Oh hey, I'm alive. Words don't exist to tell everyone that has messaged and commented and reviewed how much they mean to me. I'm still struggling, but I'm getting help now when I wasn't before. Anyway, I don't want to be too down before getting back into our lovely witches. I just finished re-watching S1 on Netflix (Japanese audio, no subtitles since Netflix suckkkksssssssss on the dub and subs for LWA) and will probably revisit the Asenshi subs of the last sequence of episodes sometime soon; I also just reread everything I've written for this. Wow! A lot of minor errors that would have been super easily caught if I was at all capable haha.

A few pages of character notes followed by a few paragraphs of recap ahead; feel free to skip to the content of the chapter (probably search for "Our Magic"):

Current status of the girls and their known relationships:

Diana x Akko — They are admittedly in love and "girlfriends". Most people that possess eyes and a brain are aware of the two's feelings even before they were. Diana is suffering several broken bones and other injuries from falling off a building. Diana was in a wheelchair until yesterday, but left it behind in disgust. Diana has reached the point that magical healing no longer has an effect on her. Akko is suffering magic fatigue and believes she is dying from using magic. Her physical abilities, both reactions and strength/stamina, have been heightened through contact with Yggdrasil. Akko can use magic anywhere in the world, including the Seven Words of Arcturus. Akko has also become able to sense the interconnectivity of nature and Yggdrasil around her.

Amanda — Amanda has come out as in love with both Diana and Akko and is doing her best to try to support their relationship even as it breaks her heart. Diana and Akko are upset about how Amanda is feeling, but currently cannot imagine involving her in their relationship. Amanda has been seeking solace by cuddling Constanze as "friends" and seeking advice from Jasminka. She is at her limit emotionally.

Hannah and Barbara — They have come out to their friends as girlfriends after deluding Diana for a substantially long time that their romantic feelings were what "best friends" do and being in the closet. Luna Nova student body and teachers are unaware the two are together and Avery is similarly completely unaware that the two are together or are not heterosexual. Hannah has been in almost an apprentice-like relationship with Jasminka recently and has been expanding her culinary skills. Barbara has become very close with Lotte, bonding over their love of the Night Fall series and the desire to ship various people in their lives together. Both Hannah and Barbara have become close friends with Akko and have admitted they have had a crush on Diana, although their friendship with Diana is much more important to them. Hannah has attempted to help by taking on more of a leadership role within the group of witches, supporting in a more overt way than Lotte while trying to lessen the load of Diana and Akko. Barbara has attempted to help by being an emotional core for her group and keeping a sensible head in a more overt way than Jasminka while trying to lessen the load of Diana and Akko.

Sucy — Sucy has been keeping her feelings apart from everyone, but has become closer to Constanze recently in playing video games and watching movies and anime. She is closely observing Amanda's actions with Constanze, Barbara's actions with Lotte, and Akko with Diana. Upon coming into contact with Morgana, Sucy's body fell apart, a defensive mechanism her family has. Since then, it has been much easier for her to lose her head and other body parts. She has revealed to all the non-Red Team witches that her grandma was not human and this is a holdover from that heritage (the Red Team already knew). Sucy has let her true feelings come out not infrequently as her friends have faced increasing danger and the risk of death.

Lotte — Lotte has continued in the support role while becoming closer to everyone, especially Barbara. She appears to have no desire for herself to take center stage in relationships, although there has been no apparent interaction with Frank in quite a while so that is an unknown. She is aware of the way others feel for her, but continues to push them to do their best in their own way. Her affinity and ability with sprites have reached new heights and she is now able to incarnate a willing sprite to possess their abilities when needed. As part of her incarnation of Takeminakata, she has learned fluent Japanese and been exposed to the knowledge of the Dragon Ball Z anime (which Takeminakata appears to be a fan of).

Constanze — Although still remaining mute most of the time, Constanze has continued to become closer to other witches outside of the Green Team, especially Sucy and Akko. Her Stanbots have become more efficient and run longer on less magic while they have expanded their functions. Since Diana and Akko have become physical, Constanze has become a regular comfort to Amanda. It is unknown how Constanze feels about Amanda, but Sucy is keeping a close eye on the situation and Constanze has prevented her from interfering on more than one occasion.

Jasminka — Jasminka has had to step forward to help Amanda more and more since Diana and Akko got together. She has always been the emotional core of the Green Team, and acts more like a mom or older sister while remaining enigmatic and making sure everyone is well-fed, but she is starting to cover more for Amanda recently. She has expanded her protective older sister role not just to the Red and Blue Teams, but also to Professor Chariot, going so far as to physically intimidate Croix.

Croix — Croix has admitted that she needs help and sought psychiatric treatment while arrested. She was willingly using her talents and abilities for the good of all witches without choosing to force others into what she thinks is right. She is working on her morals while researching any way to undo the harm she has done. Her warnings that the Sorcerer Stones would overload were dismissed along with other cautions (such as ancient myths resurrecting and rampaging like Morgana and Nazamu), but after people started to realize she was correct, they dispatched her to the field where she could do more good. The promise of being able to see and help Chariot and Akko overcame her reluctance to leave the structure of the prison/research facility she was in and she became watched by the wizard Balto. When Balto was killed by magic, she knew she would be a suspect and believed that the true target would be Chariot and Akko. She fled into Morgana's trap. Her first year at Luna Nova, Croix fell in love with Morgana who at that time was pretending to be imprisoned within a tree. Croix begged Morgana to claim her and Morgana erased any memory of her, simultaneously leaving the desire to unleash the Grand Triskelion while selectively erasing memories to banish the diligence imposed in her by her distant family and influence her descent. Croix has been both mentally and physically assaulted by Morgana to the point of breaking, and this was mostly done with Morgana in the guise of Chariot. Morgana appears to be able to completely control her body magically, although Croix was able to perform an action while Morgana was distracted (cut her own throat). It is unknown if this was to save Chariot or an attempted suicide. As a result of the torture performed by Morgana, Croix is no longer able to be healed magically.

Croix loves and adores Chariot and believes Chariot is capable of anything. She has mostly put her intense jealousy of Chariot behind them and now only feels remorse for the pain and suffering she has caused for both Chariot and Akko and those close to the two. It is more difficult for her to care about the feelings of those distant from Chariot and Akko like those hurt in the riots and other incidents she was responsible for, but she realizes the problem and is trying to learn to be better. She believes that she is extremely damaged and the fact that Chariot and Akko forgave her so easily and Chariot loves her so strongly is one of the biggest stressors for her. She thinks of Akko as someone she can have fun being mischievous with (similarly to some of Amanda's views on Akko), a dear niece to protect, and a rival for Chariot's affection. She views Diana as someone that is overly capable and a rival for Chariot's affection.

Chariot — Chariot has been revealed to be an orphan and to be the once-girlfriend of Croix. She is passionately in love with Croix and is doing her best to be supportive and help her lover grow, while being concerned that she is unable to truthfully distrust her. She is terrified that her love of Croix will somehow endanger Akko, Diana, or the other girls once more and is unable to resolve the mental strain of trusting and distrusting someone that she loves and has betrayed her. She is also terrified of being forced to choose between being with Croix and her life as Ursula. Chariot is aware that she has become overly close to all three covens of witches, Red, Blue, and Green, and that she has intense feelings of love for Akko and Diana especially—as her fans, as someone she has wronged in the past, as her students, as amazing people, and when she can admit it, as daughters. Chariot has also been revealed to have been a wandering warrior in the time between the end of her act as Shiny Chariot and the beginning of her tenure as the professor Ursula. It is implied that this is when Madb took especial notice of her and began desiring her for Morgana's coven. Chariot has recently begun attempting to reach for the powers of the Shiny Rod by directly accessing the magics of Yggdrasil.

Woodward — Woodward is known to be a dryad of Yggdrasil. The full extent of what this means is still unknown, but it is clear that Woodward has a much closer relationship with the state of magic over the entire world than previously thought. She is able to open leyline terminals and direct the branches of Yggdrasil, and possesses an immense amount of power and knowledge. At some point in her past, she was seduced by Morgana and became her accomplice, before being betrayed. Morgana implied that Woodward was known to history as a slut, but Morgana herself has an unfavorable historical record so it is unknown how much was truth and how much was venom. Morgana slew Woodward's and Yggdrasil's guardians. After killing Balto, Morgana chased Croix to Woodward and engaged in battle; Morgana clearly overpowered the dryad, cut off a branch of Yggdrasil that Croix was currently traveling through, and wounding Woodward.

Atsumi and Sasaki "Suke" Kagari — Akko's mother and father. Shown briefly in the manga (unnamed). Atsumi has black hair she regularly keeps in a ponytail and is fairly skinny. Akko probably inherited her body type from her mother, so she's not exactly a tall woman. Akko also probably inherited the incredible amount of energy and absurdity her mother exudes. Sasaki is more of a straight man (tsukkomi) to Atsumi, but he is easily able to keep up with her and usually prefers to encourage her than reel her back. Atsumi is currently suffering from being confronted with Shiny Chariot in the flesh, whom she had always had a crush on and used to spice up her bedroom life with Sasaki back when Akko was still a child. Atsumi and Sasaki have long been aware that their daughter has chosen a difficult path in life, and after coming to terms with her heroism during the missile crisis, they have pledged to support her in anything she chooses to do with her heart behind it, even if that means Akko and her friends are in danger.

Morgana le Faye — Going by the name Ana, Morgana has been influencing the chess pieces around her to her own ends for far longer than most people are aware. Long ago, she was apparently wounded terribly enough that she sought refuge in the prison of a tree to heal her wounds. Few believed she would be able to recover at all and no one believed she would be able to recover while magic was diminishing across the planet. Long before the World Reconstruction Magic, Morgana has been free of the prison. She joined with the Queene of Winter, Madb, known as the Morrígan and together, the two of them resurrected a former enemy that was one of the Norns.

Faerie Queens are known to possess power at least rivaling that of the full strength of the Claiomh Solais and Morgana has shown to be able to withstand the best Chariot could throw at her and easily overpower Woodward. The depths of her powers are unknown, but Queene Madb acknowledges her as superior. She has become infatuated with Croix. She still resents the shared history she has with Woodward. Both Woodward and Morgana have revealed that she has lost her former lover and also her child, and Woodward at least believes that this is the main reason Morgana has become so evil.

According to the legends known by the witches of Luna Nova, Morgana was a great faerie witch rivaling the power of the wizard Merlin. She disguised herself as Guinevere and incestuously lay with her brother, King Arthur, bearing the child Mordred. Some legends claim that Madb took this role instead, but in present-day, Morgana disguised herself as Chariot to lay with Croix, leading credence to the belief that it was Morgana all along. However, Morgana does refer to her former lover as being female, so it is unknown if Arthur or someone else is who she means.

Morgana is a beauty amongst the faeries, the ugliest of which is considered beautiful by mortals. She is tall with raven-dark hair and purple eyes. Her lips are always painted the color of blood and her skin possesses an otherworldly sheen like alabaster.

Madb, Queene of Winter, the Morrígan, Battle Crow, Great Ruler of Phantoms — A harbinger of war, death, and victory, Madb has had many faces over the centuries. She is known to be able to change shape into a crow. In her "human" form, she is an emaciated beauty with curves and an unnatural strength that belie her hunger. She exudes an unnatural coldness from her body that some claim will bring frostbite just by touching. Her hair is the color of snow. She is a creature of passion, desiring conflict, sexual love, and warmth at all times.

Undead Norn (unknown name) — Resurrected with magic as a ghoul by Morgana and Madb, her personality has become twisted in undeath. Formerly a guardian of Yggdrasil, this insane girl exudes both vivaciousness and rot. Her body has exceeded what it was in life, maturing and becoming the perfect avatar of her powers. She is known to be able to coalesce from darkness and is responsible for a terrible hurricane during Croix's first year at Luna Nova. She seems primarily to desire her own death, which she claims only Morgana can grant her, but even Madb is cautious around her, not being able to understand or predict her desires and actions.

Did I forget anyone? ANYWAY, if you read through all of that, GOOD ON YOU. Quick recap: The story so far:

Akko channeled all of Yggdrasil through her back during the missile crisis which caused her magic to go pretty bad at the start of S2. She realized that her body was acting as the Shiny Rod and she could channel magic anywhere in the world just by thinking of Diana. Diana and Akko went through a bit of a confusing start but now are happily girlfriend and girlfriend. Everyone came to Japan to bring Akko back and get Diana and Akko together. A coven of super-powerful witches consisting of Morgana le Faye, the Morrígan going by the name Madb, and an undead Norn whose identity hasn't been revealed killed Croix's wizard guard/handler and Croix is on the run. She fled to Japan, believing that Chariot and Akko were the real target. There she ran afoul of Morgana who claimed her as her own and did some rather horrible torture in the first M-rated chapter. Chariot ended up finding her, but could not break the voodoo spell Morgana had over Croix. Croix succeeded in slicing her own throat, to which Morgana gave up on her in disgust.

Chariot, with a wounded Woodward's assistance, managed to unlock the Seventh Word to rewind the ravages of Croix's body and save her life. Back in whatever land Morgana calls home, she met with the rest of her coven and seized upon the idea of resurrecting Croix as an undead creature much like her and Madb had done with the third member of their coven.

With Akko's help, Chariot and Croix left Japan to attempt to hide Croix from the law—everyone fearing how returning to jail would affect Croix's devastated psyche. Immediately after they left, a great kami catfish broke through the final barrier holding him in check, causing massive earthquakes. Akko pushed herself to help rescue the people around them that were affected by the shocks they felt at her location; afterwards everyone found out through Constanze's monitoring of the news that the kami is currently heading towards Japan along with an incredible tsunami.

A despondent Akko was literally shaken out of it by an enraged Sucy. Of note: Akko previously lived through the tsunami of 2011 and had moved with her family inland after losing their home.

Content warning: There is a character that suffers a panic attack from PTSD during this chapter.

Our Magic!
Episode 06: Of Kami and Fey
Part III

"What can we do to help?" Diana asked. Diana has always been watching Akko and could tell that the recent rescues along with using the Shiny Arc to send off Chariot and Croix had Akko on her last reserves of strength.

Akko gave her a bitter smile in return, taking in the bruised and bandaged Diana, then turned her attention to everyone else. "We're in Japan. I'm not going to say it's not your responsibility to help, because honestly, I know I need it."

Akko averted her eyes from Sucy, avoiding the thought of what she would have been doing left to stew in her memories. She continued, "There's no magic for you guys here. That big fish is flying over the ocean with a tsunami. I don't see how any of you are able to help."

Diana took a faltering step and threw her arms around Akko, pulling her as close as possible and ignoring the pain of her injuries. She whispered in her ear, "I believe in your believing heart, Akko. I believe in you, but I swear to God if you do not come back to me I am going to go to the afterlife and drag you back with me."

Akko pulled away slightly to look into Diana's eyes concernedly, "How are you going to do that?"

Diana smiled through her tears. "How do you think." She said it as a statement, then pulled Akko to her once more. She bit her ear and moved lower, pressing her teeth against Akko's neck. Needing to feel the pressure of her body.

The klaxon rang out in the background, jolting Akko and causing her to shudder in Diana's arms. Diana squeezed her tighter. "You can do this. You can save everyone. Only you can do it, my Akko. Only you can do it. You will come back to me."

Hannah looked over Constanze's shoulder at the reports and tremulously spoke up, "Akko. If you're going to go . . ."

Akko stepped away from her girlfriend. She held her hand out away from the both of them while a phantom Shiny Rod dropped into her waiting palm. She whispered the fifth word of Arcturus and the staff metamorphosed into the Shiny Volley. Diana stood in front of her with tears streaming down her cheeks, smiling at her.

A low growl filled Akko's throat and she seized Diana once more, passionately kissing her while the Shiny Volley in her other hand began to lift her away. Diana's hands lingered in the air long after Akko lifted away. Finally, Diana mouthed the words, "Come back," as Akko turned and fully mounted the Volley.

A shockwave erupted with her passing as Akko rapidly accelerated to at least as fast as the speed it took the full magics of nine witches to reach before. When she could no longer be seen, Diana collapsed to her knees in sobs.

No one could say anything, but Diana's sobs were not the only ones heard from the witches left behind.

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"Breathe, come on dear. Look at me. Breathe, you're with me. Feel my hand. I'm here. Feel my hand in yours." Atsumi held tightly to her husband's hand and rubbed his chest with her other. Suke was doing his best to not hyperventilate as tears streamed down his cheeks.

Atsumi could not stop her own tears, but knew Suke was struggling more. "I-I-we need . . ."

"We're inland. There's no way it's coming here. We bought an earthquake-proof house. It's not going to collapse like your office building. Focus on me hun, focus on me. You're with me."

To Akko, the days after the tsunami had been nightmarish. Their home had been destroyed; they barely made it out before the waters came through. Atsumi and Akko lived amongst the refugees that were their entire town—those that had been similarly lucky.

To her father, Sasuki, it had been a literal hell.

Buried inside his building. Hearing the groans and cries of his coworkers as they were crushed. Trying to understand their voices to know who was still alive and who was dead. Losing feeling in his body as he struggled with all of his might to hold his head above the rising water. The eventual silence broken only by his gasps as he struggled to breathe.

He had been one of the lucky ones as well. He escaped with his life. Although, when he wakes up in the middle of the night and cannot hear the breathing of his wife he wonders if he is still under that building as his friends died one by one. Wonders how much of himself he lost that day.

"Breathe baby, breathe. You can do it. I'm here with you. You're not alone. I love you. I love you. I love you. I'm so happy you're with me today. So happy we're together. I love you. Look at me. Look at me."

Sasuki struggled to make eye contact with his darling wife. He placed his other hand on top of hers on his chest and pushed down. "A-A-ko."

"Shh. She's a witch. She's the safest of us all."

Suke groaned and shook his head, "No. We need to. We need to. Dammit, we need to get to her. She's going to do. I can hear. They're dying. I can hear them dying. I can't breathe. Akko's going. Akko. You know she's going to do something."

Atsumi smiled at her husband's strength as tears splashed her cheeks. "Shh. I know she will. That's why I'm not worried. Shh. Once this passes we'll watch our daughter on the news become an even bigger hero. You're reliving hell and all you can think about is our daughter. I love you so much. We're going to be fine. I love you. Focus on me. Focus on the pressure. I love you."

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Akko knew a lot about tsunami.

The idea of a singular wave rising up and crashing against the island was pretty much a myth.

The entire ocean rose and rushed forward.

But all Akko could think of were the anime that did have waves like that as she looked up, and up, and up at the oncoming wall of water.

The golden fish bigger than a bus violently thrashing as it threw itself into the water again and again before erupting and swimming through the air was not present in those childhood anime however.

"That's a big fish."

Akko was struggling to find herself. Her mind was circling and racing about everything in front of her. Without warning, her broom cut out and she dropped through the air.

Concentrating, she arrested her fall. Looking up again and she began to fall again. And repeat. "Nani kore?!"

She finally was able to stabilize her broom as she fell to the water. Her feet skidded across the surface as she transferred her falling velocity back across the water and flew up into the air.

Akko turned her head to watch the wall of water and the great fish; as she did, a twinge of pain on her neck caused her to remember the painful kiss Diana had given her. Did she think ahead that far too? With a witch like Diana Cavendish I wouldn't put it past her.

She was focused. She was on fire. DIANA!

"Noctu Orfei Aude Fraetor! Shiny Arc!" Another phantom Shiny Rod coalesced into Chariot's great bow as she fired a bolt of energy at her opponent. Akko knew from experience that it would probably take more than one blow, so she concentrated to maintain the form of the bow.

"Nani kore?!"

Unlike against the winged hound that could take more than a few blows, the energy burst apart upon hitting the great fish. She could see the energy envelop it as a cloud and then the fish was through it completely unscathed. "It didn't do anything?!"

It did not even turn in her direction.

"Noctu Orfei Aude Fraetor! Shiny Arc!" This time Akko turned her attention to the wall of water. The blast pierced through for dozens of meters, flash boiling the ocean it passed through and causing an explosion of steam. As far away as she hovered, she could still feel a gust of hot air rebound past her.

The ocean was surging. For as far as the young witch could see in front and to the side, a wall of water faced her down. Her Shiny Arc had taken out the equivalent of a single brick and the progress had been immediately filled back in. She started flying south to see if she could tell the extent. Akko knew she was no good at math, but tried nonetheless to visualize exactly how many Shiny Arcs it might take to be able to reverse the tide as she flew.

"Ichi, ni, san, . . ." She picked up speed and began counting by the tens, "ni-juu, san-juu, . . ." knowing it was pointless after the first five, she accelerated once more, and counted by the hundreds . . .

"Just from the center to here, it would take thousands. Thousands! What am I going to do?!"

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If you were to ask Akko what exactly she loved about Diana, after the first few minutes of being stunned and embarrassed, and gushing out about how pretty and talented she is, Akko would start to talk about Diana's believing heart.

A witch that had the expectations of the entire magical world on her shoulders, but kept moving resolutely forward. As a little girl, Diana found the magic in magic. More than just a means to live like her older family treated it, Diana was amazed with the wonder of magic.

When her heart was broken from the death of her father, she still had magic. She still was able to make others smile even when she could not smile herself.

When the woman she idolized stole magic from her without her knowledge, she never gave up hope. She never stopped reaching back for the feeling that magic gave her. Never stopped moving forward.

When her mother died.

When her aunt tried to suffocate the joy from her life.

When she started to feel the weight of the world's expectations, her family's expectations, she kept going.

She studied and learned more. More magic, more ancient knowledge, more lost secrets. If the world would not fix itself, then she was going to. She would unearth the Grand Triskelion and reinvigorate magic herself.

Magic was wonder. It held the power to heal. Heal individuals. Heal countries. Heal the world. Diana moved forward.

Even when she discovered that she could not do it herself, that a witch of ignoble birth with not even half her talent or knowledge was the chosen one. There was no jealousy or ugly emotions. She wasn't alone anymore.

She was moving forward and helping Akko move forward too. When her responsibilities and loneliness threatened to swallow her whole, Akko brought her forward. No one since her mom had done that.

Akko wouldn't tell you that part though. Instead, Akko would tell you how much she learned from Diana. What a hard-worker Diana was.

Because Akko saw the effort Diana put in. She knew it was not all natural talent, although she knew Diana had that in spades. And no matter what, Akko would tell you that Diana is the single most talented, most deserving, most amazing witch, most amazing woman, most amazing person in the world.

Well, Akko is rather biased though.

All of these thoughts ran through Akko and Diana's friends as they watched Diana stand up without hesitation.

The energy in the air was singular to that moment over the course of their entire lives.

But Diana had felt it before.

Diana had stood with Akko as Akko rejuvenated the world.

Diana's believing heart lay wide open to Akko's as the energies of Yggdrasil crashed into the heroic girl Diana loves.

"Th-there is something," Diana stated as she reached her hand out.

The wind began to pick up.

Diana's friends were pushed back.

A mournful creak escalated into a deafening crack as a branch broke free from a nearby ash tree.

The branch careened end over end on a collision course with the blonde Atlas.

No one could say anything, they did not need to. The branch struck Diana's open palm and stayed their as if glued. Diana did not budge. Her hand reached out with her eyes closed, trying to feel the energy. "There is something. I-I can do it. I am going."

Her eyes snapped open to regard the branch in her hand. Power discharged from her hand, carving the branch into the shape of a bristle-less broom. Akko, I am coming to you!

"Tia Freyre!"

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