One month and Two weeks later...

Asta been decided to stay in the forest just outside Hage Village for a while as to better get acclimated to his 'much' younger body. He also needed to get better clothing before he went wondering around as although he could just wear his shirt and Haori with his cloth wrap belt, but not only were his pants to big but so were his underwear. He didn't feel comfortable going total commando, especially with villagers and their little kids randomly wandering into the forest for wood or any other supplies they needed.

After the first few does of getting his sea legs, Asta snuck into the village one night. He went through the town gathering up materials that no one would notice was gone, mainly from abandoned houses, to make himself a few sets of cloths before returning the set he'd 'borrowed' on his first night in the new world.

He knew he could've stayed in the forest and been self sufficient but here but knew it may cause a fuss he did, the last things he wanted was to get any unwarranted attention but at the same time he just couldn't stroll up to the orphanage in Hage and say, 'Hey. I'm new and don't have parents. Can I live here?" So he decided to do a bit of both. One, to make his presence known by going into the village by going into town every other day. Two, to explain to those who asked about him that he was orphaned some time ago after his parents enter the wilderness and never returned. Thanks to his actor training everyone bought it no problem. Slowly Asta managed to work his way into the orphanage's grace enough for Father Orsi Orfai.

Though he was... somewhat eccentric, Asta still found the priest very humbling and warm-hearted as he cared for the children of not just the orphanage but the village as well. Whenever Asta would leave to return to the forest when coming to visit the old man would usually ball his eyes out and do his best to prevent him from even leaving the church, to no avail of course.

Of course being at the church meant running into some faces he knew very well from memories that he received when he was displaced as Asta. The most important one of them all was Yuno, who Asta found to be very, very annoying most of the time. He was a cry baby and never really stood up for himself and when he did her had no back bone.

He took note that there was the lack of a certain Sister Lily Aquaria at the church. This meant that he'd arrived for enough back in this world's timeline that she hasn't been sent here yet. This also meant the crucial moment between Asta and Yuno that sparked their life long rivalry hadn't taken place yet. All of this played to his advantage and he was going to do things his way. Not the loud mouth Asta way, but the planned out Asta Ferris way.

In the meantime Asta spent a good deal of his time helping with chores or relaxing around the church some days. Other days he would stay in the forest and do what he needed to to get by like hunt or training to get the feel of his body for his martial arts once more. Though he didn't have the prowess anymore, he still had the know how to get it back. Out side of this he would also help with farming in the village occasionally or help with general labor around town.

For this passing through of Nobility he garnered the name The Vagabond. So naturally he ran with it The whole time he was doing all of this he constantly carried Twilight Element of Magic with him. He wore it on his hip laced into his belt. He didn't hid the fact he'd had it either, in fact he very much flaunted. His hope was that Twilight may see it. The occasion thieves tried to steal it only to have their manhood tested and destroyed. There were also low class nobles that anted for their collections only to quickly find the forest is a very scary place, especially when you don't know what lurks in the trees or what trap a hunter gather may have set up.

---

Three months later...

Asta was usually found in the forest practicing his sword and breathing techniques when not in Hage or the orphanage. His body wasn't used to using the breathing techniques for longer than three minutes at a time meaning he was severally limited in prolonged use of them and any longer then his time limit put a great strain on his lungs. Even just using one breathing technique for any amount of time currently was tough and the fact he couldn't go to the top of a mountain also limited how effective his training would be, but this still didn't deter him from his practicing.

Asta was currently under a tree hitting several wooden targets with ropes. The ropes were tied around the targets and the other end was tied around tree branches at varying heights. Asta would height the targets causing them to swing, with multiple targets he had to focus on more than one while making sure not the get hit himself.

He set up his own sword and martial arts training area in deeper part of the forest that very few could two, one of the few that could get there was Yuno who did so through sheer force of wanting to. The black haired boy only did so because he'd become very attached to Asta. Yuno found him fascinating to point he'd wanted to be more like Asta, but just couldn't work up enough never to build up much of a backbone.

Yuno was currently rushing through the tree to see Asta and tell him some news about the goings on in of the orphanage. Asta struck and struck at the targets repeatedly until he ceased an let out a breath before falling over on all fours breathing very heavily. He started to vigorously cough for a bout a minute before shakily getting to his feet and wiping the sweat from his brow.

He walks over and pick up a canteen but then looks over to a nearby tree, "You can come out Yuno," he chides while unscrewing the cap and down a green slurry, "Gack! So gross!" he says sticking out his tongue.

Yuno can't help but step out laughing, "Hehehe... So how'd you know I was here Asta?"

"I heard you coming," Asta points. "And you're the only other person who knows where my training grounds are anyways. The only way someone can be here is if they know where it is or of the just happen to stumble on this place." He turns around and pulls a cloth from a tree branch down them wipes his face off, "Why are you out here at this time of day anyways?"

"I have have news about the orphanage!" Yuno says excitedly, "We're getting a new sister!"

"Another one?" Asta tilts his head with a raised brow, "I really shouldn't be surprised with it begin an orphanage and all..."

"No," Yuno interrupts, "Not a new sister, a new 'Sister' as in a nun to help out Father Orfari. I heard she's also going to be the new school teacher!"

Asta looked at the smiling black haired boy, "Hmm... that is big news. I can see why you wanted me to know, " He hops to his feet, "Come on. We have a track to make to get back to my house and the sun is already setting."

"Your house?!" Yuno says with sparkles in his eyes. "I've never been to your house before! But I need to get back to the orphanage," he says now worried.

"Look," Asta turns as he put his towel over his shoulders, "By the time we make it to my house the sun will be nearly at the mountains peaks," Asta points in the distance. "Traveling around this deep in the forest here is dangerous enough already but if you do it at night it'll be really bad, especially for someone like you Yuno. Not even I go out at nights a lot here. Even if its near my house," he sighs, "Look, it'll be safer for you to spend the night at my camp and then I'll take you back to the church by first light tomorrow."

"But Father Orfari will w-"

"Ball his eyes out with you not back tonight," Asta waved off the old man. "I know he cares about you a lot but it'll be better to just stay here and leave in the morning when it's safe. He'll be a little mad but when he finds out you were with me he'll forget about it okay?"

"O-okay, if you say so Asta," Yuno says reluctantly.

"Good, now follow me and stay close," Asta motions to a hidden path, "The terrain is tricky and unless you know the way you can easily get lost."

Yuno quickly scurried after Asta.

A few hours later...

Asta and Yuno arrived at Asta's campsite just as the sky was starting to darken and turn the many shades of colors of twilight. He hated the sky at this time of day as it reminded him of Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Aurora. It's why he made it his policy to be back home and indoors before this time.

Yuno was thoroughly excited to finally see the place Asta call home. For Yuno, home was the church but he also knew that even though Father Orfari told Asta it was his home too and he was welcome anytime, he'd never considered it home. All the orphans wished he would stay and call it his home though, Yuno most of all.

Yuno was amazed by what he saw when they reached the campsite. Even a hunter would be please by Asta's setup. He had a small stone building made out of some sort of white smoothed stone that was stacked in alternating rows. The roof was gabbled and made of thick sturdy branches with some form of dried broad leaves to divert water into a drainage system made of some sort of hollow segmented plant.

Not far from the house was a small area that had been clear and cultivated into a vegetable garden. Yuno recognized many of them from the stalls down in Hage Village. He was shocked Asta was able to grow them up here in the forest, and by himself.

Behind the house was another building made of the same stone as the house but it was round instead of square. Behind everything was a significantly sized stream. Asta had dug out a portion of the bank and then stacked rocks in a wall about waist high in a triangular formation. It was a fish trap.

"Asta... How'd you do all this?" Yuno looked all around with sparkles in his eyes.

"With elbow grease and a lot of effort," Asta says nonchalantly, "My folks were hunters remember? Living off the land and stuff like that. We moved around a lot so we picked up a lot of different techniques and skills from it. We went with the changes in the season and never went to the same location more than twice in the same year," He fake explains as he motions for Yuno to follow him into the house. "Doing all that means we had to build our house a lot. We always left it standing for anyone who might be passing through after us."

"Do you miss your mom and dad?" Yuno asks as he comes to the doorway where Asta pauses.

The green-eyed child looks up to the sky, "Hmm... I do sometimes but most of the time I don't really think about it too much," he shrugs. "I did love my folks but we all knew that death could come for use at any time or from anywhere..."

"They knew it was a hard lifestyle and we all knew we could lose each other at any moment, even when we're together but we never stopped. We never gave up on each other or our goals," Asta clenches his fist. "Living for others is the best. Living for one another is better. But none of it matters unless you go out to do it."

"But what if you are stopped by something?" Yuno asks.

"Then you get up off your butt and try and break that thing apart! You can't overcome anything unless you try!" Asta smiles with a big grin as he clenches his fist in the air, "Putting forth the effort to try and never giving up is the strongest magic of all. Cause if you never give up you can keep moving forward, even if it's a little at a time you can keep pushing on getting stronger. But enough of that, now come in and get comfy. I'll go get some food for supper," he says before running off to the garden.

Yuno enter the abode and was shocked by the setup. There was a small area in the entrance with shoes that led into a step up before going into an open living area. In the center of the room was a fire pit of sorts with the remnants of a smoldering fire still in it. Asta put enough lumber on, then cover it in ash to allow it to burn slowly before he left this morning to train so there would be less work later. The walls and floor were covered in some sort of wove reed mats. Decorating the walls were various charcoal drawings of many people, three large ones very beautiful women stood out the most. In the center portrait was another thing that caught Yuno's eye. She was holding a baby the looked very similar to herself. Yuno could only speculate that this was her child.

Yuno was safe amongst the drawings. They all felt as if they were there to protect him, the three women being the only exception to this. He felt much concern and love coming from their eyes

Yuno walks closer and noticed and noticed one picture stood out from the others, mainly because it was in color and not a drawing, He looked closer and saw a lot of various people in it, some didn't even look human as their skin tones range from orange to purple.

"What?" Yuno says reaching for the picture.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't," Asta says as he comes and quickly grabs Yuon's hand his left while he held fish and fresh veggies on a cutting board with his right.

"Who are they, Asta?" Yuno asks. "All these people, those women, that baby, and these people in the really small painting?"

Asta sets his provisions down, "People I've met in my travels that I came to call my friends," he says nonchalantly as he walks over to a sink and pulls out a knife, "Those people in the tiny painting as you call it are my family and well, adopted family. The tall Blonde man in red is my older brother," Asta points. "By blood."

"Why aren't you living with him?" Yuno asks.

Asta shrugs it off, "He's a lot older than me and lives really, really far away. Totally across the ocean actually and he has kids of his own," he goes back to prepping the food, "The two women on his sides are his wives and the kids are those from the one with the blue hair."

"Wives?" Yuno blinks.

"Where we come from it's not uncommon for men to have more than one wife when they live in a community instead of travel like I do," Asta explains at his guts the fish. "Or to have several kids, two or three by each wife usually. I think he actually has a girlfriend that came back into his life recently. They might be married now though," He looks up in thought. "The women and baby are just important po-people I've met."

He finishes with the fish having placed them on a skewer. He goes over to a lumber pile and grabs a few pieces and a small bundle of leaves and sticks. He then goes to the fire pit and digs the good-sized coals from the ashes before he arranges the lumber around the bundle and places the coals at the base of the bundle. Asta blows on the coals and soon the embers catch the bundle a lite and not long after the lumber starts to crackle.

"There we go," Asta stands up. "I keep some spare clothe in the baskets over there," he points to the baskets on the far wall. "We can go out back and take a bath. The water should be nice and steaming by now. By the time we get back this fie will be nice and hot enough to cook on."

"Oh," Yuno says, "Okay," he nods before going over and grabbing a pair of clothes. Before following Asta out Yuno's eyes once more drift to the three women and baby. "Hmm... I shouldn't ask anymore," He shakes his head before heading off.

After the bath and a good meal, the boys settle into Asta's house where they get ready to bed down for the night.

Yuno notices the crown next to Asta's bed roll, "I know you're probably getting tired of my questions Asta but can I ask you one more thing?"

"The was one more thing," Asta jabs with a chuckle. "Go ahead Yuno, but that doesn't mean I'll answer it."

"That crown," Yuno points, "Why do you have it and who gave it to you?"

"Why I have it... I can't really answer that one as not even I know," Asta sighs, "And it wasn't given to me. More like I woke up with it. It belongs to someone very dear to my heart and I have to give it back to her, no matter what..."

Yuno recognized that look in Asta's eye as the fire's light reflect in Asta's eye, "Never giving up..." he says to himself, "Is the strongest magic..."

"Get some sleep Yuno," Asta sighs before unrolling his bedding and snuggling into it. "We have a long hike tomorrow," he says before quickly rolling over and going to sleep.

---

The Next Morning...

It was now mid-morning and Asta had woken Yuno from slumber land at the crack of dawn. His own internal clock had him getting up before the first light to do morning routines. After Asta was done with his workout he went around to get some breakfast food. The smell is what woke Yuno up to have him out just as the sun started to rise over the peaks of the mountains. After a hardy breakfast, the boys left Asta's camp for the church.

"Come on slowpoke!" Asta calls out behind him while he bounds from tree branch to tree branch.

"What is he... to be able... to bounce... around the trees... like that..." Yuno huffs, "Some sort of monkey?"

Asta lands next to Yuno, "I told you to let me carry you on my back. It'll be a lot faster if I do the traveling."

"No obstacle can be overcome unless you try, right?" Yuno breathes heavily as he looks at Asta with a smirk and a new resolve.

Asta just gives him a big smile back, "Right," he nods.

At the Church...

"Oh, Yuno you're back safe and soooouuuunnnnnddd!!!!" The old priest wines as tears pour from his eye like a water fountain while he hugs Yuno, who simply had a blank look on his face at the overaction. Father Orfari then holds him up to his face, "Who knows what could've happened to you staying out at night by yourself in the forest!"

"I was fine," Yuno holds up his hands, "Asta took me to his camp and let me spend the night."

Orfari sighs, "Seriously Yuno, you need to be more careful," he says setting the youth on the ground, "Honestly. It's bad enough Asta stays out there in the wilds by himself for a boy your age by now you too. I already worry about Asta. I'm going to have a heart attack if you start too! Why were you even out there that late anyways?"

"You can relax Father," Asta says as he helps with the church's pot potato field. "Yuno came to tell me about the new Sister coming today. By the time he reached me the sun was already setting and it would've been dark long before we even made it halfway here. I took him to my place to spend the night. I fed him and had him take a bath," he props the hoe against his shoulder. "I told him a couple of stories then we went to sleep. Got up and came right back here right when the sun was coming up. No big deal, no one hurt."

"Asta, it's bad enough you stay out there all alone," Orfari sighs. "We all worry about you here ya know. Even though you just showed up out of nowhere and wondered into town everyone here at the church sees you as part of the family. Everyone in town thinks of you as one of their own. I wish you'd just come live here with the rest of us. It has to be hard living out there on your own."

Asta just gives a confident shit-eating grin, "It sure is!" The father falls over with a thud, "But that's part of what makes it fun!" He says as he starts hoeing again. "Being able to live out there is a lot harder than it would be in town for sure, but the rewards that challenges provide are worth their overall outcome," He sets the hoe against the wall and helps Father Orfari to his feet while looking around, "Like I told Yuno last night. You can't overcome anything unless you try, and putting forth the effort to try and never giving up is the strongest magic of all."

He smiles at the priest.

Father Orfari stares at Asta for a moment amazed at the lad's words, then he lunges at Asta with tears streaming from his face, "Oh Asta, Your growing up so-" before he immediately hit the stone wall as Asta went over to you.

"The thing I didn't tell you though was that you have to pick that something to strive for first," Asta placed his hands on Yuno's shoulders, "Then try with all you might to get to it by getting strong."

Yuno stares at Asta who was smiling at him and then smirks, "Asta, I'm going to become the wizard king one day! Then i'll change this land for the better!"

Asta blinks, and smiles back, "Sounds Like a plan," he says holding out a fist, "And anytime you need a kick in the pants I'll be there right alongside you to back you up. You're not the only one who wants to be king after all!"

Yuno's face hardens with a confident smile and returns the fist bump, "Then that's means we're rival from today!"

"Even when the other doesn't become the Wizard King," Asta says warmly, "We'll still be brother's, so that's means I'll still have your back even when I'm on the throne."

"Not unless I have yours," Yuno pushes harder into Asta's fist.

"Then you best start catching up and get as strong as you can," Asta says as he grabs Yuno's forearm with his free hand and then turns around while also crouching down. He then proceeds to flip the black-haired kid on his back with no effort at all on his part, "Cause as it stands, you're eating my dust!" Asta snickers.

Yuno quickly gets back to his feet and runs for the hoe to beat him to it, "Not so fast. This one's mine, you use one of those," he points to the other gardening tools. "Then we can get started."

Yuno went for another hoe and immediately went to work. They worked till late noon. Yuno was doing his best to keep up with Asta but found himself sorely lacking in the stamina and muscle department. Father Orfari soon came out, bandage on his nose, with a tray with ice water on it.

"Thank you two so much for all your hard work," He says, "how about a break and coming with me to greet our new sister?"

"I can... keep going," Yuno wheezes as he raises his hoe above his head.

Asta places a hand on his shoulder, "Resolve is good but don't wear yourself out either Yuno," he says as he motions with his head, "We've done enough for one day. Let's take a break and see the new sister." he motions walking away as he takes his water and chugs it down. "Thanks, father," he says returning the glass as Yuno comes over.

"I wonder if he'll start staying closer now," Orfari asks himself quietly.

It didn't talk long before Sister Lily Aquaria arrived through the front gate of the church and all of the children rushed out to meet her.

"Well hello there everyone," she says with a bright arm smile.

"Hello there sister Lily," Father Orfari says as he comes out to greet the new nun. "I must express my sincerest gratitude for coming all the way out here and helping with the church."

"Father Orfari," Sister Lily says with a giggle, "It's so good to see you again after all this time and I must thank you for opening up your home to me." She bows slightly then looks at all the children as they all started to compliment her, "And these dear ones must be you children. It's so good to meet all of you." She then does a headcount, "Wait there are only four here, I thought you had five?"

"Ohoho..." Orfari strokes his beard. "They seem to have taken a shine to you rather quickly Sister, but these aren't all the children we have here. The two oldest," he turns and looks over his shoulder to the field, "Have been busy working in the field since this morning."

"Two?" Lily tilts her head, "Oh did you get another one sense your last visit to the commune?"

"Something like that," Orfari moves to the side to show Yuno and Asta racing each other to get there first. Asta was first naturally, "This is Asta. He's somewhat of the resident wild child. This is Yuno our soft-spoken kindhearted boy," He says placing his hands on the boys' heads, "Technically Asta isn't actually an orphan here. He just wandered into town one day and has been living off and on with us since then.."

"You're pretty," Asta says.

"Why thank you, Asta," Lily smiles. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did," Asat points out before placing his hands behind his head.

"Asta be nice," Yuno says as he finally regains his breath, "Nice to meet you ma'am I'm Yuno, and the monkey is Asta."

"Guilty," Asta raises a hand with his tongue stuck out. "And go ahead and ask me anything you want Sister."

"Um... yes," Sister Lily shakes of the dynamic of the two, "Asta, Father Orfari says you live here off and on. What'd he mean by that?"

"It's complicated," Asta says with his tongue slightly hanging out. "But I don't actually live here but up in the forest," he points in the distance. Sister Lily looks out and is shocked to hear and see where Asta is motioning to. "I come into town and help out here and around the village. Some people call me Vagabond for it," he smiles.

"You live out there by yourself?!" Sister Lily says in shock. "I can't let this stand. A boy your age stays all alone in some hole in the ground in the mountains!"

"Sorry but you don't have much of a choice in the matter," Asta shrugs, "I'm free to do as I want."

"I-"

"Sister please don't try and get involved with the way he lives," Father Orfari hold up a hand. "I and many of the villagers have tried to get him to come and stay in town to no avail. He's been living on his own out there for nearly four and a half months."

Yuno steps in, "Asta has everything he needs out there," He says. 'I stayed with him last night. He has a house, a garden, fish, and even a bath!"

"But winter will be coming in soon," Lily says as she turns to face Asta, "What will you do when it gets cold? Most of the animals will be hibernating then. The fishing holes will freeze over along with the ground meaning no crops."

"I've already thought of that," Asta holds up I hand, "I'll just come down and stay here for the winter and help around the village and church more. Once the snow clears then I'll head back up."

Everyone's eyes got big. "Really, your going to come stay here?"

"Makes more sense than moving on to a new location. With it being this late in the year I can't stock up on supplies, at least not enough for four months. If I did it would barely be enough," Asat shrugs. "Besides, I like it here. Nice people and I've gotten pretty attached to the church and my family. And I can't just leave my rival high and dry after we just started to heat things up, can I ?" he winks ay Yuno.

"Rivals?" everyone looks from Asta to Yuno.

---

Three months later, Winter...

Months have passed since Asta and Yuno had become rivals and the two never stopped competing with one another. They would always spur the other on in some way or another. Yuno had a hard time keeping up with Asta in the physical and labor department as a whole but that didn't stop him from trying and improving his own body. Asta naturally couldn't keep up with Yuno in the magic department, until his weather magic starts to reawaken after its near eight month dormancy, though Asta didn't use it at all.

The boys were currently out sparring with each other. Yuno had gotten Asta to teach him fight back when the situation required fist over magic and helped him develop several unorthodox spells. It greatly helped the boy build his confidence. parring was one of their favorite pass times and doing it out in the snow didn't even affect them. Sister Lily would often scold them for pushing themselves to hard to which they would say it wasn't hard enough.

"Alright Yuno I think we should call it a day," Asta breathes heavily as he jumps back, dodging Yuno's wind fist.

'What?" Yuno says out of breath, "Afraid?"

"No," Asta says as he moves to the right and hold of Yuno's arm, and easily flips him on his back. "It's getting late and I don't want to get another lecture about staying out roughhousing by Sister Lily. We already take enough heat from that pretty nun than we already about working up a sweat in the cold."

"The way you talk its almost like you have a crush on her," Yuno says slyly.

"Not a chance," Asta firmly says crossing his arms over his chest. "Yes, I won't deny she's very pretty but- One. She's a nun, meaning she has taken vows to never marry. Two. She's like three times our age!" He shouts throwing his sweat towel in Yuno's face with a thick splat. "Most importantly, Three. I have girls waiting for me back home and we promised ourselves to each other. Once I become the Wizard King I plan on returning home and making them mine!" He boldly proclaims.

"Uh?" Yuno plainly blinks, "You're engaged?"

"Nope," Asta rubs his nose confidently, "But after my folks died they took care of me for a while and helped me get back on my feet. Their families didn't see the benefit of taking me in even if I knew my parents' craft. I was to young and they couldn't risk adding another mouth to feed, so I left. I promised I'd come back to get the girls as soon as I could."

"They're just some sort of fantasy you made up isn't it," Yuno deadpans.

"Believe what you want," Asta threw up his hands. "Once your mind is made up there is no changing it," he says walking away. "Come on. We still have to deliver that message for Sister Lily, bet I make it there before you!" he says running off.

"Not a chance!" Yuno says taking of after Asta.

The boys went and deliver the message.

"Go one get out of here!" A bar keep says throwing a long blonde-haired man out of his tavern.

"Hey I was still drinking ya know!" He rebukes, his face flushed.

"Yea, drinking and not paying!" the barkeeper pokes his chest. "Come back with some coin and settle your tab then you can start again, Until that's done I don't wanna see hide nor hair of your drunk ass here!" he yells, push the drunkard down into the sun. "Ya got coin ya get drink!" he says slamming the door

Just as the drunk starts to hiss and complain he pulls himself out of the snow and sees a couple of kids run by. He takes notice that the two of them have gold of some sort. The black haired one in the form of a necklace and the grey haired one in the form of some sort of a hip adornment. The then smiles evilly and starts to follow them. They then go into a house and he waits.

A few minutes pass and the dynamic duo come out waving goodbye before they start to make their way home. Out of an alley comes a drunk from behind them. He reaches out for Yuno quietly but Asta quickly reacts taking a firm grip on the drunks as he then sweeps round and grabs on with his free hand to proceed to flip the drunk forward onto his butt.

"You little brat!" the drunk hisses in pain as he staggers to his feet. "You two are gonna gimme those shinies! I need them more than you!"

"What for, to drink?" Asta proclaims. "We smelled you as soon as we passed that alley way back there," he thumbs over his shoulder.

"You reek of booze and barf!" Yuno adds.

"I didn't ask you for details," he breathes out as he readies to pounce, "now gimme!" he lungs for Asta this time.

Asta readies to jump back but slips on the frozen ground allowing the drunk to get a hold of the crown at his waist. "Mine the drunk smirks.

Asta's eyes widen and then he grits his teeth and as his face forms into an angry scowl while his pupils become slits and his teeth sharpen into fangs. He quickly jabs to knuckles into the drunk's elbow joint hard. The man yelps in pain causing him to let go. Asta plant's his feet on the ground and grips the man's arm again, while also taking in a sharp breath. He quickly and easily throws the man over his shoulder again but with much more force as he slams the drunk into the ground causing him to bounce upward slightly.

Yuno then holds his hand up and blast the drunk with a torrent of wind into a trash crate.

The man shakily looks up at the kid with one open eye, "What the hell are you freaks?" he breaths out before passing out

"Kids that know how to defend themselves," Yuno says before turning to Asta who was looking into the crown as the drunk had managed to pull it from of the youth. "Him touching the crown really made you mad. I don't think I've ever seen you so actually look at some one so angry before. Are you gonna be okay?"

"Sorry Yuno," Asta says while bends down and picks up the crown, its purple gem reflecting Asta back at himself. He picks up the crown and feels a surge rush through his hands.

"Asta, please help me?!"

Asta freezes as his eyes widen as he recognized that voice, "Twilight..." he says to himself in a daze.

"Asta, are you alright?" Yuno asked quite concerned.

Asta shook his head coming back to reality, "Yuno?" he turns his head looking back at his brother. "What's going on?" he then feels a faint warmth from the crown in his cold. Looking down to his hands sees the crown is glowing. "Ah...

"Sorry Yuno but we need to go now!" Asta says as he grabs the confused Yuno by his collar and takes in another sharp breath, feeling a sharp pain in his longs this time having not recovered from the first one yet, "I don't care about pain right now," he says gritting his teeth as he ran down the path at tops stopped making it to the church in just a few minutes.

Asta sets Yuno down as he grabs his knee caps huffing, "I'll... be back... later..." He says turning around and looking at the forest while hold his chest in pain.

"Asta what's going on?!" Yuno asks, demanding an answer. "You've been acting weird since picking up the crown. Tell me so I can help!"

"Sorry Yuno," Asta looks over his shoulder, "But this is something only I can do. Tell the other not to worry about me," he says taking another sharp breath and controlling the blood flow of his legs. "See you... in a couple of days at most," he says taking off at his top speed, pushing his muscles to the max as he bounds down the road, all while pleading with whatever god he could, "Please.. let it be her and let her be okay...."

In the forest...

Asta rushes through the forest. Even at his top speed it still took him fifteen minutes to reach the wood's edge and another ten to get to the ruins of the Elven Village that he'd appeared in when he first came to this world. He collapsed just as he got into the village's first few toppled buildings, coughing vigorously.

"Come on body," Asta wheezes as he crawls along through the snow cover ground, fighting through the pain surging through his body, but most of all his legs. The Crown of Friendship glowing ever brighter the closer he got to the old stone tablet he'd woken up in front of months ago.

He managed to claw his way to his feet again and started to hobble along, "Just a little more," he huffs with the crown tightly grasped in his hand. His love for its bearer being the driving force through his exhausted body. Slowly but assuredly the massive stone tablet came into view, the crown's glow and warmth radiating from its metal and gem. As the tablet came into view Asta saw something lying in the snow in front of it. Asta's eyes widened as he rushed over, adrenaline coursing through him.

He knelt down as the form of a young girl around his current physical age with dark sapphire blue hair with a purple and raspberry streak on the left side. She was wearing the exact same nightgown Twilight had been wearing when she, Asta, and Sunset Shimmer had fallen through the portal.

Slowly she opens her eyes to look at him, "Asta..." she says weakly before passing out again.

"Hang in there Twi!" Asta said with tears as he hugs her before lifting her onto his back, "I'm here. I got get you warmed up and fast," he says looking around for any still standing structure only to find none. "I don't have a choice. I've got to get her to my camp," he says as he trudged along as the temperature starts to steadily drop while the sky darkened with night.

He regulates his body temperature and the air around him to using what firebending he had access to keep himself and Twilight warm as he made his way to his camp. He kicks op the door to the house open, walking in he lit an oil lamp for light before he looks around

"Good, no snow or ice," he says quickly was walking in with a palm held up a lite with a small flame. "I guess it's a good thing I weatherproofed and stocked up in case I needed to spend a night," he walks over and sets Twilight down against the wall and shuts the door tight to keep out the chill.

"First thing's first. I need to get a fire going then we need to get these wet clothes off and dry on," he remarks as he walks over to a lumber pile and then throws a few longs in the fire pit. "I don't have time to do detail work," he grabs several tinder bundles and places them under the logs before igniting them with his flames.

"That should get it going for now. Water is another thing but luckily there is plenty of snow," Asta said grabbing an empty clean pot and waking outside, filling it with snow before placing it on a hook above the fire. "Alright, wet clothes time." he looks over to twilight and his face turns pink. "Come on Asta! This isn't the first time you've seen her naked before, well it is in this world anyways," he says as he grabs a large shirt that would do as a dress of sorts for now. "Alright let's d-do t-this..." Asta gulps.

After about fifteen minutes of wrestling with wet fabric due to closed eyes on Asta's part, he finally had Twilight in the dry shirt and tucking into several blankets. Asta then got himself changed and set the wet clothes to dry out by the fire that got a blanket for himself. He sat against the wall, fatigue finally setting into his bones.

"I won't do much good for her if I collapse from exhaustion," Asta rubs his eye before throwing another log on the fire.

"But... I need to... watch..." his eyes started to close on their own, "Twi..." he mouthed as he drifted to sleep

The next morning...

"Mmm... Asta..." Twilight groggily opens her eyes.

Her body was slightly damp with sweat but yet that was smoothing she got used to from sharing a bed with three other creatures most of the time. Still, that didn't mean she liked being sticky and smelly. She decide to try and throw off the blanket only to find there was more than one.

"What's going on?" She asks having finely freed herself from the blanket.

She sits up holding her head when a heavy thud caught her attention. Looking over Twilight found her Element of Harmony laying on the ground next to her. Her eyes widened as everything came flooding back to her. Twilight's eyes began to fill with tears as her heart was flooded with sadness.

Reaching out she takes the Element in her grasp, "So, that means I lost him after all," she holds the element up and looks into the lavender star. "What do I do now?" she says as she stares into her reflection. "I need to get back to Equestria first but I don't even know where to start for that."

Her attention is then caught by something else. Looking down her eyes sharking, "My chest is gone!" she cries out. "My tail! My wings! Even my focusi crystal is missing!" she shrieks in terror as she stands up. "What happened to my body?!"

She was immediately interrupted by an irritably familiar sound.

*SNORE!!!*

"Asta! WILL YOU WAKE UP AND HELP ME!" She yells and she looks over in the corner of the room.

*SNORE!!!*

"I'm hearing things," She shook her head. "Asta isn't here. He's... I don't know where but not here," she says as she looks around to the drawing covered walls, "Wherever here is?" she says as she goes over to the still low burning oil lamp and turning up the flame to light up a good portion of the wall.

"These are charcoal drawings," Twilight says looking them over," they look a lot like the ponies back home in Waillen," she stops when she came to the far wall with the three largest drawings. She could tell immediately that these were done with a lot more love and care in mind but that wasn't what it was that caught her attention, it was who the drawing were of.

"Fluttershy, Aurora, Applejack," Twilight stares, "and me..."

*SNORE!!!*

Her attention was drawn to the corner. She rushes over and pulls the person snoring up with all the strength she could muster, "WHO-" Twilight started to yell only to stop and stare again. In her grasp was the snoring form of a boy how was nearly identical to her husband, with a goof smile included.

"This...." she says and drops him causing him to hit his head as she backs up in shock.

"OW!" The boy calls out. "OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!" He while rolling around on the floor holding his head.

"THAT HURTS YA KNOW!" he hisses while sitting up and rubbing the back of his head.

"Asta..." Twilight manages to wheeze out.

Asta suddenly stops rubbing the back and looks up at Twilight, "Twi, thank the gods you awake," he sighs with a smile.

"ASTA!" She tackles him and wraps her arms around his neck crying, "Is it really you?! Are you really my Asta?! I thought that you were gone! I thought I'd never see you again!"

Asta warps his arms around her tenderly and snuggles into her, "It's me Twilight," he tightens his grip slightly on her, "I'm sorry I worried you like that. I thought the same when I got here too. First, we need to get you back into bed. You still have a slight fever." He says standing up wincing from the soreness of his own body but pushes through it as he guides Twilight back to the bed. "Rest for a bit longer, I'll see what I can dig out of the cellar for breakfast." he smiles tucking her in.

Asta disappears down a trap door and is gone for about ten minutes before returning with a small piece of frozen meat and a few frozen veggies. "Sorry Twilight but I brought most of the food down to the church when I moved into it for the winter. Mainly one thing that would keep when frozen here. The meat is actually jerky but we have it at least. With the stuff here I can at least make you some broth to help keep you fed and help with your cold."

"It's fine," Twilight smiles. "I'm just happy you're okay. It looks like you've been here a while though. Can you tell me what happened after we separated and why we turned into kids?"

"That much I can do," Asta nods. "Let me get some more snow for water then I'll tell you while fixing breakfast. In the meantime, You lay back down."

"Okay," Twilight says solemnly knowing he was just worried about her.

Asta was true to his word. While he was cooking he told Twilight all that he know and all about the world they were in. From his time waking up in this first at the spot he found her on up through the past several months to yesterday when the Element of Magic started to have a reaction.

Asta gave Twilight a bowl of broth before fixing one for himself and taking a seat in front of the fire, "That's all that's happened."

"Have you come across that mare that was with us?" Twilight asked as she looks into the eyes of her reflection in the broth.

"No," Asta shakes his head, throwing another log on the fire. "She'll probably show up soon though. She and I lost sight of one another when I wrenched the crown from her grip right after I thought I..."

"Lost me..." Twilight says softly.

"Hmm..." Asta nods before slurping is soup. "Good news is we have your grimoire but the bad news is you don't have any spells in it anymore. I can access my abilities and swords but they're very weak and I can barely lift the sword that I was holding onto when I showed up here. I've gotten stronger and have been able to get some of my martial arts back but for the most part -" he sighs, "I'm just a kid who's a bit stronger than average. At the moment I'm just playing the part of Asat the best I can my way."

"That brings us back to me," she says still looking at herself, "What my story here and where do I fit in?"

"You'll fit in next to me Twi," Asta says abruptly before turning to look at her. "You my wife! We may look like kids but we're still married. I'm here for. Besides," he sighs, "We're brought here for a reason. My brother told me I would face some difficult stuff in the future when I saw him, or an astral projection of him on the train that day we showed up in the Crystal Empire. This is the only thing I can think he meant."

"Why didn't you say anything to us?"

"Because it just would've worried you when we were supposed to be there to support you!" Asta retorts. and sighs. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you girls about it but I don't think it would change anything."

Twilight nods, "You're probably right," she sighs, "But back to me. What is the plan?"

"The plan is to get you to the church when you're feeling better," Asta throws up a hand. "Yuno's already seen your picture and after seeing you have the crown he will start to put the two together. We can trust him to keep stuff to himself for the most part but be careful what you say." He stands up, "Eat. I'll be back in a few. I'm going to the underground spring to set it up for a bath. I know you'll need one."

Twilight blushed.

"Then I 'll tell you about my made-up past." He threw a hand up.

---

Three days later...

Sister Lily stood in the kitchen cooking a pot potato keesh. She let out a worried sigh, "It's been three days since Asta ran off to the forest by himself. What could've been so important that he'd run off by himself at night? I've never seen Yuno so worried either. Those two are practically joined at the hip."

"Whatever it is I'm sure Asta is fine," Yuno comments as he walks into the kitchen. "He said he'd be back in a few days at most Sister. One thing I know for sure about Asta is that he's never broken a promise to me before."

"If you say so Yuno, but that doesn't stop me from worrying about him," Sister Lily shakes her head. She felt a tug on her dress. She turns and looks down to see the concerned face of Recca, the second youngest of the children.

"Where's Asta?" She asks. She was rather attached to Asta as he never shooed her away when he was working or training at the church.

He always let her watch, but always made sure to tell her to stay back as he didn't want her to get hurt by him when he was training, especially when he swung his practice sword. What really had an affect on her was when he saved her from a wild boar that came across her and Nash when they were looking for berries in the forest.

He was able to lure the beast into a trap he'd set by provoking it with a makeshift spear and something else that she couldn't figure out. Asta was different from normal children in many ways but one way, in particular, was the presence he gave off some times, like the air around him becoming heavy and it becomes harder to breathe, but Recca still knew he had a good heart.

Lily bends down and strokes Recca's head, "I don't know Recca," she smiles, "But he should be home anytime."

"Sister Lily!" Nash runs in huffing.

"Oh my goodness, Nash. Are you alright?"

"It's Asta! He's back!" He points drawing to the front of the church, "He sent me to get you! He said someone needs treatment!"

"What?!" She says, "Yuno watch the food!" Yuno nods as she rushes to the front of the church. She sees Asta laying someone wrapped in a blanket on one of the pews. "Asta thank god you're okay!" she says rushing over and hugging him.

"Sister Lily," Asta pushes her back. "I'll take any punishment later. Right now I need you to use your healing magic on her," he points.

"Her," Lily quickly goes over and pulls the hood down to reveal Twilight, her face flushed and her breathing labored. Lily puts her hand on her forehead, "She's burning up!" she notes with wide eyes.

"I wanted to wait to bring her when she was feeling better but the weather looked like it was turning into a storm." Asta clenches his fist, "And We didn't have enough supplies to hold up in my camp for much longer. I was going to take her to the doctor but the church was closure and the storm was coming in."

"I think she'll be okay with some bed rest," Lily comforts Asta as she checks Twilight. Pulling down the cloak she notes that Twilight was holding the crown closer to her chest, "Asta, is she the reason you went into the forest?"

"Yes," he said.

"We'll help her get better," Sister Lily says while she opens her grimoire.

A blue aura cover Twilight. Soon her face loses much of its reddish hew while her breathing returns to a more mild state.

"I've done what I could," Sister Lily close her grimoire and put it away. "She can sleep in my bed for now," She says as she moves to pick Twilight up but is beat to it by Asta. "I should be the one to carry her Asta."

"No," he stares sternly. "I'll carry and I'll help look after her."

Sister Lily had never seen him look at her like this before and though it was a bit unnerving, she could still till it was because he deeply cared for this younger girl.

"Alright then," She smiles, "Follow me." Sister Lily brought Asta to her room and tucked Twilight in before leaving her to sleep. "Asta, who is she, and what does she have to do with you?" Lily looks down at the boy, "That crown meant a lot to you, and seeing that she has means she does too. What's going on?"

"She's from my homeland, or more accurately a village my family and I stayed in a lot," Asta peered into the room through the crack Lily had left in the door. "The crown is hers. She gave it to me after I left when. I promised to give it back when we met again. It's made of a special very type of magic the only she can use. The crown let me know she was nearby."

"So you went looking for her and found her," Lily pieces the story together. "We'll talk to Father Orfari and see what he has to say when he gets back from his trip in the next town over. I also want to know why she's here. You wouldn't happen to know would you?"

"Not my place to say sister," Asta shakes his head.

Sister Lily sighs, "Well, as long as she's here and not feeling well we'll all have to pitch in to nurse her back to health. You most of all though," she starts walking away, "She is someone special to you after all. Now come along, you must be starving."

Asta's stomach lets out a horrid growl. Not arguing he follows.

---

A few days later...

Twilight was over he cold but resigned to bed rest.

Naturally, when the father saw Asta back he was over the moon and then mad, then sad, then happy again. When Asta told why he'd left Father Orfari then proceeded to cry tears of joy and praise Asat for doing such a selfless thing. he was more than happy to let Twilight stay here with them, especially after hearing the story She and Asta had come up with. It was about her village being hit with a natural disaster and her running from slavers, with portions taken from stories Twilight had read in her book and the plot from one of Asta's rejected movie scripts.

Recca and Nash were currently questioning Twilight about herself and Asta.

"So you're from where Asta is from?" Recca asks Twilight.

"Yes," she nods while sitting up in bed.

Her fever had broken a couple of days before and she was feeling much better but Sister Lily and Father Orfari insisted she stay in bed for a couple of days to rest.

Nash notes the crown in Twilight's lap, "So that crown is yours then," he points and Twilight nods, "You know Asta never let anyone even get close or touch it."

"It's a very special artifact," Twilight says. "It means a lot to me. I'm glad he took such care of it."

"You know he likes you right?" Recca leans in, propping her head in her hands.

"Yea I do, and I like him too," Twilight giggle.

"No I mean like really likes you," Recca says hold her hands up in the shape of a heart, "I don't know a lot of adults even that would go out so late in winter to save someone unless it was their kid and even then that's only certain people."

"I know what you mean Recca," Twilight laughs. "Asta means that much to me too. It's why I gave him this," she pats her crown.

"Are you going to live here with us after you get better?" Nash spoke up.

"Hmmm..." Twilight pokes her cheek then smiles. "I will be for a little while at least. I don't have anywhere else to go after all, and this is where Asta is too."

"But Asta doesn't actually live here," Recca adds. "As much as Father Orfari begs and even after Sister Lily scolding him he still likes to live in the woods!"

"Its how he was raised when he lived with his parents Recca," Twilight says trying to stick with Asta's story. "He feels more at home there. Most likely he feels closer to his mom and dad."

"I guess," Nash scowls off to the side. "So when spring comes and everything thaws out you plan on going with him?"

"If that's what he wants then I won't stop him," Twilight nods. "If he wants me to stay here with you then I will do that instead. Besides," she smiles, "It's not like he doesn't come here or into the village half the time. Either way, we'll still be together."

"You're very positive about a lot of stuff aren't you?" Nash raises an eyebrow.

"I never used to be... believe it or not," Twilight giggles as she looks at her crown recalling her friends. "I thought I could live inside a world of only books, then made me go out and I made friends. After that, I met Asta and things started to get a lot... brighter."

"No offense but you don't talk like a kid some of the time," Nash points out. "More like an adult. Asta does that a lot too."

Recca buts in, "What do you except with how Asta grew up Nash," she scowls, "and Twilight just said she was a bookworm for most of her life!"

"Quit pestering her you two!" Asta raises his voice as he brings lunch. He turns and scowls, "No more questions while she eats. Now shoo," he motions with his hands. "Go help Yuno bring in firewood."

"Fine," Nash grumbles as he walks out of the room.

"Get some rest Twilight!" Recca smiles as she leaves.

Twilight smiles with a gentle wave while Asta sets a tray with soup next to her.

"They're good kids," she says turning to Asta, "I hope Aurora grows up with their demeanor."

"Honestly I'm hoping she grows up to be more like her mother," Asta rolls his eyes as he picks up the bowl, "Say Ah..."

"You know I'm perfectly capable of feeding myself mister," Twilight puffs up her cheeks.

"Yea I know but I want to do this," Asta remarks with a playful smirk pushing the spoon in Twilight's mouth. "We really haven't been able to spend personal time together at all. Not just you and I but also Aj too..." he sighs. "I see Shy more than anypony but that's mainly to help care for Aurora. Running the kingdom takes the rest of my time. I barely have time for pleasure."

"Do you feel like you don't deserve it?" Twilight asks as she has been thinking this over to. "Cause I don't think I earned the title of princess let alone queen... The only reason I have either is because I'm with you..."

"You deserve it more than me Twilight," Asta sighs, "You've defeated gods compared to my hostile take over of a city or fighting an evil king....'

"Asta.... you've saved thousands from slavery. You've saved an empire, you've taken on a literal goddess in an exhibition match," Twilight says grabbing his face and pulling it close to hers so she could look into his eyes. "Not to mention all the other stuff across worlds I've never seen! What've I done except blast a few villains with a Rainbow Death beam that only really purges away negativity."

She looks down at her crown.

"Tell you what," Asta puts his finger under his fingers under her chin, lifting her head to look in her fluorescent green eyes, "You stop doubting yourself and I'll stop doubting myself. It was you that gave me the hope to go on when I get here anyway. Your crown glowed and I knew you were still alive, somewhere. As long as we have each other we'll be okay."

He smiles.

"Thanks Asta, but the kids brought up something," She says getting serious, "What are we going to do come spring?"

"I'm going back to the mountains," Asta says seriously standing up, "The other pony still hasn't come through yet and we need to be there if she does. She may have come through already too," he adds, "Nonetheless, we need to train and be ready for the future here. I have a feeling we're going to be here a few years. We need to get our strength back before the grimoire ceremony when we turn fifteen. I don't know what will happen when we go but worse come to worse I'll sneak into the Tower and plant our books in it."

"You're the expert here so I'll follow your lead," Twilight nods.

"Don't be afraid to call me out on stuff either," Asta stands up. "You are still my wife, even if we are in the bodies of children."

"Do keep in mind how loud and what you say to," Twilight deadpans with a flat glare.

"Will do, hehehe...' Asta looks off to the side. "For now we get you better. Then we follow the timeline of this world as best we can but doing things our way."

"You point I'll follow," Twilight smiles, "I'm going to lay down for a bit," she yawns, "Go have some time with the kids..." She says dozing off.

"Get some rest Twi," Asta smiles softly, picking the tray and empty soup bowl. "I'll be back after a while," he says softly as he walks out of the room.

---

Spring time...

Twilight and Asta were currently standing outside the church smiling at everyone as they readied to depart.

"I can't believe you, Asta," Lily sighs, "It's bad enough you're going back to the forest but worse since you roped Twilight into!"

"I didn't force her," Asta throws up his hands, "And to be fair I lived out there for nearly two-thirds of the year by myself before winter."

"That's not my point!" Lily scolds the youth. "Children like you two should stay here where you can grow up happy and with other kids! With fam-"

Father Orfari had put his hand on Sister Lily's shoulder, "This enough Sister Lily. You and I both know once he has his mind made up there's no changing it. Besides," he smiles at Twilight and Asta, "We are their family. It's not like they're going away for a long time. We'll see them quite a few times in the week. Just know that you two are always welcome here."

"Thank you for all you've done for me since I arrived here," Twilight bows. "I'll be sure and come by whenever I can. Seeing as how Asta is the main plow horse around here-"

"Hey!"

"We'll be back quite often," she giggles along with all the other kids.

Yuno steps up and stares at Asta.

Asta holds up his fist with a smirk, "You better not become a slacker with me not being around here."

"Wouldn't dream of it, little Asta," Yuno bumps his fist against Asta's. "Who knows, I might even come just to rub your face in how good I get without you around!"

"See you all later," Asta waves and turns, walking down the path to the forest.

"Goodbye for now everypony," Twilight bows then quickly runs after Asta.

"Father," Lily whispers, "She just said everypony..."

"Pay it no mind dear sister," Father Orfari turns, "Just a slip of the tongue. Now let's fix lunch... with... out... ASTA. TWILIGHT. COME BACK! I CHANGED MY MIND! I WANT YOU TO LIVE HERE!" He balls as he tries to bottle out the front gate only to be slammed into the ground by a fist of water.

"Now Now," Sister Lily giggles with her grimoire float next to her, "We both know we couldn't stop them."

The kids could only shake their heads in disapproval.

The Forrest...

Asta leads the way through the forest without a care in the world. Twilight anxiously trailed after the boy, still a bit overwhelmed by all of it as she had rarely been allowed outside due to her cold. It was only in the waning weeks of the winter that she could go out with the other children but even then Sister Lily or Father Orfari kept a vigil on her.

"I can't wait to start studying these plants," Twilight finally spoke in awe.

"You can study them all you want Twi but most of them are going to be common trees we've got back in Equestria or the Savannahs," Asta motions for her to keep up. "If you really want to study that badly though you should consider going to the local school," he retorts readjusting his pack.

"They have a school here?!" Twilight said with big eyes.

"Yea," Asta nods as he sets his backpack down to sit on a rock. He takes off his shoes and firmly plants them on the ground, working the wet soil under his soles. "That's better. And yes Hage has a school for basic stuff but most of all magic to. Sister Lily is a Teacher there," He points out and rubs his chin thinking. "Now that I think about it, it would be a good idea for you to go. It would not only help keep up appearances but keep them from worrying too much. It will also benefit you to know how magic workers in this world. I have an understanding of it myself but I rarely use magic at all to."

"What will you be doing while I'm in the village then?" Twilight asks as Asta stands up.

"Mostly working and training to get my body, powers, and other skills back in shape," He explains as he hefts the large sack on his back again, "But I plan on taking it slow and easy while we're here. I want to go home but at the same time, we can't frit over it as we have no clue how to open the gate. Our best bet is to watch for Shimmer if she hasn't come through the gate already."

"Ans what if she already has?"

"Then we wait for her to come to us," Asta says pulling a tree branch back to reveal his camp. "We have the crown, so she'll be coming to us. Not to mention I recognized her magic from the original storyline. She's going to cross paths with u eventually."

"If you say so Asta," Twilight sighs.

Asta opens the house to reveal a moist atmosphere but dry lodging, "I know you're not one for waiting long periods of time Twi but what else can we do?" he remarks as he walks in and sets the bag down before using his firebending to light an oil lamp, "We're literally adults in the bodies of kids. Not to mention our powers aren't nearly one-tenth of what they were. The best thing to do is wait it out and play our parts in this world while also trying to better ourselves and get our powers back to where they need to be to face the coming threats. It won't be all work and no play though. I plan on having a good bit of fun along the way too. I waited a hundred and twenty-five years to get back to you girls once; what's another nine or ten going to hurt. Best of all I have you this time around at least."

"Okay then," Twilight gave a weak smile.

"I know it's not the best right now but at least we have each other and people to spend it with," He says as he pulls her into a hug. "For now let's focus on getting the homestead back into running shape, Okay?" He lifts her head.

"Okay..."

Two years later...

"Come on Yuno," Asta taunts.

"You're not going to win this one Lil' Asta," Yuno smirks as he charges and delivers a pam thrust forward.

Asta easily pushes Yuno's attack off to the side and readies to deliver a counter thrust. Yuno grits his teeth, ready to take the blow to the chin.

"Boop," Asta says as he puts a finger on the tip of Yuno's nose.

"Damn it Asta!" Yuno yells as he uses his free hand only for Asta to move to the side.

"You know I hate it when you do that!" Yuno follows up spinning around with a kick. Asta just barely manages to pull his head back enough to keep the blow from connecting but didn't take into account the wind magic.

Asta was sent rolling backward into Twilight's lap as she sat in the shade of the tree in the back of the church reading. She felt Asta's head hit her calf. She lowers the book and looks at Asta, his eyes were swirling. Twilight closes the book and sets it off to the side before leaning over the lad with a sly smirk on her face.

"Good afternoon," She says as he pulls a strand of her dark purple hair behind her ear.

Asta quickly shakes it off, "Not really but if you're here-"

"Enough lovey-dovey stuff you two!" Nash says as he hangs up the clothes while the others wash. "God I hope I never find a girlfriend just to act like that."

"Hey, we're not that bad!" Asta remarks in protest.

"You're a lot worse than You realize," Yuno points out. "Also... my win."

"Yea, I agree with the second one," Asta points at Yuno, "But I won't lose the next one. Good move with incorporating wind magic into your move to."

"If you say so," Yuno looks off to the side. "So what's the score now?"

"Thundered to three fifty-five," Recca says, "Asta still in the lead. Honestly, we all know you won't beat him unless you use your magic but yet you chose to only bust it out at the very last minute. Meanwhile, Asta never uses magic at all. I'm beginning to think he doesn't have it all."

"Yea the only thing he's got going for him is his muscles," Nash adds. "Honestly Twilight I don't see why you like him so much. You have most of the boys in the village falling all over themselves just to see you yet you choose the short,"

One insult arrow pierced Asta.

"Loud..."

Another arrow.

"No magic..."

Another arrow.

"He's a knucklehead..."

Another arrow.

"Short.."

Another arrow.

"Oh come on guys you don't have to be so mean!" Asta pleads with watering eyes and a runny nose. "Words can really hurt ya know!"

Suddenly Asta heard a familiar voice he hadn't heard in some time in the back of his mind.

'Save her'

"Asta are you alright?" Twilight asked.

"I thought I..."

'Save her'

"Did Yumo kick scramble what brains ya had?!" Nash laughs

'Save her'

"Nash can't you be nicer to him," Twilight sighs. "He does a lot around here."

Asta grabs his head." Why are you..." He grunts through pain.

'Save her'

"Asta!" Twilight says as she tries to pull him up, "What's wrong?!"

'PLEASE! SAVE HER!'

Images flashed through Asta's mind. Then the image of a woman with Ash blonde hair and fluorescent green with tears running down her face and blood on her mouth.

"Liebe," Asta mumbles to himself before shakily getting to his feet. "I have to go..."

"Asta hold on!" Twilight says.

He puts a hand on her shoulder, "Stay here until I get back. There... is something I HAVE... to do..." he says as he goes towards the gate of the church.

Sister Lily rushes out having been gotten by the others, "Asta where are you going? The others said you keeled over!"

"I've got to leave," He says as he slowly continues down the road.

"You're not going anywhere until I examine you," Lily demands.

"Get out of my way," Asta glares.

Yuno takes notice that Asta's eyes are slitted and his canines have sharpened. He stands in front of everyone and activates his wind magic.

"Get out of my way Yuno," Asta says making a fist. "I don't have time for games!"

Yuno deactivates his magic and moves aside, "Let him go. There's no stopping him once he gets like that and you all know it."

"Thank you," Asta says, putting a hand on Yuno's shoulder before taking a runner's position. In a flash, he was off.

Mere minutes later he arrives at his and Twilights homestead. He walks over to a far wall and pulls a few bricks from it to reveal a hollow. From inside the space, he pulled out a few items. Mainly clothing but it was what the clothing was wrapped around that he wanted. He pulled the clothing off to reveal his grimoire. He placed a hand on it and he got the same mental scream and images he'd got earlier.

"So it was you, Liebe," Asta sighs as he takes the sword he'd arrived without of the wall too. "This is the best I got," he says looking over the sword. "I'll need a disguise too but have plenty of cloaks thanks to the materials from the village. I really need a mask."

I then get and idea and rushes over to the woodpile. He takes a good-sized log before going outside to the bathing area and throwing the long in the bath. He used his bending to force water back into the log and caused it to expand in certain areas. When he was done he pulls the log out of the bath and used his bending to pull the excess water for the new mask he made.

"Not my best work but it'll do," Asta nods before attaching a string to the mask and placing it on his face. Looking around he made sure he could see. "Good enough," he says taking off his mask and throwing it in a bag with some food. He then walks over to a nearby rack and pulls off an oversized hooded cloak.

He wraps it around his sword and attaches a belt to it. He places the sword over his shoulder before getting his satchel and placing his grimoire in it.

Walking over to the bath uses air bending to force water into a mist before using waterbending to turn it into a staircase he used to get to the cloud.

"I can't risk using antimagic as I don't know if I have access to it yet or have a way to replenish it if I do," He says while he uses bending to ride through the air on the cloud. "I'm counting on you to recognize where we need to go, Liebe..." Asta remarks as he effortlessly moves through the air above everyone's heads, one of his eyes changing to a bright red with a slitted pupil.

Hours Later

"I've been flying for a while now," Asta remarks as he rides his cloud through the cool night sky. "Hmmm... Alright then," he says before using his bending to head towards an open field.

Asta jumps to the ground. "You recognized the town in the distance so that must mean we're not too far off from the location right."

"I mean we're pretty far into the outer lands of the grand magic zones," He says while looking around. "I won't be much use to you or her if I'm too tired to think straight. Besides," He adds as he uses earth bending to dig a hole in the ground. "According to you we still have a week or so before it happens so we have a bit of time to find the cabin. But again, if I'm to tired then I'll be of no use to help anyone. I need to get some food then some sleep. I'll be up in a few hours so let me rest for a bit," he sighs as he pulls out a pot potato keesh.

"I miss Aj's cooking," He pouts before digging into the fibery meal.

First Light...

Asta decides to walk into the town he'd seen the previous night. He briefly stops on the outside on the road that leads into the town. He removes his mask and looks down to s specific spot just in front of him. He kneels and places a hand on the spot just in front of him, a line of tears streaming from his red eye.

"So this is the right place for sure," He sighs placing the mask on his face and pulling his hood up.

Suddenly a man chasing a group of kids charges out of the town with a stick in his hand.

"I'll beat you brats so bad you'll never steal from me again!"

The kids suddenly all see Asta and cower behind him.

"Haaaa... I don't have time for this," He sighs before the man stops in front of him.

"Hey, you better not get in my way! Those brats stole a ham and I need to teach them a lesson!" He eyes Asta up and down, "You're one of them aren't ya?!"

Asta glares, "Leave these kids alone and get out of my way you old fo-"

Asta didn't even get to finish his sentence the old man nails him over the head with the stick, also knocking his mask off on the ground.

"Hehe... Now a few more!" He laughs as he starts to mercilessly beat Asta who stands there and takes it before the old man lets out a sigh. "You're a tough one but you're now," he smirks as blood drip from the weapon.

Asta looks up and glares, "Are you done?" he seethes with blood dripping down his face. The old man starts to back while dropping the stick. "The kids are starved," he motioned having noticed the poor state of the children, "Can you blame them for wanting to survive!"

"No all you really want is to beat something and be happy you got your fucking rocks off do it!" He yells causing the old man to stumble backwards, "Here, let me help!" He roars, reeling back he then barries his fist up to his wrist in the ground in between the old man's legs.

The old man speechless soon faints.

Asta pulls his water bottle out and uses waterbending to heal his head before fetching his mask and putting it on his face. He looks at the kids, "You better start living on your own and to stealing lest you end up dead quicker. There won always be someone to safe you," he remarks as he walks down the road through the town.

"Yes, no more distraction," he says to himself walking on as the wind blows his cloak.

Days Later

"We've been looking for days," Asta complains. "Hey, don't give me sass! I'm doing all I can. I've never been in this area before and the fact it's in the grand magic zones doesn't help!"

He sighs as he descends from over the woodlands he was over, landing his cloud in a clearing of wildflowers.

"I'm hungry," he says as he hops off the cloud. "Don't give me hell cause I need for asshole!"

Ast reaches up and pulls his mask off his face and looks around the field of flowers, "Pretty place," he sighs as his stomach gurgles. "Alright stomach I hear ya..." he rolls his eyes before reaching into his pack and pulls out a chunk of dry meat and biting into it.

Time passes while Asta busies himself with his meal. He goes over his dwindling inventory making mental notes of what he needs and how much longer he can stay out here. If it was just him he could survive on his own much longer but he had Twilight back home and the orphanage. They expected him back in a few days and he really missed his girl.

"Hmm..." Asta is pulled from his thoughts as he hears rustling and voices in the tree line. He quickly jumps back on his cloud and uses his airbending to fly high into the sky. Once he feels he'd reached a reasonable height he stops bending the air and looks down.

After a while, a woman comes out of the tree line. Asta's gaze narrows to get a better look at her and he recognizes her from his time on earth.

She was a slim woman with green eyes and medium-length, ash blonde hair with a single strand protruding upwards from the center of her head, similar to Asta in overall facial features. Her apparel was average for someone of this world. She wore a white shirt with sleeves that reached just past her elbows. Over this, she wore an open, dark-colored vest and two belts. One belt held her pouch on her left side, while the other held a smaller pouch on her right hip. She also wore dark-colored pants that stopped at the midcalf and a pair of light-colored shoes.

Asta's red-eye focused in and started to cry, "So no doubt about it then, that's her... Richita... our mother from this world..."

"Hmmm... I know I heard her talking to Ah there they are," Asta points as a smaller black figure pops out of the tree line running after Richita.

They have messy, white hair, and short stature. Most of his body is coated in black; a black line extends up to his chest to under his chin, while two lines cross over his red eyes. He has two bat-like wings, two ram-like horns, a long thin tail with a trident-like tip, pointed teeth, and clawed fingers and toes. They were wearing a light-colored shirt, dark-colored pants, and light-colored shoes.

"So there is another you for this world. I wonder what happened to the Asta of this world though?" Asta says to himself

"Is this the day Liebe?" Asta asks, getting a confirmation in his own head from his devil in the grimoire. He stands up on his cloud, picking up his sword and pulling the haori he'd wrapped around it off the weapon to reveal it to the world.

Asta pulls his hood up and then places his mask on his face again, "Now we wait..."

They didn't have to wait long as Leibe's other self was enveloped in a black mist as soon as he got to the middle of the field as he chased after Richita. The young woman looked on in horror at what was happening to the young devil child as a manic visage from in the mist over Leibe's face.

The visage starts to speak and Richita seemed to get angry and starts to rush over to Liebe.

"Showtime," Asta remarks as he tightens his grip on his sword before jumping off the cloud. He raises his sword above his head as he does with the weapon turning solid black, "We only have so much antimagic so I have to make this count and make sure to save some for him," Asta says to himself. "Black SLASH!"

He sent a slash of his signature anti-magic whistle through the air at the women and devil child.

"I won't let you take my son!" Richita yells at the apparition possessing her son. Suddenly a high-pitched whistling was heard then something black slammed into the ground between her and the one in front of her."Leibe?!" She cries out in worry.

"What did you do witch?!" the apparition growls as it waves its arm, clearing the dust. "You're mine!" he laughs as he lunges forward but only collides with metal, "What?" he pulls back t the unexpected intrusion. Immediately his claws and fingers start to degenerate from contact with the metal object.

"Who are you?!" Richita asks in shock.

"Stay back," the mysterious person warns. "I must exorcise this evil!"

The apparition possessing the devil looks at its claws, "What did you do?"

"You can't hurt him!" Richita yells as she lunges at the cloaked stranger only for them to move to the side and knock her in the gut with their elbow, knocking the wind out of the mage woman causing her to blackout.

"Sorry," the stranger says, "I can't have you getting in the way if this is going to go how I want it to..."

Liebe, still conscious in the apparition sees this and starts to cry, thinking his mother died. "DIE!" He cries out, fuelling the apparition with negative emotion and power in the process.

The apparition chuckles, "Thank you for that... now I can-"

He doesn't get a chance ti to finish his sentence as the cloak masked figure unleashes and an onslaught of attack on the mist creature. The due battle for a determined amount of time. The figure shows fatigue while the apparition isn't slowing down. Suddenly the apparition-possessed devil child rushes in and knocks the sword from the masked figure's grip while pushing him back near Richita. He bumps her and a bottle falls from her side and out of it pops a familiar five-leaf grimoire.

"Things just keep going my way," the apparition chuckles, cracking its claws. "A devil in this world and a five-leaf grimoire," It remarks as its arm quickly springs out toward the woman and grimoire.

The masked figure quickly rushes in and grabs onto Richita. The demon's claw just manages the come in contact with the right side of the figure's mask, breaking off a chunk of it.

The apparition got its claws on the grimoire and pulls it close to the passed devil child, "You are most resourceful for a human," the apparition chuckles. "You would make a more suitable host than this lower rank piece of trash. Why not make a deal with me and you'll have the power to do anything, have anything you want!"

"AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LAUGHING AT HUMAN?!" The apparition seethed.

"I don't need to make deal with you," the figure remarks pulling down his hood and opening his right eye. The right side of his head had a black horn form along with a black bat-like wing. He opens his eye to reveal a crimson-slitted eye. "I have a devil already and I don't want a backstabbing piece of shit like you anywhere near me. Lucifero!"

Suddenly the grimoire flies from Lucifero's grip over in front of Asta. The book pulses a few times before beginning to glow a red and black aura. The grimoire in Asta's satchels comes out much to the devil apparition's shock. The first grimoire flips open. Then Asta does the same. The books then moves over the top of each other and seemingly start to merge with it. Though it only appears this way as they are actually stacked and covered in anti-magic blurring their forms together. Asta's grimoire pulse two times then burns bright red until it dyes down to reveal a black grimoire with shiny red filigree on the outer edges. On the center of the front and back covers of the book was a single metallic red spade-themed five-leaf clover.
The other grimoire is still hidden inside Asta’s

The books flip to a page and outcomes two Demon Slayer Swords.

"What is this?!" Lucifero cries out in rage.

Richita starts to come around and looks up to see Asta in his demonic form taking hold of the two massive swords.

"The end of your hold on that boy!" Asta cries out and takes in a deep breath and controls his blood flow, "Sunny Breathing! Dance!"

In a flash, Asta vanishes only to reappear behind Leibe. Lucifero, frozen in place around the child's body before he burns away to leave Leibe lying on the ground. Asta drops the sword and falls to his hands and knees coughing vigorously. The groomer inside Asta’s shoots out allowing the second Demon Slayer to reenter it before returning to Asta’s Grimoire.

"Leibe," Richita cries as she shakily runs to her son. She immediately notices he is still breathing, if not a bit labored, "He's alive, thank god!" she cries holding him tightly to her chest. She then sees Asta shakily approaching while holding his side. His demon features faded slowly away.

"My goal was to stop the devil lord," He wheezes. "Not to hurt the boy. Still," he holds up his right hand, and a sphere of black anti-magic forms above it. "That doesn't mean he won't try and take him again now that he knows Leibe is here. This well prevents it..." he falls to his knees.

"You're running out of magic," Richita says, "You should go!"

"Funny thing about that," Asta chuckles as his eyes turn back to its fluorescent green color, "I was born without magic. The power I wild is that of a demon that shares the same trait, like your son," he holds up the sphere and it floats over to Liebe.

"That is a sphere of anti-magic," Asta falls to his hands, "It will keep the demon king away and you two will be able to live quietly together from now on..." he says.

Richita raises her hand up and pokes the sphere and it nearly doubles in size. "It really is anti-magic..." her eyes widened as the sphere enters Liebe's body.

"There is one more thing I can do for you," Asta says as he pulls out his water cantine and uses water bending to pull the water out. He places his water-covered hand on both son and mother and heals them before he passes out from having overexerted himself.

Days Later...

Asta groggily opens his eyes, "Ooooo...." he looks up to see a wooden ceiling, "Where am I?"

He starts to set up. The next thing he notices is that he was covered in bandages.

"You're away," he hears to his right. Asta turns his head to see the devil boy in the doorway of the room.

"Hey there," Asta waves. "Glad to see you're alright..."

"I thought you killed my mom..." Liebe glares. "She told me what you did for us... Thank you for saving me from him..." he bows his head. "Thanks for saving my mom too!"

"It's why I come out here, kid," Asat chuckles as he throws the blanket off. "Where' my stuff I need to leave..."

"And what are you doing out of bed," Asta looks over to see a glaring Richita before her gaze softens. "Thank you for what you did for us but you should be resting."

"I've spent too much time here," Asta shakes his head noticing the weight. "My mask is still on. I thought you'd have taken off to treat me..."

"I was going to but decide that I at least owed you your privacy," Richita looks down thinking. "I found the other piece that came off. It's over there on the table," she points.

Asta walks over and picks up the makes then walks over to the indoor woodpile next to then picks a few strands of wood fiber from a log, placing them in the fiber of his mask. The mother and son watch in confusion. Asta places the missing piece in place and concentrates. I white light comes over and the mask is fixed for the most part.

"There," Asta taps the mask.

"Can I ask you for your name?" Leibe speaks up.

"You can call me Ferris," Asta answered. "Now, where is the rest of my gear and how long have I been asleep?"

"Only two days," Richita smiles. "And the rest of your gear is in that chest by the bed except for your big sword. I couldn't lift them. Too heavy."

"That's fine," Asta says as he put everything on then looks at his haori before folding it up and putting it in his pack. H throws on his cloak and then his pack. "Again, thank you for your hospitably. Take care of each other," Asta says and looks at Leibe. He looks at the single-edged sword and then holds it up to the devil boy. "Take it..."

Liebe looks up and then to his thoroughly shocked mother.

"This sword led me here for a reason," Asta smiles under his mask. "And I think it was to give it to you,"

"Take it, Liebe," Richita says.

Leibe shakily holds his hands out and recalls all that Asta did in his fight to save him, "Thank Mr. Ferris."

"Learn to use it to save people and help people and evils like your mother did for you," Asta says as his right eye turn red under his mask. When we meet again you'll be a great swordsman. I look forward to sparring with you then. Until then, use it wisely," he says before walking out the door. He then quickly turns and reaches under his cloak into his grimoire and pulls out the other five-leaf grimoire to look at it then he looks at Liebe. He walks over to Richeta and holds it out. “This is his for when he gets older. Inside is an identical sword to mine with the exact same anti-magic properties. I look forward to seeing you again someday Liebe. I hope you train hard to master these weapons for when we meet again. I’d like to see how strong you can get.,” he says as he places a hand on Liebe’s shoulder.

Richita nods a single time and takes the book. Asta then turns once more and heads out the door.

"Mom..." Liebe says with sparkles in his eyes. "I want to be a good guy...."

"You will be Liebe," Richita locks her arms around her son's neck, "You will be..."

In the Clearing

"There you are," Asta says to himself as he l=thinks about the concept of the twin swords, "Two of them aye," he then pulls out his new grimoire, "And now you," he says as the books activate, becoming cloaked in the red and black aura.

"I'd never thought I'd use two of Slayers," he remarks as his sword floats up and then into the book. "But if there was already a Demon Slayer then that means there are also the others too..." Asta takes hold of the grimoire. "I guess this is truly my grimoire now..."

He chuckles to himself, "Twilight is going to beat my ass raw when I get home," he sighs putting the book away before walking into the woods...

Next Chapter: Trials... Estimated time remaining: 14 Hours, 41 Minutes