A Brush With Fate

The brilliant and warm sun was shining its strong rays all throughout the Clover Kingdom. Its rays were piercing through the many glass panes that surrounded the Golden Dawn breakfast hall, and the warmth kissed the skin of a certain Light mage who happened to be sitting at a table and enjoying his food.

"Wow this food is so good! It's nothing like what we had back at my village", Lucas thought to himself as he chowed down on some meat and potatoes.

There were two people sat on the same table as him: one to his right, and one to his left. They were Yuno and Mimosa who were also enjoying their first meal of the day.

Mimosa spoke up and smiled, "it definitely looks like you're enjoying the food here, Lucas!"

"Oh, of c-course! It's great", the mage continued.

Yuno was being slightly more cautious of his surroundings and ate with a bit more flair. Instead of Lucas who was just tossing the food in his mouth, Yuno was taking his time.

"Oh, are you not eating, Yuno?" Lucas asked, lifting his eyes from his plate's gaze.

"It's not that... just take your time with eating", Yuno looked around and saw the Senior Knights like Langris Vaude and Alecdora Sandler staring and chuckling to themselves.

Mimosa interrupted, "don't mind them! Just enjoy your food guys". The Vermillion tried to divert Lucas's attention away from the prying eyes and she was successful in doing so.

After breakfast had concluded there was a short morning brief that gave a few missions to the Senior Magic Knights, but people like Lucas, Mimosa, and Yuno were left to their own to do whatever they wanted to.

It was just Lucas and Yuno to one side whereas Mimosa had to return back to her room for something. The two headed out the front doors and headed for the training field that was showed to them a few days ago. It seemed like they had the same idea as one another.

The sun was still shining as it had been since the start of the morning, and with it coupled together with a nice and cool breeze, it felt like the perfect day to get some training done.

"So, do you want to practice some magic?" Yuno turned to his right, looking at the blue-eyed teen next to him.

Lucas met his gaze and nodded. "Y-yes, if that's no problem!"

The two got ready on opposite ends of the training field. It was to be a simple 'touch' session where if the opponent gets close enough to touch you with their hand, it meant game over. One may say that the scales were tipped to Yuno's favour because of how he already had multiple spells, whereas Lucas only had one close combat attack.

"This is going to be difficult. I've thought about developing new spells but the fact that my Light Magic is so slow really hinders my progress. Maybe... I can focus on a reinforcement spell?" Lucas thought, but as he did, he felt a strong gust of wind coming towards him and just managed to dodge away.

The Light mage looked up and saw Yuno slowly closing in on his Heavenly Wind Arc spell. "Gah, that's the same transport spell he used back at the patrol mission... man, I wish I had something cool like that. What can I do?" The young Knight wondered.

"Wind Magic: Towering Tornado!" Yuno summoned his attack spell and sent a swirling wind attack to the ginger-haired teen. "I need to see if what I think is true...".

Lucas ran and ran and ran, the Towering Tornado still following. He jumped, he twirled, and he skipped but nothing could evade Yuno's attack coming for him. The attack then hit and sent Lucas flying in the sky.

"N-n-n-no! How am I going to land... th-this is going to be bad!" Lucas shouted as he felt himself fall against the wind. He was plummeting downwards, and the blades of grass were inching closer to his body.

"Maybe I overdid it...", Yuno thought as he tried to make a platform of wind for him to stand on. Though it looked like it wasn't necessary in the end.

As Lucas was about to hit the ground, his grimoire started to flash and glow a bright, yellow light and the pages started to flicker.

"Oh? This could work... Light Creation Magic: Energy Whips!" Lucas extended his left arm downwards towards the incoming ground and formed a singular, yellow glowing whip that he flicked and used it to break his fall with. The ginger-haired kid landed on the ground, but still stumbled and fell face first to the floor, though he was uninjured. Just embarrassed.

A few short seconds passed and Yuno walked up to Lucas who was just brushing off some of the dirt from his clothes. "Lucas... he really does not want to use his right arm for any magic. I need to ask about that soon, but first...".

Just as Yuno stood next to Lucas, he quickly bent down and touched him on the arm. "Guess I win", he then puffed his chest and smirked, looking down at the Light mage.

"Hey that wasn't fair!" Lucas pouted.

"Anything is fair in a battle, guess you have more to learn", the Wind mage scoffed and started to walk away.

"I guess that's true". Lucas then walked behind him back towards the main area of the Golden Dawn squad base. "I really learned a new move! It's been so long since I learned my first, I was beginning to think I was just unlucky, phew!" He smiled.

Just as they were about to close in on the common room, the two heard a very familiar and cheery voice that they've gotten accustomed to.

"Lucas! Yuno!" Mimosa shouted as she ran up to the two Golden Dawn squad mates.

Lucas immediately turned out to see the Vermillion-haired teammate, while Yuno followed after.

"I've been looking everywhere for you two, did you sneak off and practice with your magic or something?" She winked.

"That's exactly what we did! You should have joined us, Mimosa", Lucas smiled.

"Well, I would have if I knew you two were there", she winked.

A few seconds of silence were in the air until Lucas spoke up, "fair point", he responded.

"Well... anyway! I was thinking since you two are new here and don't really know the lay of the land... we could go around one of the towns and I can show a few shops and stalls around the marketplace?" The Plant Mage asked, eagerly looking at both Lucas and Yuno.

"That is true, I'm free to come. What about you, Yuno?" Lucas turned to the Wind mage who looked kind of uninterested.

"Yeah, sure".

The streets of Kikka were packed with many Clover citizens. Many of them were working class or lower as you could see by their clothing. Most of them had come for work reasons but there were others that came for a day out. Looking around, there were also a few higher ranking citizens around since this town was a very popular place for shopping.

"Woah, this place is huge!" Lucas was gawking at everything possible. To the right was a long row or market stalls that were selling different types of food and drink, whilst the left side was selling clothing and different accessories.

"This place is definitely the most popular around here and it is always quite busy, so try to stick together and not get close! Oh, and keep an eye on your money, there's plenty of people who have problems with bandits that do a quick steal in the midst of all the commotion". Mimosa told the two boys who were following close behind.

"This is a really big area and have a lot of places to buy from. I wonder if I should send something to the guys at the Church?" Yuno thought to himself as he looked around.

After a few minutes of perusing different stores as well as getting familiar with the surroundings, Lucas, Mimosa and Yuno stopped at one store that Lucas had spotted from a few steps away.

"You really want to check this stall out, Lucas?" Yuno said, slightly bored when looking at what type of stall it actually was.

Lucas looked towards the black-haired teen and winked, "well, you seemed very interested when we were out patrolling... come on, look around with me!" The Light mage pulled on Yuno's squad robe.

"N-no... I think I'm fine. There's something else I wanted to look at back there, so I'll be there for a few minutes". Yuno quickly walked away from Lucas who was left defeated, though he perked up again at what was in front of him.

Mimosa stepped forward this time and wondered what the fuss was about between him and Yuno. "He seemed a bit flustered there, what did you say to him?" The royal asked as she looked at the stall in front.

"Well we're at a stall that sells flowers which is something I love... I guess it's not something Yuno finds 'cool' so maybe that's why he left in a hurry. Oh well...", Lucas responded, slightly saddened.

Mimosa then grabbed onto Lucas's left with two of hers, prompting a reddened blush from the Light mage. "Well, I guess I'll keep you company then! Why don't we ask for some pretty flowers?"

Lucas's heart started to beat quickly as he felt Mimosa's chest on his left arm. He looked down and saw her bright, light-green eyes looking at the flowers in front and he felt happy. "W-well, let's browse some of their stock. Hi, s-sir...".

A few short minutes passed before both Lucas and Mimosa decided on something to buy. Lucas brought a bouquet of 'Transforming Flowers' which were essentially a group of flowers that would change colour that represented the holder's emotion or mood. Right now, Lucas held them, so they were a calm light-blue colour. Mimosa brought another bouquet, but they were just regular flowers that she had taken a liking to.

The Vermillion-haired royal then brought out her coin pouch to purchase the flowers she had picked out. "Let's see...!" Mimosa was about to take the coins out but, almost like a flash, a quick hand snatched the coin pouch out of her hand and ran away into the distance.

Without a second to think, Lucas started to chase after the bandit who was in front and left the bouquet he bought with Mimosa. The two weaved in and out of the crowd in the marketplace and Lucas tried his best to keep up. The bandit looked like he knew the area very well as he found any little nooks and crannies to fit in, whereas Lucas had never been to Kikka before so he found it harder. Alas, he managed to keep on the bandit's toes.

"Dammit! The day was going so well as well and this guys shows up to ruin it. No way I'm letting him escape!" Lucas started to pick up the pace and ended up in a long and stretched out alleyway which had just him and the bandit standing in.

"Geez, you're persistent... However!" The bandit quickly leaped backwards and much to Lucas's surprise, he had phased and disappeared through a seemingly solid wall.

"What the?! The wall is hiding something behind it? Well... I guess I have to follow him in!" Lucas jumped through the wall and hoped to God he wasn't going to land anywhere bad but as he opened his eyes, he saw another marketplace that was brimming with all sorts of people. There were witches, peasants, commoners, and even Magic Knights. He looked to the right and saw a sign that read "Welcome to the Black Market".

"B-Black Market?! Woah... why does it s-sound like somewhere I shouldn't be? Oh well, I need to find the man who stole Mimosa's coin pouch". Lucas ran through asking if anyone had seen a man who was running, but no one had seemed to spot him. The Golden Dawn mage kept running through whilst looking around but suddenly crashed against someone who was running in the opposite way to him.

As the two people fell, their grimoires came loose from their satchels and clashed against each other. The pages of both grimoires intertwined and intermingled with each other as every page of one grimoire overlapped the others. Suddenly, with a black and blue spark, they repelled each other and fell down to their respective owner's sides.

"Oh! That hurt... I guess it's my fault for not looking properly though". Lucas opened his eyes and got ready to apologise to the person he ran into, but as he did, he saw none other than a familiar ashen-haired mage that he had only saw a few days ago. "It... It's... Asta!"

"Haha... honestly, I need to look at where I'm going more", the magicless mage said out loud as he rubbed his head and wiped the dust off of his clothes. He then looked up and saw Lucas, "oh! You're the Light Magic guy from the Entrance Exam! Sorry for that, but I'm in a hurry. This guy just came in here and stole some money from an old woman and he went this way!" Asta picked up his grimoire, that sparked slightly, though he didn't notice, and ran in the direction he pointed at.

Lucas picked up his grimoire that sparked, though he didn't notice either, and ran with Asta.

"S-sorry about back there, but I th-think I have the same b-bandit problem!" Lucas spoke with care. He still didn't really know Asta so that caused a bit of nervousness in him. "My name is L-Lucas, by the way...".

Asta turned his head and smiled. "Lucas, huh? Nice name. Let's get this bandit... Oh! Look, he's going back through the wall so we can catch him".

The two whizzed past the merchants and people who were shopping and then found themselves outside of the marketplace once more. Asta managed to run ahead and used the various pieces of terrain to his advantage, ending him up on top of a roof. He then brought his Demon-Slayer sword, though he didn't know that was the name of it just yet, out of his grimoire and used it to deflect the bandit's attack spells.

"This guy... really does use Anti-Magic, or whatever that is. Never knew someone wouldn't be able to use magic but I guess Asta found a way around it", Lucas huffed as he followed along on the ground.

The bandit and Asta battled it out on the rooftops. As the thief threw his spells, Asta would reflect or deflect them depending on their nature.

"Gah! Leave me alone... Poison Magic: Poison Bullet!" A concentrated point of poison formed from the thief's hands and he fired it towards the magicless Black Bull member. "You have some weird nullification power, but surely your mana will run out!"

Asta simply smirked. "Well that's where you're wrong! I have no mana, so take this...", Asta swung his large sword in the direction of the incoming poison attack. As he hit it, the bullet simply started going in the direction it came from, and without even five seconds passing it hit the enemy in the chest and caused him to lose his footing and thus falling off the rooftop.

Now it was Lucas's turn. The bandit struggled to run but he still managed somehow. "Damnit! Poison Magic: Purple Sludge!" The thief cast a purple wave that swept across the floor and was intended to hit the Light mage. However, Lucas jumped and used his new spell to stop the spell in its tracks.

"Light Creation Magic: Energy Whips!" With his left-handed whip, he snuffed the poison attack away and also had it grab onto the leg of the bandit who was running away. Eventually, after a few seconds of Asta and Lucas joining back together, they had won.

Another few minutes passed and Asta's teammates from the Black Bulls had arrived. It seemed that they were with him originally. There was an older woman named Vanessa Enoteca who wore a pink witches hat, as well as other pink and purple clothing, thought she left nothing to the imagination in the area of where her chest was concerned. The other one was someone who Lucas had known about from the Entrance Exam. It was Noelle Silva. He tried to not look at the royal too much as he felt bad he left her to cry alone after what her brother had said to her.

The two catered to Sekke Bronzazza from the Green Praying Mantises who had been hit by a stray poison attack. He thought he was about to die but it was just him overreacting.

The bandit had been apprehended by the Dungeon Mages, which were a group that worked with imprisoning criminals in the Royal Dungeon. After Mimosa's and the old woman's, who Asta spoke about, belongings were returned Lucas was about to be on his way.

"A-Asta... thank you for the help! I h-hope to see you again!" Lucas ran off in the direction where Mimosa was. As he ran, he put his grimoire back in his satchel, but didn't notice a stray spark of blue mana that had been emitted.

"Oh, but why don't we chat for a bi-! Damn, he's gone. I wonder if I'll see him again?" Asta regrouped with Vanessa and Noelle and gathered with Sekke. He put his grimoire back in his satchel, though he didn't realise that a spark of Anti-Magic was loosely emitted.

The sun started to set in the sky as Lucas finally regrouped with a worried Mimosa and Yuno, who had returned. Lucas jogged back with the coin pouch in hand.

"Phew... that was harder than I thought! Here you go-", Lucas was interrupted by a sudden hug from the royal Vermillion. He struggled at first as he didn't realise what was happening, but quickly embraced it.

"Thank you so much! It may not look like much, but that coin pouch was actually a gift from my mother... and you got it back for me!" Mimosa cheered.

"Haha, no worries. Are you sure I deserve a hug for that though?" Lucas scratched his hair.

"Silly, it's not just that. The few days you've been with us have shown you are a great guy, I mean, you even brought me flowers! No one has ever done or thought about doing anything like this for me... I'm a royal so we don't have too many friends, but there's definitely something different about you! I can't thank you enough", she responded.

Lucas was in awe. In his mind he was just doing something he thought a friend should do but it looked like it meant a lot to Mimosa. He looked past her and saw Yuno smiling at him with a slight wink.

What no one noticed was that the 'Transforming Flowers' that Lucas had handed to Mimosa were still in her hands as she embraced the dual mage. They changed colour in accordance to the holder's emotion or mood and as Mimosa held them behind Lucas's back, they slowly, but gradually, changed to a warm red colour.

The colour of love.