Mariela sat down on the bed in her old room at the Black Bulls hideout with a loud huff of breath, eyes squeezed tightly shut, and dropped her head into her hands. She was not proud of how she had just run out of Owen's library, but she hadn't really had a choice. Owen was about to introduce her, and she wasn't interested in where that conversation might lead.

Still… she thought to herself, her fingers threading through her hair and digging into the sides of her head, if he ever finds out who I am, I'm sure it'll be just hilarious to remember how I ran out with my tail between my legs.

Well, she'd had to come back to the Black Bulls hideout to grab her things to move them to her new room up at the capital where she'd be working, anyway. Even if it had only been an excuse, at least she could cross this off her list of things to do.

A loud knock at the room door made her jump and raise her head quickly. She angrily swiped at the frustrated tears that had started to gather in her eyes as she stood and walked quickly to the door.

"Hello, Gauche," she gave him a weak, forced smile as her hand gripped the doorknob tightly. She stood rigidly in the door, unsure what to do and horrified at the mounting frustration that was almost sure to explode in a fountain of tears if she had to continue trying to keep her emotions in check for long. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him—it was that the idea of having him in her room, this room, after what had happened the last time was more than she could handle right now. "I'm sorry I didn't see you after I got out of the medical ward in the capital. I've been a little busy. How've you been? How's Asta?"

Gauche's smile looked just as forced as her own felt, and Mariela couldn't help the small sigh that she gave before catching herself. If they were both uncomfortable, why were they doing this? Before she could ask if they could meet up again later, however, Gauche said in a voice that sounded much lighter than his expression let on, "No, I figured you'd be busy getting used to studying under Owen. Asta's… well, he's fine, from what I can tell. Does a lot of working out in the front." At the look on her face, Gauche rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know. He's just working out his legs. Keeps saying that if he can't work his arms, he'll just work his legs. I think he'd find a silver lining for being skewered if he ever had to."

Mariela chuckled weakly at that, nodding her head. "Yeah, I see what you mean. And you? Are you still recovering from your battle at the Underwater Temple?"

Gauche shrugged. "I'm pretty sure they fixed me up while we were still underwater, for the most part. I should be asking you how you're feeling. Are you even well enough to be moving around like this? How did you get back to the hideout?"

It was Mariela's turn to roll her eyes, even as the smile on her face seemed to brighten. "I promise, I'm cleared to be moving around. Like I told you when I was still in the medical wing, I'm really a lot sturdier than I look." Gauche's eyes flickering from her face to her injured shoulder was almost imperceptible—but it wasn't something that Mariela could miss if she had tried to. The smile disappeared from her face. "What can I do for you?"

"Would you want to go to lunch later today?" He rushed the question out like he couldn't get the words out quickly enough, and Mariela blinked at him in surprise. She couldn't tell if he really wanted her to go or not—but why would he invite her anywhere if he didn't want to be around her?

"Sure," she said slowly, trying to read his expression and relaxing as he seemed to relax. "Where were you thinking?"

"Gordon actually recommended a place," he mumbled, breaking eye contact. He almost looked embarrassed, and Mariela couldn't help but smile at that. "I was thinking that we could meet up with him later in the capital? He picked a place close to where you're staying so you wouldn't have to travel far after we finished our meal."

"That's so thoughtful," Mariela's smile softened. "Gordon's always really thoughtful, I need to remember to tell him I appreciate it."

"Don't encourage his creepy behaviour," Gauche snapped, and Mariela narrowed her eyes on him. As if he could sense the need to tread carefully after the little outburst, he cleared his throat and clarified, "I just mean that he thinks that everyone's his best friend, and it would be wrong to encourage things that aren't true. Besides, we've been doing research for Asta's curse at the library there, so it works out for us, too."

"Why would you assume I don't want to be his best friend?" Mariela asked, eyebrow raised. Gauche's spine went rigid at the question, the look on his face suddenly pained.

"Anyway," he stressed, "are you here to pick up your things?"

Mariela blinked in surprise; she had totally forgotten why she'd come here in the first place. Between feeling sorry for herself when she'd first gotten to the hideout and this strange rollercoaster of a conversation, she hadn't so much as opened her canvas satchel. It wasn't like she had much to pack; aside from the dress that Gauche had bought her, she'd gotten another work dress and new shoes, and nothing else. The only reason she really needed to hurry back to grab her things was that she didn't want to wear the same dress another day in a row; ever since she'd finally been able to wash herself and her clothes regularly again, she had no interest in being dirty in any way. "I am, actually. Is Yami here, in fact? I need to tell him thank you for giving me the job and letting me stay here."

"Well, it's not like you're never coming back, right?" Gauche asked immediately, then coughed into his hand and said a little more calmly, "I mean, no, Yami isn't at the hideout right now. I think he went to go get ready for the festival that's coming up. You can thank him another time that you come by the hideout, right?"

"Yes," Mariela conceded, "but it still feels rude not to tell him goodbye while I move my things out. In fact, it feels wrong not to tell anyone goodbye while I move my things out. I didn't see anyone around when I got here, though; where is everyone?"

"Out looking for a way to fix Asta. In fact," Gauche added in a hurry, "that's why I want to go to lunch so we can talk."

"Oh," Mariela smiled at that; if lunch was about helping Asta, and if Gordon was going to be there, it shouldn't turn into an awkward lunch with just herself and Gauche because of anything she could do or say. "That sounds lovely, thank you for the invite. When did you want to meet up?"

"Actually," Gauche said slowly, "what if I help you move your things, and we can go from there? It's about lunchtime, anyway. We can swing by the library at the capital and grab Gordon, he's still there. I was just here because I, err, forgot something. We've been at the library looking for information on ancient forbidden magic."

Mariela hesitated but nodded and stepped back. She was too tired to keep up this whole back and forth in her own head, especially since she obviously wasn't actually any form of undecided on how she felt about Gauche—the bracelets she still had because she had yet to work up the nerve to try to give them to him proved that much.

x

"Hey, Gordon," Mariela gave the curse mage a huge smile before throwing her arms around him in a hug, both things that made Gauche gnash his teeth in irritation. He did, however, manage to wait until she'd turned away from him to do so—he'd been on his best behaviour the entire time they'd been together so far, and he was trying to keep it that way. The hardest part about this was going to be convincing her that getting rid of her curse was the best thing to do, and he didn't want to start off the conversation already in the negative.

The blush that spread across Gordon's face, however, did nothing to soothe Gauche's fraying nerves.

"Hello, Mariela," Gordon whispered, moving to pull away from her after catching the look on Gauche's face over her shoulder. He looked down her with a smile. "You look well; I'm glad you're feeling better from the incident at the beach."

"Thank you," Mariela said with a smile, before wrinkling her brow in confusion. "Wait, where were you, Gordon? You weren't at the beach, were you?"

Gordon's face fell. "No, actually—"

"Anyway," Gauche cut in, "we should go find a table, right?" They were still standing out front of the pub that Gordon had suggested, and he would do damn near anything to get this conversation moving along.

Gordon, still looking rather distraught, nodded and lead the group into the pub.

"So," Mariela started as they all took seats by a sunny window, "what did you two want to talk to me about, again? Is there any way that I can help with looking for information on Asta?"

Gordon looked over at Gauche, who was sitting next to Mariela, seemingly waiting for him to start the conversation. Which was fair; Gauche hadn't really explained what his plan was. Mostly because he didn't particularly have a plan—he just knew that, between himself and Gordon, there had to be a way to get Mariela free of her curse.

"Well," he started slowly, "like I told you earlier, we've been doing a lot of research because of Asta's curse over the past couple days, over at the library, right?"

"Right," Mariela repeated. Then her eyes widened out of nowhere and a smile came to her face. "Wait! I just got two stacks worth of books on forbidden magic. They all came from Owen's private library, so there's sections on breaking curse work or otherwise treating it. I know he said that he didn't think there was a way to help Asta, but I'm sure that those books would be able to help if we pair them with whatever you two have already found."

"We have found basically nothing," Gordon whispered, looking down at the table in distress. "Any books would be a tremendous help."

"Why did Owen give you a stack of books on forbidden magic?" Gauche asked, caught off guard. He felt the beginnings of actual hope stirring—

"I'm researching anything that could help Marlin in my spare time."

- and immediately felt them die down again.

Of course, she's looking into helping Marlin. Why would you think she was doing anything different? She told you flat out that she was going to focus all her effort on waking him up.

She had also said that she was through trying to find a way to break her own curse—something that Gauche was doubting more and more she'd be willing to budge on now that he was trying to find a way to even bring it up.

How the hell am I supposed to make her understand that I can't… his thoughts crashed into a brick wall at that, but he already knew what the end to the sentence was, even if he couldn't even think it to himself without getting frustrated.

It didn't matter that she was accepting it—he obviously could not.

"Gordon, can you grab a round?" Gauche asked and waited until the curse mage had stood and walked up to the bar to clear his throat and meet Mariela's eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said before he could say anything, her smile apologetic. "I didn't think about the books, otherwise I would have grabbed them when we went back to my new room by Owen's medical wing. If you'd like, I can run back and grab them now, I'll be back in no time at all."

"No," Gauche said quickly. "I didn't ask you to come out to lunch with us so that we could talk about Asta's curse."

Mariela furrowed her brow in confusion, and Gauche realized his mistake too late. Before he could even open his mouth to try to correct it, she asked, "But you wanted to go to lunch specifically to talk about Asta's curse, right?"

"I, uhh—" Gauche cleared his throat, casting around wildly for an excuse or way out of this. The only one that he came up with, unfortunately, was to tell her the truth.

"Here we go," Gordon saved him just in time, coming back and setting three tankards down in the center of the table. Gauche thanked him quickly and snagged one to take a deep drink and give himself a little more time to think.

"So what did you want to talk to me about, if it wasn't Asta's curse?" Mariela asked when he was finished and wiping his mouth.

"Gauche told me—" Gordon started but cut off with an almost imperceptible yelp as Gauche kicked him in the shin under the table. He turned dark eyes on Gauche, who gave him a stiff smile.

"What?" Mariela asked, eyebrow raised as she put her mug down after taking a draft. Gordon, apparently catching on to the fact that he should let Gauche lead the conversation, just looked over at the other mage and waited. When Mariela caught the look, she turned in her seat to look at Gauche quizzically. "Well?"

"Umm…" Gauche trailed off, before taking a deep breath and deciding that he had no choice but to bite the bullet. "I told Gordon about your situation."

Mariela's cheeks started to tinge pink as she asked stiffly, "Are you talking about me and Marlin?"

Gauche opened his mouth to confirm, then saw it—the way out. Well… the way to buy himself some time. Even if it was one of the… less savory things he'd done in a second. "Yes," he nodded, throwing a look at Gordon before continuing, "I don't know if you knew this or not, but Gordon's a curse mage."

The sudden shine in Mariela's eyes let him know that she most certainly had not known about Gordon's family lineage. Turning to him and almost bouncing up and down in her seat with visible excitement, she asked quickly, "Is that true, Gordon? You're a curse mage?"

"Well—" he started, but Gauche cut him off.

"Yes. He is. I hadn't thought of it before, but now that we're all looking into Asta's arms…" Gauche forced himself to meet her eyes without hesitating. "Anyway, I brought it up because I thought, when you were done with your work during the day, you could meet up with us to maybe look into a way to break the curse. His curse. Marlin's curse."

Gauche caught the look on Gordon's face out of the corner of his eye and kicked him in the shin under the table again to head off whatever he was about to say.

They have the same curse, he reasoned with himself as he watched Mariela's whole face light up. If we find something that will help Mariela, it'll help Marlin, too. She doesn't need to know that we're focusing on her curse. It's the same curse. She can focus on Marlin.

"That would be amazing!" Mariela was gushing, gripping the tankard of beer in front of her so tightly that her knuckles were white and her hands were shaking. She turned bright eyes on Gordon. "Do you really think you might be able to help him, Gordon? I don't even need the curse to be totally broken, I just… I just really need him to wake up."

Gordon, eyes wide, glanced over at Gauche before giving Mariela a smile that only looked a little forced. "I'll do my absolute best," Gordon whispered, and she threw her arms around his shoulders to hug him tightly. Gauche would have been more annoyed about it if Gordon hadn't met his eyes over her head and let him know that they were both trying not to think about the same thing—if Mariela found out they'd lied to her, it would break her heart.

Well, Gauche thought almost numbly, then she just won't find out.

x

"You really didn't need to walk me back to my new place," Mariela said with an apologetic smile up at Gauche as she stood in her doorway. He just shook his head.

"It's not a problem. Besides, this gives me a little time away from the library I've been in almost nonstop for the past couple days."

"Listen…" Mariela grabbed his wrist, immediately letting go when she felt him jump and clasping her hands tightly in front of herself with a smile that was only a little painful. "I know that you guys have been putting in a lot of time and effort to trying to help Asta. And while I really appreciate you wanting to help Marlin, this is really my responsibility. I don't want either of you to burn yourself out when it's my failures that I'm trying to fix."

"Marlin's condition isn't your failure," Gauche said wearily, hesitating for a second before shoving his hands in his pockets and looking away from her. "You'll never stop hating yourself if you keep thinking of it like that."

"I don't—"

"Of course you do," Gauche cut her off, the harsh tone catching her off guard. He took a deep breath before adding, "Your brother wouldn't want you to spend your entire life dedicated to helping him."

"And how would you know that?" Mariela snapped, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. But, as I'm sure you'll understand, I'm totally happy dedicating my entire life to helping him." Her voice softening to just above a whisper, "We're all we have left."

"He's not, though." Mariela met Gauche's eyes, startled, and he looked just as surprised at what had come out of his mouth. They stared at each other for a second before he added rather lamely, "People care about you, you know?"

Mariela looked away for a second, horrified at the sudden burn of tears. After collecting herself for a moment, she met his eyes again with a watery smile. "I have you to thank for that, I guess."

Gauche snorted at that. "Trust me, no one is transferring you any care they may or may not have for me. I've been more than clear for the entire time I've known them all that I don't care about anyone but Marie."

Mariela rolled her eyes, but her throat was finally feeling a lot less tight. "Whatever you say, Gauche. But hey!" Mariela's face brightened. "Wait here for just a second." She grabbed her canvas bag off the bed and started to rifle through it, finally pulling out the little bracelet made of woven seagrass that she'd grabbed for Marie at the beach. Walking back over to the door, she still hadn't looked up from the bag as she rummaged through it for the matching one she'd grabbed for Gauche. "I know it's here somewhere… wait." Slinging the bag over a shoulder and fiddling with the leather cuff on her left wrist, she hurried to pull the other bracelet off and snap the cuff back on as quickly as possible in an attempt cover the scars that corded thickly around the skin there. Looking up at Gauche's wide eyes still fixed to her arm, however, she could feel her face starting to redden as she cleared her throat and held the matching bracelets out to him.

"What?" he asked, blinking down at her hand in confusion. Mariela chuckled.

"They're for you and Marie, I grabbed them for the two of you after your squad went to the Underwater Temple." Mariela smiled up at Gauche. "I grabbed a gift for Marlin; his birthday is really soon, and I was hoping to go see him. If you wanted to come with me, we could see our siblings together."

"You really didn't have to grab us anything," Gauche mumbled, carefully taking the bracelets from Mariela and staring at them. She pulled the hand down toward herself before taking the bigger one and tying it around his wrist.

"I did, though," Mariela said quietly. She looked back up to meet his eyes with a warm smile. "Especially since you're trying to help me find a cure for Marlin. I know…" Mariela cleared her throat awkwardly, looking away. "I know that you don't really agree with me giving up on my own curse. But I really think I can help people like this. He… he's too young to be…" Mariela took a deep breath as her voice started to thicken. "I just… I just want my brother back. That's all I want, anymore."

The sound Gauche made at that made Mariela look at him, startled, but he just smiled back, his hand flipping over to grab hers and squeeze.

"We'll find a cure for him, Mariela. I promise."