The thorns faded away like they were nothing but the ash of his cigarette. Something about his words struck her. She didn't want to say like an arrow to the heart; it was too cliche a saying, but she couldn't stop looking at him. Her eyes were wide, a mix of fears still raced through her veins as he helped her to her feet. She glanced at his hand holding hers once she was standing. The touch lingered for just a moment as he gripped her hand and squeezed. She didn't want him to let go, a feeling which in itself made her blood run cold.

Once she was steady on her feet though, it was over. He dropped her hand like it was nothing, sheathing the sword he had used to cut through the vines, all the way to her heart.

"Well. Now that that's done. See ya."

He walked away, his attention no longer on her, but rather the wet spot of spilled soup on his shirt. She could hear him muttering to himself. She should do something, but she was rooted to the spot. She should at least offer to buy him lunch, but she could not move. So she stood there and watched him walk away, his cloak whipping in the wind behind him.

She stood there still, long after he had disappeared, watching where he had could not move. She wondered if he had indeed broken the curse, for she felt as if she were trapped in the moment still. Slowly the people of the town began to emerge and go about their tasks, their lives. But she could not move. The curse was indeed broken; the time cage had failed to entrap them.

However, her heart, she felt had been entrapped by something else entirely. She placed her hand on her chest only to feel it racing. She took a deep breath, surprised by the unsteadiness of it. She took a step, hesitating as she moved forward, then another, and another until she was running to the home of her parents as fast as she could. She had hoped to run from the tightness in her chest, hoped the burning in her lungs would overcome the feeling in her heart. She couldn't name the feeling, but it scared her. The feeling scared her more than the curse, more than disappointing her parents, more than her failure.

"Oh, Charlotte!" Her mother's voice cut through her contemplation. "You did it! You beat the curse, my darling!" She was crushed to her mother's chest in a rare outburst of emotion. Her mother was weeping with joy as she kissed her head. "You did it!"

Her father came running as well and embraced her.

"We are so proud of you. We were skeptical of your desire to join the Magic Knights, but after you did, with how strong you've grown, we knew, both of us, that you would be able to overcome the curse."

She didn't have the heart to tell them, but she needed to. She looked at their smiling faces and met them with a weak smile of her own.

"I, I didn't." She could feel tears on her cheeks, hot shameful tears. Their eyes did not accuse her of weakness as she had feared. They embraced her once more.

"No matter. It's broken. How it got broken doesn't matter." Her father said as he stroked her long blond hair.

"Who was it, Charlotte?" Her mother wiped the tears from her cheeks as they continued to fall. She shook her head. She didn't want to say; she couldn't say.

"Just, just some guy." She muttered through a new wave of tears. They would never understand. She wasn't sure she understood it herself, but something he had said, something in the way he looked at her with both admiration and an offering of friendship had melted her cold shell and exposed her.

"Some random guy stole your heart? I find that hard to believe." Her father had slipped into his role as Lord Roselei, firm-voiced, demanding, and immovable.

"No, not some random guy."

"So, tell me." Her mother took her hands and led her to a chair in the sitting room. "Who was it? Some dashing young noble? It's alright if he's not quite as high in status as our own house." Her mother grinned at her. She could see plans and arrangements being made behind her mother's cool blue eyes. She couldn't tell them.

"I, I don't know his name. He's another Magic Knight though."

"A moment ago you sounded like you knew him." Her father pushed. She looked up at him, terror rising within her once more. She couldn't tell them; they would not understand and would never accept it. She could not believe she had lost her heart to one such as him herself.

Who was she kidding, she was still upset she could not break the curse on her own. Anger broiled within her over losing her mind over some guy, any guy. The fact the guy she lost her heart to was Yami Sukehiro only added fuel to the fire.

"I, We served together in some battles. I met him a couple of times, but there were so many people there, I don't, I don't remember exactly."

"Well, as long as he's not some common trash." Her mother smiled at her. "Oh, I had hoped you would have been able to break the curse on your own. I know how hard you worked to do so, Charlotte. But I would be lying if I said I had never thought of the other option, of you finding a good man, falling in love and getting married."

She sighed as her mother patted her arms and looked gleefully at her. She knew her mother would be sickened to learn the one who had broken the curse, who had stolen her heart was not only a commoner, but also a foreigner.

"I, I'm going to go to my room." She disentangled herself from her parents and tried to walk calmly up the stairs. She wanted to run. She wanted to fight. She wanted to excise this feeling from her chest, these memories and thoughts from her mind.

"Don't forget about the party this evening, Charlotte dear!" Her mother called as she made her way up the grand staircase. "We should invite every Magic Knight in the area, just in case." She heard her mother say to her father. She sighed again as she hurried up the stairs.

She hadn't wanted the party, but her mother insisted. When she opened the door to her room, she was assaulted by several gowns her mother had picked out for her to wear. She wanted none of it. And she especially did not want to have to entertain whatever Magic Knights might be in the area in any of them. She picked up the gowns from her bed and deposited them in a heap on a settee across the room. She kicked off the boots she wore and collapsed onto the bed. It was plush and warm, more so than the rather austere accommodations she had at headquarters. She sank into the bed and closed her eyes, hoping to enjoy a moment of solitude before the inevitable madness her mother had planned.

But once her eyes slid shut, all she could think of was him.

His bourbon colored eyes haunted her and his voice reverberated through her soul.

"Ugh, why did it have to be him?" She cried out into the nothingness. Her voice echoed through the room and she shot a glance at the door, hoping no one had heard her. She held up the hand he had grabbed when he helped her up, the one he had squeezed. She could still feel the ghost of his touch. She wanted to cut off the hand, and she wanted him to hold it once again.

What would her colleagues say if they knew, if they found out? She grunted in frustration.

She pushed her sleeves up as far as they would go. She called forth her briars, winding them tightly around her arms. It was a trick she used sometimes as a sort of armor in battle. She looked at the vines snaking her wrists and forearms. The sharp thorns pricked the surface of her skin. With each thought of him, she wound them more tightly until the thorns punctured her arms and she cried out in the pain of it. Rivulets of blood ran down the thick vines and dripped onto her blouse and bed as she held her arms above her. Sunlight danced on her fingertips and made the droplets of blood collecting on the sharp thorns glisten like rubies.

And still his words haunted her.

She willed the briars tighter still, gasping in the pain, eyes welling with tears.

Her mother threw open the door.

"Charlotte, have you decided on your dress... What in the Demon's name are you doing?!" Her mother rushed over to her daughter's bedside. "Don't tell me it's the curse?"

She released shaky breath and the briars disappeared into nothing, fading away like ash once more. All that was left were the cuts in her porcelain skin and red trails of blood dripping down her arms.

"No. It's not the curse."

"Then what?"

She looked at her mother's worried eyes. They were the same eyes she saw in the mirror every day, only with far more emotion. She pushed herself up to sitting

"I just... It's just too much."

"You're angry you couldn't break the curse yourself, aren't you?" Her mother sat next to her. "Look, I know the reputation of Blue Rose. I know you have given most men a difficult time, because you were scared of the curse."

"It wasn't because I was scared of the curse." Her voice was tiny and her mother wasn't listening, as usual.

"But you don't have to worry about that now. And I'm sure the one who broke the curse is a wonderful man."

She snorted. She did not now Yami on a personal level, but they had served on several missions together in the past. And she had found him to be the rudest, most crude, most infuriating man she had ever met. He was a barbarian, a scoundrel through and through. His reputation as the God of Destruction preceded him.

Yet the man who was most likely to be the next Wizard King trusted him. One might even say the second highest wizard in the land favored him over most other Magic Knights.

And what he had said to her... Asking her to trust others, to trust him... She wondered if everything she knew about him was wrong.

"Come now, let's get you to the healer. We can't have these cuts showing tonight."

"I'll just wear one of my old dresses, one with sleeves."

Her mother looked at her in shock.

"No you will not. Besides none of those dresses being in a current style, I doubt any of them fit you anymore. You have grown a bit since you went to join the Knights."

She sighed and allowed her mother to lead her to the healer on staff. She let her mother dress her in some frilly sleeveless gown she would have never picked for herself. She blushed as she looked at the unrecognizable figure in the mirror.

"Come now, Charlotte. It's your birthday! Give us a smile." She forced a smile for her mother's sake. Her mother ran her hands over her bare shoulders as she looked at the image in the mirror. "You look so beautiful."

But all she could see was an impostor.

"How am I supposed to move in this?"

"Gracefully, my dear." An elderly lady swept into the room, her blue eyes blazing behind the fan she held over her face.

"Grandma." The smile on her face now was genuine.

"Oh, thank goodness you made it in time, Mother." Charlotte's mother addressed the elderly woman. "Can you see what you can do about her hair? I have to check with the chef."

"Of course, of course." The well-put together woman waved her daughter off to go about the rest of the business needed to prepare the celebration. She gestured to a nearby chair and Charlotte marched over and took a seat. The woman tutted and shook her head.

"You've been in armor too long, Charly."

"No one calls me that anymore, Grandma." She perched as best she could in the massive skirt.

"Humor an old woman. After this, I will teach you how to walk like a lady again." She pulled a brush with stiff bristles through her fine hair. Charlotte winced as she pulled her hair tightly.

"Yes, Grandma."

The old woman braided and twisted the birthday girl's long blond hair into an elaborate style to match the dress she wore.

"Your mother was right. You are beautiful." She kissed the young woman's head before sitting in a chair next to her. "Now, tell be about the curse."

Charlotte sank into her chair as best she could given the restrictive garments she wore.

"I saw the briars rising above the town from a distance. I know the curse triggered. So, will you tell me what stopped it?"

Charlotte blushed and clenched her fists in anger.

"It wasn't me."

"So who?"

She gripped her skirts and pressed her lips together. She squeezed her eyes shut, worried she would feel the splash of warm tears on her hands, but thankful she did not.

"I should have been enough, Grandma. I should have been stronger on my own."

"My dear child," The old woman's voice was calm and compassionate as she laid a hand on Charlotte's fists. "You are plenty strong in your own right, but that was not the condition of the curse and you know it. Just be thankful that condition was met before the curse took full effect." She took Charlotte's cheek in her hand and lifted the young woman's face. "Now, who is the man who has stolen my granddaughter's heart?"

Charlotte looked at her grandmother and took a deep breath.

"You know him, don't you?"

Charlotte nodded. Her grandmother's magic let her detect lies and truths. Because of it, she had worked for some years in the capital-not as a magic knight, but as an aid to the Wizard King himself, when she was younger, before she married and had her children. While her skills may have faded with age and lack of use, Charlotte knew it was pointless to try lying to the old woman.

"But you haven't told your parents."

She shook her head.

"I don't dare. Mother is now obsessed with finding him and working out some sort of marriage arrangements, but they... they wouldn't approve, or understand."

The old woman sat back and regarded her granddaughter for a long moment.

"He's a colleague of yours, another Magic Knight. Your father told me he knew that much. But he's also a commoner, isn't he."

Charlotte nodded.

"Not just that, Grandma. He's a foreigner too."

The old woman's eyes grew wide and then a sly grin spread over her face.

"It wouldn't be that young Yami Sukehiro, would it?" She leaned in conspiratorially. "Um, were I forty years younger, I wouldn't mind taking a bite out of that one."

"Grandma!" Charlotte blushed heavily.

"Your grandfather was a wonderful man, don't get me wrong, but he was shall we say, lacking on the physical side. Now that boy of yours... he looks like he could show a girl a real good time." The old woman chuckled and licked her lips.

"I, I am not hearing this." Charlotte covered her ears with her hands and caught her scarlet reflection in the mirror. The old woman cackled and wiped tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Oh, my dear. I'm sorry. Since your grandfather passed, all I have left are an old woman's fantasies." She leaned forward and grabbed Charlotte's hand. "I just hope that an old woman's fantasies aren't all you ever allow yourself. You are young; you are beautiful. You should enjoy your youth while you can. Before you allow yourself to be tied down." Charlotte nodded in understanding, though she had no intention of ever tying herself down to anyone or anything except her duty to the kingdom.

"But you're right." Her grandmother sat back in the chair once more and began fanning herself. "Your parents, they would never understand. They have their noses too far up their own asses to see past things like class or nationality."

"Is this another bit of wisdom from aging, Grandma?"

"What? Hell no! Your father and mother never had to work with commoners before. Your grandfather either. They never had their eyes opened to the ridiculousness of their own discrimination." She gripped Charlotte's hand once more. "I was so thrilled when you decided to join the Knights. It gave me hope for you, that you would see the world through a different set of eyes from your parents. My great shame is that I was not able to teach your mother to be more tolerant. I hope and pray every day you will learn the lessons she did not."

Charlotte smiled.

"Now, your mother is probably having a fit over the smallest details. We should probably go check on her."

"Yes, Ma'am." Charlotte stood and brushed her skirt down over the large undercarriage giving it shape. Her grandmother frowned at her.

"I hate the new styles. Young women today have no sense of elegance and simplicity."

"It is quite cumbersome, but Mother insisted." Charlotte looked at herself again in the mirror. The woman she saw still looked like a stranger, at least from the neck down. Her grandmother looked through the variety of rejected gowns piled on her bed and brought a simple pale blue dress. It was embellished with a delicate lace and beading.

"Try this one."

"Mother's not going to be happy." Charlotte beamed as she rid herself of the massive white gown.

"It's your birthday. The only happiness that matters, my dear, is yours."

The dress felt smooth and cool against her skin as she stepped into it and pulled it up to her chest. Her grandmother deftly laced the back of the gown, tightening it until it hugged her rib cage. She placed her hands on Charlotte's bare shoulders.

"Now you look stunning."

Charlotte blushed, wondering if her mother had indeed made the effort to invite any Magic Knight in the area. She wondered if he would be invited if she had. Her grandmother slipped a sheer overdress on to cover her shoulders and buttoned it around her waist. She wondered what he would think if he saw her like this.

The party was a complete bore. Charlotte's mother had sent messengers to the various Magic Knights currently in the city and surrounding areas. Several of them, as well as several young men from the local noble houses were on hand to see her, to try and woo her. She smiled politely as was expected of her. She let them engage her in small talk, but she could not stop looking at the clock, wondering how much more she would have to endure, or the door, curious to see if he might walk through. She had danced and mingled and played her role. She looked over to her mother, who was grinning with pride.

She no longer had the excuse of the curse. She no longer could call out her suitors for their weakness and inability to withstand the curse, much less to break it. But she also could not stand the sight of the men paraded before her. They exuded weakness and weak wills, even the other Magic Knights in attendance. None had his strength or quiet confidence; none appreciated her strength or her successes.

She wove her way through the crowd, silently thanking her grandmother for convincing her to change for what felt like the hundredth time. Her father called her over at the very moment she was about to step outside into the night air. The attention and pressure she felt in the air were oppressive. She needed a breath of freedom, but she dare not disobey her father.

"Where are you going, Charlotte?"

"I just need some air, Father."

He nodded, but did not release her.

"Is he here?" He asked looking over the gathered crowd. She followed his gaze and looked out across the tapestry of faces blending together. None stood out to her eye or her heart.

"No."

"A pity. Still, I'm sure you will find one of these suited to you. You need to start thinking about the future, Charlotte. The fate of this family rests on your shoulders, you know." He looked at her smiling.

"I know, Father." She took a deep breath and released it in a sigh. She was the only heir. She knew her father meant well. She told herself he was only thinking of the future, but he wanted a life for her which did not fit. "May I go?"

His attention was back on the crowd.

"Hm? Yes, yes, of course." He dismissed her with a wave before greeting one of his old friends.

She slipped out through the glass double doors and sighed as the quiet of the night serenaded her, and the coolness of the early autumn breeze kissed her skin. She looked out over the garden where she had played as a girl, mastering her unique form of plant magic as her hand trailed along the stone railing of the balcony. She walked around the veranda until she was near the main gates to the house. The stone was rough beneath her fingers; it reminded her of the calloused fingertips gripping her hand as he helped her up. She looked up and shook her head as the thought of him passed through her mind. She wondered if he was still in town. She looked out across the lawn until her eyes fell on a dark figure just on the other side of the open gate. A dark cloak whipped around behind it and her heart stopped. The figure looked at something shining and white in its hand. The light passed over the figure as it looked up at the building before it, and she saw his eyes. She felt her breath catch in her throat. She was sure he had seen her, but he looked down at the letter in his hand once more. She was frozen as she watched him. She chewed hard on her bottom lip and could feel her hands shaking. He looked up once more. She was sure he saw her this time. At the distance, she could not know if their eyes met, but she felt a weakness in her knees, despite tapping a well of strength she did not know she had.

A sound from inside drew her attention and she turned her head. When she looked back to the gate, he was gone.

She leaned heavily against the railing, her eyes searching for him, looking for where he had gone. She caught sight of him turning down an alleyway before he was gone for good. She stood there, watching the alleyway, waiting until her mother called her back to the party. She sighed, knowing he had come, but he had left. Just because he had stolen her heart, she realized, didn't mean the feeling was mutual. She put on her formal face, complete with the soft smile her mother expected and walked back into the glaring light of the ballroom.

Yami was sitting at the counter of the noodle shop he had been in when all hell broke loose, finally making up for the soup he had ended up wearing most of.

"Couldn't even offer to buy me another lunch..." he muttered in between sips. "Nobles are all the same, even if they have the most beautiful golden hair and clear blue eyes you've ever seen." He ordered another bottle of sake. "Dammit Julius, why'd you have to send me here of all places?" He took a sip of the warm liquid, letting the alcohol burn its way down his throat. "A surprise for your birthday, huh? Some fucking surprise." He took another sip and finished his soup.

He looked down at the stain on his shirt before pulling out another cigarette.

"What a fucking waste." he muttered as he lit the stick and inhaled deeply.

"E,Excuse me?" a voice stammered from his elbow. "You're a Magic Knight, right?"

Yami turned to the voice and blew smoke into its owner's face, making the boy cough.

"What of it?"

The boy wore simple, yet fine clothes, as if he were the servant of some noble house. His green eyes grew enormous as he looked up at Yami.

"H,here." He held out a smallish white envelop with a black seal. "My, my mistress to me to give this to all the Magic Knights I could find."

Yami looked at the letter in the small outstretched hands and then back to the terrified boy. He took another deep inhale on his cigarette as he took the letter from the messenger. Once the delivery had been made, the boy backed away before scampering off.

Yami turned the envelop over in his large hands. He placed it on the counter before taking another sip of his sake. He finished the bottle and ordered another as he kept glancing at the letter on the counter. Set into the seal was a rose with three leaves on its stem-House Roselei's symbol. He took another drink. He hadn't cared to learn about the politics of the country of his forced refuge, but Julius had insisted once he had gotten his hooks into him.

"Wily old man," he muttered as he took another long drag on his cigarette before having another drink. "All for a nice dinner..." He looked at the envelope, seal still intact. "You gotta stop doing whatever he tells you." But he knew he would not. Julius Novachrono for a long time was the only friend he had in this place, and was certainly the only person who saw any value in him. Yami Sukehiro knew he would follow his orders until the day he died. And so he had come here, on his orders. He had been here when the shit hit the fan, and he had stopped it. He was good a stopping things from becoming a complete clusterfuck, but somehow always seemed to manage to leave things worse off than they were.

And now the thing he had fucked over was himself.

He knew he had to stop her from getting out of control; he knew he had to do something to protect the people. Gods knew the nobles wouldn't. And so he acted. As he hacked away at the vines spreading through the town, his magic seemed ineffective against their growth. They just kept coming and coming, growing more and more dense with every minute. People were running or flying away with their magic, but most of them ended up trapped anyway. He recognized the magic as he cut through the matted network of vines. He had seen it before on the battlefield, with the mage controlling them the perfect picture of poise and calm. She had perfect control over her magic then, so he was shocked to see it running amok now. As he moved his way forward, he felt a cool spot of wet fabric against skin. Looking down, he noticed the rich brown stain of broth on his white shirt. "Well, shit," he grunted as he sliced through another vine. And then he saw her.

She looked both terrified and ashamed as the vines spiraled around her as if they had a mind of their own. The thicket knitted itself tighter and tighter as he watched, encasing her within. With a couple of well placed slashes with his magic enhanced katana, he cut a path to her. She looked at him angrily, disgusted. He looked at her for a moment, taking note of the look she had given him, wondering if he should turn around and leave her to her fate. He was tired of the attitude most nobles gave him. But then he remembered the people who lived in the city her magic was about to swallow. How many had already been trapped? He sighed and decided to do what he could to stop it. He couldn't leave the common folk to suffer for the sins of some uppity noble.

She struggled against the bonds that held her, still trying to overcome the curse which trapped her. As she struggled, he sliced through a few more creeping vines, but where one vine was cut down, two more sprang up.

"You made me spill my soup." He said, not quite knowing what to do to put an end to the creeping, growing thicket. "How are you going to make up for it?" The look she shot him was one of pure disgust. He wondered if she hated him. Her reputation for hating men did preceded her. He decided to not take it personally.

And still she struggled, trying to gain control.

"You're always so calm, so collected in battle or on missions, but... look at you now."

And still he sliced through briars as they reached for him.

"I like strong women, ya know?" He had no idea why he had said that to her now, even if it were true. He did find women who could hold their own attractive, far more so than those who needed to be coddled at every step. "But no matter how strong you are, sometimes you need the help of others. There's nothing wrong with accepting help sometimes, right?"

She looked at him then as if she had had an epiphany. Her blue eyes were wide as they met his eyes. He crouched next to her, his sword in one hand, cigarette in the other. She gasped once, twice, as her breathing came under control. She swallowed hard as the shame and disgust she once wore fell away. He blinked, and his chest burned in a way far different from the familiar scorching in his lungs as he smoked. He put the cigarette to his lips and inhaled, blowing the smoke away from her. Yep, he thought. Very different. He had hoped the cigarette would block out the other burning he felt, but he had no such luck.

"It doesn't make you weak to ask for help when you needed it. And there's plenty of strong people you can trust on among us Magic Knights, don't you think?" He felt his jaw clench as he looked at her. He swallowed hard. He could not take his eyes away from hers. He barely noticed as the briars surrounding them blew away into dust. He offered her his hand and helped her up. He licked his lips as he looked down at her. She seemed to stare at their entwined hands. He squeezed her fingers, hoping she would look up at him once more, but when she did, he pulled his hand away and said his good-byes.

He walked through the city, watching the vines dissipate into the mana from which they were born until he wandered back into the noodle shop he had left.

To where he now sat, looking at a letter with her family seal.

"Are you going to open it?" The owner of the shop stood behind the counter drying a dish and looking from the letter to him.

"I hadn't planned on it." He took another drink.

"You are the one who broke the curse, aren't you?"

Yami shrugged.

"I don't know about that. All I did was cut some vines and give a noble girl a good talking too."

The owner smirked.

"You should open it."

He looked at the letter and sighed before he picked it up and broke the seal. He read the card it contained. Her birthday was today?

"It's an invitation."

"I hear they are inviting all of the Magic Knights in town currently. It's supposed to be a grand soiree." The owner said with a hand gesture mocking the class of people who say the words "grand soiree." Yami snorted.

"Like I'm going to go to some fancy shindig."

"From what I hear, the young Miss is quite the looker."

Her wide blue eyes flashed in his mind once more and he felt the burning in his chest again.

"Yeah. She is." His voice was more wistful than he imagined it could be.

"Oh, you know her?"

"We've met once or twice."

"You have an invitation. You should go."

He found himself walking toward the big house on the hill, the house which, by all rights would be the seat of House Roselei. He hadn't intended to go to the party. He still didn't intend to go to the party, but he found himself walking down the road which ran alongside one of the fences surrounding the manor. He trailed his hand along the stone wall and looked up at the house. Light shone through large glass windows, golden like the sun. Even at the distance, he could see the colors of the decorations-bright blue, like her eyes, like the roses which bloomed on her thorns. Muted music wafted through the air. The people coming and going were dressed in their finest.

"Pfft, Nobles," he muttered. But he looked down at his shabby appearance. He didn't care, he told himself. He wasn't going anyway.

And then he saw her step out onto the balcony. He would not have recognized her if she hadn't been running through his thoughts for the last several hours. She gleamed on the balcony, like a ray of moonlight given form. He took a deep drag on his cigarette and blew the smoke out slowly. She started walking along the veranda and he walked too, keeping pace along the fence, his hand trailing once more along the stone fence. He reached for the invitation he had shoved into his grimoire pouch. When he looked back at her, he noticed she too, was running her hand along the railing of the balcony, as if she were reaching out to him. He shook his head as he reached the gate which would take him into her world. He gripped the invitation as he stepped up to the gate. He stood in the shadow, waging war with himself. He looked at the envelope and the up at the house filled with glittering light and music.

He hadn't intended to be here, but somehow he was.

He looked again at the envelope. Since he had opened it, he had memorized every word. From his perch in the shadows, he could see the fancy people entering the main building, laughing and talking. He looked up at the veranda which ran around the circumference of the building. She was still there, looking out over the yard, looking at him in the shadows. He was sure of it. He looked up at her looking at him for a long moment. He wanted to run to her. He wanted to find out exactly what the curse was, and how he had broken it. He also wanted to rip the dress off of her, and...

He shook his head. Those thoughts were the alcohol talking... mostly.

He looked at the invitation in his hand once more.

By all rights, he could walk in there-shabby, stained shirt and all-and no one could say shit. He knew they still would. They always did. Even the other knights, he knew, sometimes said shit about him behind his back. He didn't care, not really anyway, because he was perfectly happy saying shit to their faces.

He looked up at her once more. She had turned away, distracted by something he could not see.

He didn't care, but he wondered if she would.

He used her distraction to back away, further into the shadows, further away from her paralyzing stare, until he ducked down an alley. He ran his hand over his face and crumpled the envelope still in his hand as he cursed. He was about to toss the fine paper onto the ground, but instead, he tucked it back into the pouch with his grimoire.

"Stupid. You would never fit in with them anyway."

The next day he gave his report to his friend and superior.

"I hear from the House of Roselei that a crisis was averted. Good work, Yami." Julius smiled at him. It was a smile which held secrets and knowledge no man should know. Yami had grown used to it over the last four years. "I hope you weren't too inconvenienced on your birthday."

He shrugged.

"My birthday was before the crisis, when I was taking care of that little problem you sent me to a few towns over."

The older time mage chuckled.

"I wouldn't have even been there for the crisis if you hadn't insisted I try that noodle shop."

"Oh, wasn't it to die for?"

"Best damn soup I've ever had. And yes, actually. I almost did. Die that is." He tugged at the stained spot on his shirt where the soup had fallen. Julius looked at the spot and shook his head.

"A pity. I hope you mourned properly for it?"

"If by mourning, you mean going back to the shop after the crisis was over, having two more bowls and four bottles of sake, then yes."

"How did you avert the crisis? Curses are tricky."

"Damned if I know. One minute, I'm eating soup, the next is mass panic and a massive briar patch erupts in the middle of the town. I go to investigate, spilling my soup in the process, and I end up hacking through what felt like miles of thicket." He holds up his sheathed katana. "This is not a machete by the way. I expect compensation on repairs." Julius smiles.

"Of course."

"Eventually I find her, Charlotte, trapped in a, well, it looked like a cocoon of thorns. I kept trying to cut them away, but they kept growing back."

"So what did you do? What finally stopped them?"

"I told her to stop being an idiot and learn how to trust people."

Julius cocked an eyebrow at his young protege.

"I'm sure it wasn't so blunt."

"I don't remember what I said." But Yami could not look his mentor in the eye. He did know exactly what he said. The words echoed through his mind in quiet moments, like the entire trip back to the capital.

Julius smiled at him with his infuriating, knowing smile.

Yami knew Julius knew he was lying, but the older man let the omission slide as he watched the young man shift uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"And then what?"

"Then the vines, flowers, thorns, they all started fading, blown away like dust in the wind."

"Anything else happen?" Julius seemed to be looking for a specific answer, a tiny bit of detail which would fit into some thread of time he had seen. Yami did not want to tell him about the invitation, or the party, or anything else. He did not see how any of those things would be of any interest to Julius, especially since he chosen to not make a fool of himself at the party.

"No. I went back to the noodle shop, stayed the night in an inn and came back here."

Julius seemed disappointed. He looked over in the distance, his eyes glassy and his fingers tapping out an unreadable rhythm against his thumb.

"Oh well, never mind then." He smiled at Yami once again. "You should probably go rest up. I hear there are a few missions coming up which might peak your interest."

"Yeah, yeah. Sure." He turned to go, tossing a quick wave over his shoulder to his superior.

"Oh, and Yami. You might want to get a new shirt."

"If you say so, Boss."

"One with sleeves this time, perhaps?"

Yami flashed the older man an obscene gesture over his shoulder at the comment before pulling the door shut behind him.

Julius Novachrono looked at the papers scattered on the desk before him. Yami hadn't told him everything; he was certain of it, but he couldn't blame the young man.

He dug through the sheets of paper and rolled up scrolls for a small red notebook. It was well worn and frayed around the edges. He flipped through several pages until he found the one referencing the Roselei curse and everything he knew of it. He read through the scribbles of notes until he found the dispel condition for the curse.

"And the curse can only be broken if a man steals the heart of Charlotte Roselei. Otherwise, her power will smoother the town and everyone in it, trapping them all in a time cage, waiting for the day the right one will come." He read the words aloud, wondering who, if anyone would have been able to break the curse if the time cage spell had grown to fruition. He suspected anyone entering the cage in an effort to break the curse, would have also been trapped.

He had not told Yami of the condition, because he knew the lone bull would try to avoid it at all costs. As much as he hid it behind humor, Julius knew Yami had been hurt by the nobles where he had made his home after washing ashore in the kingdom. He also knew the young man had a tendency to project that pain onto all nobles. He would never willingly choose to become the object of affection for one.

And yet, that was the only path forward. It was the only future worth following. Julius knew they would both be needed to fight the coming darkness. The curse had to be broken, and in all possible futures he had seen, Yami was the only man who had succeeded.

And he had succeeded. Charlotte Roselei had fallen in love with him.

But she was only part of a bigger puzzle.

The real question, Julius thought, was if Yami fell for her too.

Julius picked up a pencil and marked through some lines in the notebook. Yami had been guarded as ever, making it impossible to know if he had also had his heart stolen. But even if he hadn't fallen for her now, there was still time, still chances to make the best possible outcome.

Things would just take time.

Julius sighed as he flipped through a few more pages, looking for something to jump start the next step.

A/N: I think of Julius a little like Dr. Strange in his understanding of time and time manipulation. And he's playing a long game... Because honestly, for both Vanessa and Charlotte to lose their hearts in nearly the same way to the good old captain seems a little too convenient to me.

Also, just an editing note: I'm writing this and most of my other Black Clover fics as part of Camp NaNoWriMo this month, so I am only spending minimal time editing before posting, both in terms of grammar and content. So if you see anything jarring, please let me know and I will try to go fix it if I can or when I have time.

Thanks, and I hope you have enjoyed reading this. (I love this pairing so much, y'all.)