Disclaimer: I do not own Little Witch Academia

A/N: Because we all need a little Diakko yuri.

Enjoy.

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Bewitching Diana Cavendish

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Diana Cavendish was many things; alumni of Luna Nova Witch Academy, gifted spell crafter and arcane historian, proud daughter of the Cavendish family and sister to annoying little brother Daniel Cavendish – whom had just started his mandatory education at a fresh twelve years old – and not to mention intelligent and beautiful, or so everyone deemed to tell her as often as they could, and, if she could be bothered to boast, the owner of a sense of humor so dry no amount of water would ever have a hope of quenching it.

And she was also a good friend. A great friend, now that she thought about it as she was currently rubbing elbows with men and women of all ages as they cheered and yelled their appreciation for the spectacle unfolding before them, up on the glittering and sparkling main stage.

For it was only because she was a good – great – friend that she would have ever agreed to actually come to something like this. She was better than this. She knew she was. She hadn't spent years of her childhood having this sort of thing stamped out of her by her parents and private tutors. And her years spent at Luna Nova, whether or not her classmates occasionally talked about it, their whispers behooving their mocking tones at this sort of… spectacle. This… debasement of true magic.

At least, that's what they always said, those same people that talk about such things. Secretly, though few would ever admit to it, they all quite enjoyed it. Diana could tell from word of mouth that even though the more influential circles of magical society didn't 'approve' of it, they took it with a glib, almost sardonic acceptance. And if the movers and shakers of magic accepted it, well, surely it must be good!

Even so, she would rather metamorphose herself into a live rooster before admitting that she was attending a magic show with her friends.

She would rather consume the most powerful poison she could brew before admitting that she had actually offered to buy her friends' tickets to said show.

Essentially, Diana Cavendish would rather swallow a mouthful of razorblades coated in salt before admitting – to anyone – that she was here to actually see Atsuko Kagari in person.

The Atsuko Kagari.

To everyone else, her fans and the regular Joe off the street, she was the amazing Shiny Rider; a name the young woman had taken on as a callback to Shiny Chariot, her often-mentioned mentor and teacher.

To everyone else, Atsuko Kagara was an idol. An amazing witch whose passion for showmanship and magic thrilled magical and non-magical alike. Children shrieked aloud, pointing with trembling hands whenever she walked down the street, calling out 'Mama! Look! It's Shiny Rider! It's Shiny Rider! It's really her!' And, naturally, she would always stop when that happened, grinning so wide her lips would threaten to fall right off her face, and perform a spell right then and there, in front of everyone, to the cackling delight of the child and the chagrined bemusement of their parents who stood not far away, shaking their heads in exasperation.

But, when Atsuko Kagari flipped her cape and wiggled her fingers and bright green fireworks exploded from the tips of her nails and their children clapped with glee, even their parents had a glint of amusement in their eyes.

To the world, she was a bright star in the dark purplish blue twilight of magic, shining brightly right beside the world's ever growing hunger for both technology and magic.

To Diana, however, she was just 'Akko'. Or, at least, she used to be. That was a long time ago. Back when they were still classmates at Luna Nova and Akko was a Nobody – not even a drop of magical heredity in her veins and barely the skill to back up her bold words of being 'just like Shiny Chariot'.

Diana could still hear Akko's crisp, determined voice even now, years later, as if she had heard it yesterday.

How long had it actually been, Diana wondered, since she had heard… even seen Atsuko Kagari? Five, seven, ten years? Too long, really. She had often wondered, since graduating and leaving Luna Nova in a blaze of awards and recognition befitting a Cavendish, what had become of Akko. Of course, with the girl's meteoric rise to stardom soon after it was obvious what she had chosen to do with her life, but one's profession hardly told how one lived. It simply showed what they did.

So, in essence, Diana simply had no idea what Akko had been doing with herself all these years since school. How had her life been? Had she been eating well? Had she been keeping busy – keeping fit, as she had done during school in an effort to reach her mentor on some level. Had she made new friends? Kept up with her old ones? Was she enjoying her life now, doing what she had always wanted to do with her life?

Was she happy?

All these questions often buzzed around in Diana's head like an overly curious hummingbird, flitting this way and that, sucking at the stamens of Diana's thoughts randomly. She would ponder this for a few moments before shaking her head, shooing the little thing away.

Of course she was happy. You could see that, plain as day, on her face. She was always on television, in magazines and newspapers, pleased as punch, raving about her next appearance like it was the greatest thing in the world. Diana only glanced at those interviews out of habit; a simply cursory look because hey, look, it's an old classmate, and not hey, look, it's the girl I lost my virginity to.

No… 'lost' was not the right word. Lost implies that something was missed, that you would eventually want it back. A watch, a wallet or keys were 'lost'. You would petition to your friends and neighbors if they had seen anything, in the hopes of getting said watch or wallet or keys back someday. If not, big deal, those things were easily replaceable.

Diana would never admit, at least aloud to her friends and family, that she 'lost' her virginity to her old classmate at Luna Nova when she was a teenager. Not only did she not miss it – for it had been willingly given – but she also had no regrets about her decisions. It had been worth it at the time, and she still firmly believed, years later, that it had been special.

It had been worth it, even if she and Akko hadn't spoken after leaving Luna Nova.

But that all had absolutely no bearing on why Diana only paid obligatory attention to any information regarding Atsuko Kagari whenever she happened across it. And it had nothing to do with why she had offered to pay for hers and her friends' tickets to Akko's show. Most certainly not.

She was Diana Cavendish, and she resolutely refused to admit that she missed Atsuko Kagari. She was simply curious about what all the buzz was about, and to see how Akko had improved over the years in terms of her magic. Her friends could attest to that, even though they had hesitantly – but ultimately accepted – taken the extra tickets Diana had purchased in addition to her own to go with her.

She was certainly not here at the woman's very own magic show, dressed in a pretty but still casual blouse and knee-length skirt, her makeup carefully and meticulously applied to accentuate her best features – namely her lips and high cheekbones – and her hair piled high in a glossy, but still loose style that was a mix of 'laid-back' as well as 'popular'. It was a style that the slightly younger, though still professional, women sported when wanting to get noticed in public.

She was certainly not here in hopes that Atsuko Kagari would take notice of her in the crowd, surrounded by hundreds – no, thousands – of other guests, and look directly at her in the middle of her performance, and wink a single crimson eye at her.

She was most certainly not here, her friends clapping politely at her sides and surrounded by cheering and adoring fans, watching as the lights dimmed and the crowd roared even louder and then slowly quieted, waiting for when would finally Akko take the stage, Shiny Rod clasped in her fingers and her trademark grin on her face. It was what everyone else was here for.

Not Diana.

"Do you all believe in magic?"

Diana felt a familiar thrill rip through her as a voice – an oh-so-familiar voice echoed through the audience, seemingly coming from right beside her. She knew it hadn't, of course, but the spell was effective nonetheless, as a little girl to the right of Diana gasped, her hands clasped over her mouth, eyes wide as she looked around.

Diana smothered a smile. She had forgotten how susceptible children were to parlor tricks like this… especially those who were not raised around magic, as she had been.

"Did you know," the voice came again, this time from her other side. The little girl jumped again, and Diana rolled her eyes, her smirk growing. "That magic is all around you? It's in the air you breathe, on the ground you walk, in the water you drink and the food you eat… It's everywhere. Even inside of you."

"Magic comes from your heart. It's a part of you; each one of you. And if you believe enough, you can do anything. You can accomplish… anything."

The lights dimmed further, the only light coming from small, iridescent points on the stage. Diana recognized them as conjured fireflies, and she secretly approved of the subtle use of the spell to create them. It was all very atmospheric, and she marveled at how Akko, the klutz who could never even get metamorphic magic right, finally managed to be able to create hundreds, even thousands of magical fireflies.

She had grown by leaps and bounds, it seemed. Diana's curiosity was now piqued, and she was interested to see how else the girl who had once been her – what had she been, anyway? Classmate? Friend? Lover? – had improved. What skills she had polished, and how she had grown in the years since then.

Suddenly, inexplicably, at that point all Diana wanted was to see Akko there, on the stage. She didn't just want to hear her voice, a breathless, disembodied whisper in her ears as she stood there, sweat pooling at the small of her back in the swell of the crowd. She wanted to see her, to take the woman in with her own two eyes, to see how she walked, how she moved and how she dressed, how she smiled.

Seeing her on occasion on the television, or the paper or posters on the city streets weren't enough for Diana. Not now; not when she was so close to actually seeing her. With the idea that Akko was far away, either on tour or well enough on the other side of the country, Diana could put her out of her mind, concentrating on her own work and her own life. She could ignore the feeling, deep down inside her gut, gnawing at her insides like a living thing, that she and Diana were in fact not a thing. They weren't together. And they hadn't seen each other in ten years.

No, catching a mere glance at the likeness of Shiny Rider form out of the corner of her eye; whether it was a magazine article in a coffee shop while Diana sipped at her steam cup of Earl Grey tea in the mid-morning, or in an doll – It's an action figure! She could almost hear Akko stamp her foot indignantly at that – clutched in the stubby fingers of some child as they waved it around, just wasn't enough. Not nearly.

Which was why, quite unexpectedly, when Akko's lithe form finally appeared on the stage in a bright flash of light and a pop of magic, Diana felt her heart leap into her throat in excitement. It wasn't a feeling she felt often, and a rush of adrenaline washed through her as the crown roared and clapped their hands, filling them with a burst of energy that seemed like a kind of magic all its own. Though, that was impossible, since Diana would have recognized if she had been bewitched. She would have known, and been able to dispel the enchantment faster than she could blink.

No, this was something else. Something… physical. A different, but still obvious reaction that made her want to just and cheer along with everyone else in the audience. To clap her hands together and holler and grin even wider and louder than the awestruck girl to her right, who looked to have tears in her eyes by this point.

But, she was Diana Cavendish. Not some six or seven year old girl with a doll – sorry, action figure – clutched to her small form. She was Diana Cavendish! She was above all of that. She could stifle her odd, though not entirely unpleasant, urge to clap and cheer and simply stand there, enjoying the show as it unfolded.

Atsuko Kagari had certainly grown up, Diana noted once the flash died down and the girl's silhouette filled in with sharp shades of orange, purples and greens. On anyone else, such a haphazard assortment of colors would have seemed gaudy – even grotesque, but on Akko, who seemed to always be full of good cheer and an easy grin, the kaleidoscope seemed to work for her. Her top was loose; comfortable-looking and practical for spellcasting, a far cry from the regulation uniform shirts from their Luna Nova days. Her trousers were flowy and large, cinched at her waist attractively before sweeping over her hips and down her legs to her ankles, flaring out over her boots, which looked both worn and comfortable.

But it was the woman's face that drew Diana's attention like a starving man eyeing his first meal in days. She was older, true, but the youthfulness that Akko always had remained, her soft features only enhanced by a subtle maturity. Her eyes, once large, wide and a fiery scarlet shade matching her oftentimes equally eccentric personality, were still a dark crimson, but sparkled with the intelligence and experience of life. Her hair, still as long and brown as always, flowed freely, like strands of spun dirty copper from underneath her witch's hat, fanning out around her as she twirled merrily around the stage.

And, in her hands, was the famous Shiny Rod. Once belonged to the once-famous Shiny Chariot and handed down to Shiny Rider, a focus for the woman's magical power and ability. The staff was nearly as famous and the woman herself was, with more mystery behind it than a thousand witches. No one, not even Diana, really knew the extent of the artifact's power, and she expected Akko was a little less in the dark about it than she was. But that didn't stop Akko from using it – nothing stopped Akko when she knew what she really wanted.

Nothing, it would seem.

Diana watched as Akko pranced about on stage, spinning on her heels and kicking her legs like she was less a witch and more of a dancer. Diana would have been inclined to believe it if she hadn't flicked Shiny Ron along with her, spraying glittering shards of ephemeral emeralds as she danced, much to the delight of the crowd. After all, Akko had always been more than a little of a show-off, even when she had nothing substantial to show. It never once stopped her. And now that she had the skills and the experience to back it up, Diana had to admit that the entire effect was enchanting.

After a moment Akko paused, gently twirling the Shiny Rod between her fingers like a ribbon dancer. Her eyes swept over the crowd slowly, leisurely, taking in the different people that had come to see her. With each person she took in her smile seemed to grow more and more pronounced until it seemed nearly ready to leap right off her face.

"Thank you so much for coming tonight," she announced happily. "Each and every one of you is very special to me – to each other – and I hope that by the end of the show, everyone has something to take away from here. Even if it's a simply hop in your step. Because, really, that's all I want. To use magic to make people happy." And then, her smile turning cheeky – Diana felt her stomach churn at the familiar expression on her old friend's face – ,she whipped the staff in her hands up towards the sky and called out, "And that's why I love magic!"

A crack of sparks and a gust of wind, and the thousands of fireflies hovering around her began to move as one, swirling around each other, dancing with each other and zipping into the audience, moving to and fro between clapping men and women, cheering and laughing children, and a properly chagrined Diana Cavendish.

Then, to Diana's surprise, one of the fireflies flew straight towards her. Blinking, Diana had the impulse to dispel the enchantment, but thought better of it. She knew they were benign – not all that dangerous – and more of a gimmick than anything, but that didn't stop her from jerking slightly when the rogue firefly sunk into her body, leaving a faint glow and lingering warmth in her front blouse pocket. Curious, she reaching up to withdraw the only thing she knew she had in it.

It was her ticket to the show. Already stamped and dated, it was little use to her now and, doing her best to ignore the cheers and clapping around her, she flipped the piece of paper over—

and felt her heart leap into her throat.

There, in faintly glowing letters, was a message for her:

Having fun, Diana?

If you want to catch up later, ditch your friends and come to dressing room C. Can't wait to see you.

Enjoy the show

Akko

xox

The words shimmered as she re-read the note, and then, when the magic was used up, the light faded and the ticket cooled, becoming plain paper.

That… was actually a neat trick. She would have to remember that.

Damn it, Diana cursed to herself. She hadn't really intended Akko to know she was here tonight. She had sort of secretly hoped she would… but hadn't seriously planned on it. Clearly, she had underestimated her old friend. And now that she knew Diana was here, at her show, and had the chance to meet again after ten years of not seeing each other, or even speaking… Diana had no idea what to do.

She could ignore the message. Diana could very well shove the ticket back into her pocket, pretend she hadn't seen anything, and just enjoy the remainder of the show with everyone else. She could leave with her friends when the show was over, and that would be that. She knew Akko wouldn't follow her, or pester her. She wasn't that kind of a girl; never had been. She was assertive, borderline aggressive in some ways, but she never forced anyone to do anything. Diana knew she could walk away, and never see Akko again.

But did she want that?

Of course, she could accept the invitation. But if she did… what would happen? Akko wanted to 'catch up'… what did that even mean? Would they sit around and drink tea, eat a cookie and talk about the past ten years apart? That's what most people did when they 'caught up' after so long.

But Diana knew, instinctively and from personal experience, that Atsuko Kagari was not most people.

Double damn it.

And then, as if it was meant to be, Diana looked up at the stage. Her eyes traced the floor to Akko's boots, and then up her legs to her hips, her waist and bust, her narrow shoulders as she danced around, waving her arms as she cast spell after spell. Her neck had always been pale and slender, and Diana shivered as she felt an all-too-familiar memory of her lips and tongue tasting the sensitive skin of Akko's throat. With effort, Diana finally made it up to her face, and then froze.

She was looking at her. Akko was staring directly at Diana out of a crowd of a thousand or more people. And then she winked.

Triple damn it!

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To be continued...