Curses

Mud and Snow

"Noelle," Yuno shouts down from atop his wind ark "make sure to contact the magic knights! We may need back up!"

"Right," his friend agrees and Bell offers a small nod.

"Take care of her Bell, I'm counting on you!"

"You've got it Yuno!"

Gauche hovers by him on a broomstick "we're wasting time," he mutters out "lets move."

The mirror mage doesn't bother waiting to see if Yuno and Sister Theresa are following before taking off.

As much as Yuno hates the guy he has no choice but to follow on after him, Gauche is currently the only one with any means of tracking the missing children down.

There's an alarming amount of snow already pooling onto the ground, it looks almost like the dead of winter.

Yuno hates winter.

And he especially hates it at night.

The memories of freezing cold ice mixed with warm blood of innocence spilled still feels like a freshly opened wound, rather then one that had been left to scar over for nearly a decade. Sometimes he can still feel his brothers blood under his nails.

The coolness and stillness of night mixed with the gentle wind that hisses over the plains makes Yuno shiver.

Memories are a painful thing. Something as simple as snow during nightfall is enough to get Yuno lost in the old songs of his past.

They're riding in silence and Yuno is fine with that. He doesn't particularly want to speak with Gauche nor does he feel like he's in the mental state to carry a conversation with the sister.

But dear gods is this silence suffocating.

"I sense mana in there," Gauche's voice croaks over Yuno's impending thoughts.

"A cave!" Theresa points "that would be the perfect place for someone to hide the children."

Asta yelps in alarm and Yuno can feel him racing ahead down below.

Yuno follows his brothers presence with his eyes, scanning ahead for whatever has sparked such concern from the spirit.

A familiar figure is lying in the snow.

One far too small and vulnerable.

For a brief moment Yuno sees the image of Asta's body lying limply in red stained snow but he quickly shakes the memory away.

"Marco!"

"Leave him." Gauche growls.

"Excuse me?!" Yuno looks to him in disbelief.

"No one else matters but Marie."

"How do you think she'd feel if she knew you left her friend to die?!" Yuno yells in fury "more then that don't you realize that Marco is someone else's brother!? He's someone else's Marie!"

Gauche grits his teeth "do what you want but I'm not stopping."

"Fuck you." Yuno growls out as he dips his wind ark down low.

Like hell he's leaving that poor boy to die out in the cold.

"And they call you a magic knight?! You're a disgrace!" He can faintly hear Sister Theresa yell at Gauche as she takes her own broomstick down to follow Yuno.

Asta has appeared and is curled around Marco protectively. He's holding the boy off the snow in one arm, keeping him close to his chest and attempting to warm him with his body heat.