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skywardsoul · 7 years ago

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Alchemy Assistant (Chapter 1)

Here it is, the story I wrote for @lwasanta. This is for you @blookity-bloke , I’m your secret Santa! I ended up really loving this story concept, so I hope you don’t mind if I expand it into several chapters. More should be on the way over the next couple of days. I hope you enjoy, and Happy Holidays!

AO3 link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/13128132/chapters/30032919

FF.Net link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12771610/1/Alchemy-Assistant

It was a particularly blustery evening when the knocking came. Winter was upon the land, and the first snows of the year were starting to fall. To be out traveling in this weather, one would have to have an extremely urgent task…or just be plain stupid. Which is why Sucy Manbavaran was surprised to say in the least, when someone was in fact knocking at her door. The lavender haired alchemist turned towards her front door, stopping her work on a potion mid stir. At first she simply stood there, hoping that whoever was knocking would just go away. As the area’s only alchemist, Sucy wasn’t completely unfamiliar with towns folk coming to her for aid, but that didn’t mean she enjoyed it either. Above all else, she adored her solitude, and hated when it was interrupted.

Unfortunately for her, whoever was at the door certainly wasn’t going anywhere, as the intensity of their knocking only increased. With an annoyed grumble, Sucy set down her stirring stick and grabbed her wand, making her way to the door. Whoever was disturbing her better be ready to pay double for what they needed, and maybe even to be her next test subject.

“Hello!?” came the muffled voice from the other side of the door. “Is anyone home? I really need to ask for some medicine! It’s important!”

From what she could hear, the person outside sounded rather young, much younger than Sucy had been expecting. Most of her visitors were desperate wives, husbands or geezers, yet her current visitor couldn’t have been much older than herself. Her previous anger now slightly curved by her growing curiosity, Sucy opened her door a crack, and peered out it. The girl she saw standing there was certainly interesting. She had been right in guessing her age, as her face had a youthful roundness to it. She had a red traveling cloak pulled tightly around herself as she tried not to shiver; the harsh winter winds blowing through her chocolate brown hair. She wore strange attire for a traveler, a purple robe of sorts with a red sash tied around her waist. Her most striking feature however were her eyes. They were a bright, sparkling red, as if cut from rubies. Something about them were almost enchanting to Sucy, even more so as they moved to meet her gaze.

Realizing that her knocking hadn’t gone unheard, the visitor smiled brightly, he eyes widening as she did so.

“You must be the alchemist, right? Manbavaran? That’s you?” the girl asked, leaning forward eagerly with each question.

There was still a door between the two of them, but Sucy couldn’t help but back up slightly under her intense gaze. This girl was an obvious stranger to the idea of personal space. Just great. She half considered just slamming the door shut on her face, but for some reason a small part of the alchemist felt like she should at least hear the girl out.

“Yeah, that’s me. What the hell do you want?” Sucy asked with a growl. Didn’t hurt to not let her get too comfortable.

Her words had their desired effect, as the girl at the door recoiled slightly, gulping nervously before continuing.

“I-I need some medicine, real bad. T-there’s a…girl, in my village, and she’s really sick. I’ve been looking nonstop for a cure, but everyone keeps telling me it’s hopeless…” The girl dropped her gaze as she spoke, clutching her arm nervously. “I heard that you can make potions that people haven’t even heard of before…if there is anyone who can help me…it’s you.”

The girl looked back at her as she finished speaking. Her eyes burned with her plea. Damnit. Sucy may immensely dislike unannounced visitors, but she wasn’t heartless. With a defeated sigh, the alchemist moved back and opened her door, gesturing for the girl to step inside.

“Fine, come in,” Sucy said in a flat tone. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Almost instantly, the girl’s eyes lit up at her offer. If they looked like they were shining before, then they were practically stars at this point.

“Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!” the brunette said in a rush, taking Sucy up on her offer and bolting out of the cold and into the warm home.

Sucy rolled her eyes at her excitement. While Sucy considered her small cottage nothing out of the ordinary, the girl was looking around like it was lined with gold. The front door led to a small foyer, where an old worn arm chair sat next to a fireplace. Just behind it was the alchemist’s workspace, where countless bottles, vials and flasks filled with various liquid lined an expanse of shelves situated above a cluttered work desk, covered in diagrams and notes. Just to the left of the desk, sat Sucy’s large brewing cauldron, currently bubbling with the concoction she had been working on when she was interrupted. Off to the right of the cottage was Sucy’s small kitchen space, and the ladder near the back of the house lead up to the loft where she slept. It wasn’t much, but it was quiet, and out of the way, just what Sucy liked.

“Don’t thank me yet. You haven’t even told–don’t touch that!” the alchemist shouted, moving to take a flask out of the other girl’s hand. Unbelievable! She had been here for literal seconds and she was already messing with things.

“Just what do you think you’re doing!?” Sucy snarled angrily as she returned the flask to its rightful place on the shelf.

To her annoyance, the other girl only laughed, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. She was already starting to regret letting her in.

“Sorry, it just looked so pretty. Probably not a good reason to go touching stuff that could be dangerous though, huh?” she said with a nervous chuckle.

Sucy turned to glare at her. “No, no it isn’t,” she said. Taking a seat on a stool at her desk, Sucy gruffly motioned for Akko to do the same.

She let out an embarrassed laugh as she sat, before suddenly extending her hand out to her.

“Why don’t we start over?” she asked brightly. “My name is Kagari Atsuko! Or uh, Atsuko Kagari I guess…You can uh, just call me Akko.”

Sucy quirked an eyebrow at the strange exchange of words, but decided not to question it. Gingerly she took the girl’s outstretched hand and shook it.

“Sucy. Sucy Manbavaran,” she said introducing herself.

The girl called Akko smiled at her (she certainly did that a lot) as they shook hands.

“Nice to meetcha Sucy!”

Dropping her hand, Akko slowly leaned her face towards Sucy’s with a contemplative hum. Startled at the sudden increase in proximity, Sucy jerked her head back in response.

“Yah know,” Akko said out of the blue. “You’re a lot prettier than I thought you’d be…”

“Huh!? Where the hell did that come from!?” Sucy thought to herself as she fought back a blush.

That was certainly out of nowhere! This Akko sure as hell had some nerve. Not only had she immediately grabbed something that wasn’t hers, but had invaded her personal space and…paid her a compliment? A backhanded one of sorts sure, but a simple compliment nonetheless. Why did it unnerve her so much? Had literally any other soul ever try and tell her something like that before, Sucy wouldn’t have even stopped to acknowledge them, but there was something about hearing it from this girl that made her heart beat just a tad bit faster.

Akko must have noticed just what she had said, and that Sucy was uncomfortable, as she waved her hands frantically in front of her, a light blush dusting her cheeks.

“Uh, w-what I mean is that from all the rumors I heard I thought you were gonna be some wrinkly, mean old lady,” Akko tried to explain hurriedly. “I mean most of them just called you by last name–Not, that there’s anything w-wrong with you last name or anything! I actually think it’s really pretty too, well as far as last names go you kn-”

“Just, stop” Sucy said, cutting the now rambling girl off, placing a hand over her mouth. “Just…tell me what you need medicine for so we can get this over with.”

As Sucy removed her hand from Akko’s mouth, the other girl tilted her head at her in slight confusion. Sucy nearly felt her eyes roll out of her skull.

“The medicine you came asking for! What disease are you trying to cure?” Sucy asked annoyed.

It didn’t take long for recognition to flash across Akko’s face.

“Geez just how air headed is this girl?” Sucy asked herself.

Any aggravation she was feeling towards the shorter girl evaporated however, as a sudden solemn look now stretched across Akko’s face. Her earlier embarrassment, gone in an instant. Looking at the downcast eyes before her, Sucy found it hard to believe that just moments ago they had held such excitable warmth. Akko was making a point of looking at the floor, yet Sucy could still see the beginning of tears forming at the corner of her eyes. Taking a deep breath and clenching her hands into fists at her sides, Akko finally spoke.

“What do you know about curing Emerald Blood disease?” she asked at a near whisper.

As she asked, a deadly silence seemed to fall over the alchemist’s home. Despite the fireplace still burning nearby, Sucy couldn’t help but feel an unnatural chill. Out of all the diseases it could have been, it just had to be Emerald Blood. Every living creature, whether they made use of it or not had a source of magic flowing through them. For some, like most animals or average people, it was a small, negligible amount, never really coming into play in their lives. But for others, like magical beings, witches, sorcerers, mages, and even alchemist like herself, their inner magic was large and flowing, allowing them to draw it forth. It’s what allowed witches to cast spells, for sorcerers to bend the rules of nature, and for alchemist to harmonize their ingredients. In large quantities, magic was toxic to the human body, having adverse effects on it. Magic folk never experience these effects however, because their constant use of it keeps it from building up to the point of danger. If one were unable to use such a large pool of inner magic however…

It wasn’t common, but far from unheard of as well. Perhaps one was the child of a magic user and a non magic user, maybe they were half magic creature, or maybe, they were just the most unlucky soul in the world. Whatever the case, it’s possible for a non-magic user, someone who has no way to access or use their inner magic, to end up with a sorcerer’s share of magic within them. With no way to channel it, with no way to prevent it’s build up, the magic starts to tear them apart. It starts small, with symptoms like coughing and dizziness, gradually worsening until the afflicted individual can barely even stand, a weak shell of their former self, prone to near constant fits of fainting. It isn’t long after reaching this stage that the the afflicted stops waking up, dying as their body finally gives out. In most cases, one dies within a year or two of diagnosis. The disease doesn’t typically make itself known until one is 18 or so years old, as it is at this age that an inner source of magic reaches its full potential. The only way to tell if someone is in fact afflicted, is by the color of their blood. The first thing overflowing inner magic does is taint the blood, turning it an unnatural, bright green, giving the disease its name. There’s a certain irony to it, as some would consider the green color to be quite beautiful. In fact, it’s often said that the only solace one can take from losing a loved one to Emerald Blood, is how otherworldly beautiful they look upon their death, the veins and arteries shining from beneath their skin with a ghostly green glow.

While hardly the most common of diseases, it was hands down the most deadly. To this day, no one knew of a single spell, ritual, being or potion that could reverse its effects, and judging by the look on Akko’s face, she knew that all too well. Sucy couldn’t help but feel her heart ache now that she knew what the other girl was after. The person that Akko had come in hopes of curing was all but doomed to die. What was she supposed to say to that?

“The only thing I know about curing Emerald Blood,” Sucy began slowly. “Is that it can’t be cured.” She tried not to notice how Akko flinched as she stated this. “The only way to permanently keep someone’s inner magic from killing them is to constantly use it, and there’s just no way that can be created…”

Akko merely sat in silence, her eyes glued to the floor. She wasn’t even trying to hide her tears now, as they slid down her face, scrunched in frustration. She couldn’t exactly say why, but it hurt seeing the other girl like this. This was hardly the first time Sucy had to tell someone that the cure they wanted, the magic elixir they had traveled oh so far for, just didn’t exist, and there was nothing she could do. In all those other instances however, Sucy had been able to deliver the news straight face, hardly even affected emotionally. With Akko, things were different. Sucy didn’t just feel sorry for the other girl, she loathed to see her cry. She wanted to wipe the sadness from her face, bring back the infectious smile she had before.

And dammit, there might just be a way she could. It was still experimental, sure, and there was no way of knowing whether it 100% worked or not, but surely Akko would be willing to try anything she could.

“Inner magic can’t be made to flow on its own,” Sucy began, restating what she had said before, “but I may have found a way to regulate it…”

Akko’s head instantly shot up at this, coming face to face with the startled alchemist. Tears still streamed from her eyes, but now a hopeful gleam took residence in them as well. Well, she was right in guessing that Akko would be interested. With a sigh, Sucy pulled her wand from its place at her side and waved it in the air. Automatically, the bottles on the shelves above her started to shuffle and rearrange themselves, until a tiny vial broke from their ranks and landed in the palm of Sucy’s now opened hand. What was she doing? She didn’t have a lot of this potion, hell this one vial had taken her ages to make, and the ingredients for it hadn’t come cheap either. Not to mention it was still in its early stages. Perfecting it could be her key to making her mark as a super successful alchemist. Just giving away this small vial alone could set her back ages in her research. Despite all of that, Sucy couldn’t help but feel that this was worth it.

“Here,” Sucy said, holding out the small vial, filled with an orange liquid, to Akko. “It’s still super early in development, and I can’t guarantee it will work…”

“But…?” Akko offered hopefully.

“But…if it works the way I designed it to, it should sap a lot of magic out of the bloodstream,” Sucy finished.

The pure joy that proceeded to explode out of Akko was near indescribable. Sucy barely had a chance to take in her excited smile before she realized she was being pulled into a super tight hug. It was hard to make out through her blubbering, but Sucy was pretty sure that Akko was thanking her quite profusely. To her ire, Sucy could feel herself blushing. Despite the ferocity of her hug, Sucy couldn’t help but notice just how soft Akko felt… No, nope, bad idea. This whole hugging nonsense needed to stop right now.

“Alright, alright, you’re welcome or whatever! Just let go of me!” Sucy said with an embarrassed snarl, hoping it wasn’t too obvious just how alfame her cheeks were. “And be careful with that vial idiot! It wasn’t easy to make!”

Akko nodded her understanding, gripping the vial tightly and bringing it close to her chest. As she slowly cried herself dry, Akko looked down at the small vial now held in her hands.

“Make sure the girl get this injected monthly. With any luck, It’ll at least keep the magic in her system from building up,” Sucy explained.

Akko met her eyes once more as the words of Sucy’s explanation sunk in.

“Wait…monthly? But, that- that means…” Akko said quietly.

Sucy let out another sigh. “Yeah, that means you’ll have to come back for more.”

“What the actual hell am I saying!?” Sucy screamed in her head.

Too occupied with yelling at herself internally, Sucy missed as Akko dropped from her stool, and onto her knees. It wasn’t until Akko spoke again that she caught her attention.

“Thank you so much Manbavaran-san!” Akko said loudly as she bowed deeply, practically lowering her forehead to the wood floor below.

Sucy had no idea how to react, especially not to the foreign formal address Akko had used. She tried to clear her throat, and motion for Akko to stand back up, but if the other girl could see it, she still didn’t move.

“Let me repay you, in anyway I can!” Akko said sincerely in the same loud voice she had used earlier. “I-I don’t have a lot in the way of money, but I can pay you back in any other way! Please!”

Unless she could magically produce rare potion ingredients from nothing, Sucy wasn’t really sure there was any other way that Akko could help her. It was quite obvious however that the girl wasn’t leaving until she was convinced she could help in some way, which was when Sucy got a sudden spark of inspiration. Perhaps there was a way the excitable girl could repay her after all, one that benefited both parties.

“Alright, I’ve got a way you can repay me,” Sucy said slyly.

“Really!?” Akko asked excitedly

“Really,” Sucy said, failing to hold back a dark chuckle.

It wasn’t hard to see from Akko’s face that she was starting to get wary of Sucy’s chuckling and sharp toothed grin.

“What, um- what did you have in mind?” the brunette asked cautiously

Sucy’s grin only widened.

“You’re going to be my lab assistant, doing everything I say, when I say it, no questions asked.”

Akko’s eyes widened in panic

“But I don’t know the first thing about alchemy!” She said worriedly “How am I supposta be any help?”

“Oh don’t worry,” Sucy said with a chuckle. “If I’m being honest, I’m pretty much just planning to use you as a personal guinea pig. Don’t worry though, I won’t test anything too painful on you… well, maybe. I can assure nothing will be lethal at the very least.”

There was a pause, as Akko seemingly thought the proposition over. It was quite obvious she wasn’t thrilled at the idea of being a lab rat, but there really wasn’t any better option for her to take.

“Alright,” Akko said, standing to face Sucy.

“Then we have a deal?” the alchemist asked excitedly. “You work as my personal assistant, and I continue to make the antidote for you.” She held out her hand for Akko to take.

With a look of determination on her face, Akko shook it.

“Deal!” She said resolutely.

“Good. Then we’re done here. Your welcome to stay here for the night. You’d have to be an idiot to go back out in this weather. You can sleep in the armchair,” Sucy said, returning to her previous monotone.

Akko said a hurried word of thanks as Sucy made her way to the ladder leading to her room. As she was getting ready to sleep for the night, the alchemist couldn’t help but feel a bit excited. To think she had been dreading opening the door just a few hours ago. Now, she had her very own personal guinea pig. As Akko left the next morning however, and vowed to return the day after, ready to begin her work, Sucy couldn’t help but realize that the idea of Akko’s continued return excited her beyond her promised obligation.

#little witch academia #sucyakko #akkosucy #alec writes #lwa #lwasanta

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