Chapter Text
People disappeared all the time. It was just a fact of the world we lived in. Sometimes those disappearances were innocent, someone wanting a new start or to get away from a life they didn't love. Others weren't so innocent, people who had something horrible done to them and the party responsible were never brought to justice. Almost every disappearance had an explanation, some reason behind it, whether good or bad.
But not always.
Sometimes, very rarely, someone would disappear so completely that those they'd left behind were stuck scratching their heads and trying to figure out what could have happened to them. These disappearances often attracted attention, if only because people loved a mystery. In a time where less and less of the world was shrouded in the unknown, where almost every corner of the world had been explored, truly good mysteries were hard to come by. But even if they were hard to find, there was always an answer to every mystery. Disappearances, after all, have explanations.
It wasn't a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance. The little village which surrounded the castle was like many of the little villages surrounding castles which had become tourist monuments that Clarissa had already seen. There were little shops where you could buy souvenirs of all sorts, little restaurants where you could dine with a view and the rest of the village taken up by the homes of the people who just so happened to live next to a castle. Clarissa supposed that wasn't terribly uncommon in Europe, a place where they'd actually built castles.
Beside her, Clarisse's best friend, Josie Hawethorne, was practically bouncing in place as they looked up at the castle. It wasn't one of the more well-known ones, Clarissa wasn't even entirely sure of its name, but Josie had insisted they come here once they knew they'd be in the area.
“It looks just like the Grimoire Tower!” Josie exclaimed excitedly, a wide smile on her face. “Oh, I can just see Asta and Yuno walking up to it now.”
“If you say so,” Clarissa agreed.
She wasn't entirely sure what her friend was going on about, if Clarissa was being honest. She knew the reason Josie had wanted to come here was because this castle was what had inspired the creator of her favourite anime and manga for one of the locations in both the show and Japanese comics. Black Clover was Josie’s all-time favourite, well, anything. She could recite it all back to front and then front to back. For years now, Josie had been begging Clarissa to actually watch it with her and it still hasn't happened. Clarissa didn't have anything against anime, she'd just never gotten around to any of the ones her best friend had recommended. She had such a long watchlist as it was and with her own all-time favourite anything still releasing shows and movies, those took priority over everything else she might choose to watch.
“Look, see,” Josie said, quickly pulling up a photo she'd saved on her phone and holding it up in the empty sky next to the castle before them. “Don't you see it?”
“Oh, okay,” Clarissa said, nodding as she looked back and forth. “Yeah, I see it.”
The inspiration was clear. While the fictional version of this castle was also a tall, circular tower, with two smaller towers with red roofs attached to walls which formed an entryway leading right to the door, that's where the similarities ended. In reality, it was a drawbridge which led to the door, not just a stone pathway and there was more castle beyond the tower they were looking at. But Clarissa could clearly see just how similar they were.
Before Josie lowered her phone, the picture was replaced with an incoming call screen, displaying a goofy picture of a man with dark eyes, messy brown hair and a beard and the name Roger with a heart next to it. Clarissa immediately frowned and Josie lowered the phone.
“You've gotta be kidding me,” Clarissa complained. “You better not answer that.”
“What? Why?” Josie asked.
“Because you're literally on vacation in Scotland with your best friend. For all he knows we're sightseeing or hiking or on a tour or something, you can't be expected to answer your phone every single time he calls,” Clarissa explained.
“He's probably just checking in,” Josie tried to reason.
Clarissa shook her head. “No, he's being controlling. He wants to know what you're doing every second of every day and make sure it's not anything he doesn't want you to do. Well, newsflash, Jo, he isn't the boss of you. He should trust you.” To prove her point, Clarissa reached over and declined the call. “And if he really does love you, he will trust you.”
“What did you do that for?” Josie asked, eyes widening.
“To prove a point.”
“Which is?”
“That he doesn't trust you,” she said just as the phone started ringing again. “I knew you shouldn't have gotten that roaming plan.”
Josie gave a look. “Keep your hands away from my phone this time. If you keep hanging up on him, he's going to get mad.”
“You better not answer it.”
“I won't,” Josie insisted, switching it to silent so they couldn't hear it any longer. “There, see? And I'm putting it away.”
“Good. This is a girl's trip, no boys allowed, whether they're an ocean away or not.”
Rolling her eyes but smiling affectionately at Clarissa, Josie grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the entrance to the castle. “Come on, let's stop fighting about Roger and go inside! I've been waiting for this since we planned this trip!”
Clarissa let herself be tugged towards the entrance, a smile on her face. It was good to not be fighting anymore and back to just enjoying themselves. The only time the two of them ever really fought was over Josie’s boyfriend, Roger Randall. Clarissa didn't think he was good for her, let alone good enough for her and Josie just didn't seem to see what Clarissa saw. Trying to get her best friend to realize just how much better off she'd be without her scumbag boyfriend was also one of the only times Clarissa was so bold or aggressive. Normally, she wouldn't dare do what she had or say what she did. But, of course, Josie was her best friend and they had known each other for more than five years now.
The line to get into the castle was short, only a couple other small groups ahead of them. When they finally made it inside, Josie was almost immediately disappointed to see that the tower they'd entered into, unlike the one in the show, had multiple floors and wasn't just entirely open. Still undeterred, Josie started dragging Clarissa towards the stairs so they could see the view from the top, explaining all the while about the first time the Grimoire tower was seen.
“—And that's when Asta got his Grimoire! He pulled his sword out of it and there was this giant shadow of a demon on the wall behind him and he was able to kick Revchi’s ass!”
Clarissa nodded along, only half-listening to what Josie was saying. She'd explained probably everything there was to know about Black Clover to Clarissa at one point or another, if not multiple times over. She wasn't sure just how much more there would be to experience when she finally — if ever — got around to watching it, but she knew that when the time came, it wouldn't be about not knowing. It would be finally getting to experience the thing her best friend held so dear and being able to finally understand everything she'd always been told.
“Oh!” Josie exclaimed, delighted, as they reached the top floor. “There is a library in here!”
Just as Josie had said, the walls were lined with bookshelves, a few old tables scattered about through the middle of the room. Clarissa wondered if they were supposed to be up here, but there hadn't been any signage posted saying they couldn't, nor doors, ropes or gates to block their path.
The view from the top of the tower truly was incredible. You could see for miles across not only the village surrounding the castle, but the fields and woods and more distant villages in the surrounding areas as well. After getting a good look outside one of the windows, Clarissa turned to make her way to another which overlooked the rest of the castle. On the way, one of the old books which seemed to have been left out on a table caught her eye.
There was a strange ring-type pattern over the bulk of the cover which made Clarissa think of the rings of a tree. At the top and bottom there was a solid brown border which was slightly darker than the brown which was behind the tree ring pattern. In the top left and bottom right corners there was a triangle of a much lighter brown, nearly a beige. And, in the center, oddest of all, there was a three leafed clover in the same dark brown as the border on the top and bottom, backed by a pattern which reminded Clarissa of a stamp.
“Oh, hey, that's funny,” Clarissa said. “Hey, Jo, this book has a clover on the front. Didn't you say the Grimoires in your show all had clovers on the front?”
“I can't believe you remember that,” Josie said. “Which book?”
“This one right here.”
As soon as Clarissa picked up the book, intending to turn and show it to her best friend, the whole room shook as a wave of dizziness washed over her. She put her free hand down on the table to try and stabilize herself, but everything continued to sway and blur.
“Clary?” Josie's concerned voice cut through the rising pounding of her heart in her ears. “Are you okay?”
“No, I think…” she started, trying to focus past a sudden buzzing sound which was filling the room. “I don't feel so good.”
“Maybe you should sit down,” Josie advised.
Josie caught Clarissa's elbow, presumably to try and help her sit down, but Clarissa barely felt it. With one hand still holding tightly to the book, she moved her other hand from the table to her head. She didn't understand what was happening.
She pressed her eyes closed, hoping that once everything wasn't swaying in front of her she would feel better, but it didn't help. Josie's voice, asking concern-filled questions, seemed to grow more and more distant with each passing second, that buzzing sound growing louder and louder. Though she could barely hear it, she heard Josie's voice say something about helping her to sit down and in response, her foot moved back, slipped and suddenly Clarissa was falling.
The impact of the ground never came. Instead, Clarissa felt herself continue to fall, the rush of wind around her growing stronger and stronger as she fell faster and faster. While the buzzing sound began to fade away, the sounds which replaced it didn't make any sense to her either. It wasn't the sound of Josie asking if she was okay or even the unfamiliar voice of an employee or doctor asking her questions, the steady beeping of medical equipment behind them. No, instead all she could hear was the crackle of electricity and fire, the sound of metal dragging against stone and rushing water. Explosions, crumbling walls, then someone chewing and a liquid being poured into a glass and unknown voices shouting words she couldn't decipher back and forth. Every sound was layered over the others like a cacophony of the unfamiliar and unsettling, all rising to a fever pitch in Clarissa's head.
Silence.
As the rising din in her ears suddenly cut off, Clarissa became aware of further sensations or, in some cases, the absence of them.
She was no longer falling, but laid out on something hard but still softer than the wooden floors of the tower she was expecting. And it wasn't true silence, but just the absence of all the noise which had been in her ears before. She could hear the soft rustling of a breeze rustling the leaves on a tree and the chirping of the birds in those trees. That same gentle breeze was brushing softly across her face and hands, causing something which felt oddly like grass to tickle her hands and cheeks. She could feel the warmth of sunlight on her skin. Had they brought her outside?
Clarissa finally opened her eyes, squinting against the bright sunlight. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky above her, just the warm sun against the clear blue of the sky. Hadn’t it been a cloudy day before? Even though her head was still swimming, she tried to think back and found she could only remember saying it looked like a day for a jacket. But it didn’t look like a day for a jacket at all, why would she have said that?
“Sir, over here!” a distant voice called. “I think I see her!”
Her? They weren’t talking about Clarissa were they? Panic pierced through the fog in her head and she sat up quickly, looking around. Though nothing of what she saw felt familiar, which did nothing to reassure her, but worst of all was the man running in her direction in the distance. More panic seized her and she scrambled to her feet, backing away from the approaching stranger.
Except… was he a stranger? There was something about him which ringed almost familiar, the light brown hair and purple eyes, the black robe… It was like there was a bell going off in the back of her mind which would tell her who he was but she couldn’t hear it through the heavy fog in her head.
Clarissa grasped for a weapon, for anything to defend herself with and found there was already something in her hand. She looked down in confusion at the brown book in her hand, tree ring pattern on the front and a three-leafed clover in the center. She was surprised, she found, when she looked down at it and realized just how clean it looked. Last time she’d looked at it she could have sworn it looked older, grimier than that.
“You don’t have to be afraid, you’re safe.”
She looked up and gasped, taking a step back at the realization that the man who’d been running towards her had finally caught up to her and was only a dozen steps away from her. The confusion over the book in her hand was replaced yet again by her fear.
“We’re Magic Knights,” the man said, giving her a gentle smile. “My name is Finral Roulacase of the Black Bulls. And this is Captain Yami Sukehiro. What’s your name?”
That was it, she realized, once he’d said their names. Not only had they brought her outside, but they had insanely accurate cosplayers working here. Why hadn’t Josie pointed them out to her already? How had she not gone running right to where they were to get pictures? Why hadn’t she mentioned them in any of their planning for the trip?
“Do you, uh, not know your name?” the man dressed as Finral asked her, looking confused at her lack of an answer. “Or are you hurt? Can you not speak? Captain Yami, sir, I don’t think she can speak!”
Clarissa slipped off her shoe and reached down to pick it up, quickly throwing it at the man dressed as Finral, hitting him right in the face as he turned to look at the man dressed as Yami. While the Finral looked shocked at having been hit by a shoe, Clarissa quickly grabbed her other one and prepared to have to throw it.
“Don’t come any closer,” she warned, turning her attention to the man dressed as Yami.
“Or what? You’ll throw a shoe at me?” he drawled, sounding bored.
“And I can talk, by the way,” she added, looking back at Finral. “I just don’t talk to strangers who run at me.”
Finral flushed. “How was I supposed to know, you were just staring at me!”
“Where did you take me?” she asked, looking around for any sign of the castle. Why couldn’t she see it? Why would these cosplayers be so far from the castle? “Where’s Josie? What—”
Pain flared through Clarissa’s head and she dropped her shoe and the book to clutch at it. Her legs wobbled, feeling weak, then her knees buckled. As her vision swam, she felt herself falling once again. She expected to feel herself hit the ground, but instead, she felt someone catch her. It took a moment for her vision to start to clear again when the pain started to fade.
When she opened her eyes, she was looking up at Finral. It was him who’d caught her. Even though her vision was still a little fuzzy, she could see that he was looking down at her with a concerned expression.
“Are you okay?” he asked her softly.
“My head…” she managed, one hand coming up to touch her head.
“Did you hit it when you fell?” he asked.
When she fell? What was he talking about? “You caught me, I couldn’t have hit my head.”
“When you fell from the sky,” Finral said.
Clarissa frowned. “Are you seriously hitting on me right now?”
“What?” he exclaimed, suddenly looking alarmed. “No! Of course not! You really fell from the sky, don’t you remember? That’s why we came looking for you, people from the village said they saw a girl falling from the sky!”
She didn’t remember anything like that. Her brow furrowed as she tried to remember, tried to think of how she’d gotten outside, but as soon as she did, there was another stab of pain in her head and she winced, putting her hand to her head.
“Are you okay?” Finral asked her again.
“No,” she said, shaking her head gently. “It’s my head. I don’t know what’s happening…”
Finral turned and looked over his shoulder. “Sir, I think she needs to go to the healing tower.”
“Get her on her feet already, then,” Yami said. “Jeez, you guys just cuddling down there or what?”
“What? No!” Finral exclaimed, his cheeks flushing once again.
He was quick to help her to her feet, keeping a hold on her arm until he was sure she was steady. She used her foot to flip over the shoe she’d dropped before slipping it back on. When Finral noticed her looking around for her other shoe, he grabbed it from where he’d dropped it and quickly dropped to one knee, holding the shoe out for her to put on. As a flush warmed her own cheeks, she slipped the shoe onto her foot and then immediately looked away.
“You gonna propose down there, Finral? Let’s go already.”
“Yes, Captain Yami,” Finral said, avoiding her eye as well as he stood up.
Once he was standing, Finral extended a hand outwards and a shimmering blue oval appeared in front of him. Clarissa’s eyes immediately widened at the sight of it.
“This will take us right to the healing tower in the capital,” Finral said, looking at Yami.
“I’m not touching that thing!” Clarissa exclaimed. “What even is that? How did you do that?”
“It’s a portal,” Finral said.
“What, you never seen spatial magic before?” Yami asked.
“Spatial what now?”
For a moment, they all just stared at each other in confusion, none of them knowing what to say. Clarissa really didn’t understand what was going on.
“I’m not going anywhere near that, I don’t care what you say it is,” Clarissa insisted. “None of this makes any sense! This was supposed to be just a normal day out on vacation with my best friend and now she’s gone and I don’t know where I am or how I got here or who you are or—”
Clarissa cried out again as the pain in her head flared again, stronger than before. She clutched both hands to her head, wishing she could understand what was going on or why this kept happening. As her confusion grew, so did the pain in her head until it was finally too much and she collapsed, unconscious.
She didn’t see how Finral rushed forward once again to catch her before she hit the ground or the concerned and confused expression he turned towards Yami. When the Black Bulls Captain told him it was time to go, Finral quickly swept Clarissa up into his arms and followed Yami through the portal.