A/N: Orginally written and posted as part of AO3's Yuletide 2017.

Stuck

In the air Diana was like a hawk. Bent low over her broom, mane of blond hair flying behind her, eyes fixed on a distant point, she looked as fierce and determined as any bird of prey. She looked like she belonged up here in the bright blue sky, like it came naturally to her–even though Akko knew the truth. And Akko was ready to deny it if anyone asked, but it was also true that she was trailing behind just so that she could watch Diana fly.

Until her broom bucked and Akko found herself clutching the broom handle in a white-knuckled grip. She yelped as it lurched and then swayed wildly to one side and then another as if it were trying to shake her off.

When it steadied again, Akko looked up to find Diana flying alongside her, one hand reaching out to grip Akko's broom handle. "Thanks," Akko said, ducking her head.

Diana's tone was gentle. "With practice you'll be able to channel your magic evenly as you fly without effort. But for now, please concentrate so you don't get hurt."

"Sorry," Akko murmured, feeling her face redden. She hoped Diana hadn't caught her staring. "I guess I got distracted."

Diana looked like she was about to say something more when another voice cut in. "We'll never get there at this rate!"

Akko grimaced as Hannah and Barbara swooped in to flank them. "You said you could handle a flying assignment, Akko," added Barbara, sounding exasperated.

"Hey–"

Diana spoke before Akko got any further than that. "Please, girls, Akko is doing her best."

Visibly deflated, both girls returned their attention to the forested landscape below. Diana waited another few moments and then turned back to Akko. "Will you be all right?"

Akko nodded. "Yup. I'll be fine."

"Very well then." Diana released Akko's broom. A minute shudder trembled through the broom but then it stilled and continued to fly true. But Akko couldn't help but notice that Diana stayed by her side until they'd reached their destination.

#

The four girls touched down in a clearing surrounded by stubby trees jutting out of brackish water. Akko wrinkled her nose at the swampy scent of rotting plants and mud. She took a single step forward only to have shoe sink into squelching mud. "Eww. Why do we have to come all the way out here for ingredients? Couldn't we just have ordered them online?"

Hannah's own look of disgust morphed into disdain as she turned to Akko. "Haven't you learned anything from Professor Lukic? The fresher the ingredients, the more potent the potion."

Barbara, hands on her hips, gave a sniff. "Besides, this is homework. Ordering ingredients for Magic Pharmaceutics is considered cheating."

"Fine, fine," Akko grumbled. She tugged her shoe free and looked for a firmer patch of ground. "But is this really the only place to find glasswort?"

"And bladderwort," Barbara added. "That's the one we were assigned."

Diana had already found a path between the trees and called out for the others to follow. Periodically she poked at the ground with the end of her broom to test its solidity. Ferns and tall grasses sprouted out of ditches and shallow gullies that had filled with water. In the distance, the trickle of running water was faintly audible between the croaks and caws of local wildlife. The marshy woods were not menacing in the way Arcturus had been, but there was an unease to the place that set Akko's nerves tingling. The moss draping the tree branches seemed to grasp at them as they passed. Everything seemed too close, too closed-in and she found herself longing to be back in the wide-open sky.

"It just seems like a lot of trouble for some smelly plants," Akko said.

"If you didn't want to do this," Diana said without looking up from the mossy ground, "you shouldn't have volunteered to be my partner. You could have just as easily accompanied Amanda or Constanze. Their assignments were much simpler."

At this Akko squared her shoulders and gave a toss of her head. "No way. You're stuck with me." And to drive home her point, she hooked her arm through Diana's. Diana glanced up, looking startled, but didn't object, though Akko thought she heard a muttered "clingy" from behind her.

A stream was visible just ahead when Barbara called a halt. "Hold on a minute. I think I see some bladderwort." She pointed to a still pond to one side of their path.

Hannah joined her and nodded. "Yeah, that looks like it."

The yellow flower was poking through the sickly green pondscum floating on the surface of the water. Grimacing, Barbara edged her way closer and then drew her wand. But whatever spell she intended to use to gather the plant, Akko never found out. A loud splash came from the direction of the stream. Akko spun in time to see a large green shape surging towards them.

She yanked on Diana's arm, sending them both tumbling backwards out of the way and crashing onto the moist earth. As it galloped past her, Akko got a better look at it. The creature had the head, limbs, and hoofs of a horse, but its pelt was mossy green and its mane looked like tangled strands of seaweed. On the sides of its necks were slits that resembled gills, and its hindquarters were covered in shiny emerald fish scales.

The horse-fish came to a halt in front of Hannah and Barbara, rearing up and snorting a mist of fine spray into the air. Both girls shrieked in perfect harmony and held out their wands.

"No, don't–" Diana shouted, but her warning was drowned out by both girls' voices shouting "Murowa!"

The twin blasts struck the horse-fish, surrounding it in green light and knocking it backwards. It fell heavily onto all fours and snorted. The almighty whinny that rolled out of its chest was like the roar of waves against a rocky shore.

"Akko!" Diana's tone was full of urgency. "Cast the barrier spell."

"What?"

"I've dropped my wand. Cast it. Now!"

Akko did. Or tried to. Magical barriers were not really her specialty. A misshapen purplish bubble appeared in the air around her and Diana. The barrier ballooned out in some spots and retracted in others, but it held as a gout of water shot from the horse-fish's mouth, spraying in all directions.

Another whinny and the creature galloped away from them only to leap into the stream and vanish under its surface.

Akko groaned and fell backwards as she released the barrier spell, panting from the exertion. Transformation magic was so much easier than that.

"Is... everyone all right?" Hannah asked, glancing first at Barbara and then in Diana's direction.

"I'm afraid not."

All eyes turned to Diana at that statement. Akko shot up into a sitting position, alarmed. Diana was still next to her where they'd tumbled into the muck when the horse-fish had first appeared. She looked to be in one piece. But then Akko's eyes caught on Diana's right leg. It appeared to be encased in something grey, like cement, up to the knee. Akko reached out, her fingertips brushing over the limb. It felt like solid stone.

Hannah and Barbara rushed over. "What's wrong, Diana?" they wailed in chorus.

Diana's brow was furrowed as she stared at her leg. "That creature was a Glashtin, a relative of the kelpie."

"A what?" Akko said, looking from one girl to the other with confusion.

"A water-horse, dummy," snapped Barbara.

"Hey–"

"Unlike kelpies who carry their victims into the water," Diana went on, "the Glashtin drowns its victims by turning them into stone so that they sink helplessly below the water."

The hairs on the back of Akko's neck stood on end as her eyes darted between Diana's pallid face to the stone surface of her right leg. "Diana," Akko whispered, clasping one of Diana's hands in both of hers.

Hannah rounded on Akko. "I thought you cast a barrier spell?"

"I did!" Akko protested. "I–I guess it missed a spot."

"This is all your fault," Barbara chimed in. "If you weren't such a dunce at magic Diana wouldn't have gotten hurt."

Shame seared through her, sending the blood running into Akko's cheeks. "Me? If you hadn't blasted the horsey thing in the first place it wouldn't have tried to turn us all to stone."

Diana was pinching the bridge of her nose. "Could we discuss this at another time?" The stone was now just slightly above her knee.

Hannah and Barbara's expressions turned repentant in an instant. They swooped in on either side of Diana looking worried and contrite. "Sorry," they both murmured.

"What's the antidote?" Hannah asked.

"Should we get you back to Luna Nova?" Barbara suggested.

Diana shook her head. "No. You need to obtain a strand of the creature's mane. That's the only way to reverse the petrification."

"We have to..."

"What?"

The colour had blanched from both girls' faces. They looked uneasily from Diana to the stream into which the Glashtin had disappeared.

Akko squeezed Diana's hand. It felt cold, as if the heat were already seeping out of her even where the spell hadn't yet taken hold. "What about you?"

"Please retrieve my wand. I lost my grip on it when the Glashtin first appeared." When Akko had pulled her out of its way–Akko knew that's what she meant, what she wasn't saying out loud.

Hannah spotted the wand and brought it to Diana who took it with a nod and a thank you. "I'm afraid I'm in no condition to walk let alone swim, so the three of you will have to pursue to the Glashtin while I remain here." A chorus of overlapping objections from the other three girls was quickly drowned out by Diana's calm, reasonable tone. "I am capable of defending myself until you return with the antidote."

"One of us should stay behind," Hannah said. "Just in case it comes back or something else does."

Diana shook her head. "You'll stand a better chance if you all work together. Time is not on our side." Everyone turned to look down at her leg. The petrification had worked its way another centimetre up her leg while they'd been talking.

Barbara looked on the verge of tears. "But..."

With a smile, Diana looked from Hannah to Barbara. "I have faith in you. You're both skilled witches already and I know I can trust you to return with the antidote."

"Of course!" They both said, looking teary and grateful.

"Thank you, Diana," Hannah said.

Barbara nodded. "You can always count on us. No matter what."

They paused then and exchanged an uneasy glance as they suddenly seemed to remember Akko who remained sitting next to Diana clutching her hand. "Are you sure we should bring Akko?"

Akko snorted. "Of course I'm coming. Can either of you speak fish?"

They glanced at each other again and then sagged in defeat.

When Diana spoke again, her tone was gentle. "Please watch out for Akko... Since I won't be there to do it."

"All right," Barbara said.

"Of course," Hannah said.

And then, as if moving to the same drumbeat, they turned and marched toward the stream. Hannah paused to glance over her shoulder. "Come on, Akko!"

"Just a sec!" Akko called back and then turned back to Diana.

"Go," Diana said. "You need to hurry."

A frustrated groan rolled out of Akko. "How can you act so calm?"

"Someone has to remain calm."

"I know you're scared, Diana," Akko said earnestly. "I can feel your pulse racing." One of her thumbs had strayed from Diana's fingers to her wrist, and she could feel the rapid thrum of blood there. Diana didn't reply, only dropped her eyes, lips thinned. "I won't leave you stuck like this, I promise," Akko said. "You'll be fixed up in no time."

Diana glanced up, a tiny smile on her lips. "I know. I believe in you, Akko. More than anyone else."

Overwhelmed, Akko threw her arms around Diana and squeezed as tightly as she could. "I'll be back soon," Akko said.

"I know you will," Diana replied. Her confidence made Akko's heart soar, and her feet fly.

#

When Akko caught up to them by the stream's edge, Hannah and Barbara were in the midst of a heated discussion. "–can't use that spell underwater."

Akko's gaze flipped back and forth between them as if she were watching a tennis match. "Well maybe one of us could distract it while someone sneaks up from behind and clips a piece of its mane?"

"You mean before it turns us to stone?"

"Can it do that underwater?"

"I don't know. We should've asked Diana."

"We could go back and–"

"There's no time for that!" Akko shouted. "What about the neutralizing spell, Luna Lana?"

Hannah and Barbara glanced at each other. "But we've never tried it before," Hannah said.

"And," Barbara added, "you have to be able to synch your magic with another witch to use it."

Akko just about roared in frustration. "Of course you can synch up your magic–you're practically the same person!"

"We are not!" Hannah and Barbara said in perfect unison. And then each slapped a hand over her mouth, looking askance at the other.

Rolling her eyes, Akko stepped forward feet splashing in the stream, wand raised. "We'll figure something out. Now, come on. We have to save Diana! Metamorphie Faciesse!"

With a pop Akko transformed from human to fish and dropped into the water. A few seconds later two more fish dropped into the water next to her. Half a second after that, they burst into laughter. Akko swam around to look at them both. "What? What's so funny?" Hannah had turned into a large goldfish, while Hannah had turned to something almost identical but with black instead of orange scales. "I'm not a merman again, am I?"

"No, you're a–" Hannah broke off into a giggling fit.

"A clown fish," Barbara finished for her.

Akko grimaced, her fins bristling. "Never mind that. We need to find the horse-fish."

"How?"

"We'll ask for directions," Akko said, flapping her fins. The stream wasn't deep, but the water was murky and full of grasping weeds. Their swaying motion made it difficult to spot any of the stream's inhabitants.

The other fish began to swim alongside her, hurrying to catch up. "But we don't even have a plan," Barbara said and even underwater, her tone sounded plaintive.

"Diana would have one if she were here," Hannah added.

Akko wanted to roll her eyes... but couldn't quite manage it in fish form. "You guys rely way to much on Diana. Why does she have to do everything herself?"

"She doesn't!" Barbara snapped. "We help her all the time."

Hannah swam out in front of Akko and floated around to face her. "We've been friends with her way longer than you have, Akko, so don't act like you know everything. If it weren't for us she wouldn't even know how to use the internet."

A fishy glug sound that might have been a sigh, came from Barbara's direction. "She really is terrible with computers."

"And touch-screens."

And then they both heaved sighs that sent a stream of bubbles up towards the surface of the stream.

Peering into a thick clump of weeds, looking for fish to ask for directions, Akko thought over what they'd just told her. "But during break she sent me messages. I mean they were a bit long and formal like an actual letter, but she managed just fine."

A tangle of weeds tickled Barbara's fins and she shook them off with a shudder of disgust. "Except for the part where she kept sending us letters by owl to ask what all your abbreviations and emoticons meant."

"And," Hannah added, "that time her computer froze and we had to explain to her how to do a hard restart."

"Yeah... that was... bad."

"Oh," Akko said, at a loss for words. She knew Diana didn't much care for modern technology, but it had never occurred to her that the lack of practice with it would make her prone to the same sort of tech-inability Akko's parents had. "Well... Thanks I guess. For helping her send messages."

Hannah glubbed noisily. "If she didn't have such a soft spot for you we wouldn't have had to spend our entire break being tech support."

"Soft spot?" Akko repeated, feeling her fishy heart accelerate at the phrase.

"Hannah," Barbara hissed. And then, flanking Akko and giving her as menacing a look as ever came from a small black fish, "You'd better not do anything to hurt Diana or we'll never forgive you."

Akko whipped her orange and white tail through the water. "What are you talking about? We're out here because we need to save Diana. And nothing's going to stop me from doing that."

No sooner were the words out than she collided nose-first with something large and solid. It made a glub-glub sound that, as a fluent speaker of fish language, Akko realized was a very rude word. "Pardon me," she said on instinct even as she swam back to get a better look at what–or rather, who–she'd bumped into. A fish several times her size with mud-coloured scales and whisker-like barbels on its chin, lay on the bottom of the stream.

"Noisy," the fish muttered and shifted around in the muddy streambed.

"We're sorry," Akko said. "We're just here looking for someone. Maybe you could help us?"

The whiskered fish opened its mouth in a lazy "O" and then slowly closed it again. "You interrupt nap."

"We'll let you get back to your nap," Akko said, trying to sound encouraging. She tried not to wonder how much of Diana was petrified at this very instant. She would save Diana no matter what. "We just want to know if you've seen a really big fish. With hooves."

The fish burrowed into the sand. "Hoof-fish live upstream in weed-nest. Now go away. Naptime."

"Naptime, right. Thank-you!"

Akko relayed the directions to her companions whose language skills had given them only a spotty grasp of the conversation–such as it was. "Weed-nest?" Barbara repeated. "What does that mean? Are you sure you translated that right, Akko?"

"I'm sure," Akko grumbled and then turned and swam against the sluggish current.

The water became muddier and the current slower as they advanced. In some places the water sloped away, trickling into the brackish pools they had seen earlier. After a few minutes, though, Akko spotted a large tangle of weeds on the streambed. Instead of floating freely in the water they appeared to have become tangled together into something resembling a mat... or a very large nest.

"What now?" Hannah whispered.

"Wait here," Akko said. "And if this doesn't work at least try Luna Lana okay?"

"Okay," they said in unison.

Summoning her courage and remembering that this was all for Diana, Akko swam out towards the nest. "Hello?" she called. "Is anyone home?"

A few seconds passed and then something came galloping through the murky water, hooves churning the streambed and stirring up muck and sand in its wake. The Glashtin's kelp-like mane floated and danced around its head like snakes. Its eyes, dark and green like the weeds, fixed her. It did not speak.

"Hi there, Mr. Water-horse. What a beautiful mane you have."

The Glashtin's lips drew back, revealing large, square teeth. It gnashed them and snorted, sending bubbles rising to the surface.

Uncertain of whether it actually spoke fish, Akko tried again. "I'm really sorry to bother you but–"

"Strange fish. Go away." One of its front hooves kicked out and she had to dart out of its way.

"Please listen. My friend needs help and–"

The Glashtin snapped at her, square teeth grazing her fins. "Friend of egg thieves?"

Akko wove little circles and spirals through the water, keeping her path erratic lest the Glashtin take a bite out of her. "We're not thieves. We just came to get some plants."

A whinny poured out of the Glashtin, though beneath the surface of the water it sounded more like whale-song. "Stay away from my eggs!"

"Your..." Akko almost forgot to keep swimming. "Eggs?"

During the peculiar conversation, she'd lost track of her fellow fish. She spotted a flash of orange-gold scales flitting through the Glashtin's mane. She froze as she saw Hannah, wand clasped in one tiny fin, slice off a strand of the weed-like mane and zoom back to the little black fish that was Barbara.

The Glashtin snapped at Akko again and she darted away. When she glanced back in Hannah and Barbara's direction they had crossed their wands. "Ein Ein Sof!" Hannah chanted.

Akko knew that spell. It was the first part of the Luna Lana incantation. "Ein Sof Ohr!" Barbara replied. Akko shot through the water, past the Glashtin's snapping teeth and its hooves that thrashed through the muddy water. Its equine head spun to follow her movements as she placed herself between her companions and the Glashtin.

Hannah and Barbara raised their wands, magic crackling around them ready to be unleashed on the Glashtin. "Luna–"

"Don't!"

The magic around their wands dissipated. "Akko, what are you doing!" Barbara snapped.

"Don't hurt it," Akko pleaded. "It has eggs. It's a mommy horse-fish. It was just protecting its nest."

"Eggs?" Barbara repeated, fish face scrunched up in confusion.

"Nest?" Hannah said, looking equally stunned.

The Glashtin whinnied again, filling the water around them with bubbles as if they'd been dunked into a giant can of soda. "Go away!" the Glashtin roared.

And that was exactly what they did, as fast as their fins could take them.

#

When they returned to Diana, they found her in the same position as before, seated in the mud. The petrification encased her limbs and torso and was creeping up her throat. Her face was drawn and pallid, eyes wide as she sat helpless, waiting.

"Thank goodness!" she said with obvious relief when she saw them. "Do you have it?"

"We have it!" Hannah said, clutching the green strand. Akko squatted next to Diana and watched as Hannah wound the bit of Glashtin mane around Diana's left leg where the petrification had begun. She raised her wand. "Yera Retoure!"

The stony skin over Diana's leg seemed to melt away. After a few seconds her leg was flesh and blood again. But only her leg.

"What's wrong?" Akko asked? "Why isn't she back to normal?"

Barbara leaned down to inspect the leg. "It is working," she said pointing to Diana's knee. "Just really slowly." The skin above her knee was becoming flesh-coloured once more, but it was happening as slowly as the original petrification had.

Akko's eyes darted from Diana's knee to her neck. The petrification was still creeping upwards, encasing Diana's lower jaw. No one spoke. If it took the antidote as long to work its way up as the petrification had, then Diana's entire face would be turned to stone before the antidote caught up. Akko's heart seemed to be trying to beat out of her chest. What would happen if Diana were to be encased? Would she simply be frozen until the she was cured? Or would she suffocate under a stone skin?

"Isn't there any way to make the antidote work faster?" Akko said, looking from Hannah to Barbara.

"I–I'm not sure," Hannah said. "I think maybe we'd need more pieces of the Glashtin's mane."

"We could go back?" Barbara's voice trembled.

There wasn't time for that, Akko realized. The layer of stone was creeping steadily higher, millimetre by millimetre. It must have been torment for Diana to sit here all alone, slowly watching herself turn to stone without being able to do anything. And yet she had tried to preserve the appearance of calm, her stone hands resting in her lap.

"Akko." The name was just barely a whisper escaping Diana's lips. Diana's eyes were full of fear that even her self-control couldn't disguise.

She couldn't hold her hands now, Akko, realized, couldn't hug her. Tears blurring her vision, Akko held Diana's face in her hands and leaned her forehead against Diana's. "Hang in there, Diana, okay?" She squeezed her eyes shut. "Just hang in there a little longer." When she opened them again she found herself staring into Diana's brilliant blue eyes.

Akko could hear each one of Diana's rapid breaths. She felt the rasp as Diana's bottom lip became stone. But she never broke that gaze. Not even when Hannah and Barbara shrieked and yelled out a warning. Akko didn't move. She remained as still as stone.

She heard rather than saw the Glashtin clopping towards them. It didn't snort or whinny as it had the first time. She felt it hovering behind her and then it stepped closer and pressed its nose to the side of Diana's head. Its long, weedy mane fell around both girls like a curtain, settling over Diana's skin.

And then Akko felt it: the rough stone beneath her palms smoothed into warm, soft skin. A surprised "Oh!" tumbled out of Diana's tongue as it was freed of the petrification. Her hands curled and uncurled and then reached up to clasp Akko's.

The Glashtin chuffed against Diana's forehead and made a wet sound in the back of its throat. Only then did Akko's eyes flit upward to look at the creature and then back at Diana. "She says you should be fine now."

"You can speak to it?" Diana couldn't quite manage to hide her surprise.

Akko nodded, grinning with wild relief. "Of course I can. She speaks fish." Akko turned to look up at the Glashtin. "Thank you so much, mommy horse-fish."

Diana's brow crinkled. "Akko, what..."

"She has a nest of eggs around here somewhere. When she saw us poking around she thought we were trying to steal her eggs."

"I... see," Diana said slowly, eyeing the creature as its nostrils flared and it huffed into her hair. She looked up at it. "Thank you for you assistance."

And then the Glashtin turned and walked back towards the stream. Akko waved. "Bye! Thanks again for your help! I hope your eggs all stay safe and sound!" The Glashtin sank back into the stream like a leaf falling below the surface of the water. But Akko noticed that its snout remained poking just above the surface of the water so it was surely keeping watchful eye on them and on its nest.

Akko turned her attention back to Diana, offering her a hand up. Her knees were still shaky as she tried to stand and she had to lean on Akko for support. With the Glashtin gone, Hannah and Barbara finally approached, relief etched on their every feature.

"Diana!" they said in unison. "We're so glad you're okay."

Diana let out a long breath. "I must admit that was not an experience I'd care to repeat." Her expression softened as she looked from Akko to her roommates. "Thank you, all of you, for your help. I knew you would find a solution."

Barbara crossed her arms and, without looking at Akko said, "I guess we're lucky Akko is fluent in fish language."

Akko grinned. "A+ in Philosophy of Magic."

"The only A+ you've ever gotten," Hannah muttered.

Akko stuck out her tongue. She was too happy to get into an argument. Diana was safe. That was absolutely all that mattered.

"Should we head back to Luna Nova?" Barbara asked.

Diana nodded. "I still feel a bit unsteady so I think perhaps that would be wise."

Hannah held up her index finger. "Wait. During all the excitement I think I spotted some bladderwort and glasswort in that brush over there. We should go snip some and get Lukic's assignment done."

Barbara nodded and then spun to glower at Akko. "You stay here and make sure nothing else happens to Diana. Got it?"

They didn't bother to wait for an answer and Akko wasn't sure if she should be annoyed or pleased since, in spite of their bossiness they were doing her and Diana a favour by completing their assignment as well as their own.

Akko was still holding on to Diana, one of Diana's arms slung around her shoulders for support. She seemed steadier now but still a bit pale. "Are you really sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. I'll be glad to get back though and get some rest. That was rather harrowing." And at that Akko threw her arms around Diana and hugged her as tightly as she could, burying her face in Diana's neck. "Thank you, Akko," Diana whispered against her ear.

Akko inhaled a deep breath of Diana's shampoo–and a hint of marshweed. "I told you, you're stuck with me now." She raised her head and let her lips brush the barest trace of a kiss on Diana's cheek. "Forever."

The End