Where's My Grimoire? || Black Clover

6 - Darkness of a Cave

He heard rolling thunder booming not too far from he was and jumped from how loud it was. Surprised, Asta looked to the sky and watched fairly big dark clouds move rapidly in his direction.
' It's gonna be a bad storm this time, huh?'
It made him uncomfortable that he never noticed the clouds a few minutes prior. When had the cold wind gotten colder?
While looking around to find shelter, he soon found out that making one was not an option. He felt beads of rain fall and splash onto his red face from the cold air and felt the army of droplets expand in numbers the longer he waited. He swallowed in an attempt to cure his sore dry throat.
At least for the next few months he has nowhere to be.
Without thinking, he gave up finding a familiar place and decided to focus on finding shelter.
He saw a dark cavern and looked into it as he walked forward. His footsteps echoed throughout the cave, waving his hands in front of him to get rid of any webs in his way and stayed close to the light from the outside to avoid running into an animal that might sneak up and swallow him whole.
A deep roar of thunder made a shiver crawl up his spine as he sat beside the entrance of the cave. It was hard to concentrate with the wet clothes sticking to his drenched and sweaty body. The wound he received earlier still burned like hell, but it died down since then. He'd probably have to clean it somehow. He wasn't sure how to treat a burn despite the past times it happened at the church.
Asta made an attempt to wiggle out of his drenched shirt and squeeze the water out of it, doing the same with the rest of his clothes. It helped mildly though, being content enough with it that he pulled the shirt back over his head and the rest up.
He could hear sounds, almost like something piddling outside, but he assumed it was the rain.
The ground beneath him was freezing just as much as he was if not colder. It was smooth though, which he liked when he began to lay onto the ground and curl up into a ball. Exercising doesn't warm you up if you have no energy in the first place, he found out.
He felt the darkness swallow him up when the sun shined directly above, where the light couldn't reach and grab hold of the cavern's rusty craters and cracks and any other fault that disrupts the smoothness of the cave. The drops of rain somehow poured even harder and he was left surprised, the rain flooded so quickly out of nowhere when he could've sworn he felt sunshine on his feet a moment ago. Looking up and above his body and peering at the wet weather, he groaned before his head fell back into his limp arms.
His body hadn't dried at all from the past few hours of sitting and waiting for the weather to lighten so he could explore more. It might be harmful to eat any more of the berries, he thought. In the small pocket he made himself by folding over the damp ripped tunic he had, he had 'moonberries' as he called them. The colors reminded him of the moon when he saw them at night.
He found himself seeing things after only eating the moonberries for a week. Just after the rain settled down a bit, his eyes widened as he saw a deep dark slash through the cave and through any other thing that was lingering. The man who emitted it got caught in a coughing fit when he breathed the dust in. " Shit, this stuff's annoying and it's cold. Oh look, there's a kid here... "
Asta looked up in fear at how tall the man was. " H-Hello...? "

" Hey, I'm lookin' for something that's supposed to be near here, specifically a stone, but I had to walk here by myself in this damn weather 'cause my ride got lost. You look like you know where it is. "
Asta shrunk back against the wall and felt his heart rate speed up from being put on the spot.

" U-Uh... "
" Huh? Speak up, kid, I can't here you with this storm. "
" A man attacked and chased me into here before they left, but they were looking for the same thing. "
" Oh man, I think I know that guy. " The man said as he took a drag from the cigarette he was holding.
Asta relaxed slightly when he noticed the man didn't seem that hostile. He also had a magic knight robe Asta recognized from a newspaper.
" Really? If you're interested, I could show you, I know where it is. But... I don't really know the way. "
" Well, where is it? "
" It's at a place I lived at for a long time. "
The big man raised an eyebrow. " Shouldn't you know the way, then? "

" W-Well, I ran away and got lost. " Asta smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.
" The hell? For what? "
" I-It's... Nothing, don't worry about it, "
" What were you thinking? Come on kid, we'll find a way back to your-
Asta's stomach dropped and felt a wave of adrenaline rush through his body suddenly. " No, d-don't take me back there! I don't wanna live there anymore! "
The man noticed the look on Asta's face. It was one of pure terror. He noticed the way his small body shook, the rips in his shirt showing off bruises, the darkness under the kid's eyes prominent and hair messy.

...

" I see. "

...

" You don't have to go back there. I'll need you to follow me though, if you're gonna show me where the stone is. "


-----


After an hour of searching, Asta called out. " I think I see it. "
It hasn't been that long since he left, but all the memories started flooding back.
" Great. So where's the stone? "
" My fr-... I mean, someone I know has it. "
" Alright, then you'll have to come with me. There's no way I'm questioning tons of different people. "
Asta really didn't want to, but he couldn't just stop helping this man, either. He was tall, and incredibly built, too. He also knew how to use his magic.
In other words, he could crush Asta into a thin paste. Does he trust him not to?
...A little.
" Well? "
The man walked forward and waited for Asta to start as well to keep going. He sighed.
They were already halfway to the church when the man stopped.
" Pssst, hey. Get behind me. "
...And he did.

Reaching the church, the man turned his head to the side to ask a question.
" So who is it? "
" The guy with the necklace and black hair... "
Asta hid behind the man even if it made him feel like a child.

Then the man walked forward.
" Hey, you. "
Yuno and Sister Lily both looked over to see who it was. The Sister smiled. " And who might you be, Sir Magic Knight? "

" I'm Yami Sukehiro of the Black Bulls. I came to retrieve the stone from Mr. Wind guy beside you as an order. "
Yuno, who was drying clothes with his magic, stopped for a moment and took the stone out of his pocket.
" Here you go, sir. "
The man nodded and took it from Yuno.

" Hey... Who's that kid beside you, Mr. Sukehiro? " The Sister asked, a kind expression on her face as she pointed behind the man.
" He's... One of my men. "

" May we see him? "

" He's a little shy, sorry. "

With that, the man called Yami Sukehiro ushered Asta forward before they tried to lay eyes on him as he walked away as naturally as possible.

" Nice work. "

" What'd I do? "

" You see, the members of my squad are insane, so when I see someone who can keep it cool for more than one second, I'm impressed. "

" O-Oh... "

" By the way, I think I see my ride over there waving at me. You're coming with us, kid, sorry about that. "

" H-Huh?? "

A slender man with brown hair and magenta eyes came running towards him and nearly slipped from the wetness of the ground.
" Yami-san!!! I thought I was gonna die out there!! "

" Hey, wheels. Wanna bring us back to the hideout? "

" But I- " *huff* " Just came back after running for hours trying to find you! "

" So what? If you leave me in the rain for any longer than we have been just because of some lame excuse like that, I'm gonna kill you. "

And then immediately a portal opened up. Asta started getting nervous and it showed while he fidgeted with his fingers.
" You gonna go in, kid? "

" I-I'm sorry, " He breathed shakily, " Please give me a second, "

" Alright, but... What's wrong? "

He knew that Yami Sukehiro couldn't be a bad person, but the past experiences he's had with people he didn't know doing... Things to him, was all he wanted to say, shook him to his core. He didn't want to go any farther than that in his head.
Does he want to live in hell or go with a man he doesn't know?

...He pushed himself forward and walked through the portal.