#rainbowriddler

https://archiveofourown.org/works/76530116/chapters/200281951

For some reason, Tumblr is being stupid about my links.

I'm terribly sorry. I cried so much writing this. But here is the first part of Christmas.

What's that? Someone posted a new chapter of My Neighbor's Garden after an absolute eternity??

@emerysaks

I’m working on a Sword Art Online/Little Witch Academia crossover.  I’ve messed with the SAO timeline a bit to suit my own needs.

In summary, Akko and Diana spend the majority of the summer exchanging letters.  Diana is slowly realizing that she has feelings for Akko when the letters just stop.  When Akko isn’t in school at the start of term, Diana goes to Holbrooke.  There, she is told that 10,000 of Japan’s citizens have been trapped inside a “full-dive” video game.  And that Akko is one of them.

Diana feels like the ground has been pulled out from under her.  And over the course of the evening, resolved to go to Japan herself.  She takes the letters from Akko and a few changes of clothes and leaves the school in the dead of night.  She purchases a ticket to Japan at the airport.

When she arrives, she hails a taxi and shows the driver the return address on one of Akko’s letters.  When she arrives, Akko’s mother welcomes her into the Kagari residence.  When Diana’s family and a few of the professors come to take Diana back to Europe, Akko’s mom defends her and offers to let her stay as long as she would like.

Over the course of the first year, Diana works tirelessly (alongside Croix) to find a way to protect the brain from the effects of the nerve gear. Croix has been given a research grant via the Japanese government to come at the problem from a magical angle.  Unfortunately, magic does nothing to stop the effects of microwaves [There’s a part in here where Croix is frustrated with her lack of progress and says something like “either she’ll live or she’ll die!"  Diana doesn’t take too kindly to that and tries to punch her.  Chariot catches her by the waist and hauls her away from Croix.]

Diana loses all faith in magic, even going so far as to attempt to dispose of her wand in the canal.  Chariot is the one to stop her (via Alcor) and steers her in a new direction.

Diana spends some time beside the canal going over what Chariot told her (probably something like “If we can’t help her now, then we need to think of how we can help her when she wakes up.”) With renewed purpose, Diana returns to the Kagari residence, determined to prepare herself for the day Akko is freed from the game (because Akko is a fighter and she’s going to survive).

The next year is spent polishing her Japanese.  She studies medical journals, as well as her family’s own texts (sent by Anna) regarding musculoskeletal strengthening techniques.  She spends time getting to know Akko better through her belongings (the books, movies, and games she has).  She bonds with Akko’s family, even discussing her feelings for Akko with Akko’s mother. She feels silly sometimes, but Akko's mother reassures her every time.

And through it all, she always makes time to visit the hospital.  To visit Akko.

During one such visit, Diana falls asleep reading in the chair beside the bed.  It’s nothing out of the ordinary—she’s working awfully hard to prepare, after all.  She’s woken some time later by the sounds of commotion all through the hall.  She vaguely hears shouts of, “They’re all waking up!” beyond a repeating announcement of, “Please remain in your beds.  A nurse will be with you as soon as possible.”

Hopeful, terrified, she turns to look at Akko.  The slow, sedated blink of ruby-colored eyes has emotion immediately welling within her.

She can’t remember ever crying so much since her mother died…but this time she’s awash with relief instead of grief.

Akko can’t really hear her.  Can hardly speak.  Her grip is barely there and she can’t stand to have her eyes open for long.  But Akko is awake.

So I got to thinking about the differences between cultures and their standards and customs around dating and all that.

Now I find myself wanting to write a fic where Akko totally thinks she's dating Diana, but Diana is completely clueless. And through whatever series of events, Diana comes to Akko and is all "Blah blah! People think we're TOGETHER!"

And Akko's just, "..........We're not?" Which turns Diana into a sputtering mess because of course they're not.

And it turns into a stupid argument about how Diana had confessed and everything!

"When?" Diana demands.

And Akko reminds her of the night she came and found her in the cold. How she took her to the café to warm her up and presented her with "a certain special item which shall remain nameless in front of other people--I know how you like to keep certain things to yourself!" How she then promptly confessed her love to her--

"I WHAT?"

Akko makes little air quotes, "I believe in your believing heart!"

"I... That wasn't a confession!" Diana argues.

"Well, it sure felt like one to me!"

And maybe the peanut gallery (Amanda, Barbara, Sucy, etc.) chime in with something. I don't know yet.

Maybe Akko goes on about how they followed the "Three Date Model" (You can look at it on the website linked in the images) and everything! Sure, she was shocked, but DANG was it ever a nice surprise!

Of course, Lotte and the others had arrived right after Diana's confession, so Akko didn't get to say anything back. "And, I mean, nevermind poor Chumley!"

"What about Chumley?"

"Diana! You can't just... You don't just... It's rude!"

And poor Diana just can't keep up with the logic. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

"It makes people uncomfortable!" Akko says with a level of significance that pings something in Diana's mind.

And part of me just wants her to stare at Akko so seriously for a long moment and then blurt out "Lesbians?" in all her befuddlement.

And Akko just, "What?? No!! I mean just... doing any of that in public!"

@dianakko-week

When Can I See You Again?

“I’m really gonna miss this,” Akko said quietly over the books of runes she and Diana studied together.

Diana, used to such random thoughts from her friend (her crush), didn’t even look up from the text.  “What do you mean?”

Akko gestured widely about the library, knowing Diana was paying more attention to her than she appeared to be.  “This!” she told her.  “Us!”

Now, that was cause for concern.  “I don’t take your meaning…”

“Getting to hang out together like this every day!”

Diana blinked at her.  “Are you…going somewhere?”

“Diana…”  The look of concern on Akko’s face put Diana on edge.  Her heartbeat sped up as she awaited the worst.  “Break is coming up.  I’m going back to Japan…”

The words cut through her like a knife.  How had she not realized their extended break was coming up?

“Oh…” was all she could manage, casting her eyes to the tabletop.  “I…hadn’t realized…” she added lamely.

“Yeah…”  Akko leaned back in her chair, hands in her lap as she looked towards the windows with a sigh.  “And international mail is so slow… It really doesn’t make sense to write letters.  W’ll probably be back at school before any of them are delivered.”

Diana racked her brain trying to think of a solution.  “I believe the Owl messaging service on the WitchNet crystal balls offers immediate delivery…”

“Kuso!” Akko swore, dropping her head exaggeratedly.  “I wanted to see you and hear you!”

And honestly, Diana wasn’t particularly well-verse on the ins and outs of WitchNet to be able to offer an alternative to the Owl service.  She felt a bit like she was letting Akko down.  And more than that, she wanted to see and hear her too…

“It’s too bad most of you guys don’t have cell phones,” Akko told her sadly.  “We could have done some video chats if you did.  But, so far, Amanda and Constanze are the only ones…”

“It’s not exactly traditional…”

“Yeah.  That’s the trouble I’m running into.”

Together, they sat in silence, the book of runes sitting ignored on the table in front of them.  When Akko leaned into her side and hugged her, face buried in her hair, Diana sat quietly and let her.

@dianakko-week

Only For You I'd Gather the Stars

This first day of the new semester had arrived, and the members of the blue team were up and about shortly after 6:30 AM.  As such, they were surprised to hear three soft raps on the door.  It was awfully early for anyone to be knocking calling on any of them, and they simply stared at it in surprise.

Until Diana poked her head around the bookshelf, that is, her shoulders bare but for her bra strap.  “Could one of you answer that, please?” she asked before she disappeared behind the oaken shelf once more.

After sharing a perplexed look with Barbara, Hannah stood from the edge of her bed and finished tying off her sash.  “Sure,” she said as she made her way to the door, hair still lying in gentle waves about her shoulders.  She checked to make sure Barbara was decent before she grabbed the knob and turned it, swinging the door open…to find absolutely no one.

She blinked.  She wasn’t sure who she had been expecting but opening the door to nothing but an empty corridor was definitely strange.  “Hello?” she called down the hall.  She wasn’t surprised to hear nothing in response, but she was a little weirded out.  Who knocks on someone’s door this early in the morning and just disappears?

…Actually, she could think of a few people.

With that new mindset, Hannah scanned the hall for anything out of place, carefully lingering over areas where the shadows seemed to deepen.  But when nothing seemed out of the ordinary, she shook her head and stepped backwards into the room again.

That’s when it caught her eye—a delicate-looking container sitting on the floor just outside their door.

She bent to pick it up, surprised to find it was made of tin, rather than ceramic.  Her fingers traced over the blue roses painted against a white background.  The gold design on the top of the container glittered at her in the light coming from the room behind her.

It was beautiful.

She closed the door to the hall with her foot, turning the small container over in her hand.

And there, sticking out of the back of it was a small tag printed with forget me nots.  And there, in thick letters, was Diana’s name.

“Oh,” Hannah said, looking towards the bookcase.  “Diana, it’s for you.”

“Just a moment.”

Barbara approached, curious now.  “What is it?”

“Some kind of can, I think.”  And really, it took every ounce of willpower not to shake it and see what might be inside.

Thankfully, Diana chose that moment to come around the shelf that separated the room.  She looked around, surprised to find no one else in the room.  “Who was at the door?”

“No one.  But this was sitting on the ground.  It looks like it’s for you.”  Hannah proffered the little can and watched Diana gently take it.

She studied the tag for a moment before the sharp look on her face softened to something Hannah and Barbara were entirely unused to seeing.  Then a smile crept across her face.  “I see,” she said.  “Please, excuse me.”  Without waiting for a response, Diana whirled about, cradling the small can in her palms, and disappeared around the shelf.

Hannah and Barbara looked to one another, both clearly curious, and then snuck to the edges of the bookshelf to peer around it at Diana.

To say they were shocked to see Diana staring so reverently at a tin can was an understatement.  And the light dusting of pink across her cheeks as she eased the top off the container left them wondering who it might be from.  Diana clearly seemed to know.  She smiled when she saw the contents of the can, plucking a small, light-blue star out of it.  She chuckled for a moment before popping it into her mouth and replacing the lid of the container.  Then, in what Hannah and Barbara thought was an uncharacteristic moment, Diana closed her eyes and hugged her arms to herself with a contented sigh.

They scurried away from where they were spying before Diana could spot them.  And once the three of them were ready for the day, they spent the walk to the cafeteria wondering who would have gifted the delicate little can of candy to Diana.

Even the chaos of meeting with the red and green teams at breakfast couldn’t distract them from the mystery of the morning.  And Amanda had tried her darnedest to distract Hannah and Barbara.

Diana, of course, dealt with the ruckus with aplomb, politely making conversation as she worked her way through her breakfast.  She indulged Akko by listening to the hyperactive girl recount the time she spent in Japan over their break, smiling ever-so-softly at her the entire time.

Somewhere in the middle of it all, Hannah noticed a generous pile of star-shaped candies on Akko’s tray, which the others happily picked from.  “Hey,” she said, gaining everyone’s attention.  She pointed to the candies on Akko’s tray, “Where did you get those?”

“What these?  I brought them from home,” Akko told her.  “The Ley Line doesn’t like salinity, so I brought some sugar-based snacks instead.  It’s called Konpeitou.”  She plucked up a red one and offered it to Hannah, “They’re pretty good.  You should try it.  These ones are even flavored!”