One week later

Zora sighed as he sat on a bench in a park in one of the towns in the Common Realm. The Common Realm had some very nice parks that everyone was able to enjoy. Of course, Zora wasn't the time to be hanging around in a park where trees bloomed with beautiful flowers and families and couples were out on picnics. The only reason he was there was because he got a letter the day before from "Andreas" asking to meet.

The letter was polite and apologetic in tone and asked for Zora to bring the mask from Masquerade and despite Zora's better judgement of ignoring the letter and not going, Zora still came to the park fifteen minutes before the time. Zora wanted to know who his Masquerade companion had been. After a nearly of week of sulking and nursing his hurt feelings, Zora realized that maybe "Andreas" had a much more insecurity than he let on and that Zora might have been mean to him before.

Whatever it was, Zora needed to find out. He gripped the Masquerade mask tightly in his hands, being wary not to break it. He felt much more comfortable in his regular clothes and Black Bulls cloak.

"What am I doing," Zora muttered to himself, hoping no one saw him talking to himself like a weirdo. Should he have shown him? "Andreas" was the one that ran away, not Zora. And yet, Zora stayed put. It'd be terrible to just stand someone up who asked to meet you.

He sighed and looked at the big clock in the park center. If "Andreas" was late, Zora was giving him ten minutes and then he was leaving. He wasn't going to be jerked around again!

Zora looked around the area to see if he could see someone with a Masquerade mask on their face (since the letter told Zora that's how he'd be able to tell).

"You came," asked a voice, a familiar voice. Zora whipped around to find someone he knew wearing the same mask that "Andreas" had been wearing.

"Oh," said Zora. There was no mistaking the perfect vermillion hair and the Coral Peacocks' cloak. "Kirsch?" Zora stood up and began to walk closer to him. Since Zora wasn't completely stupid, he realized that Kirsch had been worried that Zora wouldn't like him since their first meeting had been disastrous and the general argumentative nature of their proceeding professional relationship.

"Wait, I had a speech planned and everything," said Kirsch, not taking the mask off. Zora reached him so they were standing close. "I'm sorry for running away. It was awful for me to do, especially when I do like you very much, more so when I found out it was you, Zora."

Zora reached over and took Kirsch's mask off. Kirsch's face was bright red and that clashed horribly with his hair, but it was adorable and Zora was far too fond. He'd have liked to give Kirsch a kiss but his normal lower-face mask prevented it for the moment, so instead, Zora pulled Kirsch into a hug. "Yer some kind of idiot, you know that, Kirsch? Ya gonna take some responsibility or not?"

"Yeah, do you want to be my boyfriend," said Kirsch, and from the sound of it, he was holding back sobs.

Zora pulled away from the hug but only so he could look at Kirsch's pretty crying and flustered face. Grunting in annoyance, Zora wiped away the tears. "There ain't no reason to be crying. We got a lot of things to talk about, don't we?"

Sniffling, Kirsch nodded, tearfully. "You're so sweet. I think I'm falling in love with you."

"Good," said Zora, hoping that his face wasn't getting too red. "Come on, let's get some food." Without much fanfare, Zora took Kirsch's hand in his and even though Kirsch made a strangled sound, they walked out of the park together.

Zora was really glad he read the letter.

"Gordon! You need to come out and eat! I will break down this goddamn door! Enough of your sulking! Breakfast, NOW!"

It was Gauche once again banging on Gordon's bedroom door at the Black Bulls' base. Gordon had been in his room for the past week, only eating what Charmy brought him, but it seemed that his friends had enough. They wanted him at the breakfast table. And if he didn't eat, it was going to be an insult to Charmy and also to Noelle, who had been learning how to cook, and Henry, who had kitchen duties when Charmy was on missions. And the last thing Gordon wanted was to insult his dearest friends.

Gordon sighed and forced himself out of bed. He was still in his black pajamas and realized that he was going to actually have to get dressed. He grumbled, as he got himself presentable.

He really shouldn't be so depressed since it was his fault that he ran away in the first place. Not only was he depressed, Gordon was also incredibly guilty.

Before he started on another round of self-deprecating thoughts and his other negative feelings, there was another banging on his bedroom door. This time it was Magna. "GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR! IT'S BREAKFAST!"

Hefting a big sigh, Gordon exited his bedroom for the first time in a week. He made his way downstairs. Everyone was at the dining table. Well, not everyone was there. Zora was missing (not unusual for him to come and go as he pleased). Asta was missing (again). And surprisingly, Vanessa wasn't there (because she never got off the couch before noon, as she was either nursing a hangover or complaining that she was too tired to move). Captain Yami wasn't at the table, but he was no doubt in the bathroom, as everyone knew when the Captain was trying to go.

"Oh, look who decided to join us," said Charmy. Despite her diminutive stature, she was looking the part of a disapproving mom. Though she was dressed for a mission, she had her apron over it, and she was holding a spatula as they were having pancakes. "Sit down and you had better eat your fill!"

Gordon sat next to Grey. Grey smiled, warmly and gently at him, "Charmy's in a mood since Captain Rill got a bit a trouble with his Vice-Captain."

Charmy moved from the kitchen to slam a plate in front of Gordon. "That idiot got himself grounded by his Vice-Captain! I mean, how that happens is beyond me!"

"Thank you, Miss Charmy," said Gordon, mumbling.

Charmy nodded.

"Ugh, Miss Charmy," said Noelle, pointing out the obvious, "you did start a fight with the Spirit of Earth. And got Captain Rill involved."

"But I miss my sweetie," said Charmy, in protest. "I need to find a boyfriend or girlfriend or his Vice-Captain!"

Gordon began eating, half-heartedly as Charmy began making plans as everyone tried to dissuade her from being a matchmaking for devious reasons. Gordon smiled, as Charmy remembered that he liked chocolate chips in his pancakes. It was nice eating breakfast with everyone again, with all their chaos and aggressive affection.

"Finally," muttered Gauche, who was sitting across from Grey. "Gordon, you're being ridiculous you know." The bickering of Noelle, Charmy and now Henry was background noise. "If you like someone, you got to say it clearly so they understand your feelings or you have no right to be upset. I'd go and talk to that lady and get properly rejected or accepted. We're Black Bulls, there ain't no room for half-assing shit."

Gordon nearly teared up. Gauche was so good at giving pep talks, despite being a sister-loving-jerk.

Finally relaxing a bit, he dug into his breakfast with more gusto.

The chaotic morning at the Black Bulls was soon interrupted moments later, as their front door got knocked down in an impressive display of magic by one Letoile Becquerel. Like a bat out of hell, she charged into the house without saying anything and went for Gordon, grabbing him by his shirt.

"Lady Letoile?" Gordon peered down at her and he was shocked to see bags under her eyes, her hair out of place and she was not wearing her Golden Dawn robe.

And then she kissed him.

He didn't react, but when she stopped kissing him, she declared, "I finally found you!" And then, Letoile passed out in Gordon's arms.

"Wow, go Gordon," said Luck.

"Good for you, buddy," said Magna.

"Oh…my…door…is…broken…again."

Gordon stared at the woman in his arms and said, so profoundly, "Uh, wha?"

Finral sighed as Henry went to start the repairs to the door, as he helped Gordon put Letoile on the couch to sleep.

"Good morning, everyone. Sorry for the intrusion," said Mimosa, entering the base (bypassing the mess) with Langris at her side, moments after Letoile kissed Gordon. "We came with her since she hadn't slept in a week and wouldn't tell us what was up." Noelle ran over to hug her cousin.

"It seemed that she was trying to figure out the identity of the guy she met at the Masquerade Ball," said Langris, giving Gordon a once over.

Finral knew that Letoile was one of Langris' friends, as she hadn't shunned him after the incidents from three years ago. "Morning, Lady Mimosa, and Morning, Langris! I'm sad I didn't get to see you two in your Masquerade outfits!"

"Brother," said Langris, in greeting. Finral was just so fond of his brother.

"Oh, it's just so great that it was Mr. Gordon," said Mimosa, smiling dangerously. "I was worried for a while, but I know Mr. Gordon is a nice guy and will be good to Letoile."

Gordon stumbling over his words, "We'll talk after she wakes up."

"Excellent," said Mimosa. "Langris, can we stay and enjoy Charmy's pancakes?" Mimosa Vermilion had become very dangerous in the Last three years. Finral was still impressed by her and Lady Noelle.

"If it isn't a bother," said Langris. Before Finral thought to compliment his brother's politeness, his little brother continued, but with complaints, "And it beats having to watch Yuno and Asta moon over each other during breakfast for the seventh time. When can you take Asta back? Their lovey-dovey time is very irritating."

"Aww, but it was about time they got together," said Noelle, rolling her eyes. "Don't you think, Finral? Have you had that talk with Asta? He's been visiting Yuno an awful lot."

Blanching, since Finral had his own mystery debacle (waiting for "Caspar" to get in touch), "Ahh, well, it's not all on me. Gauche is supposed to help with that talk."

"The only talk we need to have is with Yuno," said Gauche, darkly.

"Honey, no," scolded Grey.

"Yes, baby," sad Gauche, immediately.

"Back to breakfast, everyone, the food is getting cold," demanded Charmy. With Gordon fussing over a sleeping Letoile and Henry fixing the door, Mimosa and Langris took over their seats.

Breakfast at home was always something, Finral thought to himself. He wondered if "Caspar" forgot about him. He glanced over at Gordon sitting on the floor by the couch where Letoile slept away her one week bout of mania. Finral couldn't help but be a little envious that she went to all the effort to find Gordon, when "Caspar" knew who Finral was and still hadn't gotten in touch.

"All…done," Henry declared proudly at the newly reconstructed door for the house.

And then the banging began and Finral tensed along with everyone in the room, because it could one person who knocked on a door like that.

The door busted opened and one flame hand shot out and grabbed Finral by his head. Mereoleona Vermillion arrived and Finral was gonna die. "Your door is still weak, Black Bulls! Tell Yami I'm borrowing this guy."

"My…door…no."

Finral panicked and said, "Someone help."

"Sorry, Brother, even I can't match up to the might of Captain Mereoleona Vermillion," said Langris, without an ounce of remorse.

"Have fun," called the Black Bulls, who were no help at all.

"Be gentle with Mr. Finral, Cousin Mereo," said Mimosa.

And with that Finral was dragged away from breakfast and his home by the most frightening woman in the world. She didn't say anything as she got on her broom and flew off. She didn't let him sit on the broom, his life was hanging in the balance as he dangled in the air, only held by her flame hand.

His head was getting hot too.

Terrified, he must have blacked out at some point because the next thing that Finral knew he was in the courtyard of the Crimson Lions' headquarters. He was still in Mereoleona's clutches as she dragged him inside through the halls.

Every Crimson Lion squad member didn't even bat an eye at the fact that Mereoleona was dragging someone through their compound by flames. He even passed by Fuegoleon and Sal (though she wasn't a squad member, she was married to their captain) who greeted them as if nothing was wrong.

Finally, Finral found himself being flung through someone's bedroom door. Finral landed ungracefully on the carpeted floor, as Mereoleona yelled, "TALK LIKE MEN, YOU COWARDS!" She slammed the door shut and there was a noticeable sizzle, which told Finral that she melted the door shut.

"Oh My God, are you okay?"

Gentle, but strong hands helped Finral sit up and he was face-to-face with more handsome-every-time-Finral-saw him Leopold Vermillion. Shaking his heads to get his bearings in order, Finral immediately noticed that the normally jovial Leo was not smiling his normally toothy grin. Concerned, Finral asked, "I'm fine, just shaken up a bit, but uh, Leo? Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry," said Leo, bowing his head to Finral.

"Uhh, why," asked Finral, confused and even more concerned. Perhaps, he needed to get Asta over here to give Leo some sort of pep talk.

"I can't believe Mereo would actually do this," said Leo, still not explaining anything. Head still bowed, Leo sighed, "I'm "Caspar," Finral."

Finral blinked a few times and realizing that Mereoleona was just being a well-meaning big sister, and that it made a lot of sense that "Caspar" was Leo. Finral thought it was quite ironic, considering that Leo was one of Asta's best friends and had spent a lot of time amongst the Black Bulls as a friend, that Finral never once thought that Leo could be a prospective partner. "I'm happy that it's you."

Leo lifted his head and finally grinned, which was much better on his face than a frown or a grimace. "Yeah?"

"I already know what kind of person you are, so it makes me happy," said Finral, hoping his face wasn't too red.

"I mean, I was pretty surprised that it was you, someone that I already knew and admired," said Leo.

"You admire me?"

"Yeah, I mean, your powers are awesome and you support your squad amazingly," said Leo, nodding emphatically, "Asta really likes you too! He talks about his squadmates all the time, but he especially cares about you."

Finral didn't stop the grin and said, "So…now what?"

"I dunno," said Leo, scratching his head.

"Oh," said Finral, hope deflating a bit.

"But I'd like to see you more," said Leo, trailing off.

"Then, let me take you out on a proper date," said Finral, blurting it out.

Leo nodded excitedly. "Yeah that'd be fun. I'd never had a date before, so please take care of me!" Despite being a grown man, Leo looked like a happy puppy getting a treat and the sight went straight to Finral's heart.

Finral laughed. "Oh, man, you're so cute, I'm probably gonna die of cuteness, but what a way to go."

And Leo's face turned red. "Are we going to go now?"

"Wonder what Finral did to anger Captain Mereoleona," said Noelle, as she sat next to Magna, now that breakfast was finishing cooking. The Black Bulls always had a full table at mealtimes, especially when they had guests.

"Who knows what goes on in that woman's mind," replied Magna, with a shrug. "He'll be fine."

"Hey," whispered Noelle, "Is Luck okay? He's been quiet lately."

Magna pushed his sunglasses up and whispered back, "I never thought I'd say this but he's got woman troubles."

"Woah," said Noelle. "Our Luck? Our battle-maniac Luck? Who would have guessed?"

Giving a derisive laugh, Magna said, "He's not the only one." For the past week, Magna had been debating with himself if he should ask Noelle to help talk to Nebra. On the one hand, Noelle would definitely help. On the other hand, it was embarrassing to ask one of his juniors for help with a woman he may like in a romantic manner.

"You too, huh," asked Noelle, "This Masquerade was something."

Magna was just grateful that everyone else was occupied with eating or their own conversations and that Vanessa wasn't there to make fun of him. Taking a deep breathe, Magna asked, "How's your siblings?"

Noelle gave him a look. "Big Brother Nozel and Miss Vanessa are dating. Solid is still a jerk, so I don't know how he got a boyfriend. And Nebra was fine the last time I spoke to her." But you see, Magna wasn't that subtle and Noelle was not stupid. "Magna, are you telling me that you're interested in my sister?"

"Shhh," said Magna, looking around the table. "Maybe. We talked a lot at the party, so, maybe. But then Luck was a pain and dragged me away before I could tell her who I was."

Noelle grinned, "Finish your breakfast, we're going to the Silver Eagles."

"That's not necessary," said Magna, starting to protest the help.

"No, you're not getting out of it. You need to talk to her," said Noelle, stubborn and her mind already made up.

Magna grinned at the wonderful young woman who had been just an awkward royal girl only a few years ago. "You make your senior so proud, Lady Noe-Noe."

"Uh, don't call me that," muttered Noelle.

Maybe Magna was happy that Noelle offered help, since taking offered help was easier than asking for help, so he finished his breakfast in record time. Noelle wasn't a big eater for breakfast (she preferred big lunches and afternoon snacks with a light a dinner in the evening), so she finished easily enough.

"Okay, me and Magna are heading off for a bit! Call us is there's a mission," said Noelle. She was wasting no time. She grabbed Magna's arm and yanked him out of his chair.

"Have fun, don't get into trouble," offered Secre, who was the most responsible person in the room at this point. Finral was normally left in charge when Captain Yami was occupied, but since Finral got kidnapped by Mereoleona Vermillion, whoever was the most responsible took charge. If only their mysterious Vice-Captain showed up more than once in a blue moon, they'd be organized as a squad.

Magna grabbed his broom and Noelle grabbed hers (since she long since was able to fly on her own). "You sure this is a good idea?"

"Yes," said Noelle, certain.

They flew off into the morning skies towards the Silver Eagles' Headquarters, which was located in the Royal Realm. Black Bulls were the only Magic Knight squad to have a place in the Forsaken Realm. The Crimson Lions and Silver Eagles were the only squads to be in the Royal Realm and that was because the Crimson Lions was usually Vermillion-run and the Silver Eagles was usually Silva-run. All the other squads were located in various parts of the Common Realm.

Magna had never been to the Silver Eagles' Headquarters, though Noelle visited her siblings (sometimes, dragging Asta or Mimosa with her), so it wasn't too much of a shock for her to see that the place was an actual castle. Granted, the Golden Dawn and the Crimson Lions had fortresses for bases, but the Silver Eagles was actual castle.

"Yeah, I know," said Noelle, grimacing. They hopped off their brooms at the front door to the Silver Eagles and since the guards knew Noelle, they let them in immediately. Upon entry to the castle itself, Magna wondered if Nebra was even here and not on a mission.

"Noelle," started Magna.

"Relax," said Noelle, walking through the halls as if she owned the place. They reached the Office of the Vice-Captain and Noelle knocked. Nebra wasn't the Vice-Captain of the Silver Eagles, so why were they going to this office?

"Come in," said the voice.

"Vice-Captain Shipley, it's me, Noelle and my squadmate Magna, can you tell us where Big Sister Nebra is," asked Noelle, opening the door and entering the office. The woman at the desk was, in fact, the Vice-Captain of the Silver Eagles, and she was hard at work doing paperwork.

The dark-haired woman looked up and smiled. "She's in the training room. She's in charge of training today. It's good to see you, Lady Noelle. Captain Nozel is out at the moment on a date, so if you were hoping to see him, he's not here."

"We know," said Noelle and Magna, at the same time grinning.

Vice-Captain Shipley grinned too. "Captain actually smiled the other day, so tell Miss Vanessa thanks!"

"That's great, we'll be going, thanks for your help," said Noelle. Magna followed Noelle out of the office and they were off to the training room. Before Magna asked, Noelle explained, "Vice-Captain Shipley is one of the few commoners that got into the Silver Eagles."

"Chosen by such a picky guy before meeting our Rasta, huh? She must be good," said Magna.

"Yeah," said Noelle, "She didn't become Vice-Captain until after the war against the elves, but since then, Big Brother is less stressed with work, since she takes half of it."

And, they reached the training room, as they heard a lot of shouting. Noelle pushed open the door and they entered the room, where a dozen or so Silver Eagles were wrapped in Nebra's illusionary mists. She was standing bored off to the side with a clipboard.

"Big Sister," said Noelle, greeting her with a wave.

Nebra walked over to them and said, "Hi, Noelle. Don't mind the screams, we're training them to break out of illusions."

"Sounds like they're failing," said Magna, arms crossed.

"No, this is the most powerful illusion spell I have, they've broken out of the others," said Nebra. "Though, this time around isn't going as well as we hoped. So, what brings you two by? Big Brother Nozel is out with Enoteca. And Solid is on a mission."

Noelle elbowed Magna in the stomach and shot him a look to get on with it. Magna gave her a glare, but then asked, "I was wondering if I could talk to you, Miss Nebra?"

Nebra gave him a weird, calculated look, but then nodded, "Very well." She stopped her illusionary mist magic. "Noelle, please use Sea Dragon's Roar on them and see if they can figure out a way to stop it." With that Noelle was unceremoniously put in charge of some poor saps' training, as Magna followed Nebra to the nearby balcony (it was a castle, after all).

And then they alone and he didn't know what to say.

"You're the guy from the Masquerade, aren't you," asked Nebra, quick to the point. Never say that the Silva siblings weren't smart.

"Yeah," said Magna, grinning sheepishly. "I wasn't sure how to approach you again."

"And is your friend luck okay? He dragged you off in a hurry."

"He's emotionally constipated and can't deal with more than one feeling, so he's processing his romantic feelings for someone right now. And he really just grabbed me to mess with me, as he does," said Magna. "Hope you're not too disappointed it was me."

Nebra snorted, very unladylike, and said, "I had suspected it was you, after I thought about it. And I'm not disappointed. I just don't know where to go from here."

"The only thing," said Magna, more confident than he felt, "we can spend some time together and talk to each other and see where it goes. If that's okay with you?"

Nebra got a cute blush on her face and said, "Yes, that's okay with me. Very okay."

"Cool," said Magna, awkwardly. "We should probably rescue your juniors from Noelle. She spends way too much time with Asta and therefore, a beast when training."

Nebra laughed. "True, but they need to toughen up, so they can wait a few minutes."

Magna smirked. "Brutal, I like it!"

"Are you sure you're okay," Grey asked Luck, as they cleared the dining table of their breakfast plates. Mimosa and Langris took Letoile back to the Golden Dawn. Gordon went back to his room. Charmy and Gauche went off on their mission. Secre turned back into a bird and perched herself on Grey's head. Henry was working on fixing and reinforcing the door to the base.

Luck hummed, "Yeah."

"You've been unlike yourself lately," said Grey, softly. "If you need to talk, I'm here, we're all here."

"Thanks, but this is something I need to figure out on my own," said Luck, attempting a grin. But it was true that Luck had been acting strange and he's been feeling off since the Masquerade Ball. And he knew he wasn't the only one struck stupid by attractive and amazing people. He didn't quite know how to articulate to any of his friends how he was feeling about Fragil Tormenta.

He wanted to see her again, but the weird thing was that he wanted to see her happy face and he didn't have the strong urge to fight her. Would he love to spar with her? Heck yeah, he would as it'd be a challenge, but he wanted to do more than fight with her.

It took Luck a long time to realize that fighting wasn't the end all be all of his life, that there were people (the Black Bulls) who wanted to spend time with him because they loved him for who he was. It took years and one possession by a psycho elf that got him to understand that his friends wanted him because he was Luck and Luck was more than what his mother wanted him to be.

And he didn't know what it was going to take to make him understand that it was okay to have fuzzy, lovey-dovey feelings for another person, but he definitely wanted to figure it out sooner rather than later. He pouted as he put the last of the breakfast dishes in the sink. "You wash, I dry, Grey."

But before, they could even start the washing-drying process, it got very, very cold in the base. Luck's mana senses knew who it was before anything. The door to the base that Henry just fixed frozen solid and then got busted into tiny pieces by snowballs that were currently headed for luck and Grey. Pushing Grey and bird Secre out of the way, Luck used his lightning to disintegrate the snowballs.

Henry was not happy. "My…door! Why…did…they…all…decide…to…do…this…on…the…same…day?"

Luck wasted no time and flew out the door before Fragil even entered the base. He heard Henry say that he wasn't fixing the door for a third time, he was tired and going to bed. Luck grinned when he saw Fragil, with her grimoire at the ready, and a scowl on her face. He was both happy and confused to see her there.

"What are you doing," asked Luck, for once pausing before attacking.

"It seems the only way to get your attention is through fighting, so are we doing this or not," demanded Fragil.

Luck's grin widened. She had a lot of courage to be challenging him to a fight. He wanted to see where this went and why she was even attempting to fight him. "You're on!"

Twenty minutes later, Luck was still confused as he sat happily after stretching his muscles with the spar in the middle of a half-frozen, half-scorched forest. Fragil was already sitting down, winded. It was very impressive that she kept up with him for twenty minutes! It took Magna a year before he was able to do that!

"Why are you giggling," asked Fragil, tiredly.

"That was fun," said Luck, happily. "Though, if you just wanted to talk, we could've done that too."

"You ran away from me," she stated, blankly. "That was very rude of you."

Luck stopped giggling like the mad-man he was and said, "Ah, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I'm just not wired like everyone else when it comes to feelings. And I think I like you but I don't know if it's the lovey-dovey kind."

She punched him in the arm, which didn't hurt at all. "You're a dumbass."

"Hey!"

"I mean, since I like you, I won't rush you into lovey-dovey kind of relationship right away," said Fragil, "so we can spend time together, and communicate like the adults we are and then maybe I can help you sort out your feelings. Would that be okay?"

Luck nodded. "Okay! You're really nice and understanding, aren't you? Oh! We definitely need to go training together sometime! And you have to show me more of your attack spells! Those snowballs were neat."

Bursting into laughter, she said, "Oh, you're going to make this so hard for me."

"What?"

"Nothing," said Fragil. She opened up her arms and asked, "Can I have a hug?"

Luck stared for a minute and nodded. "Yeah, okay."

She hugged him and Luck decided that he was quite happy with it as Fragil was warm, soft and safe.

Vanessa wasn't an early morning riser, but she made the effort to get her coffee date with Nozel. Considering that he was much busier than her, she didn't want to miss out on having this date with a guy that most women would kill to be near. Vanessa smiled as Nozel awkwardly interacted with the waiter at the fancy café in the Royal Realm. Once the waiter was done taking their orders, the waiter left, giving Vanessa an opening to have a conversation.

"So, you're Vice-Captain seemed pretty pleased that you're going on a date," said Vanessa, laughing lightly. Instead of her normal outfit, she went with something a bit less risqué (a cute pink shirt with a white tank top underneath and a pair of black pants and a fancy pair of heeled sandals) from one of the many shopping trips she took with Noelle, Grey, Charmy and Secre.

"She thinks I work too much and need to get out more, which I interpret that I hover too much," said Nozel.

Vanessa grinned and said, "That sounds about right. How'd did you learn about this place? It doesn't seem the type of place you'd go by yourself."

"Ah, Dorothy suggested it," said Nozel, blushing slightly. "Though I know you wouldn't mind if it was any place else, but I wanted to make a good impression."

"You're adorable," said Vanessa. "And good thing that she has good taste. I'm glad I came out with you. Sorry about the other night with the Captain. He means well." When Nozel had escorted Vanessa to the Black Bulls meeting spot the early morning after Masquerade, Captain Yami and Nozel almost got into a fight. Thankfully, Charlotte was there to help stop Captain Yami from going on a rampage and Nozel was being on his best behavior for once concerning Captain Yami and not insulting him.

"I can handle it, don't worry."

"I know and I'm a little worried, since you two don't particularly get along," said Vanessa.

"I'll be polite, if he behaves."

"Ah, so never," said Vanessa, rolling her eyes.

"Unfortunately," said Nozel. He gave her a soft look. "That's not awful, is it?"

"Hmmm, I guess I'll just have to protect you," said Vanessa. "And Charlotte is in my corner, so it'll be fine."

"If you say so," said Nozel. "Thanks for coming out with me."

"Yeah, this is great, I haven't been on a real date before," said Vanessa, who then realized that she let out something embarrassing.

Nozel's eyes widened slightly, "Neither I have."

"Well, I'll be glad to learn this dating and relationship with you," said Vanessa, as the waiter arrived with their coffee and pastries.

"Then," said Nozel. "Do you want to get dinner next time?"

"Only if you come to the base and let Charmy cook it," said Vanessa.

"Will Noelle be there?"

"Yes."

"Then, yes, I'll have dinner at your base for our next date."

Vanessa grinned, as she took a sip of the coffee, which was fantastic and not too bitter. "Perfect."

Asta was unbearably happy. True, he had gotten in a bit of a trouble from his overprotective teammates about "don't rush into things" and attempted groundings. But Yuno was his boyfriend so that was all that mattered. While they will soon go back to working apart often, due to Yuno's duties as co-Vice-Captain of the Golden Dawn and Asta's duties as the go-to demon hunter, Asta was spending all the downtime possibly with Yuno.

Yuno didn't mind Asta's abrupt and unscheduled visits, though Asta was sure that the other members of the Golden Dawn weren't quite used to him yet. Or they just weren't used to seeing Yuno smile so much. Either way, he wanted to make nice with the members that he didn't already know. But first, Asta wanted to make sure that Yuno was doing okay while Bell was on her punishment for the Wizard King.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay without Bell," asked Asta.

"Yeah, I'm plenty strong without her, you know that," said Yuno, scoffing. "Don't you have work to do? Or training?"

"I have training to do, but I wanted to see you."

"You've seen me every day for the last week," said Yuno, mildly. "Don't forget that we're still in competition to become Wizard King. Just because I love you doesn't mean I'm gonna lose to you."

Asta grinned, "I don't expect anything other than that, Yuno! But I'll become Wizard King, don't you worry?"

"No, I will."

"Nope, I am."

"Asta."

"Yuno."

"You're a pain."

"So are you. But I love you anyway."

"Dork."

"Jerk."

Asta and Yuno were grinning at each other and in their own little world, except they were in the Golden Dawn mess hall with various other Magic Knights watching.

"Hey, guys, can you not flirt in front of me while I'm eating breakfast, please, ok, thanks," said David, deadpan.

"Now, David," said Klaus, pushing up his glasses. With a smirk, he said, "Let the lovebirds be. They are in their honeymoon stage."

"Every day, Klaus, every day, they gotta be lovey-dovey in front of me and my oatmeal," complained David.

"Alright, alright, we get it," said Yuno. "Asta, I'll just come over to your place for breakfast."

"Sounds like a plan."

Fin

Notes:

THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING! I enjoyed all your lovely comments. It made me happy to see that everyone that read it loved it.

I still like to hear what you think about this last massive chapter!

And look forward to my other Black Clover stories (I have 36 other ones you can read at the moment with more on the way)!