Disclaimer: Uena is not in any shape or form affiliated with the creators of Negima!, or the writer of Harry Potter. In this world, at least. Who knows, maybe in some alternate universe, Uena IS the creator of Negima! and/or Harry Potter? Ah, well, it's good to dream. That aside, this is a Novelization of the Estranged Child Quest over at spacebattles dot com by the writer Yana. Uena and Yana are one and the same. Author's notes at the bottom.
~ Prologue~
It is the year 2000. A child, in the prophecy of a seer, is born as the seventh month waned to a couple who has thrice opposed a tyrannical madman. A year later during Halloween night, the madman fearful of the child destined to defeat him, struck the house and home of the child's family.
The madman was successful in slaying the husband, and the wife perished protecting their child. With ecstatic glee, the madman approached the crib upon where the child rests, infantile cries protesting the demise of its parents. Raising his wand, he savored the feeling of power with the knowledge that soon the only thing that can stop him will soon be gone from this world.
He cast his spell, and the world was bathed in light. The only witness to that horrible night being the man, the infant, and one other pair of young eyes watching with suffocating horror.
But let us not get sidetracked here. The infant's story is not mine to tell, not yet, still it ties closely with our story. The story of a young child only a few years older than the infant, and that child's struggle to save their soulmate from their harsh life granted to them by the madman, his followers, and those who oppose him.
Negi Springfield was, in few words, an exemplary teacher. He was born and raised in Wales to a small community, looked after by his auntie Nekane and the other villagers after he was orphaned when his father left on a journey. He never knew his mother, but there were times when he dreamt of her cradling him close.
Starting his career at the tender age for ten, he became the adviser and the English teacher of-then Class 2-A of Mahora Academy Middle-School Division, Japan. He took teaching his students very seriously, helping those struggling by tutoring them after class.
His ability to teach at a young age isn't the only remarkable thing about Negi.
See, he was a young man fresh out of Magic School, and after graduation all students are given one final task by their Alma Mater. His childhood friend was given a typical Sorcerer's job, Fortune Telling. Negi on the other hand, was given the chance to teach English in Japan. He didn't let that deter him though, easily slipping into the role model for his students, even if said students were all female, or that they were all easily four years older than him.
Since flying over to Japan, the wise and old principal of Mahora let Negi bunk for his teaching job. Asuna Kagurazaka, one of Negi's students and eventual roommate, constantly needed help with her studies in which the young teacher is all too glad to give, which she returns by taking care of Negi, as there are still a few things even the oddly independent boy was reluctant to do, like taking baths.
As expected of Middle-schoolers, they often get into trouble, subsequently dragging the poor teacher into the mix. There was even one time when a handful of 2-A students were stuck in Library Island (A library in Mahora as large as a whole island, hence its name) because they heard about a book that can boost their intelligence... and their grades.
Almost falling to their deaths, getting stuck in the bottom of a Labyrinthian library for three days, and nearly getting mauled by a Dragon was so not worth a simple book. Even more so when Negi and the group later learned that it was a test by the headmaster of Mahora to push the students to realize that it was all their doing, and that the short time they used the fake book, they actually answered tough questions they didn't know they could answer.
After that... Well, his memories become blurry. Negi knows that he had a swordswoman who dedicated her life to protect her Oujo-sama from the shadows, a girl from the future, and a real gynoid as students, but Negi's memory of the past life isn't the best.
Ah, yes. Past life. We should elaborate on that.
For an undetermined amount of time, Negi taught class 2-A, even all the way up to High School. They loved the teacher, and he loved them back. But, there was this one student Negi had in particular that he couldn't keep his mind off. At first he thought that he just wanted to help her, let her get along with the others.
But as time wore on, even after helping her open up to the rest of her classmates and letting her show her full potential... She still kept nagging at the teacher's mind. He tried to ignore it, but it gnawed at his thoughts, his dreams, until finally he can't imagine the better part of his life without her.
Many times did Negi try to build up courage to confront her. But it was just so wrong. Asuna kept urging the teacher to man up, that with the rate the two of them were going, he was leading her on like that, and eventually he caved. But Negi fervently told her he won't do anything until the Teacher-Student relationship was over, she shook her head saying that it doesn't matter, but the young man insisted on this.
Finally, the day came. It was graduation, the day when Negi and his students would part ways, the day when they would all live on with their separate lives, but still be together through the bond they all shared as a class and all the adventures everyone lived through.
The proud teacher watched his students walk down the aisle, handing them their certificates and them thanking Negi from the bottom of their hearts. The adviser felt like a proud parent. His dream of being a Magister Magi (Master Mage) and finally achieving it dwarfing the feeling he had at that moment. These were his students, his children, his sisters, his best of friends.
The girl of his life approached him, bowing low and thanking him, an uncertain tone in her voice. The teacher smiled, gave her the certificate, and they bowed to each other, a second longer than the other students. She turned around, stepped off the stage...
And vanished from Negi Springfield's life.
The rest of Negi's memories of her were painful, locked away by his own mind, lest would he reel in pain thinking about her.
One day, the young Mage did find her... but by then it was too late. She was gone from this world, taken her own life during a magic ritual.
He tried to live on, thinking that this is what she would have wanted, watching as his students... no, his best of friends make the best of their lives. They never blamed Negi for what happened to her, smiling sadly as some of them felt the same way as Negi did with their friend, but knew that the Mage didn't feel the same way.
It was Asuna who ended this phase of Negi's life.
"Why don't you follow her then?" Asuna, her tone grim and unsure, asked the young man as the two of them sat in her living room, she caressing the slight bump on her stomach.
The pain was evident in her voice. She didn't want Negi to leave, how could she, when he was, is a big part of her life? Negi was her only living relative left, no matter how confusingly related the two of them are, but Asuna couldn't bear the pain of seeing their long-time friend trudge through life like a ghost of his former self.
So it pained her, at the same time gave her hope, when the Mage's eyes lit up with life at her statement. His mind focusing on the fact that he would get to see her again.
And so he did.
He tried to follow her. He repeated the same ritual she did to leave this world. He prepared for his journey, gathered his magic and research, and said his goodbyes.
Asuna was the only one with him on the day that he left. She had tears in her eyes, but she brushed it aside, saying that it was her baby's fault she was like this.
Negi nodded his head reluctantly, but said nothing. Finally, the time has come. The glowing circle under his feet glowed bright as his magic flooded through it, the research notes used by her guiding the young Mage every step of the way. He felt his soul leaving, the last thing of this world that he saw was of Asuna's tear-stained face.
"If my baby is a boy, I'll name him Nagi." She said, smiling through the tears. "And if she's a girl, I'll name her after you!"
"Wait, what?!" Those were Negi's last words in this world, the spell finally taking hold, whisking the young Mage away from this life and into a new one in another world.
Irreplaceable memories slipped from Negi, precious ones he spent with friends, meetings with special people, and even magic he used in life. In a panicked frenzy, Negi's soul tried to catch them, keep them close to his heart, but then he realized that he can't get all of them, not with the way they slipped through him like water through his fingers. With pained resignation, he grabbed hold of the sole reason he was doing this. He gathered all her memories, not letting any slip by. Even as he forgot the names and faces of those important to him, the adventures everyone had, the hardships they all faced...
He took everything he could in.
And he succeded. Negi managed to shelter all of her memories with a few ones of his important friends. But it was okay.
He didn't forget about her.
Even as he slept in the womb of his new mother, even as he was born into a new world again an infant, even as he was cradled close by a blonde woman with a pair of emerald green eyes.
He didn't forget about her.
But Negi's trials didn't stop there. After several hours in the operating room, little Negi was born. The nurse wrapped the Mage's tiny body in clean white sheets, handing the infant to the mother.
"Here you go, Mrs. Pendragon." The nurse said, his cheery voice quite infectious. "Your daughter."
'What.' Negi's mind helpfully supplied.
"Arthuria." Negi's mother said, cuddling the infant close. "Her name is Arthuria Pendragon."
For some reason, Negi is a girl. This fact took a long time to register in Negi's -now Arthuria's- mind. Many thoughts swirled in the infant's mind like a typhoon, yet outside in the real world, the baby only squirmed slightly in her mother's arms.
The mother, a tender smile on her face, shushed and rocked her daughter in her arms. The motions lulled Arthuria to sleep, the chaos in her mind dying down as she fought back the drowsiness that embraced her. It was futile, the infant too tired from the day of being born to stay awake.
But even as she slipped into slumber, a resolve was born.
It didn't matter that she was a girl. It didn't matter that she was a baby right now. She was his most important person, and she wouldn't let something as petty as age or gender stop her. No. She, Negi Springfield, will be together with her in this life no matter the cost, no matter the circumstance. Because she loved her, and he never got the chance to tell her in the past life.
She will make sure she doesn't make the same mistake twice.
This is the story, my friends, of Negi Springfield, past Magister, now reborn as a young girl.
Join me as I tell you about her life, and her adventure to bring her loved one back.
This is the story of the Estranged Child.
~ To be Continued ~
Post Notes:
I keep still thinking of the yellow post-its when I type "Post Notes"... Anyway!
For those of you who just read this, welcome! To those who already read this, welcome back! I hope you enjoyed the prologue as much as I did, and tell me if I did something wrong, like typos (Except for those between [" "]s, since they're most likely intentional) or if I didn't get a characterization right.
For those readers reading this that came from the Negima! side, yes. I took liberties to change the story. Negi managed to teach 3-A until their High School graduation. And, no. I'm not telling who Asuna is with.
For those readers coming to read this from the Harry Potter side, I took liberties and moved the Canon plotline from the 90s to 2000s. Arthuria/Negi is born at the year 1998.
As for Fem!Negi's name, it was not I who specifically chose it... I would personally choos Katherine MacDougal for her, just for the irony, but the people over at SB voted and Arthuria Pendragon is the winner.
I shall leave this here. You can PM me if you want to apply as my Novelization Beta, or if you just want to talk about something. You can also find me in SB, and in fact join in at the Quest portion to help decide Fem!Negi's fate.
Well, time for me to go. Anyway, readers. Stay Magical!