The Golden Heart (Yuno Grinberryall x reader)

Chapter 43 - Transparency

"Come on get up" Iris crosses her arms, a bored and annoyed expression on her face. "How long do you plan on staying there?"

"It's not like you dropped me from 30 feet in the air" I scoff, pushing myself up

"Well you should have been more prepared then. Being able to change positions quickly is key if you want to stand a chance against those devils" She lets out a breath, making eye contact with me. "If this is too much for you, you're welcome to leave"

It's been two weeks since I first started training with Iris, but my progress has been so slow in comparison to how I used to train in Clover kingdom. It feels like for every step I take forward, I take 3 steps back, and the gap in our power levels is painfully clear. Instead of sending back a smart remark, I steady myself, dusting off the dirt on my clothing and getting back in a battle stance. She smirks, beginning to move quickly around me while I do my best to read her movements and be on the defensive side. Just before she hits me, I backflip and use my wind magic to send her back before jumping up to a nearby tree, beginning to move around.

'Keep moving....leave no openings...'

Just then she appears in front of me, that condescending smirk still on her face. I grit my teeth, throwing up a shield and getting higher in the tree.

"Lightning magic: speed of light"

"Command magic-"

'Faster....get out of her range'

I leap higher before racing to the other side of the forest, escaping her 3 meter radius. I let out a breath before beginning to move again, trying to sense her ki to predict her movements.

"Fire magic: Dragon king's roar"

"Command magic: cancel"

'what?!'

"Dark magic: dark binding"

The bright sun's rays had burned into my skin by the end of the day, my body now tired from the training, but my pride not allowing me to colapse while Iris stands in front of me, arms crossed waiting for me to fall.

"Not bad, you're actually still standing"

I don't say anything to her, but keep eye contact as I try to keep my hand moving so my body doesn't completely go numb.

"You're dismissed for the day, be back here at 5 tomorrow morning"

Kaito takes this chance to run up to me, swinging my arm around his shoulder and helping me back inside. I see that Noelle and Secré had just wrapped up their own training, and I send them small smiles as Kaito and I make our way to where we'd be staying. He opens the door to my room, and while I want nothing more than to throw myself on the bed and sleep for the rest of the day, I can't help but notice how spacious and empty the room is. The bed is king sized, so way bigger than I'm used to, yet the room still feels so huge. I run my hand over the bedding, getting flashbacks of the old mansion, but quickly shaking my head

'Things are different now, I'm stronger now, and I won't let anything happen this time'

With a large sigh, I throw myself on the bed, my gaze locked on the canopy part of the top. I find myself raising my hand up so it's directly in front of me, beginning to get lost in thought, memories of everyone from Golden Dawn filling my head, but also those of my family.

Hours pass and I can't seem to get to sleep, yet Kaito sleeps soundly on the pillow next to me. I sit up carefully and quietly in order to not wake him, then take a seat at the windowsill, staring out at the moon, giving light to the dark sky. The stars seem to sparkle, making me wonder if my family became the stars that watch over me now. I lean my head on the glass, closing my eyes slowly and letting out a small sigh. This fight...this war...it will cause so much destruction, so much pain, both physical and mental....and for what? Why are the devil hosts doing this? What are they hoping to gain? And the Spade kingdom....I've never seen it, but I heard it's an eternal winter, always cold and never warm, unlike the Heart Kingdom. These questions continue to fill my mind, but eventually drift back to Yuno, who is probably training hard back in Clover Kingdom. My gaze returns to Kaito who is still out like a light, making a smile form on my face.

'I've come a long way since then...and it's all thanks to them. Kaito, Yuno, Julius, Captain Yami, and Captain Vangeance...I owe them this much a least, to fight to the very end'

~The next morning~

"And you're back down again" Iris sighs, then scoffs. I grit my own teeth and push myself back to my feet ready to go again. "Okay, time is of the essence, so from now on you'll be training along with Kaito. You've made enough progress alone, now it's time to test your full power"

I take a deep breath as Kaito quickly jogs over to me, then we go into elemental spirit dive, ready to fight. Iris signals me to start moving, and I fly up, beginning to send flame attacks from the sky, then flying backwards and sending wind attacks to enhance the flames. She dodges and easily extinguishes the flames with her command magic, making me sigh, activating some of my lightning magic next. I send lightning toward her, making her dodge quickly, then taking off quickly to her left. Using some of the ice magic next, I send a frozen path toward her to stop her from moving any further, then send another one from the way she came, forcing her to come up from the trees. When she does, I send light arrows in her direction, seeing her grit her teeth and try to find a way out.

Y/n, you need to have more faith in yourself, and you and Kaito need to communicate with each other.

'Captain is right, hesitation will just cause misfortune, better go for it then'

Taking a deep breath, I carefully move my arms to move lighting across the field trying to locate her, once I do, I quickly move toward her, being sure to hit her with my magic before she has the time to react. She flies back, slamming into a tree, and after landing carefully on the ground, Kaito and I seperate, hi fiving shortly after.

"Nice! We did it Kaito!" The two of us share wide grins, then move to look at Iris as she stands up, a smile on her face

"Looks like you've finally improved, but don't get too happy just yet. That just means we have a lot more training to do" She smiles

"Right!!"

~Later~

I let out a sigh as I sit up from my bed, deciding to go up to the roof to get some fresh air. Once getting up however, I notice Iris had already beat me here.

"Can't sleep either?" I start, getting her attention

"Y/n? I didn't expect you to be up"

"I struggle sleeping sometimes, so i decided to get some fresh air. What about you?"

She sighs, her gaze returning to the moon shining down on us, then closes her eyes as the wind hits our skin. "I don't....sleep very much"

I take a seat next to her as she opens her eyes but looks down to the ground, almost like she's worried about something. "Is something wrong?" She doesn't say anything, making me let out a sigh and finally ask something. "Iris.....how...how are you still alive?"

"....I'm cursed. I was cursed by a devil and now i'm immortal. I don't age anymore, so i'm stuck like this for the rest of my life"

"Iris...."

"For years I tried to break this curse, so I can finally live in peace, but I've given up. Unfortunately there's no way to break this curse. And so I've watched them all live and die, but never seem to see the end for myself." She closes her eyes, but then her gaze meets mine. "This may be selfish but Y/n, you need to come back alive. I don't want you to die like they did, so please be careful when the battle comes"

"I promise. I will come back"

'I promise....to you, to lolopechka, to mimosa, to asta, to captain yami, to klaus, to captain william....and to yuno'