A self indulgent collection of shots and snippets in the reverse AU.

I got tired of drawing.

Atsuko 'Akko' Kagari was not one who would get easily lost. She was a vigilant girl, if not a little peculiar about most details, but all in all, she knows where, when, and how she would get to her destination safely and efficiently.

The brunette checks her watch. 2 minutes until 11:00. The orientation doesn't start until 1:00 noon. Plenty of time to reach Luna Nova Academy. After all, she had deemed to be at least half an hour early before the ceremony starts and Atsuko would not fail herself to be any later than that.

The train screeches to a halt and the speakers' rings to life about arriving to Blytonbury. Atsuko immediately stood up and took her luggage beside her. The doors open and she steps out of the cart, covering herself with other people exiting the station. There were barely half a dozen of passengers, including herself but should she complain? It was a little different from the bullet train back in her city but the lesser the people, the better for Atsuko to arrive to the bus station with plenty of time to spare.

As the people around her dispersed, Atsuko wipes the bangs out of her face, wondering if she had just cut her fringes a little too long. But her question disappears as soon as she went out of the door and sunlight came to shine on her eyes and she looks up.

The small town near Luna Nova was dainty, small but homey, wide even, surrounded by green hills. She smelt the air. A small scent of fresh baked goods and coffee wafted into her nostrils and Atsuko has never felt so alien.

The smog she was so acquainted to back in Japan was nowhere, and people bustling around, full of work and seriousness, was now nonexistent. Being in foreign land was far more overwhelming than Atsuko had thought. She steeled herself. Not to worry. She'll adapt quickly. But right now she needs to… sit down for a bit.

She finds herself seated on a public bench, covering her mouth with her hand as she tries to nurse her nausea.

Atsuko looks over at the access map that came with the Luna Nova letter and tried to pinpoint where exactly the Leyline Terminal was. Her venture was fruitless, to say the least, and Atsuko had try to ask for directions but most of the townsmen had only answered her that there was no bus station within the area.

Of course, the stubborn girl that she was refused to believe in their advice and continued to walk across the town, a map and some pamphlets of Luna Nova and Baltonbury in her right hand and the left one clutching her luggage as she tries to navigate her way around the place.

After doing this for several minutes, she backs up to a bench at a park and heaved a sigh. Maybe they were right. There were really no bus stations around here. Then how, pray tell, will she get on Luna Nova now? Atsuko adjusts her blue scarf for a bit and glanced at her watch. Several minutes until it's a quarter before 12 and Atsuko had just wasted precious time to find a nonexistent bus station.

Scowling, Atsuko takes out her map again. "Either this map is imprecise or the folks aren't well-aware of their own town," she mutters and trailed her finger around the paper where broken lines were used to direct to the bus station. She stops the tree-like symbol where underneath it says 'Leyline Terminal'.

Gosh dang does she hates being lost. Squinting angrily at the spot she was trying to arrive at, she puts down her map beside her and placed her elbows to her knees, scowling at the grass, at the trimmed shrubs, at the hill with some kind of building that looked like a tree—

Wait. A building that looked like tree?

She stands and squints at the hill where a building that looked similar to the symbol on her map was perched, and, after some comparison, she realized that what she was looking for was exactly that. Excitement bubbled up in her chest and Atsuko let out a high-pitched squeal, skipping on her feet for a bit before she collected her luggage and began to walk in a jovial but measured pace.

After a few minutes, the hill became closer and bigger to Atsuko's peripheral and she smiled. As she reaches the river, she sees the old stone bridge built across it. She was halfway over it when all of the sudden, a sharp scream of anguish came from behind her.

Atsuko flinched at the sound and was about to look back before a girl that looked about her age, with blonde hair and glasses, ran at pace of a race car, cursing and yelling something in a language Atsuko doesn't know. She was carrying plenty of bags and Atsuko wondered how could someone manage to run with that much luggage before her thought was cut-off with a hasty, "EXCUSE ME!"

Bewildered and unprepared, Atsuko side-stepped, but even then, she was shoved. Add to the fact that the bridge's parapet was less than two feet tall, fate had no choice but to plunge her down the river.

A faint 'sorry!' was heard over the water in her ears. Atsuko sat up from the river in anger immediately, about to yell the blonde stranger in rapid shots in English before she had seen that the girl had disappeared. She spat out water from her mouth and scowled at nothing, one of her eyes covered by her damp bangs. If she sees that girl again, she ought to give her a piece of her mind.

Atsuko was about to stand up before a quiet, "Oh my god!" made her look up. A girl, yet again her age, showed up from the other end of the bridge, with puce hair that covered the other half of her face, and she went down to help the brunette up from the water.

"Are you okay?" the puce-haired girl asks as Atsuko was out of the river, soaked to her shoes.

Atsuko looked over herself and felt heavy with water. "Um, yeah. Nothing major. It's just that I'm drenched." She replied honestly and smiled at the girl. "Thank you for helping me."

She studied the girl. She was lanky and her skin was pale, almost gray, her posture slouching forward a bit. Her weird, puce hair reached below her shoulders, and she was clad in thin, green and white robes with a leather pouch beside her hip while she held a broom. Her only visible red eye widened and she looked away. "No problem…"

Atsuko climbed back up to the bridge to take back her luggage and found some of its contents seemed to have spilled out from her duffel bag, definitely from the collision between her and the blonde girl earlier. Still drenched, she frowned and began to collect her things, mostly books and, uh, her headphones and… oh, her little Alcor.

The puce-haired girl hadn't left her yet and instead, she helped her pick up her belongings. When all of her stuff, save for her Alcor which she cradled her arms, were back in their place, she smiled at the girl again. "Thank you again. What's your name, by the way?"

The girl hesitates before answering, "Su-Sucy Manbavaran."

Then Atsuko notices her teeth.

Fangs.

Atsuko didn't know about Leylines as portals before her ride in one. She also didn't know they hated salt. And Atsuko, by Jennifer, had never thought an envious character with an aggressive tongue could also be considered as salt as well, which is borderline offensive if you ask her.

Landing in a pile, she slowly sat up, her body aching. She whips around her around and looked for the other two girls that fell with her. Sucy, thank God, was standing up, a few meters away from her next to her broom, looking quite dizzy herself. And the other…

Atsuko squinted at the other girl who lied some meters away from her and then she immediately recognized the blonde hair. It was the girl from earlier. She ran up to the blonde and began to shake her awake and the blonde slowly came back to her senses. She was drooling.

"Ughh… where am I?" The blonde murmurs, touching her face and glasses and Atsuko helped her up to her feet.

Atsuko looks around. Deep, dark trees and shrubs everywhere, with different kinds of plants and a ribbon of fog snaked around their feet. An ominous aura surrounded them and, Good Jennifer, she hopes that what she was thinking wasn't actually the place they're in.

"No… no idea." She lies through her teeth and the blonde was finally up in her feet.

Sucy wobbles over them, looking pretty impassive about the fall but her slight limp said otherwise. "Uh, are you two okay?"

Atsuko nods. "Yes, we are. You?"

"Alright," she replied and her head whips around their surroundings. "But considering where we are… we won't be anytime soon."

Atsuko gulps and decides denying is no longer valid. "Arcturus Forest, right?"

The name seemed to be enough to send the blonde fully awake. She jumped away from Atsuko's grasp and grabbed her hair. "What!" she yelped. "Arcturus forest!? Are you kidding me!?" she suddenly takes the brunette by the shoulders. "Please tell me you're joking."

Atsuko takes the blonde's wrists and slowly unclamped them from her. "Calm down. And no, I am not kidding." She says evenly and the blonde slowly backs off.

The blonde placed her hands to her hips and huffs. "Great. I'm in a dangerous forest with a bunch of hobos and I'm going to be late for the orientation. Great."

Atsuko scowled. "Excuse me but who are you calling 'hobos'?" she asked sharply.

The blonde returned the scowl, pushing back her glasses up to the bridge of her nose. "Who but the girls who knocked me off my broom." She snapped and went to pick up her broom that fell off not too far from them and picked up the remaining bags she had.

"It was an accident! We didn't know Leylines could react so aggressively to salt! We didn't even bring any!" Atsuko reasoned though half of it was a lie. She really hopes her umeboshi wasn't going to be warranted.

The blonde stared at her long and hard before she asked, "Are you that girl who got in Luna Nova by academic scholarship?"

The question caught the brunette off gaurd. Atsuko felt herself flush but said, "Yes."

The blonde rolled her eyes and sighed. "How could a scholar not know that Leylines hate salt?" she murmurs and Atsuko just had about enough of this blonde.

"Hey, I told you it was an accident!" she snapped.

Sucy walked away from the two girls who had already exploded into an argument, the brunette yelling quips at the blonde who was as quick to shoot back. She was worried. Any kind of monster could pop out from these woods if they were any louder and seeing their argument, any sort of monster could pop out from the bush near them. Sucy hopes that that monster wouldn't be… be… be…

"And another thing! We didn't expect you to be behind us at all! It was your fault for not even trying to dodge us and one of your stupid luggage got in the way, too!" Atsuko argued, gritting her teeth in frustration.

"How could my luggage be in fault!? Your toy in the other hand!" She takes Alcor and points at it with an accusing finger. "It hit me square in the face, you could at least pack your things properly! Why would a teenager bring a stuffed animal in Luna Nova, anyway?"

A noise died in Atsuko's throat before growling and swiping the doll away from the blonde. "How dare you…!" A shadow looms over them. "Accuse…" her voice lowers. "Al…"

Atsuko dared to look up. The blonde did too.

A giant, gold eye stared at them directly, and they all stand frozen. Atsuko could only murmur the name of the monster before them. "Cockatrice…"

Diana was somehow earlier than necessary in Luna Nova's orientation ceremony. Usually, she would more or less procrastinate the assigned time before barging in when the event was beginning a few minutes before but today…

Hm. She could at least wait a few minutes in her dorm but since she wasn't assigned to wait in the Leyline station like Hannah and Barbara were, she had nothing to do but go straight to the indoor amphitheater of Luna Nova.

She readjusted her grip in her broom and waited for her teammates to burst through those doors. It was currently 12:35. It would be less than half an hour for the orientation would begin, and some teams have already seated themselves. She looks around and found Headmaster Holbrooke and Professor Croix speaking in the corner, beside the podium where the headmaster would deliver her speech and open the new school year of Luna Nova. Other professors are due to arrive.

Her eyes goes to the entrance and found the green team's leader Amanda O'Neill walking in, her other teammates gone as well. Other girls in the vicinity stared at her as she adjusts her witch hat and they heaved a sigh. The heiress smirks, musing at how others are so easily charmed by someone. Diana couldn't understand how anybody would go smitten just at the sight of somebody.

Diana tried to wave and signal to the redhead to sit on the spot lower of the blue team but she had gone unnoticed as Amanda decided to sit on the lower seats of the amphitheater's left, parallel to her.

Hm. Diana sighs again, wishing Hannah and Barbara to arrive now. Without anyone to talk to, it was kind of awkward for her to stand around, doing nothing. They eventually enter, a few minutes later. They came in chortling; well Hannah was but Barbara looked fuming, her auburn-haired friend sharing a few jokes with a girl with short, violet hair, Avery, before coming over to sit beside Diana.

"You two were gone long." Diana remarks.

"Yeah, well, some blonde girl had gone out of her way to say that Nightfall was horrible," Hannah says, giggling. Barbara scowled. "And then she and Barbara had an argument."

"Well, she was wrong! I mean, how some bullshit like Spell Cast could even compete with Nightfall!? And she even said Belle was a furry for going after Edward!"

"Language. But she technically is though," Hannah offered.

"Whatever!"

Diana grinned as Hannah tried to desist Barbara's rant and looked over at the students filling up the entirety of the amphitheater's seats. The student population became bigger over the past years, with over 200 teams of witches inside Luna Nova. But quantities never minded Diana. She'll be sure to shine the brightest here, just as her mom was.

And especially this time… Now that world-renowned Chariot Du Nord was officially a professor in the academy. She'd kill to be her favorite student.

But as Diana looked around for any red hair and cape, no signs of the famous performer-become-teacher were in the vicinity. Huh. She had a glimpse of her the few days before and was sure Professor Chariot was in Luna Nova. Where she could be, Diana had no guesses. But Diana kept searching for her in the growing crowd anyway.

"Hey, Dia," Barbara's voice was the one who snapped her back. "You know about the scholarship thing for non-witches, right?"

Diana had heard it from Professor Lukic once, where any girl, even those who are absolutely magic-less, could enter Luna Nova Academy, as long as they can pass their written exam. You need either a 98 or above to enter and so far in history, about less than thirty students have only made it through with absolutely no magical-abilities. Half flunked out in the middle of their term for lacking magical assets and the others, well…

Headmaster Miranda Holbrooke got through it, though only half, and even then, she still had some magical blood in her. And, oh yeah, she was the one who made the test worldwide last summer. Guess having both brains and talent can earn you the highest of incentives.

Diana turns to her, raising both of her brows. "You mean that academic thing? What about it?"

"I heard somebody got a hundred-percent."

Diana's eyes became saucers. "No way."

"Well, maybe," Hannah said, creasing the spot between her brows a bit. "Avery heard from the faeries that they heard the staff had accepted a student who made it to a perfect but we're not exactly sure. Maybe it's just a false rumor, who knows."

"Oh, okay," Diana breathed. A one hundred percent on a Luna Nova written exam? Look, perfect scholarships aren't something that could easily be acquired in this academy but it wasn't unusual either. Diana had a perfect scholarship herself in the traditional exam, as expected coming from a family of witches but the academic scholarship was another thing altogether.

While Luna Nova may base strictly on your magical prowess only, they were also keen on your academic abilities, and even if Diana never took it herself, she was told that it was a very difficult and exhausting exam. 200 questions. Two long essays. And one accurately drawn graph of a magical symbol of a very, very hard spell.

So acing the exam? Forget it.

"Who do you think it was, though? If it was true?" Diana pressed on.

Barbara shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know but I heard it was a Japanese girl."

Diana wasn't racist, really, but she couldn't help herself. "Pff," she murmured, "That would explain things." Her teammates stared. "You know, she's… Asian. Most Asians these days are better than the lot of us." Diana elaborated.

Hannah and Barbara reluctantly agreed and it was then the orientation started, when the Headmaster had climbed up the podium and began to deliver her speech, asking all of the students to quiet down. Diana looked around the line of teachers behind her and found no redhead of a performer standing.

The heiress felt disappointed, not being able to see her idol in the opening day of her first year. Give the benefit of a doubt, Diana told herself. Maybe Chariot had something to do first before this, something more important than some lame orientation that most don't need in the first place?

Suddenly, amidst of her thoughts, the school symbol engraved on the floor in front of the stage began to glow. Headmaster Holbrooke stopped talking as all eyes went to the center. On reflex, Diana placed her hand on her wand as the glow became a tall collumn of light. The professors stood in front of the stage before a powerful light shot out from the floor, accompanied by a cloud of white smoke and the students shrieked.

Three seconds of being blinded by the smoke, a smart professor had used a spell to disperse the fog and there, on the center of the floor were a pile of three girls. Diana gaped. Had they just… appeared out of that light? No, that wasn't just some random light, that was a Leyline path. But summoning it, in the middle of an indoor amphitheater? Diana squints suspisciously at the three.

The one on the top of the pile was a brunette wearing an orange coat and blue shorts, weilding a gold staff. Next was a blonde, glassed girl wearing the outdoor Luna Nova uniform that looked knocked-out, a bird on top of her head. The last one was a pale girl with puce hair holding a giant feather who looked like she had a mean haircut. Like, her bangs looked like it was slashed by some kind of sharp object.

The brunette, whose back was turned to Diana, sat up and then whipped her head around the amphitheater. She looked like she was of Asian-descent, and her eyes were wide with terror and then realization and then... joy? And suddenly, a wide smile broke up in her face as she stood upright and Diana made out the color of her eyes, even from a distance away.

They were red, de-saturated red, but they still shone bright in the light of the amphitheater. And her smile, the way the edge of her lips reached both cheeks, flashing white teeth accompanied by a red streak crossing her face, made Diana paralyzed.

"Heh," the brunette broke the silence that reigned over them, and she slapped both of her hands over her mouth but it was too late. She was already in a fit of giggles before bursting out laughing and good Jennifer, Diana had never seen a cuter girl.

The other two girls were finally sitting up but the giggling girl's knees gave out and she was sitting on the floor again. In one swift motion, however, her arms snatched the two girls' necks in a tight embrace and they flinched a bit, obviously still aching from their fall.

The room was filled with the brunette's uncontrolled laughing, as if she was finally safe and completely relieved from something, hysteria and terror flashing in her eyes all at the same time. Diana would've thought of her as crazy hadn't she been so smitte- whoa, w-wait, what?

Diana looked away quickly, covering her gaping mouth before Barbara and Hannah could see her expression, not noticing the flash of red appearing behind the crowd of teachers on stage.

If she looks at the brunette any further, she'll suddenly understand how someone could be so smitten at the sight of some stranger that came out of light, laughing a sort of laughter that makes Diana want to listen to it again.

FUCK THIS IS SO CHEESY

BTW, you guys can submit whatever ideas you guys got in this AU in my Tumblr inbox. My url is the same name as here. I'll try my best to do them.

Update will depend on the mood.

Edit: Made a few adjustments, and filled up some space I didn't realize that was missing.