Chapter 33
"Akko!" Sucy called after her when she chanced upon Akko walking to school the next morning. She was with Amanda and her crew who looked like they didn't want to leave her or to even let Sucy within her vicinity.
Akko looked over her shoulder to her then stared back at her companions.
"I'll be fine. Please head on to school without me! I'm sorry," Akko said and the next thing Sucy knew, Amanda's cold eyes were glaring at her.
Amanda and the rest continued on their way while Akko stopped to wait for Sucy. When Sucy stood beside her, she went for the kill. "You will never do that again, you hear me?"
"That's none of your concern," she snapped.
"Everything about you concerns me!" Sucy retorted.
Akko fell silent, then turned away. "You're not my mother, Sucy. You don't get to tell me what to do or not to do."
"Are you saying this because you wanted to be with Cavendish so badly?" she said with an acid tone. "Do you prefer blondes? Do you prefer blue eyed and fair skinned, Akko, is that it?"
Akko's jaw flung open as she looked at her like she almost didn't believe her ears. "Diana and I are just friends!"
"Didn't look like that when she looked like she desperately wants to shove her tongue into your mouth," she shot back, her eyes still glaring like bright jewels.
Akko's eyes widened.
"Yes, I stayed behind, cloaking myself with an invisibility spell!"
Akko gritted her teeth. "You're the one to talk, Sucy. I didn't even let her do it. I pushed stopped her, and she respected it. She didn't cause a scene as you did. Her looks don't matter at all. I don't care if your hair is of a mysterious color and your skin is a deathly pale brown. If I want to sleep with her, it's still none of your business," Akko spat and raised her chin up daringly. "At least, she genuinely cares about me, and isn't going to cheat on me."
"I'll make sure she cares no more," Sucy's cold words hinted at a dark purpose.
"Don't you dare do anything to her," Akko muttered protectively, recoiling from the idea of Diana getting hurt or something.
"Why do you want her? I have seen your heart, and you're nothing like her. We couldn't have synced the last time when I used that spell. It only works for likeminded people... like us! You're not a good girl, you're far from it."
"That's not legal proof. Admit what you are, Sucy, but don't drag me in it."
"Proof?" she chuckled. A laugh that held dark humor. "I don't need proof to know. Must I denounce myself a monster while you still refuse to see the one growing inside you? You're either a charming narcissist or an impulsive liar, Akko. A charming girl with APD who manipulated everyone into thinking you're innocent. You even had me fooled. People who suffer from antisocial personality disorders belong to one another."
"Diana Cavendish is my friend, Sucy," Akko explained, hard lines formed in her facial expression. "Sure, I used her because she has materials and the influences that I don't, but I didn't kill her or her friends. I didn't isolate her from her remaining ones."
"You held her heart hostage. Don't act like you're oblivious to it! I won't let anyone touch you with dirty intentions."
"Oh, so only you can?"
The light in her eyes shifted as Akko glared at her. Then she swiftly reached over and grabbed Akko's wrist, pulling her forcefully towards her. Their noses almost touched. Akko attempted to pry her hands off, but Sucy tugged on her like an iron chain. Sucy's hellfire eyes stirred with heat into Akko's.
Akko fought against the fear that tried to overpower her.
"You've tormented me enough, Akko," Sucy hissed in a low frustrated voice. "It could have been easier if I just let Loa handle you in the first place."
"What were you going to do to me?" Akko snapped back. "Abduct me and force yourself on me? Quite brave of you to try anything on a public road in daylight."
Sucy's jaw tightened at her words. The look on her face morphed from anger to anxiety and finally to pain. Her piercing red eyes glittered with moisture. She looked hurt. It struck Akko as odd. Sucy Manbavaran in her most vulnerable state was something she had never expected to see.
"I don't know how it became like this, Sucy. But as I've said before and will keep saying until you actually, finally believe me; I'm not going to leave you to deal with this shit on your own. I don't abandon my friends—loyal to a fault and all that." Akko waved a hand dismissively.
"Why would you lie to me?" Sucy asked, her voice breaking. "Those are mere words... empty promises. You don't show it. You don't mean it until you show it. You keep breaking my heart."
Akko winced. More conflicted than ever. "Does a truly religious person bend their knees in their private altar or at the high street? To genuinely mean your intentions, no eyes need to see it."
"Then you're nothing but a liar," Sucy said, her teeth gritting. "You're like some sort of addict who kept promising they'll get themselves clean after one last shot but continue on putting a needle up your arm whenever no one's looking."
"You never had faith, Sucy. Not just in religion, but within the people that you let inside your walls."
Sucy could feel herself breaking inside. She tilted her head upwards to stop the tears from flowing. It's always like this. She can get emotional breakdowns in bad and crowded situations places full of expectations. Sucy kept it in or at least tried to be. She was so sick of these shits. Why must she keep up with appearances and expectations?
"You're graduating," Loa answered. "You need a good moral character. You wanted what everyone does—to leave this place and get yourself a true home with a wife that loves you unconditionally. The problem one has when finding this so-called true love is to find a person that matches every personality, traits, the good and the bad and loving every part of a person. It just sounds so impossible."
"I never knew frustration could make such an effect that would take hold of me."
"Can't you speak like a normal person for once?" Amanda grumbled. "Or is that just how British people talk all the time?"
Diana knitted her eyebrows and tried one more time to express her distress. "I am so frustrated."
"You need to be more specific than that, princess," Amanda said, elevating her legs to the top of the table.
They were the only ones at the Student Council office. The other members were nowhere to be seen, probably late or out doing their jobs. Hannah and Barbara had not left the council but they might as well have considering the poignant silence in the room. Diana never knew she would miss their constant flocking.
"Did the date not go well?" Amanda queried.
"Oh, it was quite good." Diana scoffed, looking out of the window. "The only problem was that we got caught by her ex-girlfriend."
"Oh no, she didn't."
Diana merely nodded.
"Damn, that's why you're frustrated."
"If I were to be truthful, that is not all. It has been proven that no matter what we do, search for clues, and pick up hunches. You know—tedious work. And we got the whole MET working on the case, yet nothing turns up."
"Why not we just confront her anyway?" Amanda asked. "Surely the two of us can handle her all alone."
Diana was over the edge, pushed against her limit. Her rational thoughts were nothing but a thin thread with the danger of being cut. "I made you promise we would not dabble ourselves in another criminal activity."
"It's not even criminal activity. Think of it as teenagers being teenagers."
"I never thought I would say this, Amanda." Diana sighed, exhaustion tensing her shoulders. "Let us do it."
Sucy strode along the empty third-floor corridor towards her first class for the morning. She preferred the long way over the crowded area anyways. The little quietness in between really gave her a bit peace of mind.
She approached the door to the girls' lavatory. She looked down as she reached a hand out to push her way inside when Loa spoke. "Sucy, there's someone behind y—"
Loa was cut short when Sucy felt strong hands grab her from behind, forcing her to breathe in a surge of strong chloroform from a handkerchief and whirled on the spot, her gaze flitting around wildly in an attempt to find her aggressor. Unable to scream and too shocked to think of trying anything else, Sucy lost consciousness and let herself be pulled into the empty classroom, and listened in dread as its door clicked shut behind her.
Sucy aroused back to consciousness when she smelled another inhalant, forcing her to wake.
"Morning," intoned a strong, clear, and recognizable voice from somewhere behind her, and another echoed the greeting, its timbre a tad lower.
"Well, well, well," the cornered voodoo doll from Sucy's pocket mused. "Now this is going to be interesting."
Sucy, too, was intrigued in spite of her precarious predicament.
The classroom's desks had all been pushed out of the way so that only a single chair remained in the center of the room. Sucy was promptly flung down onto the seat, Disarmed, and relieved of her books and bag.
"Sucy, I can easily get you out of those ropes." Loa offered her escape.
Her heart pounding, Sucy denied the offer for now and made no move to escape, knowing that any such attempts would be pointless and likely humiliating.
Loa is taken off-guard when she heard Sucy's inner thoughts. "You want me to…"
Sucy slightly nodded.
"Noted. I'll untie the knots once you give me the signal then."
No; she would just have to wait and see what was going on. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long.
With deliberately slow steps, Sucy's ambushers approached her from behind, but Sucy didn't bother to look round, already certain of their identities. And sure enough, Diana Cavendish walked into view on Sucy's right, and immediately behind her followed Amanda O'Neill.
"Well," Sucy started pleasantly, smiling upwards at the proverbial snake with a set of eerily perfect, white teeth. "Look at this. If it isn't the snake in the grass, come to greet us with her presence. Seeing as you've conveniently arranged things so that we're all here now, I'd just love to chat with you if, of course, that's what you've brought me here for."
"Hello, Sucy." Diana grinned apologetically, the expression entirely hollow. "You are correct, there is another matter I would like to discuss with you."
Sucy returned the grin with one of her own, keeping her eyes wide and innocent and the rest of her features relaxed. "Well, I don't know, Diana," she replied with a dull tone. "Is it necessary to ambush me in such a way?"
"I do not think it is that strange," Diana admitted. "After all, we have not exactly had a friendly relationship over the months, even in the best of times. But I am sure you are aware of that."
"We were finally starting to become friends though," Sucy said loftily. "But you just stabbed me in the back yesterday."
"I must say, you continue to expand your list of enemies in your line of work." Diana started.
Sucy's smile disappeared. "What do you really want from me, Diana?"
"Easy. I know you are the mastermind, the Blytonburry Killer." Diana said. "I would bet all my possessions that Akko broke up with you when she knew, which is why she literally feared for her life ever since. That is all the possible theory among the discernible facts."
Actually, the way they looked at Akko was pathetic, really, when Sucy thought about it. It made Sucy want to laugh and punch something at the same time. Just what did they think, that Akko's ex-girlfriend was Satan reincarnate?
"That's exactly what they think," Loa whispered, uncannily similar to that insidious voice in the back of her head, the one that sounded suspiciously like her foster mother. "They think you're an evil, little bitch who has somehow managed to corrupt the innocent girl and turn her to the dark side."
"Must be frustrating. Knowing you can't prove any of it."
"I might never be able to bring to light your craft, but that is not my primary concern. I wish to bring all the murdered victims to justice. And that I can achieve. Once you provide me with the murder weapon."
"Now you're living on fantasy land."
"I am quite certain you have something. Like some kind of witch possession that needs the victim's hair stashed somewhere."
"Uh… what?" Loa asked. "She knows?"
Sucy quirked an eyebrow. "That's wonderful imagery, Diana. You have a gift for poetry and literature. You've read too many books."
"Let us not get too riled up on my perfect metaphor, Sucy."
Sucy got everything she needed by that sentence. Diana Cavendish had really no idea what she was capable of.
"If what you say is true and I dabble myself with dark magic, then I'm curious, why would you tip over rocks if you don't know what's beneath them?" Sucy rebuked her, whose eyebrows were rising ever-closer to her hairline. "Shouldn't you be scared of me instead of confronting me? It is not wise to do so when you know I have the complete advantage over you."
"Oh I am afraid of you, but I will never get anywhere if I am always afraid. If you kill me right now, I am obviously and unfortunately dead, but our police friend—who I told everything else will have the undeniable proof that it was you who killed me. And if anything ever happens to us both, the coppers would know our theory has been right all along."
Sucy's visible eye seemed to enlarge. At the same time, though, she wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of not retaliating. That would send entirely the wrong message. The look in her eyes was thunderous.
"Wait, what are you alleging me for?"
"Cut the shite, Sucy," Amanda spat from Diana's left, not giving her companion the chance to respond.
"How typical" Loa mirrored Sucy's thoughts, thoroughly enjoying her impatience. "The American redhead, as always, has no appreciation for some good repartee."
Amanda went on, her voice sharp, her words clipped and heated. "Diana knows what happened and she knows what you're like, Sucy. So why don't you save us all some time, and then we might even be able to make it to class before they deem us all late."
"Conspiracy, murder, aiding and abetting are all just at the top of my head," Diana said. "Worry not, we will be providing charging documents when we find out the murder weapon."
"And what exactly was my motive?"
"Jealousy, Sucy. It's as simple as the crime was complex."
Sucy glanced from Amanda's glare over to Diana's impassiveness and back again. She allowed her smile to morph from saccharine to threatening as her lips pulled themselves tighter over her teeth and formed a leer.
"Sounds reasonable," she remarked, dark humor oozing from the words. "I'd hate to keep you from your education, girls." She let the leer widen before assuming a cloying expression of concern towards Diana. "How about you, Diana? You've lost weight over the past months. Have you not been eating much? I sure wouldn't want to deny you the chance to put some meat back on those bones of yours."
Amanda bared her teeth. "You're such a bitch, Sucy."
That irked Sucy.
"I'm not at all surprised by Amanda, but you, Diana. Allowing Amanda to kidnap me? This is an incredibly short-sighted move on your part. I'm disappointed in you, President." Sucy crooned the taunt maliciously, savoring the hatred in her captors' eyes.
"You can try to intimidate us, Sucy," Diana cut her off as her lips twisted wryly. "But from our vantage point, you look silly."
Sucy lifted an eyebrow, exuding patronizing skepticism as she stared down at the Caucasians.
"You can blame me," Diana went on, ignoring the look, "Or better yet, blame yourself. You have made some hasty assumptions about me, and that is what has led to this misstep."
"Assumptions?" Sucy repeated, amused. "Do tell me, Diana, what assumptions have I allegedly made?"
"You assumed that I would not have the courage to do this extremity. But you pushed me over the edge, I am slightly losing my sanity." Diana's smile widened. "And you were wrong."
"Oh, how marvelous! The great daughter of the Cavendish Household losing her sanity, leading her to apprehend and hostage an innocent citizen for believing she is somehow a criminal. That's one for the papers, I think! I wonder what that story would do to your credibility, Diana. People would think that you're incredibly naive if they found out, you know. The students here already do! They don't know what to make of this." Sucy gestured flippantly at Diana.
"I am not in the habit of letting other people's opinions phase me, Sucy," Diana replied steadily; but under the facade of calmness, Sucy could tell that she was irritated. Diana had nothing on Sucy's experience in the discipline of deceit, and Sucy knew that little spark of anger when she saw it. "Still," Diana added, her tone light, "you might want to be a bit more wary of me because I would hate to have to deal with you if you insist on being a nuisance. I would much rather spend my time preparing for our exams."
Sucy was getting tired of this conversation, and the weakness of that threat made her laugh scornfully with impatience. "Oh, spare me," she retorted sharply. "You're a goodie-two-shoes to the core, you and your little do-gooder friends. You're not going to do anything to me."
Diana stared at Sucy, her blue eyes glinting with disbelief before she brought her gaze up to look at Amanda. After an indefinitely long moment of silence, Diana tossed her head back and started to laugh. Amanda joined in before long, shaking her head scornfully at Sucy.
"You really don't know anything about Diana, do you, Sucy?" Amanda gasped through her giggles. "Oh, that's hilarious. You're completely out of your depth. And I thought you had some ulterior motive, too—but it turns out you're an idiot after all."
"Says the real simpleton." Sucy gritted her teeth, locking her jaw and staring straight ahead, refusing to meet either witch's gaze. "You must have hanged around her for so long you started using Diana's vocabulary."
"HEY, YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Amanda gave her a scalding glare.
Sucy had the best chuckle since then.
"It is not actually an insult, Amanda."
"But Diana!" Amanda glanced over at Diana, the fire in her eyes softening slightly as the American's gaze met her companions.
Well, thought Sucy, a sneer curving her lips as she obtained a newfound knowledge. She may have underestimated Diana, yes; but she's made the same mistake with Amanda. Sucy couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that Amanda had eyes for Diana herself.
Diana Cavendish may be oblivious, but she is not.
Out of the corner of her eye, Diana saw Sucy shaking her head.
Diana took a few steps towards Sucy and leaned down a bit, looking at her with grim intent; and as the Brit stared into the Filipino's eyes, Diana caught a glimpse of a kind of ruthlessness that she had known was present in the girl, and for the first time during the conversation, she felt distinctly uncomfortable.
There was a reason why Sucy Manbavaran was still free from her crimes, and that reason was at present literally looming over her.
"There's nothing wrong with being a goodie-two-shoes, Sucy, but all the same, don't ever mistake me for one." Diana sighed, and the exhalation had a disappointed tone to it, as though she were a professor and Sucy, a promising student who'd written a lackluster essay.
"Whatever you say then." Sucy rolled her eyes. Diana only assumed because her other eye was always hidden by the Filipino's bangs.
"Let me make this simple for you," Diana suggested, her voice lowering. "Surrender yourself to justice, repent for your sins and back off from Akko. If you really have the level of influence over your stalkerish behaviors and antisocial personality disorder. Tell yourself that Akko is free to associate with whomever she'd like without repercussions."
Sucy opened her mouth to interrupt, but Diana cut her off, anticipating the remark.
"You scarred Akko quite enough, Sucy. It is for her best interest if you stop pursuing her."
Sucy began to cackle, a flicker of dark amusement played across her face. "Anyone foolish enough to object me to be with Akko won't know what hit them once I've done my bit, and anyone imbecilic enough to go after her romantically will soon come to regret their actions. Akko is mine and only mine. She might not see it yet, but we are destined to be together. It's written in our palms, the stars, the leylines even brought us together."
Amanda's forehead creased at their conversation and Diana measured the Filipino sitting tied to a chair standing over her for a long moment and came to what now seemed a rather obvious conclusion.
"Have you stopped taking your medications, Sucy? How long have you been acting that you are sane?"
The Filipino girl gave Diana a grin, and her teeth may as well have been icicles for how cold it was. "Oh please, this isn't about me, isn't it? It's about you. You just want me gone. You want to find excuses to get rid of me so you can have Akko all for yourself. Akko's such a sweet girl, isn't she? A one of a kind cliché. After all, that's why you mistook Akko for a bleeding heart, isn't it?"
Diana gave one final, weary sigh. "Don't try me, Sucy," she warned a peculiar, weary kind of determination in her eyes, "and don't try Amanda, either. If you do, you will not enjoy the consequences. Of that, I can assure you."
As if it was slow motion, Sucy had a mischievous smile on her face as she stood from the chair, her hands were free, untied from the knots.
Diana's jaw dropped. "H-how—"
Sucy immediately went straight for her neck. Choking her with only one hand. Taken completely unaware, Diana had no time to defend herself. Air got restricted from her lungs. Try as she might pry Sucy's hand off her, she hadn't known that Sucy Manbavaran had a vice-like grip despite her frail-looking body.
Amanda instantly acted once she got over her own shock. She grabbed Sucy from behind and pulled her away. She managed to do so but Sucy wrapped herself all over her like a deadly spider who caught her first meal of the day.
"DIANAAAA HELLLLP!"
Fuck, Diana thought to herself in a rare indulgence of profanity. I have gone and underestimated her.
Her neck still stinging, Diana forced her body to move forward despite the involuntary coughs when she finally received air again. Unknowingly behind her, Sucy's doll was managed to float behind her unsuspecting.
The curse struck her back, and so her limbs snapped together, stiffening like a slab of stone. For a moment she seemed to totter, and then she was falling face-first to the ground, only to land with a resounding thud. She found herself unable to move, and if she had been capable of doing so, she would have groaned.
Fear of the unknown blanketed her whole body when she couldn't move an inch. Her heart started palpitating when her body began to levitate from the ground, and she felt herself being moved through the air, the tiles seeming to slide by underneath her as she was forced to stare straight down.
She noticed that Sucy was still pinning Amanda on the ground. She immediately rolled over and in just a blink of an eye. Diana took Sucy's place, straddling her and wrapping her nimble fingers around Amanda's fragile neck.
"Diana?" Amanda choked in bated breath. Still fighting her off. "W-what's g-going—"
Hyper aware of her surroundings, Diana noticed Sucy walking over to grab her voodoo doll from midair and held onto its arms like it was imitating Diana.
"How does it feel, Diana?" Sucy kept the steady pressure on Diana's hands. "To have an unknown force controlling your own body? How does it feel to watch someone slowly die by your own hands?"
"BLACK MAGIC! SUCY I'LL GET YOU." Amanda bellowed ferociously, attempting her best to get Diana off her. "YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS."
"Diana," Sucy whispered. "Bet you're so surprised with this."
She was. Diana never considered the possibility of magic indeed.
"Did you know, that the human body is so malleable that I could bend you in half with the back of a teaspoon after you kill your own friend?"
Diana had no idea how absurd her situation is right now. But she can't do anything. A vague sensation it was, to dig her fingers on Amanda's neck. She can't move, plead, or even blink. Diana realized the threat all the same. She has no chance in this, not with the loaded gun of a puppet master staring her down. Every action is controlled and calculated by a witch.
There was no chance of escape. It was either that Diana would do this of her own volition or she does it of theirs.
Still, it was a peculiar thing that fate would give her such a fear, and ignore every warning signs that she overlooked in favor of logic and realism. And thus it gave her and Amanda reason enough to kiss the dear, sweet close calls death.
Sucy chuckled, leering over them. "Oh, Amanda, I'm not that cruel as you all thought me to be. Here, I'll let Diana kill you slowly as you two have your final conversation together."
"NO!" Finally, Diana felt her control over her head came back. She kept pleading as she willed herself to pry her own hands away. It terribly hurt. It hurt as though her veins were going to burst.
Amanda's reflexes and will to live started kicking—literally. The American started using her lower body strength to kick and push Diana off of her. But Diana weighted like a permanent concrete on top of her. Hearing Amanda's own suffocating cries affected Diana in the worst ways.
"Come on," she snapped her heads upwards to look at Sucy.
The Filipino that faced her held no sympathy. Sucy's face was a cold mask as she stared at them.
"What is wrong with you? You are holding a magic murder weapon. Do you not want to cut me? Stab me? Make me suffer? Attack me, damn it! Not Amanda! You want to kill me, don't you?" Diana choked on her own sob.
"Trust me, I tried so many times." Sucy rumbled, baring her teeth.
The memories seared Diana's mind. Frank's blood, Andrew's cut, Avery's injuries, and her unexplained fever. Her throat closed and her fist, clenched tightly around Amanda's neck as she struggled to breathe.
"No," she shook her head, whispering. Diana stared at her in silent anguish.
And then, suddenly, rage overwhelmed her anguish. With a choked cry, Diana swore to seize control of her own limbs with all the strength she could find. It doesn't matter anymore if she many a bone or vein in the process.
Amanda managed to get in a lungful of air as Diana fought for her own control. Despite that, it only took Sucy one more push using her voodoo magic and all of Diana's progress disappeared. This time, Diana could feel she can just snap Amanda's neck.
She looked down at the girl in her arms. Amanda's eyes were wide open. "Don't fight it anymore, Diana," Amanda said, uncharacteristically giving up and her face turning blue, devoid of oxygen.
"No, no, NO!" Diana's screams got hoarser as she fought her alien arms.
"This isn't over anyway. I'm sure I'll be reincarnated peacefully in my next life." Amanda mustered with all the strength left in her.
Diana scoffed. "I still don't think reincarnation exists."
"You're still hell-bent about that, huh?" Amanda teased. "I do believe in it. Because it's easier to live when you think we can do this all over again."
"Shh, stop talking," Diana whispered, she could feel the tightness and strength in her fingers. She knew that it was getting harder for oxygen to go through. A gush of tears escaped her eyes.
"P-promise me, D-Diana." She said, stubborn as a mule. "A-avenge me, okay? Put that motherfucker behind bars! And perhaps before all this has been said and done... we'll collaborate again."
Diana stared at her for a long moment. At last, her wet blue eyes dropped. "No," she whispered miserably. She was still terrified, but her fear was being overwhelmed by a kind of sadness and justified anger.
She tried to feel for her pulse around the redhead's neck. "No, no... This can't be happening."
Amanda just breathed her final air.
Diana let out a bloodcurdling cry, shaking her head in disbelief, hovering over Amanda's dead body, immobile and thoroughly chilled. "AMANDA NOO!"
This has long been personal now. Amanda O'Neill will be the last person to die in front of her.
Sucy clapped her hands. The sound echoed eerily around the walls of the classroom. She chuckled softly, and Diana felt her strong fingers weaving through her blonde curls, tipping her head up to meet Sucy's brutal smile.
"That's quite touching, Diana. Too bad, you won't remember everything." Sucy crooned from above, letting go of her.
"What?" was all Diana asked before some blunt object knocked her from behind.