This is another fic dedicated to my all-time favorite character in Negima, Evangeline McDowell. This is supposed to be an idea of what might be going on in Eva's mind when she is trapped in school and the Negima Club is off to the Magic World, or Mundus Magica.
Disclaimer: I do not own Negima or any of its characters.
Doll Master's Comfort
Dolls are wondrous things. They come in all shapes and sizes ranging from life sized stuffed animals, to inch tall figurines. Almost every child, regardless of gender will have at least one in his or her life. To children, dolls are toys that they play with when their bored, and to the really hardcore fans, they are even collectible items. To the makers, the dolls were not just toys for children to play with, they were even works of art, each one carefully crafted and sculpted to perfection.
But to a certain young girl, dolls were so much more than just toys.
The young girl was Evangeline A.K. McDowell, a middle school student at the all girls school of Mahora.
If that name did not ring a bell, it should have.
Perhaps you might be familiar with one of her aliases, the Dark Evangel, or Maga Nosferatu, or even perhaps the Doll Master?
I suppose now you would recognize her name? Yes, the same feared vampire for over six centuries was now stuck as a schoolgirl.
When the students enter middle school of Mahora, they all reside in dorms. Class 3-A for example reside on the sixth floor of the middle school dorm building. Eva and her classmate, as well as servant, Chachamaru, were the only two students who did not reside in the dorms on campus.
Instead the two lived in a quaint little log cabin style house a little ways off campus. On the outside it looked like it didn't really fit in with the rest of the campus, with its brick and stone buildings and European-style architecture. No, Eva's house looked more as if it belonged in some forest as a retreat for mountain or forest hikers. The inside however was in stark contrast to the exterior. It was very well furnished with several antique style chairs and tables, and those too in turn, were also covered with endless dolls and puppets.
In some respect, the house reflected the only non-artificial being who called it home. Eva may very well appear as a middle school student, to be more specific, a middle school student who looked more like she belonged in elementary instead. But despite her child-like appearance, delicate facial features and slender body, it was merely a facade that masked the interior. She was considered downright rotten, twisted and evil on the inside, again in contrast with her outside appearance.
If you walked by her house in the evenings, and be brave enough to take a peak in one of the windows, you might see a little ten-year-old girl sitting at the table with several dolls sitting in the surrounding chairs. You might see Chachamaru, serving tea to the little girl, complete with maid outfit and tea tray and the little girl pouring tea for her dolls. Then you might say, aww, this is cute, a little girl having a tea party with her dolls. Nothing too much out of the ordinary.
But dolls were not toys to the Doll Master. No, she was called the Doll or Puppet Master because of her ability to control people using invisible strings and manipulate them like animated puppets, hence the name. Evangeline kept dolls around because they were her closest friends. She liked dolls and puppets because she could control them, and not be hurt by them in return.
There was one doll which Eva held in high regard, and that was a pink, rabbit-like doll that she named 'Genevieve.'
That doll was not just Eva's closest friend but it was also her only source of comfort. She could be seen with it every night, and Chachamaru has seen her Master clutching it close to her body.
Because she was a shinso, or Daywalker, she could not be harmed by any physical means such as knifes or guns. If you did, well, she would just transform herself into a bunch of bats, reform her body behind you and probably kill you.
But it wasn't the physical pain that plagued the little vampire, it was the emotional one.
Evangeline had been through more in her long life and more experiences that would have left anyone devastated.
Her classmates viewed her as antisocial, grumpy and of course, mean. That is true but for the wrong reasons. Eva was afraid to make friends, especially ones that walk on their own. Heck she was reluctant to open up to anyone even to Chachamaru and Chachazero.
Eva was constantly plagued by paranoia, and the thought that if she ever became too emotionally attached to anyone, they would just leave her, or betray her in the end.
All the people whom she was close with, or had a good relationship with, all ended up destroyed in a spectacular fashion.
Back when she was still powerful and half the world trembled in her shadow, she had a few vampires friends whom she considered her close allies at one point or another.
There was one vampire called Vancuria, whom the Dark Evangel liked and considered an ally. But little did Eva know, Vancuria had been jealous of Eva for being the ruler of vampires. If she defeated the feared High Daywalker Evangeline, she would be number one.
In the end, even her friend, her own kind, betrayed her. Evangeline killed her without hesitation.
Heck even her own parents tried to kill her. Several years after she became a vampire she decided to visit her old home where her parents still lived during Christmas. Then on Christmas day, she received a stab with a long knife through the stomach by her own father as a Christmas present.
She didn't kill him, but she ran off one more time and never came back to the castle. To this day, her room has remained empty, weathered somewhat with age, the air was heavy and stale in her room. Nobody ever set foot in it, too many sad memories, and out of fear that it was still haunted by the little girl.
Her big fascination with dolls and puppets really came about in the late nineteenth century during the Victorian Era. It had been one of the more peaceful times for the little vampire, and she decided to take it a little easy. She could often be seen wearing a frilly dress with ruffles, bows and ribbons and carrying a parasol. She would walk by a shop that had dolls and antiques on display. In addition, there were several pieces of handcrafted wooden toys and furniture.
The master craftsman, who specialized in making dolls, had an apprentice to help him out and watch the shop. He would see that little girl every day, and she would walk in the shop and have a look around. Occasionally she would pick out a puppet or doll she liked and asked to buy it. It seemed a little odd that she was walking around by herself without her parents. He assumed that her parents trusted her to take care of herself of had some business to attend to in the shop next door.
One day he asked if she would like to watch the Master Craftsman work, and see how dolls were made. She gladly accepted and followed the young apprentice to the workroom in the back of the shop. The apprentice offered the little girl a tall stool and she would sit and watch the Master work the wood with well practiced motions and weathered hands. Sometimes she would stay for only for a few minutes and leave. Other times she would sit for hours until he decided to take a break.
For a while Eva was very content with her more quiet and less exciting life. Compared to what she normally went through, this was a welcomed break. But sadly, with almost everything in her life, it was not meant to be.
One day she walked to the shop to find that it was closed. She waited a while, and the apprentice showed up a little later panting and out of breath. Inside the work room, the Master was found dead in a pool of blood. Eva resisted the urge to drink the blood and asked what happened. The apprentice told her that the other day, the Master got in a heated argument with a customer about an order for an expensive doll. There was some confusion about the way it was made and its price. When the Master refused, the customer stormed off.
Eva was furious. More furious than she had been in a long time. Her blood started to boil, she could feel it. Without a second's thought, she dashed out of the shop, ran down the street to a nearby pub and demanded to know who killed the doll maker.
In a fit or rage, and anyone who even knew the little vampire's rage and lived to tell the tale would know that when Eva was in rage mode, she was nearly impossible to stop.
She killed dozens of people that day, and when she finally found the man responsible for the doll maker's death, she tortured him, drained him of his blood, sliced his body up, and hung the pieces with rope from the clock tower in the middle of town.
The most recent of course was her encounter with the Thousand Master, Nagi Springfield. He was the first person in a long time whom she had poured her heart out to, and the first whom she actually loved. She chased after him much like a child would follow their parents but after a little trick from the Nagi, he ended up trapping her at Mahora where she still resides fifteen years later. He had promised her that he would be back to set her free but he never showed up.
Eva tried to do what the Thousand Master said and tried living the life of an ordinary schoolgirl. After getting over the initial sadness, she started to get used to school life, something she wasn't able to do for centuries. For the first few years she was one of the top students in her class, she actively participated in school activities and clubs and even entered the annual Mahora Martial Arts Tournament. She would claim the top place for five years straight.
However, Eva still found it very hard, impossible even to open herself up to anyone, even the teachers. The only person she was on good terms with was Professor Takahata. He had just recently started teaching a few years after Eva enrolled. He was also one of the few people who knew about Eva's true nature. Nagi had told Takahata to not to watch out for her, but to watch over her.
Nagi explained that Eva had no family or relatives and that she was to stay in Mahora until he got back. Over the years, Takahata had in a sense became Eva's guardian, even though he didn't see himself as such.
Eva thought that after five years, and her graduation was close at hand, she would be able to see the Thousand Master again, he would free her from her entrapment spell, and she would be back to living her life in darkness. Alas, that was not to be, because Evangeline overheard a conversation with Professor Takahata and Dean Konoe. She had heard something about the Thousand Master dying recently and that his son was bing looked after by his cousin.
Takahata was worried about the little vampire, not because she couldn't take care of herself, that was not a problem, but that he was concerned that she would do something drastic, either to others or to herself.
That was one of the darkness moments for the little vampire mage. She wandered through the halls staring blankly and not paying attention to what people were saying. She felt she was in a dream, and that dream had ran out of hope.
After all this time, when she tried to be a good student, tried to live in the light, her tiny ray of hope had finally been snuffed out.
She kept walking. To where she didn't know, and she didn't care. She now knew that it would take a miracle for her to break out of the school.
That miracle came when Negi, the son of the Thousand Master, arrived at Mahora. The two dueled, and if Eva won, she would get his blood and be freed. Against all odds, Negi beat Eva, although in an odd way, and once again, that miracle was gone. She still didn't really brighten up. Well, she did for a brief amount of time when she was sucking his magic-rich blood. But after summer rolled around and most of the class had gone on their own vacations, Eva was once again stuck at the school, this time without Negi or Chachamaru. When Negi came back, most likely he would continue being a Magister Magi, and leave her.
She was even jealous of her apprentice in some ways. She once teamed up with Asuna and teased him in his sleep, making him mutter something about his sister Nekane. But the fact remained that he would still be looked after by someone in the years to come, he would still be surrounded by the people who loved him. Although she, Asuna and Negi were technically orphans, Asuna and Negi had people looking after them. Eva however, did not.
She got back home and once again took comfort in her dolls in her little cabin. She ran upstairs and fell onto her rather large bed. She pulled Genevieve from its place on the shelf and pulled it close to her small body, cuddling close to its softness with both of her small hands.
As she cried herself to sleep, she thought back on her long life and what did it all come down to. Now the only thing she had left was her dolls, a bit of magic and her name. She clutched her doll even tighter as she thought just how sad her life had become.
After all, it was the only comfort the Doll Master had left.
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