POV Narrator:
Sunday, 2 December 2018, Luna Nova
The days were passing normally in Luna Nova, as the winter was coming and with it a small recess, giving the end for the first shift, where until then the girls were doing their final exams. In the middle of these days the relationship between the first and second year students were getting stronger, creating a great friendship between them, which was getting intense as time went by, as well as Daryl's plan around Maril pretending to be Brooke and gaining the trust of Diana was working, as the Cavendish was getting closer to the fake Hunter, which she still has no idea and has no idea of the danger that is surrounding her, nor of what can happen.
December had started and in this beginning of the month the girls were all gathering in the blue team's room for a big slumber party, spending all Saturday night there having fun, either playing games, chatting, or doing other things, as dawn fell the girls were getting an idea, more specifically Akko and Amanda.
POV Akko:
It's been a while since we've done any more fooling around, it would be interesting to explore Luna Nova, who knows, we might find out more about it, or whatever, it's been a while since I've done some fooling around, Amanda seems to be agreeing with me and knows exactly what I'm thinking.
"So girls, it's already one o'clock in the morning, what do you think about us going out? Or are you going to turn yellow?" O'Neill said.
"A way out? O'Neill, at this hour the workers and fairies of Luna Nova can catch us on curfew and ye know the punishment fae that will weigh heavily" Diana said.
"That's why we won't get caught, we work together to distract everyone, here there's no camera anyway, we can take advantage and leave without being seen, which will be an interesting tactic to do, what's up Cavendish, are you going to be a pain in the ass again?" Oh here she comes teasing heh.
"I want to too, come on Diana, we are going to explore a little Luna Nova at dawn, without being questioned by the teachers"
"Luna Nova is very well guarded, where do ye want to go, or think of going? The medieval ruins of Luna Nova guard Arcas, and that bear will be hostile tae all of us, except fae Chariot, he's the guardian of the Polaris fountain, unless ye want tae visit even more, underground in the oldest ruins of Luna Nova," she said, and we got interested, and very interested.
"The oldest ruins yet? What do you mean Diana? There are more? We were just thinking of walking around and messing around in the classrooms" I tell her quite curious.
"You lassies really dinnae pay attention in history class, do ye? Luna Nova had three different types of construction, the current one is the third, which was reformed with the help of the great witch Jennifer during the golden age of magic, after the fire that happened here, the second one still has remains like the polaris fountain and also underground, still serving as the structural reinforcement of today's Luna Nova, it was built with the help of the loan they made with Fafnir, but then everything went downhill when the witch-hunting era started and they burned Luna Nova in 1517 and finally the first one, this one which has almost nae remnants left, only one thing or another, books, maybe ruins, but we dinnae know much... Anyway, that explains enough, dinnae think about infiltrating the underground" she said and I'm already looking Amanda right in the eye, knowing what we're going to do.
We just stared at each other, so much so that Diana passed her hand over her face, knowing our foolishness, I think I know what we're going to do then, it might be interesting to find out about this part of Luna Nova, she even rolled her eyes.
"As far as I know there is nae presence of anyone watching, but it is risky tae go there, there is nothing, or there might be something, we dinnae know, but it is a forbidden part, are ye really nae going there?" We were already taking mobile phones, I was even putting on a pair of tennis shoes.
"Do you want to go with us? - I ask her with a straight face.
"Holy lesbian Beatrix, what I dinnae do fae ye, do what I'm going tae do, ye need tae have some brains in yer adventure" She said and I went on already making a point of questioning.
"Are you calling us stupid?" I ask her, just to provoke her.
"Dumb nae, but I am calling ye inconsequential, ye have tae be more aware of things, ye need tae take someone who can keep ye from getting into trouble" She said and I know Diana wants none of it.
"Admit you're curious too Cavendish" Amanda said teasingly.
"I'm nae going tae answer ye O'Neill" She said turning her face away and I just went for a laugh, exactly what I thought, she wants to go as much as we do.
"So who of you will want to go with us?" I ask them.
Constanze, Amanda, Diana, Hellene, Marianne, Brooke and Mirage raise their hands, it seems they are really curious to explore, I thought it would be an adventure that could take Lotte and Sucy, but they seem to be very much on their own, it would be interesting to take Lotte with us for the spirit spells, well anyway, let's just go, they can stay in the room, we can have some fun.
"Nae everyone here is as clueless as ye are" Diana said.
"She said she's just got her curiosity bottled up and she's going to go with us" I said, teasing her.
"Dinnae fill it up" she said already a bit irritated heh.
Then we got ready to leave, the other girls were just staying at the room, they would stay there to communicate with us in case something happened, we thought a lot before doing something stupid.
We put on some shoes, Diana even changed her dressing gown, wearing a more discreet outfit, as if she didn't want to be discovered, she decided to play the secret agent, she even put on an overcoat hahaha.
We got torches, so they wouldn't use magic and suspect us or detect us, besides the mobile phones for communication, ready with everything we left the room first.
"Now let's keep calm, I know where the direction of this underground is, we can't be seen under any circumstances" Whispers Diana who is leading us.
We followed her, sneaking, what was surprising was that the most luxurious girls' corridor didn't have anything, no fairy, we could walk calmly, going down the stairs that started to appear.
With care we were walking around the stairs carefully, being sneaky, until we got to the ground floor.
"Now we have tae go in the basement of Luna Nova, there's still a way tae go, they should keep a lot more watch than here on the stairs" Cavendish whispers.
We followed her carefully, some fairies appeared, but we hid on the wall, luckily no fairy observed us when we reached the staircase to the underground, now we just have to observe well, Diana was the one who looked at us and released the passage, Mari got into character, she even wore a mask to pretend to be a ninja, it was funny, she was the ninja in pajamas.
"And then Cavendish where to"- O'Neill asks.
"Come with me and ye will find out" she said.
Now in the corridors here the surveillance is much higher, we were hiding in the many baskets of clothes that they had, watching the fairies passing by the corridors, we can't be seen or noticed, any use of magic can end up triggering them, Diana who was leading us through the paths and at least she is helping a lot.
The path was getting clear at least, these fairies are pretty annoying, but it seemed to fill up even more with these things around here, but damn, we hid in another dump, I guess we won't be able to make it now.
Constanze takes some carts from her bag, starting to control them remotely, which the fairies started to follow and consequently freeing the way for us, who were following Diana.
"Yes, that's it Constanze!" I whisper to her.
We were almost caught by other fairies coming, they must have been called by the others, we stayed in the corridor hiding and taking cover, already Diana opened a door, which we went in next, it was a very empty room actually, there was only a lot of wood around, it must be the wood storage for the heater of Luna Nova's heating, so much that here is much colder than up there, I was even starting to get steam out of my mouth.
"It's here, only there's nae way we can get through the passage is..." Whispers Diana until Marianne stumbles holding on to a block to avoid falling and this block ends up opening a passage.
"She seems very open to me - I answer Diana who only rolls her eyes.
"Look, I could have sworn it was going to be closed, you were lucky, it was quite accidental - Whatever, at least we found the passage to this place.
"Come on - Amanda is already getting her torch ready, going in first.
We went in anyway and we could see that Diana was showing an expression of anger, but we walked in the stairway, with the help of Constanze's stanbot the way was getting well illuminated, when we got there it was very dark, but with some very small openings, it was a moonlight coming from outside, here it's colder than anything, the cold air really got me, lucky that I was smart enough to leave with a coat, but my legs looked like they were going to freeze, Amanda was shivering with cold.
"What the hell, how did it get cold all of a sudden?" Said O'Neill who came wearing a tank top and shorts, in this case the pyjamas she always wore.
"In case it's smarter that ye came with a coat, now let's go exploring right here" Diana said.
"Easy there, we just got here and you said there's no fairy watching us, we can even talk about it" Then I just saw Amanda using the dressing spell on herself, putting on a coat, with me even getting tranquil with the cold on my legs.
We went together walking in the corridors and it's impressive how here seems to have stopped in time, at the same time it's a little scary, all the stones passing on the wall, how could this be Luna Nova? We enter a place that seemed to be a room, when we look at the lanterns and the place is really a room, very similar to today's, how bizarre, only the things that seem much older.
"Apparently Luna Nova hasn't changed at all since then" Amanda said.
"These tables are at least 500 years old, these tables here have been through a lot, it's even surprising that they are left over even after the fire" Diana said, but looking carefully it seems that they were not very well preserved.
Broken glass on the floor, a lot of vegetation on top, the tables were even with green marks, but it was evident some were destroyed and with burn marks, not everything here resisted the time, we were walking out of there, back to the corridor.
Everything was half burnt, we could see that there were still things left from the fire, I'm even perplexed that we never went here during our history classes, it would be much cooler to learn seeing these things, right in front of us.
"Why didn't teacher Finnelan ever take us here to see this? It would be cooler in history class" I say as I look around.
"Because that is nae how it works, we are underneath Luna Nova, if we fill up here with students, the structure could collapse with the movement of people down here and weigh down here, which would sink Luna Nova and could kill us all" Diana explained.
"And why not reinforce the structure of Luna Nova?" Hellene asks.
"The structure here is reinforced, the problem is these ruins that can fall on us at any time, imagine then a whole room" Cavendish said.
We walked further along the corridor and the rest was green and some very abandoned classrooms, some burned, more than others, it's amazing how things from the fire were well preserved even after 500 years, it's all very shocking, but kind of the same, until we found a staircase, right on the side of this staircase was written.
"The Council was there, I know who they are, the most cruel part of the Roman Christian Order, the one that hunted the witches, they actively came tae hunt us, it was a very complicated period fae us" Diana said.
"So they're the ones who burned here?" I say curiously.
"According tae what they tell, the infiltration came by the hands of Henry Appleton, who came with his men invading Luna Nova after kidnapping a witch, they were witches also secretly, they came here massively attacking the witches, it was a real massacre and a defeat fae us" Cavendish said.
"Henry Appleton, 'e did a real extermination around 'ere, I know dat story, 'e killed any witch dat came, throwing dem in a mass grave, dere were so many witches dat dey filled de hole and 'ad to leave dem in dat room, de survivors were fleeing, few were left, along with Henry Appleton also 'ad the help of none other than Bill Cavendish" Complete Hellene and we were shocked including Diana.
"Cavendish?" We all said surprised.
"The Cavendish 'ad a very dark past in dat century, de witches were stopping de use of magic to chase witches and growing up, dey did ambushes and even Bill himself who led the plan for dat, well every family of witches 'as their dirt back den" McLaren said and we went into a room.
This one had a stronger smell, when we saw it there were bones and more bones, all piled up, that was the one from the mass grave where the victims of the hunters left the dead witches, including one that was in the middle of a suspended thing, with glass, I don't know what it is, but the bones were thrown. Hellene was even walking putting her hand close to the glass, it seems that she knows who it is, we were looking at the other sides of that thing and it was written some things from The Council.
"Agatha McLaren, the director of Luna Nova at the time, she was killed by De Council and fought bravely, to dink you would find 'er remains around here, is really an 'onour for us" Hellene said.
McLaren made her fingers become a knife and went about cutting the glass, then picking up the bones, running her hand over them, she went about using a spell that turned it all to dust, keeping it in a little bag.
"Hellene, have ye gone mad?" said Diana.
"She is part of de family history, I will give 'er an 'onour, I will take 'er to my family home and put 'er in an Urn, you 'ave no idea 'ow centuries we want to find Agatha's remains, she will die an 'onourable death" Hellene said.
"Won't the spirit disturb us?" I ask her.
"I am a McLaren for sure the spirit will not disturb someone who will give a burial with 'onour and pay 'omage... Agatha was great, she held Luna Nova in 'er worst years and was cruelly killed" She said and we even left this room, things got pretty morbid around here.
We walked down the corridor, and it's really fascinating that here there's all this history, we walked to another room, in this one there were much more sophisticated things, still with some skeletons also scattered, but it seems that they were much more of honourable people, from what I'm finding, but there was a book in the middle.
"A book" I say shocked.
"Let's take it carefully, Hey Hellene, there's more of these little bags, we have tae take them without causing any damage, otherwise the book will fall apart just by touching it" said Cavendish.
We went with the bag in hands until we put on gloves, where we took the book with all the necessary care not to damage it, gee I'm really curious to know what it's about, soon I also saw that on the side of the skeletons there were names, they were male names, amazingly enough.
"I wonder if they are witches" I ask the girls.
"It's the witches of The Council, look at the symbols on the side" Diana said.
We even took some pictures, this is going to be shocking, a pity that we can't spread the news of any of this, since it can lead us to detention and even be expelled, even if it's the truth. Disgusting I never thought that there would really be an intense witch hunt and not even that there would be a Cavendish involved in all this, we left that room with the book in hands, they really wanted to symbolize all this, so much that there are some lit candles that don't seem to go out anymore.
"These candles have been lit for 500 years, they really want tae show that they are in charge around here," Diana said.
"My desire is to erase them" I say looking disgusted.
"That might upset the spirits here, better nae, it would be better tae have come back here with Lotte, she can communicate with the spirits and get a sense of what happened, but anyway, let's finish and explore here, before it gets too late" Cavendish said.
We left that room, walking more by the old Luna Nova, some staircases were even buried, a shame, I wanted to see the underground even more, the cold here is really another thing, besides the shivers that come from the spirits, by the nine witches, this place gives the greatest climate.
We find another place, this time a little more open, from what the lanterns could see, so much so that the lanterns didn't have so much range, which Diana ended up using her wand.
"Lux!" An illuminated all in the huge corridor that showed to be the courtyard of Luna Nova, getting all illuminated, we could see that here there was something, it was the old cantina, the chairs are all thrown, now that we could see better I was even a little shocked, blood stains everywhere, that are around for centuries, it must have been here that the biggest massacre occurred.
We started hearing screams, several everywhere when it was lit, they must be the victims of all this, noises of gunfire, sounding like cannons, it was really disturbing, but we kept going, the courtyard became dark again, we walked to the next corridor, this time it was less empty, where we arrived was in the middle of another wide open room, again, Diana used the light spell.
"Is this a bath? I remember hearing that this is how the students used tae bathe" Diana said.
"Wow, there's still water" I say surprised.
"Another life ended up here, this place still has intact aqueducts tae supply water and keep it moving, but I dinnae recommend entering there, there must be life, and the cold will kill us with hypothermia" Diana said.
"It looks a lot like the hot springs and bath houses in Japan, until it's a beautiful place, kind of abandoned but quite intact" I notice that it also has engravings of The Council's symbol.
"It must be really embarrassing, imagine showering naked in front of the others, I would freak out from gay panic" Amanda said.
"We are all girls, even if I am a bit attracted to other girls' bodies, I dink we can be safe, everyone is naked anyway" Hellene said.
"I would hate tae think that nae sae many years ago the showers in Luna Nova were also communal, it was all open, I remember visiting this part that now serves as the lassies' laundry, but back then they showered in front of each other, I'm glad they invested more in privacy, they thought fae once" Diana said.
"In Japan it was still like that in the showers, I was embarrassed to death, but it was the way" I tell them, I'm even relieved that it's not like that here.
"Well, at least each one has her own room, with the right tae privacy, but it wasn't fae the most noble reason, the teacher Finnelan got angry after two students caught each other in the shower, then first came partitions between each shower, then they started tae leave a bathroom fae each one, look, I dinnae know who the girls are, but they are real heroines" said Diana laughing.
"It must be very social, even with the shame, talking to everyone, washing your friend's back, I would do it" said Mirage.
"Don't you two start" Hellene said, even wondering what came into Mirage's imagination after that.
We left that place after photographing it and it's really beautiful, it reminds me a lot of those places from God of War too, now that came to my mind, that part of 2 that has this, after that we went to the corridor, there's still a lot, gee it seems there's no end here.
"Let's stop fae now, another day we'll explore more" said Diana.
"I agree, I thought I'd find something cooler, but it's just an old place full of bush" Amanda said with her hands resting on the back of her head.
"I think it's cool, there are some bits of history here, I would like to take part in history classes if they were this cool and interactive" I tell the girls.
"Good then let's go" Cavendish said.
We took the way back, passing through the corridor, which still continues with the screams, some for help, some of despair, it must really be a terror to have to live in a place like this, for the nine witches, thank goodness that all this passed.
We walk in other corridors with more tranquility, with the light of the lanterns, we can't afford the batteries to run out too, they've been lighting for so long in front of us, but it really scares me, all these symbols, the demons, I never thought I would be afraid of anything.
"This place gives me the creeps" I tell them.
"I told ye that ye would find what ye dinnae want, well anyway it's the past of Luna Nova, the history here will never be clean, in fact it's full of rottenness and dirt, I was more surprised by the Cavendish, I knew that the castle had bad things involved, but I dinnae know that it was built with the blood of those lassies in the hand of our family" Diana said even a little bit sad.
"It's like dat with every family of witches, even mine 'ad an outbreak of incest and also with the history of Isabel McLaren, those were very tense years for us, apart from de massacre of the Williams, a trap attack orchestrated to 'ave de influence of Ireland, we were even attacked back a century later fae all that, but dose who did de massacre of the Williams were nae killed by dem, on the contrary, only innocent witches died, luckily the great Victoria survived all that, finally we are coming" Hellene explained.
"I've heard about this massacre in a very shallow way, I can imagine how frightening it must have been" Diana said and we reached the staircase.
We went up it quietly, looking all around so we wouldn't be caught, reaching the top and luckily there's really nothing, the fairies didn't come here, Hellene pulls the brick that closes the door and we look at each other smiling.
"Now are ye satisfied?" Diana asks and we nod our heads in agreement, we are even too satisfied.
"Shhhhh, we're going to get caught dis way" Hellene whispers and we could almost get caught.
After the long walk back...
We arrived, luckily we weren't caught, now we just have to go into the room and tell the girls the news... They are sleeping, I think we spent too much time there, or maybe it was just an exaggeration, anyway, I think we'll talk more about it tomorrow morning.
"Wow, everyone has fallen asleep," I say looking at them sleeping on the mattresses scattered around the room.
"It's three thirty in the morning, what can ye expect, we've been away the longest," Diana said.
"Well den it's time for us to sleep too" said Hellene, yawning.
"Can I sleep next to you Brookie?" Mirage was already insinuating herself with Hunter and the two of them are going to get it on in no time.
"Behave yourselves, this is my room, dinnae make out, ye'll just end up sleeping apart" said Diana.
"Diana... It's just a cute way to sleep" Du Sud said all stubborn.
"Nae at all, you two can make out in yer own room. We'll just sleep in the bedroom here" And she's right, I don't want to hear moaning.
The two went to sleep separately, luckily, so much so that even Hellene and Marianne got in between them to separate them, but what a relief, well at least today was a nice day, then it was Amanda, the mattresses were all being occupied and I forgot mine.
"Damn Diana, I forgot my mattress" I tell her.
"Sleeps with Cavendish" Amanda implies.
"Oh now Diana can with Akko and I can't with Brooke?" Said the stubborn Mirage.
"Ye can, but that's ye and Brooke, but if ye're making out I'll take ye both to yer rooms" Diana said and I was getting a little embarrassed.
Brooke miraculously didn't want to, well at least I want to, I like to sleep with Diana, we went to her private room, where I lay on the bed, she was getting her dressing gown and going to the bathroom, being the usual shy, she went to change herself, I'm already dying of sleep today, so I just closed my eyes.
Then I felt her lying down next to me, she put her arm under me and started to sleep with me, which made me a little embarrassed, but I was enjoying the feeling, feeling safe, in the middle of Diana.
At the safe house, Brooke was getting an idea...
POV Brooke:
I manage to use a little bit of magic, I'm kinda weak, but I have to do this, I look at the camera, I start doing an illusion spell, it's the little bit of strength I have left, so Daryl will think I'm still lying on the bed when he goes to get the recording. I
get off the bed, I pick up the loose threads of my chain, she hasn't made a point of noticing
yet, I pick up a part of the iron chain
too, I start to go rubbing it on the floor, I'm doing this constantly, noticing that a little dust was coming off, perfect.
"Now you'll see just one thing Daryl, I have a surprise for you" I whisper to myself.
Come on Brooke, let's sand this thing down, she won't notice a thing, I have to build a trap for a visit from her, I'll manage to sharpen one of the chain buds by scraping quickly, I'll leave it in a hiding place, this part here of the floor, it seems to have a false bottom, perfect to leave my tips, come on.
First tip done, this will be useful for my attack when I go to make my escape, she'll never notice this, I'll make sure she doesn't, but I'm weak now, I can't take any more than that, I quickly lie down on the bed and deactivate the illusion spell, I stare to the side, already with that tip put away.
"Now this woman will see, I promise to avenge you mother" I whisper again to myself.
I think I can prepare many ends, at least one for each dawn, using this spell, I can hide myself, then prepare things, she'll never notice, when the attack is about to be armed I'll trigger everything and she'll pay dearly with her life, this time I'll have no mercy.
This time in this hell is making me crazy, the only thing I've done to be here was to tell Diana the truth and try to escape from Daryl's radar, but now I might get killed, but I won't, it'll either be me or her and I want to take the chance to get out of here at least alive.
Mirage... I hope you can figure out that one time the Brooke you're talking to is fake, I know you have some way of figuring something of mine out, I can feel it, I swear when I get out of here I'll take that promised bath with you, I swear on the nine witches I will.
And this woman won't kill me, unless I kill her first and get the hell out of here, I can even think of a way to escape from this place, even if I haven't seen the corridors properly I know that at some point I will, and this witch won't have a way to escape, even if she survives my traps, she'll still be well locked up when Diana and the girls or agent Morris come, she'll finally get the end she deserves.
POV Narrator:
An exploration into the past of Luna Nova, as they visit the ruins still very much in one piece, with the remnants of what was the Luna Nova fire and the revelation of a group of hunters known as The Council who were experts at hunting witches and being extremely cruel, taking with them a mysterious book found there that may have many interesting things in it.
See you, underground witches...