Notes from the Author

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the black and white | the band camino

^ if you want to double the feels

Chapter 10

Damien Cavendish

The smell of bacon was enough to rouse Akko from a sleep that felt way longer than the few hours she managed to get. Early morning light was streaming through the window, bathing her half uncovered body in warmth.

Akko stood. The floor was cold against her bare feet, which wasn't a completely unwelcome sensation. From her window, she could see the reflection of sunlight off the gently rippling water of the moat surrounding the manor, the graceful stone unicorn rising into the heavens with the philosopher's stone set firmly in its horn. The view made her think about her first visit and the desperation she had felt as she tried to get her friend to realize her dreams and return to Luna Nova.

The joy she felt when Diana did return to Luna Nova.

A gentle knock on the bedroom door drew her attention away from the view. The door cracked open, Diana's welcome voice drifting through. "Akko? Are you decent?"

"Yeah. Come in," Akko said. She turned away from the window and ran her fingers through her messy hair just as Diana walked in and quietly shut the door behind her. She was already dressed, but not in her Luna Nova uniform. Instead, she wore a well-fitted pair of brown slacks with a white blouse tucked neatly in, a real life picture of old British money. Her hair was pulled back, a few unruly strands draping around the soft lines of her cheeks. Akko let her eyes rest on the pale skin of Diana's neck, the shadow beneath her collarbone, the gentle rise and fall of her chest with each breath. She felt her breath grow shallow.

"Good morning." Diana glanced around her old room, taking in the tousled sheets of the bed and the unkempt girl standing next to it. "Are you nearly ready? We've got quite a bit to accomplish today and Anna is almost finished making breakfast."

"Yeah, smells great," Akko said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Her stomach rumbled at the thought of food. "I'm starving. Let's go."

"Akko, I hate to be rather square, but if you don't mind, could you change into something more… presentable?" Diana asked, knowing Anna would drop over dead if Akko went anywhere near her in shorts that… well, short.

"Oh." Akko chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck and glancing at her bag. "I think I packed something a little nicer."

Diana tried not to stare as Akko bent down and rifled through her massive bag, chucking clothes haphazardly out behind her. Guilt stabbed at her gut and she quickly looked away, fidgeting with her polished gold belt buckle.

"Uh, Diana?"

Diana blinked up to find Akko staring at her with an armful of clothes.

"Yes, Akko?"

A sheepish smile spread across Akko's lips. "Uh, would you mind?"

"Right. Oh. Right." Diana whirled to hide the heat that flared across her cheeks. "I'll see you at breakfast." She grabbed the doorknob and hastily left the room, trying, unsuccessfully, to wipe the image of Akko in the world's smallest shorts out of her mind.

By the time Akko stepped into the dining room and took a seat next to Diana, everybody was already present. Her plate was piled high with bacon, sausages, eggs, roasted tomatoes on buttered toast, and black pudding. Her stomach growled again.

"I figured you were hungry," Diana said, "so I had Anna give you extra."

"Thanks," Akko mumbled, her mouth already stuffed with half the sausage.

Lady Daryl peered at Akko over her teacup, cold blue eyes narrowing at the sight of the all-too-familiar Japanese witch. "A pleasure to see you again, Akko," she said, though the venom in her voice said otherwise. Meryl and Maryl said nothing, silently pecking away at their meals as they watched Akko and Diana with unsettling stares.

"Same, I guess," Akko muttered between bites of toast.

Aunt Daryl could barely hide the displeasure in her expression. "Now that we are all gathered—Anna, would you mind?"

Anna offered a small bow from where she stood and slipped through the door to the kitchen, shutting it quietly behind her.

"As I was saying, now that we're all gathered, would you mind sharing the reason for your unexpected—albeit welcome-" Aunt Daryl coughed into her hand, "visit?"

Diana chewed slowly as she set her silverware to the side of her plate and dabbed the corner of her mouth with a starched cloth napkin. "Aunt Daryl, there is no need for you to force pleasantries. I am well acquainted with the charade that may fool visitors. However, I am certain that you recall the circumstances surrounding my previous visit and—well, to be blunt, let's not play these games."

"I remember very well." Aunt Daryl scowled. "Get to the point then, Diana."

"I'm here about Damien."

"Damien?" Aunt Daryl raised a blonde eyebrow. "What of him?"

Diana took a deep breath. "I have reason to believe that Damien is planning something that involves our House," she stated matter-of-factly. "Earlier this week, he revealed himself during a school exercise. Akko was there." Diana threw a glance to Akko, who nodded with a stuffed mouth. Her plate was nearly empty already. "I would like to know the circumstances surrounding his exile to find the purpose behind his appearance."

"Damien," Aunt Daryl said again, looking perturbed. She took a sip of her tea, turning to Maryl and Meryl. "Girls, could you please excuse yourselves?"

"But, mother—" begged Maryl, or maybe Meryl, Akko didn't know the difference.

"I said," Aunt Daryl's voice was stern, "get out."

Scowling, the two girls roughly pushed themselves from the table and left the room. Akko was certain they were outside the door with their ears pressed up against it, but had already promised herself that she would keep the confrontations to a minimum for her second visit to the Cavendish Manor.

"Damien was exiled shortly after your mother passed," Aunt Daryl said, her voice much lower and much more nervous than Akko had ever heard it. "The Ministry of Magic banished him to another realm, where I learned he later affiliated himself with a following. I can't recall the name."

"The Order of Aurelion," Diana stated.

"That may be it." Aunt Daryl was staring into her teacup with a glaze over her usually vindictive blue eyes. "Anyway, there is no possible way you could have seen him. He was stripped of his magical ability before being cast out." She paused, sighing deeply as she stared down at her half-eaten plate of food. She looked… distraught? Akko narrowed her eyes, chewing thoughtfully as she observed Diana's aunt.

"Damien is a scar upon the Cavendish name, Diana," Aunt Daryl continued, pushing herself away from the table. "I apologize, but I find it difficult to speak of him. You may find what you are seeking in the archives. Do what you must, but please do not disrupt the daily affairs of the house."

"What was that all about?" Akko asked after Aunt Daryl had left the room, glancing sideways at Diana, who looked equally confused. "She got super upset."

"I'm not certain," Diana said. After a moment of silence, she pushed her plate away. "I can feel you listening. Please, come in."

Anna slipped into the room, her head bowed submissively as she took her place at the head of the table. "You have my apologies for eavesdropping, my lady. However, with your permission, and though I feel they may come heavy, I believe I could provide answers to some of your questions. You wish to know more about your brother, am I correct?"

Diana rested her hands on the edge of the table and tilted her chin up in acknowledgement. "Please, have a seat, Anna."

Anna pulled out a chair and sat, back uncomfortably straight. Her dark eyes flicked between Akko and Diana as she began speaking. "Damien Cavendish was an unruly boy, but he had no ill intentions," she began. "He teased you quite often, my lady, but he did love you. And especially Lady Bernadette."

Diana nodded at the mention of her mother. Akko heard her take a deep breath.

Anna's wrinkled lips moved as though she didn't know how to broach the next topic. After a moment, she continued. "He was distraught at your mother's passing. They were very close."

Diana felt the pang of jealousy that was so frequent in her childhood. As the first born, Damien could do no wrong in her mother's eyes. "Go on, Anna."

"I fear he may have resorted to dark magic in his distress. He was young and impressionable, I have reason to believe there was outside influence for his actions, though I'm not certain."

"Necromancy," Akko said, her eyes widening. "He—he raised Diana's—"

"Yes," Anna confirmed. She bowed her head once more, understandably avoiding Diana's faraway stare. "He did."

Akko could feel Diana's magic mingling with her own. It was dull, throbbing with confused sorrow. She sensed her friend's unease, her need for comfort. Without thinking, she reached out and took Diana's hand in her own, squeezing gently. Diana's fingers clenched down on Akko's palm.

Diana wet her lips and drew a heavy breath. "Continue," she said.

"It was—" Anna's voice broke. "A success. Your brother had your very talent, possibly more, even, if you'll forgive me saying so. He was highly skilled and left little room for error. You were so young. We were able to shield you from the events that took place."

"Events," Diana mused, as if tasting the word on her tongue. "Tell me."

"My lady, I am not sure—"

Diana lifted her gaze. Akko could see the tears shimmering in her bright blue eyes. "Tell me," she repeated.

"Your mother came back. But she was different. Wrong. Necromancy is very dark magic, and while your brother's intentions were benevolent, that magic knows naught but evil." Anna was wringing her hands together. "Damien hid Lady Bernadette for some time. Your father had already passed years before and there was only myself and Lady Daryl to care for the both of you. We had no reason to know that what we assumed was a boy going off to play had anything to do with the dark arts."

Akko was listening intently. Although she had seen what magic could do when everything went very wrong, she was unfamiliar with many of the hidden evils that existed.

"Lady Daryl was the one to discover Bernadette. I was not present. I know only of what Lady Daryl relayed to me."

Diana said nothing. She was staring down at her hands.

Akko hesitated. She gave Diana's hand another squeeze and said, "What happened?"

"Lady Bernadette was suffering. Lady Daryl said she was malicious and animalistic, and I know her appearance was… different, though she never elaborated. She was forced to—to return Lady Bernadette to the grave. Your brother was soon after brought to justice by the Ministry of Magic and exiled. Of his return to this world and his intentions, I cannot speak."

Anna folded her hands in front of her and hitched her chin, sighing deeply. After a long moment of silence, she rose and returned her chair beneath the table. "If I may be excused, my lady, there are needs I must attend to, and I would rather Lady Daryl not know of this conversation."

Diana didn't move. Akko could see her jaw clenching and rolling. She was afraid the circulation in her hand was going to be cut off with how hard Diana was squeezing it. Upon realizing Anna wasn't going anywhere without permission, Akko finally spoke up for everyone. "Thank you, Anna."

The door shut gently behind Anna and the room grew silent.

Akko didn't know what to say. She had never lost a parent, much less experienced anything as dark as this. She folded her other hand over Diana's, opting to say nothing at all.

After a few moments, Diana pulled her hand away from Akko's and rose. Silent tears were streaking down her cheeks and Akko felt the urge to wipe them away. She didn't move.

"If you don't mind, I would like some time by myself," Diana said.

Without another word, she rose and left the room, leaving Akko alone in a room clouded with the uncovered ghosts of the Cavendish family.

Akko could hear nothing in the room next door.

She was tired of pacing her room, mind running wild with theories, with possible outcomes, with complete bewilderment, with anxiety and worry for Diana that felt like the ceaseless gnawing of a hundred rats in her gut. Her fists clenched and she shoved them roughly into the bed Anna had made sometime during her time elsewhere, gritting her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut, hard.

She had come along to help Diana defeat the great unknown. She had come to offer as much protection as she could. She had come to fight, and whether that was the cloaked figures that tracked them across the world or the demons of Diana's family history, that was exactly what she would do.

Sitting around doing nothing was not on the itinerary.

It was nearly noon. Unable to suffer through the anxiety crawling under her skin any longer, Akko left her own room and tentatively knocked on the door to Diana's.

"Akko?"

Akko nudged the door open, chewing at a piece of skin on her lip as her eyes fell on Diana. She was sitting on her bed, hair pulled down and a little disheveled but otherwise the normal, poised girl that she usually was.

"Can I—"

"Yes."

Akko took a deep breath and stepped into the room, quietly shutting the door behind her. Her eyes trailed around the bare room, which held little more than a plain oak vanity and the four-poster bed that Diana was sitting on. Some of Diana's personal effects had been arranged neatly on the dresser along with some folded clothing items. There wasn't even a rug, and the cold floor nipped at Akko's feet through her socks.

Coming to Diana's room seemed like the obvious thing to do, but now that she was there, she had no idea what to do or say. Her heart was racing a little too much for her comfort, so she walked to the vanity and gently placed her hand on the edge, finger caressing the smooth wood.

"I'm sorry," Diana said. Her voice was near a whisper. Akko lifted her gaze to find Diana looking back at her. Her blue eyes were wide, sad. She had only seen Diana like this once before and that time, too, was at the Cavendish manor. Akko was starting to hate the place that seemed to sap her friend's happiness like a hungry mosquito. "It was a lot to take in," she added.

"You don't ever have to be sorry." Akko let her hand fall back to her side. There was so much that she wanted to do, wanted to say. She wanted to pull Diana into her arms and hold her until every worry and every horrible thing just fell away. Her feet were pulling her there, moving like one of Constanze's automated machines, but instead of doing what she wished she would, she simply sat next to Diana and held her hands in her lap. The magic sparked between them, and for a moment Akko was sure she saw a flicker of green. Her insides wrenched. "I would be upset, too," she said at last.

Diana turned her head away, a few thick strands of blonde falling around her temple to hide her eyes from Akko. Her back was rounded as she pressed her hands against her knees, a far cry from the perfect posture that was her norm.

Akko lifted her hand, tempted to push the hair from Diana's eyes, but instead slowly returned it to her lap. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yes," Diana said. They both sensed it wasn't the truth, but sometimes saying that it was could be enough to at least make it a little longer. Akko knew that well. "Just… stay here, would you?"

Akko nodded. For a long time, the two sat, side-by-side. Akko kept her eyes on her lap, all too aware of the feeling of their legs pressed together, but she didn't dare move.

An almost undetectable brush on her thigh lifted her gaze to find Diana's pinky rested gently on her leg. Diana didn't look up, but Akko could see the blush burning in her cheeks.

Akko's heart was hammering in her throat. She felt a foreign kind of heat flaring beneath her skin, her mouth was dry, her head was swimming, everything felt so weird but so good. She reached forward slowly, terrified that any kind of quick movement would scare Diana away, and tentatively wrapped her own pinky around the one being offered. A tiny bit of green sparked at the connection.

She tilted her head back and set her jaw hard, sighing deeply as tendrils of magic and something else, something deeper, rolled through her body like waves gently lapping the shore.

Neither spoke.

Neither moved.

They stayed there, each gently rolling their finger against the soft skin of the other in a feather-light touch, both wondering how something so small could make everything else feel so far away.