Chapter 5: Croix.

Akko stared at her phone, deep in thought. She was alone in her room, while Sucy had gone to gather ingredients for her crazy experiments and Lotte was at the library reading a book. Now, normally the Japanese girl would be with her friends trying to decipher the mystery that was her mother's disappearance, but… she wanted to call Croix. And she needed to be alone for that.

Why was she still keeping it a secret? She wasn't sure. She supposed she knew firsthand how averse some witches could be to magicless people. Especially magicless strangers. And yeah, her friends weren't exactly the type to judge people based on their ability to do magic, but… well, she doubted they'd want her to get involved with some random woman in order to try to find her mom either.

But there was just something about Croix. Something that drew her in, like a moth to the light.

And so, she called her. She felt silly at first, disturbing a stranger and asking if she knew anything about her mother, but Croix had been surprisingly amicable and asked to see her in town that very same day, since it was Saturday and both of them had some free time.

What was weird though, was that she'd asked to meet at the same café her mom used to take her whenever they felt like celebrating. Regardless of if it was Akko's birthday, or Ursula's, or the start of school, the changing of seasons or simply an improvement on her grades. Always, as far as Akko could remember, they'd go to that exact same café.

But, again, the town was rather small, and there were only so many cafés in it, so as far as Akko knew maybe it was Croix's favorite as well. Which would be a huge coincidence, but nothing out of this world.

Except that when Akko walked in and spotted the woman sitting at one of the tables, she saw she had already ordered. A black expresso for herself and a giant caramel frappe and a fruit tart for Akko. Her favorite.

"Uh… hi." Akko said sheepishly as she sat on the chair in front of Croix.

"Akko, so nice to see you again." Croix smiled naturally before taking a sip from her coffee. "I hope things have been going relatively well for you."

Akko noticed she was wearing a very different outfit than last time; brown pants, a black long-sleeved t-shirt and a cream-colored poncho. Her hair looked messy, like she hadn't bothered stylizing it like last time, and she also wasn't wearing any makeup. All in all, she thought the change made her look younger and more approachable.

"I mean, as well as they can be without my mom." Akko answered honestly. "But… how did you know I liked this?" She asked, pointing to the food resting on her side of the table.

"I took a wild guess." She answered with a smirk, but even Akko didn't think the response was convincing at all.

"Right." She said skeptically, but she still started eating. It was so good!

"But you didn't come to talk about tarts, did you? I told you I was going to help you find your mother." Croix quickly changed the subject, effectively distracting Akko.

"Did you find her?!" The girl exclaimed, drawing more a few eyes from the neighboring tables.

"Not exactly." Croix adopted an apologetic expression. "You see, when you tell the police that a witch disappeared you just get a laugh and a few jerks telling you it was a good pun. And although I'd like to search for Chariot myself, I'm lacking certain information I hope you can provide."

"So… you want me to help you help me find my mom?" Akko asked with her mouth half-full, hoping she'd understood correctly.

"That's right." She nodded, and then paused to get a stylus and a tablet out of her bag. "If you don't mind, I'll just ask a few questions that I think should be useful for the investigation."

"Sure, fire away!" Akko immediately agreed. Anything for the woman who had bought her such a delicious tart.

"Alright, so… I already know her general appearance, and she should be easy enough to identify. Let's start with relationships. Does she have any family?"

"Only me. Grandma died last year."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Croix said sympathetically and then quickly noted it down. "Any friends then?"

"She talks to some of my classmates' parents, but I don't think they're really close." She kept explaining. "She never hangs out with them or anything."

"I see…" Croix frowned, adopting a thoughtful expression. "That's quite unusual, isn't it? At least for someone as friendly as her."

"I don't think so." Akko shrugged. That's how her mother had always been, so it was the most natural thing in the world for her. "I mean, back at Luna Nova all the teachers look down on her for being Shiny Chariot. And the non-magical people think witches are weird, so…"

"That may be it." Croix agreed, although it was pretty apparent some doubts remained in her head. Still, she did not voice them. "I suppose she hasn't been in a romantic relationship either?"

"Well… not since she adopted me." She answered, remembering the picture she'd found just a few days prior on her mother's room. "But when she was Shiny Chariot, I think she did."

"And what makes you think that?" Croix raised an eyebrow. "Did she tell you?"

"No. I found a picture." Akko then extracted the picture in question from her pocket (yes, she'd brought it) and handed it to Croix, whose eyes widened as soon as she saw it.

"I-I… I didn't think she'd kept it." She mumbled, more to herself than to Akko. Still, the girl kept inquiring; she had had her suspicions about Croix being the one in the picture, since she had the same hair color as the girl her mother was holding, but now she had pretty much confirmed it.

"That's you, isn't it?"

"… Yes." She confessed, drawling out a long sigh and passing her hand through her hair.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"That I dated your mom a long time ago and that's why I wanted to help you find her?" Croix chuckled. "Well, it's a bit awkward, don't you think?"

"Only a little." Akko laughed as well. Truth to be told, Croix was beautiful, and kind, and she had written a very cute letter to her mom, so she really wouldn't mind them getting back together. "You two were very in love, right? What happened?"

"Life got in the way." Croix answered, trying to appear calm, but she adopted the same saddened expression her mom did whenever someone asked about her romantic life. "She had her career as Shiny Chariot, I had a PhD to complete, and we… kinda said things we didn't mean."

"A PhD?" Wait… Wasn't that like University studies but even more complicated? Or something?

"That's right. At the time I was studying the scientific properties of…"

"Wait. So you're telling me you're not only kind and beautiful, but also highly intelligent?" Akko grinned, already forming a plan in her mind. "Yep! I definitely like you for my mom!"

"Whoa, whoa!" Croix blushed at the implication. "Kid, I'm not helping you in hopes I get back with Chariot! I just don't want anything to happen to her."

"Yeah, yeah." Akko easily dismissed her words with a wave of her hand. "You'll thank me when I get you a date with her."

"Akko. I'm serious." The woman answered, trying to appear intimidating, but after living with Finnelan for 16 years, it would take more than a glare to convince her of abandoning such a perfect plan.

"Sure, sure." She grinned giddily. "Now, do you have any clue as to what could have happened to her? If you want a date with my mom, you'll have to work harder than that."

"Look, I don't…" Croix trailed off, pinching the bridge of her nose when she apparently realized there was no way to change Akko's mind now. "Okay, I haven't found much else." When she received an angry pout in response, she frowned. "What? It can be quite difficult to search for a missing person while researching the magical awakening in magicless people."

"The what?!" Akko exclaimed, forcing Croix to cover her ears and glare at her. But she didn't care. Had she really understood correctly? Was Croix investigating what she thought she was investigating?

"I… knew I shouldn't have mentioned that." She sighed.

"No, tell me! I need to know! If there's a way I can become a witch then…"

"It's still in experimental phase." Croix cut her off hastily. "I wouldn't want you to get hurt." She then made a pause, adopting a thoughtful expression and mumbling her next words like she didn't want Akko to hear. "Granted, I already tested it on myself, but…"

"You tested it in yourself?" She parroted, eyes shining. "And it worked?"

"Seeing is believing, dear Akko." She smirked, raising one finger at the same time as Akko's glass started floating in the air, making the girl gasp in wonder.

"Croix please, if you really want to help me, give me magic!"

"I don't know Akko, if something happened to you, your mom would kill me." She deviated her gaze in a poor attempt to resist.

"She won't know it was you! I won't tell anyone, I promise." Akko kept asking, mustering her best puppy dog eyes that never failed to make her mother relent. "Pleeeaase?"

"Fine." She sighed. "But remember, kid: if something bad happens, you only have yourself to blame."

They arrived at Croix's lab in the local University pretty soon, since she insisted on using her motorcycle. It was very similar to flying on a broom, honestly, except the broom was cooler because it could fly. Akko briefly wondered, if Croix had magic, then why didn't she use a broom instead? But she didn't dare asking the question out loud. She supposed she simply hadn't learned to do it.

Croix's lab was at the top of a very tall tower of the castle-like structure (but it thankfully had an elevator, unlike Luna Nova), and as expected for a Saturday evening, no one was there. It was a dark room with many flat screens on the back wall (although they were turned off) and lots of machines and metallic pieces laying around, apparently without any real order. There was also a table and chair in the middle, where a computer and several papers containing outlines and blueprints were placed. Croix told her to sit on the chair and wait for her. And not touch anything.

But honestly? Akko wanted to touch everything. To see what every single piece of technology in this room did. Who knows? Maybe she'd even get superpowers on top of magic! That would be pretty cool, right? But just when she was about to finally concede to her curiosity, she felt something touching her leg and heard a meow. Looking down, she found a very cute kitten staring up at her with wide green eyes.

"Meow." He repeated.

"Awww! You're so cute!" Akko exclaimed, immediately picking him up. Thankfully, the cat didn't resist. It was very small, with soft black fur and a white spot on his chest with the shape of a four-pointed star. "What's a little fella like you doing in a place like this?" She asked as she started caressing him softly, much to his delight, since he instantly started purring. "Where's your mom?"

He meowed again, but Akko could swear it sounded sadder than last time. Or maybe she was just projecting her own thoughts and feelings on the cat. Either way, she understood perfectly what he'd meant.

"I see… mine too." She answered, hugging him closer, as if trying to give him some comfort. And in doing so, she was comforted as well.

"He seems to like you." Croix said. Akko looked up and found her just a few feet away, holding a tablet and watching her in amusement.

"Is this your cat?"

"Nah. He's a stray, but I sometimes feed him my leftovers, so now he follows me everywhere I go." She explained before turning around and going towards one of the machines that seemed to be just a metal plank with some wires coming out from underneath. "Come on, we don't have all day. You can pet him later."

Akko quickly got up and put the cat down, who looked up at her with a disappointed expression.

"Sorry!" She quickly apologized before running to where Croix was. "Now what?"

"Lay down. I need to run some tests first." She answered without tearing her gaze away from her tablet. Akko quickly obeyed but couldn't help feeling like she was in a hospital about to be examined by the doctor. She always hated that sensation.

"Alright, and now… yes, just a little bit more and… okay." Croix mumbled as she kept staring at her tablet. Akko was getting itchy already, not being one to stay immobile more than one second at a time, but just when she was about to ask Croix what was she doing, some sort of hologram suddenly appeared above her, mirroring her position on the metal table. It represented her… veins? And heart? It certainly seemed like it. They were outlined with thin white lines though, so it was very difficult to distinguish them.

"Perfect." Croix said once the hologram appeared, but when her eyes started to examine it, she frowned and got closer, trying to get a better look. "I see… just like I feared. Your primary magic channels are completely drained."

"My what?"

"Witches are born with primary magic channels, which are filled with power that would look like green light in the hologram, but as you can see…"

"Mine are empty because I was born without magic." Akko sighed.

"Right." Croix frowned, like she was in deep thought, but then shook her head and decided not to comment any more about it. "Anyways, let's see your secondary magic channels." When Akko shoot her an inquiring look, she elaborated. "Those are the type of channels magicless people can get to develop with the proper tools. So I'll be focusing on them today."

The hologram above her disappeared, giving way to another one that was very similar. Except the veins only extended through her torso, and the heart had a very feint pinkish red glow that pulsated with each breath she took.

"Alright… this is very interesting." Croix said, examining intently the hologram.

"What?" Akko tilted her head, not understanding a thing.

"Your secondary magic channels are already developed to a great extent, considering you don't have magic." She smirked. "Your parents were certainly no ordinary people."

"Maybe it's because I've been living with witches my whole life." Akko suggested. It seemed like a reasonable explanation, right?

"Maybe." She shrugged. "I'll have to run some tests to be sure… I hope you don't mind me taking a blood sample? It would also help me make the magical induction more accurate."

"Ugh. Fine." She agreed reluctantly. She'd always hated needles, but if that was the price she had to pay to gain some magic… then so be it.

"Alright, wait here for a moment."

The hologram disappeared as soon as Croix left, but unfortunately she didn't take more than a couple of minutes before returning with cotton, alcohol, a syringe, three test tubes and a rubber band. Akko closed her eyes during the whole process since she wouldn't have been able to endure it otherwise. But Croix seemed to know what she was doing as it was relatively painless and quick enough.

"There. It wasn't so bad, was it?" Croix chuckled, no doubt having noticed Akko's discomfort.

"If you say so." The girl pouted, but finally opened her eyes, finding Croix staring at her with certain fondness.

"Wait here. I'm going to run a quick test on your blood, just to make sure it'll react positively to magic, and then I'll prepare everything to initiate the process, alright?" Akko nodded, although didn't like having to wait. She wanted magic! Now! But Croix probably knew what was best, so…

"Fine." She sighed.

"You can play with the cat while you wait."

And so, Akko waited. And Akko played with the cat. She thought he'd make a good familiar… if only she was in her third year! But she didn't even have magic at the moment, so there was no way they'd let her keep him.

But in-between playing with the little kitten, Akko sometimes glanced at Croix. She saw her looking at her blood on the microscope for what seemed like hours, adding different substances and making annotations. She saw her storing the other two tubes of blood in some sort of freezer. And she saw her taking several different substances and mixing them together on a flask before heating it up and pouring the final product (which was of a gross maroon color) on a glass… which she then offered to her.

"Do I have to… drink this?" Akko asked, wrinkling up her nose in disgust.

"Look, I'm sorry, I know it looks awful and tastes just as bad, but… it's just one time." When the girl kept eyeing the cup suspiciously she decided to explain further. "I added ingredients with highly concentrated magical properties; they'll induce the growth of your secondary magic channels and start to fill them."

Just then, a gross bubble exploded on the surface. Juck! It looked like mud, or something worse.

"And… you're sure if I drink this I'll get magic?" She still tried to clarify, kinda regretting her decision. Honestly, she'd thought Croix would inject magic inside her using one of her machines, not… whatever this thing was.

"Eventually, yes." Croix kept explaining. "You'll have to come every week for a quick check up and a session of therapy with my magical inductors." Just as she said that, a little black cube with a glowing red center came flying and landed on her hand. She supposed it was one of the inductors she was talking about. "But on the bright side, the magical formula, strictly speaking, only has to be ingested once."

"Okay…" Akko sighed. She'd more or less understood what Croix was saying, and she decided that, if she'd already come this far she might as well go all the way in. But that didn't mean she liked the idea of drinking a gross mix of who-knows-what. "Here goes nothing."

So, Akko drank… and then collapsed.

She woke up with a nasty taste in her mouth. Salty and metallic, like she'd been chewing on coins or something. She was laying on a cold and hard surface, staring at the ceiling of Croix's lab. She tried to sit up, but her head immediately started spinning and she had to take a deep breath and close her eyes to keep herself from fainting again.

"Careful, kid." She heard Croix's voice to her right. "Your body is still trying to get used to having that much magic. You may experience dizziness and weakness the next 24 hours."

Akko tried to answer, but all she managed was an incoherent mumble.

"Maybe my little friends can help you."

Before Akko could ask who her friends were, the cube from before appeared in her field of vision. Except there were more. She lost count in ten.

They floated towards her posed on different points over her whole body. They tickled, but Akko couldn't laugh without her head hurting, and she also couldn't move, so she tried to remain still and concentrate solely on her breathing. The cubes then started glowing, brighter and brighter, giving her a nice warm sensation that seemed to calm her dizziness slightly. After a while, the light disappeared and the cubes flew away.

"Better?" Croix asked.

Akko tried to sit up once more, and though she still felt a little light headed, she managed to do so without passing out again. She instinctively looked down at her body where the cubes had perched, but didn't find anything different there.

"Y-yeah… I'm fine." Akko answered, finally turning to look at Croix.

"Good. That last part is still in very early experimental stages." She explained. "The cubes are supposed to accelerate the growth of your magical channels so that all the magic you swallowed doesn't remain at the core."

"So… that's why I feel better?" Akko asked, barely understanding what Croix was saying.

"Yes, but you should still take it easy." She continued as she helped her get off the metal plank. Akko's legs were a bit wobbly but otherwise it seemed she'd be able to walk… with help. "Go home, sleep at least 12 hours, rest all day tomorrow, and don't do any magic until the dizziness has disappeared completely, alright? Everything should be fine then."

"Okay." Akko pouted. She had wanted to test her new magic right away! But… if Croix said no maybe it was better to follow the instructions for once. Maybe.

"Good. Come on, I'll take you to the Leyline; you need to get to bed now."

After that, everything was kind of a blur.

Croix pretty much carried her around campus and helped her inside some car. Funny. Akko had thought she only had a motorcycle. Then, Croix drove all the way to the Leyline, where she had left her bicycle, while Akko caressed a soft ball of fur that somehow had appeared on her lap.

Once they arrived, they said goodbye to each other and Croix insisted many times that she kept her updated on the process, and after promising that she would, Akko took her bike and rod into the Leyline.

Curiously enough, she felt an extra weight on her back and two tiny claws clinging to her shoulder, the sensation being the only thing keeping her awake. But she didn't pay it any mind; her eyelids were getting heavy and all she could think of was sleep.

She wasn't exactly sure how she made it out of the Leyline and all the way across the school and into her dorm. All she knew was that there was still light outside and her roommates hadn't arrived when she unceremoniously dropped face-first on her bed and passed out.

A/N: Well, this is my favorite chapter to date. Seriously, it was so much fun to write XD. I hope you enjoyed it as well and that you leave reviews, favorite and follows to show your support. Thanks for reading, see you in two weeks :)