Chapter 22: Of blood and witches.

Akko was furious, to say the least. So much time spent investigating and spying on Diana, only for her suspicions to be confirmed seconds before she was confined by a magical trap, with no way out. She'd never felt more outraged in her entire life.

But the good thing was that this anger was fueling her determination. No way she was just going to let Diana die after all the trouble she went through to try and save her! She would somehow get rid of this damn serpent and rescue the stubborn girl.

Part of her was telling her that Diana didn't really need rescue, and that by the time she got there, it'd probably be all over anyways. But Akko ignored that little voice in her head. Sure, maybe Diana had it handled, but maybe she didn't. And if she then got in and saved the day, then maybe, just maybe, Diana would start treating her like an equal, right? Also… she really didn't want her to die, as insufferable as she could be sometimes.

Now, the only problem was… how could she get rid of this thing? It wouldn't budge an inch no matter how hard she struggled against it. It definitely didn't act like an ordinary serpent, and seemed to be made of pure light. She figured… the only way to get out of it was magic. If only she knew the right spell!

Maybe if she could reach her cellphone and call her friends, they could help her? But… they were probably busy at the moment, so she doubted they'd even answer…

Oh! Wait… she could call Croix! Surely she knew a spell to help her, right? Right. Except that blood witches normally didn't even need spells or wands to do magic…

Well, wasn't that inconvenient? And come to think of it, she couldn't even reach her wand, being wrapped up as she was, so using magic was out of the question at the moment. Or… was it?

Wasn't she technically a blood witch? Didn't Croix give her the equivalent of twenty witches' magic power before they departed ways? Sure, she'd already spent a good chunk of it by training tirelessly with Diana, but… surely such raw power would still be enough for her to break out of her bindings without even needing a wand, right? She certainly hoped so!

But how to access magic in such a way? Croix had explained a little bit about it back when she taught her the revenge spell she'd used on Hannah and Barbara. She had said that she had to focus on her emotions, let them run uncontrolled and fuel her magic. Then… the magic should do the rest. In theory.

Well, that should be simple enough, right? She was really getting tired of this damn serpent and its iron grip on her! Oh, as soon as she somehow got free… the things she'd do to that damn snake! She'd make it into a nice pair of boots, even if it was literally made of magic! And Diana? Oh boy, if the blood witch didn't kill her, she was gonna do it herself. No one refused Akko Callistis' help and lived to tell the tale!

Suddenly, she felt some sort of wave of heat coming out from her heart and into her limbs, apparently being pushed out by her sheer anger. And then… a thunderous sound and a flash of light. And when she opened her eyes, she realized that she was finally free.

Wait… had it worked? Had she really performed magic without a spell or wand? And she'd managed to undo Diana's spell too! Only… she might have gotten more than she bargained for…

Oh well! She'd deal with the smoking mess that was Diana's room once she came back. For now, she had a damsel to save.

Akko hadn't really planned on what to do once she was free, which wasn't surprising, but it was disappointing. Sure, she knew that Diana would go to Weddinburg, but she didn't really know where in Weddinburg she'd be meeting the blood witch. And there was also the problem of transportation. She couldn't actually fly there, and she couldn't pilot the ship either… assuming Constanze would even let her borrow it, which was a very slim possibility by itself. If she had her bike, maybe she could make it in time, but walking? Yeah, by the time she arrived, Diana would probably be dead already.

But seeing as she was out of other options, she decided to try for the obvious one: flying a broom. Even if she crashed and fell, it'd probably be faster than running. And that's how she found herself in the shed at the training field, looking for some old broom that Diana hopefully wouldn't mind her breaking. Thankfully even the dusty ones with cracked wooden handles and decolored ribbons seemed to be in good condition, so she should be able to, maybe, fly with one of them. Now she just needed to say the spell.

"Tya freire!" A few seconds passed after she said the spell, in which Akko closed her eyes tightly and gripped firmly the broom's handle, half-expecting it to burst out flying at the speed of light in an uncontrollable way. But… nothing? Had she said the spell wrong? Just as she opened her eyes and relaxed her grip slightly, however, the broom flew forward in an impressive burst of speed, catching her so off guard that she almost fell… and then it started spinning and she actually fell to the ground. Oof. At least this time she didn't get seriously injured. Maybe the brooms too followed the Cavendish principles, she thought amusedly.

Well… she could always try again, right?

"Human." Akko looked up startled when someone called her, but… she was met with the wet nose of a dog, and she recoiled instinctively, only to see, as expected, the two hounds of Diana staring at her with curiosity.

"Uhm. Hi." She greeted awkwardly, still unused to talking to animals other than Polaris.

"Why you no fly?" One of them asked. Todd? That was his name, right?

"Because the broom hates me?" She answered, but it came out more like a question. She didn't need dogs to question her abilities when she herself wasn't super confident in the first place.

"No." The first dog (Toby?) shook his head. "You don't have wings like others."

"I… what?" She stared at them with a puzzled expression. Was there a dog equivalent of catnip? Because if so, these dogs had been consuming it a little too much.

"The other witches, the smelly ones." Todd explained, unhelpfully.

"You smell like them." Toby added.

"Excuse me?!"

"But they can fly. Just not in brooms."

"They turn into birds." Todd explained. "Big and black. We bark at them."

"Diana taught us."

"What are you talking about?" Akko didn't think it was possible to feel like what two dogs were saying was too convoluted for her to understand, but here she was.

"She's seeing one, but there were others." Toby said.

"I don't like them. They make it rain."

"… Rain?" Akko blinked once. Then twice. A distant memory suddenly appeared in her mind, almost like something out of a dream. A stormy night, the rain pouring down on their roof as if trying to break it and get inside. She was lying awake on bed, too scared to close her eyes. And… a crow. Big and black. A crow with intelligent eyes, looking directly at her as if compelling her to open the window.

The night her mom disappeared! There was a big black bird outside, and a storm! These dogs were talking about blood witches. They probably smelled different than normal witches in a way only dogs could detect! And she smelled the same because she technically was one of them. Okay… now she didn't feel so stupid. But wait…

"Blood witches don't use brooms?" She didn't think a pair of dogs would be the best option to ask this question to but… here she was. The response was unanimous, however; they both shook their heads. "I should have known." She sighed.

"They don't smell like blood, though." Todd said.

"No, they smell like fire."

"But stronger."

"Agreed."

"Right." Truthfully, Akko wasn't really paying much attention to the dogs anymore. If what they were saying was true, blood witches didn't use brooms for some reason… probably because the brooms were semi-sentient and rejected the strange magic; similarly to how her wand twisted most spells. Except for metamorphosis. For some reason, she didn't have any problem transforming herself, and turning into a bird shouldn't be a problem, but first…

"Guys? Uhm… do you know where Diana went, exactly?" She felt silly asking two dogs about it, but she really didn't have many options.

"We can track her." Toby spoke.

"Even if she was on a broom?" She had to make sure.

"We can feel her magical energy." Todd seemed very proud of this fact. "She trained us."

"For a price, of course." Toby added.

"Your dinner for three days should suffice."

"Are you serious?!" She exclaimed. "What about your reward is Diana coming back home safe and sound?" Upon meeting with two very unimpressed dog faces, she sighed. Seriously, and they said dogs were the most loyal of all animals! Part of her thought that they were just bluffing and trying to outsmart her, but she wasn't going to risk it.

"What about a pack of cookies every day for one week?" She tried to bargain.

"A pack each?" Todd raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." She sighed.

"Deal!" They both barked excitedly in unison.

"Alright… take me to Diana then."

Flying wasn't as easy as Akko would have wanted, not even while being a bird. But at the end of the day it was still faster than running, and she was able to keep up the pace with Todd and Toby until they had arrived to some sort of warehouse at the outskirts of town. At first glance it seemed to be completely deserted, but Akko quickly spotted Diana's broom parked outside and knew they were indeed in the right spot. So, after giving the dogs a few head pats and telling them they were good boys, she asked them to try and get some help (although she doubted they would), and then proceeded to approach the door as stealthily as possible.

It sure was a cold night out though! She hadn't felt it before, being a bird, but the cold wind and dark clouds over her head weren't exactly a good omen. She was so glad she'd brought the jacket Croix had given her! Otherwise she was sure she'd be shaking so hard from the sheer cold, the blood witch would have heard her by now.

"Metamorphie faciesse" She whispered, transforming herself into a mouse in order to remain undetected as she made her way into the barren building. For being a warehouse it was mostly empty, and with the only light coming from the slightly opened front door, it certainly looked like the perfect place to commit a crime.

Ugh. What has she gotten herself into? If Diana really wanted to die that badly, maybe she should have just let her do it. She had always been mean to her anyways!

But… her conscious wouldn't let her do that. And she hated it.

But it'd be fine, she thought. She'd been getting better at magic thanks to Diana's daily lessons, and she was certain the blood witch wouldn't expect for someone to come to the rescue. She had the element of surprise by her side; now she just needed to find them.

Thankfully, the place wasn't too big, so even in her mouse form, she found them sooner than expected. Granted, her heightened senses might have had something to do with that, since it was thanks to the muffled voices detected by her ears that she knew in which direction she had to run.

She soon found herself in front of a metal door leading to some kind of back room. Thankfully it was slightly ajar, so she was able to sneak inside without being detected. At the interior there was a mostly empty room illuminated by white neon lights that flickered every few seconds. The room was empty of furniture except for a rusted metallic table in the center… upon which Diana was lying, completely immobile. Meanwhile, the blood witch paced around her, wearing a sinister smile.

"Really, I was expecting much more of a fight from you." She was saying. "Being the prodigy of the Cavendish family and all." Her tone was rather mocking. "But I guess even natural talent can't compete with the raw power of dozens of young witches. Or did you really think you were my only victim?"

"You're despicable." Diana answered with a weak but furious voice. Given the circumstances, Akko was actually surprised she could still speak.

"Maybe. But despite what you no doubt believe, I didn't kill your dear mother." She laughed. "Oh no, we blood witches know to stay far away from the head of the Cavendish."

"Then who?" The girl snarled.

"I don't know." She just shrugged, clearly uncaring. "But the only group powerful enough to carry out something like that are the Rouge Hunters that you hold in so much high esteem."

"You're lying!" She accused.

"Now, now, Diana." She carefully placed her right hand over Diana's stomach, looking down at her with a wide, creepy smile. "Why would I lie to someone who is already dead?" And with one swift movement, she took a knife that has been previously lying next to Diana, and slowly started to bring it down into the girl's right shoulder, twisting it and smiling in sick enjoyment as she heard Diana try to stifle her pained groans.

Akko didn't really have a plan. She had no idea what came over her, really, or why the idea of the obnoxious Diana getting hurt caused her enough anger to make the fear she experienced feel like an afterthought, but the fact is that, before she could think better of what she was doing, she'd climbed up the blood witch's body, into her arm, and given a hefty bite to her hand.

"Ahhh!" She screamed in surprise and agony, easily shaking Akko off of her. But still, the girl was relentless, and quickly transformed into a bird, choosing to attack the witch with her beak and claws until she was swat away by a blow of her hand.

"Bloody animal! What are…?" Before she could finish her sentence, Akko swiftly turned into a dog and stood between Diana and the blood witch in a protective stance, growling as menacingly as she could.

"I see." The blood witch frowned and adopted a straight stance, running her fingers through her hair trying to correct the mess Akko had made of it with her impromptu attack. The girl was pleased to see some noticeable claw marks in her forehead, however. "So you're one of Diana's little friends, aren't you?" She laughed. "Do you really think you can protect her from me? I have killed dozens of girls just like you. Even among blood witches, I have quite a reputation. Hear my name and tremble, child: I am Ekaterina, terror of the night."

Akko turned back into her human form and pointed her wand at the blood witch.

"I have no idea who you are, but I'm not letting you hurt my friend!" She declared. "I am Atsuko Callistis, daughter of the great Chariot du Nord, and you will soon find out that you have messed with the wrong witches."

Honestly? Akko wished she felt as confident as she had made it sound, but even she was starting to doubt she could do anything against a blood witch that had managed to best Diana Cavendish herself, but… maybe she could buy some time for Diana to come up with some sort of escape plan.

"You're Chariot's daughter?" Her eyes widened briefly, but she tried to cover up her surprise. "Well… guess I went after the wrong girl, huh? The blood of a Cavendish is nothing compared to that of the Chosen One, after all. But worry not, I will correct my mistake."

Akko gulped, but she knew it was not the time to show fear, even if internally she was shaking like a jelly. She had grabbed the witch's attention and that's what mattered. Hopefully if she indeed ended up sucking her blood, she'd notice soon enough that she didn't exactly have her own magic. Right? Hopefully. She wasn't sure how that worked.

But now… Ekaterina was approaching slowly and deliberately, as if trying to discern what Akko would do next, something not even Akko herself knew. All she knew is that she needed to do something, and that the blood witch shouldn't get a step closer. Before she could move a finger, however, Ekaterina raised her hand and casted magic at her.

Akko instinctively tried to cover herself with her hands and closed her eyes, half expecting to be a frog when she opened them, but… huh. Nothing happened? She didn't feel any different at least, and the other woman seemed to be just as perplexed as her.

As if to test the waters, the witch casted magic towards Akko once again, but this time the girl didn't close her eyes, and was able to see clear as day how the red beams of energy dissipated into the air before they could reach her, as if some invisible barrier surrounded her.

"A protection spell." The witch sighed. "I should have known."

A protection spell? What? How? Who had casted it upon her? Maybe her mother before disappearing? How did that even work? She had so many questions!

"Fortunately… a spell of that nature only works against magic." She smiled maliciously as she pulled out yet another knife and launched herself towards Akko. Luckily for the girl, her body reacted before her mind could, and she dodged the swing, throwing herself to the ground and then getting back up, assuming a defensive stand. Her heart was racing, and so was her mind, but she knew she needed to make some sort of plan, or at least attack the blood witch with everything she got until she defeated her somehow. Problem was… everything she got wasn't that much, really. And she wasn't great at planning either.

When the witch came running towards her, knife in hand, all she could think of was turning into a mouse once again and trying to run away. But before she could make it far enough to regroup herself, she was suddenly stopped by someone stomping on her tail. She recoiled in pain, but swiftly turned into a cat, turned around and scratched the woman's leg as viciously as she could, succeeding in getting her tail free for long enough to turn into a bird and get away from the witch to catch her breath for a second.

"Akko!" Diana yelled at her from her position, lying on the metallic table. "Use the spell we practiced!"

The spell they'd practiced? But it never worked! She always ended up making weird birds instead…

Wait… that's it! She was a bird in that moment, so if she cast the duplication spell, it might be actually difficult to distinguish between her and the clone! She could do that.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds then, and concentrated on creating the clones. Yes, multiple clones. She figured it'd be better that way, even if she didn't have that much practice.

Thankfully, Diana had made her practice that exact spell for hours, day after day, and so it was almost second nature to her. Sure, creating more than one clone required a little more effort, but at least she didn't have to worry about them looking human.

And so, two weird-looking black birds appeared and went to attack the witch, while Akko followed closely behind. Ekaterina saw this and started swinging her knife around, trying to hit them, but fortunately the clones managed to dodge it and even got a few scratches in. And while the blood witch was busy with that, Akko promptly turned into a human once again and grabbed the witch's hand, attempting to pry the knife out of her grip. The witch held on to it with as much strength as she could, of course, but Akko was persistent and the clones were still attacking her too.

Come on! She just needed a bit more strength! If only she was as strong as her mother! Or if she just had slightly more strength in her body. She needed power. Quick!

Akko wasn't exactly sure what happened next, but suddenly she found herself prying the knife out of the woman's hand and pushing her several feet away with just a slight shove. She felt invigorated by a strange energy, like eating too much sugar but amplified by a thousand. She didn't feel any pain and she felt as light as a feather but as resistant as steel. Had she casted a spell? Probably. After all, the weird birds she'd created had finally disappeared.

"I see that I underestimated you." Ekaterina narrowed her eyes. "You do have some tricks up your sleeve."

"See?" Akko tried to make her voice remain as firm as her stance. "It's futile. You should just go home." Unsurprisingly, the witch just scoffed at the suggestion.

"I'll have you know kid that I've personally met your mother, and lived to tell the tale. There's no way I'm giving up thanks to just a few bumps in the road. If anything… it'll just make this all the more interesting."

Akko quickly dodged her when the witch lounged towards her, intent on taking her knife back. Thankfully with enhanced strength came also enhanced speed, so avoiding her was relatively easy after the spell she'd cast. That said… the witch still somehow managed to land a blow on Akko's face, which made her recoil and stumble. This was enough for Ekaterina to take a hold of the hand Akko had the knife in. Acting on pure instinct, Akko swung her hand with as much strength as she could in order to free it. Except… she forgot about the strengthening spell.

Several somethings fell to the ground and, a second later, Ekaterina was recoiling and clutching her hand, wailing in pain. That's when Akko noticed all the blood… and the fingers lying on the ground.

"You insolent brat!" She exclaimed, voice full of pain and anger. "I will personally make sure your death is slow and painful!" To Akko's surprise, she then started laughing maniacally. "But for now… I'll just take your friend with me."

It all happened like it was in slow motion. Or at least… that's how Akko perceived it. And her body acted on its own.

She saw the blood witch lunge towards Diana, with her hands raised and preparing some sort of spell. The next thing she knew, she had dropped the knife and ran as fast as she could in order to position herself between Diana and her aggressor, hands raised defensively and with a single thought in her mind: protect. She had to protect Diana.

She wasn't sure what happened, but rays of pink light shot out of her hands, intercepting the magic from the other witch and preventing it from reaching the two girls. Now, of course, Akko knew she apparently had somehow acquired some sort of protection spell that prevented her from being touched by someone else's magic, but she also knew Diana probably didn't have the same benefits, and Ekaterina's magic was actually aimed towards Diana. And so, she held on.

The magical barrier she had somehow conjured didn't require much concentration on her part; only the desire to protect herself and Diana from the other witch. What it did require, however, was energy. A lot of energy. That much wasn't just obvious in the sheer light spectacle that had ensued, but also on the tingling in Akko's fingers. It reminded her of the sensation Croix's cubes caused her, but in reverse, if that made sense. It wasn't like she was being stabbed by thousands of tiny needles, but as if those needles were already inside her skin and were trying to burst out. And… she was also getting out of breath and sweating. Her body really wanted to let go of the spell, even after just a few seconds of having cast it, as made obvious by the increasing headache and nausea, as well as the slight shaking of her limbs as she struggled to hold the spell.

To her horror, a cracking sound was heard and she watched as cracks began forming on the light dome in front, growing larger and larger with her increasing fatigue. She needed to do something before the spell would end itself! But what? She needed… she needed to go into offense mode. She needed to attack Ekaterina somehow! Maybe just… redirect her magic towards her? Would that work? It should be easy enough to just stop blocking and start reflecting it, right? Okay… maybe not, but she was definitely going to try! So far, relying on her thoughts and emotions to cast magic for her seemed to have worked well enough.

And so she concentrated on redirecting the blood witch's magic towards her; she imagined how it would look and feel, and how her protective barrier would shift to make it happen. She concentrated on her freedom, on finally defeating Ekaterina, ending this nightmare and bringing Diana home. She had to do it! She couldn't fail. Not this time.

Suddenly, there was a flash of blinding red light, and the next thing she knew, Akko was on her back, only able to hear some sort of static noise, and in the distance, the dulled out voice of Diana… although she couldn't distinguish her words. She fought to keep her eyes open, but really, she was starting to feel incredibly sleepy. And besides, she had a headache and her whole body felt like mush. Maybe… just… a quick… nap…

"Akko!" Diana was calling for her, trying to wake her up, as she glanced back and forth between the girl and the blood witch… who was still very much alive and trying to get up. At least she didn't seem to be in good shape, judging by her charred clothes and skin, not to mention the blood covering one of her hands. But… Diana had a feeling that wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

Her heart was almost bursting out of her chest in fear, and her whole body was sweaty. She wished she could say she had maintained her composure for longer, but truth to be told, it had flown out of the window as soon as the blood witch had ambushed her with a paralyzing spell, taken her wand and tied her up to the table. If there was something Diana Cavendish hated was feeling helpless. But if there was something she hated even more was being unable to do anything when someone else was in danger, especially if it was because of her. But… no matter how much she struggled against her bindings, they wouldn't budge.

"Oh, don't worry." Ekaterina shoot her a sinister smile as she passed next to her, eyes fixed on Akko. "Your turn will come later. First I have some things to settle with that friend of yours."

"Leave Akko alone!" She yelled, furious that the blood witch would attack a defenseless person, but not surprised.

"I'm afraid you're in no position to give orders, Lady Cavendish." She mocked the title. "It must be a new experience for you, huh?"

And so, the blood witch continued her path towards Akko, leaving Diana to uselessly trash around. But, when she was just a feet away from her pray, suddenly…

Another burst of red light sent the blood witch flying, but this time it didn't come from Akko. When the light faded slightly, Diana noticed that a good chunk of the wall was now gone, and a woman was standing between Akko and Ekaterina, almost protectively, but her expression was rather fierce. She was quite tall, which was accentuated by her red boots with high heels, and her hair was of an unusual lilac color, although it looked rather messy. She was dressed with black pants and a white t-shirt, and had red leather straps going through her torso that Diana found rather distasteful. But… she wasn't about to criticize the fashion of the one who had just saved Akko.

"Croix." The blood witch spat out her name, struggling to stand up. "Don't you realize I'm in the middle of something?"

"I am aware. I'm simply saving you from making a rather foolish mistake." She spoke calmly, but her posture was tense and ready to attack at any second.

"I'm just about to finish my prey, so I suggest you mind your own business." She hissed.

"See, I can't do that." Croix answered. "I kinda need these girls for a mission Circe herself entrusted to me, and it would really be a shame if they died."

"I will talk to your mother about this! If you're lying-"

"Oh, I know. I wouldn't dare lie about something so important, so I suggest you fuck off and find your "prey" somewhere else."

Ekaterina tensed and stared intently at Croix, as if considering her options. But after a brief staring contest she ended up scoffing and backing away a few steps.

"Don't think I won't remember this." She threatened before turning into a bird and exiting the room as quickly as her wings could carry her.

Almost as soon as the sound of wings faded into the distance, Croix ran towards Akko and knelt down at her side, as if checking to see if she was okay. So far it didn't seem like she had any intention to drink the blood of either of them, but Diana wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. What kind of mission could she have that involved the two of them?

However, since she was bound to the table, she could only watch as the mysterious woman made a couple of small black cubes appear and pressed them against Akko's chest. The cubes in question glowed red for a moment, but then the light faded and they reminded static over the girl's limp body.

"Come on…" Croix muttered, trying again to make the cubes shine, only to obtain the same result. "No… it can't be."

"What are you trying to do to her? Leave her alone!" Diana tried to sound intimidating despite her position, but alas her yells remained ignored as Croix then proceeded to check for Akko's vital signs. After a few tense moments she seemed to relax slightly, before getting up from the floor, carrying Akko with her bridal style. Needless to say, Diana was very scared when Akko was placed at her side and Croix took the knife Ekaterina had left at the table.

"Don't worry, this won't hurt… too much." Croix said to Diana, who could only watch in horror as the weird woman took her right hand firmly and made a small cut on her wrist that, truthfully, Diana barely felt. Then, she undid the bindings on her hand and guided it to be above Akko's face. It took Diana a moment to realize what Croix was trying to do, but when the first few droplets of blood touched Akko's lips, it became strikingly obvious.

Strangely enough, the girl seemed to stir at the taste of blood, licking her lips and opening her eyes slightly, shifting her gaze searching for the source of blood. Her eyes seemed clouded but shot open upon seeing Diana's bleeding wrist. Akko wasted no time in reaching towards it and bringing it towards her mouth with the thirst of someone who has spent months stranded in a desert.

Diana did flinch when she felt Akko's teeth biting into her skin, as well as the suction being inflicted on her already wounded wrist, but… she knew what this was for, and a glance at Croix all but confirmed it.

"Don't worry, she won't drink too much." She said rather casually for Diana's taste, especially considering that Akko truly showed no signs of stopping, and instead she continued to suck insistently on her arm, as if she wanted to drink all of her blood. Thankfully, Croix seemed to realize this and soon pulled her away forcefully. Akko tried to resist, but she was barely conscious, so it wasn't a problem for the older woman to make her lay on the table once again, and place the two cubes on her chest. This time, they did glow with a red blinding light, much more intensely than before. It took far longer for the light to fade, and when it finally stopped the cubes fell onto the table, seemingly inert. Croix sighed in relief at this, and quickly pocketed the cubes before cleaning the blood from Akko's face with her own sleeve and then turning to adress Diana.

"Help is coming." She said, and Diana found this phrase surprisingly reassuring, considering it was coming from someone who was still holding a knife stained with her blood. "If they ask, Ekaterina drank your blood, not Akko. And I was never here, understood?"

Diana nodded slowly, as if compelled by an external force, but she wasn't going to try and question the person who had saved them both. Not at that moment at least. There would be plenty of time to question Akko once they got to the safety of the Cavendish mansion.

"Good." Croix then proceeded to free her from her bindings as swiftly as was humanly possible, probably because there were sounds of dog barks and voices coming from just outside the building. The so called "help", perhaps?

"I'll be watching you, so you better make sure that Akko stays safe. Or else…" And with those final threatening words, Croix turned into a raven and flew off into the night, leaving the two girls alone.

A/N: Sorry for the delay everyone! In my defense, this chapter was longer than usual, and also super important to the plot, so I had to take my time. Thank you for reading! I hope you ennjoyed it as much as I did. See you in two weeks!

Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.