Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2017-08-29
Completed:
2017-08-30
Words:
2,125
Chapters:
2/2
Comments:
28
Kudos:
864
Bookmarks:
56
Hits:
10,650

In Which Akko Always Tries

Summary:

“Shit! Shit shit shit shit, shit!”
A branch hit her in the face and she spat out a mouthful of bark as she continued weaving through the woods,
“Why do I always do this? How do I always do this? Chariot never got into these situations!”
She squeaked as she tried to dart around the thorny undergrowth just ahead, prickly spines leaving long scratches,
“SHIT. Listen, I know I’m not Diana, but it shouldn't be this hard to stay out of trouble, right?”

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Akko ran. She stumbled fast and lopsided over boulders and sticks and tree roots that jutted from the dirt. Turning suddenly, sliding, and nearly falling, she pelted deeper into the woods. She could feel the ground shaking and a tree crashed down somewhere behind her,
“Shit! Shit shit shit shit, shit!”
A branch hit her in the face and she spat out a mouthful of bark as she continued weaving through the woods,
“Why do I always do this? How do I always do this? Chariot never got into these situations!”
She squeaked as she tried to dart around the thorny undergrowth just ahead, prickly spines leaving long scratches,
“SHIT. Listen, I know I’m not Diana, but it shouldn't be this hard to stay out of trouble, right?”
The thundering behind her was starting to grow closer, and in the dark she could almost make out the towering shapes that tore after her. Skidding through gravel, great limbs catching at the ground, they rounded the corner, their alabaster forms catching in the moonlight like obelisks of granite.
“Oh my god, FUCK”
She scrambled over a rock, and for the millionth time, wished she could fly.
I really, really wish I’d told Lotte and Sucy I was practicing magic tonight, she thought, yet again.
Think think think OH!
Pat, pat, pat, slap- there- she pulled her wand out of her pocket and, as quietly as she could, slipped around the rock and into the bushes nearby. Her heart was pounding in her throat and in her skull. She flicked her wrist-
“Metamorphie Faciesse,”
-the whisper carried all the pomp and weight of life and death as the great beasts halted, raised their featureless heads and stood stone still. Their heads tilted, listening, and a greeny-hued mouse with too-big ears tumbled into the bush. She nearly wept with relief. At least one spell had gone right today. Her whiskers twitched and her ears drooped as she remembered what Diana’s posse had said this morning.

It wasn't her fault she didn’t know how to convince a broom to take her into the air. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been trying! She had almost made cookies the other day in an effort to appease her wooden overlord before she remembered that brooms don’t have mouths. Or stomachs. And she’d never baked a day in her life.

She knows Diana has noticed how hard she tries, since there had been many occasions lately that she’d lost track of when and where she was, and the other witch had passed on her rounds and coaxed her back into the dorms. It always surprised Akko how gentle Diana could be. Yes she still received a lecture, but her broom was eased from blistered hands as she was turned back towards the lights indoors. Diana’s fingers had lingered at the crook of her elbow, one hand almost reaching out to fix the set of her hat before dropping to her wand
-“Incio Infirma,” -
to cast a spell that warmed them both from the night’s chill. And yes, she still had to dust the library shelves in the morning for breaking curfew, but if she happened to do so in the section where Diana was studying, early morning light soft and illuminating the little puffs of dust that Akko unleashed, then that was okay. And if Diana happened to smile a little more when Akko hopped to reach a higher shelf or sneezed at a sudden dust cloud, that was okay too.

But Hannah and Barbara don’t seem to have gained this particular trait of their idol, and when Diana is too distracted by note taking or the proper number of turns for a potion - and perhaps sometimes by her own pride - they can lash out a little too hard. Today they hit a little too close to heart when they asked if, “Her parents knew they’d gotten a witch when they picked her out, or if the complete lack of talent had thrown them off” and,when a transformation spell had backfired, “Isn’t it a pity that such a stubborn soul can’t fulfill her dream as a circus donkey?”

She was still fuming about that one.
Chariot isn’t a circus performer, and I am certainly not a donkey! I’m going to show those two-
She stopped,
One of the beasts swung around, its inky mane whipping over its blank face as the mirror-like visage swiveled back and forth, like a long, alien owl, before it reared back and tore into the woods.
Okay first I might need to deal with the results of my Believing Magic….

Two of the monoliths still stood nearby. They were completely still, other than the slight rustling of their tails and the tousling of their feathery haired limbs by the breeze.
One of them, like the one that had left, had seemingly completely smooth features that reflected the moonlight almost perfectly, but it also had curving, tufted ears that rose high above what seemed to be its head, and a mane that flowed down its neck and back. The other was longer, with slighter limbs, stony, flowing wings, and a tail that looped and curved, its whole body covered in ridges and grooves. They were beautiful, and Akko wished there was more to understand about them than the very clear message of: KILL. AKKO. NOW.

She burrowed a little deeper into the leaves on which she’d landed. God, how did all of this happen from a simple mistake? How could she have tried, again, to cast a spell that she knew she had no idea how to pronounce? Spells don’t often have counterparts that can be brought about by minor error, but this one was old and complex, and when they do they are dire.

 

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she almost missed the green spark of magic that drifted and twirled through the trees, coming to rest nearly on the tip of her nose, before it flashed brightly and sent a glowing green arch into the sky. Akko jumped and shut her eyes, quivering as she waited to be crushed.

I guess that means someone came looking for me but oh god OH GOD oh god I’m dead I’m so dead why did they have to send a shimmering beacon of all things I’m gonna fucking die just because I tried a gardening spell! A gardening spell!!

She was on the verge of tears, and with her eyes jammed shut she didn’t notice the sightless beasts still motionless beside her.
Suddenly, there was a flash of blinding purple light and someone came crashing into the clearing. A terrible crackling, humming, sound thrummed through the air. Frantic shuffling, and scraping, and a collision that shook the earth followed soon after, and Akko opened her eyes to find a disheveled Diana Cavendish standing over one of the monsters. Her clothes were torn and blood ran down her face from numerous scratches as she stood there panting and glaring with an almighty, reckless fury at the other of the two beasts.

Cautious after the demise of another of its kind, the creature backed away, circling before leaping and smashing, bouncing off of a tree, wings spread wide enough to block out the moon and sky and-
It was struck in the chest by a stream of blue flame and fell to the ground, wreathed in fox fire that danced and flickered upon its motionless form.

Diana took a deep breath, and another, and then whirled around and screamed at the sky, “If you, you monsters fucking killed her I swear I will send your ancestors to the deepest circle of hell- you fucking-”

Akko didn’t think she’d ever seen Diana swear; and she was terrified, but also so, so glad to see her. The wave of pure relief that hit her was enough to push back the spell she’d cast in fear and desperation and suddenly there was a girl sitting in the bushes and scrambling to stand up.

Diana whipped around, wand raised, and then she let out a choked sob and rushed to bundle Akko into her arms.

“Thank god, thank GOD you’re okay, I thought- I saw those things and I thought life had finally caught up and- and-”

Akko tightened her hold around Diana’s waist, “Thank god? Thank you Diana I was so scared and I thought I could outrun them, and I did, but I was just so tired and they were so close -”

Diana pulled back a little and cupped Akko’s face, “Akko I don’t know what I would have done if- Lotte and Sucy came to me because it was 3 am and you still weren’t back, and then you weren’t in the usual place and your broom was still there and then I saw the tracks..”
She let out a shuddering breath. Akko looked up at her and felt her hands on her cheeks, and she thought about how happy she was to see her, and the way her eyes wrinkled when she laughed, how there were always ink stains under her fingernails, how much wider she always seemed to smile when it was just the two of them, and how perfectly their hands fit together. Akko realized that she was grinning like an idiot and that Diana’s eyes had drifted to her lips,

Oh.

and then she reached up and slowly pulled her into a kiss.

Diana sighed into her and she could feel the tears on both their cheeks, but it was perfect, and when she pulled back Diana followed her lips for a second before her eyes blinked open and she looked at Akko like she was the only person on earth. The two of them sat there staring at each other for a moment before Akko giggled and said,
“You know this whole thing started because I was trying to grow flowers for you? You seemed so busy lately and I thought it might cheer you up….”

Diana sighed and shook her head fondly, composing herself, “Only you, Akko, could do something so well intentioned and end up summoning a horde of witch-hunting demons.”

Akko blushed a deep red

“Sometimes it’s almost like the magic can feel how much you believe, and how you put your whole heart into the words, and it just decides that you should be casting something a little more advanced,” Diana laughed softly, “I love that about you, you know,”

She leaned forward to press a kiss to the furiously blushing girl’s knuckles before helping her to her feet. She noticed a few stray twigs in Akko’s hair, and reached up, gently pulling them free.

“Thanks Diana.”

“I think we've had more than enough excitement for the night, and I do hope you’ll promise me not to do any more unguided readings of old spells?”

“I promise, I swear!”

“What do you say we get you back to your roommates?”

Akko yawned loudly, wiping her eyes, “Only if I get to keep holding your hand”

Diana laughed, “it’s a deal”

Chapter 2: Epilogue

Chapter Text

Hannah and Barbara awoke to the screeching of a cockatrice and something heavy hitting the ends of their beds. They shot out of sleep to find the conjuration spell dissipating right as the illusory beast began to lunge. Both of them screamed as blue smoke blew through their hair. Hannah reopened her eyes and almost screamed again when she saw Diana Cavendish standing over her, arms crossed. Diana slammed her hand down on the stack of paper she’d just deposited at the end of the bed, “I don't know exactly what foolish nonsense you two were spouting behind my back yesterday, but I do know that I found my girlfriend running pell-mell through the woods at four am after trying yet again to prove herself.”
Her gaze sliced from Hannah to Barbara, who sputtered and tried to say something before she realized she had no idea what was going on.
Diana narrowed her eyes and said, “I’ve tried to talk sensibly about this to you two before, but if either of you go after Akko again you’re going to get a much worse awakening than this; that I swear.”
She smacked the papers beside her once more, “I’ve spoken to the teachers, and while we’ve agreed that Akko must clean and reshelve the entire Luna Nova Library, we’ve also decided that you should be punished for your constant, petulant antagonizing. I expect to find these pages filled with the most heartfelt apology essay this realm has ever seen by tomorrow night.”
She glared at each of them in turn before pivoting and storming out of the room.

Barbara blinked. “Hannah,” she said slowly, “did she just say ‘girlfriend’?”

“Fuck.”