A/N: Sorry for the late update, but I had to go to my graduation ceremony. It was great, except for all the noise.

"I always wondered about one thing, Iyanna-san…" Nodoka asked her friend with plaster around her face as they were dressing for the day.

"Which is?" Iyanna responded whilst putting on her torso outfit which split at the valley between her huge tracts of land.

"What species are you really?"

"Oh…" Iyanna managed to get out a bit surprised at the question. She didn't answer it immediately as she got fully dressed, she just…walked out the door with a very peculiar look on her face. Nodoka and Hina looked out their door watching their friend wander away from them to do something they probably shouldn't do with her.

"Did I say something bad?" Nodoka asked Hina, who merely shrugged.

"You maybe should have waited with that until lunch?" She wondered.

"Eh? You want to know what species Iyanna is?" Straha just looked at the two girls that had asked him that question when they went up to him.

"Yes, that's right." Hina told him while Nodoka merely nodded.

Straha took a few moments to think about what species Iyanna really was. It took about a minute before he answered back. "Sorry, can't help you two."

Both girls fell over in the good old Anime-style. Oh look, the bunny is back…

Nodoka and Hina just looked blankly at the insectoid alien who had made the request of them doing an erotic position with him going to take pictures of them, after hearing them ask him what species Iyanna was. The insect in this case had, like a human, as many legs as he had arms. Only, he had three times as many legs as a human and one pair of his arms did not have any hands, but a pair of curved blades making him capable of making shish kebab of anything. Only problem when greeting him was to decide which right hand you should shake.

"So, you'll do it?"

Karate Finishing Strike! Oukahouken Strike! Dodge Failure! Toughness Failure! Wall Toughness Failure! Another hole in the wall! Someone's going to get rich!

"Really now, some guys don't know when to quit, do they?" Hina said loudly as the two girls left the big bug smoking with half his body in the hole and twitching.

"Nope." Nodoka responded to her. Back at the insectoid, one of the guards stood next to him.

"You shouldn't have made that request to them."

"I think my exoskeleton cracked…" The insect said weakly trying to get out of the hole. "How come I got smothered like that?"

"You don't have to make business out of everything, you dumb Itherian. Lucky for you, the only reason you haven't been kicked out is because your people's spice trading with us pays half the engineering budget around here." The guard said, watching as the Itherian crawled out of the hole with what limbs he had intact, landing with a loud thud.

"Oh goody. Does any of that go into medical treatment?"

"Let me check the data while we patch you up…"

"I've lost count of how many species we've asked…" Hina said as she rested her head on the table they were sitting by. "We started wondering about one species and ended with a dozen or so…"

"We've asked 16 different species and not one knew what Iyanna-san is. And we can't use the data files because we don't know the literal language here on Tu'narath." Nodoka said exhausted too. Her head was resting on her arms, opposite of where Hina was lying.

"How about we try figuring it out ourselves? That would have been a lot easier from the start." Hina said turning her head around so she could see the other side of the table.

Nodoka took a deep breath before starting. "She's a humanoid."

"She resembles very beautiful humans, on the highest level." Hina stated also.

"She has pale skin."

"Big boobs."

"That's trivia."

"She is psychic from what Kash-san told us."

"Long red hair."

"Diamond sparkling eyes."

"A ridiculously sharp hour glass figure."

"And you told me that the boobs were trivia."

"It's overall facts that count."

"Good point."

"Just what can she be called?" Nodoka asked the question to herself.

"Excuse me…" A familiar voice called to them. They turned to find the insectoid that had made that awful request for them earlier today.

"Are you looking for another beating?" Hina asked h… it, since there didn't seem to be any indication of the sex.

"Hey, it's not that I'm here for. I've come to help you this time. Really." The bug hindered them waving his sword arms, giving a clear indication that he could slice them to pieces if he wanted to. They did notice that he had also attachments of metal strapped to his body, particularly around his abdomen, which had bandages too. Putting that in mind, they could stand a chance against him, if it hurt for him to move around.

"Really?"

"Yes. And I don't believe I've introduced myself properly. The name is Varn Ithchaal." The Itherian reached his small right hand for one of the two girls to shake. After looking at her friend, Hina took the hand doubtingly. "Just a question."

"Yes?" Varn wondered.

"What was it with those pictures you wanted to take earlier?"

Varn tried to step back for that question, only to wince at the pain. "Ah yes. I happen to be a merchant, the most common profession for the Itherians. Trading is our way and we love profit above all."

"So it was nothing really sexual going on?"

"Nope, we are single sex on Thylaste, our home world. However, you two fit in the category of 'cute', and there's a market for it almost everywhere. I thought that if I could take pictures of you two along with my spice, once I get to leave I would make a lot of money from it." Varn responded calmly.

"And you still want to take those pictures, I presume?" Hina raised an eyebrow at him.

"No, however, I will help you in exchange for a favour later on. Good relations between our people are always good, yes?" Varn said, stretching out his small right hand again. This time Hina took it in confidence.

"Very well. We humans are known for our loyal friendship to others, after all." Oh, famous words of irony, if you ask me…

Roughly five minutes later, at a computer terminal.

"Okay, let's take a look." Varn typed at a speed which reminded Nodoka about Chisame's speed. Then again, he had four usable arms, so it wasn't much of a surprise. The two girls didn't know the markings of the computer terminals around this place (Would you?), mainly due to the fact that they haven't learned the whole alphabet of their hosts. Fortunately for them, Varn was well taught since he had been stuck here for over four years.

"Running a check here, logging on to the databank…Pretty soon…There! We've found the list of species. Here we can track every alien species that has been inside these walls." Varn said proudly as the very large list of creatures from apparently the entire galaxy was being shown in front of them on a large hologrammatic screen.

"So many species…" Nodoka said eyeing the list.

"How are we going to find which one Iyanna-san is?" Hina wondered.

"Simple: We use the search engine." Varn stated, causing an old fashioned anime-style fall over from the two humans. "If we enter the name, Iyanna, was it?" After receiving a nod from them, he entered the name in the engine and this is what they got:

Name: Iyanna

Species: Eldar

Age: 107

Time spent here: 104 years

Home planet:

Fighting Style: Vertoth

Class: Psionic

Weapon of Choice: Sword

Armour Preference: Eldar Farseer

Note: Friendly, caring, motherly to others, fiercely loyal to friends, protective, deadly weapon, do not make angry

"Eldar?" Hina wondered at the species' name.

"That's what she is?" Nodoka stated such a very obviously dumb question. Come to think of it, Iyanna does look like a high-tech elf. Why didn't we notice that before!?

"Apparently. It says here that she doesn't have a home world. I wonder why…" Varn stated, scratching his head with his small hand. How come he doesn't use his big hands very often?

"What's Vertoth?" Hina asked. Fighting style…martial arts, perhaps?

"Hey, look at her age… 107 years old. That's…that's pretty old, don't you think?" Nodoka noted pointing at the screen.

"And she's been here since she was three? How come she's been here that long?" Hina said noting where the mage was pointing.

"Why don't you go ask her yourselves?" A fourth voice behind them said quite like she was grinning. The three of them recognized the voice and hoped that it wasn't really who they suspected who it was. They turned their heads to find Cireka, head of security over the Institution as it was called. Oh, crap. All three of them thought.

"Hey, don't think I'm here because I felt like it, xenos." Cireka stated unpleasantly after picking up their thoughts. "I'm here because of orders. And it is quite appropriate, since I was tasked to find all three of you."

"W-were you, ma'am?" Varn had to ask that question.

"Yes. Let's start with you, Itherian." The security head stated. "Fashtar has issued it: you're free to leave in two days. You should know the procedure. At dawn tomorrow, you should pack your things; go say your farewells to your friends here. Later on, at about 7 pm, there'll be a party in the mess hall, so feel free to knock yourself with alcohol. Dawn the next day, you'll be waken up at 4 am when you'll be taken to a ship in the space ship hangar waiting for you. You'll be given a souvenir for good behaviour, and it's not for sale. Clear?" To bring home that last part, she put a finger on Varn's forehead as if to make sure the words 'not for sale' really fit in there.

"Yes, ma'am." Varn said, saluting her with one of his big hands. Cireka turned to Nodoka, who turned stiff for a moment.

"Relax, I'm not going to eat you. I'm going to take your practice wand. Hand it over." Cireka held out her left hand for a quite reluctant Nodoka to put the wand in it. Then the officer showed up a small jewellery box for Nodoka, gesturing that she should take it. Nodoka accepted the box. "It was ordered from the Xamvadim system. Science people believed that having a practice wand would slow you since you have to keep an eye on it, so you were issued this instead." Finally she turned to Hina. "Your sword is to be upgraded. Do you have it on you?"

"Um, no, ma'am. I left it in my quarters today." Hina stated clearly after having looked Cireka clear in the eyes. It was very odd for her to have silver coloured eyes. Everybody else that worked here had black.

"That's fine. I'll have Kash fetch it later." Cireka turned to walk away, so the three of them could let out the breath they didn't realize had held the whole time. "Don't think you're safe just yet, humans. Fashtar may be on your side for now, but once he looks away, I'll go for your throats." Cireka's voice was heard inside the girls' heads, making them shiver as much as their bodies allowed them to.

"Are you two okay?" Varn asked them, seeing how fast they shook.

"Yes, we're fine." Nodoka responded first, shaking.

"Absolutely peachy." Hina followed, talking in the same frightened fashion as the mage. Once the two had calmed down, they turned their attention to Nodoka's box. "I wonder what it is." Hina asked. The little box in mention was purple in colour, round like a circle and could be opened if you twisted the lid and pulled apart them hard.

"I think I know." Nodoka responded before fiddling with the box, trying to find the right way how to open it. It didn't take long. It was probably the most beautifully crafted ring she's ever seen. It was her size, obsidian black and white, the colours in spiral coordination with each other and to put the spot over the 'I', there was a flawless diamond on top of it. It glowed slightly despite the absence of light.

"That is one beautiful ring there, miss." Varn pointed out. After all, the items that their hosts made were always put in high prices on markets outside the borders of the Imperium. "I bet that would normally fetch a very high price on the market."

Nodoka didn't care about what market she could fetch a prize for it on. This ring was now her official wand. Fashtar-san seemed very nice to give her this, probably expensive item out of the blue. And yet, it was awfully convenient. If Cireka did intend to kill them, then this ring would be invaluable. And if she was set free back on Earth, this could prove to be highly effective should Fate Averruncus show up again. (Cough*next chapter*cough, sorry)

Hina and Nodoka found Iyanna later that evening in their room; lying on her bed and reading a book that didn't hold any markings as to what the book was called and who wrote it. She seemed quite intrigued. The two humans went to sit in front to her by the table they had in the room.

"Sorry about asking you such a stupid question today." Nodoka said gently to Iyanna, who didn't look away from the book she was reading…with her nose.

"It's fine." Iyanna responded gently after taking a long sniff from the book and getting a long sniff of normal air it seemed.

"You're not mad?" Hina asked.

"Why? You didn't do anything bad, really." The alien responded.

"So why did you space out like that?" Nodoka asked looking at the book, which didn't have any markings at all in it.

Iyanna put aside the book for a moment and looked at the roof, since she was lying on her back. "It's just that…everyone I've met in my time here has always commented me on my skills, brains and beauty all the time, and yet, they've never asked me what I was. Truthfully I didn't know myself until a couple of years ago."

"So, it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be?" Hina asked.

"Nope. It just reminded me of my good times I've had here." The Eldar chuckled and returned to sniffing her book.

"Phew, that was good to hear. I thought it was because of the fact that you've been here since you were three-"

"Now you're pushing it." Iyanna snapped away from her book and looked at Hina quite mad. There was even a vein bursting on her forehead. As for the human girl, she didn't know that shaking faster than a rattlesnake's tail and at the same time, have your soul in the shape of a white blob with wings and halo on leave through your mouth was even possible. Fortunately for her, Nodoka managed to come up with a distraction.

"What kind of book are you reading?" That seemed to work on the Eldar, who snapped out of her anger almost instantly.

"Ah, now that I can answer at once. I don't know really who made these books, but they don't use markings, they use smells. You run your nose along and various smells come out. It took me a while to learn it fully."

"That's…that's pretty interesting." Hina said after recovering from her shock. "Do you have anymore of those books?"

"They're in that cabinet by the bedside. The one for beginners is at the top. Dictionary is just below." Iyanna responded while pointing to the cabinet next to her bed. Then she returned to her book, taking a long sniff in it before returning her to the air that came from the ventilation.

"Must be some heavy literature you're reading there, since you have to take a long sniff of normal air in between." Hina said as she took out the books she and Nodoka tried to read with their noses.

"Actually, it's a porn book." Iyanna said bluntly, making the humans blush instantly. To bring it home that it was embarrassing, Hina brought up her hand before her mouth and coughed on to it. "You should know, I can't sniff at a faster pace than this unless I want to-"

"NO NEED TO KNOW!" Both humans shouted at her, blushing furiously while thoughts which shouldn't normally be in teenage girls' heads overflowed. In Hina's case it was the idea with Hayate-kun, and in Nodoka, the sudden thoughts of Saishoudoukin came back again, this time it was nearly impossible to hold back.

Unfortunately for the two humans, a couple of rooms apart, another psionic, this one Thomas' roommate; Dak'kon picked up their thoughts a few minutes later. It was very bizarre for him, seeing those humans doing things which they shouldn't do. He would thank his patron saint Zerthimon that the people they thought doing it with, wasn't among the humans that the Yanki had abducted. Well, it's not my business at all.

This nightmare was something new. There were no flames this time, they had died out now. Instead, the whole of Mahora, including the city, was in ruins and rubble. Debris wasn't picked up, because they weren't anyone around to pick it up. Well, she could pick it up, but Nodoka didn't seem to be in the mood. She walked what was once Sakura Lane where she had met Evangeline in her true form, the vampire. The trees were burnt, dead and the petals of the cherry blossom flowers were no longer pink, but black and with dust particles.

The middle school building was no longer intact. There were the invasionists, whose species' name Nodoka had never learned, patrolling the rubble of the buildings in search for survivors. Every now and then, they would find one, and drag him/her away to some place. But for some reason, the soldiers ignored Nodoka completely. She would be in plain view of them, but they just walked past her. One walked into her, there was even a bump. But he didn't do anything aggressive against her; he just apologized gently and continued in the direction. That was very odd. It was almost as if she had played an important of this attack. No, it can't be. She would never do such a thing. Would she?

"Hey, we got one! We got a healer alive!" She heard a soldier cry out, and several other soldiers rushed to the direction of the cry. Out of curiosity, Nodoka followed as well. When they noticed that she was there as well, the soldiers moved apart for her to pass through. She saw a pair of soldiers hold someone with their free hands between them, dragging the healer with her feet dragging along the concrete ground. The soldiers stopped when they saw Nodoka approach. For Nodoka that hairstyle and colour was very familiar. Walking up to her and taking a closer look, she saw that it was Ako. The nurse twitched at the librarian's touch and manages to lift her head to look at her seatmate.

"Honya…-chan?" The healer said weakly. There didn't seem to be any wounds on the healer, but she was covered in bruises all over her ruined uniform. They didn't seem recent.

"Ako. I'm here now. It's okay now." Nodoka said, trying her best to make a smile in vain.

"Nodoka-sama, what should we do with her?" One of the soldiers asks, making the humans flinch at an instant. Nodoka-sama? Why were they addressing her like that? Did she play a part in the invasion after all? Why would she? Whatever, what did matter right now was to make sure her friend got off well from this too.

"Ako, just so you know…" Nodoka whispered to the nurse, who looked shocked at her. "I don't know what is going on, or why they address me Nodoka-sama, but I can use this window to help you." The mage rose up and turned her stern gaze at the soldiers holding Ako. "I want hot food, drink and fresh clothing provided for her. No one touches her. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" The soldiers obeyed blindly and began to walk away. The soldiers holding the nurse quickly changed their way of holding the nurse, and lifted her from the ground to carrying her in their arms and walked away. A soldier having the rank of sergeant stood left at the site where Nodoka and Ako had reunited, along with the former.

"Very good, my lady. Very good." The sergeant gave her a pat on the back and walked off in the opposite direction of the soldiers. Nodoka stood still, overlooking the destruction of the campus. She began to realize the purpose of this nightmare. And once she saw that, she decided to jump off a ledge.

Falling down in a dream has always proved to be an effective way of waking up from a dream. Breathing heavily, Nodoka found herself in the same room that she was put in along with Hina and Iyanna. The former of her roommates was sound asleep, didn't flinch from Nodoka's awakening. Iyanna was on the other bed, snoring lightly and sprawled out all over the bed, her left foot was on the pillow where her head should originally be. But Nodoka noticed a fourth figure in the room. This one was built the same as the guards, but he was different. Instead of black beads for eyes, his was more cat-like. And while the skin of the guards was either yellow or orange, his skin was green. Several tattoos in what could be best described as eastern monastic back on Earth covered his bare torso, as he also favoured a robe which left the chest open; therefore she could see his tattoos. On his arms, wraps of linens was on his wrists, to ease his movement of them.

"I saw it." He stated bluntly. "Seeing something like that in your sleep, can be quite hazardous."

"How do you know?" Nodoka asked out of curiosity.

"I've seen it before." The intruder answered almost immediately. "It's a favourite move of these bastards. They like to invade your mind, and twist with what they can find to manipulate your way of experiencing things."

"Who are you?"

"Dak'kon."

"Thomas' roommate." Nodoka pointed out.

"FYI, I've been here for ten years." Dak'kon pointed out for her, as she had wondered how long he had been stuck here. "That Fashtar fellow spoke the truth when he said you humans would only be here temporarily, but there are those here who have nowhere else to go. Take Iyanna for example. They killed her family and brought her here when she was just three years old. My people back home think me dead. Straha? He was born here, having no parents; he had to fight to survive. You humans are just lucky."

His words were harsh, but true. Nodoka began to realize something. How long they would be here, would depend on their amount of knowledge. In her case, it could take years before she saw everyone she knew again.

Can you speak telepathically? Nodoka wondered in her head.

"Yes." Dak'kon's voice was heard inside her head, as if he was talking, but he didn't open his mouth.

Then keep what I intend to think to yourself, please. Nodoka thought loudly for him to hear clearly, causing him to raise an eyebrow. The night after the party, I intend to escape from here.

A/N: Annnnnddddd… Cut! We'll be leaving Nodoka here and move on to see how Negi and co can do with Fate on their side. Sorry for ending it abruptly here, but people tend to like cliff-hangers, so I'll leave it like that. Next chapter, we'll see how things are going for the humans back on Earth.