A/N: Surprise, surprise, here I am with a Black Clover fic of all things. I recently got into the series and found it to be pretty entertaining, so I decided to scope out the community a little (and that includes this site right here). What I found was a lack of Asta X Noelle fics (or Black Clover fics in general, really), which was a bit of a shame because I found their development (platonic, romantic, skill, accomplishment, etc.) to be one of the things I kept looking forward to as the series progressed and I was eager to see other people's take on it; so, I just made my own. It's not really anything original, just the 'love interests get lost on a mission together' cliche, but that was a good template for me to get out a quick story; who knows, I may even make more Black Clover fics in the future if people like this one. Anyway, without further ado, I hope you enjoy the story, and please leave a review telling me what you thought and how I can improve.

Edit: Reread this story after a couple of months and found some errors; a word that had been left in, a couple words that were missing, that sort of thing. All fixed up now.

Lost Page: A Cold Night

It was a cold, winter afternoon in the Clover Kingdom; the overcast sky blocked out the sun, giving the thick forest below a gray pallor. High above the trees flew a gaudily decorated broom carrying three members of the Black Bulls, one of the kingdom's Magic Knight Squads, as they returned home from a long mission abroad.

"Magna, are we there yet!?" asked the green-eyed boy on the back of the broom's saddle, his messy, gray hair blowing in the wind.

"For the last time, Rasta, no, we're not there yet!" replied the black-and-gray-haired older boy sitting in front. "We're probably only about halfway home right now!"

"Rrrrgh, why couldn't Finral just send us to that village with his Spatial Magic!?" protested the younger boy, Asta, as he fussed with his headband.

"'Cuz he's never been there, genius!" said Magna, looking back at his teammate over his blue sunglasses.

"Will you quit your whining," added the silver-haired girl sat between them, "I'm not particularly happy about this either, but you don't hear me complaining about it." The girl ran a hand through one of her pigtails, causing it to blow into Asta's face.

"Yeah, see, Ellie's got the right idea!" cheered Magna, giving the girl a thumbs-up and a toothy grin.

"Pay attention to where you're flying!" yelled the girl, Noelle, giving her senior a lavender-eyed glare. "Anyway, while I'm not worried about the long ride, I am worried about the weather."

"Ah c'mon, it's not that bad." reassured Magna.

"It's snowing." Noelle deadpanned.

It was indeed snowing around the trio of Magic Knights, there were flurries of white surrounding Magna's broom as the wind began to pick up. The clouds grew thicker and darker, and the air became colder by the minute. It wasn't long before the three young knights were caught up in what was rapidly turning into a blizzard.

"I knew we should have listened to the villagers' warnings! Why the hell didn't we stay for one more day!?" yelled Noelle.

"It's fine, Crazy Cyclone can more than handle this!" reassured Magna, patting the bull skull at the front of the tasteless vehicle.

"I sure hope so!"

The snowfall continued to become thicker, and the wind harsher. Between the darkened sky and the thousands of snowflakes being blown all around them, visibility quickly dropped to zero.

"We can't even see where we're going anymore!" argued Noelle.

"We'll be alright, don't worry!" said Magna, trying to keep everyone levelheaded.

"Magna, I think Noelle's right!"

"Thank you!" exclaimed Noelle, turning her head to look behind her. "See, even- Asta!"

Asta was hanging off the back end of Crazy Cyclone, teeth chattering as he was blown around by the wind; the scene would have been rather comical had the situation not been so dire. Noelle had not even noticed that Asta was no longer holding on to her, her sense of feeling having been numbed slightly from the cold.

"This! Wind! Is! Crazy!" yelled Asta, as his body continued to oscillate violently.

"Asta, hold on!" cried Noelle, as she saw her friend's grip slip suddenly.

It was too late, Asta let out one of his grating screams as he lost his grip and fell from the broom.

"Asta!" called Noelle, as she leaned back to catch him.

"Wait, Noelle, don't!" said Magna, just as he realized what she was about to do.

Noelle shrieked as she was dragged off the broom by Asta's weight. Magna tried to turn to swoop down and catch them, but the maneuver was thrown off by the powerful wind; he could only watch, helplessly, as the two junior members of the Black Bulls disappeared from view.

Asta and Noelle hurtled towards the ground at breakneck speed, unable to see anything around them but the falling snow.

"We're falling!" yelled Asta.

"No kidding! What do we do?" said Noelle, frantically.

"I dunno, but we need to break our fall before we crash!"

"Break our fall? Right, if we crash we're probably gonna die!" Noelle thought. "But how the hell do we do that!? Wait, there is one thing I can try!"

Noelle unfastened the leather pouch at her side that contained her grimoire. The light-blue book shone brilliantly as it opened itself and floated beside its master.

With her grimoire by her side and a wand in hand, Noelle called out, "Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Cradle!"

A torrent of water manifested itself around the duo, forming into a massive sphere. The ball floated down gently, as Noelle dictated, carrying the two Black Bulls safely down to the ground. With the snow no longer flying around them, Asta and Noelle were able to vaguely make out the shapes of trees brushing against the outer wall of the sphere; Noelle had reacted just in time.

The water making up the bottom of the ball dissipated as it touched the ground, allowing the duo's feet to sink into the crunchy snow.

"Wow, that was great thinking, Noelle!" exclaimed Asta, with a bright smile.

Any thanks Noelle might have expressed were quickly cut off by the sounds of cracking and crunching all around them. They looked up to find the giant dome of water visibly freezing over from the cold weather.

"Aaaahhh! Oh no, what do we do!?" shouted Asta, as the dome completely turned to ice.

"Calm down, let me think!" retorted Noelle, having to shout over him. "I mean, it's frozen, but it was still made out of Mana; see if you can break it with one of those swords of yours."

"Right, I'll give it a try!"

Asta unfastened the leather pouch on his hip, allowing his tattered, black grimoire to float out, surrounded by an eerie, red glow. The ragged old tome opened, and a large, black sword manifested from its pages. Asta took the heavy blade and thrust it into the wall of ice before him; the sword broke through the ice and, within seconds, the entire structure shattered to pieces as the Magic Power within was dissipated by the mysterious weapon.

Not for the first time, Noelle stood in awe, impressed by how even massive spells could be sundered so easily by Asta's Anti-Magic swords. Her sense of wonder did not last long, however, as she quickly noticed that without the protection of her Sea Dragon's Cradle they were alone in the middle of the forest with a massive snowstorm raging around them.

Noelle shrieked as a snow-filled gust of wind hit her head on. "Great, now we have to deal with this blizzard!"

"C'mon, Noelle, we need to find someplace safe 'til this blows over!" stated Asta, taking her arm with a sense of urgency.

Asta was right, of course; even though they were well prepared for the winter, their current clothing being lined with fur and of thicker cloth than their usual attire, the two of them would not last long in this weather without shelter. He may not have been as educated as her, but even Asta understood this basic rule of survival, and his unshakable will let him react quickly to the situation at hand.

"Ugh, I can't see anything!" lamented Noelle, as they plodded aimlessly through the thick snowfall.

Even at ground level and under the canopy of trees, visibility was practically nonexistent.

"Hey, Noelle, can you make a sheet of water over us?" asked Asta.

"Wha- Why? It's just going to freeze again."

"Just do it."

Noelle complied and got out her wand. Despite her history of trouble controlling her magic, a simple sheet of water was easy for her to create, even without using her grimoire. As she predicted, the plane of water quickly began to freeze in the bone-chilling wind.

"Asta, I won't be able to control it anymore if it freezes."

"Don't worry." replied Asta, just as the sheet of ice finished freezing and began to fall. "I got it!" he proclaimed, holding the ice sheet over his head with both hands.

The two continued onward, using the frozen plane as a sort of makeshift umbrella. Though it didn't improve visibility by much, it was much easier to see where they were walking now that most of the snow was no longer blowing in their faces.

"Hey, you know, that was actually pretty smart of you, Asta."

"Hm? Thanks, I guess."

"How'd you come up with that idea, anyway?"

"I just remembered what we did back home in Hage Village; we'd carry baskets and other stuff over our heads whenever it rained or snowed to make sure we didn't catch cold."

"Oh." said Noelle, feeling a little guilty that she never had to endure such struggles as a child.

"Not sure how well that's gonna work here, though," continued Asta, "this ice is pretty cold by itself."

"Huh?" Noelle looked up and noticed Asta's hands had become a pale shade of purple. "Y-your hands are freezing, Dumbass-ta!"

Luckily for Asta, it didn't take much longer for the two of them to find shelter. They eventually came to a rock face, probably belonging to some outcropping or small mountain next to the forest, it was impossible to tell with the weather the way it was. They followed along the rock hoping to find a cave they could use as refuge. Fortune must have decided to briefly smile upon them, because they did indeed find a deep opening in the rock.

The pair entered the cavern cautiously, wary of anything potentially using the deep tunnel as a home. Light poured in from the mouth of the cave, illuminating a fair amount of space, but fading to black about ten meters in. Asta decided to throw caution to the wind once inside, and tossed the ice sheet he had been carrying to the ground, shattering it; Noelle's attention snapped towards the source of the noise, only to see Asta standing there, rubbing his hands together to warm them up.

"That's much better." said Asta, with a sigh.

"Hmph, you know that wouldn't have happened if you hadn't gotten the brilliant idea to use a slab of ice as an umbrella." criticized Noelle, haughtily, with a roll of her eyes.

The young Magic Knights set their backpacks down in the middle of the faintly lit part of the cave. They had used the bags during their long mission and had restocked their supplies before leaving the village, so they were set for a few days should the need arise.

"Okay, so we found a place to stay. Now what?" asked Noelle. "It's still freezing in here."

"Now we set up camp and make a good ol' fashioned campfire!" answered Asta, excitedly.

"A fire? With what wood?"

"I'll go get some! Hold down the fort here, okay!" proclaimed the boy, suddenly running outside with sword in hand.

"Wait, what!? Hold on…Asta!" Noelle called after him, but it was too late, Asta was already gone.

"Great, now what!?" thought Noelle, puffing her cheeks and frowning.

With a sigh, the girl began to unpack the backpacks and set up camp. She checked their food and found a wheel of cheese, a couple of loaves of bread, and some dried meats. She laid out their sleeping rolls and blankets on the ground, hoping they would be enough to keep warm through the night.

"I suppose I could always sleep next to Asta if I get cold." she thought, impulsively. Noelle could feel her cheeks heat up as she realized what her wandering mind had just suggested. "What am I thinking!? I would never do something like that!" she denied, furiously.

Noelle busied herself by finishing the camp site, trying to get her mind as far away from Asta as she could, even if she was worried about how he was doing out in the woods. She made sure there was adequate space for the fire and moved any rocks she found aside so she and Asta wouldn't accidentally hurt themselves as they slept. It was all actually quite tedious.

"Why am I stuck doing this?" thought Noelle, with a sigh. "I am royalty, I shouldn't be making camp in a cave in the middle of the woods during a snowstorm!" Noelle shook her head and broke her train of thought, she took both hands and slapped the sides of her face twice. "No, I can't think like that! I am a Magic Knight, and I am a member of the Black Bulls; I have to be able to handle anything!"

Having broken out of her slight funk, Noelle decided to check the back of the cave to make sure there was nothing unpleasant lying in wait. Her grimoire floated beside her as she used its sky blue glow to light her way. The cave was quite deep, making it a fair bit of a walk to get all the way to the back. What she found when she got there made her both glad she had checked and wish she hadn't.

There was a bear…a hibernating bear.

Noelle stared blankly at the animal, her mouth set in a horizontal line.

Noelle calmly conjured a thick wall of water between herself and the bear, and waited for the bitter cold to freeze it over. She left a small space at the top for air to flow through, but otherwise completely sealed off the dangerous creature. Confident that they wouldn't get mauled to death in their sleep, Noelle made her way back to the camp to see if Asta had returned.

Asta had returned. Just as Noelle arrived at the camp, Asta walked into the cave carrying several roughly cut pieces of wood, which he promptly dropped. His whole body was covered in ice and snow; his teeth chattered, his body shivered, and his nose had a rather large drip of snot hanging from one of his nostrils.

"I tried to warn you! What the hell were you thinking, you idiot!?"

After patting all of the ice and snow off of his body, Asta sat wrapped up in one of the blankets to dry off. He continued to shiver as he tried to warm up. Noelle looked down on him and shook her head.

"Honestly, do you always have to be so reckless? You could've gotten hurt or worse, you could've died out there." chastised Noelle.

"S-sorry; but hey, at least I got u-us s-some firew-wood, right?" replied Asta, with a toothy grin and a thumbs-up.

"Yeah, I guess so." said Noelle, as she turned to set up the fire. "H-hey, Asta, this wood is damp."

"Huh, it is?"

"It was covered in snow, what do you think!?"

"That makes sense."

"Asta, how are we supposed to light damp wood!? It's not like one of us is a fire mage!"

Asta seemed to think deeply before his face suddenly brightened up. "Magna's a fire mage!"

"Magna isn't here." retorted Noelle, through grit teeth. "And besides, fire mage or not, I doubt he'd be able to find us in this blizzard; if Magna's smart he'll have found a place to ride out the storm like we did."

On the other side of the forest, Magna Swing sat in a shallow cave watching the snow blow by.

"Rasta, Ellie…where the hell are you guys!?" he wondered aloud. "Man…Captain Yami's gonna kill me."

"Hey, I got it!" exclaimed Asta. "Noelle, you're a water mage! Can't you just pull the water out of the wood!?"

"Wha-, I-I don't know, I've never actually tried something like that."

"Well, why not give it a shot?"

"I…I don't know, I've never been much good at Manipulation Magic."

"Well, you've gotten much better at magic since you joined the Black Bulls; besides, didn't you turn that giant water dragon around that one time?"

"That was different, that was my own magic, something I made myself."

"Well, you never know 'til you try; I know you can do it!" proclaimed Asta, with a smile.

Not for the first time, Noelle found herself taken aback by Asta's boundless confidence and willingness to believe in her. She had spent her entire life being looked down on by her family and those around them before she found acceptance with the Black Bulls, before she found acceptance with this Magic-less commoner from out in the styx.

"Alright, I'll give it a try."

Noelle kneeled down next to the firewood and took out her wand. She took a piece of wood from the pile and held the tip of her wand against it, she closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. She let her Mana flow through the wand and into the wood, she felt it suffuse the water within the wood. Once she felt she had a good grasp on the water she pulled her wand away, and the water along with it.

Asta looked on in amazement as the water was drawn out of the wood, leaving behind a dried chunk ready to be used for the campfire.

"Whoa, that's awesome! You did it, Noelle!"

"Y-yeah, I did."

Noelle repeated the process with each of the other pieces until they were left with a pile of actually viable firewood. Asta, who had dried off by this point, quickly got to work arranging some of the wood on the ground in the middle of the cave. Within a few minutes he had a lively fire going, bringing warmth to their small campsite.

"Where'd you learn to make a fire like that?" asked Noelle.

"It's something Sister Lily and the Old Man taught me at the church in Hage; that was before we learned Nash could use fire magic."

"You sure know how to do a lot of handy things, huh? In the meantime, look at me, even though I'm royalty I'm pretty useless." said Noelle, solemnly.

"That's not true!"

Noelle looked up at Asta.

"You're not useless! You can do a whole bunch of stuff that I can never do! You've got a crazy amount of Magic Power, you can make huge dragons and shields and stuff out of water, and you're a lot smarter than I am!"

"W-well, yeah, but I still have a hard time controlling my magic."

"You've gotten much better since we've met, though!"

"That's mostly because of this wand Vanessa gave me," said Noelle, turning the instrument over in her hands, "I'm still completely helpless without it."

"What does that matter!?"

"Huh?"

"Who cares if you need a wand to help you control your magic, doesn't change the fact you've gotten better at it, and it doesn't change the fact that you're a Magic Knight!"

"I-I know that," she replied, sheepishly, before dropping down to a whisper, "although I wish my family thought the same."

"Ah who cares what they think, your siblings are all jerks anyway; you're a way better person than any of 'em. That's part of why I like you so much, Noelle!"

Noelle suddenly became flustered, both from Asta having heard her last comment and from his brash statement. "There he goes saying he likes me again!" He didn't mean it romantically, she knew that, but her face still couldn't help but heat up; luckily, her blush could be mistaken as being caused by the warmth of the fire, not that Asta would have noticed either way.

"W-well, now that we've got the fire going, why don't we eat something?" asked Noelle, trying to distract herself from her thoughts.

"Right, good idea, I'm starving!" agreed Asta, thinking nothing of the change in subject.

Noelle moved over to the backpacks to take out the food. "Hey, Asta." she called without turning around.

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

By the time the young Magic Knights finished eating it was already late. It was easy to lose track of time in their present circumstances, but even with the weather the way it was, they could tell it was dark out. After making sure everything was in order and putting out the fire, Asta and Noelle retreated to their respective sleeping rolls and turned in for the night, hoping the storm would blow over by morning.

Sleep did not come easy for Noelle. Despite the padding of the sleeping roll, the floor of the cave was still rough and uncomfortable to lie on; it was akin to sleeping on a slab of stone or a board of wood, something that a royal of House Silva could hardly imagine. Her bed in the Black Bulls' headquarters was far from extravagant, but Noelle found herself longing for it now; even the soft earth of their campsite a few days ago would have been preferable to the rocky surface she was currently sleeping on. Furthermore, the blanket over her did little to stave off the bitter cold. There was some lingering warmth from the campfire's residual embers, but that made little impact on the chill of a winter night.

Asta must have noticed her shivering as she vainly attempted to fall asleep, because she heard him turn over and shuffle a little before going still. The boy's senses had always been fairly keen, but ever since Captain Yami taught him some strange technique from his homeland, Asta's awareness of his surroundings had been on a whole other level; it honestly would have been stranger if Asta hadn't sensed that something was wrong.

"Hey, Noelle, are you alright?"

She understood that that was a perfectly normal thing to ask, but her breath still hitched in disbelief. "Of course I'm not alright, it's freezing in here!"

"Wanna sleep together to warm up? I'm kinda cold, too."

Noelle's face immediately flushed. "W-what!? What the hell are you even suggesting!?" she screamed, wondering if she had heard him right.

"Back in Hage, the other kids and I at the church would all huddle together on really cold nights. It was dangerous to keep the fire going at night, so it was the best we could do; then Sister Lily would come by in the morning and find us sprawled out all over the floor." he recounted fondly.

His story had calmed Noelle down a little. Of course that would be the reason; Asta wasn't a pervert or a womanizer or anything like that, not like Finral.

"W-well…alright," she agreed, getting up from her sleeping roll, "it's bound to be better than this."

Noelle brought her blanket over with her and dropped it and her own sleeping roll on top of Asta, hoping the extra cloth would further keep them warm through the night.

"Move over." she said, trying her best to sound abrasive as she got down next to him.

Asta complied and made some space as she slid into his sleeping roll. It was going to be a bit of a tight fit, but the sack-like cloth was more than able to hold two people of their size. Once they had fit themselves in and made sure they were well covered by the blankets, they lied down as comfortably as they could…facing each other.

Asta held Noelle in his arms, his rather muscular arms; and Noelle rested her hands on Asta's chest, his rather well-defined chest. Noelle blushed as she tried to keep her mind off of the brawny swordsman currently pressed up against her. To Asta's credit, there was something to be said about how hard he had trained himself physically to make up for his lack of Magic Power; it was certainly one of the reasons Noelle found it so difficult to ignore her burgeoning feelings for the boy.

"Y-you better not try anything funny!" ordered Noelle, unsure of whom exactly she was directing it towards.

"You have my word! My heart belongs to Sister Lily, after all!" he declared passionately.

"You're still hung up on that?" asked Noelle, with a slight hint of pity in her voice. She would never understand why Asta had such a steadfast crush on a nun.

"I won't give up!" he proclaimed, stubbornly.

"Listen, Asta, your determination is great and all, actually it's one of your better qualities, but some things are just impossible. Sister Lily is a Woman of the Cloth which means you can't marry her; instead, you should focus more on something you can do, like becoming the Wizard King."

Asta was taken aback, surprised at what Noelle had just said to him. "You…really think I can become the Wizard King?" he asked, quietly.

Asta's dream of becoming the Wizard King, the strongest Magic Knight in the Clover Kingdom, was no secret; he had loudly proclaimed it enough times in the time they'd known each other that the whole kingdom probably knew.

"I do." stated Noelle, confidently.

Asta took everything she had said to heart, she had given him a lot to think about.

"Thanks, Noelle." he said, holding her a little tighter, as if giving her a hug.

Noelle felt her face heat up from the embrace, but fought back the embarrassment enough to return the gesture. She smiled as the two of them fell asleep in each other's arms.

Noelle's eyes fluttered open groggily as the morning light illuminated the cave she had spent the night in. She stretched and yawned as she slowly awoke to her surroundings, something so unladylike she would probably die of embarrassment if anyone ever caught her doing so; anyone other than Vanessa, her sisterly mentor, or Mimosa, her cousin, anyway. She finally became fully awake in whatever firm thing was wrapped around her, keeping her warm, and looked up slightly to meet Asta's gaze; yes, Asta was watching over her with wide green eyes and his typical dopey smile on his face.

"Morning, Noelle!" he said, in his usual chipper mood.

Noelle shrieked as her whole world collapsed around her. She forcefully ejected herself from the shared sleeping roll, pulling Asta along with her before throwing him against the cave wall in a fit of mortification.

"Why me?" asked Asta, weakly.

Noelle gasped, realizing what she had just done. "Asta!" she called out with concern, as she moved to check on him.

Their unintentionally rude awakening now behind them, Asta and Noelle busied themselves cleaning up the camp. The blizzard had cleared up overnight, meaning their next step would be to find Magna and head home. It wouldn't be easy, they'd have to wade through a couple of feet of snow, but they were confident they'd find their teammate in short order; luckily, the harsh wind had blown the snow all over the place, so it hadn't piled up as much as it could have, making their job that much easier.

Noelle had just finished packing her things when she turned towards her teammate. "Hey, Asta."

"Hm?"

"Thank you…for keeping me warm last night." she said, looking away slightly.

"Sure, no problem."

"I, uh, hope you're not mad about earlier."

"What, nah, it's no big deal. Don't even worry about-." Asta's attention snapped to the cave entrance, sensing someone approaching.

Noelle felt a faint use of magic coming from the same direction.

The snow around the mouth of the cave melted as the lanky form of Magna Swing walked into the cavern, a fireball in his hand and a grimace on his face.

"Finally, I found you guys!" exclaimed the older Black Bull, as he quenched the flame.

"Magna!" cheered Asta and Noelle, in unison.

"Rasta, Ellie, glad to see you two survived the night."

"We were freezing our butts off! Where've you been, Magna!?" asked Asta, cheerfully.

"Heh, freezing my butt off on the other side of these woods! What d'you guys say we blow this joint?"

"You bet!"

"Gladly."

Asta and Noelle grabbed their things and headed towards their friend until Noelle hesitated.

"What's wrong, Noelle?" asked Asta.

"I forgot something, come with me."

The two boys followed Noelle to the back of the cave where they found a wall of ice she had made the previous day. Asta ran the wall through with his Anti-Magic sword, shattering it and revealing a hibernating bear.

"We had a bear in here!?" asked Asta, loudly.

"You two slept in a cave with a bear!? That's so manly!" proclaimed Magna.

"I'm a woman!" protested Noelle.

The bear roared idly in its sleep, causing the three startled knights to make a beeline for the exit.

"So, what have we learned today?" asked Noelle, derisively, as the three Black Bulls flew over the snowy landscape on Crazy Cyclone.

"Listen to people's weather advice!" Magna growled through grit teeth. "Trust me, that's the last time I fly out into a freakin' snowstorm."

"I think that would be best for everyone." said Noelle, flatly.

Magna winced slightly, but was surprised to find that the royal rookie hadn't decided to hit him in some way. He looked back to see a rather out of place situation behind him; Asta was riding in the middle for once, with Noelle in back, her arms wrapped somewhat tightly around Asta's stomach.

"Hey, uh, something happen between you two last night?"

"Hm? Not really, why?" asked Asta, confusedly.

"Ellie?"

"No, nothing at all." responded Noelle, as she rested her head against Asta's back, eyes closed and a smile on her face.

A/N: Okay, there it is, Black Clover fic is done. Lemme know if enjoyed and if you want me to make more of these. If you're a RWBY fan, hop on over to my page and check out one of the numerous RWBY fics I've made over the years. Thank you for reading and have a good day.