Chapter Text
Charlotte stopped as she spotted the broom approaching, settling back on a rock to wait. There was no point in continuing her patrol and making Yami chase her, as entertaining as it would be. He would just be more frustrated when he inevitably caught up to her.
"No backup?" he asked as he landed. Charlotte raised an eyebrow. Her powers might be less than his, but they were both fully aware that she was capable of holding the border alone if she had to. "Just because you can doesn't mean you should, Prickles."
"How's Jack?" she asked. She wasn't in the mood to listen to another lecture on asking for help and asking about Jack was always an easy way to distract Yami. Had been since they were rookies. On top of that, the news was probably good. She doubted Yami would be anywhere near as calm as he was if the news was bad.
"Doc says he's gonna wake up soon." Charlotte let out a small sigh of relief. It was good news. She hadn't been back to the capital since the fighting had ended, the last time she'd seen Jack he'd had a dozen medics—including Owen and Mimosa—around him. Yami had managed to activate one of Julius' emergency time-stopping devices in time to prevent Jack from dying then and there, but the magic items didn't guarantee survival if the injury was bad enough, and Jack had had a hole where most of his internal organs should be. "Which you'd know if you actually spoke to us." she might have been avoiding everyone else that came her way. She just- hadn't been in the mood to deal with people recently. "But I didn't come here to gossip. Fuego wants you to come back." Charlotte turned away. "That's an order from your Wizard King-"
"Someone has to watch the border." she hadn't stuck around after the fight. She'd stayed long enough to ensure that the Blue Rose Knights who had given their lives fighting Lucius and his creatures were honoured properly and to instruct Puli on what to do in her absence. She'd come out to watch the border as soon as she could and had no intention of going back. Someone had to do it and without Marx it was far, far harder to do it remotely. Yami grabbed her wrist, spinning her to face him. Charlotte growled. He knew she hated being manhandled, but he clearly wasn't in the mood for an argument.
"It doesn't have to be you. We've got enough people to guard the border. You can come back-"
"And be reminded of how useless I was?" she snapped. Yami softened slightly and Charlotte snarled. He didn't understand. He couldn't understand. She could feel her power bubbling under her skin, the mana begging to be let free, the briars desperate to lash out, reacting to her tumultuous emotions.
"You weren't useless-"
"I may as well have not been there, Yami!" the first briar broke through the ground and Charlotte stomped on it.
"Charlotte-"
"I couldn't even beak a fucking angel on my own." Jack had taken down several in a single blow. "I needed your squad member to help before I was capable of going against a clone. Meanwhile everyone else was dealing with the Paladins- how can I call myself a Magic Knight Captain when the battle may well have gone better without me?" every single time things had come to a head recently, she hadn't actually been of any real use. With the elves she'd been possessed, a hindrance rather than a help. In Spade she'd done nothing except buy time. Against Lucius she'd probably have been better as a martyr to rally behind.
"The only person who thinks that is you, Captain Roselei," Yami said, his voice hard. "So hows about you stop running from things that aren't actually there and come home." Charlotte finally pulled her wrist free of his grip.
"I'm not running-"
"Aw, Posy. Still lying to yourself?" Charlotte didn't need to say a word, twisting so her back was pressed against Yami's. It couldn't be. "I see some things never change."
"Show yourself!" Yami barked. Charlotte's breath caught in her throat as a ghost stepped out of the treeline a little ahead of them.
"No words, Posy? Most unlike you." her first thought was that it was an imposter. But no fake would bother with that face. No fake could know that nickname. But- if he wasn't a fake, where had he been all this time? Yami moved to stand beside her and Charlotte pushed the thoughts to a box in the back of her mind to unpack later. She could have a mental breakdown when they were safe. First things first, deal with the potential threat in front of her.
"You're supposed to be dead," she said. The man laughed. It sounded exactly the same as she remembered it. Mocking. Condescending. Infuriating. Another briar burst out of the ground. She didn't bother stomping on it this time.
"So are you," he said. His smile felt like oil sliding over her skin. "but I can't say I'm too surprised. If anyone was going to beat a death curse, it's you."
"You know this guy, Prickles?" Yami had his hand on his sword, ready to draw at a moment's notice. At her call. Charlotte didn't dare take her eyes off the man for more than a second. Eyes as blue as her own stared back at her, his face framed by a braid almost identical to hers.
"Unfortunately." the man laughed again. Charlotte took a small step back. She hated looking in mirrors, had done since her curse had first painted itself across her skin and, really, what was the difference between looking in a twisted mirror and looking at a sibling?
"Know me?" Casimir repeated. "She's my sister."
-
He was always better than her, no matter how hard she tried. Always bigger, always stronger, always faster. Her earliest memory was chasing after him as fast as her little legs could carry her, pudgy toddler hand outstretched
"Aw, little Posy can't keep up?" he'd asked, voice mocking, seemingly bouncing halfway up a tree. She'd stomped her tiny foot, tears welling in her eyes because they both knew she was too small to climb the tree and, even if she was big enough, his magic was blocking the base and holly trees had prickly leaves that hurt.
"You're being mean!" she'd screamed and briars had burst out from beneath her feet with enough force to tip her over. She'd landed hard on the ground, her attention stolen by the brilliant blossoms blooming along the briars, every single one blood red.
Her magic hadn't had thorns back then. It had been nothing but the beautiful, delicate blossoms and the trailing vines they grew on. The thorns had come later. The magic grows with the mage, after all, and she hadn't known how to be anything other than soft back then.
-
"Do I have to take her?" he'd asked. She wasn't sure if he'd known she could hear, if he'd even realised she was stood by the door and listening. She knew he wouldn't care. "Posy's boring. She'll just slow me down."
"That's because she's younger than you," their mother had said. "You need to look after her." he'd stormed away from their mother and towards the door where she had been standing. She remembered feeling resentment—maybe for the first time, maybe not—at the anger on his face. She hadn't asked to go with him, just to be allowed to go. It wasn't fair that he took it out on her.
"Fine! Come on, Posy. Try not to get lost." he'd grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her backwards out the house.
She'd stumbled down the grand front steps, only her briars stopping her from hitting the ground in the courtyard. They weren't as soft as they had been, the trailing vines were sturdier than they had been, more than enough to hold her weight. They still hadn't had thorns, though. She still hadn't learnt how to bite back.
She'd clung to his hand all the way through the fair they'd both—separately—begged to be allowed to see, terrified that if she let go he'd 'accidentally' lose her.
-
"Poor ikkle Posy, getting hit with a curse." she'd snarled, twisting towards his voice and launching an attack before she'd even seen him. He'd laughed, blocking with his own magic, Purple Orcas robe flapping in the wind. "You're going to have to try a lot harder than that if you want to beat me, Posy." briars had bloomed under her feet, blue blue blue with twisting, gnarled vines and the beginnings of thorns starting to bloom.
"Shut up," she'd snapped. He'd sidestepped the attack, he'd got up in her face, had hooked a finger under her chin and tilted her head back.
"God, you're pathetic. I'm almost embarrassed to admit to being related to you. Anger on its own doesn't do much, Posy, you have to direct it. Lashing out blindly-" he'd stepped back, shrugging in a 'what can you do' gesture and she'd felt more fury than she'd known she was capable of rising in her chest. "well, they might mistake you for a rabid animal that needs to be put down." her shoulders had heaved as she'd gasped for breath, desperately trying to push the swelling rage down. He was right but every word out of his mouth was only making things worse-
"Stop talking." she needed to control it, to shove it down, to hide it from sight- rage was unsightly and ladies were above it-
"I'm only trying to help," he'd said "but if you don't want it, I'll leave you to it." he'd walked out of the training ground, whistling to himself, and she'd screamed. Not one rose was red.
-
"What do you want?" she'd asked, snapped really, as his shadow had fallen across the book on mana theory she had been trying to read.
"To say goodbye," he'd said "This mission- Captain says there a good chance some of us won't make it back. Diamond's looking for a reason to start a war, Posy."
"Then why are they sending you?" she'd asked. A jab at him and a genuine question she'd never figured out the answer to. He hadn't been anyone important in the Magic Knights, but he had been the heir to one of the oldest Noble Houses. And with her condition being what it was- there was no way he could have been considered disposable the way lesser Nobles and Commoners sometimes were. No way they would risk leaving their House without an heir. He'd just shrugged and left her without an answer.
"Be good, yeah?"
"I'm not the one with an arrest record, Cassie," she'd said.
"Maybe not, but you are the cursed one. Try not to take everyone out with you." the briars had burst from the ground without any conscious input on her part, the same way they had done fifteen years ago under the same tree. They were not the same briars. The soft, blood red blossoms were gone and in their place were blue roses and piercing thorns on twisting vines. They had never reached him. Even then, she'd had better control than that.
"Try not to lead your team to their deaths!" she'd yelled after his retreating form.
She hadn't seen him since. She'd been told he died on that mission, that his body had blown to bits. And yet, here he was.
Defying death ran in the family, it seemed.
"You never told me you have a brother," Yami said. If she didn't know better, Charlotte could think she heard some hurt in his voice. She kicked out at his ankles. He had no right to be complaining about keeping secrets.
"One. Ichika. Two. I thought he was dead." he was supposed to be dead.
"I'm glad you're not dead, Posy," Casimir said "and that you're out here, it makes things so much easier."
"Cassie-" the name slipped out without any conscious thought and she regretted it the moment it did.
"Oh, Posy." Yami drew his sword before Casimir could step any closer.
"I don't give a fuck who you are to her," he said. "you aren't getting any closer."
"I wasn't aware you were one for an overprotective boyfriend-" Casimir was clearly about to say something else, but he was cut off by Yami's laughter. The idea of him being her boyfriend was ludicrous and she could understand why he found it amusing. Yami and Jack had been a thing since before she had met either of them.
"What do you want, Casimir?"
"To reclaim our rightful place in this world," he said. "Join me, Posy, and together we can rule this kingdom the way our ancestors once did. We can reshape the kingdom in our image-"
"You're insane." Casimir sighed, reaching into his pocket for something.
"And here I was, hoping you'd see sense. You always were a stubborn little thing." one of Julius' emergency time-stopping devices flashed in the sun as it flew towards them. "Don't worry, I'll come get you and your guard dog. Eventually." her briars weren't fast enough to block the damn thing. It slipped in through the gaps, hitting Yami square in the chest and Charlotte knew nothing.
Chapter Text
Consciousness came back slowly, which was amazing considering he'd never thought he'd wake again. That last big attack was supposed to be his final stand. But- he wasn't on the roof. Yami wasn't holding him close, begging him to cling to life for just a little bit longer. Battle cries didn't echo in his ears.
There were stiff, scratchy sheets pressed against his skin. All he could hear was his own breathing- only one person appeared in his mana sense and his mana itself was slow and sluggish to respond. His mouth tasted like something had crawled in there and died.
He opened his eyes to see the white ceiling of Owen's hospital. Turning his head to one side, he caught sight of the comfy armchair Yami liked to sit in, a folded up newspaper on the arm.
"You had us worried for a while there." turning his head to the other side, he spotted Lia perched on the window ledge. One leg up, her arms crossed over it and her chin on her knee. Jack couldn't remember the last time she'd had her hair down where other people could see. "Almost lost you several times. Points where even Mimosa wasn't sure you'd make it." he didn't say anything. He wasn't sure he could. Lia wasn't looking at him. "You and your stupid fucking magic. It wouldn't let them heal you. Yami had to actively suppress it while they were working. Dunno what effect it had on you. So if your magic is still fucked up, it's his fault-"
"Lia." Jack held out an arm and that was all the invitation needed for her to crawl onto the bed, burying her face in his shoulder. "I'm here. I'm alive. I've got you." his voice was hoarse and scratchy from disuse—how long had he been out?—but getting stronger with every word. He glanced over at the empty seat and then to the still shut door.
"Charlotte left," Lia said. "Almost immediately after the battle. Didn't even wait until the first time we got you stable." Jack frowned. Charlotte was notoriously bad at emotions but that was extreme even for her. "We think she's tryna protect the entire fucking border by herself-" that sounded about right- "but nobody can find more than traces of her when they look. She didn’t even show herself for Puli. Fuego sent Yami out to talk some sense into her cuz he's about the only one who can right now. You know what they're like." Jack did know what they were like he'd seen them butting heads and ganging up too many times over the years to not know.
"As stubborn as each other." Anyone trying to point out that they were basically siblings was liable to get punched in the face, but Yami when he was already riled up was fun.
"Yep. But that's why he isn't here. He's gonna be pissed that he missed you waking up thought." it would have been nice for his first sight upon waking to be his boyfriend, but that sort of shit belonged in the romance books he'd definitely never read. Yami certainly wasn't the sappy sort.
"Eh, we'll fuck it out later." Jack laughed as Lia pushed herself up enough to glare at him.
"One. Ew. Did not need to know that. Two. Owen says you're on a liquid diet with no strenuous activity until he says otherwise." damn. There went all the fun stuff. Owen described him and Lia racing as 'strenuous', never mind anything else.
"Where is the doc, anyway?" it was rare to get more than five minutes after first waking up without him barging in.
"Probably playing around with prosthetics again. Your magic has been driving pretty much everyone in this place mad."
"Prosthetics- what?"
"You don't remember?"
"Remember what?" Morgen. A flash of light. Overwhelming pain. Pouring everything he had into one final attack. Yami crying, desperately begging- a bloody stump- Jack slowly lifted his left arm to see a bandage at what would have been halfway down his forearm and then nothing. His left hand was missing. Oh. That was why Owen was playing around with prosthetics. His hand was gone.
"Still no word from Yami?" Fuegoleon let his head hit the desk as Dorothy's voice reached him. It was good of her to come back from the Forest to help them sort out this mess, but there was still a lot of work to be done. Part of him regretted letting Mimosa, Noelle, Asta and Yuno all go off to Hino as part of the first delegation, but Asta had wanted to see the people he'd met over there again and the other three had refused to let him go alone and Fuegoleon hadn't really seen the point in trying to fight them. They, he was certain, would have had no trouble dragging Charlotte back by force if necessary.
"Nothing." Yami was notorious for missing check ins, he had a history of being at least an hour or two later than he was supposed to be, but it had been days since he should have reached the border and even if he hadn't found Charlotte yet, they should have heard something. Yami wasn't that bad with reporting back.
"Well, I've got some good news for you, at least." Fuegoleon lifted his head to see Dorothy perched on the edge of his desk. She'd been awake since she'd returned after they'd fought Lucius, it was the longest he'd seen her awake since before they were Captains. Not that either of them were really Captains any more. He sighed.
"I highly doubt that there's anything you can say to cheer me up right now-"
"Jack's awake." oh. That was good news. It didn't reduce the amount of paperwork on his desk, but hopefully now some of the work that could really only be done by Jack or Lia—En was good, but he didn't have their brains when it came to solving problems, nor the clearance level required for certain things—could finally get done. Not to mention all the things Yami had been ignoring and Charlotte's pile- the less said about that, the better. Fuegoleon didn't begrudge Lia her vigil, nor Yami his, but the more of his Grand Magic Knights he had in action, the better.
"I stand corrected." now, if only Yami could bring Charlotte home, that would be everyone accounted for and only Jack stuck behind a desk. Though, that in itself was going to be a nightmare. Jack was not known for his ability to sit still for any great length of time. "How long has he been awake?"
"An hour or so, and I'd rethink any ideas about giving him paperwork until Owen gives the all-clear, if I were you. Apparently he didn't react well to learning they couldn't save his hand."
"I shall have to drop by at some point and talk with him about it." it was- distressing, to say the least, to wake up without a limb. And Jack didn't have the easy solution of a magical one.
"I'm pretty sure he's also in a mood over Yami being here-" something Jack would definitely be blaming him for.
"If I avoided Jackson every time he was in a mood, I would never see him, Dorothy." for someone who claimed to have thick skin, Jack was notoriously easy to rile up once one knew how. Lia did it on a nearly daily basis. Or had done, when they were younger. "The same thing goes for Yami. We are no longer children. We can talk things out like mature adults." Dorothy raised an eyebrow and Fuegoleon remembered exactly who they were talking about. It was only Charlotte's quick thinking that had stopped Magic Knight Headquarters from being destroyed by Jack's magic when Yami was taken by the Dark Triad. And Yami's grief-fuelled rage against Lucius was something Fuegoleon would rather never think about again. "I shall wait until after Yami has returned to speak to Jackson." if he brought Charlotte back with him, even better.
"You know he hates it when you call him that." Fuegoleon allowed himself a small smile. He would never admit it to anyone, but it was entertaining to watch Jack try, fail and inevitably give up on insisting that Jackson was something Charlotte had once screamed in a moment of frustration and was not actually his name. Fuegoleon was well aware that that was the true story, but it was hard to get Jack—or Yami—back for any of their antics so he would take the small victories where he could.
"Maybe if he doesn't want to be called Jackson, he should create less paperwork for other people."
He strode up the steps to the manor house, throwing the doors open. Of all the times for Posy to learn how to defy him. He'd known about her spine, she'd always had one, he'd watched her learn how to stand her ground and refused to be pushed. However. That- that- that- rebellion was never supposed to be turned on him. Good little sisters listened and did what they were told by their wiser elder brothers. God damn her for making everything far, far harder than it needed to be. No matter. It wouldn't be hard to hold some of her squad hostage until she cooperated.
First, though, he needed the second greatest thing Posy could give him. The keystone.
"Master Casimir!" the butler cried. Casimir rolled his eyes, ignoring the servants scurrying through the house like mice. The keystone, the anchor point for Posy's curse, was tucked away in a hidden room at the end of a secret passage. Their parents hadn't thought to look for it, and Posy didn't even know it existed, so Casimir had hidden it. Either Posy would explode and the stone would be unreachable or she would somehow survive and he could retrieve it at a later date and use it himself.
Posy surviving was better for his plans, it left more options open, required less sacrifice on his part.
Posy surviving also made things harder because she had just as much right to the throne as he did. More so, if one was foolish enough to follow the ways of the last Roselei's to rule, passing the title from daughter to daughter. No wonder they'd fallen in the end.
The keystone was small, little more than a pebble, but the power practically radiated off of it. Posy always had been a powerhouse, mana exploding out of her at the slightest provocation. Something that didn't appear to have changed if their last encounter was anything to go by.
Pocketing it, he exited the manor.
"Everything's ready to go, sire," one of his people said. He didn't really bother with the names, they were all disposable at the end of the day.
"Good. We move first thing in the morning." as his people scrambled to obey, Casimir let himself smile. "Your move, Little Fuego."
Notes:
The idea of a keystone being part of a curse is from Hope's work 100 Days and they do a much better job of explaining how it's connected to a curse than I did here so go give thrm some love
Chapter Text
"I think Lottie might be giving Yami the run around." Fuegoleon sighed as he set his pen down, looking up to see Lia perched on the window ledge to his office. It was good that she was getting out instead of holing herself up in Jack's hospital room, but he'd forgotten how irritating her habit of dropping in unannounced with irrelevant information was. However, her information was nearly always right. And he had asked everyone to keep an eye out for Charlotte after she'd left. Not that anyone had had much luck on that front. Charlotte was clearly very good at staying hidden when she wanted to.
"I am not Jack. I do not have his skill of extrapolating any information, never mind the relevant information, from that kind of statement." Lia hopped off the window ledge, gracefully floating down to land in the chair opposite his desk. Sideways, of course, with her legs over one of the arms.
"There's been activity at Roselei Manor. Apparently the heir dropped in last night and, last I checked, Lottie's the Roselei heir." if Charlotte was at Roselei Manor, then where was Yami? The complete and utter lack of news from him was starting to get worrying. Ideally, Fuegoleon would be able to send Lia to go find him, but the moment Lia knew Yami was late back, Jack would know. And Jack was not in any state to go running after Yami. Dorothy and her squad would have to do for now, they had jurisdiction in the Forsaken Realm. Ideally, he'd be able to set the Bulls and Mantises searching as well but the Bulls were unpredictable at the best of times, never mind when their Captain was in danger, and any word to the Mantises would get back to Jack. "Never actually heard anyone call her Heir Roselei before, though." right. Commoner. Sometimes Fuegoleon forgot that Lia, and Jack and Yami, were from the lower classes and therefore didn't understand how noble houses worked. Grateful for the chance to chance the conversation, Fuegoleon seized the opportunity to explain.
"That is because the title is typically reserved for the firstborn son of the house." Lia raised an eyebrow. "Charlotte had an elder brother. Casimir. He was a Purple Orca, I believe. As far as I'm aware, they didn't really get along." House Roselei, going against the traditions the rest of the kingdom followed, left everything to the firstborn daughter. However, while Charlotte was the heir according to the rules of the House, the rest of the country had refused to see it that way and, as far Fuegoleon understood, that had caused tension between the siblings. Not that Lia would have the patience to listen to the politics lecture trying to explain that would result in.
"An' what happened to him?"
"Ah- if I recall correctly, a mission went wrong. Only one member of the team made it back and Casimir was declared killed in action. It was shortly before Charlotte's curse activated- there was a lot of talk about it being the downfall of House Roselei; one heir killed in action and the other presumed to be a dead girl walking." Fuegoleon hadn't spoken to Charlotte in years by that point, and Casimir even longer, but he could still clearly see the way she'd drawn in on herself after the announcement, fading into the background as best she could. Until the curse came exploding out, of course, and, in Charlotte's words, the mana of the world had tried to swallow her whole. "Why do you ask?"
"Somethin' ain't addin' up," she said, and Lia was facing him but Fuegoleon knew she wasn't actually seeing him, her eyes glazed over slightly and her brain miles away. "I just can't-" the chair clattered over as Lia scrambled out of it, catching her foot in the arm and tumbling to the floor.
"Lia?"
"I need to talk to Kaiser!" she was up and racing for the door before Fuegoleon could offer assistance, or even ask if she needed help.
"About what?" Lia paused with the door wide open, turning to face him with an almost manic look in her eye.
"About that mission. Something isn't adding up and if anyone's gonna have the answer, it's him."
"You know, I don't like having to do this to you, Posy," Casimir said, tapping on the side of the metal box that contained his little sister. It was completely solid, no light getting in or out, and a padlock only he could release. He'd initially been planning to just leave Posy and her guard dog in the time-stop until he needed her, but the spell had started breaking down after he returned to camp with the keystone. An alternative method of containment had been required and a simple prison cell with guards had never been enough to contain a Roselei so his plan had been pushed back out of necessity. Posy could not escape and nor could her guard dog.
If he'd stopped to think about it, he would have realised that bringing something containing so much of her power near Posy was a bad idea, but he hadn't stopped to think and what was done was done. Posy had been removed from the spell as quickly as possible—several of his men sustaining injuries in the process of removing and re containing her—and, as he had suspected, the spell had stopped unravelling the moment she was no longer in contact with it. The Foreigner was still out of play, likely not for as long as he would have been otherwise, but out of play nonetheless. The briar patch Posy had summoned during her temper tantrum were being dealt with too.
"If you'd just cooperate, everything would be so much easier for you." Plant mages needed light to survive. Without it, they withered and if they were denied it for any great length of time, eventually they died from the lack of light. It was beyond cruel to lock her away in the dark, but it wouldn't be for long and it was for Posy's own good. The sooner she stopped her childish antics and listened to him, the better off she'd be.
There was no response from the box. Casimir scowled. That sullen, petty ungrateful girl. He didn't have to include her in his plans. Technically, he didn't need her at all. He was more than capable of fulfilling all the requirements for the ritual himself. He could have just left her and her stupid foreign guard dog to rot, trapped in a single moment for eternity. But no. He'd tried to be nice and include his baby sister. And this was the thanks he got.
"Not even going to call me mean?" he asked. She had to respond. She couldn't just ignore him. Posy had never been able to ignore him. Even when she tried to ignore him she always responded in the end. It was her nature to always rise to the bait and lash out. True to form, a briar burst from the ground in front of him. Casimir picked the blue blossom, letting a small smile spread across his face as he twirled it between his fingers. "Childish as always, Posy." stomping her foot and calling him mean, summoning her briars to lash out. She really hadn't changed. She was as predictable as always, which was the more important thing. As Controllable as always. She wasn't coming out of the box until he needed her regardless, but it was comforting to know that he could still predict and control her should he need to. His little sister might have learnt how to stand her ground against him, but she couldn't change the fact that he knew her. He'd helped shape and build her. If he was to pull her apart and expose her inner workings to the world, his fingerprints would be on her soul. "Don't worry, your moment to shine is coming."
"-Yami's late reporting in," Nozel said and Jack went from half asleep to wide away in an instant. He hadn't wanted to be part of the stupid meeting anyway, but apparently there was work that needed to be done even though he hadn't even been awake a fucking day so Nozel had dragged the entire meeting into his hospital room because Owen wasn't letting him out yet. Which was how Jack found himself propped up in bed with half his colleagues scattered around the room.
"Yami's late?" he repeated. Nozel stopped, his eyes wide behind the stupid braid. On the other side of the room, Dorothy groaned. Kaiser wouldn't meet his eyes and Rill muttered something about leaving his cat on before the door slammed shut behind him. So. They all knew. Yami was gone. Yami was missing and nobody had told him. Yami could be hurt, could need help, and there was fuck all he could do about it because nobody had even told him Yami was out late.
"You didn't know?" Nozel asked. "He's four days overdue." Jack scowled.
"Lia didn't say."
"Lia wasn't told," Dorothy said. Oh. Well, that was something at least. Didn't explain why everyone else had said nothing. "We didn't want to stress you out so soon after waking up, Jack, and we all know she can't keep secrets from you."
"And how long were you planning on keeping the fact that my fucking partner is MIA from me?" Jack demanded, trying to push himself up and only really succeeding in pushing himself sideways. There was a rail to stop him from falling out of bed again—thank fuck only Lia had been there to see that—and hitting it didn't make him any more inclined to listen to their excuses.
"The plan was to tell you when Owen cleared you to leave this room so you'd be well enough to go chasing after him if he hadn't already returned," Dorothy said, her voice flat.
"You are in no state to go anywhere right now," Kaiser said softly, resting a hand on his knee. "It's a miracle you're even alive, Jack. I know you struggle with sitting around and waiting, but rest assured, we have people looking for Yami and when we find him, you'll be one of the first to know." that was- something, at least. Jack would far rather be out there looking for Yami himself, but it was better than nothing. He was definitely going to ask Lia why she hadn't known the next time he saw her, though. Not being explicitly told something had never stopped her from knowing shit in the past. There was a flicker of mana down in the courtyard outside the window. Speak of the devil.
"Kaiser!" Nozel threw himself back as the window slammed open, hitting the floor hard. Kaiser was holding the bed railing for dear life and Dorothy had hit the ceiling. Jack laughed. "I have a question," Lia said, "about Casimir Roselei."
Dappled_Sunlight_Dap on Chapter 1 Sun 20 Jul 2025 09:30PM UTC
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ThisHopeIsADangerousThing on Chapter 3 Tue 09 Sep 2025 05:49PM UTC
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