synopsis: Prince Yuno of the Spade Kingdom didn't originally, officially have the title of 'Prince'. Not until his former adopted brother and rival, Asta took the role as the Clover Kingdom's Wizard King. Now, he's full of rancor, tired, jealous, and over zealous. Over zealous on getting the one other thing he wanted desperately in life. You. You happened to take his spot as captain at the Golden Dawn, not knowing that even though it feels as if he is gone, he's always lurking in the shadows.
content warning: stalking, manipulation, gore, sa, sh, stabbing, abuse, trapping via pregnancy, yandere yuno, chains, bad ending for reader, swords, abuse of power, blood, more to come. dead dove do not eat.
Your body was frozen like the bottom of the world. You were too stunned to speak, every single hair on your body stood straight like statues. Asta, on the other hand, had the same visible shock on his face, but he was shaking. He was stunned speechless as well.
He bears the Cloak of Spade royalty. He still has his two grimoires around his torso, his hair is longer, his eyes are still that admirable golden that you adored so much, and they were fixated on you. Even his aura was sharp enough to cut obsidian.Â
You couldn't believe it. It was him. Your ex-boyfriend in the flesh. Astaâs old rival. Why did he return to the Clover Kingdom?Â
 You exhaled, slow and calm. After a year of learning discipline as a squad captain, you forced your body to relax. You had no choice as you couldnât be seen as weak in front of your old lover.Â
âYunoâŠâ You breathed out, your chest already deciding it wants to betray you from how hard it was to breathe. âWhat are you doing back here?âÂ
âI can't visit my old home?â He scoffed, seeming hurt already. âIt hasn't even been five minutes since I stepped back into the Clover Kingdom and I'm already getting pushed out by youâŠâ He stared at you directly with those darkened eyes, it was as if wanted you to feel fear.Â
âI am not pushing you out-â You started but Asta interrupted subconsciously.Â
âYunoâŠâ He muttered but said loud enough for his old rival to hear.Â
âHi, Asta.â Yuno said in a flat tone, void of any emotion.Â
âWe haven't heard from you since the ceremonyâŠâ Asta started but he didnât know how to finish. To you, it was obvious that Asta was, in a way, happy to see Yuno, but didnât expect for him to enter back into his life in such an odd manner. Asta also is not the type to gloat on others, especially Yuno. So, for him to mention his greatest success to his old rival and brother wouldnât be proper. âHow have you been?â A simple and effective question.Â
â...â Yuno then stared at Asta, raising an eyebrow as if he couldnât believe his audacity to ask him how he had been. It didnât make sense for Yuno to make that reaction, he went no contact as soon as he Asta, as soon as he left you.Â
âSeriously, dude. How have you been?â Asta bemoaned.Â
âI'm not answering that question.â Yuno stated.Â
âWhat?â Asta sputtered, his eyes widening, mouth ajar. On the other hand, your heart dropped.Â
âYou heard me.â Sassed Yuno.Â
âThen answer mine. Why are you here!?â You spoke up instead of just sitting back and watching Yuno disrespect Asta. You commanded an answer from him. Your body was completely on edge and you couldnât stop shaking, but you had to stay strong.Â
âYou got what I was promised,â Yuno said, creepily calm. âSo now, I am here to take what is mine.âÂ
Asta blinked. âWhat?âÂ
âWhat?â You also blinked.Â
âItâs not the title of the Wizard King,â Yuno took a step forward, closer to your direction. âHer.âÂ
Your heart slowly twisted into your lungs. You felt physically weak.Â
âYunoâŠâYou warned him. You locked eyes with him again, he looked at you from your face to your feet. Your eyes followed his eyes and when you looked into them, his pupils were dilated.Â
â_/_, my darling. You really thought I would disappear and not take my woman back? What you and I had was real. I know it was. Donât stand there and pretend that we just were a chapter that you could just close. Â
âI didnât pretend.â You snapped. âYou left me, Yuno. You vanished from the Clover Kingdom and you left me with no answers as to why you left. No letters, no visits, nothing. You donât get to come back into my life and stake a claim like Iâm your territory. That is not how this works!âÂ
His face remained the same; blank, but his voice softened.Â
âTerritory? You were never territory. You were my anchor. My reasoning.â
âNo. Cut that bullshit out, Yuno! I didnât ask you for a kingdom." You said, your throat was tight. âI just wanted you. You were all I wanted, and when you left, I stopped waiting for your return and I accepted the fact that you left me. Â
âI never stopped waiting for you.âÂ
It was silent and the wind died down. Asta stepped a few paces back, leaving more space for only Yuno and you. You almost laughed at his response.Â
âWaiting? Waiting for me? After you left me?âÂ
âYou practically ran away from me after you figured that I wasnât good enough for you anymore. Because I wasnât strong enough to be the Wizard King.âÂ
âI didnât run away. I had to lead since you couldnât do it anymore.âÂ
âLead.â He repeated.âIs that what this is? Hiding behind the Golden Dawn because itâs easier than facing what is left of us?âÂ
You left your strings rising from your grimoire. A light, golden flow of thread-like mana flowed from your body, reacting to the rage that was building up inside of you. âCareful how you speak to me, Yuno.â You commanded, a dark gleam flowing over your face. âYouâre speaking to the Captain of the strongest squad in all of the Clover Kingdom, not the girl who sat on the rooftop of your home and listened to your dreams.â You added.Â
He looked down, his eyes softening. âThatâs exactly who Iâm speaking to.âÂ
You let out a deep, frustrated breath, you gave him two slow blinks of pure annoyance.Â
âIf youâre the King of Spade, then stop acting like a whiny bitch. Accept the fact I donât love you anymore.â You said finally.Â
For a moment, Yuno simply stared at you. The wind surrounding him played with his cloak. His eyes didnât widen, his eyebrows didnât raise, his mouth didnât open, and his face just didnât twitch. His aura muttered with immense power, but there was a flicker of emotion there. Was it guilt? Was it shameful? You werenât sure because you havenât seen it before.Â
âBeing king means nothing if I cannot protect the one person who made me believe I could be one in the first place.â Yuno said quietly.Â
âThe one person who made me believe I could be king in the first placeâŠâÂ
You swallowed hard, but stayed silent. You wouldnât let him see you break. You turned to Asta who was just staring at the both of you, he didnât say anything. You turned your back on Yuno and walked towards Asta. âAsta, Iâm going to return to my base. My squad needs me.âÂ
The Wizard King hesitated. â_/_ââÂ
You looked back at Yuno one last time. Yuno continued to give you that soft, but unfazed look. He looked familiar, like a man carved from memory. At the same time, though, he looked foreign.Â
âDonât come here again without a proper reason.â you warned your ex-boyfriend, soft but final.Â
Then, you teleported away.Â
âŸâŸâŸ
When you reached the archway of the Golden Dawn headquarters, your composure began to falter. Walking to your office was a hassle; your lungs were tightening, your head felt heavy, your legs felt weak with every tried stride, and your eyes were threatening to tear up. Your hand held against the stone wall, needing something to lean on.Â
You wanted to scream, cry, bellow, anything to release the anger and sadness that has built up inside of you, after trying to heal yourself for an entire year. It wasnât fair for Yuno to do this to you after heartlessly leaving you with no answer for his absence. Him suddenly appearing after vanishing for a whole year, it wasnât fair. That hurt you so much, it hurt to the point your nervous system was rewired. Your usual survival tactics such as fight-or-flight didnât work the same, it was odd. You donât fly away anymore, all you do is fight. Fight and kill with no remorse. On the inside, though? You were deeply troubled, helpless, and torn. You didnât want to deal with things this way, it wasnât healthy.Â
You were feeling it all, and you hated it. The more you let things build up, the more anxiety you felt later. You had to do something about this unresolved trauma. The problem stopping you is your ego and leadership position. Nobody can know that the Captain of the Golden Dawn was traumatized and had an Anxiety Disorder. The legitimacy of the squad would fall.Â
âI didnât take this position for nothing⊠I am captain of the Golden Dawn for a reason!âÂ
And with that final thought, you straightened your robe, fixed your face, and kept walking.Â
You were captain once again, and unshaken. Sort of.Â
The air still smelt like battle. Smoke, air, blood, betrayal. Itâs the kind of smell that you never forget because of how traumatic the war was. The kind of stench that never truly fadesâ not from the battlefield, but from your memory.
They crowned Asta as the Wizard King a year ago. Around that same time, you wore WIllian Vangeanceâsâ no. his former mantle: Captain of the Golden Dawn.Â
You stood on the edge of the baseâs tower, just right above the training yard, watching knights practice how to break their enemies bones using their squadmates as friendly practice. This was all fine, although there were certain pieces, and people missing.Â
Klaus and Mimosa were near you, watching the others as well.
 Obviously, he wasnât here. You didnât go to the coronation. You couldnât stomach it. The look he gave you across the grand banquet hall the night beforeâ when the verdict was announced like a whisper in the windâ was enough. He didnât speak. There was no need for him to open his mouth. You could sense his mana getting twisted with the storm brewing in him, sharp, bold and silent. Thinking about that moment made your heart twist with its tubes. That day still haunts you more than you can handle.Â
The clang of weapons echoed through the courtyard. Golden Dawn members pushed themselves harder these daysâ more magic, more force, more hunger to prove that they still belonged at number one of all the squads. You watched from the top of the tower, arms folded, eyes hyperfocused but tired.Â
Klaus barked corrections to your subordinates, like his voice and those glasses of his could contort mana itself. Mimosa stood beside you, watching silent, but peacefully.Â
âThis oneâs a little sloppy with his reinforcement spells,â she pointed at one of the knights with a fixed stare, âHe may even burn himself before he can land a blow.âÂ
You nodded in agreement. âHeâll burn himself that way. Thatâll teach him." You muttered.Â
You felt Klaus shooting you a glance, half disapproving, half impressed. You werenât Vangeance, and you certainly werenât him. You had your own ways of leading. You were a sharpshooter. Less patient. Evidently colder.Â
You didnât mind.
You felt a small gust of wind coming to the right of you, causing you to raise a brow. Your messenger crow was coming towards you. That was strange because you rarely have been receiving messages since last year, before the war with the Spade Kingdom and the Dark Triad. Finally, the crow comes before you, letter in mouth. You take it from the crow and read who it is from.
Asta.Â
Captain ______
Iâd like to talk with you. If possible, could we please talk today? Alone?
Asta
Your fingers tightened around the paper. His handwriting still remains horrible and hard to read, but you felt the serious tone through the ink.
He wants to talk to me? About what? Nothing has happened since the war last year. Forget that, I havenât spoken to Asta since heâs become the Wizard KingâŠÂ
It was something you had to think about. Talking to Asta wasnât the hard part because he wasnât a person that was hard to approach. The matter was: what was there to talk about? Your ex-boyfriend lost in a lifelong battle for the throne that Asta now sits on, even though your ex was the one who had all the accolades and was recognized the most, and he still lost. In the end, he was second place, to the boy that was feared the most by the nobles of the kingdom, most recognized for âtroubleâ.
Tch. You would be salty too.Â
âKlaus. Please watch over everyoneâs training.â You sighed, looking at him.Â
âWhere are you going?â He asked.Â
âAsta wants to speak to me.â Was all you said before using your Heavenâs String Magic to make a portal and teleport to wherever Asta was.
âŸâŸâŸ
You had invisible-like strings on everyone you cared for. How your magic worked was that you could turn atoms of your body into strings and attach them onto people, places, objects, animals, any living or inanimate structure and control them using said strings. So, in this case, since you care about Asta, your strings guided you through the portal and sent you to Hage Village. Astaâs childhood village.
âHage Village, huh?â You said allowed as you looked around from the onto the hill you were standing on.Â
â _/_âŠâ You heard a maleâs voice from behind you. You quickly turned around as soon as you heard the first syllable of your name. The male had ash-blond hair, big but stunning bright, vibrant green eyes, a black right arm, a black vest, a red cape which covered his left arm that had the Black Bulls insignia on it, black pants and boots, and a soft smile that sat on his face.Â
 (@/ sk_martins_ on twitter/X)
âAstaâŠâ You stared at him intensely with wide eyes. You could cry just by being in his presence. You couldnât believe it was actually him now. The boy you used to visit every month for 10 years from your manor just to watch him fail at magic every single day of his life, just for him now to be the Wizard King of the Clover Kingdom that stood right in front of you; as if you were his best friend and not one of his Magic Knight Captains.Â
âYou look so different now that you're Captain of the Golden Dawn!â He beamed, pulling you in for a hug.Â
âYou canât be talking, Wizard King Asta.â You smiled, wrapping your arms around him gently.Â
âJust call me Asta. Thatâs enough for me.âÂ
âJust call me Yuno. Thatâs enough for me.â A wild flashback appeared in your brain. Your heart sank because of the similarity of the two boys. You shook that memory away. You lifted your arms from him and took a step back, to look at him once again.Â
âUhmâŠâ You look away from him and to the vibrant grass staring at your black and gold knee-high boots, something to avoid eye contact, anything to not look at that optimistic gaze of his. âWhat did you want to talk about? It has been awhile.â You asked, still looking away.Â
âI was worried. Itâs been a year since Iâve last seen you. I mean, Iâve heard updates from Klaus, and you know, the reports coming from the Golden Dawn but, I havenât seen you. I was worried. Have I done something to make you stay away from me?âÂ
âItâs been a year since weâve last seen each other?â You now looked at him with a raised eyebrow, your heart slightly dropping at the realization. You havenât noticed until now but, youâve been avoiding everyone who isnât a Golden Dawn member since the war against Spade. It wasnât on purpose, but it was a response to the trauma youâve experienced. It was hard to look at people, talk to others, tell everyone how youâre doing, and communicate with your fellow captains.
 âNoâŠâ You shook your head. âThatâs impossible, Asta.â You confidently retorted.
âWell, it sure has felt that way.â Asta pouted. âJust because you accidentally tangled yourself in your strings while successfully tangling up Lucius in the process doesnât mean isolate yourself from us. That helped us win the fight.â
It was also that as well. That specific moment where you gain momentum after slashing down one of Luciusâ clones, you were able to salvage some remains of molecules from your body that were turned into strings because of your magic and target them right at him. The problem was though, he was levels above. Lucius saw that, and so did everyone else once you were tangled in your own magic. This makes you feel uneasy and anxious when reminded of that moment.
âIt doesnât matter if I was able to concentrate my magic into trapping him, he copied it and made it his own. And even if it was just for that very moment, I was weak. A man was able to successfully use my magic against me in the exact manner I use it against my enemies. It was humbling.â You explained, your heart slowly dragging down to your stomach, wanting this conversation to be over.Â
âBut, because of that, we won. Thatâs all that matters.â Asta spoke with a serious tone, staring right at you. You looked at him back and blinked slowly, eyes squinted from the exhaustion of thinking back to last year. Somehow, the vision in his eyes was still bright enough to make another star, even after all Asta has been through. Heâs grown, heâs more mature now. Hell, heâs even 5'7 after a year. Who knew growth spurts could happen within a couple of months?Â
âI guess.â You finally looked away and scoffed.
âYouâre always guessing.â He pouted, raising an eyebrow.Â
âI guess.â You scoffed again.Â
âOh come on, _ /_!â He exclaimed, evidently tired of your dry humor.Â
âIs that why you wanted to speak to me? Because of my lack of appearances? Or was it something else?â
âI wanted to ask you about⊠Yuno.â You stiffened. It wasnât obvious but Asta saw that in your body language. You didnât like that he noticed. There was a silence between you two. All that could be heard from the wind passing the nearby trees, the work of the farmers, and the distant chattering of families and children.Â
You swallowed that name down your throat. It wasnât a pleasant taste but it sure was something bitter. No sweetness.Â
âI havenât seen him since last year.â You spoke stoically.Â
Asta scratched the back of his neck, suddenly sheepish. âYeah, I kinda figured that out. Itâs just⊠after the coronation, he disappeared. No letter. No message. No goodbye. He just left. And I thought, maybeââÂ
âMaybe heâd talk to me before anyone else?â You cut in, trying to see where his head is at.Â
Asta blinked, surprised. âYeahâŠâ
 âI thought that too, but why? You know him better than anyone else does.â You sighed through your nose. You felt the wind shift. Even the mana around you tense. It was then silent between you too again. The words hung between you two like broken thread. For a minute, neither of you spoke.Â
âI didnât go after him.â You admitted, looking away, folding your arms over your chest. âIt wasnât my place. I had to look over the squad. Somebody did. He left, and I let him.âÂ
Asta looked at you, his eyes softening.Â
âMaybe that makes me selfish, or it makes me a cowardââ
âOr maybe it makes you human.â Astaâs voice softened. You looked away again, eyes following the clouds overhead. âI became Captain of the Golden Dawn, Asta. I had to rebuild the squad, replace every single one of our dear members that we lost⊠using my strings to thread us back together.â
A dry laugh slipped from your throat. âIf I chased him⊠I doubt I wouldâve come back.âÂ
Asta stared at you, trying to figure out if you were still the same girl he knew last year, and all the years prior. âSo you stillââÂ
âI still donât know what to feel.â You cut him off. âI loved him. I loved who he was. But then, he left. I donât know who he is anymore.âÂ
Suddenlyâ
The sky started to twist. A massive swarm of mana surged, cracking through the atmosphere. The birds fled. The grass flattened. Even the horizon bent.
You turned just in time to see a small, green conjunctionâ no, a tearâ open midair.
And from the tear, stood him.Â
The Cloak of Spade royalty. Two grimoires at each hip. Aura sharp enough to cut stone. His eyes, still that untouchable gold, found you automatically. And they burned.
Asta and you turned to look at each other with the same damned look of visceral shock.
i have prom tonight and im so tired, which makes me not want to go. so i'm going to do something to energize myself: going back to writing from my drafts.
I have not forgotten about my stories. it's just that I'm spending time on real life things such as:
school (uni)
a job (i hate my job lmao)
prom (that should be fun)
transitioning to adulthood
im also little bit depressed and my writing style is changing as I grow older mentally . my stories are starting to make me cringe every time I check Google docs. đ so I'm just trying to restart all my drafts to how I like them.
that being said, there probably won't be any updates until like May... I really have to get myself together, everyone.
"How do you write such realistic dialogue-" I TALK TO MYSELF. I TALK TO MYSELF AND I PRETEND I AM THE ONE SAYING THE LINE. LIKE SANITY IS SLOWLY SLIPPING FROM BETWEEN MY FINGERS WITH EVERY MEASLY WORD THEY TYPE OUT. THAT IS HOW.
