Author's Notes: It's been too long, I know, and there's no fancy reason; life's busyness just caught up to me. My changing style of writing also made this update super late. Now I've decided to write around 2 to 4 chapters ahead before uploading any next chapters so I'm not running in blind. This takes time, but the end results much better. What you're reading now is one of the 3 chapters I've already prepared. The rest two still require some polishing, but they're otherwise already fine. Also changing is the POV. I've decided to turn this story into a third-person perspective. This is due to many reasons, and a more flexible and better story-telling is the biggest. This is still experimental, so responses are welcome.
Happy reading. As always, reviews are welcome!
Jericho feels light like the air, weightless and without control, but also heavy like metal, grounded to the floor with no way of escaping it. His mind is clear yet muddy at the same time, able to make out the details around him yet unable to rationalize. Only his eyes he can trust, only with them can he really perceive his surroundings.
Tall ceilings, cold stone walls, finely carpeted floors, and beautifully framed windows. This is Luna Nova as he knows it.
'Oh heavens', he'd bit his lip if he could, 'it's one of those dreams again'.
Without control, his feet takes him somewhere he's unfamiliar, yet they walk without a hint of doubt, not a single pause they give. They take him to a place in the school he's never seen before.
The room is wide and dark. Thick square pillars jut from the ground to support the ceiling. Only the end of the room has light. It comes from three tall yet narrow windows that lets the midnight moon outside shine through. There's a statue of three women. They must be beautiful to behold during the day, but under the dark of night they're ominous and eerie. They stand at the corner of the room with their unblinking eyes, like silent watchmen watching over the room long after their own times.
His feet takes him to the centre of the room as if they knew what this place is and what to do in here.
The clouds outside shift and simmer, revealing the full moon in its full glory.
The moon was a haunting blue. Its mysterious pale light washes over the room.
The ground suddenly quakes and shifts. The cobblestone floor suddenly collapses between themselves in an orderly manner, almost mechanical-like. It reveals a flight of stairs. It leads to nothing but unbearable darkness. Yet once again, he's no control as he's seemingly dragged into it.
Human masonry gives way to untouched soil and stone, cut not by the hands of men but by the elements. Only darkness accompany him, opposed only by the meagre light from a wand. Still, his feet takes him with certainty.
Until he meets a wide opening, so wide and tall that the light of his wand could not reveal everything. Multiple corridors connect to the room, serving as their only entrance and exit. They're all identical in shape and size. If someone were to grab him and spin him around he's sure he'd be lost.
A wild wind blows through the opening. Unnatural; no wind could blow this far down. Paranormal. Suddenly he starts to shiver, and it's not because of the cold wind.
The wind centres in the middle of the opening, dead leaves and dust takes off in its wake. They spiral and spin, until a light appears in the centre of it all, cutting through the darkness. It's as unnatural and as unknown as the cold blowing wind.
And then, a deathly face appears in the middle of the light. Pale green and ghostly. It wails to him, angrily.
The air felt like it dropped along with his stomach. Cold fear begins to wrap around his body, seeping right through his ribcage and into his heart.
Oh how the wailing never stops, tearing at his ears and soul. Oh how cold the tendrils that clutch around him, dragging him further and further into the darkness. He felt like he screamed, but he can't tell, not with how loud the endless wailings are.
Ethereal green hand, clawed and rigid like wood reaches out to him, towards his forehead. He's exposed, vulnerable. He could die.
Jericho wakes up with a start. In one swift move he's already sat up on his bed, the abrupt movement making his head spin and stars fill his vision. The boy's hand clung to his chest, feeling the wet shirt wrapped around him. Only after he feels his rapidly rising chest does he realize how hard he's breathing for air. Slowly, his breathing slows, and his fingers slip off from his clothes.
His head swivels around, his mind blank. It takes a moment for him to realize he's in his room. He couldn't remember how and when he fell asleep. He only knew that some time has passed and that the bright midday sun is starting its afternoon dip, its unbearable heat gone.
The boy grips his blanket and stares at his hands.
What the hell was that dream? So vivid… like the rest.
The dream left him feeling dehydrated and disoriented. It's a mystery to him what day was it today and what's lead him to sleeping in his room. Before he took in the afternoon sun, he couldn't even figure out what time is it—if it's the morning before class or if his sleep was an afternoon nap. He feels lethargic, his clothes are uncomfortable and dirtied, and his mind not so different from it.
His eyes wander around his room until they stop at a clock. His mind still absent as he spots where the clock's short arm lies. There's no urgency in him, and for good reasons. There's zero classes this late in the afternoon, unless…
The wizard's eyes was previously narrow and tired. Now they widen steadily till they bulge.
"Shit!" the boy curses. He nearly falls off his bed as he scrambles off his bed.
He couldn't remember the last time he ran in the hallway. He's never been so clumsy to be late. When he opens the door to the classroom, it's already abandoned save for one person.
The person was Professor Ursula. She looks surprised. She wasn't expecting company this late.
At a teacher's presence, the boy suddenly becomes conscious of himself. He schools his posture and fixes his clothes—he didn't have much time to fix them when he changed into them quickly.
"Am I… am I late?" he asks, his voice hoarse.
Professor Ursula's brows knot to a frown. "Extra… class? Extra class…" her eyes then widen. "Oh! You actually wanted to join?"
His voice drops. "You didn't— you didn't wait for me?"
"We weren't exactly waiting for you, so I suppose the fault's not all yours!" She strokes her chin with a finger. "Then again, you didn't exactly told Akko you wanted to join when she invited you, that's why we didn't expect you at all".
"I didn't see any reason to give a heads up, because being late wasn't part of my plan…" the boy trails off. He then shakes his head. "Sorry, this is totally my fault, miss".
"Don't worry, it's not like you're going to be punished for not attending this class". A slight smile tugs at the edge of the professor's lips. "There's still next week's". The professor rests her hands on her hips. "In any case, the extra class is already over. Akko finished practicing almost five minutes ago". She taps a cardboard box sitting on the teacher's desk, filled with all sorts of items. "She's on her way returning a few of the things we used to the storage room".
The professor was about to pick one up, but the wizard steps in and helps take one of the boxes. "At least let me help you bring this", he says. He has to put an effort not to huff under the unexpected weight. "Where are we going?"
"The storage room, one floor up. Thank you", she replies. One of the boy's eyes twitches. A flight of stairs made him regret being nice. There's no going back now. "Akko already went there with one. She's supposed to come back and lend me another hand. I wonder what's keeping her so long".
"There's no reason I shouldn't help", he replies. His attempt at a nonchalant shrug falls short; in no way does it seem like he's doing this out of impulse.
On second thought, the fact that the boxes weight like an elephant also makes it hard to make a smooth shrug.
In any case, outside of simple politeness, his reason for helping is genuine gratitude. Although he missed her help at extra class entirely today, the thought still counts to him that the professor is willing to offer help to students in need like him and Akko.
And also, there's a dash of a less obvious motive mixed in there.
He wants to further discuss his problem with his dreams.
It's... getting old, yes. Even the wizard is aware of this.
As they walk to find the stairs, the wizard keeps stealing glances at the professor, thinking of ways to naturally start and steer a conversation to one about his dreams.
However, his true challenge at being upfront is how bad the wizard feels. The last time he'd brought this problem she'd given him a good advice, one he's followed through so far: to pass them as nothing more but nightmares, and to only think otherwise if there's any good evidence to or if he feels genuinely troubled by them. But doing what he does best: overthinking things, the wizard keep forcing himself to read between the lines; he keeps telling himself it's the professor's polite way of telling him he's jumping at shadows and that he should cease being such a scaredy cat.
All this quiet thinking got his mind absent. So absent, his legs thought it would be funny to climb one extra step by the end of the stairs.
The wizard gasps as he loses balance, the box he carries teetering threatening to fall. A simple misstep nearly turns to an accident when he's balancing such a weight on his hands.
It was an honest mistake on his part, not the box despite its weight, and he can definitely carry on. But the professor misunderstood what happened, and thought he needed some help.
"Here, let me help". Before he could protest, the professor took a few weight off from his box and stacks it on hers.
And then, she continues to climb the next staircase like nothing happened. The wizard looks at her back like she just grown a second head.
"Are you sure, professor? They're pretty heavy!" the boy asks as he catches up to her. He doesn't mind admitting this if it gets him an answer. His brows tighten together. "Aren't you tired?"
It's been a long day for any teacher after all, it being a school day.
"I'm fine". She turns to him. "Don't worry about me", the professor answers with a strong smile. He can't see it being forced in any way.
The wizard tries to read her through some subtle sidelong glances, but he can't find any sign of fatigue or some gesture that would indicate she's lying.
This leaves him very dumbfounded, and for good reasons.
Today's a school day, and just earlier she's taught Akko in an extra class, that must make for a tiring day. Yet here she is, carrying the boxes like a champ, not a strain to her muscles or her fine womanly features.
At first glance, the professor seems to be the type of person who wouldn't survive a hectic day at work or a journey from one end of the school to another, but behind her nervous shell and clumsy demeanor, there's this unexpected energetic and tireless side of her.
Maybe it's just because she's young, the boy thought silently. His hand would've moved to stroke his chin if it wasn't occupied. Wait, how old is she? Is it rude to ask that? Wait, is it even okay to talk about a woman's physical strength? It sounds rude!
Then the wizard pauses completely and shakes his head.
No, no, no. damn, I got distracted. Dreams! That's what I wanted to talk. Got to go back, back in track.
The wizard bites his lip.
Ok, go or no go? I should at least try to bring the topic up subtly… no, I don't have any idea how!
If internal thoughts are made audible, the wizard would already be a circus at this point. Not the clown, but the whole circus.
They arrive at the storage room before the wizard could settle in any meaningful decision. It's starting to get dark outside. The door's wide open, its light spills into the scarcely lit hallway. Teacher and student share amused looks when they enter and see a distressed Akko searching around the room.
Somewhere along the way, the resident troublemaker finally realizes she's not alone in the room. The professor's presence doesn't stop her from dancing around the room, though.
"Professor! I'm so sorry, I was about to go back and help but I think I dropped my…"
His presence does, though.
Akko's words trail off once she sees the third person in the room. Distress gives way to surprise. In one swift second the worry left her system entirely.
"Hey! Where have you been?" Akko's voice is loud, as always.
The wizard tenses at being the center of attention so suddenly. His posture sinks as he tries to shrink himself out of the sudden attention.
"I-I overnapped", he stammers out. His eyes uncomfortably dart elsewhere as Akko nears him, her face close in front of his.
Her nose wrinkles as she scrutinizes his features for any lies. Her hand moves to her chin to stroke it, a rare thoughtful gesture from her. "Are you sure you're not just evading the class?" She folds her arms and purses her lips. "Just say you don't want to join if you're not planning to".
Akko immediately stops when the wizard suddenly glowers at her.
"I do want to join the class. I just overnapped", he hisses through gritted teeth, a very heavy emphasize near the end that turns to a low growl.
Akko smiles shakily as the table suddenly turned on her. Her posture shrinks under the wizard's unrelenting glare. She didn't know she'd mastered size-changing magic, because it sure feels like she's suddenly mouse-sized, cowering under the shadow the wizard's casting over her.
He simply doesn't want the professor to get any funny ideas, like that he's lying about being late and is actually not appreciative of the help the professor's willing to give.
"Oh. Oh ok". Akko's eyes dart elsewhere for a second, distractedly. Then, her eyes slowly widen and she cocks her head to the side. "Wait, so that mean you told the truth back then when I invited you: you actually want to join our extra classes?"
The wizard scoffs sharply. He walks past her with the box in hand. "Yes, is it that hard to belief?"
The wizard turns to the professor to find out her opinion. He's surprised to find her smiling, and he can tell it was directed at him and Akko for some reason.
Realizing she's noticed, the professor quickly disarms her smile. "What? Oh yes, yes! It was hard to belief", the professor waves her hand about as she chuckles nervously. Then her eyes begin to widen slowly. "I mean, it wasn't. It wasn't hard to belief… What?"
She's lost. Completely lost.
The wizard sighs loudly and decides to finally do his job with the box. "That hard, huh?" he grumbles.
Akko's puzzled eyes follow him as he goes. "Well, yeah. I mean, you didn't look too happy when I talked to you about us being… you know? And you definitely wasn't happier when I started inviting you". Her words trail off. Then her frown starts to slowly turn upside down. "Ah, what the heck, who cares? This is good news! I'm not going to do this alone from now on!" The boy snorts at that.
Now outside of the two's attention again, the professor resumes her smile. In truth, she'd been watching and listening to their interaction since the beginning with interest.
It was only a few days ago that news reached Akko's ears that the wizard shares a similar background as hers, and it's been an uproar for her. From what Ursula knew, Akko spent the next good portion of her days pestering him to join the extra classes. For whatever reason, he was reluctant back then.
This is good news both for Akko and the professor. She'd been worried for Akko since her first day of enrollment. The girl, if the professor was being completely honest, is alone and without a clue. And despite all the help the professor gave and will continue giving her, they're still teacher and student; there's some barrier as to how close they could help each other. But now Ursula can start to rest easy, knowing there's someone that's just like Akko. Someone that will make her not do this alone.
Ursula knows well that Akko is surrounded by caring and good friends, but she knows that sometimes that's not enough. Sometimes, despite how many friends she has, she'll still feel alone. Sometimes you need someone—just one is enough—that's just like you to no longer feel alone.
Now they may be rusty…
The professor's smile turns to a wry one as she watches the clearly displeased wizard be barraged by Akko with all sorts of questions, while she doesn't help at all with the weighty box.
…and they don't go along too swimmingly, but she firmly believes that will be solved as time goes on. Things will eventually be much easier for the two, and for herself, when they work together.
So, once she's done her part, the professor says her goodbye briefly and leaves the youths to themselves, not wanting to interrupt anything important.
Unbeknownst to the professor, her early leave disappointed the wizard greatly.
Maybe tomorrow, the wizard thought woefully.
He has no one to blame but his own indecisiveness.
Then the wizard pauses when he notices Akko has stopped with her questions. He turns to find that she has resumed what she was doing when he arrived.
"What are you searching for?" he asks, an annoyed edge to his voice.
"Something personal!" the witch grunts as she stands on her toes to barely reach a shelf. "It's one of my Chariot cards. I brought it with me and I think I dropped it around here". The witch turns to him. "Have you seen it? You can't miss it!"
"Apparently you did", the boy comments dryly before he turns his gaze to the open door once gain. He bites his lip to suppress a sigh. Finally, he turns and walks up beside Akko.
"Fine, I'll help you find it", he grumbles as he rolls up his sleeves.
It only takes two minutes of searching for him to finally find the troublemaker, stuck in a crevice between two tall shelves. The girl promptly bows to him repeatedly. He was impressed; he'd never expected to be at the receiving end of an authentic Japanese bow by an authentic Japanese person. This moment is slightly monumental for him.
After thanking him for the 20th time, bilingually in English and Japanese, the girl suddenly flips open a book. Feeling his questioning stare, the girl sheepishly scratches the back of her head.
"Don't judge me. Chariot cards make perfect bookmarks!" she whines.
"They'll just distract you from your reading, I bet", the boy comments wryly as he hands her the card.
Akko was about to say her 21st thank you, but she stops when she found her card stuck. Even when Akko tugs gently, the card remains stuck between the boy's fingers.
She looks up to find the wizard's eyes fixed at the card, not once he blinks.
She did the mistake of trying to pull harder.
A frown quickly crosses Akko's face when she receives no response at all, one that easily turns to an upset scowl.
"Hey, you're going to tear it!" she cries, voice cracking near the end.
He jolts like he's been asleep all this time and his grip ceases abruptly. The wizard blinks hard and long as he stares at Akko, slowly taking in her upset look.
Akko's eyes narrow as she inspects her card. She repeatedly feel it with her fingers, trying to find any stretch or tear due to the stress it just went through.
Now realizing what he's done, the boy smirks awkwardly. It only makes his adversary more suspicious of him.
"S-sorry", he hastily says. "I got distracted, apparently", he chuckles nervously, more as to add effect than him finding his joke funny at all.
Akko replies with a scowl. Her cheeks are puffed—it does nothing to make her seem threatening. Her posture is still tense as well, the card held closely to her chest, prepared to fight or flight should the boy chooses to escalate the conflict.
Despite himself, the boy nearly snickers at how ridiculous the situation they're in.
"It's not for sale, mister. Not in a million years", Akko warns.
At that, the boy scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Like hell anyone would be interested enough to buy those kid's cards".
Akko's brows tighten on her quickly reddening face. She says no words. Her expression alone is loud enough as he looks at him like he just denied the Witch Hunt ever happened.
"I'm joking, joking!" the boy quickly says. "Peace?"
"Only if you don't hurt my Chariot cards in the future", Akko says indignantly as she folds her arms. She then slips her card into her book, swiftly in case the boy still wants to do some funny business.
The corner of his eyes twitch, unseen by Akko.
Despite what he said about the card's value, his eyes follow it intently, as if this is the last time he'll ever get to see it. The world slows to a crawl for him, as bizarre as it sounds, as he focuses as best he can on the illustration: a pale blue moon, up until the point the card's finally swallowed entirely by the pages. The moment the card's out of sight, he finally blinks and breathes, as if a great weight had just been removed from his mind.
He also just barely managed to read the card's name.
"Blue moon", he repeats what he read. His voice and face neutral.
"Blue moon abyss", the girl corrects him. "It's like a… cave, like a hidden cave". She looks at him carefully, as if sizing up if he's now safe or not. Her previous hostility is mostly gone now, replaced now in her features is a thoughtful, but still careful look. "If you're really interested in my cards, you can just say it you know? No need to steal some looks like that"
Akko then mutters more quietly, "Seems like a trend with you; not being upfront. Really makes you hard to read, you know?"
"That so?" the boy blinks. He's honestly surprised to hear this mini-sized lecture from Akko, and impressed that she's spot on. He shoves his hands to his pocket and shrugs. "I could say the exact opposite about you".
The two chooses not to talk about this weird incident for the rest of their journey back to their respective rooms. Akko tries not to think much of what happened. This is evident as she dominates the conversation and steering it towards mostly mundane subjects like nothing happened. Unlike her however, Jericho's mind is still on the card. As Akko blabbers on, he reaches deeply into his memories, trying to figure out just what made that picture of a moon in the card feel so hauntingly familiar.
That haunting blue colour... and the mysterious pale light it shines…
Then the wizard's eyes widen slowly. His gait slows till he stops completely.
He'd 'seen' this moon before.
Akko notices the wizard no longer walks beside her so she stops as well. She turns to see his mouth parting and closing, trying to finally break the silence he's been in since they walked together.
"Akko, did you said cave, earlier?" he asks.
Akko blinks repeatedly. "No". She frowns. "I said it was a bakery me, Lotte and Sucy went to. Were you even listening?"
The boy pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head. "No, no, no, not your story. But back when you mentioned something about the card. You mentioned a cave?"
Akko begins to nod slowly, uncertainly. "Yeeeaah, yeah. I said cave, because that's what the blue moon abyss is".
His eyes widen. "Like, natural cave? Not man-made cave?" he asks too eagerly. This is starting to confuse Akko.
"I guess that's what a cave means. So yes?"
This is starting to freak him out.
For a moment he doesn't say a thing. His hand is instinctively already over his mouth, covering his pursing lips, a finger repeatedly tapping his chin.
Akko meanwhile is still in the dark, no idea what this conversation is even for.
Then the boy joins his hands together. He gives her the impression of a very shady car dealer. "Akko, I just need to look at your card a little—"
"Nooo", Akko whines immediately, having seen this coming a mile away. She clings to her book tightly and uses her body to shield it from him. "You can just ask me instead. My memory is fool-proof!"
Exclusively on Chariot-related facts, that is.
The wizard rocks back on his heels, disappointed and anxious is his face. His eyes drop for a moment as he sighs.
"Fine". He lifts his eyes to meet hers. "Then just tell me: what the heck's a blue moon abyss?"
Author's Notes: it takes time to get used to the new POV. It takes more time trying to find the best fitting style for the narrations. It's still a learning experience for me, so if you found anything worth pointing out, don't feel bad to do it. I don't bite—I nibble.
Next chapter will come when it's ready.