Heyo, I'm back (it's amazing)! Sorry for the delay (a whole year, omg), but I've had so many problems writing this. First, it kept coming out wrong and I had to keep re-writing it. Then, just when I was beginning to be satisfied, my computer got gazillions of viruses. I ended up having to get a new one and re-type the whole story (with a little editing). But it's finally here, the next edition to my ongoing Negima! series, which I'm calling 'The Passing night'. The series is about the dark and secret lives of the students of 3A and it all takes place on one night (a Thursday). The first two were 'Sometimes' and 'Photogenic', which were about Chizuru, Natsumi and Kazumi respectively. This one I call 'To the Last Drop' and it features Setsuna, Evangeline and Zazie (Kotaro too). I have made some assumptions about Zazie, but otherwise I've tried to keep it in character. Please enjoy, peoples!
To the Last Drop:
A very anxious Setsuna Sakurazaki knocked on the door of Evangeline's cabin. She was expecting Chachamaru to answer the door, as she usually did, but it wasn't the robot who greeted her. "Sakurazaki-san, I'm glad you decided to come," said Evangeline McDowell, mistress of the house. "Where's Chachamaru?" Setsuna asked. Evangeline smiled. "I've sent her away. She's not necessary and I don't think she wanted to be here tonight." Her tone worried Setsuna, but she followed Evangeline into the house. To her surprise, both her fellow classmate Zazie Rainyday and Negi sensei's friend Kotaro were waiting for her as Well. "Hoy, Sakurazaki-sama, Kotaro said. Zazie merely bowed and Setsuna bowed back.
"What are you two doing here?" she asked. Kotaro grinned. We're here to help you, just like Eva-sama. I told Natsumi and Chizuru that I'd be training with Negi. School isn't opening tomorrow, after all, so it makes sense." Zazie remained silent. Setsuna was more confused than she had been before. "Here to help me? But, Evangeline-san, you didn't say anything about them when you told me to drop by." "Don't be so worried, Sakurazaki. After all, this is what you wanted isn't it? For Konoe?" Evangeline asked. Setsuna hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, for Ojou-sama."
For several weeks, Setsuna had been feeling the pull of her demon half. She supposed it was the result of giving it more freedom than she had before. But she was afraid of losing control of it and, now that she was spending more and more time with Konoka Ojou-sama, she could not allow that to happen. She had been too embarrassed to talk about it to Asuna-san or Negi sensei and she could absolutely not bring herself to discuss it with the dean. So she had turned to Evangeline, who had told her that if she really wanted to control her demon half then she should come to her cabin on Thursday evening.
Now Setsuna was actually here and she was beginning to wonder if maybe she should have talked to Negi instead after all. Evangeline indicated to her that she should sit and Setsuna sat down next to Zazie, who smiled at her. Setsuna desperately wanted to ask Evangeline what this was all about, but chose to wait respectfully for her to speak. Evangeline looked at her and smiled. It did not make Setsuna feel any better. "Relax, as I said before, this is all to help you."Eva said. Setsuna nodded and tried to relax. Evangeline sat down across from her and continued with her explanation.
As you know, Sakurazaki, the four of us have something in common, something which sets us apart from everyone else at Mahora. That something is our darker natures. You and the dog over there are both half-demons, the spawn of human and demon passions. Miss Rainyday is a full demon and I am a vampire. Each of us must suppress part of ourselves in order to get along with humans. When you spoke to me a few days ago, you told me that you were having problems doing this. That you no longer had the control you were used to. Well, the three of us have each faced the same problem at one point in our lives and have discovered that together we can regain control through a specific exercise I came up with years ago. I will allow you to begin participating with us in this exercise, Sakurazaki, on the condition that you speak about it to no one besides ourselves. Do you understand?"
Setsuna nodded. "I understand, Evangeline-san. Regaining control is my priority right now." Evangeline gave a satisfied smile and nodded. "Then there's no point in waiting here any longer, all of you come with me." Setsuna and the other two followed Evangeline from her living room into the back room where she kept her resorts. Setsuna noticed that Kotaro and Evangeline both looked eager and even Zazie seemed more excited than usual. "Can whatever Evangeline-san has in mind really help me?" she asked Kotaro. He laughed. "Of course! I've been doing it ever since I got here."
From behind the group of usual resorts, Evangeline pulled one Setsuna had never seen before. Looking down into it, she saw a medieval European castle surrounded by a bleak plane. The walls were gray and frightening. Even in miniature, it gave Setsuna chills. "It's a copy of Castle McDowell, with a few modifications, of course." Eva said by way of an explanation. The four of them surrounded the bottle containing the resort and waited while the spell took effect. They were pulled down into it almost immediately. When they arrived, Setsuna looked around and saw that the view was even more startling up close. She quickly followed the others in the front door of the castle.
The inside wasn't quite as bleak, but the suits of armor, giant chandeliers and blood red carpets lent it all a sinister quality. Setsuna had felt weary of asking for Evangeline's help and now she was beginning to remember why. Despite everything she had done for them, Eva was still a vampire. A very dangerous vampire. None the less, Setsuna kept her thoughts to herself as she walked with the others up a long hallway. They passed many rooms until they came to the door at the very back. It was large, black and bolted to the was with huge bronze hinges. To startling lion head door knocked adorned it, which Eva used to pull the massive door open with ease. Setsuna cautiously entered, followed by Kotaro and Zazie. Evangeline closed the door behind them.
Setsuna didn't understand what she was seeing. They were in a cavernous stone room with no other doors and no windows. A purple rug inlaid with gold designs covered most of the floor. It had dark stains on it. There appeared to be several ancient weapons hanging on the walls. Most of them were of a western design, so Setsuna didn't recognize them, but they all looked quite lethal. 'I wonder if we're going to be training.' She thought with mild curiosity. There were other objects in the room, several of which appeared to be large pieces of furniture, but it was too dark for Setsuna to see them properly. Evangeline waved a hand and a stone fire place blazed to life.
Setsuna could clearly see the furniture now. Most of it appeared to be storage cabinets, but a table to her right held several ornate crystal goblets. There was also another table at the far end of the room. It held something large, which was covered by a dark blanket. "Um, Evangeline-san, what exactly is this room for. How are you planning to help m…?" Setsuna began, but Eva held up a hand to silence her. Instead of asking more pointless questions, why do 't you stop and listen?" she said. Setsuna concentrated on the sounds in the room and picked up what Eva was talking about almost immediately. She could hear her own breathing, as well as the breathing of those who had accompanied her here. However, she could also here a fifth person breathing. She probably would have detected them sooner, had she not been so anxious. The breathing was coming from the blanket on the table.
"Evangeline-san, there's someone under there." She said. Eva grinned. "Of course there is. She's what we're here for." "What do you mean, I don't understand?" Setsuna asked. Evangeline walked over to the table, which Setsuna realized looked like an old surgical table, and tilted it upwards. A small squeal sounded as the blanket slid off to reveal a girl bound to the table by leather straps. She appeared to be about the same age as Setsuna, but her uniform showed she was a from a different school. She stared in wide eyed horror at Eva, but seemed too shocked to speak. Setsuna gasped at the sight of her. "I still don't understand. Who is this girl, where did she come from?"
"I had Chachamaru fetch her for me from another city. It would attract too much attention if we took one from around here. I brought her all the way here to help you." Evangeline said. "How could she possibly help?" Setsuna asked, her anxiety level rising. Zazie laid a hand on Setsuna's shoulder to calm her and spoke for the first time that evening. "The best way to tame a monster, is to give it what it wants every now and then." Setsuna stared blankly at her, until realization hit her in one sharp, sick instant. "You're going to hurt her, aren't you?" "Something like that." Eva said, a wicked smile spreading across her face.
"But…but you can't all really want to do this? Zazie-san? Kotaro-kun?" Setsuna looked desperately at Kotaro for support, but was shocked to see a look of hunger on the young boy's face. "No! You can't be serious. Why would you all do that?!" Evangeline approached her. "We do it, because the only way to keep our darker sides in check is to allow them free reign sometimes. You can't keep who you really are bottled up inside you, it's unhealthy." Setsuna couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Unhealthy, what about that girl's health?" Evangeline leaned in close to her. "Better her than Konoe. Are you saying that you'd allow yourself to lose control and injure your Ojou-sama just to protect a complete stranger. And besides, it's not as if you've never killed someone before."
Setsuna was disgusted by what Eva was saying, but something inside her was beginning to stir. As had happened many times over the past few weeks, her demon half had begun to assert more power over her emotions. A hunger, even a lust stole over her as she looked at the girl on the table, bound and hopeless and waiting for her. An image of Konoka on that table replaced the girl and all of Setsuna's resistance was washed away. "For Ojou-sama." She said, as she tried to swallow her guilt. "That's right, remember why you're here." Eva said.
"Come on, let's get started. It's probably dark outside already and Natsumi will be worried about why I'm so late." Said Kotaro. Evangeline nodded. "Yeah. Everyone pick out your instrument of choice." Setsuna watched as Kotaro and Zazie walked over to the rack on the wall and began examining the weapons stored there. Zazie chose a long, curved dagger, which she twirled nimbly in her fingers, then tossed in the air a few times. Kotaro picked up a scythe, put it back, then grabbed a mace instead. He grinned as he looked from the weapon in his hand to the girl strapped to the table. "I don't need a weapon, but what about you?" Eva asked Setsuna, looking at the swordswoman. 'I left my sword at home. Oh well, I don't want to use it for something like this any way,' Setsuna thought as she approached the weapons rack. After looking at several sharp knives and what looked like a pair of tongs, she chose a Chinese style sword. She still wasn't sure exactly what she'd be doing with it.
Cautiously, she followed the other three as they walked toward the captive girl, who began crying and trying to free herself. "What do you want?! Where am I?! You're not going to hurt me, are you?!" she sobbed, finally coming out of her catatonic trance. Setsuna felt sick to her stomach, but steeled herself by thinking about Konoka. Evangeline leaned in close and kissed the girls on the cheek, then whispered in your ear, "Hush child, your being given a very special honor." With that, she pulled back and slashed the girl across the face with her finger nails. The girl let out a shriek of pain and struggled even harder to get loose. Evangeline tore open part of her shirt and sunk her fangs into her shoulder. Zazie moved in with her dagger.
"NO, p-please!" the girl begged as Zazie brought her weapon up to bear. With one fluid motion, she sliced a deep gash into the girl's leg and her scream filled the room as Zazie's face was splattered with blood. Evangeline laughed as the girls continued to sob in pain. Setsuna was too stunned to move, but Kotaro approached the girl, his mace raised. With a sharp swing, he slammed it into the girl's right shoulder. Setsuna could hear the bones breaking beneath the weight of the mace, but the girl seemed too stunned to scream any more, or in too much pain. Evangeline laid her head on the girl's chest and looked at Setsuna. "You'd better get some while it's still warm."
As horrified as she was, Setsuna was too far gone to protest. Sidestepping Kotaro, she sliced her sword down, chopping of the girl's ear and creating a gash along her right arm. The girl whimpered as she stared wide eyed at all of her wounds. Setsuna slashed again and cut her across the abdomen. She was exhilarated. She had never imagined murdering someone could feel like this. "All right, that's enough play time. We wouldn't want to kill her until we're ready." said Evangeline. Zazie and Kotaro let their weapons drop to the floor and Setsuna followed suit a moment later. 'What could be next,' she found herself thinking eagerly.
Evangeline walked over to the other table and brought back for of the crystal goblets. "There's nothing quite as satisfying as blood." she said, handing first Setsuna, then the other two a goblet each. Eva reached over and tore the front of the girl's shirt open. By this point, the girl seemed to have gone catatonic again and gave no sign that she had realized that her breasts were now exposed. Once again giving her a kiss, this time on the lips, Eva then leaned her head down and bit hard into the girl's chest. The girl gave a small squeak as blood began to flow over her torso. Evangeline held her goblet to catch the blood until it was full, then tossed it back like an alcoholic. "Who's next?" she asked.
Kotaro rushed forward, jamming his goblet into the girl's chest. "Careful not to break my goblet. It's three hundred years old and worth a lot more to me than you are!" Eva said. "Sorry," Kotaro apologized, before slurping down his goblet full of blood. Zazie went next, rubbing the girl's shivering body as she filled her goblet. Finally, it was Setsuna's turn. "With this blood, you'll be able to control your demon side for at least a month." Evangeline promised her. Setsuna filled her goblet, allowing its sharp edges to cut farther into the girl's soft flesh. The moment the blood hit her tongue she was overcome by a feeling of complete satisfaction. Finally giving herself entirely over to her desire, she drained her goblet to the last drop. "Well, that's that. I'll notify all of you when our next meeting is." Eva said, heading for the door. The other two followed her, but Setsuna remained for a moment.
She stared up at the girl. The poor thing was still alive, but barely conscious. She supposed that Evangeline would just leave her here to bleed out and then have Chachamaru dispose of the body later. There was really no reason for Setsuna to interfere with that, still…, she reached down a picked up the Chinese sword she had dropped just minutes before. With one quick, trained slice she slit the girl's throat, killing her almost instantly. After walking to the door, Setsuna turned to look at the corpse one last time. "It's all for Ojou-sama." she said, knowing she would do this again.
Ok, so that was probably the most disturbing fic I've ever written. It was the longest so far in this series and also the first one without a sexual theme (for the most part). Glad I'm finally posting it though. The next one, which I will Endeavour to get out to you all sooner this time, will probably be about either Chisame of Ayaka, as I have very clear ideas with what I want to do with them both. Until then, please read and review. Thank you much!