Pirates of The Clover seas - The Curse of the Black Pearl

Chapter 2 - The question

No one' s POV:

It was an unusually cold morning in the Heart kingdom. The sun hasn't risen yet, however a certain anti-magic boy was already up. He just finished his routine training, and was on his way to the canteen. On the way there he passed by Noelle's room. He wondered  if she was still asleep. He knocked, but got no response. Like the gentleman he is, he decided not to invade Noelle's privacy and kept walking towards the canteen.  He sat down and sank deep into thoughts. It's been 4 months since they began training in the Heart kingdom, and the war with the Spade was around the corner. He sank deeper, as he thought of the terrible future, that may arise, if they fail. He frowned as he though of all the people he cared about. Then he sensed friendly ki in the room. He turned towards the source and saw Leopold.

"Morning rival!" the young Vermillion shouted.

"Morning Leo!" said Asta as he forced a smile. Leo noticed Asta was not to his usual mood.

"Something wrong Asta?" Leo asked.

"It's just, I am worried that 6 months may not be enough Leo, what if we are not strong enough to protect our people, what if we fail?" Asta said as he kept his head down. Leo paused, it was unusual to see Asta doubting himself. For Leo, Asta was the embodiment of sheer will. He didn't compromise, he didn't submit he never gave up. And out of nowhere Asta was doubting himself. 

"What brought this on Asta?" Leo asked.

Asta started thinking, and after a minute gave Leo an unexpected answer.

"We've been training for 4 months, right Leo?" Asta said.

"Sure we have my rival" Leo answered with a enthusiastic tone.

"Then why do I feel like we've hit a brick wall" Asta said while playing with his food.

"A brick wall?" Leo asked confused

"I know I am the last person to admit that, but we are exhausted, we had no day off since we started training, and to top it all off, our progress is stagnating" Asta said.

"You're not wrong, but the queen gives us frequent breaks, doesn't she?" Leo responded.

"Yes, but I think we need a change of setting, I miss captain Yami and the Black Bulls, and I think a weekend off would help us to get our morale and learning curve back in shape, would it?" said Asta

"That's weirdly uncharacteristic of you Asta, but I think you're right" Leo said "And after we're done fooling around the Clover kingdom, what do we do next?" Leo asked.

"Then we'll train twice as hard as before!" Asta practically shouted.

"Thank god, I almost thought you changed overnight into a methodical thinker, but thankfully you are still a meathead" Leo laughed.

"Hey, that's not very nice" Asta laughed back.

Suddenly a bloodcurdling scream was heard from the dorms. Asta and Leo reacted within seconds and ran towards the source. Asta had thoughts racing through his head. Who was screaming, why were they screaming and what in the name of god is happening, were the questions most prominent in Asta's head. As they were nearing the source, Asta suddenly felt like if death was breathing on his back. The source of the terrifying scream was Noelle's room. What sounded like mumbled gibberish turned into words. 

"Help me, mom, help me!" was heard from the room.

Asta kicked the door open and ran up to the crying girl. He started comforting her, patting her and calling out her name.

"Noelle, wake up" Asta repeated. However she wasn't waking up, she kept twitching and shivering out of fear. What were a mere seconds felt like hours to Asta.