POV Narrator:
Wednesday, 18 October 2017, Luna Nova
The weekend at the "discipline dorm" had passed and in this half Diana and Ursula even managed to protest against the teacher Finnelan about the rules of behavior in the room, since even the headmaster herself didn't follow them, even the teacher, so nobody objected to the way Akko, Lotte and Sucy behaved in their rooms, leaving them without being punished, This was a moment where the friendship between the girls of the red team and Diana was growing, since they talked a lot in the meantime, they were discovering more things about each other, even Cavendish was becoming more tolerant in relation to Kagari's taste for Shiny Chariot, and the teacher Ursula, who was also there, brought games for them to have fun, like board games and cards, being there a moment that yielded a good fun at the weekend.
The week of classes was back, this time Akko just needed that week of detention to be free and hopeful she was for it to be over, after all it had been some good days considering cleaning corridors, in the middle of one of those classes she ended up hearing a sentence from teacher Lukic.
POV Akko:
Again I can't understand anything in these classes, I just know that the teacher is making a potion that is around bringing things back to life, until that is interesting, can witches revive dead people? I think that could be something to think about, imagine how amazing it would be if someone who lost their relatives could bring them back.
"Death, the one that is the eternal punishment for life, the end of everything, but that with a potion can be reversed, in this case to be able to bring this rare mandrake back to life so I can perform more potions with it, but know about the very clear rules about bringing things back to life, we do not do this with people or animals, those who bring the dead back to life receive a punishment worse than death" said teacher Lukic and I just floated away.
Who would be crazy enough to bring the dead back to life, and it would smell so bad, really, what a useless class, hahahaha, ah what a silly thing to do, well, I guess that today at least we can enjoy the day, right? After scrubbing the floor the girls called me to go out to the city, I'm really looking forward to it.
Later that day...
Seriously, what is Sucy doing in a cemetery, I thought we were going to hang out at The Last Wednesday Society's café, that's where it's nice to be, the attendant is very nice to us, he is one of the few witches I know, I didn't even know there were witches too, what a boring thing, a cemetery, what does Sucy want with this.
"Sucy, what are we doing here?" I ask her and she shrugged.
"We are after the remains of a Mandrake that was buried here in the city, from what I could read in the books here in Glastonbury there are some remnants of the golden age of magic" She said and I just kept rolling my eyes.
"We came here for a plant? Come on, we can find a plant anywhere" I tell her, kind of rolling my eyes, but let's go for it, right? Try to find those damn mandrakes.
I'm walking with no bag for anything, I thought we were going to have a coffee today, right now that my body is all broken from sweeping, I'm even looking around and walking, but I end up stumbling in Sucy, who was holding the potion and that fall ends up falling on top of a tomb... Now we are really going to get in trouble, aren't we.
"Holy shit Akko, look what you did" She said angrily as the potion was absorbed into the ground.
Then a hand with bones comes out of the earth, I get all scared, now it will be a horror movie, we will have to kill a zombie, the hand goes up and a skeleton of a person comes out of it, I look at the girls and try to hold the skeleton, but out of nowhere it starts to run and takes me with it, until I slip and fall face down on the ground, damn... If this thing shows up in town, it's going to scare everyone.
"Come on girls, we can't let this skeleton get to town" I tell them and we all go together after this skull, but shit, just when I thought I would have a weekend without any punishment this happens to us.
In the city...
We looked everywhere, but nothing, this skeleton hides very well, but soon we managed to identify him, he put on some clothes, it seems that it is of a soldier of the time, we entered the bar and this time we looked very attentively at the skeleton itself that was even spilling beer on the floor.
"Listen here you need to go back where you came from, they can't know we're here walking with a skeleton" I tell him.
"I have to find the one who made me like this" He said and I was just getting a pouty face.
"And I don't know, come on, we have to go out" I tell him that he is still stubborn, I don't even know how the skeleton can talk even without having vocal chords, that's too weird.
"I need to find him, come with me" he said and started walking out of the bar and we followed him, but damn, we were walking in the city and he was looking around, people might see us with a skeleton and find everything weird.
"Can you be more discreet, nobody can see us with a dead man, you know?" I tell him.
"This here is very different from when it was in my time, things have changed a lot since the golden age of magic, is there anywhere here that contains magic at least? It seems that it disappeared with time" he said and I already had the idea.
"Let's take him to The last Wednesday Society, maybe Chum will know how to sort it out for us" I tell the girls.
At The Last Wednesday Society...
Whew, here we were not perceived as being next to a dead person, Chum attends us and is even surprised with the skeleton gentleman that was with us, even so he comes to us and keep observing the details and noticing that he was even moving gets even more scared.
"Woah, what a strange little thing girls, I have to say, well this guy here I've never seen, besides nice clothes, what have you done to him?" Chum said.
"We had an accident with a potion and it fell on the lapid, so he's after whoever did this to him, any ideas Chum?" I ask him who keeps scratching his chin.
"Look I honestly don't have the slightest idea, but you can tell by the clothes that this is someone who came from the first half of the 19th century, in the late golden age of magic, he must have witnessed some very incredible moments in that era sir" Chum said.
"Ah those were very good times, the witches did amazing things, they helped us in battles, but it was in one that I was summoned that I had to leave this world and I want to look for the reason why I ended up here, the person that I left and left alone... I failed her" said the skeleton lord.
"And where do you think this person is? It is very likely that this person is also dead because of his age" I tell him.
"Why don't we go to his lapidary then?" asks Sucy.
"Well, anyway, I hope I have helped you, if there is anything you need just ask me, I will cover for you if the teachers show up, I have heard a lot about you in the Luna Nova newspaper, the trio of troublemakers, you are really getting quite a reputation, it makes me think of my times too" he said.
"Wait, Chum did you study in Luna Nova? You are a witch, there is only a school of magic for witches" I ask him and he nods his head.
"Magic and science do their miracles" He said moving his hands and making a glow that came out in pink, blue and white colours passing by, I don't know what it means but it's strange that Chum once studied in a school of magic.
On the lapstone...
We arrived here discreetly, so we decided to have a look at the tombstone and I see exactly the name of the gentleman, it was written Thomas 1831-1871, but there was no surname visible, the tombstone was a bit faded, we found ourselves without much choice, we had to dig.
"I'll help you" He said and the skeleton also went to help us, or rather Thomas.
Wow this dead guy knows how to dig fast, he really knows how to transcend death in this hahaha, we were digging together which made it a lot easier, until we got to his full blown coffin, it was half open full of dirt, we managed to get some things that were around, one of them was a pendant, which he took and even gave a little hug.
"A pendant, really? We dug for it? Aside from the attention we draw" I tell him with a huge frown on my face.
"See it for yourself, that's what I want to find" He said and I opened the bag, noticing that there's a picture of him when he was alive and a woman with greenish hair, besides one of a child there, who looks like his mother.
"Are they your wife and daughter? Are we going after them? They must be dead by now" I tell him and he shrugged.
"I will go until my last moment, I will not rest until I meet Miranda again, my beloved daughter, I could not return to her after facing the war" He said and now it makes sense.
Who the fuck is Miranda, we get out of the tomb, we go looking at one by one, none of them has the name Miranda, if this man at least had a last name, I would be able to know something, like almost nothing, besides that no tomb here has her date of birth... Wait, I don't know what it is.
"Thomas when was your daughter born?" I ask him.
"1864, certainly not and none of the tombstones here, I didn't see any with the date of my Miranda, and now, how am I going to do? I guess I'll have to run and run, that's the only way I'll find my Miranda"
"No!" I say this and he starts to run away.
Only he didn't get very far, he was kind of caught by a magic dome, preventing him from walking forward, ah I know, now we're in trouble, a dead man back to life, who knew, now I'm really kicked out of this place, well at least it was good while it lasted, we walk to where everyone was and Thomas's skeleton is freed, where he goes running to the headmistress.
"Miranda! It's you!" said Thomas hugging the headmistress, which I found strange as well as the teachers next to us.
"What?" We all said.
"Are you the father of..." I ask him.
"Yes, nice to meet you Thomas Holbrooke, I'm Miranda's father, I promised her that I would come back from the war to hug her, now I'm here to do that, I'm eternally grateful for your help, thank you girls" He said to us taking off his hat, what a polite guy, it's only fucked up that it's because of this skeleton that we're in the biggest trouble now, fuck you.
"Father, I have been waiting every day for you to come back, we received the news and were too sad, so much so that we took your body to be buried in your home town, I did many things in that time too, I graduated as a witch, I became the director of this same school of witchcraft that I graduated and now I have these students who could bring you back for a while" said the director who even shed a tear.
"Now my work here is done, I can finally have my eternal rest, thank you girls" Mr Holbrooke said and I even got a smile on my face.
After the hug we walked to his tombstone, where he lay down, the teacher used a spell to break his "life" and with that he became again a normal skeleton, I'll miss him, then we buried him back, in case we were made to do that, since we are already in a jam.
On the board of directors...
"Bringing a dead person back to life, you have committed one of the greatest crimes known in the world of witchcraft, is a punishment worse than death, you will wish you were dead when you go to do it" Professor Finnelan said.
"It was an accident, we have already told you, there is no reason to put a punishment this severe for us, at least leave us with the weekend off to rest, it is not enough that we stay every weekend in detention" I tell them.
"And who are you to be in a position to ask for something, you don't have to demand anything, you committed a very serious infraction of the rules, you should be expelled and judged by the superior council of magic, you have no idea of the gravity of what you committed, it was something that breaks the laws of nature, you are lucky that we are not going to do that, the headmistress is easing up a lot for you, you are committing a crime" said the boring teacher and I had no idea how serious it was.
"Unfortunately Finnelan is right, we could even have our school of magic in risk of being closed because of this, due to your infraction the punishment will be from today and will last the whole weekend, you will do it after Akko finishes her housework, Then you will do a rotation for all the corrective detention works, this is so that you become aware that you are committing a serious crime and that you never commit again, nor cogitate to make the same mistake" Said the director to us what I was getting already broken, it was not enough the slave service that I was finishing now this one... Because I have to be in this again.
"Okay, we'll go and do it, since that's what you think" I say with my back already feeling the pain.
In detention...
It is not enough to be here repairing broken brooms and even having to manufacture some from scratch, the director is with us, which I think we should relax a bit just to see if she will relieve us and we can make it end soon, it will be 5 days straight in this slave work, I take advantage and ask about why she insists so much on continuing with this.
"So headmistress, how was this golden age of magic that your father lived, he told us a bit of the details" I tell her.
"Oh, the golden age, the age of the great witch Jennifer, did you know that I am her descendant? Well, she didn't have the surname Holbrooke, because it was passed down from my father, because of the many marriages between my ancestors we kept changing the surname all the time to the point that the original just fell into oblivion, Jennifer Moon, I arrived here and the place was in a very organised era, the headmistress was still her, she was already at an advanced age, The classes here were much more complex than you ever had, our teaching was much easier all these years, if you had studied here at the time I studied in 1880, you wouldn't have passed the first day" she said and I was just listening to her story, I was even a little curious, I want to see if she tells more.
"Was it that complicated? And how did we become so conservative?" I ask her just to see if I understand this story better.
"I don't know if they still told them in history class, but we had a big dispute in the past in this golden age of magic, between two witches, Jennifer Moon and Victoria McLaren, two sides that thought differently, one side had the preservation of traditions in a way that magic could go back to the glorious past of the nine witches, on the other side change, technology, the inclusion of mundane things to magic that could be a shot in the foot in all our tradition that Jennifer fought so hard for, these new things would make magic become something useless, fortunately history benefited us, Jennifer won this influence dispute even in a very close way in relation to Victoria, not that McLaren hadn't done great things, but only my ancestor who revived Luna Nova and brought her to the greatness of the past, Victoria who was one of Jennifer's first pupils wanted to betray her, wanted to make us witches dependent of the mundane, wanted to put an end to the traditions, I remember a lot of the conversations she had with Jennifer, Victoria since then, with the defeat, stayed in Ireland where the magic council separated from the British and there things are very different, it's by far the worst in the world, anyway, it was good that Jennifer won and we have the world we have today" Said the director with the greatest pride, while my fingers already hurt from having to make the bristles of these brooms, holy shit, I don't know how we're going to stand this.
"And you became director because of Jennifer?" I ask her.
"Ahhhhhh, I became headmistress later, but long after Jennifer left, she had died a little after I graduated, the one who took over was a teacher, but it was only a half temporary position, since I was summoned to start the training to assume this place and it was years of a lot of ordeal, a lot of study, becoming aware of all the documents, vowing to continue everything Jennifer fought so hard for, I took that position in the year 1900, after spending 15 years studying for that position, it's not something any witch can take and just stay, it's the position of the most important school of magic in Europe and in the world, if I wasn't worthy of it I would have given up and how I wanted to, but I was able to hold my own there, so much so that I failed many tests, until I finally got the de facto position, I had kind of held the administrative position for a long time, but never the de facto one, the trials among the witches and the whole issue of telling the nine that I was going to be worthy of being here really stick, but here we are, 117 years of being the headmistress here and I was able to preserve everything that Jennifer fought for, That's why I'm so traditionalist, I don't want her fight to end and be forgotten, I don't want the history to be erased, anyway, you better work there, I'm leaving, thank you for today" said the headmaster who then waved to us leaving and we were even a little relieved that she wasn't supervising us.
I understood some of this history thing, but it's still weird to want to preserve something so much that I'm starting to think that's what's killing magic, damn it, who's going to be interested in magic if it's boring crap? It's because of Chariot that I'm here, because of her way of showing how magic can be fun that I got interested when I was a kid, I would never want to study here if it was the place I know today and also the way witches think it should be... Now I'm curious to know, if things were to go Victoria's way would we live better?
Anyway, better get on with the work here.
"Ahhhhhh, do we have to do all this? There are still several more to go before we can fly with the broom, this is so unfair, so torturous, why do they do this to us"
"You know very well the reason for this Akko, nobody told you to be acting out of foolishness, now because of your slip we are here" said Sucy.
'Oh, you wanted to revive the mandrake, why didn't we just go after the piece of the plant without reviving it?" I ask her.
"Because it would fall apart, it's a plant with 150 year old remains, I would have to throw some of the potion to at least take it in my hand and then bring it here, now I won't even be able to perform another experiment, it ruined everything Akko" She said and still wanting to be right, I was already getting there was enough, it's not my fault.
"I already said it was an accident, I don't know why you are still complaining, if you knew the risk you wouldn't take us and you would get hurt yourself" I tell her already getting pissed off, she doesn't even get to do what I do every day and she wants to give an opinion.
"Hey, you two, stop fighting, we have to unite, fighting like this we will never be able to do our job properly" Lotte said, calming my nerves since I was about to get into a fight with Sucy.
"all right" I say half inflating my cheeks.
"I just wanted to enjoy the time, damn it, why do you always get us into trouble, Akko? You're always a magnet to lure us into detention" said Sucy.
"This time it wasn't totally me, it was an accident, and when you called Diana and Ursula to come to the room because of your experiment, I didn't complain for a second, seriously, because you still complain, you don't know what it's like to spend every day in detention, I had to relieve the cloth for you guys in the case of teacher pisces and I'm up to this day cleaning the floor" I tell her who gets a little quieter.
"Oh you know what, leave it, I'm not going to waste my time talking to you Akko, we waste less time working than arguing" She said and finally got quiet, but I'm really pissed, it's not enough to work in detention earlier, now I have to work again, I swear it seems that I'm the person who works the most in Luna Nova and even then I don't earn an ounce of money, finally the slave.
Quietly we really worked better, we went one by one making the brooms, with each part, repairing the broken ones, some had even splinters, what we have to be careful, apart from the bristles, my hand doesn't even know if it is alive or not, because I went to stick myself in this place... Chariot, wherever you are, please know that I can't stand this place anymore, but I won't give up, one day I will meet you again, know that very well, heh, I hope you can, if you are here you must know how worthy I am to see you at least.
In a room away from there in the blue team
POV Diana:
Another day of class, readings, now I have to think about how is going tae be the choreography for the day of the Samhaim festival, it will be in a fortnight and these girls have to rehearse everything right for us tae get the title of Moonlight Witch, at least this one I will guarantee, I'm sure, anyway, will there be any confusion because of Akko on the day?
What an inconsequential lassie she is, but at the same time, I dinnae know, Akko is so... Akko? I dinnae know what to say, badly behaved, rebellious, even stupid sometimes, I can't think of that kind of thing, but I can't stop thinking about it, this girl has been messing with me since the first day, it's weird.
In the middle of it when I was drawing storyboards for the presentation Hannah and Barbara arrive to talk to me, sure it's to tell about some gossip.
"What is it this time?" I ask them.
"Akko again, she got into the biggest trouble making a dead man come back to life and the funniest of all, the dead man was the director's father hahaha, I can't believe she was really making a mess of it, it seems she doesn't even pay attention to teacher Lukic's classes, she had already said that the punishment for that is worse than death" Barbara said spreading more of the gossip, ah and as usual Akko going to detention, I'm glad she didn't do that to my mother... But her tomb is in Edinburgh, there is no way to get close to it, at last Akko being Akko.
"Hey Diana, don't you want to come with us to see her in detention, we can guarantee some good laughs making fun of her, hahahaha, maybe she'll learn the lesson that she shouldn't mess with the dead" Hannah said and I immediately showed irritation, what kind of low behavior by England.
"Nae!" I say almost shouting and the two of them even get scared.
"Woah Diana, we weren't supposed to make you nervous or anything, but like, it'll be funny, she only makes these messes because she deserves them, she seems to go after them, like a magnet" Said the redhead who is always so cruel, I wonder how I got tae be friends with this creature.
"Hannah, honestly, dinnae you realize how vile this is already, this is very low for a witch, it's nae justifiable tae treat someone like that just because you are a witch, she did a horrible thing, but what kind of human being are you tae keep making fun of someone in detention, it's nae enough that you wanted to dirty the corridors more to get in the way of Akko's work... What is it with you guys chasing her? Can't you have an ounce of empathy? Sometimes I even think you are my friends just out of interest and because I am a Cavendish, but not because I am genuinely an interesting person"
I already expected this reaction, they froze in front of me looking at my eyes, even a few tears fell from both of their faces, what then came Barbara to me, sitting beside me, Hannah stayed standing, by the nine lesbian witches, there's also no reason tae act like children with Akko, she dinnae deserve to go through this, it seems that everything around here wants tae subjugate her just because she doesn't come from a witch family and she's not talented at all.
"You know, Diana, you're kind of right, are we really being that bad? Like she might be breaking the tradition we're all so keen to preserve and if the worst happens" Barbara said.
"It's nae going to happen, simply because we've had students with worldly backgrounds before who have excelled here, we've even had students who did badly in the beginning and then did well later on and conquered their space, even though she is someone who preserves tradition, there is nae justification for so much psychological torture on Akko, you know how I went through the exact same thing back home at the hands of my aunt and cousins every day I am there, so much so that I came to Luna Nova also to get away from them, because I could nae stand it anymore, they seem tae want to push me tae give up taking the place that is rightfully mine" I tell them.
"Oh don't say that about us, we're not like that snake aunt of yours" Hannah said.
"You are identical to them! Have you ever put yourselves in Akko's shoes, this girl is going tae get back at you and I'm honestly nae going tae be on your side on this one, I'm going tae think it's a good thing, if you think Akko is just letting this all go unpunished and is just going tae put her head down you're wrong, remember when you messed with Amanda O'Neill, You'll never forget how she infiltrated our room and changed the shampoo for paint, that's because she only gave a warning, I see Akko on the same level as O'Neill in this matter, she has nothing to lose, she doesn't give a damn if she goes to detention or not, you'll end up paying the duck and it will be rewarding in some way."
"I don't even remember that day, that damned O'Neill left my hair all stained, it took three months to get all the dye out, what a bitch, but Akko is different, she's not a witch, she's just an infiltrated human, she's no threat to us, if she tries anything against us, we'll fight back" Hannah said and I honestly was getting sick of them.
"You will only sink even deeper, know that you will only cause a never ending cycle, where all this bullying will never end, who will be the loser will be all of you" I say trying to warn you, even Barbara understands, but Hannah only shows a pouty face.
"Ah, but that's because she has to put herself in her place, she can't continue here and cause the worst Diana, you don't understand the evil that is Akko around here, she has to give it up one day, we can't let the history here become tarnished" I hit the table angrily and she insists on that.
"Aff! enough! ah dinnae wantae blether tae ye anymair, hannah! ah dinnae wantae blether tae ye anymair hannah! ye daft cunt!" I get up from there with nae patience, I go tae the bathroom where I decide tae turn on the hot tub, what a horrible person, she's thinking just like Aunt Daryl, holy Beatrix lesbian, so I have no patience.
POV Narrator:
The punishment more terrible than death came on the back of the witches of the Red Team, who accidentally revived Mr Holbrooke, father of Miranda the director of Luna Nova, where it ended up happening the exciting meeting between father and daughter, besides Akko discovering a little more about the past history of Luna Nova and a little of the golden age of magic that is so exalted.
See you, dead witches...