(A/N: One awkward thing about this story is that it's set in the winter, but it's inspired by the characters' early series relationships and abilities. Could this be the OVA timeline? An AU where Croix's plan was set back a year or two? I hope you will enjoy in any case!)

Snow clouds piled thickly over Luna Nova Academy, turning midday into gloomy twilight. It was two days into winter break, and, except for a few stragglers rattling around Luna Nova's cavernous halls, most everyone had gone home for the holidays. The professors had apparently drawn straws for who would have to stay, and Professor Nelson, the broom flight instructor, had been the one to lose. Understandably, she'd wanted a little time to visit her friends in town.

"I'll be back in an hour or two," Nelson had said. "Think you'll all be okay here?"

Diana Cavendish had nodded, hiding her irritation. She hadn't planned on being a pillar of the community during break, but it was a quiet day and there were only a few students lazing around the campus. What could go wrong?

After seeing Nelson off, Diana got a few important books from her room, left a note saying where to find her, and set out for the West Atrium. It was an open and quiet space on even the busiest days of the year, full of natural light from its towering windows. When she needed time away from her coven, she could always set up a study nook there and get some work done.

Once she'd laid out her spread, though, Diana shook her head with an irritated tsk. She'd forgotten to pick up a copy of The Hijiri Scrolls from the library. Setting her fingertips against the atrium's east exit, she could see the library wing across a broad courtyard. She could spend twenty minutes walking all the way around, or double-time down that path and make it in two. Diana drummed her fingers on the door, started away, then shrugged and pushed through into the cold.

A light dusting of snow crunched under her slippers and icy wind slashed through her sleeves, fluting mournfully between Luna Nova's towers and setting the naked forest swaying all around. She couldn't help but smile, even as she picked up the pace; it was a lovely winter—no! Diana whirled and cast. "Scrylla!"

Diana's wand bucked in her hand like a hammer and spat angry sparks. The ribbon of magic came out crooked and sickly, distorted by panic. The shock had to clear before she could see what she'd actually bespelled. Or rather, who.

One of her classmates, Avery Teoh, was frozen in time just three feet from hitting the ground. She was falling feet-first, arms trailing, dark hair flying, eyes fixed upward. Her expression didn't show a hint of fear, just blank surprise. A ragged gash marred the left shoulder of her winter cape, freeing puffs of white lining – she must have hit one of the last straggling geese of the season and fallen from her broom.

"I can fix this," Diana murmured, and started feeling out the next spell. "I can…"

Avery had fallen from 150 feet. Her broom was long gone.

"Y-yera…" Diana stopped. At best, her rewind spell would push Avery a few feet up to drop again. She couldn't cast another spell on Avery while she was frozen in time, nor could she release and get another one off before impact. Diana broke into a cold sweat and did the only thing she could think of. "Help." Her eyes widened. It was a heavy, unfamiliar feeling. It sank claws into her chest and gripped her arms. She hated it. "Help! Barbara! Hannah! O'Neill! Anyone! Help!"

Snow started drifting down and icy breeze raked through her uniform. She almost lost the spell, but gritted her teeth and redoubled her grip. Holding the malformed Scrylla was like lifting a heavy shopping bag without her thumbs or forefingers – she was strong enough, but the wrong muscles were in play, and she couldn't shift her grip or let go. All she could do was call out, and hope.

Running boots approached, but Diana's hopes were dashed by a cry of, "Diana, is that y– WHAAAT?" Atsuko Kagari (you call her "Akko" now, remember?) veered off in her approach and started darting all around Avery, taking the surreal scene in from every angle. "What happened? Is she okay? Did you freeze-?"

"Akko! Akko! Of all the students to—Kagari!"

Akko bolted to her side, wide-eyed. "Are-are you okay?"

"Of course not," Diana replied coldly. Now that she had someone to focus on, it was easier to keep her poise. "I can't hold her forever. Get help. Get everyone you can! Send someone to find Professor Nelson!"

Akko took one step away and hesitated.

"Well?"

"Yes!" Akko cried, jolting, but paused to drop her coat over Diana's shoulders before scampering off. Diana listened to her yelling fade into the distance and smiled grudgingly, carefully threading her arms into the coat's too-short sleeves. Now that the wind wasn't freezing the sweat to her arms, her spell was just a bit easier to hold.

A brash cry came from above, almost breaking her concentration. "Hang in there, Cavendish!" Amanda O'Neill dipped low to drop off a tiny passenger, then became a comet racing for town.

Constanze von Braunschbank Albrechtsberger stood and dusted herself off. She cleared her throat as though to speak, but then silently walked a circle around Avery, casting metal orbs out of her satchel one by one. They deployed tiny, buzzing helicopter blades and continued the circuit, playing faint green scanning beams over Avery and Diana to reveal the delicate loops of magic connecting them. Meanwhile, Constanze produced a bulky remote control and thrust her wand into it to form the antenna. After a quick inspection and some furious calculations on a small notepad, she looked up at Diana with a deeply skeptical expression.

"I know," Diana said, nettled.

A few of the mites took up positions between them and flared softly at the weakest points of Diana's spell. The pressure eased a bit and Diana almost felt like she could relax. Constanze looked at her urgently and clutched a hand in the air, gripping her wrist.

"I understand sign language," Diana reminded her.

Constanze straightened in surprise, then told her, Keep holding. They only help.

"Right," Diana said. She let out a shaky sigh. "Thank you."

Constanze nodded sharply, then started hunting the ground around Avery, directing a few of the mites in scanning it. Every few paces, she stuffed the remote under one arm and made a decisive note on her pad. Diana considered asking what she was doing, but couldn't muster the focus.

"Over there, see?" Akko called in the distance, and three more brooms rushed in.

Lotte Yanson landed with Akko at Diana's side and rushed forward a few steps, clapping her hands over her mouth. "Oh no! Avery! What-what-how did this-?"

"Hit a goose," Diana said, then growled as the spell slipped in her grip. A small knot of pain started above her left eye. She cut off another question with, "Yanson, don't talk to me unless it's important."

Sucy Manbavaran had landed further out, and now slouched under Avery like a vulture, looking her over with detached interest. "I brought a rubberizing potion," she said idly. "But I can't feed it to her while she's stopped." She smiled slowly, revealing dagger teeth. "Be interesting to see how fast she can swallow, though."

Diana's gritted teeth became a snarl. "You…"

"This is everyone I could find!" Akko cut in. "Amanda's looking for Professor Nelson, but we don't know where she went in town."

The last newcomer, Jasminka Antonenko, just gave Avery a concerned look, then ambled over to Constanze's side and started feeding her from a big red bag of Walkers crisps. Constanze grunted appreciatively as she worked.

"What do we do?" Akko asked. "Diana, we-!"

The pain in Diana's head spiked. "Don't look to me. You're always haring off and doing ridiculous things, so you can show some initiative now!"

"I thought I could have fairies soften the ground," Lotte said fretfully. "But that wouldn't be enough, and Avery wouldn't know. Even if she lives, she could choke on the—eh?" She looked down to see Constanze tugging on her sleeve and offering up a detailed diagram on her notepad. "What is this? What's a crumple zone? Oh!"

"Soft…" Jasminka mused.

"Maybe I could make some mushrooms grow under her," Sucy said, tapping her chin with long, pale fingers. "But I'd hate to see what'd burst out when she hit them."

Diana couldn't feel her feet in the snow, and she wished she couldn't feel her head. The spell was getting ever more slippery and unwieldy. Nausea wound sluggishly through her guts. Her headache started flaring in time to the others' voices. "Shut up," she hissed under her breath.

Akko glanced over. "What was that, Diana?"

"Nothing."

"Oh! You've been in your slippers this whole time?" Akko gasped, and then immediately started unlacing her boots. "Your feet aren't too much bigger than mine! Here, lift your foot. Let me get these on you!"

Diana yelped and wobbled as Akko grabbed her ankle, but was able to more-or-less keep her balance through the footwear transfer. Thanks to Constanze's mites, the spell didn't waver. "That's better," she admitted. "Thank you."

Lotte sang a clear, high note, so sweet that it didn't even hurt Diana's head. As her song continued, luminous green bodies reared up out of the ground like bubbles rising in a broth, then slithered, bounded, and rolled to Lotte's feet. She squatted down and started explaining the plan to the fairies, keeping a musical cadence to her voice. Constanze stood at her side with her arms crossed, nodding at each point.

Jasminka lightly popped a fist into her open hand. She moved to Avery's side, quickly scooped out a divot in the snow beneath her, and wormed under. Her breath slowed and her habitual smile faded as she stared up at her frozen friend, softly murmuring an inward spell.

"Jasna, what are you doing?" Akko cried. "She'll fall on you!"

"I'm soft," Jasminka replied. "She'll be okay."

Akko squawked, eyes tracking skyward for a moment. "But she fell a hundred feet! She'll hit you like a-!"

"I'm strong," Jasminka replied. "I'll be okay."

As the fairies spread out to their tasks, Constanze rushed to Jasminka, ignoring Sucy looming over both of them. She knelt at her friend's side and raised her notepad, but her pencil just quivered on it uselessly. While she agonized, Jasminka carefully folded the top of her bag of crisps and handed it over.

"Finish this for me," Jasminka said seriously.

Constanze took the bag and nodded fiercely.

"I guess I could give you the rubberizing potion," Sucy finally said. "The dose might be a little small for you, though."

"Is it tasty?" Jasminka asked.

"It's disgusting," Sucy replied.

Jasminka shrugged and opened her mouth. "Aaah…"

Sucy knelt and produced a vial of grayish pink ooze. When she flicked the top off, a cloud of foul, plasticky mist puffed out. "Drink fast, don't taste," she advised. "This will make you tougher and bouncier, and it'll wear off… sooner or later. Or after the first impact. Probably."

Akko shook her fist. "Hey, you never explain the potions to me!"

"That would just give you time to get away," Sucy said, casually tipping the rubberizing potion into Jasminka's mouth.

"That's also a problem!"

Jasminka drank the potion down and licked her lips.

Sucy stared, perplexed and a little disappointed. "Well? Was it bad?"

"Horrible," Jasminka said in the same mellow tone as ever. "If they all taste like this, it's no wonder you're so skinny." She reached as though to offer Sucy a crisp, but then looked down at her hands in disappointment.

Sucy drifted back a few paces, laughing softly. "Ku ku ku! Just look at that big, hardy body. I'll have to remember you next time I have some new potions!"

Constanze interposed herself between them and spread her arms.

"There!" Lotte said. "The fairies are done!"

"What did they do?" Akko asked, and Lotte drew her over to Constanze to look at the diagram.

"Her mites scanned the ground and she designed a way for it to absorb the shock," Lotte explained. "See? Instead of making a big soup, I had the fairies weaken it in layers, like she said. It resists just enough to take some of the force, but not enough to… Akko!"

Akko froze in the act of raising her foot, and set it down sheepishly. "So are we ready?"

"I can't think of anything else to do," Sucy said. "Unless Diana wants an energy potion."

"I respectfully decline," Diana said acidly.

Except for Jasminka, the witches gathered in a loose semicircle around Diana and stood awkwardly for a few seconds. "So do we…?" Akko finally asked. "…you know?"

"We should wait for Amanda and Professor Nelson," Lotte said, then turned to Diana anxiously. "If we-if we can."

Down the path, the east door burst open and Hannah and Barbara pushed a squeaking trolley out, jouncing over uneven cobbles and driving through the shallow snow. "Careful, careful!" "Lift it!" "I-!" "Watch out!" They skidded awkwardly to a stop behind Diana.

"Is that a tea set?" Lotte asked.

"We made you tea," Hannah cried, ignoring her. "Pour it!"

"Darjeeling, with just a dash of milk, and… and… there, honey," Barbara muttered to herself, pouring with shaking hands.

"We know how it helps you," Hannah continued. "Your focus, and, and the headaches."

"So please," Barbara cried, holding out the cup.

"I can't move my hands," Diana admitted, then added, "Thank you," as Barbara lifted the cup to her lips.

"Do we get any?" Sucy asked.

"Don't forget me," Jasminka called from her divot.

Hannah blinked at Sucy as though just noticing the crowd, then glanced to Diana, who didn't respond. "Whatever. Diana never has more than a cup, anyway." She carelessly beckoned them on, and the motley group had an odd, tense little tea party in the cold.

The snowfall slowly eased and the wind died away. Weak shafts of sunlight poked through the overcast. The witches crouched in their half-circle and steeped expensive teas, Darjeeling, Kangra, and Oolong, then sipped them listlessly, hardly tasting.

"If she was further up," Akko mused after a few minutes, pouring far too much honey into her cup. "We could just turn her to steel and then turn her back after she lands."

"You're not supposed to turn people into objects!" Barbara snapped. "Don't you know anything?"

"As expected of the school dun-!" Hannah started.

"Quiet," Diana said tiredly.

In the silence that followed, Constanze brought Jasminka her tea and then sat down next to her, scribbling in her notebook.

"Humans and objects have different kinds of spirits," Lotte finally explained. "Your spirit isn't like the fairy that lives in a statue. If you turned into a statue, even for a little while, it'd be bad. And if you didn't know what was happening to you, it'd be even worse."

"If you wanted to be like stone, I could help you," Sucy added. "You might not like the taste, though."

"This one was terrible," Jasminka said cheerfully. "The tea is good, though."

"But what else is this?" Diana said, with a touch of bitterness. Her voice was starting to fray, and her left eye was squeezed shut. "Avery's just stopped, and we're all moving and casting spells all around her, and she can't know or think or feel anything. Didn't I make her an object?"

"Th-that, well…" Lotte said nervously.

"No!" Barbara cried, then continued more softly when Diana winced. "No, you'd never."

"It's because she's a person," Akko said. "You didn't make her a thing because you – because we all care about Avery. We'll get this done, and she'll be up and at 'em and doing people stuff all over the place!" She looked back and forth between Lotte and Sucy with bright eyes. "Right? Right?"

"Yeah," Lotte said, subdued. Sucy waggled her hand.

"I'm sorry," Diana said. Her voice gained a little strength and her posture straightened, but her brows knit as she considered her words. "I'm just tired. I just… I wish people weren't so heavy. Everyone is so…" She trailed off, embarrassed. "Can somebody pour me another cup of tea, please? The Oolong."

As Hannah moved to oblige, Professor Nelson came down like a bullet and landed with a soft click at her side, followed by Amanda descending a little slower and landing a little harder. After snatching the tea from Hannah's hands and slurping it down, Nelson looked the situation over with a grim, practiced eye. "Nice work, Cavendish," she said gruffly. "I knew I could trust – what are you doing Antonenko? Get out of there!"

"I'm gonna catch Avery," Jasminka said.

"I said move!"

Jasminka's voice didn't carry even a hint of danger or challenge. "No."

Nelson took an angry step forward and then reconsidered. Jasminka was the gentlest witch she'd ever met, but trying to move her when she didn't want to be moved was obviously a nonstarter. "She's gonna hit you at near terminal velocity, no matter what we do."

"I'm strong and rubbery." Jasminka lifted an arm and pulled a pinch of skin out to an alarming length to snap back. "See?"

"It hasn't worn off yet?" Sucy murmured. "Ku ku ku, that was a good batch! Or maybe she's a good subject…?"

"I've seen this situation before, but never so low," Nelson said. "When the restore spell can't make it, we usually…" She paused awkwardly as Constanze stepped into her path and held up the notepad. "What's this, von Braunschbank? What's a crumple zone?"

"Just step lightly," Akko said. "Don't stomp!"

Nelson shrugged and walked to the frozen witch, weaving around one of Constanze's mites. "Oof, this looks rough. How long you have in you, Cavendish?"

"I… have to confess," Diana said through a strained smile. "I'm slipping."

"Okay, we can't reorient her, but she's in almost the right pose. Here's what we do." Nelson started on the straps of her parachute. Her broom skiffed to her side and scooped her off the ground so she could comfortably reach Avery's shoulders. "This parachute's made for low altitude crashes. O'Neill, you've got the quickest reflexes, so get ready to blow the 'chute as soon as she starts falling. Cavendish, when I have this thing on her, I'll need you to rewind her as far as you can."

For a moment, Diana looked like she was going to cry, but immediately recovered and nodded crisply. "Understood."

"The landing will still be hard," Nelson said, snaking the parachute's straps under Avery's arms and cinching them as hard as she could against frozen fabric. It was surprisingly snug. She looked pointedly down at Jasminka, and added, "And I mean hard."

"Okay," Jasminka said.

"Everyone get clear," Nelson said, calmly gliding back to land next to Amanda. "Even you, Antonenko."

"No."

"Worth a try." Nelson tapped her wand against Amanda's. "Give it a good thrust and say, 'ag titim.' I'm trusting you with this, O'Neill. If you use this spell to prank me in flight class, you'll be expelled before you even hit the ground."

Amanda laughed and then sputtered out as Nelson just held her gaze.

The witches had scattered into a broad circle. Constanze watched intensely, and Sucy impassively. Hannah and Barbara huddled together and hid their faces. Lotte crouched and hummed softly, caressing the soft fey lights that rose to her voice. Jasminka spread her limbs and drew deep, slow breaths. Amanda flicked her wand out and held it at the ready, eyes sharp and focused. Akko hovered behind Diana and danced from foot to foot, clenching her fists and letting out a desperate prayer in a long, tense whine.

"Do it!" Nelson barked.

"Yera Retoure!" Diana cried, voice breaking. Avery's tumble reversed and she shot into the air, ten feet, fifteen feet, twenty – and there she froze. That was the limit of the restoration spell. Now to release – now to release – all she had to do was let go of the restoration spell – and let Avery fall. Diana froze. Her head was splitting, her body was twisting into a cramped knot, and all she wanted in the world was to release the stupid spell. And yet…

"Diana!" Akko said, moving to face her. "You can let go now!"

Diana drew a frigid, shuddering breath and, fully aware of the absurdity, said, "But she'll fall. I have to hold her up or she'll-"

Akko smiled gently and took Diana's free hand in both of hers. "It's okay, Diana. Everyone's ready! We'll handle the rest. You've held on long enough… you don't have to hold us up anymore."

"I'm terrible at this part," Diana admitted, returning the smile tentatively, then cooled and raised her voice. "Ready, O'Neill? Three, two—!"

After that long, tense afternoon in the frigid courtyard, the West Atrium was almost unbearably bright and warm. The witches separated into a few clusters dotting the room's plush furniture, talking, sprawling, or nestling. Professor Nelson had called in a doctor via leyline, a tall, stern-faced woman in white robes, and introduced her as "an old friend from the war." The two had laughed coarsely at that, but neither actually gave her name.

Avery hadn't experienced any of that, of course, but when she woke, she was overwhelmed for a different reason. "What happened?" she asked blearily. "What's going on?"

"You had a little spill," Akko said brightly, smiling down at her. "But the doctor said you're not hurt, so yay! Want some tea?"

"A little spill? It feels like…" Avery sat up and wobbled uneasily. For a moment, everything had slowed down, and then snapped back to the present. "Wh-what was that?"

"Oh, right." Akko straightened and set her finger against her cheek, eyes drifting upward as she recited. "Diana had to cast Scrylla on you for a little while, so your sense of time will be a little weird for an hour or two. She said it's called 'Snyder Syndrome?' The doctor says it'll wear off, but you shouldn't fly your broom or do dangerous magic tonight."

Avery blinked rapidly. "You got really fast in the middle, there. I'm supposed to do something dangerous?"

"No, no, just take it easy!"

"And what are you doing here, anyway, Kagari?" Avery asked, leaning to look past Akko to Diana.

Akko put her hands on her hips and puffed out her cheeks. "Hey…!"

"We call it frostnip," the doctor said, lightly winding bandages around Diana's foot. "You're lucky your friend got you those boots when she did, or you could've seen some real damage. Stay off your feet as much as you can for tonight, and use the healing spell again in the morning. If they're still bothering you after that, you give me a call."

"Understood," Diana said, keeping her eyes shut. "Thank you."

"As for the strain from your spell, all you can do is sleep that off. I hope you weren't planning to hit the books this break!" The doctor laughed, missing her patient's grimace, then turned to the anxiously watching Hannah and Barbara. "Can I trust you two to take care of your friend?"

Huddling closer under her gaze, they nodded.

"Those two will overdo everything and spoil me terribly," Diana said, voice lightening. She gingerly touched an eyelid. "No need to – ah – worry."

"Don't rub it," the doctor said. "And hey… nice work on this. Apart from your little friend, you really pulled Nelson's fat out of the fire. Believe me, she needs that a lot. Get some rest, Cavendish. You deserve it."

"Of course," Diana said, and turned her head to the side, relaxing.

The doctor scanned the room, giving Avery a quick nod and thumbs up, and glanced to her third patient. Everything looked fine there, too.

Jasminka was sprawled back on one of the room's couches, letting out a puff of green from an analgesic spell with every deep breath. Constanze was curled in the crook of her arm with her eyes screwed shut, and Amanda had wandered up to rest a hand on her shoulder. "I'm popular!" she said happily, patting Amanda's hand.

"Well, jeez, yeah," Amanda said. "That was badass. But you didn't have to do it, Jasna. I mean, what would we do if she'd smashed your guts out?"

"It hardly hurt."

"You sounded like a bull when Avery hit you," Amanda countered. "I don't think I ever saw you take a hit like that."

"It's okay, it's okay," Jasminka insisted, repeatedly patting her hand. "This wasn't the worst I've gotten."

"Pff, what? Do you wrestle bears back home, or something?"

"Only the once," Jasminka said airily. "But that's why I like this place. There's nothing scary here."

"Is that so?" Sucy said, laying her hand over Amanda's.

"GAH!" Amanda jolted back and fell into another chair.

"How did you like the rubberizing potion?" Sucy asked. Her body arced over the back of Jasminka's couch and her hands settled like a crow's talons on either shoulder. "There are all kinds of potions you could try out with me. Ku ku ku! Do you want to fly without a broom? Breathe fire? I've been looking for a subject who can-eh?" Sucy was suddenly staring into the muzzle of what looked like a clockwork MP 40.

Constanze stood taller and set her foot on the back of the couch, pushing Sucy back with the snout of her gun. She growled and flicked it to the side. Move along.

"You're so tense today," Sucy said, slinking away.

Constanze pulled her wand out of the gun and stowed it, then dropped back down to rest her head against Jasminka's shoulder.

"Sucy's funny, isn't she?" Jasminka observed, and reopened her bag of chips. Instead of eating, though, she just dropped her head sideways onto Constanze's and listened to the loudest thing in the room: Akko being Akko.

"Come on, it'll be fine," Akko insisted, pushing Avery towards Diana's seat. "You should tell her how you feel!"

"Fine, fine!" Avery crossed the atrium with the uneven shuffle of a Snyder Syndrome patient and stood before Diana. She smiled and opened her mouth, raising her hands in an enthusiastic pose, but faltered when her savior wearily cracked one eye open. She'd never seen the star of Luna Nova looking so drained. "Listen," she said, instead. "I know you get tired of being fawned over, so I'll just say 'thank you.' If you need anything, Diana, let me know, like always."

Diana finally opened her eyes, revealing the vivid red splot of a broken blood vessel in her left eye. Her smile banished the shock of the sight. "Of course, Avery. Just be more careful from now on."

"Ha," Avery cringed a little, still smiling. "Sure."

"I'll be retiring," Diana said, starting to rise. "So for now, I will wish you a good nigh-what?" Hannah and Barbara had pounced and lifted her between them with arms slung behind her shoulders and under her legs. "Surely you're not going to carry me!"

"Didn't you hear the dunce?" Barbara said. "You did your part!"

"Just relax, Diana," Hannah added. "Now we're gonna hold you up!"

"Stay off those feet. Doctor's orders!" the doctor called, and she and Nelson laughed again. It was an odd sound – harsh, but not malevolent. Together, they gave the sense that they were visiting this plush, bright academy from another world.

Avery watched them go, an awkward smile tugging at her lips. "What could I even do for someone like Diana, anyway?"

"Is that what she'd want you to think?" Sucy asked, then clicked her tongue in disappointment when Avery failed to startle. "Diana's not a saint, but does she actually want everyone always thinking about her?"

"Hmm," Avery said, then snapped her fingers. "So I should pay it forward? I think I can do that! That's really helpful, Manbavaran, thank you!"

Sucy blinked. She'd just been thinking out loud. "Sure."

"I should go and thank everyone. Even Akko, I guess. This is so…" Avery tripped on thin air and steadied herself. "Ack. Time!"

"This should help, probably," Sucy said, offering an orange mushroom with spots that looked oddly like skulls with angry eyes. "From Arcturus Forest. Boil it for an hour and then salt to taste. Just don't let Nelson's friend see it, and don't eat it raw or you'll die."

Avery took the mushroom hesitantly, and Sucy meandered away before she could reply.

Akko had finally retreated to the far end of the atrium and reclined in the old sofa there alongside Lotte. She was clearly exhausted, but her gaze was still bright and attentive as she watched everyone put themselves back together. Hiding her smile, Sucy slipped between them and stretched out like a basking snake. The three relaxed together as the others filtered out, just enjoying the warmth and lack of mortal peril. Eventually, they were alone in the atrium with the rattling wind and returning sunlight.

"I never want this to happen again," Akko suddenly said. "Never! But some of it was nice. For a while, I forgot how annoying she is. Diana, I mean. When we came back, and she was still standing there holding up Avery, she was being just so great, like always, but I didn't hateit."

"I was glad when Barbara and Hannah brought the tea, too," Lotte added, and giggled. "It's strange being happy to see those two, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Yeah! It's like… if something big and scary happens again, we can count on them. They're full of themselves, but…" Akko yawned. "Hey, I don't want to get up. I'm going to sleep here forever."

"Sometimes you have good ideas," Sucy said.

Lotte smiled and shook her head, then got up to investigate Diana's abandoned research nook. As she was on her way back with one of the books to peruse, Sucy suddenly sat up.

"Hey, Akko," Sucy said.

"Yeah?" Akko murmured, drifting off.

"Why didn't you try using the Shiny Rod?"

"The Shiny—!" Akko surged to her feet, clutching at the ceiling. "Of all the—no way! I can't believe I forgot the one thing I – aaaauuuuuuuu…!" She dropped to her knees and sagged. "What was I thinking?"

Lotte smiled patiently and patted her head. "All's well that ends well, right, Akko?"

Sucy chuckled. "Maybe you'll do better next time."

"Next time?" Akko moaned. "If this ever happens again, I… wait a second. I have an idea!" She popped to her feet again and grabbed Lotte's wrist. "I thought of the perfect rescue plan! We just have to test it. C'mon, Lotte, this is gonna be great!"

"I – hey, wait!" Lotte protested as she was towed from the room. "Akko! Weren't you going to sleep? Where are we…?"

Sucy rose and heaved a deep sigh. "That's more like it," she said, and sauntered after.