Disclaimer: I don't own Negima! Magister Negi Magi or Ranma ½
Rise of Prodigies
Chapter Four: Origins: Negi II - A Home in Flames
Beta:
It was late at night and the Springfields, Negi and Nekane, were walking home after yet another funeral. In the week since the attack on their village by that strange burrowing caterpillar monster, they had attended way too many of them.
There had been six today alone!
It was why they were headed home so late. Thankfully with the last of the injured in the fighting either recovered or dead, this would be the last funeral.
That was small consolation to Negi though who was feeling dead on his feet as he all but dragged himself into the small cottage he shared with his cousin. It was way past his usual bedtime and he was feeling it. Big time.
Feeling utterly exhausted all he wanted was to crawl onto his bed and sleep. Unfortunately Big Sis Nekane was having none of that.
"Change into your pajamas first, Negi." She scolded him gently as she followed him into his room. "I know you're tired but you'll ruin your good clothes if you go to bed in them."
"O-Okay, Nekane." Negi replied as moving on autopilot he changed into his nightclothes even as Nekane chuckled at him for a moment before leaving to get ready for bed herself.
Usually Negi would have taken this opportunity to sneak into his cousin's room and sleep in her bed for the night. He liked cuddling next to her as they both slept. It always made him feel super loved and comfortable. Sorta like how he thought having a mother might be like. Tonight Negi was too tired to even think about it. Instead, the moment he flopped onto his bed he almost immediately fell asleep.
It was a fitful sleep though. Even as he snuggled into his pillow, the horrible images of the attack on his village replayed themselves in his dreams. As a result, the young lad twisted and turned in discomfort from his nightmares.
He was rescued from them however when in the middle of the night he felt someone urgently shaking his shoulder. Blinking his eyes open, he saw the blurry figure of Nekane leaning over the edge of his bed.
"Huh? Nekane?"
"Negi, shh, wake up. W-We need to go." She told him, her voice shaken even though she looked calm.
"What's going on?" He asked as she pulled him up.
His cousin didn't answer as she grabbed his shoes and put them on. "Alright let's go and stay quiet Negi."
Confused, Negi just obeyed his cousin and padded behind her as she rushed out of the house. They walked out into a view that would be burned into the young boy's mind forever.
It was a hellscape, even worse than the previous attack. Fires raged everywhere, flashes of magic were streaking through the night with abandon, people were screaming and demons laughing. It was a scene of madness. He tried to say something, anything, to describe his horror but his voice failed him.
Unlike him Nekane was miraculously able to keep enough of her cool to keep moving. Pulling on his arm, she hurriedly dragged him around their house.
"Keep moving, Negi. W-We can't stop until we're safe."
Negi wanted to ask where they could go that would be safe in the middle of such an attack, but still his voice refused to work. This time it wasn't just out of fright. That was still there but it was combined with a strange sense of confused longing as he caught sight of who looked like the mastermind behind the attack.
As the two cousins had raced behind their house, Negi had managed to get a look at the town's main square. There he saw a tall man in a long hooded robe and holding a long staff with a head that looked like a crooked branch standing there surrounded by a swarm of butterflies while he idly watched the villagers fight and die.
As they turned to run, they hardly made it twenty feet before a gargoyle-like demon landed right in front of them. It's wicked maw already opened with the flickering light of a fire burning within that rapidly grew to a large blaze before being belched out at them in a fireball.
"No!" Nekane shouted desperately as she flung a wand in front of her. A series of magical shields appearing in front of them in response to her desperate spell.
The fireball shattered the first of her shields but splashed against the second before fizzling out. The demon though wasn't so easily fended off. Exploiting the distraction its fireball had caused, it lunged at them its claws raised to tear the two humans apart.
It never finished its jump. It was mid leap when a barrage of stone slammed into it from the side with enough force to turn whole portions of its body into bloody mist and leaving the rest to be carried by its inertia where the chunks of meat slammed into Nekane's remaining shields.
"Follow me if you want to live!" Old Man Stein shouted at them as he jogged up to them. His robes torn and covered in blood, none of which seemed to be his own.
"Mr. Stein!" Nekane cried out in relief as she rushed over to him, pulling Negi along with her. "What's going on? Who's attacking us?"
"The Mage obviously." The old man said pointing over his shoulder at the town square with his staff, even as he began cautiously leading the Springfields out of town via the back alleys. "The attack is centred around the lab where the experimental sealing staff is being housed."
"But how did it find out?" Nekane gasped.
"Doesn't matter." The Old Man grunted as he sent a row of earthen spikes towards a group of imps just ahead of them who had been playing arsonist. "Keep moving. At this rate the village is a loss. We're going to regroup at the Bryn Gwyn stones."
Nekane nodded, her hold on Negi's wrist tightening somewhat painfully. He didn't understand half the things they were talking about, and he wanted to! Sadly, he knew it wasn't the time to be asking questions.
They were halted as Old Man Stein let out a curse as he stared into the distance.
"Looks like we're going to make a detour," their elderly neighbour said abruptly changing direction. "There's no way I can take that on alone.
Negi hazarded a look at what had spooked the powerful wizard so much. It was a rather bizarre looking eel-like demon that had a long tubular body with a flared tail at the end. Two fins were near the head with another set further back along its back. It had a lamprey-like mouth that opened and closed as it breathed, showing off its many serrated teeth each time. Even scarier was how it was surrounded by dozens of Negi's neighbors walking around like zombies.
Yeah, I can see why it would be a bad idea trying to fight that thing. Negi thought distractedly as their little group ran in the complete opposite direction from the mind controlling demon.
They were about halfway back across the village when they finally ran into more friendly faces.
"Negi!" Anya cried out as she gestured at them from across the street they were crossing.
"Stein, you got the Springfields out? Good." Mr. Cocolova said by way of greeting even as he and his wife eyed their surroundings warily.
"Yes, I did." Mr. Stein said as he too watched out for an ambush. "Now let's get the hell out of here before the demons track us down."
"We need to give the children a breather," Mrs. Cocolova insisted. "Negi looks like he's about to pass out."
He felt it too. Running around the village with little to no sleep was tiring him out. Sure, the adrenaline rush from being in a life or death situation had helped but that had run out ages ago. As it was, Negi was running on fumes. From the way Nekane was panting, she wasn't much better. Even Anya look a little winded, though she was better off than the two Springfields somehow.
"Alright, but a couple minutes. No more." Mr. Stein insisted. "We can't afford- Oh shit!"
The cause for the elderly mage's curse quickly became apparent as a demon that looked like a floating head with a single massive gaping maw and a single cyclops-like eye surrounded by ten smaller eye stalks floated menacingly towards them. The smaller eyes glowing with an icky green as they fired beams of magic in different directions as it laid waste to people and the homes of the villagers all whilst its main eye glared at them with sinister intent.
"A Beholder!?" Nekane gasped. "How? They're top tier demons!"
If anyone replied to her shocked question it was drowned out by the sudden piercing scream of displaced air as the demon fired a powerful green beam from its central eye. Fortunately, the Cocolovas reacted in a time and created a barrier together that blocked the attack. It strained under the power though and cracks increasingly spread across it as the seconds ticked by. Thankfully, it held out long enough and shattered only after the beam itself cut off.
Looking at the molten trail between the demon and the Cocolovas that the beam had left in its wake, Negi swallowed hard.
That thing would have vaporised us. The little boy realized, his face paling at the realization of how close he had come to death once more.
"Get going you lot," Mr. Cocolova said as he breathed heavily from his previous exertion. "We'll handle this."
"Take Anya with you." Mrs. Cocolova urged, pushing her daughter towards Mr. Stein. "Keep her safe!"
"No! Mum, Dad, come with us!" Anya cried out as she ran back towards her parents.
While this was happening the demon just floated there glaring at them. It had however stopped firing at other targets with its lesser eyes and moving his eye stalks to face them, had brought its full weaponry to bear against them.
"It's recharging." Nekane breathed in realization. "Mr. Stein!"
"Stein!" Anya's father shouted at the same time. "Take the children and go! Now!"
"I know!" The elderly mage shouted even as he literally picked up a struggling Anya and burst into a run with the Springfields following after him. All while narrow beams of demonic magic shot all around them, leaving destruction wherever they touched.
"No, go back! Go back!" Anya wailed as tears streamed down her face.
"Not on my life!" Mr. Stein shouted back even as their surroundings were suffused green by the demon firing off another beam out of its main eye. "Your parents are risking their lives to keep you safe, little girl. I'm not wasting their sacrifice!"
Anya's wails faded in the background as Negi heard explosions and screams all around him. His heart pounded in his ribcage as his tiny hand squeezed Nekane's as tightly as he could. He was so scared and yet only one thought came to mind.
Is this my fault? He thought. He had wanted something to happen, he wanted something that would cause his Father to come and save him. Just him though, not… not like this. His eyes stung with tears as guilt struck him.
"Oh shit! Another apocalypse-class demon!?" Mr. Stein cursed, as he spotted something ahead. "The Mage has really gone all out hasn't it?"
"Hide, quick." Nekane hissed as they pulled back into a nearby alleyway. Along the road ahead was a great serpentine demon, with a long narrow crocodilian head and a whole lot of legs. More horrifying was the way the demon was snacking, there was no other way to describe it, on the corpse it held in its front pair of limbs.
Negi almost screamed at the sight and Anya definitely did, but thankfully Nekane and Mr. Stein had covered their mouths thus muffling their cries. Preoccupied with its meal and with nothing to tip it off to their presence, the monster lazily walked on by.
"T-That was Mr. Roberts," Anya said in a tearful whisper once Mr. Stein moved his hand away once the monster had disappeared. "It was eating Mr. Roberts!"
"Don't think about it, child." Old Man Stein whispered to the girl. "Just focus on livin'."
"FoUnd yA!" A screechy voice said from above them. "I found soMe morE hUmans! YippEE! It's diNNer Time!"
Looking up the bedraggled group of survivors found themselves confronted by a flying demon that looked like nothing more than an overgrown chicken.
"Not if I can help it! Flans Carcer Venti Vertentis (Flowering Whirling Prison of Wind)!" Nekane incanted, conjuring a tornado that trapped the chicken demon in a cage of raging winds. "Mr. Stein! Kill it!"
"Gladly lass! Lapis Inspiratione (Stone Blast)!" The older mage said with a smirk as with a gesture of his staff he sent a salvo of decent sized chunks of rock at the airborne demon.
The squelching sound of the creature's head caving to the stone was so sickening to hear that Negi hid behind Nekane to escape looking at what it meant. His fingers tightened around her dress as she panted and shook from using so much magic to defend them.
"Let's get going before more of its ilk find us," Mr. Stein said not even flinching, like everyone else did, as the demon's blood and gore fell down on them.
Despite having just been showered in gore, everyone nodded, even Anya, and the group continued their escape from the remains of their village.
The rest of their run out of the village was tense but thankfully without another encounter with the attacking demons, the invaders having concentrated in the town center were thinly spread at the edges of town.
This was a small comfort for all of them.
Nekane looked like a mess. She was winded and her grip on her wand was so tight that she was drawing blood. The nightgown she was wearing, there having been no time to change when they rushed out of their cottage, was torn all over the place and covered in dirt the origin of which Negi didn't want to think about. She looked nothing like the calm big sister figure that he knew and loved, instead she was the picture of a fierce lioness willing to do anything to protect her cub. It was a sight that at once warmed and broke Negi's heart, for she was doing this all for him.
Anya was sniffling and her tears ran freely as she clung close to his cousin as Old Man Stein took point for the group. She was utterly devastated, Negi could tell, by her parents' unknown fate. Despite that she managed to keep going, occasionally muttering under her breath about how her parents wanted her to get out of there and how she couldn't disappoint them. Negi envied her resolve.
Mr. Stein was the only one looking remotely put together, but even he was looking strained as the night of exertion wore on him. His breathing was increasingly labored and he was moving ever more slowly. It was clear that he was very near to his breaking point, but yet he soldiered on.
Negi himself was feeling utterly ragged. He was tired. Not just physically but emotionally too. He had run harder in the past hour or so than he ever had in his life and seen more death than most veteran soldiers did in their lives. Worse though was the festering guilt that he felt for seemingly having brought this disaster down on the village in the first place.
His piling guilt was halted as a bright flash of light flared behind them.
Nekane and Mr. Stein were the first to react, whirling around with shields coming to life as they looked to see what was the source. Negi turned to see a bat winged demon hovering over the town next to the man with the butterflies. The demon's head was cartoonishly round and had a pair of twisted horns growing out of his head. It had a whimsical looking mouth that was opened in a wicked grin that revealed that it was filled with square shaped teeth.
"W-What is that?" Nekane gasped, terrified by the new demon's mere presence. Something both Anya and Negi could empathise as they both quivered in fear at its visage.
"Whatever it is, I'll handle it." Old Man Stein said bravely as he stepped between them and the demon.
"You can't take it on alone," Nekane said with a nervous gulp and stepping forward to stand at his side. "I'll help you."
Old Man Stein grunted in annoyance but said nothing.
Perhaps noticing their conversation, the demon turned towards them and after tilting its head in a strange almost humorous manner for a moment straightened itself and began casually drifting towards them.
"Sagitta Magica, Aer Capturae (Magic Arrows, Capturing Wind)!" Nekane shouted as she sent a barrage of wind arrows forth to bind the demon.
"Lapis Inspiratione (Stone Blast)!" Mr. Stein incanted a step behind, launching a barrage of stone.
The demon didn't even bother to evade the spells sent hurtling its way, instead allowing the spiraling winds of Nekane's magic arrows to encase it in chains of twisting air and hold it in place for the rocky chunks of Mr. Stein's spell to slam into its body. Though it quickly showed why it had been unbothered by the spells.
As the cloud of rock dust created by the pulverised stone of Mr. Stein's spell settled, the group was horrified to discover the demon hovering there unscathed.
Old Man Stein let out a growl of annoyance as he tightened the grip on his staff just a bit more and slammed it in the ground while chanting swiftly.
Sadly, whatever spell he was working on, he wasn't able to get it off in time. For the demon was faster as it opened its mouth and a white light began gathering in its gaping maw.
"Shit!" The older man shouted, as abandoning his spellcasting he threw his body over the children to shield them. Nekane followed his example and did the same, her arms bound tightly around Negi as they were blinded by the unholy light.
A soul splitting cry of pain in Nekane's usually sweet voice had Negi zeroing in on his cousin. The sight that greeted him shook him to his very core. Half of Nekane's body was petrified! The only parts which weren't were those that Mr. Stein, now little more than a stone statue, had covered with his own body.
"N-Negi, A-Anya," Nekane gasped out painfully from what must have been half petrified lungs, the left side of her chest having been turned to stone. "R-run."
His young heart twisted at the sight as his body trembled in fright while next to him Anya collapsed to her knees, looking horrified and screamed.
"R-run!" Nekane repeated, pushing them both weakly with her still mobile right arm.
Anya remained frozen but Negi, somehow, gathered enough courage through his fear to jump to his feet and drag his childhood friend to her feet with him and turn to run. Unfortunately for them, this just brought them face to face with the demon responsible for petrifying their protectors. A demon who was sporting a macabre grin full of malice as it gazed at them hungrily.
"FATHER!" He wailed, pleading, begging for his hero to save him as tears ran down his face.
A gust of wind whipped around them as suddenly the demon was sent flying into the air in an uncontrolled tumble and was replaced by a tall man, one with hair much like his own who had his arm in raised in a punching motion. From the hooded robe he was wearing he was clearly the one overseeing the attack, but then why was he helping them now? Who was he?
Negi got no answers as the man started ranting.
"Think you can get away with messing up my hometown, huh?! Take a blasted hike, ya bums!" The man roared thunderously.
The demon was unintimidated though and quickly managed to level off its flight before cocking its head in confusion at the man before shrugging and opening its mouth to shoot its petrifying light once more.
"Tch, stay down you pissant. I've got no time for small fries." The man dismissed the demon. He blinked out of sight before reappearing with his fist slamming into the demon's head, snapping its jaw shut in the process.
"And keep that pie hole closed, it smells like garbage anyway." The man mocked even as electricity arced around him before shooting out from his fist like a deadly lance, frying the demon into a cinder in a instant and sending its soul screaming back to whence it came.
"Well that takes care of that asshole," the robed man said with a satisfied grin. "Time to clean out the rest too."
As he spoke wind and sparks danced around him and picked up in intensity as he began to mutter an inaudible chant under his breath. At the completion of his spell moments later, a rain of smaller lightning bolts descended from the sky to destroy the many demons that were still prowling the village.
The casual display of such power brought hope and awe to Negi's already tired body.
"Nekane!" Anya screamed now that the threat was gone and she'd regathered her wits enough to not be a screaming wreck. "Are you okay?"
Negi however was captivated by their savior.
"Yo, Negi," the man said turning to properly face Negi and finally giving the boy a good look at his face. "I'm sorry."
Negi gasped. He recognized that face! It was his FATHER!
"You came to save me after all." The young boy said in a shocked whisper. He just couldn't believe his long held dream had finally come true.
"Yeah, but not for long. I won't be able to hold it off for much longer."
"Father, what do you mean?"
"No time," Father said as he bit his lip. "It's almost regained control. Before it does, I have something that I want to tell you my son."
"W-What is it?"
"I'm sorry for not getting here sooner. Negi, I know I have no right to say this, but… live a happy life. Alright?"
Negi just nodded.
Seeing this his father smiled and Negi smiled back, happy beyond words that he'd managed to share this moment with his parent.
This happy moment was shattered though as Father suddenly clutched his head and grunted in pain. Negi gasped and reached out to do something, anything but Father pushed his staff forward.
"T-Take it, Negi." The elder Springfield urged. "H-hurr-"
Father's words were cut off as he instead let out a guttural cry and dropped the staff. Again Negi panicked and tried to reach out to help his father, but the older man turned to jump away before suddenly freezing mid motion. He stood still for a few breaths before his previously pained posture straightened and he suddenly turned back around now suddenly surrounded by a swarm of butterflies that seemed to have materialized from out of nowhere.
Negi suddenly got the feeling he wasn't facing his Father anymore.
"Oh? So you can sense the difference, child? Impressive."
"Who are you?"
"You're nowhere near worthy of hearing my name, boy." The thing possessing his Father said. "But grow stronger and someday you might. Perhaps you might even manage to free your father from my control."
Anger bubbled up inside of Negi and he glared up at the mean man who was taking his Father away from him.
"I-I'll stop you!" Negi shouted, waving his star training wand at the him, only for tiny harmless sparks to burst out of the tip. Hot tears rolled down his face as his father's captor just laughed mockingly at his attempt.
"Or perhaps not," the thing said. "Either way, I'll let you live for now on the off chance you just might exceed my expectations."
Negi felt as though he had ash in his mouth as the thing transformed into particles of light and teleported away leaving Negi, Anya and the partially petrified Nekane on that snowy hill, their once peaceful town burning sorrowfully behind them.
Done and done! Thanks to the team of Nameless as always!
Man, talk about a heartbreaker right there! Why do the good ones have such tear jerking childhoods? Why must the good die young?! Or suffer young...idk, plot?
Nameless: What an epic little chapter this was! We managed to turn what was already a harrowing experience in canon for Negi into something so much worse. I think we really outdid ourselves. To be honest, while I found the canon attack on the village traumatic for Negi I couldn't really accept why it was so mild. I mean if you're going to attack it and wipe it out, which by all accounts was the goal, why hold back and just petrify everyone? Why not send in multiple heavy hitting demons and go all out? It's this line of thinking that had us pull out the stops and make the attack into the massacre that canon implied it was but never really made it into.
Plus, all them D&D-like monsters, ah, my DM soul is sated...now maybe I won't kill my players this coming session...nah. I'm too evil not to. Still, I liked all the little changes we made, as canon was a head scratcher on the damn reason why sending the attack even happened in the first place. Arika went into exile and was pronounced dead! Like, seriously.
Nameless: Exactly! If you wanted to wipe out her line and its supporters, the bulk of which apparently stupidly clustered in one town, to prevent the political revival of the Ostian kingdom then don't be half-assed about it! Sigh. Shounen mangaka and their lack of understanding of how politics work.
And the star of the chapter of course was Old Man mother-fuckin' Stein. Man, we love making one shot guys into utter badasses. I think it's a calling by this point.
Nameless: The man deserves a medal or a statue. Would it be wrong to use his actual petrified body as his memorial statue? XD
Just a tiny bit.
Well, you know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what ya love! No flames and peace off my peeps!