Behind Closed Doors (ch5)

EARLY RELEASE FOR HIGH-PLEDGING PATRONS! THANK YOU!

A little bit of Hannah and Barbara again, but this time it's angst/drama.

Disclaimer: I do not own Little Witch Academia.

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															Chapter 5.

As per usual, Diana is the first one awake this morning.

She makes swift work of freshening up, dressing, and making herself decent long before she wanders to Hannah and Barbara's side of the room. Standing between both beds, she gently taps each of them in turn.

"Girls, it is time to get ready."

In unison, both of them roll over and let out tired little moans.

"Got it..." Hannah mumbles.

"Give us a second..." Barbara sighs.

With a nod, Diana leaves them so she may gather today's textbooks.

Hannah is the first of the two of them to push herself up and rub her eyes. But not a minute later, she notices her best friend has closed her eyes again and all but fallen back asleep.

"Heeey, Barbaraaa..." Hannah climbs out of one bed and onto the other, shaking her teammate's shoulder. "C'mon, sleepyhead."

"Mmn five more minuuutes," she whines. "Hannah, you get ready first."

"Fine. But if we run late, I'm telling Diana to blame you."

With this, Hannah slides off the bed, gathers her uniform, and heads into the bathroom.

When she's finished with everything except her hair, she re-enters the bedroom, picks up Barbara's uniform, and tosses it onto her sleeping face, making her whimper.

"Your turn," Hannah informs her. "Hurry up so you can do my hair."

In the end, that's what gets Barbara moving. Shaking her head, she sits up and gathers her pile of clothes into her lap, rubbing her eyes.

"Okay. Wait for me."

"Sure."

Barbara makes quick work of scurrying to the bathroom to take her turn. They must be on-schedule, because Diana is still leisurely sipping at her morning cup of tea.

As soon as Barbara is dressed and ready, she hurries back to Hannah on her bed, hairbrush in-hand, and gets to work combing through her best friend's auburn hair. She giggles and hums as she combs through, and Hannah closes her eyes to relax for the moment.

Once she's finished, Hannah hands her the yellow ribbon. In actuality, it is Barbara's ribbon, one she'd given her the day they'd met in childhood. Hannah had merely promised to take care of it for her.

Barbara accepts the familiar ribbon, and, as she does every morning, kisses it before tying up Hannah's hair into its spindly ponytail. When she's finished, Hannah motions for her to turn around and brushes Barbara's hair for her as well.

Just as she's finishing up, Diana puts down her empty teacup and announces it is time to go. The two of them scamper after her and close the door behind them.

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"Today's spellcasting lesson is on companion-centric magic. Meaning, students will partner up in pairs of two to cast the spell. Please find a partner promptly."

As Professor Finneran gives the instructions, Hannah and Barbara are already holding hands, clinging together as they always do. Of course, their choice in partners surprises no one, especially not Diana, who willingly steps back to partner with Avery.

Once everyone has paired up, Professor Finneran begins giving instructions about the spell they will be casting today. It isn't a difficult spell, but it does require both casters to be working in tandem. Professor Finneran requests Diana's assistance to demonstrate.

"Cooperative magic," the professor proclaims. "One person casts the fire spell, and the other casts lightning. It is a useful defensive spell to know should you ever find yourselves in danger."

With that, the professor and Diana cross their wands, and each cast a separate spell.

"Scor Falere!"

"Etri Cela!"

And the rest of the class watches as the demonstrators' wands each create one of the elements, one streak of flames and one of lightning. The air briefly becomes heated as the arcs of fire and light climb high, though remain controlled by the casters. Within seconds, the dazzling display comes to an end.

"Well done as always, Diana." As Professor Finneran praises her star pupil, the rest of the class applauds.

"Ooh!" Hannah whistles. "Looks neat!"

"R-Really?" Barbara gulps. "It seems difficult... I-I mean, Diana makes it look easy..."

"Don't think that way," Hannah scolds her. "If you go into it uncertain like that, you'll never get it right."

"Yeah..."

A few other professors, who currently have no classes of their own to attend to, enter the room to observe the performances and offer advice. Everyone chitters excitedly and waits for their turn as they watch whoever is performing at present at the front of the room.

Diana and Avery stand before Hannah and Barbara, and are called up next. Diana's display isn't as extravagant as it had been when the Professor was her partner, but it's still incredible enough. Professor Finneran commends them and then advises them to cool off a bit in the back of the room.

The entire room is feeling a little stifling from all the sparks in the air. Barbara knows her palm is getting clammy as she squeezes Hannah's fingers. Hannah glances at her and nudges her with her elbow.

"We're up next. You ready?"

"Y-Yeah! Totally!"

"We'll be fine!" Hannah ruffles her best friend's hair. "Just be confident! We'll do this like we always do!"

"R-Right..."

They've always done extremely well casting magic together, considering how close they are, and how long they've been this way.

But Barbara can't quite explain it. She just has a bad feeling this morning.

She lets go of Hannah's hand as they are called to the front of the room. Both girls draw their wands as the professor gives them the cue to begin. Hannah glances her way, and Barbara takes a deep breath, then nods.

Hannah begins the spell, her voice clear and confident.

"Scor Falere!"

Red flames coil out from the tip of her wand and spiral into the air. Professor Finneran nods in approval, then quickly motions for Barbara to do her part. The girl stiffens and quickly squeaks out her spell.

"E-Etri Cela!"

But the lightning that leaks out from her wand is jagged and unruly. Rather than coil together with Hannah's fire, it jolts without direction.

Barbara watches in horror as the light ruptures and rebounds-

-straight for her.

It happens so quickly. Not even the professors have the time to intervene.

"Barbara!"

Hannah's cry rings in her ear just as Barbara feels a hard shove against her arm, which sends her crashing to the floor. Her eyes close at the impact, and she doesn't see it happen.

But one second, Hannah is standing next to her.

And the next, she's lying motionless on the floor.

Barbara feels her stomach twist, flip, and drop all at once. She truly fears she's going to throw up.

Everyone around her is temporarily stunned as everyone tries to comprehend what's just happened. Barbara's jaw hangs open, and the entire room echoes with the sound of her deep, terrified gasp.

"H-Hannah!"

She flings herself forward, reaching for her partner's hand, where her fingers are limp around the handle of her wand.

But even quicker than her is Diana.

"No!"

The white-haired witch rushes up to her, drops to her knees, and grabs Barbara just as her fingertips brush Hannah's wand. A surge of heat flares up and burns her fingers, searing the sensitive skin instantly. Shrieking in pain, Barbara recoils, clutching her right hand to her chest as Diana pulls her back.

By now, the professors have all sprung into action, giving orders to the screaming students as they huddle around Hannah and arrange to transport her to the infirmary.

Diana keeps her eyes on Hannah for as long as she can, but focuses on her task of keeping Barbara restrained, for her own good. Tears are dripping down her teammate's face, and her right hand is entirely red from the burn.

But as soon as she realizes they are taking Hannah away, Barbara cries out for her again.

"H-Hannah!"

She makes an effort to get up, but Diana holds fast to her.

"No," she says tightly. "Let them help her. She'll be all right."

Though she has to admit the incident had frightened her, Diana had witnessed it all.

From what she could tell, the lightning would have struck Barbara directly in the chest had Hannah not done what she had done. The bolt had made contact with Hannah's outstretched hand, but nothing more. The reason for her collapse was likely due to shock more than anything else.

All in all, it could have been much worse.

As the room's atmosphere begins to settle bit by bit, Diana tries explaining all of this to Barbara in hopes of calming her down.

"Hannah will be all right," she insists, giving Barbara a small squeeze. "Let me see your hand."

Still hiccuping, Barbara timidly brings her injured hand away from her chest and lays it over Diana's offered palm. Drawing her wand, Diana casts a small spell.

"Aqueza Milizu."

A gentle, cooling sensation spreads like water across Barbara's scorched skin, immediately canceling out the pain, though the red pattern of a swirling scar remains. Barbara sobs, letting her voice out in broken little gasps.

"D-Diana..." she chokes. "Wh-What have I...?"

Diana doesn't let her finish. She gives Barbara another squeeze.

"Hush. It was no fault of yours. It was merely an accident."

"B-But it was my f-fault..."

Barbara's voice rises up in a shrill wail, and she collapses against Diana's chest, sobbing at the top of her lungs.

All Diana can do is hold her.

She knows there's nothing she can say or do that will console her. Because Diana herself has been in Barbara's position before, when Akko had thrown herself in the path of her spell. It's a guilt that never goes away. Diana is just pained that now Barbara will also have to suffer from the same guilt.

When Barbara lifts her head again moments later, she can just barely see a blur of yellow on the floor beside herself. With her trembling, scarred hand, she reaches out and touches Hannah's fallen ribbon. Barbara brings it to her chest and sobs into the material.

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Thankfully, Barbara and Diana are led to the infirmary not long afterward, and are permitted into the room where Hannah is.

The professors inform them things were just as Diana had assessed; Hannah had only been injured on her hand, and had passed out from the shock and stress alone.

Diana helps her crying teammate into the room. But the second Barbara catches sight of Hannah sitting up in bed with a tired smile on her lips, she breaks away from Diana and stumbles to the bed, wailing her name.

"H-Hannaaaah!"

"Easy, easy!" Hannah opens her arms just as Barbara reaches her and throws herself into them, crying so hard she can't even speak. Diana follows more calmly, though Hannah can see the relief in her eyes.

"How are you feeling?" Diana sits on the opposite side of Hannah's bed, and rests a hand on her lap. Hannah snuggles into Barbara's shoulder and squeezes her.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" she ensures. "Ahh, geez Barbara, did you hear me? I'm okay. Don't cry so much, dummy." She tightens her hold on her friend, stroking through her hair. Barbara locks her arms around her waist, shuddering and hiccuping beyond control.

Diana reaches out with her free hand to pat Barbara's shoulder, though her words are still directed at Hannah.

"How is your hand? Is that where you were struck?"

Hannah's voice softens a little.

"Yeah. The pain's gone now, but..." Hannah lifts up her left hand from where it's been resting against Barbara's back. The skin of her palm is red, the scarred tissue taking the form of a jagged pattern.

Diana frowns a little.

"At the very least, I am relieved you are both all right."

"Yeah," she agrees. "To be honest, Barbara probably cried more than I did. And she's still going!" Hannah rubs up and down her partner's back to get her attention. "Bar-ba-ra! It's okay."

She gives Diana a helpless look, to which Diana smiles in return. She senses the two of them need a moment alone. Therefore, she puts an arm around each of them before taking her leave.

Hannah watches her go, sending Diana silent thanks for looking after Barbara until this point. But now, it's Hannah's duty again.

"Hey..." Hannah slips her good hand up to Barbara's cheek and gently coaxes her back so she can sit up and Hannah can see her eyes. They're full of tears, her cheeks pink and puffy, her nose running and lips quivering. Leaning in, Hannah rests her forehead against hers. "Barbara, I'm okay. You really are such a crybaby..."

Barbara hiccups with her entire body, so deeply she can only speak in fragments and gasps.

"H-Ha-Ha-nnah..."

But that's all she can manage to say for now before she falls back into her arms. Hannah sighs and catches her, still stroking down her back.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she repeats. "You're hurting much more than I am, Barbara..."

"B-Because... i-it was my fa-"

"Stop right there," Hannah grunts. "It wasn't your fault. If anything, it was mine. I knew you weren't feeling up for that spell, but I still had you go up with me anyway. I should've suggested we wait until you felt better, but I didn't. I'm sorry."

Barbara shakes her head against Hannah's shoulder.

"M-Me, too..." she whimpers. "I-I'm sorry, H-Hannah..."

"I said it's okay, dummy."

Hannah soothes her best friend with a kiss to the cheek and a pat to the head.

Barbara cries for a while longer in her arms, until she can finally sit up straight again. The yellow ribbon is still wrapped around her wrist, and she offers it to Hannah now.

"H-Here..."

"Oh! I was so worried I'd lost it! I'm glad you found it." Hannah turns slightly to one side and runs a hand back through her loose hair. "Could you re-tie it for me, Barbara?"

Barbara nods, composing herself enough to perform that simple, familiar task. Her hands move like clockwork in the usual motions, twirling and twisting the ribbon until it's tightly-bound Hannah's hair into a ponytail. She gives it a kiss, then when Hannah turns back to her, Barbara kisses her cheek as well.

"Are you, like... totally sure you're okay...?"

"I totally am."

Barbara sniffles deeply.

"Can I... see your hand...?"

Hannah dips her head and willingly upturns her left hand.

Barbara bites her lip to stop herself from bursting out into tears all over again as her eyes trace over the red marking on Hannah's palm.

Like a lightning bolt, the jagged shape travels all across her fingers to the creases of her palm and halfway up her wrist. Barbara gently cradles that hand in both of hers and lifts it to her lips, holding a long kiss to Hannah's scar.

That's when Hannah first glimpses the discoloration of Barbara's opposite hand.

"H-Hey, what happened to you?" she blurts.

Barbara replies somewhat more calmly now.

"I got burnt when I touched your wand. Diana healed it, but I guess it's... gonna leave a mark..."

Her scar covers the same areas as Hannah's does, only instead of zig-zagging streaks of red lightning, the marks on Barbara's hand are like the swirls of lapping flames.

It's Hannah turn to lift that hand to her lips and kiss it in the same manner.

"Well then," she murmurs. "I guess we'll have matching scars then."

Barbara finally cracks a small smile.

"I guess so."

For a while longer, they huddle close, holding and being held, relishing the relief.

When at last Hannah is well enough to leave the infirmary, Barbara keeps a firm hold on her hand and leads her to the doorway, where Diana is waiting for them.

Flame and lightning spiraling up their wrists.

Hannah's left hand in Barbara's right.

Just as always.

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A/N: I really wanted to write one of these two getting hurt and explore the other's reaction. And I wanted Diana to be alone with one of them to see how they might act with each other, without Hannah. I ultimately decided to have Hannah be the one injured, because Neon and I have discussed future events in the Years Later AU that are relevant to this.

If you notice in the show, Hannah and Barbara almost always stand on the same side of one another! Usually, Hannah is on the left and Barbara is on the right. As such, I had their respective hands scarred so they would be able to hold hands on their respective sides.