Chapter 29

A/N: Happy Holidays everyone, sorry it took me quite a while to update. And especially on a heartbreaking note! New chapter's here and I hope will enjoy it the same way all your comments ands theories about what's going to happen next has been really interesting to read! And as a gift for all of you next week, I'll update twice! Both on the 24th and the 2th

Sucy did nothing but cry. Even on her birthday. She avoided the Night Fall books Lotte left like the plague.

She cried because there was nothing that she could do to mend her heart again. She cried because for the first time she had trusted her heart to someone, Akko had broken it into so many pieces that merely attempting to put it back together would bruise her even more. She had never felt like this before, not even when she grew up among demons disguising as angels.

Even when she turned 18 and the confirmation of her foster mother's death, she was choking with air. Her lungs did not seem to be able to work properly and the hands did not want to stop shaking anymore. She could not think at that point and it appeared that merely walking would prove to be problematic with all that pain numbing her body. She placed her hands on her chest and pressed hard on it, hoping it would ease the hurting but it didn't. Nothing could ever restore what he had taken from her that night. He had robbed her of her peace, of her hope—of everything that had kept her strong all this time.

Akko had promised things, and she had broken every single of those vows, like cranes of paper. Sucy knew she had allowed herself to love an illusion, for Atsuko Kagari was not the girl she thought she was.

Unless Akko was being pulled away. Akko was like a child, drawn to sparkling things. That was how she came to idolize Shiny Chariot. The Magician was brighter than any star in the night. And now, Akko is being pulled away by a certain golden-haired girl.

She hissed at the fact that she lost Cavendish's hair when it got melted in the burning oil.

Akko continued to avoid her when she didn't sit next to her during Philosophy. It was their only class together and Sucy could feel heart erode like the sand inside an hourglass overtime.

Sucy saw the girl partially to blame to her breakup with Akko. Inviting Lotte Jansson to her life was a guaranteed card to send her life through a living hell. Sucy observed her from afar and stalked after her when the Finnish girl was heading towards the cafeteria.

Sucy was reaching for a strand of Lotte's hair amidst the commotion when suddenly, the Finnish girl grabbed the discreet hand, stopping her.

"If you think you can walk away with my hair, I think you're mistaken."

Her heart skipped a beat, it took her moments to adjust for the surprise and fear to settle in. "What are you talking about?"

Lotte's features turned sharp as she leaned in. Despite the numerous students crowding the hallway, she was certain that no one would pay attention to their conversation. "An owner of a dark doll would always feel uneasy within the presence of a light doll."

"W-what?"

"Great lie and a great act when you've already established an indignant persona."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sucy said abruptly, pulling her arm free from her grasp.

"Don't push it, Sucy," Lotte said, measuring her words. "I do think it's time for us to have a little chat, shall we?" She started to take slow steps backward. "I'll meet you on the New Moon Tower in a few minutes."

Sucy relapsed into an uneasy silence as she watched the girl disappear in the faces of the crowd.

Loa was reveling in the few seconds of peace before all of her fears came careening back with full force. "Don't go to her, Sucy. Not when you're truly alone with her." Loa's voice was so stricken that it made Sucy question not only Lotte's behavior but her doll's as well.

"I feel compelled to," Sucy whispered as she strode off the other direction to head off to one of Luna Nova's tower.

Sucy climbed the flight of stairs on her own pace and reached the balcony area where Lotte had been waiting for her. The four-eyed girl leaned against the balustrade, her eyes spread over the overlooking balcony of the whole school and the Arcturus forest that surrounded it.

It made Sucy wonder for a while if she could get away with pushing the Finnish girl off the rails.

"The school is beautiful isn't it?" Lotte respired in awe. "Stately trees and architecture from the golden era."

"You didn't make me climb all those stairs so we can have another date," Sucy said, a low growl escaped her throat.

"I see," Lotte scoffed. "You want me to get on with it fast." She averted her gaze from the wonderful scenery towards Sucy and her blue eyes seemed to pierce her. "I know you're the Blytonbury Killer, Sucy. And you can chill for I'm not going to reveal your crimes to the law."

"If you were right about your hunch, I must say you're definitely more stupid than Cavendish."

"I am the exact opposite of stupid, Sucy. I know what I'm doing." She said, pushing her glasses back up to her nose. "I know about witchcraft."

The moment she said it, Sucy was gripped with an inexplicable tremor. The girl who stood before her possessed great power, and so her presence was always received with a small undercurrent of fear. That was why Loa always disliked the idea of being near her.

Helpless to stop herself, she took Sucy's relatively calm response as an invitation to spill everything. "If I did present you and your doll to the cops, there would be an uproar. The living witches would never want to relive another witch hunt, Sucy. And if I only present you without the doll, I would be considered a lunatic and could face charges against obstructing justice or by you for oral defamation, perhaps."

Sucy's jaw strained, as she gave it a lot of thought.

"You need not to be scared," Lotte reassured. "I'm not here to get you imprisoned. Just here to tell you to slow down."

"Are you a witch too?" she asked, tersely.

Lotte pressed her lips together as if measuring her words before she spoke. "I suppose. I can talk to spirits, which means I can hear the soul residing inside your voodoo doll."

"Well bitch," Loa said. She had been imitating Lotte's speeches in a bitchy manner for the past few minutes.

Lotte giggled before she pressed her lips together again, softer this time. "Your doll sounds a lot like my self-esteem actually so it's pretty easy to ignore everything it said about me."

Sucy had never thought she would be embarrassed by Loa's witty comebacks and rude comments, and she felt inclined to do something about it.

"Sorry, about that. I know you heard all the mean things she said about you."

"It's actually my first time meeting another witch that possess a talking voodoo doll," Lotte said, retrieving a knitted white yarned doll from her pocket. "With you in the picture, that makes the two of us. Here's mine. Faerie speaks too, but I'm afraid you can't hear him because he really doesn't talk."

Sucy inched closer to observe it. "Faerie?"

"That's what I call my doll."

"And you gave him a gender."

"He likes to identify as male."

"Ah..."

"So Sucy, your doll is for puppeteering?" Lotte asked as she played with hers as a toddler would.

"Mostly." She crossed her arms at the fact their conversation went from solemn to small talk.

"Mine is more on needlework."

"Oh, I use needles sometimes."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Then how?" Sucy quipped.

"I'm not telling you all my secrets," Lotte said, now cradling her doll onto her arms like it was a small infant.

"Are you here to capture me like some sort of witch police?"

"Not really, it's not my job to regulate fellow witches," Lotte said. "As I said, I'm not here to imprison you. You do what you want."

"Ask her what magic culture she possesses."

"I practice European white magic, and sometimes Asian white magic, I'm trying to broaden you see." Lotte said, surprising both of them, causing her to before adding. "You forget facts easily, don't you?"

"Well…" Loa said. "I'm not used to other people hearing me asides my human."

"You just call Sucy your human?" Lotte placed a finger on her cheek thoughtfully. "That's interesting. So is it true? Were you killing all those boys because you're some sort of psycho?"

"Do you think I'm crazy too?"

"I am aware of your condition," Lotte said.

"That means I'm in good shape for an insanity defense, right?" Sucy bantered.

"I'm not a lawyer," Lotte said, frankly. "Although I can be an essential witness to your case. If a magic council exists; however, I know you're doomed."

"So there isn't a magic council?"

"There are only a few of us out there," Lotte said. "12 remaining families of witches left, driven to extinction. There were more of us before, but the families combined, making them a little powerful. A witch's magic is supposed to be buried with the last member of the family line."

"The Janssons are the 12th then?"

"Yes, but witches descend from the maternal line," Lotte clarified. "And my family adopts the husband's surname to make it a little harder to keep track of us."

"What do you know about the Manbavarans?"

"They are the 13th family and all the daughters never receive any holy matrimony. Your maternal line never cared for men. They just exist as some sort of reproduction means."

"I think that explains why my last name means 'witch'. I've also been told that my ancestor would have sex on her victims before she kills them."

Lotte giggled some more. "If I were to be completely honest, Sucy. I thought the Manbavaran line died with Sinag."

A flash of recognition etched on Sucy's face. "You know about my real mother?"

"From stories," she said. "It was said she died, childless. But to see that you wound up in the orphanage meant she never really wanted the world to know about you."

Sucy's head was spinning. She felt like she was outside her own body, watching the scene but unable to stop it. All the anger and frustration she felt at herself and her mother went over the charts. "Well, it's all for nothing. I still ended up as a serial killer and I made myself known to those other 11 families left."

Lotte watched her for a while, to see if her anger would lead to something or she could stay calm. When Sucy managed to control her fury barely, Lotte proceeded. "How did you end up with your mother's doll after all?"

"Loa revealed herself to me during a heavy rain by the road."

"That's... curious." Lotte pondered for a while before all her face hardened in all its gravity. "You should be wary, Sucy. They are sending big enough cats amidst the pigeons."

"Why are you being so kind to Sucy when you're the one who used a love spell on her?" Loa remarked.

"I have my own reasons," Lotte said, vaguely with a sweet smile.

"I would appreciate if you stop it," Sucy said, refraining herself from reaching out to touch the girl's face. "Because of you, my girlfriend broke up with me."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." Her face fell into deep guilt, ashamed for what she did. "I really didn't know you were taken. I thought it would be nice if we combine our families together."

Sucy's visible eye widened at the blatant proposal. Her cheeks then flushed a little. She looked away, trying to escape the girl's eyes. "The only way you can make it up to me is when you explain everything to Akko."

Lotte's eyes widened in fear. "And risk me as a witch? No!"

"Akko will understand, she knows about me."

"I'll try then," Lotte said. "It's weird enough we hang out in the same circle."

"You hang with the same circle now?"

"Yeah, Amanda introduced me to her. We're a little fine if you're wondering. Just awkward."

"Understandable," Sucy said, nodding. "It's that damn Brit's fault, to begin with. I so can't wait to kill her. I tried multiple times, but she's just… alive."

"Diana's too strong, too smart and too damn stubborn to get herself killed," Lotte said, surprisingly unbothered by it. "And I've seen how your ex-girlfriend seems to be close to her."

Sucy balled her first. A low growl escaped her throat.

"A friendly suggestion for you, Sucy," Lotte whispered as if anyone could hear them despite their location. "You don't kill her. Only strip her of her power. That way, she's out of your life for good."

"How?" she snarled. "My puppet is hospitalized. Using more magic strains my health."

"You don't need some of her hair to do that you know."

"Oh," Sucy said, embarrassed. Sometimes, being a witch made her forget there are completely non-magical methods to bring about an enemy down. "Do you know personally know other witches from those other 11 families?"

"Yes, it just so happens that there are a few near us, but it's not my right to tell you who they are. They will reveal herself to you if they wish to. The way I lead you to me."

Ever since her talk with the other witch, Sucy never had another concrete conversation in her life. Asides from recitations in class.

One week back at Luna Nova and by this time, she was regretting her decision to come back and complete her education. Sucy found herself as the school's latest and greatest social pariah. Ever since Akko broke up with her, she was all alone.

Without Akko, Amanda and her friends don't have any reason to speak to her. Sucy knew it was all her fault, to begin with, but then again, she doesn't give a fuck about other people.

She only wanted Akko.

"She broke up with you." Loa's taunting voice reminded her again.

Sucy knew that and it still hurt. Her burns had healed and she used a spell to remove the scars that may linger.

After the breakup, being ignored by Akko was the best that she could hope for, but the fact that Akko went all her way to hang out with Cavendish, broke her heart into tiny million pieces.

And she probably deserved it, too; that much she could admit to herself. She had been petty and vicious and self-important and had reveled in other people's misery and embarrassment.

There was nothing she could do about her karma.

"Of course you can make her take you back. I am a voodoo doll, after all, Sucy."

Sucy swore she could burn Loa for that idea.

When Sucy had her nose buried in a Chemistry textbook, a thud sounded and her table shook as a heavy bag was dropped deliberately onto its surface.

"You speak harshly for your mortal heart is wounded."

Sucy had immediately tensed, fingers itching to pinch her voodoo doll, but when she looked up, she froze upon seeing Cavendish pulling out a chair at her table. She sat stupefied, watching as once settled, the Brit pulled what looked to be homework from her bag and set to work.

Cavendish met her eyes in acknowledgment and said with a polite and perfunctory, "Miss Manbavaran."

Sucy replied with the first thing that came to her mind, too bewildered to bother filtering her words. "What the fuck do you think you're playing at, Cavendish? Akko's not with me."

Cavendish didn't even look up at Sucy's outburst.

Instead, her lips quirked and, eyes trained on her work, she replied, "I'm doing my Advance Chemistry calculations, Manbavaran. I know you take it—I was thinking maybe we could do our homework together, that is—but I would think it was obvious enough."

Sucy lunged forward to snatch the paper away, but Cavendish had been prepared for that. She grabbed one of the many hardcovers from her bag and with a swift downward stroke; she rapped Sucy's knuckles sternly. The latter withdrew her hand with a yelp and scowled, cradling her smarting fist against her chest.

"Ow! What the fuck, Cavendish?"

The girl in question had already placed the sheets of paper back on the table and picked up her pen, resuming her previous efforts. She was quiet for a moment before she responded.

"I do not fancy people touching my work, Manbavaran," Cavendish said calmly. "Something else I would have thought to be intuitive."

Sucy watched Cavendish write, feeling so flustered and irate that her hands began to tremble. "Piss off, Cavendish," she snapped, but again, the Brit just gave that infuriating half-smile. "I mean it!" Sucy snarled in a low hiss. "Go away."

Cavendish ignored her, taking her time with a line of equations until finally, in a light tone, she replied, "You know, I do not think I will. I rather like this table, much more secluded than my usual one." For the first time, she glanced up at Sucy's flushed face. "I hope you do not mind, do you?"

Sucy stared at her incredulously. "Oh no, of course, I don't mind," she snarled, filled with sarcasm. "I always tell people to fuck off when I want them to join me."

"Fantastic," Cavendish quipped. "Though," she added pensively, "I do believe you said 'piss off', not 'fuck off'. But same difference, I suppose." Cavendish gave her a brief, mischievous grin before turning her attention back to her work.

Sucy gaped, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"Close your mouth, Miss Manbavaran. Are you luring flies to feed your pet frog?"

Sucy gave up, before reddening when she realized how petulant she must look. Again, Cavendish's focus stayed on her work, but the corners of her mouth were twitching and her attention on her homework looked suspiciously determined.

They sat in silence for a moment as Sucy tried to bore a hole through Cavendish's forehead with her eyes. When she got no reaction, she sighed. "Okay, Cavendish, I'll bite. What do you want?"

The Brit looked up, wry humor animating her features. "I just want to do my work at this table." She told Sucy calmly. "You looked to be doing the same a few moments ago. I suggest you get back to it."

Sucy stared at her. "Look, Cavendish, if this is some kind of misguided attempt at altruism, you can take it and sho—"

"I have no death wish, Miss Manbavaran," Cavendish interrupted. "But I know I have a bounty for my head. You are not my latest charity case, believe me. I have my own reasons for this." She waved her hand, gesturing vaguely between them.

"Yes, you got Sucy right where you want her." Loa chuckled.

Sucy mulled that over, still skeptical. "What could you possibly have to gain by associating with me, Cavendish?"

"That's my business," Cavendish said haughtily.

Sucy leaned forward to her, Cavendish noticed her imposing glare. They began seeing each other. The Brit was a fighter. She had washed every blood on her hands but the smell still lingered. Sucy smirked at that. Diana Cavendish is an open book to her, with a beautiful and thick front cover but its pages frail like onion skin and had the certain smell of an old book—indicating it's near death.

Cavendish noticed with a distracted clarity that Sucy was wearing a black sweater that hung off her wrists as if she had lost weight, and that the nails on her hands were bitten down to the quick.

Sucy didn't like that at all. She began speaking slowly but surely to get her message across. "State your business, or I will be forced to coerce it out of you. And I promise you, I have the means."

That did the trick. Cavendish spilled the beans even without the use of her magic. "I want you to become part of the Student Council."

Sucy blanched at the notion. "Y-you want me to run for vice president?"

"Yes," Diana perched her elbow on the table's surface as she rested her pretty face on her knuckles. "You and I both share the same ideals for the school, right?"

Sucy quipped an eyebrow. "I don't like you."

"You see?" Cavendish chuckled. "We now have something in common."

"Self-deprecation isn't a good flavor on you Cavendish, you should stop."

"Oh?" Diana inched closer to her, whispering. "Do tell me what flavor do you see on me?"

"There's tension in this table, and it's the murderous kind." The sentient doll mused. "Do it again."

"But," Cavendish continued. "Might I point out that my sitting with you is not going to make your situation any worse?"

"How can you possibly know that?" Sucy snapped. "What if they think I've coerced you or something?"

"Then I'll set them straight," Cavendish replied, and she held Sucy's glare, unruffled. She leaned forward slightly, her luminous blue eyes intent. "I won't tolerate them being idiots in my defense, especially when their efforts are unwarranted."

"Who says their efforts would be unwarranted, Cavendish?" Sucy rebuked, her voice cool. "Weren't you being fawned over by your own lapdogs? But you never told them to shut up before. What happened?"

Cavendish didn't even hesitate. She just sat back and shook her head with a sad, little smile. "Character growth," she said quietly. "It comes with trauma."

"My condolences," Sucy tried her best to be empathetic. "But you still haven't answered why you want me to run for vice. Are you sure you even want that?"

"I do, Manbavaran," she said quietly, "because I know that you can't afford to make an enemy of me. Not in the current state. Which is the reason why you have not once insulted me during this conversation... You and I are far more mature than getting offended on curse words"

Sucy frowned, looking down at her Chemistry textbook without actually seeing it.

Cavendish was right, whether Sucy wanted to admit it or not; she had enough experience in relationships and political maneuvering thanks to her years in the Orphanage to understand that. If she plucked even one frizzy hair from Cavendish's cabbage mane or uttered a single slur in her direction, she would have a horde of angry Cavendish supporters to deal with. Hell, not just the entire school—but Akko would turn against her, even more so than she already had.

At least right now, Akko's avoidance of her was because of miscommunication, and thus considerably less hurtful than they could be than if Akko resented her because of her cheating and voodoo usage.

And it wasn't as though Cavendish herself didn't have teeth. When she looked back up at Cavendish, she'd made her choice. She gave the girl a curt nod.

"A truce, then?" Cavendish suggested the picture of nonchalance.

Sucy's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "That's going a bit farther than sitting at a table without trying to aggravate one another, Cavendish," she pointed out.

"Yes, it is," the Brit agreed. She rolled her eyes, a spark of impatience finally marred her collected air. "Just take the offer, Miss Manbavaran, even if it's just to spite them all."

Sucy couldn't help but smirk at the idea where she's in control of the school. Although it could mean that she might become Cavendish's new shadow, it could mean that she can get closer with Cavendish and watch her become more tormented up closer. She never considered keeping her enemies closer until now.

This would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch her suffer once she would murder the annoying Brit girls who follow her around. That image in mind, she reached a hand out to Cavendish, donning her best sneer. "All right, Cavendish," she answered. "You have yourself a truce."

"Excellent," she agreed, all chipper as she accepted the hand, sporting her perfect Cheshire grin.

As Sucy she watched Cavendish return to her equations before bringing her own gaze down onto the page of her tome that detailed the chemical characteristics of Mercury, and how lethal of a poison it is, Sucy suddenly couldn't help but wonder what she'd gotten herself into.

"It is high time we refer to each other in first name basis, don't you think?" Cavendish asked.

Sucy snorted. "Why?"

"Oh come on, have we not become the best of friends?"

Sucy pursed her lips and nodded. "Good point, Dee-yuh-nah."

"What?" she asked, baffled by the name.

"Dee-yuh-nah," Sucy said slowly this time but still filled with a heavy accent.

"Why make fun of me, Sucy?" she crossed her arms.

"I'm not. I am pronouncing your name, Jana."

Diana gaped. She pronounced it quite fast that the words became a blur and she could just hear a different name. "No, not like that."

"Try to get information out of her, Sucy," Loa whispered like a hissing snake through a creaking door.

"You know..." Sucy began. "I've always wondered how you're able to juggle school with your duties and part-time sleuthing."

"Pardon?"

"Come on, it's no secret to people like me. You've by now, demonstrated an aptitude for the logical crime detection, I know for a fact that you're helping the local police, despite what doesn't come out in LNN papers."

"I paid Wangari handsomely to omit my names there. And to answer your previous question, I sometimes wonder that myself."

"I know your type in movies and TV shows all the time," Sucy said, a wicked smile slowly forming on her lips. "Your investigations show up at crime scenes to steal all the credit, smugly interfere with the investigation, offend the local police and irritate the viewer."

Diana shot her the most ominous glare Sucy had never known she's capable of.

"I'm not talking about you," she shrugged. "That's just the story I happened to see."

"At least those protagonists don't have a lot of close friends dying on them."

"I beg to differ."

Diana was paralyzed. She doesn't know what to do. Her mind's not wired to respond to it properly, and thus she is weakened, easy to attack.

"Jana," Sucy started, waiting until the other girl would finally look up and meet her gaze before continuing so she could lure her into a trap. "What would you say about getting out of here and come over to my flat so we can discuss this shitty campaign without having to worry about getting banned from the library for the rest of the year?"

Diana stared at Sucy before she shot a flabbergasted brow upwards. Loa was also taken off-guard by the suggestion.

"I would say let's go."