➨ Apparently, mornings with the Black Bulls consist of listening to Asta yelling while he goes down the hallways with the broom. He shouts while he's doing every single chore. Nobody seems to think this is out of the ordinary because they keep on going about their lives like this is an everyday activity. Knowing Asta, this probably is an everyday activity.

You were sitting on the couch, watching him jump and stretch on his tiptoes to reach high crevices so he could dust them. It was becoming slightly frustrating because he clearly couldn't reach it, and there was a perfectly good step stool he could've used.

"Do you maybe want to–" But you couldn't finish because he took off in a full-charge sprint across the room. You sighed and leaned back against the cushion and then felt a pair of arms drape over your shoulders. Sitting up quickly you twisted your head to see Vanessa stumbling behind you.

She looked drunk out of her mind. "Oh my bad girl, I didn't mean to scare you." She puts a large grin on her face. "Do you want a drink? It might make Asta's shouting more bearable."

Glancing at the clock, it was barely noon time. How was she already this bad? However... you haven't had a drink in a long time. The last time you did was a little over a month ago when you, Mimosa, Yuno, and Klaus went out to a restaurant after a long mission. Even though you were the only one of age, somehow they make great drinking partners even while sipping on sparkling cider.

"Sure, why not?" You thought she was going to hand you a glass or something, and she just handed you the whole bottle. 

Vanessa didn't seem to see the problem and held the top closer to your lips. "Aw come on. We're both girls. A little indirect kiss isn't going to hurt you!"

That wasn't exactly the problem you were thinking about. Just as you tilted your head back, an agitating, grating voice soaked into your ears. "Drinking before noon? I didn't know we had two alcoholics in the house."

Ignoring him, you took a sip. A much longer sip than you intended now that he had made his presence known. The burn went down your throat and the satisfying clink of the liquid in the glass made up for Zora's unnecessary interruption.

"A natural," Vanessa said in awe. "You didn't even flinch? I can tell we're going to be the best of friends Y/N."

"Definitely," you handed her back the bottle and she flipped over the couch to sit next to you. "Um, but are you okay? You're not gonna get like alcohol poisoning are you?"

"Pshh, me? I'm great. I'm actually beyond great."

Yeah, something has gotta be up with her.

Besides that, sitting around the hideout all day wasn't something you had intended to do. As grateful as you were for them taking you in, they weren't your squad. It had nothing to do with them being objectively the worst squad in the kingdom or their personalities. It was the pure fact that you were sent here as a punishment.

Sitting around just meant you were content with the punishment, and had no intentions of trying to work your way out of it. Which was completely wrong. You needed to prove your innocence because if you didn't, you were positive it would lead to your eventual demise.

"Hey, do you know where Captain Yami is?" You asked her as she took another long gulp from the bottle.

She hiccuped and rubbed her eyes. "Oh, who knows? He could be in the bathroom."

Perhaps it was best that you took his advice and gave your mom a call. Or took matters into your own hands and tried crossing back into that realm. Whatever you had to do, you weren't opposed to doing it.

You slipped out of Vanessa's grip and left her on the couch to giggle and babble her incoherent nonsense. In a few steps, you were outside and let the door close behind you. With a sigh, you brought your grimoire out.

Marionette Roulette.

Instead of just one coming out, all three circles formed on the ground. One by one, Acro, Sylvania, and Aegis rose from the murky abyss. You watched as the shadows closed just shortly after they were fully out. Theoretically, that is the entrance and exit between this realm and the one where they all stay.

That's also where you would be able to find the man who claims to be your father. Still, you find it impossible to believe that it's him.

You doubted you could just open up your own portal and jump down. That sounded like spatial magic that you don't possess. How in the hell were you going to use creation magic to get back down there though?

Or actually, maybe you didn't have to physically go down there.

You glanced at Sylvania who gently rocked side to side. Out of the three, she was the only one who you could get a good POV through. You'd never tried to dispel her while you were still looking through her before.

Slowly you shut your eyes and when they fluttered back open, you were in her eyes. You could see your body standing there and realized how incredibly vulnerable you looked when you did this. Anybody could come up and attack and you wouldn't see it. Sense it, maybe. But there's too much time in between that you would be open.

Now for the difficult part which is deactivating her and sending her back. You've also never tried to use spells like this. It's not like you were inhabiting her entire body; you couldn't move unless you told her to. Or, unless she was already in motion.

"Sylvania dismissed." The words rang through your head and something flickered in her vision. She started sinking into the ground, and you watched her get lower before she started seeing complete darkness.

You tried to look around, but it was black everywhere. After a few moments, light crept up into the corners of your eyes. You had a quick moment of satisfaction before it was completely ripped from you.

The light exploded, creating a hot mass of white. It was blinding you. In a feeble attempt, you tried to close your eyes but something was holding them open. It caused a strike of pain to shoot through your head and in the end, it was too much to bear,

You pulled yourself out of Sylvania's vision and when you came back to your own body, you were on the ground. Typical.

The door to headquarters flung open and more than one pair of footsteps came over. "You know, if I could leave you alone I would, but you just keep doing shit."

"Be nice." Slurred speech reached your ears and you pushed yourself off the ground. When you did, you noticed that Acro and Aegis were in shambles. Both of their strings looked like they had burnt up. And they had been reduced to what they would look like if they were actual dolls; broken apart on the grass.

You'd never seen them look so mangled before but how? If something had happened and they needed to be taken off the field, they wouldn't look like this. Even if they did, they would've sunk away already. But they were just lying there looking like they just got thrown out of a toy trunk. Maybe a goddamn murderer's toy trunk.

"What the hell happened out here? A new training regimen?" Zora questioned.

Your throat ran dry as you scrambled over to them. You scooped up Acro, or what was left of them anyway. A missing arm and both legs were bent out of place. The sight made you sick, and violently upset.

Aegis was missing most of his regal components such as his cape, and the laurel wreath that usually sits on his head.

"Y/N, are you okay?" Vanessa stepped over the wreckage and knelt beside you.

"I... I don't know what happened." You breathed. "I was trying to..." You paused when it hit you that nobody necessarily knew about the whole 'other dimension' thing.

Your puppets were important to you. Not just because they were the main part of your magic, but because they'd been with you ever since you got your grimoire. When you were younger, sometimes you would summon one of them just to have someone to talk to and play with. Seeing two of them like this was heart-wrenching.

"Y/N," Vanessa tilted your head up. "You're bleeding. But like, from your eyes."

You touched your lower lash line and when you pulled back, she was right. But that was surprisingly the last thing on your mind. "Acro, dismissed." You said, and nothing happened. "Aegis, dismissed." Still the same result. Their bodies didn't dissolve away.

Marionette Roulette.

Only one circle showed up this time, and Sylvania came back to the field. You turned and noticed how she was still intact. Was it because of what happened when you tried to sneak your way into the realm?

"Fix them," you set Acro back down gently. "Do whatever you can or whatever you have to, but help them, please."

"Shouldn't you ask her to fix you?" Zora's eyes scanned over the scene. "I think the blood coming from your eyes is more concerning."

"You don't get it," you watched Sylvania bend down and gather the missing parts of her companions. "At this point in my life, they're like an extension of me. Any doctor can fix me, but not every doctor can help them."

Vanessa helped you stand up. "Well, can you at least let us take you to a healer or something? That way you can let..." She searches for a name she doesn't have. "Your doctor friend, fix your puppets."

"How bad is it?" You said rubbing your fingers together.

She put on a nervous smile. "Maybe just don't look in a mirror for a little bit."

That means it's pretty fucking bad. "Any of the Black Bulls have healing skills?"

"Not to fix this." She cups your cheeks and moves your head at different angles so she can see. "We're kind of in the sticks. So we can bring you to the capital. I know you need an escort and everything so Zora and I can go with you!"

"Why would I do that?" He crosses his arms. "I took her the last time she had to go somewhere."

She plasters a fake frown on her face. "I'm just a little tipsy. So we need someone who's in their right mind to go too."

You shoot her a side-eye. "I'm in my right mind."

"Y/N, darling, you don't count, unfortunately." She wraps her arms around your shoulders in a gentle embrace. "You're not in your right mind according to the higher-ups."

The truth hurts, doesn't it?

But in all seriousness, you would rather have stumbling Vanessa instead of Zora who has nothing positive to add to any conversation. Everything that leaves his mouth is a complaint or an insult, you don't think you've heard anything different from the time you've known him.

"He doesn't have to come." You told her. "We can go by ourselves. Or if you really want someone else to come, I'm sure there's somebody else in the hideout."

Zora curled his lip in disgust. "You act like I'm a disease."

"You are." You responded quickly and eagerly. "Contagious too. Don't need you around."

Vanessa loudly groaned. "Okay lovebirds, that's enough of that. Y/N's eyes are bleeding and we need to get her help! Oh, let's go find Finral."

The concept of her calling the two of you lovebirds nearly went over your head. But she was shuffling back inside too fast in search of the spatial mage before you could say anything about it. Zora had stayed, but he looked like he was about to start talking his shit. So you turned and ignored him.

Instead, you put your attention back to Sylvania. She had finished gathering the pieces of the other two and was now opening her portal back to the realm so she could do the healing there. She carefully cradles Acro's mutilated form in her arms as all three of them slowly descend into the darkness again.

There's a moment of silence for a moment. You let everything sink in as you take a deep breath and turn around to see that Zora was still standing there. Except he wasn't looking at you, and instead was looking at the area where the damage had been done.

"Do you really control them?" He asks. "The puppets' every move?"

You feel inclined to ignore his question. But he asks with what sounds like genuine curiosity. "Most of it, but a lot of it is sort of... complimentary, I guess?" He stares at you in confusion so you figured you'd explain it better.

"I give them basic commands, and when it's necessary I move them. On their own, they have borderline free will. They can do basic thinking and interact with people and other things. But I still have full control over their moves if I want to have that control. So I guess they're more like familiars than they are puppets."

The whole concept of puppet magic is very loose if anything. It's possibly because you don't desire to have complete control over any of the things you create. Especially from a young age when you had nobody else but them and your parents. Being on the move so often didn't make it easy to have a set friend group.

Zora still stood there dumbfounded at the explanation. Or maybe because you were still bleeding from your eyes. "You gonna ask me about it?"

He blinked and shook his head. "No, I don't care how you did it. I'm just slightly amazed at how much misfortune can hit a person."

"I have a feeling you would know." You mumbled to yourself.

Thankfully, Vanessa came skipping out of the door again with Finral on her arm. "I found him!" She said in a sing-song voice.

The young man nearly fell over his own feet with the way she was dragging him around. When his eyes fell on you he cringed and flinced backwards. "Oh geez, you weren't lying. It is bad."

"Shhhh!" She held her finger to his lips. "I told you to keep it quiet! Y/N, he just means you look so... lovely!"

Finral nodded with a fake smile and opened a portal in front of you. "One trip to the capital coming right up."

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Somebody is gonna be mad asf that I waited a whole month to come up with a short ass chapter. I hit writers block mb, and I got busy. BUT HEYYYY YALL! I won't even make a promise to be more consistent because I might lie. But I can promise it wont take another month for an update!!