Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ Life In A Bottle ❯ A Night Designed By Fate Pt. 1 ( Chapter 6 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Serac 
A night which signals change comes every so often, and this is one of them.....
Anime/Manga: Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 11.24.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 6.2K | Visits: 229 | Status: Work In Progress
A night which signals change comes every so often, and this is one of them.....
Anime/Manga: Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 11.24.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 6.2K | Visits: 229 | Status: Work In Progress
-----Author’s note: To all of you who celebrated it, I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! This chapter will be my gift to Mediaminer in recognition of the event, even if I’m a day late for it.
I do not own Negima!, but any other characters (Save for Masayoshi) and ideas are my own. Chachamaru’s first line, followed by Haruna’s line, is inspired by a scene from the television series ‘Angel’. Just thought I’d point it out. Serac is in this chapter, and he’ll be explaining Fate some more, and religious references WILL be made, for those who don’t like that, you have been warned. Enjoy.....-----
Negi looked himself over in the mirror, marveling at how good he could be, sometimes. He mirrored the appearance of the boy in the picture perfectly, even down to the little pimple he had just below his ear, barely visible in the picture. Not a strand of hair was out of place, and the ponytail looked as though he had ripped it right off of the boy’s head and placed it on himself.
Haruna slapped the boy on the back with a hearty laugh, “Wow, I can’t even tell that’s you in there, at all!”
Yue laughed a little, herself, glad that she had talked Haruna into going with her to get snacks while her teacher ‘got into his disguise’. She still didn’t know about magic, and with any luck she never would. Such a big gossip, no matter how much she loved her, probably couldn’t be trusted with such a big secret.
“I-I know! Chachamaru-san was a big help in putting this together, right?” Negi lied, turning to look at Chachamaru, who simply nodded.
“Oh, is that why Yue was so insistent on me going with her? So Chachamaru could help dress Negi-sensei? So why didn’t Asuna come, too? I think I see, now.....Yue and I are like the third wheel on your three-way tryst, tonight. Shame on you, Yuetchi, I thought you were on Nodoka’s side!” Haruna smacked her diminutive friend on the head.
“Her s-side?” Our favorite boy instructor stuttered a little, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Tryst?” Asuna grumbled, wringing her hands against the back of the seat she was currently perched in.
“It means a private, romantic rendezvous among lovers. I believe she is saying that you, Negi-sensei, and myself have become romantically involved, and partake in illicit actions, most likely in succession,” Chachamaru elaborated for baka red, who growled in response. She knew what tryst meant.
“Or concurrently! Negi-sensei, I do not approve of this at all! Or.....wholeheartedly. If you wanted to take a turn down mature road, you should have spoken with Nodoka about it! I’ll bet Yuetchi would be alright with being the extra per-”
Haruna sprawled out on the ground, having just been clobbered upside the head with the frying pan Yue had snatched off of the little stove Konoka used to slave over. “Don’t listen! I would mind being the extra!”
“You say it like you would rather be the main course,” Asuna grinned, raising an eyebrow.
“Th-That’s not what I meant! S-Sorry, Negi-sensei!” She plummeted into a bow so fast that it kicked up wind, “Don’t listen to them, sorry!”
“I-It’s ok, Yue-san, you don’t have to apologize. I’m not l.....lovers with Asuna-san or Chachamaru-san.”
“Not yet,” The android muttered, looking away casually.
“Wh-What? No! Not ever!” Negi exclaimed, waving his arms around beside him in panic.
“What, is there something wrong with us?” Asuna asked, glaring across the room at the boy, who started to tremble. She’d never want to get with that runty little mage anyway. .....Right?
“Not e-ever?” Chachamaru asked, reticular cleansing fluid getting dangerously close to overflowing.
Negi looked from an increasingly angry Asuna to an increasingly upset Chachamaru. God, Hakase had really screwed things up by adding the emotional emulators to the android. It was funny how love and jealousy seemed to be playing the biggest roles, here. That made her a pretty good teenaged girl. That was where she was picking the emotions up from, after all.
“I-I.....Uh, need to c-call Keiko, now, sorry!” Negi rushed from the mirror and snatched up the phone, quickly dialing in the number Connor had left him. He said he had gotten it from Natsumi, and that he’d leave it up to the boy to handle the details of the meeting. How kind of him.
As the phone on the other end began to ring, Chachamaru’s hand shot up, and her pinky exploded from her and towards the startled boy. He flinched, but was pleased when he found that the target had been the phone, and not him. A little wire was trailing from the disconnected pinky back into Chachamaru’s arm, and her mouth was hanging open a little to serve as a speaker for the call. It looked like everyone was going to get to hear what Keiko had to say.
“Hello?” The recipient of the call asked sweetly.
“Uh, hey. It’s Ne.....Masayoshi,” Negi tried to alter his voice to something that sounded like it would fit the teen’s appearance, but wasn’t sure of how well he succeeded, “You ready for tonight?”
“Ooh, Masa-kun! I’m ready for anything with you, and I hope you’re ready for anything with me.....”
Chachamaru’s face started to darken as these words came from her speakers. Yue didn’t look all that happy, either. Sure, she was talking to who she thought was Masayoshi but this Keiko was, in reality, speaking to Negi!
“Y-You just say the word, and I’ll make it happen. This is your night, and I’ll make it count,” Negi flashed his three conscious friends a smile and a thumbs up, though it was met with blank stares and hanging jaws.
“Masa-kun, you’re too much! I’m sure we will make it count. So where did you plan on taking me tonight, anyway?”
“Say the word, love, and it shall be done. Money isn’t a concern.”
‘Ooh, good one, Aniki!’ Chamo thought with a grin, peeking his head out of Asuna’s drawers to hear all the better. He had to throw both paws over his mouth to keep from laughing at Yue and Chachamaru, who were both starting to tremble a little. Asuna’s face was bright red, and it was starting to look like steam was gonna shoot out of her bells.
“Really? I never knew what a gentleman you were, Masa-kun! As a matter of fact, there is a certain place I’d like to go.....”
Chamo ducked back into the panty drawer as he struck upon a fun idea. Things were moving pretty slow with Negi and, well, his entire class, as far as relationships went. Not being particularly patient, Chamo had ordered a rather.....useful tool, to help speed things along with the more antsy students. It should be noted that by ‘antsy’, the ermine meant ‘already close to jumping him’.
He spent a few moments rummaging through the various unmentionables he was so fond of, before he found the item he was looking for. The perverse little animal snatched up the tiny brown tablet, a giant grin creeping across the face an inch or so away from the devious little object before him. Negi was still talking with Keiko, but he wasn’t paying much attention, at the moment.
‘Yes.....one of the most dangerous magical goodies to have ever been unleashed upon the world.....and now I, Albert Chamomile, will unleash it upon big brother! Magically cultivated, maintained, and enhanced sex pheromones! Oh yes, it will be fun indeed.....’
Chamo, displaying skills even he didn’t know he had claim to, whipped up a cup of tea without even being noticed by the others for his speed. He added the final ingredient to the cup, chuckling fiendishly as it dissipated into nothing in the drink. ‘With this is his system, Aniki will be practically irresistible to the ladies! The other girls are gonna see this girl get all over him, and absolutely flip out, realizing their true feelings for him at an even faster rate than Aphrodite could make them! Ah, jealousy is a thing of beauty. And when he starts to react to the magical half of this thang, himself? Ooh.....There will be a lot more than just contracts getting filled.....’ Doing all he could to keep from laughing maniacally, Chamo settled down to listen to the end of the phone call.
“.....ze doesn’t always matter, so it’s not a big deal. But, you know, I do prefer them to be.....well, huge,” Keiko admitted with a little giggle.
“I can promise you, I won’t disappoint. You like big, I’ve got big,” Negi replied with a ghost of a smirk.
Chamo’s mouth dropped open, and the cup of tea he was holding nearly slipped from his grasp. He turned to look at the three conscious girls, who were all looking upset, though for some other reason, it seemed.
“Alright, so I’ll pick you up in an hour, and we’ll make a night out of it.”
“Ok, I’ll see you then, Masa-kun!” With a sickening ‘tee-hee’ that Chamo assumed meant ‘I’m going to make a man out of you, my friend’, the phone call ended.
“A-Aniki, what the hell were you just talking about?” The ermine asked loudly, jumping up onto Chachamaru’s shoulder. He squeaked in pain and leapt off when his paws were practically singed off by the robots blistering hot exterior. Chachamaru retracted her pinky and closed her mouth, shaking a little as though she were about to explode.
“Chamo-kun? She said she wanted a limo.....Guess I shouldn’t have said money wasn’t an issue, huh?” The boy disguised as a teen laughed a little, sad that his wallet was going to find itself empty by the end of the night.
“Limo.....ha, ha, right! The bigger the better, right Ane-san?” Chamo nudged at Asuna’s ankle.
“Sh-Shut up with your innuendos, you freaky little pervert! Haruna might wake up!” Baka red replied hotly.
“Well, I guess I’d better.....” Negi made for the door, but Chamo was in front of him before he could reach the knob.
“Wait, Aniki, you need this!” The ermine leapt up to the boy’s shoulders, and practically rammed the teacup into his mouth.
Negi stumbled back a step, almost choking on the liquid as it traveled down his throat, “Wh-What was that for, Chamo-kun?” He asked, coughing for air.
“Luck!”
“I felt luckier before.....anyway, I’d better get a move on if I want to make all of this work. Remember, girls, if I need some backup, I’m counting on you,” Negi waved goodbye, closing the door behind him.
Chamo turned to look at the stunned expression on the girl’s faces. The pheromones wouldn’t immediately affect Negi, but it would start working its magic on the nearby girls pretty quick. He felt a surge of happiness fly through him as he realized that it was a success. Yue was collapsed on top of Haruna, blood spilling from her nose. Chachamaru was starting to short-circuit, her arm twitching and jolting about. Asuna had a drool waterfall going, and she didn’t look ready to stop anytime soon, judging from the starry look in her eyes. Even Haruna was starting to stir, muttering something about a whip. Tonight might prove to be one of the better nights Chamo had spent at Mahora.....
-
“Last time I came out here.....I got shot in the back,” Connor commented to the darkness around him. The sun had just dipped behind the horizon, casting shadows across the World Tree plaza. He was on his way up the stairs to meet with ‘someone’, who had left him a note in his dorm room, “Guess she wants to get it right, this time.....”
As his line of sight rose up over the stairs, he found someone that he wasn’t expecting to find. Actually, he was a little surprised that he was disappointed that he was wrong. Rather than being granted the pleasant sight of Ku Fei, he wound up finding that Masayoshi was the only one to be found anywhere around. The teen was standing alone in the center of the plaza, the tree behind him.
“There you are! I was starting to wonder if you were gonna come, or not,” Masayoshi admitted, waving a little.
“.....I wouldn’t have come if I knew you were the guy who wanted to meet me here. I thought that.....I thought something else,” Connor stopped at the top of the steps, ready to turn around and leave.
“Hey, don’t be so mean about it. I’ve called you here for a good reason.”
“What, about Freckles?”
“Well, indirectly, yeah, but that’s not what we need to be concerned with, at the moment.....” Masayoshi trailed off, spinning his quill around in-between his fingers so that it appeared to be more of a blur than a solid object.
“Then we have nothing to talk about. I have more important things to do,” Connor turned his back to the odd teen, and started the descent down the stairs.
“Like switch pillows with your student?”
The man in black nearly missed the next step, but managed to keep himself from falling down the stairs, “How did-”
“You don’t think that’s a little.....you know, creepy?” Masayoshi asked airily, swaying from side to side as though he were listening to music.
“I think it’s creepy that you know what I was doing.....who the hell are you?” Connor turned around, and stepped back to the top of the stairs.
“Well.....that’s a fun question, but one that I don’t think I’m gonna answer, today.”
“Then how did you know what I was going to do?”
“A little help from my book, and nothing’s impossible!” Masayoshi grinned, opening up his black leather book to show Negi’s aid.
Connor watched as bright blue lights etched across the pages like a spider’s web, forming runes and circles which vanished as soon as they appeared, “You’re a.....you? You know magic?”
“Geez, sound a little more surprised, I still have some pride,” Masayoshi laughed, still swaying to a tune only he could hear.
“Fine. So what do you want?”
“Actually, it’s kinda funny, I’m gonna kick the crap out of you.”
Connor raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
Masayoshi nodded a little bit, “Yeah.”
“You’re right, that IS funny. Kid, you couldn’t kick the crap out of a soggy diaper. Do yourself a favor and go profess your love to Freckles,” Connor shook his head, turning to leave for the second time.
Masayoshi tore a page out of his book and slapped it to the ground.
BANG. Connor stumbled back, tripping as his heel collided with a step, and fell to a sitting position. He rubbed his sore nose, “What the hell?” He reached out, placing his hand on an invisible wall. It was cold to the touch, but his hand never grew numb or uncomfortable. It was magic, that was easy enough to tell.
“I’ve just sealed us both in the plaza. You aren’t going anywhere, Connor-sensei,” Masayoshi said tauntingly, resuming his swaying.
“Don’t call me that,” Connor muttered, brushing himself off as he stood up, “So what the hell’s going on? Why couldn’t I tell you had that kind of power? I didn’t even know you were a mage, at all.....”
“Just like your magic is different from others, so is mine. ‘Course, mine never killed anyone on accident.....”
Connor released the glamour hiding his sword, and reached over his shoulder to pull it free from its sheath, “Wrong thing to say, jack-ass,” He growled, stomping towards his now prey.
Masayoshi waved his hands in front of him, “Think of Natsumi-chan! I didn’t mean anything by it, seriously!”
Connor spun his sword around once so that the blunt edge was facing out, “Good point, I’d better not kill you.”
Masayoshi laughed as he hopped back to keep a safe distance between the two, “Alright, alright, let’s hurry and do this so I can finish my job!” The teen tore another page out of his book, which had shiny blue ink snaking through it like wildfire, now. He slapped the page down to the stone beneath his feet, bubbles shooting up out of the page as though it were a portal.
Connor paused to watch the bubbles float around for a moment. The entire plaza was filled with them, drifting along pleasantly through the air, “What the hell? You gonna cute me to death?”
“Something like that,” Was the calm response given. Masayoshi raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
He didn’t realize it at the time, but none of the bubbles had come close to their creator. Instead, they were clustered more around himself. At the sound of Masayoshi’s snapping fingers, the bubbles all simultaneously exploded, engulfing the surprised aid in a maelstrom of shockwaves and fire.
Masayoshi didn’t wait for the dust to settle. Tearing out another page, he used his quill to scribble out a homemade spell, which he threw into the air.
With a groan, Connor rose to his feet. Exploding bubbles.....not one he had ever thought of, that was for sure. He now regretted the soggy diaper comment, which he now knew was pretty far off. He heard a strange sound.....coming from above? He thrust an arm up to the sky, a blast of air powering through the dust to clear his vision. It was when he could see that he realized he should have been using his time to get out of the way. Neon blue streaks of light zipped through the air, whistling as they went, coming at him at an angle from the sky.
Masayoshi cringed a little as the beams of energy crashed down all around the man in the coat, decimating the ground around him and swallowing him up in its strength, “I hope he’s not dead.....I heard he was pretty tough, but I guess not.....”
A torrent of fire lashed out from the debris, catching the teen off guard. He barely managed to raise his book and flip it open, swallowing up the length of fire as it came at him. Connor dashed out through the dust, sword low to the ground as he charged his enemy.
Masayoshi lifted his foot to avoid a sweeping kick, then sidestepped as the sword rose up from the ground in a vertical slice. Connor swung up from his sweeping kick, following it with a roundhouse, driving the heel of his boot into the teen’s cheek.
Clutching his book as he went, Masayoshi, propelled by the kick, was sent back several feet before he landed on his back with a thud. From his position on the ground, he scribbled a symbol onto the ground beside him, which he tapped with his quill.
The ground beneath Connor shot up into a pillar, throwing him high into the air. He flipped so he would land on his feet, but a length of stone from the pillar bust loose, flying into his back and knocking him off course. He fell the rest of the way, landing hard on his side.
“Ugh.....you son of a bitch.....” Connor grunted, sword in hand as he pushed himself back to his feet. Was he losing? It sure felt that way, at the moment.
“Hey, leave my mom out of this!” Masayoshi pointed his quill at his bruised enemy. He was bleeding a little from his mouth, but was otherwise alright.
Connor brought his sword up over his head, plunging it into the stone in front of him.
Masayoshi opened his mouth to speak, but was shut up before he could. The very night turned against him, the darkness becoming violent and the shadows taking on a life of their own. Color practically vanished as the void around him continued to grow, encircling and ensnaring him.
“One of the perks of being grey, kid,” Connor stated, watching his opponent look around in surprise at how the darkness was now playing sides, surrounding him with a black veil that was pulsating with malevolence. He was barely visible at all, “Is that when I have to, I can be black.”
Masayoshi was flung from his personal sphere of shadows, skidding along the stone ground for a few feet before grinding to a stop. His clothes were torn, and he was bleeding from several fresh cuts. Most were shallow, but a few looked deep enough that they might leave a mark.
“Ready to call it quits?” Connor asked, pulling his sword from the ground. He didn’t like to be cruel, but he had been hit enough times that it seemed alright for him to tap into something a little darker than normal.
“H-Ha, ha.....not yet,” Masayoshi muttered, slowly rising to his feet. He lifted his book back up to his eyes, scanning something in it before looking back up with a little grin, “See my book? It’s not just a normal magic book. It becomes whatever book the holder wants it to. Neat, huh?”
Connor shrugged, “Never was much for books, personally.”
“But it can be a kind of history book, too. Right now, I’m looking at our fight. I know everything that’s going to happen, and I come out on top,” Masayoshi grabbed a fistful of pages, jerking them out and throwing them up into the air, “You can’t fight fate, Teach!” The pages began to glow a bright blue as they floated around above him.
“There’s only one bastard who can preach to me about Fate,” Connor growled, thrusting his arm forward as the shimmering pages rocketed forth into neon streaks of magic, “And you’re not him!” A stream of fire burst from his palm, and the two attacks exploded in midair.
-
“‘Inform’ is more accurate,” Serac mumbled to himself, watching as Nodoka began to stir from her sleep.
The quiet girl slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking around. Where was she? What had happened?
“We are on a train bound for Osaka, and you were knocked unconscious as I approached you.”
Nodoka snapped to attention, staring at the man in a dark cloak in front of her, “Wh-Who a-are y-y-you?” She stammered so bad she could barely understand herself.
“You may call me Serac,” The man replied plainly, watching things pass through the window as they sped along. Wait.....the windows were frosted over, there was no way he could see outside, at all! Nodoka shivered as she realized just how could it was inside the compartment she found herself in.
“Wh-What’s going on? D-Did y-you kidnap me?”
Serac, still looking through the frosted window, replied, “I did not kidnap you, and I will do you no harm.” He snapped his fingers, but otherwise did nothing.
“S-So.....” She paused, realizing she was now under a warm quilt. It hadn’t been there a second ago.....had it? “.....What’s g-going on?”
“I am taking you to Osaka to meet someone. Someone who will change your life.”
“B-But I.....I like my life th-the way it is.....” Nodoka pulled the quilt up over his mouth as she spoke. The man in front of her was scary. She didn’t like men in general, but this one was terrifying. What she had felt before she blacked out.....it must have been him.
“While that may be true, it is not what you are destined for. Tonight will help you to see things more clearly,” The man replied quietly, still gazing through the glazed window.
“Are you a mage?” She up and asked, beginning to think that this man might be an enemy of Negi’s. Anyone as off-setting as this man was couldn’t possibly be a friend to the young man she loved so much.
“No. Nor am I a friend of the boy, as he has never even met me. I am an acquaintance of your.....gym teacher.”
“Connor-sensei?” She didn’t even ask how he knew that she was thinking of Negi.
“Yes. He and I share a long history together, though he prefers not to speak of it. You may ask him about me, when next you see him.”
The librarian sunk into her chair, summoning her artifact beneath the quilt. If Serac noticed this, he showed no signs of it, refusing to tear his eyes from the icy glass beside him, “S-Serac-san,” She whispered so quiet that it would have taken magic to hear her. The print on the book flickered to life, and words began to etch themselves across the pages.....
To benefit from this trip, you must be open with me and not resort to such crutches as mind reading.
She looked up from the book beneath the quilt, and nearly squealed in shock to find that Serac was now gazing at her, rather than the window, “If there is something you wish to know, then you have only to ask,” He muttered dryly, his tone and expression devoid of all emotion.
Shaking a little as she stared back into his listless eyes, she mumbled, “Y-Y-You’re n-not.....not a m-mage?”
“As I said before, no, I am not. Neither Connor, nor myself, are mages by your standards. The magic we use is of different origins, and is carried out dissimilarly to that of your own magic.”
“C-Connor-sensei uses magic, t-too?” Nodoka’s eyes grew a little wider as she heard this.
“Yes. He originally came to Mahora to help protect the people there, which is why he was assigned to assist the boy as an aid. Nearly everyone has seen that he is not particularly knowledgeable in the classroom, as he is quite under qualified for the position. He struggles with even writing Japanese.....”
“P-Protect us from what?” Nodoka found that she was gripping her book pretty tightly, her knuckles gone white.
“A demon. That situation has been temporarily remedied, however, and is not something that you need concern yourself with,” The Wanderer replied casually, using a finger to brush his bangs aside so their eyes could meet without anything in-between.
“H-How d-do you know Connor-sensei?” She wanted to continue to ask if they were friends, but couldn’t grasp the words long enough. Her voice seemed even weaker than it usually did, as though the cold air in the compartment were choking it right out of the space between them.
“We are.....acquaintances, not friends,” Serac skimmed her mind, picking up the questions that she couldn’t quite voice. He told her not to mind read, but there was no reason he shouldn’t, “As to how I know him.....I served as a guide, of sorts. Certain things needed to happen to keep Fate’s design intact, and I led him to these things.”
“.....Fate?”
“Yes. Understand that Fate is quite real, and I am the one who carries out her designs for this world, and every other. I am her enforcer, and that is why we are here, tonight.”
“I.....I don’t understand.....what does this have to do with me? Wh-Where do I fit into any of that?” Nodoka asked quietly, her eyes peeking up from behind the quilt she was trying to hide herself under.
“Allow me to explain it in a manner you can comprehend. You can grasp that there is more than one god,” Serac stated, though he was looking at her as though he wanted her to acknowledge a yes.
She nodded a little, waiting for the explanation.
“Fate is one of these gods. To help entertain themselves, the gods asked Fate to come up with a game for them. She happily accepted, and set about constructing life and her script. Once she was satisfied with her script, which took countless millennia for her to write, she set off innumerable sparks in the universe, like the shot of a gun before a race begins. The people of your world refer to this spark as the Big Bang.....”
“The planet and all of its surroundings gradually evolved into what we have today, with myself stepping in and correcting any evolutionary ‘mistakes’ that presented themselves. The dinosaurs come to mind, first and foremost. Many of the other mass extinctions occurred without my assistance, following Fate’s script to the last detail.....” Serac was talking in a low voice, but sounded like he needed to take a pause to yawn.
“A-Are you t-t-telling me that YOU k-killed the dinosaurs?” Nodoka sputtered, a shaky finger directed at the man sitting across from her.
“Disbelief is an unpleasant thing. Yes, I was responsible for that particular event. Soon, there will be enough science around that no one will ever suspect that any magic played a part in the matter, at all. In that sense, disbelief is a rather convenient thing.”
“B-But how can that be? Why would you have needed to fix anything if Fate wrote it? If she’s a god, then it should all be perfect.....but it’s not.....” Nodoka wondered aloud, though not too loud.
“A perfect god? Humorous,” He said that, but his face showed no signs of a smile at all, “That is why the Christians will never know peace, because they cannot accept that there is no such thing as perfect. They have to save everyone, whether it be through conversion or war. It is a battle that they will never win.....but they will never stop fighting for it.”
“I, too, am part of Fate’s design. If I were to put it in the simplest of terms, it would be akin to a play. Fate is the writer and ultimate creator. I would be the director, making sure that everything in the script happens the way it must to reveal her true design. Humans, as it is now, are the actors in the play, performing their roles for her. Free will is a lie contrived by men to make themselves feel powerful, though, ironically, it often has the opposite effect. They can never do other than what Fate has written for them, and as the director, I see to it that it stays that way. Lastly, the hosts of heaven and hell are the audience to this grand play. That is the simplest way it can be relayed to you, girl,” Serac returned to gazing through the window, though the frost only seemed to grow thicker.
Nodoka was watched him in silence for a few minutes, absorbing what she had just heard. It was very possible that this man was a lunatic, and that she was in serious danger. But when she thought back to the moments before she blacked out.....the raw power and darkness that had overwhelmed her sense and knocked her out, she found that she was able to believe what he was saying. But if such a man was in charge of running something like this, and there was no such thing as free will.....
“Now that you know, you know you can do no wrong. A liberating thought,” Serac interrupted her thoughts.
“.....I-It’s not.....now that you’ve told me all of that, I’m going to think about it when I make decisions.....so what I might do in the future will be different.....” Nodoka wondered, closing her eyes a little as she tried to think.
“It is so because it was meant to be so. I knew before you were even born that I would tell you this, and I know as a result of this conversation all of the objectively positive and negative effects you will bring about for the rest of your life. At any rate, Connor found not having any choices to be very liberating,” Serac mumbled as he began to draw a picture in the frost of the window.
“But we still have choices!” Nodoka exclaimed, standing up and letting the quilt fall to the floor, “You can’t expect me to just accept this as infallible, and follow you around like some dog on a leash!”
“I do not expect, I know. After tonight’s destined encounter, your life will be forever changed, as will the boy’s.”
Nodoka exhaled sharply as though Serac had just punched her in the stomach.
“Besides,” The Wanderer leaned back in his seat, having completed his doodle of what looked to be a baby, “I already have a dog on my leash that I am quite satisfied with.”
-
Connor groaned, sitting in the center of the decimated plaza. His back was resting up against Masayoshi’s, who was sitting in the same position, breathing just as hard.
“You’re pretty tough.....f-for a kid,” The man in black admitted with a cough.
“Y-Yeah.....right back atcha, man.....” Masayoshi replied, spitting out a little blood to the side.
“Why are we fighting.....again?”
“Because if I don’t get you out of h-here.....I’m gonna get in bi-i-i-ig trouble.”
“Wh-What? By who?”
“Ah, hell, might as well t-talk about it.....‘Cause I don’t feel like fighting, anymore.....I guess my book was wrong.....” Masayoshi grunted a little as he dropped the heavy black book beside him, patting it a couple of times as if to console it.
“M-Maybe not.....things might still wind up a-alright for you.....” Connor stated, glancing over his shoulder at Masayoshi, who returned the motion so that the two were almost eye to eye.
“Y-You offering to help?”
“Explain th-the situation.....” Connor swallowed, then coughed again, “And I’ll see what can be done.....”
-----Author’s other note: Sorry updates have been slow. I’m trying to finish my other story before I settle on this one, but there’s only one chapter left in the other, so updates should be getting more frequent, soon.
So the next chapter should resolve all of the things I’ve set up in this one and the last one. Nodoka will now be joining the cast of main characters, and she will be given a pretty nice-sized role after Serac’s planned encounter.
Speaking of Serac, for me using his name all over the place as my own is kind of off, because I don’t act like him, at all.....Oh, and before people decide that they want to bash him for being too strong, it should be noted that while he can do practically anything, he doesn’t unless it follows along with Fate’s script. He might have Connor on his leash, but he’s on Fate’s. He has to have other people do things of their own non-existent free will, which he does quite often.
Thanks for reading.....-----
I do not own Negima!, but any other characters (Save for Masayoshi) and ideas are my own. Chachamaru’s first line, followed by Haruna’s line, is inspired by a scene from the television series ‘Angel’. Just thought I’d point it out. Serac is in this chapter, and he’ll be explaining Fate some more, and religious references WILL be made, for those who don’t like that, you have been warned. Enjoy.....-----
Negi looked himself over in the mirror, marveling at how good he could be, sometimes. He mirrored the appearance of the boy in the picture perfectly, even down to the little pimple he had just below his ear, barely visible in the picture. Not a strand of hair was out of place, and the ponytail looked as though he had ripped it right off of the boy’s head and placed it on himself.
Haruna slapped the boy on the back with a hearty laugh, “Wow, I can’t even tell that’s you in there, at all!”
Yue laughed a little, herself, glad that she had talked Haruna into going with her to get snacks while her teacher ‘got into his disguise’. She still didn’t know about magic, and with any luck she never would. Such a big gossip, no matter how much she loved her, probably couldn’t be trusted with such a big secret.
“I-I know! Chachamaru-san was a big help in putting this together, right?” Negi lied, turning to look at Chachamaru, who simply nodded.
“Oh, is that why Yue was so insistent on me going with her? So Chachamaru could help dress Negi-sensei? So why didn’t Asuna come, too? I think I see, now.....Yue and I are like the third wheel on your three-way tryst, tonight. Shame on you, Yuetchi, I thought you were on Nodoka’s side!” Haruna smacked her diminutive friend on the head.
“Her s-side?” Our favorite boy instructor stuttered a little, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Tryst?” Asuna grumbled, wringing her hands against the back of the seat she was currently perched in.
“It means a private, romantic rendezvous among lovers. I believe she is saying that you, Negi-sensei, and myself have become romantically involved, and partake in illicit actions, most likely in succession,” Chachamaru elaborated for baka red, who growled in response. She knew what tryst meant.
“Or concurrently! Negi-sensei, I do not approve of this at all! Or.....wholeheartedly. If you wanted to take a turn down mature road, you should have spoken with Nodoka about it! I’ll bet Yuetchi would be alright with being the extra per-”
Haruna sprawled out on the ground, having just been clobbered upside the head with the frying pan Yue had snatched off of the little stove Konoka used to slave over. “Don’t listen! I would mind being the extra!”
“You say it like you would rather be the main course,” Asuna grinned, raising an eyebrow.
“Th-That’s not what I meant! S-Sorry, Negi-sensei!” She plummeted into a bow so fast that it kicked up wind, “Don’t listen to them, sorry!”
“I-It’s ok, Yue-san, you don’t have to apologize. I’m not l.....lovers with Asuna-san or Chachamaru-san.”
“Not yet,” The android muttered, looking away casually.
“Wh-What? No! Not ever!” Negi exclaimed, waving his arms around beside him in panic.
“What, is there something wrong with us?” Asuna asked, glaring across the room at the boy, who started to tremble. She’d never want to get with that runty little mage anyway. .....Right?
“Not e-ever?” Chachamaru asked, reticular cleansing fluid getting dangerously close to overflowing.
Negi looked from an increasingly angry Asuna to an increasingly upset Chachamaru. God, Hakase had really screwed things up by adding the emotional emulators to the android. It was funny how love and jealousy seemed to be playing the biggest roles, here. That made her a pretty good teenaged girl. That was where she was picking the emotions up from, after all.
“I-I.....Uh, need to c-call Keiko, now, sorry!” Negi rushed from the mirror and snatched up the phone, quickly dialing in the number Connor had left him. He said he had gotten it from Natsumi, and that he’d leave it up to the boy to handle the details of the meeting. How kind of him.
As the phone on the other end began to ring, Chachamaru’s hand shot up, and her pinky exploded from her and towards the startled boy. He flinched, but was pleased when he found that the target had been the phone, and not him. A little wire was trailing from the disconnected pinky back into Chachamaru’s arm, and her mouth was hanging open a little to serve as a speaker for the call. It looked like everyone was going to get to hear what Keiko had to say.
“Hello?” The recipient of the call asked sweetly.
“Uh, hey. It’s Ne.....Masayoshi,” Negi tried to alter his voice to something that sounded like it would fit the teen’s appearance, but wasn’t sure of how well he succeeded, “You ready for tonight?”
“Ooh, Masa-kun! I’m ready for anything with you, and I hope you’re ready for anything with me.....”
Chachamaru’s face started to darken as these words came from her speakers. Yue didn’t look all that happy, either. Sure, she was talking to who she thought was Masayoshi but this Keiko was, in reality, speaking to Negi!
“Y-You just say the word, and I’ll make it happen. This is your night, and I’ll make it count,” Negi flashed his three conscious friends a smile and a thumbs up, though it was met with blank stares and hanging jaws.
“Masa-kun, you’re too much! I’m sure we will make it count. So where did you plan on taking me tonight, anyway?”
“Say the word, love, and it shall be done. Money isn’t a concern.”
‘Ooh, good one, Aniki!’ Chamo thought with a grin, peeking his head out of Asuna’s drawers to hear all the better. He had to throw both paws over his mouth to keep from laughing at Yue and Chachamaru, who were both starting to tremble a little. Asuna’s face was bright red, and it was starting to look like steam was gonna shoot out of her bells.
“Really? I never knew what a gentleman you were, Masa-kun! As a matter of fact, there is a certain place I’d like to go.....”
Chamo ducked back into the panty drawer as he struck upon a fun idea. Things were moving pretty slow with Negi and, well, his entire class, as far as relationships went. Not being particularly patient, Chamo had ordered a rather.....useful tool, to help speed things along with the more antsy students. It should be noted that by ‘antsy’, the ermine meant ‘already close to jumping him’.
He spent a few moments rummaging through the various unmentionables he was so fond of, before he found the item he was looking for. The perverse little animal snatched up the tiny brown tablet, a giant grin creeping across the face an inch or so away from the devious little object before him. Negi was still talking with Keiko, but he wasn’t paying much attention, at the moment.
‘Yes.....one of the most dangerous magical goodies to have ever been unleashed upon the world.....and now I, Albert Chamomile, will unleash it upon big brother! Magically cultivated, maintained, and enhanced sex pheromones! Oh yes, it will be fun indeed.....’
Chamo, displaying skills even he didn’t know he had claim to, whipped up a cup of tea without even being noticed by the others for his speed. He added the final ingredient to the cup, chuckling fiendishly as it dissipated into nothing in the drink. ‘With this is his system, Aniki will be practically irresistible to the ladies! The other girls are gonna see this girl get all over him, and absolutely flip out, realizing their true feelings for him at an even faster rate than Aphrodite could make them! Ah, jealousy is a thing of beauty. And when he starts to react to the magical half of this thang, himself? Ooh.....There will be a lot more than just contracts getting filled.....’ Doing all he could to keep from laughing maniacally, Chamo settled down to listen to the end of the phone call.
“.....ze doesn’t always matter, so it’s not a big deal. But, you know, I do prefer them to be.....well, huge,” Keiko admitted with a little giggle.
“I can promise you, I won’t disappoint. You like big, I’ve got big,” Negi replied with a ghost of a smirk.
Chamo’s mouth dropped open, and the cup of tea he was holding nearly slipped from his grasp. He turned to look at the three conscious girls, who were all looking upset, though for some other reason, it seemed.
“Alright, so I’ll pick you up in an hour, and we’ll make a night out of it.”
“Ok, I’ll see you then, Masa-kun!” With a sickening ‘tee-hee’ that Chamo assumed meant ‘I’m going to make a man out of you, my friend’, the phone call ended.
“A-Aniki, what the hell were you just talking about?” The ermine asked loudly, jumping up onto Chachamaru’s shoulder. He squeaked in pain and leapt off when his paws were practically singed off by the robots blistering hot exterior. Chachamaru retracted her pinky and closed her mouth, shaking a little as though she were about to explode.
“Chamo-kun? She said she wanted a limo.....Guess I shouldn’t have said money wasn’t an issue, huh?” The boy disguised as a teen laughed a little, sad that his wallet was going to find itself empty by the end of the night.
“Limo.....ha, ha, right! The bigger the better, right Ane-san?” Chamo nudged at Asuna’s ankle.
“Sh-Shut up with your innuendos, you freaky little pervert! Haruna might wake up!” Baka red replied hotly.
“Well, I guess I’d better.....” Negi made for the door, but Chamo was in front of him before he could reach the knob.
“Wait, Aniki, you need this!” The ermine leapt up to the boy’s shoulders, and practically rammed the teacup into his mouth.
Negi stumbled back a step, almost choking on the liquid as it traveled down his throat, “Wh-What was that for, Chamo-kun?” He asked, coughing for air.
“Luck!”
“I felt luckier before.....anyway, I’d better get a move on if I want to make all of this work. Remember, girls, if I need some backup, I’m counting on you,” Negi waved goodbye, closing the door behind him.
Chamo turned to look at the stunned expression on the girl’s faces. The pheromones wouldn’t immediately affect Negi, but it would start working its magic on the nearby girls pretty quick. He felt a surge of happiness fly through him as he realized that it was a success. Yue was collapsed on top of Haruna, blood spilling from her nose. Chachamaru was starting to short-circuit, her arm twitching and jolting about. Asuna had a drool waterfall going, and she didn’t look ready to stop anytime soon, judging from the starry look in her eyes. Even Haruna was starting to stir, muttering something about a whip. Tonight might prove to be one of the better nights Chamo had spent at Mahora.....
-
“Last time I came out here.....I got shot in the back,” Connor commented to the darkness around him. The sun had just dipped behind the horizon, casting shadows across the World Tree plaza. He was on his way up the stairs to meet with ‘someone’, who had left him a note in his dorm room, “Guess she wants to get it right, this time.....”
As his line of sight rose up over the stairs, he found someone that he wasn’t expecting to find. Actually, he was a little surprised that he was disappointed that he was wrong. Rather than being granted the pleasant sight of Ku Fei, he wound up finding that Masayoshi was the only one to be found anywhere around. The teen was standing alone in the center of the plaza, the tree behind him.
“There you are! I was starting to wonder if you were gonna come, or not,” Masayoshi admitted, waving a little.
“.....I wouldn’t have come if I knew you were the guy who wanted to meet me here. I thought that.....I thought something else,” Connor stopped at the top of the steps, ready to turn around and leave.
“Hey, don’t be so mean about it. I’ve called you here for a good reason.”
“What, about Freckles?”
“Well, indirectly, yeah, but that’s not what we need to be concerned with, at the moment.....” Masayoshi trailed off, spinning his quill around in-between his fingers so that it appeared to be more of a blur than a solid object.
“Then we have nothing to talk about. I have more important things to do,” Connor turned his back to the odd teen, and started the descent down the stairs.
“Like switch pillows with your student?”
The man in black nearly missed the next step, but managed to keep himself from falling down the stairs, “How did-”
“You don’t think that’s a little.....you know, creepy?” Masayoshi asked airily, swaying from side to side as though he were listening to music.
“I think it’s creepy that you know what I was doing.....who the hell are you?” Connor turned around, and stepped back to the top of the stairs.
“Well.....that’s a fun question, but one that I don’t think I’m gonna answer, today.”
“Then how did you know what I was going to do?”
“A little help from my book, and nothing’s impossible!” Masayoshi grinned, opening up his black leather book to show Negi’s aid.
Connor watched as bright blue lights etched across the pages like a spider’s web, forming runes and circles which vanished as soon as they appeared, “You’re a.....you? You know magic?”
“Geez, sound a little more surprised, I still have some pride,” Masayoshi laughed, still swaying to a tune only he could hear.
“Fine. So what do you want?”
“Actually, it’s kinda funny, I’m gonna kick the crap out of you.”
Connor raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
Masayoshi nodded a little bit, “Yeah.”
“You’re right, that IS funny. Kid, you couldn’t kick the crap out of a soggy diaper. Do yourself a favor and go profess your love to Freckles,” Connor shook his head, turning to leave for the second time.
Masayoshi tore a page out of his book and slapped it to the ground.
BANG. Connor stumbled back, tripping as his heel collided with a step, and fell to a sitting position. He rubbed his sore nose, “What the hell?” He reached out, placing his hand on an invisible wall. It was cold to the touch, but his hand never grew numb or uncomfortable. It was magic, that was easy enough to tell.
“I’ve just sealed us both in the plaza. You aren’t going anywhere, Connor-sensei,” Masayoshi said tauntingly, resuming his swaying.
“Don’t call me that,” Connor muttered, brushing himself off as he stood up, “So what the hell’s going on? Why couldn’t I tell you had that kind of power? I didn’t even know you were a mage, at all.....”
“Just like your magic is different from others, so is mine. ‘Course, mine never killed anyone on accident.....”
Connor released the glamour hiding his sword, and reached over his shoulder to pull it free from its sheath, “Wrong thing to say, jack-ass,” He growled, stomping towards his now prey.
Masayoshi waved his hands in front of him, “Think of Natsumi-chan! I didn’t mean anything by it, seriously!”
Connor spun his sword around once so that the blunt edge was facing out, “Good point, I’d better not kill you.”
Masayoshi laughed as he hopped back to keep a safe distance between the two, “Alright, alright, let’s hurry and do this so I can finish my job!” The teen tore another page out of his book, which had shiny blue ink snaking through it like wildfire, now. He slapped the page down to the stone beneath his feet, bubbles shooting up out of the page as though it were a portal.
Connor paused to watch the bubbles float around for a moment. The entire plaza was filled with them, drifting along pleasantly through the air, “What the hell? You gonna cute me to death?”
“Something like that,” Was the calm response given. Masayoshi raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
He didn’t realize it at the time, but none of the bubbles had come close to their creator. Instead, they were clustered more around himself. At the sound of Masayoshi’s snapping fingers, the bubbles all simultaneously exploded, engulfing the surprised aid in a maelstrom of shockwaves and fire.
Masayoshi didn’t wait for the dust to settle. Tearing out another page, he used his quill to scribble out a homemade spell, which he threw into the air.
With a groan, Connor rose to his feet. Exploding bubbles.....not one he had ever thought of, that was for sure. He now regretted the soggy diaper comment, which he now knew was pretty far off. He heard a strange sound.....coming from above? He thrust an arm up to the sky, a blast of air powering through the dust to clear his vision. It was when he could see that he realized he should have been using his time to get out of the way. Neon blue streaks of light zipped through the air, whistling as they went, coming at him at an angle from the sky.
Masayoshi cringed a little as the beams of energy crashed down all around the man in the coat, decimating the ground around him and swallowing him up in its strength, “I hope he’s not dead.....I heard he was pretty tough, but I guess not.....”
A torrent of fire lashed out from the debris, catching the teen off guard. He barely managed to raise his book and flip it open, swallowing up the length of fire as it came at him. Connor dashed out through the dust, sword low to the ground as he charged his enemy.
Masayoshi lifted his foot to avoid a sweeping kick, then sidestepped as the sword rose up from the ground in a vertical slice. Connor swung up from his sweeping kick, following it with a roundhouse, driving the heel of his boot into the teen’s cheek.
Clutching his book as he went, Masayoshi, propelled by the kick, was sent back several feet before he landed on his back with a thud. From his position on the ground, he scribbled a symbol onto the ground beside him, which he tapped with his quill.
The ground beneath Connor shot up into a pillar, throwing him high into the air. He flipped so he would land on his feet, but a length of stone from the pillar bust loose, flying into his back and knocking him off course. He fell the rest of the way, landing hard on his side.
“Ugh.....you son of a bitch.....” Connor grunted, sword in hand as he pushed himself back to his feet. Was he losing? It sure felt that way, at the moment.
“Hey, leave my mom out of this!” Masayoshi pointed his quill at his bruised enemy. He was bleeding a little from his mouth, but was otherwise alright.
Connor brought his sword up over his head, plunging it into the stone in front of him.
Masayoshi opened his mouth to speak, but was shut up before he could. The very night turned against him, the darkness becoming violent and the shadows taking on a life of their own. Color practically vanished as the void around him continued to grow, encircling and ensnaring him.
“One of the perks of being grey, kid,” Connor stated, watching his opponent look around in surprise at how the darkness was now playing sides, surrounding him with a black veil that was pulsating with malevolence. He was barely visible at all, “Is that when I have to, I can be black.”
Masayoshi was flung from his personal sphere of shadows, skidding along the stone ground for a few feet before grinding to a stop. His clothes were torn, and he was bleeding from several fresh cuts. Most were shallow, but a few looked deep enough that they might leave a mark.
“Ready to call it quits?” Connor asked, pulling his sword from the ground. He didn’t like to be cruel, but he had been hit enough times that it seemed alright for him to tap into something a little darker than normal.
“H-Ha, ha.....not yet,” Masayoshi muttered, slowly rising to his feet. He lifted his book back up to his eyes, scanning something in it before looking back up with a little grin, “See my book? It’s not just a normal magic book. It becomes whatever book the holder wants it to. Neat, huh?”
Connor shrugged, “Never was much for books, personally.”
“But it can be a kind of history book, too. Right now, I’m looking at our fight. I know everything that’s going to happen, and I come out on top,” Masayoshi grabbed a fistful of pages, jerking them out and throwing them up into the air, “You can’t fight fate, Teach!” The pages began to glow a bright blue as they floated around above him.
“There’s only one bastard who can preach to me about Fate,” Connor growled, thrusting his arm forward as the shimmering pages rocketed forth into neon streaks of magic, “And you’re not him!” A stream of fire burst from his palm, and the two attacks exploded in midair.
-
“‘Inform’ is more accurate,” Serac mumbled to himself, watching as Nodoka began to stir from her sleep.
The quiet girl slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking around. Where was she? What had happened?
“We are on a train bound for Osaka, and you were knocked unconscious as I approached you.”
Nodoka snapped to attention, staring at the man in a dark cloak in front of her, “Wh-Who a-are y-y-you?” She stammered so bad she could barely understand herself.
“You may call me Serac,” The man replied plainly, watching things pass through the window as they sped along. Wait.....the windows were frosted over, there was no way he could see outside, at all! Nodoka shivered as she realized just how could it was inside the compartment she found herself in.
“Wh-What’s going on? D-Did y-you kidnap me?”
Serac, still looking through the frosted window, replied, “I did not kidnap you, and I will do you no harm.” He snapped his fingers, but otherwise did nothing.
“S-So.....” She paused, realizing she was now under a warm quilt. It hadn’t been there a second ago.....had it? “.....What’s g-going on?”
“I am taking you to Osaka to meet someone. Someone who will change your life.”
“B-But I.....I like my life th-the way it is.....” Nodoka pulled the quilt up over his mouth as she spoke. The man in front of her was scary. She didn’t like men in general, but this one was terrifying. What she had felt before she blacked out.....it must have been him.
“While that may be true, it is not what you are destined for. Tonight will help you to see things more clearly,” The man replied quietly, still gazing through the glazed window.
“Are you a mage?” She up and asked, beginning to think that this man might be an enemy of Negi’s. Anyone as off-setting as this man was couldn’t possibly be a friend to the young man she loved so much.
“No. Nor am I a friend of the boy, as he has never even met me. I am an acquaintance of your.....gym teacher.”
“Connor-sensei?” She didn’t even ask how he knew that she was thinking of Negi.
“Yes. He and I share a long history together, though he prefers not to speak of it. You may ask him about me, when next you see him.”
The librarian sunk into her chair, summoning her artifact beneath the quilt. If Serac noticed this, he showed no signs of it, refusing to tear his eyes from the icy glass beside him, “S-Serac-san,” She whispered so quiet that it would have taken magic to hear her. The print on the book flickered to life, and words began to etch themselves across the pages.....
To benefit from this trip, you must be open with me and not resort to such crutches as mind reading.
She looked up from the book beneath the quilt, and nearly squealed in shock to find that Serac was now gazing at her, rather than the window, “If there is something you wish to know, then you have only to ask,” He muttered dryly, his tone and expression devoid of all emotion.
Shaking a little as she stared back into his listless eyes, she mumbled, “Y-Y-You’re n-not.....not a m-mage?”
“As I said before, no, I am not. Neither Connor, nor myself, are mages by your standards. The magic we use is of different origins, and is carried out dissimilarly to that of your own magic.”
“C-Connor-sensei uses magic, t-too?” Nodoka’s eyes grew a little wider as she heard this.
“Yes. He originally came to Mahora to help protect the people there, which is why he was assigned to assist the boy as an aid. Nearly everyone has seen that he is not particularly knowledgeable in the classroom, as he is quite under qualified for the position. He struggles with even writing Japanese.....”
“P-Protect us from what?” Nodoka found that she was gripping her book pretty tightly, her knuckles gone white.
“A demon. That situation has been temporarily remedied, however, and is not something that you need concern yourself with,” The Wanderer replied casually, using a finger to brush his bangs aside so their eyes could meet without anything in-between.
“H-How d-do you know Connor-sensei?” She wanted to continue to ask if they were friends, but couldn’t grasp the words long enough. Her voice seemed even weaker than it usually did, as though the cold air in the compartment were choking it right out of the space between them.
“We are.....acquaintances, not friends,” Serac skimmed her mind, picking up the questions that she couldn’t quite voice. He told her not to mind read, but there was no reason he shouldn’t, “As to how I know him.....I served as a guide, of sorts. Certain things needed to happen to keep Fate’s design intact, and I led him to these things.”
“.....Fate?”
“Yes. Understand that Fate is quite real, and I am the one who carries out her designs for this world, and every other. I am her enforcer, and that is why we are here, tonight.”
“I.....I don’t understand.....what does this have to do with me? Wh-Where do I fit into any of that?” Nodoka asked quietly, her eyes peeking up from behind the quilt she was trying to hide herself under.
“Allow me to explain it in a manner you can comprehend. You can grasp that there is more than one god,” Serac stated, though he was looking at her as though he wanted her to acknowledge a yes.
She nodded a little, waiting for the explanation.
“Fate is one of these gods. To help entertain themselves, the gods asked Fate to come up with a game for them. She happily accepted, and set about constructing life and her script. Once she was satisfied with her script, which took countless millennia for her to write, she set off innumerable sparks in the universe, like the shot of a gun before a race begins. The people of your world refer to this spark as the Big Bang.....”
“The planet and all of its surroundings gradually evolved into what we have today, with myself stepping in and correcting any evolutionary ‘mistakes’ that presented themselves. The dinosaurs come to mind, first and foremost. Many of the other mass extinctions occurred without my assistance, following Fate’s script to the last detail.....” Serac was talking in a low voice, but sounded like he needed to take a pause to yawn.
“A-Are you t-t-telling me that YOU k-killed the dinosaurs?” Nodoka sputtered, a shaky finger directed at the man sitting across from her.
“Disbelief is an unpleasant thing. Yes, I was responsible for that particular event. Soon, there will be enough science around that no one will ever suspect that any magic played a part in the matter, at all. In that sense, disbelief is a rather convenient thing.”
“B-But how can that be? Why would you have needed to fix anything if Fate wrote it? If she’s a god, then it should all be perfect.....but it’s not.....” Nodoka wondered aloud, though not too loud.
“A perfect god? Humorous,” He said that, but his face showed no signs of a smile at all, “That is why the Christians will never know peace, because they cannot accept that there is no such thing as perfect. They have to save everyone, whether it be through conversion or war. It is a battle that they will never win.....but they will never stop fighting for it.”
“I, too, am part of Fate’s design. If I were to put it in the simplest of terms, it would be akin to a play. Fate is the writer and ultimate creator. I would be the director, making sure that everything in the script happens the way it must to reveal her true design. Humans, as it is now, are the actors in the play, performing their roles for her. Free will is a lie contrived by men to make themselves feel powerful, though, ironically, it often has the opposite effect. They can never do other than what Fate has written for them, and as the director, I see to it that it stays that way. Lastly, the hosts of heaven and hell are the audience to this grand play. That is the simplest way it can be relayed to you, girl,” Serac returned to gazing through the window, though the frost only seemed to grow thicker.
Nodoka was watched him in silence for a few minutes, absorbing what she had just heard. It was very possible that this man was a lunatic, and that she was in serious danger. But when she thought back to the moments before she blacked out.....the raw power and darkness that had overwhelmed her sense and knocked her out, she found that she was able to believe what he was saying. But if such a man was in charge of running something like this, and there was no such thing as free will.....
“Now that you know, you know you can do no wrong. A liberating thought,” Serac interrupted her thoughts.
“.....I-It’s not.....now that you’ve told me all of that, I’m going to think about it when I make decisions.....so what I might do in the future will be different.....” Nodoka wondered, closing her eyes a little as she tried to think.
“It is so because it was meant to be so. I knew before you were even born that I would tell you this, and I know as a result of this conversation all of the objectively positive and negative effects you will bring about for the rest of your life. At any rate, Connor found not having any choices to be very liberating,” Serac mumbled as he began to draw a picture in the frost of the window.
“But we still have choices!” Nodoka exclaimed, standing up and letting the quilt fall to the floor, “You can’t expect me to just accept this as infallible, and follow you around like some dog on a leash!”
“I do not expect, I know. After tonight’s destined encounter, your life will be forever changed, as will the boy’s.”
Nodoka exhaled sharply as though Serac had just punched her in the stomach.
“Besides,” The Wanderer leaned back in his seat, having completed his doodle of what looked to be a baby, “I already have a dog on my leash that I am quite satisfied with.”
-
Connor groaned, sitting in the center of the decimated plaza. His back was resting up against Masayoshi’s, who was sitting in the same position, breathing just as hard.
“You’re pretty tough.....f-for a kid,” The man in black admitted with a cough.
“Y-Yeah.....right back atcha, man.....” Masayoshi replied, spitting out a little blood to the side.
“Why are we fighting.....again?”
“Because if I don’t get you out of h-here.....I’m gonna get in bi-i-i-ig trouble.”
“Wh-What? By who?”
“Ah, hell, might as well t-talk about it.....‘Cause I don’t feel like fighting, anymore.....I guess my book was wrong.....” Masayoshi grunted a little as he dropped the heavy black book beside him, patting it a couple of times as if to console it.
“M-Maybe not.....things might still wind up a-alright for you.....” Connor stated, glancing over his shoulder at Masayoshi, who returned the motion so that the two were almost eye to eye.
“Y-You offering to help?”
“Explain th-the situation.....” Connor swallowed, then coughed again, “And I’ll see what can be done.....”
-----Author’s other note: Sorry updates have been slow. I’m trying to finish my other story before I settle on this one, but there’s only one chapter left in the other, so updates should be getting more frequent, soon.
So the next chapter should resolve all of the things I’ve set up in this one and the last one. Nodoka will now be joining the cast of main characters, and she will be given a pretty nice-sized role after Serac’s planned encounter.
Speaking of Serac, for me using his name all over the place as my own is kind of off, because I don’t act like him, at all.....Oh, and before people decide that they want to bash him for being too strong, it should be noted that while he can do practically anything, he doesn’t unless it follows along with Fate’s script. He might have Connor on his leash, but he’s on Fate’s. He has to have other people do things of their own non-existent free will, which he does quite often.
Thanks for reading.....-----