Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ When Light Descends to Madness ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

When Light Descends to Madness

Chapter 3

“Albireo-san,” Negi greeted happily, but before he could get within a meter of him Negi was lifted into the air. “Wha…” he began but that quickly turned into a, “Waaaaaaaaaa,” when he was spun around in a circle. He hung upside-down as if a hook had caught his leg and was taking him on a trip around the world.

“Negi-kun!” Ako shouted in horror. Wasn't this man supposed to be an ally?

Negi, still spinning in the air, yelled, “IIIIIII'mmmmm soooooorrryyyyyy, Kuuuuuuuuu:neeeeeeeelllll-saaaaaannnnn!”

Albireo Imma's perpetual smile grew slightly wider. With a snap of his fingers, Negi fell back onto solid ground. Still disoriented, Negi stammered out, “S-Sorry, f-forgot… fake name… alias… ugh…”

“Negi,” Ako said and rushed over to him.

Yue, Nodoka, and Asuna shared a look and sighed, but Eva took the initiative. She crossed her arms and frowned her displeasure, telling Al, “I don't appreciate you manhandling my servant.” Flashing her sharp nails and giving him a good look of her teeth, she added, “Would you like to donate some blood as compensation?”

“Now, now, Kitty, since you've come calling, I bet that means you want your milk and cookies too. Don't worry about making a mess, I have plenty choice… pieces of clothing for you to change into.” His eye gleamed, ominously.

For his trouble, he got a blast of magic in his face, but to Eva's immense frustration, the magic went through his body without even giving it a scratch. “Playing with illusions again,” she glared.

Said illusion took a second to rectify itself before giving a show of dusting off its robes and replying, “Now, now, little Kat, don't be so hasty. Save your love for the real me.” Evangeline merely snarled.

“Who's that?” Ako asked Asuna quietly.

“All you need to know is that he's old and he's a perv,” Asuna hissed back. “Typical old man type.”

“Old…? But he doesn't look a day over twenty! Or twenty-five…”

Noticing the exchange and the look of consternation on Ako's face, he gave her a wide smile and explained.

“I know how people act,” he said, hinting ever so slightly with a glance at who exactly he knew so well. “So naturally, I simply took the necessary precautions. I assure you my real self is inside... somewhere."

“Don't forget yourself,” Eva warned, “Literally. It's not fun when you forget where you've left your body, trust me.”

"I'll be sure not to, unlike a certain kitty Kat.” Then, he raised his arms in welcome. “All of you, please, come inside." And with that, he disappeared, leaving the way in for the group to traverse.

As they entered through the giant doors, Ako gave an appreciative, “Waaa…”

Even though Negi and the others had been there on previous occasion, the sight of Albireo's living quarters left them as speechless as when they had first come. The immense tower loomed above them while mist drifted up from the sheer drops on either side of the rocky path.

Last time we were here, Setsuna-san and Konoka-san were with us too, Negi thought downheartedly. But no, no, don't think about that now. First, we have to find out what exactly happened, and to do that, we first need to find the Hakurei Shrine.

“Welcome, welcome,” Al greeted from atop a tall stack of books. The unsteady tower shifted left and right but for some reason, the man managed to stay still. When he looked closer, Negi realized that Al's body did not touch the books. He was floating in midair.

“Ah, that's right. Here, catch.” A book slipped out from the stack without disrupting the balance and shot towards Negi, who caught it with one hand. “This is what you're here for, right?”

Negi flipped the book over and looked at the title. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was reading it right. Then, he blanched. “Reaching a Satisfying Climax...” he read out loud. Every female in the room suddenly looked in his direction with faces tinged, although Eva immediately snapped back towards Al with a glare. The no longer oblivious Negi quickly finished the text. “...in Writing Stories!” That brought many sighs of relief, and one sigh of disappointment from Eva.

“Tch, all of you are still much too soft.”

“Ku:nel-san, this unfortunately isn't what I'm looking for.” Negi spoke kindly but directly to the floating man before him, snapping the book shut. “I need something... that tells me of the Hakurei Shrine.”

“Hakurei Shrine?” Al's eyes lit up in curiosity. “And why would you need a book on that?”

“You haven't been paying any attention to the chaos upstairs, have you?” Evangeline sneered. “Then again, knowing you, you probably have and just want to lead bouya to his own logical conclusions.”

“It's more fun that way,” the mysterious and playful man smiled. “I hear our little Konoe princess has fallen to a bout of evil. Justified evil, but evil nonetheless.”

“Our question is why,” Yue said, her face serious. “We're not sure how she even managed to murder several high level mages in cold blood, let alone if it was justified. And with her newfound seat, what is she aiming to do next?”

Figuring Al would taunt Negi with the question, the boy smoothly added, “The only clue she gave me about her changed personality was her word upon a honeymoon at the Hakurei Shrine. We all figured more information would be down here, or perhaps with you.”

“…”

Negi waited in response. Finally, Al snapped a finger and a slim book, a faded scarlet color, slipped out from the stack of books and landed in his hand. Al's expression hadn't changed, but obviously, he had come to a decision. The book made a second trip, out of Al's hand and into Negi's.

“Here you go, Negi-kun. That's what you'll need to get to Gensokyo.”

“Thank you,” the boy bowed, but something seemed wrong. “Wait, what's Gensokyo?”

Al gasped in mock surprise. “Why, that's the place the Hakurei Shrine leads to, didn't you know?”

Al phrased the question as if that gem of knowledge should be as common as life itself.

“Honestly... no,” Negi admitted, earning a laugh from the librarian.

“Still the same as ever. I guess it's true that age can't change the simple.”

“Hey!”

“Negi's smarter than a perverted old man like you,” Asuna defended her friend, jabbing a finger towards the man.

“Sorry, sorry,” Al gestured dramatically, not in the least apologetic. “To show my sincerity, I'll give you a nice tidbit as apology.”

“You're never sincere, two-faced magician,” Eva snapped.

“Why thank you, kitty Kat.”

“I'm listening,” Negi interrupted the exchange.

Yue and Nodoka perked up, the latter taking out a little notebook like a student would in class. Ako just looked on as confused as ever.

“This is hardly a lecture,” Al began, “but it is a story about an instance that happened a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.”

Eva groaned. “Save the drama and spill.”

“Well, maybe it wasn't all that long ago, but it was in a galaxy far, far away. This place counts; it's a separate dimension, after all.”

“You're stretching it,” Yue told him bluntly.

Al shrugged. “Children these days… Anyways, as I was saying, not that long ago, here, someone else came knocking on my door trying to find exactly what I just gave you.”

“Really, who?” Ako asked, her head tilted in confusion.

“Hmm, long black hair, fit body, holds herself well with dignity… does Cygnus ring a bell?”

They looked at each other. “Nope.”

“Didn't think so. Her name was… Akira Ookouchi, I think.”

“Akira-san? Why her?” Nodoka asked aloud.

“That's for you to find out later. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm actually quite busy pondering life.” Al casually floated back. Only the most keen of eyes could detect that he was gathering magic power for a simple spell, so only Evangeline raised her eyebrows as Al finished, “Either way, I'm not as busy as you save-the-world type of people. And I'm pretty sure the lackeys a few levels above will be here soon to make leaving a tedious and boring task. Note, I didn't say hard.”

He laughed and waved, “Bye-bye.”

For some strange reason, everyone felt the need to blink at that instant - Chachamaru included - and, literally, a blink later, they found themselves outside Al's abode and back in the chamber of the wyvern.

Al's fading laughter was accented by the booming shut of the great portals. The sudden silence they were left in was punctuated only by the deep, guttural snores of the slumbering wyvern.

As one, the group crowded around Negi and the book Al had lent him. The boy took a deep breath, and opened the slim book's cover.

At first, he couldn't make out what he was looking at, but then Nodoka spotted the page's bent corner and tugged. With a dim rustling, the book expanded into a large map.

“This is… Japan,” Asuna exclaimed.

“Why thanks for stating the obvious,” Eva sighed.

Chachamaru scanned the map with a faint beam from her eyes and said, “My archives show that this map dates back to approximately one-hundred and twenty years ago.”

“One hundred and twenty years...?” Ako blinked. She herself examined the map closely. “It does look that old...”

“Hey, Eva-san.” Negi turned to the vampire. “Do you remember anything happening here that far back?”

“I wasn't around here that far back, you fools,” Eva snapped at the rest of the group, even causing Ako to reel back a bit. However, she thought for a moment and all eyes turned to her. “Politics in the magic and youkai world spreads quite fast though. If I remember correctly, Japan was never as fast as catching up with the magic world as the western nations were, and a lot of youkai were getting weak around that time. Something about faith running weak in Japan. They were having talks about creating their own dimension,” The blond vampire gave a fanged smirk just thinking about it. “An old acquaintance of mine wanted to see what the fuss was about, so she moved over there. Guessing by the fact that I never heard from her again, must've been a success. Don't know much beyond that.”

“I see,” Yue said, as she and Nodoka scribbled down notes on the subject. “So this Gensokyo is a dimension full of youkai?”

“I don't bloody know; that's why we're going to find out!” Eva folded her arms. “Who knows, maybe our princess got possessed or nearly eaten by whatever's in Gensokyo.”

“I'm completely lost,” Ako moaned.

Negi massaged her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. “Don't worry, I'll explain things along the way.”

“Everyone, we should probably leave now,” Chachamaru advised. “Signs indicate Ako-san's medicine will wear off this creature soon. And there is still the possibility of having a 'tedious and boring' conflict with the mages upstairs.”

“In that case, let's get moving...” Negi said. “To Gensokyo.”

xxxx

"Is this the right area?" Asuna sighed. The small group of seven found themselves deep within a mountainous region, with untamed nature as far as the eye could see. “Ugh, we've been at this for hours!”

“What are you talking about? We've only been walking for the past forty-five minutes. We spent most of our search in flight,” Ako answered, somewhat confused with Asuna's exasperation, as she believed the redhead was far more fit than her.

“Oh you shut up.”

“Hush children, I'm pretty sure we're close,” Yue admonished. She glanced about her surroundings, then added, “Just to make sure though... Nodoka, could you hand me the book?”

Nodoka dug said book out of her backpack and easily pulled it out. She handed it to Yue. The shorter girl immediately opened up the map and scanned to check for a comparison for their current surroundings. Without warning, her finger suddenly stopped near the edge of the book. “Wait a minute...”

“Huh? What's wrong, Yue-san?” Negi asked, noticing her confusion. Even Eva raised her eyebrow at her tone.

“Negi...” Yue said, guiding her finger to a point. “This book has been tampered with. A second map was supposed to be here, but it's gone!”

“Gone?!” He exclaimed.

“Didn't Akira-san have this book before we did?” Nodoka asked. “Would she have the other part of this map?”

“I doubt it...” Negi answered. “This map of Japan is complete, whatever she ripped out, even if she did so, has nothing to do with the map here,” Deep in thought, Negi sat down on the ground, face contorted into consternation. Yue and Nodoka as well ran their minds on the next course of action.

“Hey, we might as well take a rest,” Asuna said as she saw everyone's serious expressions. Most everyone silently agreed and sat down along with Negi, although Eva was simply content sitting on top of a rock. Chachamaru saw no need to sit at all.

Ako, however, was not content to sit in silence. The girl whispered “Adeat,” and with a flash of light, summoned her syringe-like guitar. She began strumming a soft, easygoing melody. The soothing melody seemed to burn away any tiredness the group had—even Chachamaru perked up at it.

Negi smiled. Music soothed his heart, no matter what emotions he was going through. Ako's natural talent flourished when they had begun earnest dating, even before magic had been involved in her instruments. Her voice had improved as well. It moved him enough for him to twirl a finger in the air like a conductor's baton. Ako smiled upon seeing it, and the others traded confused looks before dismissing it as a sign that only two lovers could understand.

“Hey, Izumi,” Eva called suddenly.

“Hmm?” The girl continued strumming.

“You should stop playing.”

“Why?”

Negi flipped up to a standing position; he had to hear this. If it wasn't a good reason, he felt that he would throw logic out the window and fight the vampire girl right then and there.

“Your music is too good, you idiot, especially to youkai ears,” Evangeline gave a toothy smirk. “But I guess it's too late now. Everyone else better get ready to fight like bouya is over here.” Evangeline's hand began to shimmer with an icy power.

Everyone else blinked in confusion a bit. However, they suddenly picked up the faint sound of buzzing wings, almost like over-sized insects.

“Huh...?” Negi looked up to see a small face peer from the treetops. Then another appeared. And another. And another. Soon, several girls... no, fairies emerged from the trees and surrounding areas and began to swarm all around the seven of them. “Ummm...”

“These guys look... bigger,” Asuna noted. Most fey she saw in the few books she bothered reading about magic were barely larger than both of her hands. These fairies had the appearance of eight to nine year old children. “Are they from the magic world?”

“Doesn't look like it, they're much too big,” Nodoka breathed. “They aren't...doing anything, so maybe we shouldn't provoke them...”

A sharp western wind blew as nobody, human, vampire, nor fairy moved. Fearful (and one pair of battle-ready and battle-lust) eyes met curious ones.

It was all ruined when Negi sneezed.

“Attack!” The fairies cried. And like that, fierce bursts of magic immediately shot towards them.

The attack caught the mages by surprise, as used as they were to incantations. Only Asuna's quick reflexes saved them from being wounded or worse. As if from thin air, she summoned her blade. The giant sword cleaved an arcing path through the air, nullifying the stream of magic. Magic, no matter what kind of magic it was, faltered against the might of magic-canceling.

“What was that?” Nodoka exclaimed over several explosions. Those magic bolts deflected rather than dissipated created a cloud of dust around the edge of the clearing.

“Less talking, more fighting,” Eva interjected, cutting off any reply. Never a hypocrite (when it didn't give her an advantage), Eva leapt into battle. Actually, she only stood, but Chachamaru performed the leaping for her. With a flare of boosters, she literally rammed into the crowd of fairies with explosive impact.

“Lic Lac La Lac Lilac,” Eva began, the unlocking spell coming out more as laughter than words.

By the time she had finished the phrase, the conflict had become a full-on battle. Asuna leapt into the fray with her characteristic lack of thought. Negi followed suit, but first, turned to Yue and Nodoka. “Please take care of Ako,” he asked them before unlocking his own magic and joining Asuna in the fray.

But before anyone had a chance to do anything, the fairies once again launched an offensive wave of magic. They flew in swarms in the air, summoning magic with scarcely any thought for the supposed law of channeling magic through words. Instead, they fired of a bolt of bright light every few seconds.

The three forward fighters were hard pressed to move forward with the magic raining upon them. Eva also found little time to start her spells with the need to flick away magic every few seconds. They couldn't hurt her, but they tickled worse than feathers.

Negi found an opening in the maze of spells and began to speed cast a simple Sagitta Magica spell, but the moment the magic formed around him the fairies concentrated their attacks on him. As if in a panic, the spaces in between magic bolts suddenly grew much narrower.

Then, suddenly, the attacks faltered. Music flowed through the mountains, the same soft and calming melody as before. Ako had successfully eased the fairies' onslaught.

In the sudden lull, two voices spoke strongly in unison, “Spirits of Light. Sagitta Magica, Series Lucis! Thirty-seven arrows of light!”

Yue and Nodoka released the gathering of bright orbs around them into a radiant explosion of lines. The fairies cried out in fright, the effect of the music broken by the sudden existence of magic, and fled from the onslaught. In less than a moment, they had all disappeared.

An unsettling silence returned to the group as the mountain's calm reigned once more. That is, until Asuna spoke again. “Geez, what was with those fairies?!” She looked beyond a now broken tree to see an old stone walkway below. “Eh? Ain't that...”

Yue stepped up and looked below. “Yes, that's the path to the Hakurei Shrine! Everyone, let's go!”

Chachamaru did a quick sweep with her eye sensors first. “Be careful, high magic signatures have been detected.”

As everyone mobilized down the slight hill towards the path, Ako had noticed Negi hadn't moved since the fighting stopped. “Negi?” She tilted her head in confusion, seeing the boy still there buried in apparent thought.

There's something strange going on, Negi thought. It should be impossible to cast a spell without an incantation, spoken or not. It should take at least a few seconds to finish even the simplest spell, but the fairies launched their magic at a moment's notice.

“Negi?” Ako asked, her face close.

“Ah!” Negi flinched backward, but the two remained in close proximity. While already a couple, they were still romantically shy, hence their faces grew red as they locked eyes. Almost as if there were magnets between the two, they drew their faces in closer...

“Hey, you lovestruck morons!” Evangeline shouted from the distance, startling both out of their romantic stalemate. “Hurry up!” The irate vampire stomped off with the rest of the group.

Negi and Ako exchanged looks and sighed before pursuing the rest of the group.

xxxx

The Hakurei shrine, empty and abandoned, stood impassively before the seven adventurers. Despite the lack of attention and the surrounding nature, it looked much like an untouched relic from days of old. Negi, the last to step in, looked at the others. “So this is the Hakurei Shrine... I wonder if any clue about Konoka-san and Setsuna-san is here.”

“Anything here in this dump?” Evangeline asked, clearly not impressed with the desolate shrine. “Hah, not likely.”

Despite this, they began to search. Nodoka peered through what looked like a kitchen, seeing no signs of recent activity. Yue found an interesting book, but when she went to investigate it, she got a face full of dust and a free sneeze for her efforts.

It was only a hunch, but Negi definitely felt the former presence of Konoka and Setsuna. “I know it... they were here,” he whispered. “My best guess is that they were on the run, and this place happened to be the only hidden refuge they could find,” something caught his eye. There, laying on the ground, was a single feather. Negi walked over to it and picked it up. “Yes, they were definitely here.”

“Is that a feather from Setsuna?” Asuna blinked.

“Looks like it,” Negi answered. But upon closer examination, Negi could feel a dark energy, almost feeling akin to a pure dread.

At once the room began to fade out of existence, and darkness opened up below the group.

“Geh?! This was a trap?!” Evangeline gasped in surprise.

In this strange darkness, where evil eyes drifted like lazy swimmers in a pool of darkness, the group suddenly found themselves not just pulled in but pulled apart from each other.

“Negi!” Ako and Asuna cried in unison.

“Negi-sensei!” Nodoka shouted.

Negi let out a determined cry as he tried to get back towards his former students. Unfortunately, he only successfully grabbed Ako's hand as the winds grew powerful. From that point, there was only screaming and swirling as they fell, slowly into darkness.

In the outside world, the gap that swallowed our heroes disappeared, leaving no trace of their visit to be seen.

xxx

Negi came to as he emerged from a great darkness.

Rising slowly, he found himself... still in the Hakurei Shrine. Or at least right outside the actual shrine. Seeing a recovering Ako by his side, he mentally sighed in relief. Perhaps it was only a weird dream, or a vision. However, a look around told him otherwise; for one thing, the only other person there was Asuna, and she looked mighty nervous.

“Negi... we're a few heads short.” Fear edged its way into her voice.

“What?” Negi looked around in confusion. “How?”

He also noticed a few things very different from the Hakurei Shrine they came upon. For one thing, it looked much cleaner and far better kept. It also showed recent signs of activity.

“Negi...?” Ako looked at the boy, still dazed from the unplanned trip.

“Ako-chan, be weary... something's wrong,” Negi issued a weary warning.

“Wrong, you say?” A voice chimed. As the three looked around in confusion, the voice merrily continued. “But having guests after so long isn't a wrong thing, is it?”

They then looked up to see something appear out of thin air—a paper fan. A paper fan cut through thin air and formed a gap composed of the very same darkness that had dragged them in earlier! From that darkness emerged a woman armed with a fair face, a purple dress, a frilly umbrella, a poofy hat, and a wicked smile. Her long, blond hair fell to the small of her back, and had quite a few ribbons tied in as well. “Having guests from the outside world is fun.”

“That darkness...” Negi began. “Was that your doing?”

“What if it was?” she countered, smile still on her face. “What would you do about it?”

Seeing Negi clench his fist in response, she simply waved off his anger. Her smile became slightly more pleasant. “My, my, don't get so heated. We were about to have a feast!”

“A... feast?” Asuna's interest was piqued.

“I don't see anyone else yet...” Ako added, taking a look around.

“Ah...” The woman sighed. “That would be because you are the feast.” Amidst the surprise that exploded onto Negi and friends' faces, the woman's wicked grin returned.

“Welcome to Gensokyo, land of the Youkai, and you are our meal.”

-X-

(This is where the Touhou comes in! Ahahaha, alas Seraph's busy again so I'm alone in author's notes. Don't expect an update next weekend as school is starting and we have to catch up in other projects (dodges multiple strings of curses and tomatoes for the cliffhanger) geez, we're sorry!)