Every Second (ch6)

EARLY RELEASE FOR MY HIGHER-PLEDGING PATRONS! THANK YOU!

Now that the Rewrite fic is finished, I can go back to posting updates for these! This was a Years Later idea Neon and I discussed months and months ago that I've been holding onto for a while. Not sure how accurate it is in terms of her ideas for the AU but I wanted to give it a try. I like writing their familiars.

For those who don't know, Cerus is (well, obviously a unicorn and Diana's familiar, as you know from the previous chapter), but Akko also has Serpens (a snake) and Guardian (a snow leopard who doesn't talk). I'm no good at OCs so I rarely write them, but the animals I feel I could try.

Disclaimer: I do not own Little Witch Academia.

------------

													Chapter 6. Familiar

The evening is warm, quiet, and comfortable as Akko and Diana curl up together in bed.

After a long day of their usual work around Luna Nova, the two witches had eagerly retired as soon as the sun had set.

For a while, they wind down via their usual methods, by trailing lazy kisses across one another's chests, collars, and cheeks.

But even as Akko is kissing her, Diana can't help but get the sense that her wife is a little distracted tonight. She's much quieter than usual, and sometimes she seems to stop kissing when she should be right in the middle of it.

Diana hadn't caught wind of anything amiss with her today, but the prickle of worry works its way up her chest all too familiarly. Looping her arms around to Akko's shoulders, she gently breaks the current kiss and gazes up into her wife's sleepy eyes.

"Akko? Are you feeling all right?"

It almost seems like there's a glaze over her chestnut eyes for a second before Akko shakes her head to clear it.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired I guess. Sorry."

"There is no need to apologize. If you are tired, then please rest."

Diana pushes herself up to kiss her one last time, then pulls Akko down into bed beside her. She wraps both arms around her back, pulling Akko's head close to her chest protectively. If Akko's already a little troubled, Diana knows she's more prone to nightmares and she wants to prevent that at any cost.

A bit of relief washes over her when she feels Akko's responsive touch in return, hugging her around her sides and nuzzling into her shoulder with a sigh.

"Love you, Diana."

"I love you too, Akko."

The room falls silent as their eyelids fall as well.

Being worried about Akko as she already is, Diana tries to keep herself awake until her wife has fallen asleep first, wanting to ensure she gets some proper rest.

It isn't long before she feels the shift in Akko's breathing and the limpness in her embrace. Diana kisses her temple and rests her chin on Akko's head, a gently defiant action to ward off unpleasant thoughts.

She wills herself to sleep as well after that, but just before she can slip over, she feels Akko moving.

Unconsciously, Akko turns over in her wife's arms, now giving Diana her back. A small moan escapes her lips. Diana can tell right away it sounds distressed somehow.

Immediately she opens her eyes and gently begins to rub her hands up and down her wife's stomach to rouse her.

"Akko?"

Akko had barely even fallen asleep before something wakes her again. It isn't just Diana's worried voice though.

There's something else. Something much less pleasant. Something she can't even define or understand.

It's just... a bad feeling.

As soon as she's able to, she's already pushing herself up and out of bed, slipping away from Diana's grasp. Diana sits up instantly.

"Akko? What is the matter?"

"I-I'm not sure..."

Akko can't explain the churning in her stomach properly. It doesn't quite feel like she's going to be sick. It feels more like the unsettling prickles of premonition.

She doesn't know where she has to go, but she knows she has to go somewhere.

She begins dressing herself quickly and shakily, rubbing her eyes, trying to figure out what's happening. Diana peels the covers off herself and makes a move to follow.

"Akko, where are you going? What is happening?"

Akko turns back to her tired wife who's about to sacrifice more of her sleep for this. The brunette composes herself as much as she's able to and takes in a deep breath before heading back to her. She plasters on an uneasy smile and presses both hands onto Diana's shoulders, gently pushing her back down onto her pillow.

"It's all right, Diana. I'm just feeling a little antsy. I'm gonna go for a walk to clear my head."

Diana stares up at her with anxious eyes.

"Then I am coming with you."

"No, no..." Akko bends down to kiss her, sighing against her lips. "You're so tired already. Please just get some sleep, Diana. I'll be back soon. I'll take Serpens with me, okay?"

Diana purses her lips. Tight bubbles of unease are clogging her stomach just short of bursting.

"Are you certain... it isn't something you can resolve here?"

Akko shakes her head.

"No. I... It feels like I've gotta go somewhere. Just get some fresh air, y'know? I mean, I'm not really sure what it is, but I just-" She tapers off, and another glaze comes over her eyes briefly.

Diana covers both of Akko's hands with hers, giving a small tug to pull her down into another light embrace. She understands that with Akko's paranoia comes different difficulties Diana has no knowledge or understanding of.

She knows she can't magically make Akko better, in spite of her skills as Headmistress. She also knows there are some times when Akko just needs to be alone, when Diana can do nothing to help her.

It hurts, but she understands.

Diana's chest deflates in a small sigh.

"Take Serpens," she murmurs. "And please come back soon, Akko."

"I will." Akko presses a quick kiss to her cheek. "I love you, Diana."

She wishes she could linger to try and explain things to her wife properly. But Akko still isn't sure herself.

With effort, she pulls away from Diana and skitters across the room to where Serpens is resting. His black body is curled up on the bed Akko had made for him, a bed he'd reluctantly accepted, though secretly enjoys.

He wakes right away at his mistress' approach, sensing that something is amiss. He lifts his head, yellow eyes narrowed into slits.

"What's going on?"

Akko reaches out her arm, and he's already slithering up it onto her shoulder before she's even answered him.

"Not sure. I just gotta get out."

Usually, he would poke fun at her or complain about being woken from his sleep. But he can sense the tension wafting off of her, and he knows instinctually this is no time for such jeers.

Akko turns to head for the door but is stopped by a tug on her sleep. Serpens inclines his head, silently advising her to take her wand. Akko grabs it from the table and steals one last glance over her shoulder at Diana before she's rushing out the door.

The hallways are dimly-lit and quiet as she runs, unsure of exactly where it is she's going, but aware that she needs to go there. Serpens is surprisingly quiet, but wide awake and on high alert.

Akko hurries until she's outside in the cool night air, with crickets chirping and owls calling all around her. The moon is covered by clouds, leaving the world darker than it should be, even at night. She skids to a halt in the courtyard and begins pacing frantically.

"Geez, what is this? W-What the heck am I doing?" Her stomach is doing flips and it's hard for her to swallow. "I don't know wh-where I'm supposed to be going..."

Serpens constricts his tail more tightly around her upper arm to gain her attention, shoving his nose right up against hers with a hiss.

"Maybe if you'd stop thinking for a second, you'd be able to feel for yourself where it is you should be going."

He never thought he'd see the day where he'd advise his mistress to stop thinking. But he is fully aware of her mental condition after the Sorcerer had attacked her and her wife. Serpens knows that over-thinking things does far more harm than good, especially to her.

When Akko feels the hard bump of his scales against her nose, it's jarring enough to make her listen and see the sense in his advice.

So she takes a deep breathe and closes her eyes, trying to shut off her mind and all the frantic thoughts jumbled around inside her forehead.

When she's able to focus for a few seconds she can feel something intangible tugging her, and her feet are moving on their own before she knows it. She opens her eyes again and starts running, cutting across campus wherever her feet bring her.

With his mistress so set on getting to wherever it is she needs to go, Serpens keeps a lookout for anything amiss, using his keen night-vision to search the shadows.

After several minutes of frenzied running, Akko finds herself nearing the North building, where the Fountain of Polaris resides.

She knows Guardian is here somewhere as well. Unlike Arcas before him, he doesn't like to be cooped up behind the doors all the time and will often prowl his patrols throughout the entire building to keep watch for intruders. Akko doesn't see him right now, but she can sense this is where she's supposed to be.

/But why...?/

Serpens has the same questions.

"Why did you come here? Why did you have to wake me just so you could come see that furball?" He tries to lighten the tense mood a little with his trademark attitude. Akko flashes him a nervous glance.

"I don't know..."

"You don't know anything..."

Despite his comments, Akko's glad Serpens is with her. He helps keep her grounded in reality when her mind threatens to take her elsewhere.

"I've gotta find Guardian," she mutters. "Come on."

"As if I have a choice."

Akko begins making her way through the old dilapidated building, keeping her senses alert. She doesn't hear or see any signs of her other familiar at all and assumes she must be exactly opposite of wherever he is right now. She ventures back outside in hopes she'll be able to spot him without four walls blocking her line of vision.

She stands and waits for a while, tapping her boot and fiddling her hands. Serpens waits with her, more focused on their surroundings than any signs of the giant snow leopard.

Akko's still as anxious as she has been all this time. She feels like she's about to scream.

But before she can lose her composure, she hears the soft padding of giant paws.

He barely makes any sound despite his size. Even though he's three times the size of an average snow leopard, he moves just as quietly as a house cat.

Guardian walks calmly from around one corner of the North building, his blue eyes clearer than any snow crystals, and equally as sharp. His whiskers sway in the gentle breeze, and his long tail hugs the side of the building as he comes into view. He sniffs the ground, round ears perking at a familiar scent, and his paws naturally begin kneading the ground as he recognizes his mistress.

Akko meets his eyes and feels a smile spread across her lips.

"Guardian!" She rushes to him with her arms open wide.

The big snow leopard won't neglect his post for anything or anyone other than his mistress. He turns and begins bounding toward her, his jaws parted in a smile. Serpens hisses in distress as he quickly dislodges himself from Akko's shoulder.

"That big furry oaf! He could crush me and he wouldn't even know it!"

He slithers away just as Akko collides with the big soft cat, hugging his neck tightly as Guardian sits on his haunches and tucks his head around hers. A loud, rumbling purr is already vibrating in his chest, and Akko giggles.

"You're all right. I'm so glad. I had this awful feeling..."

She still isn't sure what it is or was. But right now she's just so glad that he's safe she can't even be sure if she's still worried or not.

As she sighs and leans against the big cat, Serpens sticks out his tongue and unhinges his jaw in a gagging motion.

"Big idiots, the both of you..."

"Aw, don't be like that!" Akko says. "You were worried too. Or else you wouldn't have come with me."

The snake grunts and moves back another inch.

Akko happily loses herself in her glee, burying herself into Guardian's fur.

She's just about to believe her worries have melted away when something... happens.

Both of her familiars tense up at the same second, hissing and growling in warning signals. Before Akko can even pull away to see what they're looking at, she feels Guardian's teeth sink into her hood. He leaps back with her in-tow just as an arrow whizzes by, steaming as it plunges into the ground where they'd been standing only seconds earlier.

Akko's heart leaps into her throat as Guardian hoists her high into the air, then lands a second later to put her down. He blocks her with his own body, shielding her. Crouching low, he growls at the shadowy woods surrounding them.

Akko rushes to run around him, trying to see what he sees, but he sweeps her back with his tail. Another silent shot is fired, and this time it's from a gun. Guardian knocks his mistress into a broken wall of the North building to protect her, then dodges the bullet at the last second.

As Akko's back hits the wall, she knows right away what this ambush is.

/Poachers./

They've hunted their way onto Luna Nova's grounds in the past in hopes of obtaining rare creatures to sell and auction off, dead or alive. Diana had handled the last intrusion herself and given the offenders the worst punishment imaginable within the restrictions and allowances of the law.

That incident had occurred months ago, but tricks of how to get into the leylines must've gotten out to other illegal hunters since then. Akko knows the pelts, teeth, and claws of magic animals and creatures are worth a fortune on the black market, and goods that could come from a beast as large as Guardian could pay off a lifetime's worth of taxes.

Akko reaches for her wand and draws it like a blade.

"As if I'd let you!"

With a furious cry, she rushes out to where her familiar is waiting for her. She runs along his tail and he tosses her onto his back, where she immediately casts a barrier around the two of them.

But the poachers' arrows and bullets don't ricochet right off as she'd hoped. They must be tainted with black magic of their own, because wherever they hit, they cause her barrier to break and crack.

Akko grits her teeth and tries to reinforce her magic, but she doesn't know how many opponents she's up against. She can't see them in the darkness, and the blows seem to be coming from all sides now.

What's worse is that Guardian refuses to flee. Protecting the Fountain of Polaris is his duty, and he won't abandon the building no matter what, not even when Akko orders him to.

Her barrier breaks, but Akko is quick enough to re-cast it before any bullets can slip through.

Even so, she can't keep this up forever.

"Serpens!" She knows he's still around nearby, unseen. "Go get help! Hurry!"

She can only pray he's heard her and is able to do as she asks. Beneath her, Guardian is growling, claws unsheathed and fangs bared in an effort to intimidate the attackers. But he knows he cannot pounce them, because if the barrier breaks in the process, he and his mistress could be injured.

"Just stay still," Akko wills him. "We'll be okay. I'll make sure of it."

She wishes she could do more than simply hide behind a barrier. But being that they were ambushed, and Guardian is their target – a very big one at that – the only option she really has is to stay strong and wait for help to arrive.

She isn't scared. She has faith in her magics and in herself-

The barrier shatters again, and the rain of bullets comes down before she can re-cast it. She just blurts out the spell that comes naturally to her lips.

"Orihan Solonce!"

Two massive flowers pop up on either side of them, cushioning the bullets against their petals and giving Akko just enough time to reform her barrier before they disappear.

She knows they must have a lot of ammunition if they're willing to keep using it like this rather than wait her out.

She could easily transform into something bigger, or she could transform Guardian into something smaller like a mouse to make him worthless in the eyes of the poachers. But she can't cast more than one spell at a time, and her main priority is the barrier.

/Damn it! I should've been paying attention!/

She tugs at Guardian's fur, trying to ease him back inside the building so the walls of it can act as a second barrier of sorts. He goes step by step, not too quickly, as he knows his mistress needs to maintain her concentration on her spell.

The barrier cracks again, and the rush of raw air and bullets come hissing in at them-

"Aeguil!"

Just then, a familiar voice calls out a familiar spell, one Akko's only ever heard once before.

A massive white snake shoots through the air, twisting and winding at impossible angles to perfectly deflect every bullet. With a gasp, Akko looks across the clearing to see a magnificent sight.

Diana arrives, riding in on Cerus' back, her hair and his mane whipping out in the midnight winds behind them. Coiled on her shoulder is Serpens, and connected to her outstretched wand is the tail of the white snake. It whips around, slicing into the shadows where a few of the hunters are concealed in the shadows, clamping its jaws on them to temporarily immobilize them.

Diana swiftly and gracefully dismounts, allowing Cerus to charge at another pair of poachers. Long before they even have a chance to recognize what he is or turn their weapons upon him, he has paralyzed them with strong magics from his horn and rendered their guns and arrows useless.

Diana herself stands tall at the edge of the battlefield, casting several more quick, ruthless spells to detain the offenders. Some get chained with plant vines while others are restrained by spirits and sprites. The less lucky ones get snakes, or Cerus' horn at their throats.

Diana doesn't allow a single one of them to flee. She intends to punish and prosecute them all as harshly as the law allows and then some.

As she surveys the area that has grown quiet in seconds, Akko can see the cold fury in her wife's eyes, even from this distance. She is as vengeful as a dragon, twice as terrifying, and three times as powerful. Her body seems to visibly radiate an air of white-hot rage and a fierce desire to protect.

In only seconds, the chaos comes to an abrupt halt. Diana makes eye contact with her briefly and Akko gives a nod, indicating she is unharmed.

With that reassurance given, Diana rounds on the men in the shadows who are now being dragged into sight by her snakes. Her voice strikes them all like bricks.

"Vermin! Poaching is an inexcusable act as it is, but on sacred magical grounds? Your deplorable actions will be punished. Harshly. I will see to it myself that you are all locked in prison to rot until the end of your days. I should have the bars to your pens cursed with burning iron so you may suffer in an inferno!"

Diana is a rational person. Patient. Accepting.

But poachers are few of the only kinds of people she will never show mercy to. They've hurt her by targeting Cerus in the past, and their practice in general is something she was never inclined to be able to forgive.

She is sheerly outraged, roaring at the criminals so vehemently she fails to take note of anything else.

Just for a second.

It's enough for her to focus so intently on the majority of the men that she is unable to take note of everything.

But from her perch atop Guardian's back, Akko can see what Diana can't.

One of the men manages to raise his arm, pulling his elbow back against the string of his bow that is braced on a tree root. It's just high up enough off the ground to allow an arrow to fly.

Guardian must notice it too. Because just as Akko cries out her wife's name, the giant snow leopard gives a roar of warning.

As the poison arrow is released, Akko jumps off her familiar's back in the form of a bird, the fastest thing she can think of in that split second. She flies, shooting across the clearing, wings burning. She reshapes herself into something bigger – a deer – that will undeniably take the entire force of the blow, a target that's big enough to be hit no matter what.

She feels the sting in her flank as the blade sinks in, cutting deep and hard. She yelps shrilly as she collapses, instantly taking back her human form.

To Diana, it all seems to unfold in slow, dragging motions, when in truth it only takes a split second. Without thinking, she relinquishes her spell on the criminals, though Cerus instantly casts his own magic to ensure all of them are painfully immobilized.

Diana hardly gets two steps in toward her fallen wife before her legs give out, sinking her to the ground.

"Akko!"

She reaches for her but can't make contact. So she drags herself forward another few inches, until her fingertips can brush Akko's robes. Her wife doesn't stir.

"Akko! Akko!"

This has happened before, many years ago.

Diana's watched her get hurt and been entirely helpless about it.

Once it had even been by her own wand.

But a misdirected spell and dosage of snake venom can't compare to a poacher's poisoned arrow lodged deep within her ribs.

Diana doesn't move her, but places a hand on the bloody spot where the arrow protrudes from Akko's side. She forces herself to be steady, as steady as possible. She can't afford to be shaking - not now. She can't afford to let her vision be blurred by tears.

Their familiars create a physical barrier around the two of them now, keeping them out of sight. After Cerus has numbed each of the poachers with stinging magic, Guardian clamps his terrifying jaws around their shoulders and drops them into a helpless heap to be dealt with later.

Then he curls himself around Diana and his mistress and makes a low moaning sound in the back of his throat. Diana shakes her head.

"No... It was not your fault."

Her voice is small and scared, but being made to talk allows her to hear herself, to recognize reality once again.

Akko needs her help.

Diana is nothing if she's not a healer. Before she is Headmistress of Luna Nova, before she is any other form of a witch, she is a Cavendish, and she is a healer.

She lifts herself up onto her knees and leans over Akko, gripping the arrow right where it meets her wife's body. Diana wipes the blood off her other hand so her grip won't slip, then picks up her wand. She holds it and presses down on Akko at the same time. A healing spell makes its way to her lips.

"Lycallia Tetariinore."

She numbs the wound before she begins extracting the arrow, repeatedly casting the same spell to reenforce its effects. She heals the injury as she pulls out the arrow, inch by inch, not allowing Akko to lose any more blood than is absolutely necessary in the withdrawal of the weapon.

She is vaguely aware of Serpens curled up quietly at Guardian's paws, his yellow eyes unblinking as they scan his mistress. Diana gives another light tug to the arrow, and the red slippery blade comes into view. She pauses, taking a deep breath, trying not to cry-

A soft touch on her shoulder lets her rest for just a second. Cerus taps her with his horn, soothing her as a rush of calm and strength washes through her. Diana thanks him in his own language before proceeding.

"Lycallia Tetariinore."

She pulls again at the arrow, and again, until it is free. She drops it instantly and covers Akko's wound before it can bleed more. She casts her spell again, willing it to speed up the healing process.

There's so much blood on her hands. Akko's blood.

Soft hoof prints sound beside her as Cerus arcs his neck. This time he touches Akko with his glowing horn, accelerating the healing process. Diana holds her hands in place over the wound until she's certain there's no fresh blood leaking from it.

Only then does she finally allow her eyes to travel to Akko's face.

She hasn't woken or moved, and her mouth is still open in a yelp of agony. Slowly, Diana removes her hands from Akko's side and wipes the blood on the grass before pulling her wife into her lap.

"Akko...?"

Now Diana is shaking as she brushes her wife's bangs from her face, revealing her closed eyes. She keeps her other hand over Akko's bloodied side, trying to focus enough to sense the malicious presence of the poison.

It's there, very faintly, boiling beneath her skin. But it isn't a lot – not nearly enough to kill a witch, especially one who has practiced as much magic as Akko has. In using various different types of magic over time, witches build up a sort of barrier around themselves, making them stronger by the year. Diana is confident the poison in Akko's system will dwindle into harmless amounts before it can have any worse effect on her than causing mild numbness in her side for a day or two.

Cerus nuzzles the side of his mistress' face softly, a motion that reassures her. He would be able to sense any further threat to Akko's life and would have informed Diana promptly. If he is calm, Diana knows there is nothing left to worry about.

Guardian curls his warm tail around them, draping both witches in comfortable softness. He lays his head down beside his mistress' and licks her cheek gently. Diana looks up at him with tired but kind eyes.

"She will be all right."

Guardian mews like a kitten, then lets out a soft rumbling purr. Even Serpens had been worried, but now he acts as though he'd never cared, though he still stays close and curls himself beside his mistress.

Cerus eases himself to his knees and allows Diana to lean against him for support. Diana rests her head against his briefly before returning her full attention to Akko.

She leans over her wife, wrapping her in a gentle embrace, kissing the cheek the snow leopard had missed. She cradles Akko's head with one hand as the other travels down to her chest, resting at her collar to feel for her pulse. It's slow and steady, a resting heart rate with no cause for concern.

It had felt as though she'd lost a lot of blood at the time, but now Diana realizes it hadn't truly been as much as she'd initially thought in her panicked state of mind. She once again feels for the presence of poison within Akko's body, but it's even less than what she'd detected moments earlier, confirming her theory that it will dissipate harmlessly into her system.

The final ounce of fear leaves Diana's body in a sigh as she pulls Akko up into a loose embrace. Only now do her tears finally begin to fall.

"You... have always been far too reckless, Akko..."

Diana presses a soft kiss to her forehead, then one over each of her eyelids.

By that point, Luna Nova's security team is beginning to rush onto the scene to detain the offenders. Diana stands with Akko in her arms and mounts Cerus who then stands, holding her wife in her lap as she explains the situation to the guards and other witches who have arrived. She makes it sternly clear, in no uncertain terms, that she wants the fiercest punishment to befall the offenders, and that she herself wants to be present at their sentencing.

With the promise never to allow the criminals to see the light of day beyond their prison cells, Diana wishes Guardian farewell, promises him that Akko will be all right, and rides off into the night with Serpens on her shoulder and Akko in her arms.

. . .

Diana stays awake for the majority of the night, monitoring Akko's condition. She sits in bed scanning a book by lamplight as Akko rests quietly beside her, now re-dressed in her sleep clothes.

Diana can't sleep, not when she knows Akko might wake at any given time and potentially aggravate her wound. She's too anxious anyway.

She loses track of time and only documents it by how often she leans over to kiss Akko's cheek or comb her fingers through her hair.

She must've done both things three dozen times before Akko finally stirs. Diana puts her book down immediately and gently rests a hand on Akko's shoulder, already anticipating that she'll try to sit up once she's conscious.

A cracked moan slips from her mouth as her eyelids begin to flutter. Diana rests her free hand on Akko's chest and rubs softly in circles to ease her from the very start. Her wife sniffles a bit, taking in her familiar surroundings until their eyes meet.

"Diana..."

"Everything is all right." She tells her this before Akko can even get the chance to start worrying, before her paranoid mind can get ahold of her. "Guardian is unharmed, as is everyone else, save yourself. The poachers have all been detained and taken away. Please do not try to move, Akko."

Relief floods through Akko at the news that her familiars are all right, but she can feel the ache in her side as though she'd been sleeping on a boulder. But in contrast to that, Diana's hands are soft and gentle on her stomach, assuaging the pain bit by bit.

Akko doesn't know what time it is, but she knows it must be late. When she looks up at her wife, she can tell Diana hasn't slept at all yet tonight. Akko tries to shift, but remembers what Diana had just told her about not moving. So she lifts her hand up to rest it on top of her wife's. Their rings clink softly.

"Diana... are you all right?"

The white-haired witch sighs.

"I am, and your concern is very much appreciated. But enough worrying about others, Akko. It is time to think of yourself."

"Then I think I wanna hold you so I can make sure we fall asleep together."

Diana offers a smile. She turns to ask the lamp sprite to extinguish its light, and once the room is dark, she slowly lowers herself beside her wife at long last.

Akko reaches for her and feels no pain in moving her arms as she does so. Diana doesn't brace much weight on her, keeping the embrace extremely light. She realizes Akko must've done the same thing for her many times in the past after Diana herself had been injured.

She strokes her hand up and down Akko's injured side, though always pauses just before making contact with the area of the wound. Akko hugs her shoulders, sighing as she cuddles into Diana's neck, breathing in her familiar scent of feather pens and ink.

"Mmm you saved me again, Diana."

"I would prefer if you would stop putting yourself into situations that require my saving you... But I understand why you did what you did. You have very keen instincts, Akko. If not for your inkling this evening, we would not have discovered those poachers as soon as we did."

"I'm gonna have to visit Guardian again tomorrow," Akko mumbles. "He's gonna be worried."

"He isn't the only one," Diana whispers. Akko opens her eyes wide in shock and looks across the room to where Serpens is coiled up. Diana nods. "He was anxious all the way as I carried you back here. He would never admit to it, but he was very worried about you."

Akko smirks a little.

"That big scaly softy."

"Indeed he is."

Akko chuckles softly, but it ends up as a yawn. Diana dips her head to kiss her. Akko moans sleepily and mumbles her name into it. Diana kisses her several more times, light and slow.

"Rest now, Akko. It is late."

"Mmn... you, too..."

"Of course. But if you feel unwell in the morning, you must take the day off to recuperate."

"I'll be fine~ Diana, you're already worrying about something that didn't even happen."

"I am simply saying this as a precaution-"

"I know. If it hurts in the morning, I'll cancel my classes. I promise."

"Thank you."

Diana bumps their noses together and kisses between Akko's eyes, coaxing her to close them. Akko squeezes her torso, nuzzling into her chest. Diana takes care to drape her arms over Akko's back without touching her injury. She still can't erase the image of Akko being shot from her mind, though. She's still so furious at those poachers, and at herself for being unable to stop them-

"Di-a-na." Akko looks sternly up at her through the darkness. "You're worrying about stuff again."

Diana bites her lip.

"I merely-"

"You need to rest too. That's the deal." Akko enforces her bargain rule with a small kiss. Diana sighs, threading idly through her hair.

"It just... infuriates me. They tried to hunt magical creatures, our own familiars, and you-"

"Shh..." Akko quiets her with another kiss. She knows Diana doesn't get angry often. Rarely ever. And only at people like poachers does she ever get this furious. It's a rage that burns through her, prickles at her jolting heart like molten thorns.

Akko knows her wife can't afford to get so unsettled like this, not when her heart is so impressionably fragile. Akko finds Diana's hand and drapes it directly atop her injured side. She doesn't feel a thing from the contact other than comfort.

"I'm fine, Diana. See? I know you're mad at those guys. Believe me, I know. But they'll never hurt anyone ever again. And that's thanks to you."

With her wife's reassurances, Diana releases a seething breath, one that's already leaking through with exhaustion.

"Us," she murmurs. "It is thanks to you as well, Akko. You and your keen intuition."

"Us," Akko agrees. "And 'us' deserves a good rest of the night's sleep." She bumps her nose against Diana's tenderly, coaxingly. After another exhale, Diana calms herself enough to see the sense in those words.

"Yes," she agrees at last. "We should rest."

She makes sure to pull Akko closer, turning her so she rests on her good side and puts no pressure on her injury. Diana tugs the blankets up over her wife's side and shoulder, while Akko makes quick work of cuddling up.

"You've gotta remind me to thank Cerus the next time you summon him," Akko mumbles.

"You needn't do that. He knows." Diana smiles briefly as she turns to look back across the room. "But do not forget to show appreciation for what Serpens did tonight as well."

Akko chuckles.

"That scaly old grump is really just a big softy. This is good blackmail to use against him."

"Akko."

"I'm kidding~ I appreciate what he did for me. And I appreciate what you did, too. Thank you, Diana. I love you."

Akko seals the confession with another kiss, one that's longer this time, if not a little tired. Diana kisses back, but only as much as she needs to.

"I love you too, Akko. Rest well."

"Sweet dreams~"

The night moves in around them, now shedding quiet moonlight in place of prior concerns.

By morning, the pain will have faded and left them each a little stronger.

----------

A/N: Before you ask about witches being able to create a protective 'barrier' that dissolves poison around themselves by using/practicing tons of magic and why Diana is poisoned in this AU, remember that the arrow that hit Akko was made by people.

Diana was essentially poisoned by Death himself (the Sorcerer), so it just goes to show how severe that poison is, that not even the experienced Headmistress of Luna Nova had practiced enough magic to create a 'barrier' strong enough to spare her from that pain (though it definitely would've killed anyone with any less experience than her). At least, that's my take on it.

Next chapter is surprisingly... a fun one. A nice non-angsty one. It will update soon!