Author's note:
Hi guys. *waves* It's been...a few years. :)) When I last left you all hanging, I had just entered Uni. I shit you not, I lost a lot of time when that happened. I went through a lot of things. Gained some new friends, lost some. Experienced a lot of new things.
I never really left . I continued to read, just never write.
Back then I had this story all sorted out, from start to end. I even had a part two in mind. Now, I don't really remember the universe I created or how I was supposed to get to the end. However, I hate to leave things unfinished. I had this (what I would call half a chapter) lying around in my external hard drive for those past two years. I re-read it, and realized why I stopped writing this. I lost my passion, and apparently with it, my ability to write. I edited it some so it would be releasable.
Give me some time to get re-acquainted with the AU I created, as well as with the details of Negima (I still read the manga until now, but it's gotten very complicated). Again, no promises, but I'll TRY to update this when I have the time. My writing style has changed a bit as well, probably due to my maturity, so please bear with the chapters that may follow. They might not be written the same way as the first ten.
Once more, I am terribly sorry for abruptly vanishing, but life tends to do that to a person. So, I'll leave you to it my dear readers.
Disclaimer: I do not, and will never own Negima. :)
Chapter 10- Drowning in Uncertainty
Evangeline gathered the two cousins and Konoka in the second room where Asuna and Negi where placed upon their arrival at Hakase and Chao's home. They were delayed by two days and Evangeline wanted things to get moving, even if Setsuna was still unconscious and unresponsive. The least she could do was to finish off what they had come to Luron to accomplish. She sat on the ledge of the windowsill , her short legs swinging slightly back and forth, and asked for everyone's attention.
"It seems that we can now conclude that Setsuna has entered a hibernation stage seeing as she has still not woken up. " She paused, only to hear silence. "Plus the fact that her nails are rapidly growing into claws." She continued and smirked slightly, amused at her own misplaced humour. "In any case, this may last longer than a week. Three days has come and gone, there's no guarantee that she'll wake up tomorrow. I am going to suggest this for it may be the wisest for now." She turned her gaze towards the Mahora princess, eyes unblinking, trying to read the expression in Konoka's eyes. Unreadable. Darn royals and their poker faces.
"I think it would be better if you were to go to the Luron palace tomorrow accompanied by Negi and Asuna, seeing as you have already been delayed by three days. It's no longer practical, princess." She hopped off the windowsill and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Quite honestly, I have to say that the only reason I'm here is because I wanted to make sure that Setsuna would not hurt anyone should her demon blood arise. Besides, your goal was to reach the Luron palace. We don't know when and if this damn kid will even regain her consciousness." The vampire let out a small 'tsk'. "If she does wake up I don't know if she will turn out to be hostile or the calm Setsuna beforehand. Less people around, less people to worry about, if you understand what I'm saying. You're too close to your goal and you only need Asuna and Negi for you to get into the palace. "
"We're talking about priorities now, eh?" Asuna smirked and sat on one of the beds, cringing when the bed let out a small creak, unnatural to the silence which was encompassing them.
Evangeline calmly kept her stare at Konoka. "Since the last thing which has to be done is to bring you over to the Luron palace, I was thinking it might be best that you head over there as soon as possible."
The only male companion they had shrugged. "In a way...I think master Evangeline has a point. You can't wait for Setsuna to wake up, especially since we don't know what exactly is happening to her. " Negi, who had sat on one of the beds like his cousin, adjusted his glasses while saying this.
The girl who had her back leaning on the wall bit her lip and turned her gaze towards her feet, her hands clasped behind her. "Would it surprise you if I said that at this moment, I don't really care about my duties as the Mahora heiress?"
Evangeline cocked her eyebrow at the comment. The two cousins ended up looking at each other with similar expressions to the vampire. Even if their current group leader were to suggest something concerning the half-demon and the princess being separated, Konoka would either object or not go through with the plan. Especially with the current situation being as it is with Setsuna unconscious and unresponsive. The small vampire brought her hand up to her head to massage her temples and let out a small 'tsk'. "Are you sure you don't want to leave for the Luron palace?"
"Could it wait? For at least another three days? If she doesn't regain consciousness by the end of the third day I will leave for the palace. "
Evangeline looked at the girl with a stern expression. "That's a deal." Konoka nodded albeit hesitantly. "It's...a deal."
The blonde sighed, knowing that the teen would most likely not regain her consciousness in three days but went along with the brunette's decision. "In that case, we might as well use the three days productively. Negi and I will teach you some more spells and how to control the amount of magic you release per spell." She glanced at the red headed boy, he nodded in understanding. "Not too hard to teach I suppose."
Konoka smiled. "Alright. I'm looking forward to those lessons then."
Ku Fei, who had just walked out from the bathroom, bathed and fully clothed watched the exciting scene unfolding in front of her. She had walked to the outside platform of the hidden home in the Uzoku forest to find Tsuruko and Motoko in a heated duel, swords clashing creating loud metallic rings which echoed in the quiet forest. Out of curiosity and boredom she sat on the outside platform, towel in hand. The blonde demon slayer watched while drying off her hair using the towel. Both Shinmeiryuu fighters were unbelievably fast and none were usingtheir techniques as of yet.
Motoko side stepped as her sister tried a stab at her and she immediately jumped as Tsuruko followed through with a slide slash. The younger of the two tried a kick at the older but to no avail. The council member grabbed her ankle at an amazing speed and pulled her down. Motoko crouched when she hit the ground and leaped backwards as Tsuruko was about to thrust her sword down into her. This was followed by Tsuruko running towards her and slashing at her midsection multiple times. The ambassador avoided each slash just in the nick of time, which caused her to take a number of steps backwards. She ran towards her older sister with her sword at her side, building up momentum for a diagonal upward slash. The sound of swords clashing echoed through the forest as Tsuruko blocked Motoko's powerful assault. She smiled as her younger sister pushed her backward with her sword. It was about time they turned it up a notch.
In a sudden movement Tsuruko slid her sword down, freeing herself from her little sister's 'push and shove' tactic, bent low and aimed for Motoko's mid section once again. The younger of the two, however, blocked the slash once again and was suddenly faced with a flurry of attacks a little bit faster than her own. She winced at every hit she blocked. They were very powerful and heavy causing her fingers to slip out of the proper sword holding position at every other hit. This caused her a disadvantage and she frowned upon knowing this. If she didn't act soon enough, her sword would be forced out of her grasps. Motoko jumped over one of the attacks and swung her sword down, aiming for her sister.
The tanned girl watching observed with amusement. They were both quick and nimble, that she felt if she had blinked she would have missed two or three moves made by any of the two.
"Here." Konoka's current master grabbed her hand and placed in it a small silver cylindrical whistle with a long strap attached to the other end. She inspected it and found that it had a gauge on one of the sides which looked empty. "Since I don't think you can measure your own magical limit I will give you this small device. Blow into the whistle. "
Her temporary student gave her a questioning look. Evangeline rolled her eyes at the response she received and crossed her arms. "Just do it." Konoka looked at the whistle one more time and hesitantly blew air into it. No sound was made.
"As you can see, right now the gauge is full and coloured green." Evangeline pointed at the slightly glowing green colour which now took the place of the empty gauge on the side of the whistle. Konoka ran her thumb over it, softly, as if caressing it, amused. "This means your magical abilities are at full capacity. By blowing air from your lungs, the whistle was able to measure your magical limit. Try using a barrier spell now."
The Mahora princess put the strap of the whistle over her head so that it hung around her neck. She then recited a barrier spell previously taught to her by Evangeline. The invisible lining immediately covered the area where she and Evangeline were standing. The small blonde had her arms crossed over her chest as usual. "Alright, now take a look at your gauge."
She ran her thumb over the gauge once again. "The gauge level went down..." She looked closer at the green line. "but...not by a lot."
"Of course. It was a simple barrier spell." Evangeline waved her hand, signifying the worthlessness of the spell in terms of draining power. "In any case, I want you to be able to control how far down that gauge goes when you recite a spell. " She pointed at the whistle hanging from the Mahora princess' neck. "So, if using a normal lightning spell would deplete your gauge level by say...one fourth, I want you to be able to create the same spell by using...one tenth of your gauge level. Since you were freely using your magic energy before, you couldn't control or pay attention to how much you used. Now, I want you to take notice of how much magic you release. This will be useful especially if, ever, you will be involved in a battle. "
Konoka nodded, smiling at the shorter girl. "Thank you, Evangeline."
The blonde looked taken aback. She furrowed her eyebrows, and pouted, crossing her arms, like she always did. Her habit. "You shouldn't be thanking me. If at all, you should be thanking Setsuna. Without her connections to me you wouldn't be learning this at all." She huffed, starting to realize she missed the half demon's presence.
"I will definitely thank her however, you had a choice, whether or not to teach me and look where we are! You're teaching me new things, helping me widen my capabilities...these are really things I have to thank you for!" She cast her gaze downwards. " I know that even if I requested to wait for three days to pass, the possibilities of Setsuna regaining consciousness by that time is close to zero. I only have...a limited time with all of you. So, before we finish this lesson, I want to thank you master Evangeline, for teaching me magic and for guiding us all the way to Luron."
The blonde pouted, showing a mildly irritated expression. "Do not create attachments to people you've hardly even spent time with."
Konoka smiled. "You don't understand. I never really had anyone I could be attached to except my family members. So, you see, you are my very first friends." The princess chuckled.
Evangeline sighed and ran a hand through her hair, the frown disappearing from her face. "Fine. Understandable seeing as you're of a royal family. However, I still say it's easier to not be involved with people. In any case, try doing simple spells again and controlling how much magic you use, I want you to learn it properly." She looked sternly at Konoka as she spoke.
The princess continued to smile at the vampire and resumed her training.
I'm sorry for the short chapter, it was all that my past self had left. It's more of a filler chapter, really. I'll try to fix the story line in the meantime. :)