Chapter Text
“Akko, are you paying attention?” Diana asked, frowning a little and crossing her arms. Akko blinked twice before biting her lip.
“What’s attention?” She checked, wondering if she’d remembered the word right.
“I taught you that word yesterday.” Diana whapped Akko on the arm with her wand. It was friendly annoyance, however. Diana had been teaching Akko English for a few months, and Akko had picked that up far quicker than she was picking up magic. “It means focusing on your task. Something you were clearly not doing.” Diana sighed. “I thought you wanted to learn magic.”
“I do! But I wanna fly, why can we do that?” Diana bit back another sigh, sitting next to Akko on the grass. Her fingers closed around a daisy, carefully plucking it from the ground and slitting the stalk with her thumbnail.
“Because my mum said no more flying after she had to fix your arm.” Diana reminded Akko. They’d tried flying, but no matter how much instruction Diana had given, Akko couldn’t get her broom off the ground. And when they’d tried from a higher point, Akko had landed funny and badly injured her arm. Thankfully Bernadette had been able to fix it.
“We don’t have to tell her.” Akko pointed out with a grin. That earned her another smack from Diana’s wand. With that done, Diana set her wand on her lap and continued to form her daisy chain.
“No.” Akko opened her mouth to try and argue some more and earned herself yet another swat, this time from Diana’s hand. “I said no. Maybe if you’ve managed some restoration magic by the end of the week, I’ll take you up on the back of my broom.” Diana didn’t look up from her flower work, but even without that, she could tell Akko was beaming.
“Really?” Akko bounced a little, her eyes bright and wide. When Diana didn’t answer quickly enough, Akko bumped against her arm. Diana rolled her eyes, picking a final flower and adding it to the chain before she grinned back at Akko and nodded.
“Really. You can fly just like Chariot.” Diana promised. “But first,” Diana took Akko’s wrist and carefully affixed the daisy chain to her, patting the back of Akko’s hand lightly. “There, all finished.”
“Then let’s try my restoration magic!” Akko jumped to her feet, reaching for her own wand to try again, her eyes catching sight of the daisy chain each time she moved her arm.
~~~
“Diana look!” Diana looked up from her book to see Akko stood, legs splayed, both hands on her wand. “Metamorphie Facceus!” Akko declared, louder than necessary. There was a swirl of magic, before a soft pop sounded, and there stood Akko, bunny ears pointed to the sky and a proud grin gracing her face. “I’m a bunny!”
“Akko! How long have we been practicing this spell?” Diana questioned, rolling her eyes and standing slowly. Diana knew, of course. It had been a year. It was the last spell Diana had attempted to pass on to Akko before she’d headed home. But still, Diana couldn’t help the disappointment and worry that came with the fact that stood before her. A spell that most witches mastered at around five years old was still stumping Akko at ten.
“I dunno, a while? But I can’t really practice at home.” Akko pointed out, her face and ears drooping at Diana’s clear disapproval. Diana sighed, flicking the end of Akko’s ear. No matter how much Diana worried about Akko’s learning speed, she couldn’t stand to see her best friend get upset.
“Really, I don’t know why you’re not picking these things up. Have you been doing the reading?” Diana questioned, Akko shifted from foot to foot. A look of guilt flitted across jer face, and Diana raised a waiting eyebrow.
“Some of the reading. The words are long and boring, Diana!” Akko protested, pulling out the pout. Diana rolled her eyes. She wondered if the ‘long and boring’ words that Akko mentioned were words that Akko was struggling to understand. Akko had picked up English with such speed and ease that Diana often forgot it was her second language. Maybe she could help.
“Would you remember them better if I read them to you?” Diana offered, trying to make it seem like it was something that she might suggest with anyone. Akko brightened and nodded, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet. Diana just managed to suppress her smile
“Would you?”
“While you’re here, I suppose I could take some time in the evening.” Diana nodded, her lips quirking up without her permission. That turning to a laugh when Akko knocked them both down in a hug. They tumbled through the grass together, Diana revelling in the closeness she had with Akko. They’d been friends for two years and Diana couldn’t imagine a summer without her anymore.
“Hey, Diana?” The rolling had stopped, but Akko still had her arms around Diana. Diana hummed questioningly, her head resting atop Akko’s. “Think we’ll be in the same team at Luna Nova?” Diana frowned slightly. That was still six years away, but she wondered if Akko was already worrying about it.
“I don’t know,” Diana admitted honestly. “I hope so though.” Akko sat up slightly, hovering over Diana and grinning. The bunny ears flopped forward slightly, casting a strange shadow over Diana’s face. Diana felt something stir in her stomach, a feeling of fluttering that made her want to turn away from her friend.
“Even if we’re not, we’ll still be best friends, right?” Akko was as earnest as ever, her eye’s bright and her optimistic grin unwavering. Diana nodded, managing a smile of her own, though it was nowhere near as bright.
“Of course. Forever, I promise.” Akko nodded, rolling to the side and landing in the grass next to Diana. Akko reached out and took Diana’s hand, still beaming as she turned her head to look at her.
“Forever,” Akko repeated, nodding and squeezing Diana’s hand. Akko turned her eye’s up to the clouds. “That sounds good to me.” They were silent for a few minutes, Akko watching the clouds, and Diana trying to pretend that she wasn’t watching Akko.
“Hey, Diana?”
“Yes, Akko?” Diana raised an eyebrow, wondering what on earth was going to come out of her friends mouth next.
“Can you help me get rid of the bunny ears now?”
~~~
It had happened in the night. Akko knew that Bernadette was sick, but she’d been sick since before Akko had even met her, it was just the way things was. But at some point, in the middle of the night, Bernadette had gone.
Akko got woken by Diana. The other girl was clambering into Akko’s bed, already crying.
“Diana?” Akko frowned, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She’d never seen her friend cry, and it panicked her. Diana didn’t answer, though her body shook as she pressed herself into Akko’s side, dampening her shoulder. Akko pulled Diana into a hug, frowning to herself. “Diana, what happened?” Akko was beginning to worry,her mind spinning through a hundred different outcomes, each worse than the one before. But none of them were as bad as what had actually happened.
“My mum,” Diana finally managed to say. Her fingers still had their vice like grip on Akko’s night shirt, and she didn’t lift her head. Akko gave her a moment, and was about to ask for more, when Diana spoke again. “Anna came to tell me… She got more sick and now…” Diana hiccupped, whimpering and gripping tighter to Akko.
“It’s okay,” Akko spoke without thinking. They were the wrong words, and Diana shoved her, despite still clinging with her other hand.
“No it’s not !” Diana nearly screeched the words, and Akko fought back against a wince. She was careful as she rubbed Diana’s back awkwardly. She didn’t know what to say, she didn’t know what to do! She’d never lost anyone.
“Sorry…” Akko mumbled, shifting a little to get comfortable, feeling that they were probably going to be sat here a while. Her own grief hadn’t begun to kick in, her entire focus was on Diana. But that was a good thing, it allowed her some way to think clearly.
Akko didn’t sleep again that night. Diana did. She tossed and turned and cried a lot, but she got a little more sleep. Akko stayed awake, offering comfort the best she could, and working on a plan.
They rose with the dawn light, Diana unable to sleep anymore and Akko eager to start working on her plan. She was nearly certain that she could actually really help Diana, she just needed to do some reading, and then get Diana to agree to help her. She could do those things.
But first they had to get through breakfast. Which was apparently going to be harder than Akko expected. She thought that Diana didn’t have any more tears to shed, and yet once they entered the dining room, Diana was crying again. She had a grip on Akko’s arm that felt like she was trying to cut off Akko’s circulation. Akko looked at Anna pleadingly. She didn’t have the best relationship with the housekeeper, but she knew that Anna loved Diana.
“Come on, Mi’lady.” Anna reached out, carefully peeling Diana from Akko’s arm. For a second it looked like Diana was going to fight her, try and run back to Akko and cling again, but instead she collapsed against Anna, sobbing weakly. Anna hoisted her back to her feet, rubbing her back and beginning to whisper gentle words. Akko hesitated, wanting to stay and help, but also wanting to go to the library and get to work.
“ I’m sorry. ” Akko whispered, ducking out of the dining room and running for the library. She was pretty sure she knew where to look, but it still could take a while. Guilt settled heavily in her stomach as she moved through the stacks of books. She was leaving Diana alone with her pain. Alone with her grief and without her best friend.
Akko struggled with the books. They were heavy, firstly, but most of them were written in olde English. Akko still had trouble with regular English, especially given how spells were written in a language that Diana called Gaelic, and Akko didn’t have a dictionary to translate that. So while Akko wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible and get back to Diana, she also had to make sure she had her plan down perfectly. It took her all day, and by the time she was finished, Akko had also convinced herself that Diana must hate her, given no one had come to find her all day.
But as the moon rose, Akko put all of those thoughts out of her head and knocked on Diana’s door. She bounced slightly, chewing her bottom lip anxiously. Her bag was full of books and supplies, but Akko couldn’t do the spell by herself. She needed Diana’s help. Akko was about to give up when the door opened. Diana’s eyes were red, but the corner of her lips did that little quirk that they did when Diana didn’t want to smile but was going to anyway. Akko relaxed slightly, maybe Diana didn’t hate her after all.
“Diana-” Akko got cut off as Diana pulled her into another tight hug, fingernails digging into Akko’s shoulders. “Diana, I found a way to help!” Akko’s words were muffled against Diana’s collarbones, given she was being squished in a hug, but the meaning seemed to come through. Diana pulled away and frowned.
“Help? Wha-what do you mean, Akko?” Diana’s face was beginning to crumple again and Akko started to quickly dig through her bag, pulling out the book she’d found.
“It’s in here! Well, actually no it’s not. It’s… there are a few spells, about animating, and talking to ghosts, and summoning spirits. And I found a book about combining spells, and I think I got it figured out, how to fix this! But… I need your help.” Akko shifted from foot to foot, chewing her bottom lip and hugging the book to her chest. “I’m not good at magic, at least not good enough to do anything like that. But you are! You can look over the spell and the words and stuff… and fix this! She can come back!”
Silence rang through the hallway. Deep and heavy and oppressive. Diana was struggling to process through the word vomit that Akko had just emitted. That couldn’t be right, gone was gone, there was no way around that. But if it was in one of the books in their library, maybe it was a possibility after all. And Akko seemed so sure.
“How?” Diana asked finally. Akko brightened again, stuffing the book back into her bag and grabbing Diana’s hand. Akko pulled, tugging Diana down the hallway and towards the field outside.
“I’ve written down what I think will work, but we need to be outside, under the moon.” Akko explained as she pulled Diana. “All of these spells were to do with the moon.” Akko could feel her heart pounding against her ribs. If they pulled this off, they’d be better witches than even Shiny Chariot. They’d be heroes ! Akko was confident that they could do it.
Akko handed the book, including the notebook pages she’d pressed inside, over to Diana. She hoped that her handwriting was clear enough. Her handwriting in Japanese was only just legible, so she felt it safe to assume that her English handwriting wasn’t too good either.
But until Diana asked, Akko just left her to read, carefully beginning to set up the ritual.
“Akko,” Akko’s head shot up, anxiety curled in her gut. But Diana was smiling, almost. “This is incredible. I… I can’t believe you did this,” Diana stood, pulling Akko into a hug, careful not to disturb the candles or the chalk dust that Akko had so carefully lain out. Akko nodded, smiling as she squeezed Diana in return. Any lingering anxiety over Diana disliking her dissipated, and Akko breathed out slowly as she released Diana.
“Ready?” Akko asked, taking Diana’s hand and motioning to the chalk dust diagram. “Because I’m all set up. We should do this before we get too tired…” Akko could already feel a yawn building, but she stamped it down in her chest. This needed to be done first. Diana nodded, stepping away from Akko and examining the diagram again. She located where she needed to stand as the primary spell caster and moved into place. Akko stood where she needed to be, offering Diana a hopeful smile. Diana nodded, drawing jer wand and sucking in a deep and shakey breath.
“Ó ghealach, tabhair siar na caillte le déanaí dom. Cuir ar ais í san áit a mbaineann sí léi.” Diana locked eyes with Akko, smiling slightly as she felt the magic burst forth from her, light surrounding them. Diana thought it was working, for a moment at least, until it felt like her head was splitting open. Diana wanted to cry out, but she wasn’t sure if the scream she heard came from her, Akko or if it was just in her head.
Diana watched, unable to move, unable to think, as pain wracked her and seemed to knock Akko to her knees. The last thing Diana remembered was attempting to reach for Akko, and then the world went black.