Magister Negi Magi is owned by Ken Akamatsu and Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo in Japan, and by Funimation and Ballantine - DelRey in the United States, NOT by me.

AU, CONTENT ALERT!

Depending on how you want to look at it, this story occurs before chapter one of the 'Magister Negi Magi' manga, or one-hundred YEARS after it ends.

Be warned that not everything which will happen in 'Coming Home' is 'nice.'

SPOILER WARNING!:

If you have not read Ambrant Arandel's "Child of Mine," and Kafka'sdragon's "Markham Chronicles Negima," be also warned that 'Coming Home' contains what might be considered spoilers of varying importance for those stories. I recommend both stories as potential reads.

Thanks Ambrant for allowing me to borrow a few of your idea's and concepts regarding Chao Lingshen!

Thanks also Kafka's for letting me borrow a character!

In addition, 'Coming Home' also contains information and characters directly related to my story 'Ala Alba in the World of Magic. Chapter One: A Fan Dancer.' If you have wondered how I brought Chao Lingshen to the place she was in that chapter, then 'Coming Home' is your answer.

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"So much suffering, just because they tried to change the worlds, even after Grandfather was able to stop their initial plans forty years earlier."
-Chao Lingshen. "My Journey."

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Chao Lingshen. 'Coming Home.'

Part 01: A Grandfather's Love.

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"The footage you have just seen is of then Magister Negi Springfield conversing with a Count-Class demon during The Demon Wars. Sources related to the investigation of the disappearance of one of Professor Springfield's granddaughters have speculated that the two might be related, and that the eight-year-old girl may have been sacrificed to the demon as some form of payment..."

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Chao Lingshen's parents were dead. Her twin sister was missing. Now the loving grandparents who had raised her were accused of being involved, possibly by consorting with demons, and might be taken away from her as well.

When the door to her room opened and her grandfather stepped inside, Chao, her eyes swollen with tears, hair-bun braids flying, ran to embrace the thin, gray-haired old man. "Grandfather! Grandfather... hic..., tell me what the other kids at school are saying about you isn't true!"

Negi Springfield pulled Chao into the folds of his Magister's robe, holding her close and stroking her hair in an attempt to give comfort to his grieving granddaughter. "No. Of course they're not." He held her until she stopped sobbing, then moved to sit on the rooms bed, lifting her into his lap as he did so. "Chao, I need to tell you a story, and it's not a very happy story. Can you be brave for me?"

Chao looked up at her grandfather's sad expression, then sniffed and nodded, wiping at her tears with a sleeve as she did so.

Negi gave a sad smile. "It all began with my first Mahora Academy Festival..."

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"... and even though it didn't reveal what happened to your sister, that final scrying with Konoemon's mirror is how I found out what happened, or rather, for you, 'will happen'."

Chao began howling with grief. "WHY GRANDFATHER? Why will I have to fight you? Pressing herself into Negi's shoulder, she started twitching with hiccups. "I won't do it!"

Negi held his granddaughter as tightly as he dared, fearing this might be the last time he ever had the chance to embrace the child who's cruel, inevitable fate was rapidly approaching. He knew about the past, but the unfortunate loss of Konoemon's mirror during The Demon Wars had restricted his ability to divine the future. "You have to Chao. To be convincing, you'll have to fight my younger self for all you're worth, even knowing you'll fail. What's worse, for things to work out, I'll have to hurt you. You'll need a good reason to reject myself and your grandmother, enough of one they'll believe it when you volunteer for the time-travel project to stop my 'betrayal' of humanity."

Chao nodded, slowly gaining control over her tears but continuing to cling to her grandfather with all her might. Rocking her gently, he explained further about the reasons for what was happening, then told her what might happen if they failed to do what was necessary to preserve the past. "So... there's no choice is there? You and grandmother are going to leave me too..."

Sirens outside, a commotion at the front door to the house, and the voice of his wife arguing with whomever was there reached Negi's ears. "We don't have much time. Please Chao. It pains me to ask so much of you I want to die." Getting up from the bed and kneeling, Negi looked his granddaughter straight in the eyes. "You MUST do whatever it takes to get them to believe you're on their side. Otherwise they'll just program you and there'll be no chance for us. I couldn't change what happened up to now out of fear you'd disappear. Your doing this is the only chance we'll have to find your sister and be together again."

An increase in the noise level downstairs indicated to Negi his wife was now fighting the intruders.

Chao heard the commotion, and looked up at her grandfather in surprise and sudden understanding. "Hic... al... already Grandfather?"

Negi could only nod his head. If he said anything else, he wouldn't be able to continue.

Chao straightened up, and after wiping away the last of her honest tears, stood stoically before the man who was the only father she'd ever known. "I love you grandfather. I swear I'll come back and find you..."

Negi stood, tears now forming in his own eyes at what needed to be done before the enemy downstairs reached the room. Nodding, he raised his hand, watched Chao brace herself, then swung his arm down and backhanded her so hard it split a lip and knocked her down. "You stupid child! It's all your fault I've been found out! If you'd kept a proper eye on your sister this never would have happened! I ought to kill you! You're no blood of mine!"

Chao heard the noise downstairs abruptly stop, as her grandfather's shouting signaled her grandmother it was time to 'loose.' Holding her stinging face and looking up at her 'angry' grandfather, her tears started flowing again. "Ple... please Grandfather! Do... don't hurt me!" Her grandfather took a step forward, and she started to scoot back across the floor. "He... Help! Somebody please help me!"

Negi, feeling his heart breaking, took several rapid steps and knelt to place his hands around Chao's neck as she cowered against her bed. There was a rattling of the locked door's doorknob, then the loud crash of splintering wood, as a pair of corporate police broke down the door and entered the room. The two men experienced a moment of shocked hesitation at the sight of their target throttling a child, then tackled him together, knocking Negi away from Chao and pinning him to the floor. There was a short struggle as they physically and magically restrained him, then he was pulled to his feet and lead away.

Chao pressed her fists into her eyes, crying outside but smiling inside at the wink of approval her grandfather had given her just before the police stood him up.

A few moments later a woman in a business suit, wearing the logo of a Century Corporation Child Welfare worker, came into the room all smiles and knelt to try and comfort Chao.

Chao wanted to hurl at the feeling of the woman's touch and syrupy words, but she held back, doing her best to play the role of young child, hurt and betrayed by her own family. The woman eventually offered her hand, leading Chao away and onto the path to Mahora Academy, nearly one-hundred years in the past.

tsuzuku

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Author's Notes:

'Coming Home' takes it's roots from the various stories mentioned above, and events in the Magister Negi Magi manga..

In this future, government has weakened, and corporations rule all.
(For related reference material, se 's "CyberPunk' RPG, and Ianus Games, "Heavy Gear: Life on Terra Nova.")

Both worlds, mundane and magical, have fought a war against each other.

After much suffering, the war was ended, and the two worlds united.

Shortly after came 'The Demon Wars.'

Almost forty years later, early in the year 2098, 'Coming Home' begins.

There is no information concerning Chao Lingshen having a 'sister,' beyond the hints that the events she want's to change are less world-shaking, and more personal.

As I have fun doing so on occasion, I have taken a few odd references and pictures from the mentioned stories, the Mahora-Fest arc of Magister Negi Magi, and run with it.

Please enjoy 'Coming Home.' My take on Chao Lingshen's motivations, and on what happens after she say's goodbye to Negi and her friends!