Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Yami had been enjoying a perfectly good pub lunch before Nozel Silva turned up.

He warred briefly between irritation at having his meal interrupted, amusement at how Nose-braid was looking around the (admittedly grimy and dingy) bar with poorly concealed dismay, before settling on pissed-off.

'How d'you find me?' he groused, signaling to the suddenly very wary barkeep to pour him another drink. Yami had an inkling he was probably going to need it.  He deliberately worsened his posture, slumping down further in his seat. 'Us commoners don't usually see your type this far from your ivory towers.'

Nozel seemed to be debating the pros and cons of sitting his precious arse in the seat opposite Yami, a sad-looking armchair whose leather covering was cracked, dry, and suspiciously stained. After a few moments of gratuitous consideration and with an expression that looked like he had swallowed a cyanide pill, the man elected to stand instead.

All the better to loom over me, Yami thought, uncharitably. Bastard.

Nozel sniffed. 'Your portal mage was more than happy to inform me as to your whereabouts. He did take some... careful persuasion.'

'I'll kill him.' Yami swore. Then he shot Nozel a significantly dirty look. 'And if you've hurt him, I'll hurt you. Worse.'

Unruffled, Nozel sniffed in an apparent dismissal of Yami's threats of bodily harm to his person. 'He's perfectly fine, Yami, honestly. I didn't lay a finger on the grubby little outcast. I came to speak to you after all, not engage in some plebeian fist-fight.'

'Watch yourself, Nozel.' Yami growled, standing abruptly to thrust a warning finger at the mage's chest. 'Finral's worth ten of those stuck-up assholes. The best thing they ever did for him was give him a decent excuse to never go back to that hell-house. I'll not have your type judge him for it.'

Nozel stared impassively back at Yami, and his probing finger for a moment then inclined his head slightly. 'Very well. I'll say no more about the matter.'

Yami jerked his head in enthusiastic agreement and settled back in his seat once more regarding his companion curiously. 'All right then, let's hear it. What can I do for the mighty captain of the Silver Eagles?'

The aforementioned captain shifted his weight from one foot to the other, causing his fellow captain to stiffen in apprehension. Whatever had wrongfooted his asshole colleague did not bear good tidings on Yami's care-free existence.

This couldn't be good.

'I require a favor from you, Yami Sukehiro.'

If Nozel didn't look a hair's breadth from choking on his own tongue, Yami would have put this down to a hallucination caused by something funny in the meat he was lunching on. As it was, he eyed his sandwich suspiciously before replying. 'Can I get that again? For posterity? You need a favor from me?'

'Yes!' Nozel hissed, teeth gritted, a scowl on his face and clearly regretting his life choices and Yami...

Yami couldn't help it. He burst out laughing.

He went on for a long, long while, long enough that the bemused waitress had brought him his next drink, the few patrons left in the bar had left and the barkeep was shaking his head in mute but obvious disapproval when he finally calmed down.

Yami was still chortling when Nozel lost his patience and began to berate him, but the pomposity of the git only served to set Yami off again. Most of the rant was lost amongst renewed peals of laughter and much of the rest Yami wasn't really listening to but he did tune in enough to hear; ' -common, crass and you demonstrate an appalling lack of decorum even for one of your station and you utterly vex me.'

Yami let out an amused huff and wiped away the tears Nozel had unintentionally prompted, still grinning. He took pride in pissing off Nozel. It was always satisfying to see those neat feathers get ruffled.

'Insulting me is a pretty funny move for a guy looking to ask a favor. Then again, it's pretty clear that you guys aren't in the habit of asking for help much so this time I'll let you off, seeing as how I'm interested in what one of your oh-so-esteemed prestige would need from little old me.'

'I need,' Nozel said slowly, painfully, and through gritted teeth, 'your help. With Noelle.'

That caught Yami's attention. 'Noelle huh? Your sister?'

Nozel nodded tersely. 'Yes. My youngest. You've undoubtedly heard of how her magical control is less than optimal.' With some degree of bitterness, he added, 'It seems to be the talk of the kingdom.'

Yami spoke around the cigarette that he'd placed between his teeth even as he tried to light the thing. 'Might have heard something.' Or possibly several somethings, but what the prince didn't know wouldn't hurt him. 'Water magic, isn't it? Rumour has it the girl can't so much as hit a painted target.'

Nozel looked grim. 'A slight exaggeration of the truth, but yes. She has roughly fifty percent accuracy. The grounds have indeed suffered for her improved precision. '

Yami did a double-take here because was that humor? From prince stupid-hair? Surely not.

'That bad, huh?'

'Not as bad as the rumor-mill would have you believe. In truth, she is only truly destructive when under stress. Which unfortunately indicates a poor aptitude for combat. As she is now, anyway.' Nozel sighed and finally conceded to sit opposite Yami, the most casual Yami had seemed so far. Nozel regarded him curiously and motioned towards the cigarette in Yami's hand.

'May I?'

The hits just kept on coming.

Shrugging off his shock (again, what the hell was happening right now?!) Yami obliged, handing Nozel a fresh one from the box he kept in his pocket. Nozel leaned forward, allowing Yami to light the end for him. Yami observed him take his first inhale, and was reluctantly impressed when he didn't cough.

Magna had thrown up. Yami had laughed at him. Finral had fretted.

'This is disgusting.' Nozel muttered, but didn't extinguish his cigarette and took another drag instead. Yami huffed indignantly but secretly didn't disagree. It was, frankly. It just wasn't worth the headache to quit.

'Oi. Nozel.'

'Hmm?'

'You are beginning to freak me out. You ain't dying are you?' Yami's eyes widened. 'Oh, ye gods. You're dying and you want me to take in your sister?'

The corner of Nozel's mouth twisted slightly in what was probably wry amusement but hell if Yami knew. His own preconceptions had already taken an impressive battering today, he wasn't in the mood to gamble on guessing. Mentally he resolved not to test his luck at the poker table tonight. Reading Ki got him nowhere with these royal types.

They were too repressed and stuck up for that.

'Not precisely. I do not intend to die any time soon, Yami.' He smiled thinly. 'Sorry to disappoint.'

He sighed gustily and idly tapped the ash off of the end of the cigarette. Yami was beginning to think that the prince had been hooked on the oh-so-satisfying rush of nicotine way before he'd tracked Yami down in a random seedy bar in the lower levels of the capital.

'I want her to join your squad.'

Yami choked. He rapidly devolved into hacking coughs as he sputtered around the mouthful of cheap ale that had been sucked unceremoniously into his airway rather than his gullet, where it rightfully belonged. 'You trying to do me in, Nozel?' he wheezed, 'You build up to that kind of shit, you can't just hit me with it out of the blue!'

'Your sister. The youngest princess, with royal blood and presumably the family power to go with it and you want her in my squad?'

He narrowed his eyes at the man perched stiffly on the edge of his seat. 'What did she do?'

Seeing how the royal prat's nostrils flared and his pointed face started to flush Yami figured he might be onto something and cut Nozel off before he could respond, his lip curling meanly.

'Not up to snuff, is she? Black sheep of a royal family? I'm surprised you even want to know, Nozel.' Yami raised his glass to his lips once more to hide his smirk, quirking a brow at the prince whose face was now flooding with color. 'Don't princesses get locked in towers for this kind of thing?'

'Don't be ridiculous,' Nozel snapped. 'There is no such precedent.'

Yami grunted skeptically. That hadn't been his experience. Charlotte Roselei had literally been made a prisoner of her own magic back when he'd first met her. Vanessa had been trapped in a birdcage by her own power-mad mother in order to master her powers and Finral had been cast out of his family for refusing to pursue the darker agenda of his brother. Nobles, in his experience, would rather tidy away or ignore 'unsightly' magics rather than explore their use.

Or, god forbid, put a little effort in.

'Right then.' he digressed, not caring enough to hash out this age-old argument with a price so indoctrinated by his antiquated lineage that he cause him to challenge him for his honor or some bollocks.

'So you want your little sister to join my squad. Okay. Why, exactly?'

'I feel that in the event her magic was to-' Nozel hesitated and Yami felt that the prince was most likely struggling to come up with a way to genteelly phrase, cause massive destruction and property damage.

 '-run amok' the prince concluded, 'then your squad would be the most well equipped to handle it'

Yami had to agree with him there. He was fond of the little shits- wouldn't exchange them for anyone- but their combined capacity for destructive firepower caused his unofficial vice-captain to have a minor breakdown at least once a week. Yami would rather fall on his own katana rather than admit to it but Finral was probably his favorite, both for not causing fights in the first place and putting out the fires and cleaning up the bloodstains when they inevitably did. That being said...

'Plenty of other squads don't have the reputation of the Black Bulls and are equally as capable of cleaning up after her magic, including yours. They have more money, more resources, and more than their fair share of crazy assholes. The only difference being, they're rich crazy assholes.' Yami's eyes narrowed in interrogation. 'You don't want my squad, you want me. Why?'

Yami reveled in Nozel's irritated twitch as he swung his booted feet up onto the coffee table, grinning smugly at his disgruntled compatriot. 'What d'you need me for, Nozel?'

Nozel pursed his lips and stared fixedly at the lit ember of his cigarette held between his forefinger and thumb contemplatively for a moment and says slowly, 'I think that you, Yami Sukehiro are potentially the only squad captain that would be more interested in building Noelle up that cutting her down.'

Well. That was not what Yami was expecting to hear today. Despite the man's bitter intonation that was practically a compliment!

He took a moment to seriously consider the possibility that there was something other than tobacco in these cigarettes. He wouldn't put it past Vanessa. It was just the kind of stunt she'd pull.

There were still some pieces of this puzzle that Yami was missing and his casual, 'Not even you?' was rewarded with a stony glare.

'I hardly have the time to supervise one on one, Yami. The last thing I need is to be accused of nepotism.'

Yami snorted at that. That implied that anything about the magic knights wasn't prejudiced in some way, which Yami knew firsthand to be complete horse shit. If it wasn't your family name working for or against you, it was your pedigree, if not that it was your level of magic power, and if not that then it was the type of magic power you wielded. Yami was in the semi-unique position of being discriminated against for all of the above, as well as being a foreigner. Seeing how he was so well versed in bigotry, he doubted highly that the head of house Silva cared a jot about nepotism.

The lack of time thing though, Yami could maybe get. Except that he himself only had Finral and maybe (if it was a suitably menial task) Magna to delegate to and he had more than enough prime time to himself. A man like Nozel should have sufficient minions to take whatever time he needed. Meaning that- yeah. Excuses be damned, this was about something else.

'Okay. Sure, my squad has enough firepower to blow the base sky high and they could probably handle your sister's power. I've taught them to fight worse than some teenage princess. But what I want to know is, what's the actual reason you don't want Noelle on your squad? Quit your bullshitting and tell me straight,' Yami leaned in, 'Why are you so scared for her?'

If Yami was expecting a vehement denial of his fellow captain's fear -or lack thereof- he was disappointed. He had, however, begun to suspect that nothing in this conversation was going to go as it should and had therefore suspended this belief. All he got from Silva was a disconcertingly solemn look.

'Am I right in thinking Yami, that you know very little of nobility other than what you apparently feel comfortable mocking to anyone within earshot?' he enquired smoothly, tapping the ash from the end of the cigarette and watching detachedly as if fluttered down to the flagstones.

'That you would be, your royal highness.' Yami smirked, reclining in his chair and lacing his fingers behind his head. 'I don't know and I don't rightly care to. But if it's relevant for this bizarre yarn you've seen fit to spin me, feel free to share.'

Nozel nodded curtly and took a quick inhale from the still lit tab in one hand and letting the smoke billow out of both nostrils lazily before he elaborated.

'Noelle's magic is as powerful as it is unrestrained when her concentration lags. Amongst nobles, such a thing is... unsightly. Royalty or nobility, you understand does not generally value hard work. Such things are supposed to come easily to us. To work is to imply that you are less and Noelle works very hard. Thus she is a blight on the family tree in their eyes.'

Nozel pursed his lips and took another irritated puff. Yami at this point realized he had no need for Ki with this guy. The nobleman's emotions were all over his face, once he was worked up enough to acknowledge them.

'Such a reputation is worsened by the fact that Noelle is...  wary of water, particularly that that has been created by mana. Regrettably, this includes her own. It makes things significantly more difficult.'

This time Yami actually did lose his cigarette in shock. Aquaphobia? In a water mage with limited control and significant power? Jeez... How the hell did that lot fuck this girl up enough that she was scared of her own magic?

'How the hell did you lot fuck this girl up enough that she's scared of her own magic?' Yami asked incredulously, brain-to-mouth filter effectively null at this point.

Nozel winced.

'Regrettably, it was a family effort. My brother, Solid, and my sister Nebra tormented her endlessly from the moment Noelle began to show an affinity for water magic. Her lack of control worsened the harassment they already subjected her to regarding our mother's death and Noelle's presumed culpability.  I was... remiss in my duties. I did not notice or care to notice how scared she was of them or how cruel they were to her. How cruel I was. I had already invested most of my time into my career in the magic knights at this time and rarely visited home.'

Nozel lowered his gaze slightly as he chronicled his own shortcomings, unable to meet Yami's eyes.

'Things changed nearly ten years ago when Noelle was just turned five years old. Solid trapped her in a sphere of water, an impressive demonstration of magic for his age but lacking the appropriate finesse. Nebra was also complicit but was ultimately the one that ran to fetch me when she felt things were rapidly spiraling out of control.'

Yami felt his eyes narrow even as Nozel scowled, lost in the past.

'He nearly killed her. When I arrived Noelle wasn't breathing and hadn't been for some minutes.'

Yami maintained eye contact, taking a deep inhale from the newly lit cigarette in his mouth and exhaling smoke from both nostrils in a smooth exhale. Excellent breathing exercise smoking, he mused silently, you couldn't go huffing and puffing with a lit cigarette in your mouth.

All that got you was an ashy taste stuck to your tongue and your lungs seizing up on you. It had been the only thing keeping Yami out of the deep end on more than one occasion and he wonders vaguely whether the eldest Silva hadn't bummed a cigarette from him to settle his nerves. Hadn't been lighting up in hidden corners around the palace for years. He couldn't much blame the man if that were the case. If talking about accidental sororicide hadn't gotten the man's fraternal instincts buzzing then Yami would have kicked his ass himself.

'Didn't realize you'd added healing magic to your repertoire, Nozel.'

The prince flinched.

'I didn't. Don't. She required... Some manual resuscitation. Before the healers arrived.'

Yami nearly dropped his cigarette (again) in astonishment. The techniques Nozel was describing were rough and bone-breaking (sometimes literally) work. Yami had heard recent rumblings of Nozel pushing for more hands-on first-aid training within the knights, no matter the rank. The Silver Eagles squad had apparently been put through their paces, to the point that they were generally considered to be one of the best to be partnered with for clean-up operations. Healing mages aside, most members of Nozel's squad could competently bandage and stitch wounds, treat burns, and even set broken bones due to their captain's conscientious rigor.  The origin of such an initiative had never been questioned. To hear now that it had come from Nozel's own near-tragedy...

Had she been here, Yami was sure that Vanessa would be cooing with all the heartfelt concern of it all. Eurgh. 

Yami did some quick mental math and realized that ten years ago Nozel would have been a kid himself. Nineteen. Old enough to be a magic knight, sure, but still too young to have to use such desperate measures, really. With the closest thing he had to consideration, Yami hummed thoughtfully.

'Hmm. Well, it's a mighty hard thing, using those rescue procedures. Think I threw up when I had to use them the first time in the field so it must have been tough, doing that to a kid. Never mind your own kin.'

Nozel nodded absently, mind elsewhere. 'I broke one of her ribs. She was also quite ill for some time after, from an infection in the lungs. She was... very weak.'

A lesser man than Yami wouldn't notice the slight increase in respiration, the uptick of a heartbeat. As attuned as he was to the intricacies of body language, however, Yami did. He made special note of the almost inscrutable unsteadiness of Nozel's hand when he took one last drag from his cigarette, pulled a face, and snuffed the thing out on the brick wall next to him.

Yami thought he could recall a time roughly ten years ago that Nozel had been conspicuously absent around the city for a period of several weeks. After returning to his post the man had apparently told the Silver Eagles captain at the time that he required weekend leave for the foreseeable future and hadn't taken no for an answer. Yami guessed that he'd revaluated letting his psycho siblings roam about unsupervised after they'd nearly wiped Noelle off the family tree. Which. Fucking hell.

Yami would never envy the nobility and their twisted code of child-rearing. Nozel it seemed, had practically broken the mold for this Noelle kid.  'She's been put through it then, your girl.' Yami stated quietly.

Nozel hummed in agreement, expression solemn. 'Yes. She's certainly had a time.' He leaned forward in his seat. 'That is the reason I did not allow either Solid nor Nebra to see Noelle until the year after Solid earned his grimoire. Why I waited to be sure that both could demonstrate adequate restraint. To acquire some much-needed maturity and perspective and tell them circumstances of our family history that I couldn't discuss when they were young, things that Noelle still does not know...'

He cut himself off hastily, seeming almost alarmed at what he had nearly divulged and the dark mage held up his hands to express his utter indifference to the royal family's dirty laundry. Such things didn't interest Yami. 

'I'm not interested in what you lot get up to behind closed doors. I just want to know why you're looking to shove one of yours through mine.'

'I don't want Noelle on my squad because I think it would be her own personal hell.' Nozel gritted out and immediately seemed surprised by his own bluntness. He made to run a restless hand through his hair, seemed to realize that it was in that stupid braid, and promptly thought better of it.

'My brother and sister earnt my distrust many years ago and have never managed to truly dispel it. They are trying and to their credit, they know better than to purposefully endanger Noelle, at least within range of my eyes and ears.'

Yami could believe that.  The two Silva siblings were as captivated by their elder brother's magical power, proficiency and poise as any other slack-jawed mouth breather. They had demonstrated a healthy respect for Nozel as their captain that erred on the side of fear. Nah, those suckers wouldn't be caught dead disobeying an order from Nozel be it bid by their brother or their captain.

'However, as a part of Silver Eagles Noelle would be subject to scrutiny and held to the standards of her siblings. To me, a mage twice her age and experience. She would be looked down upon, mistreated perhaps. She hardly responds well to degradation, yet any kinder methods of teaching would be perceived as being too 'soft'. Noelle would suffer it all if she thought that was what it took to earn the pride of the family and... It would make her miserable.'

Yami thought the prince looked miserable, sat in a dingy bar reduced to asking the worst magic knight squad in the Clover Kingdom for help rehabilitating his youngest sister. Ye gods. Yami must be getting soft because he was actually beginning to pity the bastard. Just a smidge though.

He heaved a heavy sigh. Maybe Finral was right and he did have issues with taking in strays.

'So what I'm hearing is... You want your little sister to grow beyond the identity that you stuffy royal types have already boxed her into, in an environment that doesn't cause her more emotional and psychological damage whilst enabling her to grow as an individual she can be proud of without relying on you for gratification?' he drawled casually, treasuring forever the memory of the way Nozel's jaw dropped.

'Put rather succinctly but... Yes.'

I really need to thank Vanessa for her rants on female empowerment when I get home, Yami thought to himself, relishing the gobsmacked expression on Nozel's face. Externally, he smiles smugly, his insides matching his outsides.

Yami blinked. 'Okay.'

'Okay?!'

Yami shrugged. 'Okay. I have less than ten members. We're understaffed, underpaid and if your sister's inherited the family talent she'll be an absolute powerhouse, a penchant for extreme destruction aside. She'd hardly be the first teenager with an unpredictable temper to half destroy the house.'

Softening slightly at Nozel's open-mouthed disbelief he added, 'The Bulls will look out for her, Nozel. Finral and Vanessa have some of the finest precision I've ever seen in mages they can teach her some means of control no one else can. And Magna's set the house on fire more times than I can count so she can buddy up with him and compare notes on how to make my life as difficult as possible. I've been meaning to get a water mage just to cancel out all the fire we have going on.'

Nozel visibly remembered Magna, his pyromaniac inclinations, and blanched. Yami hastened to finish the conversation before the prince could take it all back and flee.

'Bonus, I get to piss off the upper echelons. Why would I say no?'

Without waiting for a response Yami got to his feet, tossing back the last of his beer.

'All right then. I'll have Finral portal us by your fancy manor-mansion to pick her up tomorrow lunchtime. That should give her time to pack, right?'

Chapter Text

'The Black Bulls?!'

Nozel sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and prepared to hash out the same conversation with his little sister for the third time that day.

Said little sister glared up at him, cheeks stained pink with what he presumed was a mix of humiliation and frustration.

'Noelle-,' Nozel tried and was immediately cut off.

'The Black Bulls, Nozel! The worst squad in the magic knights?!'

Nozel sucked at his teeth and made a so-so gesture with one hand. 'Well...Technically yes,'

Noelle stared at him. For all that Nozel was impressed that she'd broken out of her diminutive shell, he was a little dismayed at the way she was regarding him as if she needed to summon the men in white coats to spirit him away to the madhouse.

'Technically. I suppose by technically you mean in stars earned, missions assigned, number of members, and overall prestige and reputation? May I remind you The Black Bulls are at the bottom in every category!'

'Yes. Yami does not care about stars or prestige or reputation. And I hate to admit but it serves him well. For all he's uncouth Yami is more than capable as a captain, if he weren't the Black Bulls would have triple the property damage and civil lawsuits leveled against them. They may be a bunch of unruly miscreants but-,' Nozel huffed, 'I know that with Yami at least, you'd be looked after.'

'You'd look after me!'

'No.' Nozel said, quietly, shocking Noelle temporarily dumb. 'I'd try certainly, perhaps Solid and Nebra would step in and try in my stead.  But sooner or later, we wouldn't be around. We won't be there. I trust the Silver Eagles with my life, Noelle. But I do not trust them with yours. Nor will I trust any other, except for those trained by Yami Sukehiro.'

Noelle's voice had become small again and Nozel hated himself for it. 'But why him? Why his squad?!'

'Well,' Nozel paced the room, behind his desk and threw himself (without his usual aplomb) into his desk chair, rubbing at his eyes wearily.

'For a start, the man was handpicked by the Julius Novachrono himself to serve as a high-ranking member of the Grey Deer until his ascension. For all the man's eccentricities, Sukehiro must have considerable power to be considered for the personal tutelage of the Wizard King, and as a consequence most definitely knows how to use it. Do you understand what I'm saying?'

Nozel looked levelly at Noelle to see how she was taking in this information. Noelle stared back, non-comprehending.

Nozel resisted- incredibly hard- the urge to roll his eyes. He was sure he hadn't been so slow on the uptake when he was her age. Then again, by the time he'd earnt his grimoire his mother was dead, his infant sister had only just been teething and he'd found himself having to wrangle his other siblings into some semblance of decorum as the head of the Silva family but he'd managed!

Well.

He hadn't managed at all, actually. In fact, he'd done a pretty shitty job, all things considered.

'Sukehiro has no family and no lineage but the ear of the most powerful man in the country. That says to me that Julius has plans for him, has plans for his squad,'

Steepling his hands just under his chin, he surveyed his sister keenly.

'Reprobates with no future do not have the attention of men like Novachrono, Noelle. And so no matter what the gossip rags have to say about Yami, the man isn't a complete idiot. He is, in fact, as exceptionally powerful as he is shrewd.'

'What I mean to say is that he won't be interested in using your name or your power for his own agenda. One, he has no need of and the other, he couldn't care less about. I have never known the man to show a modicum of respect to anyone society would mark as his better. Including the actual, sovereign ruler of this land,'

'I never thought he deserved much respect either,' Noelle sniffed, 'He's so... Pompous!'

Nozel smirked. 'We do not say such things out loud, Noelle,' He chided, gently. Ignoring him (really, how had it come to this?) Noelle steamed on.

'So you're sending me to the ends of the earth to live amongst people that don't respect my heritage, my name, or my status? That sounds awful!'

'Is it? How many people at court do you know who respect you for any of those things?' Nozel asked, bluntly. It elicited, as he knew it would a sharp intake of breath that he knew accompanied another wound to his sister's already fatally wounded pride.

It had already been beaten to a slow death by each annual family dinner she had been forced, by Nozel's own mandate to attend. His (admittedly flawed) rationale had been that if Nozel couldn't survive a five-hour dining experience from hell then he may as well take Sukihero's ridiculous idea to heart and lock the girl in a tower.

Unlawful confinement?

Perhaps.

Ensured safety from a world hell-bent on stripping her of any moral fiber?

Worth it.

Noelle had, of course, attended every year with her chin held high like the princess she was. She had sat between Nozel and her cousin and by dessert, all that stiff-upper-lip haughtiness would be gone. No matter how Nozel (and for the past couple of years, Nebra) redirected, changed the subject, or outright interrupted, the conversation would inevitably circle back around to the subject of Noelle's magic.

Which is where it would stay, with Noelle desperately attempting to become one with her dining chair, Solid sulking, and Nebra glancing nervously at Nozel who would have given up eating about twenty minutes into the whole fiasco and would sit, grinding his teeth and attempting to wrestle his own roiling mana less he accidentally cause a major diplomatic incident in his own dining room.

Noelle's stubbornness, though laudable, could not protect her already battered heart.

Nozel, the sole appointed guardian of said heart, tried again to persuade her to see his point of view.

'Yami is a scoundrel with a bad gambling habit but he practically challenged me to a duel over an imagined slight towards a disinherited spacial mage. He protects his own, Noelle. They protect each other, in fact. You could learn a lot from them. It is a level of comradery that I don't think any other squad would afford you,'

Noelle, suddenly absorbed in the color and texture of her brother's office carpet whispered, 'Because of my magic.' They both tried to ignore how her voice cracked.

'Because you, little sister have always worked twice as hard as anybody else and Yami is the only one who will respect you for it. You need that, you really do,'

'I thought... When my magic got better-,' Noelle pinked and stared hard at the plasterboard behind Nozel's desk, biting her lip.

'Solid and Nebra will never let me forget,' she mumbled, then roused herself and cried shrilly, 'But I could prove myself to the squad captains, Nozel! I can be of use, I swear!'

'That, is precisely the point!' Nozel's fist came down hard on the desk, the impact sending an elegant ink bottle and its accompanying quill flying. He paid the growing black stain on vintage mahogany no mind.

'You can't live for the approval of others, Noelle! Their belief, their perception of how valuable you are cannot sustain you, you need to have value for yourself!'

'I know I have value!' Noelle argued indignantly, 'I know what I am worth!'

'Really.' Nozel stared at her, something very sad casting a shadow over his impassive features. He didn't look like he believed her. And he didn't.

'Tell me one thing about yourself that you like. One thing-,' he held up his finger when Noelle motioned to answer immediately, 'That isn't related to our name. That is uniquely yours,'

Noelle opened her mouth to retort, but nothing came out. Feeling the tell-tale heat in her cheeks, Noelle turned her gaze downcast to stare at her shoes as though she would find the answer to her brother's question written across the straps of her sandals.  She could think of nothing. Not a single positive thought about herself came to mind. Only the derogatory comments of others and casual cruelty discussed over cheesecake with a glass of wine in hand.

How pathetic.

Noelle felt the tell-tale searing of humiliated tears and made herself blink them away.

'You see? Nozel said clumsy but gentle. It was a trademark of his these days.

'We hurt you, Noelle. The Silver Eagles would take every negative thought you've ever had and convince you it was the truth. I would be condemning you to that kind of negativity for the rest of your career, Noelle and I refuse to be culpable for destroying what little remains of your self-worth,'

Nozel sighed, and it sounded closer than he should have.

Noelle felt emboldened enough to glance up despite the tears she knew were still shining in her eyes. Her brother had come to crouch in front of her, and now reached out and took hold of one of her hands and carefully unfurled it from where she had clenched it, unthinking, into a tight fist, nails biting at flesh.

Nozel tutted quietly as the bloody crescent moons Noelle had made in the meat of her palms were revealed and tugged at her wrists gently until she was standing with her back pressed against the mahogany wood of the desk.

Familiar with this routine from a childhood filled with scrapes from clumsiness or mana, (or being hunted around the estate) Noelle gingerly lifted herself onto the desk and let her brother attend to her hands with his trademark single-minded determination. Nozel always seemed to need a distraction from what she had heard Solid refer to whilst sniggering as; 'girl-talk'. 

According to Solid, this seemed to incorporate everything to do with feelings that were apparently considered to be un-masculine. He'd regretted saying this within earshot of Nebra, who had demanded to know what he meant and before Noelle had known what was going on half a war had broken out over the breakfast table. In retrospect, it was amusing. Nozel hadn't even looked up from his morning tea and paper.

At the time it had caused Noelle to very quietly have a panic attack.

Nozel cleaned the wounds with a bitter-smelling solution that stung and smeared the abrasions with a strange-smelling cream. As he began to wind bandages over the marks he said, slowly, 'This is not a punishment. Not some new way to hide you away because I'm ashamed,'  Rather nonsensically he added fervently, 'You are not a princess in a tower!'

Caught off guard, Noelle nodded, feeling a little stupid. That stood to reason, the palace didn't have towers. It had parapets at best. If there was a tower, Nebra would've called dibs years ago.

Nozel gently nudged her chin up to properly meet her eyes and Noelle saw the sincerity there.

'I am proud of you Noelle. You've come such a long way from being the scared ten-year-old that hid under my cape-' Noelle felt her face become heated, that was one time and she's hadn't heard the end of it since. '-but I cannot protect you from everyone, and I cannot teach you to protect yourself when it was I that first taught you that you shouldn't,'

Finished with the bandages, Nozel took hold of her shoulders, firm and unyielding.

'You will make me proud.' he stated, resolute, as he always was. 'You have the strength to do what none of us have ever had the courage to. You can grow. You can learn. You can surpass the limits of us all. The Bulls will be the ones to teach you how.'

Noelle stared at him. He had faith? In her? Weak and unassuming Noelle? Her brother must be taking leave of his senses.

A look that resembled fondness passed over his usually tightly wound features and he reached out to gently cup the side of her face in a broad palm. Familiar with the gesture since it had first been used by a terrified teenager on a delirious child in a dark infirmary years before, Noelle leaned into the touch.

'Have some faith, Noelle. You're more like her than you think.'

Knowing without a doubt as to whom her brother was referring, Noelle opened her mouth to ask 'how', needing to know more about the mythical being that had given birth to her. Acier Silva came up in conversation so rarely, Noelle knew little about her mother's life. Comparatively, she knew too much about her death.

Before Noelle could, she was interrupted by a silver shimmer and the messy head of sandy hair that popped out of it, followed by an equally ruffled body and giving Noelle a nervous sort of grin.

'Um. Hi?'

He saw Nozel looming behind her, softness wiped clean leaving him stone-faced and terrifying. The boy blanched. 'P-prince Nozel, ah... Didn't mean to interrupt you, sir. I just- well, Yami said to pick up your sister right now, well actually he kinda yelled it, like he always does so I portaled right... Over?'

He cleared his throat, still looking mildly terrified. 'He said you were expecting me?'

Taking pity and looking to put the poor guy out of his misery, Noelle nudged her brother gently and raised her eyebrows meaningfully as if to say, 'You're sure about this? Really?'

He looked down at her, gaze softening in the way he only ever usually allowed when it was just the two of them. He jerked his chin in an affirmative.

Noelle nodded back her acceptance and stepped forward regally. The picture-perfect princess.

'Fortunately for you, you are expected, peasant. I am princess Noelle Silva and in my presence, it is generally expected that peasants bow.'

For a moment the young man stared at her, visibly taken aback by her abrupt manner and royal comportment. Then he proceeded, to Noelle's astonishment actually bow, with a most extravagant flourish of his wrists but with an expression on his face so solemn Noelle had no reason to question his seriousness.

'I apologize, your majesty. I forget myself in your overwhelmingly luminous company.'

Noelle, to her horror, felt her face begin to glow, felt her cheeks flood with color. In all honesty, she'd been trying to channel her siblings to channel their graceful authority but knew she had fallen short.

Solid, she knew, would never give anyone beneath his rank the time of day, Nebra had been witnessed literally walking over hopeful suitors and it was rare that anyone actually dared speak with Nozel unless it was in the form of a report.

Of all the reactions she'd expected, from the numerous trials Noelle had undertaken, no one had actually... Well. Treated her like a princess before.

Noelle tried for an imperious sniff, knowing full well that this was fully belayed by her absolutely flattered flush.

'Well, it just sounds silly when you do it.'

Her brother let out an amused huff and placed a hand on Noelle's shoulder, squeezing lightly in farewell. 'I'll see you next week, Noelle. Family breakfast. Don't be late.'

This last remark was directed to the gangly youth, who bobbed his head hastily and grinned uncomfortably until Nozel had left the room.

Noelle suddenly felt guilty.

'Um.' She stammered, 'You don't have to bring me back. I can find my own way. I usually do!'

This was a lie. Noelle rarely left the house, sprawling as it was, let alone the capital. She had no idea how she'd find her way back to the family estate by herself.

The young man smiled, pleasant and at ease once more. 'Not to worry, princess. I am basically at Yami's beck and call so really, servant really wasn't too far off. I'm Finral, by the way.'

He held out his hand, but Noelle could tell he'd immediately second-guessed that decision from the way he glanced at her from beneath his bangs as if he thought she was going to leap forward and bite him for the gesture.

She took the outstretched palm and shook it. 'Noelle,' she replied, 'Although, I think I already mentioned that,'

Finral grinned. 'So I don't have to address you as 'her royal highness' every time? Whew, what a relief. Such a mouthful!'

'Oh gods,' Noelle moaned, snatching her hands back to cradle her burning face in them, 'I sounded like a complete idiot didn't I?'

Finral giggled, but it wasn't mean sounding, or mocking. 'Eh. Wasn't the worst introduction I've ever had. No flaming firewall of death this time!'

At her visible confusion, he waved an airy hand. 'Magna, our fire mage. You'll meet him soon enough. He has this insane initiate ceremony but seeing how you've got water magic you should be able to match him pretty well,'

'Oh,' Noelle tried not to look crestfallen but failed miserably. 'There's an initiate ceremony?'

Finral gave her a long, searching look. 'Not an official one. Honestly, I think Yami just lets Magna crack on because if he's outside trying to give other people a hard time he's not inside and trying to barbeque the good meat. It's a bit of fun. Vanessa and I won't let anyone get seriously maimed, I can portal you away like that.'

Finral snapped his fingers and several small blinked open and shut instantaneously letting out short bursts of white light. Noelle gaped in awe. Any spatial magic she's seen had been huge and showy. She'd never seen it used so intricately or delicately before.

'I've never seen a mage open up more than one portal at once- aren't they supposed to be harder the more of them there are? Your control must be amazing!'

Finral flushed crimson. 'Er... I'm not bad, I guess. You should see my brother's, he's- well he's way better than me. But I've heard yours isn't half bad either!'

'It's all bad.' Noelle crossed her arms, defensive. 'I can cast the spell! But when I go to release it, half the time it doesn't go where I want it to go. Usually, I just end up soaked and-' She shivered. 'And I hate getting wet.'

'Huh.' Finral hummed, looking thoughtful.

'I had a similar issue when I was your age. My fam- The Vaudes, rather, have a long, proud tradition of offensive spacial magic. Negating space essentially. Very handy for lopping off limbs or, hell, wiping entire armies out. If you're good enough.'

Seeing Noelle's wide eyes he grimaced, self-deprecating.

'No, I can't do it. I tried. More than anything I wanted to earn- But I couldn't.' Finral shook his head, his messy hair flopping into his eyes with the movement.

'I just couldn't get past the idea of hurting someone like that. That's not me.' He shrugged, looking shy and awkward. Noelle thought that he was right. That kind of brutality seemed ill-fitting for the kind-eyed, gangly youth before her.

(Years later, after meeting Langris on the battlefield, she would think that his black powers suited him- they were well-matched to his sharp grin and empty eyes.)

'What did your family do? When you told them you couldn't?'

Finral's open expression shuttered abruptly. 'Oh. I left.'

Noelle immediately felt guilty for prying. 'Sorry. My brother says I ask too many questions.'

Finral tilted his head and smiled. 'It's alright. The Black Bulls made me feel wanted. I never felt that way with them. Yami can be a cantankerous, short-tempered jerk but he's a good captain. He'll never give up on you, and he'll never let you give up on yourself. We all owe him a lot. Just, er,' Final grimaced, sheepish.  'Don't tell him I said any of that? He'll mess up my hair and call me a wuss which would really undermine all that positive image building I've been trying to do here.'

Noelle giggled. 'I'll never tell.'

Finral grinned back, waved one elegant hand and a portal opened up, glimmering prettily. 'Cool. So, you ready to go?'

Noelle glanced around her brother's office space and halted when she got to the window. From here she could just about see the red, pink, and orange blooms of the rose garden where she'd nearly met a grim end ten years ago. These walls had been equal parts of prison and sanctuary ever since. Nozel thought that she could be brilliant, believed she could stand as powerful of a knight as their parents had been. Her siblings had given her a rough introduction to the world of mana and she'd learned so many harsh lessons already. Was she ready to learn more?

She set her jaw and nodded, lips pressed together in a thin white line. 'I'm ready,'

She stepped through the portal.

Everything was on fire. There was screaming.

Finral sighed ruefully at her back.

'Welcome to the Black Bulls.'