I do not own Mahou Sensei Negima.

Attention everyone! Please keep in mind that this tale takes place about two years before the current point in my other story 'Shadow Hunters'.

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A Mercenary Christmas

The training area of Fortress Ragnarök was absolutely jumping with activity today. All throughout that section of the facility Shadow Hunters were fending off one another's attacks in an effort to keep their skills razor sharp for when they would be needed. As soldiers and assassins-for-hire it just didn't do to get complacent about your abilities and then have them fail you when it mattered most.

At least that's what the majority of them were telling themselves right now. Their leader Aleric, of course, knew better. Standing atop the summit of his headquarters, the Master Mage observed all his agents in general and his twelve-year-old apprentice in particular. To all outward appearances Negi was doing extremely well. His effective use of Magia Erebea meant that almost every one of the other Hunters had to stay away from him or else be overpowered. With a few more months of training he might even be that strong without the special technique. But at the moment it wasn't the strength of Negi's magic that concerned Aleric so much as the strength of his spirit.

Thanks to a combination of his own innate talents at deduction and a powerful ancient magic called 'Soul Sight,' Aleric could nearly always tell when a lie was being told. This included when people were lying to themselves as well, and right now he saw that a good number of his subordinates – Negi included – were trying to deny that they felt lonely. It was only natural for people in their… positions… to feel that way, especially at this time of year. After all, Christmas Eve (and the holiday thereafter) was typically spent in celebration with one's family. The closest some Shadow Hunters got to that was a small gathering at a hut in the desert to discuss the latest advances in magic and mutilation. Hardly a fitting scenario for so joyous a time. Aleric could now see how great the toll this way of life had been on his troops, particularly his apprentice.

"I must do something to make Negi more at home here," Aleric decided. "He's been here for two years but he hasn't really found any new friends." Well, that wasn't entirely true. He and Negi were close enough in their student/teacher relations to be considered friends. And the boy was on good terms with Harley, Alexander, Kevin, Gaul, and Hans as well. But Aleric knew that Negi needed companions closer to his own age. It wouldn't be all that difficult to arrange, but how to make it last? Perhaps he should talk with Harley and the others about it. It was almost time for their traditional Christmas Eve poker game anyway.

Negi sat in the center of the training field, his breath coming in long ragged gasps. He was down on one knee with sweat dripping off his face and his arms. His heart pounded against his rib cage as if asking to be let out.

"All right," Negi sighed to no one. "Even I have to admit that I've gone too far with my training this time. What was I trying to prove staying out here longer than anyone else?" Negi sighed again, picked himself up off the ground, and began trudging his way back to his room. As he walked (see: limped) he allowed his mind to wander. This was typically a bad practice to get into for someone who could be ambushed at any moment during work, but at the moment Negi just couldn't bring himself to care. Besides, Aleric had told him that, in his off-duty hours, if he felt the need to worry himself out of his mind, he should go ahead. Negi was naturally a worrier, and he wouldn't be doing himself any favors by trying to force a personality change. The key was trying to figure out what was really making him worry so.

He wasn't able to come up with any answers to that question until he got back to his room and saw the calendar. "Holy cow," he said. "It's December 24th already! Boy, I must have really buried myself in my work for me to have not noticed Christmas was coming." That brought up a question—had he been deliberately ignoring the fact that Christmas was approaching? He decided that was the most likely scenario. Again, it was part of his personality to lose himself in his job. He had been doing it since even before he became a mercenary, back when…

"Ah, ha, so that's it," Negi muttered despondently. "I'm depressed about not being with Asuna and the others at Christmastime." It was at this particular moment of contemplation that he remembered his mission of two weeks ago. It had been his first contracted killing. "And there's that as well," Negi groaned with his face in his hand. It wasn't that he felt in any way sorry for his target. Indeed the man had been convicted of first degree murder and had been on the run. He had even bragged about his crime to Negi after being tracked down. The task itself had actually been easy, all things considered. But he supposed that was part of the problem. Negi had never killed anyone before that assignment and now he knew how simple it was; how easy it would be to snuff someone's life out without meaning to. The knowledge brought with it a fear that just would not go away.

And so with nothing else to do Negi flopped down on his bed, let off his last long sigh of the day, and prayed for the mercy of unconsciousness.

"Harley's getting all the good cards tonight," complained Kevin. He looked his companion right in the eye. "I only wish I could figure out how she's doing it."

"Don't ask me," said Harley with a half-smile. "Ask Alexander. He's the one who sees all and knows all."

"I am merely the scorekeeper," Alexander replied, indifferently examining one of the sleeves on his blue cloak. "I am only here to make sure the participants remember where they stand. Besides my powers mean death to the fairness of this game so I can't play."

"Are you guys here to play cards or shoot the breeze?" asked Aleric, irritated.

"Alright, alright," said Kevin, his hands up in a calming motion. "No need to get agitated."

"There must be something bothering you, Aleric," commented Gaul from his perch outside the window. "You're usually so much more detached."

"Yes," said Hans, not looking up from his current hand. "Normally only villains would be such raw nerves. I never saw you as a villain before, Aleric."

"I am not a villain," countered Aleric. "I do not transfer my soul from one body to another and I do not take over countries and replace their names with numbers. I am merely concerned with my apprentice's current progress and lack of same."

"Really?" asked Harley. "What's up?"

Aleric explained as the cards were reshuffled and dealt. After he was finished all of his teammates looked thoughtful.

"So his loneliness is holding him back, is it?" concluded Gaul.

"There's also a fair amount of guilt," corrected Aleric. "It's probably over that assignment he had a few weeks ago."

"First blood blues, eh?" said Kevin. "Yeah, I remember the first time I had to kill someone. I was constipated for an entire month."

"He's actually holding up quite well given his age," Hans put in.

"Still," said Aleric, "I must find a way to alleviate this blockage Negi's experiencing. I won't be much of a master if I don't at least try."

"Don't stress yourself too much about it, Aleric," Harley said, nonchalantly picking her cards up again. "It's not as if the world will end if one boy is depressed on Christmas Day. Negi lets himself get bogged down in his emotions like this all the time. Of course now, thanks to us, he's better at hiding it but it still happens."

"You don't have to worry about Aleric," Alexander said with his 'I know something you don't know and it's quite funny' smile. "In fact the spirits of fortune-telling say that he will find a solution in 5… 4… 3…"

"That's it!"

"Nuts!" hissed Alexander, snapping his fingers. "Off by two seconds."

Aleric was paying no attention. He had been embroiled in his own thoughts since Harley had stopped speaking, actually. The answer was very simple! And, as soon as he used his four-of-a-kind to win the next hand, he'd get to work on it.

Negi woke on Christmas morning to find that Aleric had summoned him on a non-official basis. That alone was strange. His master almost never contacted him for anything other than a mission or training. And stranger still, Aleric had wanted him to come to training ground seven. This was where he now stood, patiently awaiting his master and trying to ignore the nagging suspicion that Aleric was going to surprise him with something he neither wanted nor needed. Negi put a hand to his face and sighed. "No, no, that couldn't be it," he mumbled.

"Couldn't be what?"

Negi jumped and spun around to find a girl about two years older than him with mid-length ginger hair standing only a few feet away. He hadn't felt her approach at all! Negi opened his mouth to demand she tell him who she was, but stopped when his training kicked in, reminding him to be calm, and then lost what he was going to ask her when his gentlemanly instincts kicked in, reminding him to be nice to a lady. After a moment of prolonged silence, he managed to get out something that satisfied both those requirements. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've ever met before. You'll forgive me for not giving you a proper greeting, but not many can sneak up on me the way you did."

The new girl smiled a little. "I'm just very good with the Ground Contractor technique," she said, trying to wave off the compliment. "I've only been here a few months, but Master Aleric asked me to come here himself." Her eyes then widened as she remembered she hadn't introduced herself yet. "Uh, my name's Rebecca, by the way—Rebecca Clayton."

"Well, Rebecca, my name's Negi, and…what the--!" Negi suddenly found his arm twisting in a way that it wasn't supposed to go. Closer inspection revealed the cause to be a thin wire that had been wrapped around his limb. He turned to look at Rebecca, but she shook her head no. That's when Negi perceived a large fireball coming at him from the direction of his restrained limb. It was strong enough and close enough that he couldn't risk trying to deflect it with his leg or with a barrier, so he opted to break the string and jump up into the air. The blast whizzed underneath his feet and continued on until it sputtered out on its own. Negi landed safely on the somewhat singed earth.

A girl's laughter filled the air. "That was pretty good! Most people I catch like that get fried." Negi turned to see that another girl had arrived on the training field. This one looked to be about his age, with longer black hair and a tanned complexion. "I'm Sati!" she said with a large grin.

"Charmed," replied Negi with somewhat of a dry note in his voice. Sati picked up on this and now had the decency to look abashed. She blushed and put a hand behind her head.

"Sorry I attacked you," she apologized. "It's just that I sensed you were stronger than me so I figured you would be able to deal with an attack of that level."

"Attacking someone you know is stronger than yourself for no good reason," Rebecca commented. "Yeah, that's intelligent."

"Aha, was that an insult?" asked Sati.

"Not to you specifically," said the older girl. "Merely your way of doing things."

"Oh yeah? Well, if you don't mind…" Sati was stopped in mid-sentence as a fourth person appeared. He arrived suddenly, as Rebecca had, but did so with all the subtlety of a train wreck. He appeared to be around Negi and Sati's age (twelve) and stood in such a way that implied a heavy background in martial arts.

"Huh?" the new kid asked, seeing the other three whose company he was now in. "Who're you guys? I'm Herald, by the way."

"Oh, I get it," muttered Rebecca. "Hark, it's Herald, sing!" When the others gave her strange looks, she explained, "You know, because it's Christmas and everything."

"Oh, yeah," said Sati. "It is Christmas. I totally forgot!"

"It's Christmas morning, in fact," said Herald. "Most people our ages would be opening presents with their families about now."

"Or doing the emo routine about having to be in that kind of a situation," commented Negi with a smirk.

"Ah, everyone getting along?" This time all four of them were surprised as Aleric appeared right in the middle of them. "All right, it's true, I did ask the four of you to come here, and I didn't tell the others. That's because I wanted you all to meet without any idea of what I've got in store for you."

"I'm not so sure I like where this is going," said Negi.

Aleric chuckled. "From this moment forward, the four of you will be a team," he announced. "And you, Negi, will be in charge."

The stunned silence lasted only a few seconds.

"What?!"

"Why?!"

"Master Aleric, you're joking, right?"

Aleric chuckled a second time. "Now, now," he said, trying to placate everyone, "I know this is sudden but you guys had better get used to the idea. After all, I'm assigning the four of you a training mission right away. You have one hour to prepare." When his four subordinates tried to protest he cut them off. "No time to register complaints, I'm afraid! Now quickly, an hour isn't really a lot of time to familiarize yourselves with one another and become an effective team. And you guys will have to be a strong team to survive a thirty-minute endurance battle against Harley. Good luck!" Then Aleric was gone as quickly as he had arrived.

An hour-and-a-half later found the leader of the Shadow Hunters wandering toward the mess hall of his fortress. There was no other time that popcorn could be seen strung from the ceiling and walls of this place. An effort to bring the yuletide spirit into a den of paid soldiers. And once inside the mess hall itself the smell of all manner of care packages became exceptionally prevalent.

"Smells like the Salvation Army's buffet table in here," Aleric commented to himself. Then Aleric spied Kevin sitting at one of the tables. He was sipping Old Granddad out of a shot glass. "Enjoying the Christmas spirits, are we?" asked Aleric, walking over to his Minister.

"Yeah, but you must remember I don't drink this sort of stuff at any other time of the year," said Kevin. He held up a second, empty shot glass. "Care for a little? I promise I won't tell Harley, if she has a problem with it."

Aleric stifled a laugh. "Harley will probably want some herself when she comes in from what I asked her to do. And anyway, even if she did have a problem with it, you wouldn't have to tell her, I would."

Kevin sighed. It just wasn't possible to tease Aleric and Harley. The two of them were so perfectly in sync it was scary. And speaking of the other half….

"Whew!" exclaimed Harley as she teleported in from outside. "Those kids certainly put up a good fight! They actually made me sweat a few times there." Then she saw Aleric and Kevin. "Oh, hi, guys. Negi and the others held up just fine."

"Good to hear," said Aleric. "I trust they'll be coming inside in just a little while?"

"Yeah, after they catch their breath, drink some water, get a blood transfusion or two," Harley said casually.

Kevin found this more humorous than Aleric did. He decided to test out what his master had said only a few moments ago. "You want a glass?" he asked, holding up the bottle of Old Granddad.

"Sure, thanks," was the answer. Harley took one of the glasses, let Kevin fill it up, then she downed the entire shot in one gulp. She shuddered a little bit as it went down. "Not bad," she commented, "but I still prefer ordinary sodas."

Then Negi, Sati, Rebecca and Herald, the newly-formed Team Delta, came into the mess hall. Negi walked as though he was experiencing lumbago (the result of a very painful punch to the kidneys), and each of the others was experiencing his or her own problems. "Master Aleric," panted Negi once he was close enough. "Mission accomplished, sir."

"I can see that, and I'm very proud of the four of you," said Aleric. "Don't worry, things should get easier from here on. Now the four of you should go back to your rooms and rest for a while. And hopefully you'll be feeling well enough later to come to dinner." All four members of the new squad said, "Yes, sir," but only Negi thanked him. The others were simply not yet used to the training regimen special cases get.

As it turned out, they were sufficiently recovered by dinnertime to eat with the others. Now they sat before a Christmas dinner of turkey, dressing, and that cranberry jelly stuff that you never see at any other time of the year. Some people might consider it strange to be attending this kind of repast wearing bruises and bandages like they were, but in their profession injuries were more common than not. As a matter of fact, one of their comrades who was there had both of his arms in slings, so they didn't look so bad in comparison. "Well," said Negi, attempting to start a conversation, "I think we held up pretty good, with the amount of lead time we were given."

"Tell that to my shoulder," said Herald through a mouthful of food, while rubbing said body part. "Lady Harley kicks like a mule on steroids."

Negi smiled sheepishly. "Miss Harley has been fighting for longer than we've been alive," he said. "It's only natural that she would be stronger than us." The new squad leader paused to take a sip of his water. "But my point is, for a team they just slapped together this morning, we did very well."

"Yeah, well, you did the best out of all four of us, er… captain," said Sati. "By the way, was that technique you were using really the Magia Erebea?"

"Yes, it was," Negi answered.

"That's so cool!" Sati gave the thumbs up. "My grandfather's a huge fan of its creator, you know!"

"The Dark Evangel?" Rebecca queried. She was eating with her left hand because currently her right hand was locked inside a rather bulky cast. "Is that why you go in for that Doll Master stuff, too?"

"Yes," Sati chirped. "Grandpa taught it to me."

As his new teammates' conversation started to pick up from there, Negi smiled. He realized Aleric had probably picked these three out especially for him, because not only were their personalities complementary in different ways, but each one of them had an unofficial tie to him specifically. From what he had seen during their training, Rebecca specialized in wind magic, the same as he had when he first started out as a mage, and Herald used the same style of Chinese martial arts he had been taught by Ku Fei. Now it seemed Sati's family had a slight hero worship of Evangeline, his former master. Perhaps this arrangement could work out. His life would certainly be a lot easier with a few others to talk to.

Aleric once again stood at the summit of his fortress. This time, however, he was looking up instead of down. Many thousands of stars were visible even to untrained eyes and Aleric's saw several million at least. But simple astronomy was far from the only thing on the Shadow Hunter leader's mind right now.

"I read something interesting once," Aleric said to himself. "It said that the three wise men who came to visit the baby Jesus have also been referred to as 'Magi'." Now Aleric smiled. "I suppose that means we magic-users played a small role in establishing this holiday ourselves, huh?" The Master Mage held out his right arm and willed a glowing ball of light to form in his hand. "Then I guess it's only natural for me to want to remind everyone why Christmas exists."

Then, without saying another word, Aleric catapulted the luminescent orb toward the star-filled sky. And once it was far enough away that it appeared to be just another light, the orb exploded, changing itself into the brightest beacon of all.

It wasn't the Star of Bethlehem but it was a reasonable facsimile of it.

And there's my Christmas one-shot! Please tell me what you think of it! But try to be gentle if you didn't like it.