Take Me to Wonderland

Final Chapter: Resolution and Conclusion?

A/N: The long delayed chapter is finally out. Don't know why it took me this long to get it out. Sequel is coming out after this chapter goes up.

Diana was mortified. Ever since she had woken up confessing her love for Akko, right to her crush's face, she could barely bare to show her face around school. But Diana wasn't some sort of slacker. She had to go to class to keep up her grades. And despite how badly she wanted to skip class by calling in sick, she had never missed a single day of school no matter how terribly she was ill. Therefore, she couldn't just skip because she felt like she was going to die of embarrassment. She had to tough it out. She was a Cavendish after all. Soon to be future leader of her house. Leaders faced many situations like these and still had to have the courage to show their face in public, had to still be able to lead their people.

But, that didn't mean she couldn't run from people, namely, Akko. When she'd first gone to school after her trip to that dream world she had worried incessantly that everyone in school would know about her verbal slip up, that Sucy or Akko had told everyone and were certainly having a good laugh about it. Diana hadn't slept that night, gnawing on her nails and waffling between knocking on Akko's door and demanding a deal to ensure silence and secrecy, or crawling under the covers of her bed and crying. In the end, she hadn't done anything because she was too torn, and morning had arrived and it was too late to do anything but tough it out.

With bags under her eyes, she whipped her head around in the school hallways, ears straining for the faintest hint of proof that said Akko had told everyone her secret. She didn't hear anything of note but still she was paranoid and on high guard.

"Diana!" Barbara's and Hannah's voice made her jump like a rabbit and she immediately began to question them, words shooting out in rapid fire. "Did you hear anything? Are people talking about me?"

The two girls exchanged odd looks with one another. "No more than the usual."

"Like about how great you are," Hannah supplied.

Diana felt her shoulders relax at that. Her two friends always kept a finger on the pulse of Diana gossip, which meant if they hadn't heard anything yet, than it most likely hadn't been said. She could relax a fraction of her tension. Still, it left the issue of dealing with Akko, which Diana was in no way ready to do. But the talk was to be inevitable. Things needed to be cleared up. Diana had to come up with some genius plan to explain her verbal blunder. She could't have Akko thinking she loved her. That was mortifying. And unacceptable, especially since Akko didn't return those feelings.

"Diana!" Another voice called out, and this one was unmistakable. It belonged to the one and only Akko. Diana froze and began to shake with each frantic footstep she could hear coming up closer to her.

"Diana, are you okay?" Barbara noted with concern.

"You're shaking."

"I-I'm fine," Diana croaked out through a faint sheen of sweat growing on her face. Finding some inner strength within herself, she forced her legs to move and booked it to the classroom. There she would be safe, for the professors didn't allow classroom disruptions. Akko sullenly walked into the room, eyes seeking out the blonde, and Diana immediately glanced down at her notes, keeping her eyes trained there so hard she feared she'd burn holes into the paper.

For the duration of the class she kept her eyes trained away from Akko, despite feeling the shorter girl's eyes on her from time to time, eyes that pleaded Diana to look down. And after class ended, Diana was the first out of the room, packing her supplies in record speeds before tearing it down the hall with as much grace as she could in her panicked state.

Her heart leapt in her chest when she heard Akko faintly call out for her but Diana didn't pause, only resting when she came to her next classroom, dripping in sweat from running all the way here. She leaned against the door frame trying to regain her breath. She knew running from Akko wasn't respectable and she was a Cavendish and should suck up her courage and go talk, but the fact that Akko had been so close made things much different than how it was in Diana's head. Diana had thought she could eventually talk to Akko but now that she really thought about it, that meant having to be close to the girl, having to look her in the eyes, and there was no way Diana was ready for that. Maybe she'd give herself an extra day or two to gather her bravery. Being far from Akko made the issue seem smaller, but having to sit a row away from her made the issue so much larger.

"Diana!"

That familiar cry pierced her ear drums. Diana jumped again, a shiver running down her spine before taking back to her feet and running without looking behind her.

So much for her plans. She needed to stay far away from the brunette.

She resolved to herself then and there, that if she had to avoid Akko for the rest of her time here, she would do it.

OMAKE: What if Sucy had Ended up in Wonderland

Sucy let out a light groan, rubbing her forehead where a huge welt was on it. She had fallen while chasing down the rabbit which had stolen her prized mushroom. And now she had no idea where she was. For as she looked around all she saw around her were giant mushrooms, all in different colors and shapes. Others would have been freaked out by this situation but not Sucy. Her one uncovered eye got so wide it nearly eclipsed the other features on her face, before it shrunk and a shark toothed smile took place on her lips. She began to laugh evilly, pulling out a chainsaw from her robes.

Who needed that one measly mushroom when she had all these! She revved the machine up before swinging it at the closet mushroom next to her, felling it with one swoop. It fell over with a tremendous earth shaking groan. She didn't waste any time before moving onto the other and the other, carving out a football sized patch in the mushrooms in just mere minutes. She was going to raze this whole forest down.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Akko and Lotte were looking down in worry on their friend who was lying unconscious on the floor but laughing hysterically and making chainsaw noises with her mouth as she revved up an imaginary chainsaw in her hands.

"Uh, do you think she's okay?" Lotte asked, voice small. "What is she dreaming off?"

"As long as it's not about chasing us around with a chainsaw, than I'm okay with anything else." Akko said candidly before she began to tug on Sucy's legs. "Help me get her back to bed."

Together they dragged a still chuckling Sucy out of the woods.

The hidden meaning behind some of the stuff in the chapters:

Chapter One- The conversation between Diana and Ursula when Diana first enters Wonderland

"But wait-!" Diana extended a hand as if that could do anything. "You still haven't told me anything!"

"Haven't I?" the caterpillar said coyly. "Change is the answer." Her hair began to fall out and from the bald spots that appeared, red fuzz began to grow anew.

"But-!"

"You may want to get a move on before the mushroom wears off, because only once you switch your perspective will you seek what you find."

Since this whole story is basically an allusion to Diana coming to terms with her feelings for Akko, Ursula mentions change and a switch in perspective. This is because Diana has yet to see things for how they are and only if she adopts a different outlook on Akko and stops seeing her as a friend, will things change between them for the better. In that way Diana will find what it is she wants and that is the true Akko.

Chapter Two- The conversation between Lotte and Diana

"Yes, I have many questions to solve. Can you help me with some of them earnestly?"

At this Lotte flushed and put her hands to her cheeks, letting out a girlish scream. "Why-why D-Diana, I can't do such things!"

"Excuse me?" Diana said tiredly, realizing it hadn't been a good idea to get comfortable since it seemed no one here was safe from being quirky.

"Those are things you want to do with Akko! Not with me! I cannot be earnest with you!"

"With Akko?" Diana furrowed her brows, confusion etched upon her features.

"She's the only one who you want to do it with anyways!"

"I don't understand- I merely want to find her and bring her back with me to Luna Nova. I was only going to ask if you could show me the way to her."

"I can't show you such things!" Lotte squealed once more, shutting her eyes tight and blushing all the more. "I am not the one to show you such things."

Feeling like she wasn't going to get anywhere if she pressed this topic further, Diana switched gears. "I'm sorry if I have offended you. That was not my intention."

The word earnest used to be slang for gay back in the day (18th-19th century I think but I'm not sure) therefore when Diana asks if Lotte can earnestly help Diana ( Diana uses it as a way to say that unlike the other characters will Lotte be honest and genuine and help her) Lotte takes it as Diana wants her help in being gay. Thus she points out only Akko can help Diana with that, and that Diana only wants Akko to do those things to her.

Chapter Three- Almost all the conversations in the chapter between the characters

"Have either of you seen Akko? She has brown rabbit ears and a little nose."

The two girls exchanged looks at this before giggling together. "Oh, you've fallen down the rabbit hole," said Hannah, smiling as if she knew something Diana did not.

"With Akko," finished Barbara, also smug about the hidden context.

"Yes, and?" Diana arched a brow not seeing how this was funny or relevant.

"That is not our concern," Hannah explained.

"You took the fall, and you must stand tall."

"With your choices," Hannah clarified.

Falling into a rabbit hole is a phrase associated with becoming so deeply involved with something that it's hard to get out of it. And that's how Diana's feelings are for Akko- there is no way to really stop her from crushing on Akko. It was inevitable.

"Why were they like that?" Diana asked, slightly hurt and worried for her friends behaviors.

"People are always like that even if we don't see it. Are you truly surprised they can be mean, when you yourself were no better?" Chariot answered with in a pleasant voice.

Diana felt guilt hit her at this when she recalled how she had used to be rude to Akko like this in the beginning of the school year. And her friends had been rude too and she had done nothing to dissuade their behaviors.

"Is that why Akko keeps running away from me?" Was perhaps Akko avoiding her and the mushroom search was just an excuse? But Akko had seemed fine prior to all this, feathers unruffled by Diana's earlier rudeness in the early stages of their encounters. Diana had even apologized and Akko accepted, assuring with one of her brilliant and heart stopping smiles that everything was okay between them.

"I cannot answer a question you already have an answer to, little one," the butterfly said with slight amusement.

"What do you mean-?"

But Diana didn't get a chance to finish, for a huge shadow had covered her. When she looked up she saw a bird was hovering over them, clearly having marked them as a tasty snack.

"I'm afraid the life of pest is very short, and thus I must ask you to reconsider using me as a ride and take a different path. Perhaps honesty will suit you more."

"Wait-!" Diana started but then the butterfly descended rapidly downwards, making her teeth clack together painfully as she held on for dear life. Once it landed, she got off on trembling feet. "Chariot-" she turned to beg the butterfly not to leave her. She was worried for it. She didn't want it to face that bird alone, yet she knew it would because Chariot was brave and self sacrificing, and Diana hated that yet loved that about her childhood hero. But she had to begrudgingly give up the notion that any of these beings, although they wore familiar faces, were actually the people she knew and loved and cared for. Was anyone here, besides her and Akko, actually someone she knew? Or were they all false? And if so, what was the point of them wearing her friends faces?

"Just around that bend is the path you must take. Hurry. If you want to reach Akko, then you must take it. If you do not, then you will lose your only chance at getting to her. Remember, honesty and bravery will reach her heart more than anything else." With those cryptic words, Chariot rose up once more and zoomed off into the skies, the bird speeding right after her a second later.

This whole conversation basically illustrates how Diana feels guilty for being mean to Akko and Chariot, who is now in butterfly form which highlights how Diana is gradually morphing and coming closer to her own self, tells her that if Diana continues to be nice, and to be brave and honest, she will be able to reach Akko. For the whole chasing of Akko symbolizes Diana trying to reach her feelings for Akko. Additionally Chariot explains that the life of a pest, both a bug and someone whose annoying, is short lived for no one likes a person like that, therefore Diana has to be nicer.

"Cat," she barked out, in mild annoyance and relief that maybe someone else would give her some hints as to the course of action she should take.

"It's Cheshire cat," Sucy corrected haughtily. "How would you like it if I only called you by half a name? Dia is not as nice as Diana is, is it now? Half a name only makes you half a person and you are already only half as it is."

"Excuse me?" Diana asked not at all rudely. "I am half a person you say?" she came to a stop at this, throwing her head back so she could look more closely at the cat's infuriatingly wide grin.

"Once you would have been just one, but now you are a half because you lack something you need but do not know you need," Sucy grinned as she twisted onto her back to scratch an itch along the bark.

"And what is it that I need?" Diana was a bit curious to the cat's words. It seemed she needed some soul searching. That she was lacking something and she sorely wanted to improve on that, never hesitant to improve her shortcomings. But did she really or was it just another ploy by the cat to distract her from her main mission?

Sucy shrugged. "Why am I supposed to know?"

Again, what the cat mentions that Diana is missing is the realization and acceptance of the fact that she likes Akko. And when Sucy says she doesn't know about that part of Diana, that is true, because Diana has kept it such a tight secret that no one but her knows for sure, even if other characters like Lotte and Chariot/Ursula have some suspicion.

Chapter Four- The Mad Hatter and Diana

"I've forgotten how things could once be straight," Amanda said, a small frown gracing her lips. She picked up a spoon that was slightly bent, just like all the utensils here. "Everything has been bent out of shape because times have changed. Even my watch."

Another slight comment about Diana once being straight and now she no longer is because things have changed.

Chapter Five- The Talk with Akko

When the last traces of them left, Diana was ready to exit the closet and find a path out of the castle and back to those mushroom woods where she could find a way back to the regular part of the woods.

"Let's go," Diana blindly reached for Akko's hand, when she felt two strong hands on her shoulders.

"I'm not ready to leave yet. I cannot come out with you." Her voice sounded almost like she was pleading.

"Akko, do not worry, I will protect you."

"I do not doubt you will. But I cannot protect you. I do not feel ready yet. Or strong enough."

Really, this was not the time for Akko to grow timid. "Akko-"

"Let's take a different path." The pressure on Diana's shoulders grew and she found herself being pushed to what she assumed was the back of the closet, an even darker if possible, part of the furniture. The dark was thick here and heavy. It felt oddly sticky here. It was like it was...wet?

Feel like this snippet is pretty obvious-both are in a closet, hiding their true sexuality and Akko is afraid to admit to it, because somewhere in the back of Diana's head she knows Akko likes her but that part of her brain is repressed and held back because she's afraid of the info.

Also Andrew is an antagonist in this story because Diana feels like she has to compete with him for Akko's affections.

Chapter Six- The Battle

"Change..." whispered a voice on the breeze and Diana noticed it came from the empty discarded shell of a cocoon that no doubt belonged to the caterpillar.

"The life of a petty insect is short," another voice said and Diana could see the shadow of the Chariot butterfly hovering over her but when she looked up nothing was there.

"Illusions...don't break our illusion. Don't break your illusion," Hannah and Barbara said in unison, standing with their hands clasped together, eyeing Diana from the sidelines.

"Don't listen to them, Diana. Be honest. Or else you will lose yourself," Lotte encouraged.

"Can anyone be trusted? Whose voice can you listen to?" Sucy's words floated off to the right.

In the last chapter, the characters are all giving advice to Diana on what she should do. The only characters against her are Hannah and Barbara who tell Diana not to break the 'illusion' or the lies over the truth that Diana has put to cover up the truth. This is because they don't want to lose their friend and Diana is most worried about what they will think of her when the illusion is broken.

Another side note, most of the characters are fellow students with the exception of Croix and Chariot, because Diana often has trouble understanding and relating to her peers. Thus, in Wonderland none of her conversations with them really make much sense. And the two teachers Croix and Chariot as also the two teachers she really does not understand either, because one is Chariot, her idol, and the other a villain.