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He gripped the newspaper tightly in his hands, his mana sparking with anger with dark aura clouding his features.
Those fucking bastards.
He wasn’t just angry at the nobility and the ruling class of the Clover Kingdom, he was also angry at himself. He hadn’t known. Such an awful feeling, that ignorance couldn’t excuse. The fact that he had been swamped with work and responsibilities in the absence of the top mages within the Golden Dawn was no excuse. He had completely failed at the one goal he had set out to achieve after making a vow as a child.
He stared enraged at the oddly polished and edited portrait of Asta in the news paper. After how hard Asta had worked, after everything he had overcome, after everything he had done to protect the kingdom—all the wounds, the curses, the pain—how dare they paint Asta as a villain and tarnish everything he had worked so hard to achieve. Yuno leaped out the window of the office he had been given on the third story of the Golden Dawn, travelling at alarmingly fast paced on his wind arch.
Asta loved this world but Yuno cursed it. How could he have any faith in a world that seemed to thwart Asta’s dreams and happiness at every turn. Yuno worked incredibly hard to get to where he was but wasn’t oblivious to the fact that he been born extremely gifted. The world seemed determined to make Yuno its chosen hero when that honor should equally shared by both him and Asta.
Asta rarely got angry by such set backs. These kind of events were all to common in the wonderful boys life and he refused to give up, holding onto a strong burning spirit of determination. But for Yuno, these event only fueled the growing fear inside his heart. Would there be a day when the world had finally taken too much away and destroyed Asta’s spirit and his beaming warm smile along with it? Even worse, would it try to take Asta away from Yuno, across a boundary where Yuno could no longer reach?
Intrusive images spilled into his mind: Asta’s head rolling on the ground bloody and terrified, Asta’s cold dead body left in the streets to rot—back stabbed by the institution in which he put his faith, a hunk of crystal shoved into his stomach.
Yuno’s body was covered in sweat and his teeth ached from his constant gnashing. His mind was in a defeating spiral, consuming him, and only leaving desperation. Asta had always been by his side, there was no world in which Yuno wanted to live if Asta wasn’t in it.
He remembers the day when Asta had been beaten bloody, black and blue, to get Yuno’s necklace back. Yuno had truly thought that Asta was going to be killed. In that moment, a culmination of random and seemingly insignificant memories coalesced and Yuno realized that this world was wrong and unfair. It always tried to take away what little they had just because they weren’t born into better status. Asta always dream of more even though the world told him he could have none. Yuno realized that Asta’s dream while gallant and noble, would only ultimately lead to his death. Yuno had to become stronger, he couldn’t cling the back of Asta’s shirt forever, he needed to become the type of person who could protect Asta from the world itself.
Asta didn’t have magic that Yuno could sense and Yuno couldn’t sense Ki, but somehow, he always had an instinctual homing beacon for Asta’s location.
The Sun had already set and the moon shown brightly in the sky bathing the great forest surrounding the Black Bulls hideout in a silverly light. Now above the trees, he could hear the sounds of clanging metal slicing through the hair and the shouts of Asta’s voice. Of course that idiot was training when everyone else was already preparing for bed.
Yuno’s arrival didn’t surprise Asta since he had already since Yuno’s Ki coming towards him. He grey haired boy stood in an open field surrounded by trees, his large anti magic sword resting casually on his shoulder. He waved enthusiastically, smiling happily, as he watched Yuno float down from the sky.
That smile died away as he took in Yuno’s demeanor. His lively green eyes glanced slightly down. Yuno had never unclenched his hand that was holding the newspaper.
Asta already knew why Yuno had come. “I’m okay Yuno! As if that gloomy face scales guy could ever bring me down! I’ll show him he was wrong! Besides the Black Bulls would never let anything truly bad happen to me.”
Asta’s attempts to placate Yuno weren’t going well. Because despite Asta’s strong words, Yuno knows that the trial was a hair breadth away from going terribly terribly wrong.
Why was it that Yuno could never speak his mind properly to Asta in these kind of situations. Beyond playful banter and teasing competitive comments, Yuno could no longer express his emotions properly to Asta. He hadn’t originally meant to build this barrier between them. Asta had been his brother, his best friend, and his rival but as they grew up Yuno realized that his feelings for Asta were more than just that of friendship and a brotherly bond and he couldn’t let these feelings come forth less he ruin what he already had. So, Yuno tried his best to limit his relationship with Asta to rivals and a barrier that never wanted but felt was necessary was built between them.
He wanted to . . .
Please
He needed to . . .
Please
Just let me . . .
Even with all of Yuno’s attempts to separate himself from Asta, Asta still always knew what Yuno wanted and needed without Yuno ever having to say a word.
Asta walked forwards and tightly wrapped his muscled arms around Yuno’s torso, laying his head on the taller boy’s chest. Yuno responded in kind, tightly wrapping his arms around Asta’s smaller form. Yuno’s shivering ceased and the fear was shoved away by the warmth of Asta’s body against his.
Please just let me hug you, because I fear this world will steal you away.