"Come on! Let me see it Uncle!"

"Cut it out, Sarah! This letter is for me!"

"Ah, let her see it. She's only five."

"She can see it after I'm done!"

Sarah snatched the paper out of his hands before he even began to open it. David really needed to learn to control his kid. The girl could not continue this disobedient behavior for much longer. She was five! She had already begun her schooling at the academy two years ago; she only had another five to straighten out her behavior. It was dangerous to let some girl who thought it was alright to take things people were using right from them to run amuck with magic! Where would she draw the line? The charm of it had run out after the first time she had done it. It was time for a change.

Well, she still had five years to get that down. Five years at least, really.

Of course, she was David's little angel, his pride and joy. Nothing that he could do or say would ever make his older brother see any fault in Sarah. So for the last five years he had buckled down and just prepared himself for anything the girl had thrown at him. Which, during those five years, seemed to be just about everything from strawberry jam to anything else she could fit in her hand and lob at his head. Still, he had to be as nice as possible to his niece.

But, she had stolen his diploma.

His veritable proof that he had finally graduated from the Academy. The piece of paper that would tell him his next task on the road to becoming a Master Magi. That task had been haunting his dreams and every waking thought for as long as he could remember. He really, really wanted that answer.

And now it was in the hands of a five year old girl.

"You little brat! Give that back!" Marten bellowed. He scrambled forward, nearly tripping on his ceremonial robes, but Sarah stayed just out of reach. He tripped finally, hitting the marble floor with a loud "whump". David chuckled above him, earning a glare from his younger brother.

"No way, Uncle! I get to see it first!"

The little girl scurried to a pillar down the corridor and hid behind it. She was probably trying her best to hide from both her father and uncle, or at least stay out of their reach long enough to read the diploma.

"Is it really that important that you see it first? It'll still be th-"

"Yes! It is very much that important!" Marten interrupted, pushing himself off the floor.

"It's never anything exciting. It's usually some sort of minor apprenticeship. I was apprenticed to an enchanter for three years."

Marten dusted himself off and gave his brother a look. "Yeah, but you were also ten. I've been waiting longer than you have."

Marten was fourteen.

The Magic Academy of Wales normally let students graduate at the age of ten. Correction. The Magic Academy of Wales normally let students who were not complete screw ups graduate at the age of ten. Marten, unfortunately, was not one of the normal students. When Marten was ten, he had managed to let one of his spells go a bit haywire and managed to set one of the Academy's stables on fire. This little mistake had really put the instructors at the academy on edge about his prospects of graduating that year. In fact, it seemed that it put them on edge about him graduating for the next four years.

It was not that Marten was necessarily bad at magic. In fact, he was quite adept with spell slinging. Marten just was the type of boy who spent the whole night studying for an examination, only to sleep completely through it.

So he was late for his graduation by about four years.

He finally made it around the pillar to find Sarah seated with his letter open in her lap.

"Sarah. Seriously. Give that back."

David stepped up behind his brother and ruffled the younger boy's mop of dark brown hair.

"Sarah, sweetie. I think it's time you gave Uncle Marten his letter back.

Sarah smiled at her dad, putting on her best "I'm so sorry" face. She held the paper out with one hand. Marten snatched it back greedily from her, folding it shut again. He had to at least pretend he was the first to read it. He shot her a glare.

"About time you little monster."

Sarah giggled.

Marten took a deep breath and opened the paper up. The words had already appeared on the paper when Sarah had attempted to read it, so they sat there, rather lack-luster for Marten. He sighed. She had even taken the fun out of it.

"Well, it says here that I'm supposed to…"

Marten froze and let his mouth hang open. He closed the paper up again, before giving both David and Sarah a look of concern.

"It says you're supposed to do…." David began.

Marten just gave him another look, before shutting his mouth and folding the paper in half again. Without saying anything, he turned on his heel and headed back down the corridor in a hurry. David watched him leave, back towards the area the ceremony for his graduation had just taken place minutes ago.

He felt Sarah's little hand wrap around two of his fingers before he looked down. She was still watching him go.

"Sarah, sweetie… what did Uncle Marten's letter say?"

Sarah smiled again. "Uncle Marten's going to be a teacher."

David looked up in time to see Marten round the corner and disappear. His eyes grew wide before he picked up his daughter in both his arms and hurried after his brother.

By the time David caught up with Marten, the fourteen-year old was waving the offending piece of paper over his head, storming up to the man in charge himself. David could only watch in horror. He was actually going to complain to the Headmaster about his diploma?

"Magus!"

David groaned to himself. This did not bode well.

"Magus!"

Of course, Marten had reached the old man first. David did not even have a chance to stop him physically. Especially not carrying Sarah. He stopped behind his brother and slowly lowered his daughter to the ground. Sarah quickly hid behind her father, watching the Magus and her Uncle.

The Magus, more silvery beard than actual man, turned to the boy, clutching his gnarled staff in one hand. The wisdom that came with a beard like that seemed to radiate off him. Yet Marten just held his diploma out to the Magus with one hand. He struck it with the other.

"Sir, there has to be some sort of mistake. My diploma. I mean… certainly there's a mistake or some sort of joke that I'm not getting here because it's certainly not funny. I mean, I get that I'm the guy who burned the stables down and accidentally knocked over all the shelves in the library that one time and all the other things that basically make me the laughing stock of this school, but this isn't funny." Marten took a deep breath. "Sir, my diploma says I'm supposed to be a teacher in…"

The Magus tilted his head ever so slightly.

Marten stared at him, before shaking his head.

"Okay. See. No. Okay. The thing is…" He pushed the diploma forward further. "I am…. I'm not exactly sure if this is the best choice here. I mean… I took four more years than the kids I graduated with to actually graduate. That girl who was the top of our class? She came up to my chest." He shook the paper in front of the Magus. "I mean, I took longer than anyone I know to graduate and probably longer than anyone in the history of the Academy and… and."

Marten struck the diploma with his other hand again.

"Now you want me to teach?"

The Magus nodded slowly again.

Marten began to hyperventilate.

David finally stepped in, tugging on his shirt collar. "Excuse me, Magus. Marten. What does your diploma say?"

Marten just shoved the diploma into David's face, his breathing becoming more erratic. "I'm… I'm going… going to be a teacher."

David nodded, taking the diploma in his hands. "Okay, so we can agree that it's a bit of an unusual test for you. But I'm sure you'll be able to…"

"Read it."

David opened the paper and looked down at it.

"This certificate hereby certifies that Marten O. Caruthers has finished…" He trailed off, mumbling to himself.

Marten actually stopped breathing for a few moments before taking in ragged breaths again.

David started up again. "Your final test will be to become a teacher in…" He trailed off once more, shaking his head as if to clear the last thought from it.

"Your final test will be to become a teacher in-"

"Japan." The Magus finished.

David let the diploma fall from his hands.

"The diploma has spoken, Young Caruthers. Calm yourself."

Marten's breathing slowly returned to normal.

"Master Caruthers, not even I, the Magus, can change what your diploma has set before you."

Sarah stepped out from behind her father and picked up Marten's diploma. She pushed it back into his hand, which clamped down on it, crushing it between his fingers.

The Magus raised a thick eyebrow at Marten. "You may be interested to know that fifteen years ago, just one year before your brother graduated from our halls, that this very same test was put before another graduate." He indicated to David with his staff. "Do you recall his name, Mr. Caruthers?"

David shook his head. The Magus looked at Marten. Marten shook his head as well.

The Magus chuckled. "His name was Negi Springfield."

Marten's eyes widened. "I have… I have the same test as Negi Springfield. I got the same diploma as Negi Springfield."

"The very one and same, Master Caruthers." The Magus smiled, barely visible under the great weight of the beard that consumed him. "It is an odd thing. A test like this is not something that comes so often. The fact that it has appeared again so soon makes me fear that something troublesome may be in our future."

Marten looked down at his diploma. "Why… Why me? I mean… I could have been kicked out ages ago…"

The Magus put a wrinkled hand on Marten's shoulder.

"I cannot say why you were chosen." The Magus replied. "Young Master Springfield was unsure of himself as well. I believe that it chose you for the same reason it chose him. I believe you are destined for great things."

The Magus took his hand from Marten's shoulder, but David replaced it with his own.

"Marten… That… You must be honored."

Marten looked at his diploma. "I… Yes."

He would have much rather preferred three years of apprenticeship to an Enchanter, really.

"Sir, but… a fourteen year old boy doesn't just… get a teaching job. I can't imagine anyone here hiring him, much less in Japan." David interjected.

The Magus chuckled again. "The school that the diploma speaks of will not be an issue. If there is something dark on the horizon for us, I'm sure that Mahora Academy will be involved somehow. Marten will not be alone, Mr. Caruthers. Many of Negi Springfield's old allies are still at Mahora and they will offer young Marten any assistance he may need. Some may be harder to convince than others, but I am confident your brother will find a way. After all, Negi Springfield was only ten when he received his test. Marten has four additional years under his belt."

Marten still looked at the paper. Four years of not graduating was all he had under his belt.

"I… I see." David muttered.

The Magus turned from them, clacking his staff against the marble floor.

"I will say what I said to Negi Springfield all those years ago." He took a step away from them. "If it was written on the diploma then that is the end of the matter. You must train hard, Marten Caruthers, in order to become a great mage."

Marten looked up at the Magus and nodded once.

There was no turning back now. Especially not after all the hard work he had put in over the last few years.

David squeezed his shoulder tightly as something dawned on Marten.

"David…"

"Yes, Marten?"

"I don't speak a lick of Japanese."