Author's Notes: For the best reading experience, narrow the paragraphs, larger the fonts(trust me they look much better than vanilla), turn on dark mode if you will, and keep your precious baby eyes a safe distance from the screen ;)

Grand Triskellion and the 7 Words of Arcturus. Grand Triskellion and the 7 Words of Arcturus. Grand Triskellion and the 7 Words of Arcturus!

Chariot repeats those unusual names in her head over and over again. She fears that if she thinks of anything else or be distracted by anything for just one second, she'd forget entirely. Chariot even passes by the Headmistress without greeting her. Fearing any delay could make her forget, Chariot doesn't waste her time going to her room to drop off her weighty bag and instead make straight for the library.

Chariot may not feel confident of her memorizing skill, but she's confident of her school's book collection. After all, her Luna Nova's collection is famed far and wide for its extensivity, which is equalled only by its exclusivity. Even Chariot who finds reading boring knows this. Or rather, Chariot knows this more than anyone. After all, sorting through the library's collections is Miss Finnelan's go-to punishment for her.

So in a hurry she is, Chariot opened the door to the library louder than she'd like. This incites some annoyed reactions from some students inside.

"Oh, if it isn't Chariot", a Scottish-accented voice quips from behind the librarian's desk.

The voice comes from a girl sitting behind the librarian's desk. She wears the Luna Nova librarian's uniform, but she's definitely too young to be a teacher but also too young to be a student. A nametag that reads 'Eileen' is pinned upside down on her librarian's vest. Eileen was hiding something behind her back when Chariot came bursting in. She relaxes and reveals it again when she recognizes it's just Chariot. Chariot has no idea about comics, but Eileen's been secretly reading her Shazam comics—or Captain Marvel as Eillen prefers to call them—for weeks that they're recognizable at a glance.

"What's the matter? Going to sort some books for Miss Finnelan again?"

"Grand Triskellion and the 7 Words of Arcturus!" Chariot exclaims the moment she arrives on the desk, surprising the librarian.

Eileen looks at Chariot with wide eyes. "Uhm… what?"

"That's the thing I'm looking for. Do you have it?"

"Hold your proverbial horses, lass". Eileen brings up a notepad and a pencil. "Repeat that for me".

"Grand Triskellion and the 7 Words of Arcturus!"

Eileen scowls. "Say it don't spray it. When I said repeat it, I didn't mean to shout it again!"

Eileen firmly holds onto her chair and kicks off the desk, sending herself rolling away on her chair to the back side of the librarian's quarter. Busy with her search, the Luna Novan alumna still tries to hold up conversation.

"You look a bit tired you know? What'd you been doing?"

Chariot lifts the bag she brought and lays it on the desk for Eileen to see. The weight shakes the desk, and the freckled girl has to stop with what she's doing to gawk at the bag.

"Christ! Miss Finnelan made you do that?"

"Who else would do this to me?"

Eileen guffaws. To her, it's always a joy when Chariot is being blatantly straightforward. Eileen's laughter draws attention and annoyance from the students in the library, but she doesn't seem to care.

She shakes her head. "Lass, that's what you get when you keep being late. How many book sorting do you need to do before you get that ingrained in your head?"

"I don't mind too much. A friend helped with this".

"Huh? I thought you told me your friends didn't want to help".

"I'm talking about someone else. He's kind enough to help".

"Oh, good", Eileen says offhandedly. She kicks off again, sending her rolling to another side of the counter. "I was worried you carried all that by yourself for a second".

Even though I practically swathed Conan's hand away when he tried to. People always say it's the thoughts that count, right?

Eventually, Eileen realizes she's having little luck and has to go further and more serious with her search. She groans to herself before kicking on her desk strongly, sending her rolling further away from the counter until she goes deeper into the librarian's quarter where Chariot loss sight of her.

Seconds pass. Then more, then more, until Chariot is starting to think she's tapped her foot a thousand times while waiting. So impatient she was, Chariot was just about to infiltrate the librarian's quarter when she hears the familiar rolling sound of Eileen's chair approaching.

"Bad news for you. There's nothing about either one of them"

Chariot stares at the older girl with wide eyes. "What?! Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I just checked".

"Maybe check again?"

Eileen scowls at Chariot. "Are you questioning my abilities?" But Eileen's surprised to find the girl unyielding, the fiery look in her eyes not withering.

Eileen gets her kicks from scaring the younger Chariot, who usually backs down the moment Eileen (pretends) to be annoyed at her just like any good alumna or senior would to their meddling juniors. But there are occurrences when the two come to grips but Chariot doesn't back down. In all those times Eileen couldn't help but give Chariot the victory, and now isn't an exception.

"Huh", Eileen remarks, surprised at Chariot's determined face. "This book's that important, huh?"

"Very".

Eileen smirks. She sets her jaw and says, "Now that I think about it, I think there's something I forgot to check somewhere…"

With a kick, Eileen vanishes again. This time, Chariot beams seeing her go, and waits patiently. Something about being heard feels so good.

When Eileen returns, she brings with her a piece of paper.

"I got some lead on your book, but don't get your hopes up", Eileen warns, her voice lowered to a whisper.

Chariot leans closer from the counter's edge, trying to listen to Eileen as if she's about to tell the most interesting secret in the world (which judging from her quiet voice, Chariot might guess right).

Eileen's eyes glance around before she leans forward on her desk. "There's a second archive in Luna Nova, closed to students and more so to the public. It's called the Secret Archive".

"Secret Archive", Chariot repeats, awed and attentive at Eileen's every words. "I've never heard of this before".

"Well, it is called secret archive, lass". Eileen shakes her head.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I said it's a secret", Eileen replies. "Anyway, there's no book specifically talking about the Grand Triskellion and the 7 Words o' Arcturus, but I'm certain there is one with chapters talking about it".

Eileen shows Chariot the piece of paper she brought with her, and Chariot's eyes are drawn towards it immediately.

"This is a very ancient book but very, and I mean very, credible. It's written by famous witches, some of them even descendants of the Nine Olde Witches".

The more Eileen explains, the more Chariot becomes enamoured by the piece of paper, as if what Eileen's holding now is the most precious jewel on earth

Eileen hands the paper to Chariot's waiting hands, and the girl keeps looking at in stunned silence as if she's just handed the key to the city.

"Now you go to the Headmistress and ask her for access to the secret archives. You can only find the book there. I guarantee you".

"The headmistress, huh?" Chariot remarks. Finally, she manages to take her eyes off the note and back to Eileen. "This secret archive thing needs a special permission I'm guessing?"

"Aye. Only the headmistress can authorize access. Students could get access only if the headmistress saw them fit for it".

Chariot beams from ear to ear as she looks at the note. She folds it neatly and gingerly puts her in her shirt pocket, treating the object with respect as if it's a breathing, living thing.

Seeing the happy kid, Eileen nearly doesn't want to say more.

"Don't get your hopes up too high now. The headmistress could deny you access, y'know?" she warns.

"I know. But this is a huge leap for me", Chariot says, and her smile somehow still manages to grow brighter. "Thanks, Eileen. You're the best!"

Eileen quickly scoffs and looks away. Any notion of replying Chariot's smile with her own is thrown out of the window and she wears a deep scowl instead. "Y-yeah. Whatever, lass. You owe me, big time".

She shoos Chariot away. "Go along, now. Stop bothering your alumna, scoot! Go to the headmistress' office. Vamanos! Schnell! That's French, right?"

"Okay!"

Still beaming ear-to-ear, Chariot rushes out the library, inciting another round of annoyance as she opens the doors too eagerly. All except for Eileen who shakes her head with a smirk that Chariot never got to see. She sighs and slumps into her chair, picking off where she last stopped in the comic book she's reading.

But then, she frowns and stands to her feet and shouts, "Chariot, you idiot! Don't leave your bag here!"

Chariot can't contain her excitement in her heart from spreading to her feet that, before she knew it, they start to run, taking her as quickly as she could to the headmistress' office. Despite the heavy bag towing behind her like a shackle, or the numerous times Miss Finnelan lovingly scowled her for running in the hallways, Chariot's excitement made her feel as light as the wind and forgetful of all that.

She no longer forgets, however, when she spots Miss Finnelan rounding a corner ahead.

Immediately, Chariot skids to a halt, and all the excitement seeps away. She doesn't forget to straighten her back, which has become ingrained to her to do every time she's within visible distance from the strict teacher.

"Miss Finnelan, Miss", Chariot stumbles and stammers.

There's a student following closely behind the teacher, though she remains silent.

Seeing her favourite student in the whole school, Miss Finnelan can't help but raise her brow. "Help me if I'm mistaken, du Nord, but didn't I caught you running in the hallway yesterday and scolded you then?"

Chariot blinks. "Well no, not yesterday actually. You told me that on…" Knowing better, Chariot stops and hangs her head. "Yes. Yes, you did".

"And to mind your tie?"

"That was yesterday". Chariot reaches for her tie, and true enough it, alongside some buttons on her collar, was undone.

Her cheeks turn red and she promptly fixes them right away.

Oh my dear, had I been walking around town looking like this? With Conan? Why didn't he say anything? I'm so embarrassed…

The teacher snorts, but her expression soon eases and Chariot realizes she's not going to lecture her for long today.

"My offer still stands, Chariot. I'm open to give you extra lessons after classes. If you're bored wasting your time running around hallways, you can join me instead".

Thanks but I'd hate it, Chariot says to herself but keeps a polite smile up.

Chariot blinks when she sees Miss Finnelan turning towards the door.

"Oh, you're going to the headmistress's office, Miss?"

"Yes. Excuse me if you have business with her. I will make it brief".

The moment the teacher closes the door behind her, Chariot sighs and stops straightening her back. Any second more and it feels like her legs would give in, what with the weight of the bag dragging her entire body down. Gravity and mass finally return with a vengeance after her excitement-induced run dulled her from the feeling them, so she drops the bag beside her.

The whole ordeal made Chariot completely forget about the student following Miss Finnelan. Chariot just realized she's still here instead of following the teacher inside. She was so quiet since the beginning and even now when they're alone together that Chariot just realized this.

The first thing she noticed of her is her thick glasses and the strong, sharp eyes they hide. They're a greenish shade of teal. She has long untidy lavender hair. This coupled with her general appearance gives Chariot the impression that she's not the kind to give much attention to her appearances, but Chariot thinks she's pretty.

Not once does the lavender-haired girl glance at Chariot or speak a word, only staring at the door waiting for the moment it reopens in silence. Following her gaze, Chariot couldn't find a clue what about the door is so interesting it stops the girl from being bored waiting or staring at it. Chariot, on the other hand, is already bored and is itching for any distraction. But Chariot doesn't know who this girl is nor what to say.

The girl feels almost invisible. Had they meet anywhere aside from in this place right now, where they're forced to stand side by side, Chariot doubts she'd ever notice she even existed.

Most of the time, Chariot has no problem starting conversations or be friendly to the strangest of strangers. But there are some strangers who are just different from the rest. This person beside her is just as much a stranger as Conan was, but there's a complete difference between the two. Chariot can't put her finger on it, but it's as if people like this girl perpetually cloaks a spell around themselves that makes others look away or ignore them completely.

But Chariot isn't part of those 'others'. She can't resist being curious. She would steal glances at the girl's direction, pondering what to say all the while.

Who knows, maybe she's secretly a super nice person!

Chariot begin rocking on her heels, something people tell her she often does when she's trying to think (they also tend to follow-up with she rarely rocks her heels, but that's a story for another time).

"Scary, am I right?" Chariot begins.

"Mhm".

"So… are you trying to visit the headmistress?"

"Yes", the girl responds. Short and simple.

"Nothing troublesome, I hope?"

"Nope. At least not as much as the one you're in".

"Ah…" Chariot tilts her head. "Do we know each other?"

"No, but it's hard not to know you. Not after everyone in school saw you out of breath during the ceremony".

Oh. That trouble.

The girl was perfectly frank and even in delivering her answer and didn't bat an eye at Chariot. Meanwhile, Chariot couldn't bring herself to look at the girl directly without blushing madly.

That's just perfect. She recognizes me. I just want to bury my head in the earth when someone talks about that.

Her cheeks as red as her hair, Chariot can no longer look at the girl. Suddenly, Chariot is starting to see the appeal staring at the door has.

"W-well that's you knowing me, but I've never seen you before", Chariot, remarks.

"Really? It's as if we're in different years"

Chariot grimaces. This one's difficult. She's clever and cynical—the worst combination ever. They're the hardest type to warm up to.

Before they could continue their (one-sided) conversation, the door opens and out comes Miss Finnelan. She immediately addresses the girl.

"You don't need to go inside, Croix—I asked the headmistress about your matter in your stead. She said yes".

"Good", this Croix girl says. Chariot thought she'd be able to see some smile due to the seemingly good news (whatever it was), but just like before, this girl remains even both in tone and expression.

"You can go in now, Chariot", Miss Finnelan says.

"R-right".

Without delay and without another word spoken to either the teacher and Chariot, the girl follows Miss Finnelan and, leaving Chariot to do her business with the headmistress.

Chariot turns her attention to the door. It's closed shut, she couldn't see or listen anything from the other side. It's made of old wood, tall and imposing. In a second, all other thought and previous positivity disappear from Chariot's head, replaced with only one: what's on the other side of the door, and the dread of thinking about it.

No matter how much she frequents in and out of this door, it cannot fail to send a chill down her spine every time Chariot looks at it. No good memory ever comes from going through this door. She's never called to the headmistress' office to receive praise or do errant teachers entrust her to. No, she's always here when she got into trouble, with Miss Finnelan waiting inside alongside the headmistress, with her troubled and disappointed face that Chariot can never bear to look at. She can't remember the last time she's called here cordially, or if she's ever been in such situation ever. The door is more than a door. It's a memory. No other doors in this school instils such fear and anticipation in her. The door is of the exact same design with nearly all the other rooms in this school, but Chariot can somehow instinctively tell that this one's different. It's as if there's something about it, invisible to her, that tells all the senses in her body that this is not just any other door in this school, it is the door.

Despite her reason for being here is completely cordial, Chariot can't help but feel edgy. Despite the unusual leniency and patience the headmistress always shown, Chariot can never let her guard down with the headmistress. Chariot fears the lenient and patient types than anything else, more than the outright strict and mean types. The latter is predictable, and when they don't act as predicted, then it's a nice and rare surprise of them being nice. The former, however, she can never be sure when they'll run out of patience and snap at her. It's that feeling of uncertainty that keeps Chariot edgy—so much so she can't relax—around people like the headmistress. That feeling nearly makes her not want to see those kinds of people at all.

She gulps, then breathes deeply to strengthens her resolve.

Calm down, you silly girl. I'm not in trouble at all. This time…

Maybe, today is the day I'll have a cordial visit here for once, and its not going to be a breath of fresh air for just me, but the headmistress as well. Yes, this time it'll start and end nicely.

With that thought, Chariot manages to cheer herself up if only slightly, but enough to make her turn her frown away. She straightens her back, checks the state of her clothing a second time, and finally knocks on the door before going in.

The room is suffocating her the longer she stays. So once inside, Chariot tries to make her case as brief as possible.

Hearing Chariot's story, the headmistress was from unamused or unsympathetic. But she simply cannot meet Chariot's requests.

"I'm sorry, dear", the headmistress begins with a sad look. "But we can only allow the most trustworthy and capable students the key to our secret archives. Don't take offence; this is a privilege only a few can really achieve".

"Is there no way for me to get it anytime soon? I only need one thing from there, and I promise I'll return it!"

"I'm sorry. Anything put into the secret archive is something valuable. Some of the things in there is older than the school and anything within or below it".

Chariot feels her strength seeping from her the longer she listens and the more she understands she's not going to get what she wants.

So much for that. I guess I'm out of luck.

If the headmistress says no, then it's a no. Chariot doesn't dare to be stubborn now. Chariot worries she'll exhaust the headmistress' patience after she showed such great tolerance to her when she's late for the ceremony.

The headmistress smiles empathetically. "I know this isn't a quick solution, but you must work hard to finally deserve access, and not give up hope. If you truly want this book, then, knowing you, I won't worry you'll ever give up on it. Who knows, you might even surpass the likes of Meridies or Cavendish. They're granted access to the archive in their first year! A lot of students are working hard to be like them, so don't fret, you're not doing this alone".

That really isn't a quick solution…

Despite the headmistress' encouraging words, none of them could help Chariot. She needs something quick. Conan would finish with his storybooks in a matter of hours, not months.

Not that I'd have any chance to begin with in competing with the likes of Cavendish or Meridies even if I try. They're on an entirely different level from me.

Chariot leaves the office deflated and defeated. The energy and excitement that gave her strength had left Chariot since the visit to the headmistress' office. The exhaustion and stress built up since the start of her crusade is starting to catch up on her that her walk slows to a slouching drag.

Finally, her room. The bag's contents—meant to be carried by three people—took a good toll on her body and she wants nothing more than to be rid of it and forget about it till morning comes. She can hand it to the goblins tomorrow morning, midday, or evening, she doesn't care. What matters is that she could do that tomorrow.

However, for the baggage in her head—which slows her heart to silent beats—Chariot doubts she can drop it anywhere to rid her of its weight and forget about them.

Even now, even after all the dead end she's faced, Chariot can't help but think about the book she's looking for and the secret archive. But the more she thinks, the more she comes to realize she's in a helpless situation. She's in no better position than Conan, who had to make do with storybooks.

She's starting to get why he's so troubled. And the more she thinks about it, the more she's glad she offered him help. It was nice of her, and Chariot was proud of herself.

Now, if only she can get help…

Maybe I can ask what my friends think.

Chariot twists the doorknob only to find it locked.

Are they asleep?

She knocks on the door. She grows worried and the knocking turns to rasping.

No response.

Oh… right. Chariot frowns and sighs deeply. Chariot starts to search for her own keys, all while thinking miserably to herself. I forgot. They're probably still mad at me.

Chariot couldn't blame her friends for avoiding her. She can't see anything fun in getting blamed together as a team when only one person in the group was guilty of being late.

She opens the door and timidly peers into her room, as if this isn't her own room.

"Hello?"

Silence.

Yep, they're gone. Probably having fun somewhere.

Well that's asking help from them thrown out the window.

Someone forgot to close the curtains when they left, so the sunset outside mercilessly spills into Chariot's room, turning her entire room red safe for a few spots sheltered by the shadow. Too tired to care, Chariot doesn't close the curtains nor turn on the lights. She just drags her body inside and drops the bag beside her bed before collapsing on her bed, its wooden frame creaking in protest.

Chariot twists and turns on her bed, tries taking off her vest and loosening her ties, but no matter how comfortable she tries to get, she can't get herself to relax.

Despite her body yearning it, her restless mind wards off any thought of sleep.

Maybe I can ask girls who got the access or are working towards getting one? I don't know them at all, though. Maybe I can ask my friends about them first?

Chariot's frown only deepens, and she buries her face deep into to her pillow.

No, they wouldn't want to talk to me, let alone help me.

Even if they did help, those kinds of students live in a different world from me, let alone the likes of Meridies and Cavendish, star students and hard workers they are. I'd just bother or embarrass them just by standing next to them. If my friends are annoyed at me, imagine how someone like them would feel towards an annoying stranger like me?

Chariot yawns. Exhaustion slowly drags Chariot closer and closer into sleep's embrace, until her eyelids feel too heavy and she finally closes her eyes. Sleep pulls Chariot closer and closer into peaceful dreams, until there's not a single hint of the frown and sadness she bore during the day in her face.

Tomorrow, she's going to give her all again.

Author's Notes:

And there we have it, a chapter from Chariot's perspective. I really, really feel bad writing some of this. Can't help but feel bad hurting the precious baby.

I want to talk about Chariot for a bit. Chariot, being one of the most important characters from the show, is surprisingly a tough nut to crack for me as a writer. It's easy to write her as a one-note character similar to Akko, who can be described in few words like optimistic, eccentric, and joyous. But there's important differences between the two, both due to their different personalities and also different environment/situation. There's a surprising depth to Chariot that's hidden in plain sight, best studied from her flashbacks with Croix. I won't say much here, because I'd prefer to show those hidden sides of her as the story progresses and let you judge, then, of my interpretation of her character (where's the fun if I tell you now?). These next two to three chapters will be from Chariot's perspective, and from the feedback from you guys I'll know whether I hit the spot in this lovely brat's interpretation.

In another note, I have a rewrite chapter going on!

DON'T BE ALARMED! YOUR BELOVED FANFIC IS NOT ABANDONED. I'm not throwing the original Wizard in Time under the bus. The story will still be updated, and I won't change this original story. Then why does this rewrite exist if I still update the original? That's because while the current state of the original is good and satisfying for me, I didn't like my early parts of the fanfic. This rewrite version seeks to address EXCLUSIVELY that, meaning its later chapters will be relatively UNTOUCHED, save for a few details that'll be modified to fit the new rewrite. This means that old readers should they choose to can just ignore this rewrite and read the new updates in the old story since if you're at that point of the story, the changes made by the rewrite could barely be felt. This rewrite exists to make the fanfic more accessible for new readers because I think the early parts of my fanfic is very weak in a lot of aspects.

It'd really be nice if you take a chance at the rewrite, though. Any follow, favourite, and especially review will be very helpful for me as a writer, because as it stands, I'm trying to gauge just how good this rewrite is compared to the original. Without feedback I wouldn't know if it'll be worth it to work on a rewrite instead of continuing on the original. So, I'll be immensely grateful if you could spare the time to give me your thoughts on this rewrite. Any review is accepted, so don't shy away from negative reviews. They actually give me more materials to improve.