The Reunion of Two Sisters

by ShadowSpider17

The last time Noelle and Lucy saw each other, they were 9 and 16. Then Lucy joined Fairy Tail and went in that seven-year sleep. It's been years since the two saw each other but now Noelle is coming to Fiore to talk to the king about joining the Ace Alliance, and Lucy will be her bodyguard. What adventures will they come across? Asta/Noelle, Astelle, Natsu/Lucy, NaLu.

4. Getting to Know Each Other

Sorry to do this to everyone but I changed Noelle's hair length, I decided that her hair will stop at the bottom of her neck. I found some pictures of short hair Noelle and I think they make her look more mature and grown-up.

So, things will be mentioned that didn't happen in the manga, but I am thinking of making stories of. I'm working on making a Black Clover story that could be considered this story's prequel.

Summary to my new Black Clover story – The leaves of a clover represent faith, hope, and love. The fourth leaf is given over to good luck, and in the fifth leaf lives the devil. But what few knew was that there is a sixth leaf, and in this leaf lives a god. Lucius has been defeated by Yuno, Asta, and Noelle. The world is safe and now they are rebuilding, an alliance is being built, and Noelle and Asta are dealing with what they should do with the dynamic of their relationship. Noelle needs to talk with Asta about how she feels and Asta is dealing with the revelation of how he feels for her. But what no one knows is that there is a group lurking in the shadows. And this group is after Noelle and Leviathan. Why are they after Noelle and Leviathan, what do they have to do with this group's goal. Will Asta and Noelle have a chance to talk and clear the air? Let's find out.

Someone tell me which title sounds better, and whether you believe it give away the story's plot: Black Clover: The Sea Goddess and her Leviathan Black Clover: Hell's Mouth Black Clover: The Mouth of Hell Black Clover: Mouth of the Underworld Black Clover: The Mouth of the Underworld Black Clover: The Six Leaf Clover

Chapter 4: Getting to Know Each Other

"There, mission accomplished, the Clover Queen has been eliminated," One of the silhouettes said, the silhouette is then shown to be a 6-foot-tall broad muscular man with long brown hair stopping at the bottom of his neck, he is wearing a white t-shirt with a black open vest, and jeans. The other wizards with him were five women and the rest men. "Call the client, tell them that we killed the queen."

Just as they were gonna make the call, one of the assassins noticed something through the smoke, "Guys, wait," one of the assassins said as he then gulped, "I see something," the man said sweating a bit. Once the smoke dissipated the assassins looked and to their surprise, there stood the wizards that they had just ambushed, all unharmed surrounded in 6 domes composed of multiple whirlpools. The first dome had Natsu; Jura was able to block the attack with some Earth pillars; the second dome had Erza, Minerva, Wendy, and Carla; the third dome had Gray, Lyon, and Happy; the fourth dome was of Sting and Yukino; the fifth dome had Finral and Vanessa; Nozel was able to protect himself with his mercery shields that had the Silva crest on them; and the sixth dome held Noelle and Lucy.

"We're ok," Wendy exclaimed in surprise.

"But…but how," one of the assassins said in shock, "We combined all our magic power, even for wizards like them, they had no chance to defend. It should have killed them."

Jura couldn't help but smirk and then glance at the lake to see Noelle with her right hand out, "Your defense is as strong as ever Captain Noelle," he said

Flashback – minutes earlier

Noelle wrapped her own arms around Lucy and hugged her back, they stayed like that for a few minutes but then Noelle let out a sigh, "I wish we could continue this moment," she said pulling away from Lucy, "But sadly, they are gonna interrupt us."

"They," Lucy asked gaining a questioning look.

Noelle didn't say anything, instead in one swift move she turned towards the wooded area and threw out her right hand, palm and fingers spread, Noelle's grimoire then floated out of her pack, and started flipping to the needed page.

Just then 15 silhouettes jumped out of the bushes and into the air, "NOW," a male voice said, the attackers then sent their spells at the mages present who were all unprepared for the attack.

Just as the attacks were inches away from hitting, Noelle's grimoire made it to the needed page, 'WATER CREATION MAGIC: SEA DRAGON'S LAIR,' Noelle casted in her head, and just like that in seconds everyone found themselves in domes created by whirlpools. The attacks hit the domes but did nothing.

Present

Every one of the wizards were looking at the domes in interest, "This is water magic," Erza observed

"It looks similar to maker magic, but it's different somehow," Gray commented.

"WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR," Noelle said getting everyone's attention on her, "YOU WON'T GET HURT WHEN YOU LEAVE THE SPELL, GO AND ATTACK THEM ALREADY."

"Alright, sheesh, you don't have to yell," Natsu said, he then punched his fists together and a red magic circle appears in front of them then disappeared, "I'm fired up now." Natsu then jumped out of the Sea Dragon's Lair and toward the wizards in front of him, "FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST," Natsu said as he then punched two wizards knocking them out in an instant.

Nozel's grimoire flew out of its holder and flipped to the wanted page, "SILVER RAIN," Nozel said, just then countless droplets of high-density mercury drop down from the sky and onto three wizards making them scream in pain and drop to the ground.

"REQUIP: HEAVEN'S WHEEL ARMOR," Erza said as a magic circle appears below her, her Heaven's Wheel Armor then appears on her body with one sword in each hand, Erza then jumped and flew up the air, " TRINITY SWORD," Erza then slashed her sword in a delta formation, the slash flew toward a woman who was hit by it immediately making her scream and fall to the ground, "LUCY IS THE QUEEN OK?"

Lucy, however, didn't answer, she was too mesmerized by the spell that she was in, the spell that her little sister had created within seconds. Erza's voice cut her off from her observation.

"LUCY," Erza said

"Heh, oh um, yeah she's fine," Lucy said

"Good," Erza said as she dodged a bunch of sharp rock shards flying towards her and charged right at her opponent.

"Keep your head in the game Sissy," Noelle said getting Lucy's attention, "I showed you my magic. I think it's only fair that you return the favor. Right," she said smiling.

In response to that Lucy smiled, "Just watch me work," she said, with that Lucy takes out a golden key, " OPEN GATE OF THE WATER BEARER AQUARIUS," Lucy said thrusting the key in the water and turning it, and then through an aqua-green magic circle Aquarius appears outside the dome.

"Ok Lucy, what did you get into this time," Aquarius asked

"Hey Aquarius, look who I met up with," Lucy said

Aquarius looked and once she saw Noelle, her eyes widened, "Amphrite…," Aquarius said

"Not in this lifetime," Noelle interrupted

"Noelle," Aquarius asked instead.

"The one in the same. Don't really have a lot of time to explain though," Noelle said

"She's right, these bastards are trying to kill Noelle, and I'm not gonna let it stand," Lucy said, she then put the key to her chest and turned it, " STAR DRESS: AQUARIUS FORM," with that a gold magic circle appears below Lucy and she is covered in a golden light. Noelle watches intrigued as Lucy transforms into her Aquarius Star Dress. Once transformed Aqua-Lucy stepped out of the dome, "Noelle, you stay in the spell where it's safe while Aquarius, you stay and guard her."

'Did she forget that I'm the one who saved her life,' Noelle thought, "Sure."

"Don't tell me what to do brat. I'll stay here, but it's only because she's one of the few people I like," Aquarius said while smiling, she was just being difficult. She does that from time to time now for old times sake.

Ignoring what Aquarius said, Lucy looks at Noelle, "Just sit back and watch us work," Aqua-Lucy said, she then noticed three assassins attacked them.

"We're gonna kill that queen, and get all that money," one of the assassins said

"Over my dead body," Aqua-Lucy said, she then faced the assassins who were charging her, A blue magic circle then appears below Aqua-Lucy, " AQUA METRIA," she casted, the water in the lake then pick up and gathers in her hand and she throws the water at the three assassins, the three are blasted, a huge wave then picks up and crashed on the three assassins knocking them out.

"That's some strong water magic," Noelle commented

"It is my magic she's using," Aquarius said smiling proudly as she watched Aqua-Lucy use her powers affectively.

"Is it some kind of spirit dive," Noelle asked

"No, she's not there yet. Still has some ways to go till she gets there. The Star Dresses you could say are below the spirit dive. But with the way she uses the Star Dresses, she may not even need spirit dive," Aquarius said

"Unless she has to face a devil," Noelle said making Aquarius sigh.

"Unless she has to face a devil," Aquarius confirmed

"Hm," Noelle said, she then turned her attention back toward the fighting wizards.

" 1000 GIGA-VOLTS HAVOK," one of the assassins cast as a yellow magic circle appeared in front of the wizard's outstretched hands and he blasted a yellow lightning blast at Sting.

"Seriously, I have a Lightning God Slayer as part of my guild," Sting said, he took a deep breath and a white magic circle appears in front of his face, "WHITE DRAGON'S ROAR," Sting casted as he roared out a white beam that clashed with the lightning blast and quickly overpowered it, hitting the wizard and knocking him out.

A second assassin moves in to try and eliminate Sting but was cut off by Yukino who was in her own Star Dress: Libra Form, a magic circle appears below her, "GRAVITY CHANGE," she casted and just like that the assassin is crushed to the ground.

A light blue magic circle appears below Wendy, "SKY DRAGON'S WING ATTACK," she casted, and the casted spell hits two assassins making them scream in pain.

Gray put his fist in the flat of his hand, an icy-blue magic circle appearing below him, he then puts his hands at his side, "ICE MAKE: SWORDS," Gray chanted, two swords are then created from ice, Gray takes them and charges an assassin who tries to bury him in the earth with his magic, but Gray jumped up in the air, dodging the attack, he then slashed the assassin down.

As they were taken down, there were assassins who kept getting up, ready to continue fighting. Lyon dodged a ice attack from one of the wizards, "You can't be serious," he said, he then put his hands together like gray, a ice-blue making circle appearing below him, "ICE MAKE: GORILLA," a large gorilla made of ice then appeared and charged the wizards knocking him away.

Four assassins surround Jura who smirks, he then points his right index and middle fingers down then points them up, and then earth pillars come from below the wizards hitting them each in the stomach throwing them away.

Minerva lifts five wizards in the air with her territory magic, "TERRITORY EXPLOSION," she said, the territory spheres then explode making the wizards scream in pain and fall to the ground in pain.

Natsu dodged a lightning attack that was shot right at him, he then charged the attacker and punched him with his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, "Man these guys are annoying," Natsu comments

"They're dedicated to their mission, I'll give them that," Erza said

"I won't," Aqua-Lucy said as she activates her water barrier to block a spray of sharp rocks. When the attack stopped, Aqua-Lucy gathered up the water in her hands and blasted it at the mage who was attacking her. "These guys are trying to kill Noelle. I won't let that happen."

Noelle smiled at Aqua-Lucy, she then sighed and got serious, "I think it's time we wrap this up, let's see how much I improved," Noelle said, just then two circles with runes appear on the lake, "WATER CREATION MAGIC: TWIN SEA DRAGONS," Noelle casted, then out of the water, through the magic circles are two large sea dragons with ten eyes each. Each of them giving out a roar getting everyone's attention.

"Check that out," Natsu said

"Dragons," Stings said

"Made of water," Lucy said as she moved her line of sight from the Dragons to Noelle.

The dragons then swooped down and charged the enemies. The first to go down was the lightning user who tried to destroy the attack with his own, but it did nothing, then the dragon bit into him making him scream in pain. The assassin then fell to the ground. The second dragon went after the earth wizard and an ice wizard, both who tried to put up shields, but the shields were shattered on immediate contact, in the end both mages felt what it was like to be in the dragon's powerful jaw. After that the two dragons went after each enemy mage hitting them with their devastating power. Power that surprised the wizards present.

"Holy shit," Natsu said

"Why did she hire us to protect her," Gray asked as he watched the dragon's dispose of the assassins.

"It certainly doesn't look like she needs protecting," Lyon commented

Lucy takes a chance look at the lake and much to her surprise the lake itself is gone, 'Did she use the entire lake to make that spell,' she thought

The twin dragons defeated all the enemies and were able to gather them all up in one place, after that the dragons started circling them. Noelle smiled in satisfaction, 'Glad to see my training is paying off. I'm getting better at controlling my magic with my hands. Using the water from the lake certainly helped me.'

"Wh-what is this," one of the women assassins who was seriously injured said as she tried to get up.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Noelle said getting everyone's attention, "If anyone of you move, those dragons have orders to attack you, and you don't want to be on a receiving end of another attack do you."

That made the woman hesitate, she looked up and made eye contact with one of the sea dragons, the ten eyes boring into her, scaring her.

"Are you ok, Queen Noelle," Minerva asked making sure that Noelle is unharmed.

"I'm ok," Noelle said as she stepped out of the Sea Dragon's Lair.

"Are you sure," Lucy asked as she walked up to Noelle and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure," Noelle reassured, "Actually I'm kind of insulted," she walked up to the group of assassins followed by Lucy and Aquarius, "The fact that whoever wants me dead, thought they could kill me by bringing 15, Stage 5 mages. I'm really insulted."

"Stage 5 mages," Natsu asked confused

"It makes no sense, how were you able to block our attacks. We had the advantage, none of you knew that we were there. So how," one of the assassins said

"That's simple," Noelle said getting everyone's attention on her, "You did a great job at hiding your mana. I imagine that you used a spell for that. However, even if you succeeded in hiding your mana, I knew you were there."

"You knew," Gray asked as the Fiore wizards all looked at Noelle in shock.

"I did, even through spells, there are some things you can't hide. They had been following us for the past couple of hours, the fact that they didn't attack immediately led me to believe that they were weaker than the rest of you. That's why they were waiting to ambush, because they knew that they couldn't take you in a straight up fight. Which is a good assumption, 15 stage 5 mages vs. a group of stage 1 and 0 mages, that's just suicide. However, if they let their guard down, even the powerful can be defeated by the weak, and that's what you were waiting for. An opportunity when we let our guard down, so," Noelle said smiling, "I decided to give you that opportunity."

"That's why you wanted to take a break," Nozel stated, understanding. He thought it was strange for Noelle to suggest a break when it was obvious that everyone was alright.

"One of the reasons, you know me brother, I like being near water. Anyway, I wasn't interested in having these guys following us for who knows how long. I wanted to get them out of the way as soon as possible," Noelle said

"Don't you think that you should have told us this plan of yours," Gray said

"And how could I have done that," Noelle asked rhetorically.

"They were watching us which means they were listening in on us as well. If she did anything that seemed suspicious then it would have tipped them off, and they would either have attacked too early or they would have fled. This way, we were able to capture them, and now we can question them," Erza said, 'I've gotta admit, that was some smart thinking on her part, she was able to sense that we were being followed, and then she set her own trap for them. Well, I guess she isn't the Clover Queen for nothing,' Erza thought, her respect for Noelle increasing.

"Exactly," Noelle confirmed, "Now the only thing to find out is, who are you guys, who hired you to kill me, and why?"

Erza then sees a tattoo on one of the assassins' arms. It's a familiar tattoo as well, "Phantom Lord," Erza said getting everyone's attention.

"Did you just say Phantom Lord," Lucy asked

"Phantom Lord? Isn't that the guild that tried to kidnap you on your father's behalf," Noelle said

"Yeah, it is, but after Phantom Lord instigated a guild war with Fairy Tail, it was disbanded by the magic council, their guildmaster was disgraced, and two of their members joined Fairy Tail," Lucy said

"I heard that Phantom Lord was revived and made into a dark guild. They specialize in the underhanded like kidnapping and assassinations," Erza informed

Sting stepped up to the members, "Who hired you to kill the queen," he demanded

One of the assassins smirked, "No one knows, we got the offer anonymously," he said

"Looks like you're not as popular as you think your majesty," another assassin said

Noelle was silent at that; she was trying to think who could hire these guys. She holds no delusions that everyone in her kingdom loves her. She's made a lot of enemies, both as a magic knight and the queen. Just then a figure runs past them getting everyone's attention, when they looked, they saw that it was the man with the long-brown hair.

"He's getting away," Natsu said getting ready to chase after the man.

"Leave him," Noelle said stopping Natsu.

"What," Natsu said

"Leave him let him go," Noelle said

"After he attacked us. No way, he deserves a beating after that stunt," Natsu said

"No one was hurt, going after him to beat him up would simply be getting revenge, and I have no interest in that," Noelle said

"Yeah, well I do," Natsu said

"I don't care, you're staying, or do you not care that I retract the payment for this job," Noelle said

That made Natsu stop and growl in frustration, "Natsu," Lucy said getting his attention on her, "Calm down."

Natsu took some deep breaths to try and calm himself, "I still think that we should go after him," he said

"We have his guildmates, we can get all the info fro…," Noelle said, but stopped as her eyes widened, "Don't be stupid."

"Noelle," Lucy said

Just then the female assassin smirked, "NO, DON'T," Noelle yelled, but it was too late, the assassin had frozen herself and her comrades, then seconds later the ice shattered flowing into the wind, leaving nothing behind.

Everyone stared in shock at what had just happened, "What just happened," Yukino said

"Did they just commit suicide," Lucy said

Noelle stared at the space in sadness, "Well you got to give it to them, they're loyal that's for sure," she said as she ended her spell making the dragons return to the lake filling it up again.

"All that, just to be kept from getting caught," Minerva said

"It's late, we should set up camp, and rest for the night. We can get back on the road in the morning," Noelle said figuring that no one would be in the mood to travel after seeing that.

"Right," Erza said

"Thanks for your help Aquarius, we'll see you later," Lucy said

"Forget that, you'll see me tonight," Aquarius said, she then looked at Noelle, "I wanna talk with you, it's been 13 years. So, I think one conversation wouldn't be so bad, right?"

Noelle laughed a bit, "Right," she said

"Well, ok then, we'll see you later tonight," Lucy said, with that Aquarius left and everyone started to set up for the night.

Somewhere in the woods

The brown-haired man had been running for some time, after he was sure that he wasn't being followed he stopped and leaned against a tree, "We had them by surprise, so how did they know that we were gonna attack," the man said, an image of Noelle then appeared in his head, "How did she know, and what was that magic she used? Water magic, but the dragons. Ahh, I gotta call the boss." The man then took out a communication Lacrima from his pocket and activated it. The man waited for a few tense seconds until it was finally answered.

A male silhouette is then shown, "Hanzo," the silhouette said

"Hey boss," Hanzo said

"Did you complete the job," the boss said

"I'm sorry, but we failed," Hanzo said

"Failed. What do you mean, you failed? You're saying that you didn't kill the queen," the boss said

"They knew, she knew that we were there, she set a trap. When we attacked, she blocked it, then the other wizards attacked us, we were quickly overwhelmed. I was just able to escape," Hanzo said

"I see, well this was a possibility, tell me did you at least get a look at what the queen looked like and her magic," the boss said

"She has short silver hair that stops at the bottom of her neck, bangs that cover her forehead with two side bangs, she has pink eyes, 5'4 in height, her wardrobe consists of a silver shirt and matching pants, a black hooded cape with gold accents, a necklace of what looked like a dragon's head on it, and a pouch. Her magic, I think it's water magic, but it also seems to incorporate dragons. I remember the spell she used, Water Creation Magic: Twin Sea Dragons," Hanzo said

The boss's eyes widened at that, "Did you just say Sea Dragons," he asked getting a nod from Hanzo, the boss chuckled, "Well, well, looks like this job will be more interesting than I thought."

"Do you know who she is boss," Hanzo asked

"I have an idea, get back to the guild hall, we'll go from there," the boss said

"Yes sir," Hazo said, with that the transmission what cut off, and Hanzo left heading toward his guild is. What he didn't know was that he was being watched the entire time by Nero who then took off following Hanzo.

Phantom Lord Guild

The boss was sitting down in his chair, he smirked, "So, the Leaf of Love is the queen of the Clover Kingdom. Hm, It doesn't matter even the Sea Goddess is no match for the might of Phantom Lord," he said

With the group

Noelle was crouching on the ground finishing setting up her tent, as she finished, she could feel some of the stares from the wizards. They're probably surprised that she actually knows how to fight, she did tell them that she was a Magic Knight. After she finally finished setting up her tent, Noelle looked around and saw everyone doing their own activities. Minerva was cooking everyone some dinner, because their original one was interrupted when the Phantom Lord assassins attacked. Sting looks to be setting up a tent, and Yukino sets a drink beside him which earned her a grateful smile from him. She sees Natsu and Gray picking a fight with each other which Erza stops by punching them both into the ground, that was certainly interesting to see. The Black Bulls and Fairy Tail really are kindred spirits. She can see Finral conversing with Minerva, Vanessa is flirting and quickly flustering Lyon, the man is so red Noelle is surprised that he isn't smoking yet. Wendy and Jura seem to be conversing with Carla and Happy nearby. As she looks, she notices that Lucy isn't around, deciding to go see where she was Noelle starts to walk off.

"And just where are you going," Nozel said stopping Noelle in her tracks.

Noelle looked at her brother, who had gotten done setting up his own tent, "To go search for Lucy," she informed only to get a look from her brother which makes her sigh, "I'll be fine Nozel, I can sense Lucy, she's nearby. I'll go and retrieve her, then we can all eat."

Nozel sighed, "Fine," he said

With that Noelle with Rouge departs the site to where Lucy is, "With the way he acts, I may as well be a child needing help crossing the street instead of someone who was a Magic Knight Captain just last year," she said

"He is concerned," a deep voice said from Noelle's shoulder making her turn her head to see her partner.

"Oh, hey Leviathan, it's been some time since you came out," Noelle said as she gave Leviathan a little pet.

"You are…queen now…you must be…more careful. You have…a country…that depends…on you," Leviathan said

"I'm aware, but that doesn't mean that I should be treated like every little thing can hurt me. I don't go through that hell that Mereoleona calls training for nothing you know," Noelle said

"Your country…needs you…can't rage…as much as…we would…like too," Leviathan said in disappointment.

Noelle smiled at her partner, "I'm sorry, seriously how many times do I have to apologize, but I had to take the throne. Plus, it's not like we've been lying around, we faced Yuno and Bell just last week," she said, all she got was silence, "You could always break our contract and go to someone else."

Leviathan looked at Noelle, "Would never…do that…we are…partners…forever," he said

That made Noelle smile, she then pets Leviathan under his chin with her finger, "Yep, forever partners," Noelle said, as she walked Noelle could see Lucy, she was putting something in the ground. Leviathan took his chance to disappear for now, back in Noelle's grimoire (Is that where spirits and such go, the grimoires?), "Hey Lucy," Noelle said getting Lucy's attention.

"Hey Noelle," Lucy greeted smiling.

"What are you doing here," Noelle asked, then she noticed fourteen stones lined up on the ground, "What's this?"

"I just thought, well fourteen people died today, before our very eyes. Even though they were trying to kill you, don't they deserve enough respect to have a gravestone. I'm sorry if you find this insulting, I mean they tried to kill you, and I'm trying to give respect to them," Lucy said

Noelle shook her head, "I don't find it insulting, not one bit," she said and stepped next to Lucy, "This actually reminds me of something that Captain Yami would do."

"Captain Yami," Lucy said

"He's the one who created the Black Bulls and its first captain. He's a brootish man, elegance is not even in his dictionary, he has no tact, and is very blunt. Has quite the temper, I can't tell you how many times he's destroyed one of the hideout's walls just because we'd pissed him off. He's threatened to kill us more times than I can count and has a very strong grip. He's had to have grabbed each of our heads a handful of times," Noelle said rubbing her head, as she remembered some of the times when the man would grab her head and lift her off the ground. Noelle couldn't help but laugh as she remembered those times with Captain Yami.

"Um Noelle, I know that I've said this before, but I'm concerned with the influences in your life. I mean, that kind of sounds like he abused you guys," Lucy said

Noelle just shook her head, "Nah, if he really wanted to hurt us, he would have. Besides despite his actions, Captain Yami cared about us, about each of us. He created the Black Bulls to be a home for misfits and outcasts. A failure of a royal, that's what I was, and yet even knowing that he said that if I wanted, I could join the Black Bulls. At the time, I didn't want to, but I am thankful that I did join them. In the Black Bulls, I found brothers and sisters, I found the love of my life, and Captain Yami is pretty much our father. Truth is, he's the closest thing I ever had to a father. We weren't just his subordinates or squad, we were his family, and if we were ever in trouble, he would protect us, and we would protect him. Anyone threatens our captain, they'd feel the wrath of the Black Bulls." Noelle then remembered when she and the Black Bulls were in Spade, how they gathered together and saved Captain Yami from being sacrificed. They were ready to face anything, it didn't matter if it were Morris who was possessed by Lucifero.

"Sounds like that you're loyal to him," Lucy said, she watched Noelle's face and saw nothing but fondness for the former captain of the Black Bulls.

"In a world that didn't give a damn about us, Captain Yami was the only one who did," Noelle responded smiling.

Lucy couldn't help but smile at that, maybe she was being too critical of the captain after all Makarov smacked around a few guild members, so has Laxus, then there's Erza and some of the stuff she has done. If this Captain Yami was able to give Noelle, the family that she needed while she was away then she supposes that she'll have to thank him one day.

"Anyway, Captain Yami, when an opponent wound up dying, he always did some form of a memorial for them," Noelle said

"Really," Lucy asked

Noelle nodded, "Yeah, it didn't matter if they were our enemies or not, Captain Yami would do the same thing. It was nothing big, he would just gather some stones, place a cigarette between them, light the cigarette, and would say a prayer. He told me that it was a custom from his homeland The Land of the Sun," she said

"Your captain is from the Land of the Sun," Lucy asked getting a nod from Noelle, "What is someone from the Land of the Sun doing being a Captain of a Magic Knight squad in the Clover Kingdom?"

"He was shipwrecked and couldn't go back to the Land of the Sun; later he met the previous Wizard King Julius Novachrono who at the time was captain of the Grey Deer, now known as the Aqua Deer. Julius got Captain Yami in the Magic Knights and sometime after he became Wizard King, Julius had allowed Captain Yami and William Vangeance to form their own squads. William Vangeance formed the Golden Dawn and Captain Yami created the Black Bulls," Noelle said, not really lying but also not telling Lucy everything either. After all, that story is for Captain Yami to tell. "Anyway, we should go, dinner's gonna be done soon."

"Right," Lucy said, she and Noelle then turned around and started to walk back to the campsite, "I actually wanted to talk to you about your wedding."

"Yeah," Noelle said

"Yeah, I'm a little concerned about catering. I mean, you're letting one person cater for the wedding, you're queen Noelle, you could have the best chiefs in the Clover Kingdom cater your wedding, and you're choosing one person. Don't you think that's too much for one person to do," Lucy said

"Hey now, Charmy is an excellent cook, she has a natural talent for it. She used to cook for the Black Bulls all the time, at least she did when she lived there. After she got married her culinary skills were used on Rill most of the time. She does cook dinner two times a week for the squad though. Also, Charmy's very excited too, she's been working on the menu the entire time. You'll love Charmy's food, no one is a better cook," Noelle said

"But can she handle it, that would certainly push her to her limits," Lucy said

"Well then," Noelle said as she looked at Lucy with a smile, "She'll just have to push past her limits. Trust me Lucy, she can do it Charmy is not someone to underestimate. You wanna know how she made her husband fall in love with her?"

"How," Lucy asked

"She beat the tar out of him in a fight," Noelle said with a grin.

"Really," Lucy asked surprised

"Really. He was possessed by an elf, and the elf knocked the food she offered out of her hands. That pissed her off, and she beat the guy to a pulp. Rill wound up remembering Charmy and her saving him, of course he had no idea that it was Charmy who saved him considering she looked way different," Noelle said

"She looked different, how? Wait, possessed by an elf, I thought they were extinct," Lucy asked

"It had to do with a 500 year plot that involved a devil reincarnating the elves, Licht the Elf Leader, the First Wizard King Lumiere, then there was the Shadow Palace that connected our world to the Underworld, I fought an elf, the devil regained his body and Asta and Yuno fought him, then Captain Yami fought him with a possessed Charlette who was captain of an all women Magic Knight squad, the Blue Rose Knights by the way Erza sounds exactly like Charlette, kinda creepy. Anyway, Asta and Yuno were fighting Patri who was a dark elf for a time, then Nozel came and saved them, Asta helped Patri and turned him back into a regular elf. That damn devil casted a spell that consumes our world's magic, Captain Yami and Charlette wound up in the middle of it, but the captain was able to save their lives by covering them with his dark magic," Noelle said

"Wait dark magic? Are you saying that he delves in the black arts," Lucy asked concerned, sure she decided to give this Captain Yami the benefit of the doubt but black magic is tricky, you never know what it could do.

"What? No, his magic attribute is darkness. It's a rare magic attribute that affects the Underworld and makes him an arcane stage mage," Noelle said, that got her a questioning look from Lucy who wondered what an arcane stage mage was. "Anyway, so Captain Yami saved him and Charlette, but they couldn't fight or else they'd be swallowed in the spell and die. Asta, Yuno, and Patri then arrived and faced the devil with the Elf Leader's help, the First Wizard King who believe it or not had been a statue for the past 500 years. You know that statue that was on the demon's head," Noelle said

"Yeah," Lucy said

"That was the actual First Wizard King," Noelle said

"WHAT! ARE YOU SERIOUS," Lucy asked getting a nod from Noelle, "That statue that was on the skeleton was actually the First Wizard King the entire time?"

"Yep, apparently, he was mortally wounded during his fight so his friend Secre had sealed him into a statue so he could rest for the day that the devil would return. Well, when the devil returned, Secre and Finral undid the seal bringing the First Wizard King temporarily back to life. The First Wizard King and Secre then woke Licht up and together Asta, Yuno, Lumiere, and Licht all fought the devil. It was a hard-fought battle, devils are really hard to kill, believe me I know, I've fought my fair share of devils over the years," Noelle said

"You fought devils," Lucy asked in concern, she's read some about devils which is why she is concerned for Noelle's safety.

"Anyway, it was thanks to Captain Yami with him using a Dimension Slash Equinox that was able to wound the devil and Asta was able to finish him off. While this was all going on, I was fighting the elf Fana the Hateful and let me tell you that was a battle, her fire magic vs. my water magic, despite my attribute advantage, it was a tough fight especially considering she used a forbidden magic that gave her powers from the Underworld. I mean seriously I used a Sea Dragon's Roar and took off her entire upper body but because of the forbidden magic she regenerated. So, I was facing an uphill battle when I made that discovery," Noelle said

"Then Captain Jack came and saved me, and helped me fight her, until Nozel came and informed us about the spell. After that we all tried to escape but got caught in the middle of it, if not for Lumiere and Licht we would have died, in the end we wound up running into Asta and them, then Captain Yami and Charlette came in, after that we all escaped and with a combo spell we were able able to bring peace to all the elves and send them back to the next world, all but a few were able to go. The last four Patri, Fana, Rhia, and Vetto were unable to go they had to stay in our world which didn't bother them. Patri was actually grateful because he wanted to atone for his sins which I'd say he was able to do when he helped us," Noelle said

"So yeah, we beat the devil, and saved humanity along with the elves. You'd figure that after that we'd have a break but then a lot of other things happened after that. But yeah, that is the abridged version, I can give a more detailed one later though. The detailed one is much more interesting, starting from mine and Asta's first mission in Saussy Village," Noelle said

Lucy looked at Noelle with wide eyes, "I'm not sure I can handle the detailed version, just hearing the abridged version makes me want to lock you up in an underground cellar where I know you will be safe," she said

"That wasn't even the craziest thing that happened to me, just wait till I tell you that I've been to Hell once. Not a place you want to be," Noelle said (I'm gonna write a story about this. Tell me what you think.)

"WHAT! HELL," Lucy said

"Yep, the home of the devils. Not a fun place," Noelle said

"Scratch that, I am locking you in an underground cellar," Lucy said which makes Noelle laugh when they approach the campsite they are greeted by the others.

"Welcome back," Erza greeted

"You made it just in time, dinner is ready," Minerva informed

"Finally," Natsu said

"I'm starving," Gray who is in nothing, but his underwear said

"You guys will love Minerva's cooking," Sting said to the Clover natives.

"I can't wait to…," Noelle said but stopped as she saw Gray who was in nothing but his underwear, "Ehh." Noelle's face then starts to get red and panicky.

"Is everything ok," Gray asked as he looked at Noelle.

"GRAY PUT YOUR CLOTHES BACK ON," Lucy said once she noticed Gray was in his underwear, and in front of her little sister too.

"Wah," Gray said as he noticed his clothes were off.

"Honestly Gray, and in front of the queen," Lyon said as he sighed, honestly.

"Hey guys I think there is something wrong with the queen," Yukino said as she looked at Noelle.

"Noelle are you ok," Lucy asked in concern when she saw Noelle's face turning redder and redder, her lip trembling, and whimpering.

"Uh oh, you better run Gray, because she's gonna blow," Vanessa said smirking, already knowing what is gonna happen. She and Finral have seen this thousands of times, and it never stops amusing Vanessa.

"Listen your majesty I am so sorry," Gray said walking closer to Noelle.

Gray walking closer to her increased Noelle's distress, and just as Vaness said Noelle exploded, "AAHHHHHHH, WHY ARE YOU NAKED. PUT SOME CLOTHES ON YOU PERVEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRT," she said as she took out her wand and shot out a blast of water at an unsuspecting Gray who was blasted away into the woods.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," Gray screamed as he was blasted into the woods by a blast of water courtesy of Noelle. He was blasted so far back that no one could see him. It was only when they heard a huge splash, did they know that he hit something.

Everyone looked at what happened in awe at the queen's magic power, "Dang how far do you think he went," Sting said

"I'm not sure," Erza said as she ignored Natsu who was on the ground rolling over in laughter.

Lucy was ignoring Natsu as well, she was too busy trying to calm down a flustered Noelle who was still panicking, "It's ok Noelle calm down. I'm here," she soothed as she sat her and Noelle down on the ground. She supposes that she should be thankful that Noelle isn't used to seeing men in such ways, it lets her know that Vanessa woman hasn't influenced her as much as she feared. She'll be sure to keep an eye on Gray, what was he thinking going around in his underwear when her little sister was nearby.

Jura smirked in amusement, "Some things never change do they Captain," he said as he remembered a similar incident.

Lyon sighed as he held Gray's clothes, "I suppose that I'll take his clothes to him," he said

"Where did you get his clothes," Yukino asked

"I was there when this habit started, trust me this isn't the first time I had to find his clothes. At this point I'm an expert in it," Lyon said as he then walked into the woods in search of his rival.

Eventually Lucy, with the help of Wendy and Yukino, was able to calm Noelle down, she could have done it on her own, but Vanessa's constant teasing did nothing but keep her in that state.

After Noelle calmed down Lyon with Gray following him came out of the woods, thankfully Gray was clothed which was good for him because who knew what Noelle would have done if she saw him in his underwear again. After Lucy, Erza, and Minerva berated Gray about stripping in front of the queen/little sister, they all sat down and started to eat the dinner that Minerva made which was stew. During the dinner Lucy made sure to tell Noelle what happened to her on Tenrou Island with Natsu, Gray, Erza, Wendy, Carla, and Happy adding in their own adventures on the island.

"Wow, so a dragon attacked you guys and tried to kill you, you tried to fight him, but he was too strong, he then hit you guys with a blast that should have killed you but you were saved by the ghost of your first guild master Mavis Vermillion. You then spent seven years in a suspended animation where none of you physically aged," Noelle said

"That's it," Lucy said

"And during that time Fairy Tail went from being the number 1 guild in Fiore to the worst guild," Gray said

"While Sabretooth rose up to the number 1 spot with the Grand Magic Games," Sting said

"And Lamia Scale was number 2," Lyon said

"And all this, just because Fairy Tail lost you guys," Noelle asked

"Sadly yes," Erza said

"Who cares, what matters is that Fairy Tail is the number 1 guild again," Natsu said

"Just wait till next Magic Games, Sabretooth is gonna take it," Sting said

"Heh, not before Lamia Scale does," Lyon said

Noelle couldn't help but frown, who cares, they should care, just because Fairy Tail lost this group and a few other mages, they went to the bottom of the barrel. That doesn't sound good to her, losing some wizards shouldn't make such a significant impact on a guild. It sounds like to her that Fairy Tail didn't push themselves as much as they should have during those seven years.

It makes Noelle wonder what will happen if something similar happens.

"Hey Noelle, something wrong," Lucy asked noticing the frown on Noelle's face.

"Heh, oh, no nothing is wrong. Just thinking is all. So, the members that were in the Grand Magic Games in x791, those were all the members who disappeared," Noelle said

"Well, not all of them. Those were just the ones who were able to join the teams," Lucy said

"None of them were the other guild members that went through those seven years," Noelle said

"Nope," Natsu said

"Just you guys," Noelle said

"Just us," Natsu said

"So, it was a don't worry, we're back. Everything will be fine now kind of thing," Noelle said

"Pretty much," Natsu said, not at all getting what he is making it sound like, but some of the other wizards are getting what Noelle is asking, and because of that Erza sighed. She'll admit that aside from feeling sympathy for her guild, she was also disappointed in the members too. They should have pushed themselves more, they may have improved and become stronger, but they obviously didn't put in the effort they should have. They were complacent because of her and the others, so when they disappeared, they quickly fell to the bottom. When they came back, just like always they handled everything, and got Fairy Tail on the top again.

Noelle's frown deepened, 'The Black Bulls wouldn't be where they are if it weren't for Asta. He showed that he would always be there no matter what. He would never let us down; but he never fought our battles for us, he gave us the inspiration to fight. We fought our own battles, and he would help if needed. When Asta leaves the Black Bulls, they'll be ok. We all know that. The Black Bulls prepared for that day so Asta wouldn't feel obligated to stay. The Black Bulls carry the weight of the squad and responsibilities together. But these guys carry the weight of their entire guild on their shoulders. That's not fair. That's not right. If something were to happen to these guys again then Fairy Tail will have to push past their limits or they'll be doomed to fail, ' Noelle thought

Realizing just what Noelle is thinking, and not wanting to get into that or there may be a fight, considering Natsu won't let anyone bad mouth Fairy Tail, even if it is their honest opinion, Lucy decides to change the subject, "So, Noelle, I was wondering how you met Asta," Lucy said

"Oh, I'd like to hear it too if you don't mind your majesty," Wendy said smiling, she'd really like to know how the queen met her fiancé.

"Asta heh? You really want to know," Noelle said getting a nod from the women of the group, the men not really caring. Noelle glanced at her brother, silently asking if he is ok with this, after all this story won't paint him in a good light. Nozel, catching Noelle's look nodded his head, seeing this Noelle looked back at the group, "Ok then, I'll tell you. This story also explains how I joined the Black Bulls as well." That got a small cheer from the women. "Let's see, I guess I'll start at the Magic Knights entrance exam where I first saw Asta. He was being chased by nearly every anti-bird that was in the stadium," Noelle said

"That's what your pet bird is right," Gray asked getting a nod from Noelle

"Why were they chasing him," Lyon asked, it was Nozel who answered the question getting everyone's attention on him.

"Anti-birds are creatures that detect magic power, the less magic power a person has the more anti-birds will gather near them. You could say it helps separate the weak from the strong. The Magic Knights captains use this to help in evaluation on whether someone should be a Magic Knight," Nozel answered

"Exactly, and Asta having no magic power at all, he attracted a lot of anti-birds, that got some laughs from people. I'll admit I didn't exactly think of him as much either, someone who had that many anti-birds weren't gonna pass the exams. It was a certainty," Noelle said

"Don't you think that's kind of unfair. To be judging a guy just because he has no magic," Natsu said

"Magic is everything in the Clover Kingdom, you weren't gonna get anywhere if you didn't have at least a decent amount of mana, especially in the Magic Knights," Noelle explained to Natsu, "Anyway, so the entrance exams had just begun, the first test was flying a broom. Brooms are the regular transportation for Magic Knights. I remember, I had my own broom in hand and was about to join in the exam. But that's when Nozel caught me," Noelle said

"What did you say to her," Lucy demanded with narrowed eyes pointing toward Nozel. A lot of Noelle's childhood was spent with Nozel ignoring and neglecting her, but every time he did seem to speak to Noelle his words were always harsh. Lucy had never seen Nozel say anything nice to Noelle. That's why she knew that if he was there near her, he had to have said something that would undoubtedly hurt the girl.

"He told me royalty need not undergo the same tests as common folk. Where I'd go was already decided," Noelle said

"So Nozel was the one who assigned you to the Black Bulls," Lucy asked

Noelle nodded, "Yeah, I wasn't happy about it, being assigned the Black Bulls who were considered the worse Magic Knight squad in the kingdom. So, I decided to take the exam, hoping that I could show Nozel that I was worthy of being part of the Silver Eagles," she said

"What's so great about the Silver Eagles," Natsu asked

"Two of the royal families of the Clover Kingdom had created their own Magic Knight squads. The house of Vermillion had created the Crimson Lion Kings, every member from the main family becomes a Crimson Lion King, the only Vermillions who didn't join was the branch family, my cousins Kirch Vermillion who is currently captain of the Coral Peacocks and Mimosa Vermillion who was taken in by the Golden Dawn. The Silver Eagles were the Magic Knights squad that the House of Silva created. Every generation of Silva was a Silver Eagle, it was tradition, if a Silva was joining the Magic Knights, then it was expected that they would be accepted in the Silver Eagles. My grandfather was captain of the Silver Eagles, my mother was captain, my aunt was a member, Nozel was part of the Silver Eagles then became captain, then my older sister Nebra joined, then my other older brother Solid joined. I always wanted, expected, that when I joined the Magic Knights, I would join the Silver Eagles. That was until Nozel told me that he assigned me to the Black Bulls. I was the first Silva in the Silva House who was rejected from the Silver Eagles," Noelle said

"That's why you went to the entrance exam, to prove your skills and hope that you would be accepted in the Silver Eagles," Minerva said

"Yeah, that's right, but like I said Nozel caught me and stopped me, he said to stop this pointless nonsense," Noelle said

"I don't see how it's pointless to wanna prove yourself," Sting said

"It was pointless, because it didn't matter who she impressed, she was assigned to the Black Bulls, nothing she did would change that," Nozel said

"And just who do you think you are, choosing something like that for her. Shouldn't that have been her decision," Natsu said glaring at Nozel, taking someone's choice away like that is just wrong.

"Peasant don't talk about things that you have no understanding of. I am the head of the House of Silva; it is my job to do what is best for my house and those in it. I did Noelle a favor by stopping her. She would have embarrassed not only herself but the Silvas as well. There is not a doubt in my mind that she would have failed," Nozel said

"Isn't that harsh, I mean did you really expect her to fail," Yukino said

"I did, because she was weak, and her failure would have embarrassed our family, and the Silvas have a reputation that needs to be upheld," Nozel said

Some of the Fiore wizards frowned at Nozel's words, some of what Noelle said earlier today made sense. If this is how her older brother is then how are the other two siblings. Lucy was the most visible, she gritted her teeth.

"Despite how harsh that sounds, Nozel isn't wrong. On either of those counts sadly," Noelle said getting everyone's attention of her, "The fact was that if I took the exam I would have failed. I honestly would have embarrassed myself more than Asta did."

"You have such great magic power though. How could you fail," Wendy said

"In Clover having high magic power doesn't mean you're strong, that's just part of it. Another part is if you have control, what's the point of having all that magic if you can't control it. Sadly, that was my problem, ever since I was a little girl," Noelle said

"What do you mean," Erza asked

"Ever since I was little, I had no control over my magic power," Noelle said surprising the Fiore wizards all except for Lucy, Jura, and surprisingly Erza who narrowed her eyes as she stared at Noelle as if she was figuring out a problem.

"Seriously, you really couldn't control your magic," Gray said

"I really couldn't, and because of that I was considered weak. I trained every day to try and improve my magic control which frankly just disgraced me even more in the eyes of the nobles and royals," Noelle said

"How did that disgrace you," Gray asked

"Nobles and royals are naturally talented," Lucy said getting everyones attention on her, "Training and hard work are for commoners. Anyone who trains will be looked down upon."

"Well that's dumb," Sting said, he can't see how training should be looked down on. Training is the only way one can improve, if anything those who don't train should be looked down on for their laziness.

"Definitely," Noelle and Lucy said in unison, they then looked at each other and giggled.

Noelle then turned back to the group, "I would shoot countless water balls for hours at a tree and I would miss every time. I never hit the tree once, they always wound-up curving at the last minute or would even backfire on me," Noelle said

The thought of a small Noelle shooting water balls at a tree then backfiring and hitting her making her soaking wet was just too funny for Natsu and Happy who were just about to crack up if not for Lucy, "It's not funny," Lucy said getting them to look at her only to see a disapproving look on her face, "You have no idea just how frustrating it was for Noelle to keep training but no matter how long and hard she'd train, and she trained long and hard she always missed the tree," Lucy said she then turned to Noelle, "I remember so many times I would try and get you to take breaks, but you refused, you were desperate to gain control of your magic in hopes of finally gaining the approval of your family," Lucy said as she thought back to the past.

Flashback – Clover Kingdom, 13 years ago

Lucy was sitting at the dining room table with her father eating. It was just them, none of the Silva siblings were there. Nozel was at the Silver Eagles base doing some paperwork, Nebra was on a mission, Solid, she didn't know where he was which was fine with her, and Noelle, well sadly she doesn't know where Noelle was either, not since they separated a few hours ago. Lucy can't help but feel worried, she has no idea where Solid and Noelle are, she is aware that Solid just like Nebra loves tormenting Noelle. However, Solid takes more of a physical approach than Nebra does. Now, she's starting to get worried, "Excuse me," Lucy said as she gets up from her chair.

"And where exactly are you going," Jude Heartfilia asked

"To find Noelle, I'm worried about her," Lucy said

"Sit down and eat, I'm sure she's with one of her siblings," Jude said

"That's exactly why I'm worried," Lucy said as she leaves the dining room, ignoring her father's calls. She'll deal with him later, right now Noelle is more important to her.

Lucy walked around the palace, looking in the places that she knows that Noelle frequents, but sadly she found nothing. She then walked to Noelle's room, once there she opened the door, "Noelle, are you in here," she asked looking in the room but saw that Noelle wasn't there which makes her sigh, "Where are you?" Lucy then decides to look outside, when Noelle is there, she will either go to be alone or to train. She knows that the little girl wants to gain control of her magic, hoping that by doing that she'll gain her family's approval. It saddens Lucy that Noelle does that simply to gain acceptance. It saddens her and angers her. After a little bit more of looking around, Lucy hears something. She hears something crashing into something else, grunts, and gasps.

Following the noise, Lucy appears in one of the clearings of the palace, and just as she enters, she sees that the clearing is riddled with craters. She also sees a target and Noelle who is dirty, scraped, soaked, and breathing heavily. She watches as Noelle created a water ball and shoots it. The water ball flies toward the target, then it curved, and hits the ground making a new crater. Noelle made a sound of frustration.

"Noelle," Lucy said getting the girl's attention.

"Lucy," Noelle said as the older girl walked up to her.

"What are you doing here," Lucy asked, already knowing the answer.

"I'm training," Noelle answered as she faced the target again, created another water ball, shot it, but again it missed. She then shoots another one, but it missed again.

Lucy crouched down and rested her hand on Noelle's shoulder getting her attention, "I think you've done enough training," Lucy said

"No…," Noelle said breathing heavily and shaking her head. "I'm not…done," Noelle then turned back toward the target, "Not until…I hit…the target." Noelle then shoots another water ball, but it missed again.

Lucy grabbed Noelle's wrist gently, she then looked at the girl, "Yes you are, you look like you're ready to collapse. Honestly Noelle, this isn't good for you," Lucy said in concern.

"I don't care," Noelle said as she pulled away from Lucy, "I have to hit it," Noelle then turned to the target, gathers up a big ball of water, "And prove that I'm not a failure." Noelle then fired the ball but again it missed, and just as it crashed in the ground, Noelle herself collapses.

"Noelle," Lucy exclaimed, but thankfully, she was there to catch Noelle, Lucy then put Noelle in her arms and stood up. She then looked at the girl whose head is now resting on her chest, Lucy sighed, "Oh, Noelle." Lucy feels anger build in her, damn her siblings. Damn Nozel, damn Solid, damn Nebra, damn the royals and nobles, damn them all. It's because of them that Noelle puts herself through this. So desperate for her family's acceptance, of not wanting to be a failure, she'll put her body and magic through this. Why can't she just take Noelle with her? If they don't want her, then give her to people who will take care of her. Sighing again, Lucy walked them both into the palace to lay the girl down in her bed and clean those scrapes. They'll clean the rest of her and bring her some food later.

Present

"I remember that I would carry you, because you lost so much magic that you would collapse on the ground and sometimes even lose consciousness. I truly hated that, seeing you push yourself and all to gain approval of the people who should have approved of you in the very beginning," Lucy said

"Gaining approval of your family," Natsu said questioningly

"What's that supposed to mean," Gray said

"It means that Noelle's family treated her like trash since she was little," Lucy said

"Lucy," Noelle warned

"It's true, I don't know why you're trying to protect him," Lucy said

"Things are a lot more complicated than you think. Let's get back to the story ok," Noelle said getting some nods from those who don't want to start an argument. However, even these people aren't happy with the way that they were told how Noelle was treated. Who treats their own family like trash. "Anyway, it's true I had no control over my magic, it didn't matter how long or hard I trained, I never improved. If I took the exam then I would have screwed up, floating a broom in the air, I would have been flying all around the stadium, trying not to hit anyone, target practice, my water balls would have curved and hit someone or they would have backfired on me, the mock battles, yeah, I would have lost. As a royal I would have been expected to pass the tests, but I would have failed them all. Me a Silva failing every test when I should have aced them easily. It would have been an embarrassment. After my confrontation with Nozel I decided to stay to watch the exam. I watched as Asta failed every test."

"He failed every test," Yukino asked getting a nod from Noelle.

"Every test was magic based, Asta had no magic. The only part of the exam that he passed was the mock battles where he beat a noble Sekke Bronzazza. Sekke had stayed beside Asta the entire exam, pretending to be his friend when in reality Sekke was just using Asta to make himself look good. In the mock battles Sekke's plan was to fight Asta, let the battle drag on a bit so he could show off his spells then beat Asta and get in one of the good squads. After that Sekke plan was just sit back and breeze through life."

"Sounds like a sleazeball," Sting said

"He was aware that if he got on those good teams then he'd have been going on some dangerous missions, right? Forget sitting back and relaxing, he'd be too busy with missions," Lucy said

"Yes, well it seems to be a common misconception that when you join squads like the Silver Eagles, Crimson Lion Kings, and Golden Dawn that all they are gonna do is sit down and relax. I wish I knew where that came from. Anyway, it didn't turn out the way Sekke wanted though because Asta did beat him and passed that part of the exam. You see even though Asta has no magic he was able to get a grimoire that allowed him to summon a massive broad sword. Using this sword Asta could negate any spell," Noelle said

"Any spell," Wendy asked getting a nod from Noelle.

"It doesn't matter what the spell is, if Asta's sword hits it then it would be negated," Noelle explained

"That's quite the weapon. And you say he has no magic," Erza said

"That's right, no magic. So Asta won his fight with Sekke fairly quickly. After that came when the captains chose who got to join their squad. The selection was like this, everyone is assigned a number at the beginning of the test. This number is used to identify them, at the end of the test a person's number would be called and if a squad captain raised their hand, then that is the squad that person is assigned. Of course, if a person doesn't want to be on that squad they can decline," Noelle said

"What if multiple captains raised their hands," Gray asked

"Then the person must choose which squad they want to be on. It's happened a few times during the exams. My future brother-in-law Yuno had to make the choice on which squad he wanted to be on," Noelle said

"He had more than one captain raise their hand," Wendy asked

"He didn't just have more than one. Yuno was the first person to have all nine captains raise their hands," Noelle said

"WHAT! ALL NINE CAPTAINS," Lucy explained in surprise as the other wizards looked surprised as well. To have all nine captains be impressed enough to want you on their squads. They may not be from Clover and don't know a lot about Magic Knights, but they do know that to have impressed all captains present is extremely impressive.

"Yup, the first person ever to have all nine captains raise their hands. If you don't believe me, just ask Nozel, he was the one who raised his hand," Noelle said making everyone turn to her brother.

"Yuno was an exceptional mage; his mana was vast and his control near perfect. He scored top on all his tests, not to mention he had the four-leaf grimoire. It didn't matter if he was a commoner, I would have been a fool not to have him in my squad," Nozel said

"What the big deal about a four-leaf grimoire," Natsu asked

In response Noelle took out her own grimoire and showed it to everyone, "In the Clover Kingdom, grimoires normally have a three-leaf clover on them," Noelle said

"You know, I kind of wanted to ask about those grimoires. Like why you have them, and we don't," Gray asked

"How about we save that for another time. Anyway, the leaves of the clover all symbolize something, the first three symbolize faith, hope, and love. The fourth leaf is given over to good luck. Four-leaf clover grimoires are very powerful, and the holder will be blessed with good luck. Five-hundred years ago, humanity was threatened by a ruthless demon, and was on the brink of destruction. All seemed lost until a lone mage stepped forward and took up the fight. He was the prince of the Clover Kingdom and my ancestor, Lumiere Silvamillion Clover. After his triumph, he was hailed as the Wizard King and his story became legend."

"If it's legend, how do you know it's real," Minerva asked

"Asta is from Hage Village in the Forsaken Real. The skeleton rests near the village, Asta and Yuno saw that thing every day, heck Asta made it his training ground. I, myself have seen the skeleton, I'd use it as a landmark to know if I was close to Hage," Noelle said, 'Not to mention, I met Lumiere himself.'

'I really should get the full story about the first wizard king from Noelle,' Lucy thought, remembering what Noelle said about the statue actually being Lumiere.

"Anyway, Lumiere he had a four-leaf grimoire," Noelle said

"I see, so because a hero such as your ancestor had a four-leaf grimoire, it would only make sense that anyone with that grimoire would be expected to do great things," Erza said

"Exactly, those with the four-leaf grimoire, people say they have a better chance of becoming Wizard King," Noelle said

"So, who did Yuno choose," Erza asked

"Well Yuno's dream was, is to become the Wizard King, so he chose the squad that would get him there. Of course, he would choose the top squad whose captain was said to become the next Wizard King. The Golden Dawn," Noelle said

"What about Asta," Lucy asked

"Well, Asta failed all the tests, the only one he passed was the mock battles. No one understood the power that Asta had, it was a mystery, and no one wanted anything to do with something they didn't understand. No one raised their hand for him," Noelle said

"So, no one chose him," Lucy asked getting a nod from Noelle, "You said he wanted to be Wizard King that must have been really hard on him."

"It was, what made it worse was that Yuno who is Asta's foster brother and rival had passed," Noelle said

"Harsh," Gray said

"Yeah, but just then out of nowhere one of the captains spoke up to Asta. Captain Yami Sukehiro of the Black Bulls," Noelle said as she thinks back seven years ago.

Flashback – 7 years ago, entrance exam

Asta was standing there in front of the captains of the Magic Knights, trying to come to terms with the fact that he had failed. He failed while Yuno passed, "I…I'm not…," Asta said to himself, he was interrupted by a voice.

"It's no real surprise is it," a voice said getting everyone's attention on the captain of the Black Bulls standing up.

"Yami," Finral said

"No matter how great your skill in battle might be. No one wants to touch a power that mysterious, people aren't fond of the unknown," Yami said, everyone just stared at him listening in interest. "It boils down to this. What the captains are looking for here is magic power, that simple." Just then Yami lets out his mana for everyone to feel and everyone did feel it, the power, the pressure of it. The ground itself shook to where some had trouble keeping balance. The only ones who didn't react to it was the Magic Knight captains while everyone else looked on in fear of the man. Captain Yami then jumped down from where the captains were all sitting and landed on the ground. They heard his feet hit the ground; it was one of the loudest things that anyone has heard.

"Hey, what are you doing," Finral said

Yami ignored Finral and looked Asta straight in the eyes and growled. He then stalked toward Asta and stopped a few feet in front of him. "What would anyone ever want with you? A kid with zero magic," Yami said

"Eh," Asta said feeling intimidated by the Black Bulls captain but trying to stay strong, but Noelle could tell that he was struggling. She'll admit that the man really is scary and intimidating.

"Might as well face the facts. What you said before that you took the exam because you wanted to become the Wizard King," Yami said

"Kk," Asta said as he stared at Yami.

"You get what that means right," Yami said, his mana not letting up at all, "If that's really your goal, you're gonna have to prove that you're better than all nine Magic Knight captains, and now standing here magicless and pathetic. Can you really say you have what it takes. That you're strong enough to be the Wizard King." Yami then gave Asta a deadly stare.

Asta took two shaky breaths and clenched his fist, "Yeah fine. So maybe I won't get to join a Magic Knight squad today. But no matter what anyone says, and no matter how many times I might stumble. I won't give up, I will become the Wizard King," Asta declared as he looked Yami in the eyes as he said that.

Yami then let his mana go back to normal and everything stopped shaking, the pressure is gone. Yami then stared Asta down and the commoner did his best to meet the stare. Then to everyone's surprise Yami begins laughing, he then looked at Asta with a smile, "You know kid," Yami said, he then pointed at Asta, "I like you. Come join our crew."

"Wha," Asta asked perplexed

This itself gets a reaction from those around them but Yami and Asta ignored them, "Quit gaping like a fish, I'm saying I'll let you inta the Black Bulls," Yami said, he then gained a scary face that promised pain if you disobeyed, "By the way you don't get to say no. Got it."

"Wha…a…t," Asta said nervously

"It won't be a picnic, we're gonna put you through the ringer until you don't recognize yourself. So, get ready," Yami said, he then starts laughing

"Whaaaat," Asta said scared.

"And then once we're done. You go and become the Wizard King," Yami said

And just like that, Asta's fear of the man in front of him disappeared as he remembered everything that he has been through. Asta looks at Captain Yami who is smiling at him, he then took a sharp breath, "Right," Asta said smiling, looking forward to serving with the Black Bulls.

Noelle herself watched this surprised at what she just saw.

Present

"I like this Yami Sukehiro guy," Natsu said

"Totally, he sounds like a real hard ass though," Sting said

"He sounds like an honorable man," Erza said, 'Yami Sukehiro, captain of the Black Bulls, the God of Destruction. Yuno of the Golden Dawn and he has a four-leaf grimoire. Asta, he joined the Black Bulls and can summon a massive sword from his grimoire and can negate spells with it.' Erza then looked at Noelle, 'Noelle Silva of the Black Bulls, she has the Silver Eagles emblem on her cape, she is a water magic user, and her magic incorporates dragons in her spells. It has to be them, ' Erza thought, her eyes then focused on the three-leaf clover on Noelle's grimoire, 'Her grimoire has three leaves though.'

Noelle, Finral, and Vanessa smiled at the praises that were given to their captain. The group can tell that those praises mean a lot to them. Nozel however just closes his eyes, clearly annoyed of the praises that the foreigner is getting, and of course he'd deny it, but he is also a little jealous that his little sister would have such high praises with anyone who wasn't him.

"After that, I left the arena to gather my stuff from the palace," Noelle said, leaving out the part where her stuff was already out of her room just thrown in the hall hazardously. If she had to guess, Solid was the one who did it, "And headed to the Black Bulls hideout where I was shown my room, and it was terrible, totally disgusting. I swear that was probably the first time I had to do any cleaning."

"Did you see any of the other Black Bulls," Wendy asked getting a laugh from Vanessa.

"Oh, she saw us, she just blatantly ignored us, the only acknowledgement we got was a scoff, a hair flip and her calling us insects," Vanessa said

"Noelle," Lucy said giving her little sister a look.

"What. I was raised to believe that as a royal I was their better. They were all below me," Noelle said

"What kind of screwed up family do you have," Natsu said

Ignoring the comment Noelle explained herself, "It's just how the Clover Kingdom is, for the most part royals and nobles believe that they are above commoners. Especially when those commoners are from the forsaken realm. The Silvas were the most critical and prejudice the only house that was worse than us were the House of Kira." Noelle then turned her head toward Vanessa, "I didn't even know that you were paying attention, when I first saw you, you looked like you were passed out on the couch, and you had like ten wine bottles with you."

"Fifteen actually," Vanessa said

"How are you alive," Sting asked, genuinely curious.

"Probably the same way Cana is. Still haven't figured out how she is still alive," Lucy asked

"Anyway, after I cleaned, I headed to a balcony, that's when I noticed that the squad were all outside. Magna our fire mage, a total delinquent," Noelle said

"And a virgin," Vanessa said

Meanwhile, in the Clover Kingdom, Black Bulls Hideout

Magna was sitting at a table with Yami and Asta, a deck of cards on the table, currently Magna was dealing the cards, when suddenly he stopped and gained an annoyed look on his face which Yami noticed, "What's up with you," Yami asked

"I don't know, but I feel like somewhere someone is calling me a delinquent and a virgin. I am not a virgin. I've had sex before," Magna said

"I really don't care. Deal the cards before I kill you," Yami said

Magna then finished dealing the cards, "I don't know about this," Asta said, voicing his concerns.

"Don't worry Rasta, there's nothing to it. You get all the rules right," Magna said getting a nod from Asta, "Well then let's play some poker." Magna and Yami then picked up their cards.

"Well, ok," Asta said as he picked up his cards.

Magna and Yami then snickered to each other, "We're gonna clean him out," Yami said

"I almost feel bad about this. Almost," Magna said as he and Yami high fived under the table.

Minutes later, "WHAAAAAAT," Magna and Yami yelled

Meanwhile back in Fiore.

"Magna was putting Asta through his baptism," Noelle said making air quotes.

"Baptism," Gray asked

"Just a dumb ritual that Magna came up with. In order to gain a Black Bulls robe, Magna puts them through a series of tests. Good thing for Asta they were physical tests, and he was able to pass them," Vanessa said

"What was it, 5000 crunches, 5000 push-ups, then you guys had him lift a boulder and keep it above his head, after that you had him break a boulder with his head, nearly making him concussed. After that, using any skills he had, Asta had to dodge Magna's attack spell. Magna then hit a bunch of fireballs at Asta which he avoided. Not a single one hit him," Noelle said the last sentence proudly. "Then Magna threw his Flame Magic: Exploding Fireball at Asta, the attack was quite big too. He really must have tried to make himself a big shot."

"He so was," Finral said

"That fireball was big, and powerful. There is no way Asta could dispel it with a slash. Even if he did slash it, the force of the attack wouldn't have died and Asta would have taken the full blow, be set on fire, and most likely die a horrendous and painful death," Noelle said

"How can you say that so easily. I know I said it before, but I am really concerned about the influences in your life," Lucy said with wide comical eyes.

Noelle shrugged, "It's a good thing that Asta is smarter than he looks, well he was smart enough to know that he couldn't block it. But what happened next was simply instinct on his part. From what he told me, his body just moved," she said

"What he do," Natsu asked curious about this Asta guy, just by this story, he can tell that he already liked him.

"Realizing that he couldn't slice through it, on instinct Asta had used the flat of the sword to hit the fireball right back at Magna," Noelle said, she then laughed as she remembered Magna's surprise, "The guy was so surprised he would have died by his own spell if he didn't dispel it in time. After that Magna congratulated Asta, and the others did the same thing. Asta got his Black Bulls robe and a headband."

"You had to have been impressed at what he did," Lucy said

"When I think about it now, yeah, it's impressive, but back then I still held the beliefs that commoners were beneath me. So honestly, I just thought that he was a little insect," Noelle said

"What with you and calling people insects," Natsu asked

"What do you mean? I haven't called any of you insects, and I rarely call people insects anymore," Noelle said

"You called Finral an insect earlier," Natsu said

"Oh, that, well that's different," Noelle said dismissively

"How," Natsu said

"Because Finral is an insect," Noelle said as if it's obvious which makes Finral cry animated tears.

"Noelle, you shouldn't call someone an insect. Especially your own teammate," Lucy lectures

'Finally, someone stands up for me,' Finral thought

"He's six years older than me, and he's been trying to make moves on me since I was fifteen," Noelle explained

At hearing that Lucy looked at Finral and gave him one of the scariest glares that he has seen, "You really are an insect," Lucy said making Finral bow his head and cry animatedly at the loss of a potential defender. "If you touched her."

"I didn't, I just flirted with her, complimented her by calling her rockin and fine and asked her out, and I should probably quit talking now," Finral said, when he sees Lucy grabbing one of her keys. He saw what she did earlier and would rather not be on the receiving end of that.

Noelle smiled a fond smile, even if Finral can be annoying and she insults him. He is still her family, and if he is in any trouble she won't hesitate to help. They all are her family. Noelle then gained a fond smile. "You know, I'll never forget what happened after that," Noelle said getting everyone's attention. "At first, I tried to brush it off. I was a Silva and what he said to me shouldn't have meant so much. But it did, but like I said, I did my best to brush it off and keep up the façade."

"What did this person say that meant so much? Was it Asta," Lucy asked

Noelle shook her head, "Asta and I met the day after. It was Captain Yami who came to me," she said, Noelle then takes a moment to remember a moment that she had with Captain Yami. It was not to long after Asta's baptism.

Flashback – 7 years ago, Black Bulls Hideout, Balcony

Noelle was standing on the balcony looking at the sunset thinking about how she couldn't believe that she was with the Black Bulls, 'The worst Magic Knight squad in the kingdom. I shouldn't be here, I'm royalty, but most of all I'm a Silva. So why am I not in the Silver Eagles,' Noelle thought

Just then a figure walked and stopped behind Noelle, "Hmm, so you're Nozel's little sister, heh," the figure said making Noelle turn to see Captain Yami. The royal couldn't help but glare at the man. "Your brother was talkin about you." That made Noelle face Yami fully, wanting to know more. "Apparently, you're a total failure who can't even control her magic. He said, you'd never pass the entrance exam even if you tried." That made Noelle turn away from the captain of the Black Bulls. "Ya know, I've never seen a royal failure before."

Having enough of the man Noelle turned around and starts walking, "Well, if you'll excuse me," she said as she walked past the man.

"If you really wanna fight, you could always join us," Yami said

That made Noelle stop, take a sharp breath, and then looked at Yami in surprise.

"That's right. The worst of the worst Magic Knights squads; the Black Bulls, where all the best failures hang out," Yami said, he then turned and looked at Noelle, "I think you'll fit right in."

Present

"And that's what happened," Noelle finished recounting that day to the wizards who were all smiling at the tale. Finral and Vanessa smiled as they remembered all that Yami did for them.

"I'll never forget what Yami did for me," Finral said getting everyone's attention on him. "As Noelle was a failure of a royal, I was a failure of a noble. I come from the House of Vaude and my family were famous for offensive spacial magic. Me however, I didn't have any offensive spells or even try to learn them, I just made portals. The truth is I didn't want to hurt anyone," Finral said

"There's nothing wrong with that. Not wanting to hurt anyone. I'd honestly rather go on a mission where it wouldn't be necessary to fight," Wendy said

"To my family it is, it's because of that my father was frustrated and ashamed of me. My little brother Langris was different though, he did have the offensive spacial magic, and my stepmother hated my guts. I was constantly being compared to him, always being told how great he was, how terrible I was, and how ashamed I should be that my little brother kept beating me. I never put up a fight, always just took it, believing that they were right, compared to Langris I was a failure. In the end I couldn't take it anymore. I distanced myself from my family and changed my name to Roulacase my mother's maiden name. Instead of fighting, I ran away. I later joined the Magic Knights and was chosen by the Black Bulls. One day Captain Yami and I were at the Capital," Finral said, he then remembered when he and Yami were at the Capital, and he asked Yami why he chose him for his squad.

Flashback – years ago Clover Kingdom, Capital

Finral and Yami are walking through the Capital with Finral walking behind Yami holding some boxes, "Yami," Finral asked

"What," Yami said as they stopped.

"It's just that…Why'd you let me join your squad, knowing I'm not much of a fighter," Finral asked

"Figured you'd come in handy as a chauffeur," Yami answered

Finral gasped, he then smiled and closed his eyes, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I mean it's not like my spells are good for taking down enemies or anything," he said

Yami turned and just stared at Finral for a moment, he then turned back around, took a puff of his cigarette, and blew out the smoke, "Maybe not, but you've probably got your own way of fightin', don'tcha," Yami said, he then continued walking, "There's a lot more to battle than just taking down enemies, y'know."

Finral stared at Yami in surprise, "Is it possible, my own way of fighting," Finral said to himself

Present

"I'll never forget what Captain Yami did for me," Vanessa said getting everyone's attention on her now, "I come from the Forest of Witches. It's a place where only witches live, I was born and raised there. When I was a child, our queen became obsessed with perfection. She wanted everything perfect and would do anything to obtain perfection. On one of her scryings, she predicted that I would gain some great power. In order to make me unlock this power, she trapped me in a giant bird cage," Vanessa said

"A giant bird cage," Sting repeated getting a nod from Vanessa.

"I tried to unlock this power, but I just couldn't. I spent years in there," Vanessa said

"How long were you there," Yukino said

"I was ten when I was put in there, so eight years," Vanessa said

"You were in a giant bird cage for eight years," Gray asked getting a nod from Vanessa.

"Was there anyone there with you," Wendy asked

"I had the entire thing to myself, and all I had was a table and chair. I was isolated from everyone. The closest thing I got to contact with the outside world was a window that I would use to hear the other witches talking to each other, and the Witch Queen herself would visit to check on my progress," Vanessa said

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that," Lucy said, she couldn't believe someone like Vanessa who had such an easy-going smile and obsessed with men and alcohol had gone through something like that. Eight years where it was just her, Lucy would have gone mad.

"Why didn't you try to escape," Natsu asked

"She was the Witch Queen, no one defies her. By then I believed it to be my fate to spend the rest of my life in that bird cage. At least until he came…," Vanessa said as she remembered when she first met Yami Sukehiro for the first time.

Flashback – 12 years ago, Forest of Witches, Vanessa's Cage

"Hey did you know. There's a big town outside this forest, and I've heard there are tons of people living there who aren't witches," a short-haired Vanessa who was sitting in her chair told her thread dolls.

"Silly Vanessa. You must have told us about that place 1000 times now. Isn't that where all the other witches have gone? To have fun and find boyfriends and stuff like that," the thread bird said

"Why not escape this cage and join them. You want to right," a doll said

"What? No! That's impossible. I mean…I could never defy the Queen of Witches," Vanessa said while looking down.

"Hey, it's all right. Don't look so sad," the thread bird said

"I know. Want me to ask the Queen of Witches for you," the doll said

"That won't work. You're nothing more than a doll I made using my magic. So, if I can't do something, you certainly can't, either," Vanessa said

"That's right. And this whole conversation is just you talking to yourself," the doll said

The threat bird and doll started to disappear, "Someday, it would be nice to have real friends to talk to," the thread bird said as it disappeared.

"Yes, it would. But it'll never happen. I'm stuck here. Inside this cage forever. I'll never be free," Vanessa said as she sobbed

Later, Vanessa was still sitting in the same chair, tears falling off her face. Just then screams of witches are heard, 'I wonder what all the chaos is about,' Vanessa thought

"It's a man," a witch said

"Intruder," another witch said

'What did they say,' Vanessa thought

And just then the wall to her dungeon was smashed open by a great force, the debris breaking the cage open. There is dust covering the area and Vanessa closes her eyes, then she gasps. As the dust clears, Vanessa can see someone. When she finally got a good look, she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Jeeze relax, I was just doing some martial arts training…," a younger Yami said

'Is that a…,' Vanessa thought

"Are they really gonna chase me outta here for bein a man," Yami said

Vaness gasped, then gets up from her seat so fast that it falls backwards and to the ground. She isn't sure what to do. She watched as the man walked toward her looking around. 'I've never seen one of them before,' Vanessa thought

"I'll give that hysterical old hag one thing, though. She really knows how to fight," Yami said

'Wait, is he saying he fought the Queen,' Vanessa thought

"Now then, where am I, uh," Yami asked himself, he then looked and saw Vanessa standing there, "And what's your story? Why are you sitin' in a birdcage?"

"Well, sir. I, uh…You see this is my home," Vanessa said as she backed away more. "The Queen of Witches locked me in, and I can't get out."

Yami who was taking a puff from his cigarette blew out the smoke, "Like a pet bird. But you gotta go outside every once in a while, right," he said

"I've never left the cage," Vanessa said

"Not once? Sounds like a tough life," Yami said as he looked at Vanessa, "But hey, it's your lucky day. There's a hole in the wall. Now you can sneak out."

"Oh," Vanessa said as she then turned around where her back is toward Yami, "Thanks but. I can't run away from Her Majesty. I have to stay here. This cage is my fate."

"Your fate. Really? You're sayin' that you ended up here because it's your fate? Yeah, yeah, old Mr. Fate, I know. Man. I'm not a fan of that guy. Why would anyone obey him? I live how I want, even if it means kickin' fate's ass," Yami said making Vanessa gasp in surprise and her turning her head to look at him. "But at the moment, I don't stand a chance in hell against that crazy old bat who's got you trapped here." Yami then took a puff of his cigarette and blew the smoke out. He then turned around and headed toward the hole he made, "Which means I probably oughtta make a run for it while I can. Hope it works out, little birdie."

Vanessa gasps again and turned toward Yami, "Wait don't go," she called making Yami stop, "What should I do now?"

Yami then turned his head and looked at Vanessa, "Well. That's up to you," he said, Yami then turned back around and jumped out the hole.

Vanessa watched Yami go, unsure of what she should do with the opportunity given to her. Take it and leave, or stay here? Vanessa then closed her eyes, 'If I really am a bird in a cage,' she thought, she then opened her eyes gaining her determination, 'Then I have wings like a bird, too! If I want to.' Vanessa then starts running, 'I can fly away from all this!' Vanessa then starts to speed up, "It's my choice!" Finally, when she was close enough, she jumped out of the cage and into a world she knew nothing about, gaining back what she lost. Her freedom.

Present

"Some time after that, I took the Magic Knights entrance exam and joined the Black Bulls; the worst of the Magic Knights squads, and yet despite that I was happy," Vanessa said

Lucy remembered what Noelle said to her earlier, "In a world where no one gave a damn about us. Captain Yami did," memory Noelle said. Lucy couldn't help but smile, 'I really need to meet this Captain Yami. He really sounds like a good man.'

Some of those in Fairy Tail can't help but think that they and the Black Bulls are kindred spirits, and they can't help but wonder what the other Black Bulls stories are.

Noelle couldn't help but chuckle, "Sorry, you guys wanted to know how Asta and I met, and somehow we wound up giving quite a bit of a history lesson," Noelle said, Vanessa and Finral couldn't help but laugh too.

"We kind of digressed, didn't we? Sorry," Finral said

"Don't be, we liked the stories," Wendy said

"It's nice to get to know the people who you're working with. I myself was kidnapped from my home village along with a bunch of other kids. We were taken to a place known as the Tower of Heaven. We were forced to work and help build the tower; at the time it was believed that it could be used to reach the heavens. I had to have been there three years, I had a few friends plus a man who we called Grandpa Rob, he was the one who taught me magic, he was also a member of Fairy Tail. It was through him that I knew of the guild. It was a hard life, and the people there were cruel, hm they even took my eye. The one I have now is prosthetic, we were able to revolt and overpowered the ones in charge. We were all gonna escape, but sadly one of my friends was mentally manipulated into doing some cruel things. He wanted to keep everyone there and continue working, I disagreed, he then told me to go, but to never tell anyone or comeback, because if I did, he would kill our friends. After that I left the island and found the Fairy Tail guild, as you can see I joined them and became their strongest wizard," Erza said

"You know this story sounds familiar, didn't you tell me this story Lucy, or written it to me," Noelle asked turning to Lucy.

That got some of the wizards attention on Lucy, "Exactly what have you written her," Erza asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lucy laughed nervously, "Just about every adventure that I've been on since joining Fairy Tail," she said

"She wasn't descriptive, just told me that you worked in the tower as a child, but then led a rebellion and took it over. You were then forced to flee because your friend was possessed by the spirit Zeref. Lucy made sure to gloss over a lot of things, trying to make it kid friendly," Noelle explained

"Well, I certainly hope that those stories entertained you," Erza said

"They were really entertaining, and now that I think about it," Noelle said as she then looked at Lyon, "You wouldn't happen to be the Sub-Zero Emperor, would you? I remember Lucy saying that the Sub-Zero Emperor's name was Lyon who had ice magic."

Lyon groaned, "So you told her that story too," he said

"She liked the stories," Lucy explained, she was trying to entertain Noelle.

"I certainly wouldn't mind hearing the full versions now. I'm sure that Lucy left a lot of stuff out for entertainment purposes," Noelle said

"We'd be happy to tell you. If you will return the favor. I'd certainly like to hear some of your adventures as a Magic Knight," Erza said

"So would I," Wendy said

"Me too," Yukino said

"Ditto," Sting said

"Sounds fair. Anyway, perhaps we should get to mine and Asta's story," Noelle said getting everyone back on track. "So, after my encounter with Captain Yami, I wasn't interested in encountering anyone, so I went to my room and fell asleep. The next morning, I woke up and decided to go outside and think things through. My feelings were conflicted; the Black Bulls were the worst Magic Knights squad out there, and it was shameful for me a Silva being part of them. But then I remembered my talk with Captain Yami, he didn't talk to me like he was being forced to have me on his squad, he didn't even complain about it. Instead, he practically welcomed me, and said that I had a place. It made me curious."

"After some time thinking I decided to head back to the hideout and head to my room. I wasn't in the mood to socialize with anyone. I was entering the hideout when I saw Magna and Asta there. Just like last time I wasn't impressed. Magna introduced me as the other new member. Asta introduced himself to me with this sparkle in his eyes he tends to get when he's excited or amazed. He put his hand out for me to shake but," Noelle said wincing at the memory, when she thinks back, she feels guilty about the way she acted toward him.

"What did you do," Wendy asked

"I smacked his hand away," Noelle said

"You smacked his hand away," Lucy asked

"Well, that's rude," Natsu said

"Yeah, it was, and what I said wasn't so good," Noelle said as she remembered her words.

"Don't speak to me so casually. You're a little insect of a commoner with barely any mana," Memory Noelle said

"They certainly were surprised when I said that. I then introduced myself as Noelle Silva from the royal Silva House. Asta was certainly surprised," Noelle said

"WHAT, NO WAY. Are you royalty," Memory Asta said

"He then got down on his knees, started bowing and asking for my forgiveness and calling himself a, insignificant insect," Noelle said

"An insignificant insect like me, should never have presumed to speak so informally to an exalted royal such as yourself," Memory Asta said bowing multiple times at Noelle's feet.

Noelle can't help but laugh a little as she remembered Asta doing that. She didn't appreciate it at the time, but that was funny, she still finds it funny to this day, and won't let him live it down.

"Well, that wasn't nice," Gray said

"The bowing is funny when I think back. I still don't let him live that down, but you're right what I said wasn't nice. If you think that was bad, just wait till you hear what I did next," Noelle said

"What did you do," Wendy asked, she can't believe that the queen did and said things like that. She's been so nice to them the entire day. Hearing what she said years ago is hard to believe.

"After it occurred to Asta that we were both Magic Knights, and we joined at the same time. My royal status didn't matter, he even had the audacity to say that to me," Noelle said, but she wasn't upset, no she had a fond smile on her face.

"I like this Asta guy," Natsu said

"Same," Gray said, a guy who wouldn't take shit from anyone even royalty is someone he'd like to get to know.

"You two are quite similar," Noelle told Natsu, "One of the differences that I see is that while you seem to enjoy fighting and even look for it. Asta's not like that, he'd rather talk things out and understand the other side's point of view."

"That doesn't sound anything like Natsu, talking is the furthest thing from his mind. You give him the chance to fight, he's gonna take it," Gray said

"Not mention he can be hard to work with," Sting said

"HEY," Natsu said

"It's true, you wouldn't let Rouge and I help you even though you were getting your butt kicked by Mard Gear. We had to trick you by making you believe it to be a competition so we could help," Sting said

"If Asta were there, he wouldn't have let that slide. He would have scolded you without a second thought, and give you a lecture about how you can't be selfish, they were there to help, and whether you liked it or not, he was helping," Noelle said

"Are you sure that Natsu and this Asta are alike, because it sounds like that Asta is smarter than he is," Gray said

"HEY, SHUT IT STRIPPER," Natsu said

"Asta does have rivals, and they do compete sometimes during missions, but when it is necessary, Asta won't hesitate to accept someone else's or give help," Noelle said

"Maybe we should get back to the story," Lucy said

"Right. Well, Asta called me out on what I said, and Magna backed him up, saying that things like that don't matter in the Black Bulls. I, however, disagreed, being a royal did matter. They asked me how I was so sure. I was annoyed, I couldn't believe that I was explaining something that should have been common knowledge. It was obvious that words weren't gonna make them understand. So, I decided to show them and put Asta in his place. I would make sure, he didn't disrespect royalty again…," Noelle said

"What did you do," Lucy asked, hoping Noelle didn't cross any lines, just hearing how she acted, made Lucy sad and guilty. Maybe if she were there Noelle never would have said such things to Asta.

"The difference in our magic power, should have gotten my point across. After that was said, I formed a water ball, the size of Asta himself if not a little bigger. I told him not to forget his place again, and…shot it at him," Noelle said

"You attack him," Minerva said, some of the wizards surprised at what they heard. The queen attacked someone and all because they talked back to her.

"Noelle," Lucy said sadly.

"I'm not proud of it, the only thing I can say is that is what I saw as a child. Whenever a commoner got out of hand, I would see some noble or royal put them in their place by showing their power. Reminding them which of them is the powerful and which is the weak," Noelle explained

Lucy wishes that she was surprised by this, but she isn't, she's seen some nobles and royals discipline the commoners because they believed that they were being disrespected. Lucy herself has been threatened a couple of times.

"The water ball was shot at Asta, but just as it was about to hit him, well…," Noelle said, she then laughed a bit, "Sorry, it's just I remember what happened after that, and I can't help but find it funny."

"What happened," Yukino asked curious.

"Well as you all found out, back then I could never hit my intended target. My spells would either curve or backfire, well this time my spell curved left at the last moment, and Magna was standing to the side on the left," Noelle said

"You mean," Yukino said

"It hit Magna," Vanessa said as she then laughed, boy does she wish she were there to see that.

"Of course, I played it off like I meant to do that, and that Magna had himself to blame for standing there. Magna then asked what kind of crazy was I, he's my superior. I responded that was nice, but I was royalty. Magna then got in my face and said that he didn't care if I was royalty or the sister of the Silver Eagles captain. Yami was the only person he knew who would ever take on a crazy chick like me. So, I might wanna show some gratitude. He was holding off because I was a woman, but he thought it was time for my baptism. Every word he said was just making me angrier. It was hard to control," Noelle said

"If you ask me, you deserved it," Natsu said

"Natsu," Lucy warned her boyfriend.

"What? You don't think she deserved it," Natsu said

"I'm sure she already knows what she did was wrong. So, let's not point that out," Erza said getting an appreciative smile from Noelle.

"After that, I took off my robe, threw it on the ground, and quite the squad," Noelle said

"Don't bother, I quit this stupid squad," Memory Noelle said

"After that Magna asked what I thought I was doing. I told him that I was leaving before the filth of the Black Bulls has a chance to rub off on me. Everyone knew that they were the worst of the worst Magic Knights squads. It was hardly the place for a royal like me. After that I walked off, Magna told me to come back there to apologize to the robe and Yami. He kept on yelling apologize, I don't know how many times, he then called me moron, but I ignored him," Noelle said

"After that, I searched for an area where I could train. I spent hours shooting water balls, but I hit nothing. It was frustrating beyond belief, I then started to think what everyone said about me. Everyone knew that I couldn't control my magic, whenever I was a topic, I was being insulted. I was called a disgrace and a failure by practically everyone, the nobles, royals, even my own family. I was pretty much exiled from the Silva house because of it," Noelle said surprising everyone.

"You were exiled," Lucy asked, she couldn't help but feel her anger growing, she then looked at Nozel, 'You bastard.'

"And where the hell were you during all this," Natsu asked Nozel, feeling outraged by what he's heard.

"That's a good question," Gray said

"Probably ignoring it all, like he always did. Letting it all happen to her, like he always did," Lucy said

"Anyway," Noelle said getting everyone's attention, "I kept practicing, determined that I would make them accept me. After, I think it was five more shots, I heard a noise, I turned my head, and to my horror Asta was there. He was watching me. I demanded how long he was there. I got scared, if he watched me train then he knew of my lack of control, and he was gonna mock me. I couldn't take being mocked. Asta was gonna ask if I was ok, but I honestly didn't hear it. I was too busy thinking of all the times I was mocked and put down. I couldn't go through that again, so I panicked. I tried to shoot a water ball at Asta, but in my state of panic, I lost control of my magic." Noelle said

"I remember being in a giant sphere of raging water up in the air. I didn't pay attention to anything else; I was too engrossed in my thoughts. Calling myself a failure, everyone was right about me. I remember the water filling my lungs, I was gonna drown. I remember thinking maybe it was for the best, maybe with me gone, everyone would be happier. Just as I was about to drown, I see something. It was a blur; I then see a rusted sword slash through the water. Apparently, Captain Yami threw Asta at the water without even giving him time to prepare," Noelle said smiling along with Vanessa and Finral, that was so Captain Yami. Nozel just looked annoyed because that sounded like something the foreigner would do, but he is also appreciative of him saving his baby sister. "The magic was dispelled, then I'm falling. I honestly didn't know what to expect at that point," Noelle said

"That's when I made a portal so they could land safely on the ground," Finral said

"I remember landing on the ground, and I just lied there, not looking at anyone, and I was getting ready for the mocking that was sure to come, but…," Noelle said

Flashback – 7 years ago, Black Bulls Hideout

"You pulled it off kid. Good job," Yami said pointing at Asta.

"Thank you," Asta said, he then turned to Noelle who was still lying on the ground, "Hey, Noelle!"

That made Noelle gasp and open her eyes, she then became depressed, and was trying to prepare herself for what was surely to come. Noelle then pictured Nozel with his back to her, "What an abject failure," Noelle remembered Nozel saying. Noelle closed her eyes, 'Here it comes, the mocking.'

Asta then walked up closer and looked down at her, "You know…YOU'VE GOT YOUSELF SOME CRAZY MAGIC POWER. I MEAN, IT'S FREAKIN' AMAZING," Asta said with wide eyes.

Noelle looked up at that a bit surprised at what Asta said.

"Really! I'm totally jealous of you. I don't have any magic power, like, none," Asta said, he then smiled at Noelle, "All you need is some training to get it under control. You'll be strong. Unstoppable

Noelle just stared at Asta, not believing what he was saying to her. He really thinks that she could be strong, she gives another gasp. She soon realizes that maybe she was wrong about the little ins-…Asta. Noelle gets to her knees, "Little in…A-Asta."

"I'm screwed. Man, I'll have to work extra hard if I'm gonna keep up with you," Asta said, Magna decided to take this chance to speak.

"What? Is that all? You were running away because you can't control your magic power? Shoulda said something sooner, you royal failure," Magna said, he then smiled at Noelle, "I mean, come on. This is the Black Bulls, after all. We're a whole squad of failures." Noelle gasped in surprise and looked at the squad, "So, maybe you've got a weakness or three." Just then the Black Bulls robe that she threw away floated in the air and was put on her which honestly surprised her, "That doesn't matter to us, ya big dummy."

Noelle looked at the squad again and Finral speaks up, "Anyway, we're glad you're all right," he said, Finral then winked at her, "Oh, and I know this place that makes killer pasta. You wanna check it out with me sometime?"

"Forget about pasta. You need to try a bite of this. Here," Charmy said offering her some food

"That was quite the show you put on. I happen to be particularly gifted at controlling my magic power, so I can teach you," Vanessa said, she then winked at Noelle, "Also, maybe give you some womanly advice."

"I'll tell you all about what an angel my sister Marie is," Gauche said

Gordon just mumbled something that no one can understand.

Seeing how kind and accepting everyone is to her, even though she can't control her magic. It is completely new to her; it means so much to her. She can't help it; tears just start falling down her eyes.

Asta then offered his hand to her, "Now, come on. We'll do our best together," Asta said

Noelle looked at Asta and his smiling face, there is no deception at all, he is being honest. They all are, she was wrong about the Black Bulls, they are all good people. She no longer dreads being on this squad. She wants to get to know them, and Asta, she wants to be his friend and he, her friend. Noelle sniffed a bit, took Asta's hand, and let him help her to her feet, "I'm looking forward to working with you," Noelle said

Present

"After that, we all went back to the hideout. Charmy made us all something to eat, I was given a tour to the hideout, and Asta, he was there with me the entire time," Noelle said, she then smiled, "Asta, he became my very first friend. Never did I think that day, that I would wind up falling in love with him, years later find myself engaged to him, and now in a couple of months, I'm gonna marry him."

"You talking about him, really makes me want to meet him," Lucy said smiling at Noelle, it makes her happy to know that she is with such a genuinely kind person.

"Same here, maybe he'd like to go a round," Natsu said

"Natsu," Lucy said sighing in exasperation at her boyfriend and his love for fighting.

"That's a wonderful story your majesty. And kind of romantic, the beginning of a love story," Wendy said

Noelle smiled, "I'm not sure, I'd call it a love story. Asta was incredibly oblivious and knew absolutely nothing about romance. He had three girls pining over him and he didn't know, he was too focused on a crush that he had in Hage," Noelle said

"He had a crush," Yukino asked

"Yep, and it was on the nun who worked at the church he grew up in, Sister Lily. Every day since the day he met her Asta proposed to Sister Lily asking her to marry him," Noelle said

"He asked her to marry him," Lucy asked incredulously

"Yep, it's been explained to him that she was a woman of the cloth, and she took a vow of chastity. However, Asta refused to believe it, according to him it was just about surpassing his limits," Noelle said

"That makes no sense," Lucy said

"I blame Father Orsi, the guy had wanted Asta or Yuno to succeed him as a priest, so to keep them from temptation he didn't give them the talk," Noelle said

"Seriously," Erza asked

"Seriously. Asta and Yuno were oblivious to a lot of things. I mean, Finral over there," Noelle said pointing at Finral, "Took Asta to a mixer, Asta accepted, and he didn't even know what a mixer was. According to Mimosa and Klaus, Yuno didn't know either. They were confused on a lot of things."

"So, neither were given the talk or anything," Sting asked getting a nod from Noelle.

"Captain Yami and Vangeance were dragged in giving them the talk, and neither liked it. Both were ready to kill the wizard king for forcing them to do it. But according to Asta, he was thankful for it, because it cleared up a lot of things for him and helped him figure out that what he felt towards me wasn't friendship. He was in love with me," Noelle said

"So, he gave up on his crush on Sister Lily after that," Lucy asked

"Actually, he gave up before that. When we were eighteen and Asta became a first-class Senior Magic Knight, he asked Sister Lily to marry him. She refused and explained that she saw Asta as a son. Asta took it well, I remember, he smiled, said he thought so, and asked for her to continue watching over him," Noelle said

"How do you know what happened," Gray asked

Noelle blushed at that, "Oh, uh well, you see, um," she said

Vanessa chuckled, "She knows because she followed Asta and saw the proposal herself," she said making everyone look at Noelle.

"You followed them," Lucy asked

"She did, and that's not even the first time, she's done that. Both times Asta was at a mixer, Noelle followed," Vanessa said

"I am never telling you things again. I went to you for advice on that and you didn't help. Womanly advice my foot," Noelle said blushing like mad.

"I did help you, I told you that you were crushing on Asta big time, but you went all tsundere on me," Vanessa said

Lucy couldn't help herself, she laughed loudly at that, "Noelle, please tell me you didn't become a stalker," Lucy said as she giggled

"She got a job as a waitress at the restaurant they were at just so she could spy on them," Vanessa laughed, everyone else couldn't laugh, even Nozel had an amused smirk on his face at hearing his sister's behavior.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY," Noelle told the group, "It was a really confusing time in my life. I couldn't figure out why I cared so much. Why did I care who he spent time with, why was I worried."

"You followed him to two mixers, and you couldn't figure out why you did it," Gray said

"I wasn't ready to accept my feelings at the time. I always explained them away. It was actually in the heat of battle at the Spade Kingdom that I realized that I was in love with Asta. Not exactly the best place to realize that. I couldn't afford to let that distract me. So, I ignored that thought for the time being and focused on my mission," Noelle said

"I thought Spade were allies, what were you doing invading it," Natsu said

"I don't know if any of you heard of the Dark Triad," Noelle said

"I've heard of them; they were ruthless dictators who didn't care about their people. To them, strength was everything, the strong were in charge and the weak were nothing but trash. They took over the Spade Kingdom a little over two decades ago and killed the royal family. At least that is what everyone thought. Our former guild master, he actually respected them and their policy, even said that he would have loved to meet them. Their power is what also intrigued him, it was said that they got their power from beings called devils," Sting said

"What are devils," Natsu said

"I think that is a story for another time. It's starting to get late," Noelle said, they really don't have the time to give them a full history of devils and the war that was raged on them, and in some ways is still being raged.

"She's right, we need to be up bright and early so we can leave. It's best that we all be rested tomorrow," Minerva said

"But…," Natsu said

"No buts," Erza said making Natsu deflate.

"Hey, how about a little sleepover, like we used too" Noelle said

Lucy smiled, "Sounds like fun," she said

"What, Lucy I thought that we were gonna sleep together," Natsu said

"Natsu, you don't need to sleep with me all the time. Plus, I want to spend time with Noelle," Lucy said, she then brought out her cute eyes, "Please Natsu."

Once he saw the cute eyes, he knew that he lost. Natsu then sighed, "Ok, just put the eyes away," he said making Lucy smile and peck his lips.

"Don't worry, I'll give you a nice reward when we're at the palace, alone," Lucy whispered to Natsu, that got a smile from the dragon slayer.

"Well with a payment like that, how can I refuse," Natsu said making Lucy laugh at him.

"Ok, then, we'll all help clean up, and then head to bed," Lucy said

"Sounds good to me," Noelle said as she gets up along with everyone else.

"What about the fifth and sixth leaves," Erza said stopping everyone, and making Noelle, Nozel, Finral, and Vanessa tense which the Fiore wizards noticed.

Forcing herself to relax, Noelle looked at Erza, "What," Noelle asked

"You told us that the leaves of a clover represent faith, hope, and love. Good luck goes over to the fourth leaf. But there is a fifth and sixth leaf, right? That also means there should be a five-leaf and six-leaf grimoires," Erza said

"I've never heard of a fifth or sixth leaf before," Lucy said

Noelle stared at Erza calculatedly, she was fishing for something, Noelle knew that much. What was she fishing for, she wasn't sure, unless she knew who Asta was. It's a possibility which means it's possible that she knows her too. Noelle sighed, "In the fifth leaf lives a devil, and in the sixth leaf there lives a god." 'Or goddess.'

"A devil," Yukino said

"A god," Lucy said

"There are five and six-leaf grimoires, but those are even rarer than four-leaf grimoires. Now that those are answered, let's get everything ready," Noelle said with that everyone helped clean the dishes and packed them up for later use. Once that was done everyone headed to their tents.

Noelle and Lucy's tent

Noelle took off her cape, folded it up, and placed it in the corner of the tent, she then took off her dragon necklace and crown, and placed them on top of the cape. Once that was done, Noelle took out a magic item, "I hope he answers," she said, she then pressed a button. Immediately the transmission magic activated and what looked like a holographic screen popped up and showed Asta.

"Hey, Noelle," Asta greeted smiling

"Hey Asta," Noelle greeted smiling at her fiancé

"What's going on? How's your first day at Fiore," Asta asked

"Eventful, it was a bit emotional, when I saw Lucy, it took everything I had not to jump and hug her. Boy when she saw me, she was surprised. At first, she thought I was Mom, but when I told her she had the wrong silver haired woman, she finally realized it was me. Just after I greeted her, she jumped me and hugged me," Noelle said

"I'm glad you two were able to see each other again," Asta said

"Yeah, it was nice seeing Lucy again. I really missed her. I was even able to meet all the people that Lucy wrote to me about. I even ran into Jura again," Noelle informed

"Jura, he's that Fiore wizard that you ran into on one of your missions, right? Back when you were captain of the Silver Eagle," Asta said

"Yep, it was during my first year as captain that I met Jura. I remember he was under a magic spell from a mage, kiss magic she called it. Thankfully we were able to break her hold on him," Noelle said

"But not before you two got in a fight which you won," Asta said proudly making Noelle smile.

"Yeah, anyway after that I was introduced to everyone and I introduced them to Nozel, Finral, and Vanessa. After that we got going, during our journey, I was able to tell Lucy that we were engaged," Noelle said

"Really? How'd she take it," Asta asked

"She was happy, and I'd say a little upset," Noelle said

"Upset, why," Asta asked

"She's been dating her boyfriend Natsu for three years," Noelle said as she got out a pill bottle from her pocket and opened it. She then took out three pills, put them in her mouth and swallowed them, "I think that she wishes that she was the one who was engaged. I have a feeling that this has been laying on Lucy for a while now. I wonder if there is something I can do about that. Anyway, I asked Lucy to be my Maid of Honor and she said yes," Noelle said smiling.

"That's great," Asta said smiling

"Yeah, it is, after that me, her, and Vanessa started to talk about the wedding. During the discussion is when I sensed something," Noelle said

"You sensed something," Asta asked

Noelle nodded, "Well I sensed someone, a whole lot of someones in fact. I was the only one who sensed them though, they had their magic hidden, I'd say through a spell. Certainly, glad I asked you and Captain Yami to teach me how to sense ki or I wouldn't have known," Noelle said

"Your ki sensing has gotten better, now all you have to do is master zetten," Asta said

"I'd have mastered that by now if I wasn't so busy, I'm close too," Noelle said, huffing, it really is irksome for her, not mastering zetten yet. She hasn't had the time to practice it, maybe she can during this journey. "Anyway, I sensed the people following us and let them follow us for a few hours. After that I decided to lay a trap, so I offered that we take a break. When we did everyone went too their own activities. I headed to the lake with Lucy, we talked a bit had a nice hug, and that's when I sensed them making their move. Fifteen mages then jumped out of the bushes, they combined their magic, and attacked. I was just able to shield everyone but Nozel and Jura who I knew would block the attacks. After I blocked the attacks the wizards and Nozel attacked the assassins."

"Were they good," Asta asked

"From what I've seen, they're all stage 1 and 0 while the assassins were stage five. They were impressive, I remember reading the fights in Lucy's letters but seeing them fight was different. Not to mention Lucy certainly gotten stronger, she used to just be able to summon her spirits, but now she can borrow their mana and transform into something called a star dress," Noelle said

"Is it a spirit dive, like you and Yuno, or something like devil union" Asta asked

"According to one of her spirits Aquarius, it's a step below spirit dive. I have so many questions about this," Noelle said

"Wish I could have seen it," Asta said

"It was certainly interesting to see. I wound up finishing it up by using Twin Sea Dragons to beat and contain them. One of them got away though," Noelle said

"They did? By the way where's Nero," Asta said

"Following the guy who got away," Noelle said smiling.

"You're sneaky," Asta said smiling

"Maybe when we get to Queen Hisui, we can give her the information and let her decide what to do. Although I don't think that is the last time we'll see them," Noelle said

"You think that they'll try again," Asta asked

Noelle nodded, "I think so, I think next time though they're gonna send stronger mages. The assassins who tried to kill me are known as Phantom Lord," she said

"Who do you think hired them," Asta asked

"Wish I knew, before we could question them, one of them used a suicide spell similar to that guy we ran into in Saussy Village seven years ago," Noelle said

"So, you're saying…," Asta said

"They're dead, whether it was loyalty to their guild, or they were too proud to be captured, they chose death," Noelle said

"I still can't understand people like them," Asta said

"Yeah. We both know that anyone could have hired those guys, I…we've made a lot of enemies over the years," Noelle said

"That's true," Asta agreed

"Anyway, after that we decided to just set up camp. Thought to let everyone process what happened before we started moving again. After I set up my tent, I noticed that Lucy was gone so I went to find her. I found her setting up some gravestones for those who died. We talked a little then decided to head back to the group to eat. As we were eating Lucy, and her friends told me what happened when they were on Tenrou. It certainly was something, they then wanted to know how you and I met," Noelle said

"Really," Asta asked

"Really, so I told them when I first saw you at the entrance exams, what I thought of you at the time, how you did, how you didn't get picked but got captain Yami's attention and he wound up picking you. I then told them when I first arrived at the hideout, how I watched your baptism. I told them of when Captain Yami and I talked on the balcony. Vanessa and Finral told their own stories of how Captain Yami helped them. I then told them of our first meeting, the way you reacted to me when you found out I was royalty. By the way Asta," Noelle said a teasing smirk appearing on her face, "Why is it that you haven't bowed to me yet?"

Asta groaned at that, "You are never gonna let me live that down are you," he said

"Asta, I'm gonna be telling our children that," Noelle said making Asta groan which made her laugh, "I told them everything else that happened after that. The argument I had with you and Magna, how I quit and went to train on my own, when you found me and how I panicked and tried attacking you but lost control of my magic and nearly died because of it. I then told them how you saved me and instead of mocking me you encouraged me, you and everyone else didn't care if I couldn't control my magic. You accepted me, you were all so nice to me that was when I decided that I wanted to get to know you all, you in particular, but most of all I wanted us to be friends. You were my first friend you know that," Noelle said

"Yeah, I know, and I'm honored not just of being your first friend but later to be your boyfriend and later fiancé," Asta said

Noelle smiled and flipped her short hair, "I'm royalty Asta which means I deserve the best, and that's you," she said making Asta laugh which made her laugh too. "After that we talked some more."

"Like," Asta asked

"Well, we talked about the crush you had on Sister Lily back then," Noelle said

"Seriously, why would you talk about that," Asta said

"To show just how completely clueless and oblivious you were back then. I mean it was explained to you how many times that she couldn't get married. That because of her profession as a woman of the cloth it was forbidden for her to get married, and despite how many times it was explained you blatantly ignored it saying it was about surpassing your limits," Noelle said

"I was a kid then, besides at the time I thought no one out there would ever want to be with me, Sister Lily seemed like the only one who could see past me not having any magic. It never occurred to me how selfish I was being back then and how much a nuisance I was being back then. But I let go of that and moved on, I moved on with you, and I don't regret it. I'm happy that you're the one that I'm marrying Noelle, I can't wait to call you my wife," Asta said

"I can't wait either," Noelle said smiling, "Anyway, there is something else."

"Heh, what else is there," Asta asked

"I think Erza, knows who we are," Noelle said

"You think," Asta asked getting a nod from Noelle, "Well, that's not to surprising is it. We're known quite far and wide. But, what makes you think she does?"

"She asked about the fifth and sixth leaf clovers, and their grimoires," Noelle said

"Oh, well is that such a bad thing. You know that in order to gain a fifth leaf grimoire, then the owner of a four-leaf grimoire must know true despair, and four-leaf grimoires are really rare like once in a lifetime rare which makes gaining a fifth leaf extremely hard. And six-leaf grimoires are even more difficult than the fifth leaf," Asta said

"Yeah, but still that kind of knowledge can still be dangerous to both our country and us. Let's not talk about that anymore. What's been going on in Clover so far," Noelle said

"Well, the Black Bulls are as chaotic as ever. Luck was getting restless so I decided to send him on a mission, hopefully that can burn off some of his energy," Asta said

"Knowing Luck, he'll be wanting another mission as soon as he gets back," Noelle said

"I also sent Zora and Ina on a mission; I could tell that Ina wanted to go. Nash and Nick got in another fight," Asta said

"Another one. Sheesh what's up with those two," Noelle said

"Wish I could tell you. It's like when it comes to the other, every little thing sets them off," Asta said

"Even the new members of the Black Bulls are crazy," Noelle said smiling

"You still sure that you want to have our wedding at the base," Asta said

"Of course, because that's where everything changed for me. It's where I was accepted by a squad of failures who would be there for me always. It's also where we became friends. It may not be elegant as some nobles and royals would want but that is where our lives changed. Anywhere else just seems wrong, just three more months," Noelle said

"Three more months," Asta said smiling at Noelle which made her smile in return, "Oh yeah, I also played Magna and Captain Yami in poker."

"You did," Noelle asked

"Yep, and I got…well I got everything from their money to the clothes on their bodies," Asta said, he then grabbed and showed Noelle Magna's sunglasses, "I got Magna's sunglasses." Asta then puts them on, "What do you think?"

"Ew, take them off. Those sunglasses do not fit you, only a punk delinquent wears those and you're not that," Noelle said

"I even got Captain Yami's loincloth," Asta said getting ready to grab the object.

"Do not show me the loincloth, better yet throw that away. I swear I don't know how Charlette can handle him wearing that. It's gross," Noelle said

"Yeah, I have a whole pile of things with me now. They challenged me to a game of poker thinking that they could win easily, after they explained the rules to me, we got started and I won," Asta said

"Did you explain to them that it wasn't the first time that you played poker, and that Zora taught you how to play," Noelle asked

"I explained that to them, you know after I took them for everything they had," Asta said laughing with Noelle joining him.

"You hustled them, I wish I was there to see it. I have to admit the thought of you hustling them is actually a turn on," Noelle said

"Really," Asta said smiling

"Really," Noelle said smiling in return.

Outside

Everyone was currently in their tents getting ready to sleep. The only two who weren't in their tents yet were Natsu and Lucy. Lucy was ready to get in the tent to spend more time with Noelle and bond more. Natsu, however, was not ready to let Lucy go for the night as shown as he keeps his arms wrapped around her making her laugh, "Natsu, let me go, I have to get to Noelle," Lucy said laughing.

Natsu moaned and buried his face in the crook of Lucy's neck, "I don't want to let you go," he said nuzzling her more making Lucy laugh.

"I swear, you are so attention starved sometimes," Lucy said giggling at her boyfriend's antics. It really is cute though when he acts this way towards her.

"Come on Lucy… what if I made it worth your while," Natsu said making his voice, deeper, huskier, and animal-like at the last few words.

Hearing the tone of the voice that can practically order her to do anything anywhere made Lucy shiver and turned her on. Oh god, just hearing that voice makes her want to say yes, so he can take her to their tent and just take her all through the night. But she gathers her nerves and fights the hormones, of course that's when she feels Natsu kissing her neck. Lucy just smiled, "No," she said pulling Natsu's head away from her neck before he found her sweet spot. Lucy looked at Natsu, "We are not gonna do that here. We'll wait till we get to the palace where I'm sure we'll be given our own room. Once there," Lucy said, she then leaned to where her lips are next to Natsu's ear, "Then you can do whatever you want with me, and I mean whatever you want," she whispered seductively, she then pulled back and face Natsu again, "Till then, none of that," Lucy then tried to get out of Natsu's hold but her keeps hold, "Natsu."

"One more kiss," Natsu said pulling Lucy closer to him.

"Natsu," Lucy said giving Natsu a are you serious look, she's very aware that he could easily make a kiss into something a lot more.

"Just one more, then I'll let you go," Natsu said

"One more kiss and then you'll let me go," Lucy said getting a nod from Natsu. Lucy sighed, "Fine."

"Sheesh, you don't have to make it sound like you're doing a chore," Natsu said

Lucy smiled, "You're just lucky that I love you so much," she said, Lucy then leaned up and pressed her lips on Natsu's kissing him which he happily returned.

After a minute they separated, "I love you," Natsu said smiling at Lucy.

"I love you too," Lucy said back smiling after that Lucy stepped out of Natsu's arms, this time he let her go, and headed to the tent, before she entered the tent though she gave one last smile to Natsu who returned it. With that Lucy entered the tent, and Natsu headed toward his own tent.

Lucelle Tent

Lucy entered the tent where Noelle who had gotten off transmission with Asta minutes before was currently sitting Indian style waiting for her, "About time you got here. You certainly took your time didn't you," Noelle said

"Give me a break, Natsu wouldn't let me go. He was trying to convince me to go with him," Lucy said as she zipped up the tent and sat Indian style across from Noelle.

"Well, dragons are known for guarding treasure, and it's obvious that you're Natsu's treasure, so it would make sense that he wouldn't want others to have you," Noelle said, Lucy then takes Noelle by surprise with a fierce hug, "Hey, what's this for?"

Lucy hugged Noelle tighter, "After hearing how you thought everyone would be happier if you died. Well, you're wrong, I wouldn't have been happy. I would have been crushed, I lost my father during those seven years, and that was heart breaking enough. If I had found out that you had died to. I don't know what I'd do, you mean so much to me. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you," Lucy said

Noelle smiled and hugged Lucy back, "It's ok Lucy, I don't blame you. You were in a seven-year animation, and even if you wrote to me after you got out, I probably wouldn't have answered it let alone read it. So many things were happening those few years, that I barely had any time to just relax. The only time I was ever in my room was to sleep. I was 18 when I found out you were back. I could have contacted you, but I didn't, life just swept me up, the same way it did you. I'm just glad that we're together again," Noelle said

"So am I, and I swear this time I'm not letting you go," Lucy said as she pulled away and looked at Noelle, that is something she swears on, this girl in front of her is her little sister, her family, no matter what, they'll stay in contact. Even if she must visit Clover to stay in contact.

Noelle smiled, "I'm glad. Changing the subject to something more lighthearted. You do know that everything you and Natsu said could be heard right?"

That wiped the smile off Lucy's face, "What," she said

"Everything you said I heard which means the others heard too," Noelle said, she then gained a teasing smirk, "So Lucy, what does whatever he wants mean? Would this be the first time you let him do whatever he wants with you, and what exactly has he done?"

Lucy blushed and groaned, "I am not talking about my sex life with you," Lucy said

"Why not, I mean, it's not like I'm new to sex you know. I've had sex plenty of times with Asta," Noelle said

That got Lucy's attention, "Wait, you have," she said getting a nod from Noelle.

"Been having sex with Asta since we were eighteen," Noelle said

"But you shouldn't be having sex right now. You're too young, and eighteen is especially too young," Lucy said

"We're the same age. Man, you sound like Nozel when he found out about Asta and I," Noelle said

"How did he find out; more importantly how did he react. I can't imagine that he would have been happy that you were with a commoner, a magicless one at that. He doesn't exactly have good opinions of them," Lucy asked

"Didn't, he didn't have a good opinion of commoners," Noelle corrected, "Anyway, Nozel he was visiting me at the Black Bulls hideout one day and came to my room. Apparently, he knocked which I didn't hear. You see Asta and I were having sex at the time."

"You were having sex," Lucy said in surprised getting a nod and a blush from Noelle.

"We had just gotten to the finish, and he uh…in me," Noelle said

"Oh," Lucy said

"Yeah, it felt so good especially when it brought me to my own finish which caused me to scream. Which Nozel heard, and because of that he opened the door, and that's when he saw us. Asta and I in bed together naked with Asta on top of me. It took a moment till we noticed someone at the door and to my horror there was Nozel standing there," Noelle said

"That must have been embarrassing," Lucy said

"Try horrifying, it was worse that right when we noticed him, we had just gotten done finishing," Noelle said her blush deepening, "Right when I noticed him, I immediately got up and covered myself with my blankets…," and with that Noelle told Lucy the entire story on what happened.

"When we got to the palace he yelled at me, lectured me, tried to forbid me from seeing Asta again which I flat out refuse. He then sent me to my room which I stayed in for a day after that I thought I humored Nozel enough and left. I could see how annoyed it made him, thankfully Dorothy was there to keep him from starting an argument."

"Dorothy," Lucy asked

"Nozel's girlfriend at the time, now wife, she was the captain of the Coral Peacocks, however after the Witch Queen died due to over expending her mana because of her healing the Black Bulls, the Witch Queen died, Dorothy then took over as Witch Queen. It was a hard road for them, and they had many bumps in the road, but Nozel and Dorothy made it work, they eventually got married, and have a three-year-old girl, and a year-old boy."

"I can't believe there is someone out there who can take Nozel's cold attitude," Lucy says with some bit in her words.

Noelle noticed the bite and decided that now is the time to tell Lucy, with that Noelle sighed, "Listen Lucy," she said getting Lucy's attention on her.

When Lucy looked at Noelle, she saw that the woman had a serious face on, "What's with the serious face," Lucy said

"There's something you need to know Lucy. Something of the greatest importance," Noelle said seriously and solemnly.

"What is it," Lucy asked

"I'm gonna tell you the truth, the truth of how my mother Acier Silva really died," Noelle said surprising Lucy, with that Noelle told Lucy everything making the blonde's eyes widen.

End Chapter

Chapter Note: So, I'm having trouble, obviously you all know that now that I made it possible for Celestial Wizards to spirit dive with their spirits. So my question for everyone is this, who should Lucy's spirit partner be? These are the choices: 1. Loke 2. Aquarius 3. Virgo 4. Celestial Spirit Dragon 5. All her spirits (In other words make her like Nacht. How he had four devils and was able to use devil union with them and even combine them. Make Lucy like that.) 6. Other (Tell me if you guys have any suggestions, but please tell me why.)

Loke, Aquarius, Virgo, and the Celestial Dragon are my top to be honest and here's why. Out of all the spirits that Lucy has I feel that these three are the most loyal and have a deeper bond with her. Loke, well Lucy saved him, she believed in him and helped him forgive himself for what happened with his previous celestial wizard.

Aquarius has been around since Lucy was little, she was her mother's spirit first until she was passed on to Lucy. Aquarius watched Lucy grow she was Lucy's first friend, and despite how she acted Aquarius did love Lucy as much as Lucy loved her.

Then there is Virgo, well to be honest there is really no deeper meaning that Loke and Aquarius, but no one can deny the loyalty that Virgo has toward Lucy. When Lucy was in pain due to summoning three spirits, Virgo was as much worried for Lucy as Loke was. She is undoubtedly one of her most loyal and trusted spirits. Problem with Virgo is that I don't know much about earth magic and I kind of want to make Lucy fly.

Finally, is the celestial dragon, and well I thought that Lucy has a Dragon Slayer boyfriend/future fiancé, Noelle herself has Leviathan a Sea Dragon God, and I could make the Celestial Dragon one of the strongest celestial spirits ever, thereby proving just how powerful Lucy really is as a celestial wizard to be chosen by such a powerful spirit. Problem with this is that I'd be making an OC spirits which means, the looks, powers, personality will all be up to me, and to be honest I'm not big on OCs.

Also, what should Lucy's transformation look like, base it on the spirits she assimilates with or maybe do it like Noelle. For those who read the manga, you all know how Noelle spirit dives with Undine, well Undine is a water spirits, so I don't think she can really fly but Noelle was able to fly because she assimilated the spirit dive into her Valkyrie Armor and made Saint Valkyrie Armor which had angel wings and a badass sword. Then we had Leviathan a sea dragon, but when Noelle combines with him, she got Valkyrie Armor: Dragon Form but the wings were dragon wings, and I don't remember seeing wings on Leviathan. So, what to do about Lucy, give her some type of fairy armor for tribute to Fairy Tail to show just how much the guild means to her. Or is that to redundant because Erza has a Fairy armor.

Also, someone tell me what color do you all think Noelle's Dragon Form armor is. I've seen a lot of pictures what people think the color is. Any artists out there that is good with the black and white color scheme, can you please tell me what color Noelle's armor would be. Would it be the same color as her other armors? Oe would it be a different color, maybe match whatever color Leviathan looks like which I imagine him being dark blue or something.

Well, I hope everyone liked this chapter, I enjoyed writing it, someone tell me if I'm giving out too much information too early. We all must surpass our limits, and I will surpass mine by making a fifth chapter. Please review, they encourage me to keep writing.