Abbreviations to know:
(Y/N) = Your first name
Finally out of the cave and getting back to the church in Nean, you, Noelle, Yuno, Mimosa, and Klaus waited for Asta to wake up while Mimosa healed him. You saw as he blinked a few times and stirred back to reality. But, when he woke up fully he had no idea where he was, so he panicked, flinging himself up from laying down in Mimosa's cradle spell. Because Asta scared Mimosa, the spell disabled and Asta fell to the floor.
"Welcome back, Asta. Long time no see." You sarcastically greeted a face-in-the-floor Asta. He groaned a bit before pushing himself up and looking around at everyone.
"Thank goodness! I don't know what I'd do if you hadn't woken up!" Mimosa let out a heavy breath as she was relieved that Asta was okay, then going in to hug him. Although Asta stiffened up, your eyes widened before looking away. Noelle even seemed annoyed.
"How long are you going to hold on to each other?! Think about (Y/N), Bakasta!" Noelle ran over and shoved Asta into the wall, which he landed upside down.
"I'm an injured man here!" He yelled, unable to move. Mimosa gasped before turning to you. She gasped before bowing.
"I'm sorry (Y/N)! I wasn't thinking!" She apologized while blushing deeply. You stuttered a bit before speaking.
"Oh no, it's fine! You're just caring about him!" You waved your hands about and smiled, but you had to admit you were a tiny bit annoyed. Asta being Asta, he had no idea why Mimosa was apologizing, as shown by the confused look he gave the two of you. He stood up and asked what he had missed. Noelle told him he had slept for an entire day.
"What?! I was asleep for a whole day?!" He yelled, Nero taking a seat on his head.
"Yes, you were even snoring." Noelle added. Must've been a nice nap.
"That just means he was able to use all of his strength to fight. We wanted to fight with you, but by the time we got there, the Eye of the Midnight Sun had already escaped." Klaus explained. You had a feeling you were going to get the full story from Asta later. Yuno tried to argue saying that you had contacted them too late, and Mimosa said that's why they were treating him after he was brought to the church. He thanked Mimosa for healing him and then thanked everyone for looking after him.
"The one who worked the hardest to make sure you were okay was Klaus." Mimosa added. Klaus quickly changed the subject by clearing his throat and talking about something else.
"More importantly, thanks to you and the others, all of the kidnapped children are safe and back at their homes. Also, regarding that boy, Neige, he's being interrogated back at headquarters. I'm assuming he knows nothing about the Eye of the Midnight Sun." Klaus began to explain.
"They're taking into consideration," Mimosa continued "his deep regret and the fact that he meant no harm. I think he's going to be doing volunteer work here at the church to pay for his crimes." You were happy to hear that Neige would be getting an easy punishment, considering the fact that what he did was against his will.
"Anyway, it sounds like you did a great job again-" Klaus tried to congratulate Asta, but Yuno interrupted.
"If it were me there, I wouldn't have let the Eye of the Midnight Sun escape."
"Whatever seal was broken off of their leader released a ton of held-back mana. It couldn't have been prevented. That just means we'll have to kick their ass the next time we see them!" You said in return. Asta was in agreement, him having been there.
"Yeah! We'll get them next time for sure! Yuno! I'm never going to lose to you! I'm going to keep getting stronger and stronger!" Asta held his fist out to Yuno.
"And I'll continue to get even stronger than you." He retorted back.
"Then I'm going to keep trying more, more, and more!" Asta tried again. You listened to their bickering and sighed.
"Boys will be boys." You said quietly to Noelle and Mimosa, who nodded in agreement.
"And then..." Asta started with something different this time.
"I'll become the Wizard King!" Asta and Yuno said in sync.
"You two get along so well!" Mimosa sounded serious, but there had to be some sarcasm in there. Even the two brothers were confused. Yuno closed his eyes and turned his head to the side.
"Not a chance." He sighed. Klaus announced that they should be taking their leave, which they did quickly. Mimosa started to walk away but turned around when she remembered something.
Oh, yes! Sister Theresa just woke up a little while ago. One of your squad-mates is with her. You should go visit her!" Your mouth turned into a smile and you nodded. Mimosa took her leave along with Yuno and Klaus while you, Asta, and Noelle made your way to where Sister Theresa was resting, which was just across the hall. As you got closer to the door, you heard some arguing. Since Mimosa told you Gauche was in the room as well, you assumed he was arguing with the sister. Asta opened the door to her room and excused himself in, you following close behind. Marie heard his voice, turning around and running to greet him. She clung onto Asta's arm and he swung her around, leaving Gauche in a frozen state. You were sure he was going to kill Asta. Once he places Marie down she told Asta how worried about him she was, Asta claiming he would never die. You turned away and walked over to Sister Theresa.
"It's good to see that you're alright, Sister." You told her, placing your hands on your hips. She looked at you and laughed a little.
"I may be an old woman, but I'm a fighter! It's gonna take a lot more than that to kill me!" She said, laughing again, you joining in this time with a lighter, but heartfelt laugh. Asta came over with Marie to check on Theresa.
"Who do you think I am? More importantly, when I tell Sister Lily about all of your heroic deeds this time, I'm sure she'll be pleased." Hearing this made Asta cheer out in excitement. Noelle poked her head in to say that you had to leave soon.
"Wait, there's one place we have to visit first." You turned you head to look confusedly at Asta.
{Time Skip-Nean}
You sat at a table in between Asta and one of Rebecca's brother's eating the meal of strictly pot potatoes that she had made. You were surprised that Noelle was enjoying the food, and Asta was eating bowls upon bowls of the food. Meanwhile, Gauche was sitting at a far away table, glaring at Asta and mumbling something to himself. You slowly ate from different plates, trying each of the different variations of the potatoes.
'These really do dry out your mouth, don't they?' You thought.
"Asta! Thank you for lending me your robe!" Marco held out Asta's robe that was much too big for him.
"Sure! It looks like you kept it clean, just like you promised." Asta replied with a mouth full of food. Marco proudly smiled. You finished your food and stood up with Noelle and Asta, him slipping his robe over his head.
"Your robe may be fine, but look how beat up you got. You're so helpless without me." Noelle retorted and turned her head away.
"Better than him being dead." You told her.
"I'm pretty sure I get beaten up even when you're around, Noelle." Asta got her back with a non-intentional roast.
"Oh shut up, Bakasta! I know I can't use recovery magic like Mimosa!" Noelle yelled at him. Rebecca interrupted the argument by calling his name and jogging over to the three of you, Asta specifically. She placed a hand on one cheek and planted a kiss on the other. Noelle's jaw dropped open in shock. Your eyes widened, but you didn't say or do anything. You just lowered your eyes and slightly pouted. Noelle noticed your face and it seemed like she was sad for you.
"Thank you for saving Luca and Marco, Asta!" Rebecca happily thanked him and blushed. Asta stood there in confusion for a second before answering Rebecca.
"Oh, yeah! You're welcome." He responded. Thinking of what just happened, he looked at you and saw the look on your face, feeling his heart drop for a second.
{Time Skip-The Black Bull's Hideout}
All right! We're gonna have a traditional Black Bulls eating contest to commemorate your full recovery! This time, we're having tato pies!" Magna announced. Sitting in front of you was a huge pile of pies which seemed impossible for anyone to finish. The only ones that seemed actually motivated to win were Asta and Charmy. Overhearing Luck, apparently, the Black Bulls haven't actually done something like this before. Finral and Noelle tried to tap out for their own reasons, but that didn't go well with Magna.
"Shut yer traps! All of you are participating, whether you like it or not. Mr. Yam! Please do the honor of being the judge!" Magna's speech ended with everyone sitting down, you between Noelle and Luck.
"All right, if you're all done complaining now... Ready... go!" With Captain Yami's cue and Grey hitting a gong, the competition began. You immediately heard the sound of faces being stuff by Asta and Charmy. Noelle took a bite, her mouth instantly losing its moisture. Luck hadn't even taken a bite, but his stomach was already more than full. Apparently, Finral was using his magic to send the pies into Luck's stomach. He claimed that he couldn't eat them if a pretty lady wasn't feeding them to him. Captain Yami quickly kicked him out of the game. Magna used his magic and turned his pile of pies into a pile of burnt pies. He took a couple bites and instantly fell to the floor due to the backlash that came from eating the pile of ash. Once again, Captain Yami kicked him out. Asta took another pie from his pile, revealing Gordon hiding in the middle. Due to his creepy behavior, Captain Yami kicked him out. Because Gauche and Grey hadn't eaten a thing, they were kicked out as well.
"Just a little bit of water..." Noelle held her throat as she struggled to swallow because of how dry the pie was. She reached for her glass of water, but knocked it over, flopping her head on the table. You looked around for something to drink. Having no water, there was only one option.
"Damnit... Vanessa! Give me a bottle." You walked over to one of the coffee tables in the room and grabbed one of her wine bottles because Vanessa had already been puking. You took a big swig, but had to force it down because of how strong it was. The mix of how dry the pie was and how strong the wine was was enough to make you tumble over onto the couch. Captain Yami deemed you, Noelle, and Vanessa out, leaving Asta and Charmy as the finalists. From what you heard, the winner was Charmy, not surprising. You had managed to get up and walk over to Finral, Noelle, and Magna who were up as well, Asta now on the floor with a huge stomach and Charmy proudly drinking a cup of tea. The four of you closed your eyes and shook your heads. Suddenly, a portal opened and an own holding a letter in it's beak came flying into the base. It dropped the letter on the table and quickly made it's leave. As Captain Yami ripped it open, you noticed the crest on the envelop-a crest that showed that the letter came from he royal capital. Asta jumped to conclusions, assuming there was another mission at hand, but Captain Yami told him to shut up to he could read. He scanned over the letter and said that the Wizard King wanted to see him. Also, the Magic Knight Captains had a conference the next day, and wanted Asta to go along with him.
"Oh, (Y/N), seems your wanted to be brought along too." Captain Yami told you, placing the letter on the table.
"Me? Why would he want to see me?" You pointed to yourself and narrowed your eyes a bit.
"Not sure, says your "back-up in case his plan doesn't go as he wants it to" or so he says." Captain Yam read over the letter again. Asta called out about wondering what he wanted. Captain Yami grabbed him and lifted him up.
"How would I know? You'll find out when you get there." He basically growled into his face.
{Time Skip}
You had finished your bath and changing into more comfortable clothes for bed. You layed on your back on your bed and stretched out, finally feeling clean after the battles and chaos that had been happening. You sat up to look out the window for a minute when you heard a knock on the door. You told whoever it was to come in. You looked to the door to see Asta pop his head into the room. He looked around for a second and waved when he looked at you. He came into the room, shutting the door behind him and making his way over to sit on your bed, you joining him.
"Hey, Asta. What's up?" You asked him as you made your way over. You sat down next to him on the bed, just a little bit away so you weren't on top of him.
"I came to tell you about the fight in the cave with the Eye of the Midnight Sun and the Third Eye! But first I wanna apologize." He put his fists up when he talked about the first part, but dropped them when he mentioned the second part.
"Apologize? What do you mean?" You tilted your head.
"I'm sorry you had to see Rebecca kiss me on the cheek," He pointed to the cheek where she had kissed him "I had no idea that she was going to do that! I saw your face afterwards and I felt really bad!" He voice slowly got higher as he spoke. Your eyes widened for a second before closing them and shaking your head.
"Oh, no it's fine. No one really thought she would." You awkwardly laughed and turned your head so it was facing forward, you feeling like an awkward tension was about to form. You felt a slight shift next to you, but before you could turn your head, you felt a warm tingle on your cheek. After a second or two, it faded and you turned your head back to see Asta still pulling away. You stared at him, a light blush dusting your cheeks.
"Haha! I hope that made up for it. Please don't be mad at me!" He scratched his neck before thinking he had made you mad and ducked his head, ready to be smacked or yelled at or something. Instead, you pulled the front of his headband slightly and let it go so it snapped against his head. He looked up at you when you hadn't done what he think you would.
"Hey, I'm not mad. Thanks, Asta." You closed your eyes and closed-mouth smiled, Asta slightly blushing at your appearance, he copied your smile.
"Oh, yeah! So the fight I had..." Asta started.
'Oh boy, this is going to be a long night.'
{Time Skip-The Next Day-Royal Capital}
"We've been waiting for you. Captain of the Black Bulls, Yami Sukehiro, Asta, and (Y/N)." A man with blue hair styled in a bowl-cut looking style, but not really greeted you at the entrance.
"Uh... who are you again?" Asta asked, confused. You also had never seen him the guy before.
"I guess we've never really spoken to each other before. I'm-" He went to introduce himself.
"Mushroom Head." Your captain interrupted. He expected Captain Yami to say his name, so he went along with the nickname he was given before he realized what he'd actually said.
"Hey! Please don't be so rude! My name is Marx Francois. I'm the Wizard King's advisor." Marx corrected the introduction Captain Yami gave him.
"The Wizard King's?! You're so cool, Mushroom Head!" Asta completely ignored Marx's actual name and continued calling him by Captain Yami's nickname. Marx corrected Asta on the nickname once again before adding on that his position is truly a lot of work. Captain Yami asked where the conference was being held, once more calling Marx Mushroom Head. Marx had to spell out his name to the Captain to get his annoyance through his head.
"It's going to take a bit more time to finish preparing for the conference, so please wait with the other captains. Would you two come with me, please?" Marx instructed Captain Yami on where to go before asking you and Asta to follow him.
He walked you into the building, rounding a few corners before heading down a spiral set of stairs. It was pitch black, so Marx brought a lamp with him. He went down first, then you followed behind Asta. You descended the stairs for a minute before he spoke.
"I heard you two fought splendidly the other day. I'm sure you'll be receiving at least another ten stars from the Wizard King. Hearing about stars made Asta's eyes sparkle.
"Oh wow~" You added, your eyes widening a bit. After a small self-celebration, Asta asked where you were.
"We're headed to an underground prison that very few in the royal capital know of. We keep important prisoners down here." You asked what he meant by "important".
"You know that we've captured members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun who were involved in the attack against the capital, right?" Marx asked.
"Then the ones in the underground prison..." Asta began, but Marx already seemed to know what he was going to say.
"Yes. They have a spell on them that protects their memories, so we haven't been able to get any info about the Eye of the Midnight Sun yet. The Wizard King thought that your anti-magic sword could possible undo the protection. When they attacked the capital, they were always one step ahead of us. That would've been impossible unless they had help from the inside. We're pretty certain there's a traitor among us, and it's someone rather high up." You wondered what he could've meant by "someone rather high up". But you had an idea.
"Captain Yami came along with us, and you said there's going to be a conference between the Magic Knight captains, so are you trying to say one of the captains could be the traitor?" You asked, stating your theory.
"Yes, that's exactly what we're thinking." You couldn't believe what you were hearing. Such strong individuals under the direct order of the Wizard King, and someone might've betrayed him? It didn't seem possible.
"We'd rather not believe that, either. That's why we want to clear things up. Ah, it seems we're here." There was a large door that was designed to keep the prisoners in whatever room was behind it. Asta pushed open the door and peeked inside. The Wizard King stood in the middle of the room, two captured enemies binded up behind him.
"Hey, Asta and (Y/N). Great work again." The Wizard King waved, inviting you in.
"Th-The Wizard King! It's great to see you!" Asta greeted him, you did as well.
"I'm sorry to bring you here when you're probably tired, but you're the only one who can use the anti-magic sword. By the way, I heard you fought with the higher-ups of the Eye of the Midnight Sun!" The Wizard King spoke seriously about the first half, but when he started talking about the Eye of the Midnight Sun, his eyes got all sparkly and he was eager to hear about their magic. He ran over to you quickly and grabbed Asta by the shoulders.
"What kinds of magic did they use?" Asta was surprised by how the Wizard King suddenly started acting, but he gave him his information anyways.
"Say what?! Copy magic? They can copy other people's magic? That's amazing! And Beast magic?! I've never heard of that before! Wait, Spirit magic?! Fire? So, the Salamander?! I would've loved to see all of that!" The Wizard King shared his extreme interest for the magic of the Third Eye members. He looked like he could go on and on, but Marx stopped him, and he apologized.
"All right, Asta. Could you give it a try? Do you think you can do it?" He was finally ready to see if the spell could be disabled.
"I believe so! As you wish, Wizard King!" Asta rubbed his nose and began walking toward the two. The male knew what Asta was going to do, which caused the woman to slightly panic. Asta chuckled knowing they couldn't do anything about what was to come. The woman tried to get Asta to stay away, but he obviously ignored her. He tapped their foreheads with the handle of his sword, which was able to nulify the spell. Now, their memories could be accessed. Marx used his spell that was able to do so. The spell linked to inside of their heads, and their memories branched out above them. Asta and the Wizard King were both amazed over the spell, but were stopped when Marx said he needed silence, their expressions turning disappointing.
"I will ask both of you a number of questions. Answer me honestly. Understood?" Marx asked the two, which were under a trance. He asked them a series of questions that only took a few minutes. When he concluded with the questions, he sent a transmission to the Magic Knight captains telling them to hold the conference in another room, but that didn't get across with your captain quite well from what you could hear.
After your captain's tantrum, the rest of the captains came down to where you were.
"Hey kid, working hard?" Captain Yami asked Asta, lighting a cigarette.
"Y-Yes, sir. Great work, sir." Asta stuttered, seeming pretty intimidated.
"Does he need to take a dump or something?" Captain Yami asked out loud. You closed your eyes and pretended not to hear him. Captain Vangeance changed the subject by asking what the Wizard King needed.
"Those two are from the Eye of the Midnight Sun... Did you learn something from them?" Captain Charlotte asked.
"Yes, several things, thanks to Marx and Asta. I suppose this is the biggest one. I've learned that there is a traitor among you who is working with the Eye of the Midnight Sun." The Wizard King turned around to the two captives.
"Now, would you kindly tell me which one of these captains is the traitor who aided the Eye of the Midnight Sun? Tell me their name." His usual smile turned serious as he awaited their answer. The room was silent as everyone waited.
"It's... the captain of the Purple Orcas, Gueldre Poizot."
~~~~~End of Chapter~~~~~
Total word count: 3888
So, if you haven't heard, opening 12 is titled "Eien ni Hikare (Everlasting Shine)" and will be performed by K-Pop band Tomorrow x Together! I haven't listened to them much, but I really enjoy the songs I've heard from them, so I'm excited to see how the new opening will come out! It premieres on episode 141 on September 1st, but will be released digitally on Wed. August 19th.
Any feedback is helpful, whether it be compliments or criticism. I want to make sure you enjoy the story!