Chapter Eighteen: Bond Between Two Friends (Part 1)

"I still can't believe that guy," Zuka muttered as she got out of bed, the sun rose brightly over Aqua Deer HQ, but the sparkle mage was not in the same mood, remembering what Richard said to Kenos the day before.

She grabbed her towel and walked to the showering room, once she finished, she went back to her room and got changed, she then came out and started walking to the breakfast hall.

As she made her way there, Shauna noticed her coming from the other side. "Good morning Zuka," the illusion mage greeted with a smile, but it went seemingly unheard as Zuka walked right past her.

"Zuka?" Shauna muttered with a bit of a worried look.

"Shauna, is everything alright?" a voice asked, the red-haired girl turned to see Oliver behind her.

"Yeah I'm fine, it's just that something seemed off about Zuka," she replied. "She ignored me when I said hello to her,"

"Odd, that's not something she usually does, do you think it has to do with wherever she went yesterday?" the wood mage wondered aloud.

"Probably, I say we go and ask her," Shauna then said as the two walked to the breakfast hall.

Once they made it there, it didn't take them long to find Zuka, sitting where she normally did, judging from the sparkle mage's body language and facial expression, it wasn't hard to see that something was bothering her.

The two mages got their breakfast and walked to the table, sitting down next to their friend. "Hey Zuka, is everything alright?" Shauna spoke up. "You ignored my greeting back at the hallway,"

"Oops, I'm really sorry, I wasn't ignoring you on purpose, it's just that…," Zuka began saying apologetically. "...Something's been on my mind recently," she finished in a quieter, more somber tone.

"Does it have to do with where you went yesterday?" Oliver asked.

Zuka nodded. "Yeah, Kenos was instructed by the Wizard King to go to his home and deliver a letter to his parents, he brought me and Asta along with him,"

"Oh, I see," Shauna said, remembering what Dante and Oxanna said about their parents during the banquet at the capital. "I'm guessing something bad happened while you were there?"

Zuka nodded once more. "You got that right," she replied as she told her two squadmates about the argument between the two Rossius, and what Richard told Kenos shortly after.

"What. The. Fuck," the two mages said in unison, unable to believe that Richard would ever question if Kenos was his son, especially with the rumors that spawned shortly after Ellen's pregnancy.

Oliver took a bite of his breakfast. "Who says that to their own child?"

"That's what I said," Zuka stated before her expression saddened. "It even made Kenos cry, it was the first time I've ever seen him cry, and I didn't like it, I bet he's in a major slump right now,"

"Can you blame him, who wouldn't be in a slump," Oliver said.

"Poor guy, I wish there was something we could do for him," Shauna said before something popped into her mind. "Hey, wait a minute, there is something we can do, or rather, something you could do," she finished, pointing to the sparkle mage.

Zuka looked confused. "And that is?"

The illusion mage grinned. "Alright then, listen up, there's something I want you to ask Rill,"

Meanwhile, at the Black Bulls hideout, the members had all come together in the hall to have breakfast before they began their day.

All but the solar mage.

"Hey Asta, where's Kenos?" Yami asked.

"Yeah, did something happen yesterday?" Finral added.

When the two Black Bulls returned to base after the trip to Kenos' house the day before, their squadmates were happy to see them return, but they were caught off guard when they saw the depressed look on Kenos' face, his eyes were red, and he didn't utter a word to them as he went into his room, not coming out for the remainder of the day.

"You said you were going to his house right?" Noelle then asked, also remembering what Dante and Oxanna said at the capital.

Asta nodded. "Yeah, we went to his house, and that's where it happened," he said, he and Noelle then explained what happened at the capital with his siblings, all before Asta told them what Richard said to Kenos.

"WHAT!"

"That's a lot of stuff to wrap your head around," Vanessa said.

"He's not good with his siblings and his father technically denied relations to him, that sounds a lot like my own family life," Finral muttered to himself.

"No wonder he's down, his family practically dislikes him...just like mine," Noelle added, saying the last part in a lower volume.

"The rookie must be in a major slump right now, which explains why he isn't here," Magna said. "There has to be something we can do to cheer him up, after all, he's a Black Bull,"

"That's just the thing, I don't know what we could do," Asta responded. "The only other time Kenos was in a similar slump was when he first came here, but this time, it's a bit more complicated than that,"

Gordon began writing something on a slip of paper, as he showed it to the others, Luck read it aloud. "If my good friend Kenos is in a slump, then why don't we tell him how much he means to us,"

"I don't know about that, I think fighting him would do better, after all, what better way to get out of a bad mood then to have your life in danger," the lightning mage continued with a childish grin.

"Fighting him is out of the question. For now, I just wish we could find out how he's feeling at the moment," Asta said to him.

As the swordsman finished his statement, footsteps were heard coming from the hallway, the others turned to see who would come, although all but one squad member was present, and lo and behold, the solar mage emerged, his face wearing the depression from the previous day, he walked with little conviction.

"From that look, I think it's pretty safe to say that at the moment, he isn't doing too well," everyone thought. "Good morning, Kenos,"

"Good morning, everyone," Kenos greeted back in a silent, somber tone.

"Here Kenos, some breakfast, eat that up and you'll feel all better," Charmy said as she placed the usual large stack of food on the table.

Kenos walked over to the table and looked at the food with little intent. "This will do," he said, grabbing a muffin from out of it and walking away.

"Just a muffin, it really is like last time!" the cotton mage exclaimed.

The solar mage walked to a one-person couch a good distance from the others, but instead of sitting on it, he merely sat beside it on the floor, bringing his knees up to his chest with an arm while he used his other hand to eat his muffin, not once turning to look at his squadmates again.

"Well, what's our plan to help him?" Gauche asked, shocking the others, he looked confused. "What?"

"You didn't talk about your sister," Magna replied.

"And your nose isn't bleeding, who the hell are you, and what have you done with the real Gauche?!" Charmy added with an exclamation.

"I am the real Gauche, it's just that I have a feeling Captain Yami won't let us do anything else until we help Kenos out, so the faster we do this, the faster I can get back to worshipping Marie," he replied.

Asta walked over to Kenos and crouched down, the solar mage turned to face him, but only for a few seconds as his head turned back to the way it was. "Need something, Asta?" he asked nonchalantly.

"No, you need to get out of your slump, I'm here for you, we're here for you, you're our squadmate, our friend, our family, we can't stand to see you like this," the magicless mage told him.

"I appreciate it, but there's nothing you can really do, this feeling I have is still here, it's like it'll never go away," Kenos said, not making any eye contact.

Asta sighed. "Hopefully, it does go away," he said as he stood up, just then, a knock was heard at the door.

"Don't worry, I'll get it," the swordsman said as he walked to the door and opened it, seeing who it was, once he did, a small smile creased his face as he let the guest in, none other than Zuka.

"Hello there, who is this beauty?!" Finral exclaimed starry-eyed as he ran to Zuka and knelt in front of her.

"Um, Finral, I don't think this is a good time," Noelle said.

The stars in the spatial mage's eyes disappeared. "Oh yeah, my bad, it's a habit of mine,"

"Regardless, I'd like to know who she is as well," Vanessa spoke up.

Asta was the one to introduce her. "Everyone, this is Zuka Glitenia, a Magic Knight from the Aqua Deer,"

The solar mage heard Asta introduce Zuka, but he didn't even bat an eye in her direction, his gaze remained forward, facing nobody as he continued to wander in his thoughts.

As for everyone else, however, their eyes widened once they heard that name, a name they knew, but without a face to associate it with. "So you're Zuka, the girl who helped Kenos during his first mission, I must say, you're a lot cuter than I thought you would be," Vanessa said with a small grin.

The sparkle mage giggled. "Thanks, I've never really met other Black Bulls except for Kenos, Asta, and Noelle, but you all seem nice, and quirky, I can see why Kenos enjoys being here," she then turned and saw Yami. "And the Black Bulls captain himself, Yami Sukehiro,"

"Hey, I remember you," Yami said as he looked at her. "You're the girl Rill was begging us not to take into our squads back at the entrance exam, Ms. Sparkles, I didn't know you were the one who helped Kenos,"

"Yeah, that's me, but I'd prefer it if you just called me Zuka," she said back as she scratched the back of her head.

"So Zuka, what brings you here?" Noelle asked.

"I'm here for Kenos, I went with him and Asta to his home yesterday, I saw what his father said to him, I thought he might be in a slump, so I came here," Zuka explained.

"You're guess was right on the money, he's right over there," Magna said, pointing to Kenos, Zuka saw him on the floor and slowly walked to him.

"Hey Kenos, I know you're feeling down, so come with me, I'm going to take you somewhere," she said.

"I appreciate it Zuka, but there's nothing you can do," the solar mage said back.

"That's where you're wrong my friend, there is something I can do," she responded, but Kenos still wasn't budging an inch.

Zuka's face then darkened. "I didn't want to have to resort to this Kenos, but if you don't get up...I'll tell everyone here about your embarrassing secret, the one you had as a baby," she said the second half a lot quieter.

Though Kenos' facial expression didn't change, he sighed as he slowly got up, even in his current emotional state, he couldn't let the others know what Eleanor told her and Asta about him. "Fine, you win, I forgot how scary you could be when you wanted to,"

"Great, and you'll need your broom too," Zuka stated before turning to the others. "Do any of you know where his broom is?"

Asta raised his hand. "I know, it's in his room, I'll get it," he said, running into the hallway.

Zuka then walked to Yami and stood straight. "One more thing, do I have your permission to take Kenos somewhere and make him feel better?"

Yami let out a loud laugh. "That's the first time someone from another squad showed me some genuine respect, and I didn't even have to threaten your life, I like you Ms. Sparkles, you have my permission, just make sure that this time, you get him back here by sunset,"

"Thank you, sir, but I said you can just call me Zuka, and...did you say threaten my life?" Zuka asked with some uncertainty at the end, turning to the other Black Bulls.

"Don't ask," they said together.

Asta emerged out of the hallway with Kenos' broom in hand. "Here you go Kenos," he said, the solar mage not saying a word as he took it, simply nodding his acknowledgment.

"Okay, we're off," Zuka said as she exited the base, Kenos right behind her, once outside, the two mounted their brooms and flew into the sky, his broom behind hers as she led the way.

From inside the base, the others looked at the door, hoping that the sparkle mage would succeed. "Good luck, we're counting on you, Zuka,"

"This is going to be so awesome, you'll love the place we're going to!" the sparkle mage happily exclaimed, but she didn't hear Kenos say anything, she turned behind her and saw that he was still wearing his somber face.

"Kenos," she muttered, obviously worried.

"So, how are Oliver and Shauna doing?" Kenos asked out of the blue, his face staying as it was.

Even though it was obvious that he was still in his slump, Zuka was glad to see that he was at least engaging in small talk. "They're doing just fine, none of us really sustained any bad injuries from our battle with the Eye of the Midnight Sun at the capital, and to top it all off, me and Oliver got promoted to 3rd Class Junior Magic Knights, while Shauna became a 4th Class Intermediate Magic Knight, as well as that, Captain Rill said he was proud of us,"

"I see, the same happened to us," he said back.

Zuka nodded as they continued the rest of the flight in silence, a good amount of time passed before the sparkle mage looked below her, a look of satisfaction came to her face. "Okay, we're here, get ready to land,"

The solar mage did so as they descended onto the ground, once dismounted, Zuka's eyes widened, before them was a beautiful and lush meadow that spanned as far as the eye could see, healthy patches of grass were seen everywhere, as well as the occasional hill here and there.

"This place is beautiful," she muttered. "Oh, and just in case you were wondering, Shauna told me about this place, she said that she came here as a little girl, but for some odd reason, she was frowning a bit when she told me that part, don't know why, this place is breathtaking,"

Once more, she heard no response from the black-haired mage, she turned around and saw the same look on his face, staring to the side, Zuka lightly groaned as she walked over to her friend, the two only stood inches from each other as Zuka took her two pointer fingers and pressed them against the ends of Kenos' lips, lifting them up to make the mage look like he was smiling.

"C'mon Kenos, you don't look good when you're sad," she told him as she smiled as well. "What you're going through is hard, but if you can smile, you can overcome it, trust me. Besides, you look better when you're happy, and I like it when you're happy,"

Kenos grabbed onto the sparkle mage's arms and gently put them down, letting his face return to normal as he made eye contact with her. "Look, I know you're trying really hard for me, but I'm just not feeling up to it," he said as he let her go.

"This isn't working, I'm doing everything I can to try to make him feel better, but nothing is proving effective. But...what if I'm looking at this all wrong, he's emotionally distressed, so maybe instead of trying to cheer him up, I should try...to emotionally level with him," she thought before taking a deep breath. "I get what you're going through,"

Kenos looked at her. "Huh?"

"Instead of trying to make you smile, I should've told you that I understand how you feel," Zuka clarified as her face saddened. "I couldn't imagine my dad ever denying that I was his daughter, if he said that to me, I don't know what I'd do,"

Kenos merely nodded as Zuka took hold of his arms, her green eyes looked seriously into his amber ones. "But regardless, you shouldn't dwell on what he told you, I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to answer it honestly: do you regret joining the Black Bulls?"

Kenos quickly shook his head. "No, I'll never regret joining them, I've enjoyed every day I spent with them,"

Zuka grinned. "Good, then don't worry about what your prick of a dad said about you, you know you're his kid and that the Black Bulls are your squad,"

For the first time since that day began, the solar mage smiled. "You're right, although my father isn't that much of a prick, he's a respectable man, oh, and you weren't wrong about making me try to smile, I was just being stubborn, but it's nice to know you understand, thanks Zuka,"

"No problem, and I was right again, you really do look better when you're happy, what a relief," the sparkle mage said.

"True, but I bet I really worried my squadmates, I should apologize to them when we get back," Kenos realized as he finally took note of the true beauty of the meadow before him. "But for now, we should enjoy ourselves here, this place looks magnificent, you said Shauna told you about this place right?"

"That's right," she replied.

"Incredible, but didn't you also say that she was frowning when she talked about this place, you think something bad happened here?" he asked again.

Zuka shrugged. "Beats me, your guess is as good as mine, but I doubt it, Shauna would've told me. So, what do you want to do first?"

The two walked forward and stopped, enjoying the view of flowers in front of them, Kenos' smile only widened. "I think I want to just look at all of this,"

"Same here," Zuka said back before an odd look came to her face.

"Is something the matter?" the solar mage asked.

The sparkle mage cupped her hand and put it over her ear. "Do you hear what I hear?"

Kenos closed his eyes as he cupped his hand over his ear as well and began listening, a few seconds passed of him just hearing the sounds of the wind passing over the flowers, but eventually he picked up on what Zuka was talking about. "It sounds like...a voice, and it's coming from the other side of that hill,"

"We should check it out," Zuka said as the two walked to the hill, it took a little more effort to walk up the hill, but once they made it to the top, they scanned the area, looking for the owner of the voice.

Luckily for them, it didn't take too long to find the owner as they only saw one person in the distance, it looked like a little boy, they couldn't see all of his features from where they were, but he seemed to have really short black hair, and he was kneeling down in front of something.

"It's just a kid, but what's he doing, and why is he all by himself?" Kenos wondered aloud.

"There's only one way to find out, let's go and ask him," Zuka said as she started to make her way down the hill.

"Wait a minute Zuka," Kenos said.

Zuka stopped her advance. "What is it?"

The solar mage grinned. "We're at the top of this hill, whaddya say we have a race, first to make it to where that boy is?"

The sparkle mage grinned as well. "Okay, you're on, it's good to have you back,"

The two aligned themselves as they lunged forward. "Good to be back, on your mark, get set...go!"

At his call, the two sprinted down the hill, as for the boy at the bottom of the hill, he looked up at the bright blue sky. "What a beautiful day, it's a perfect time to-," he began before hearing the sound of running.

"What's going on?" he wondered as he saw a large dust cloud not too far away from him, he squinted and saw two people running towards him. "Ah!"

"Almost...there," both Kenos and Zuka said as they neared the end before stopping, marking the end of their race.

The boy coughed from the dust, once the cloud dispersed, he heard the two talk. "Alright, I won!" Zuka exclaimed.

"No way, your hair got in my face, I won!" Kenos protested.

Zuka grabbed onto her blue and magenta ponytail. "It did not, you just can't admit that you lost despite being the one to initiate the race," she said back.

"Your hair did get in my face," Kenos said.

"Did not!" Zuka exclaimed, pressing her face against Kenos'.

"Did too!" Kenos exclaimed back as he began pushing.

The boy looked strangely at the two teens apparently acting like children before hearing them laugh.

"Okay okay, you win," Kenos said.

"Nice," Zuka said before noticing the boy next to her, she turned to face him, taking full note of his features, he didn't look a day over 11, his hair was a dark brown, and he wore a worn down gray shirt and pants. "Hello there,"

The boy waved back. "Hello, um, who exactly are you two, and what were you doing?"

Kenos stepped forward. "My name is Kenos, and this is Zuka, we're Magic Knights, as for what we were doing, just having a casual race, we were actually wondering about you, we saw you here from the top of the hill, who are you, and why are you by yourself?" he replied before asking.

"Oh, my name's Nathan, and I'm here to visit...my dad," he introduced himself, before moving out of the way, letting the two Magic Knights see a tombstone buried in the ground. "This is where he was buried, I visit here every week,"

Zuka's face saddened immediately. "You lost your dad, I'm really sorry to hear that, I bet it must hurt a lot, I lost my dad too,"

"I'm sorry too," Nathan said.

"Wait, you lost your father Zuka?" Kenos asked as she nodded. "But, just a little while ago, you told me…," he trailed off.

"My dad and I were really close, we would do everything together, but he died when I was 10 years old, like I said, I couldn't imagine it if he said I wasn't his daughter. That's also why I wanted you to smile, I believe that if you smile, there isn't a thing you can't overcome, it was my father's last wish, so it's the rule I've chosen to live by," she explained.

"I see, I'm sorry for your loss," he said.

"It's alright, it was five years ago, albeit this does bring back the memory," Zuka told him before turning to the boy. "Say, Nathan, do you live close by, and with anybody else?"

"I do live a good few miles from here, as for family, my mother left us when I was younger, and I live with my older sister, why do you ask?"

"Well, our brooms are right on the other side of that hill, when you're done paying respects to your dad, why don't we fly you home?" Zuka suggested.

Nathan's face brightened. "Really? I've never flown on a broom before," he said. "Say, I know you don't know my dad, but would you like to pay respects to him with me before we go?"

"I don't see why not," Kenos replied as he grabbed a handful of flowers and used a long blade of grass to tie them together, placing them next to the tombstone, he and Zuka then knelt alongside Nathan as they spent a few minutes in silence.

Nathan stood up. "Thank you very much, we can leave now," he said as the others stood up as well.

"Leaving so soon, but I just got here," a voice sarcastically said.

The three turned to see where the voice came from, they saw a tall man with short navy green hair, he wore long brown pants and a gray collared shirt, he was actually quite handsome, despite the fact that there was a notable scar across his left cheek.

Kenos and Zuka didn't recognize the man at all, but Nathan's eyes widened with fear and uncertainty. "Oh no," he mumbled.

"Nathan, do you know this guy?" Zuka asked curiously.

"You better believe he knows who I am," the man replied for him.

Nathan nodded. "His name is Levi, ever since my mother left us, my dad has needed extra money to care for us, his job wouldn't pay him enough, so he borrowed money from Levi, every month, he would come to collect a sum of the amount he gave, my father could never pay it back, but he needed more, this kept repeating until he amassed a huge debt," the boy explained.

"You got that right, but when I dropped by your house earlier today, ready to ask for the monthly debt, your sister told me your dad died three weeks ago," Levi said.

Nathan sadly nodded. "Yeah, that's right,"

To everyone's' surprise, however, Levi began laughing. "Is that so? Your sister told me the reason for his death was unknown, but if you ask me, I think he was just trying to escape from his debt, he was a fool, always asking for money despite not being able to pay off any of it, he should be glad I was so forgiving and didn't cut him off right away,"

The man walked up to the tombstone and spit on it. "There, I should've done that the first month you couldn't pay me back,"

Zuka was enraged as she rushed over and punched Levi in the face, the man backed up a few inches, holding his jaw. "What the hell, do you know who you're messing with, girl," he said before taking note of Zuka's robe. "Oh, you're a Magic Knight, and going from your robe, you're a part of the Aqua Deer," he then looked at Kenos. "And you're a part of the Black Bulls,"

"That's right, and you've pissed me off, I won't let you disrespect this man's grave, he wasn't a fool, he was someone just trying to take care of his children!" Zuka exclaimed.

"You're wrong, he was a fool, and don't think I'm not pissed off either, you might've gotten in a lucky shot, but I'm no pushover," Levi retorted as he extended his palm, a blue substance then materialized, hovering over his palm.

Zuka was surprised. "What is that magic, it's blue, but it doesn't look like water?" she asked.

"That's because it's not water, you made the first blow, so you'll face both my wrath and the wrath of my Azure Flame Magic," Levi replied.

"Azure Flame Magic?" Kenos said aloud.

"Correct, it's a lot hotter than normal flame magic," he explained as his face grew angry, at the same time, the fire in his hand became stronger. "I don't care if you're Magic Knights, you better not mess with me!"