In The Light

EARLY RELEASE FOR HIGH-PLEDGING PATRONS!! THANK YOU GUYS!

My first shot at Sulotte! Set... somewhere in Neon's AU, I guess. Though Neon has her transform way later in the AU, this fic is set earlier, when the three of them are still attending classes together, perhaps in their final year or so? But still as teammates and roommates. Either way, it's Dragon Sucy stuff.

Disclaimer: I do not own Little Witch Academia.

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													In The Light

Ever since the first time it happened, Lotte hasn't been much of a heavy sleeper anymore.

Not because she is scared of Sucy, but because she is scared for her.

It's been only three nights since the first time she'd seen the other side of her teammate. Sucy has been walking on eggshells ever since, trying to prevent it from happening again.

Lotte isn't sure what triggers it this time.

But when she opens her eyes that night to the sounds of frantic movement from across the room, everything is shrouded in the darkness of midnight.

She doesn't want Sucy to know she's woken her right away, so she peers tentatively over the edge of her bed. Even without her glasses, she can tell Sucy is moving quickly and anxiously, hugging herself with stark-white hands. She presses her palms tightly against her back in an effort to keep her wings beneath her skin. She grabs her robes to cover the bright whiteness of her nightgown and make herself less noticeable in the dark. Her sleep cap falls to the floor as she whirls around and runs for the door.

Lotte can hear the distressed little grunts of pain pushing from behind her lips. Sucy is never one to make such noises. She's only ever made them once before, three days ago.

Lotte knows instantly what this means.

She pushes herself up right away, just as Sucy's hand brushes the doorknob. Lotte calls out past a rasp in her throat.

"S-Sucy-"

But either she doesn't hear her, or she ignores her, because Sucy opens the door and slips out into the hallway without turning back.

Lotte isn't about to let her go.

She knows firsthand just how Sucy gets when she transforms against her will. If she gets out of control and believes she might bring harm to others, Sucy will abandon Luna Nova here and now and never return.

Lotte won't accept that.

She throws the blankets off herself, grabs her glasses from beside her pillowcase, and ignores the ladder altogether as she jumps down directly to the floor. The sound of her landing and of the door closing just seconds later rouses Akko, who sits up rubbing her eyes.

"Lotte...? What are you doing?" Then, her voice instantly becomes more serious. "Where's Sucy?"

Lotte is already pulling on her own robes over her sleepwear. She grabs her wand, though she has few intentions of actually using it, crushes her heels into her shoes and makes for the door. She only glances at Akko to flash her a smile.

"Don't worry. I'll get her."

And with that, Lotte opens the door and takes off running.

She knows how massive Sucy's other form is. As such, if Sucy had felt it brimming, she would've gotten out of the building as quickly as possible.

Lotte wastes no time in heading for the nearest exit, just barely avoiding detection by one of the guards. Of course, there are people patrolling outside by broom. If Sucy wants to avoid detection, she'd either have to get off Luna Nova's campus, or hide where the guards won't be able to see her.

Lotte could already tell at the time she'd seen Sucy that she'd been only minutes away from transforming, so there was no time for her to flee the campus.

And there's only one place she knows of that's large enough to conceal a dragon.

Lotte makes for the forest as swiftly as her feet can carry her. It's strictly off-limits after-hours. She's never broken a rule so quickly in her life.

She runs through the dark trees, their foliage blocking out whatever moonlight might've shined upon her otherwise.

But Lotte's fears right now aren't of the darkness or the other creatures roaming these woods. It's for her friend.

She runs, looking left and right, forward and behind for any sight of Sucy in either form.

It isn't long before a low, guttural, howling sound begins creeping through the silent trees. Lotte knows right away it isn't a wolf or any other animal. She skids to a halt once she realizes it isn't the trees blocking out the moonlight any longer.

A massive black dragon is curled before her now, its body going as high up as the trees themselves. The bit of dim light leaking down reveals streaks of purple along the hardened scales and low-hanging horns. A green mist seeps out from between the jaws, lined with sword-like teeth. From those jaws also come the moans of pain she's been hearing.

Lotte stops several yards away from her. Part of her is naturally frightened by the beast before her.

But the other part doesn't want to be. She doesn't have to be.

"Sucy..."

Her voice is small and thin, much like Lotte knows she herself is in wake of this mighty creature.

And yet, Sucy still recoils at the sound of it, as though Lotte's voice has burnt her in some way.

/"Get away!"/

Sucy's shout mixes with the sound of a growl that echoes inside Lotte's head. But Lotte stands her ground.

"Come on, Sucy. You know I can't do that."

She takes a step closer. Sucy crawls farther back.

/"Lotte. You need to leave."/

Her tail pushes back against the trees that are cornering her, and very nearly uproots them.

Lotte doesn't want to make her feel trapped. But she doesn't want Sucy to leave either. If she were to open her wings and take off right now, Lotte knows she'd never see her again. She can clearly see the fear in Sucy's left eye, the one she's never seen before when she's in her human form.

"Sucy..." Lotte holds out both hands in a passive gesture. "I'm not afraid. So you don't have to be either. See?" She takes another step forward.

And this time, Sucy doesn't retreat. She remains frozen in place as this tiny girl walks toward her without a hint of fear or uncertainty. She's even smiling.

Sucy realizes it's just like last time.

Despite Lotte's initial terror of seeing Sucy's other form, the fear hadn't been great enough to scare her away. Lotte loves her far too much. She is her friend. She trusts her.

Sucy isn't sure that she trusts herself. But if Lotte is willing to put her life in Sucy's claws, Sucy is going to do her damn best to protect it.

So she doesn't move, not even after Lotte has closed the distance between them. With her tiny human hand, she touches Sucy's forearm, still hard and hot from her transformation. The contact is so minuscule, but somehow, Sucy can still feel it.

In turn, Lotte can feel the warmth of Sucy's scales, but they don't burn her. She can't see Sucy's eye from this angle, but Lotte can tell she's keeping herself calm. Lotte does the same.

With a happy sigh, she turns around and sits down, pressing her back against Sucy's chest.

"A~ah~ Sucy, you're so warm."

She says it to ease the tension, to make Sucy realize that neither of them has anything to be afraid of.

Still, Sucy hesitates. It would be so easy to escape now and never come back. She could even scare Lotte off so she'd never come after her.

But...

But she doesn't want to.

The thought of it makes her chest ache.

So Sucy simply lowers her head onto her forearm, and uses her claws to pull Lotte closer. A low rumble tremors through her and comes out in a green sigh.

Lotte isn't frightened by the large claws curling over her. In fact, she feels safer than ever before. She turns toward Sucy and wraps both arms around her neck as much as she can.

"See?" she whispers. "It's okay, Sucy."

Lotte might very well be the first person in existence to touch a dragon with such tender care. She strokes Sucy's scales in slow, calming patterns, and shares what little warmth her body can provide.

Sucy knows that all Lotte is feeling are hard scales that are no doubt scraping her palms. But to Sucy, it feels like the touch of an angel.

Another long sigh slips past her fangs and rises up into the sky.

Lotte giggles a little bit and snuggles close to her. She hears Sucy's deadpanned voice a second later.

/"What's so funny?"/

It isn't an angry voice, just her usual one. Lotte leans back against her.

"Sorry. I'm still getting used to this form of yours. But I think it's really cute."

That earns the closest thing she's ever heard to a dragon's laughter.

/"Cute? This?"/ Sucy shakes her head. /"You're probably the first person to say that about a poisonous dragon, you know that?"/

"So what if you're poisonous? I still think you're cute!"

Sucy grunts again and rests her chin on her arm. She brings her tail over to curl it around Lotte, though is certain to give her enough space to move around. Lotte stops petting Sucy's neck for a while and simply leans back against her.

Silence ensues for just a moment.

Lotte knows that Sucy might seem in control of herself in this form now. But even just the slightest thing could set her off into an uncontrollable frenzy. It wouldn't be her intention; it could just simply happen.

However, the most terrifying aspect of that, in Lotte's eyes, wouldn't be how jeopardized her own safety might become. More than anything, she's scared that Sucy might hurt herself, or that other people could find and hurt her.

I can't let that happen...

In order to reduce Sucy's threat level to others, Lotte knows she must first reduce Sucy's threat level to herself. Lotte reaches out to pat her tail, gaining her attention.

"Does it still hurt?"

She knows that the transformation puts an enormous strain on Sucy's body. She'd watched it the first time, seen the agony in her eyes, heard it in her screams... She doesn't doubt it still hurts her.

Sucy's response is merely a grunt, but it's the only confirmation Lotte needs.

"I see... When do you think you'll be able to change back?"

/"Dunno."/

Lotte remembers a bit of what Sucy had revealed to her last time; that she'd been born with the ability to transform, but had suppressed it as much as she could due to the immense pain it caused her.

Her younger sisters could always transform with ease. But Sucy was too scared of the pain. It made her feel pathetic, being too scared to transform. As such, she had stopped trying, and for over a decade, she had succeeded in neglecting her other form.

But recently, she'd failed to suppress it any longer. And due to the fact that she'd gone so many years without morphing, doing so now brought her immense agony.

If she had simply practiced all her life, she would've gotten used to it.

But she'd been a coward. Therefore, her failure to master the shape-shifting at a younger age means she has no experience with it now.

Presently, transformation isn't Sucy's choice either way. It doesn't even have a definite trigger. It just happens. And when it does, she simply has to wait it out. She'll probably change back once her body is too enervated to maintain this form.

Lotte hates to think about it all, about how much pain Sucy must be suffering. No doubt, she's blaming herself for her refusal to acknowledge this part of herself sooner. As such, Sucy feels that all of the pain she feels now is her punishment for being weak in her life thus far.

But Lotte doesn't want her to think of it that way.

This transformation is a part of Sucy. She wants Sucy to love it as much as Lotte herself does.

Therefore, rather than let Sucy exhaust herself to the point of changing back, Lotte wonders if a different method might work.

Instead of exhaustion, she tries relaxation.

She hasn't sang in a while. But when her voice does carry out, it's as light and pleasant as she remembers.

"Close your eyes,

as the white petals fall to the ground...

Ease gently into the gaze

of the Mother's polar night.

And fall asleep...

And fall asleep..."

The familiar, calming lullaby causes Sucy's body to shudder with another long sigh. The sprites and faeries that have been sleeping in the trees and grasses peek their tiny heads out to listen to Lotte's song.

Lotte closes her eyes and continues her song with a smile. She goes through verse after verse, letting her voice carry out softly through the night.

All the while, she can feel Sucy growing still, the tension draining from her body. Soon, Lotte can feel the hard scales against her back shifting, softening...

As she finishes the final note of her song, Lotte opens her eyes and catches Sucy in her arms. She is sleeping peacefully.

Lotte smiles, and dips down to kiss her forehead.

"I'm glad you're okay."

At the very least, Sucy will sleep for the rest of the night now. She won't transform or feel that pain anymore.

Lotte carries her back through the forest, where the faeries light her path for her until she reaches the school once again. She slips back inside, and carries Sucy all the way back to their room.

Lotte taps her shoe against the door, and Akko comes running to answer it. Her hair is frazzled and her eyes are wide and frantic, but the second she sees them, her knees buckle with relief.

"Lotte! Sucy! Oh, thank goodness..."

As Akko sinks to the floor, Lotte crouches down beside her, resting Sucy on her knee.

"It's okay, Akko. I told you I'd get her."

"Yeah..." Akko lightly wraps an arm around both of them as best she can like this. When she pulls back, she looks Sucy over. "Is Sucy okay?"

"She's fine," Lotte assures her. "Let me get her back to bed."

Lotte stands, and Akko watches her go from the floor, wiping her eyes.

Lotte removes Sucy's robes so she's back in her nightgown, then lies her down in her bed. She folds her hands across her chest in her usual sleeping position, slips her sleep cap back onto her head, and pulls the blankets up over her.

"There. She'll be fine."

Lotte combs her fingers fondly through Sucy's hair a few times before turning back to Akko. She's still slumped on the floor, trying to get her bearings.

"All right, Akko. You don't have to cry anymore."

"B-But I can't help it!"

With a chuckle, Lotte crosses the room to help her up. She hands her a tissue and pats Akko's head for her until she feels better. Lotte leads her back to her bed, where Akko gives her one last squeeze.

"T-Thanks, Lotte."

Lotte returns the hug gladly.

"You don't have to thank me."

With that, Akko lies back down in her bed while Lotte removes her robes and puts her wand away. With one last glance at Sucy and one more smile to Akko, she climbs back up into her bed and removes her glasses.

"Good night, you two."

She rests her head on her pillow, and they all sleep soundly till dawn.

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A/N: A very vague take on Dragon!Sucy events, but hopefully you can interpret some things for yourself. I plan to do more of these two in the future, Dragon!Sucy or not. But I might just make this into another short drabbles collection. We'll see.