Disclaimer: This is a nonprofit fictional story, a FanFiction based on Ken Akamatsu's Negima. I do not own Negima, or most of the other characters included in this work, excepting where it is stated in the author's notes. It is not intended or presented for any commercial profit or personal gain; it is simply a story written for personal fulfillment and presented for public enjoyment, and as an honest homage to the fine story conceived and written by Ken Akamatsu, as well as all the other (innumerable) works that find place herein (and their authors).

Prologue

"What are you doing?"

The youthful Jynx glanced behind him at the figure in the doorway. The youthful Saber filled it. "Ah, Saber…I'm taking record of our adventures," Jynx said cheerfully. He gestured to the machine in front of him. A squat, round object, it had a small video screen and a pair of snake-like protrusions with suction cups on the end of them.

"Well…a neural analyzing MagiTech device?" Saber murmured. "Although it's obvious what that device is, anything you have to hook up directly to your head or brain makes me hesitate…."

"Ah, come on," Jynx chuckled. "I was hoping for everyone to contribute some to the project…it's not enough just to have a 'record', after all. It has to be presented right…like on the big screen, you know?"

"Ah…you are referring to those 'motion pictures' that Aeli is so fond of?" Saber mused. "I'm not sure if our memories should be made into something so…trivial…."

"Not at all! It's not trivial at all! People will be telling stories about this in the future anyway. They'll probably even make movies of their own about it. We've talked about it…we figure it'll be better to make our own record for it. I studied quite a bit of video production at the University…I should be able to turn our adventures into a pretty good picture…."

"Hmm…'we', you say…and who is this 'we'? You and Aiden-dono? Kalan-dono?"

"I thought it was a good idea," Aeli remarked as she came wandering in, startling Saber. "It might be fun, you know?"

"A-Aeli!" Saber stuttered in shock. "You can't be serious!"

"Why not?" Aeli asked. "It's just as Jynx says. We might as well put down our own record…we can keep it for our own personal amusement, if nothing else."

"Right!" Jynx agreed. "Now, I think this is about ready…let's get everyone gathered to get it started…."

8-8-8

The group assembled, watching Jynx putting the finishing touches on his device. The young Kurt Gödel, silver-haired and adorned by his glasses, was sitting next to the man, helping him. Takamichi stood nearby, nervously switching between watching the pair and watching Gato, who was viewing the scene rather passively. Aeli and Kalan were chuckling as they discussed how the movie might turn out, with Aeli holding little Mai on her lap. Mai watched the scene with her usual blankness. Aiden stood near Gato, watching with a small smile.

Saber was pacing around nervously, and Eishun didn't look happy as he observed the pair at work. "Is this really the time we should be doing this?" he demanded. "I mean, sure the Obsidian Star is lying low—we've dealt them a serious blow now, repossessing Orimus—but they're not gone yet. Should we be relaxing like this, doing something like this, when the…ah, the 'story' hasn't even been finished yet?"

"I think it's better to start it now," Kalan put in, breaking from his own conversation. "There's stuff still to do, but so much has already been done, that if we want to do a project like this—and I have a feeling that we should have our own story out there, for posterity if nothing else—we should get started now." He turned to Jynx. "Is it ready?"

"Yes!" Jynx declared emphatically, standing dramatically. "It's ready to go!"

"It looks like fun," said Aiden. "So, we're going to be producers now?"

F I N

Author's Note: Magic of the Cineverse

And so we begin the Red Wings' story, a piece that will be largely fast-forwarded and with the main parts hit—they won't be as extensive and in-depth as the opening story told at the end of Act 8. I'm not sure how much time I'll spend here, but I figure it's more than a few small chapters, hence the reason I decided to change this into a mini-Act all its own. It will be told in semi-story, semi-movie narration format, with Aiden providing the highlights, of course, and occasional comments from the peanut gallery.

This is, of course, based on the videos Jack Rakan used to tell his very own story, although I figure that Jynx is the kind of guy who would most want to play with the video, so it's mostly his product, and thus Aiden's version isn't so pompous as Rakan's was. These videos were made via the entire group of the Red Wings, over time—as this prologue shows, starting near the end of the war, and then continued afterwards. There will be more of these later; for now, Aiden's only telling the primary story of the Obsidian Star.

So, let's get this started!