Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ Life In A Bottle ❯ The Wanderer ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Serac 
All knowing and all powerful, but always chained to servitude and a path that cannot be denied.....
Anime/Manga: Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 10.25.2006 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 234 | Status: Work In Progress
All knowing and all powerful, but always chained to servitude and a path that cannot be denied.....
Anime/Manga: Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 10.25.2006 | Pages: 4 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 234 | Status: Work In Progress
‘Say it.....’ Connor forced a smile, but looked away. He was ashamed to admit it, but looking at her was making him upset. He let Ku Fei’s voice wash over his troubled mind, but nothing she said was really registering. She seemed so happy, the complete opposite of himself. He couldn’t get over the problem Negi had inadvertently thrown at him by stopping his death. God, things would have been easier if he had just been left to rot, six feet under.
Connor, Ku Fei, and Negi were sitting in their favorite beef bowl restaurant, discussing something or other. It may have been trying to convince Connor to stay at Mahora, it may have been what he looked like in pink, hell, it might have been about them skydiving off of the Eiffel Tower. He didn’t know, he hadn’t been paying attention for the better part of the past half hour.
‘Three words, you can do it. If what he said is true, than maybe she’s worth it.....’ It was easy to think like that, but whenever he raised his eyes to meet hers, he saw three huge problems staring him back in the face: 1. A certain acquaintance of his was going to be paying him a visit soon, and he didn’t know for certain how that was going to affect his life or, quite possibly, his death. 2. He couldn’t help but think of Asakura, and the duty he knew he had to carry out. Her soul was out there, somewhere, and he had to find it, and release it from whatever it was being stored in. After a thorough sweep of the Tatsumiya shrine, he had concluded that it wasn’t there. 3. The four-and-a-half year gap in their ages was something he couldn’t overlook. Sure, in ten years that wouldn’t matter, but ten years was, well, ten years away.
‘I think.....I’m better off alone.....’ He had always been better off alone. The people he let in always seemed to die. It was an unpleasant side effect of being close to him, but it was one he was used to. He knew everyone was going to die, but when he was the cause of it, it seemed so much worse. Was Ku Fei doomed, too? With him coming, it wouldn’t surprise Connor in the least.....‘Do I care enough to try? Or maybe.....do I care enough to leave?’
“I love you.....” He finally opened his mouth and said it, looking up to see what her reaction was. He was surprised to find that there was no one across the table, or even beside him. The restaurant was dead quiet, apparently closing. He turned his attention to the clock up on the wall. It was almost one in the morning. How long he had been sitting there by himself, he didn’t know. He hoped he hadn’t said anything rude during his thinking. If he had, he honestly didn’t remember. Tipping his head to the lazy waitress, who was smoking a cigarette behind the counter, he rose and left the restaurant.
‘Did he just say he loved me?’ She thought, wondering what their kids would look like.
Hands in his pockets as he walked down the dark streets, he knew that it was time. He was alone, and when the Wanderer wanted to talk with you, you had no choice but to listen.
“I’m glad to see you still understand how things work,” The cold voice sliced through the cool night air like a knife, a man now walking beside Connor.
This didn’t surprise him, not like it used to. He glanced at the man walking with him, his face instantly turning sour.
He appeared to be in his early twenties, but he was far older. His face was without a blemish, his cobalt colored eyes slanted into an emotionless gaze that looked at much more than just the outside of anything it crossed. The man was wearing his familiar open cloak, so blue it was almost black. Beneath it, he wore his usual black pants and shirt. He lifted a hand to brush his long, dirt brown bangs out of his eyes, and turned his disinterested gaze to the one he had come to see, tonight.
“I remember asking you to stop skimming my thoughts,” Connor pointed out, not stopping to formally greet his old ‘friend’.
The Wanderer paid no attention to this comment. He knew it was true, but it mattered little to him, “You know why I’m here.”
With a forced snicker, Connor nodded, “Being all-knowing still how you get your jollies, Serac?”
“Of course.”
-----Author’s note: Bet you thought there was no author’s note this time, huh? Sorry, just a chapter introduction, first. I’m gonna say straight off, Serac is not me! My name is taken from him, not the other way around. This is NOT a self-insert. Now that I’ve made that clear, here’s the disclaimer: I do not own Negima!, but any other characters and ideas are my own. Enjoy.....-----
With a frustrated look at the clock on her bedside table, Ayaka sat straight up, rubbing her eyes. Whatever it was that Chizuru and Kotaro were up to, they were being damn loud about it. It was past 1:30 in the morning, for God’s sake! She hopped out of bed, making her way towards the separate room that the girl with the largest bust in class claimed as her own.
She pounded an angry fist against the door, but was fairly certain she couldn’t be heard over the sounds of the music. She understood maybe five of the words the group kept repeating, but that was enough. When she heard a loud moan, that’s when she got red in the face and had to back off. After looking to see if Natsumi was awake, which she wasn’t, Ayaka crept forward to knock again. Her hand froze up a few inches from the door as another moan permeated through the music.
‘EEEEEWWWW!’ Her mind panicked as she rushed for the door, and abandoned her dorm.
Chizuru flicked off her Boyz II Men cd, ‘I’ll Make Love To You’ dying down. She didn’t understand the whole song, but she still liked it. Kotaro’s eyes were wide as saucers as he watched her open up the disc tray to her computer, and pull out the game that had been inside.
“Told you the hot coffee scene existed,” She giggled, holding out her hand.
Nodding his head a little, Kotaro dropped the five hundred yen into her hand, “No more betting against you.....”
Running hard to get away from her incredibly smutty roommate, the rep had made considerable time in getting a safe distance away from that place of debauchery. In her frenzied escape, however, she collided with a tall person as she wrapped around a corner. Both tumbled to the ground.
“I-I’m really sorry, I was just.....” Ayaka started to apologize, but when she recognized who she had run into, she quickly relaxed, “Oh, Kaede, it’s just you.....”
“‘Just’ me? Nice to be knocked over by you, too, thank you,” The kunoichi sighed, pulling herself back up to her feet, “What are you doing out here so late?”
“N-No reason! I just felt like.....uh.....”
“Going on a late night jog?”
“W-Well, what are YOU doing out here?” Ayaka turned the question around so she didn’t have to say what she thought was going on back in her dorm.
Hm.....Kaede had two options, at this point. She could tell the rep that Connor had kissed her, then that he knocked her out to keep her away as he marched off to kill the messiah, or she could lie, “I’m going to the baths.”
“The baths? They’ve been closed for hours!”
“Not for someone like me.....” The tall girl grinned a little, her eyes barely open, “Want to come with?” She hadn’t originally been heading to the baths, but now taking one sounded like a fine idea. Taking a long walk to clear her head had been her plan, at first, but that hot water sounded real good.....
“Well.....” The rep knew that it was her job to set a good example for her peers, but when she thought about what was happening a wall away from her bed, she quickly surrendered to the suggestion, “Alright, but how are you gonna get us in?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not a problem,” Kaede stated, continuing her walk, only now she had a destination, and someone to talk to.
-
Connor stopped walking in any real direction, and just followed after Serac as he wandered around the city. It would be pointless to try and split apart from his somber company, he would just wind up running into him again when he wound a corner, or he’d find himself trapped in an inclosed area of magic that looped him from one end of the street to the other. It had happened a few times before, he was a little bitter to remember.
“Though you understand that for our talks to reach the conclusions they needed, our walks had to be extended, somewhat,” Serac stated plainly, raising his head to watch a moth fly around a street lamp, as they passed it by.
“Stay the hell out of my head.”
“It is not a place I wish to be in. We will both have to make do.”
“Hmpf, way to take one for Team Destiny. You know it might sound weird, but I almost thought you were gonna give up the life of a lapdog, and live your own life,” Connor tried to poke at Serac’s chains of servitude, seeing if they were any looser than they had been, the last time he had seen him.
“My life is not my own, just as your life is not your own. You know this, do not pretend you are still in the dark about the way of things,” Was the slow reply he got.
“So, what? You here to fix Negi’s mistake and bury me?” If Serac wanted him dead, he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it. But he wouldn’t make the move without Fate’s go ahead, he knew that much.
“There is no such thing as a ‘mistake’, you know that. Fate overlooks nothing, and she watches you even now, in this world. You will never be more than an actor on her stage, no one will. Do not forget all that you learned of your world, simply because you are in a different one,” The moth no longer near enough to be of interest, Serac was now watching the silhouette of a man up in a second story window.
“Then why are you here? If Negi really was supposed to keep me from dying, then what’s the problem? That bitch’s script is still going full throttle, right?” Connor had turned his eyes to look at the man Serac was gazing at. He could hear a pair of voices rising, and the man was gesturing wildly.
“My ongoing mission is to hold together the seams of Fate’s design, so that-”
“So that heaven and hell has a 24/7 reality show to keep them entertained, I know the drill,” Connor snapped, cutting Fate’s lackey short, “I don’t need you to tell me how things are, or what I need to do, or who I need to help, or-”
Serac now took his turn to interrupt, “You may not, but he would appreciate it if I did,” He muttered, nodding his head in the direction of the window. A short-lived struggle broke out between the first silhouette and a second, and after a few seconds, one of the men took a blow to the head, and crashed out through the window.
Knowing Serac wouldn’t do anything to help the falling man, Connor swung his arm up, a surge of air catching the man and lowered him gently to the ground. He rushed to the man’s side, skidding to a stop as he knelt down beside him. The man was bleeding from the side of his head and was unconscious, but it looked like he was going to live. Now relieved to find the man alive, Connor realized he had just used magic in front of a mundane. He looked over to Serac, who was still looking up into the window, “Dammit, what do we do, now?”
“We leave,” Serac stated, continuing his walk to nowhere in particular.
“We what?” Connor whisper yelled back at the Wanderer, jumping up and taking a step forward. He didn’t think Serac had actually heard him over the sound of a woman and a man screaming at each other from the building above. Then again, if he had even thought it Serac would have heard, “That guy up there saw, though!”
“It doesn’t matter,” He replied, but didn’t stop walking.
With one last look at the man lying on the ground, Connor ran after his companion, who was getting away, “We should at least call an ambulance!” He called after him.
“The woman will.”
“What about the other man at the window? Don’t you think he saw what I did?”
“He did,” Serac replied simply, his tone low and emotionless. A shot rang out, causing Connor to swing around and look back in the direction of the building, “And now it doesn’t matter what he saw.”
The man in black took a step towards the apartment building, but stopped just as suddenly. Lights were flicking on in nearby buildings, and he could hear the confused buzz of tired people as they got up to see what had happened. With a defeated groan, he kept following Serac, “Who were they?”
“A man, his wife, and her lover. The man on the street is the husband, and the man shot through the head is the lover.”
“Did you bring me here to see this? Why else would you come this way?”
“There is a lesson here for you, though you will not understand it for some time. The couple has been married for six years, though the wife has been unfaithful for four of them. She loves both men, and because of her indecisiveness, she now has neither of them.”
“I saved the husband! What are you talking about, he’s fine!”
“No, he is not. The lover struck him in the head, which is what sent him through the window. He has suffered a cerebral contusion, and is hemorrhaging as we speak. He will lapse into a coma, and die in twenty-one days, all while she holds his hand,” Serac stated, sounding bored. He brushed his hair back a little, his eyes wandering around for something interesting to look at.
“Why did you have me save him, then?” Connor yelled, reaching out to grab the cloaked man in front of him. His hand fell through his shoulder, coming through numb and coated in frost. He had forgotten that it was impossible to touch the Wanderer without his consent.
“Because Fate demands it. She kills one man she loves, and then must wait to see if the other man she loves will live or not. During the twenty-one days before his death, she will be brought to a disgraceful trial on the charges of voluntary manslaughter. One week before his death, she will be acquitted of all charges on the grounds of self-defense. She is to spend the next week by his side, with minimal sleep as she struggles with her guilt.”
“But why? What good will any of that do?” Connor asked loudly, cradling his numb hand in his jacket, slowly trying to warm it back into feeling.
“Two days after his death, after having thoroughly sunk into her own grief and guilt, she will jump from the top of the office she works at. She will commit suicide,” Serac explained, slowing down to let a black cat cross before them.
Connor stopped walking as well, turning around and ready to go back, “I’m not going to let any of that happen! You’re a monster for knowing all of this, and not doing a goddamthing about it! You always were a monster,” He muttered, starting back towards the building.
“You have not listened to everything, yet,” The Wanderer pointed out, watching as the black cat faded into the night.
“What could you possibly tell me that would convince me to let all of that happen?” The teaching aid growled, swinging back around to face the man he couldn’t help but hate with his very soul.
“A young girl will witness the suicide, and it will set her life on the path she is meant to follow.”
“You mean the path that evil bitch wants her to walk!”
“The girl will become a guidance counselor, eventually advance to a marriage counselor, and will round out her life as a therapist. During this time, she will help countless people improve their lives, and will even save some in the process. Should you choose to intervene and stop the woman’s suicide, the people the girl would have eventually saved will have to turn to other sources of help. Some will work, some will not. Some people will kill themselves, some will get divorced and share their children in separate homes, some will become mindless drones, too drugged up on anti-depressants to function. That is the world you are in. Now, will you save one person, or countless?” Serac continued to walk in the opposite direction
“You.....” Connor wanted to yell at the man in the blue cloak, but he couldn’t. What about the woman who was going to kill herself? What kind of future could she have if he went to her, if he comforted her? Who might she affect? What would become of her?
“She has no future,” Serac muttered, not surprised to hear Connor’s footsteps behind him. He knew he would follow. That’s all he could do.
Kicking a trash can as he passed it by, Connor let his head hang low. After a few minutes of silence between the two, he dropped down onto a bench and propped his face in his hands. Serac sat beside him, willing to wait a few minutes. After all, he had seen this coming.
‘He meant for that to happen.....he knew I would save the husband, he knew the wife would shoot the lover, and he knew the wife would eventually kill herself because of it all.....it’s just like back home,’ He thought bitterly at all of the other times Serac had set him up for decisions that were impossible to make.
“And yet good or evil, moral or immoral, you made your choices in life as you had to,” Serac commented on Connor’s thoughts, yet again.
“And I didn’t like all of them. Still don’t,” The teaching aid replied, face still in his hands.
“One cannot go through life as though they are the only one who matters. Whether you liked your choices or not, they were not wrong.”
“Ha, tell that to my two dead girlfriends. Or, the one.....I don’t know.....”
“Kazumi Asakura.....an interesting chapter in your life.....”
“Was that an opinion? Well, I’ll be damned.”
“You won’t find it.”
“Like hell I won’t. I’ve still got a ways to go before I’m gone, and I’ve got nothing to do but look. I don’t know if she’s in some kind of limbo, or whatever the hell else, but I know I’m gonna get her out of it,” Connor lifted his face from his hands, leaning back against the bench, legs stretched out in front of him, “I owe her that much.”
“Actually, you will not be leaving Mahora for a short while,” Serac sounded as though he was going to yawn, but it never came.
“Oh, really? And why’s that?”
“Because it is not part of Fate’s design. You will stay here.”
“Fate can kiss my ass. This puppet’s gonna do whatever the hell he wants.”
“And that is precisely why you will stay.”
“Look, if you’re talking about Sunshine.....you know, she’ll just have to miss me. It sucks, but I’ve gotta do this.”
“I was not speaking of the Chinese girl, though I am sure you will be pleased to be near her. You will stay because you are needed here, by many different people. There are many things that you must do, to insure the continuation of Fate’s perfect design,” Serac knew there was no such thing as ‘perfect’, but the word met his needs well.
“Then those people are out of luck,” Connor stated, rising to his feet, “Because if her soul isn’t here somewhere, I’m gonna cut out and find it somewhere else.”
“How brash of you. Connor, I know where her soul is.”
“I know. But since you have no intention of telling me, why waste my time asking?”
“Like a train on its tracks, you aren’t meant to go anywhere other than where you are meant to. This design applies even to myself, every act, word, and thought. Should you choose to stay and hold together Fate’s wills, then I will tell you where to find her soul,” Serac stood up, himself, and began walking towards the dormitories. It would take a while for them to get there.
Connor followed after him, a tired grin on his face, “.....Do I really have a choice in the matter?”
“You think you do, but I already know you will agree.”
“.....So what am I supposed to do?”
“If I tell you, you will be unable to do them.”
“If I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, how can I do it, you head-case?”
“Intentional or not, simply by your being here, you will do the things you must do. After all, it is as fated as the fact that you’re going to go to the bathhouse, before you return to the dorm you share,” Serac stated calmly.
“Forget that,” Connor scoffed, looking over his shoulder as the sound of a car’s engine caught his ears, “I’m just gonna go straight to bed, just to spite you.”
The car from behind them sped by, kicking up a wave of water and mud, which rained across the two. That which would have connected with Serac fell through him, instead, coming out the other side frozen solid.
“As I said, the bathhouse awaits you.”
“Where the hell did that damn puddle come from?” Connor shouted, trying to squeeze out all of the mess from his hair, “And if you say it was fate, or some other mental patient crap, I’m gonna screw up everything and kill myself!”
“Then everything I had led you through up until this moment would be for the purpose of your death. You cannot do anything outside of Fate’s design, know that,” Serac muttered. He snapped his fingers and vanished.
“God, I hate you so much.....” Connor growled, stomping off for the bathhouse.
-
Kaede caught herself with her fingers to her lips for the millionth time, and quickly took them away. She scolded herself inwardly, trying to shake her mind free of the thoughts she was having of him. Connor was meant for Ku Fei, she had to accept it. Maybe what she really needed was something to distract her from thoughts of the pompous teacher’s aid. It was going to be a week before the weekend, though, which meant no trip to the mountains for training, until then.
“Are you alright?” Ayaka asked the kunoichi, who gave her a smile and nodded. The two were sitting in the massive expanse of steamy water that composed the bath. Now that they were both in there, alone, they realized that they didn’t usually talk to each other all that much. Looking for something that could possibly start a conversation, the class rep asked, “You keep touching your lips.....did you do something with them, maybe?”
Kaede did her best to hold back the blush Ayaka’s simple sentence had brought on, but it wasn’t something she was particularly proficient at.
“Y-You’re blushing! Oh my God, did you kiss somebody? Is that what you were out doing?”
“No.....It’s just.....really hot, in here, and.....yeah, it’s hot,” Kaede mumbled, sinking down into the water up to her nose.
“No, no! My, what a surprise! Well, I guess it isn’t that much of a surprise, but you got kissed before.....” The rep trailed off, a little embarrassed to finish her sentence.
The tall girl opened her mouth a bubbled out a few words that no one could have understood, so Ayaak pulled her up a little so she could hear, “I’m sure Negi-bozu just needs a little more time, don’t worry.”
“You think?” Ayaka practically squealed, scooting around in a little circle as she started to talk in a hysterical, fast manner.
The door to the bathrooms opened up, and the sound of footsteps could be heard. Kaede and Ayaka quickly ducked down into the water, swimming a safe distance away.
Connor, his head aching from his rendevous with Fate’s bastard man-servant, looked at the two towels resting beside the pool-like bath, along with the brushes and soap, “God, that’s convenient,” He grinned, pulling his dirty clothes off and blasting them clean with a spray of magic. Exhaling deeply, he eased into the blissfully hot water, closing his eyes.
“Oh no! We left our towels over there!” Ayaka whispered to her friend, who was glaring at the figure before them. The blonde turned her attention towards the tall figure, squinting to see through the steam, “Is that.....Connor-sensei? Oh my god, it is!” Her voice was rising, though it was unintentional.
Before they could exchange words, Kaede was marching through the water over to their teacher. The rep thought for a moment that she could see the water around the tall girl bubbling as though it were boiling, but that couldn’t be.....
Connor heard the sound of someone wading through the water, and quickly grabbed one of the towels, wrapping it around his waist as he stood up. “Who’s there?” He called out to the quickly approaching figure. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw it was only Kaede. Only Kaede, who was only naked. Only Kaede, who was only naked, and only had a knife in her hand.
“I hope she was keeping that in her hair,” Ayaka muttered, grimacing.
“Well, now.....” Connor muttered, looking from the pissed look in her eyes to the knife in her hand, to the fact that she was naked. LOTS of naked.....his mind went a little blank, but he saw her drop the kunai when she was within a few feet of him.
Ayaka lowered her head and grit her teeth as Kaede slapped Connor across the face so hard it sent shockwaves through the air, and created waves in the bath. The nearly-naked teacher flew out of the bath, skimming the ground for several yards before he landed face-first, sliding into the wall with a bang.
With one last angry glance at the man who had stolen her first kiss, Kaede grabbed the second towel and stomped out of the bath.
Ayaka waited for a few minutes to make sure Connor was actually unconscious before she, herself, exited the bath to get a towel, and beat a hasty retreat.
-----Author’s other note: I hope everybody followed that ok. Serac is, for all intents and purposes: Omniscient. He knows everything that has ever happened, is happening, and ever will happen, because he’s tied in so close with Fate, who plans out everything everywhere. That’s her job as a, for lack of a better term, goddess. She keeps the game of life rolling in her own design so that the hosts of heaven and hell have something to keep themselves entertained with. Serac’s job is to do all of the little things necessary to keep everything clicking like it’s ‘supposed’ to. He’s called ‘The Wanderer’, because before he became Fate’s slave, he was always on the move, trying to find someone. He eventually found the person he was looking for, but that’s not a story for here. This is probably the most complex thing I will ever write about, so don’t worry, this is the worst it’ll be. Thanks for bearing with it.
Now, for a quick recap of what’s going on:
1. Connor is going to stay at Mahora after all, so he can do the things he’s ‘supposed’ to do, so Serac will come back and tell him where to find Asakura’s soul. Serac said he wouldn’t find it, so he knows he won’t unless he does what he’s told, like the good little puppet he is. Remember, these guys have a history together that I’m working with. This is probably a lot more enjoyable for me, than any of you.
2. No more crazy, philosophical stuff for a while. Now it’s time for Connor to do all of the things he’s ‘meant’ to do, which will all involve the many girls of 3-A, and even a guest star role to one of everyone’s favorite ocs. No, it’s not Serac.
3. If you find any holes in any of the logic used here, send me a PM saying so. Even the legal terms and medical conditions I used, I looked them up and made sure everything was correct. That’s my dedication to you: The reader.
That’s all I can think of, I’m too damn tired to even think straight. Thanks for reading.....-----
Connor, Ku Fei, and Negi were sitting in their favorite beef bowl restaurant, discussing something or other. It may have been trying to convince Connor to stay at Mahora, it may have been what he looked like in pink, hell, it might have been about them skydiving off of the Eiffel Tower. He didn’t know, he hadn’t been paying attention for the better part of the past half hour.
‘Three words, you can do it. If what he said is true, than maybe she’s worth it.....’ It was easy to think like that, but whenever he raised his eyes to meet hers, he saw three huge problems staring him back in the face: 1. A certain acquaintance of his was going to be paying him a visit soon, and he didn’t know for certain how that was going to affect his life or, quite possibly, his death. 2. He couldn’t help but think of Asakura, and the duty he knew he had to carry out. Her soul was out there, somewhere, and he had to find it, and release it from whatever it was being stored in. After a thorough sweep of the Tatsumiya shrine, he had concluded that it wasn’t there. 3. The four-and-a-half year gap in their ages was something he couldn’t overlook. Sure, in ten years that wouldn’t matter, but ten years was, well, ten years away.
‘I think.....I’m better off alone.....’ He had always been better off alone. The people he let in always seemed to die. It was an unpleasant side effect of being close to him, but it was one he was used to. He knew everyone was going to die, but when he was the cause of it, it seemed so much worse. Was Ku Fei doomed, too? With him coming, it wouldn’t surprise Connor in the least.....‘Do I care enough to try? Or maybe.....do I care enough to leave?’
“I love you.....” He finally opened his mouth and said it, looking up to see what her reaction was. He was surprised to find that there was no one across the table, or even beside him. The restaurant was dead quiet, apparently closing. He turned his attention to the clock up on the wall. It was almost one in the morning. How long he had been sitting there by himself, he didn’t know. He hoped he hadn’t said anything rude during his thinking. If he had, he honestly didn’t remember. Tipping his head to the lazy waitress, who was smoking a cigarette behind the counter, he rose and left the restaurant.
‘Did he just say he loved me?’ She thought, wondering what their kids would look like.
Hands in his pockets as he walked down the dark streets, he knew that it was time. He was alone, and when the Wanderer wanted to talk with you, you had no choice but to listen.
“I’m glad to see you still understand how things work,” The cold voice sliced through the cool night air like a knife, a man now walking beside Connor.
This didn’t surprise him, not like it used to. He glanced at the man walking with him, his face instantly turning sour.
He appeared to be in his early twenties, but he was far older. His face was without a blemish, his cobalt colored eyes slanted into an emotionless gaze that looked at much more than just the outside of anything it crossed. The man was wearing his familiar open cloak, so blue it was almost black. Beneath it, he wore his usual black pants and shirt. He lifted a hand to brush his long, dirt brown bangs out of his eyes, and turned his disinterested gaze to the one he had come to see, tonight.
“I remember asking you to stop skimming my thoughts,” Connor pointed out, not stopping to formally greet his old ‘friend’.
The Wanderer paid no attention to this comment. He knew it was true, but it mattered little to him, “You know why I’m here.”
With a forced snicker, Connor nodded, “Being all-knowing still how you get your jollies, Serac?”
“Of course.”
-----Author’s note: Bet you thought there was no author’s note this time, huh? Sorry, just a chapter introduction, first. I’m gonna say straight off, Serac is not me! My name is taken from him, not the other way around. This is NOT a self-insert. Now that I’ve made that clear, here’s the disclaimer: I do not own Negima!, but any other characters and ideas are my own. Enjoy.....-----
With a frustrated look at the clock on her bedside table, Ayaka sat straight up, rubbing her eyes. Whatever it was that Chizuru and Kotaro were up to, they were being damn loud about it. It was past 1:30 in the morning, for God’s sake! She hopped out of bed, making her way towards the separate room that the girl with the largest bust in class claimed as her own.
She pounded an angry fist against the door, but was fairly certain she couldn’t be heard over the sounds of the music. She understood maybe five of the words the group kept repeating, but that was enough. When she heard a loud moan, that’s when she got red in the face and had to back off. After looking to see if Natsumi was awake, which she wasn’t, Ayaka crept forward to knock again. Her hand froze up a few inches from the door as another moan permeated through the music.
‘EEEEEWWWW!’ Her mind panicked as she rushed for the door, and abandoned her dorm.
Chizuru flicked off her Boyz II Men cd, ‘I’ll Make Love To You’ dying down. She didn’t understand the whole song, but she still liked it. Kotaro’s eyes were wide as saucers as he watched her open up the disc tray to her computer, and pull out the game that had been inside.
“Told you the hot coffee scene existed,” She giggled, holding out her hand.
Nodding his head a little, Kotaro dropped the five hundred yen into her hand, “No more betting against you.....”
Running hard to get away from her incredibly smutty roommate, the rep had made considerable time in getting a safe distance away from that place of debauchery. In her frenzied escape, however, she collided with a tall person as she wrapped around a corner. Both tumbled to the ground.
“I-I’m really sorry, I was just.....” Ayaka started to apologize, but when she recognized who she had run into, she quickly relaxed, “Oh, Kaede, it’s just you.....”
“‘Just’ me? Nice to be knocked over by you, too, thank you,” The kunoichi sighed, pulling herself back up to her feet, “What are you doing out here so late?”
“N-No reason! I just felt like.....uh.....”
“Going on a late night jog?”
“W-Well, what are YOU doing out here?” Ayaka turned the question around so she didn’t have to say what she thought was going on back in her dorm.
Hm.....Kaede had two options, at this point. She could tell the rep that Connor had kissed her, then that he knocked her out to keep her away as he marched off to kill the messiah, or she could lie, “I’m going to the baths.”
“The baths? They’ve been closed for hours!”
“Not for someone like me.....” The tall girl grinned a little, her eyes barely open, “Want to come with?” She hadn’t originally been heading to the baths, but now taking one sounded like a fine idea. Taking a long walk to clear her head had been her plan, at first, but that hot water sounded real good.....
“Well.....” The rep knew that it was her job to set a good example for her peers, but when she thought about what was happening a wall away from her bed, she quickly surrendered to the suggestion, “Alright, but how are you gonna get us in?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not a problem,” Kaede stated, continuing her walk, only now she had a destination, and someone to talk to.
-
Connor stopped walking in any real direction, and just followed after Serac as he wandered around the city. It would be pointless to try and split apart from his somber company, he would just wind up running into him again when he wound a corner, or he’d find himself trapped in an inclosed area of magic that looped him from one end of the street to the other. It had happened a few times before, he was a little bitter to remember.
“Though you understand that for our talks to reach the conclusions they needed, our walks had to be extended, somewhat,” Serac stated plainly, raising his head to watch a moth fly around a street lamp, as they passed it by.
“Stay the hell out of my head.”
“It is not a place I wish to be in. We will both have to make do.”
“Hmpf, way to take one for Team Destiny. You know it might sound weird, but I almost thought you were gonna give up the life of a lapdog, and live your own life,” Connor tried to poke at Serac’s chains of servitude, seeing if they were any looser than they had been, the last time he had seen him.
“My life is not my own, just as your life is not your own. You know this, do not pretend you are still in the dark about the way of things,” Was the slow reply he got.
“So, what? You here to fix Negi’s mistake and bury me?” If Serac wanted him dead, he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it. But he wouldn’t make the move without Fate’s go ahead, he knew that much.
“There is no such thing as a ‘mistake’, you know that. Fate overlooks nothing, and she watches you even now, in this world. You will never be more than an actor on her stage, no one will. Do not forget all that you learned of your world, simply because you are in a different one,” The moth no longer near enough to be of interest, Serac was now watching the silhouette of a man up in a second story window.
“Then why are you here? If Negi really was supposed to keep me from dying, then what’s the problem? That bitch’s script is still going full throttle, right?” Connor had turned his eyes to look at the man Serac was gazing at. He could hear a pair of voices rising, and the man was gesturing wildly.
“My ongoing mission is to hold together the seams of Fate’s design, so that-”
“So that heaven and hell has a 24/7 reality show to keep them entertained, I know the drill,” Connor snapped, cutting Fate’s lackey short, “I don’t need you to tell me how things are, or what I need to do, or who I need to help, or-”
Serac now took his turn to interrupt, “You may not, but he would appreciate it if I did,” He muttered, nodding his head in the direction of the window. A short-lived struggle broke out between the first silhouette and a second, and after a few seconds, one of the men took a blow to the head, and crashed out through the window.
Knowing Serac wouldn’t do anything to help the falling man, Connor swung his arm up, a surge of air catching the man and lowered him gently to the ground. He rushed to the man’s side, skidding to a stop as he knelt down beside him. The man was bleeding from the side of his head and was unconscious, but it looked like he was going to live. Now relieved to find the man alive, Connor realized he had just used magic in front of a mundane. He looked over to Serac, who was still looking up into the window, “Dammit, what do we do, now?”
“We leave,” Serac stated, continuing his walk to nowhere in particular.
“We what?” Connor whisper yelled back at the Wanderer, jumping up and taking a step forward. He didn’t think Serac had actually heard him over the sound of a woman and a man screaming at each other from the building above. Then again, if he had even thought it Serac would have heard, “That guy up there saw, though!”
“It doesn’t matter,” He replied, but didn’t stop walking.
With one last look at the man lying on the ground, Connor ran after his companion, who was getting away, “We should at least call an ambulance!” He called after him.
“The woman will.”
“What about the other man at the window? Don’t you think he saw what I did?”
“He did,” Serac replied simply, his tone low and emotionless. A shot rang out, causing Connor to swing around and look back in the direction of the building, “And now it doesn’t matter what he saw.”
The man in black took a step towards the apartment building, but stopped just as suddenly. Lights were flicking on in nearby buildings, and he could hear the confused buzz of tired people as they got up to see what had happened. With a defeated groan, he kept following Serac, “Who were they?”
“A man, his wife, and her lover. The man on the street is the husband, and the man shot through the head is the lover.”
“Did you bring me here to see this? Why else would you come this way?”
“There is a lesson here for you, though you will not understand it for some time. The couple has been married for six years, though the wife has been unfaithful for four of them. She loves both men, and because of her indecisiveness, she now has neither of them.”
“I saved the husband! What are you talking about, he’s fine!”
“No, he is not. The lover struck him in the head, which is what sent him through the window. He has suffered a cerebral contusion, and is hemorrhaging as we speak. He will lapse into a coma, and die in twenty-one days, all while she holds his hand,” Serac stated, sounding bored. He brushed his hair back a little, his eyes wandering around for something interesting to look at.
“Why did you have me save him, then?” Connor yelled, reaching out to grab the cloaked man in front of him. His hand fell through his shoulder, coming through numb and coated in frost. He had forgotten that it was impossible to touch the Wanderer without his consent.
“Because Fate demands it. She kills one man she loves, and then must wait to see if the other man she loves will live or not. During the twenty-one days before his death, she will be brought to a disgraceful trial on the charges of voluntary manslaughter. One week before his death, she will be acquitted of all charges on the grounds of self-defense. She is to spend the next week by his side, with minimal sleep as she struggles with her guilt.”
“But why? What good will any of that do?” Connor asked loudly, cradling his numb hand in his jacket, slowly trying to warm it back into feeling.
“Two days after his death, after having thoroughly sunk into her own grief and guilt, she will jump from the top of the office she works at. She will commit suicide,” Serac explained, slowing down to let a black cat cross before them.
Connor stopped walking as well, turning around and ready to go back, “I’m not going to let any of that happen! You’re a monster for knowing all of this, and not doing a goddamthing about it! You always were a monster,” He muttered, starting back towards the building.
“You have not listened to everything, yet,” The Wanderer pointed out, watching as the black cat faded into the night.
“What could you possibly tell me that would convince me to let all of that happen?” The teaching aid growled, swinging back around to face the man he couldn’t help but hate with his very soul.
“A young girl will witness the suicide, and it will set her life on the path she is meant to follow.”
“You mean the path that evil bitch wants her to walk!”
“The girl will become a guidance counselor, eventually advance to a marriage counselor, and will round out her life as a therapist. During this time, she will help countless people improve their lives, and will even save some in the process. Should you choose to intervene and stop the woman’s suicide, the people the girl would have eventually saved will have to turn to other sources of help. Some will work, some will not. Some people will kill themselves, some will get divorced and share their children in separate homes, some will become mindless drones, too drugged up on anti-depressants to function. That is the world you are in. Now, will you save one person, or countless?” Serac continued to walk in the opposite direction
“You.....” Connor wanted to yell at the man in the blue cloak, but he couldn’t. What about the woman who was going to kill herself? What kind of future could she have if he went to her, if he comforted her? Who might she affect? What would become of her?
“She has no future,” Serac muttered, not surprised to hear Connor’s footsteps behind him. He knew he would follow. That’s all he could do.
Kicking a trash can as he passed it by, Connor let his head hang low. After a few minutes of silence between the two, he dropped down onto a bench and propped his face in his hands. Serac sat beside him, willing to wait a few minutes. After all, he had seen this coming.
‘He meant for that to happen.....he knew I would save the husband, he knew the wife would shoot the lover, and he knew the wife would eventually kill herself because of it all.....it’s just like back home,’ He thought bitterly at all of the other times Serac had set him up for decisions that were impossible to make.
“And yet good or evil, moral or immoral, you made your choices in life as you had to,” Serac commented on Connor’s thoughts, yet again.
“And I didn’t like all of them. Still don’t,” The teaching aid replied, face still in his hands.
“One cannot go through life as though they are the only one who matters. Whether you liked your choices or not, they were not wrong.”
“Ha, tell that to my two dead girlfriends. Or, the one.....I don’t know.....”
“Kazumi Asakura.....an interesting chapter in your life.....”
“Was that an opinion? Well, I’ll be damned.”
“You won’t find it.”
“Like hell I won’t. I’ve still got a ways to go before I’m gone, and I’ve got nothing to do but look. I don’t know if she’s in some kind of limbo, or whatever the hell else, but I know I’m gonna get her out of it,” Connor lifted his face from his hands, leaning back against the bench, legs stretched out in front of him, “I owe her that much.”
“Actually, you will not be leaving Mahora for a short while,” Serac sounded as though he was going to yawn, but it never came.
“Oh, really? And why’s that?”
“Because it is not part of Fate’s design. You will stay here.”
“Fate can kiss my ass. This puppet’s gonna do whatever the hell he wants.”
“And that is precisely why you will stay.”
“Look, if you’re talking about Sunshine.....you know, she’ll just have to miss me. It sucks, but I’ve gotta do this.”
“I was not speaking of the Chinese girl, though I am sure you will be pleased to be near her. You will stay because you are needed here, by many different people. There are many things that you must do, to insure the continuation of Fate’s perfect design,” Serac knew there was no such thing as ‘perfect’, but the word met his needs well.
“Then those people are out of luck,” Connor stated, rising to his feet, “Because if her soul isn’t here somewhere, I’m gonna cut out and find it somewhere else.”
“How brash of you. Connor, I know where her soul is.”
“I know. But since you have no intention of telling me, why waste my time asking?”
“Like a train on its tracks, you aren’t meant to go anywhere other than where you are meant to. This design applies even to myself, every act, word, and thought. Should you choose to stay and hold together Fate’s wills, then I will tell you where to find her soul,” Serac stood up, himself, and began walking towards the dormitories. It would take a while for them to get there.
Connor followed after him, a tired grin on his face, “.....Do I really have a choice in the matter?”
“You think you do, but I already know you will agree.”
“.....So what am I supposed to do?”
“If I tell you, you will be unable to do them.”
“If I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, how can I do it, you head-case?”
“Intentional or not, simply by your being here, you will do the things you must do. After all, it is as fated as the fact that you’re going to go to the bathhouse, before you return to the dorm you share,” Serac stated calmly.
“Forget that,” Connor scoffed, looking over his shoulder as the sound of a car’s engine caught his ears, “I’m just gonna go straight to bed, just to spite you.”
The car from behind them sped by, kicking up a wave of water and mud, which rained across the two. That which would have connected with Serac fell through him, instead, coming out the other side frozen solid.
“As I said, the bathhouse awaits you.”
“Where the hell did that damn puddle come from?” Connor shouted, trying to squeeze out all of the mess from his hair, “And if you say it was fate, or some other mental patient crap, I’m gonna screw up everything and kill myself!”
“Then everything I had led you through up until this moment would be for the purpose of your death. You cannot do anything outside of Fate’s design, know that,” Serac muttered. He snapped his fingers and vanished.
“God, I hate you so much.....” Connor growled, stomping off for the bathhouse.
-
Kaede caught herself with her fingers to her lips for the millionth time, and quickly took them away. She scolded herself inwardly, trying to shake her mind free of the thoughts she was having of him. Connor was meant for Ku Fei, she had to accept it. Maybe what she really needed was something to distract her from thoughts of the pompous teacher’s aid. It was going to be a week before the weekend, though, which meant no trip to the mountains for training, until then.
“Are you alright?” Ayaka asked the kunoichi, who gave her a smile and nodded. The two were sitting in the massive expanse of steamy water that composed the bath. Now that they were both in there, alone, they realized that they didn’t usually talk to each other all that much. Looking for something that could possibly start a conversation, the class rep asked, “You keep touching your lips.....did you do something with them, maybe?”
Kaede did her best to hold back the blush Ayaka’s simple sentence had brought on, but it wasn’t something she was particularly proficient at.
“Y-You’re blushing! Oh my God, did you kiss somebody? Is that what you were out doing?”
“No.....It’s just.....really hot, in here, and.....yeah, it’s hot,” Kaede mumbled, sinking down into the water up to her nose.
“No, no! My, what a surprise! Well, I guess it isn’t that much of a surprise, but you got kissed before.....” The rep trailed off, a little embarrassed to finish her sentence.
The tall girl opened her mouth a bubbled out a few words that no one could have understood, so Ayaak pulled her up a little so she could hear, “I’m sure Negi-bozu just needs a little more time, don’t worry.”
“You think?” Ayaka practically squealed, scooting around in a little circle as she started to talk in a hysterical, fast manner.
The door to the bathrooms opened up, and the sound of footsteps could be heard. Kaede and Ayaka quickly ducked down into the water, swimming a safe distance away.
Connor, his head aching from his rendevous with Fate’s bastard man-servant, looked at the two towels resting beside the pool-like bath, along with the brushes and soap, “God, that’s convenient,” He grinned, pulling his dirty clothes off and blasting them clean with a spray of magic. Exhaling deeply, he eased into the blissfully hot water, closing his eyes.
“Oh no! We left our towels over there!” Ayaka whispered to her friend, who was glaring at the figure before them. The blonde turned her attention towards the tall figure, squinting to see through the steam, “Is that.....Connor-sensei? Oh my god, it is!” Her voice was rising, though it was unintentional.
Before they could exchange words, Kaede was marching through the water over to their teacher. The rep thought for a moment that she could see the water around the tall girl bubbling as though it were boiling, but that couldn’t be.....
Connor heard the sound of someone wading through the water, and quickly grabbed one of the towels, wrapping it around his waist as he stood up. “Who’s there?” He called out to the quickly approaching figure. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw it was only Kaede. Only Kaede, who was only naked. Only Kaede, who was only naked, and only had a knife in her hand.
“I hope she was keeping that in her hair,” Ayaka muttered, grimacing.
“Well, now.....” Connor muttered, looking from the pissed look in her eyes to the knife in her hand, to the fact that she was naked. LOTS of naked.....his mind went a little blank, but he saw her drop the kunai when she was within a few feet of him.
Ayaka lowered her head and grit her teeth as Kaede slapped Connor across the face so hard it sent shockwaves through the air, and created waves in the bath. The nearly-naked teacher flew out of the bath, skimming the ground for several yards before he landed face-first, sliding into the wall with a bang.
With one last angry glance at the man who had stolen her first kiss, Kaede grabbed the second towel and stomped out of the bath.
Ayaka waited for a few minutes to make sure Connor was actually unconscious before she, herself, exited the bath to get a towel, and beat a hasty retreat.
-----Author’s other note: I hope everybody followed that ok. Serac is, for all intents and purposes: Omniscient. He knows everything that has ever happened, is happening, and ever will happen, because he’s tied in so close with Fate, who plans out everything everywhere. That’s her job as a, for lack of a better term, goddess. She keeps the game of life rolling in her own design so that the hosts of heaven and hell have something to keep themselves entertained with. Serac’s job is to do all of the little things necessary to keep everything clicking like it’s ‘supposed’ to. He’s called ‘The Wanderer’, because before he became Fate’s slave, he was always on the move, trying to find someone. He eventually found the person he was looking for, but that’s not a story for here. This is probably the most complex thing I will ever write about, so don’t worry, this is the worst it’ll be. Thanks for bearing with it.
Now, for a quick recap of what’s going on:
1. Connor is going to stay at Mahora after all, so he can do the things he’s ‘supposed’ to do, so Serac will come back and tell him where to find Asakura’s soul. Serac said he wouldn’t find it, so he knows he won’t unless he does what he’s told, like the good little puppet he is. Remember, these guys have a history together that I’m working with. This is probably a lot more enjoyable for me, than any of you.
2. No more crazy, philosophical stuff for a while. Now it’s time for Connor to do all of the things he’s ‘meant’ to do, which will all involve the many girls of 3-A, and even a guest star role to one of everyone’s favorite ocs. No, it’s not Serac.
3. If you find any holes in any of the logic used here, send me a PM saying so. Even the legal terms and medical conditions I used, I looked them up and made sure everything was correct. That’s my dedication to you: The reader.
That’s all I can think of, I’m too damn tired to even think straight. Thanks for reading.....-----