Whatever Happened With The Dragon
Side chapter for mika
~Some months earlier~
"Nnnfff! Hurry up, this thing's heavy!" Akko grunted as she hefted up a thick iron gate. The black, rust-tinted prison bar-esque gate had spikes at the bottom that sunk into holes in the stone floor. Sweat dripped down Akko's brow as she struggled to keep the gate barely a foot off the ground.
Diana squeezed under the gate, pulling herself along the grimy floor between two surprisingly sharp spikes.
"I'm almost through," Diana said through gritted teeth. Her upper torso made it through the gate and she grabbed the bars, using them for leverage as she tried to get her hips through. The tips of the spikes digging into the sides of her thighs.
"Remind me again why-" Akko paused, re-adjusting her stance so she could lift the gate a few more centimeters, "why we can't magic this door open?"
With the extra room Diana wriggled the last of the way past the gate. Not wasting a moment, she got up from the ground and grabbed the bars under where Akko held them.
She nodded to Akko and flicked the hair out of her eyes, bracing herself for the full weight. "Go ahead, I got it."
"Thanks." Using her grip on the bars, Akko swung herself under, leaving Diana to hold the full brunt of the weight for only a few moments before she was all the way through.
The second Akko was safely through, Diana dropped the gate. It slammed down into the ground with a metallic crash, the noise reverberating against the cold, hard walls.
"The few texts written about this dungeon describe its magic resistant properties. So spells will have little to no effect, it's one of the reasons so few witches attempt to come here. It is theorized that the dragon residing here enchanted the dungeon to keep out thieves." Diana explained.
She unhooked a flashlight from her belt and flicked it on, illuminating the dark stone corridor.
"Still, there had to have been an easier way to do that. This is a lot of work for some scales. The things I do for you, I swear." Akko said, muttering the last part under her breath.
The corner of Diana's mouth twitched. "Please. As if you weren't the one who came to me, begging me to take you on these expeditions." She threw Akko a teasing smile.
"Hey! That was ages ago! You wouldn't have been able to do this trip without me! How would you have gotten through that gate on your own?" Akko cried indignantly.
"Hmm." Diana tapped her cheek exaggeratedly as she thought, "Perhaps I could have used a strengthening spell on myself to lift the gate up."
"Wha- WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THAT?!"
"It was only hypothetical, Akko." She said with a laugh, "I don't know to what extent the magic resistance goes. Or what other potential enchantments the dragon has enacted around his stronghold, if it is in fact the dragon that is the cause. I do wish to avoid using magic as much as possible while we are in here so that we do not have the misfortune of discovering some new defense."
"Humph. So you do need me!" Akko crossed her arms and turned away, trying and failing miserably to stay mad.
Diana giggled at Akko's reaction. "Yes, Akko. Your assistance is invaluable."
"No wonder you wanted to bring flashlights though. We usually just use our wands as a light." Akko remarked, unclasping her flashlight from her hook and looking it over. The cold metal felt unfamiliar compared to the usual warmth of her wand.
Akko switched her flashlight on, pointing it at one particularly menacing looking cobweb as they passed it.
"So the dragon we're looking for... why don't they live in a place like Fafnir's? He just lived in a dragon sized house! Computer monitors and all! That would have been easier to infiltrate than some abandoned dungeon. Cleaner too."
"This dragon is, how do I phrase this, more primitive." Diana responded.
"So this dragon is dumber?"
"Oh don't get me wrong. The dragon we are attempting to sneak up on is said to be very intelligent. It is theorized to have altered this structure to be resistant to magic after all. But the expenditure of vast quantities of magical energy cause the creature to become much more volatile and wild."
"Soooo, it's like Fafnir's big buff cousin?"
Diana chuckled. "I suppose you could say-"
CLICK
They froze. The noise put them on edge, causing Diana to stop mid-word. The stone Akko had just stepped on had sunk an inch into the floor.
Akko gulped, holding her breath as she tensed in preparation for a booby-trap. A few seconds crawled by agonizingly slowly as they waited for something to happen.
Akko glanced around cautiously. "Isn't something supposed to happen?" She whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
"There is a chance the mechanism no longer works." Diana responded, relaxing ever so slightly.
"Yeah, maybe…" Akko picked her foot up from the stone.
A mechanical whirring and clicking echoed from inside the walls. As if a conveyor belt was dropping things into sockets all around them.
Akko's eyes widened. "Nope!" She grabbed Diana's wrist without another thought and pulled her down the hall as she broke out into a sprint.
"A-Akko!"
"We gotta run!"
Not a second later, Diana felt an arrow shoot out behind her, tearing through the back of her shirt. A rush of wind followed in its wake, accompanied by a steadily increasing number of arrows shooting out from the walls in a rapid barrage.
Their boots pounded against the stone floor as they raced down the corridor, Akko gripping Diana's wrist with fierce determination, nearly dragging her along behind her to escape the deadly arrows licking at their heels.
As the initial shock finally passed, Diana whipped out her wand with her free hand and threw up a barrier around them.
For a brief moment, the reflective purple bubble gave her a sense of safety. But her peace of mind was shattered just as fast as the barrier was when the arrows pierced through her enchantment with the ease of popping a soap bubble.
A fork in the path quickly approached and a few agonizing moments passed before they veered down it. Akko was already 10 feet down the hall before she realized they had escaped the stip of bobby-trap ridden wall. The metallic tink of arrows hitting the stone died down as the barrage came to a stop behind them.
Akko skidded to a halt. "We made it." She said breathlessly.
Diana bent over, desperately trying to catch her breath after the sudden sprint for their lives. "You had impeccable foresight to anticipate the arrows would also be unaffected by magic." She paused to take a deep breath, "If I had only erected a protective barrier around us we would have had one foot in the bucket, as they say."
"Sometimes it feels like we aren't speaking the same language." Akko said through heavy breaths. "I wasn't thinking about the arrows ignoring magic, just that we had to get to safety."
"It's a euphemism, I think. And, of course you didn't." Diana said as she shook her head with a smile. Akko may not have acted on careful judgment, but her instincts had saved them. That was one thing Akko had the edge on over witches who grew up with magic, she was used to using physical or creative methods to overcome challenges instead of using magic as a crutch.
This common trait among witches was one of the reasons they struggled to handle dangerous situations. They were stuck in their traditional thinking that was ingrained in them at home and in their schooling. Akko's ability to come up with solutions without those shackles was one of the many traits Diana treasured about her friend.
Akko tried to lift a hand up to check for any cuts and realized both her hands were still preoccupied. "Oh, I guess I can give you back your arm now." She laughed awkwardly as she dropped Diana's wrist.
Diana was thankful for the dim light as she felt her cheeks warm. She straightened up to survey their condition. "I seem to have made it out with only minor scratches and tears in my clothing." She held up her arm to inspect her sleeve; a few holes littered the edges, reminding her just how close of a call it had been. "Are you injured anywhere, Akko?"
"My arm got nicked, but I'm fine." Akko used the back of her wrist to wipe the blood from her cut, only succeeding in making it smeared mess.
"Let me see." Diana grabbed Akko's arm to inspect it. "You most certainly are not fine! Hold still let me heal you."
Akko snatched her arm back defensively. "I thought you said we shouldn't use magic."
"Nonsense. You aren't magic resistant are you?" Diana put her hands on her hips.
"Ahahaha, I guess not. But what about using as little magic as possible?" Akko asked.
"I can't just leave you with an open wound. You could get an infection! Now stop squirming and let me heal you." Diana said, holding her hand out expectantly.
"Ok, ok! Jeez." Akko presented her arm to her demanding friend, only blushing slightly when Diana gently held her arm steady.
"Leighae."
The tip of Diana's wand lit and a bubbling green light gushed forth; as it flowed out towards Akko's arm it dissipated, evaporating into the air before reaching her open cut.
Akko scrunched her nose as she frowned. "Was that supposed to happen?"
"...no." Diana wracked her brain for what could have caused her magic to vanish into thin air. There were texts that described magic becoming impotent deeper within the dungeon, but nothing like this. "It appears our magic will not work this close to the heart of the dungeon."
"That's ok, look." Akko grabbed a section of her shirt that was torn from an arrow slicing through it and ripped it off. "I can cover it with this."
Diana sighed. "I suppose this will have to do for now." She took the strip and wrapped it around Akko's arm, tying it tight.
"Thanks, Diana!" She held her flashlight under her chin, illuminating her face. "It's time to find ourselves a spooky dragon." She wiggled her eyebrows up and down playfully, the light casting strange shadows across her face to match her silly voice.
Diana forgot the nagging feeling in the back of her mind as she laughed, stowing her wand in her belt.
"Oh look, there's a stairwell up ahead." Akko said, shining her light down the corridor.
"How fortuitous, perhaps this will lead to its stronghold."
They carefully made their way down the stairs, ever cognizant of potential traps. Placing each foot with care.
As they reached the bottom, the space in front of them opened up into a large cavern. The ground was littered with strange knickknacks and doo-dads, clumped in seemingly meaningless piles.
Atop the largest mound in the center lay an enormous black dragon, the width of its tail alone the height of Akko. It's scales had a dull shine to them and its head was tucked under a wing. The slow rise and fall of its chest the only indication it was alive.
"We found the dragon! But what is all this junk?" She asked, nudging a particularly useless looking contraption.
"I'm not sure I can place how these items relate to each other. I know different species of dragons hoard different things, but I can't place what this may be." Diana pulled Akko back around a corner. "We need to be extra cautious while in here. There should be a few scales near the base of the beast that it has shed. Possibly among its 'treasures.' The faster we have collected them the better."
Akko nodded. "Fast and sneaky. My specialty."
Diana flashed her a small smile and the duo headed back into the main room, determined to complete their mission.
Akko trailed a few steps behind Diana, letting her friend find a route through all the mess of assorted 'treasures' so she could examine the more interesting pieces.
They picked their way through and between the many random items. Some Akko could pick out, a chessboard with half its pieces, a telescope with the lens cracked, a small rocking chair fit for a kid with chipped paint. But everything she saw seemed to be old and/or broken. Nothing like the pile of gold and jewels she was expecting.
Spotting something that caught her eye Akko giggled, poking the fluffy tummy of a particularly cute stuffed animal laying at the top of a pile to her right. She would have thought it was a yellow mouse if it weren't for it's long ears and jagged tail.
"Akko, look." Diana whispered.
The sleeping dragon was mere meters in front of and above them, resting atop a broken pile of junk. Up close Akko could see that each scale was larger than her hand.
Diana pointed at a wooden cabinet with cracked glass doors squashed under its claw. A few jagged pieces of scale, either shed or ripped off Akko didn't know, shone from inside it.
Akko nodded. "Let me climb up and grab them."
Diana bent down and laced her fingers together, bracing herself as Akko stepped into her hands and boosted her up.
Akko balanced her weight on the foot Diana held and reached up towards the broken glass of the cabinet door. "Almost, there." She hesitantly placed her other boot on a sideways bicycle tire poking out of the rubbage, hoping to lift herself up just a bit more.
With her fingers just centimeters away from a few shards of inky black scale she made a desperate jump, shoving up off of the tire and swiping at their target.
"Got em!" Akko whisper shouted.
Her victory was short lived as the tire spun out from under her. She swung her arms trying to regain her balance. Diana stumbled under the wildly flailing Akko, trying to steady them both. Unfortunately for her they were in the middle of the treasure room (junk yard) and everything was so densely packed together there wasn't much wiggle room.
"A-Akko!" Diana's foot caught on a coiled up jump rope and the pair fell down with a crash. A stack of old letters and pictures toppled over on top of them, partially burying them.
"Diana are you ok?!" Akko lifted herself up and tried to extract herself from the tangled limbs and random junk surrounding her.
"Akko, do not move!" Diana hissed out in fear, unable to see anything past Akko and the debris.
Akko froze, her eyes widening in horror as she suddenly remembered why they had been trying to be quiet. Slowly, with dread filling her, she turned her head to stare at the huge creature behind them.
The dragon hadn't moved, continuing to rest peacefully. A small cloud of smoke billowed out from under its wing.
Akko slumped down onto Diana, the sudden tension of those few moments having drained her. "We're good. It didn't wake up."
Diana let out a shuddering breath of relief. "Thank goodness."
"Oh Diana look." Akko sat up, shoving the miscellaneous papers off of her as she moved to the side. "Ta-da!" She held out her fist for Diana to see. Clenched tight in her grip were 3 shards of black dragon scale, each nearly twice the length of her fist and as wide as her proud smile.
"You did it!" Diana exclaimed, her eyes lighting up in excitement.
"Heck yeah I did!"
"Good job, Akko. Now let's get out of here!" Diana took the scales from Akko and stowed them in her pack.
Brushing themselves off, the witches stood up. Diana carefully bushed a chair out of the way and began to pick her way through the chaos towards the entrance.
"Hey, what's this?" Akko paused, stooping down to pick up one of the worn pictures they had knocked over. Two young girls, arm in arm, smiled up at her. They had witches robes on and one had short fiery red hair while the other had long, shaggy lilac hair.
"Diana, I think this is Professor Ursula and Professor Croix as kids. Why would this be here?"
Diana turned, looking back at Akko staring inquisitively at the picture in her hand. Behind Akko the dragon's head had emerged from behind its wing. Two bright, red and yellow splattered eyes stared the brunette.
"Akko!" Diana rushed back, jumping over a chair and snatched the picture from Akko's hand. Without missing a beat she threw the photo like a frisbee as far away from them as she could.
Recovering from the shock Akko whipped around. The enormous dragon was stretching its wings, spreading out and waking up, its gaze now trained on Diana.
"We have to run!"
Before either of them can take a single step the dragon lunged for Diana. Its razor sharp teeth exposed and zeroing in on her.
Diana whipped out her wand, throwing up a protective shield to cover them instinctively, the purple bubble surrounding them faster than the blink of an eye.
Just as its sharp teeth hit the barrier Akko shoved Diana out of the way, her shoulder colliding with Diana painfully. Momentary shock and confusion consumed Diana as she was thrown from the protective bubble.
Time slowed as she watched in horror as the dragon's teeth were halted by thetshield for a mere fraction of a second before breaking through it. The color faded from bubble and it dissipated into a cloud, absorbing right into the dragon's body. The long, dagger like teeth sunk into Akko's shoulder and side.
A blood-curdling scream ripped its way out of Akko's throat as the searing pain racked through her body.
"AKKO! Murowa!"
Diana shot at a towering pile of junk in front of her, toppling it down onto the dragon's extended neck. The beast dropped Akko and let out a deafening howl as an avalanche of falling treasures bombarded it.
Not wasting another second Diana grabbed Akko as her crumpled body sunk to the floor. Akko's face was twisted in pain, a look Diana had never seen or wished to see again, and her eyes were screwed shut. Her consciousness barely holding on through the agony of the bite.
Diana shoved her hand into the pack, yanking out her shrunken broom. It grew in size in her hand and she jumped onto it, cradling a barely conscious Akko in her arms. Blood soaked through Akko's clothes, dripping onto the floor and covering Diana. It was so warm, flowing out of Akko with ease. She had to get her out of here. Before she lost any more blood.
Behind them the dragon roared, ripping its head out from under the fallen debris. Its muscles tensed, rippling under its scales as it prepared to lunge again.
"Diphulaniado!"
Diana sent an explosive blast at the dragon's feet. Sending objects flying, the heat of the blast washing over her like a tidal wave.
The black dragon howled in rage, fiery debris of its treasures raining down around them. The blast wasn't as intense as it should have been, the magic in the air absorbing into the dragon shortly after exploding.
"Tia Freyre!" Diana shouted, kicking off the ground and propelling them into the air. She shot forward, grasping onto Akko as she prayed her friend would make it.
The dragon glowed with a tinge of red as it sucked in the magic, growing even larger. It spread its wings, the thunderous beating sending more of its treasures flying.
Diana raced through the treasure room, weaving in and out of the rubble. She was so close to the stairwell. They could make it. They had to make it.
Behind her the dragon gained speed, its still growing wings thrusting it forward with increasing speed.
She swerved out of the way just in time as it slammed into the wall in front of her, unable to it's control speed. Stone wall fell down around them, crashing over the dragon's body.
A crack splintered up the wall to the ceiling. A ray of light poked through the crack, giving Diana an idea.
"Murowa!"
Diana shot the dragon with a blast, letting the magic soak into it.
The dragon glowed red as it grew. It flapped its wings, struggling to extract itself from the crumbling wall. Throwing its head back in a cry the dragon knocked out a chunk of the ceiling.
Diana raced through the opening, the bright light of the afternoon sun nearly blinding her. She heard the dragon roar behind her, busting through the walls to chase after her. But she didn't look back. She clutched onto Akko tighter and pressed forward, willing her broom to go faster than it ever had before. The roars of the dragon growing distant behind her.
Akko lay asleep in bed at the Cavendish Manor, bandages wrapped around her shoulder and abdomen. Diana sat by her side, staring intently at her friend.
"You've done all you can, My Lady. She just needs rest now." Anna said, she squeezed Diana's shoulder reassuringly.
"Thank you Anna, I think I'll stay here for now however."
Anna nodded and left the room, closing the door with a soft click behind her.
Diana brushed Akko's bangs out of her face. "The dragon… it was absorbing the magic from the air around it. I was a fool, Akko. I am so, so sorry. I let this happen due to my naivety."
Diana sighed. She wished Akko would wake up, that she could see her smile once again. But she knew she needed to recover.
"You saved me." She whispered.
A hesitant knock at the door interrupted her thoughts.
"Diana, I need to have a word with you." Daryl said as she opened the door.
Diana didn't even turn to look at her aunt, keeping her gaze on Akko. "Now is not a good time, Aunt Daryl. Can this wait?"
Daryl wrung her hands. "I've put off telling you this for far too long, Diana. You should come with me now."
Diana turned to study her aunt, noting her barely concealed worry. "Alright."
She stood, pausing to look over Akko's sleeping form again. Diana bent down, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, before slipping out the door to follow her aunt.