|| Black Clover || Valiant [OC INSERT]

[14] FIXED VERSION

She looked up, seeing Vanessa approach Asta and Noelle. "You got your first pay! Congrats!" Vanessa cheered, giving Asta and Noelle a closed-eyed smile. "If you're unsure of what to spend it on, then we should go to the castle town tomorrow!" Vanessa turned to look at Iris. "What do you say, Iris? Do you want to join as well?"

Iris was unsure of whether she should accompany them or not. She didn't exactly know Atsa and Noelle all too well, so this could serve as a bonding experience for them. It would certainly lower any awkwardness between them. 'I should use tomorrow to train instead. I don't need to buy anything, so a shopping spree wouldn't be logical,' she thought, wanting to improve from, what she deemed to be, a failure of a mission. "Sorry, I have something else planned for tomorrow so unfortunately, I won't be able to join you all." Iris gave them an apologetic smile.

Vanessa returned Iris' smile, understanding that she was someone who often did things on her own accord. "That's too bad but I suppose we can always go together another time." Vanessa turned to Asta and Noelle, wanting to hear their answer as well. Both of them agreed almost instantly with Asta wanting to see more things that he wasn't used to. Noelle agreed because she had nothing better to do on her day off.

Iris excused herself from the bunch, heading off to her bedroom. There had been an icky feeling in the pit of her stomach since the beginning of the day that had stuck with her. Perhaps this feeling was all guilt or it could also just be her feeling sorry for herself. Either way, it was dark out now, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to fall asleep. As much as she wanted to rest, she couldn't. The guilt she was feeling was slowly eating her alive. She hadn't had any of her other missions be as bad as this one in terms of what was lost. Perhaps she was being too hard on herself, but she couldn't help it. All her life she was raised to try and be the best, or at least the best version of herself. Yet this time, she couldn't do that and that thought alone angered her.

She stared at her dark grey ceiling, contemplating where she would train the following day. She wanted to see how far she could go if she used all her focus on maintaining an even distribution of her magic for an extensive amount of time. She glanced out her window at the same time that a shooting star grazed the night sky. "Make a wish," she mumbled to herself, closing her eyes, a small genuine smile finally making its way onto her face.

This particular night reminded her of the nights where she felt the most alone. In her childhood home, she was always surrounded by people, so there was no reason for her to feel alone, right? As much as she wanted to believe that, she couldn't. Sure she was constantly around several people, but none of them would bat an eye at her, for they had their own jobs to attend to.

The loneliness that she had thought that she had gotten rid of before, had made its presence known as she lied in bed. Iris still hadn't realized that she was forming bonds with people who would lay their lives on the line to protect those who they held precious. The more time she spent with her squadmates, the more she would grow to see that she wasn't alone, not anymore at least.

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The following day, Iris had felt more awake than the previous. She decided that she would try her best to look forward to her training and not let the results of them, no matter how unsatisfactory, bring her spirit down. After all, it was only training and nothing else. 'Let's get this over with.'

She quickly threw on some clothes where she could move freely in, with her Black Bulls robe draped over her shoulders. Stepping out of her sleeping chambers, Iris noticed that the base was quiet. At any other time, she would think that there was something wrong but considering that it was unusually early in the morning, she could only assume that everyone else was still asleep. She would be sleeping too if it weren't for her need to train.