Asta was right.
Things did start getting better.
It took some time for her to be able to look at him without overwhelming guilt and she still struggles with nightmares but piece by piece she is starting to feel whole again.
She owes a lot of it to him.
If Noelle had been left to deal with the conflicting emotions that had plagued her body since the accident then she would have chosen to keep herself locked away. To keep distance between her and Asta so that the risk of hurting him again was minimal.
But Asta doesn't let her do that.
He doesn't force himself back into her life, he gives her space when she needs it but he doesn't let her forget that he's here for her and that he does not blame her for what had happened.
In some strange twist of fate the accident seemed to have brought them closer together.
For example now when her brain plagues her with nightmares she no longer sits in stews in her own hateful thoughts upon awakening. Instead she trudges out of bed and makes her way down twisting corridors until she finds his door.
No matter the time of night he always answers and he never hesitates to let her inside.
She doesn't know why she started picking up the habit of visiting him after her nightmares but she's so glad she did.
Asta never forces her to tell him what's wrong or pries into what's pestering her. He also doesn't encourage her to sleep when it's clear that she's avoiding it.
Instead he stays up with her and the two just talk.
At some point she had become comfortable enough around him to accept his offer of joining him on the bed.
She values this time so much more than he can possibly know.
They spend whole nights talking about nothing in particular, shifting from topic to topic as night becomes day.
She learns more about him.
Learns about his own siblings and his childhood.
It is quite the contrast when compared to hers.
And yet she still notices him dodge certain topics or change subjects on a dime.
He's never confirmed it to her but she's been able to put together that Asta is only telling her the good memories. That there's more beneath the surface and his childhood was not entirely happy either.
Noelle often finds herself wondering about what he had told her the night after his first swim lesson.
"I did not like being thrown in like that...brought up bad memories."
"No-no not that. Older memories from Hage…not good ones."
Those words make her stomach twist.
She hopes that whatever happened to him back then was not as bad as what her mind started to conjure up at night.
Speaking of said swim lessons he was getting better.
(Probably helped that she didn't jump in the water to save him the moment he started struggling now.)
To her surprise Asta is not a strong swimmer.
He can wade and paddle through water now but the moment he drives under is the moment he panics and at any given point he feels himself losing control he begins to flail.
Yami has been trying to drill into his head for weeks that panicking will only make him sink faster and make it harder for anyone to rescue him but Asta still struggles.
