The Children of the Pactio

Summary: 28 Years have gone by since the day Negi became a teacher and since then, he has mastered the skills that make him the most powerful and feared Mage around. He is the only one who stands in the way of Le Oublie, who want control over the magical world. They have a plan, they have a mission and nothing or no one is going to stop them… or so they think.


Prologue

Mahora Academy, over the years students have come and students have gone, but the buildings themselves haven't changed especially one in particular. Behind the old clock tower, in the middle of a cold winters night with snow falling from the sky above, a lone figure stands in the field of silver leaves, which are covered by a blanket of snow.

Dressed in a long, white hooded cloak, the figure moves his head left and then to the right, as if he is looking for something, 'Where could they be?' the figure thought to himself.

A cold breeze blows and the figure shivers, 'We should have waited for warmer weather.'

The mysterious man walks back and forth in a path, leaving footprints in the snow. He pulls his arm from beneath his cloak and looks at his wristwatch to see the time, 'What is taking them so lo-', his thought is cut-off when he hears footsteps caused by the crumpling snow underneath shoes, he looks up and sees three other figures, dressed in similar cloaks, walking towards the field.

Two of the figures were of equal height to each other, but were a few each inches shorter than the man. The third one was a few feet shorter than all the others that he came up to the waist, indicating he was a child.

"Oniichan!" the second figure calls out to the man in a female voice as she runs across the field and embraces her brother in a hug.

After what seemed like an eternity of hugging, the young girl parts away from her brother, "You got my letter, didn't you Oniichan?" the other two hooded figures arrive to catch the conversation between brother and sister,

"Yeah, I got your letter Imoto-chan," he looked at the other two, "and I decided to come help you, you're going to need it." The man said with a small laugh.

"Aniki, this isn't funny." the first figure said with a male voice, "If you're not going to take this seriously, then you should go home." He said with an annoyed tone.

Aniki looks at the man, but not knowing if he is looking at him right in his eyes, because his hood is still up, "I am taking this serious, I'm at risk too, just like you three." He said with an angry tone in his voice. Their sister decides to step in between them, to prevent a fight between the two,

"Oniichan, Ani-kun doesn't mean to talk like that to you, he's just mad at what has happened over the last two weeks and the attack in Kyoto, it can make anybody stressful."

Taking in what his sister has said, Anii takes a deep breath and starts to calm down. "You're right Imoto-chan, you're absolutely right." He faces his brother, "I'm sorry Anii, I shouldn't kid around right now."

Anii calmed down and apologized as well, "I'm sorry too Aniki for snapping at you like that."

"Good, now kiss and make up." Imoto-chan said to her brothers, at which point both shouted "NO!" in unison.

"What was taking you three so long?" Aniki asked to them, "I've been waiting here for half an hour."

Anii decided to answer his question, "Well, we all had to do different things, Aniki."

"That's right Oniichan." His sister began to explain what they've been doing, "I was busy packing our backpacks."

"While I was busy with Itoto-chan." Anii move over and placed his hand on top of the hooded child's head. "The two of us 'entered' into the Headmaster's office and 'borrowed' one of his scrolls".

Aniki looked at Anii, then at his little brother and back to Anii "You and him broke into the Dean's office and stole his scroll" Aniki said in a state of disbelief.

"It was the only way," they both heard what their little brother was saying "and besides, we'll return it when we get back and no one will ever know."

Anii just agreed with his little brother and turned back to face his other brother "Aniki, are you sure you want to come with us?" Anii sounded worried as he continued to speak "You have so much, I mean do they know what-"

"They know and I promised them I would be back." Aniki said cutting off his brother.

"But what about the kids?" his sister answered that question, "They're okay. We left them with the professor. We told her that we needed to be somewhere." Imoto-chan looked to the side of her brother and noticed a backpack, "I see you're packed too Oniichan."

"Yeah I am. I brought food, water, clothes and some money, just in case. What about you three?"

"Like I said," her sister began "I packed for the three of us," she pointed at herself and her two other brothers, "Ani-kun is carrying his stuff and I pack Itoto-Chan's clothes with my own."

Her brother looked down and faced their younger brother. "What about you? What are you taking if our sister is carrying your clothes?"

The little brother lifted the left side of his cloak to show a variation of bottles attached to his cloak, each filled with a different color liquid. "Potions and catalysis for each of us." Then he lifted the right side of his cloak and showed a bag hanging on his shoulder by a strap. "I'm also bringing enchanted pistols, wands, spell books, etc."

The older brother looked at the bag hanging off his little brother's shoulder, "Are you sure you can handle it?" he asked in a concern voice.

"Yeah I'm fine. It's not very heavy, besides I'm alot stronger than this."

Hearing a branch break, the siblings look out towards the forest; they sense a feeling of being watched. "Well, I think we should get going." Anii said, "We're wasting time just standing here."

The others turn from the forest and face each other saying what's on their minds "Agreed."

From beneath Anii's cloak, he pulls out a scroll tied with a red string. Anii turns around and faces the others, "Everyone knows what we have to do and what we can't do, right?" Everyone of them nodded their heads,

"Yeah we do Ani-kun, let's start already." his sister said to him. "Alright then."

He unravels the scroll and holds it from left to right, "Here we go." He begins to read the incantation on the scroll, "Spirits of time and space, We beg of you hear our cry, open a door to the past, so we may pass through."

As he finishes reading, the scroll starts to shake in his hands; it then flies out of his grip and gets bigger as it stands in the middle of the field. The scroll is now the size of a door, shines with a bright, white light and a breeze coming from it.

"Well... I guess I'll go first." Aniki said to the others. "Oniichan, please be careful." "I will Imoto-chan. When I go through, you three go after, got it?" The three of them nodded in agreement.

Taking a deep breath, Oniichan steps towards the scroll door. He extends an arm and puts it into the door, "It's a little cold." he walks through the door and is engulfed by the white light.

"Well I am next." Anii said to the remaining two. "Don't take too long or the door will close." Anii says to his sister and little brother.

Anii, being less hesitant than his brother, walks through the door and is engulfed by the white light.

Oneechan kneeled down to face her little brother, "Okay Ototo-chan, go through the door as soon as I do." "Yes Oneechan." said her little brother.

She stands up and walks right towards the door. As soon as his sister goes through the door, Ototo-chan walks to the door, but stops right in front of it. He takes one last look at the forest. He can't shake the feeling of being watched. He turns his attention back to the door and walks through it and is engulfed by the white light.

As the last of the four hooded strangers passes through the door, it began to shrink back to its original size and it gets smaller and smaller, until there's nothing left. The four hooded strangers and the scroll have disappeared; the only proof of them ever being in the flower field is their footprints in the snow, which are being erased by the blowing cold breeze. From within the forest, a pair of eyes has been watching the whole thing, "Well, there they go."

Mahora Academy (Present)

Spring time at Mahora Academy is so peaceful. Not so cold and not so warm. The Sakura trees are in full bloom and the wind scattering the petals into the air, it's quite a sight to behold.

Eleven o'clock at night, everyone within the girls' dormitory are sound asleep, with an exception. In one of the rooms, a certain mage professor is awake in the small kitchen the room has, drinking a glass of water.

'What was that?' Negi thinks to himself, 'I sense magic, but it felt like it came out of nowhere.'

Negi washes the glass and puts it back in the cupboard. 'Could it have been those lightning bolts from the storm early tonight?'

He quietly walks back to his loft, not wanting to wake Asuna or Konoka.

As Negi lies down to sleep, he can't help but question the magic he sensed. Of course, it was what woke him up, but is the person, persons or whatever giving off this magic, friend or foe?


Author's Note: With the four hooded stranger, I don't want to reveal their identities...yet. I use different terms to refer each other as brother and sister. Here what the they mean, it took me a long time to find the correct terms:

Anii/Aniki: Brother

Ani-kun: Used to refer to a brother of the same age

Oniichan: Big brother

Oneechan: Big sister

Ototo-chan: Little brother

Imoto-chan: Little sister