Butterfly Paradox:
A/N: I'm surprised by the lack of Chao fics on this site, and after reading DC's Infinite Crisis at a friend's house (he fairly shoved it in my face when I told him I'd only read Marvel stuff up to that point), the idea of a multiverse of "could-be's" jumped at me like... a jumping thing. Hopefully, this'll be enjoyable for all parties involved. :P
Prologue:
Journal of Chao Lingshen, Entry #1; Three Days Post Festival (PF):
Since time immemorial, when confronted with the unknown, mankind has gauged the best way forward with a single, simple phrase: "What's the worst that could happen?"
Shattering the balance of time and space was an outcome never considered, even by me.
Taking a pause, Chao Lingshen tapped her pen against the table. She'd resolved to keep a journal of the events that were going on, if only for the sake of trying to keep track of what her life had become. Considering what that was, exactly, it was proving to be a more challenging task than she had first envisioned. Tentatively, she continued.
Three days ago, Negi Springfield, my ancestor, defeated me. My attempt to change the past failed, but I gained a new direction in life, and resolved to return to my time and change it in the present. There were... complications. There was always a chance of the unexpected happening, an unknown factor dominating the rather fragile process she used to travel through time. The magic of the World Tree, and, in most delicious irony, the contents of the wish she had made, proved to be that factor.
"For tomorrow, at least, the world will be without hate or sadness." Innocent enough, right? But life's full of these little ironies. Tomorrow's a relative concept – my tomorrow would still be taking place in the future, but even the magic of the world tree was incapable of stretching that far, or affecting so many. It's easier to break something than to change it, and in order to make my and Negi-sensei's wish come true, in order to make sure that for me, tomorrow would be without hate or sadness, it acted logically. Preventing me from going would not ensure that I felt neither hate nor sorrow, but it could not affect my future to ensure the wish came true.
"And that's how I ended up here." Taking her eyes off the diary, she looked out of the window. If she wanted to, she could almost convince herself she was in Mahora again, sat in a familiar seat in Class 3A's homeroom. But the silence betrayed the illusion. More than that, it simply felt wrong, in a way she could not describe. It was... like someone had built the scaffolding of a building, and just left it there. Incomplete.
And like a victim waking up to discover a cruel practical joke, she would have had no idea how to rectify the situation were it not for the appearance of another, more experienced ally. There had been, in fact, one other inhabitant in this strange, faux-Mahora when first she came to. It had been, as would only be proper given the sheer absurdity of her circumstances, herself.
Two days ago, I woke up here. I was not alone.
Chao didn't so much wake up as blink – one moment she was under a starry sky, saying goodbye to her friends, and a heartbeat later, she opened her eyes to find herself amongst the silence of a place that was less a world and more the shallow memory of one. Looking over the oh-so familiar, yet different buildings of Mahora Academy, she felt a knot tie itself in her stomach, and her legs failed her, depositing her rudely on her rump.
This must be the future, at least. Of course. Cassiopeia can't transport me that far through space, I just need to find transport... The watch itself hung limply in her fingers, glass shattered, and machinery completely immobile. It was most likely beyond repair, not that it would work with the world tree... with the world tree... Oh...
The tree itself was incandescent, shining brighter even than when she had fought Negi, and its brightness drew her attention to where there was no light – the sky, devoid of stars, dark as pitch, and decidedly more solid. What is this? The dizzying void above her contained not even a hint of the familiar red she called home, and despair gripped her for a moment. The Astronomy club... have to get there, first. Borrow a telescope, find Mars then. But why is there nobody here? Taking her eyes away from the sky, she saw a lone figure sprinting towards her from the academy, and wearily rose, the movement sending twinges through every still-tender nerve.
When the figure came close enough for individual features to be made out, Chao shook her head in disbelief.
"This is a dream, right? Has to be, has to be..." Advancing towards her, clad in the flawless white armour similar to that of the soldiers of her time, but unmistakeably unique was... herself. No, not quite. She was taller, her hair longer and worn loose, her face narrower, and, clearly visible over her body, the glyphs that sealed her magic shone with otherworldly light, visible through layers of armour. She was older, definitely, though her face was still childish, large brown eyes framed by dark bangs and a fringe. She was suddenly acutely aware of the ragged nature of her clothes, but her counterpart did nothing but smile wistfully.
Both Chaos watched each other warily for a moment, before the elder one spoke up.
"You're the cause of this-ne?" She had an incomprehensible smile on her face, somewhere between 'I can't believe this!' and 'I'm glad it's not worse...' "Well... That makes things easier, at least..." Burning with a dozen questions, Chao limited herself to the two most pertinent.
"What's going on?" Still somewhat drained from the fight with Negi, she staggered upright, eyes widening as she took in the endless black of the sky. "Where am I?"
Quickly glancing at an information display integrated into the left arm of her armour, the older Chao spread her arms wide, as if to encompass everything.
"This..." she began with a small, conspiratorial smile, "is the end of history. The point of no return, the conclusion of time. I don't know what you did, but ... there's not really an easy way to put this... You broke time. This..." she gestured, "is the absolute future at the moment – nothing exists past this point. I'm only here now because I'm using Cassiopeia, powering it with my own magic and it hurts, so please, can we do this quickly?"
"I... broke time? How!?" The elder Chao shrugged.
"Magic, probably. You... we know it can cause unforeseen consequences. It's not important how, I think I... we can solve it." Gesturing at some point behind the younger Chao, the elder one broke out a smile again. The younger Chao turned to see the incandescent, almost-blinding glow of the World Tree, brighter even than when she had fought Negi. "I had a look around before I found you, and, well, I don't have time to show you – but investigate the World Tree later? Check out the roots, and you'll find a bunch of spots sensitive to Cassiopeia. They're the clue to solving this little mess. What I think has happened is that time's fractured – I can't explain it properly, but for every decision you make, there's a decision you aren't making? The decisions you don't make, or should I say, didn't make, now there's places where you did make them, see? Or rather, where people made them – unless you ever envisioned a world without magic?"
An eyebrow twitched, and Chao crossed her arms.
"You mean... alternate universes? That's not very believable." Her older form held up both hands placatingly, though a visible twitch betrayed the pain she awakened by doing so.
"Hey, hey, Martians don't lie! And anyway, I wouldn't lie to myself! There's a whole bunch there, accessible through those spots, and I'm guessing the problem is that in each of them, there's something that doesn't belong. A person, an item, an event maybe, something that's stopping it from progressing beyond a certain date. To make sure that there is a future, you'll need to remove it from there. Placing a hand on her back, she unscrewed the Cassiopeia device fixed into her armour and held it out. "This is the Cassiopeia Mark Two; I designed it when grandpa convinced me not to give up on the future. There's a couple of differences from yours, though – the reset key here, it can warp you back to a designated state – when you find irregularities, and you should know them, they'll feel out of place, press it and it'll take you, and them if you're touching them, back to this place..."
She was cut off by a coughing fit, and when she removed her hand from her mouth, the smile was gone completely.
"Ah, I'm out of time...Sorry I can't be more help..." Abruptly, she flickered, and threw the Cassiopeia to her younger self, who caught it, and tried to find words. "Up to you now... If you're anything like I think you are, you'll do just fine. If you see grandpa, tell him I said hi, please?"
"Ah, but..." Chao felt a thousand questions on the tip of her tongue, but again chose the most pertinent. "But... the irregularities? What should I do with them?"
She reached out a hand, but her elder self was already fading. With a bemused look on her face, she made one last comment.
"The irregularities? They don't belong." A heartbeat later, she was gone. Looking at the device she had just been left, she felt equal parts anxiety and anticipation run through her, topped off by overwhelming weariness. She trudged towards the dorms, trying to process what had just happened, and what she should do next.
Yesterday, after a period of internal reflection, and the acquisition of a new uniform, I resolved to explore the World Tree. Not that there had been anything to lose – when she woke up, the sky was still dark and endless, and a detour to the Astronomy club confirmed what she had feared – this was not Earth, and there was no Mars in the sky – no home. Spending the rest of her life alone in this place held no appeal for Chao Lingshen at all, and though she was still hesitant to blindly accept her future counterpart's story word for word, and more than a little suspicious as to the number of guesses she was making, there was no real other alternative.
At the very least, though, her last question had confirmed something – the Chao Lingshen she had met was one who had never travelled back in time – confident of her plans, confident that the ends justified the means. That, at least, was genuine, and warranted at least investigation of the rest of her claims.
The Mage HQ in the Academy, hidden under the church, took some time to get into, but it was the logical choice to hide tunnels to the roots of the World Tree, and it was through here that I found my way to the core, and the first of the spots my future self described. Continuing through the caverns deep below the World Tree, I found dozens more, but I was reluctant to activate them using Cassiopeia.
Putting the pen aside once more, Chao sighed. She still had a deep apprehension about this, but again, there were a lack of alternatives to either trying Cassiopeia to visit an alternate timeline or spending the rest of her life in this deserted half-world. I'll have to be careful, though. I don't have the resources to make another battle-suit, and I can't afford to use my magic without the risk of permanent damage... Not to mention I'll have to be careful with what I change-yo... She didn't realise for a few seconds that she'd already made up her mind, and after taking a deep breath, set out for the depths of the World Tree once more.
Funny how things go, eh, Negi-bozu? I thought I wouldn't be meddling with the past again, but to have a future, for any of us to have a future, it looks like I have no choice.
Standing in front of the disturbance closest to the Mage HQ, Chao took a breath, and activated the Cassiopeia. A shiver spread through the air, and in the blink of an eye, was no longer there.
A/N:
And thus ends the Prologue. Probably best not to be too concerned over quality for this part, it serves mostly as an infodump as to what's going on, and why Chao's going to be hopping between alternate universes - I wanted to get it out of the way quickly rather than spend a couple of chapters having Chao flail around blindly in faux-Mahora trying to figure things out herself. Please forgive the use of Future!Chao as Deus ex Machina, it won't happen again.
Next, and probably more pertinently, I'm fully aware that Chao Lingshen could quite easily become a Mary Sue character, what with being super-intelligent, athletic, and generally good at everything. I'm going to try my best to avoid making her a Mary Sue, but if any readers feel that she is becoming a bit unbearable, tell me (and preferably tell me why as well). If need be, I'll hit her a couple of times with the nerf stick.
Next up - Chao Lingshen finds her first Alternate Universe, and I get back to writing 8k words per chapter!