asra x fem! reader • apprentice

eleven - troubles

(I wasn't going to update this story any time soon, but the story ended up getting kind of popular, so I didn't want to disappoint anyone. There are some other stories on my profile that will be updated more frequently, though
I'm also going through editing for some of the older chapters, so yeah)

(Y/N)'s POV

I guess I shouldn't have expected a normal, dreamless night.
I mean.. seriously, what was I thinking!?
I was calmly resting when suddenly I dropped into the familiar, darkly clouded forest from merely a few nights before. The one I had seen Lucio in.
On cue, I spotted Lucio wandering around like a lost sheep.
"Lucio?" I wondered aloud, my voice echoing, which was strange considering the skies were covered in dense leaves.
"(Y/N)?" Lucio wondered as well, looking around for me.
He eventually spotted me through the leaves and waved to me, "Hi, (Y/N)!"
"..Hi?" I responded, half-quizzically.
"Hi! What were you expecting me to say?" He asked.
"Didn't you say days ago that time moves differently here? And I've been gone for days.. ugh, nevermind. Have you heard anything from the Devil?" I asked.
"No.. should I have..?" He murmured, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.
"I don't know! You ask me!" I snapped.
"Uh... should I ha-?" He started, but I shook my head violently.
"I'm not dealing with this. Where's the Devil, Lucio? You obviously know him."
"I think I might've heard him leave that way earlier? And then I might've heard him talking to someone. A male. Maybe." Lucio confessed, crossing his arms.
"Who do you think it was?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lucio shrugged.
"Did you see any glimpses of them?" I wondered, but he looked completely and utterly dumb-founded.
"No.." He muttered.
"Well, you're completely useless, then!" I growled, throwing up my arms.
I might as well give up. There's no way I'll be able to figure out what they're planning, anyway. I thought forlornly.
"Well, I can tell you how he sounded!" Lucio exclaimed, as if that was the best idea he'd ever come up with.
And then, right on cue, a large gust of wind hit and there was the sound of loud footsteps nearby.
I tilted my head at Lucio, who grinned.
The footsteps approached the trees in front of us, and then I could hear sniffing.
"I can smell.. blood. Human blood." A deep voice rumbled.
The Devil.
Me and Lucio exchanged a look before a large paw pulled the leaves apart and I scrambled away from it, rolling towards shelter in the bushes.
Lucio scrambled after me, tripped over a twig and fell on top of me.
It was too dangerous of a situation for me to either yell at him or throw him off of me, so we just stayed there silently.
"Are you sure it's human blood? It could be an animal." Another voice spoke up.
That voice..

..

..Hina?

I stiffened.
The footsteps got even closer, and The Devil poked his head out of the trees, glancing around.
I half-crawled farther away, holding onto Lucio by the waist so that he didn't fall into the clearing.
The Devil sniffed the air again.
"I can tell.. it's human blood. Close by." He growled.
"But.. who could it be?" Hina wondered.
The Devil approached even closer, but we were practically inside of the undergrowth, close to the ground, so he didn't see us. Yet.
But then the forest started warping, and my vision started blurring.
No, no!

---

I woke up in Asra's arms.
I scrambled up, my breathing heavy, and stumbled out of the tent and looked around, rubbing my forehead.
I fell onto the ground, on my knees and sobbed.
The Devil was there.. he must've gotten to Lucio. The only way is to get Asra to help magically transport me back.. but I can't tell him I had relations with Count Lucio.
I heard a yip and saw Luka limp over to me, one front leg in the air.
I sighed and pulled him up to my lap, stroking his back.
Tears rolled down my cheeks. What do I do?
Luka licked my chin and flicked his left ear, motioning his tail towards Julian's tent.
"What is it, boy?" I asked, standing up with him in my arms as I headed towards Julian's tent.

I cautiously unzipped the door to the tent and stepped inside, my face still wet with tears.
Julian was inside sitting cross-legged on the side of his sleeping bag, with a diary in his hands. He appeared to be reading it.
"Hello?" I greeted, and Julian jumped lightly in place, half-hiding the diary behind him.
"Oh, hey, (Y/N)! You're up late." He noticed, awkwardly playing with his fluff of Auburn hair.
Luka turned around and full-on barked towards Julian, his tail wagging.

Julian's POV

"Luka here seems to think you could help me with something." (Y/N) explained quickly, motioning towards the fox she held in her arms.
I nodded and turned my lantern on, examining (Y/N) in the light and noticing that her face was wet, presumably with tears.

"Hey.. come sit over here." I suggested, lowering my voice and trying to make it as soft as I could.
(Y/N) walked over and sat by me, the fox climbing around in her lap.
"I.. don't know what you could do to help me. And this is a pretty crazy thing to say." She admitted, scratching the back of her neck.
"Well.. crazy stuff happens all the time in Vesuvia, so I'm kinda ready for anything." I chuckled.
"Well.. I've been transporting to a different world. I've done it a few times now. It's a forest, and I've.. seen The Devil there." She explained, her eyes watering.
My eyes widened as I coughed into my fist, not believing what I was hearing.
"The- The Devil? You- (Y/N), do you need to lay down for a few minutes? You can." I offered, concerned.
"No. I know what I'm saying, Julian." (Y/N) snapped, and then her eyes softened and she shook her head lightly.

"I just.. don't know. I don't know what to do." She confessed, looking up at me.

"Your fox seems to think I can do something? What would that be, I wonder.." I muttered, looking down at the fox and focusing on it.

"Magician!" Luka yipped, running in circles on (Y/N)'s lap.

"Did that fox just.. talk?" I wondered aloud, my mind doing leaps.

"Vesuvia, am I right?" She chuckled, still sobbing. "I need to go back to that realm. There's.. unfinished business I have there."

"Luka said something about a 'magician'. Asra?" I asked, and she shook her head firmly. "No, I can't tell Asra about the situation. He wouldn't be proud of me, to say the least. Do you mean the Magician as in the fox?"

She looked at Luka, who presumably nodded up at her.

"Oh.. we could get him to transport us there? But how do we get to him?" (Y/N) asked. I swear they were both speaking a different language. 

Luka nodded towards me and twitched his ears. "Valdemar!" He barked.

My eyes widened. "Valdemar? How?" 

"Follow!" Luka yipped, jumping off of (Y/N)'s lap and running in circles, his tongue hanging out as he panted softly.

"We could follow them.. that's right! They must do some sort of ritual to transport, so we could just follow them." She nodded.

"We may need back-up, though." She added.

"Muriel's big " I suggested, and (Y/N) nodded.

"Let's go get him."

(ahh sorry about weird spacing and stuff, the Wattpad app isn't working for me so I have to use the website on mobile and it won't let me do good spacing or add bold, italics or underlined text 😧 I hope this resolves soon, til then I'm on hiatus

-Author-chan