A/N: Hello! Welcome to my new fanfic. Basically, this will be an AU in which Chariot is Akko's adoptive mother, but you have to be the biological daughter of a witch in order to use magic. Yet, Akko is still determined to become a witch at any cost. So, if you like mystery, fantasy, lesbians, and a good amount of crazy shenanigans, I think this might just be your cup of tea.
This fic was inspired by Maite Carranza's book trilogy "La Guerra de las Brujas".
Chapter 1: The lonely girl.
It was a quiet morning in the Arcturus forest, strangely absent of the usual sounds of animals and insects going about their usual activities. The air was still as most living creatures remained in their burrows, still shaken after the previous night's storm, and even the rivers seemed to have slowed down because of all the fallen debris they were carrying. This storm had been particularly hard, bringing with it not only thunder but also hail, therefore leaving nothing but destruction behind. But alas, such are the forces of nature.
In the center of the forest, on the other hand… ah. In the center of the forest was an old building, built once upon a time with flawless white stone, tall arches and magnificent windows. It was a castle of sorts, and had three tall towers that managed to stand out even in the surrounding forest. Now-a-days its appearance wasn't so impressive anymore, mostly because of its state of decay, but as it is with most things, one should not let the appearance fool you, for this place housed something truly incredible: a school of witches. A place where girls from all around the world could go to learn magic from the best teachers available.
But inside this magical place resided something even more incredible. Or rather, someone.
At the tallest tower of the school, a big circular window allowed a ray of sunlight to pass through it and touch the face of a girl. She, however, just scrunched her eyebrows and turned around, covering herself with the sheets since she didn't feel ready to get up yet. Not after last night had brought her little rest.
She never liked storms, but usually she'd just go to sleep with her mom if things got too bad. Not last night though. Not after the fight they'd had.
Someone knocked at the door, but the girl just burrowed herself further into the sheets, waiting for her mom to answer, but more knocks came, and eventually yelling too.
"Professor Ursula! Open up this instant!" That was undoubtedly Professor Finnelan's strict voice. It scared her even more than storms ever did, to be honest. "Professor Ursula!"
Where was her mom anyways? Had she gone on her morning jog? No. She was usually back before down. Why wasn't she answering the door then? She supposed she'd have to do it herself before Finnelan ended up barging in.
The girl then got up from the bed and descended the stairs that led up to the balcony where she chose to keep her bed, since being that close to the sky always made her feel like flying. Unsurprisingly, when she got to the bottom, where their rather small living headquarters were, she didn't see her mom anywhere. More so! Her bed was still undone. Where could she have gone?
Another knock on the door called her attention once again, and she quickly rushed to cover the distance required for her to turn the doorknob and come face to face with her least favorite professor; a woman on her mid fifties with a severe expression and a long nose, her brown hair done in a tight bun, clad in the midnight blue uniform of the Luna Nova teachers, witch's hat and all.
"Atsuko Callistis!" The professor gasped upon seeing her. "What are you doing here still? Don't you have classes to attend? And where is your mother? Her lessons are about to start and she's nowhere to be seen."
"She's not here." Atsuko just said, rubbing the sleep off her eyes. "She was already gone when I woke up."
"I see." Finnelan's lips formed a thin line. "Do you remember anything unusual happening last night?"
"You mean besides the storm that seemed to be actively trying to get through the roof?" The girl chuckled, but quieted down and adopted a serious expression once Finnelan remained unamused. "No, not really. I mean, we fought, but it was nothing big. She wanted to send me to the Cavendish manor during summer break! Can you believe it?"
"Anything else? Any weird dreams?" Finnelan kept on asking, ignoring the girl's complains about her mother's plans.
"Well, now that you mention it…" Atsuko adopted a thoughtful expression, placing a finger on her chin. "I did have a nightmare. I dreamed there was a big black crow outside my window, but it wasn't like Alcor! It looked… deformed, and its eyes were deep. It appeared to be trying to get me to go outside, and it didn't seem to be bothered by the storm."
"I see." The professor repeated, looking visibly paler. "I will keep looking then, and please inform me if you know of your mother's whereabouts." Atsuko nodded slowly, not liking at all how worried Finnelan sounded. "And Akko? Perhaps it'll be better for you to remain at the academy today. I'm afraid the Leylines are slightly disturbed because of the storm."
"Okay." The girl agreed. It was late anyways, so there was no way she's be able to get to her school on time, not without her mother to give her a ride on her broom. And besides, she really needed to find her. She had an upsetting feeling in her stomach that she didn't like at all.
"Good. I'll come and check on you later." She said as she turned around.
"Professor?" The girl called before the witch could get too far, making her stop in her tracks. "You don't think she got struck by lightning, right? Like Granny- I mean, like the Headmistress?"
"Atsuko." Finnelan sighed, turning around to regard her once more. "Chariot du Nord is quite possibly the most powerful witch alive, so I wouldn't worry if I were you." And with that, she left. But truthfully, her words did nothing to soothe Akko's worries. After all, her Granny Miranda Hoolbrooke (well, adoptive Granny anyways) had also been the most powerful witch in the academy… until she died in a storm much like this one about a year before.
And there was also the fact that Finnelan had called her Akko instead of Atsuko, and had also called her mother by her real name, Chariot. A name no one dared using anymore for some reason. Something was definitely happening, and Finnelan was definitely planning on letting her out of it. Well, she wasn't Atsuko Callistis if she didn't disobey orders and got into trouble, right? There was no time to waste! She had a mystery to solve and a mother to find.
As quickly as possible she got out of her red shorts and white t-shirt she used as sleepwear and put on her denim shorts, a black shirt and a red jacket. Then she went to comb her long brown hair into her characteristic half-ponytail and bangs, quite the feat without using magic honestly! She had no idea how she managed to get so many knots.
As she got ready, however, she did notice many little details. The most obvious one being Alcor's absence. Alcor was a white crow, very old and with ruffled feathers, although once upon a time he'd been a magnificent bird, but he still had quite some magic in him, as he was Ursula's familiar. As such, whenever Ursula left without taking Akko with her, she'd ask her crow to keep an eye on the girl while she was gone, so his empty perch was preoccupying.
What's more, all of her mother's belongings were still in there, in the same position they'd been the night prior. Her clothes, her shoes, her broom, and even her wand. Everything was there, as if she had vanished on the spot, only taking with her what she was wearing. How unusual! Akko was getting more and more uneasy with each finding.
And so, not wasting one more second getting ready, Akko ran outside their room and descended the stairs of the Astronomy Tower. She then crossed the halls of the school at top speed, not bothering to check there, since she knew if her mother was still in the school Finnelan would have found her already. Instead, she ran all the way to the entrance and got out without much trouble. Come to think of it, she hadn't encountered anyone on her way here, not even a stray student or a patrolling teacher. And it all was also eerily silent.
Apprehension growing little by little, Akko exited the school and entered the forest. As she walked, the only thing she could hear were her own feet making a crunching sound as she stepped into the still frozen hail on the ground. She also noticed it was all wet and covered in broken leaves, but despite what she would have expected, it didn't smell wet. It didn't smell like tree sap either. There was another kind of smell permeating the air instead. At first she didn't recognize it, but it was metallic and it spoke of bad omens and death. Then she found the source and it all made sense.
Lying on the ground there were tens- no, hundreds of birds. They laid dead within the mud and ice, no doubt victims of the destruction the hail had brought the night prior.
As she kept moving forward, now even more uneasy, she also found some charred trees, no doubt having been struck by lightning, amongst which dozens of animals also laid there, too scorched to be recognized and giving off the bitter smell of burned flesh and fur.
It reminded Akko of one of the worst days of her life when, after a particularly fierce storm, her mother had gotten up from bed in a cold sweat and without saying a word had taken her broom and fled off the window… only to return a few hours later after having found the Headmistress' charred corpse in the forest.
What had the old woman been doing late at night outside in the middle of a storm? It was a mystery, although Akko suspected her mother knew but never dared tell her. The woman was like a grandmother to her, always giving her sweets and presents, always with a smile on her face, so losing her had been a rather difficult experience from which she hadn't fully recovered. And yet… it had been even more difficult for her mother. It wasn't just that she had been the one who found the body, but Miranda had taken her in after she became an orphan, so she was like a mother to her. It was no surprise then that Ursula hadn't taken her death very well.
She stopped dying her hair, choosing instead to show off her natural cherry red color. She also stopped using glasses and combing her hair in a loose ponytail. She started referring to herself as Chariot du Nord once more. And she started going to town to perform magic spectacles, gaining quite a bit of fame amongst the non-magical community. The return of Shiny Chariot, they called it. And the other witches didn't like it one bit.
Now, Akko wasn't the brightest girl by any stretch, but even if she very much enjoyed watching her mother's spectacles whenever she got the chance, she knew she was just doing all of that as a coping mechanism. And she also knew she was gaining too much negative attention because of it. Of course, she didn't have any idea if that had anything to do with her sudden disappearance, but things sure looked rather grim right now.
After a few more hours searching around the forest, Akko decided to head back to the academy. Not because she was giving up on her search, no, but because she doubted she would find anything else on the forest. At least she hadn't found her mother's corpse. Or Alcor's. Even though there were hundreds of dead birds, she knew she would have recognized her mother's faithful companion. So now she was almost sure her mother was alive, but the question remained: where had she gone?
Keen on continuing her quest, Akko then entered the broom closet and got out her bicycle, mounting on it and heading out of the school through the terrestrial Leyline they kept for when the non-magical people brought food and other supplies to the academy. Granted, it always felt weird traversing the Leyline on her bicycle, since there was no solid ground under the wheels and the bright blue and green colors of the portal made her dizzy, but she really had no other option since her mother was missing and her friends were in class, so she couldn't hitch a ride on someone else's broom.
Once she arrived to Blytonbury, the town closest (in Leyline geography) to the school, she decided to search all her mother's favorite spots: The Last Wednesday Society, where she bought all her magic supplies, the local store, where she bought all her non-magical supplies, the mall, the cinema (although she never went there without her, but it still was worth a try), her favorite café, her favorite French restaurant, and even the central plaza and the park, where she often offered magical spectacles. She also asked around if someone had seen a woman with red hair and red eyes, but at the end she obtained no results.
She was tempted to go to her school while she was there and ask the principal if she knew something, but she also didn't want her classmates to look at her with pity when they found out about her missing mother. They never understood her anyways, and always looked at her funny and treated her differently, not only because she was the daughter of a witch, but because she was the daughter of Shiny Chariot herself, the crazy woman who made magic spectacles around town. And on top of that, Akko wasn't embarrassed of her! She was her biggest fan. And she wished to be a witch like her too, even if she didn't have one single ounce of magical power inside herself.
But her mother had always told her that her true magic was believing in her heart, and Akko certainly believed that one day she would be able to accomplish her dreams.
She was so absorbed debating whether or not she should go inquire a bit around her school, that she didn't notice when the light turned from green to red, and she continued advancing on the street only to hear the screeching of wheels and feel a hard blow on her left side, followed by her falling from her bicycle a second later and scratching her right arm and leg on the pavement.
"Ow." She muttered as she felt the pain start spreading throughout her whole body. Great. Only this was missing to complete the worse day of her life! Being ran over by… was that a motorcycle?
"Hey kid, are you alright?" The responsible for her current situation called her as she descended from the vehicle and went to look at her as she took off her helmet, revealing short lilac hair and teal eyes the likes Akko had never seen before. She was beautiful, she had to admit, and her attire really complemented her figure, although the red straps were a bit too much, and what was with her shoulder-less shirt? She also had a weird accent. Foreign. Maybe a tourist, then? "Kid?" The woman prompted when Akko just kept staring at her without responding.
"I'm fine." Akko assured her as she got up and dusted off her clothes, grimacing when her injuries started stinging even worse now that the initial shock had passed.
"You're bleeding." The woman pointed out, raising an eyebrow. "I think I should take you to the hospital."
"I'm fine." She insisted. "I just need to get home and I'll be alright."
"I'll escort you there then. I wouldn't want to take the blame if you died before you arrive." She chuckled, apparently having tried to make a small joke, but Akko could only fake an unconvincing smile in response. She wasn't up for jokes in that very moment.
"You can't." Akko informed her. "I live at Luna Nova, the academy for witches."
"Oh, so you're a little witch?" She asked with genuine curiosity, instead of the usual weird faces she got whenever she revealed her connection with the magic world.
"No, unfortunately I don't have any magic." She didn't know what compelled her to give an honest response, but she felt like she could trust her. Maybe she just needed someone to talk to after the rather stressful and draining day she'd had, or maybe it was that the woman didn't even appear to be fazed when she said she lived in a magic school, whatever the case, she decided to keep talking. "My mom is a witch though, so I just live with her."
"Huh. I thought magic was hereditary." The woman commented.
"I'm adopted."
"Ah, that explains it." She nodded thoughtfully. "Although when I saw your eyes… such red color! They are certainly the eyes of a witch."
"I bet my mom thought the same when she adopted me." Akko smiled, but it was bittersweet. Not only because her mother was missing, but because she always thought that she probably would have been happier if she was a witch. Not that she had ever said anything like that, and she'd never even tried to force her lifestyle on her, but she always wondered why would a witch adopt a magicless child. Just because they had the same eye-color? She found that rather odd, and her mother had never really explained it to her. Now she may never know.
"Are you sure you'll be alright, kid?" The woman asked once more.
"I've had worse." Akko shrugged, but grimaced when her side hurt, no doubt sore because of the fall.
"At least let me get you patched up. You wouldn't want your mother to see you bleeding, right?" Akko was about to refuse once again, but the last bit gave her pause. It's not like her mom would see her, since she most probably wouldn't be there when she arrived, but it did remind her of how worried she always got whenever Akko got hurt (mostly trying to fly on a broom), and how she would always put band aids on her scratches and place kisses on her wounds. So she ended up accepting, wanting to hold on to that memories even tighter.
"Alright, I guess."
So they rode together to the nearest pharmacy, where the woman (Croix Meridies was her name) bought some alcohol, cotton and band aids. Then they went to a park near the Leyline station, where Akko sat on a bench while Croix tended to her wounds.
First, she poured some alcohol on her bloodied hands and knees, and cleaned the area using the cotton, while Akko bit her lip and tried to hold back her tears. But honestly? She'd been at the verge of tears all day, so all that was left was bit of physical pain to finally break her resistance. And perhaps it was also that Croix was doing for her something her mother would usually do instead, so she ended up crying unwillingly.
"Oh, come on, it doesn't hurt that badly, does it?" She asked, smiling up at her, but when Akko tried to speak she ended up sobbing instead. "Atsuko?"
"I'm fine." Akko insisted, wiping off her tears only for more to fall from her eyes. She was sore, she was tired, and she was desperate and alone, with no idea of what to do now, or where to search. She felt like a little girl once more, scared of a ghost she saw in the shadows, except her mom wasn't there to protect her and reassure her.
"You know?" The woman said as she went to sit next to her. "I think it's cute that you want to appear tough, but you're clearly crying because of something else. Care to share?"
"It's nothing, just…" Well, why would she even hide that information from Croix? Her mom was missing! She needed all the help she could find, even if it ended up coming from a magicless stranger. One that had been very kind all along, and had only been trying to help. "I can't find my mom." She revealed.
"Did you two get separated while in town?" She inquired with curiosity.
"No, she… she's just gone, and no one knows where she is, and I'm afraid she might be…" She cut herself off before she could finish that sentence, and even more tears fell from her eyes, which she rapidly wiped with a tissue that was handed to her by Croix.
"What's her name?"
"Ursula Callistis, though she also goes by Chariot du Nord."
There was a moment of silence between them, but when Croix broke it her voice sounded a bit different than before. Deeper, perhaps? Although Akko couldn't really tell.
"… Chariot, you say? As in… Shiny Chariot?"
"Yeah." Akko answered as she turned to look at her. "You know her?"
"Only by reputation." She answered quickly. "She was quite famous back in the day."
"Were you one of her fans?"
"Something like that." The woman smiled with something akin to nostalgia. "I have to say, for being her adoptive daughter, you remind me a lot of her."
"I get that a lot." Akko chuckled, managing a genuine smile for the first time that day.
"I'll look for her on my spare time." Croix said as she took Akko's hand and continued her task of cleaning it with the alcohol. "And I'll call you if I know anything… or wait, do you use owls?"
"Crows, actually." She responded, at which the woman halted and looked at her with an expression that made it clear she hoped she was joking. "I'm not a witch though, so I do have a cellphone."
"Good. I don't think crows are an actual efficient method of communication." Croix then reached into her pocket and extracted a white card that only had her name and a number printed in serious-looking red characters. "Call me so I can register your number."
"Sure." She answered as she took it with her non-bloodied hand. "And thanks. For everything."
"Even running you over with my motorcycle?" The woman joked, raising an eyebrow.
"No. Not that part." Akko chuckled, feeling the first hints of genuine happiness she'd had that day. Talking to Croix not only reminded her of her mother, but it also made her see that even in her absence she wasn't as lonely as she had initially feared. She'd always had a talent for making new friends, and that day had proved to be no exception, so as long as she had people who loved her, she'd never be alone. More importantly, she wouldn't have to search for her mother by herself, so hope resurged within her. Even if it was the tiniest of sparks, it filled her with determination.
She would find her mother, not matter the cost, or the pain.
A/N: So, I hope you liked the first chapter, and if you did please leave a review/favorite/follow so that I can get inspired to write more. Also, just so you know, the main ship will be Diakko, but there will also be some Charoix, and probably Hamanda in the background. But the Diakko will be slowburn. And I mean very slowburn, mainly because the focus of the story will be Chariot's disappearance and the war of witches. So, you know, not much time for romance.
But anyways, thanks for reading and see you in two weeks! :D
Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.