Author's Entrance: Heads up, this chapter and the one before takes inspiration directly from the Little Witch Academia manga, the one written by Teri Terio, not Sato Keisuke. Since the former of the manga isn't as well known as the latter, I'll give a rundown to what happened there as to not make readers confused:
In golem making class, Akko kept the golem she made despite being instructed not to. Akko grows fond of the golem and they become quite close, Akko even taught her golem to write. Eventually the golem grows in size and since golems takes up the creator's magic to run, Akko starts to run out of magic real quick.
Also, I'll be using some POV changes in this chapter, do tell if they're good or not, or that a third person POV is actually better than the usual, thanks.
Hannah England had been restless. She's been pacing around the quiet courtyard since she arrived here and hasn't stopped since. Her fingers are intertwined and she chews her lip as she's consumed deep in thought.
A generous amount of cloud decorates the blue sky, shielding us from the bright sun, and the wind is a cool breeze. Just today, professor Badcock collected our due homework that's been plaguing many students' mind, and the school cafeteria served apple pies alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream, the usual special desert for Wednesdays. Perhaps for anyone else, everything today and before feels normal, but that's not what Hannah and I feel. For one, she feels this is an extraordinary day, an extraordinarily bad day.
I sit on the grass not far from her but far enough to not be near her. She'd been furious with me for so long and not for unfounded reasons at all. This whole thing is practically my fault, after all. She'd calmed down a bit today, if that's even the proper way to say it. Today her anger is more like replaced by anxiety instead of diminishing entirely.
"Hmmmh, why is Diana taking so long?" Hannah groans and I stop counting the clouds and look to her. I may risk waking the tiger again but feel the need to truthfully point something out.
"This is the consequence of not going to the headmistress's office with her…"
"Don't give me that right now" Hannah groans again and leans her back on the wall. She cranes her head up and stares at sky, lost in whatever thoughts Hannah usually has when under such stressful situation.
She stays like this for a good minute, silent and still, and I realize how incredibly peaceful it is when she closes her mouth and stays still.
"I know I asked Diana not to, but I'm still worried the teachers will start asking questions and she'll be cornered to tell them the truth, that it's partially my fault", Hannah says, stressing the last part.
"If you're so scared about it, why didn't you go with her?"
"And make myself apparent as the one responsible for that monster?" Hannah returns the question.
"You could've just brought Barbara with you, you know? Make the teachers confused, 'which witch's which?'"
It's too grim a day for Hannah to share my humour, if even she does on normal occasions. She frowns at me and says. "That's not going to work".
"Are you sure you're not being paranoid?"
"Is it that wrong to be paranoid about this?" Hannah returns my question again. "A murderous golem is out somewhere in the school and I'm sort of responsible for it! Just imagine what that will do to my family's name".
"You're not the only one who made it, you know? What about my family?" I point this out, and its almost instantly shot down by the upset girl.
"No one cares about yours, Franklin".
I'm taken aback by her response. At this point I should've gotten used to her sharp remarks, but this one takes the cake for how uncalled for it is.
However, Hannah's expression unusually softens right after she says that, preventing me from confronting her.
Unusually, the firm-voiced girl pauses. She loses her tense expression for a moment and asks, "Unless… you're from somewhere important?"
It doesn't sound like it, but I believe Hannah is asking whether I came from an important line of witches and wizards. Despite everything, it's not hard to believe she's asking this question. To be a student here must be a great privilege, gained through individual skill and or parental connection, I suppose she thinks I'm here by virtue of one of the two or both.
Nonetheless, I'm quite surprised by this question, more so to the fact that this is the first time I've ever received since I stepped into this school. At first I'd expected I'd get this sort of question almost immediately but I'd been proven wrong, and unexpectedly, Hannah, out of all people I've made acquaintances with, is the first to ask me this weighty question.
The question came unexpected and from someone I'm not comfortable with yet no less, so it's only natural I don't give Hannah any straight answer.
I answer, "No, you're right, mine's irrelevant and so is my family compared to yours".
I turn away and not explain further, my answer must've come off as unsatisfactory or short because Hannah says nothing as well. Soon enough, I could feel the awkwardness this conversation is reeling into by the prolonged silence between the two of us.
So for that reason and the fact that I hate overly serious conversations, especially with someone I don't know really well, I add, "…whoever they are".
My bait is a success. It catches Hannah completely off guard and pulls her away from her silence into a flurry of words, "Whoever they are?! I'll have you know that the England household consists of a proud line of pureblooded witches. We've many accomplishments such as the famed…"
Pureblooded! Saw that coming from a mile away.
Lost in thought, I realize I didn't listen to any of her lengthy family stories. I only realize she's done when she clears her throat and at me expectantly.
"I've literally never heard of them".
Hannah scoffs, "Then that's your problem, not mine. Really, if my family's name isn't on the line, I would've left this whole responsibility for your hands only".
I sigh, "Yes, yes. You don't need to repeat that part again".
The rest of our conversation is very one-sided and is filled with Hannah's arguments as to why I, as any other self-respecting wizard, should know the primacy of the England household in British witchcraft society. Thankfully, not a minute later, I spot Diana walking into the courtyard, her arrival putting a stop to the endless stream of England family history Hannah is spouting.
Hannah immediately runs to her friend with hopeful a look in her eyes. She anxiously asks, "So, how's it?"
"I've talked to the headmistress", Diana responds coolly, a stark contrast to her friend. "She was understanding and didn't ask too much about who's behind the golem's creation".
Hannah releases her long held breath and I saw a brief smile gracing Diana's lips at her friend's relieve. Diana then adds, "You're lucky there was no Miss Finnelan around. I'm quite sure things would've taken different turns if she were".
Diana turns to me and says, "I've talked with the headmistress. On my request, she's made an announcement of the golem's disappearance but not so much on its violent tendencies, only that it should be avoided, a good decision to not raise panic".
"Ah, that's really helpful", I say.
"I've also asked her to make a special announcement directed only to the staffs and teachers about the golem and its tendency of violence and asked that any who sees it to report immediately and act accordingly".
"That's very kind of you".
"I've also had the security staff on alert with neutralizing equipment in case they're needed. And I've also asked to double the patrols, in effect as we speak".
"Robust".
"And for further safety measures, I made the headmistress encourage students this afternoon to stay indoors".
With that, Diana finally ends her report and I sort of just stare at her and say, "Oh you're done? Thank god. Okay, umm, what was that thing you're talking about again, the patrol?"
Diana nods. "Yes, double patrol is in effect. I'm sure they have everything under control, so you two can rest easy today, let them handle the rest. As for me, I'll stay vigilant and join the school patrol".
I break into a relieved smile at her generous suggestion. "Thank you, I can't imagine myself going—"
"I'm going with you, Diana!" Hannah interrupts me before I could even finish.
"And why would you want that?" Diana asks.
"I just feel like I want to have the golem secured as fast as possible, and I'm sort of responsible for it, you know?"
This one surprises me. No matter how much Hannah kept saying I'm the one at fault, she still feels that she has responsibility for the golem as well. At first I'm quite impressed of this sense of responsibility she has, but then I remember this is a rare side of her that only appears when her family's name is at stake.
"It'll be quite the trouble for you. Not to mention the danger nature of the golem".
Hannah chews on her lip and pauses, she realizes the danger she's putting herself in. A conundrum of sense against responsibility, this could be the moment to discover whether Hannah is the type to be responsible even if it's inconvenient.
I never come to know this, however, as Diana suggests out of the blue, "Or, I might approve of your request if you decide to bring Jericho with you".
"What?!" Hannah and I cry at the same time.
But Diana is already enjoying her own idea too much. She puts a finger to her chin and nods. "Yes, yes. Now that I think about it, he's the only one that has faced the golem, so his experience will put us in an advantage".
Diana turns to Hannah and I respectively, both of us still stunned silent, and continues, "And I just remembered this: since golems use its creator's magic to run, if you two concentrate hard enough, you could trace your magic that's left in the golem. You two could be living compasses in our patrol on top of being the only ones that could dispel the golem. Objections?"
I couldn't make any objection; it's honestly a very sound idea. Nevertheless, a sound idea doesn't automatically translate to an idea I'd like to go through.
Hannah couldn't make any objection of her own either. She stays silent and the only thing indicating her feeling about this is her perpetually frozen, shocked face. I put good money on that she's regretting her request.
Diana nods and concludes, "Very good. Tonight, let the established patrol fulfil their roles first. Rest well, because tomorrow will be yours".
—
It's been two days since Diana brilliantly suggested her idea. Ever since then, we always functioned as walking-talking compasses, two compasses that keeps stepping over each other's feet as we bear through the long and boring patrols.
Hannah is lucky to have Barbara on the team. The black haired girl, similarly coming from a pureblooded family (as Hannah also boasted to me not many hours ago), had joined the patrol the moment she knew Hannah was going to, and she'd done a great job keeping the activity bearable for Hannah ever since.
On my side however, Diana's the only person that I could call my friend in the team, but she's sort of boring as a person. It's not that she's particularly boring. It's just difficult to find common ground between us with our vast distance in status.
During the patrols, we'd consistently done as Diana suggested: track our magical signature within the golem. It's an effective method that's not new and often used by golem masters to find theirs, but ours is a special case. To track a mixed magic signature requires cooperation between the two owners—between the two compasses—failure of one compass means failure of both. So when our search never bear any fruit, it's only natural that one of the compasses thought it's the other compass's fault and she would occasionally blame him for messing up.
"Maybe if you concentrate hard enough like me you won't mess everything up!" the compass named Hannah England scowls at me for the third time this night.
I lift my hands up in defence and open my mouth, but something occurs to me that it makes me stop. My eyes drift away, and I'm completely side-tracked from the devil in front of me as I'm lost in my own thoughts.
Slightly unsure of myself, my next words come off as abrupt not just for Hannah but for me as well. "Someone's hiding it"
Diana and Barbara, who'd long grown accustomed of me and Hannah's back and forth arguments and had long learnt to ignore them, are suddenly interested in our conversation. They react differently however, with Barbara openly showing less faith in my abrupt suggestion and Diana reserving her own opinion.
Barbara frowns and says, "Why would someone hide a monster? You're not trying to distract her and shift the blame, are you?"
And Diana asks, "What makes you say this, Jericho?"
I'm suddenly asked to elaborate what was just a wild stray thought. It took a bit of mental warm ups and clearing throats for me to finally start explaining. "I'm just thinking it's the only plausible explanation to all our failures. We have Hannah and me in the search team but we can never find our golem, and no, I don't believe Hannah and I hadn't tried hard enough; we both want nothing but to find the golem as quick as possible and just be done with it. Now let's imagine what I said is true and we've tracked the golem true but somehow never found it, its arguable that's because the golem had been stealthily keeping watch on our movements and move accordingly every time we got too close to finding it, but that would require it to be within close distance for it to observe our movements—I'm sure either Hannah or I will easily notice if it's that close. The only way it could read our movement without being within observing distance is that something or someone else is keeping an eye on us in its place…"
My eyes had trailed off during the explanation, I look up from my lengthy explanation and I'm surprised to find the wide-eyed stares I receive from Hannah and Barbara. The unintentional spotlight I gave myself made me uncomfortable so I fidget in my place, shrug, and dismissively add, "…I think. I don't know. Why are you all listening to me?"
Diana's expression has been calm and reserved since the beginning, I couldn't tell if she gave me the chance to explain myself out of agreement or mere politeness, but now she's deep in my way of thinking and surprises me when she shows a nod and agrees, "For someone to watch over us and move the golem accordingly, that sounds possible".
"But, we are talking about the same golem here, right?" Barbara asks.
Barbara's yet to be convinced by my argument, I notice her uncertain gaze directed towards me, so I respond, "In retrospect, the golem's overwhelming violence at our first encounter convinced me of its danger, but since it's just a one-time incident, I wasn't really sure of its violent pattern; whether it's truly violent or its attack on me was just a one-time violence born out of misunderstanding, which now opens up a new possibility: its docile and that convinced someone to keep and take care of it".
A shiver runs down Hannah's spine, she shows no attempt to hide it. Her previous vexation towards me is now replaced with anxiousness at the mention of the golem and my first encounter with it, and I can't blame her for that. Hannah had spent these past few days on edge, fearing the golem's looming threat. The golem's existence and its possible threat of violence haven't been healthy for Hannah state of mind at all. It'd made her incredibly jumpy for one. I remember that one time in potion making class when I walked up behind her and greeted her only to receive a witch's version of a chemical attack.
Good thing what she had in her hands was nothing harmful, just an extract of Promethean Death Pepper…
"You're saying… someone in this school had the bright idea to keep that golem and protect it?" Hannah questions hesitantly. With the violent picture she has of the golem since the beginning, it's hard for her mind to reconcile with my new suggestion.
I nod and say, "I told you, right? It's possible that it's not as violent as I'd expected, which means that the idea of keeping it isn't so… dim".
"Still sounds dim to me". Barbara comments bitterly.
"Well, I guess this is the consequence of not announcing that the missing golem's was potentially dangerous—It'd convinced someone it's safe to keep it", I say and give a sidelong glance towards Diana.
"We couldn't afford the panic", Diana states firmly and simply, but she then shows a pause after that before continuing, "…Though now that this new possibility is revealed, I could see some fault in that decision".
Barbara then asks, "Okay, so like, we decided that someone might be keeping the golem, now what?"
—
For the last 30 minutes, Hannah and I had been moving from one dorm room to another, asking questions from one team to the next.
"You sure there's no one you know that's acting suspicious?" Hannah asks our current interviewee, her arms folded uneasily.
The girl we're asking rubs her eyes lazily and yawns as she speaks. "No one, unless if you count that new boy. I'm sure he's suspicious, if you know what I mean?" she finishes with an attempt at a mischievous wink that falls short since both her eyes are almost closed asleep.
"Um, excuse me, I'm right here?" I say and step closer into her view.
The girl just glances at me lazily and replies, "Oh, hi".
We're split into two teams: Diana with Barbara went up to the third floor dormitory while Hannah and I went here to the second floor dormitory. I originally asked Diana to go with me, but she told me she needed someone to be the 'decent' one on each team, whatever that means.
Though I soon learn what she meant after we finish this room's questioning and run into someone familiar.
"I don't know what you mean, Hannah" Lotte nervously says as her back is pushed into the wall. Hannah didn't need to do anything physical to achieve this, her mere presence was enough to make the Finn withdraw to the corner.
The unlucky Finn was found passing us by in the corridor, and Hannah didn't waste this golden opportunity to squeeze out information from one of the three girls in this school she loves to bug so much.
"Be serious", Hannah scowls at Lotte. She puts her hands on her hips and continues, "A golem is on the loose, and the last thing we need is someone not giving us information we need".
"I-I'm serious!" Lotte, having found the energy to be indignant, cries. But the delicate girl withdraws herself soon after that and her next words come out with much less confidence than her last. "But, well, there's one thing. If you're wondering about Akko's golems…"
I interrupt her, "Ah, no, Lotte, you're mistaken. We're talking about the golem me and Han—"
Hannah's elbows me hard on my stomach, sending the air out of my lungs before I could even finish my sentence. While I writhe on the floor clutching my abdomen, Hannah quickly continues in my vice. She takes a different turn in tone and her words are now laced with benign choices of words and accompanied with a sweet smile that screams lies. "Jerry made a golem and forgot to dispel it! So please, be a good girl and help your friend by answering will you?"
Lotte fidgets uneasily, overwhelmed by the odd change of behaviours her bizarre interrogators are adopting. "O-oh, I don't know anything about other golems…"
"Really, you really look like you do, you know?"
After a moment of fighting against herself, Lotte realizes she's just delaying the inevitable. She sighs softly and opens her mouth to speak, but what comes out is no less than whispers.
Masking her impatience well, Hannah in closer and says, "What's that—?"
And Lotte suddenly raises her voice, loud enough and so out of her character that it surprises both me and Hannah.
"She didn't dispel her golem and kept it in our room!"
The confession is definitely surprising and came surprisingly, but it's not what we're looking for. After the initial shock is gone, Hannah uncovers her ears, frowns and says, "I didn't ask about her, you know?"
However interesting this new information is, what Hannah needs now is information about our golem, not the one belonging to the girl Hannah would normally love to exploit any of her faults.
But Lotte yet again interrupts Hannah, "T-there's something else!"
The usually shy girl's raised voice catches both of us off guard the second time. Lotte pauses and plays with her fingers as she mulls over her next words, and when she resumes, she returns to her often withdrawn and gentle voice. "…Akko found another golem, and I just don't like that one compared to her own. It's just so weird and I… I don't know, I just hate it".
Hannah and I exchange looks. We both hate to know where this is going.
"How… does it have, like, does it look like a mixture of two animals?" I ask Lotte.
Lotte lifts her eyes up to meet mine, they show confusion and genuine surprise. "Y–yes, how did you know?"
—
Lotte's knocks on the door twice but receives no answer, her brows twist into a frown and she mutters, "I know Akko and Sucy are in there…"
It's only after the fourth knock does she receive a response. The unusually confident voice that belongs to Akko calls out from inside, now not so up to her reputation, "W-who's there?"
"Akko it's me, Lotte", the Finn says, she presses her hand on the doorknob and continues, "Look, Akko, there's someone here that wants to see you".
We hear the sound of rushed footsteps from inside and some loud, indiscernible bickering, and we're more than surprised when what comes next isn't from Akko.
"Akko isn't here", Sucy's very annoyed voice calls out from inside.
Having enough of the red team's shenanigans, Hannah groans and, much to the alarm of both Lotte and I, takes out her wand and cries. "Enough of this, if you two won't open the door, I swear you'll have to buy a new one".
"I assure you she's not going to pay for it!" I add loudly.
Fearing the wellbeing of her roommates (or her door, I'll never know which), Lotte's knocks on the door becomes faster. "Akko, please open up, you know this is what's good for you!"
Our reply once again comes not from Akko, but not from Sucy either, the deafening sound of splintering woods and the cracking of stones are our reply. It came from inside the room, loud enough that the entire dormitory could hear it.
The three of us force our way inside to find what's happened and found that the wall that should've divided the indoor and the outdoor is no more. The night sky and the dark forest are visible through what's formerly been the room's wall, now only a pile of broken stones and splintered wood on the floor. Needless to say our jaws dropped.
"Wh-what happened, Akko, Sucy?!" Lotte cries.
We found no sign of Akko anywhere in the room, we only find Sucy, laying on her bed with her nose buried in a book, indifferent to the existence of the newly formed hole in the wall. She only offers us a quick glance as we enter the room.
"She got her golems and bolted out the room", she tells us with a level voice, as alarming as her passivity to the whole situation, and gestures towards the hole in the wall.
The three of us look down through the newly formed hole and find a large figure made of clay running to the direction of the forest, a certain brown haired girl clinging tightly onto its back.
"Th-that's it, she does have our golem!" I cry.
I immediately slap my mouth shut at the breech of word, but I'm dead surprised that Hannah is too preoccupied by her own surprise to notice it.
The commotion must've been so loud, not long after, we hear rushed footsteps coming from the corridor and find Diana and Barbara rushing into the room.
"What's going on here?" Diana asks.
"It's Akko! She ran away with our golem to the forest!" I tell her.
"And she has one of her own, she got two golems!" Hannah exclaims.
A clay pot rolls across the floor and stops at my feet. I initially ignored it, but no longer once I note what it contains. I follow where it rolled from and found in the corner of the room similar pots, all scattered and some broken on the floor, the last bits of their contents spilled onto the wooden floor.
"You have Akko to thank for that" Sucy remarks once she catches where my gaze went. "Left her golems alone and they ate the soil from my potted plants".
Diana says, "That might explain the damage it's done. With clay this many, I suppose at least one of them would be bigger than the average human. A golem that big is surely strong enough to do this damage".
Both Hannah and Barbara's eyes widen and their jaws drop. The latter cries, "Wait, wait, wait, you're saying the golems made that hole?!"
"So it would seem", Diana responds with a level voice. Contrasting anyone else in the room (excluding Sucy), Diana's fine features lack any fear, they show determination.
Diana continues to approach the hole on the wall and looks outside, to the forest where we last saw the golem and its owner ran into. "This explains it. Akko had shown less magic lately. Remember earlier today when she fails to light a simple lantern with magic?
"Golems runs on its creator's magic. Her golem must've grown in size at that time and consumed more and more of her magic", I finish Diana's sentence, receiving a nod from her.
"That's true", Lotte says. "It's all because of the golem that her magic had been depleted, but she won't listen".
"Why am I not surprised?" Diana remarks, and then she goes silent. Diana's calculating vigilant eyes scan the vast forest before her, and no doubt she's currently running scenarios in her head and thinking the next course of action. Even her silence isn't inactivity.
Diana turns to me and breaks her silence, saying, "It's not only strong. If it's as intelligent as you said it is, it's currently finding a place to hide in the woods as we speak".
"I'm sure it is", I nod grimly. I remember well how it's able to use a tool to try to kill me and retreats once it's disarmed and the odds of winning are low.
I look to the emptied pot near my feet, I briefly inspect it alongside the ones smashed and scattered on the corner of the room and say, "Judging from the size of the pots, its size must've reached past 250 centimetres, and its weight must be past two adult males. With this size in mind, it must've collapsed this wall without breaking a sweat. And golems, while heavy, aren't as slow as they seem to be when running. It could reach the edge of the forest before sunrise at most, so I don't think it's a good idea to—"
"We have to follow it", Diana announces, and all of us aside from Sucy collectively lose our minds.
"What?!" the four of us exclaim at the same time.
It's this kind of moment do I feel like I should get a pair of glasses regardless of my perfectly healthy vision just so I can fix it in place.
Regaining my composure after hearing Diana's ridiculous suggestion isn't easy. I start carefully slowly, "If I need to paraphrase my entire paragraph… it would be: let's not try to get near the golem that's now capable of breaking every bone in your body in a single swing of its arms. I don't think we should follow it, like at all".
"Yeah, listen to him, Diana!" Barbara squeezes Diana's arm, and Hannah soon follows suit.
"I-I'm fine with it, really! Let's just forget about the golem for now!" she says with a series of quick nods.
I'm genuinely grateful that Hannah has forgotten all concepts of family dignity and name in the face of danger. I can't evade the feeling of pride at witnessing the workings of natural selection within the girl; the cowards are the best to survive, after all!
"That thing's on the loose, we have to follow it", Diana reaffirms, alarmingly unmoved by our persuasions. She continues to run somewhere in the room, grabs a broom sitting in the corner, and returns.
"I'll be borrowing this", she says as she passes by Lotte and Sucy.
"Be our guests", the indifferent Sucy says, nose still buried in her book but keenly observing Diana's actions.
"Are you really going after the golem?" Lotte worriedly calls to Diana.
Diana doesn't spare a moment to even look at the girl when she says, "That thing could pose a threat. Nothing will stop it if no one does".
"But Akko's golem isn't as dangerous as you might think!"
This made Diana stop. She finally turns to Lotte and says, "I'm sure she and you might be fond of the golem, but it's dangerous and so should be eradicated regardless of what anyone thinks. I believe you're smart enough to know what should've happened to the golem, Lotte".
"Then talk! At least talk to Akko about her golem. Her magic's been suffering because of it!"
That's the third time she's surprised us with her raised voice. Lotte's unusual boldness isn't lost to Diana. After a thoughtful pause, she nods and agrees.
"I'll see what I can do about it".
Diana mounts her broom then turns to me and Hannah and says, "I'll follow the golem, be on alert for my return. In case I cannot permanently disable it, I want you two to be the ones who dispel it".
Without another word, Diana takes her broom into the air, leaving the safety of the school and beginning a dangerous pursuit while the rest of us are left with nothing but dust to bite.
Barbara runs to the edge of the room. With no way to stop her, Barbara could only watch as Diana flies away further and further towards the forest.
She turns to her friend and cries, "Hannah, she really left! What are we going to do?"
But no reply came from Hannah. I see her standing still and silent beside me, her eyes fixated on Diana's figure that shrinks at the distance with each passing second, and each passing second she's reminded of her reason to be here tonight. She chews on her lip, too deep in her hesitant thoughts to try and hide her anxiousness.
Hannah had earlier shown no intention to follow the golem, but she definitely seems hesitant about it now and I know it's her sense of responsibility kicking back in and making her have second thoughts.
This is Hannah's problem after all, not Diana's. Diana always does have the tendency to take care of so many things, often other people's problems that she shouldn't be bothered to be bothered with too. And now, Hannah is starting to realize that this time, Diana is taking on a problem that really shouldn't be hers to deal with, or at least not alone.
Her decision is set, so Hannah steels herself and does one more important thing she needs to do before realizing it.
"WHAT?! You want me to go with you?!" I cry my lungs out as Hannah shoves a broom to my hands.
"Hey, this is also your fault to begin with! Don't you dare tell me you're chickening out of this now!" she yells at me.
Hannah grabs her own broom and pauses. She is sure of her decision, but being sure of it and being brave enough for it are two very different things. She needs a silent moment to herself, to think things through carefully and prepare herself for the upcoming danger, hence her irritation when she found me pulling her sleeve and interrupting her mini-meditation.
"What now?" she grumbles impatiently, her thick brows tighten to a knot.
"Give me a ride there!" I ask her, and before she could even reply, I add. "No, Hannah England, I cannot ride a broom yet. So please, do you want me to go with you or do you want to stay and make fun of me?"
Hannah's expression quickly contorts into that of confusion, surprise, and utmost objection. "Hell?!" she cries.
Hannah is definitely against the idea but it comes in a package: she has to give me a ride if she wants me to follow her, and this of course creates a major conundrum for her. It's easy to know so from the funny expressions she's making, and even more so from her attempts at excuses that only come out as gibberish until she finally groans in defeat.
"Fiiine, just don't slow me down or I'll drop you!"
"Thank you!" I say and instinctively bow to Hannah which only serves to annoy her even further.
"Good grief, another Akko". Sucy's voice makes me raise my head. The previously passive girl had taken it upon herself to get off from bed and take the broom Hannah had given to me from my hands.
"Since you won't be needing this, I guess you two need help catching up on what happened".
—
Akko is distraught, she'd let her guard down for just one minute and her golems are now gone, left her on the edge of the forest near a cliff. Here, the cold, howling night wind comes unfiltered, biting at her exposed skin. She turns to the forest's edge and asks herself if she's brave enough to go in there and search for her golems.
Before going, she tries calling out to her golems, but it attracts attention from someone she hadn't intended.
"There you are, you troublesome girl".
Diana's calm voice surprises Akko, she turns around to find the blonde witch descending her broom towards her. The blue moonlight behind Diana complements her blonde hair magnificently, complementing her already wonderful looks well.
"D-Diana, what are you doing here?"
"Searching for what you have", Diana says as she dismounts. "Lotte told me everything. Truly, who in the right mind would keep such dangerous creatures?"
"Lemmy didn't panic like that on his own you know?"
Diana raises a brow, amused at the unexpected fight this girl is putting up. She says, "I might have different opinion on your second golem, but even if this… Lemmy isn't physically dangerous it's still a danger to you in some other way".
Akko fidgets uneasily in her place. Her averted eyes and pause indicates that she knows what Diana is referring to.
"I know, Sucy already told me that…" she says, her last words reduced to mutters. For a moment, Diana studies the Japanese witch's unusually sullen face.
"You really were intending to keep them" Diana guesses, and Akko's silence is enough to confirm it.
Diana had thought that this whole situation to be a misunderstanding, that once Akko is confronted with the truth, she would realize her errors and make the right decision with her golems. But once again, the Japanese witch exceeds her expectations.
Diana scoffs. "As if you're already in good terms with your grades, you intend to keep something that would further interfere with your progress. And here I thought you're serious with your dreams".
Akko's eyes meet Diana's again, now devoid of gloom and is replaced by anger. "What?!"
But Diana is a complete contrast to her, as she always has been. Her calm and coolly calculating gaze contrasts Akko's passionate eyes. "You came all this way to Luna Nova academy from Japan, isn't that right? And did you not say that you long to become a magical star, the next Chariot?"
Diana's words felt heavy on Akko's heart, they came like a wakeup call for her—her golems had occupied her mind so much lately that she's forgotten about that. From the lack of response, Diana could easily see that Akko found truth in her words, but this doesn't deter Diana from continuing.
"Yet you're so easily distracted, first by keeping a golem that could interfere with your magic, which isn't stable to begin with, and second by sheltering another dangerous golem that could harm others and jeopardize your status as a student here in this school".
Akko couldn't make a response. As much as she hated to admit it, she knows Diana is right at this. She could only stare at her feet as Diana ceaselessly belittles her.
"I don't like idiots, but the fact that you came alone far from your home to pursue this education, I thought that it must've taken some willpower. Perhaps I overestimated you".
Akko suddenly does something that Diana yet again didn't expect. She childishly sticks her tongue at Diana and taunts, "That ice-cream head of yours is so full of itself, huh? You came here all on your own just to say that?"
This serves to budge Diana's patience only slightly—the tip of the ice-cream-berg is still far from tipping over. At Akko's childish antics, Diana silently sighs and says, "This isn't about me right now—"
"I know! You don't have to say it!" Akko, little to Diana's surprise, interjects. But just as quick as it came, her temper dies out, and what comes after are much less to Akko's usual confidence.
"Lemmy and Shammy… they're my golems. I know what everyone says, I heard all of you talk about them, but I don't believe they're supposed to just go like you all wanted".
Diana isn't at all moved by Akko's words. In her eyes, Akko's sentiments for her golem are unfounded and nonsensical, childish even. Diana frowns and says, "Are they really that important to you that you're willing to risk your dream?"
Once again, Akko couldn't answer, she can't even lift her chin up. She sniffles quietly and wipes a tear from her eye.
Diana quietly huffs and continues, "It seems there's no cure for you. If this is what you want, you're better to just throw away your dreams and go back to your country".
Akko would've argued, but the sound of rustling leaves and heavy footsteps made her stop. She turns to find one of her golems, the tall and powerful Lemmy, stepping out of the treelines, on its hands are fresh fruits. Lemmy notices Diana's presence, but curiously doesn't seem fazed at all.
"Lemmy!" Akko calls the golem's name and it comes to her. Diana doesn't fail to note its surprising obedience, but she dutifully keeps her guard up still.
Akko, being only as tall as the golem's waist, has to look up when she's close to Lemmy. She asks the golem, "Where have you been? You made me so worried!"
Upon closer inspection, Diana notices the second figure perched atop the golem's broad shoulder. It's a much smaller golem, no bigger than a cat and a red panda. Diana had only heard its appearance from Jerry's descriptions, but she's sure this is what he meant. After all, there're only a small number of things in this world as horrid as that abomination.
Diana's notes the abomination's size, how it's slightly bigger than Jerry's description. It must've consumed Sucy's clay as she claimed it did, but apparently in much smaller amount than this Lemmy did.
Diana doesn't try to do anything rash. Instead, she waits the interaction out, observing it as it goes.
Akko turns to Diana, she'd eaten the fruits Lemmy brought, and now with her mouth stuffed with apples says, "Shee, Dhiana? Nhothing vhiolent bout them. Look, they even brought us fruits!"
Though Diana found the girl's claims are correct so far, it's not enough to convince her to change her mind and let her guard down.
Diana notices Akko's gaze trailing off to somewhere behind her, she follows this and notices the approaching figures of two broom riders, far off in the distant night sky.
"That must be them", Diana remarks, not taking her eyes off the broom riders, "For them, I doubt they'll have the same opinion on the second golem, Akko".
Akko swallows and says indignantly, "He has a name, you know? It's Shammy!"
"Whatever you think you know of it doesn't matter. In Lemmy's case, you're its creator, which means you have the right to do what you want with it however self-destructive your choice is, but in Shammy's case, it's up to its creators to decide, not you".
Akko points a thumb to her chest and exclaims, "No way, I won't let anyone hurt them! You'll have to go through me first!"
Diana sighs and shakes her head. "You and your stupid games again".
The sound of something falling behind Akko made her stop her argument, she turns around and finds Lemmy dropping all his fruits to the ground and retreating from her in a hasty manner.
Akko instinctively reaches out to the golem. "Lemmy? What's wrong?"
She receives no response. Lemmy continues retreating and begins to tremble. Diana notices its clenched fists and its agitated look as it casts its face away, refusing to look at Akko.
But Akko doesn't seem to notice these signs, or she simply doesn't care. She keeps approaching her golem, but every step forward, Lemmy would reply with a step back. "Lemmy, is something wrong?" Akko would ask over and over again.
Diana doesn't understand what's going on with the golem, but its unusual behaviour sends her into alert. Her hand hovers over her wand, she's alerted but careful enough not to make any sudden moves that would alarm anyone.
But Lemmy suddenly looks up and its eyes meet Diana's. She freezes in place, and realizes it spots her hand that hovers near her wand.
Much to Diana's dread, she sees anger flashing in the golem's lifeless eyes. Without warning, Lemmy throws its hands to the air and lets out an ear-splitting roar, surprising Akko into a retreat. The sudden change made Diana forget all notions of subtlety and she readies her wand for combat, noticing this, Akko races to her side.
"What are you doing, Diana? You're scaring him!"
Diana hastily grabs Akko by her arm and pulls her into a retreat. In their retreat, Diana's eyes never leave the golem, fearing that if she even blinks, the golem would've gone on the offense and catch her off guard.
Among the two girls, only Diana has her wand readied. Diana's very much certain Lemmy is now hostile, which is why she's is beyond irritated to find Akko still thinking otherwise. The Japanese witch places herself in front of Diana and blocks her view of the golem, her back turned towards it, a further show of her trust towards it.
This situation is all too familiar for the Cavendish witch.
"Not this again, Akko! Can't you see it's disobeying you?!"
"You just scared it! He wouldn't be angry if you didn't scare it!"
"Tell it to stop, then!" Diana cries, her patience running to an end. "Tell it to keep itself together, see if it still obeys you".
At the challenge, Akko shows signs of hesitation. She bites her lip and turns to her golem with uncertain eyes.
"Stop, Lemmy, what are you doing?!" she pleas, but the golem shows no indication of obeying.
Without warning, Lemmy charges at the girls. The ground trembles with each heavy footstep and its raised fists are ready to strike them down with ease. With Akko in front of her, Diana couldn't get a clear shot of the golem, and it would be too late for the two to act if Akko remains indignant for but one more second.
But before any of them could do anything, two bolts of magic, one of fire and another of lightning, rains down towards the charging golem.
The lightning strikes the golem straight on its head, leaving a large crack and knocking it out of balance and momentum, and the fire coils and shapes into a burning rope that binds the golem by its legs. Lemmy immediately loses its balance and falls to its side, its monstrous weight is enough to make the ground tremble as it lands.
The two witches look up to find three figures above them, Sucy, Hannah, and Jericho, the last two have their wands out and aimed at where the golem stood.
"D-Diana, tell them to stop!" Akko begs, but Diana chooses not to do anything.
To its attacker's dismay, Lemmy struggles through its bounds only momentarily. It fights through the burning pain and rips off the fiery ropes with its bear hands like they're rubber bands. It then pushes itself up and begins its counterattack, using a large rock to thwart its airborne attackers.
The rock flies towards Hannah and Jerry's broom, she pulls it out of the way only by a hair's breadth. The added weight made Hannah's manoeuvring sloppy, and she found difficulty in returning her broom back to balance. Even from down here, Akko and Diana could hear the two's screams as they spin around the air uncontrollably.
The golem throws another rock, this time towards Sucy, yet she easily evades it. The golem's persistent attacks have convinced Sucy that it's now indeed hostile, so she finally takes out her wand as well.
But the volley of rocks makes it impossible for the three airborne witches to be on the offense, they're locked on an endless loop of evading and failing to stay still long enough to aim their wands. Diana realizes this and tries her own luck, only to have a rock flying at her direction the second she trains her wand at the golem.
A quick protective barrier was thankfully enough to tank the blow, but she doubts she can go on the offence if this keeps up. She'll have to find another way to fight.
Akko stands passively like a spectator, a player out on the bench while her teammates fight. She understands that her golem is dangerous now, she doesn't need anyone to tell her that anymore nor to see any longer to know, but understanding and accepting are two very different things.
For whatever reason, Lemmy is now violent. The normally sweet and docile Lemmy is now hurtling rocks at her friends, and any second she spends in indecisiveness is more risk that her friends might get injured or worse. She has to do what's right for their sake.
Akko's hand hovers near her wand, the last traces of her doubt lingering only briefly, before she forces herself to take it and run ahead.
Lemmy notices Akko's approach and shifts its attention towards the new attacker. It raises its fist and swings it down hard, but the girl evades the attack with surprising ease. Akko follows up by leaping towards the golem.
"Lemmy, you dummy!" she cries her lungs out and places the tip of her wand at the golem's exposed forehead.
The effect is immediate. Lemmy stops in its track, like a toy that runs out of battery, as its very source of life vanishes out its body. With the very magic that binds its body together disappearing, the golem's form is immediately undone. Its once lifeless features now seems even more lifeless still, and its once powerful clay flesh now turns soft as sand, sliding off its body like a desert sand. The rampant golem is now defeated. Akko now stands in front of what's left of its body, a lifeless patch of clay and sand on grey forest soil.
Akko immediately feels a heavy weight lifted off her chest. She'd thought this as psychological; the common feeling she gets when she finally resolves something that's been plaguing her heart, but she soon realizes that the weight on her chest was more literal than figurative: her magic is returning to her from the golem and she could feel it physically restoring her energy.
This, Akko could be grateful, but for everything else, how could she feel anything but sorrow? The girl stands still, her watery eyes fixed on the remains of the being that brought so many happy moments for her in just so little days.
She sniffles quietly, "Why… Lemmy".
Diana stands at watch nearby, unmoving and silent. She shows no sign of trying to counsel the distraught girl, but this doesn't mean Diana doesn't care at all for Akko, it's that when her mind drifts to the last piece of the puzzle, thoughts of anything else becomes irrelevant.
Diana knew for a fact that for a golem to go against its master's will is assured destruction, so for Lemmy, a golem that had shown intelligence and obedience in the short moment she's seen and heard of it, to suddenly go on a seemingly unprovoked rampage… could it be?
She couldn't think of any other possible explanation.
Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of something landing behind her. She turns just in time to see Hannah and Jerry rushing towards her. The two stops behind her, wands still raised, trying to show courage despite the fact they're hiding behind her.
"D-Did you do it, Diana, did you kill the golem?" Hannah asks.
"I-Is it dead?" Jerry asks as well.
Diana takes a quiet moment to observe the remains of the golem and its former owner.
"It definitely is", Diana calmly says. Her answer gives the two some respite, but her next words immediately breaks it. "But your business isn't finished yet".
"What are you saying?" Hannah frantically asks. "You just said that thing's dead!"
"Except that one's not your golem", Sucy, who'd just dismounted from her broom, explains, immediately earning wide eyed stares from the two. "That's Akko's".
The wizard-witch pair tenses up and returns to full alert. Jericho retreats even further and his eyes frantically scan the area, his wand readied but his hold of it trembling.
"W-well then, where is it?!" he challenges, but its apparent he won't make any brave moves.
Hannah as well hides herself further behind Diana. She squeezes Diana's waist and buries her face on her back. "I-Is it close? Is it close, Diana?!"
Diana doesn't need to answer their questions, Akko does it for her.
"Y-You're okay!"
The four found Akko kneeling in front of Lemmy's remains, reaching for something. With the girl covering it, it took a moment for them to notice the presence of a second golem sitting in the middle of the mound of sand, this one unharmed by Akko's dispel simply because it's not hers to begin with.
Jericho and Hannah both tenses up at the sight of the dreadful golem, the former further retreats while the latter hides further behind Diana.
But Jerry soon realizes something was off. For one, he doesn't have a knife flying at his face immediately. He's sure the golem notices his and Hannah's presence, but it just sits there quietly. The second thing he notices is the golem's sluggish movements. It's always been a bad construct, with terrible joints smoothness and cracked ligaments, courtesy to his teamwork with Hannah, but this right now is even more terrible. He notices that his movements are slow, sluggish, and seemingly painful for the golem.
"What's wrong with it?" Hannah asks, only briefly taking her eyes off the golem and towards Jericho. "I thought you said it's violent!"
In his stead, Akko answers, "It was violent, but also in pain. That's why I took care of it, and it got less violent along the way".
Akko reaches out for the golem. It recoils for a moment as Akko begins to caress its stiff cheek. At the feel of familiarity, the golem soon eases.
Diana had been quietly observing and running numbers. The moment she breaks her silence, all eyes turn towards her. "This explains everything. To have two persons creating one golem creates a dual source of magic within the golem, and to have those two persons not in harmonious relation would stir the golem's source of magic—it would stir its very being and disturb its source of life".
Jerry asks. "You're saying… this whole time, the reason for its violence towards me was due to its pain?"
Diana nods. "It makes sense. Golems, however intelligent they are, no, the more intelligent they are, the more likely for it to be driven by instinct, provided the kick is strong enough. It must've wanted to end its pain, and one way to do it is of course to kill its sources of magic that is you and Han—"
Hannah quickly covers Diana's mouth with her hand and interrupts her, "Yeah, yeah, Diana, we get the point!"
Diana raises a brow at the sudden interruption but drops the issue once she realizes her reason.
The golem's heavy wheezes pull their attentions again. It's clear to everyone present that the golem no longer poses a threat. It shows no resistance when Akko cradles it. The golem doesn't even have the energy to lift its head up unsupported.
Then, everyone goes quite. Everyone present knows what all this means and how it'll eventually end, but it seems no one wants to say it aloud.
The silence was uncomfortable, it bugs Sucy enough that even she wishes it gone. With her seemingly unemotional voice, Sucy says, "Well, there's only one way left to save it".
Akko looks down to the golem and her eyes start to well up for the second time tonight. "No way… him too?" she mutters, her voice choked by her tears. This normally unseen side of Akko's personality is enough to unease even the most stoic of the group.
"That's the only way out of its misery", Sucy shrugs. You'd expect her to frown or at least have a sympathetic twist to her usually monotone voice, but even in a moment such as this, she remains stoic—she looks and sounds as apathetic as ever.
Sucy's eyes widen only slightly as she's amused by an idea, she gives Jerry and Hannah a sidelong glance and adds, "Of course there's a second way, but if you step into my shoes and listened to how these two buffoons interact on our way here, you'd realize that won't happen in a million years".
Case in point, Hannah suddenly scoffs and folds her arms. "Well it's not my fault this is happening in the first place after all!"
"I said I was sorry…" Jericho says.
Sucy gives Akko an expectant look, and she now understands that there's no other way.
The golem tiredly gazes at Akko's eyes as she gently lowers it to the ground. She then strokes its head, and the fond memories this golem, alongside Lemmy, brought to her made her hand linger longer than she wished for. Eventually Akko bites back her emotions and stands up to leave, refusing to watch another one of her golems to be taken away.
Among the rest, only Sucy looks at Akko as she separates herself from the group. Jerry and Hannah is too busy bickering with each other again after Sucy incited the memory, and Diana is there to ease that bickering.
Sucy almost have the thought of going after her friend and consoling her, but given her reputation in social interactions, she doubts her presence would have any good impact on the girl's mood.
"Know this, golem, there's nothing personal", Jerry says as he and Hannah stands in front of the golem, both their wands raised and trained towards it.
"Just get this over with", Hannah says with a frown, giving him an annoyed, sidelong glance.
Together they plant the tip of their wands on the golem's forehead and the effect is immediate. The golem releases its last breathe before crumbling into pieces of clay and then sand, now, joining the soil once more with its friend.
The two's magic flowed back to their bodies before the golem's sands even met the soil, and relieve, similar to Akko; both psychological and physical, washes over the two. Their breaths were held for days, and now they can rest easy knowing the golem threat had been vanquished.
Jerry twirls his wand and puts it in his belt, he was about to say a one-liner that he'd heard from a movie and had since wished to use in situations like this, but something stuck on the mound of sand takes his attention away.
He kneels down and takes it. It's a notebook. He opens it and flips through the pages. Out of curiosity, Hannah joins to take a look.
—
"Akko!"
Akko hears her friend's voice from above. Looking up, she spots Lotte and Barbara on brooms. The latter immediately flies down somewhere to join Diana and Hannah and barrage them with thousands of worry-filled questions, while the latter lands her broom near the lonely and downtrodden Akko.
"I was so worried about you!" The Finn cries as she squeezes Akko's hand. "We might still be okay, let's head back before the teachers find out!"
It amuses Akko in a nice way that, in true spirit of Lotte, Lotte's first worry is about the teachers.
Lotte eventually stops and covers her mouth once she notices the pile of sand on the ground. She turns to Akko in hopes of explanation, but she soon realizes she'd rather not have any if it means upsetting Akko any further.
Akko tenses out of surprise as she feels Lotte's hand on her shoulder, but once she sees Lotte's kind blue eyes, Akko eases up. Lotte gently squeezes Akko's shoulder and says, as gently as her voice allows her to, "It's alright, Akko. You did your best for them and that's what counts, right?"
Her blue eyes show genuine sincerity, Akko couldn't help but agree with what she said. After a second of silence, Akko manages to put up a light smile for her friend. "Yeah, I guess you're right", she says, and the Finn replies with her own.
"Akko", a voice comes in, interrupting the two's conversation. They turn to see Jericho, a very familiar notebook held on his hand, one that made Akko's heart felt like it's about to break the moment she sees it.
Akko takes the notebook from his hand and hastily flips through the pages, only to stop after just a few turns. Lotte and Jerry are both surprised when Akko's hands start to tremble and her hold on the book tightens that it threatens to tear its pages. Akko could feel a drop of tear running down her cheeks, and before long, she couldn't hold in the rest. Akko falls to the ground with tears flowing freely down her cheeks, they fall onto the open page—the one that made Akko stop—on it is a very crude drawing of two golems and Akko, and with them some badly written scribbles:
'Magical star, Akko, Lem and Sham'.
—
Diana, Hannah, and Barbara had been waiting for Jerry for minutes. Hannah had grown impatient for the boy's terrible punctuality, she made sure to remind herself to be angry when he decides to show his face eventually. However, she's caught off guard when Jerry shows up with an unusually happy expression that she forgot to be angry.
"Sorry to keep ya waiting", Jerry says with, to Hannah's bewilderment, an easy smile.
"You're here, good", Diana says and pilots her broom up. "Now let's head back to school, shall we?"
Barbara agrees with a relieved sigh. "Yes please. I can't stand this place any more, its super cold".
Without a word, as if naturally permitted, Jericho climbs to the back of Hannah's broom. The night had been long and neither Hannah nor Jerry found it favourable to argue again on should she be the one giving him a ride or someone else.
"You sure took your time", Hannah remarks, frowning. "Any second longer and I would've let you go back walking".
"Yes, yes, my apologies, princess~", he replies, unaffected by her threat.
She kicks off and takes him towards the night sky. Diana is ahead of the three-rider group, leading them away from the cold outside and back to the comfort of home.
There was an otherwise awkward silence, at least on Hannah's side, during the flight back. Jericho hadn't said a word, but she somehow felt he didn't feel awkward on the silence. He's humming to himself, even. So she tries to break it by asking, "Why can't you fly on your own?"
It's not lost to Jerry that Hannah's question lacks her usual condescending tone, it sounds like a genuinely curious question.
His humming stops, Hannah notices Jerry pausing—she's not sure what to make of it.
"Is there any story to tell? I just haven't learned that well riding it".
That was it, his answer. It definitely felt short, or he intended it to be so. It's difficult to pick up hidden meanings behind sentences when you don't see the speaker's face directly, and that's what's happening now with him behind her.
That's weird, Hannah thought to herself. It was an otherwise peculiar mystery for Hannah; why wouldn't a wizard be able to fly a broom? She couldn't think of any ordinary reason—she never met a wizard who couldn't fly before.
A yawn escapes her mouth and she covers it. Hannah couldn't care less about these troubling thoughts now. All she wants to think of is the sweet embrace of her warm bed. She's only enough energy to ask one last question.
"And what were you doing back there, anyway? Aside from, you know, giving that girl the notebook".
Jerry doesn't answer immediately, apparent to Hannah that he's finding it hard to say what he has in mind. "Just found something interesting in it that I wanted to keep—a souvenir to remind me of this night. Good thing Akko let me have it".
"What is it?"
The boy mumbles almost indistinctly. "It's a secret".
These four had left much earlier while Akko and her friends stay for a little longer, intend on giving her golems proper places to rest, so Hannah's good guess as to why his delay was he's involved himself in some way related to that.
For Hannah, to give the golems, something ultimately inanimate, some fancy and ceremonious goodbye is foolish. So she sighs, couldn't even be bothered to care with the red team's antics anymore tonight.
"Must be something stupid then".
"Y-yeah, totally", Jericho says. He looks at the piece of paper he took that was formerly stuck on one of the notebook's pages.
'Please divide our scores 90 to 10 per cent, sincerely, Hannah England' it reads.
"Something really stupid", he says, trying to suppress a laugh.
Author's Exit: Again, writing Hannah is difficult, so give me your feedback on whether she's OOC or how much you hate her for being a big bully :3
Disregard that emoji or death.