Chapter Text
“Nacht!” Yami’s voice was so loud that Nacht thought he felt the earth shake beneath his feet. It echoed through the forest, startled the birds that flew out of the treetops in swarms and left all other animals in a state of shock with their breaths held, on high alert and glaring around anxiously.
Nacht sighed. This was a pain already. Only hearing one single word from his captain made him think this had been an awful idea all along. Getting emotional back on the battlefield and not maintaining his usual train of thought would be his demise, he could feel it already.
“Yami.” He coolly greeted the obnoxiously loud man. Yami was standing at the main entrance door to the Black Bull’s base. He towered in front of it like an unavoidable obstacle, making it impossible to slip past him without being forced into a conversation or whatever else Yami had in store at that moment.
Nacht simply stared at him with bored eyes as he picked up his pace again to approach the hideout.
It looked as shabby as he remembered it from his first and only visit – a fitting look for a magic knights squad with a reputation as infamous as this one. Had Nacht not known about the status of the people that lived there, he would’ve thought that an architect apprentice had become really creative one night and created the oddest house for his family of fifteen.
Even from a distance it was noisy, an indicator of the growing number of members that Nacht would now have to be around at all times. He mentally sighed at that thought but continued his stride until he stood eye to eye with Yami.
“Welcome home!” Yami barked enthusiastically. A wave of smoke hit Nacht’s face, who wrinkled his nose. He himself hadn’t smoked in a while.
“‘Home’?” The vice-captain repeated with one eyebrow raised. “I’d hardly call this a home.” Yami took no offense in the comment – Nacht began to believe that no matter how mean he could make himself out to be, nothing he said would ever hurt Yami. It was an oddly calming thought.
Nevertheless, Nacht dodged the attempted hug that he saw coming from miles away and used the opportunity to slide past him and through the door.
The inside of the base looked much different from Nacht’s memories; candles illuminated the entrance hall in a warm, flickering light, there was a bar to the left and a cosy lounge to the right. It was messy, however. Empty bottles rolled over the floor when Nacht took a step further into the room, unclean plates were still on the table.
The people that lived here had clearly made themselves at home, maybe a bit too much.
Nacht turned back to look at Yami. Maybe his look was a bit too judging because Yami scratched his head apologetically.
“Yeah, I forgot to tell the others you were coming. Sorry that they’re not here to greet you.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Yami only shrugged. “Follow me, I’ll show you your room.” Nacht complied.
Faint voices and footsteps could be heard from elsewhere within the building but the two of them never ran into anyone.
Nacht looked around the hallways, inspected the walls for holes that might hide traps, but besides mice making themselves at home in between rocks, there was nothing. There wasn’t anything unusual about the floor, either. It creaked beneath his feet and the wooden noises didn’t sound hollow, so there was nothing beneath the wood except for solid stone.
The hideout was safe and unsafe at the same time; safe for a person who lived here to walk down the halls without an ounce of fear that they might be killed by their own home, and unsafe with the knowledge that any person who broke in would be able to do the same.
“What are you thinking about?” Yami asked through the silence between them. The way he had been looking at Nacht hadn’t gone unnoticed, but Nacht didn’t want to speak up first.
“How safe is this place?” Nacht returned a question.
Yami tilted his head to the side, before simply answering, “You’ve seen them fight. You’ve seen this place fight.” That much was true. ‘This place’ was home to a bunch of insanely strong people, so no traps or other defence systems were needed.
“You’ll be able to sleep in safety here, that much I can promise you.”
Nacht stopped walking.
“Hm.” A short chuckle escaped him. ‘Safety’. A word so estranged that he didn’t even dare to say it aloud. A word he hadn’t even thought of in years. Maybe this was what spending such a long behind enemy lines had done to him.
He shook his head. There was no need to think about that right now.
Yami had continued walking, seemingly oblivious to what Nacht was doing behind him. He eventually stopped by a door of wood and opened it.
“Here we are,” he announced as Nacht caught up to him. Yami held the door open and stepped aside to let Nacht see what was behind the door.
The room was dark despite the window on the wall opposite to the door. It was small and cramped, with only a bed, a tall wardrobe and an empty desk. A cracked mirror on which Nacht’s eyes lingered for a moment hung on the wall between the bed and the door. Besides that, there was nothing inside the small space – and Nacht didn’t possess anything to fill that void.
“It’s not much but I always told Henry to keep a room free for you,” Yami explained. “I went to where your family used to live to retrieve some of your belongings but none of it was left, most stuff was sold, so all I could get was that mirror there. It was already broken when I got it, that’s probably why nobody wanted it.”
“That’s no problem.” Nacht looked at the oval mirror once more. Radial cracks originated from the top left and covered a fourth of the mirror, some ranged even further and reached where the glass met the frame on the right side. The frame was of a gloomy grey colour, it was dirty and peeling off at a few spots.
Two words were engraved at the bottom of the frame, but one had been scratched out. Only halfway, however, as though the person responsible had changed their mind.
Behind him, Yami shifted away from the door.
“Do you still have the robe?”
If Nacht didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought that Yami sounded nervous about asking this question. It was almost amusing, but Nacht wasn’t in the mood to laugh.
“It’s my only possession.”
“I see.” He sounded relieved.
A heavy hand landed on Nacht’s shoulder and gently squeezed it.
“I’ll leave you alone for now. If it’s alright, I’ll tell the others that you’ve arrived in about an hour. Gives you a little time.”
“Sure.”
The hand disappeared, leaving a cold spot behind. Yami’s heavy steps left at a steady pace but stopped when Nacht said Yami’s name. It was quiet and almost surprising that Yami heard him in the first place.
“What is it, Nacht?” Yami turned around and looked at him, Nacht could feel his eyes on him. He hadn’t thought that far. Was there something on his mind that needed to be said right now? Any important information, anything of value? He could not think of anything.
“I appreciate this, thank you,” he said instead, to his own surprise.
Yami hummed in a satisfied tone. “Don’t mention it.” He resumed walking, but not without yelling, “Fifty-eight minutes left! Tick tick!”
“Tse!” Nacht smiled nonetheless before turning to his room again and closing the door.