Chapter Text
After a long night of being hunted by the Curtain leech, dawn arrived at Ezrest. Light crept over the horizon, slipping through the mountains and thinning the shadows between the trees, brushing the clouds with a faint wash of gold.
Free from its previous magical terror. Unknowing and witches alike exhaled in relief.
Except for the members of our certain Atelier.
Aggot, Tetia, Richie, and along with Maser Olruggio look around for the missing members of their Atelier.
After quite some time of searching, “Look there they are!” one of them announced.
“Hey coco!” Tetia called, one hand cup beside her mouth and the other waves.
There she is. Agott spotted her, crouching beside Professor Qifrey.
Everyone ran toward them.
They’re safe. She's safe.
The sight washed the remaining worries in Aggot’s heart; she sigh out of relief, and a smile spread across her face.
As they thought it was finally over, the familiar blood-colored cloak suddenly grabbed and swept Coco into the air, wrapping her in a white banner connected to a staff
“Coco!” Professor Qifrey rushed after them, reaching to snatch her back.
Coco stretched out her hand against the gap of the cloth wrapping around her fast. “Professor!” She wailed.
The Knight Moralis, Easthies, pulled her closer to him.
Qifrey missed. “Agh!”
Easthies paused in the air, his hand cupped Coco’s face, pressing on her soft cheeks. “Every time strange things happen this unknowing has somehow-always been part of it” He scowled.
“Let go of my apprentice, Easthies!” Qifrey ordered, glaring at the knight moralis, “Whatever is it your thinking, Coco had taken no part of such accusations!”
“He was right, stop jumping unto conclusion” Olruggio joined although calmer than his friend but did carry a threatening tone toward the captor “Let the child go”
“Whether you accept it or not” Easthies pulled out the emblem with the memory erasure spell on it, “this child is clearly related to them”
Everyone’s expressions darkened.
Coco eye’s widened in terror, she tried to resist his grasp, but the cloth only tightened around her.
“Noo!” They rushed frantically to her side.
The ride back to Atelier was silent. The weight of it pressed down like an elephant’s foot, yet no one wants shoo it.
Afterall, the elephant is very cherished.
Professor Qifrey sat across the different side of the flying carriage. He was quiet and contemplating, his usual comforting smile was replaced by a troubled frown. Which is kind of concerning, the professor is not one to confide to others about his problems and feelings, especially to them, his apprentice. But Agott could tell that he was blaming himself for what had happened.
Tetia and Richie sat beside him, leaning on each other, sleeping. Clearly exhaustion finally caught on to them, they were running around all night helping people...
Traces of dried tears still clung to Tetia’s face evidence of her concern and deep affection.
Like Professor Qifrey, she also blames herself. Agott thinks everyone does and who wouldn’t.
The silence is a bit suffocating. It was kind that unwelcome but then it’s not that unique coming from them, the atelier who always had something going on. It is a terrible feeling to have a hard time breathing, yes. But it was something she would prefer right at this moment.
Since the owner of that elephant’s foot was in her arms, asleep soundly.
Coco took most of the space on the seat. Her legs rested beside Agott, her upper body slumped against hers, while Agott also tries her best not to wake or make her sliped out of her arms.
Never again.
Cocos’s face looked so at peace for someone who caused quite a lot of mess. If she was awake, Agott would like to scold her.
Agott had only relaxed a bit when she brushed a strand of hair away from Coco’s face. Her breath halted when she spots the ugly—no. Terrible and infuriating but also concerning splash of freshly and dried wounds, hidden by innocent face from her angle.
Those imbeciles...
Her jaw clenched.
Then, she was forced to returned to the deafening silence—that she finds more desirable even.
Though the silence longed to be recognized, it left a sticky feeling that would stay with you for a long time.
Agott hated for it be named. Anything that will force a meaning to it will just be a noice for her that she do not deemed tolerable and would be treated as such.
If anyone is to decide, it will be Coco.
Yes, she will only believe in Coco.
Like how Coco believed in her.
after Coco wake up she'll just proved yet again that she deserve to be here, as a witch.
...
That evening, everyone woke up still visibly tired.
Tetia and Richie slumped all over the table, still half asleep. Even Professor Qifrey, waiting from the other table, is still not in his usual self yet. He was not frowning now, but neither did he smile. No one is in their right mood yet.
Agott paused and remembered someone and was about to back upstair and when Master Olly met her gaze from the kitchen and urged her to take a seat.
She made my way to the table with her other sister-apprentice. They subtly looked up when they felt the wooden table shaken from slumping against the chair. Then they both returned to dozing off.
Master Olly, the only remaining one who was not visibly shaken and tired, became responsible for delivering the food, the atelier’s first meal of the day. He paused and seemed to take note of the missing witchling before he placed the soup and breads right in front of us.
Then he joined the professor on the adult table.
He avoided mentioning it.
The tension may lessen yet still it is undoubtfully lingering.
After they ate, the two expectedly returned right away to their quarters probably still tired.
“Agott” Master Olly called from the kitchen.
She followed him to the kitchen, taking care of the dishes.
“Master Olly, I’ll bring Coco some snacks in case she wakes up later.” Agott said.
Olrugio glances at her direction, then he looks upward and contemplated what’s his going to say. He sighed before he talked, “I left some for her there,” he pointed at the counter with something covered, “leave it there”
“Let her rest, kid” he said. Eyes are not leaving the sink and bubbly dishes.
“She's already slept all day, I'm sure she’ll complain about food when she wakes up”
Master Olruggio dried his hand with a warm towel, of course it also has magic to instantly dry your hand. He turned to her and crouched as small as he could be to match her level. “Listen, kid” he put his hand on Agott’s shoulder. “Coco would need a lot of time to rest”
Olly thinks about that line a little bit deeper. The kid had been put to a lot in just a short amount of time, yes, the least he could do is let her rest. As she wouldn't be put in a similar situation again.
As for Agott who has been with Coco’s side lately, she already did.
“Right now...” he gulped, and tried to offer a comforting smile, only his eyes are failing, “her head is still a bit of in disorder.”
“What are you talking about?”
Olrugio studied her. She looks like a frightened animal caught in a cage in his arm.
It's concerning.
“Agott...” he said her name warmly. It is to make her know it was just him, Olly.
“Im sorry Agott but there’s nothing we couldn’t do,”
Agott glared at him, pushed his arm off, “I don't want to hear it” and ran back upstair.
The atelier is a mess.
Olruggio is worried for everyone.
Everyone is dealing with it in their own way. And right now, the two who usually lead to the front are the most shaken.
Qiffrey....
Qiffrey would probably be fine, he was an adult and Olruggio know exactly what he was thinking, and he already planned to support him.
But Agott...
It's typical of her to reject the other’s opinion but she was never one to deny what’s Infront of her. Olly did not expect her to be the most in denial.
Olruggio fears it will just be harder for both Coco and her.
He thought about one last glare she shot to him before she stumped upstairs.
…
The memory erasure spell clung to Coco’s face, and it took a good measure of force to get it away.
By that time Coco was already limping in his arm, unconscious.
Olruggio trembled at the realization. Such a young child, Coco is. His hold turned into a tight embrace. His head leaned on the unconscious child’s shoulder.
He was too late again.
He wasn’t able to stop it yet again.
His inner turmoil shattered at the sound of splashing water and a muffled voice in the distance. Easthies, the deputy captain of the Knight Moralis, struggled to breathe, rendered defenseless by Qifrey’s magic. He had been imprisoned within a massive bubble of water; the banner he had used to tie Coco was nowhere in his grip, lying instead on the wet ground.
Qiffrey erased his warmth smile and replaced something only Olruggio recognizes that been part of him.
Rage. and Frustration.
His dark expression scared even his own students.
The young apprentice looked pitiful from where he stood. With no guardian there to assure them of their safety—or the safety of their fellow apprentice—they must have been frightened and confused.
Then Olly’s gaze landed on Agott’s.
And Agott’s watches back. Her eyes carried the same weight of her teacher’s.
Olruggio flinched. A goose bumped ran through his back.
He froze, stuck in the dilemma, if he takes too long it might have been too late to stop from Qiffrey commiting murder, but he could not also be sure what Agott and the other children will do if no one rush to their comfort now.
And not to mention, he is also holding Coco. He got to put Coco in the safe place first.
That’s it! Agott’s not looking at him. She was watching Coco.
He turned and landed near the other apprentices and placed Coco on the ground. Then the other children all rushed to her side.
Agott’s expression eventually softened when she pulled the unconscious Coco close to her.
The kids will be fine for now. They got each other.
Right now, Qiffrey needed him.
...
Fortunately, no one died. Luluci came to apprehend Easthies for moving inappropriately according to her personal beliefs and endangering children and unknowings
. Qiffrey did not able to evade complaints, but because of his emotional state that so obviously will explode any moment, and with the assembly being thrown out of balance, the witch society is in chaos for consecutive dilemmas at hand, they deemed the issue unimportant and dismissed him and Coco for now.
The cold is unkindly and mischievous, it clung to Coco no matter how much she tossed and turned beneath the blanket and unintentionally stirred an explicit sense of longing for coat, with it came the faint image of someone she could not quite remember — woman who felt warm and kind
In a daze, Coco pushed herself upright. The blanket slipped from her shoulders as she moved, the chill immediately creeping back in.
Moonlight filtered through the window, the first thing to greet her in this world she no longer recognized.
She blinked slowly, her gaze drifted across the unfamiliar room absentmindedly, from the window to the ceiling, then wall behind her—Her head tilted until she lost her balance and fell on the floor.
“oww”
Coco immediately pushed herself back up, pulling the blanket with her and brushing it off.
The door suddenly burst open.
“Coco?”
Coco turned, whether it was because of the voice, or the name said, she wasn’t sure.
But both felt like home.
She met a pair of wide, dark eyes, tinted faintly with magenta.
“You’re awake...?” The girl’s voice was so soft it felt as though she were speaking to herself rather than to Coco. Coco couldn't recognize her, no matter how hard she tried, yet the girl clearly knew her. A sudden, sharp nervousness pricked at Coco; she feared that whatever she said next might upset her. So she nodded slowly.
Agott’s eyes gleamed, remaining locked onto Coco’s alluring golden ones. Bathed in the faint, pre-dawn light, both her hair and eyes seemed to mimic the sky just before the break of day.
Finally.
The sticky, frustrating feeling inside her dissolved
She ran to her, pulling Coco into a tight hug. Obliviously, the only thing that mattered to her in that moment was that Coco was awake.
Coco melted into her warmth, the unkind cold also at last left her alone.
A moment later, Agott seemed to return to her senses. She pulled back abruptly, shoulders tensed, and cheeks flushed a deep, bright red. "Uh—mnhhm," she stammered, making a series of incoherent, flustered noises. She covered her face with both hands, struggling to calm herself. Her eyes slipped through her fingers, darting back to Coco’s. "I was just worried about you," she pouted, though her voice still carried a tremor. "Can’t I worry for a fellow apprentice?"
Coco tilts her head a little, embarrassed for a completely different reason.
Even if she tries to hide it, the other girl will soon find out one way or another anyway, so Coco collects all her courage and decides to be honest.
“yeah.. Of course, you can,” she answered a bit quiet and awkward, scratching her cheeks slightly. She hesitated, “d-do I know you?” albeit shyly, she had asked it.
The other girl halted, her hand remaining frozen in the air. In a split second, Agott’s legs gave out; she could do nothing but sink to the floor and bawl.
The weight—that crushing elephant’s foot she had forbidden anyone in the atelier to acknowledge, especially her—had finally come down.
Her make-believe hope crumbled.
To Coco, it had been a simple curiosity: merely wanting to know the sweet girl’s name. Now, she was bewildered, completely lost by such a reaction.
Agott’s weeping echoed through the atelier's walls, loud and raw. It was the kind of sob that it had been built over time.
Soon enough stumping of feets rushed to Coco’s room.
Qiffrey is the first to arrive and immediately paused to observe the situation. Surprised and was relief to see Coco then it melted to concerned very fast, “Agott!?” He plopped down on the floor beside Agott, the others were behind him and Tetia tackled Coco into a hug.
“what’s wrong, Agott?” He scanned, forcing her shoulder gently upward, to see her face.
“P-professor...” Agott tried to cover her face with her arm and wiped her tears. Her breathing breaks in every sobbed. She was inconsolable.
He had never seen his apprentice like this.
His upfront and confident Agott could not speak nor look at him in the eyes—
“Im sorry, I must have upset her” he perceived Coco’s voice behind him—
Coco!
It was then that it cruelly reminded again to Qiffrey what another tragic event he had failed to prevent.
Fanart cause you know, I am hyperfixated and Agott deprived.
