The final part of the Back to the Future arc! Croix and Akko return to the past and must now find Chariot in order to make things return to normal.
Also, Akko will take any opportunity to get revenge on Croix.

Notes:

This arc was so complicated hahaha! But hopefully I did it justice and it's one you like! Next chapter will come from a prompt given to me! So look forward to that one!


Opening her eyes after her last spell, Croix takes a look around her and exhales in relief when she realizes that they have returned to the past.

Finally her watch seemed to work correctly.

I guess third's time the charm…

"Croix-Sensei!" Akko says to her while taking her wand out. "We must hurry!" the girl continues explaining while running. "Because we were at Luna Nova when we activated the spell, we'll have to go all the way to town in order to catch up with Ursula-Sensei."

"We can use my magic!" the lilac-haired woman is going to do the spell but Akko stops her.

"I'm almost out of magic. And, I haven't used as much magic as you have." she points at her wand. "We need you to have enough magic to take us back home."

"You're right." Croix says quickly and looks at the time. "We've arrived at precisely 8:08am, a couple of minutes before Chariot found us in town."

"Then does that mean that right now, in this timeline, there will be other versions of ourselves as well? Our us from before?" Akko asks worriedly.

"That's right!" the inventor says excitedly. "We have to make sure that they're not aware we're changing the timeline so that they don't change anything in return."

"Because if they do then it may not be certain that we'll end up here." the brunette witch closes her eyes worriedly. "Croix-Sensei, no matter what, the moment we return home I will kill you."

"Don't be that way Akko! Think of all you have seen!" Croix jokes with her. "Besides, if we want to make it back home then I suggest we wait near Luna Nova for Chariot to return to the school."

"You left right after we finished talking, right?"

"Indeed. And I went straight towards the lab."

"But Ursula-Sensei and did stay in town to have some tea. It wasn't for very long but it'll probably take her a while to make her way back here." the brunette witch remembers.

"Then we should use this time to plan how we're going to make her drink the potion. Unfortunately, I don't think Chariot will be as understanding as Diana and my other self have been. Anything that comes from me will bring her mistrust." the older witch muses out-loud.

"You're right about that." Akko says calmly. "And now we also have to worry about my other self since she will be at Luna Nova for sure. She did say Ursula-Sensei talked to her that morning and confessed her secret."

"That must have happened while we were in the lab."

"Then that means we must intercept Ursula-Sensei after she returns to Luna Nova and before she talks to me. I can't know she's Shiny Chariot until the protests in town get bigger."

"That's right! After considering all that has happened since we started this journey, I believe that the timeline changed because you found out Chariot's identity earlier than in our timeline." Croix says surely.

"What do you suggest we do?" Akko asks while sitting down on the floor. "You know Ursula-Sensei the best and will have an idea of how she will react. Because I know for sure that she will not drink a potion made by me. And I wouldn't blame her for that." she chuckles warmly. "I don't want to force her to drink the potion."

"Of course not." she agrees immediately. "I'm confident in Chariot's capacity to forgive and listen. It is one of her best traits. So, if I were to talk to her alone, then she would hear me out. At least for long enough to explain to her what is happening. Remember, she's wary of me being close to you because she loves you and believes that I want to stop you from finding the words."

"Well, you did want that to happen." the brunette girl reminds her cheekily. "But what you're saying makes sense. Besides, there's no risk of your other self interfering since she'll be in the lab with our other us." she stands up excitedly. "Let's go to Luna Nova and wait for Ursula-Sensei in the Astronomy tower."

"And scare the bejesus out of her by breaking and entering?" Croix asks her unbelievably and then smiles brightly. "That's an amazing idea!"

"If you think that then that means it's an awful one." Akko says while closing her eyes exasperated.

"Alright, alright." she raises her hands calmly. "Approximately, we should have half an hour before Chariot returns to Luna Nova, correct?"

Akko nods in confirmation.

"And, if I remember correctly, when I made the first forgetting potion, most of the ingredients I used came from my other self. So, we'll need to buy or get new ones ourselves."

"Really?" the brunette stares knowingly at her. "And are they easy ingredients to find?"

"Well, the greenhouse of the school should have them." Croix says confidently. "The only ones that are a little difficult are the ones I asked you to search the first time."

"The frog and the dark nectar leaves."

"Indeed. But, you'll have to get them from somewhere else since if you get them from the same place Diana and your other self found them, it could be possible you will be changing things."

"This is too complicated." Akko murmurs bitterly but still stands up from the floor. "After I get those two things, where will we meet?"

"Meet me at the greenhouse." Croix tells her and grabs Akko's cellphone. "I turned on the timer. It will let you know how much time you have left before half an hour goes by." she then turns to head for the greenhouse. "I will try to make the potion in there so that once it's done we can take it straight to the Astronomy Tower."

"Then I'll be as fast as possible." the young girl promises confidently. "And Croix-Sensei, don't cause any kind of trouble."

"Not my fault that trouble finds me!" the lilac-haired witch smiles brightly at her before turning around and heading away.

LWALWALWA

Walking around the school, Croix is again thankful about the fact that it's a weekend and many girls are still in bed or are too lazy to get out early. Not that she had anything to fear because her other self was safely locked in her lab and that meant she had free reign to move around the school without arising any suspicions.

Getting closer to the greenhouse, Croix quickly takes a look around to confirm that no one too familiar with her is around. Once that's done, she enters the small house and starts gathering the many materials she will need for the potion. Deciding that it would be better for her to mix and prepare the potion in here, she gets one of the many cauldrons and starts pouring and chanting words. Although she tended to prefer to use her robots and machines for these types of things, she enjoyed the process of making potions because it relaxed her.

But of course she would never mention this to Chariot, Akko or Diana.

Once smoke and gases started coming out of the cauldron, Croix stops mixing and lets the potion rest. The success of forgetting potions was to follow the specific steps in its preparation. And, while it only took 15 minutes to prepare it, because of the speed a witch needed to have in order to successfully prepare it, the potion was difficult for novices to produce.

"Professor Croix?" she hears a familiar voice say from behind her and she turns around to see Professor Finneran staring suspiciously at her.

"Professor Finneran…" Croix says while closing her eyes and cursing the gods for having this woman inside the room.

The one person that disliked her the most.

"Can I ask what you're doing inside the greenhouse so early on a Saturday?"

"I was preparing a potion." she admits because she knows that the woman was eyeing the cauldron.

"It is surprising to see you outside your lab, Professor Croix. In fact, I hope you'll forgive me for saying this, it is startling to see that you have other interests outside your robots and those infernal machines you've been distributing around school."

"Well, I am a witch of many talents and skills." she tries to joke but the older woman continues to analyze her every movement.

"Based on the color of the potion and the smell of it, am I right in suspecting that you're making a forgetting potion?"

Croix nods in confirmation.

"Indeed."

"And why do you have the need for such a potion? Do you plan on using it?" Professor Finneran questions her bluntly.

Danger! Danger!

Taking a look around the room, Croix manages to see Akko running by with the missing materials in her hands. Luckily, the brunette witch seemed to notice that Finneran was inside the room and decided to wait for the inventor to create some sort of distraction.

"In class, I got asked by a student about an specific step in the making of the potion." she says calmly while grabbing Finneran and moving her away from the cauldron to give Akko some space. "Unfortunately, since it has been a long time since I last made the potion myself, I was incapable of answering her. Hence, I decided to do the potion today so that I could respond her question during our next class."

This makes Finneran stare suspiciously at her but still doesn't return her gaze to the cauldron.

Meanwhile, Croix quickly sees Akko run with the frog and leaves towards the Akko.

"But why would a student ask you about a potion? You're the teacher of modern magic, not potions."

Shit… Perhaps if I put her to sleep and leave then that would leave things settled.

Making eye-contact with Akko, she focuses her eyes on the cauldron and then on the materials the young girl had on her hand.

Nodding in understanding, Akko immediately throws them inside the mixture and the potion softly switches color.

"Astronomy Tower." she emphasizes on her words and watches Akko nod before running away from the greenhouse.

But we did the same with Chariot and she changed the future…

I have to give her the potion, but how?

"The Astronomy Tower?" it seems that Finneran heard her. "What are you whispering about?"

Knowing that she was going to get caught if she didn't do something extreme and irrational to hide her true intentions from the woman; Croix determined that there was only one thing she could do. Taking a deep breath, she used her wand to clean the cauldron and work-space she used. Once that was done, she placed most of the potion on a container and the rest she drank it.

"Wait! What are you doing?!" Professor Finneran asks her confused and sets down her wand to get close to her.

When the older woman lowers her guard, Croix gets on top of her, and with a last look she closes her eyes and kisses her on the lips.

I cannot believe I'm doing this…

Not wanting to think about it, she thanks that the woman in front of her is so shocked by her actions that she immediately opens her mouth. When that happens, Croix lets go of the potion she had been holding inside and hopes that the older woman swallows it.

After a few seconds go by, she separates from Finneran and watches the way the woman is angrily staring at her, her wand shaking because of her anger.

"Professor Croix!" the woman shrieks while raising her wand. "I will kill you!" she says but before that happens the woman falls to the ground because of the potion.

"It worked!" Croix says relieved.

After getting Finneran to sit on a chair, she grabs the remaining potion and runs out of the greenhouse, making sure of being careful enough to not meet with anyone that would question her motives for being around the school and not in her lab.

Once she makes her way to the Astronomy Tower, Croix takes her cellphone out and checks the time. They had five more minutes until Chariot arrived from town and Akko was not there.

Could it be that she misunderstood me and went ahead?

"Croix-Sensei!" Akko screams her name while running to her side. "Did you get it?"

Croix nods in confirmation while taking the potion out.

"I was so worried when I saw Finneran-Sensei there. How did you manage to get away from her?"

This makes Croix stop for a while before nervously moving the potion.

Akko had of course noticed this.

"What happened?" she asks her professor knowingly.

"I may have used the forgetting potion on her to make her forget she saw me there."

"That's good thinking. Although, how did you even get her to drink something made by you?" the brunette witch asks honestly curious.

This makes Croix blush and tremble because of the memory.

"Don't tell me you forced her Croix-Sensei!"

"Of course not!" Croix replies immediately. "Although I didn't exactly like get her consent to give it to her…"

"What did you do?" the brunette witch asks warily.

"I may have kissed her." she whispers but knows Akko heard her when she starts laughing.

"NO WAY!" Akko chokes out while laughing loudly. "You kissed Finneran-Sensei?!" she continues chuckling. "I can't wait to tell Diana this!"

"NO! You cannot tell anyone! Croix admonishes her and almost throws the potion because of her desperation.

"Really?! After everything you've put me through, you won't let me share this, the only funny part of this trip, with my girlfriend?" the brunette witch asks her dangerously.

What a manipulative…

"Fine! But only to Diana!" she makes Akko promise and Akko shakes her hand in confirmation. "Now, I'm done with the potion and it's almost time for Chariot to be here."

"Where should I go?" Akko asks her carefully.

"Stay behind the tower and once I text you come find us. Remember that we also have to worry about your other self waking up and coming to talk to Chariot. Hence, if things between Chariot and I don't progress we'll just have to see…"

"That's not a very solid plan."

"It's the only one we can have. But, you have to make sure that your other self doesn't find you! It's imperative you do so."

"I will be careful." Akko promises her. "Now go Sensei! And good luck!" she gives her a soft smile before pushing her towards the door.

Taking a deep breath, and hoping that Chariot was already there, Croix goes up the stairs and arrives to the blue-haired woman's room. Once she's there, she confidently knocks and only has to wait for a couple of seconds before a familiar voice asks her to wait.

"Coming!" Chariot screams while opening the door but freezes in shock at seeing her. "Croix?"

"Char…iot." she adds at the end so that it doesn't arise suspicion. "Would it be ok for me to come in to talk?"

"Talk?" the blue-haired woman asks her warily. "After all you have done?"

"I know that this may seem a little hard to believe, but I do come here with no ill will towards you or Akko. In fact, all I want is to talk. I promise."

"How can you expect me to believe that?" Chariot whispers sadly.

Croix gives her a sad smile and grabs her hand softly.

"Because you, unlike I, have always been capable of seeing the best in people and giving them second chances. And right now I'm asking you, no, begging you to do so again."

These words make the younger woman stare deeply at her, trying to see any sort of lie and deception in the things she said. So, when Chariot takes her hand away from hers and gives her space to walk in, Croix closes her eyes in relief and is again thankful of having the love and support of a woman like Chariot.

The moment Croix steps in, she sees Alcor greet her and with a warm smile on her face she does the same. It had been a joke they had made a long time ago in an attempt to make Chariot's familiar be a part of the blue-haired woman's act. Hence, Croix spent weeks with him training and teaching him the commands and cues he had to take.

"Seems you haven't forgotten." she chuckles and nuzzles the bird's head teasingly. "Good, because it took me a really long time to teach this to you."

"You're confusing me." Chariot breaks the spell that had been set by Alcor and this makes the lilac-haired woman focus on her friend. "Why are you being this way? Acting like nothing has happened and even talking about the past?"

That's right, this Chariot doesn't know that I have accepted the past and have learned to embrace it.

"I can explain all of this." Croix promises her friend surely. "But in order to do that, I will have to ask you to listen to me until the end."

"The Croix I know doesn't look at me the way you're looking at me right now." she chokes out bitterly. "The Croix I know is trying to hurt a little girl because she's being reminded by said girl of our past." she can't help but accuse her and this hurts.

"Char…"

"No! Don't use that name! Not like that." Chariot whispers brokenly. "Why are you torturing me like this, Croix? Making me remember the good memories and times we spent together and making me hesitate in the best way to stop you?"

"I want you to stop me." she promises Chariot surely. "In fact, I beg you to stop me."

This makes Chariot stare deeply at her, analyzing her eyes and her voice.

Croix, who had been doing her best to not move her gaze away, is surprised when the blue-haired witch stands up from her chair and bends in front of her. In fact, she's more surprised when said woman grabs her face tenderly and caresses it, forcing Croix to close her eyes at the sensation.

Once she opens her eyes, she sees Chariot staring at her with bright and happy eyes. As if she could recognize that the woman in front of her was not the same one that had been so desperate to cause her pain.

"You are not the Croix I know." she whispers in complete awe. "You're the Croix I fell in love with all those years ago." she says and Croix can't help but cry at the words being said to her by this woman.

Because, although she knew that Chariot loved her, both of them had agreed to not say these words to each other until they were truly free and capable of being together.

"Why are you crying? Don't cry." Chariot whispers to her tenderly while cleaning her tears softly.

"I'm sorry." she chokes while taking a deep breath. "I just, I was not expecting to hear those words from you so suddenly."

"I apologize." the blue-haired woman smiles softly. "Although I don't regret saying them."

This makes Croix smile brightly.

"But, something tells me that I'm saying them to a Croix that doesn't belong to me." she smiles knowingly at the lilac-haired woman.

"Of course you would realize what was happening." Croix chuckles proudly.

"Well, you did tell me when we were younger that you wanted to travel through time. Although, I was expecting you to know better than to travel to places where you have been."

"Your lack of faith in me is disturbing Char." she jokes and both women chuckle warmly.

"Tell me…" Chariot says seriously to her. "What are you doing here Croix?"

"It was an accident." Croix says simply. "I've been working for the Ministry in developing an artifact that can help the individual wearing it travel through time. Of course, I had no plans of actually making it work or giving it to the Ministry. But, you know me and…"

"You couldn't stop yourself from doing your best and actually making it work." the younger witch smiles softly at her.

"Indeed, although it doesn't work perfectly since in our first trip we landed here. And we wanted to go to the future."

"We?" Chariot asks confused.

"I came with Akko." she says carefully and sees the way Chariot starts to close herself.

"No, wait. In my timeline, things are different. Akko and you succeeded. You broke the seal and returned magic to the world."

"We did?" she whispers carefully.

"Indeed. And, she's still close to you." she doesn't have to be specific for Chariot to realize that the brunette witch knows her secret.

"You mean she forgave me for keeping it a secret?"

"Of course I did Ursula-Sensei." both women hear a familiar voice and see Akko coming inside. "I'm sorry, I kept checking my phone for a message but when none came and people at Luna Nova started to wake up I decided to come."

"That's fine." Croix says to her softly. "We were just talking and getting lost in the past."

"Akko…" Chariot says scared. "You know?"

Akko gets close to her and hugs her tight, making the blue-haired woman sob in relief.

"I still love you very much Ursula-Sensei. You have done so much for me and I understand your need to keep this a secret from me. It will take me some time, but even when it seems like I want to doubt you, I will not be capable of because I know that you're doing all of this for me."

"Akko, thank you." she whispers relieved and that seems to bring her back to their main issue. "But if you two were already here, why tell me about it?"

"Because there was an incident we didn't consider." Croix says carefully. "When you saw Akko and I in town this morning…"

"That was us just arriving from the future." Akko says embarrassed. "Hence, the person you had tea with earlier was me."

"So that's why you seemed so different." Chariot chuckles warmly. "And because I saw you two I imagine I changed your future?"

Both witches nod in confirmation.

"So when you went to the future you realized that it was different."

Again both witches nod.

"It was awful Char! I was in prison!" Croix says insulted and that makes Akko and Chariot laugh.

"And I keep telling her how she finds that so shocking since she technically lives in an evil lair." Akko adds warmly.

"It's a lab!"

"It's an evil lair." Chariot agrees with Akko. "And now you're back because you found out when the past changed and you want to correct it."

"We have to." the brunette witch tells her softly. "Our future, Ursula-Sensei, is so beautiful. We're all together and we're all family. Which is what the four of us wanted and needed."

"The four of us?" the blue-haired woman asks but then gets a knowing wink from Croix. "You mean Diana and you finally got together?!"

"What do you mean finally?!" Akko blushes. "But yes, it happened after we brought magic back and started to grow closer."

"She knows because it's obvious!" Croix exclaims.

"You did go all the way to her manor to bring her back." Chariot reminds her.

"Ok, ok, so perhaps it was that obvious." Akko smiles warmly. "But our future, it may have taken us a while, and at times it's not perfect, but it's a good future that I wish to return to."

"That we wish to return to." Croix says softly to Chariot who is looking away from them.

"Will I have the same? Be as happy with my Crox and Akko as you two seem to be?"

"Yes!" Akko promises her immediately.

"I will work every day to make you happy Char." the lilac-haired woman also promises her and grabs her hands. "And it will take me a while to make it so, but I swear to you that we will be happy."

"I trust you." Chariot smiles warmly at her. "Now give me the potion."

"You knew…"

"I imagined your motives for being here were to make sure no one remembered seeing your presence in the past. And, you were always a good potion-maker."

"You're too clever for your own good Char." she jokes and takes the potion out.

"Goodbye Ursula-Sensei." Akko whispers to her with a warm smile. "See you real soon." she jokes and hugs the older woman. "I will always love you no matter what."

"And I love you too Akko." Chariot says with tears in her eyes before focusing on Croix. "Now, how about you give me that potion."

Nodding in understanding, Croix gets close to the blue-haired woman and softly hands her the potion. Before the younger woman drinks it, she grabs Croix tightly and kisses her desperately on the lips, a kiss that is immediately reciprocated.

"I… I wanted to do that at least once." the blue-haired witch says softly.

"Oh don't worry, you'll get to do it plenty of times." Akko adds from afar.

"AKKO!" both women shriek while blushing embarrassed.

"I will drink that potion now so I can forget she said that." Chariot whispers and drinks the potion quickly.

"You cheeky, little…" Croix says to Akko who smiles and points towards Chariot who is watching the scene with a smile on her face.

"I love you." Chariot says to the older witch who smiles in understanding.

She could say the words since she would forget them…

"I love you too." she whispers to Chariot and sees the blue-haired woman fall asleep with a smile on her face.

"That went well." Akko says happily.

"Indeed." Croix smiles as well. "But seeing and talking to Char like this… It made me miss home."

"So how about we head home then, Sensei?" Akko asks her with an understanding smile and both women disappear in a ray of light.

LWALWALWA

"Are you sure Akko said she would be here?" Ursula asks Diana while walking inside the apartment.

"Yes, she said Professor Croix asked her to come see her." the blonde responds confidently while going over metal and ramen boxes. "This place is a mess."

"Indeed." the red-haired woman agrees with the younger witch. "It's similar to how her room used to be but bigger and dirtier."

"I can't imagine her roommates liking her very much."

"Oh they didn't." she smiles softly. "They admired her and respected her, but when Croix made a mess out of their room they got upset."

"Wouldn't blame them after seeing this mess in the flesh." Diana chuckles but before she can add something else a ray of light appears in the room, leaving behind two very familiar witches.

"Akko!"

"Croix!" the two witches say in shock and are surprised when they're both hugged at the same time.

"Diana!"

"Char!" the two newcomers say as well.

"I missed you so much!" Akko says first to Diana who blushes.

"But we just saw each other a couple of hours ago."

"It felt like forever!" the brunette says and kisses her passionately on the lips.

"What happened?" Ursula asks confused after watching Diana give up and simply respond with her own desperation to her girlfriend's kiss.

"Well…" Croix murmurs to her while also getting close to her face. "Let's just say that Akko and I have experienced an adventure out of this world."

"I don't understand…" she says confused.

"I missed you too, you know…" the lilac-haired woman whispers and is ready to kiss Chariot before a familiar and annoying voice stops her from doing so.

"Are you sure you want to do that so soon?" Akko teases her knowingly. "I mean, I'm sure poor Professor Finneran must still feel the effects of your passionate potion."

"Passionate potion?" Ursula asks confused.

"Akko…" Croix warns her.

"I mean, passionate because of the way you administered it to her. So warm and personal."

"Akko!"

"What are you talking about?" Diana asks as well.

"She had to kiss Professor Finneran on the lips!"

"WHAT?!" both witches exclaim in complete shock.

"When did you even do that?!" Ursula says surprised.

"You promised that you would only tell Diana!" Croix complains to Akko who smiles wickedly at her.

"And you promised that we were going to the future so I guess we both lied!" the brunette replies immediately.

"Croix…" the red-haired starts saying.

"I can explain all of this…" the inventor promises her friend while raising her hands apologetically.

"Then you better start doing so right now." Ursula smiles darkly at her. "In fact, why not start with that kiss…"

I will kill Akko…