Chapter 5: A helping hand.

"Honestly! In all my years of teaching I have never, even once, seen something quite like this." Finnelan ranted as she paced around her office, pinching the bridge of her nose. She was very much irritated, more so because it was very late at night (or very early in the morning). "I wholly expected this from you, Miss Kagari, but Diana? What on earth possessed our top student to, not only allow, but encourage such behavior?"

Diana had the decency to hang her head low and look truly apologetic, like she was internally doing a better job at chastising herself than Finnelan could ever hope to accomplish. Akko, on the other hand, had a defiant glint in her eyes as she stared directly at the professor.

"Come on, Finnelan-sensei, don't be like that. You speak like we killed someone, yet we only allegedly tried to steal some tarts." The mischievous Japanese girl spoke, to the horror of her blonde friend.

"Akko!" Diana shrieked before turning to the older woman and addressing her in the most pleading tone she could muster. "Please forgive her. She didn't mean that."

"Of course I d-…"

"I, on the other hand…" Diana continued, cutting Akko off before she could dig her own grave any deeper. "Don't know what came over me. I should have never even thought about doing something like that, and all I can say in my defense is that I figured she'd be better behaved if I was present than if I let her go on her own. Still, this is no excuse and I will gladly accept any punishment you find fit."

"But Diana!" Akko immediately protested. "I'm the one who literally dragged you into this! I should be the only one getting punished."

"Akko! I can't let you take all the blame. All of my actions were fully conscious and voluntary." Diana responded.

"Silence." Finnelan snapped, her authoritarian voice immediately shutting down whatever arguments the girls had tried to make. "Diana, you are not going to make any more patrols at night, at least until the exams have ended. And both of you are going to do all the laundry, without any use of magic whatsoever, for the next five days. Are we clear?"

"But…" Akko tried to protest once more.

"Are we clear, Miss Kagari?" She repeated, looking straight at her in such a menacing way that all Akko could do (Akko, who had faced head on a nuke powered by pure hatred) was gulp and nod, feeling as her blood left her face. "Very well. Your punishment shall start tomorrow after classes. You are dismissed."

"Ugh, I really hate Finnelan!" Akko complained loudly while walking down the corridor with her two roommates and the three members of the green team. "If it wasn't for her I would have peacefully enjoyed a midnight snack with Diana, but no! She just had to come and punish us! And just when Diana was starting to open up. This will screw all the progress we'd made!"

"I still can't believe you convinced Diana to do that." Sucy cackled, showing off her sharpened teeth.

"You're leading her down a dark path." Amanda agreed, smiling as she put her hands behind her head. "Before we know it, she'll snatch away my place as the school rebel." She chuckled. "And then I'd have no choice but to challenge her to a duel to reclaim my throne."

"She'd totally kick your ass." Akko deadpanned.

"No she wouldn't!" She protested, but then Akko just snorted, Sucy snickered and Lotte looked to the side, like she didn't want to break her bubble. "She wouldn't!" Amanda reiterated. "Conz, Jas, come on, back me up here." She turned to look at her roommates, but Jasminka just shrugged and offered her a potato chip, and Constanze shook her head. "Ugh. You're terrible friends, you know that?" She grumbled, though they all knew she didn't really mean it.

Just then, they came to a stop in front of the stairs, which lead upwards to the third floor dormitory, and downwards towards the laundry, which meant they'd have to part ways there.

"Huh. So… I guess I'll see you guys later? Unless you want to help me?" Akko asked hopefully, alternating her gaze between her five friends.

"Nah, I'll let you have your fun with Cavendish." Amanda simply said.

"Just please try not to get the sheets too… wet." Sucy snickered.

"Wet?" Akko tilted her head. "We're gonna be washing them, so we actually have to get them wet."

"I-ignore them, Akko." Lotte intervened, visibly flustered. "Just don't get in any more trouble and enjoy your time with Diana." She gave her a gentle smile. "I'd go help you, but I promised Barbara we'd discuss volume 249 of Nightfall today, so…"

"No, I get it. It's my mess and I have to clean it." Akko sighed. "But you go have fun without me." And with that, she waved them goodbye and started descending the stairs.

When she arrived to the laundry, Diana was already (unsurprisingly) there. She was just starting to fill up some of the buckets with water, and her back was to Akko, so she didn't notice when she entered. But the Japanese girl immediately made her presence known with an enthusiastic greeting, seeing as, even though this was technically a punishment, she was actually really glad to be able to spend some time alone with Diana. Granted, she wasn't sure why she was so excited, though as usual she chalked it up to wanting to get to know her new friend better and Diana was a lot more open when it was just the two of them.

"Diana!" She exclaimed as soon as her eyes landed on the stunningly beautiful blonde, who immediately straightened up from her crouching position in front of the buckets and turned around to face her. "Did you start without me?" Akko asked as she looked over the school prodigy. She had her hair tied up in a ponytail, didn't have her vest on, and the sleeves of her shirt were rolled up, which made her look more beautiful than she already was (at least in Akko's opinion). She'd only seen her like that once before; during the past summer vacations.

"I was merely collecting the water we'll be using." Diana responded as a smile appeared on her face. "I have to say, I am surprised you arrived so early."

"What do you mean? Are you insinuating I'm usually late?" Akko pouted indignantly, but her friend just laughed in such a carefree way that she couldn't really stay mad at her.

"Why don't you start scrubbing those sheets? I'll join you in a moment." She said while pointing to a pile of sheets at one corner of the laundry.

"Sure." Akko shrugged and went to do as she'd been told. Yet, she was never one to stay silent, so she decided to make some talk as they worked, and figured a good way to start would be apologizing for dragging Diana, the perfect student, into this whole mess. "Uhm… Diana?" She called as she picked up one of the sheets, and the other girl merely acknowledged her with a small hum. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She asked, still completely focused on her task.

"For, you know, getting us caught stealing pastries and getting you in trouble. I promise I didn't want that at all! I just wished to share a little midnight threat with you, and those tarts are just so delicious! And… yeah. Sorry. I promise it won't happen again." She sighed as she poured some water on the sheets and started scrubbing a little more forcefully than necessary. She felt incredibly guilty in that moment, which had never happened before even if she had a tendency of getting all her other friends in trouble too.

"I really don't mind, Akko. I already knew what I was getting into when I decided to become your friend." Diana said as she placed two full buckets next to Akko, and smiled gently when the brunette looked up at her.

"But still!" Akko kept protesting. "You're always so perfect, and you have a reputation to maintain. And I wouldn't want to compromise that."

"I assure you I don't care about losing my reputation, if that's the price of being your friend." Diana chuckled, like she was telling a joke to herself. "Besides, you didn't compromise it; I did."

"Huh?" Akko tilted her head, more confused than ever.

"I accepted your invitation to go steal sweets late at night, despite knowing the possible consequences." She explained. "I'm as guilty as you, if not more so."

"I bet you regret listening to my stupid ideas." Akko sighed.

"Akko." Diana shook her head, unbelieving that her friend was still mentally kicking herself for something that didn't really bothered her. "Let me ask you something. Are you happy whenever I spend time with you or go along with your antics?"

"Uh…" Akko trailed off, looking to the side and feeling as guilty as ever. Still, she decided to tell the truth; she was a terrible liar anyways. "Yeah."

"Then I don't regret it." Diana spoke with such finality and wearing the most kind and beautiful smile Akko had ever seen. And she felt her heart skip a beat at the sight as blood rushed to her cheeks.

"D-Diana! You can't just say things like that!" Akko protested, avoiding meeting her gaze lest she got any more flustered. Granted, she didn't even know why she was getting flustered.

"Why not? It's the truth." She answered calmly as she went to kneel next to Akko and took another sheet to wash. "Now, I think we should get back to work."

And so, she poured some water and started scrubbing like a true professional. They kept working in silence, but Akko couldn't help noticing that, by the time Diana had washed two sheets, she was just finishing her first. It was just like that time, at the washing competition made by the fairies during the past summer vacation, when she had once invited Diana to be on her team and had been truly surprised at how good she was. She had thought, with her being a spoiled rich girl and all, that she wouldn't know a thing about manual work of any kind, but alas she was proven wrong. But still, she wondered why Diana was so good at this, being that she herself had seen she indeed had servants that tended to her every need. So Akko being Akko, decided to just ask.

"Hey Diana, how did you learn how to wash?"

"Uh?" Diana paused on her work and regarded her, no doubt surprised by the sudden question.

"It's just weird, with you being rich and all, and I was wondering." Akko shrugged.

"Well…" She paused, frowning and looking distressed for a moment. "Remember how my aunt wanted to sell our family's relics?" Akko nodded. "That's because she's never worked a day of her life and still decided to live like she had all the money in the world. Of course, this caused our fortune to disappear very quickly, and soon enough we couldn't afford to have as many servants as would be required to maintain the mansion in pristine condition." She sighed. "They were already working too much in order to satisfy aunt Daryl's every wish, so I decided to lessen their workload a bit." A smile then appeared on her lips like she'd remembered something funny. "Anna would always chastise me whenever she found me washing my own clothes or cleaning up my room, but I continued doing it anyways. I just didn't want to be a bother."

"Diana…" Akko let out a dreamy sigh she didn't register until later. Honestly, she didn't even know what to say because it was just like Diana to be that considerate with everyone. After all, wasn't the Cavendish motto affection? And Diana was definitely living up to it.

"W-why are you staring at me like that?" Diana let out a nervous chuckle and looked to the side, finding Akko's awed staring to be overwhelming, even if she was more than used to being praised and admired by her classmates. But it just felt different when it came to Akko for reasons she couldn't fathom.

"You're so kind." Akko smiled. "I can't believe I thought you were just an obnoxious prissy rich girl when we first met!"

"To be fair, I wasn't exactly nice to you." Diana sighed, slumping her shoulders as shame took over her.

"Nah, you just pointed out my flaws and chastised me for breaking the rules." Akko brushed it aside. "It was mostly Hannah and Barbara who bullied me."

"And I never stopped them." Diana stubbornly protested.

"They were your friends, and you probably didn't want to fight with them." Akko argued. "Honestly, it's fine! We're all cool now, and it's only because of you that I even managed to save the world and return to Luna Nova, instead of freezing to death in Blytonbury, so… yeah. I guess we're even." Akko gave her a cheeky smile that Diana couldn't help but reciprocate, and she even found herself thinking that, if this was what being punished with Akko was like, she wouldn't mind doing it more often.

"Thank you, Akko." She said.

"For what?" The brunette tilted her head confused.

"For being my friend."

Akko arrived to the top of the Astronomy Tower late at night, after her punishment had ended and she'd walked Diana to her room. Technically, she didn't have to study with Ursula-sensei that day because her next exam was magical philosophy and she was pretty good at it, but… she really enjoyed their time together and she couldn't wait to hear more about her idol's story. So that's why she ended up going uninvited to her professor's chambers.

"Ursula-sensei!" She exclaimed as she pretty much barged in. The professor was wearing a red tracksuit and didn't have her glasses on, and was standing on the balcony upstairs looking out of the window, but jumped out of her skin at Akko's greeting and almost dropped something she was holding, but after doing some juggling with it, she was able to secure it on her grip again.

"Akko! What have I told you about doing that?" She chastised her as she looked at her from the balcony.

"Ah… sorry" Akko rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I was just so excited, you know? I don't have to study for tomorrow's exam, and so we'll have all the time for you to tell me about your lessons with Croix and stuff, right?"

"You should be in your room." Ursula sighed, stuffing the object on her pocket as she made her descent. "Even if you're very good at magical philosophy, a little bit of study won't hurt you."

"Please, please Ursula-sensei!" Akko whined, putting up her best puppy dog eyes. "I promise I'll get a good grade in tomorrow's exam, but please tell me more stories."

"Akko." She sighed and shook her head. "Why can't you ever accept a no for answer?"

"Because if I did, I would have never come all the way to England just to study magic." She shrugged, smiling. And her smile was so genuine and carefree that Chariot couldn't help smiling back and deciding to give in.

"Very well then." She gestured to her couch. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll be with you in a second."

Akko did as told and watched as her teacher pulled a small object out of her pocket and tucked it inside the top drawer of her desk before going to sit next to her. And of course she couldn't contain her curiosity.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Nothing important." She answered, but she was a terrible liar, and her blush gave away she clearly was hiding something. So when Akko looked at her with a skeptical gaze, she decided to change the subject. "Uhm… anyways, do you want to hear about the first time I went to Croix's lab with her?"

"Oh, yes sensei!" Akko's eyes practically shined at the prospect, and the professor simply chuckled.

"Alright." She said, before looking around her room. "As I told you already, her secret lab was in this very tower which had been in disuse for a long time. Neither of us had gone back in there since our very first meeting, but after about a week of daily lessons with her, mostly focusing on my technique with casting spells, she apparently decided I probably wasn't going to blow up her lab and invited me to go with her."

I'm walking towards the east dormitory to meet up with Croix as usual for our daily lessons. For the past few days she's taught me some new spells, like the illumination spell, or the flavoring spell. Granted, they are for beginners and it still took me days to master them, but progress is progress and Croix is an excellent teacher. So of course I'm rather excited about what she'll teach me today! Maybe some illusion magic like I requested? Yes, she told me that we should focus on the spells that will be covered in class, but… illusion spells are just so pretty! But precisely because they're beautiful and fun and I like them, they aren't taught here. At least not in the first year.

But who knows? Maybe if I pout really hard I can convince Croix. Maybe. Even if it didn't work last time.

"Chariot." Croix's voice pulls me out of my thoughts and I look up to see she's in front of me, though I haven't arrived to her room yet.

"Oh, hi Croix!" I greet her cheerily, giving her my best smile, but she just remains with a cold expression. Weird. She usually smiles at least a little.

"So… Today I can't tutor you because I've got homework." She starts, frowning. "But I was wondering if you could come to my lab with me? It's still a mess and I can't really clean it in my condition, so…" She trails off, looking to the side, obviously embarrassed about having to ask for help. Even when that was the deal from the very beginning.

"Yeah. Sure, I'd be happy to help." I answer, because really, after everything she's taught me, that's the least I can do.

"Alright then. Follow me." And with that she walks past me towards the stairs that lead to the third floor and I quickly hurry up to follow her.

All the way there we stay silent. Even when I do try to make some small talk, she barely answers with grunts, so I give up after a few tries. I suppose she's not in the mood to talk. But I don't have much time to ponder about that because, once we arrive, I realize her lab is exactly as we left it; covered in soot, broken parts of metal, and full of trash and electronic equipment. I don't think she even tried to clean it.

"Uh… So…" I trail off, looking at all this mess. "Where should I start?"

"Put all the trash in a bag and leave it in a corner. Then just use some water and one of those cloths to clean everything." She points to a pile of old rags that look as dirty as this whole place. Seriously, I'm starting to think she hasn't cleaned it at all since she started using it.

"Alright." I sigh. It's not like I have a choice.

"I'll be at the desk doing some homework, but do inform me if you need anything or if you have any questions." And with that, she leaves me there while she takes one of the notebooks at her desk, opens it and goes to grab a quill. I shrug, resigning to my fate, and go to do as she asked (well, ordered would be more precise).

First I grab a black bag she had next to her desk and peer into it. It only has some wrinkled papers inside, so it should be enough. Then I start searching for empty ramen cups throughout the whole expanse of the Astronomy Tower (seriously, there's even a few upstairs, next to the window), taking care to only throw the empty ones in the trash, while putting the others on the box that's next to the couch, where she keeps all her food. If that can even be called food.

I work mostly in silence, though I do hum some of my favorite songs to keep myself from getting too bored, and soon enough there are no more ramen cups, empty or otherwise, scattered around. I then figure that, before cleaning anything, I should probably put some order in here. Maybe I should ask Croix first though? Nah, she seems to be very concentrated on whatever she's doing, and would probably get mad if I interrupt her. More so considering she already appears to be more grumpy than usual.

So first I take a look at all the technological junk she has lying around. How should I organize it? I mean, I don't even know what the majority of these things are for, so… maybe just based on size? I think it'd look pretty. And so, I start moving them all around, placing them under the balcony in a semi-circular formation following the shape of the room. First the televisions, car batteries, computers and such, then laptops, radios, and videogame consoles, and then walkie-talkies, cellphones, cables, disks and also those weird little rectangular things (memories, or something?).

I'm just about to finish though, when suddenly I trip on one of the cables still lying around and I end up falling and dropping everything I had in my hands… which is a cellphone, a CD and some work tools. The cellphone breaks in two, the CD shatters into pieces and the work tools loudly clatter to the ground. I scream as I end up hitting the ground face first, and my nose feels like it's been pushed into my skull.

"Chariot?" Croix says as she stands up, undoubtedly having heard the commotion, but I'm too busy trying to get up and stop my ears from ringing to actually answer her. "Chariot, what the heck are you doing? What… look at what you did to my cellphone! Do you think those are easy to find?! And how am I supposed to find anything here?!" She starts yelling at me as I try to get up and make some sense of her words. Honestly, I only register she's angry at me, and when I open my eyes and stare at her, I see her eyes full with rage and frustration, her eyebrows knit in a tight frown, and her mouth forming an angry snarl.

I take a step back on pure instinct and look down to avoid her angry stare. She's never been so angry before, not even when I kept getting a spell wrong for more than an hour.

"I-I… I'm sorry. I just thought I should organize your stuff so it would be easier to find." I try to defend myself, but I can practically feel her glare at me and that makes me want to cower in fear and shame.

"Did I ask you to move my valuable equipment around?! No! No, and you know why? Because I didn't want you to! This is my lab, you are my assistant, and you have to do everything I tell you! Nothing more, and nothing less, okay?!" She keeps yelling, each word feeling like a sharp stab to my chest. I just wanted to help, and yet I ended up screwing everything up. As usual. And now Croix is mad at me.

"I'm sorry." I whimper, and then a sob escapes my lips and I realize tears have also started forming on my eyes. But I can't do anything about it. "I'm sorry, I'll fix it! I can use a repairing spell… granted, I've never casted it successfully, but, maybe if you…" I trail off when I look into her eyes again and I see her looking at me with a mix of guilt, confusion and some remaining anger. After a moment of silence though, she sighs, looks to the side and finally answers.

"I think you should go." She says, slightly more calmed, but her posture remains tense. "I'm not feeling well, and I'm afraid I'm taking it all out on you."

"N-no, Croix! I was being a complete idiot. I should have asked you before moving anything, and I should have been more careful! You have every right to be angry." I argue, even though I can't deny that her yelling at me did affect me. Not when my eyes are still wet with unshed tears.

"Look… I don't care whose fault that was." She says as she closes her eyes and starts rubbing the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. "But I just… I think I'd be better off alone." She finishes, but the way her voice cracks a little at the end makes me realize something is very wrong. That she isn't moody just because. That it's not a matter of having simply woken up on the wrong side of the bed. And before I can stop to think if it is a good idea, I find myself asking.

"Is everything okay?" My voice ends up sounding more concerned than I intended, but with how strange she's been acting today, I can't help thinking that whatever is affecting her isn't a simple matter.

"Well… no." She answers, opening her eyes to look at me like she's surprised I even asked. "I mean, I just said I'm not feeling well."

"Well, yes, but like… did something happen? You've been acting rather weird today." I then chuckle and make a joke to try and lift up the mood. "More than usual, that is."

"Weird?" She chuckles too, though she doesn't sound happy at all, and the smile she has doesn't reach her eyes. "You mean grumpy."

"That too." I shrug giving her a gentle smile that she doesn't see because her gaze is fixed on the ground.

"Uhm." She frowns. "I suppose it won't hurt to tell you." She finally concludes. "You remember I told you I can't use magic because of my injuries?" I hum in acknowledgement and she continues. "Well… I have been using magic. Just a spell here and there to help with daily tasks, like dressing myself or taking notes in class, since I can't use my right hand either."

"Croix!" I gasp alarmed as I remember how much it hurt her to use magic during our first study session.

"I know, I know. It was stupid." She snarls, glaring at the ground as though it was all its fault. "But the nurse had told me my magical injuries would be healed in about a week, so I thought they were superficial and a couple of spells from time to time wouldn't make much of a difference." She draws out a long sigh, frustrated. "But today I went to the infirmary to get my hand checked and it turns out I am banned from using magic for another month or so. And my physical injuries aren't doing any better. I'd try and find a cure or something to heal faster, but that's out of the question because I can't use magic!" She practically yells, clenching her left fist in anger as her face turns red and her breath comes out labored. She's really agitated because all of this. Not that I can blame her; not being able to use your right hand is bad enough, but to also become unable to use magic? I can't even imagine what that would feel like.

"I'm sorry." She says, once her breathing has come down to normal and her muscles are slightly less tense. "I did it again, didn't I?"

"It's okay, I get it." I assure her. "You're frustrated, and no one can blame you for that. But you should have told me sooner! Then maybe I could have been of more help."

"I'm not used to asking for help." She laughs, though it still isn't really happy. "I'm Croix Meridies, the prodigy of Luna Nova! The best witch to ever live! I can't ask for help from some first-year." She jokes, but something tells me she's actually partially serious. Maybe that the way she says this sounds kinda sad. And that makes me sad. I don't like being sad, though, so I decide to make her happy.

"I'm your slave though, so it's okay for you to give me orders, right? That was the deal. You help me with my studies, and I do whatever you ask me to do." I say, smiling. "You could order me, for example, to help you make a cure for your magical injuries."

"I certainly could… but I don't know if that's a good idea." She laughs, sounding slightly more sincere this time. "For now though, I have to write an essay for tomorrow, and my left hand isn't good with that task, so… help me?" She gives me a hesitant smile, like even she can't believe what she just said, but then she clears her throat and looks to the sides embarrassed. "Uh… I mean. Help me. That's… uh… that's an order."

"Sure thing boss." I smile, turning around and going to sit at her desk, where I find a page full of strange symbols that can hardly be called letters. I honestly don't understand a thing, and for a moment I'm afraid it's written in gnome language or something like that. But then I realized that no; these are just Croix's poor attempts at writing with her left hand.

"Yeah… not my best work." Croix says as she comes to stand next to me.

"How will this work then?" I ask. "You dictate and I write it down?"

"Sure." She shrugs.

"Then let's start!" I exclaim. And sure, this isn't like the fancy work in a crazy lab I imagined when I thought about helping Croix, but it's a step closer. And if it keeps her from hurting herself while trying to do magic, then I'm glad I'm doing it. Hopefully now she'll be less angry too; she truly is scary when she yells. Plus, it's nice to see her accepting help, since she's obviously too proud for her own good.

Maybe this is a sign of a growing friendship. At least, I certainly hope so.

A/N: Well, this chapter was WAY longer than I intended, probably because I got caught up with all the Diakko. But it was fun to write. Still, reviews are very much appreciated so I can see if you're liking this or not, so please don't hesitate to tell me your opinion.

Thanks for reading, and see you in two weeks! :)

Thanks to my beta readers moonwatcher13 and Colten Gilliam.