Ever since the big Noir missile shooty thing, which was Akko's name for the event and probably not the official one, she and Diana had become much better friends. Sure, the girl still wasn't one to laugh loudly or joke around, and she seemed oddly uncomfortable whenever Akko even brought up the idea of a friendly hug, but compared to how hostile they were when they first met, there was no denying she had brought out a different side of her.

Diana was a closed off person in general, never one to be open with her thoughts and feelings, so it wasn't a surprise to see her keeping her guard up. But it was encouraging that she let it down more often than not when they were together. After the big Noir missile shooty thing, she was always willing to help Akko, or talk with Akko, or even just spend time with Akko for the sake of it. Probably more so than anyone else in Luna Nova, surprisingly enough. Akko herself considered it a true testament to their friendship if ever there was one.

Case in point, she was leading her and Sucy through the restricted Luna Nova Archives to go look for a book that they probably weren't supposed to be looking for. They had a report due in Professor Lukic's class on poisonous creatures that they desperately needed a good grade for. Sucy knew firsthand of a special book, a bestiary on some of the most dangerous creatures in the magical world. She figured they could use it to make the Red Team's life a little easier. When Sucy had asked Diana for help getting it, she denied, claiming the book was off-limits to students and they needed to put in the work just like everyone else. But Akko was nothing if not stubborn, and once she had asked, Diana relented and agreed to help them.

Ever the professors' favorite, Diana had earned exclusive access to the Archives to look at the book, and now clandestinely, she was letting her and Sucy in on that privilege as well. The two of them followed behind her into the darkened halls of the Archives. Had it been anyone else, the only way anyone could get in was with a professor hovering over their shoulders. But the Cavendish heiress was smart, polite, punctual and overall a trustworthy person who earned these sorts of favors. For as much as she disliked bending the rules, she was making an exception out of the kindness of her heart, and Akko didn't let that fact go unappreciated.

"Thanks again so much for helping us, Diana!" She said enthusiastically, bouncing on her heels. "I promise, this is gonna be my best report ever!"

Sucy elbowed her with a smug grin. "It's not like your best report ever is a really high bar, anyway."

Diana turned and smiled at them, with an air of subdued amusement about her. "Yes, well, I'm sure if you put as much effort into studying as you did into finding ways around it, you would have no need for any of my help."

Akko's cheeks flushed. She knew it was all just lighthearted teasing. Frankly, she earned so much of it, she was pretty much used to it from everyone by now. But it was different when it came from Diana, for reasons she couldn't really say. Most likely, because she never really made jokes. Akko forced herself to chuckle, unable to think of something to actually say in response. Instead, she let her eyes wander around the dark room, squinting at various shelves and items.

The Archives were a massive, labyrinthine room. The shelves went all the way to the ceiling, several stories high above their heads, and each one held artifacts Luna Nova deemed significant in some magic-related manner. Some of them resembled ordinary household items, while others were strange threatening looking objects that Akko couldn't hope to put a name to. There were stones and papers whose simple appearances belied a sinister purpose, essences of extinct creatures and malevolent beasts, and oddly shaped containers holding who knows what. They all seemed to be placed on the shelves at random, and if there was a method to finding something, Akko certainly couldn't say. At a glance, there was nothing that immediately resembled a book.

"Sooo…There's a lot of stuff here, huh…?" She thought aloud.

Diana nodded, replacing her earlier mirth with her typical seriousness. "The Archives are home to some of the more volatile magical artifacts in the entire country. There's a reason it's highly restricted. Everything in here is one of a kind, and many are both powerful and dangerous. There's no telling how many items in here are cursed, so please, don't touch anything."

"I wasn't gonna touch anything but the book!" Akko defended herself. "…Where is it anyway? How do you find anything in here?"

"…Admittedly, the Archives are in serious need of a cataloguing system."

The statement turned out to be a severe understatement. For over fifteen minutes they wandered the corners of the room, poking around almost aimlessly. They found a few tomes and spell books after some persistent searching, but the bestiary was nowhere near them. Even between the three of them, they had barely covered even half the Archives in that time. Whatever allure there was in being allowed access to a restricted section circled the drain, especially since with the rule of not touching anything, it was a glorified museum of things she had no names or context for.

Diana and Sucy had a quick back-and-forth on whether the bestiary was even here in the first place, but eventually agreed to check out different corners of the room, leaving Akko more or less in silence. She scanned what shelves she could see, but she had only the vaguest idea of what the book looked like, (It had an orange cover apparently) leaving her mostly relying on the others to find it. She leaned back against the wall and stifled a yawn, listening to the sound of footsteps reverberating off the stone walls.

The quiet was broken by an echoing voice that seemed to come from right next to her ear. "Atsuko…please…"

Akko jumped, and her breath caught in her throat. She whipped to face the others, but neither were paying her any attention, focusing solely on their search. And now that she thought about it, the voice didn't sound like either of them anyway. And there wasn't anyone who still called her by her full name. But someone had just called her. If it wasn't them, then who? And hadn't they heard it?

"Atsuko…set me free…"

Akko looked around, trying to discern where the voice was coming from. It sounded like a girl's, but none she had ever heard. There was definitely no one else in here with them given the place was restricted to students, and it was too young to be a professor. It sounded like it was coming from right next to her ear, but there was no one immediately next to her.

Her attention was suddenly caught by a plain jar sitting on a shelf just above her head. It was a blue, vase-looking object that was about the size of her hand, with a large plug stuffed into the top. It was completely nondescript, and her eyes had passed it over before in their search, but when she looked at it now, there was something…off about it. She couldn't say what, but it stole her attention like nothing else. There wasn't any special markings or anything all that notable about it at first glance, and yet, it was just strange, in some inexplicable way. The voice that had called out to her hummed approvingly.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she recalled a warning not to touch anything, but she had to make an exception for this. She needed to know what was inside this jar, and there was simply no way she could resist. Magic always made her curious, but this feeling was so much deeper. It was insatiable, like a deep-seated hunger. She had to know what was inside it.

"Open the vessel…" The voice told her as she reached for it. "Atsuko…open the vessel…"

Her body moved almost mechanically, reaching up to pull it from the shelf. She turned it over in her hands, weighing it. Was it strange that it felt right, to have it in her hands? She didn't know, but she was single-minded in opening the vessel. Her fingers curled around the plug, and as she prepared to pull it out, a shiver of anticipation ran down her spine.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her wrist. Her heart skipped a beat as she was forced back to reality. Catching her breath, she realized Diana was right next to her, stopping her hand from pulling the plug. "Akko! Snap out of it! Can you hear me now?"

Now? Had she been calling out to her? Akko hadn't heard anything from her this entire time. "O-oh. Um. Sorry, I forgot you were here…"

Diana huffed. "This is what I meant when I said many things in here were cursed. You're lucky I was here to stop you."

"Wait, I…I was almost cursed?" She peered down at the jar in her hand. All its mystique had disappeared, and it looked like just a plain, boring glass bottle. It was almost unnerving. Whatever was in this thing was messing with her head. It would be better to put it back before it did anything else.

Diana reached to take it from her hand, but a voice in Akko's head screamed at her not to let it go. Her fingers tightened around it, refusing to let her prize leave. The sudden resistance startled Diana, and she lost her footing, barely catching herself before she fell to the ground. Forcing herself back to her senses, Akko quickly let go of the jar, at the same time Diana's grip loosened. The two gasped as the jar fell to the ground and shattered by their feet, sending glass everywhere. The plug rolled across the floor. It didn't even look like anything was inside it at all.

Akko sheepishly chuckled. "…It's not my fault?"

Diana just crossed her arms, looking distinctly unimpressed. "Akko, I said not to touch-" But when she looked back down at the remains of the jar, her glare flattened. "…Oh."

Akko paled. She had been preparing herself for a stern lecture about breaking the rules again, but somehow having her just…stop like that, with concern just barely masked on her face, was so, so much worse. "Oh? What do you mean oh? Is…is it something bad?"

Diana pursed her lips for a moment, then her expression quickly turned serious. "Alright. Stay calm, Akko."

"What?!" Akko screeched. She wasn't naïve. Nothing good ever came out of being told to stay calm out of the blue. "W-what do you mean stay calm?! What happened?! What was in the jar?!"

"Stay calm, Akko." Diana repeated as she took ahold of the shorter girl's shoulders. She explained in a slow, neutral voice. "Now, the jar held an ancient spirit, known as the Phantom of Faiwu. It invades its victim's minds and attempts to take over their bodies, where it uses them to-"

"W-what?! There's a ghost inside my head?!" Akko interrupted, running her hands through her hair. "I'm gonna be possessed?!"

"Of course not. I'm not going to let that happen." Diana took a deep breath, and pulled out her wand. "Now, the easiest way to repel the spirit is from the inside, before it gets a chance to claim your mind. I need to quiet your mind, so I'm going to…" She seemingly paused.

"…Yeah?" Akko stared expectantly, waiting for her to finish. "Uh…going to what? You okay, or…?"

Diana's words had just cut off. Her mouth was still hanging open, like she had been frozen mid-sentence. Just as Akko was about to snap her fingers at her, Diana's legs gave out. Her hand slipped from Akko's shoulder as she fell to her knees.

"D-Diana!" Akko bent down to help her up. "What happened?"

Diana rubbed her forehead, and her eyes were glazed over. "W-what?" She breathed. "But…it got me?

Wait, the ghost had possessed her instead? But it had called out to Akko, hadn't it? How had Diana gotten affected by it?

"But…but how? I thought it was going for-" Diana suddenly groaned in pain. She doubled over, holding her head in her hands. Akko couldn't deny it was a relief to know there wasn't a ghost running around in her own head. But seeing it happen to someone else, and one of her closest friends to boot, was even worse. Especially when it was actually hurting her to fight it off. At least Diana actually knew what to do to fix it. Akko was completely clueless.

It was about that time Sucy returned, holding a thick orange book in her hand, calling out to Diana. "Hey, so, you were wrong. The book was over-" She blinked, watching the girl groaning on her knees. "…Oh. What did I miss?"

"S-Sucy!" Akko sat up. "Diana got possessed by a ghost! W-we gotta do something!"

"…I'm…I'm not possessed yet." Diana managed to say. "The…agh, the best way to dispel the spirit is to enter the unconscious victim's mi-" She clutched her forehead, pinching her eyes shut. "M-mind, and find the spirit within. I just…need to find someone. I need to remember which…which professor said she had experience with that…"

"Go inside the person's mind and…" Akko clapped her hands in realization. "Oh! I did that once! I know how that works!"

Back in the beginning of the year, when Sucy had fallen under Sleeping Witch Sickness, Lotte had sent Akko into her mind to wake her from within. She ran around Sucy's mindscape, meeting with a bunch of mental versions of her to try and find the original, the one that was the core of her consciousness, in order to wake her up both in there and in real life. She hadn't really thought about it since, but that must be what Diana talking about.

Diana's face scrunched up in disbelief. "What? How in the world do you have experience with-?" She painfully moaned, struggling to keep upright. "It…it doesn't matter, I suppose. If you know how to do this, then I don't have much choice. I'm going to rely on you."

"Wait, you want me to…?"

"I need someone to go in there and fix this quickly, and I…I trust you, Akko. If this spirit possesses me, it's going to use my body to…" She averted her gaze. "J-just, get it out before we have to deal with the consequences. You two can't let me leave this room until it's purged."

Akko bit her lip. There was no way she was going to abandon a friend in need, but this was a lot of pressure. She had some experience, to be sure, but not enough to bet someone's head on. "W-what do I do, then? How do I get it out?"

"S-stay calm. I'm sure you can do it. Just…go in there, exorcise it from..." She bit her lip as her muscles tensed. Akko struggled to keep from freaking out at her friend's distress.

"Are…are you okay?"

"I'm being possessed, obviously not." She snapped. "…that was uncalled for. Sorry, it's just…severely unpleasant." Which was fancy people talk for it hurt like hell. "I've never traveled in someone's mind, but I believe you just need to find the center of it. The core. That's where it should be trying to…agh…"

She winced, and using the rest of her willpower, called out to the other witch in the room with them. "Rrgh, S-Sucy! Cast obdormiscere!" She pointed at her wand. "T-three half-flicks counter-clockwise!"

Calmly (almost lazily), Sucy pulled out her wand and repeated the incantation. A blue beam shot out through the air, phasing into Diana's head. Her breath escaped her, and her eyes fluttered before she slowly fell backwards. By the time her head hit the ground, she had already passed out.

Akko looked over her sleeping form. Her body was deathly still, and her only motion was the gentle rising and falling off her chest. She didn't look like she was sleeping peacefully, however. Even unconscious, her brows were furrowed and she was gritting her teeth. She had said it would slow the possession down somehow, but it still looked like it was taking her considerable effort.

Akko took a deep breath, and stood to face Sucy. "O-okay. So…we gotta send me in there. You know how to do it, right?"

Sucy thought for a moment, and then nodded, with a small smile on her lips.

Akko shook out the last of her nervousness. "Then let's do it." She closed her eyes in preparation, trying to psyche herself up.

There was a lot of pressure on her shoulders, and there was so much at stake that Diana could lose. She couldn't deny almost wishing it was the other way around. Not so much because she wanted someone else poking around inside her head, because that's weird, but more because she didn't want to let her friend down. But no, she realized, that was the wrong way to think about it. She wasn't going to fail.

She could do this. She did it once! And if Diana was counting on her, then she could do it again. All she had to do was go in there, find the core before the Phantom of whatever did, and get that guy out of there. She's dealt with ghosts, and she's dealt with entering people's heads, so doing both at once would be no big deal. Heck, all things considered, she was pretty experienced when it came to dealing with weird stuff. This should end up being a painless adventure. She was definitely going to fix this for her, no question about it.

Wait.

As she considered her past experience with going into people's brains, a memory popped forth of when she had done it last. More specifically, a memory of the actual spell used to send her into someone else's mind. Even more specifically, the fact that it had really hurt. She had to be knocked out in order to get into Sucy's mind. When the spell was cast, it turned Lotte's wand into a magic baseball bat, which she used to hit her in the side of the he-

Her thought were interrupted when a magic baseball bat hit her in the side of the head. With a loud metallic sounding impact, the bat rattled her skull and her eyes rolled back in her head. She crumpled to the ground almost instantly. As she fell into unconsciousness, the last sound she heard was Sucy cackling to herself about having a good time.

A.N. So I said to myself, hey Supa. What's the dumbest, most self-indulgent thing you can write? And I said, I know, we'll play off the episode where Akko goes into Sucy's mind, except we'll make it Diana instead, and also, shippy~. So it's been sitting in my draft folder a while, but I figured I'd polish it up a little and see if any of you lot wanted to read it. That I'm writing this so soon after my last story has little, if anything, to do with procrastination.

Here in the sorta prologue we get a good old, multifaceted Diana, to contrast with the one-dimensional Dianas that make up her personality that Akko's gonna be dealing with for the next few chapters. And there are a lot of those for her to deal with. I'm sure she'll handle it with her usual gracefulness. Always been a fan of this type of metaphor, and with a character as controlled as Diana, picking around in her mind is fun.