Chapter 36
A/N
After much deliberation, I finally decided to write Akko's POV. At first, I was so bent on following Sucy's and Diana's POVs. But as the story progressed on, Akko's POV needed to be written so that everyone could finally get a glimpse of her weird behaviors and further the plot.
"Oh Akko, I would hardly recognize the child in you." Her grandmother said, a smile prominent in her face. "Apart from the length of your skirt."
That night, she had a video call with her family back in Japan. Her family was intrigued to hear from her for so many months of no communication. She has had a busy schedule as a graduating teenager in high school.
As they spoke their goodbyes and wishes of luck, Akko prepared for bed. Salem situated herself just beside her, purring softly.
In the dead of the night, she could hear the crickets chirping outside. Normally, their noise was a welcome interruption to the usually eerie silence, but this time the unintentional cacophony was just annoying. Somewhere in the distance, a mouse screeched and was immediately snatched up by a silent barn owl.
Even with all that, the newscaster's voice of tonight's news echoed to Akko's ears through the night.
"An overwhelming evidence came to light that supports the fact that the Cavendish heir had indeed murdered the O'Neill's daughter. Theories about whether the 17-year-old girl is the alleged Blytonbury Killer has surfaced. The Blytonbury and the Metropolitan Police have yet to confirm or to deny the claims. Until then… we'll be updating the story as the investigation unfolds."
Akko still couldn't believe that this was happening because of extreme jealousy. Before she met Sucy, before she met Chariot, and before she went to England, Atsuko Kagari was a total loser. She was all over the place, and she didn't have the traits that anyone might find attractive. Is it her fault that she's always at the bottom? Is it her fault she's so expressive because she wasn't raised in a strict household that seemed to have everything to other people's visions.
But now, she has grown. Became quite different than who she was years ago. Chariot was a great teacher. Lessons about fooling people for a living was a great practice.
Despite all the internal changes, Akko still behaved as she was before. A bubbly, overconfident and attention-seeking teenager, and preferred to stand in the limelight. She can be prone to being competitive and can demonstrate impulsive tendencies.
Akko, with her cherub-cheeks, had the poker face of a professional. But it will take a liar to know a liar. That was how she saw the changes in Sucy.
Sucy was born a liar, and Akko was trained to be a liar. All because Akko had been on a steady incline since her magician training. While Sucy started off with an advantage due to her experiences and now the Filipino was practically a connoisseur of deceit. Even if the situation didn't necessarily call for a lie, she did anyway.
She was unsure whether Sucy did it was out of amusement or sheer boredom, but given half an opportunity, Sucy would twist the truth into a pretty inaccuracy and no one would ever know the difference.
It was for half the semester when bullies began dropping like flies. Only days after that, Akko heard the first mention of the new serial killer responsible. At first, Akko thought it was a joke. It sounded like fiction. But, nope—there really was a mass-murdering psychopath with supernatural tendencies, going around and scything all the bad guys who had been so rude to Akko.
And there was that other thing… As of late, Akko had been getting the oddest feeling, as if she was being watched—no, followed. It could have just been her nerves acting up; in fact, that was most likely the case, but Akko just couldn't shake the feeling that somebody was constantly lurking nearby. The weirdest part was that the sensation always got more prominent when she was around Sucy—as if her best friend was channeling some seriously bad juju.
That was what Akko didn't get. Akko had been always the one to buy into Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny, but unless the Blytonbury Killer had a posse the size of the continental army, Akko didn't know how they managed to pull off so many assassinations at the same time without the interference of supernatural activity.
Then Sucy revealed everything to her via magic that linked both their brains together for a short while. She had been lucky she knew how to hide her true emotions. She was beyond frightened when Sucy showed her all the things the voodoo doll could do. She feared, that if she acted out of line, Sucy would have used her magic on her right on the spot. Ever since then, Akko paid attention to her intuitions as she had seen that all her bad vibes about Sucy were right all along.
On the very same day that Andrew Hanbridge died, she uncharacteristically skipped dinner and locked herself in her room. Chariot wondered about her behavior but she was thankful that her guardian didn't insist an answer out of her. The conscience of Thomas and his goons' death weighed on her like a boulder she's forced to carry over to a mountain.
All of these ongoing thoughts lead to her kneeling on the carpet, clutching on a metaphor of Sucy's dirtiest of secrets and trying her best to cope in other ways. Like practicing her poker face, in which Akko was good at. Although in a way, that has lead to more trouble.
"So what's the plan?" she wondered out loud as she walked around her room in the middle of the night. "What was I supposed to do now? What could I do? Come on, think Akko, think!"
Flicking through her deck of cards that she fiddled with whenever she was nervous, it was obvious that Sucy had already slain a considerable amount of people already—and there would probably be another added as the days went on if Sucy's current rate was any indication.
"Should I talk to her? Turn her in?" Akko asked herself.
It would be easy. The detectives from the Scotland Yard had made contact with Diana who seemed to be more interested with the murders than your average teen. Akko could just steal the voodoo doll and hand it over and claim to have found it accidentally. No more people would die and Sucy would be in a cushy jail cell.
Problem solved.
Except, what if the government decided to take it one step further and execute Sucy? Akko couldn't sentence her best friend to death—or a lifetime prison.
"Who was I kidding?" Akko pulled the ends of her hair in frustration.
She was incapable of betraying her family and friends. That was like going against every facet of her DNA. Fidgeting, Akko tapped out a rhythm on her knee cap.
She could try to throw the doll to the depths of the ocean, but Akko saw that the doll could levitate and talk. It could snitch on her. She could try to burn the doll, but then again, Andrew had already tried it and it didn't work. Unless it was holy fire.
Akko didn't know how to access the holy fire, so she did the next big thing she could do. Buy gallons of holy water and purify Sucy. It didn't work at all. It only slowed her descent to madness, but it was all in vain. Sometimes she even wondered, if it made things worst.
But it was the exact plan that was feasible. If Sucy didn't have her tool, how was she going to pull off world domination? No more deaths, the Blytonbury Killer would just fade into the background—and most notably, Sucy would be off the hook. But what reassurance did she have that Sucy wouldn't just start up again?
And then, there was also the distinct possibility that Sucy would figure out exactly who set her powers ablaze, quite literally, in the first place. Sucy was bound to be furious. Beyond furious, even. It was a foreign concept that Sucy would ever intentionally hurt her… but then she had changed. The voodoo doll was changing her.
Akko had no guarantee that Sucy wouldn't turn on her. She had read Sucy's mind, she had watched her memories. She knew how Sucy functioned.
She might have been up for nights that Chariot began to notice. Despite all her practice of wearing a perfect poker face, despite all the denying the questions if something was wrong, Chariot still caught on. There was no way she could keep a secret from Chariot. She was her teacher and guardian after all. Everything she learned about how to be a magician—to lie, to cheat, to fool and to hide while making people wear all smiles at the deceit.
Somehow, the French woman learned of Akko's plight and knew exactly how to get off the to-kill radar. Chariot told her that it wasn't the first time she came across a witch who used the same cursed voodoo doll.
Akko's dangerous situation eased when she decided to follow and support Sucy, but at the same time behind the Filipino's back, she was looking for a way to get rid of the doll. She wanted out of the relationship as soon as she agreed to be Sucy's girlfriend. She never thought that agreeing would place her into a pedestal with even more chains. She thought that being close to Sucy, she can have the chance to supervise her, and get rid of the doll called Loa.
However, it became pretty clear that Loa was a permanent fixture in Sucy's life. Chariot even warned her of her attempts to destroy the doll. So in the end, Akko grabbed the opportunity to get out of the relationship when the chance was given.
Lotte Jansson was a weird girl. Akko just knew the moment she saw her that the Finnish girl doesn't look like what she seemed at all.
If Sucy only knew the things Akko did for her, then she will realize how much she loved her. But Akko was too scared to tell her that she was trying to save her from the dark magic that plagued her, and most especially Sucy's own self—her descend to madness.
Sucy might get mad at her. Tell her that it's wrong to play with her heart like that, but can anyone blame her? Akko needed to do it.
There was manipulation involved and she didn't want any of that.
Akko knew the target on her back returned when she did so. She knew she gave Amanda, Jasminka, and Constanze their own spot in the guillotine and tightened the noose around Diana's neck after that. But even with the impending danger, she wanted to save Sucy. She even followed Charot's advice to meet other witches around the area, although Professor Lukić had not been quite helpful.
The sun rose, with its rays peeking through the window blind, making Akko grumble. She lost a good sleep once again.
Akko went out of her room with renewed determination, she was going to do her early workout regime, shower, study for school, practice her skills, and make the heavy feeling of dread and portent disappear.
After all that, Akko would float again, the way she used to. To be that vibrant jolly kid she showed everyone. She looked at her wristwatch before she managed to reach the stairs, her hand on the banister, when Chariot appeared from the kitchen, beaming.
"Why are you so happy?" Akko inquired flatly, ready to begin the trek to the building's small gym room any minute.
"I made up with my old flame, Croix," she replied, impervious to Akko's gloom. "She took me back."
It was only after the news had had a chance to sink in that Akko began to consider what would happen if the fight between Sucy and Diana actually had a winner. She cared for both of them and never would want any harm to them, for God knows how much. Akko had been putting that moment of realization off for a long time, but it had been in the back of her mind ever since the beginning of the year.
"You want to put Sucy behind bars?"
"Rightfully so, Akko." Chariot answered. "It's not right when the innocent suffers the guilty's consequences."
"But can't you see?" Akko asked, her voice rising. "The situation would actually benefit the both of them! Sucy won't kill Diana and Diana won't harm Sucy as long as she's imprisoned!"
"I think you're forgetting that the world doesn't revolve around you three." Chariot hissed but was able to make her voice stern. "What Croix and I will do will be for the greater good."
"Even if it meant sacrificing either one of them?"
Chariot's eyes softened, she cupped the shorter girl's face with tender care. "Trust me, Akko. Croix and I fought and disagreed about lots of things, but the only one we both agreed was that we failed to save ourselves, and our senpai."
"Your s-senpai?" Akko asked. Her eyes nearly bulge out of her sockets when she saw her mentor swinging her bracelet. She stared back at her now empty wrist; she hadn't been able to feel it being stolen.
Even if Akko was trained to deceive and not to be deceived, Chariot was still able to trick her. People had to admire that kind of skill, and Akko still has long ways to go.
"We inevitably brought her danger, and we will make sure to make our vow unbreakable."
The silence stretched on for a while before Akko spoke. "There are more things you haven't told me, have you Chariot?"
Humor was held in Chariot's eyes. "I want you to know that we have decided to ask help from the Janssons."
Akko's forehead creased. She never trusted any other witches. Magic was supposed to be fun and entertaining. It should give the viewers adrenaline-charges, not fear and anxiety. Magic should also exist to help and guide, not where the mundane has no chance to win against.
Akko pursed her lips. If all of Sucy's enemies are now uniting to tear her down, then she has to act fast and save Sucy. Her own way.
To the stranger's eyes, Sucy was simply playing dollhouse inside her bathroom even in her age. But instead of joy, Sucy was beyond pissed. She was about to steal the hair of the Detective who posed as Professor Cruz, but now she was declared missing.
"Oh don't be such a grumpy shit. At least we have her underling's hair."
"Wherever could she have gone?" Sucy asked as she tied the orange hair around Loa's neck and placed her inside a small cardboard home she constructed since dawn. "Could she have known I was coming after her and to protect herself, incognito is the only way to go?"
"She's not wrong though," Loa replied, comfortably sitting inside the little dollhouse.
Sucy began to fear the worse. What if Diana was only the beginning to her road to being her true potential as a witch? What if the Detective Inspector proved to be a much worthy opponent than a mere girl of her age?
She shook the thought out of her head. It was too terrible to contemplate. She would figure something out. She had to.
As Sucy gingerly settled herself, she rose her eyebrow with a question. "Any chance my Canadian puppet's sleuthing skills can track her?"
"It's worth the chance." The doll chuckled deviously.
"And there's also another problem! I can't murder anyone in cold blood right now!" she complained. "The public now believes that Diana's the Blytonbury killer, which meant that I'd change my killing design to natural causes."
"You grasped the consequences of what you did too late. What's the difference anyway? You will still kill people."
"But..." Sucy grumbled, striking a match and a setting fire to her craft. "Not to anyone else. My murders couldn't be lumped together as the Blytonbury Killer anymore! I do admit that I'll miss the recognition after all this."
"I wish I could understand human emotions more," Loa said, dismissing Sucy's trivial complications as the dollhouse she was in burned and collapsed over her.
Sucy sat on the bathroom floor, ready to turn on the shower in case the controlled fire went wild. She also disabled the smoke detector in her room with the help of her devious doll.
"So you're going to continue living the double life. What are your plans asides from the obvious?"
"Now that Diana's out of the way, perhaps I'll still take her offer. This time though, I'll dream bigger and run for President once school restarts. Ever since the redhead's death and Diana's apparent imprisonment, the academy's experiencing a minor setback. I'll be the one who'll lead it back up... maybe, I don't know. I have no clear goals yet."
There was a thunderous knock through her front door. Before Sucy could properly react, it was expertly picked by an impatient person. Sucy staggered to her feet, ready to attack whoever unfortunate thief that decided to barge in like that when the door swung open to reveal Atsuko Kagari.
"I can't believe you," Akko said. "You killed Amanda and blamed Diana for it?"
Sucy kept her focus on the little fire in her bathroom while eyeing her steely gaze towards her best friend. "I told you I would make sure she cares no more, doesn't she?"
"I FREAKING CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" she bellowed.
"I don't understand."
"That's because you want to believe I'm still the old Akko. That's the sad thing. You were friends with the old Akko, not with me. You don't care about the new one, the real Akko. You don't even want to know her."
"I could say the same to you. It's all Diana's fault!" Sucy screamed at her. "She's turned you completely against me! That's why you say this!"
"She's never said anything rude about you. I've just changed, that's all. Why do you always want to blame her for everything?"
"Because she's to blame for everything. If she hadn't befriended you, we would have had a wonderful year. She's ruined everything for me. I hate her so much. I should have killed her if I had the chance."
"You make me sick, the way you talk," Akko said, her face was wet with tears, she hadn't known she had started to cry. "I can't stand having you around me all the time, wanting me only for yourself. And killing every fucking person."
Sucy's eyes furrowed as her forehead started to crinkle.
"You don't get why I'm so upset, do you?" Akko stomped her way through the white tiles. "Amanda was your friend too! You don't care about anyone else but you and your interests, do you? If I didn't know better, I don't think you're enjoying this." She said through gritted teeth.
"Diana tailed me all the time in the hope of catching me but she never did. I caught her instead. Now don't give me that look, Akko. I took your begging into consideration. The Brit's still alive... and you didn't tell me to spare Amanda's."
Akko pressed her lips together, but argued anyway, endless fire in her eyes. "I can speak up, Sucy. I can tell the authorities about your witchcraft."
The subtle threat didn't faze her one bit. "Diana told everyone I killed those people, and no one believed her. Just like no one would believe you if you said I was a witch."
"Being a witch isn't the problem, Sucy." Akko grasped the Filipino's arm tighter. "It's the freaking doll! I don't think the doll is good for you and I think your relationship is destructive. You weren't like this years ago when we met! You weren't a homicidal maniac before!"
"She does know I'm here, doesn't she?" Loa spoke underneath the ashes.
Sucy smirked, as the doll rose from the floor. Akko was taken aback at the magic object, temporarily forgotten that who she was badmouthing was with them.
"Who I was yesterday is laid waste to give rise to who I am today," Sucy said.
"How many lies have to be sanctified? How many consciences devastated? How many lives will be in peril?"
"As many as necessary."
"Diana's happiness is more important than her suffering."
"You and I have to agree to disagree."
"This won't make you human, Sucy. So much as you lose the ability to make yourself human and move on. Don't you feel a little bit bad? If it weren't for you, she wouldn't have suffered this much?" Akko asked.
"That's the way of the world, Akko. We were an irresistible force, she was a movable object. She moved. If you want to feel bad about something, feel bad about the fact that she's no closer to identifying my secret weapon than she was a few months ago."
"Both of you are my friends, why don't you just get along?"
"Oh yes, I'm a friend. I'm just your friend... and I'm so stupid to make the biggest mistake of falling in love with my best friend."
"Stop this, Sucy."
"I gave you everything, but you left me with nothing."
"They are rallying together, you know," Akko said softly in a warning.
"Let them form their allegiance, I'm going to kill all of them anyway," Sucy smirked, recalling her plan to kill everyone involved in her case at the Blytonbury Police and Scotland Yard either through natural occurrences.
"I don't mean the cops, Sucy. I meant the people who knew Diana isn't the killer."
It was entirely her fault. All of it.
Diana wasn't sure how many miles she had logged, pacing in her cell, but it was impossible for her to stand still. She had to keep moving.
The ache in her chest was so strong and solid, she felt like she could pick it up and hold it her hands. She thought she would suffocate under the pressure of all these thoughts. Her breath came shallow in gulps and clammy with panic. There was nowhere to go, nothing she could do. She was trapped.
The cell was eerily silent. Fifteen minutes passed, then twenty. Diana couldn't take it.
She slammed her fist into the wall, hard, but she didn't feel any physical pain. All she felt was the weight of her own stupid, selfish mistakes piling higher and higher, threatening to topple down and crush her at any moment.
She never thought she could feel worse than she did after Frank died or after Andrew and Avery. But her arrest was the lowest Diana had ever been. She spun around in the tiny room, looking for something else to kick or hit. There were just her narrow bed and her chair.
There were three concrete walls and the fourth was bulletproof glass. Diana chuckled to herself, she didn't know she would be placed in solitary confinement and treated like a criminally insane child.
Diana fell onto the mattress and laid on her back.
"I'd like to see Miss Cavendish." She instantly recognized Lotte's angelic voice echoing from outside her cell.
She jerked upright when she heard loud resounding footsteps. Something was wrong, Diana was certain of it. It hadn't been 24 hours yet, and they are allowing visitations.
"To what purpose?" the guard asked.
"To check that her basic visitation rights are being respected. I'm a friend after all."
It simply took seconds before Lotte came into view which had been odd in many ways. It was evening, and Lotte was without a guest ID.
"How are you?" she asked.
Diana pursed her lips, fearing she might have gone mute for she hadn't spoken in 24 hours since she was taken to this glass prison cell. Her voice came out hoarse. "She can stab me too many times, but my soul remains intact."
"Your spirit is already breaking Diana."
"It had a crack since I was nothing but a toddler. I am still here. The only difference about me is that I am convinced of my general lack of trust in other people."
"Lack of trust in other people increases the need for religion. If you can't rely on others, you have to rely on God."
"I'm relying on myself. And at this moment, I have to confess that I don't know what is going to happen to me anymore." Diana said, merely gave Lotte a glance before looking away. "I'm sorry. For endlessly discarding my frustrations at you. I may have what others call a strong personality. Sometimes, without meaning to, I can bend others to my point of view. Like a magnet exposed to other metals. I have a tendency to magnetize people around me. Draw them to the alignment of my own ways."
"What the heck are you talking about?" Lotte asked. "You're no magnet, and I'm sure as hell I'm not a fork. So what? The great love of my life is a homicidal maniac. No one's perfect."
Diana's eyes widened at the revelation. "You have feelings for Sucy?"
"Well," Lotte shrugged. "I was actually referencing Night Fall, but yes it can be also because I like her. People naturally reference things all the time."
Diana chuckled at that. "Let's save them."
"Chloe's agreed to house you if you want us to break you out," Lotte said, shoving her hand into her dress' pocket. "Chloe and I, we have something you don't have control in."
"What?" None of anything she said made sense.
"You have become my friend, Diana. I suppose I owe you the truth." Lotte said, licking her dried lips. "Doom has been unleashed by witches. It must be averted by witches."
"I beg your pardon?"
"I'm a witch, Diana," Lotte said. "So is Chloe, and so is Sucy. But Sucy's using her power to aid her in murder."
"You mean you are all Wiccan?"
"You're a little confused, but you got the spirit." Lotte smiled pleasantly, and somehow it sent bone-chilling chills through Diana's back. "Chloe is actually enchanting the guards to deal with your CCTV footage. We can't have mundane people hearing and recording our conversation."
Lotte shot her a look Diana couldn't quite read, but it was enough to make her bite her lip nervously. Abruptly, Diana felt weak on her knees. She never knew that sweet and lovely Lotte Jansson could harbor such power.
When she spoke, her voice was strained. "So you use divination and alchemy? That is utterly impossible."
"There is a vast gulf between impossible and impossible to imagine."
Diana grabbed ahold of her own momentum and firmly stood, fighting her wobbly knees. "First of all, if you are witches, then why do you and other witches just let Sucy be?"
"We just let them be so they would let us be. But since Sucy hadn't let us be, and non-witches are now asking for our help. It's time to act."
Diana nibbled her lower lip, contemplating. "What do you have in mind?"
"You want the truth, above all else, and I want my fellow witches to follow the old sovereignty. So I have a proposition that may be of mutual advantage."
Diana nodded, the wistfulness in her eyes hardening into resolve. "How does she kill people?"
"Sucy tackles dark magic, Diana," Lotte said, through gritted teeth. "Dark magic is the forbidden art of witchcraft. Her brand of specialty is voodoo. Through voodoo magic, she has complete reign over the person."
A sudden probing headache drifted towards Diana. She held her head as a confusion of reality began to set in. Hanging her head, Diana heard herself chanting that it could not be true; this was the stuff of legend and fantasy. She lived in the modern world and these mythical terrors did not exist! "Ugh, why does that sound familiar?"
"It seems you've learned of this before. That pain in your head is simply the forgetfulness spell at work. Increased by your crazy disbelief." Lotte grabbed something in her pocket, but Diana couldn't see it well, like a sudden mist covering her eyes. "Let me remove the spell, Diana."