Chapter 5:
Shock filled Diana's mind as she read the article in the paper. Apparently, Aunt Daryl, who had also brought her to the hospital, had taken it upon herself to convert their mansion, the headquarters of all things Cavendish, into a high-end fancy resort. She had supposedly done it support her dearly sick niece Diana, who was in a coma. After pouring much time and money into it; the Cavendish Hotel opened its doors to the public.
However, according to the article, the hotel did not have the strongest attendance when it first opened. The author of the article believed that the missile incident was one of the main contributors to the resort's financial struggles. Whatever reason was Daryl had declared bankruptcy because of it, and was now considering selling the land that the resort now stood to land developers.
Diana was less concerned about the bankruptcy, and more so the fact that her family home now had a very high possibility of being demolished! But why would Aunt Daryl do such a thing? The hotel was one thing, but selling the house to be torn down?
Ursula looked over to Diana and saw her reading the front cover.
"Ah, I'd forgotten about that," Ursula answered Diana's unasked question. "Since you were put into a coma, Daryl Cavendish has had complete rein of anything related to the Cavendish clan. Including this."
"B-but I would never let that happen!" shouted Diana, "It couldn't have! Akko and I-" She stopped before going on. "Never mind," she muttered, setting aside the paper.
"If you're done, may I see the paper please?" asked Ursula kindly. Diana shifted the paper over enough so that Ursula would be able to grab it. "Thank you."
Must get to Luna Nova, Must get to Luna Nova, Must get to Luna Nova, Diana repeated to herself mentally. Whatever was going on she was sure to be some kind of spell or potion at the school that could fix this.
Maybe even apologize to Akko…
"Oh dear," Ursula muttered out loud, breaking Diana's sense of thought. "Looks like the situation in Finland isn't getting any better."
Finland? Wasn't that where Lotte Yanson hailed from? Yes, her family owned a magic shop in one of the small towns. From what Diana had heard from Lotte, life in Finland was rather peaceful and quiet; it wasn't perfect, but fine nonetheless. So what could be wrong now?
"What exactly is going on in Finland that's so bad?" asked Diana curiously.
"I'm surprised you don't remember," said Ursula, "This happened before you went under."
"What happened?" asked Diana, "I don't remember anything major happening; let me see." She grabbed the paper from Ursula's hands and was again shocked at what she read.
FINLAND TO REMAIN UNDER HEAVY QUARANTINE!: SCIENTISTS STILL SEARCHING FOR GREENMAN DISEASE CURE
After much debate, the United Nations have come to an agreement and will go underway with the proposed mass quarantine of Finland.
This plan was proposed after a massive outbreak of the rare disease known as "Greenman Disease". Effects mainly include human skin changing to a moss-like substance, and gradually withering away over time.
Though thought to have died out over a thousand years ago, the current outbreak is believed to have started in a small town within the country, where many of the local residents were infected. The disease has now spread to much of the country; infecting millions.
Searches for a cure have so far turned up fruitless. Scientists from all over the globe have collaborated to find anything, yet so far the combined efforts have yielded no results. Although some are beginning to believe that there is no cure and that the lives of those infected are already lost:
"It pains me to admit it," says Peyton Westlake, head of the team working on a cure in Ireland, "but our research has not brought us any closer to a cure than when we started. Many of those who were infected earlier are already beginning to wither away. I know that it's very sad for many who have family or friends infected, but the simple truth is that there is no cure available, and judging by our research there won't be for a long time." (Dr. Peyton Westlake, Irish Institute of Medicine)
Though Westlake says that he and many around the world are doing everything they can, the quarantine is still in place and prevents any without special permission or clearance to enter or leave Finland.
Chills ran down Diana's spine as she finished reading. She remembered Lotte telling her about the disease. Lotte herself had even gotten infected, but Diana couldn't even bear to listen to Lotte's description of the experience. Lotte had been visiting her family in Finland when she got infected. So had the disease somehow spread again? If so did was Lotte…
Oh no…
"W-was L-Lotte?" asked Diana hesitantly. Ursula's somber frown was all Diana needed.
"But Akko was there!" shouted Diana, "She went with Lotte, and she found the cure too!"
"Diana," sighed Ursula, "If I don't know who Akko is, then I doubt that Lotte knew her either."
"Of course she knew Akko!" argued Diana, "They were on the same team! Roommates! Ask Sucy!"
"Sucy? Sucy Manbavaran?"
"Yes!"
Ursula frowned, "But, Sucy's been…"
Before she could finish, the bus screeched to a stop. Both looked out their respective windows and saw that they had arrived at their destination, Luna Nova.
Finally! Thought Diana. Now all she had to do was go to the library, and find out how to correct this mess! She ran towards the front of the bus, and out the door. She stepped out, expecting to see the familiar sight of Luna Nova; but what she saw instead put her in a state of shock.
Not that Luna Nova had been destroyed, but with the current state that it was in it might as well have been. Various papers and other trash covered the ground, at least half of the windows visible had been cracked or broken, and graffiti similar to the kind found on the sealing stones plastered the walls.
"B-but but b-but h-how did-?"
"The missile incident Diana" answered Ursula; who had just walked over. "As I said earlier, a witch came forward and claimed responsibility for what happened. As a result, people struck back against magic any way that they could."
"But why would they be so angry about us saving the world?!" Diana flustered out, "I remember! People were cheering us on! Giving us encouragement! Why would they then go on and do this?!"
"Diana, what are you talking about?"
"Stop it!" shouted Diana, "Just stop with it!"
"S-stop what?" asked a confused Ursula.
"Stop with this whole pretending not to know anything routine!" Diana continued, "You're not Ursula Callistis! You're Chariot Du Nord! Shiny Chariot!"
Ursula's face froze. "H-how did you…?"
"I figured it out, but you told everyone! The school, students, teachers! Atsuko Kagari is your star pupil! Don't you remember anything?!"
Ursula stood there on her crutches, dumbstruck. "W-w-what?"
Diana clenched her fists and stormed away.
If Chariot can't remember, then I'll show her!
…
Diana walked through the dormitories, looking for the right door. It seemed a bit much, but she needed to re-jog Chariot's memory. Was she overreacting? Perhaps, but she didn't care. It may not have entirely been Chariot's fault, but she was so fed up with trying to remind Chariot of every little thing that had happened, that she was sure that finding this one thing would snap Chariot out of it. She was so busy searching, she hardly noticed the increased drop in temperature that plagued the corridors.
Finally, after much searching, she found it. The red team's room. Not wasting any time, she knocked hard on the door.
"Akko! I need your help with something!"
No answer.
Irritated, Diana knocked once more.
"Akko please, this is urgent. Something's wrong with Professor Chariot!"
Still no answer.
Diana rubbed her forehead, then tried again, but this time trying her best to sound as calm as possible.
"If you're upset with me because of what I said I understand; and I'm very sorry. But I need help now, and you're the only one who can help me."
The other end of the door remained silent.
Furious, Diana practically beat the other side of the door up.
"Akko! You open this door now before I-"
To her surprise, the door broke open, and the knob had fallen off. Diana entered the room and looked around for any signs of life, but found none. She looked towards the bunk bed, and neither Akko or Lotte were to be found. But there were plenty of mushrooms.
The seemingly infinite amount of fungi in the room made Diana jump. Some only went up to her feet, while others towered over her completely.
How did these all get here? Wondered Diana.
She then looked towards where a majority of the mushrooms were grouped together. Hypothesizing that the source of the mushrooms was there, she began to make her way over; squishing any tiny mushrooms beneath her, and shoving any in front of her to the side.
When she finally got to what appeared to be the center, she was shocked once more. There, right in front of her, was Sucy Manbavaran lying down in bed. But why hadn't she answered the door, even after the noise from it breaking it open?
"S-Sucy?" asked Diana hesitantly.
Sucy said nothing. Her eyes remained closed.
"Sucy, wake up," Diana spoke a little louder.
Sucy remained silent.
"Sucy, please, wake-" Diana stopped, something caught her eye. She looked to the ground and saw what appeared to be an empty beaker in its side. She picked it up and looked it over. She brought the top of it to her nose and sniffed before immediately pulling it away.
"Disgusting!" shouted Diana out loud, A potion like this could put a witch under for years.
Then it clicked, she looked at the empty beaker, then to Sucy. Diana dropped the beaker and grabbed Sucy's lifeless body by the shoulders.
"Sucy, Come on! Wake up! Please! I need your help! Wake up Sucy, Wake up! WAKE UP!"
Despite Diana's efforts, Sucy remained silent and lifeless.
You idiot! Diana screamed internally at Sucy. Sucy had always used Akko for testing potions, why had this time been the exception?
"Diana?"
Diana turned and saw the two people she had expected to see the least in this situation. Granted this was still tame compared to what she had seen so far, but surprising nonetheless.
"Hannah? Barbara?" The two smiled and pulled Diana out of the fungi-filled room.
"We missed you so much!"
"Everything's been terrible without you!"
"We can't make it through our classes without your help!"
"And everyone's been making fun of us!"
"Relax, girls, relax!" said Diana in as calm a tone as she could muster. "What are you even doing here? I thought you'd already left for the holidays."
"We can't!" they both whined.
"The leyline is gone!"
"And we could never even get on that smelly bus!"
"The leyline?" asked Diana. But with the amount of magic that had spread from what she and Akko had done, there shouldn't be any reason to have the leyline gone! And why couldn't they use their brooms anyway?
"Why don't you just use your brooms?" asked Diana, "It might take longer, but still-"
"All the magic is gone from them!" answered Barbara, "Almost all magic energy disappeared after the missile incident."
Diana would've stopped to ponder the response, but she had heard it enough already. She had to find Akko and put a stop to all of this.
"Excuse me, girls." Diana told her teammates, "But there's something I need to take care of immediately. Have either of you seen Akko recently?"
Hannah and Barbara looked at each other, then back at Diana.
"Who?"
Diana vexed herself, "Akko! Atsuko Kagari! You know, the one who found Shiny Rod?"
"Shiny Rod? Wasn't that the wand used by that hack Shiny Chariot?"
Diana face palmed internally.
"How could you two not know Akko? You used to make fun of her every time you saw her! She's in this room right here!" Diana pointed to the room she had just been pulled out of.
"What're you talking about Diana?" asked Hannah, "The only ones in that room were Wallflower Yanson, and that mushroom freak Manbavaran."
"That's right!" confirmed Barbara, "She went into a coma, and then these mushrooms just started popping up out of nowhere."
Diana stood, taking in all the new information with more unease. Where had Akko been? She would've saved her friends from something like this. And how was it that even her most infamous tormentors had no idea who she was?
Diana then felt something hit her from behind. She looked down and saw a dropped box that had spilled out what appeared to be motherboards, computer chips, and other types of machinery. She also saw a head of navy blue hair, not unlike Ursula's. Diana recognized the person immediately.
"Constanze?"
Constanze looked up, but instead of the stoic expression she usually had on her face; it was now more akin to that of a frightened animal. She looked upon Diana, before jumping back in surprise. She then fiddled around in her pocket before pulling out a small notepad and anxiously scribbling on it. When she finished, she quickly tore the note out and handed it to Diana and then proceeded to try and gather up the things that she had spilled out of the box. Diana looked of the note which read: I'm sorry.
"Oh no! It's quite alright!" said Diana in a calm manner, "Accidents happen! All is well."
Constanze looked upon Diana with a glimmer in her eyes, as if that had been the first time she had heard words like that in forever. She then went back to gathering up the mess.
"Before you go, though. Have you seen Akko anywhere?" asked Diana.
Constanze looked back to Diana with a puzzled look on her face, which was all Diana needed for an answer.
"You don't know who Akko is, do you?"
"Don't bother asking her Diana!" interrupted Hannah, "If we don't know her, then I doubt that pipsqueak here does!"
Constanze looked down as if she was in shame about something.
"Yeah!" agreed Barbara, "Especially with that embarrassing display at the ghost hunt!"
"Honestly, how can you even show your face around here after that?"
Constanze began to shake and sniffle, while Hannah and Barbara stepped out from behind Diana. Hannah reached down and lifted up Constanze's head by the chin. Constanze looked upon her in fear.
"No wonder O'Neill got herself expelled," sneered Hannah, "You're too pathetic to even be seen with!"
Hannah then flicked Constanze on the forehead with her other hand, causing the tiny witch to wince and step back. She didn't see Barbara had extended out her leg, causing Constanze to trip, and spill her box's contents all over again.
Hannah and Barbara broke into hysterics at the sight of Constanze picking herself up. Constanze looked towards the two taller witches with tears forming in her eyes.
"Aww, what's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?" mocked Hannah.
"Why don't you go build another robot?" jeered in Barbara, "Although I doubt even IT would wanna be seen with a failure like you!"
Constanze's sniffling continued before she turned and ran down the corridor, completely ignoring her box of parts, leaving behind a giggling Hannah and Barbara, and a very shocked Diana.
"W-what was that?!" Diana shouted at her roommates, who looked over when they were done laughing.
"Don't you remember, Diana?" asked Hannah, "It was all over the school before you left!"
"I'm surprised she's still here even after it happened!" agreed Barbara.
Diana wouldn't hear any of it, she shoved her teammates to the side and proceeded to gather up as much of the spilled content in the box as she could.
"What's wrong Diana?" asked the two witches.
"I need to get to the library," she stated firmly.
"D-do you need our help with anything?"
"Believe me," said Diana with a scowl, "you two have done enough already."
With that, she proceeded to walk to the library. Hopefully, she would see Constanze again, that way she could give her back her computer parts.
…
It wasn't too far of a walk to the library from Akko's room. As she walked, Diana once again had much on her mind. Like why had Sucy been in a coma? Where was Akko? And why was Constanze being treated so poorly? It was as if she had done something unspeakable.
It's like how Akko felt when I yelled at her…
Soon Diana had found the massive library, but when she entered she was shocked once more. What had once been a great room with a seemingly endless supply of knowledge was now an abandoned room that looked like a tornado had passed through. The floor was covered with torn papers, books, and other pieces of trash. Diana looked towards the bookcases, and noticed that all the bookshelves were at least half empty. Ursula did say that the school had to make budget cuts, but Diana didn't think they would be this bad! Hopefully, there would still be a book, or research or something that could help her with the situation at hand.
Suddenly, Diana heard a sniffling sound echo throughout the room. She looked towards it and began to walk in its general direction. She soon came to see the soft glow of a fireplace, and a weeping little witch sitting on the floor next to it.
Diana slowly placed the supplies down, and walked towards Constanze as not to scare her, before softly speaking up.
"C-Constanze?"
Constanze looked over and then turned back around; facing away from Diana.
"Look," signed Diana, taking pity on the small witch. "I-I'm very sorry about what Hannah and Barbara did to you." Diana placed a hand on Constanze's shoulder. "What they did was uncalled for-
Constanze flinched her shoulder away from Diana's hold. She pulled out her notepad once more and proceeded to write another message on it. She tore off the piece of paper and handed it to Diana. Diana could see the message in bold capital letters. It was blunt and to the point: GO AWAY.
"Constanze," cooed Diana. "I know you're upset, but you can't let their words get to you. I mean, look at all that you've done this semester! The Grand Triskelion, the ghost hunt-
Diana heard Constanze cringe. It seemed like Diana had brought up a touchy subject.
"W-what's wrong?" asked Diana, "Was it something I said?"
Constanze then pulled up one of her Stanbots that looked like it had seen better days. After some fiddling around with it, a light came from it, producing an image on the nearby wall. Diana sat on the floor and watched the video begin.
The first shot was what looked like some type of ship being built, and Constanze near the bottom of it at a desk, drawing what Diana assumed to be blueprints for the ship.
"This is, the ship you built for the ghost hunt, isn't it?" asked Diana. Constanze nodded silently.
"Impressive," Diana told Constanze trying to cheer her up, "You were able to build such a massive ship. I don't even think I could that." Diana gave a reassuring smile towards the tiny witch. Constanze said nothing and pointed back at to the video.
It had now cut to Constanze talking with one of the kitchen staff or at least using her Stanbot to try and talk to him. She pointed to a mixer as if she was asking for it. The goblin crossed his arms then pointed towards the exit. Video Constanze pouted and walked out of the kitchen.
The video then cut to Constanze sitting at a computer screen, she was video chatting with what looked like some kind of monk. He appeared to be yelling at Constanze, before the video feed on the computer shut off. Video Constanze then crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.
Diana then noticed another piece of paper from Constanze's notepad was shoved in front of her face. Diana read them carefully: I wasn't able to obtain all the parts I needed. I had to cut corners.
Now the video showed Constanze scribbling various notes across the papers on her desk. She began to shove various notes to the floor. As this went on, her hair became more frizzled, and whenever they saw her face, there were always bags under her eyes.
"You certainly put a lot of time into it, and it paid off," Diana said trying to comfort the small witch. Constanze grunted and pointed towards the screen once more.
It had now cut to the night of the witch hunt. Various warrior witches were flying about, but moving to fast for the naked eye. Then Constanze's ship appeared, and while it was still amazing, it was nowhere near as good looking as Diana had remembered. The film then cut to Constanze at the steering wheel. Everything appeared to be going fine, but then sparks and smoke billowed from the steering wheel. Video Constanze frantically pulled out a wrench trying her best to fix the problem, but it was no good.
It then cut to a massive wreck of metal and wood, and atop it stood a very tired Constanze. The film then showed the tiny witch walking around the school. Other students she passed by were either whispering or pointing at her. Then an unseen foot tripped Video Constanze over, causing the other witches to point and laugh at her. The final shot showed a miserable Constanze with tears forming in her eyes as various students pointed and laughed at her.
Diana sat and soaked up all that she had learned from the video. Now it made sense. Constanze couldn't finish her ship to the level she had originally intended and as a result, everything had come crashing down at the witch hunt; and now she was the laughing stock of the whole school.
"Oh Constanze," choked Diana, as pulling the tiny witch into a hug, "I'm so sorry."
Diana felt the tiny witch bury her face into Diana's chest and the subsequent tears that followed with it. Diana would've been surprised, but she didn't care at the moment. What Constanze needed now was a friend, someone to lean on. She had been given a chance to show the world what she could do, and it had been ruined because no one had helped her.
But someone did help her, Akko had. Yes, Diana remembered Akko discussing with her how She and Constanze had built the ship together and made the ghost hunt amazing. So where had Akko been during this time?
"...Thank you." came a small voice.
Diana looked down, surprised. Constanze hardly ever used her own voice. She usually communicated through writing what she wanted to say down on paper or using her Stanbots. The only other time she had used her voice was when Akko had first flown a broom by herself. Constanze seemed to only use her voice during emotional moments, and this definitely seemed like one.
"...Things have only gotten worse for me after the missile incident."
That got Diana thinking again. What was this "missile incident" people kept talking about? She had at first thought it was when She and Akko had stopped a missile earlier that year, but that was something she thought people would be happy about. Was there another crisis with missiles? And if so how was magic involved?
"Constanze," asked Diana as sweetly as she could, "Do you know anything about the missile incident? I just got out of the hospital."
Constanze then reached into the box beside her and pulled out an old newspaper which she handed to Diana. Diana picked up the paper, and if the previous articles had scared her before, this one almost made her heart stop:
CASUALTIES IN THE MILLIONS FROM MISSILE ATTACK!: LUNA NOVA PROFESSOR TO FACE TRIPLE LIFE SENTENCE FOR HEINOUS ACT