While on her back to the library with Keith after a short lunch break, Croix spotted Lotte and Sucy in an adjacent hallway. Lotte's fingers were nervously tugging on the brim of her skirt, but despite her fidgeting it was clear she was happy where she was. Sucy stood as dour and emotionlessly as she always did, but her face was decorated with a smile that, unlike her usual malicious smirks and grins, was small, genuine, and honestly sweet. The two were standing very close to one another at the edges of the hallway, out of the way and in their own little world.

Croix sighed wistfully. So the kid had actually managed to fess up then. Croix had encouraged her, and she had hoped Lotte would go for it, but actually seeing her advice lead to the two girls hanging on each other's every word as they talked away the hours? It was never a scene that would've crossed her mind as something she could've created. Keith still was acting all self-righteous about Croix saying she wanted to redeem herself, but to think that those girls had actually listened to her, and that somehow listening to her hadn't made their lives worse like so often happened with Croix. It was a weird, hopeful, prideful feeling in the pit of her stomach that was rising to her chest.

Of course, a hopeful Croix was still Croix at the end of the day, and she considered walking over there and teasing the girls. She'd congratulate them, of course, and she wouldn't intrude on their date too long, but she was honestly curious if she could make someone like Sucy blush. She liked to attribute it to working out her lingering desires to cause others misery through wanton destruction. She had only taken a single step down the hallway when Lotte and Sucy separated. Croix briefly wondered if they had already spotted her, but quickly noticed their attention was on something else. A classroom door had opened next to them, and the two were focused on someone who was stepping out.

And there, from out of the doorframe, she could see Lotte and Sucy were talking to another witch in training. Croix recognized her in an instant, and the blood drained from her face. The auburn hair and the small half-ponytail she kept it in. The short stature and the red sash across her hips. And as soon as Croix saw her, she abandoned the idea of walking over there and instead darted away back towards the library until she was sure she was out of their view, desperately hoping she hadn't seen her, and if she had, she wouldn't follow.

She walked briskly, as fast as she could go without making her internal distress too obvious, catching Keith off-guard as he tried to match her sudden pace. She didn't slow until she had returned to the library and was positive that kid wasn't going to approach her. She sat down in the corner once more, doing what she could to not look like she was breathing any heavier than normal. Keith reached the table a few seconds later, and fixed her with an odd look as he took his own seat, and Croix was filled with dread at the possibility that he might question her, or even worse, somehow force her to confront the girl.

"What was that all about, Croix?" Keith asked her, and Croix let out her relief as subtly as she could. So he either hadn't seen her, or he didn't understand how narrowly she had just avoided disaster. If Keith didn't know, then it didn't affect him. Guilt was something she could deal with. Croix had to, considering there weren't many times she didn't feel guilty about something or other. But dealing with guilt, and dealing with that were two entirely different beasts.

"I just wanted to make sure I had time to work." The lie rolled off Croix's practiced tongue. "I've been getting distracted the past few days, after all."

His brow arched, and while he didn't seem to agree with her, he nonetheless appeared to fail to catch her lie. "We still have two more days here, you know. And it's not like a distraction every now and then doesn't help you." He smiled as he said it, and Croix bristled as she realized what he was referring to.

"You're just going to keep holding yesterday over my head, aren't you…" She groaned. He had prodded her all last night about her admission that she might like to not hate herself all the time, and refused to believe her when she dismissed it as just being casual conversation. It was incredibly annoying. Going back to the first few days when he didn't trust her to be safe around the innocent students of Luna Nova was much preferable to whatever this new development was between them.

Fine. She'd accept it, if it meant she could avoid any more of these distractions. There was a trend happening here. Granted, she had honestly enjoyed seeing the other girls. Many of them she had never really met face-to-face, so getting to know them in a peaceful context was actually sort of nice. But regardless, she could do without seeing the trend continue, let alone finished. Perhaps if she was lucky, she could go these last two and half days without any more confrontations.

Though, she doubted the universe was done paying her back for her maliciousness. Especially since she heard the telltale sound of footsteps approaching her rapidly.

The bookshelves in Luna Nova were no small affair in any sense of the word. Many of them reached the very top of the building, practically built right into the support structure. Even the smaller ones, like the cases that boxed in Croix and Keith's table from the rest of the room, were close to eight feet tall, and very few students at the all-girl academy could reach the top shelf without either a levitation spell or one of the many step-stools and ladders strewn about the building. Thusly, Croix nearly had a heart attack when a girl, quite literally, front-flipped over the top of the bookcase from the other side before landing harshly on the ground next to their table. She stood up instantly, as if she had not just front-flipped in here what in the hell and pressed her back to the shelf as she eyed for her apparent pursuers, not paying a single glance to either of them.

After her heartrate returned to normal, Croix looked over the girl and noted that, if nothing else, it wasn't Akko.

"…Hey, Amanda." Croix greeted her. Amanda O'Neill, Luna Nova's resident self-proclaimed rebel, simply waved her hand in acknowledge, as she kept her focus on the lookout beyond the corner.

"Yeah, hey. Listen, Finnelan's in a mood or something, so don't tell her I'm-!" Amanda turned for a fraction of a second, and did a double take as she belatedly realized who she was talking to. "Whoa, wait. It's you, Croix."

Judging from the skeptical expression she was getting, and the inflection in her voice as she said her name, Croix was guessing this was not going to turn out like Jasminka where Croix was trusted absurdly fast and received free desserts. She tried to push away the disappointment.

"You…don't seem all that surprised to see me here?" It was a stupid statement to say, considering everyone else had learned Croix was back at Luna Nova by now, and Amanda agreed, looking at Croix like she had just told her the sky was blue.

"Yeah, I already knew you were here." Amanda retorted, unimpressed. "We pretty much got into a big argument about you the other day."

Croix cocked her head. "Argument? About me?"

Amanda nodded her head. "Day before yesterday, Diana told us to stay away from you because…" Amanda trailed off, and her brows furrowed in confusion. "How did she say it? Something like, you…manipulate people with your words or whatever. She said it fancier." She shrugged, deciding it wasn't important. "She talks like she's got a dictionary shoved up her skirt."

The day before yesterday…so that meant that Diana had warned her friends after Croix had met with Lotte and chose to confront her the next day. Croix couldn't blame her, all things considered...but it still hurt all the same to think of how affected they all were by her actions to distrust her so openly. "Then why are you here, Amanda? You trust me, then?"

"Pfft, no." Amanda said, rolling her eyes. "I trust you about as far as I can throw you, but I'm also not scared of you either. Even if you are up to something, I'm not gonna go running just because Diana said so. Plus, if you ar-!"

"O'Neill, you better not be in here!"

The voice wasn't exactly yelling, only barely being louder than a speaking voice, but given the quiet atmosphere, it might as well have been an explosion for how it boomed throughout the library. Croix recognized it as Professor Finnelan, and given the fear on Amanda's face, she recognized it as well.

"Aw no!" Amanda paled, speaking in a hushed, frantic whisper. "D-don't tell her I'm here!" Amanda dived behind Croix's chair, making herself as small as possible, just barely hiding herself from view as Professor Finnelan had walked over.

The professor was absolutely fuming. "Where is that girl? I swear when I-…Oh." Her brow raised on her forehead in a very distrusting manner. "…Croix. Hello."

"Afternoon, Anne." The older professor's eyes narrowed at her. As Croix had found out during her brief stint as a professor, Anne Finnelan was a woman who very much liked traditions. One of her points of contention was that new hires and especially former students of hers should address their senior professors with respect. Given that Croix, especially at that lower point of her life, lived almost purely on spiting others, she had taken the habit of calling her by her first name in casual conversation. It probably wasn't smart to annoy school officials given her delicate situation at the academy, but Croix had found some appreciation in tradition and old habits as of recently too.

Finnelan placed her hands on her hips, with body language that communicated a sense of superiority that only an aging woman with years of teaching under her belt could have. "I don't suppose you've seen a student run by here, Amanda O'Neill?"

"No, don't think I have. It's been pretty quiet down here." She was lying before her brain even decided defending Amanda was worth her time. "How about you Keith?"

As she casually turned to her probation officer, she could see the naked disapproval on his face. But as much as he disliked it, he didn't seem willing to make all three of them look foolish. He gave a pleasant smile to Professor Finnelan. "…No. I have not, Professor. Sorry I couldn't be more help." He turned his gaze back to Croix in a blank, inscrutable expression that made her wince. If nothing else, she had just guaranteed their next conversation wouldn't be about yesterday's events.

"Hmph." Finnelan made no secret of her displeasure, but didn't want to waste her time in another debate. "Stay out of trouble, Croix." With that cheery goodbye, Finnelan turned on her heels and left to go prowl for Amanda elsewhere.

Croix looked over to see the girl in question still sitting low on the floor. She waited a second before looking back up to Croix with a confused expression. "…you didn't rat me out?"

Croix absent-mindedly shrugged. "I'm not a very good professor, Amanda."

Amanda peered back at her a long moment. Her expression seemed to fall somewhere in between surprised and wary, dissecting Croix in her mind for some ulterior motive. She sat in silence before suddenly crossing her arms with a suspicious expression. "I don't get you, Croix." She said. "One second, you're trying to blow up the school with missiles, the next you're all giving everyone advice."

It wasn't that Croix disagreed with the assesement, but she spent enough time loathing herself for her actions she didn't appreciate them being misconstrued. "…First, the missile wasn't going to blow up the school, it went the exact opposite direction. Second, the missile itself was a miscalculation, I never tried to blow up anything." Keith's visible displeasure grew, and it was becoming readily apparent there was no good way to defend launching a missile in any capacity.

Croix shook her head. "And third, I'm done with all that. I'm…really trying to make amends for it, if you can believe it."

Amanda's face scrunched up as she spoke, making it clear she didn't believe it.

Croix sighed. She knew redemption was going to be a hard sell for people. It was a fairly major reason she preferred the simplicity of just being irrevocably evil in the first place. She didn't like to think about it much anyway, so she deflected the conversation from herself once more, turning to the girl sitting on the floor. "So…you don't seem to like Diana much."

Amanda seemed genuinely surprised to hear that. "What? No, I wouldn't hang out with Diana if I hated her guts. She'd actually be cool if she didn't act like a total princess all the time."

"What does that mean?" Croix questioned.

"Eh." Amanda dismissed her. "She's a snob sometimes, but she's fun enough. It's all just teasing. It's not like it's even hard to tease her. All you gotta do is talk about her crush on Akko she thinks we don't all know about and she loses her mind."

Croix thought back to yesterday's encounter. "I…will have to take your word on that. Still, it just doesn't seem like you two are friends."

"Eh." She said again. "I don't know if we are either. Like I said, she's always nagging me. Back when school started again, I was trying to show the freshmen what real broom-riding looked like, and I sort of messed up the landing when I jumped off the roof. Fractured my leg in like three places. Diana still brings it up sometimes."

She began apparently quoting Diana in a ridiculous falsetto voice. "Real witches don't show off O'Neill, you need to be less reckless O'Neill, wah wah wah O'Neill. It's so annoying." She threw her hands up in frustration. "And then when everyone visited me at the nurse, she wouldn't even sign my cast!"

Keith, who had been keeping to himself this whole time, spoke up to the girl who was still huddled on the floor next to the table. "You know, you could sit on a chair, if you'd like." he offered, but Amanda made no effort to get up.

"I'm fine." She leaned back, getting comfortable against the bookcase. "S'Not like I'm staying here. Just 'til I'm sure Finnelan's gone. Anyway, Croix, you're really not up to something at all? Guess that means I was wrong…"

Croix just gave her a strange look, and Amanda rolled her head in response. "In that argument I told you about." She explained. "I was actually on Diana's side that you were probably up to something. Jasma said you were a good guy, and Sucy didn't care either way. And Ak-"

Croix quickly cut her off. "L-look, Amanda. I don't need to know everyone's position on me." Especially not Akko's. "So…if Diana bothers you so much, why do you keep spending time with her without, I don't know, trying to change?"

"I spend time with her 'cause it's something to do. And why should I change? Like I said, she's a princess. She's always trying to be the best at everything, and she's all about the rules, and being a role model. It's exhausting. Me, I don't really care if people don't like me. That's their problem."

"…Well, what if you took it too far and seriously offended her? Wouldn't that make you a bad person?"

Amanda blinked, not ever having considered it a possibility. "I mean…if I actually hurt her feelings enough for us to stop being friends, I'd feel like crap. But we don't do anything that bad to each other, and besides, I can't control if she doesn't like me or not. Thing is, she's gotta learn no one's perfect, and you're just gonna kill yourself trying to please everyone. I don't think that makes me a bad person."

Croix wasn't as convinced, and she surely didn't want any of these girls to have to go through anything near what she had been through. If she could keep them from her own path of darkness, she'd certainly sleep easier at Solis. "Well, that's a slippery slope to be on, considering who you're talking to. If I had any empathy, we could've avoided that entire mess last year. But instead, all I cared about was my own selfishness."

"Huh." Amanda scratched her head. "I always thought your problem was you cared way too much about what everyone thought."

This time it was Croix who was caught off-guard. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, I dunno. You were all about opening the Great whatever-it-was-called, but you never seemed to care much about magic. You don't even use real magic, you use robots like Contz. It seemed like you only cared that you were the one to open it. If you just wanted power or whatever, you coulda just let Akko open for you and then steal it. Instead, you made this big, dumb plan to trick everyone."

Croix was floored. No one would do what she had done if they "cared too much," but…Amanda's odd explanation wasn't exactly off-base. Croix had wanted to open the Triskellion save magic…but now that she thought about it, she never actually considered why. She scorned witches for being so obsessed with tradition that they let magic wither and die as they refused to do anything, and it was only days ago she had encouraged Constanze to continue her mixing of magic and technology despite claims of blasphemy. She didn't want to bring back the Golden days of witchcraft, she couldn't have cared less about that. And as concerning as her logic was, Amanda wasn't wrong that if it had been important to her, there were ways around stealing that magic power.

But Croix had never thought of her actions that way. Was that truly what she saw as important, that she alone be the Chosen One? Did she really only care that people would see her as the best, and that was the reason she turned so cruel? Petty appearances? It was an uncomfortable revelation to think about, but now that the idea was filtering through her thoughts, she could see the grains of truth in them. She spent a lifetime preparing to be the best, and she couldn't stand being seen as runner-up.

God, she felt sick to her stomach. All this time, all the things she did…it hadn't been about her destiny, it had been about everyone knowing it was her destiny. She had set out to destroy so many lives just so she could be the favorite again. Croix rested her head in her hands, and a flood of fresh guilt battered her mind, as she ran through all her mistakes once more in a harsher light. She only just barely avoided shutting down completely as she heard Amanda speak, ignorant to her distress.

"Like I said, I'm not the best person out there, but I don't care. If someone's got a problem with me, that's their fault."

Croix looked at her in a new light. It wasn't just rebellion for rebellion's sake with Amanda, as she had thought. Amanda could see her faults in the mirror and accept them as part of her. It was a delinquent's mindset, one that could lead her into a dangerous lifestyle, but it was balanced out by her own peace with her demons. She was irreverent, but not malicious. Content with her own character enough to find happiness through adversity. And Croix couldn't help but find it…very admirable.

These girls all seemed to find new ways to amaze her each time she met with them.

"To tell you the truth, Amanda…" She said, burying her sadness. "I think that's…a pretty amazing mindset to have. You're a lot more insightful than you think you are. You might just be right, to be so comfortable with who you are. We can't all think like that."

Amanda's brows raised, and she studied Croix. Perhaps she too, after hearing Croix's admission, saw her in a new light. It was strange, in some ways, for her to be connecting with these girls, but she found more and more she valued these interactions. Maybe someday, if she ever made good on her promise to get better, these connections she was building could grow and become something truly dear to her heart.

"…Well," Amanda leaned back, her hands behind her head. "That's why I'm not in crazy magic jail."

Croix barked out a loud laugh, startling the two of them. "O-Okay, fine!" She snickered, trying to catch her breath. "I guess I deserved that one."

Amanda began sniggering as well. "Man, the only professor to laugh at my jokes and it's the one who got sacked…" A realization struck her. "Oh! Finnelan's probably gone by now, so I'm gonna bail. Catch you later, Croix." She finally stood up from the floor, roughly dusting off her skirt. She and Croix exchanged short waves goodbye.

Just as Amanda prepared to leave, however, she suddenly turned back, hand on her chin. She peered down at Keith, who leaned back as she leaned inwards to inspect him.

"Hey, Croix. I never asked. Who is this old man, anyway?"

Keith reacted as though he'd been slapped across the cheek. "Old?! Wha- I'm 37! I'm not old!"

Amanda just shrugged. "That's like, middle aged."

Already in a good mood, Croix struggled, and subsequently failed, to keep a straight face. No matter how much goodwill she built, she knew Keith had his limits and she really shouldn't push them. "C-come on, Amanda," she said as serious as she could. "Lay off him, he's-"

"An officer of the law-" Keith stood, cutting her off. "-who should really be telling teachers when students are cutting classes, Amanda."

Amanda's face was ghostly white. "I…heheh. S-so you're a cop! That's really…um…" She clapped her hands. "Whelp, I got some homework I gotta do, because I'm a student and all, so…I'm gonna go do that. It was a pleasure meeting you, sir!"

Amanda left the library as fast as her legs could take her. As Croix watched her go, she tried to ignore Keith turning his disapproving gaze back to her. She cleared her throat, and banished the smile from her face, pulling out her textbook and jumping back into her work. Keith watched her a moment, before sitting down, muttering, "That's what I thought."

Croix whittled away the rest of the day, as she polished up her research. She made progress, she seemed to get a little closer every day, but as they neared the end of the day, and the rest of the library's occupants began to filter out, a nagging thought persisted in Croix's mind. She repeatedly banished it from her head, only for it to plague her once more. It seemed no matter how much she resisted, her heart would not let her rest until it forced her into this. As the library closed and they prepared to make their leave once more, she cleared her throat to get the attention of her probation officer before they got too far.

"Keith. Before we go…d-do you think I could make a quick detour?"

After three short knocks, Croix heard shuffling from behind the door. She stared down at her feet, knowing it was too late to turn back from this now. The door opened, and she saw the distinctive footwear of the Luna Nova uniform across from her. She looked up, and into the familiar red eyes she had fallen in love with so many years ago.

"Hey…Chariot." Croix forced a smile onto her face.

"Oh, um. Hello, Croix." She returned the smile just as awkwardly, almost as unsure of why she was here as Croix was. Croix took a deep breath.

"…Can I…c-can I talk to you?" Chariot blinked in surprise. It only took a second for her to respond, but to Croix, it seemed to drag on for hours as fears ran through her head. Was yesterday her final straw? Had Croix finally pushed her too far? Would she close the door in her face?

When Croix saw the smile on Chariot's face become genuine, she felt her heart leap up to her throat. "You know you never need to ask. Please, come in!" She stepped to the side, allowing Croix into her office once more.

And Keith too. He was still here.

As Croix sat down, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Chariot was seated across from her once more, patiently awaiting for an explanation. Croix's thoughts felt jumbled in her head, and struggled to parse through them to find a place to start. She didn't want to ramble in front of her.

"Chari, you…you're so good." She settled on. "I'm nothing like you. You're the best person I know."

"Croix, you're not-" She began to start the same argument they had been through yesterday, but Croix simply held her hand up to stop it before it began. Chariot gave her a worried look, but let Croix continue all the same.

"Just…just let me finish. I think…you were right about me, but I don't know what to do. I need your help." She ran her hands through her hair, pleading with the girl in front of her. "H-how do I do this, Chari? How do I get better?"

Chariot simply walked over and took Croix's hand in hers. "You've been getting better this whole time, Croix. Admitting that you want to be is a big step to take."

"I-it's not enough." Croix looked into her eyes. "And the more I admit, the worse I feel. I don't know if I can do this, even if I wanted to…"

Chariot stood up, taking her hand away for only a moment as she sat next to Croix on the couch. "Tell me about your talks with the girls."

"What?"

"You've been talking to the girls a lot, right? Tell me about those. Just anything. Ramble, if you like." Croix stared at her a moment, questioning, but Chariot was serious. Unsure of what her point was, but trusting her all the same, Croix rambled, near incoherently in her opinion, about the past five days and the encounters she had. She talked of the strange quirks of the students and the odd ways they regarded her. She talked about the things she said and the things they said back.

As they talked, they gradually inched closer and closer to one another, until they were leaning on each other. Almost unconsciously, Chariot's arm found its way to drape across Croix's shoulders in an innocent hug. But as soon as Croix felt the contact, she flinched.

Chariot pulled away in an instant. "I'm s-sorry. I…I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"I-it's not your fault. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet…"

They sat in silence for a moment, before it was broken by another knock at Chariot's door. She hadn't bothered to close it as she let her two guests into her office, and the three looked over to see the short woman who stood in the doorway.

"Headmistress Holbrooke?" Chariot stood respectfully. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm truly sorry, but…I'm here for you two." She turned to Croix and Keith, and gave them a genuinely apologetic look. "I'm afraid you two need to leave for the night. We can't have you here after hours."

"But Headmistress-!" Chariot began to argue, but Croix cut her off as she stood to leave. That had been one of the conditions of her probation after all. There was no sense in throwing away all the work she had put into the cure, no matter how much she wanted to stay with Chariot again.

"It's fine, Chariot." She lied. She gave a wry smile to play it off as a joke. "I'm following the rules now. Better late than never, right?"

The dejected look in Chariot's eyes didn't falter, and she certainly didn't laugh. Croix supposed it was just how things would have to be. She gave a short nod to acknowledge Holbrooke as she started her way out of the office once more. When she had reached the doorway, she heard Chariot call out to her.

"Don't give up on yourself, Croix. I still believe you can be better."

Croix hung in the doorframe, a million things she thought she should say running through her heads. There wasn't enough time to say the ones that felt like they really mattered. "I'm not sure I believe it yet, but…" She looked over Chariot one more time, as if trying to memorize every detail she could before she was forced to leave her again. "I think I'm trying to."

A.N. A couple of chapters have been about the girls' relationship with Akko, so I thought it'd be fun to have this one be about Amanda's odd friendship with Diana. It made for an interesting contrast with Croix's relationships. She was one of the harder ones to write, especially for where she is in the story. But I will say Amanda front-flipping into scene was written before Chapter 1 was even up, or the rest of this chapter even existed. (I still don't know if it's Finneran or Finnelan, but IMBD and the wiki went with the latter, so…)

Only two chapters left, and obviously, the next one is "Akko"! It's no secret that Akko made the top of Croix's list of people she wanted to avoid, but we've yet to learn Croix's true reason behind it. How will Croix handle the one encounter she desperately does not want to have? And what will Akko think of her former enemy?

So I've been pretty consistent on getting these out every 2 days (and you gotta give me credit, these are 3K words a piece!) but Akko's chapter might be a day or two late. Sorry! I'm going to do my best to get it out by the 16th. After that, the last chapter should be out by the 18th.