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
Alyssa sipped from her tea cup, but despite her refined action there was a look of boredom in her eyes. She sighed as she set the cup down and leaned across the table. The only students from Class 3-A who stayed behind while the rest went to America—Alyssa, Miyu, Caria, and Yuki—all sat around this table outside in the 'streets' of Mahora, by a small park not far from Alyssa's cottage.
"Alyssa-sama?" queried Miyu in surprise.
"It's just a summer vacation like any other…me, stuck here at this school while the rest of the idiots are gone, but I just can't seem to enjoy the peace and quiet…."
"Ah!" Caria said brightly. "It seems you're bored because Kain-sensei and the rest are gone, right? You must have had a lot of fun with them over the early summer…."
"That's not it!" Alyssa contested hotly, red-faced, and, as it turns out, futily.
"But Alyssa-sama always used to mutter about how she was looking forward to those training sessions…" Miyu began.
"You shut up!" Alyssa sighed again, her wrath dissolving quickly. "Well, it was certainly something different, a major change from the drab, endless days of school with empty-headed girls I've been subjected to for the last fifteen years. Of course, what makes it even more boring is the distinct lack of Sanada Sakura. She made things rather interesting herself during her time here, from both her strengths and her foibles. Even little sessions of tea ceremony became interesting, because she loved to fully embrace that quiet, reserved aspect of Japanese culture, and at the same time she rejected all the traditional kinds of tea and only would drink her 'kosher' versions. She was a master at strategy games…she was obviously far too brilliant for a school like this, but nobody seemed to catch on. Every day with her was fascinating, wondering what she would do, what she was intending, and never able to figure it out." She chuckled. "Having her around was always interesting.
"But now all we have here at all is you three," Alyssa continued, her voice turning to complaining as she swept in the other three girls with a condescending tone. "The three least cute and most unremarkable girls in our whole class. Kain and Sakura aside, there's nothing to do but be bored if you three are all we have…maybe I could turn you into dress-up dolls…."
"That seems a little extreme, Alyssa-chan. I hope that there's something more to catch your interest."
Alyssa turned and glanced back at the approaching figure. Her eyes widened in surprise. "You…Higurashi Eishun. Well, it's certainly been a long time…just what are you doing here? Your precious daughter isn't around right now…."
"Yes, I'm aware," Eishun replied easily. "I think that's part of the reason why I was asked to return."
"Hmm? What's that about?"
"Oh!" Caria said suddenly. "This must be because of, ah, the Gateports all not working, right?"
Alyssa turned slowly to stare at Caria. "What?" she demanded.
"A-ah, w-well," Caria began, blanching under Alyssa's deadly stare, "I heard something about it in the news, and my parents mentioned in their letters…sometime during the trip, it seems all the Gateports to Arcanus Myrror stopped working. I think Kain-sensei and the rest of them must be trapped on that side right now…."
"Oh…is that so?" Alyssa sipped her tea again, seemingly losing interest. "That's interesting…does that mean the remnants of the 'Obsidian Star' are getting ready to make their play?"
"So it would seem," Eishun agreed easily. "Word came down that suspicious individuals were seen near the Gates around the time Kain-kun and the rest were due to touch down in America. I contributed two of my own mages to join a task force to head through the gate at Sendai and find out anything they could, and, if need be, rescue the White Wings and return them home. Shortly after they passed through, the Gate fell silent. Takamichi-kun was among them…."
"Well, that would explain where he's gone, although he hasn't been around at all lately to begin with," Alyssa murmured. "It seems Kain is going to get all that he wanted…and more." She chuckled slightly. "It will be interesting to see what happens if he manages to get out of this."
"You really seem to have an interesting relationship with his son," Eishun chuckled back. "Well, I've heard some things, so I have a favor to ask, Alyssa-chan…before I see my father, could you show me to where Jynx is hiding?"
8-8-8
Allen Black was up on one of his balconies, having just finished a meal, when he was hailed from behind. He turned and stared at the approaching figure in the doorway. "Eishun!" he declared, rising as the man strode forward to meet him. They embraced for a moment, and then Jynx leaned back with a laugh. "Look at you! You old man, now a refined and subdued political mage, from what I hear. Your daughter's doing quite well, though…I was pretty amazed by how she's turned out. But what brings you out here to Mahora? No, don't tell me…the business with the Gates, right?"
"So well-informed!" Alyssa murmured, coming up from behind. "I thought you didn't get much from your little ivory tower here."
"Well, yes and no," Jynx chuckled. "This may be cut off, but it's also tied in to the…flow of magic, I guess you could say, between the two worlds. I can tell that all the normal passages have been severed. And, more than that…this has caused a distortion between the two worlds, and they are now temporally out of sync."
"Ah?" Eishun raised an eyebrow. "You mean…a time lapse? On which side?"
"Specifically, Arcanus Myrror is flowing at a greatly accelerated rate," Jynx elucidated. "A week's gone by since Kain and the rest must have passed through, but for them, it's likely been over three months. They've been stuck there all this time…and we can only guess at what they've gotten into." Jynx shook his head. "We haven't seen each other in all this time…and it's because of something like this. I wish we had better news to catch up on…."
"No, it's fine. There's a lot I'd love to hear from you, Jynx, but if what you say is true, we might have the time for that after all…likely all we can do is wait for something to happen on the other side. But first, if you tell me everything you know, I can share that with Father and the rest of the council here and we can figure out what we can do…."
8-8-8
Across the big pond, in America, there were four other students gathered together and lamenting their boredom…in various ways.
"Ah, what is with this?" Kanade whined. "It's been a week…how could they all have disappeared like this!? Did they really get lost in the mountains!? Are they really all right!?"
"Oh, stop whining, Kanade-chan," Matake sighed. "Just because you're upset that you slept in when you wanted to try following along with everyone else…."
"How could they!?" Risa interrupted. "Even Riku, my own sister, just up and abandoned me! Bad enough that Kain-sensei and everyone decided to sneak off and ditch us, but even Riku and the rest just left us behind…."
As Matake sighed, Rakasu suddenly put in brightly, "Does anyone want some of these cookies with their tea?"
"C'mon, Rakasu-chan!" Kanade pleaded. "Aren't you at all put out by this!? We were supposed to go on this trip together…!"
"Kain-sensei's club came here on their own for their own reasons," Rakasu replied evenly. "We were never supposed to be involved in the first place. Like it or not, sometimes people have their own reasons for things. None of us should have been intruding on him in the first place."
"Well, what about those who took off after them?" Matake ventured. "Should they have been sent back to us by now, or something? Truth be told, more than anything, I'm worried about Kazumi and Yukari…."
"There's nothing much we can do about them right now," Rakasu replied. "So let's just relax and have tea, shall we? I'm sure we'll hear word before too long…."
"But, it really makes you wonder what happened to them," Kanade muttered, swiftly switching mental gears. "Maybe…they were abducted! By a UFO! And now they've been taken aboard their mothership, where they've been plugged into a VR system and are locked in an alternate reality where they think they're exploring a magical city…!"
"Yes, yes," her sister, Haruna, sighed as she arrived bearing more tea and cookies on a tray. "That's enough, Onee-chan…."
"Ah, Hina-chan! But…."
Suddenly Rakasu's cell phone went off. "Hmm?" She answered it. "Moshi-moshi. Ah, Yuki-chan? How good to hear from you! What's going on back at Mahora? Ah, Alyssa-chan did? That's so funny! Oh, is that so? Hmm. And? Really? Well, well…then I guess we'll have to clean things up and head home. All right, then. Thank you for calling, Yuki-chan. We'll see you soon!" And she hung up.
The assembled four were staring at her. "Was that…really Yuki-chan?" Risa demanded in shock. "I…can't even imagine what the other side of that conversation sounded like…."
"What was she talking about?" Kanade pressed. "It sounded like you were saying we were leaving!"
"We are, we are," Rakasu assured her. "We need to pack and head back to Japan. When we see Kain-sensei and the rest again, it'll be at Mahora Academy."
"H-hey!" Matake cried. "What are you talking about!? What are you…we can't just leave everyone here, can we!?"
"There's no point in staying here," Rakasu insisted. "We won't see them until we're all in Japan."
"But that's no explanation! Hey! Rakasu-chan! Explain what's going on…!"
F I N
Author's Note: A Snapshot
With most of the group gathered together now in Arcanus Myrror, these usual 'showing the action somewhere else' Prologues won't work much anymore. So for now I gave a brief shot of the situations in the 'normal' world, as they deal with this 'week' of silence…what it is for them.
Both of these scenes were adapted from little snapshots in the Negima story, as Eva tried to relieve her boredom back at Mahora by dressing up the boring and 'uncute' Chachamaru sisters, Satsuki, Hakase, and Zazie. Then, while the rest of them in Wales were wondering what happened, our not-so-beloved iinchô suddenly got a call from the equally-unexpressive Zazie, and the twins and cheerleaders present wondered just as my girls did about how the totally silent character managed that kind of conversation with their president….
Now, after all that flashback stuff, let's move on to the current story, starting with some hijinx….
