#lawstaverse

Thank you for the ask I have been inactive for a while your faith is much appreciated!! I'll let Asta take this one.

"Honestly, I used to be closer with them when I was little. When my sister brought me to the base they were the nicest."

"After I got really into my training, I didn't go as much. When I do, they don't really recognize me, hehe... Nowadays, they're kind of cold, or it goes a little bit like this..."

Two more Asta outfits! The first is based on Vermillion robes (it's mostly the same, but I imagine it would differ most notably in color. Lighter blue with silver stripes, maybe?) Also has a double sided rose pin on the collar. Maybe I would add rose cufflinks, too? The second outfit has him dressed like the other guys we spot in House Roselei. His legs got away from me in these ones. Asta ended up with real thick thighs but that's sort of just a habit I have with most characters... They're not really the interesting parts of the outfits, anyway! Let me know what you think!

A little comic, following one of my favorite mini stories from the manga, about how Asta met the Vermillions in this au. He heard them talking about training and wanted in. Not even Fuegoleon is immune to surprise.

Page 14/15 Of the Grimoire Ceremony Comic!

Previous | First

Next

Part 2/2

Part 1

(Solid faces 1 (one) consequence. TW for near drowning/suffocation.)

Blood was rushing in her ears, and Asta’s objections faded behind her. Cursed Briar magic snaked through her veins with each beat of her heart. Charlotte knew her anger was compounding on itself. When she couldn’t control her emotions, her curse grew painful, and when her curse hurt her, it awoke a part of her that was always raw, indignant, overprotective, and unyielding. It was her and Asta against the world, and this part of her would bristle at any perceived attack. When it came to the royals, especially, this part of her always said betrayal was inevitable. The air crawled with her aggressive mana, and as she marched toward the castle, citizens scrambled out of the way.

Charlotte slowed as she approached and rubbed her gloved hands together. She could feel her mana like something physical rolling beneath her skin, and she tried to ease the prickling pain. We’re not alone, she reminded herself. Taking a deep breath, she remembered Yami’s words. ‘It probably wouldn’t hurt to ask someone for help once in a while… Our Magic Knight squads are full of people you can rely on.’ Her mana slowly eased. Despite the persistent suspicion and anger that had made its home inside her, Charlotte had come to think of Fuegoleon as a friend. She couldn’t imagine him hurting Asta or being irresponsible with his training, and the injuries Asta had were unlike any she had ever seen the Vermillions inflict. The pain of her curse faded. She would approach this calmly. 

But that changed when she heard Solid’s impetuous voice ring through the streets. “And THAT’s how you show who’s in charge, Noelle!” The remark was accented by a splash. Gaze snapping down an alley, Charlotte could see him gesturing broadly with a wand on the next street. “That pathetic cursed Roselei never saw me coming!” He let out a boisterous laugh. “The only downside is that his blood got on me.” He brushed at his light Silva robes.

Fury pulsed inside Charlotte at the sight of her brother’s blood; it had hit Solid in a splatter, dotting his sleeve. She stalked down the alley toward the pair.

“You’re so strong, big brother,” Noelle chirped, scampering along after him. She let out an unconvincing chuckle. “But… but did we have to come all the way out here?”

“DiD wE hAvE tO cOmE aLl ThE wAy OuT hErE?” he mocked. “What, do you want to get caught?”

Charlotte’s curse flared beneath her skin. Her blood pounded in her veins. She saw red. Not another word from the children’s mouths reached her as her pace quickened. Her expression felt broken; it could not possibly display how she felt inside. Her hands were eerily steady as she removed one of her magic gloves.

Solid let out a startled yelp as Charlotte’s hand landed on his shoulder. In the moment she touched him, her curse entangled his magic- not a permanent hold, but one he would feel soon enough. 

He darted out from under her hand and spun to point his wand at his attacker. Noelle, alerted by his cry, scrambled for cover behind him. Charlotte watched the realization replace surprise in his eyes, before his expression settled on incensed. “How dare you touch me!” His tween voice cracked, killing any chance he thought he had at being intimidating. His brows pulled together, and his eyes took on a wet sheen.

She opted to remain silent.

The tears built up in his eyes and spilled over. He wiped them away and opened his mouth, but the boy couldn’t manage to cough up a word. Sweat rolled down his skin and wet his clothing. The wand slipped from his hand as he brought it to his chest. Tears rolling in a stream down his face, Solid doubled over. He put a hand over his mouth, but water ran between his fingers as he coughed up a mouthful of it. He hiccuped and gurgled, struggling to make room for air in his lungs. He tried one last time to scream. Instead of sound, water poured from his open mouth and pooled on the cobblestone.

Charlotte had never seen the curse work so quickly, but she had never seen it work with so much mana before; some royals already had more mana than they could handle. Their children, especially, often struggled to contain it as is, and Charlotte’s curse made it that much more eager to outgrow its possessor.

“Solid!” Noelle screamed. She fell to her knees and clutched onto him as he collapsed into a rapidly growing puddle. Water poured from his eyes, his nose, his mouth, even his pores. It filled the cracks between the stones and flowed over. The pool had nearly reached Charlotte’s shoes before Noelle looked up at her with horror.

The little girl’s tear-filled eyes snapped Charlotte back to her senses. With just a little tap like that, the curse’s effect on Solid shouldn’t last long, but she was starting to fear that it didn’t need to. Regret slammed her. She took a step forward, moving to help. 

Noelle threw herself desperately over Solid’s struggling form. The pool around them swirled with her efforts to make it defend them. Shaking like a leaf, she cried, “Stay away!”

Just as his face started to pale, the curse lost its grip on Solid. His mana settled, the water running from his face slowed to a trickle, and he managed his first gasp in a worrying amount of time. It was followed by violent coughing. Noelle supported him as he emptied his lungs and then his stomach onto the stone. She watched the knight hovering over them with intermittent glances like she was expecting some sort of follow-up attack.

Dizzy with relief, Charlotte retreated to lean against the wall of the alleyway. It occurred to her that they would feel safer if she let them recover alone, but she wanted to be sure that Solid didn’t need help. She had wanted to scare him, but this was too close a call.

Solid finally pushed himself to his feet. He tottered, fawn-like, for just a moment before regaining his footing and sparing Charlotte a wild-eyed glared. Noelle pressed herself to his side and clung to his shirt. Shoving her away, he spat, “Y-you’ll regret this!”

Charlotte pulled on her glove and opened her mouth to speak. 

Part 1/2

Part 2

(Charlotte finds out that her little brother has been hiding some pretty serious conflicts from her when she catches him sneaking home from training. Asta is 9, and Charlotte 21.)

“I can’t believe he sent you home in this condition,” Charlotte tilted Asta’s chin up and examined his marred face. Her mana writhed sharp beneath her gloved fingertips, but she knew Asta was safe from it. No, what had her fighting to keep her voice level was something else.

Her little brother was covered in scrapes and bruises. The scratches were especially bad, slashed across his arms and legs deeply enough to leave Asta bloodied and exhausted. She had run into him on her way out to a mission as he crept in a back door of House Roselei, and he had tried to slip past her without a word. Her heart had quickened at the sight of his bloody clothing and tousled hair. He dripped with sweat. Had he been mugged on his way home? She had wondered for just a moment before discarding the idea. He didn’t dress well enough to attract attention when he trained; few people took him as a Roselei at first or even second glance.

But the alternative was worse. The Vermillions had never let him return to her like this. Fuegoleon assured her that they were being responsible, that he wouldn’t be seriously hurt, and that they would heal him if he got anything more than light bruises. When he had first started training with them, she had observed. When she found their care satisfactory, she had left them to their methods. By now she thought she could trust them enough not to check each time he came home. But if they thought this was acceptable, she was afraid what else they had put him through when she relaxed her vigilance.

“Hey, it’s fine.” Asta tugged his chin out of her grip and wiped the blood from his brow. It was oozing from a gash over one eye. “It’s just from training.”

“It is not fine,” Charlotte forced her voice to be even. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. “They have no right to treat you like this, no matter their status.” She grasped his hand and marched inside. 

It didn’t escape her attention that he was unusually somber. He didn’t put on his usual smile until she sent for a doctor, and by then it was far too late for her to believe it was sincere. “Come on, this is nothing-”

“Sit down and wait for the doctor,” she commanded. “I am going to speak with Fuegoleon.”

His eyes widened. “Th-this isn’t his fault!”

“Then whose fault is it?” 

He shrunk under her leer; it wasn’t him she was mad at, but there was no one else to receive the look, and she couldn’t keep the feelings out of her expression any longer. 

“I just got caught off guard. I’ll be stronger next time,” he insisted.

“How often are you ‘caught off guard’?”

He scratched the back of his head and looked away.

Page 9/? of the Grimoire Ceremony comic

Previous Page | First Page

Next Page