Author's Note – This is just a short one-shot I thought up for fun. This will not be a prelude to a bigger story, I just wanted to get back in the groove before I tried something big again.
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Night was falling over Mahora campus. It was the first full moon of the year, and the next day the students would be going back to their classes for the start of the new semester.
A tall, tan girl with black hair turned to her roommate, a short, pretty girl with white hair and two strange tattoos'.
"It's about time for bed, Zazie. Don't want to be tired out for the new semester tomorrow, do we?"
Zazie sighed, and agreed "Ok, Mana."
Both girls changed into their pajamas and slipped into bed. Zazie fell asleep almost instantly, Mana could tell, listening to her soft, steady breathing.
For her part, Mana just couldn't relax. She was very tired from all the festivities over the holidays, but nonetheless, she just couldn't get to sleep.
Finally, after an eternity of tossing and turning, she finally felt her eyelids drooping as she drifted off. An instant before she succumbed, however, a single thought crossed her mind.
Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?
Later on…
All was quiet on Mahora campus. The moon was high in the sky, bright and shining, everything a full moon should be. There was no sound anywhere, all the students having since gone to sleep. Even the wind had died down. The night was as still as death.
Just then, the clock struck 12.
Zazie's eyes snapped open. Usually they were a bright yellow, but now they had a tinge of silvery red mixed in. Sitting straight up, she pushed off her sheets and got out of bed. Walking straight over too the window, she opened it and stood there for a second, gazing out of the room with sightless eyes. The wind ruffled her light blue striped pajamas as the light of the full moon shone down on her.
Her kitten mewed softly at her, wondering what she was up too. She ignored it.
Making no sound, Zazie quietly slipped through the window and was gone.
XXX
Mana came awake with a start. Sitting bolt upright in her bed, she glanced at the clock beside her, which displayed the time being one o'clock.
Mana uttered a little used but heartfelt expletive.
Throwing off her covers, she dressed quickly into her sniper's uniform she used for fighting, grabbed her twin pistols, and leaped out of the window previously used by Zazie.
Shit.
XXX
Any onlooker would have thought the sight very strange to behold, for in any culture on the world, teenage girls did not generally leap from building to building in their nightclothes.
Zazie sprinted to the edge, and then leaped across to another rooftop, oblivious to the long drop should she miss. The cold wind tore at her clothes, and the light covering of snow on the ground nipped at her bare feet.
Zazie was oblivious to it all.
On she ran, until she reached the world tree plaza. She slowed to a walk, and reached out and touched the trunk of the monolithic entity. She wasn't even winded by her long sprint.
Leaping up into the lower branches, she began doing all manners of acrobatics, leaping from branch to branch with the ease and grace of a born performer.
"Zazie!" A familiar voice called form behind her. She turned around and jumped to the ground, a blank expression on her face.
Mana came running at full pelt, skidding to a stop when she saw Zazie. Lifting her hand, she beckoned to her friend, and said softly, "Come on, Zazie, let's get you back to bed. You'll catch a cold running outside in your bare feet, you know."
Mana edged closer and closer to Zazie, who just stood there blankly. Then, in a blur of motion, Mana whipped out a pistol and fired the special tranquilizer bullets she kept for this specific use.
Zazie sidestepped in an equally fast blur of motion.
Mana ground her teeth in frustration.
Damn.
Adjusting her aim, Mana fired again and again, so fast that it seemed like one shot.
Zazie sidestepped, ducked, and dodged every single one. Mana's pistol clacked as her ammo ran out. Discarding it, she drew her second pistol.
She was too late. Zazie whipped out a smoke bomb and threw it at her feet. Mana shielded her eyes as the bomb exploded. When the smoke cleared, Zazie was wearing nothing but a purple jester's outfit, complete with three-cornered bell hat.
Mana was dumbstruck.
How does she DO that?
Zazie smiled a small smile and giggled. Mana cursed and whipped her gun up to the target. Zazie giggled again.
Mana fired.
Zazie leaned to the left a mere three inches and the bullet thunked into the building behind her. Her smile was gone.
Performing a bow, Zazie whipped a scimitar out from thin air and rushed Mana. Whipping around in a full circle, she slashed at Mana's side. Jumping back, Mana barely evaded.
Zazie continued her fierce rush, coming at her friend form every conceivable angle. Mana danced back, giving ground before the onslaught of attacks. All of a sudden, though, she felt the cool brick press against her back.
Simultaneously, Zazie slashed down at her head.
Clang!
Mana deflected the stroke with the barrel of her pistol.
Nearby, the sound caused a certain kid teacher to wake up.
Mana dodged a second cut and dove to the side, pulling a combat knife from her boot as she did so. Recovering quickly, though Zazie whirled with the miss and came up chagrin. Mana snapped a quick shot off.
Zazie dug in with her feet to slow her momentum, and swayed to the right. Snapping out the scimitar, she deflected the bullet. Mana could only gape. Quickly coming back up to speed Zazie slashed again.
Mana caught it with her knife, but it had merely been a ruse. Zazie flipped over Mana's head, turning a half circle as she slashed again.
Mana cursed, "Damnit!"
All of a sudden, a small blur flew out from between the buildings. A familiar wood staff deflected Zazie's slash, and a flying elbow caught Zazie in her midsection, sending her flying.
"Negi!" cried Mana. Negi turned to her with a serious expression.
"What's going on, Mana? Has she been possessed or something?"
Mana sighed. "No. She's sleepwalking." Negi did a double take. His face suggested more than a little disbelief.
"Sleepwalking?"
"Yup. Every full moon, she sleepwalks like this. Usually I tie her down, because she doesn't know what she's doing. For example, if we'd have done nothing about tonight, she would have froze by morning."
Negi sighed. "I see what you mean." Of in the distance, Zazie was slowly getting to her feet. She was giggling again.
"So what do we do about it?" Negi asked.
"I have some tranquilizer bullets in my gun. If I can hit her with one, she'll fall into a deeper sleep, and be fine 'til morning."
Negi nodded. "OK then. I'll keep her busy, and you shoot!"
Mana nodded in agreement.
Zazie had gotten to her feet. She stood very still, her arms down to her side. Slowly, she began swaying from side to side, in time to some imaginary soundtrack only she could hear.
Play on, maestro. Play on!
Negi approached her carefully. When he got within fifty feet, Zazie's eyes snapped up to look at him. He froze.
Zazie smiled, and giggled softly. She muttered something to herself as she swayed.
Negi strained to hear, confused.
Zazie's swaying sped up. She said it again, louder, but still quite soft.
Mana's eyes widened.
Zazie stopped swaying. She spoke in a clear voice.
"Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me."
(A/N: I have no idea what this is from, but it sounds so cool!)
Raising her hand, she let her scimitar vanish in a puff of smoke. She dropped into a low, sweeping bow. Straightening up, she smiled.
"Good night."
Zazie collapsed. Rushing over to her Negi called out, "What's wrong with her Mana."
Mana blew a sigh of relief. "Nothing. She fell back asleep." Holstering her gun, she walked over and picked Zazie up.
"She must have gotten tired out. We really pushed her tonight; usually, she either can't go anywhere due to the ropes, or she just runs around for a while. Using all that energy to fight us must have worn her out."
Nagi nodded as they went back to the dorm. "I suppose. But why do you suppose she fought us?"
Later on…
Mana placed Zazie in her bed and tucked her in, then quickly fell asleep herself. Zazie shivered, and drew the covers closer around her.
Zazie's dream…
The crowd went wild. The chase scene, the fight scene, and the finale had all come together perfectly. Zazie had remembered every line perfectly. It was a wild success. She took a bow as the crowd stood up to give her a standing ovation.
Then, she gestured at her supporting cast so they could come and give their own bows, and then she walked over to the orchestra, the people who put the emotion into each and every scene, and congratulated them.
"Play on, maestro. Play on!"
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