Black Rose

The Twelfth Girl

Charlotte found herself alone with Yami not 24 hours later.
They all made it to Dornröschen with the help of Finral's magic. Charlotte brought a dozen of her magic knights while Yami only had nine of his men with him.
They met at the Roselei mansion to plan their next move. Apparently, another young woman went missing, bringing the total to eleven. They've decided to split up in pairs and gather information about the disappearances.
Before they knew it, everyone paired up and on their way out of the room to investigate.
"O-oi," Yami called out, bewildered.
Magna and Luck were already racing out of the door. It was Vanessa who looked back as she pushed a confused Asta towards the door. "We'll take care of investigating the each of the missing girls. We'll be back at dusk." She blatantly winked at Charlotte before disappearing through the door.
A deafening silence fell upon the room as soon as the door closed, leaving the two captains alone.
Yami turned to her.
Charlotte abruptly stood up, almost sending the chair flying. "Then I'm going to the town for more information." She wanted to pat her back for not stuttering. God knew how terrified she was at the moment.
But before she could escaped, Yami pulled her back. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Work," she answered. His hand on her arm was hot, she just hoped her face didn't give her true feelings away.
Yami raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you just say earlier no one's going out alone because we don't know what are dealing with yet? You're not breaking your own rule, right?"
She knew he was baiting her but she couldn't argue with him. Damn him. "If you're coming then get your ass moving or I'm leaving you behind."
"Oh, a nice gentle lady shouldn't talk about a man's ass, right?" he teased her with a straight face.
"Shut it." To hide her blushing face, she turned around and left the room hurriedly.
She couldn't do it. She still didn't know how to face him properly. It's stupid, she knew, but being difficult was the only thing she could do as of the moment.
When she reached outside, she picked up a broom took off without looking back.
She didn't even manage to calm her heart down and Yami appeared beside her. He didn't sit on his broom, he stood on it.
"Why are you being so contrary? I mean, more than usual," he qualified then added. "I'm the victim here."
Charlotte pressed her mouth shut. She really should be honest with him but it's mortifying to admit she attacked him while she was drunk. And honestly, she's scared he'd turn her down..
Then all of a sudden, Yami pulled her closer to him and swerved to change their positions. She almost lost control of her broom and fell. She bumped against him but he steadied her with his arm around her waist.
"You let your guard down," Yami said softly. His face was just a few inches away from hers, she could feel his breath fanning her face. She only had to tilt her face a little and she'd be kissing him.
"Sorry!" a kid called out from below.
She panicked and pushed Yami away. What was she doing in broad daylight? Her face was burning, she could feel it.
"Well, I can't say I didn't expect that," Yami remarked somewhat ruefully under his breath.
She looked at the little boy, waving at them from a field with a bunch of other kids from 8 to 12 years old. "Old man, could you throw the ball back?"
She glanced at the ball in Yami. She was so distracted she didn't sense the ball coming her way. She's a failure as a magic knight captain.
"Who are you calling 'old man', you brat?" Yami yelled back. He extended his arm back and threw the ball towards the boys, careful not to throw too hard. The kid in front opened his arms to catch the ball, it landed safely in his arms.
"Thanks, Mister!"
"Be careful not to hit anyone!" he shouted after the energetic boys who went back to playing.
Yami then turned to her, she immediately avoided his gaze and continued on. Their subordinates were all around town, they should cover the outskirts too. Maybe they could find some clues if they survey the surrounding area.
He followed her.
"So.. Who is he?"
The sudden question made her look at him.
Yami looked grim. "From your reaction just now I figured you really did just mistake me for someone else that night, huh? Who is he?"
She was tongue-tied, her heart wouldn't stop pounding in her chest. She rarely saw that serious look on his eyes and they were staring directly at her. Before she could answer, he continued, "Is it Fuegoleon? It's him, isn't it? That's why you were hellbent on partnering up with his squad."
Her jaw dropped. "What? No, I wasn't-"
A shrill scream interrupted them. They both sighed, this talk would have to wait.
"Stop, let go of me!" a woman's voice rang out from a distance.
They immediately tried to locate where the voice was coming from. It was then that Charlotte realized that they already reached the forest at the far end of the town.
"Help! Somebody, help me!"
"There!" Yami flew down and charged towards the direction of the voice.
She followed suit.
Another scream made her heart beat faster. Not another one... Please let us make it in time! Charlotte silently prayed.
Soon enough, they spotted a young woman by being surrounded by four shadow-like figures. She was cornered into a cliff.
Yami drew his sword.
Charlotte stopped him. "Stop, you'll hit her." She got down and thrust her briars into the ground. In a split second, four of them shot up from the ground and impaled the shadows. They stopped moving and simply vanished into thin air.
Just when they relaxed, the girl lost her footing and stumbled backwards, falling and disappearing below the rocky cliff.
"Watch out!"
She started to run but Yami was at least twice as fast. By the time she got to the edge, Yami was already flying them back to safety with the girl in his arms.
Charlotte came up to them. "Are you alright?"
Looking closely, the quite pretty with long straight black hair and deep blue eyes. She looked a little over eighteen.
She looked like she was in shock though. She didn't seem to have heard her, she just continued to stare at Yami, wide-eyed.
"What's your name?" Charlotte asked again.
The young woman turned to her. "I'm Emma. Thank you for saving me." After saying that, she once again looked at Yami who was gazing down intently at her, his expression was unreadable.
Charlotte's gaze shifted between the both of them. She crossed her arms in from of her chest. "You can put her down now." Charlotte tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice but she wasn't sure she was at all successful.
Without a word, Yami put her down. She was a few inches shorter than Charlotte so standing next to Yami, she looked more feminine and fragile-looking than the tall and armor-clad Charlotte.
"You're Charlotte-sama, right? The captain of the Blue Rose magic knights?" Emma asked excitedly.
"Well, aren't you popular?" Yami teased.
She ignored him. "That's right."
Emma held her hands. "I'm so pleased to meet you, Charlotte-sama. Everyone in Dornröschen knows the cursed princess. Every girl in this town looks up to Charlotte-sama."
"Yeah, well I guess it was hard not to notice giant briar vines enveloping the entire town," Yami commented happily.
"But she overcame her own curse and became a magic knight captain of an all-girls squad," Emma countered.
Charlotte couldn't say anything. She couldn't admit to them that she didn't actually break the curse on her own and the hero who saved the day was standing right there.
She decided to change the topic. "This ruffian is Yami, the captain of the Black Bulls and we're here to investigate the disappearance of girls in this town. From the looks of it, you're the next target. I know it was scary but I want you to come with us and tell us everything about what happened."
Emma nodded. "I'll do anything I can to help, my friends disappeared too."
"Let's go back to town first, and maybe we can get some answers," Charlotte said and led the way back.
"I'll contact the others to meet us back at your place," Yami told her.
But when she looked back at Emma, she had her eyes back on Yami again.
Unease was starting to creep into her heart.