𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 || ʸᵘⁿᵒ

II

—/<3/—

as weeks flew by, elle found herself increasingly interested in yuno. after a day or two of warming up, yuno actually started to talk to her and they got along surprisingly well despite their differences.

he told her of his dream to become the wizard king, and of his rivalry with a young boy named asta who had joined her other brother's squad, the black bulls. and elle told him about her father. they trained together too. elle helped him get better at physical combat since she had been trained in martial arts for years by yami, and yuno helped her develop an attack spell since her time magic mainly allowed her to be a support or a defence mage.

though it was way too early to be able to tell if they liked the other romantically, they both knew that they would be great friends.

william, who had seen his sister's blossoming friendship with his newest recruit, had conveniently assigned them on a mission together, along with mimosa and klaus. rumour has it that there would even be a few black bulls there too.

so here they were, on board klaus' flying chariot, on their way to the border of the clover kingdom where the dungeon they were ordered to explore and loot was located.

it was peaceful, klaus made no comments about yuno's status after that day, whether he did it when elle wasn't there who knows, but yuno was grateful that whenever the dark-haired girl was around he wouldn't have to put up with the same old nattering from his seniors in the golden dawn.

the only sounds were the occasional chattering of the two girls who apparently never ran out of things to talk about despite seeing each other everyday. but it was okay. their voices were soft and serene and the vibe in the chariot was calm, allowing for everyone to relax before their mission.

"mimosa do you think we'll be able to see noelle soon? i heard she joined yami's squad but i haven't heard from her." elle queried, sighing at the thought of her other friend since birth. sure noelle was cold, closed off and sometimes hostile, but once you got to know her how elle knew her you'd be able to see that it was simply a defence mechanism.

"i haven't spoken to her in around a year. she really closed herself off." mimosa replied. noelle was her cousin but they'd never been the friendliest with each other, when they were younger they had more of a rivalry because of their respective houses and because of that, they grew apart.

"imagine if she's there today! in the dungeon! ahh i cant wait to get there now."

yuno listened in on snippets of their conversation, he didn't pick up on much. he didn't know who noelle was and he wasn't curious enough to ask. he just sat there in a peaceful silence, their talking being enough background noise for him opposed to asta's screaming that he would have to live with back at the church.

—/<3/—

"okay guys, be careful. there are many traps covering the floors and even the walls so make sure to stick to the group." klaus commanded, taking his roll as the senior of the group very seriously.

"i can fly us with my wind. that way we can avoid the traps and we'll reach the treasure room faster." yuno offered indifferently, removing his grimoire from the holster at his side as if ready to cast a spell.

"you learned transportation magic? that's so cool! show us yuno!" elle praised, her enthusiasm intriguing their other two squadmates too, now everyone wanted to see yuno's new spell.

now, yuno always remained indifferent to praise. he had been praised so much at the church for doing absolutely nothing, so it was normal for him to not feel any type of joy from people's words. but when it was her, it was exhilarating. a sense of pride filled him and he found himself wanting to improve just to be praised by her.

he had no idea why he sought her validation but he didn't care to find out. he just wanted her to praise his magic and he wanted to see her eyes sparkle like they do when he shows her.

snapping out of his thoughts, he summoned his wind vehicle. he and klaus climbed on first before yuno held his hand out to help elle up.

now the church father's lesson on gentlemanly behaviour was finally paying off.

"thank you, yuno." elle smiled, she grasped his hand gently and took the step up, mimosa following suit with the help of klaus.

"let's go then."

—/<3/—

"does anyone else hear screaming? or am i going insane?" elle asked, the glowing golden ball of time that provided them light flickering slightly.

"i heard it too. let's go there first. someone might be in trouble" yuno said, willing his magic to take him in the direction of the noise.

the group arrived in a clearing. it took a second for their eyes to adjust to the light but they reacted immediately at the sight of two black bull rookies mere seconds away from being devoured by a giant predatory plant.

yuno and elle were quick to react, elle froze the plant in time before it could drop one of the black bulls into its mouth and yuno slashed the plant to pieces with his wind. the two black bulls dropped to the ground with a thud.

"i don't owe you anymore, asta." yuno smirked before he lowered the golden dawn group down to the ground.

"noelle!" elle called, clomping her friend into a tight, bone-crushing hug. mimosa following her friend to say 'hi'.

"elle, mimosa..." she slowly returned the hug and mimosa eventually joined in, hugging both her friends. elle noticed that noelle wasn't really in the mood to talk and decided to leave her alone for now. she'd make it to visit her to catch up soon.

"let's catch up later noelle, it's been so long since we saw each other." elle said, releasing her grip. she patted Noelle twice on the shoulder before looking over to where yuno was talking to a short muscular boy that she assumed was asta.

she made her way over whilst mimosa hung behind to chat to noelle. "yuno is this asta?" she asked, placing her hand gently on yuno's shoulder.

"i'm asta from hage village, nice to meet you!" asta shouted enthusiastically, shoving his hand forward for elle to shake.

"nice to meet you too asta! what's that sword you have? what does it do? is it heavy? can i hold it? please?" her and asta's eyes gleamed in the same way, they still hadn't stopped shaking hands as they both blabbered on.

'not again' yuno inwardly sighed, now that he thought about it, elle and asta were quite similar when it came to magic.

"elle, yuno let's go. the golden dawn must be the first to reach the treasure room." klaus commands, pushing his glasses up.

"ehh, but asta was about to show me his sword..." elle pouted, finally letting go of asta's hand and turning to face her senior.

"the black bulls will be the first to reach the treasure room!"

"as if." klaus scoffed. he had already argued with the short, energetic boy whilst elle was with noelle. he has also been so brilliantly nicknamed 'four eyes'.

asta really did fear nothing.

"princess elle, we must complete our mission. you can discuss magic at another time." klaus reprimanded. "yuno, summon your transportation magic."

and he did. the golden dawn were once again heading towards the treasure room, but only after yuno said a few words to fuel his rivalry.

—/<3/—

-edited-