forward, avoiding Luck attempting to land on top of her. She jumps up onto the bar and jumps forward in a handspring to avoid three rapid fire fireballs.

"This is your baptism, girlie!" Magna grins widely as one of his fireballs manages to hit Astara in her leg. "If you can stop me and Luck, then I'll give you the Black Bulls' robe!"

"Eh?! But–" Astara slides underneath Luck's pouncing attack and the fireballs aimed at her back. Luck laughs loudly as he's bombarded by the fireballs instead.

"Maybe I should've chosen another squad. These people are crazy!" Astara jumps up and lands on the second floor railing. She spins around while tugging off her gloves and aims her hands towards both mages.

Anti Magic flickers around her arms and back as her grimoire flips to the correct page behind her. "Anti Magic: Third Binding! Time Limit: Ten Seconds!"

"That's all I can do right now!" Astara watches as the Anti Magic forms into ribbons before shooting out, braiding themselves into thick ropes; they were much thinner compared to the ribbons with her great sword, but that didn't matter.

Luck tries to lean back mid-leap, the braided rope just barely grazing some of his hair. It quickly snaps towards him and wraps around his throat and shoulders. He yelps loudly as his lightning boots and gauntlets disappear and his grimoire falls to the ground with a thud. He falls into some of the chairs, breaking two of them.

Magna instinctively tries to use his fire baseball bat to hit the braided rope away from him, but it just causes it to bind his arms together and to snake up towards his throat. His grimoire falls to the ground without fanfare as he collapses to one knee.

Astara sways before almost falling forward. She manages to grab the railing and sit on top of it with a loud huff. Gods, couldn't they have done this stupid baptism while she had recovered a bit more?

"Um... Luck-san... are you okay?" Astara asks worriedly, ignoring how dazed her voice sounded to her own ears. She pulls on her gloves as she leans forward to check on Luck.

Luck sits up from the destroyed chairs, looking down at the rapidly disintegrating binding. They had sinked into his skin and clothes, like some kind of tattoo.

"Wow... that's so cool! That power of yours is really scary!" Luck exclaims brightly, making Astara smile nervously.

"...I'm going to assume that's a compliment..." Astara mutters quietly before she slides off the railing to fall on the ground floor. She lands on top of one of the many tables and crouches with her knees tucked to her chest and her hand held down towards Luck.

"Sorry! I've been told how... nerve-wracking it feels to have your magic completely bound. You get used to the sudden cut-off the more I bind your magic, but I try not to use it in friendly fights if I can help it." Astara smiles brightly down at her fellow blonde.

The bindings completely fade, but Luck doesn't pay any attention to it. His electric blue eyes stare up at forest green eyes, wide-eyed and almost uncomprehending as he continues to smile widely. The grin takes a brighter edge to it as Luck takes the outstretched hand.

"We have to fight again! A death match this time! This is so cool!" And the deranged grin is back while Luck stands up with Astara's help.

Astara simply smiles with a head tilt. "Maybe not a death match... but once I recovered enough, I won't mind sparring with you!"

Luck gasps brightly before he jumps towards her. Astara yelps loudly as arms are wrapped around her neck, almost choking her.

"Yami-san! Yami-san! I want Asta! Can I keep her?! I want her as my junior!" Luck asks excitedly before Astara falls off of the table from the unexpected weight hanging off of her neck.

"Sorry to break it to you, battle freak..." Magna slowly stands up, stumbling to balance himself. "But Asta is my junior!"

Astara tries to lean back when Magna gets in her face, but Luck's arms around her neck stop her. Magna grins widely as he roughly pats Astara's back.

"That was really cool! You'll be a powerhouse if you become my junior!" Magna states before Luck kicks out a lightning covered leg.

"She's my junior! You're just a gangster!" Luck states with a pouting tone.

"E-eh... but I'm a part of the Black Bulls. I'm both of your juniors... right?" Astara attempts to calm down the rising fight before it happens.

"Eh?! I'm the one that initiated the baptism, you battle freak! And I'm not a gangster!" Magna grabs the collar of Luck's shirt with a sneer.

Astara tries to get Luck's arms off of her neck to escape being at ground zero in a battle of lightning and fire. She chokes on air when the arms simply tighten to the point of cutting off her airways.

Luck laughs brightly as lightning starts to surround him, and Astara. "I'm the one who fought her the most! She should be my junior!"

"G-guys. Choking. P-please..." Astara manages to speak through her blocked airways. Her face was beginning to turn red and her muscles were spasming from the lightning.

"You idiots..." Luck and Magna look up from their glaring match and freeze at the glowing red eyes of their captain. A fist slams on each of their heads and makes them break through the stone floor.

"Don't choke the recruit to death! If anyone's gonna kill the recruits, it's gonna be me!" Yami growls before grabbing Astara by the back of her shirt and lifting her up.

"I don't think anyone should be killing recruits..." Astara thinks with a sweatdrop, wheezing for breath.

"I don't think killing the recruits is good for our squad, Yami-san," Finral speaks Astara's thoughts. He backs away with his hands raised when Yami turns to glare at him.

"What did you say?" Yami growls lowly.

"Nothing! Captain Yami, sir!" Finral squeaks fearfully.

Yami sighs heavily over his cigarette and maneuvers Astara to sit on his shoulder. Astara squeaks at the movement and instinctively grabs the man's head in case she fell. Luck and Magna snap back up with blood falling down their faces.

"Captain Yami! Protecting your squad members like every captain should!" Magna praises loudly, even though he spits out some blood.

Luck punches the air in front of him with wide eyes and a grin. "Does this mean you'll fight me? Yami-san, I want to fight you!"

"Shut up." Magna and Luck both salute with a shout at the demand.

"Yes, sir!"

"What did I just say?" Yami growls as he places his free hand on Magna's head.

"A-ah, Asta!" Magna pulls out a Black Bulls robe and raises it high in the air. "You–you passed the baptism, so here ya go!"

Astara stares at the black robe being outstretched towards her. She blinks before a beaming grin grows on her face. She leans forward to grab it, only to fall off Yami's shoulder with a loud yelp.

Magna tries to back up to avoid being tackled, but instead becomes a cushion for the teenager. Astara scrambles to get off of him with a bright red face.

"Oh my Gods, Magna-senpai are you okay?! I'm so sorry!" Astara bows profusely while Yami bursts out laughing and Vanessa giggles behind her hand.

Magna sits up with a blush of his own and a dark scowl. "Are you an idiot? Don't go falling on top of people!"

"I guess I was wrong, virgin gangster! You did get a woman to fall for you... literally!" Vanessa teases with a drunken lilt, making Luck and Finral join in on the laughing.

"You damn alcoholic! I'm gonna kill you!" Magna screams as fire explodes around him.

"Now, now, lady killer," Yami teases mercilessly and without any emotion, "you have a robe to give to our other new recruit."

"Here, you frickin' idiot." Magna practically pelts the robe into Astara's face, making her stumble back from the force. She rips it off of her head and glares at the taller man before focusing on the black robe by holding it out in front of her.

"I have a Magic Knight's robe... Yuno, we're officially one step closer!" Astara grins brighter than the very sun and quickly pulls on the robe. She huffs loudly when her messy hair falls into her eyes before she flips it back over her shoulders.

Astara looks down at the robe and adjusts it to be centered with her blouse before she spreads out her arms. Her grin turns impossibly brighter before she jumps up and down.

"This is amazing! Thank you so much!" Astara exclaims, unable to contain her excitement and almost tackles Magna into a hug. She forces herself to trip over her own feet while standing still before she could touch him.

"This isn't Yuno or Sister or Father. This isn't the younger kids. You have to be careful, Astara, you idiot!" Astara hops right back up with a grin, pretending like she didn't even fall.

"You're really clumsy! I hope you don't get killed by tripping over yourself during a mission! I still wanna fight you!" Luck states brightly, making Astara giggle.

"Hm, you're almost there... but let me add one more finishing touch," Vanessa states as she saunters over. Astara makes a small noise of confusion before turning towards the woman. Vanessa smiles softly and twirls her index finger, a glowing thread suddenly appearing from her finger.

An excited gasp leaves Astara's mouth when the thread pierces through the robe before it begins to embroider something. Astara laughs brightly when the glow fades and reveals gold stars embroidered along the hem.

"Oh wow! This is so beautiful! Thank you!" Astara compliments while inspecting the stars. It wasn't as good as Sister Lily's embroidery, in her opinion, but that didn't mean it wasn't beautiful.

"Alright. Vanessa, show the brat to her room. It's late and I'm tired," Yami states while walking further into the base.

"Yes, Captain~!" Vanessa sings with a wave. She suddenly leans forward and rests her arm over Astara's shoulders, making her jump.

"Let's go, cutie! You'll need to wake up bright and early tomorrow for a tour of the base!" Vanessa leans closer with a smile. "That Magna will give you."

"Hah?! Asta's a girl! I can't even show her where half of the rooms are!" Magna protests loudly, making Vanessa giggle.

"It's either you or Charmy~! I'll be too drunk to give her one!" Vanessa says cheerfully before she starts leading the ash blonde towards the direction that Yami had gone.

"I'll be too busy eating my delicious breakfast! Thanks for volunteering, Magna. La!" Charmy speaks through her mouth full of food. Magna starts to shout his protests.

"My... room?"

"Oh yes! Everyone gets their own room once recruited... though don't expect it to be anything bigger than a closet, cutie! You are still a new recruit!" Vanessa says before giggling in her wine bottle. She glances down at the teenager she was guiding and pauses at her forest green eyes overflowing with stars.

"I-I've never had my own room before! All of the children at the church simply piled into one room! Do I really get my own room?! What does it look like? Where is it? Oh my Gods, will I have an actual bed?! Can I decorate it? Oh! This is amazing!" Astara squeals loudly in delight while she claps her hands in celebration.

Vanessa blinks at the amount of excitement before smiling. She quietly laughs along with Astara's happy giggling and shakes her head.

"You're quite the excitable one, cutie!" Vanessa uses the arm she wrapped around broad shoulders to pull Astara towards the girl's section of the bedrooms. "You can do whatever you want to your room, within reason of course! And you can do whatever you want until you get a mission, though that might not be for a while."

"Yes!" Astara states brightly, beaming up towards the witch.

Vanessa smiles back and pats Astara once on the head. A choked up noise escapes her throat as she almost collapses to the ground from the sudden disappearance of her magic.

One gloved hand grabs her bicep to keep her upright while the other pulls her hand off of the head. Astara carefully clasps both of her hands over Vanessa's and smiles up at her.

"It's better if you don't touch me with skin to skin contact, Vanessa-san. Now then, where's my room?" Astara says as she releases Vanessa's hand.

The witch stares at her with wide eyes before smiling. "This way, cutie~!"

"How unfortunate." The noble senior continues to glare at Yuno over his glasses. "This room is wasted on you."

Yuno stays silent, still assessing his senior. Klaus Lunettes pushes up his glasses and the gleam from the light hides the disgust from view.

"Tomorrow, I'll be lecturing you on your duties as a Magic Knight. I'd rather not be your instructor, but the captain ordered me to do so, and as such, I have no choice. Are you listening?"

Yuno closes his eyes to hide his eye roll. "It's Yuno."

Klaus makes a pretentious noise of confusion. Gods, to have Astara here to be a buffer between this pretentious behavior and the judgements would be absolutely wonderful. Either she'd shout at them, or she'd become friends with them.

"I have a name, and it's Yuno, Klaus-san," Yuno continues, reluctantly being more polite than he wanted to truly be.

"I'm your senior. You'll address me with respect," Klaus admonishes indifferently.

Yuno keeps his hands from twitching as he nods once. "Understood."

"Hmph." Klaus starts to walk out of the room. "Don't be late."

Yuno watched the door close behind Klaus. He sighs silently and walks over to the much too luxurious desk in the corner of the room.

Big. Everything was too big in this room. Too big. Too shiny. Too bright. Too wasteful.

Yuno places a hand on the desk and lightly knocks against the wood. He keeps his face passive as he looks up through the window. The loneliness and longing to be with his sister is ignored.

"Asta... we're one step closer. Are you doing okay?" Yuno watches the clouds roll by for a moment longer before he looks down at the expensive and wasteful quills and paper already stocked inside the desk. All of the quills were worn and the golden feathers were frayed and one had broken off.

He can't help but frown for a moment. He's the lowest of the low in the Golden Dawn. The new recruit. The rookie. The peasant. Is this room the "poorest" one out of them all?

Yuno picks up the quill with the broken off feather. Even a broken one like this could feed the church for a month.

Another sigh leaves his mouth before he starts opening the drawers to find some paper. Once he finds some, instead of sitting on the luxurious, but clearly chipped, chair Yuno sits in between the desk and the wall with the paper placed on the ground in front of him.

He'll write the letter to everyone at the church first; then he'll get ready for bed...

Yuno glances up to stare at the largest bed he has ever seen in his life. He can't believe beds could come in this size... though he's never had one to begin with. He probably won't ever get used to sleeping on such a luxurious thing.

The red afghan folded at the bottom of the bottom catches his eye. He tilts his head before looking over at the area beneath the vanity. That might be doable for now; and then he can slowly build up to the luxurious bed.

Yuno couldn't stop the smile from forming even if he wanted to. Astara's having a bigger problem with having a bed than him. She could never get used to the mat Father had saved up to buy when she and Yuno turned ten years old; she simply gave it to Recca and Nash to share instead.

Astara... they're officially one step closer now. And he won't lose to her.

Astara opens her eyes with the first call of the birds outside of her missing window. She stares up at the pitch black darkness before slowly she crawls out from underneath her bed.

"It's weird to sleep with so many blankets..." Astara looks around her room, not really bothered by the pitch darkness–if it had been pitch black for her. A beaming smile grows on her face as the faintly glowing bricks light up her Magic Knight's robe.

"It wasn't a dream!" Astara ignores the relief that washed over her and starts to get dressed instead.

"Vanessa-san said that Magna-senpai will be giving me a tour... but no one's awake yet..." Astara pulls on her robe and her gloves before she sits down on her bed–she has her own bed!–to lace up her boots.

"...I couldn't train the past few days because of the long travel..." Astara mutters out loud before she smiles with a nod to herself. "Alright! I'll do some light training before breakfast! Magna-senpai should be awake by then."

Astara stands back up and matches up to the door to her own bedroom. She opens it up, somewhat careful not to make too loud a ruckus, and almost walks straight into a pillar.

She muffles a yelp as she trips over her own feet to stop herself from slamming her face into the stone pillar. She presses her hand against the faintly glowing wall and tilts her head.

"Trying to play a joke on me, hm?" Astara asks with a small smile. She runs her fingers over the stone bricks before laughing quietly.

"I'm guessing you've moved everything. Care to show me where the common room is? I'd like to get some training in before the tour, House-san," She continues with a whisper. Her head lightly hits the pillar in front of her as the entire base shakes heavily and makes her unbalanced.

Astara gasps in delight at the faintly glowing stones burning bright before they suddenly split and move to reveal a staircase in front of her. She giggles quietly and waits for the shaking to finally stop before she walks up the stairs.

"Thank you, House-san."

The stone bricks around her shudder and groan, making the ash blonde tilt her head. She scrunches her face up before closing her eyes to focus on her hearing.

...nry...pai...sen...pai...

An infinitely big heart to house an even more infinite number of family. Compassionate. Kind. Grateful and oh, so very protective.

Astara smiles softly and presses her hand against the stone bricks. "Thank you, House-senpai."

Astara begins walking up the stairs once more. She grins brightly when she immediately walks into the common room not long after. She giggles and pats the stone bricks one more time before she walks around the room to find a good spot for her to train.

She'd prefer to go outside, but she isn't familiar with the inside of the base, let alone the outside area. For some light training, the common room will have to do.

Astara presses her hands to the ground and raises her body into the air in a handstand, tucking her skirt between her legs to keep it from falling. 1000 handstand push-ups–no 1500 handstand push-ups; that should do it!

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

As she begins her training, the same-old meditative trance she always gets into takes over. Thoughts flit through her mind, jumbled and messy and talking over each other as the mana around her starts to sing and cry, and brighten and dance, and swirl and freeze.

Astara could never put a name to what happens when she's in such a trance like she is now. Sister Lily says it's probably just her own way of meditation and she just becomes highly sensitive to the mana around her. Yuno says it's her way of memorizing the mana around her and allowing the mana to get accustomed to her. Astara herself thinks it's both, or something close to both.

As she reaches five hundred, the protective and feral darkness, that had been simply moving in lazy waves of sleep until now, thrashed and raged into immediate alertness. Captain Yami is awake.

Astara lifts her right arm and holds it behind her back as she glances up through the window. The sun just started to filter through the trees; almost an hour has passed.

"Yuno should be awake now..." Astara thinks before she begins the next 500 push-ups with just her left arm.

A hum leaves her when the dark mana lightly tugs at her in confusion and surprise. Astara wonders if anyone has ever woken up before Yami.

"How did he even sense me?" Astara doesn't stop her push-ups at the sudden realization. "Eh. It's too early to think about."

She has reached 30 when she hears Yami's footsteps. She waves her free hand in greeting without pausing. "Good morning, sir!"

"What the hell are you doing?" Yami's gruff voice was still laced with sleep. Astara straightens out her head to smile at her captain upside-down.

"Doing some light training! I wanted to get some in before Magna-senpai showed me around the base! I missed out on some days while traveling to the Royal Capital," Astara answers brightly.

"You're a weird little shit." Yami yawns loudly while scratching his chin. "It's barely even dawn and you're too energetic. Pipe down or I'll kill you."

"Yes, sir!" Astara says cheerfully before leaning her head back to focus back on the stone floor and her push-ups.

47. 48. 49. 50.

Astara doesn't pay any mind to Yami's footsteps, nor his grunt when he falls back onto one of the couches. She faintly smells cigarette smoke, making her smile silently.

It takes another 250 push-ups before the next person wakes up; Finral, and he clearly wanted to go back to sleep–which he did.

The poison that mostly surrounded a section of the base quite far from Astara's room, lukewarm and sluggish, quickly became freezing as consciousness set in with Gordon waking up.

The sky had fully lit up and Astara had finished the 500 push-ups on her left arm and moved on to her right when two more people woke up. Finral, officially, and Charmy.

Charmy made quick work to skip into the common room, already eating something.

"Asta! You're working really hard, la!" Astara almost falls out of her handstand when Charmy forces something into her mouth. "Have a cookie! It's really good!"

"Mmat a cmfkie?" Astara speaks with the cookie still shoved in her mouth. She looks at Charmy while she chews on the food.

Charmy gasps dramatically, completely aghast by Astara's question. "You don't know what a cookie is?!"

Astara shakes her head with a hum, swallowing the cookie in her mouth. She grins brightly at the child-sized girl and resumes her push-ups. 35 was where she had paused.

"Nope! But it was delicious! Thank you, Charmy-san!" It was also sickeningly sweet, but Astara keeps that to herself.

"How could you never have had a cookie before?! Do you even know what one looks like?!" Charmy continues to panic.

"Mm... the church I was raised in could really only afford tatoes. When my brother and I got big enough, we started to hunt small game and forage for wild vegetables and herbs in the forests around Hage. Food was still hard to come by, especially in winter," Astara says with a fond smile.

It was hard, especially during the beginning when she and Yuno started to hunt and forage, but it was nice. It was happy. Even during the winters when the fear of someone not making it to spring was at the forefront of everyone's mind.

"You didn't answer my second question! Oh, this is horrible!" Charmy cries out dramatically, making Astara laugh nervously.

"Leave the brat alone, Charmy. She's in the middle of training," Yami speaks up from where he was still sitting on the couch. He had a newspaper in front of him and a brand new cigarette in his mouth.

"Captain!" Charmy gasps. "Asta-chan has been deprived of the ambrosia of this world! Sweets! How can you say that?!"

"What did you say?" Yami lowers his newspaper to glare at the small girl. Charmy simply spins back towards Astara and crouches in front of her face.

"Don't worry, Asta! As your senior, I will show you the wonders of food and sweets! You will never go without a cookie or a candy while I'm around!" Charmy declares before she stands back up and runs out of the common room.

"...what's candy?" Astara speaks to herself, pausing her push-ups to look at where Charmy had raced towards. Yami coughs loudly and lifts his newspaper higher.

"I guess I'll have to wait... I'm almost done with my training anyway." Astara blinks when she feels a sudden vortex of sorts appear somewhere else in the common room.

"Good morning, Yami-san! And–Asta-chan! What a wonderful surprise to see such a beauty in the common room!" Finral greets brightly, and loudly.

Astara waves with her free hand as she reaches 67 push-ups. "Hi, Finral-san."

"Asta-chan~! Finral is just fine! I'm your senior after all!" Finral states, making Astara smile at him.

"Alright, Finral-senpai!" Astara blinks at the utter defeat that practically hovers around the spatial mage. Did she say something wrong?

"Finral, there's some paperwork that needs to be done." Yami flips a page of his newspaper.

"Is that not your job?" Finral asks with a twitch of his eyebrow and a strained smile. He snaps to attention with his hands waving rapidly in front of him when a murderous aura surrounds Yami.

"I-I'll get right on it, sir!" Finral forms a portal behind him and sprints through it. "See you later!"

"Oh? Astara, you cutie~! You must be restless if you're awake this early!" Vanessa's voice makes Astara snap her focus over to the entryway leading out of the common room. She didn't even notice that Vanessa was awake.

Forest green eyes blink at how sluggish and lazy Vanessa's mana felt as if she was still asleep. Ah. She's already drunk.

"Mana... spikes in activity when the sun comes up. No matter what I do, I always wake up when the sun does," Astara explains, watching the drunken witch stumble towards their captain.

"Captain~! If you're not busy, have a drink with me!" Vanessa sits on the edge of the couch and leans forward with a weird smile. She holds out a wine bottle towards Yami's mouth, but he tilts away.

"I have a meeting later today, woman. Go drink somewhere else."

Vanessa pouts before she slides off of the couch and walks over to the other one. "You're always so busy. Hey, Astara~ would you like to drink with me?"

"I'm 15, Vanessa-san." 85 push-ups.

Vanessa pouts again as she leans over the couch armrest. "Astara~! That makes me feel so old... call me Vanessa-nēsan!"

Astara almost falls out of her balanced handstand at the statement. She scrambles to press her other hand against the ground and falls backwards in the process.

CRACK!

Vanessa snorts before covering her mouth with her hand when Astara's foot slams against the window, cracking the glass. Astara looks up at the large crack with a pale face before she scrambles to stand up.

"It's already your first day and you're breaking shit." Astara squeaks as she whirls around. She curls her hands to her chest at the aura that surrounds her standing captain.

"Eheheh... s-sorry...?" Astara speaks up quietly. The aura turns even more murderous.

"I'm going to die." Astara smiles shakily as she accepts her fate. It was good while it lasted.

Yami bursts out laughing, making the teenager startle. "I knew you'd be a good fit! But, break anymore windows, and I'll kill you. Got it?"

"U-um... yes, sir." Astara blinks at the sudden flip of the captain's mood before she looks over at the giggling, and drunk, Vanessa.

"You certainly fit in well enough, cutie!"

Astara smiles brightly and laughs herself. Maybe fate decided to be kind to her for once; this squad looks to be the perfect one for her...

Hey! Hope you all like the new chapter!

One: As someone who has to get used to sleeping in a new bed/better bed, I think it'd take some time for Yuno and Asta to sleep in their own beds; especially since they never had any growing up.

Two: I definitely believe that while Captain William would have prepared all of the rooms the same, I think that some of the squad members that prepared the room for Yuno would have... switched out some things with old, worn, or broken items. Just small things, you know.

Most of the things I change or add are just simple things to give the story more... realism. I guess. I don't know, but like I said in the previous chapters, I want some fantasy accuracy with classism and peasantry.

I hope you all are enjoying the story so far! Bye.

WhovianWhoudini