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).
Chapter Nine: Deep in Dreams ~Worlds without End~
"First period is almost over," Hinagiku remarked. "Our other teachers will be expecting us in class, regardless of Kain-sensei's condition…."
"But we can't just leave him here while he's like this!" Kanade insisted, and a clamor followed as many members of the class backed up the dorm supervisor's declaration.
"Really, what can we do, though?" Chisame countered. "No magic or tech we've used has been able to influence Sensei or get into his dreams one way or the other. We're just sitting around uselessly, wringing our hands and hoping that he'll get better. Now, I'm not one to preach about going to class—I'd certainly skip more if I could get away with it—but I know that if Sensei were able to tell us, he'd want us to leave him alone here and take care of our classes."
As the group began to stir uncomfortably, Luana offered, "I don't have any classes to attend or teach at the moment. You all may not yet think much of me, but I can keep an eye on Kain-sensei in case there are any changes. Would that be all right?"
Again muttering flowed through the class as they considered this offer, mostly with reluctant favor. Nodoka moved to her and took both her hands. "P-please, Luana-san…and if there's any change, please let us know…."
"I'll contact you," Luana assured them. "Now, off to class with you! Hurry, hurry!"
Reluctantly, slowly, the girls filed out and headed back to their class building. Luana watched them all leave; then she pulled a chair over by Kain's bed and sat in it, watching him. "If there is anything that could penetrate that dream world that has captured you, it would be the Undreamt World," Luana remarked softly. "A shame we don't have it here with us now. But you'll be fine…won't you, Kain-kun?"
8-8-8
"Hmm?" Kain turned quizzically to Maria. "Bentô?"
"Yes…Nagi forgot it," Maria sighed. "Really, I'm not sure…."
"Ojô-sama goes to Hakuô Academy, right? I'll take it to her," Kain volunteered.
"Eh? Ah, but…."
"No, it's no problem," Kain insisted. "Hakuô is one of the more famous schools of this region, second only to Mahora Academy, right? I'd like to take a look at it anyway, so this will be a perfect opportunity. Besides, I am Ojô-sama's First-Class Butler. Such a thing is normal for me." He gave Maria a dazzling smile.
Maria stared at him. "B-by all means, then," she finally said, handing over the bentô. "You…do know how to get to Hakuô, don't you?"
"I've studied up on it," Kain replied. "I won't be long."
('Well, this will get me out of the house,') Kain thought. ('Not that this job is too demanding, really, especially since I can still use magic when Nagi and Maria aren't looking. And Hakuô is a rather famous school. I heard several of the girls were almost sent there….
('…Which includes the Baka Trio. That reminds me of the last troublesome dream…but anyway, I haven't seen any sign of them yet. The only person I recognize so far after being here for two weeks is actually Isumi Saginomiya, who happens to be Nagi's best friend. Interesting….
('Well, let's see what trouble I can get up to at Hakuô, shall we?')
Kain arrived at the gate to the great complex and stared at the sprawling near-city before him. "Well…it certainly isn't as grand as Mahora, but it's nothing to sneeze at. It's still larger than the campus and dorms at Caelar….
"In any case, I shouldn't hang around like a suspicious person. I better get inside and find…."
"Halt, Suspicious Person!"
Kain froze at the sound of the voice…not from its demanding nature, but from stomach-sinking recognition. ('No…it couldn't be….') He slowly turned to see….
Yukiji Katsura glared at him with a devilish look of triumph. "What do I find so early in the morning but a shady-looking invader!? You won't enter the school grounds on my watch! If I let an intruder enter the grounds, my salary will be reduced, and I can't bear to have it reduced any further!"
Kain sighed. "Listen, Katsura Yukiji-sensei…."
Yukiji jumped. "What!? How do you know my name!? Who are you!?"
"Not important. I'm not a suspicious intruder; I have business here. I'm Sanzen'nin Nagi…."
Yukiji lashed out with her bag, but Kain managed to avoid the strike from sad practice. "There's a limit to credit cards and lies!" Yukiji seethed. "Nagi may be a flat-chested brat, but she is a girl! You're certainly not her!"
Kain sighed again. "Well, obviously this is going to go nowhere no matter what I say, so I'm just going to ignore you and dash off into the school grounds…like this." And Kain charged through the gate before Yukiji could stop him, leaving her howling on his heels for only a short time before he lost her.
Kain wandered about the grounds rather normally, seeing no need to try to imitate Solid Snake. "Well, as a teacher, if Yukiji were a normal human being, I could have asked her where Nagi is, but seeing as she's like that, I suppose I'll just have to search around. Oh well. It'll give me an excuse to nose around and explore…."
He glanced at the strangely familiar tower through the trees of the grove he had subconsciously entered. "Ah…a clock tower. It looks just like the one at Mahora. Heh. I wonder if the view is as good? I bet that I might actually be able to see Nagi if I could look around from up there…."
"You can't go up there, Kain Lockeheart-kun. That area is off-limits, save to members of the Student Council."
Again the familiar voice froze Kain in his tracks. "Of course…this." He muttered. "Oh well…both the scenario and the person involved are more pleasant." He glanced up at the girl in the tree. "Hello, Katsura Hinagiku-san."
Hinagiku looked down at him in surprise. "Oh…you've heard of me? I suppose your master must have mentioned me?"
"Yes, let's call it that," Kain agreed. "But you know who I am…?"
"Well, naturally. Everyone has already heard of the new Sanzen'nin Family Butler, who has a poor face and godlike bad luck but who is also as powerful as a Gundam and a superman who is capable of anything."
('The rumors in this dream world are the best ever,') Kain thought. Aloud, he continued, "Well, I hate to feed rumors, and I also hate to show off, but I would rather leave off the compliments and get down to business…."
And he leapt onto the tree branch next to the stunned Hinagiku, laid hold of the girl, and leapt back down again, so quickly and easily that even Hinagiku took a moment to recover from it.
"T-that was…" she murmured, then shook her head and tried to compose herself. "That was rather bold of you, Kain-kun. Laying hands on a girl you just met?"
"Oh? You didn't want down?"
"W-well, y-yes…but how'd you know…?"
"Lucky guess. I'd rather do that than have you jump and land on me, you know? In any case, if you ever need any help, like that, just ask, and I'll rescue you."
Hinagiku's eyes danced merrily. "Oh? Really? How bold…."
And since these pages have already recorded an event rather like this, we shall move on….
8-8-8
('I've been in this dream for almost six months now; I was in the first dream with Mai almost nine. The second dream with Momo and the Soul Society only went a couple days, and the third dream blew up before any time passed, but still…I've been in here a long time. I can only assume that the flow of time 'outside' is almost negligible, since all this is taking place inside my mind, and it seems likely, but still….
('Anyway, things have been interesting with Nagi. Hina, her sister, and the Baka Trio are all here as well, as well as a few of the other Mahora teachers, like Kaoru-sensei. It's interesting, but I'm hoping I can find the trigger to get me out of this one soon…I'm surrounded by an entirely new crop of girls who want my attention, and whatever role I've assumed in this story draws them like honey. Sometimes I wish I really was as clueless as a Shonen anime character about these things….
('Anyway, here we are in Athens, after spending some days on Mykonos Island, in the Aegean Sea, for Golden Week. Even Hinagiku came, thanks to that Ayumu girl dragging the poor thing along. What an interesting trip….
('…But something isn't right here, and I'm not talking about the time-travel escapade from the other night….')
It was dark out and the stars danced in the night sky above, but Kain wandered about, drawn by something indescribable. As he wandered, a new sensation hit him, and he snapped his head up. A castle loomed on a cliff just above him…he could have sworn it wasn't there a moment ago.
He climbed up to it and made it to the wide field of flowers. Standing there was a woman…a young woman, perhaps sixteen years old but quite well-endowed and in a black dress that was cut just around the chest to accentuate the fact. She was blond and beautiful, with a long ponytail in back tied with a black ribbon and two blond pigtails shaped like drills coming down as front bangs on either side of her face. She stared at Kain with a severe look. Something about her was mesmerizing, and Kain tried to get his head around it. In this 'scenario' she was probably important to his current existence, although naturally he wouldn't know anything about it without conjuring up a piece of script. But there was something more…something brilliant….
…And something very, very dark, indeed.
"Do you happen to have a habit of getting lost in other people's flower gardens?"
Her sudden demand cut through Kain's mental gears and snapped him back to reality, dispelling the glamour. "What?"
"But unfortunately, this is the flower garden to my house," the young woman continued.
Kain glanced at the 'house'. "So you live in this…castle?"
"That is what I just said." The girl turned away, but glanced back over her shoulder at him. "I don't know who you are…but please leave."
Kain stood still, however, even as she turned and started away. After a moment she stopped and glanced back at him with a look that was equal parts accusation and curiosity.
"You said I have a 'habit' of getting lost in gardens," Kain finally replied. "That kind of speech is odd, and would only be used if you had seen me get lost in such a garden before. In other words, you just lied when you said you don't know who I am…you do know, don't you?"
The look turned into a fierce glare. "You're mistaken. I said to leave."
"I don't think so. I think…I may have finally found what I'm looking for." He started towards her.
She whirled back to fully face him and backed up in alarm. "N-no, wait! D-don't come any closer!" But Kain didn't heed her words….
Suddenly a young man in a butler outfit, with dark skin and very light hair, leapt in front of Kain. "Machina!" the girl cried as he lashed out at Kain.
Kain caught the foot easily and shoved 'Machina' back. "How fierce," he murmured.
"You…I won't let you," Machina growled. "You're the presence that causes Athena pain…and I won't let anyone hurt her."
"You shouldn't try it," Kain replied. "I can tell you're not human, but even if you're just part of the dream, I'd rather not hurt you, and you don't stand a chance of beating me."
"Hah…say that after you're on the ground!" Machina enthused, ignoring Athena's protests and leaping in at Kain.
Kain put him down with a savage thrust right to his stomach, and he crumpled up without another sound. "Sorry about doing that to your servant," Kain said mildly. "In any case, he called you Athena, right? Would that make you Athena Tennos, young chairman of Hakuô Academy? Hinagiku mentioned you."
Athena glared at him. "Really? Hinagiku mentioned me…but you don't know 'Athena'? You don't know 'A-tan'?"
"I guess that means you do know me. I don't remember you, though, although I probably should, but that's the half-baked nature of these dream worlds. It seems from your tone and nature that I must have hurt you badly in the past, and I regret that…but there's not much I can do about that now. Well, except maybe this." He reached down his shirt and pulled up the amulet hanging from the string around his neck—called a 'King's Jewel', he had been given it by Nagi's grandfather, the head of the impossibly rich Sanzen'nin family, and it had become the proof of inheritance that Nagi enjoyed. Anyone who wished to take Nagi's inheritance now had the requirement to take the jewel from Kain, and he had spent some good portion of his time over the last few months fending off ridiculous personages who were after the Sanzen'nin fortune. It was also, however, a stone with dark and mysterious powers that he had been forced to quell…and he sensed a mystical connection between this stone and the girl, and her castle, too.
Athena tensed as the stone reflected the light of the moon and stars. She began to shiver. "N-no…Kain…don't bring that out…just take it and go! Get out of here…! Before…!"
Kain looked at her curiously. "Well…this stirs a compulsion in you? How interesting. I think I won't go, then. I think I'll stick around and deal with whatever it is inside you that wants this so badly…."
And then, right on cue, a black shape came roaring out of Athena. It took a manifested form of an upper torso of a demonic spirit/skeleton hybrid, its lowest point rising directly from Athena's shoulders. As Athena moved, so moved this shadow spirit. "Give me…the King's Jewel…!" insisted the beast, partly with Athena's voice but mostly its own dark, monstrous echoing voice.
Kain pulled the jewel from off his neck and clenched it in his left hand as he readied himself. "I'm going to say…no. Instead, I'll just blast you out of that girl and save her. How about that?"
The beast roared and came at him. Monstrous power threatened to engulf him even as the gigantic hand merely approached to crush him….
('This thing is actually pretty strong. Before I got trained by Aiden, it probably would have been able to kill me, but in this dream I still have all my power, so….')
Kain thrust out a fist towards the oncoming foe and released his power. It blasted the monster, tearing it from Athena in one go and sending out a ripple of force that blasted through and destroyed the castle as well. The creature gave a blood-curdling scream of rage and denial as it vanished into nothingness, and Athena collapsed unmoving to the ground.
"Sorry, but I'm way too OP for this low-level stuff," Kain muttered.
"Oh…." Kain turned his head to glance back at Isumi, who was suddenly on the scene. "Kain-sama is even more impressive than I thought. To have defeated a dark god like that, so easily…I came to assist, but it really seems there was no need…."
"Yeah, sorry for stealing your spotlight." He turned back to the girl and slowly approached Athena. He knelt by her side as she slowly began to stir and fluttered her eyes open, then turned her head painfully to stare at Kain.
"You really…came for me," she murmured. "You…even saved me from that…."
"Yeah…you're welcome and I'm sorry all at once. I'm sure the real hero of this scenario would do a much more elegant and safe job of saving you, but I'm kinda tired of this one. But I'm glad you're all right, whoever you are." He leaned down to kiss her forehead, and….
8-8-8
It was odd. He wasn't sure quite when this transition happened. After that last impulsive mark of affection for the strange girl he should have known but never knew, he didn't remember anything, and now here he was, swimming back out of sleep….
He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in…some kind of high-tech-looking clinic or hospital room of some sort. Too high-tech to be Mahora, so that meant…. "Darn…another dream, huh?"
A frog, rather, a hand puppet made to look like a frog, was thrust in front of his face. "Whoa, this one's awake now, ribbit!" declared a high-pitched female in a fake low-frog voice.
His last glance at the frog revealed that it was actually a bag/puppet hybrid. Stowing away this useless tidbit of information, Kain sat himself up away from the frog and glanced at its puppetmaster. It was a little girl, no more than eleven or twelve years old, dressed in a short-skirted maid outfit and with her dark hair in two long pigtails. A voice from across the room said, "Is our patient up, Paiwei?"
Kain glanced over as the doctor approached. He was fairly young, likely in his early twenties, handsome, with dark skin and hair and in an elaborate, semi-sci-fi-looking white doctor's coat, and with long hair in back and front. His back hair hung loose, and his front hair fell only across the right side of his face, completely obscuring that side, including his eye. "Yeah…I guess I am," Kain answered the man's question. "And you are…?"
"I'm Duelo McPhile, and I am this vessel's doctor. This is Paiwei, the nurse." Duelo looked Kain over carefully. "How are you feeling?"
"Well, I'm tired of strange new scenarios, but physically I'm feeling in tip-top shape considering my body isn't even real. So, what's the scenario this time, Doc?" He pointed at Paiwei. "This girl isn't supposed to be my little sister, is she?"
The two stared at Kain in shock. Duelo's expression was actually mostly neutral, albeit curious, but Paiwei soon burst into raucous laughter. "Really, now! How could a man have a sister?"
Kain turned back to her slowly. "Um…the usual way?"
"You're serious, aren't you?" Duelo said. "So, you come from a world where men and women live together? What world is it?"
"Um…Earth?" Kain hazarded.
The two stared at him. "The planet of our ancestors…no way! It's lost!" Paiwei declared.
"But it would make sense," Duelo murmured. "He is not surprised by your appearance or our presence together in the slightest, so he's obviously used to co-gender societies; obviously, he's not from Tarak."
"Okay…I'm rather lost. Why don't you explain this one to me thoroughly?" Kain pleaded.
Duelo did so.
Kain was on board the Nirvana, a ship that was actually…an accident. About 100 years ago, the ancestors of the ships' crew left the dying Earth aboard a sleeper colony. Somewhere along the line, however, the crew running the ship had a strange falling out, and the split the ship in half and the two halves landed on separate planets, one with all the males, one with all the females. They established their own societies on these planets, Tarak and Majere, and made them completely gender-specific, using genetic engineering and gene-splicing to produce further generations. They had become enemies, viewing the opposite gender as aliens…until this strange accident brought the Nirvana into existence. The men had redesigned their portion of the original colony ship, the Ikazuchi, and refitted it to be their new war flagship, but on the day of its launch ceremony, a group of female pirates had attacked and invaded it. The new portion was purged in an attempt to get rid of them, and then the most powerful missiles the men had were brought to bear against it. They would have all been wiped out…but the ship was powered by a strange energy technology called 'Paksis', and the Paksis, seemingly of its own will, instead warped both ships across the galaxy in an instant to avoid destruction. It then merged the remains of the Ikazuchi with the pirates' ship, creating a new vessel.
The women pirates had evicted most of the men when they swiftly captured it, but three were left—Duelo, who had insisted on fulfilling his Hippocratic Oath to administer to the wounded females, an ordinary soldier named Bart Garsus who had managed to hide, and a young technician named Hibiki Tokai who had slipped aboard the ship as part of some silly dare from his fellow techies and ended up escaping capture for some time. Now the Paksis that pretty much ran the ship had 'decided' that the men were essential—only Bart could integrate with its navigation system to pilot it, and one of the humanoid mecha 'Vanguard' that was left on board had been changed and responded only to Hibiki (a Vanguard he had been attempting to commandeer when the jump happened). So, on a ship with 150 women and three men located out in deep space, they were attempting together to return to their home worlds, a journey that would now take them nearly a year…but strange alien craft were hounding them along the way.
"During the last battle, there was a strange piece of space debris that seemed to excite these alien vessels," Duelo continued. "It was a type of space fighter, we believe, and when we brought it on board and opened it, we found you inside…unconscious."
"Really? That's very interesting," Kain remarked. "I know I've never piloted any kind of space vehicle, but if I'm supposed to be piloting it in this dream scenario, I'm all up for the challenge."
"I see," Duelo murmured. "Well, if you're rested and recovered now, I should probably take you to see the captain…."
8-8-8
The old captain was rather interested in Kain as a human from Earth, although, knowing that his world wouldn't match their sci-fi history, he fudged the truth and said his memories were messed up from whatever accident had left him stranded in space, and but that he would happy to contribute in any way he could to the well-being of the ship. They showed him 'his' space fighter, which he recognized from some early '80s anime as a 'Veritech Fighter'. And so began his adventures aboard the Nirvana….
…Which he found rather enjoyable. The women were fascinated with all four men because they were alien, and weren't specifically obsessed with him, which was a nice change. The four of them were essentially second-class citizens, but Kain had endured much worse recently, and the change of pace made it all worth it. Oddly, there was only one person on this ship he recognized—Meia Gisborn, who was the Nirvana's commander of their fighter or 'Dread' forces. She was sharp-tongued, tyrannical, and rather feminist, and had a huge clash with young Hibiki, although several crises that arose early seemed to oddly mellow her. Kain found himself spending most of his time in her company after that simply because she was familiar.
The thing that perhaps was most gratifying to Kain was the fact that he was not in this role as the 'main character', or whatever you wanted to call it. That had also been the case, he assumed, in the Soul Society, but his disconnect from the heroic Ichigo Kurosaki still left him in charge of his own portion of that 'story'. At Fûka and again with young Nagi he kept feeling that he was in someone else's place, supplanting a life that was already supposed to be there, but here, he truly felt like he was an unnecessary addition without responsibilities. Hibiki was obviously the 'main character' of this scenario—his Vanguard was empowered to merge with one of and eventually all of three Dreads piloted by three of those fighter-girls, including Meia. He was young and impetuous, hot-headed and rife with teenage foibles, but he had a good heart and a surprising effect on even the most man-phobic of these women.
He enjoyed the ride and the adventure, marveled at the revealed mysteries, and it was almost with regret that he eventually left this dream for the next one….
8-8-8
Again the next dream had only a single face he recognized as he went to school with Ami Mizuno, but this time he was so disconnected from the 'lead' spot of the story that it was rather discouraging. Ami herself wasn't even the focus of this world, but she was one of several 'Sailor Senshi' who worked with the mysterious heroine Sailor Moon to fight the minions of the Dark Kingdom who were threatening the world. Pretty standard Mahô Shojô stuff, and Kain never got to be involved. In fact, he received completely involuntary reports of everything that was happening, scripts that showed up on his doorstep like the newspaper, and that's as close as he got to the action.
Furthermore, he was a young middle school student living alone in a random apartment. Whatever was putting him in these dreams, it seemed to be searching his memory for familiar faces to throw in there with him to…tempt or try him or something, but this scenario had been some sort of major screw-up, and he was rather happy to leave it….
8-8-8
…For something entirely different.
He awoke to some very odd sensations indeed. He was wrapped around something…his arms were, and his face was near something warm and soft. He opened his eyes…and realized that the warm and soft things were breasts. He was pretty much in bed with a young woman. They were both dressed, although the girl's pajamas were almost off, and…she was far larger than she should have been. Kain realized quickly that he had the body of a young child, perhaps a ten-year-old. The girl then suddenly opened her eyes, stared in confusion for several long seconds as she tried to recover from her sleep. Then she became enraged, cursing at Kain, striking him and throwing him out of bed.
"You did it again!" she hollered. "You little pervert! Stop climbing into my bed in the middle of the night!"
"Um…I'm sorry?" Kain muttered, trying to make sense of this himself.
The bed had been the top of a bunk bed, and the occupant of the lower bed yawned sleepily and sat up, rubbing at her eyes. "Mornin' Kain-kun, neing' Asuna," she said in a Kansai dialect. "What's up now…?"
"Konoka! Kain went crawling into my bed again!" Asuna declared angrily. "Really, now…!"
Konoka giggled. "Ah, you know you just look like his ne-chan he misses so much…."
"That excuse doesn't fly all the time!" Asuna looked at her clock and panicked. "Ack! I'm late for my work!" She began to hurriedly dress, after throwing a blanket over Kain to blind him.
Kain didn't move or disrupt the blanket until he heard the door open and slam. Then he pulled the blanket off and looked at Konoka. What he said, to her surprise, was, "But, big sister, not little sister, right? Thank goodness."
8-8-8
('Yeah…I've been in some weird dreams so far, but this might be the weirdest one yet. I'm at Mahora…although his name is Konoemon Konoe, the principal is the same. Takamichi is here. And I'm ten years old, but otherwise I'm the same—genius college graduate mage, assigned to teach English to an all-girls class at the Mahora Middle School. The class is different, though—only Nodoka, Yue and Chisame are here. And, even though I'm a mage, the craziest thing is that my power is severely restricted, more than in any other dream. It's frustrating, and somewhat worrisome…is this just a natural adaptation of a scenario's rules, because I have to have a limit to my power? Or is the power of the lord of these dreams growing, and he/she/it is finally able to restrict me?
('…I'm hoping it's the former. I just went through what were essentially the same first three months of my real life at Mahora, with a trip to an underground library, a mysterious 'vampire' which is actually my child-looking student Eva, and even an adventurous trip in Kyoto. Even if only those three are familiar to me, all these other students and affiliated personages are so close to being familiar it's uncanny. Evangeline A.K. McDowell is a centuries-old vampire who was cursed as a ten-year-old and was obsessed with my mysteriously vanished heroic father, and was sealed to this school by him. How familiar. She has a robot servant, who is another student of mine: Chachamaru. In Kyoto I had to fight this mysterious earth-golem named Fate Averencus, who kidnapped the principal's granddaughter, Konoka. And Asuna….
('She must be the 'Mai' equivalent in this scenario. She's kind of like her, although she hates kids (and, therefore, me, more or less) and she's obsessed with Takamichi, with is tragically amusing. There are a few other weirdoes and all, but….
('…Really, this is just so strange. What is the meaning of it all? Will I ever get out?')
8-8-8
After going through pretty much the entirety of the MSK story all over again, Kain moved on to the next dream.
He awoke in another room in a small Japanese house, and went downstairs to find he had a mother, not one he recognized, but smiling, happy, and utterly unflappable as she cooked him breakfast and urged him to not be late for his first day of high school.
"Must be a very boring high school," he remarked upon considering his pure black uniform suit he had to wear. He called on a script to get directions to it, and started on his way.
As he headed along, a voice hailed him, and he turned to see a young man in the same clothes wearing glasses. He glanced at his script, which told him this man was his best friend, the super-studious Hayato Ike.
"It's weird," Ike complained, but with a mischievous smile. "Going to high school with you doesn't make it feel fresh and new and interesting at all."
"Don't make it my fault," Kain protested. "You could have gone to a better one, I'm sure…."
"Yeah, but this one's the closest, so I don't have to use a bus or anything to commute…."
"Well, if that's what you want…still doesn't make it my fault."
Ike laughed, and they continued bantering on their way to school.
Kain had become quite practiced at living the school life from the student's side from his previous dreams, and changed his shoes easily in the entry locker room. He surveyed the other students and again felt cheated—the girls wore rather nice green jackets and skirts.
He was not surprised when he recognized a few of his classmates—Kazumi Yoshida, Yukari Hirai, and Matake Ogata. They didn't seem to recognize him—it seemed they had gone to different middle schools in this scenario, but Kain couldn't help but consider them carefully, something Ike noticed and teased him about immediately. There were two others, as well—that boy who was Matake's childhood friend, Eita Tanaka, and his best friend, Keisaku Satô. But…unlike his previous dreams, there seemed to be no obviously supernatural events occurring. Curious….
So he kept his sigh of disappointment over the continued dreams internal and tried to enjoy the peaceful school day as best he could….
8-8-8
Kain did not wake up that day, nor the next morning, and Luana took over teaching the antsy class for its morning session. The principal and Takamichi both visited Kain as well, but there was no change, no sign that he was anywhere close to waking.
As for the girls, they submitted to their classes, but all of them begged out of their club activities and spent turns staying in Kain's room, watching over him—just 'making sure someone was close to him'.
And still he dreamed, and still, no matter what they tried, no magic or device could penetrate that strange power that kept him bound….
8-8-8
('That was almost infuriating.
('Yukari Hirai, consumed right in front of me, not her lifeforce, but her 'power of existence' eaten. And then that Flame Haze girl I called Shana, who was more businesslike than the Soul Reapers.
('As soon as I figured out the scenario had put a Hôgyoku-like device inside of me, I used it to get out of that one.
('That left me in a world with Gundams. And Rakasu was there, for some reason. So that's her off the list. Seriously, it seems like each of these worlds has at least one of my students, and sometimes as many as five, along with a few others I know mixed in occasionally.
('But what was with that earlier one on the Nirvana, with only Meia?
('Well, whatever. Kagome's world was interesting. The reincarnation of a miko from five centuries ago, she had the power of this 'Shikkon no Tama' inside of her and fell down a well to go back to that time period and met…Inuyasha, of course. And then I showed up, and for some reason they were all insisting that I was some kind of perverted monk. True, I was dressed as a Buddhist monk, but I didn't like the weird type-casting of that scenario. But slaughtering that arrogant demon behind it all was fun.
('And now….')
Kain looked around. It was a normal city street he awakened to this time…deserted, which created an eerie feeling. He was holding something in his hand. He glanced down at it. A letter, or rather an envelope, with a picture of a woman, probably mid-twenties, with purple hair, blowing a kiss. Written on it was a note addressed to him, saying she would come and pick him up. There were also lip marks, and a P.S. by an arrow pointing to her chest: 'Note the cleavage!'
What a weird lady. A letter was behind the envelope, with a brief note giving a time and location to be picked up, apparently, he judged from glancing around at the area and at his watch, would be here, and soon. It was signed, 'Kalan Lockeheart.'
That gave Kain pause. He briefly ran through his 'dream scenarios' and the fathers related to them: with Mai, no mention of any family at any point. Soul Society: just a sister. Third…never mind. With Nagi Sanzen'nin: his parents were deadbeat degenerate gamblers he'd never met who'd sold his organs to gangsters to pay their 150-million-yen debt. On the Nirvana: no family or relations, of course. He lived alone in the world of the 'Sailor Senshi'. The Mahora dream was nearly a copy of his real life, and so he had just had to go through the rounds of hunting for his disappeared father again. He had a mother in the world with the 'Guze' and the 'Power of Existence', but his father worked overseas a lot and he never had a chance to meet him there, either. He was adopted or something in the Gundam world. And in Inuyasha, his 'father' was dead, and he had inherited some sort of curse from him that the big bad demon had put on him. Thus far, apart from the Mahora clone dream, he hadn't really had a father to meet or deal with. What was his father like here…?
A siren sounded, and then a booming announcement declared a state of emergency and urged all residents to evacuate to designated shelters. That would explain why the city was deserted. A jet flew low overhead. What was going on here…?
Then a giant suddenly loomed into sight, a misshapen, semi-humanoid figure without a discernible head…although the weird mask-like section on the top of its torso might have been its 'face'. A moment later, cruise missiles came flying into it, exploding and rocking the whole block, all the way to where Kain stood. He briefly noted a flash of some shield appear just prior to the explosion; indeed, the smoke cleared and the monster was unharmed. "A aiju?" Kain muttered. "What's the scenario now?"
Then a car came whipping around the corner, sliding in to park next to him. The window rolled down, revealing the woman, 'Misato Katsuragi', from the picture. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Kain! Get in, quick!"
The aiju was far too close, and more importantly, it actually did seem to be moving their direction, so Kain wasted no time complying. "So, what is that?" he asked mildly as he slid into the front right seat next to the woman. "A aiju?"
"It's not a aiju. It's an angel. Those missiles and artillery rounds won't dent the thing."
"Really? Angel, you say? Could you elaborate?"
She smiled grimly as she spared him a brief glance. "You're awfully calm, considering the circumstances."
"Let's just say…ah, I don't even know how to start. Yeah, I'm calm. Whoo!"
Misato chuckled. "Well, we don't have time to go into details here. Just pray we survive this!"
More fire was being unleashed on the monster, and explosions and rebounds came perilously close to the car. Then a massive explosion engulfed the monster…just as Misato drove them into an armored bunker and the partition slid shut behind them.
"I assume that didn't get it, either?" Kain asked.
"An N2 mine," Misato sighed. "They really went with that? There won't be much left of the city, even if they did…but no…that thing won't go down so easily.
"Anyway, here." She handed over a badge and notebook to Kain.
Kain looked at it. "Special Agency…NERV? An unpublicized organization under control of the UN…I guess they're supposed to deal with those 'angels', then? So why did I get called over here?"
"Why do you think? Your dad is the head of it, isn't he? Maybe it'd be better to ask him directly."
Kain considered this. "Yes…even if it's a dream, I'd like that opportunity. I never even got a chance to when I was at the dream Mahora. Yeah…."
They got into a special railcar…which took them down into a terran, cavernous area deep underground, with trees and a lake…a 'Geofront'. Misato introduced it as "The last stronghold of humanity…our NERV headquarters. The keystone of the world's resurrection."
The rail sped them down into the pyramid-like structure at the heart of the Geofront.
They left the car when it parked and Misato, throwing a jacket over the sexy one-piece dress she had been wearing since her arrival on the scene, started to lead Kain through the deserted, high-tech halls…but it was obvious after a short time that she was lost. Suddenly they were hailed from behind by an angry voice…and turned to behold a woman, late twenties, with short blond hair and a beauty mark by her right eye, dressed in a lab coat.
"Ritsuko," Misato greeted her guiltily.
"You're so late I was sent to find you!" Ritsuko scolded her…then stopped as she caught sight of Kain fully. "Oh? So this is the Third Child?"
('Third Child?') "I'm Kain Lockeheart. Apparently, the director's son…?"
"You don't sound sure of it. I'm Akagi Ritsuko of the First Engineering Division and head of Project E. Pleased to meet you." She turned away. "Come with me, Kain…there's something I would like to show you before we meet your father."
Their next journey through the strange structure was to board some sort of small motorboat and cross some sort of moat, and Ritsuko and Misato engaged in some unintelligible babble about NERV security or some such, Ritsuko saying that 'Unit 01 was ready to go' and Misato demanding what they planned to do for a pilot.
Finally, they completed their journey, arriving in a massive hangar…and as Kain walked across the catwalk and glanced over at what it occupied, he froze in shock. A massive, purple humanoid machine, over 100 feet tall. "The Evangelion…" he murmured. "So, this time…."
"Kain." Kain's attention was drawn to a computer room overlooking the Eva. There, standing in the window, broadcasting down to him, was a familiar figure with unkempt red hair and, oddly, glasses. He stared down at Kain without expression as Kain looked up in frozen shock. Even now, he was so affected by a mere dream….
"Kain, listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. You're going to ride in the Evangelion," his father informed him. "You are going to fight the angel."
('Well, never saw that coming!') As Kain opened his mouth to reply vocally, Misato suddenly burst out, "Commander Lockeheart, you can't be serious! Kain's had no training or preparation for this! It took Rei seven months to synchronize with Unit 00! To ask this of him…."
"What, you can't do it?" Kalan interrupted her briskly and abruptly. "Fine, then. We will have to place our hope in her hands, and pray she does not get herself killed. Bring her."
A door opened at the opposite side of the catwalk, and two technicians came wheeling a cot across…with a figure he was not surprised to see on its surface. He was shocked by Rei Ayanami's condition, however. She was dressed in her white bodysuit, but its sleeves and gloves were detached…her left arm was wrapped completely in bandages, and her right had some as well. Her left eye was also completely obscured by bandages.
"Rei," Kalan called down to the girl. "Our only backup is useless. I hate to do this, but I have to command you to board Unit 01 and fight the angel."
"Oh, now hold on a minute!" Kain cried, making a T with his hands. "I never said I wouldn't or couldn't. Misato here is making a reasonable argument, but if I have to pilot this thing, I will. You can't ask Rei to in that condition…."
Suddenly the whole building shook…Kain briefly heard a cry from the control room above, just making it through the speaker, that the 'angel was attempting to penetrate the Geofront'. Rei's bed upended and she began to fall from it with a cry….
Kain was there, underneath her, catching her. She gave a cry of pain, but Kain carefully held her and slowly raised her up. "Jeez, this one has just started and you're in this shape? The dream is trying to manipulate me by pulling at my heartstrings. There's no need. I have no reason not to go along." He barked at the technicians to ready the cot again, and set Rei on it with care.
"Take care of her," he declared. "I'll pilot the Evangelion. That's what I'm here for, right?"
Soon Kain sat inside the entry plug. The magical 'Evangelion' 'artifact' that Rei used—and that he had once had the opportunity to pilot, his battle against Aiden—had possessed all the comfort magic provided, but the machine in this dream was a little more complicated. They had to flood the plug with a kind of abiotic fluid called 'LCL', which Kain found uncomfortable but adjusted to easily. Misato, Ritsuko, and the other technicians monitoring his progress marveled at statistics Kain didn't know or care about…finally the order came to launch.
The Evangelion was sent up on a massive launch elevator the several miles back to the surface, and Kain looked out on the devastated city. Then he glanced over at the bizarre 'angel', which turned to look at him quizzically.
Kain grinned at it and gripped his controls. "Well, they probably expect a newbie kid to be useless…possibly win by some accident…but I'm not following that script. This thing will be a piece of cake!"
And he charged in.
8-8-8
Kain stood in front of his father's desk, staring down at the man. Kalan Lockeheart was seated, looking at Kain over the top of his glasses, his gloved hands steepled in front of him, covering his face. "You may leave," he instructed the two guards standing by the door coldly.
"Sir." They exited, closing the door behind them.
"A fine job," Kalan said. "You piloted the Evangelion marvelously, as if you were born for it. The angel was destroyed with minimal fuss. Rei has been training for this job ever since the beginning, and she never showed a fraction of these results."
Kain shrugged. "Well, I guess I got lucky."
Kalan grinned slightly. "I suppose you did." Then he reached up, took off his glasses, set them down on the desk…and bounded up and over to Kain, throwing his arms around him and embracing him. "Ah, well done, Kain! That's my boy!"
"Ah, thanks, Dad…." Kain was slightly stunned, but he returned the hug easily.
"Goodness, what a scenario we have here." Kalan stepped back, turned slightly back to his desk and picked up a sheaf of papers lying on it. "Have you read this script? This is my part: 'Kalan Lockeheart lost his wife in an accident involving the Evas ten years ago, and since that time had all but abandoned Kain, leaving him with uncaring relatives. He seems to have no emotions towards his son, who resents his father for killing his mother with that devil's research and abandoning him for so long.' Disgusting." Kalan tossed the papers negligently over his shoulder. "Even if it's a dream, no way I'm playing a part like that! We're going to show this world what happens when the Lockehearts join forces, Kain." He laid a hand on his son's shoulder.
Kain was equal parts thrilled and confused. "Uh, thanks…I guess. Um…are you…my real father…? I-I mean…."
"No, I'm not real, I'm just a dream, like the rest of this," Kalan sighed, sweeping his hand around. "I understand everything about the dream, though, at least that it is a dream, following some pre-written script or scenario. I'm not sure why. Either your mind is so focused on your father's magnificence that, once he is manifested, even this demonic dream can't make him into the kind of 'World's Worst Father' material he's supposed to be, or maybe I myself am just that awesome that dream images of me take control." He chuckled. "It's really too bad I'm not really here. If I was the real me, I'd have Yume no Musôka, and I'd break apart this dream and kill the demon causing it in a moment." He made a demonstrative slashing motion.
"In any case, we've got to find an opportunity to end this dream. If you keep at it, the demon behind it should weaken." Kalan turned back to Kain and his expression became once more serious. "You're doing really well fighting it so far. I don't know just what it's intending, or how it proposes to break you…but somehow, some way, you're winning. For now, all we can do, though, is keep fighting these angels."
8-8-8
And so Kain did. He got to know the new Rei, who was rather similar to the old Rei—according to Kalan, however, this Rei was 'a clone of Kain's mother created by his mad father to be part of the plot to use all this Evangelion hocus-pocus to recreate her and cause the end of the world, or something like that'. Because she was an artificially created human made to sync with the Evas—for there were several here—Rei had a nearly emotionless nature. She was devoted to Kalan, who did dote on her like a daughter, but otherwise expressed nothing more than basic humanity.
Most of the actual city had been stored underground between the surface and the Geofront during the angel invasion, and shortly after his arrival he was sent to a school, the same Rei was attending, and once again insinuated himself into the class with pleasure and ease, charming even those who tried to resent him for damage caused by the monsters (because he was swiftly revealed as the pilot of the Eva to the class at large).
He and Rei battled a few angels, and then the 'Second Child' arrived, a Japanese-German girl named Asuka Langley Sôryû, who had been in Germany at another branch of NERV. Asuka was violent and domineering, angry and argumentative, but Kain was content to simply avoid her most of the time.
Finally, after pretty much all the angels had been defeated (and many tragedies had been avoided by the über tag-team of Lockehearts), a new, albino boy was brought to NERV and introduced as the Fifth Child (one of Kain's classmates had been the Fourth; Rei was the First).
"This Kaworu Nagisa is actually the final angel," Kalan explained privately to Kain. "The angels have been trying to get back to Lilith, the second angel which is in our care and which supposedly 'gave birth to all humanity', and if they succeed this will start the Third Impact and destroy the world. That's why we've been fighting them. However, the commander of NERV in the script is planning to use Lilith to do that anyway, and so are the old men of Seele, the mysterious faction behind NERV at the UN. When the world is destroyed, it will be reborn, and everyone's trying to be God, rebuilding it in their own image. It's all very complicated and annoying, all these hidden agendas and all this mythical mumbo-jumbo. It's worse than the Obsidian Star. Anyway, rather than kill him and then let the humans fight out over all this, I have a better idea; let's just let the kid rejoin Lilith, cause Third Impact, and that should end this section of your dream."
Kain was silent a moment. "I…guess that works…but if that's the case, we could have let any of the previous angels do it, right? Why didn't we?"
Kalan coughed. "Well, to be honest…it's been kind of nice, you know? Aeli couldn't be here with us—technically, she doesn't exist in this world, your 'mother' is this other woman, Yui—but with you and Rei, and even that Asuka brat…and even Misato, we've kind of been like a family, you know? I must say I've been enjoying it. Haven't you?"
Kain didn't need to consider it. He smiled. "Yes, actually…I don't know why, but even in all these dreams you've been completely denied me. Here, even if it is a dream, I've been able to enjoy being with you, and as you say, the others were like family, too. Something I've never really had. I even passed up the opportunity to enjoy it in the Cosmo Entelecheia, but here…I got something, at least. Thank you…for everything." He considered something, his expression turning wistful. "This has got to be a first, though…letting the villains win and the world be destroyed in order to escape a pseudo-world, because that's basically what we're doing…."
"Not unprecedented," Kalan replied. "Doctor Bashir of Deep Space Nine, while playing James Bond in a Holodeck program that went awry and stole the minds of the station's crew, had to join the villain and destroy the world in order to safely end the program and get everyone back to normal."
"Ah? Really? Not familiar with that one. Oh well." Kain rose. "I…guess I better go find Kaworu and escort him down to that freak of nature. Thanks…for everything…Dad…."
"One last thing before you go," Kalan interjected. "There's something I can tell you about these dreams, something you should know. These aren't simply conjurations from nowhere, these scenarios aren't exactly made up. It's more than your memories or awareness going into their creation. There is something significant about these worlds, which is how the demon is holding you in them…and why it can't manipulate things according to its own desires more easily. Somewhere, lost in this trail of dreams, you should be able to find the key to escape."
Kain nodded. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I'll be seeing you…in the flesh…sometime." And then he left the office so he could go end the world.
F I N
Author's Note: Running through the Dreams
Yes, there is some specific point in all these…I felt compelled to run Kain through a series of dreams based on the anime that the girls come from. This very fast, very loose storytelling is probably very chaotic and at least somewhat frustrating, but it's necessary since having even all the opening scenarios would take far too long. I'm going to finish up soon here, so this madness is almost over. If I have any readers left by this point, I'm sure they're sighing with relief upon hearing these words.
The Hayate world is one of the ones most familiar to Kain, and I decided a good point to have him 'leave' it was after the defeat of King Midas, who possessed Hayate's childhood girlfriend, Athena, as shown here. Other than showing how he was dropped into the world—as Hayate's replacement—I didn't want to have too much of it, because I've already shown most of these scenarios, all the good ones, anyway, already; Kain has been through them. Maybe he should have commented about that….
Although she isn't part of the class, I decided to drop Kain in Meia Gisborn's world, the Vandread anime. She is one of The Twelve—heck, she's in the top four—but more importantly, Vandread is just such an awesome anime I have to pay homage to it, and Kain would enjoy being there just as much as I would. Moving on….
There's really nothing for men to do in the Sailor Moon universe unless you are the Enemy or Tuxedo Mask, but I have to have it so we can see Ami, and so Kain does an annoyed review of the situation.
And similar to Hayate, dropping Kain in the actual MSN dreamworld as a ten-year-old Negi-like version of himself is fun, but seriously, how can I write in detail about a story I've already spent seventeen acts writing?
Kazumi and crew come from Shakugan no Shana, an anime that rankled me at the start with its unique setting. Rather than 'normal' demons who feed on things like lifeforce, the big thing about this world is 'the power of existence', and these demon-like creatures called the 'Denizens of Guze' consume that power from humans, and when they do…they don't just die, everything about them is erased, all trace that they were ever there, and this whole concept was completely, totally, horribly messed up. The characters made the anime fun and palatable, and I recently finally finished the third and final season, but from what Kain sees initially, he would really hate how it all goes down. I thought about really introducing Shana and Kain's interpretation of the role of the main hero, Yûji Sakai, but as fun as it would have been, it would have taken too long. As a note, Kain partially talks about the big thing here—Yûji is introduced to the 'World of Guze' and its Denizens when they attack him out on the street, consuming Yukari Hirai's presence. In order to watch this strange 'torch', as Yûji has also supposedly had his essence consumed and is merely a burning-out leftover before he fades completely from existence, the girl that he calls Shana who saved him takes Yukari's place, using the remnants of her presence to assume her place in the class and everything…but Yukari was totally gone. However, at the very end of the series, Yûji has a bit of temporary godlike power through various circumstances I won't spoil here, and one of the most significant things he does is restore the presence of Yukari Hirai completely, so the girl gets another cameo during the final-final credits as she greets Kazumi in class. It was pretty good closure for me.
Rakasu comes from Gundam SEED, and so Kain goes there and gets to be Kira Yamato, or the equivalent. He would make some significant alterations to this story, too, but we just don't have time, and Rakasu's not a major character, so we skipped it. Same with Inuyasha…Kain is in the place of the monk Miroku, who was a lecher, and so in inheriting his place he also inherits his bad reputation, which is an amusing joke.
But I decided to detail Eva a bit more…not because of Rei, but because of Gendo Ikari…and his replacement. As Kain noted, this was the first dream world he'd visited where his father actually plays a significant role. The father in MSN is, of course, at least to him, just a copy of his own father, and he would have left that world before his father was officially recovered. So he finally gets to meet his dream father…and I decided I wanted to do this 'troll' or whatever, and have Kalan Lockeheart utterly refuse to be the heartless evil crazy bastard that was Gendo Ikari and instead be a good and wonderful father. And so I highlighted this, making fun of Anime's Worst Father and making Eva, of all things, one of the visits he would come to enjoy the most.
And since I was doing that, I decided that this pseudo-father would also do as a bit of a hint-dropper for Kain.
Well, this whole dream nonsense has gone on long enough. We'll once again briefly touch upon a last few more worlds, and then hit the last one…and wrap it all up….