Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ Life In A Bottle ❯ Saved, But Damned ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

-----Author’s note: Alright, alright, no long-winded note this time. Read and enjoy. For those of you who want to literally see the place Negi’s hitting, check out chapter 145 of the manga, it’s in there. Yeah, I’m not just making this stuff up (And went a little lax in the description, I noticed it, too)! There are a couple of parts that probably aren’t good for the queasy of you, but I toned it down to get away from changing this to an ‘M’ rating. It’s actually pretty docile now, but I just thought I’d point it out so nobody gets mad. Also, there are some slight religious references, so if that kind of thing offends you, avert your eyes. I do not own Negima!, but any other characters and ideas are my own. Enjoy.....-----


He could barely stand up, let alone walk. And walk across that? Was this someone’s idea of a joke? The pit below looked like it stretched on down forever, and the wind whipping around him threatened to throw him over the edge of the bridge and down into it. Negi thought back to the lab.....

“With the Mahora Festival coming up, I had done a little research about the World Tree and its glowing.....” Hakase spoke loudly, dropping a stack of papers onto the table before her. The steel frame shook as the stack larger than the scientist, herself, smashed down and scattered across the surface. The Cassiopeia bounced up into the air, and Negi snatched it up before it fell.

“You mean you fell victim to the rumors of your classmates.....”

“Not at all, Negi-sensei! Don’t insult me! Everything can be explained, that’s the glory of science! Why, even magic has enough logic to it that it can be broken down into individual processes which, in turn, can be studied and understood. In fact, I think I’ll explain your ‘mysterious’ powers to you, now.....” Hakase’s hands shot down under the table, and before he was sure where she had fit it all down there, she had pulled out several charts and graphs, coupled with stacks of pages in various different written languages.

“N-No thanks! I won’t remember any of it, anyway, remember? Just tell me again what I need to do to get the power I need for the time traveling to work.....”

“Like I was saying, then.....I did some research about the tree’s glowing. The tree builds up magical energy over time, which is why the rare instance of its glowing only ever occurs every 22 years. That’s the breaking point after which the magic is released. That’s why it glows, and the excess energy in the air is why you’d be able to use the Cassiopeia during this time frame, and only this time frame. It’s possible to use the watch outside of this three day long gap, but the amount of raw magic required for it to work is probably way too much for any person to muster up without some kind of natural phenomenon backing them up. The tree, for example,” Hakase explained.

Negi was nodding all the while why the scientist before him spoke.

“It’s lucky that they died at this time, really, because you wouldn’t be able to go back and change it if it wasn’t for the tree’s magic.”
“I wouldn’t call it lucky, Hakase-san.”

“You know what I mean. Anyway, my research unearthed some interesting facts about the root systems of the tree, which help to channel the flow of magic. Well, you’ll see it when you see it, it’s not really that important. But you can follow the root systems through the underground tunnels that Chachamaru discovered, and they’ll lead you to.....what?” She broke off when she noticed the surprised look on Negi’s face.

“You used Chachamaru-san for this? I didn’t want to get her involved!”

“No, I’ve known about these tunnels for quite some time, now. You think Chachamaru doesn’t serve any purpose to me at all? She’s my eyes, ears, legs, and arms outside of the lab. I catch wind of something, I have her check it out for me and compile any data of interest, which she sends to me so I can memorize and archive it. I kept a tight lip, like you asked.”

Worried he had offended Hakase, Negi quickly apologized and asked her to continue.

“So you’ll make your way down into the underground tunnels, and follow the roots down to directly below the World Tree. You can get down there through a passageway hidden in the Tatsumiya shrine.”

“Eh? Why would there be a pathway connecting those two places?”

“Oh, don’t worry. I don’t think it had anything to do with that dreamer, the ‘messiah’,” Hakase scoffed as she said the name, “How unscientific. Can’t conquer anything, like that. But the connection seems to have something to do with the demon locked up beneath the shrine, though I haven’t yet established the link.”

“A.....demon? Beneath the shrine?” Negi’s eyes widened a little.

“Yeah, that’s right. There are actually six places around the World Tree like it, altogether, and they’re all undoubtedly connected. I’ll eventually figure it out, but it’s not something you need to really worry about. You’ll follow the roots, blah, blah, blah, and you’ll eventually find this place.....” Hakase dropped down onto her computer chair, and rolled over to her computer. Her hands dancing across the keyboard like fire on oil, she quickly brought up and printed out a picture, “Fresh from Chachamaru’s memory banks.....”

Negi took hold of the picture, looking it over in awe.

“Being here for real, though, isn’t as nice!” He stated, swinging up onto his staff to try and push across the bridge with magic. The World Tree’s magic was visible in the shape of a glowing green sphere, hovering in the center of the dome-like structure the boy found himself in. The sheer power of it was pushing him back and kicking up gusts of wind.

“I’ve already set the watch to take you back to the day of the rep’s party, like you asked. All you’re gonna need to do is get into contact with the energy beneath the tree, and push the button. Isn’t it beautifully simple?” Hakase asked through a smile, motioning for her teacher to leave, “Now get out of here. Tomorrow the festival starts, and you’ll need to be well rested to take care of business, right? Besides, it’s not nice to keep Chachamaru waiting.....” She added with a mischievous snicker.

Throwing caution to the wind, he poured his strength and will into speeding into the sphere of magic. As he drew closer to the energy, it felt as though his skin was going to peel right off. The wind tried to pull him away, but he resisted it, arm outstretched for his goal. Gritting his teeth, which felt like they were going to be jerked out of his mouth, he pushed the button on the watch in.

-

In a split second, Negi went from nearly melting, to practically freezing. It took a lot of will to pry his eyes open, and he was almost sorry he was capable of it. He was up in the night sky, free falling his way down to the city bellow. After panicking for a few seconds, he managed to get his staff beneath him and stop himself from becoming an unsightly paste mark on the street.

“Wh.....Whoa.....” He dropped to his knees, doing his best to keep everything down. A sharp stinging pulsating through his hand and wrist caught his attention. He opened his hand to find the Cassiopeia cracked and ruined, little bits of the bronze metal stuck in his hand.

“Oh no, it’s broken! I thought Hakase-san had made it stronger.....was the World Tree’s magic still too much for it to handle, after all?” He began to pick the bits out of his bleeding hand, but quickly stopped when he realized something, “If it broke, then did I really go back far enough?” He looked up at the sky he had just been in, worried to find that it was a clear night, nothing like the night of the rep’s party. Ignoring the pain in his hand, he jumped up and rushed off to find out exactly ‘when’ he was.

He wasn’t sure where he was in Mahora, but he recognized the streets, vaguely. Actually.....hadn’t he just seen these streets?

“Screw you, you pompous luck God, or whatever the hell you are!” A familiar voice rang out into the night, bringing Negi to a shaky stop. He took off in the direction of the voice, calling out for the voice.

Negi ran up to the Tatsumiya shrine, the door closed and quiet winning over the night. He saw the crumpled up fortune on the ground, the one that read ‘life expectancy short’.

“So I really didn’t make it back to the rep’s party, after all.....” He muttered, inspecting the scrap of paper to find that it was, indeed, the fortune he and Ku Fei had seen before they burst into the shrine. “Oh!” He dove behind one of the columns to the temple, ducking down low to hide himself.

From behind the column, he watched Ku Fei and himself come down from the sky on his staff, the two making a landing in front of the shrine. Had Connor really only gotten there a few minutes before them? They had been so close to being a part of the fight against the messiah, after all. He watched as Ku Fei scooped up the scrap of paper, and they both skimmed over it for a few seconds.

‘If we hadn’t stopped to do that, would we have gotten there in time? Ah, every second counts, here!’ Negi thought, scratching his head with both hands in frustration. He knew what he was going to do, now, though.

Ku Fei kicked the door to the shrine down, and the past Negi rushed in. He traded words with the swarm of Angels inside, and the Chinese girl and himself were soon engaged in an all out war with the sea of people following the messiah.

Negi couldn’t help but cheer himself on as he prepared to rush through the fight and down into the tunnel. A burst of power shook the foundation of the building, sending the Angels sprawling to the ground. He felt his chest swell with pride at seeing himself fight such terrible odds, but had to swallow his self-satisfaction to focus on why he was there.

‘I can’t use the instant movement to go through all of these people, so I’ll just have to charge through without being seen. If I do get seen by myself, though, that could end up bad for the universe.....’ Before he could enter the building, a hand fell to his shoulder from behind, followed by a soft voice.

“Come this way.”

He spun around, recognizing the woman before him as none other than Shizuna, “B-But how? You’re not supposed to be here! You’re supposed to take Ku Fei-san and I down to her room!” Negi squeaked, scanning her carefully to make sure it was really Shizuna.

“Come quickly, there isn’t a lot of time left,” She spoke, taking hold of his arm and pulling him around to the side of the building.

“Hey, what’s going on? I need to get in there!” Negi exclaimed, jerking his arm free.

“I know, but you can’t go through there without being seen,” The guidance counselor pointed out, dropping to her knees and digging her fingers into a crack in the concrete. Before he could ask what she was doing, she had pulled aside a slab of stone to reveal a hatch in the ground. She jammed a little key into the lock, which clicked loudly as it popped open.

Negi watched her fling the hatch open, then slide down the ladder into the darkness below, “Come on! This is your only chance!” Her voice shot up from below the ground. With a grimace, Negi jumped down after the woman.

He had hardly landed before Shizuna was run-walking through the dark tunnels. The scent of moist dirt practically suffocated him, but he kept following her, “This is the way, right? Why are you taking me there? Why do you even know I’m here?” He asked a flurry of questions.

Without stopping Shizuna answered him, “This is the way. I’m taking you there because that’s what mother wants me to do, and I know you’re here because she told me you would be.”

“Wh-What? That’s.....That’s impossible!”

“Yet here I am, taking you to her as we speak.”

“If she knows all of this, then she has to know that she’s going to die! Why doesn’t she do anything about it?” Negi practically shouted, having to jog to keep up with Shizuna’s pace.

“Because she knows that she must die. It.....is difficult to accept, but.....if this is what she wants.....” The guidance counselor seemed to be struggling with her role in all of this. Her voice sounded unsure, and when he caught glimpses of her face, he could make out the worry.

“I don’t understand! I thought she had dreams for a new world! All of those people she killed, to become corporeal.....”

“They needed to die, so that she could become a part of our world. So that, in the end, she could die, too.”

“She would have died without all of their souls, anyway!”

“No, she would have been.....Connor called it ‘pulled back down into hell’. The two are quite different.”

“How can her dying help fulfill her dream?”

“If you put us in the roles of past figures, it’s a little easier to understand. We have our Christ, our Pilate, and our Judas. My.....betrayal, though, is something she asked of me.....”

“That’s ridiculous, don’t try and match this up with any religion! She’s not any kind of God at all, she’s a-”

“Does it really matter what she is?” Shizuna asked. She could see the sliver of light from under the wooden door to the messiah’s room, coming ever closer, “Connor told me about his world, and its inhabitants. He told me that she was a demon from his world, and I believe him.”

“Then why? Why do you follow her so blindly?”

“Because I believe in what she can give. I understand that sometimes.....you have to give up everything you have to get something truly worth having.....”

“I don’t believe that! I’m not going to give up anything for her dream, or her death, or whatever it is she wants!” Negi blew past her, his sight set on the door.

Shizuna turned to go find the other Negi and Ku Fei, and bring them down to the room. If she ran, she’d be able to keep the time-line consistent with the first time she had done this, “You’re a good boy, Negi, but you just can’t see the big picture,” She started up the tunnel, towards the sound of the fighting, “Hurry and save Pilate.....”

-

Gun aimed at the messiah’s head, sword held down by his side, Connor smirked, “Any profound last words?”

The door to the room flew open, a string of light tearing through the air. Connor and the messiah dove away, but the Angel who had been behind Negi’s teaching aid wasn’t as lucky. The magic arrow drilled into him, slamming him into the dirt wall, which crunched and crumbled under the force of the attack.

“Ah, he’s here.....” Connor heard Asakura’s voice pass over the fake’s lips again, and it made his blood boil. He caught Negi in the corner of his eyes, but paid no attention to him. Dropping his gun, he lunged forward, taking the messiah by surprise.

Negi watched in horror as the messiah, a perfect copy of Asuna, in his eyes, was run through the chest by Connor. The man in black didn’t pull his sword back out, though. With all of his strength, he forced the blade through her and into the rough wall behind, pinning her against it, feet dangling a couple of inches from the ground. He covered his ears and screwed his eyes shut as the carbon copy of his greatest friend coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Connor’s face was a few inches from her own, his eyes locked in on hers. He was breathing hard, and still clutching onto his sword as though it was his lifeline. He could feel her blood streaming down it, and all over his hands, but he couldn’t let go. His legs were shaking, and he thought he was going to throw up. He knew it wasn’t her, but it looked so much like her.....To his surprise, she slowly lifted her hand, and put it on the side of his face.

“.....My.....beautiful executioner.....thank you.....” She whispered, blood dripping from her chin.

“.....Thank you? What.....” Connor tried to get out his question, but the words seemed to catch in his throat. Her blood was getting all over him, Asakura’s.....no, it wasn’t hers.....

He saw her convulse a little, and her eyes became dull and listless. Her head drooped down to her chest.

“Wait! No, where is it?” He asked, grabbing her by the back of the head and tilting her face back up. No response came, “Where is it? Tell me!” He shouted at her.

A pair of hands grabbed him from behind, pulling him away from the dead messiah, “That’s enough! She’s dead!” Negi shouted, looking everywhere but at the dead girl.

“No! Not yet! Not.....yet.....” He at first wanted to stomp back over to her and yell at her more, but he couldn’t do it. Not with him watching, and not with her looking like that. Looking away, he grabbed his blade’s hilt, pulling it free from the wall. The messiah collapsed to the ground, but neither one could bring themselves to watch, or to even touch her.

“What are you doing here, kid?” Connor asked, wiping his sword clean on one of the dead guards.

“I.....” Negi wanted to jump up and give him a hug, but at the same time he wanted to run away from him. He had missed him so much after he had died, but now he wasn’t sure if he loved him, or if he was afraid of him. A dead body that looked exactly like Asuna just a few feet away wasn’t making his thought process any easier.

“Fine, you don’t need to talk, anyway. I’ll see you in another life, kid,” He slid his sword back into its place on his back, and moved for the door.

“Wait! Don’t leave!” Negi grabbed the back of his coat, holding on tight.

Connor stopped walking, pulling his collar back up high as he turned to look at the boy teacher, “And why the hell not?”

“Because she loves you!” The boy shouted, standing up and swinging around in front of the man in black, who didn’t move.

He tried to laugh, but his throat was raw, and his stomach was still churning. He could feel himself paling in shades, but tried to ignore it, “No, she doesn’t. She loves the drama of not knowing where I stand, and the fact that I’m not really a prize anyone can take home. Forget it, kid, I’m gone.”

As Connor tried to step past Negi, the boy moved to stay in front of him, and even dared to push him back. A little surprised, the aid stumbled back a step, and was struck in the chest by a strange looking chunk of bronze. He watch it fall to the ground, bouncing once on the bage carpeting.

“I used that to come back in time, for you!” Negi shouted, pointing at his friend, “I broke it, and didn’t get back far enough to save Asakura, but I will be damned if I can’t even stop your mistakes!”

Connor wasn’t sure if he was more surprised at Negi’s traveling through time, or his swearing. Time traveling wasn’t something he was unfamiliar with, but it wasn’t something he had ever been subjected to, or had affect him directly, “And why exactly did you do that?”

“Why?” The boy could feel his eyes starting to water up in frustration, “You died! You died right after you killed her,” He pointed to the body on the ground, “And left Ku Fei with nothing! She was out sleeping at your grave! She read that letter you left every night! You can’t leave, not when she still needs you, here!”

Connor’s eyes were wide, and now he was near certain he was going to throw up, “You.....stopped me from dying? I killed her, and then died, and you stopped it from happening?” Negi nodded in return, but didn’t speak because he needed a few moments to swallow the lump in his throat, “You took that away from me? The death of a hero, and you.....altered history! You’re pissing around with fate’s design! You can’t do that! Oh, God.....” Connor fell to his knees, the bubbling in his stomach getting worse, “Now that bastard’s gonna show up.....I can’t deal with him again.....”

“What are you talking about?” Negi asked, getting worried.

He caught sight of Asakura’s body on the floor a few feet away, and he couldn’t hold it in anymore. Still on his knees, he lurched forward and clapped a hand to the ground, throwing up.

“Who’s coming?” Negi asked, once Connor stopped to gasp in air.

“Fate’s talon.....her enforcer.....you can’t play with life and death like there’s no plan to it.....I’m not supposed to be alive.....”

Negi vanished as the air in the room became distorted, the temperature plummeting into the negative. The light vanished from existence, darkness filling up the space it once occupied. It felt like the room was spinning, but he wasn’t even sure he was in a room anymore. He recognized the emotionless voice that broke through the darkness immediately, “The next time you are free, we are going to have a talk, Connor,” It said, the spinning slowing down, and the temperature returning to normal. The light slowly returned.

The door swung open, Ku Fei and Negi rushing inside. Shizuna, not seeing anything she hadn’t expected, simply turned and walked away. Connor lifted his head, not surprised to find that there was only one Negi in the room. The other one disappeared because the time-line had been changed, and he had never come back to the past. The reason he had even tried had been removed.

The Chinese girl threw her arms around Connor, who could hardly react. There were going to be consequences to Negi’s inability to accept things, and he was going to be the one to pay.


-----Author’s note: Have any idea what’s going on? I’d be surprised if you did. Actually, I’m going to be borrowing another character from my not fanfiction stories. It is one Connor knows, and for me, at least, it has big sway on the story. They always did have a strained relationship.....Anyway, don’t worry, I won’t be using this new OC indefinitely, but he’s going to have a big impact overall, at least with Connor.

If anyone doesn’t like how the time traveling thing worked out, I know, it was tough to write. I thought about it a lot, but I couldn’t figure out how to get rid of every inconsistency. Akamatsu.....I don’t know, his time traveling seemed easier, somehow.

I don’t know when I’ll get another chapter up. I’m almost finished with one for Mating Season, but then I don’t know what I’m going to do. It was a bad idea for me to try and do two stories at once! Thanks for reading.....-----