POV Narrator:
Sunday, 11 March 2018, Luna Nova
After Wagandea, Akko sort of gave up on words when she got the news of everything, getting a bit of a guilt trip since some of her stubbornness cost Croix his ability to fly a broomstick and she couldn't even find the word. As for Diana, she spent her time reading document by document and erasing the ones she didn't think were necessary as proof, while others that were useful and even compromising. In the middle of this time another thing would happen in Luna Nova, the enchanted parade, that would serve as a presentation, calling the students of the red team that would have to organize a parade.
POV Akko:
What will it be this time? We were called to the board when it has been the longest time since we got into trouble, this is already being exaggerated, is it for a reward thing of not getting into trouble, or are my grades just too bad to the point of letting the whole team down, so much that I already enter worried while I see all the teachers there.
"Very well girls of the red team, you are the students with the lowest grades in the whole class and because of that you will be responsible for the organization of the enchanted parade, an event that takes place every spring to celebrate the end of the witch persecution" said the headmistress.
"The enchanted parade! Oh wonderful, so we're going to have a Halloween parade and show it off to the whole town! That's amazing!" I say all excited and happy, I had no idea it would be just like that.
"The enchanted parade is a tradition since the persecutions stopped, it's a way of reminding people how cruel the times of the witch-hunts from the 16th to the 18th century were towards us, you will parade as if you were witches judged and blamed by hunters, And then you will be sunk for a while and then taken out, one from each, this way we will remind people not to do the same to us" said teacher Finnelan and I look like the biggest sucked lemon of my life, I am highly disgusted.
"Wait a minute, that's literally like if ex-slaves held a parade where they let people whip them, or Jews held a parade where they let the Germans playfully holocaust them, do you realise how wrong that is? I'm not going to do that!" I say it very clearly.
"Akko, this is worth the grade for you to pass the year, so it is important that you make the parade" said the headmistress.
"Ms Holbrooke I am sorry to interrupt, but Akko has an excellent point, why do we have to humiliate ourselves being that the people who should be embarrassed are the people who oppressed us in the past, nowhere in the world do parades like this because it is something extremely controversial and we are also a minority in society" Said Professor Croix on our side.
"I agree with Professor Croix, this kind of tradition should not even have been started, it is something that is more to humiliate us than to make people aware of our history and ashamed of our past, they even look forward to throw tomatoes at us, I have always been against this parade - said Professor Ursula and one more from our side, suck this old professor.
"If it's an enchanted parade, why don't we show everyone how incredible magic is and really make it an enchanted parade, so that people watching can believe in magic more, instead of giving ammunition to prejudice" said the headmistress and I noticed the frown on the faces of all the elderly teachers.
"So you will be responsible for organizing the event if you intend to change, everything will depend on how well the city will receive this new news, good luck to you in making people accept not having to throw tomatoes at you" said the director and with that I am even happier.
"So is that a yes?" I ask the headmistress.
"Do it your way, just do it. It's an important tradition, the enchanted parade, and before the witch hunts they were done as an event to emphasize the importance of magic, so I don't think it will break any traditions, just do it right"
"Oh and the blue team will work with you on this one, they are the other trio with the lowest grades, so get yourselves organised properly, it's not enough now to break tradition..." Said the boring old teacher.
And that's fine with me, Cons still has the Gran Charion, we can reuse the ship, we can also use Amanda's manoeuvres, Jasminka's magic power, all at once to make the best impression of all in magic, everyone will see how magical it will be, even Chariot will find out how this all is, she will notice me, I will make everyone excited for this presentation one way or another, I have faith in that.
Later in the red team room, with the green team girls also gathered there...
"So Akko, you've really changed the business of taking tomatoes so we can make a presentation... I'm mad at you for this stupid idea, but at the same time it's worth it, I'm not in the mood for being humiliated and carrying tomatoes, but how do you want to do it? After all, for a presentation you have to think about all the details," Amanda said.
"We'll make the invitations first and spread them around town, inviting everyone, it'll be a new parade, so we'll even have a new personalized invitation, we'll stop by The Last Wednesday Society and ask Chum to design a cool invitation, then we'll start rehearsing a choreography, which you'll help lead Amanda, you are the best when it comes to coordination and movements, Cons will be in charge of the special effects, Lotte you can sing, it could be very good for us if you sing with us, the rest of us will take care of preparing the allegory for the party, I've been thinking about using the Gran Charion for that"
"Ah Akko I don't know if I can sing very well in public, I tend to get very nervous" Lotte said.
"I can try a choreography, but you have to cooperate, apart from myself, otherwise you are not very good with coordination and movements"
"Just relax and remain calm, we may be able to captivate with a presentation" I tell the girls.
Later at The Last Wednesday Society...
Yes, Chum managed to make some cool invitation posters, it was a very cool design, I knew he knew a lot about art, it was exactly the way I asked, now we will be able to captivate and invite people.
"Well, that's all I could do, I thought your idea of changing the enchanted parade was great, I had to be one of the victims of this "event", that's kind of sick, but girls, you managed to make Holbrooke's head, you have to keep thinking strong, I know you'll go far, if you want you can leave some papers here, I'll spread them when I have some free time around town, since you still have classes" said Chum and I even shook his hand.
After we left The Last Wednesday Society we split up into groups and are going to spread the posters around the city, hopefully now we can invite lots of people and still interested, the wild hunt was very successful, I don't know if now it will be as good as this one.
POV Amanda:
I thought that having Akko's team would free us from participating in the enchanted parade, but it seems that we also have our necks tied, but that's ok, let's put up the posters around here, I go with the girls walking around the city, putting them on some posts, until a group of kids arrives.
"Look if it isn't the witches" A boy said and I just didn't care.
"Let's make them have a taste of the enchanted parade" Said another who started throwing tomatoes.
"Oh come on! You're going to stay right there" I say, already getting furious, starting to use magic.
I was the best pitcher in the fifth grade, I started to throw the tomatoes that I caught with my hand and threw them back at the kids, I even caught some of them on the head.
"Take that, you soft arseholes, are you really going to bother us? Then get some lead!" I say this while throwing the balls.
Even Constanze joined in, we were throwing our balls and making these idiots swallow a little, they will only see what is really tasty, so much so that they started to run as they got filthy, we really are not to be trifled with, after they had left, I breathe a sigh of relief, finally these idiots left us alone, I hope they don't mess with us.
"That's it, you bunch of fools, you want to play tomato, go take tomato back, here is the new era of the witches, now the change has come!" I tell them to go away.
"That was a close one Amanda" Jas said.
"I wanted to be a baseball player when I was younger, I played every day in a field near my house, I pitched like nobody's business, that Yankees cap I wear, I won it when I went to a stadium for the first time, I was 12 years old and my grandma took me before she passed away, it was very angry" I tell the girls.
"The posters" Jasminka said and I'll remember to stick them up everywhere.
From there, after the boys had annoyed us, we continued to walk and spread the posters, the boys didn't even come to annoy us anymore, finally we are at peace, the problem will be if they call their mother, but they deserve it.
Back on Luna Nova, in Croix's laboratory...
POV Croix:
It's been a few days, a few days since that funny witch invaded my lab, but funny that she didn't do anything, someone must be here trying to find a way to mess with my stuff, or to find some proof, I know this because they messed with my computer, anyway, time will be running out if it's about finding some dirt on my plans and trying to stop me... I think I'll have to make one more measure, and I'll take advantage of the enchanted stop, another machine of mine, Noir Rod will get a little more load with that and then I'll only need the energy of the sorcerer stone to fuel it, it will be too easy to do that.
"Cube Titan you will be our next means of getting magic" I say as I click on the project.
With the Cube Titan I can cause an unexpected reaction of panic in the whole town and also make everything bizarrely magical, so people will be confused and think it's all part of the festival, except the girls, and if I know Akko, she will go with Claiomh Solais, which will be perfect, she defeats my Cube Titan with the Claiomh Solais, I get more energy for my staff with it and with that I will get much more energy than I imagined for my Noir Rod.
My cubes were passing through the sky, heading towards the city of Glastonbury, where the titan will be just there waiting for the bait to bite, right on the day of the festival I activate his mode to cause the biggest chaos in this parade and with this I fake the biggest attack, make everyone end up crashing, giving emotions, then I provoke Akko and her friends, they will use the staff against the monster and thus defeat it and the magic power goes to the Noir Rod, everything perfect and well planned, just the way things should be.
The next day in the physical education yard of Luna Nova...
POV Akko:
Amanda called us here to rehearse after class, I even put on my physical education clothes, I can't wait to see what she has prepared, there she came with a broom in her hand and started to do the biggest dance spinning with the broom along with it, until she stopped in a pose where she lifted her leg, I was a bit dumbfounded, she wants us to do this.
"Well it's quite easy, but you don't have to imitate me, I want to see what you can do with a broom" she said handing it to each one.
Sucy just danced and hid herself inside the broom, Lotte tripped and fell, Jas didn't even care and kept eating, while Cons just used the Stanbot and the robot took the broom doing some choreographies like Amanda's, But in a smaller and cuter way, in my turn I try at least to spin the broom in my hand starting Amanda's choreography, but it's a disaster, I spin my body, but I trip and fall on my butt, this is too hard to do.
"Ahhhhh, I'll be honest here with you gals, you're going from bad to terrible, but we can work something out this week, try to go for something more basic, since you have no notion of dancing" She said.
"Oh come on Amanda, look at us, we're just witches and not dancers, where did you learn so much like that?" I ask her.
"When I was a child my mother forced me to dance Ballet until I was 9 years old when I didn't want to go to those classes anymore, so I stayed from 5 to 9 years old learning how to be a ballet dancer, so I know a little bit, I don't forget the classes, although I hated every time the teacher pulled my leg" she answers and I am even impressed.
"So how do you expect people who've never taken a dance class to get to your level? Take it easy Amanda, we'll try, but take it slow, and we've got some time to sort out the rest of the stuff" I tell her.
And with that we slowly try to do the choreography, this time with all the help Amanda could give us, she was patient in correcting our posture and making us follow the steps correctly, but soon our peace would be interrupted, when Diana shows up with Hannah and Barbara there, but this time they didn't come to mock us as they did at Samhaim festival, they even clapped for us, what a strange thing.
"Well done Akko, I've heard the news around, ye're going tae change the enchanted parade" Cavendish said.
"Yes, I think it's absurd that we have to present and humiliate ourselves in front of everyone, it's the biggest idiotic thing"
"I never thought it was a correct tradition, nae least because before the hunting eras the performances of the enchanted parade were always tae emphasise magic, even in many of the golden age years of magic even after the hunt the performances were the best, that was only changing in the 20th century with Headmistress Holbrooke" Diana said and I thought it was even impressive that she gave us that fact.
"So you mean that the tradition of years is what we are rehearsing and not what was the original idea?" I say curiously.
"Holbrooke wanted an idea sae that the people who had oppressed the witches sae much would be aware of that, but she applied it very poorly, it would be easier tae show a parade about our persecution at the hand of the hunters, this tradition of the enchanted parade I've always found very humiliating, ye lassies getting tomatoes from people who dinnae even know what we've been through, just because yer grades are low, well anyway, I can help ye, what will ye need help with?" said Diana until I sort of decided just no.
"We don't have to, it's really cool that you have that intention now, but we don't have to, we want to do this on our own, we're going to do something cool" I say to Cavendish who walks out of there with the girls, without before Hannah appears in front of Amanda.
"Hey Hannah, not in front of the others" O'Neill said all flushed after receiving a selfie.
"I could help too, I know how to dance, but since Akko doesn't want to" she said leaving and then I see Amanda's expression a bit angry.
"Ah Akko missed the biggest chance, Hannah must know as much as me, better two teachers than just one, now let's all go there, one, two, three" Amanda said and we went again trying the choreography.
This time with more calm, following the steps slowly and even managing to keep a balance with the broom, Amanda is being patient with us, we just need to let it flow and by the end of next week we'll have a choreography ready and very well done, this will be the best.
A while after the rehearsal...
We're all tired now, trying and trying that same choreography, it's really stuck in my head, I swear I'll never miss it for a minute, now that it's over we sit down and even Amanda gets tired, sending a thumbs up to us.
"Keep at it, now what are we going to do next?" O'Neill asks.
"Lotte how is the songwriting going?" I ask her.
"I was a bit nervous, but I managed to put something together, will I sing for everyone anyway? Won't you at least give me some support, I'm too embarrassed to sing" she said.
"I can be your backing vocal since that can help, who knows so everyone in agreement the presentation flows much better, well then what else is missing, that even I forgot" I say scratching the back of my head, until Cons shows Gran Charion.
"Ah the Gran Charion, what are we going to do around it? They've already built a good part of it for the wild hunt, will there be room for all of us?" Amanda says and the shorty agrees.
"Ah, there's too much space over there, we'll manage to make a nice stage, we'll even include some dancing brooms on top of it, we'll just decorate it for the performance, put a bit of decoration to remember the magic" I tell the girls.
"Then let's go" said Sucy.
We left the physical education room, walking back to the Luna Nova building, waving to some students, they must already know about the enchanted parade, little do they know that everything will change, it won't be that shameful thing from before.
We arrived at the green team's room, then we went down the slide, where we all fell one by one, with me being the first to be crushed, already not holding the weight, and Cons was the last to fall and even walked after cushioning the fall.
"My back is not a mattress, do you want to leave me without walking?" I say, pushing them away, feeling some pain.
"Ah you who was the first idiot to jump" Amanda said mockingly to my face.
"Less fighting girls, we have to make preparations for the parade" Lotte said.
We got up from there and walked to the huge ship, I missed it so much, it's the same as when Cons and I used it last time, but what the hell, everything preserved, will it become Gran Charion too? Anyway, we arrive and I keep looking at everything, just thinking, the ship was bigger than I thought it really was, but I think it fits in the middle of the main avenue.
"What about Akko? Where do we start from? What are we going to put in?" O'Neill asks.
"First we will put banners around, with colours that remind us of Luna Nova, to adorn the ship, then we will decorate it up there, we will make the Gran Charion an allegorical ship" I say excitedly while I think about what to do, but still without much idea.
We are starting the decoration, passing purple stripes around the Gran Charion, where there will also be some symbols of Luna Nova, this will be the most enchanted stop of all, besides leaving several brooms on the prow of the ship, we decorated the sails with the academy's symbol, I am even happy with the result that is being obtained, the red boat, with some purple details, this is going to be great, the symbols too, I am even mentalizing everything, we are doing the decorations very fast and the result is getting cool.
"We don't need much, we already had the ship anyway" Amanda said.
"To think that the parade will be the day after your birthday, we can't even celebrate properly" I tell O'Neill.
"Oh I don't give a shit about this day really, let's just make this business cool, I want to have fun, anything would be better than getting tomatoes in the face and sinking in the water and then being stuck in those old fashioned things while the city humiliates us" she said and I agree, she's absolutely right.
"Well then I'm sorry if I can't throw you a party or something Amanda, I know it must have been cool and everything"
"Since I was a kid my parents forced me to be their perfect little girl, even parties they were controlling, inviting strange people that I didn't even know, that had kids that weren't even from my school and when they were, they were the ones that picked on me, My grandma even tried to help, she was the best person I had, but now that she's gone, things got complicated, sending me to Luna Nova was the last thing they did and since then I never went back home, they're enjoying life alone while I'm here in this hell"
"Wow, I am even shocked, my parents were the best I could imagine, to see parents like that makes my heart squeeze, even Diana went through bad things, she lost her mother early, she had to stay in the hands of her aunt who is a monster and the other mother we don't even know who she is" I tell O'Neill.
"Not every witch can have a loving family, some have very abusive families, I just want to get it over with, get my money from my grandma's inheritance and get out in the world ta on... I can live my life free, travel around, do what I really want in life, make the most of it, without my parents bothering me, it would be perfect" she said and I'm putting my hand on her shoulder while we go giving the last touches on the ship.
Meanwhile in the blue team's room, Diana was sort of glancing at the computer, already taking more of the evidence about how the Dream Fuel Spirit works...
POV Diana:
Let's take a better look at this Dream Fuel Spirit, I've seen the other documents, it has good evidence, but here it must have more convincing, I open the PDF file and read around what already shows kind of a conclusion of how it's going tae be done, things that even end up giving me a bit of a shock.
"Dream Fuel Spirit #13"
"I'm sorry to all the kids, but it's a worthwhile sacrifice in the name of being able to bring change to magic, your magical potential will be drained in exchange for ensuring better and better realized effects, as well as providing better emotions for those watching, I'm sorry for that when I tell you about Chariot, but I will test it as soon as possible, the presentation in Japan will be the ideal moment, I hope it works well, it may give the boost we need from the audience, but at a very high cost, now following the way it works".
Wow, that's horrible, seriously this woman is still trying tae justify such a thing, if she had good intentions she wouldn't have even started using it... Well, this here will be the gotcha I need, I'll definitely add it tae Croix's dossier when things get tight, since they might end up chasing Chariot at that time too.
"Hey Diana!" Said Hannah who kept popping up as she was on the computer.
"Ye can talk" I tell her.
"Wow you really don't leave that computer, since you took it from your house I've only seen you using it, haven't you found your mother's whereabouts yet?" England said and I dinnae want tae reveal too much about Croix's dossier, sae better just say something about another subject.
"I found out that I use fake documents since my mother died, my birth certificate is fake and now I will have tae look for a real one, or I might even lose my registration here in Luna Nova, apparently it must be with my other mother, but I dinnae know where she is" I tell Hannah sae she dinnae suspect about Croix's investigation.
"What about all the things you bought on your family card and bank account? - she asks me.
"They are in my name, the card was made years ago before my mother Bernadette died and it is still active because of my other mother, who I never noticed that she was the one who was handling it and even leaving some change once in a while, the money itself from my mother's inheritance was nae released until now, I will only be able tae access it when I am 18 years old and it seems that nae part of it went tae that other mother, half of it went to my person and the other half tae another one that I dinnae want tae inform the name... All I know is that this other person is... My younger sister... - I tell Hannah until Barbara also appears shocked by the gossip.
"Woah! I can't believe you might have a little sister, what the fuck, is that going to be it?" Said Parker walking into the middle.
"Younger sister? But your mother had another daughter?" England said shocked.
"Even I dinnae know that, it must have been the fruit of this other mother of mine too, I think that as we are of the same blood it might all be connected, well somehow it's all much more mysterious than it seems... I nae only know I have another mother, I also know I have a sister... I wonder what else there is tae this new family that I dinnae even know exists? - I tell them that they are just shrugging.
After that I even close the notebook, where I start tae reveal some papers, what I end up showing them everything that I managed tae trace of investigations until then, the whereabouts of my other mother has been something that has been sticking and a lot in my head, sae much that they are curious.
"Diana, why the fuck is my mother in the middle? I'm older than you" she said and I quickly explained.
"I know, it was just one of my suspicions, but it's very weak, since Beatrice herself denies informing, she also dinnae say anything about the time when my mother studied with her, nae anything, ye mother is a tough nut tae crack, nae doubt she is nae my mother, the suspicion came first because she is a redhead" I tell the girls where I show them the photo of other students of that time.
"Wow they're all redheads" Barbara said.
"That's what I could notice, I discovered by a vision at the time Akko revealed the second word that my mother was a redhead, the problem is that the 80's in Luna Nova had a flood of redheaded schoolgirls there, but those are many of my suspicions, from what I also heard of the stories of romance that my mother told before she died, I dinnae remember anything" I tell them.
"What about your mother's diaries? Doesn't she have any?" England asks.
"Unfortunately they all left when she died, nae one knows where she is, I even tried tae find them before the fire, but Anna told me that she took them away, it must have gone tae the hands of my other mother, I realized that everyone around me, dinnae want me tae know this secret, but I will find out" I say determinedly tae them.
"Wow but they're all kind of cute, I swear I wouldn't go more for personality as well, like it could be something that's similar to you" Hannah said.
"That's what gets me, in the yearbook there is nothing like that, I would need tae call them all and try tae find records, but I can't do that without committing crimes, I can't just go into someone's register without their consent and find their address and family members, or even their phone number, I have tae do it very meticulously, until I find the contact, it's a lot to work out" I say tae the girls.
"Good luck on your quest Diana, I know you'll make it" Parker said patting me on the shoulder and then Hannah too, the two then left and I could be at peace tae see more of the plan, I could buy some time, but Croix case is the priority of this time.
POV Narrator:
The enchanted parade is in its moments of preparation, where it will soon be held to cause quite a lot throughout the event, but of course it will have a hand of Croix on a day that will be to cause quite a stir around the witches, all in the name of his plan and goal involving the seal of the Gran Triskellion.
See you, preparation witches...