Chapter Text
The words "Oh god" and "Oh no" were switching rapidly flooding through Finral's frenzied thoughts, echoing louder and louder as his heartbeat grew with them. Rapidly pacing around the expansive stone room known as the Black Bulls living area, arms tightly crossed against himself, he was only partially aware of the stares following him. Personally, he thought he was handling everything in a perfectly reasonable manner. That was to say, he hadn't chucked a plate at someone's head, so perhaps it was a lower bar than he'd thought.
"Come on, it's gonna be fine!" Vanessa finally called out, holding a cup of water, paused on its journey to her mouth, "It's a small hiccup, nothing we can't handle."
"Nothing we can't handle?!" Finral repeated, whipping around to face her with an indignant look on his face, "There are many things we can't handle! This being one of them!"
"I strongly object to that statement!" Vanessa replied, leaning back to stretch out on the couch, "We're nothing if not adaptable."
"By 'adaptable' you mean 'just bumble our way through it and hope it turns out fine'!" he screeched, his stance was firm, tense as his face pinched with panic.
"I'm pretty sure that's the definition." Vanessa said, pointing at him.
"It's not!" he groaned, throwing his hands out.
"Jeez, keep it down!" Noelle sighed, rubbing her temples, "And I thought Dorksta was loud!"
"Noelle!" Asta said, looking almost hurt.
"Well, it's true!" she defended, crossing her arms.
"Can you two be quiet?!" Finral chastised, frantically hissing as his hands tensed up into claws around his face.
They were taken aback, eyes wide as they watched their senior continue to breathe heavily.
Finral swallowed, the moisture in his mouth vanishing the moment he saw the frightened looks on their faces.
"Sorry... I... I shouldn't have yelled like that." he stood up straighter, "You didn't deserve that."
Noelle crossed her arms. "It's insulting you think that bothered me."
Her voice was taught and her posture was tense, shaky in a way that was all too familiar. Finral felt the pit in his stomach deepen and the urge to apologize again rose.
"Are you okay?" Asta asked with wide eyes, oblivious as usual.
"Just stressed," he spoke, clipped and looking away.
"You realize you're gonna have to tell Yami about this. Right?" Vanessa piped up from the couch.
He groaned in defeat, "That's if Captain Vangeance hasn't already."
"Tell Yami about what?" Asta pressed, practically vibrating with curiosity.
"Nothing—" Finral tried to insist.
"That our resident flirt accidentally invited the entire Golden Dawn to train instead of his boyfriend." Vanessa smirked, watching mirthfully as said flirt sputtered in protest.
"Okay, first of all—" He pointed at her, scowl affixed to his face. "—I'm not flirt anymore! So jot that down! And second…" Finral struggled to come up with another criticism.
"You did what?" Noelle almost shrieked, turning to Finral.
"It was a mistake! And not at all my fault so stop giving me that look!"
"This is absolutely your fault!" she glared.
"If you want to blame someone, blame Klaus!"
Vanessa whistled. "Throwing your boyfriend under the carriage, low."
"Shut up!" he hissed. "I didn't mean it, I'm just stressed!"
"Wait until I tell him that." she smirked. "Bet he'll be real happy about it."
He turned to look at her, evident shock screwing up his features. "You wouldn't dare."
"Oh?" Vanessa leaned in, wicked grin playing on her reddened lips. "You want to test that?"
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, usually, I at least semi-enjoy our banter, but I'm, like, legitimately freaking out over here."
She threw back her head as easy laughter peeled out from her heaving chest. "Listen, it's not a big deal! His squad isn't expecting much, so, like, go with the flow! We can help!"
Finral looked over at Noelle and Asta with absolute defeat in his eyes as desperation clung to his every word. "Would you guys do that?"
They looked at each other hesitantly, Noelle shifted her crossed arms as Asta awkwardly chuckled.
"Well…"
"Oh, thank god!" Finral threw his hands up in relief, almost hysterical in his jubilance. "I just need you two for some matches, so, you know, easy!"
"You want us to fight some extras from the Golden Dawn?" Noelle indignantly replied, thin eyebrows shooting up towards her hairline.
"Yes! If you could, please?" Finral's hands clasped in front of his face, eyes wide so he could silently plead.
Noelle rolled her eyes, "I might be busy, you know?"
"But you're not, Noelle!" Asta looked at with his face quirked up in confusion.
"But he didn't know that!" she chastised.
"Well, I do now." Finral crossed his arms, "And I really do need help, Noelle. It's just for today!"
"Ugh, fine. But you and your stupid boyfriend owe me!" she pointed at him as menacingly as she could.
"Ah! Thank you, you won't regret this!" Finral stopped. "Actually, I can't promise that."
"Wonderful." Noelle rolled her eyes.
"Don't worry, you won't be alone." Asta nudged her with his shoulder. "I'll be there too!"
"You're both lifesavers!" Finral cheered, tearing up.
"Don't cry!" Noelle ordered, looking almost scandalized. "It's weird, and I don't wanna deal with it!"
"You can't say that!" Asta frowned. "People need to express emotions."
"Do they?" Vanessa chimed in from her spot on the couch.
"Yes!" Finral shouted as he ran a hand over his face. "Actually, we really don't have time to argue about this right now, considering we have to host about ten other people!"
"Oh, shush!" Vanessa waved her hand at him. "I'll take care of it!"
"W-What?" Finral sputtered, freezing in place.
"You heard me." She laughed, light, and airy, a familiar and warm sound. "I'll get Charmy to make something and then I’ll go wrangle the others. You look like you could use a break."
"Vanessa…" He said very seriously, staring her down with hardened eyes. "I would kiss you if I wasn't unavailable."
Howling laughter filled the room. "As if you could get all this!"
"Haha. Laugh it up," he mocked. "But only one of us here is in a relationship."
"Ah, my friend, you think I'm single unwillingly?" Vanessa cocked an eyebrow. "Really?"
Finral leaned back, pouting mildly as he refused to meet her teasing gaze.
"Great!" she slammed her hands on the table, pushing off of it at the same time. "Now that we have that resolved, I'll go grab the brats. You come up with, uh, something passable."
"Right." Finral swallowed, a colder feeling sticking in his throat.
Vanessa stepped over to him, smiling slightly, and clapped his shoulder. "Good luck. I don't envy you." she faced the two teenagers that stood off to the side. "Come on you two, let's go find everyone and leave the planning to the idiot."
"I resent that."
"I know." she gave his cheek a firm pat. "That's why I say it. Good luck."
She gestured for Noelle and Asta to follow, and they did without complaint, jealousy briefly streaked through his muddled mind at that. But the living room was vacant, a rarity, and he had an hour to come up with a workable training idea for the Golden Dawn's members. He sighed, sagging his way over to the couch. Life really didn't care for him.
Mimosa was staring at him, too amused to be hidden by a false indifference. Yuno was as well. His indifference, however, was most likely real, the annoyance on his face definitely was. Klaus refused to give them the satisfaction of acknowledgment.
Though their mischievous and impish tendencies were almost preferable to the cold glares most of his squad had been shooting him. Alecdora, especially. But he didn't care for anyone connected to Yuno, so that wasn't entirely unusual.
Still, he felt himself under the intense scrutiny of the confused to the outright angered, Klaus was already embarrassed, but the looks only made it worse. He really hadn't meant to drag them all along with him, Captain Vangeance was just… hard to say no to.
He had tried to explain that it was an offer that extended only to him and his small squad of three, but Captain Vangeance had already gone and called for the others, too taken up with the idea of joint training. Especially with the Black Bulls.
It was no secret that Captain Vangeance felt an extraordinary amount of guilt for the incident months prior, he had, after all, let Licht (now Patri?) go through with his plan to destroy the Clover Kingdom, conscripting his own squad to be unwilling soldiers along the way. Their captain was eager to make up for it.
Klaus was unsure how to view it. He had admired the man, looked up to him for years, but he had been planning on using him the entire time, to use the knights that had dedicated their lives to the protection and safety of others, and force them to destroy everything they had sacrificed to keep. It was horrifying. What if they had succeeded? It didn’t help that the elves themselves were unwitting pawns, playing to the whims of a greater, more malevolent being. If anything, it made it so much worse.
If Asta and the Captains hadn’t been there, they would’ve all died, the world would’ve been lost. Captain Vangeance recognized that, and shouldered the guilt for it all. Klaus was sure he deserved that, at least. But as long as his captain was going to improve, going to try and be better for the sake of the kingdom he had once been complicit in helping to destroy, then maybe the respect that had been there would slowly come back. Maybe he could forgive him for lying. Maybe.
But this... eagerness to try and help led to oversights, rash decisions which created less than optimal situations, like the one they were currently in. Their Captain was also looking to mend the relations between squads, which had already been strained before the elves had attacked. The Black Bulls had been integral in protecting the kingdom, despite the many obstacles placed in their path, most of which had been created by the possessed Golden Dawn.
Really, Klaus should’ve seen this coming. Unfortunately, he thought that he would’ve been able to get away with it like he had in getting days off, but he had grown complacent. Then he only had a mere hour before he, and nine others, were to be at the Black Bull’s base. Though, the conversation with Finral had been awkward, and full of apologies as he warned him about what was coming. And it had started off so well…
“Klaus!” Finral’s ecstatic form had filled the caller with a blue light. “How’d it go? Did it work? Are you coming over?”
Klaus looked away. “Uh, the training idea worked, yes.”
"That’s great!” Finral cheered, grinning broadly. “Vanessa’s gonna be stoked!”
“Right.” Klaus swallowed, words becoming lodged in his throat.
“Huh? What’s wrong?” Finral’s face fell.
“The idea might have worked… too well.” he winced.
His projected face screwed up in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Captain Vangeance may have thought it was such a good idea that he turned it into a team building exercise with more people than we wanted?” Klaus let the words rush out in an almost incoherent sentence.
“...what?!” Finral squeaked, looking frantic.
“I’m sorry! I don’t know what happened, he just got so excited and started talking over me! Before I knew it, he recruited everyone else!” Klaus ran a hand through his fringed hair. “I just thought I should warn you!”
“Oh my god.” Finral muttered, hand over his face. “We’re screwed. We’re so screwed.”
“I know, I know!” Klaus sighed. “But we can figure it out! They’re not expecting much, so it should be fine!”
“They’re not expecting much?” Finral repeated indignantly .
Klaus paused. “That’s not what I meant.”
Finral sighed. “Yeah… sorry, just… UGH!”
“That’s just our luck, huh?” Klaus softly muttered, shaking his head.
"It really is." Finral groaned with a smile. "I'm surprised it took so long for something bad to happen."
"At least we're not waiting in anticipation anymore," Klaus agreed.
"No. I guess not." Finral paused for a second. "Still sucks our day got ruined."
Klaus laughed, short and mild but still filled with humor. "You wanted to see Yuno and Asta endlessly bicker for hours at a time?"
Finral snorted. "No! But it would've been nice to see Mimosa try and put them both in their places."
"You want her to start being scary again?" he teased, grinning broadly.
Finral shuddered. "It's funny when it's not you."
"I suppose. It would've been nice, training together I mean."
"Yeah. It would've." Finral took a beat, smiling with a mischievous edge. "Although Asta would've challenged you to a strength contest, just for kicks."
He shook his head fondly. "Most likely. I'll… I'll see you there. I'm going to stall, as long as I can."
Finral stiffened. "Okay. Right. That."
"I really am sorry," Klaus offered. "I think Captain Vangeance was just excited about our squads hanging out."
"A weird way to put it." Finral tried to laugh, but the furious darting of his eyes gave away his panic. "Bye, Klaus."
"See you in a bit."
He flipped the top closed and his heart gave a funny little twist. Klaus would make it up to him later, hopefully.
Still, even as he was hundreds of feet up in the sky, riding towards a place where he had to put on another persona, Finral's panic took up most of the space in his mind. It was disconcerting, how something so seemingly insignificant and mild about someone else could be something to agonize and ponder over. How he wanted nothing more than to reach over the miles that kept them apart and—
"Klaus!"
He startled, whipping his head around to catch who'd been calling his name. Eventually he landed on Mimosa's impatient face, cheeks slightly puffed in an indignant show of annoyance.
"Yes?"
"I've been calling your name." she said, glaring with a serene smile and angelic grace. "Some people have, um, questions about today."
he stilled. "Right, of course they would."
He turned to the mass of broomsticks following him, each dotted with their own uniformed figures, ranging from disinterested to staring at him expectantly. At the front was Alecdora, sharply waiting for an explanation, flanking him were Siren and Hamon, and Klaus silently thanked whatever god there was for bestowing mercy upon him. Alecdora was painful on his own, but Siren and his constant, thinking silence partnered with Hamon's endless amusement and cheer balanced him out. Their friendship was certainly odd considering their personalities but he couldn't really judge them.
Letoile and David sat somewhere in the middle, always next to each other despite the exasperation that seemed to follow the bespectacled woman whenever she dealt with him. David, as always, was teasing her, asking her to gamble. It was familiar, fond even, as she admonished him with a simple repeating of his name.
Gris sat alone, silently facing away from the chattering conversations, his nose turned up and shoulders set back. The man was disagreeable on his best days, but there was an undeniable similarity between the two of them, at least with Klaus' past self. Gris would violently deny any sort of camaraderie he felt, despite obviously partaking in it.
Still, he was easier to get along with now, especially since Asta's visit during the squad exchange months ago. His stubbornness remained persistent despite that, but Klaus had long grown used to it.
"Okay!" Mimosa clapped, her hands next to her titled head. "Who wants to go first?"
Hands shot up almost immediately, before being pulled back down and a uniform look of shame was shared. A bad habit from their schooling that was hard to break.
"I'll start." Alecdora cleared his throat. "Why did our illustrious, talented Captain decide to send us to one of the lowest ranked squads in the kingdom?"
"They did get second place in the Star Festival," Hamon reminded him, leaning over with a wink.
Siren nodded and Alecdora scowled at them both.
Klaus swallowed. "I mentioned in passing that the Black Bulls offered to do joint training with my squad, and Captain Vangeance believed it would be best if more of us went along to, uh, make amends if need be."
"Make amends?" he repeated, almost indignantly.
"We did attack them, when we weren't… ourselves." Letoile coughed into her fist, obviously uncomfortable with whatever memories the possession had left her with.
Alecdora crossed his arms, but didn't say anything more.
"Excellent." Mimosa easily smiled. "Anything else?"
"Over here!" David enthusiastically waved as he teetered dangerously off his broomstick.
Letoile glared at the display. Mimosa nodded at him, giving permission for him to continue.
"Okay, so! What can we expect, like, personality wise?" David tilted his head.
"That's…" Klaus glanced over at Yuno and Mimosa with a small grimace. "Do we have enough time for that?"
She looked uneasy, turning away from him to avoid giving an answer. Yuno raised an eyebrow. They were no help at all.
"Thank you both," he sighed, looking over his shoulder, back to David's expectant gaze. "How do you feel about loud noises and possible bodily harm?"
"Shit, shit, shit!" Finral paced across the wide open yard surrounding the front of the base, cursing under his breath.
"Come on Finral, it's fine!" Asta cheered. "We have a plan, and we're ready to help! One hundred percent!"
"You don't speak for me," Gauche spit venomously, glaring out from under his long bangs.
"It's a good thing he doesn't." Noelle rolled her eyes, fidgeting in place next to Asta. "I'm not sure if I could stand it."
"Tch." he clicked his tongue, going back to staring off in the distance with his hands tucked deep into his pocket.
"Where's Vanessa?! She said she was getting Charmy!" Finral stopped pacing to direct the frantic question at the small group.
"I-It's f-fine! I'm s-sure she'll be here s-soon!" Grey tried to assure him from the spot where she huddled next to Gordon, who nodded along with her.
He whimpered miserably as a response and Magna tried to pat his shoulder with as much schooled sympathy as he could summon. It came off awkward and stilted and Luck snorted with laughter.
"Sh-Shut up!" Magna hissed, flushing red. "You try and do this!"
"Don't encourage him!" Finral snapped, turning to look at him with a glare. "You know what he'll do!"
Luck giggled. Magna nervously scratched at the back of his head, avoiding his carefully styled mohawk.
“Hey! I’m baaaack!” A familiar voice sung out across the yard.
Vanessa stood smiling, airily ignorant, if not willfully so, of her friend’s panicked disposition.
"Vanessa!" Finral shrieked. "Where have you been?!"
"Chill." she rolled her eyes. "Always with the dramatics. I was just grabbing some things."
"I'm not a "thing"!" A voice protested, the figure behind it stepping into view.
The familiar open-chested outfit was as gaudy as always, studded with metal spikes, the striking red hair contrasting heavily with the leathered black wrapped around his face. Zora had finally deemed them worthy of an appearance. Joy.
Charmy popped out from behind him, nibbling on something. With a quick shoo motion, Vanessa encouraged her to go inside, hopefully to make food. They could at least pretend to have basic manners.
Finral pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Vanessa…" he began with a heavy sigh.
"Come on! You can't tell me that his trap magic won't pose an interesting challenge." she grabbed onto the ash mage's arm, proudly showing him off. "Sure he has a mouthy streak but who doesn't? And don't you need someone to draw ire besides you and your beloved, dear—"
"Okay! Okay! I get it!" he held his hand up to her smug visage. "Fine, he can stay."
"Don't I get a say in this?" Zora testily interjected, hands on his hips.
"Oh, absolutely not." Vanessa patted his cheek. "Welcome to the Black Bulls."
He gave her a salacious grin. "I hate it already."
"That's the spirit!"
Finral covered his face with one hand. "I'm too tired for this."
“Hope you’re not too tired to act,” Vanessa called with an underlying tone of mischief, when he met her eyes, she gave him a quick wink. “Looks like our guests are here.”
Her pointed hand was raised towards the horizon, just above the treetops that were scattered around them all. He, with great anguish, followed her extended finger to the sight of far off dots, moving towards them with all the speed and manner of a funeral procession.
With one quick breath, Finral spun around to face the disjointed, bored group of magic knights.
“Okay! I know no one wanted to do this today, least of all me, but please, for the love of god, just go with the plan?”
The silence he was met with was not inspiring.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
"Don't worry, we'll do our best!" Asta cheered, too bright for the atmosphere that had deeply settled.
Finral looked at him. "Asta. You're my favorite."
Noelle sputtered, indignantly growing red in the face.
"You're okay too, Noelle," Finral assuaged her nonsensical mutterings, albeit slightly dazed and without much presence. "Asta's just so positive, y'know?"
She huffed, glaring at the ground.
"Whatever…"
"Awww, jealous?" Zora mockingly cooed, hunching over with his hands in his pockets.
"Shut up!" she snapped.
"Don't worry Noelle, you'll go back to being his favorite tomorrow," Vanessa said, smiling.
She rolled them, but the smug gleam in her violet eyes was hard to miss.
"Incorrect. I have no favorites. Usually." Finral paused, thinking on it. "Actually… do I?"
"You do." Vanessa nodded.
Everyone else made slight sounds of acknowledgement.
"Okay, quiet!" Finral shushed them while waving his hand around. "Just… try and act normal, alright? They'll be here any minute…"
As soon as they set down, the air had become electrified, brimming with awkward silence, simmering animosity, and mutual ignoring of the fact that most of the Golden Dawn had tried to kill the Black Bulls while possessed.
Klaus wasn't happy about being put in charge of it all.
Still, he did what he'd been trained for, and stepped forward as their temporary leader. Others had seniority, but he had been the one to get the "mission" directly from the Captain, it only made sense.
"Hello everyone. I'm sure some of you know me already but my name is Klaus Lunettes. And those behind me are a few members of the Golden Dawn we brought along for joint training today." Stepping back he gestured broadly, trying not to grimace with a silent apology. "I hope we can have a productive day."
There was silence. Choking, awkward, awful silence. The Golden Dawn shifted behind him, he could just picture their varying stances, some looking defiantly down on the Black Bulls while others refused to meet anyone's eyes, the guilt too overwhelming. And the Black Bulls… looked way too pleased with themselves.
Finally, he allowed himself to look over at Finral. He was looking firmly away, one arm crossed over his body and tightly gripping the other, styled hair flopping over his forehead. Such a familiar sight yet exhilarating with its newness; the way his forehead creased with thought, features folding together into a new symposium of emotion, the gentle light creeping over skin that illuminated him, the very air was charged with his presence and Klaus could not help the breath that caught in his throat.
Finral looked up.
With the way his eyes widened and the new flush dusting his cheeks, Finral was having very similar thoughts. The very idea made Klaus giddy, the rising excitement was almost dizzying. Had they been alone…
"Klaus, dear, no need to be so formal! You're practically family after all!"
Vanessa's teasing, exuberant voice tore him away from Finral. She was standing at the forefront of the Black Bulls, one hand on her hip, the other fiddling with a piece of her hair. She looked casual, resting all her weight to one side. A tactic to make them more relaxed. Smart.
"Oh! Mimosa and Yuno too!" she waved at them.
"Hello, Ms. Vanessa!" Mimosa chirped, excitedly waving back.
Yuno nodded once.
The rest of the Golden Dawn looked on with moderate confusion, understandable given the situation.
"Well, Vanessa, I thought it was pertinent to get the professional bits out of the way." Klaus allowed himself a smile as he pushed up his glasses. "It's nice to see you as well."
"Aw, get over here!" she threw her arms open.
Despite the embarrassment that tinged his skin with obvious pink, he stepped forward to meet her in the middle. Throwing her arms around him, she laughed easily. Not all of it was for show, she did seem genuinely happy to see him. The feeling was mutual.
Pulling back, she gave him pat on the face, before setting her sights on his two subordinates.
"You two are next!" she called out.
"Come on, Vanessa!" Asta ran up next to her. "You can't hog them all!"
Luck trailed after, ignoring Asta. "Hey Klaus! I hear we're fighting, right? Right?!"
Klaus winced. "Well—"
Magna popped up next to Luck, putting a hand on his shoulder to ground him. "Sorry, man, he's just excited."
"Yeah, I am!"
Noelle stumbled next to Asta, speaking distantly. "Hey, Four-Eyes."
"...hello, Noelle."
"YUNO, YOU JERK!" Asta shrieked, startling them all.
He had gravitated towards the sullen boy, Mimosa just happened to be next to him, and had his hand raised up to the top of Yuno's head.
"YOU GOT TALLER!"
"Or you shrunk."
Asta opened his mouth, and Klaus prepared his eardrums for another verbal beating.
"Asta. Please." Mimosa put her hand on his arm. "Later."
He visibly deflated.
"Sorry, Mimosa."
Klaus finally turned back to get a good reading on his squad.
They were certainly… surprised. Some stared in revulsion, horror at the sights of familiarity and friendship with such a supposedly lowly group happening before them. Others were uncomfortable, shooting odd looks towards him, trying not to look like they were paying too much attention. Understandable, truly.
Something light tapped his shoulder. He turned.
Open, deep lilac eyes met his. Familiar with the sight, he let the edges of his vision darken, something easy twisted the edge of his mouth up. Finral looked nervous, his fingers twisted at each other. Klaus smothered the need to reach out and knit them with his own.
"Hello, Finral."
"Hey, Klaus. Good to see you."
Klaus stuck his hand out. The interaction wouldn't look too odd to any outsiders. Carefully, Finral lifted his and they met in the middle. One careful, not quite extended shake later, they parted. Immediately, he missed the contact, the warmth, the brushing of Finral's thumb against the back of his hand, a reassuring, quick thing that ghosted on the edge of his memory.
Trying not to melt into a puddle, Klaus wondered how the hell they were going to survive an entire day of this. Well, they'd done it once before, surely it wouldn't be so difficult the second time. Right?
Finral smiled and he felt himself immediately go red.
Oh, today was going to be no fun at all.