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"Mum, do you think that Shiny Chariot will ever be popular among the commonplace witching community?" Diana asked, absent-mindedly, staring with melancholy at her super rare Shiny Chariot playing card as she passed it gracefully between her fingers.
"That's another one of your extremely difficult to answer questions," the older witch responded from her bed. The room was considerably warm, the dense and pleasant smell of the softly crackling fireplace in the corner filling the room with the atmosphere of a winter evening. "You've had a lot of those recently," she commented, meeting Diana's eye. Diana could see the fire of her mother's spirit burning brightly in her eyes, her smile easily settling the harshest of heiress's moods - there was a reason that Bernadette was world-renowned for her affection and generosity.
"Sorry," Diana mumbled, hesitant to call on others for help too often, as she had been taught.
"Don't apologise," her mother said quickly with a light demeanour. "Stay curious," she continued. She always reminded Diana of the importance of balance between aristocratic social demand and being an ordinary human being with healthy interests and hobbies.
Diana nodded, quickly relaxing. It was easy to be caught up in putting on your best mask now that Daryl was spending so much time in the Cavendish manor.
"To answer your question... I think that as the majority of the younger generation become more liberal, society will grow to be more accepting of different applications of witchcraft. I'm sure you saw yesterday's article about the potential of combining magic with factory machinery?" Diana nodded. "So, yes. It may not happen during Chariot's prime, but I'm sure there will be a time where you can share your passions."
"There will be a time where you can share your passions" was a surprisingly inspiring phrase for Diana for the next few years of her life. Even though it sounded sappy and shallow, it was spoken with thought behind it and Diana always clung onto the dream that it was true.
It helped her massively in retaining her positivity when her mother started falling severely unwell. For a long time, Diana was caught in an awkward limbo where her mother was less present than she usually was, and it seemed as though Daryl, Anna and even Bernadette herself were being somewhat secretive with Diana.
She and her mother would still spend rare evenings together by the hearth, discussing whatever came to their heart, though gradually Bernadette's speech would contain less vigour, her words less inspired and the fire in her eyes lingered and dimmed until all that was left was the reflection of the fireplace.
One day Bernadette told Diana to remain steadfastly optimistic and never give up hope in the face of hopelessness, to be the bright shining anchor that people needed, and the next, they had called a family meeting to inform Diana that her mother's affliction would most likely take her life within the next few months.
She had initially not believed it, that the house of Cavendish was the greatest establishment of healing magic in the world and would be the least likely possible place for someone to die of an illness. Diana would spend countless sleepless nights researching and creating spell after spell, potion after potion and insisting her mother try them. Bernadette expressed that this was part of why she didn't want Diana to know - but despite her mother's objections, Diana continued to hope.
Those few months passed and all that Diana thought about was the growing real fear for her mother's life - she desperately clung on but it dawned on her slowly and dreadfully that there was nothing she could do. Painful months passed until almost a year until Diana had been told of her mother's condition before she awoke in the middle of the night following a nightmare and needing a mother's comfort.
She slipped out of bed, not bothering to dress appropriately or even bring a lantern - from the stark, mocking shadows of moonlight she navigated the familiar corridors of her home, shivering from the cold as silent snow and mist obscured the windows. She knew her mother would not be awake at that time, so she quietly pushed open the door and entered her mother's quarters. Her sleepless mind was slow to discern reality from something else she silently begged it to be - but when her mother didn't respond to her call and Diana touched her shoulders to shake her, she was cold and unbreathing.
Diana's eyes darted open, her breathing rapid and shallow and clutching tightly onto her own chest with her arms. Trying her best to steady her composure, she scanned her surroundings - a mild bumpy movement of the seat, rattling, a dense crowds of people either side of her and her luggage by her side, Diana was returning to Luna Nova from a business trip in a far part of England. Sat on a busy public train, Diana was surprised to realise she must have fallen asleep - though she was completely and utterly exhausted. Discussing political matters was never fun, especially while trying to draw minimum attention to her romantic relationship - and a gay one with a first-generation witch at that.
She shook her head, realising they were almost at her stop. It was a good thing she woke up when she did. She must have been having another nightmare. She felt like, only recently, the hole in her heart left by her mother's departure was slowly but surely being filled by a certain clumsy Japanese witch. Among her peers, and even recently between Ursula and Croix, Diana's relationship with Akko was common knowledge. It was a miracle she hadn't received mass public attention for it.
She had brought her broom with her and after gladly freeing herself of the bustling train station, she made the short yet entirely exhausting walk up to the Leyline terminal, where she mounted her broom and paused for a moment, shutting her eyes.
"Tia Freyre," she said slowly, rising and disappearing into the leyline and soon appearing before the familiar home of Luna Nova. Just minutes after arriving, Diana had retreated to her dorm, greeted her dorm mates, got changed and fell straight into her bed just past nine o'clock in the evening.
With Bernadette deceased and the Cavendish heir still just a child, Daryl became solely responsible for the upkeep of the manor, the Cavendish business and raising young Diana. Young Diana, who she and her children hated. Diana couldn't fathom their scorn towards her, aside from the fact that she was the heiress and they were jealous of that. They regularly reminded her that they thought she was ugly and that there was nothing loveable about her while she tried only to forgive them for their undue rudeness and do good to them. Diana had learned to ignore their mockery over time, but now all of that seemed unimportant.
Diana was stood at a distance away from her aunt and cousins, closer to the Cavendish servants as they crowded around the grave. As if sharing Diana's sentiments, the clouds weren't furious with thunder and rain, nor bright and mysterious with confusion and sadness, but pure dead grey as far as the eye could see. The faintest of drizzle that only made everything damp and cold hung in the air. The gardens were dry and scratchy, no flowers bloomed and no birds sang.
Diana sat in silence as Daryl was expected to give a speech in front of her and the servants about Bernadette, but she seemed to care so little, her eyes glazed over as she scanned the scenery and for the first time, Diana felt truly angry at her.
Not long afterwards, she and her daughters left the scene and were gradually followed by various servants. Anna stayed behind and silently nodded, unable to professionally provide anything more. Soon, Diana sat alone by the grave, and she allowed herself to silently weep. She knelt by the grave for the first time truly lost for hours on end, as clouds rolled in and brought downpour and left again before another rain began and Anna returned to Diana's side, only to insist she comes back inside.
"We're in a financial mess because of your mother, Diana," was the consolation Diana received from her aunt as she stepped back into her house. "And now I've finally got the chance to fix it, there are going to be a few changes. We can't afford all of our servants, so we're getting rid of half of them and you will be taking over their duties." A bulge formed in Diana's throat. She was still just a child and she couldn't even form a word through the tenseness in her throat, hidden behind her stoic mask. "Cooking meals for us, cleaning the manor, taking on healing duties, you'll be filled in by Anna."
"I-" Diana managed to croak out before Daryl met her eye and finally Diana saw the woman's unbridled disdain.
"Your mother is to blame for this and you're all she has to show for it." And with that, she left the room with her daughters in tow.
Diana wanted to scream. She wanted to bang her head against a wall and tear the manor down but she lacked the energy, so she stared blankly.
Years passed under Daryl's complacent dictatorship - making little efforts herself to resolve their so-called financial mess herself, Diana had to quickly learn to be steadfast in order to maintain sleepless nights of studying after full days of unpaid unskilled work to maintain top grades that are expected of a Cavendish. Her cousins regularly teased her and there was not a thing to be done about it. She found herself protecting her rare chariot card from them to her wit's end and when they were done with her Diana would continue her work, resolving not to break and cry as she did on the day of the funeral.
This continued into her teenage years, and when Luna Nova gladly accepted her application, she was surprised to find Daryl even allowing her to attend the school. She didn't know if it was a semblance of humanity in her or if she just wanted to get rid of the young heiress, but in striving through the next half a year in order to finally start anew, Diana found strength in looking forwards to go to Luna Nova.
One particular day, Diana returned to her room to find her cousins had torn up her chariot card to shreds. It was scratched, singed, creased and dirtied, and they only laughed at her for looking shocked at finding them in her bedroom. Diana fought hard to contain her emotions and used her wand to repair the card, restitching the tears, reforming the broken material and cleaning the surface - but they weren't done. Diana put the card back and they continued to bully her, this time to her literal wit's end.
She raised her wand and muted the two of them. They shared a look of terror, the words pathetically stopping in their throats. Diana even laughed briefly before her cousins darted out of the room, no doubt to inform Daryl. Then Diana had realised her mistake - Bernadette would never have used magic against someone. She ran after her cousins to try to apologise, but they only seemed to enjoy her attempts.
Daryl was beyond furious.
She screamed at Diana, threatened to burn her room down and expel her from the household. She snapped Diana's wand. Diana had her back against the wall as Daryl raised her hand to strike her in anger.
And in the second time that day, Diana's eyes darted open. She leapt forward, her feet touching the ground and her bedsheets messily pushed to one side. She was in the blue team dorm room in Luna Nova. It was quarter to ten in the evening and Hannah and Barbara were quietly talking to each other on the other side of the room, unaware of her distressed state.
Quietly regaining her breath, Diana clenched her jaw and closed her eyes, tilting her head backwards. It had been a highly stressful few days but she hadn't had nightmares impacting her sleep like this in years. She listened to her friend's casual voices as the last remnants of the sun disappeared through the window.
Softly scowling in frustration, Diana reached for her orb and logged onto the witch net.
Diana Where are you?
Diana waited, silently praying for a reply.
Akko canteen
Diana's heart lept and she internally fist-pumped, inadvertently grinning.
Akko why?
Diana Stay there
The blonde witch placed the orb tiredly back in its place on her desk, groggily standing up and shaking off her arms.
"Awake, Diana?" Barbara commented.
"Are you feeling alright?" Hannah asked.
"Mhm," she mumbled uncharacteristically, making for their door.
"H-hey, Diana?" Hannah asked confusedly as the British witch opened the door, still wearing her pyjamas, her hair messy, her eyes half-lidded with her brain only half awake.
"Where are you going?" Barbara asked.
"Canteen," Diana offered, leaving the room and ignoring her dorm mates' confounded objections.
She felt more tired than she had since joining the school, only partially aware of the huge number of glances she was getting from other students and not caring when Wangari took an opportunistic shot of her lumbering down the corridor in her pyjamas. She knew what she wanted and she was too tired to care about anything else.
Pushing open the door to the canteen, she briefly surveyed it before a small smile found its way to her lip - her beautiful girlfriend, Atsuko Kagari, was sat at a table loudly talking to Amanda O'Neill. After Diana entered, the crowded hubbub became noticeably quieter as a significant proportion stared at her. Walking around in pyjamas was technically against regulation but it wasn't the single most outrageous thing you could ever do - Akko does it quite a lot, for example - but to see Diana Cavendish of all people doing it was unheard of.
"Akko," she mumbled, walking up to her table with purpose.
"E-eh?" Akko stammered, an adorable red taint across her cheeks as Diana grabbed her by the hand and turned to leave without another word.
A few days ago, Diana and Akko were having a clothing crisis after Sucy thought it would be fun to use a potion to stick their hands together - the two had ended up almost naked and after Akko accidentally pulled Diana over and ended up straddling her, Amanda walked in on them and thought they were having sex. Naturally she told everyone, so at this point Diana thought she had nothing to lose as she pulled Akko casually out of the canteen.
"W-what did I do wrong?" Akko stuttered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Diana cut her off by slightly squeezing her hand and shaking her head. Diana stared straight ahead, internally warm at the feeling of her girlfriend's hand in her own as she took the familiar path to Akko's dorm room. "My dorm?" The Japanese witch asked as they approached her door. "W-well, Lotte and Sucy are working with Conz on their project right now and they said they'd do an all-nighter round her dorm-"
"Mhm." Again, Diana cut her off with an acknowledgement before pushing open her door and pulling an increasingly flustered Akko into her room, ignoring Finnelan looking horrified in the corridor who witnessed he whole ordeal and closing the door behind them.
"Diana?"
"Bed. Now," Diana instructed, pointing to Akko's bed.
"W-w-w-hold on a second, what do you...?" Akko stammered, turning bright red.
It was adorable.
Diana waited for her to expend her embarrassment and obey, and grinned internally as Akko climbed into her bed with a pout. he blonde witch followed Akko, lying down gently on the bed as the two faced each other, wrapping her arms tightly around Akko and melting into the comfortable and familiar feeling she had been longing for of the bed sinking deeper than usual and Akko's signature warmth between her arms.
"Diana, is everything alright? Please?" Akko hazarded quietly as Diana met her eye.
Diana sighed.
"Tell me you'll stay in my life," Diana whispered, her voice almost cracking.
Akko's eyes widened, her confusion only increasing.
"Of course! I'd be stupid to leave you! You don't even have to ask, I'd have to be absolutely positively mentally deranged to even think about it!"
"Just tell me," Diana repeated. "Please," she added, quietly.
Diana saw Akko relax slightly and breathed a soft sigh of relief as the brunette tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.
"I'll stay in your life," Akko said slowly.
"Stroke my hair," Diana insisted. "And say everything is alright," She continued, steadying her constricting throat. She felt Akko's fingers begin to slowly sift through her curly hair like they so often did until they had found the perfect way to make Diana feel nice.
"Everything is alright," her girlfriend assured her.
"Now hold me tight and don't let met get nightmares," Diana begged, subtle traces of tears in her eyes. Akko nodded, wrapping her arms around Diana's back and pulling them together until there was no air between them, increasing their grip until Diana felt suitably wrapped up.
They met eyes again and Akko gently wiped a tear away, smiling gently.
"It's okay, I'm here," she whispered, moving her arm back behind Diana and holding them together. "It's okay. I've got you."
Diana slowly breathed in and out, feeling all her stress disappear. She buried her face in the warmth of Akko's shoulder and closed her eyes, content and safe, and quickly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.