Akamatsu Ken and Kodansha own Mahou Sensei Negima!

The Walt Disney Company owns all the Disney stuff.

I make no money from this.

Shadow Crystal Mage couldn't proofread this chapter either, so it'll most likely be rather crappier than the average. Sorry.

The Keys of the Kingdom.

Chapter Thirteen.

"So, how it's going?" Ayaka, who had chosen to stay outside chewing on her knuckles while constantly wondering if she was doing the right thing, asked when a mildly disturbed Haruna exited the bedroom they had been sharing over nearly a week now.

Haruna supported herself against a wall, a thick eyebrow twitching. "I think… I might have met my match. Every last one of my attempts was met with laughter and claims of 'Gendo could do worse'. Whoever that Gendo was, he was a sick fuck, let me tell you."

"Language!" the Class Rep chided. "So… are you sure you couldn't do anything else?"

"Not without crossing the lines even I won't pass," Haruna shook her head. "No wonder they chose her to become a Mahou Shoujo. That oba-saan is hardcore! Maybe I should try with the blond Chibi-Chisame again?"

"So she faints before being able to say anything again?" asked Ayaka. "No. Whoever she is, she seems terribly afraid of you. Are you sure you never met her in Nerima? I find that easier to believe than her bogus claims about coming from the future…"

"This coming from someone who has met people from other dimensions and now is in one herself?" Haruna questioned.

"That's different," Ayaka said. "You could make a case for such incidents happening before in the history of the unexplained, involving mysterious disappearances and the like… but if time travelers existed, our time would have been infested with tourists from the future. That's the way human nature works." She folded her arms and sighed. "Well then, I suppose we can't do anything but waiting for the ape to return with Negi-sensei, so he can read her mind…"

"And do you think he'll do that?" Haruna asked. "You know how reluctant to read minds he is. He didn't even want to read the fat cat's…"

"Pffft," Ayaka said. "What good is there from reading a mere foot soldier's mind? It's like trying to learn about Hitler's strategies from questioning a simple, random German grunt."

"Godwin's Law aside, point, I guess," Haruna said. "Still, I wish Nodoka were here. If she made a Pactio like Psycho Purple-chan's, it'd be a great help here…"

"Could you please untie my hands?" Kirie asked through her clenched teeth, holding up her tightly bound wrists over the wooden table in Aerith and Haruka's bedroom.

"So you can stab yourself again, like the other Sailor Tenshi reported you doing?" Haruka huffed, a hand on the table and the other on her own hip. She leaned forward a little, making Kirie flinch at the proximity with her stupid cow udders until the thin white shirt. "Obese chance! I don't know what moved you to try and mutilate yourself like that, but I've got little patent for emos and their suicidal nonsense! Just ask Itoshiki-sensei!"

"… I don't hurt myself because I'm an emo! Do I look like an emo to you?" Kirie protested. "Like I told the Senshi, that's part of my immortality power! Whenever I'm killed, I return to the latest save point I made, like in a videogame!"

"Videogames? I have no time for those things!" Haruka snapped, slamming her hand on the table for added effect. It had broken many a Mahora Academy student before, including many a local gang boss. "Stop talking in hoodlum terms and explain yourself clearly, for I have no time to waste hanging at arcades!"

Kirie was no normal Mahora Academy student. "I refuse talking to people who aren't actual members of Ala Alba."

"I *am* Ala Alba!" an enraged Haruka protested.

"You never were mentioned in any of Ala Alba's exploits," Kirie sniffed arrogantly, looking aside.

Haruka fumed furiously. "Why you little—! I'm Ala Alba's field commander, disciple officer and trasu—treachu—treansu—woman who handles their money! You should be honored they chose me to question you!"

"Yukihiro Ayaka was Ala Alba's treasurer and Kagurazaka Asuna was their field commander. You can't fool me," Kirie impassively said."Get out of my sight, you useless pretender."

"Useless pretender—!" Haruka cried, livid. "And you pronounced it wrong, even!"

"Actually, no, she didn't," Aerith quietly said.

"If you really are part of Ala Alba now," Kirie evenly told Haruka, smirking deviously, "odds are they kick you out soon, so you never make it into the history books." She was well aware she came from an alternate future by now, but she couldn't resist her knowledge of her own timeline to mess with that idiotic woman's mind.

"They won't kick me out, I'm their most valuable member, and I'm Negi-sensei's finance, I mean fiancée, and and and and!" Haruka foamed off the mouth, slamming a foot down while Aerith restrained her from behind.

"Yeah, that's what they all—" Kirie stopped. "Wait, fiancée?!" Haruka nodded. "He took my lips' virginipurity, so he must marry me after my family is notified!"

"Oh, so there's not an official agreement yet, and it's only another delusional girl's hopeful crush," Kirie feigned a great sigh of relief. "Good, I was afraid your obvious stupidity might have changed the course of history, for the worse, of course!"

"Let me have 'er! Let me have 'er! Let me have 'er!" Haruka growled while Aerith restrained her with all her might, twisting the busty blonde's wrists back.

Then Kaga Ai shyly peeked in. Aerith gave an instinctive step back. "Hm, everyone? I, I'm so, so sorry about disturbing your questioning with this, but, but, Yukihiro-san thought you should know…"

"What happened, Kaga-san?" Haruka frowned at her, calming herself down somewhat.

Ai swallowed and then answered, "Karakuri-san got signals from the Gummi Ship's return, ma'am! It looks, it looks like Negi-sensei and the others are back!"

"Negi Springfield!" Kirie almost jumped up on her chair. "I'm going to meet Negi Springfield!"

Haruka, Aerith and Ai all stared at her.

"—which, of course, is highly interesting from a purely historical viewpoint," Kirie quickly changed into a plain business-like tone.

St. Canard:

Drake Mallard just couldn't sleep.

It was well past curfew time by then, and tomorrow was a Saturday; his cubicle supervisor, Elmo Sputterspark, always was particularly cranky in Saturdays (Drake suspected the reason was the proximity of a weekend, even one consisting of a single day, reminded Meg—Elmo of how lonely and isolated he was everywhere but at the job), and Drake would never hear the end of it if he arrived late to the job. So he should be sleeping now.

But he couldn't.

The night outside called to him. The darkness beckoned, inviting him to defeat her, to once again gracefully leap over the buildings, a mysterious shadow above all others. The darkness challenged him, to an all or nothing game where the stakes were all he had ever held dear. He almost could feel her, whispering mockingly into his ear, questioning his worth, taunting his pride.

He grabbed his pillow and shielded his head with it.

Remember why you did it, he told himself. For Gosalyn.

And because they bested you, the darkness whispered.

He couldn't argue that point. By stopping Negaduck and all the others permanently, they had done what he never could; to bring true law and order to his city. Stepping aside and staying there, then, was the best thing he could do past that point, wasn't it? His arrogance had been his downfall more than once, wasn't it time already to look past it and learn his lesson?

This isn't about your pride anymore, his conscience told him. Those crazy strangers are right. The city is darker than ever now. Everybody has lost control over their own lives and they don't even realize it. Do you really think it can't get any worse? There is no end for the evil that lurks in the hearts of animals.

"No," he told himself. "There is a limit."

You are that limit.

"I'm only a duck."

You aren't alone.

He got off the bed and waddled over to his closet, opening its doors wide, and facing what he had once loved more than anything else, what he now feared more than anything else. Hanging neatly between the rest of his clothes, there was the purple vest. And the folded cape. The wide brim hat. The gas gun. The mask.

Shaking, he reached over for them.

Chisame, Ayaka, Konoka, Setsuna, Chachamaru, Satomi, Sakurako, Misa, Pluto, Keiichi and Makie waited before the just landed Gummi Ship, at the same site of its takeoff days ago, in a tense silence.

Finally, the cockpit's door was opened from the inside and out walked Asuna, smiling widely and holding her sword in a hand. But Konoka was just too happy to notice or care anything about swords at all.

"Asuna-chan!" the Konoe heiress ran to her friend, to tackle her into a crushing embrace, rubbing her cheek against hers. "It's so great to have you back! How did things go? Did you find something? Omigosh, is this Twilight Red-san's sword you got here? You finally got it!"

"Heh, well, yeah, there's a sorta funny story behind that," Asuna chuckled awkwardly, then realized Chachamaru's presence. "Oh hey, Chacha's back! Hello, Chacha! Did Eva—?"

Chachamaru shook her head. "Regrettably, the Mistress still isn't acting like herself... or is acting too much like herself, I suppose it's a subject open to debate... and she exiled me out amongst you. Which doesn't mean I'm not extremely glad to see you again, Asuna-san."

Asuna nodded, then blinked as Konoka finally let her go, only to be hugged by Setsuna just as soon. "... whoa, Setsuna-san, this is... w-well, I'm happy to see you again too..."

Setsuna simply pulled herself apart from Asuna and nodded in silence, keeping her gaze low.

Then the Shinmeiryuu stepped aside, and Asuna found herself face to face with Ayaka. "Welcome," the blonde said.

"'Sup," Asuna answered.

"Did you have fun? Of the healthy and reasonable variety, I mean?"

"Other than the time I spent stuck in a monkey cage, yeah, I did," Asuna said. "You?"

Ayaka shrugged vaguely, refusing to take the easy bait. "I suppose you wouldn't have found it 'fun', but I have had... an intriguing time."

"I imagine you'll want to see Negi now."

"Naturally. But a responsible person like myself always will tackle duty before pleasure." And with that, she enveloped Asuna in a silent hug that was twice as strong as Konoka's, closing her eyes and supporting her chin on Asuna's shoulder.

Chisame angrily walked past them. "Why don't you get yourselves a room already?" before they could scream at her in unison, she screamed at the ship, "Hey, Negi! What's taking you so long in there? Don't be a coward and show us the girl already!"

"The girl?" Misa asked.

"Duh," Chisame gave her a jaded glare. "Kagurazaka's got her sword, and she's distracting us while he gathers the courage to step out and face us. That means really bad crap happened, as I predicted, and you know what that means in turn! You just dare telling me I'm wrong, Kagurazaka."

"I'm not distracting anyone!" Kagurazaka said. "I'm just stalling!"

Ayaka broke the hug and sank her hands like talons into Asuna's shoulders, her voice going ghoulishly cold. "What. Did. You. Let. Happen. To. Sensei?"

"And where's Sku-chan, anyway?" Makie pouted.

"Don't call me 'Sku-chan'!" Skuld growled while walking out as well, closely followed by Gadget. "We were just too busy entering the landing data into the ship's log! That's highly important for future reference, you know!"

"Sku-chan!" Makie giggled, leaping over to hug her.

"Did you listen to anything of what I just said?!"

"Nope!" Makie happily said, rubbing her cheek up and down against Skuld's just like Konoka had done earlier to Asuna.

Keiichi smiled lightly and walked closer, patting Skuld's head with a hand. "Welcome home, Sku-chan..."

"Not you too!"

"Well," Gadget sighed while Pluto licked her face over and over, leaving it covered with dog drool, "at least someone is happy to see me..."

"That's it, Negi!" Chisame was telling the ship. "I'm giving you and the ermine ten seconds to be men and come out with the girl before I get in myself! I won't be mad unless you make me mad! Ten! Nine!"

Chamo's head peeked out. "Geez, Aneesan, that's no way to greet your Magister and teacher, anyone would say you're just plain jea—"

Chisame picked him up by the neck, lifted him effortlessly, then flung him back behind herself. "I meant you and the ermine, not the ermine alone, Negi! Eight! Seven!"

Chamo gasped as his fall was stopped by Matoi's hands catching him up in the air. "Ah! You were here!"

"Yes, always," the short haired girl nodded. All in all, she had more tolerance for the ermine elf than most other girls did. She could appreciate someone with as litle concern as herself for other people's personal space, after all. "It's just even the opening paragraph for this segment overlooked me. I sort of prefer it that way anyway..."

"Six! Five!" Chisame kept on counting...

And then, a completely embarrassed Negi emerged, taking a very pretty girl in a blue dress and white apron by the hand, making Misa gasp in horror and Ayaka to sink her claws on Asuna's shoulders even deeper, to the point the redhead actually yelped in pain.

The newcomer stared helplessly at the deflating and sighing Chisame before her, and then made a calculated, submissive curtsy. "Um... It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss... I, I am Alice Liddell, and..." She looked at Negi. "Is this the girl you kept mentioning all along the trip here?"

"WHAT?!" an abruptly redfaced Chisame found herself screaming along Misa and Ayaka, while Sakurako, Satomi and Konoka shared interested gazes.

Negi rasped. "Ah, no, actually, that's my sister Nekane. This, you'll see, this is Hasegawa Chisame, my first Ministra Magi..."

"Your... first?!" Alice gasped. "I thought you only had done it with Miss Asuna before me!"

"IINCHOU! THAT FREAKING HURTS!" Asuna cried, trying to worm back and free from Ayaka's nails drilling into her flesh. But Ayaka was even past realizing Asuna was still there by then...

"Rise, Tohsaka Sakura," a voice told her.

She did, while opening her eyes, adjusting her eyesight to the darkness surrounding her until she could see the twelve figures standing before her, and little else. The room—if it could be called that—she was in seemed mostly featureless, which only a large shiny table with thirteen seats visible behind the group in long black robes that covered every part of them but their hands, heads and necks. The floor seemed to ooze with the smooth, ever flowing darkness from which she had risen, fully naked.

Normally, Sakura would have been afraid, ashamed, confused and puzzled. But right now, she could feel nothing. It was as if the tiny Fear, Disgust, Joy, Anger and Sadness Sakuras living within her mind had fallen catatonic all at once, which of course was a silly mental image she would have giggled at before; but not anymore.

The man at the head of the assembly handed her a robe identical to theirs, and Sakura donned it with the most habitual nod of politeness. "Thank you, Takahata-sensei," she softly said, recognizing both the man and the importance of being respectful of him, but not actually feeling the later in her heart.

She recognized a few of the others present, as well. First and foremost, she saw Sempai, Emiya Shirou-sempai, and despite the lack of feelings she now experienced towards him, which she guessed should trouble her, she still could sense the link between them. Sempai smiled at her, in a small way that was as opaque and hollow as his eyes, and Sakura replied in turn. "Sempai," she nodded in his direction. "Where are we?"

"In the darkness that is all that remains of our world," Takahata-sensei explained for him, and the rest remained in silence, as if admitting his authority, of which Sakura took a good mental note. Her intelligence hadn't been removed along her emotions. "Now, all hearts have been taken from all forms of life… but a few that have been scattered amongst the vacuum that surrounds this fortress. They should perish shortly, and there is no point on trying to save them, so they don't matter one way or another."

As she listened to the older man's toneless words, Sakura found herself nodding along. She always had known Takamichi T. Takahata as one of the most devoted men to the safety of his fellow men, women and children she had ever met, and hearing to him talking with such lack of empathy for what she guessed had to be untold amounts of human lives was something that would have rattled her… except because now, she found herself as unable to care as him. "Who did this?" she asked, because she supposed she had to, instead of because she cared about it.

"The Heartless, who are under my command, just as you are now," spoke a thin man in striking green and yellow chainmail armor and a Norse helmet with two long, curved horns, lazing at the head of the table, his angular chin resting on a hand. "I am Loki, conqueror of worlds, god of all I survey. And you are my Nobodies, who survived the Darkness thanks to the strength of your hearts."

Sakura stepped ahead to step besides Emiya-sempai, who said nothing. Typical of Emiya-sempai. Even now. So she spoke for him, as women most often have to do for men. "Please continue," she calmly requested of Loki.

"Regardless," Loki said, "while especially strong hearts can help you survive the process of being turned into a Heartless, all but the very strongest of them shatter eventually before the touch of Darkness. Yours were powerful, but not powerful enough as to resist us. Still, you have lived through, and so you might be useful to us. So I have an offer for you all. Serve me, and I shall return your hearts to you if you excel at your services. Refuse me, and have your bodies destroyed, as an act of mercy from me…"

"Where is my sister?" Sakura asked, again going through the motions of what she knew she was expected to ask, rather than because she actually felt the need to. "Have you destroyed her too?"

"No, as a matter of fact, she was one of the few who struck upon a chance to escape unto other worlds," Loki said. "If you accept me, you are to find her for me."

"And what will you do to her then?"

Loki smiled. "That depends on how strong her own heart turns out to be, and on how well you have served me until that time."

"I see," Sakura nodded. She reasoned, for intellect was all she had now the emotions had died, whether she wanted to save Rin or not, she still would have to find her. And the hollow spot inside of her cried for her heart back, not with anguish or sorrow, because those concepts were just as dead for her now, but with the mere physical drive of any other hunger. "That sounds reasonable and logical enough. I am willing to make an attempt."

"Most excellent," Loki nodded to her. "Takamichi? You are to do the same thing for the Twilight Princess."

"May I have a cigarette?" the bespectacled man asked back.

Loki smirked and threw a box of them at him. Takahata caught it in mid-air and went on to light and smoke a coffin nail. "It's not like there are any actual alternatives, is there?"

"That depends on your definition of alternatives," Loki said this time, "but if you don't do it, somebody else will."

"Then I might as well do it myself," Takahata reflected, blowing small rings of smoke and contemplating them dispassionately.

Loki rose from the borrowed seat. "What about the rest of your lot?"

There were several delays amongst the rest of them, but sooner or later, they all ended up accepting his conditions. What else could they do? They didn't even have the feelings of hope or outrage needed to challenge him right then and there. Their emotions gone, all that kept together their bodies and their intellectual knowledge was the shared overwhelming need to feel something again.

"Welcome then, my Organization XIII," Loki told them, triumphant.

Traverse Town:

"Hey, you," Haruka dryly said as she re-entered the room, "Come along. Negi-sensei's back and wants to see you."

"Negi Springfield wants to see me," Kirie said to herself, standing up, her glasses slightly sliding down her nose.

"Yeah, that's what I just said, I didn't mixspell anything, did I?" Haruka grumbled, grabbing her by an arm and beginning to pull the still manacled girl out of the room. "You and the others who came with you, so don't get a swollen head now!"

Kirie pouted as she followed the mouthy, loud woman down the hall. "That went without saying, you ox-woman! Do you think I'm some sort of hopeless fangirl like you? Anybody would be thrilled at meeting a historical figure!"

"I'm sure you would be even more thrilled at meeting your role models, too, like Attila or Genghis Khan," snarked Haruka, who was bad at language, yet far from being completely ignorant. Before Kirie could reply, they reached the main dining area and Haruka opened the door, leading Kirie in.

The large table was overcrowded, with the whole of Ala Alba in attendance, along Aerith, Cid, the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen, Artemis, some anthropomorphic female mouse in blue coveralls, and a terrified looking blond girl in Alice in Wonderland cosplay. Even Pluto was there, sitting at Makie's feet and wagging his tail at everyone, pink tongue lolled out.

Kirie marveled as Haruka made her sit down between Makie and some black haired girl with strange markings on her forehead and cheeks. "This is her," Haruka bluntly told said girl. "Do you recognize her?"

"Just because I rule over the future, it doesn't mean I know everyone from the future," the black haired girl replied, then looked intently at Kirie's face. "How many years?"

"Ah?" Kirie asked. "What's my age gotta do with any of—"

"How many years into the future? The time when you allegedly made your jump into this time period!" the other girl snapped, with the tone of someone not used to be delayed or stalled. Even Kirie found it rather intimidating.

"I, I'm from 2089. And you come from late 2003, don't you?" she asked in turn.

Skuld rolled her eyes back. "Oh, great. Somebody else whose timeframe doesn't match with ours. This is gonna be another mess."

Sitting at the head of the table, Negi stood after drawing a deep breath in. "Is everybody here now?"

Matoi, who stood dutifully by his side, counted those present with the skill of someone well used to stalk individuals and groups alike. She took a few quick notes on a sheet of paper and then nodded. "Indeed, Negi-sama."

"What about Tetch?" Negi asked.

"He's been locked up with Pete-san, and should be coming back to his senses shortly," Matoi reported. "By then we should have decided how to best question him."

"Thank you, Tsunetsuki-san," Negi nodded, allowing Kirie to learn the mysterious girl's name at last. The name 'Tetch' brought her memories of some files he had studied on Gotham City criminals who had lived around the same time period as the original Ala Alba. Given they had talked about locking that man, it was logical to assume he was the infamous 'Mad Hatter', although she had never read anything about him ever encountering Ala Alba. "Now," Negi addressed the assembly as a whole, "I'm sure we all have many, many questions to ask from each other, myself included, so we will organize ourselves in an orderly manner, one by one. Starting with—"

Many hands raised at once. Two of them belonged to Kirie, who asked, "Can I take these off at last, Sensei?"

Negi looked curiously at her and her manacles, then asked Chisame, who sat at his other side opposite Matoi's, "Is she dangerous?"

"Everyone is dangerous until otherwise proved," Chisame said.

"But it's inhuman to keep a child like that before she proves herself a threat!" he argued. "She can't be any older than twelve!"

Kirie put on her best Poor Good Girl face. "I've been mistreated since I arrived here, lost and far from my home! A home that might be gone forever by this point!"

"What a brutal, unforgiving place," the girl in Alice cosplay murmured to herself, clearly dismayed.

Asuna sighed, then walked over to Kirie and easily cut the chain of her manacles with the tip of her sword, to which Kirie didn't even flinch. "The day the whole lot of us would be threatened by a single little girl should be the day we retire. I mean, not even Tsukuyomi is badass enough as to take on all of us at once!"

"Thank you," Kirie nodded towards her, keeping her cool remarkably well for someone who just wanted to squee at the legendary Twilight Princess. "Now this is mostly out of the way, let me ask you—"

"Sorry," Negi said, "but I'm afraid you have just used your first question, Miss. You will get another after everybody else is done."

"But there are like fifty people in here!" Kirie cried.

"I'm sorry, but that means there are other forty nine waiting for a chance of their own right now," Negi used her arguments against her. "We should fairly alternate between newcomers and Ala Alba members, so Makie-san will get the next question, lest her arm should fall off, which would be terrible," he gracefully gestured towards the pink haired girl waving an arm around almost maniacally.

"Ah, thank you, Negi-kun!" Makie put the brakes on her runaway arm. "Who's the girl you and Sku-chan brought along? I mean, I know you said her name was Alice Little or something, but what's her deal, and why did you kiss her?"

"He did what?!" Kirie said, as Sailor Mercury gave a strangled gasp and most Ala Alba girls began seething quietly under their breaths, the facepalming Asuna and Chisame being notorious exceptions.

"She's Alice in Wonderland," Skuld calmly answered.

"Well, I know what's she supposed to be dressed like, Madoka-mama used to tell me that story, but why is she dressed like that? Did Hatter-san brainwash her into…?" Makie asked.

"No, she is Alice from the Wonderland story," Skuld said. "My theory is, this crossdimensional area we have reached vibrates through the fabric of reality in a frequency that sends pulses across the dimensional borders. Those pulses occasionally reach gifted minds who are influenced to a subconscious degree to craft stories about—"

"You're joking," Yuuna blandly said.

"No, I'm not!" Skuld said. "Sensei, Gadget-san and Asuna can vouch for it too! We saw everything; the Queen of Hearts and the King, the March Hare, the Caterpillar, the Dodo!"

"We didn't get to see the Three Bears, though," Asuna mused. "I wonder if the Queen had them killed before…"

"Skuld-sama, please," Setsuna said. "It's obvious you fell into some sort of elaborate Wonderland-themed trap created by the Mad Hatter, and even your brilliant minds, and Asuna-san's, were fooled by it. Hakase-san should run you through a drug test…"

"What would the Mad Hatter be doing into outer space without the support of some extra-dimensional entities with an interest on the Alice story?!" Skuld protested.

"How would I know? What do I know about the supervillain mindset? I can't even understand my sister's! Maybe Brainiac or Galactus took a fancy on him for some reason…" the bodyguard argued.

"Your… sister? Which sister?" Kirie blinked.

"Please stop talking about my life as if it were some sort of storybook," Alice weakly moaned.

"Well," Makie said slowly, "I'm not sure I understand it too well, but if Sku-chan that's actually Alice from Wonderland, I'll believe her. We've seen weirder things, I'd say. Even so, why did she kiss Negi-kun?"

"Because she's a so-called 'Princess of the Heart', who—" Skuld began.

"Princess of the Heart?" asked the action figure on the table that had been mostly ignored by everybody until that point.

"Oh, a toy man with wings is talking now. Of course it would be," Alice blandly said. For the first time ever, Chisame felt some kind of spiritual affinity for that girl now.

"Oh, you're one of the magical toys Eva-san keeps in her cabin!" Misora recognized him. "Lunar Larry, right?"

"Buzz Lightyear!" the toy corrected her. "And, well, before your friends here retrieved me and brought me here, I happened to listen to a story Miss Mc Dowell found in a book left in the store that sold us, long ago, to a traveler who passed through this town…"

Aerith grew interested. "So you were here once? Before this town was abandoned?"

"That's an affirmative, young lady," the spaceman nodded towards her. "Our world, much like it happened to yours later, was swallowed by darkness, and we ended up here, just like you did. But back then, Traverse Town hadn't fallen to decay either. It was a prosperous site of trade between worlds. Anyway, I was talking about the story Miss Eva found in that book. It told a tale of the origins of the darkness that destroys worlds, and how it originally was beaten and sealed by three wise men and seven kings. They used weapons shaped like giant keys to close the doors to the worlds of darkness, and they passed their powers to do so through the generations. But apparently, over time, those secrets and skills were mostly lost…"

All the eyes were firmly on him now, which actually made him feel rather well. So he stopped and smiled, enjoying the spotlight.

A few moments later, Cocone quietly asked, "… and..?"

"That's it," Buzz said.

"That's it?!" several of the others cried at once.

Buzz blinked. "W-Well… I'm not so good a storyteller, I'm afraid. Maybe if Miss Eva had brought the doll with recorded fairy tales… Oh! I forgot it, but the book also said it had been prophesized the seven kings would inherit their powers upon seven descendants of theirs, maidens with light in their hearts, who would help vanquish darkness again during a new hour of distress! Which reminds me of the seventh Star Command junior novel Andy used to love…"

"So this girl not only is Alice in Wonderland but also a princess?!" Misora pointed at the clearly uncomfortable Alice. "The original story never said that!"

"Didn't it?" Asuna asked.

"I… I think the time is due for someone else to make their questions," Negi hewed stiffly. "Sailor Mercury-san, for instance?" he smiled his best at the nervous Senshi of Water they had met in Kyoto.

Akira gulped, thinking of all the questions she had to ask. There were so many of them she couldn't decide for a single one. And so, being Akira, she decided to think, not about her own questions, but about the others'. "Actually, Sensei," she said, "I'd like, not to ask something, but to answer something before anyone else asks. I think I should come clear to all of you."

"Mercury!" Venus hissed. "Don't!"

"It's not only your secret, Mercury-san," Sailor Pluto evenly said.

"The charm should keep your identities safe even if I reveal mine," Akira told them. "And while I respect your own wishes for secrecy, I do believe it's time I gave up on mine for the sake of those who still remain with me. My best friends, my teacher, my…" she sighed. "Please forgive me, Venus-chan. You've become a very dear friend to me, as well. But I see no point on continuing this masquerade, not after all that has happened, I, I—"

She brought a hand to her own chest, closed her eyes, and squeezed her fist. A moment later, a flash of light enveloped her, and when it passed, an identical, yet oddly different girl in a plain top and blue jeans sat in her place.

"—I am Ookuchi Akira from Junior Class 3-A. Sorry about keeping this from you."

"Oh dear God, Akira-chan," Yuuna groaned, taking a hand to her own face.

"Ookuchi!" Chisame recoiled while Negi's jaw hit the table.

Sakurako blinked, then smiled at Misa smugly. Misa muttered, reached into her pocket, and handed Sakurako a few bills. "What are you going to use them for here, anyway?"

"Akira-chan, it's... you!" Makie said, starry-eyed, before her smile dropped just a bit. "Yuuna-chan! You knew!"

"Yeah, I did," Yuuna confirmed.

"And you didn't share it with me! Your best friend!"

"You didn't share it with US! Your team!" Ayaka added.

"It was a secret I learned by accident, I wasn't supposed to betray Akira's trust by telling anyone!" Yuuna protested, waving her arms around. "I didn't even tell my dad!"

"Are you sure you aren't a parallel dimension's Akira?" Misora asked, completely serious.

"... no, I'm not," Akira said.

"You sure?" Misora prodded. "For all we know, you might come from a dimension that is 99,99% identical to ours, except for—"

"I'm sure!" Akira and Yuuna said at the same time.

"Fair enough," Misora raised her hands. "Then that means Sailor Venus is one of your friends in the swimming team. Either Mizuno-san or the British girl, what was her name... Fenette-sempai, right?"

"Think whatever will make you happy, Hon," Minako dryly said.

Negi sniffled, wiping his eyes with the back of a sleeve. "I'm— I'm so, so sorry, Ookuchi-san! I should have noticed the signs long ago! Your grades had even started slipping! To think... my oversight has let you engage into a dangerous, illicit life of vigilantism! I'm the worst!"

Kirie sweated a huge fat drop. Was this neurotic nerve wrecked child the actual courageous Negi Springfield? She hadn't been surprised at all to find a child, buts he had imagined him to be far more... in control!

"So," Matoi said, completely unflappable, "who wants to ask something next?"

Alice raised a hand.

"It is the turn for a member of Ala Alba," Matoi summarily said.

"Well, she's got a Pactio with my brother now, so technically she's part of the team now!" Chamo argued.

"I haven't ever agreed to be a part of— Ohh, never mind!" Alice waved her hands. "I just want to ask, how many of you have... have done... happen to own... those things! Those 'provisional alliances'!"

Awkward looks abounded around the table, before Konoka smiled and pulled her card out, holding it up.

Alice hiccuped.

Ayaka held her card next, as proudly as she could, with Haruka and Haruna following her example a moment later. Yuuna held hers with a small shrug and smile, and Sora and Setsuna whimpered miserably as they held theirs, blushing just as fiercely as the other. Sakurako and Misa intertwined their arms and showed their own cards off, with Sakurako's other arm forcing Satomi's into the same position. Misora lowered her head and displayed her card, and Chachamaru, who had been silently standing behind Chisame, held the girl's arm and card up. "H-Hey, leggo, you idiot...!" the hacker protested.

Alice let out a strangled, choked scream. Asuna lazily held her own card and groaned to her, "Well, you already knew in MY case, right? So I want it to stand in record, if you suffer a heart attack here it's not my fault."

Alice ignored her and gagged while seeing Makie and Keiichi hold their respective cards up as well. "Even you! But... you are a man!"

"Oh, actually, Morisato-sempai's and mine are with Sku-chan!" Makie said, pulling a growling Skuld closer to her with her free arm.

"Ah!" Alice breathed out. "Well, that's a lot better, I was thinking the Professor— No, that doesn't make it any better at all! You're both girls!"

Sakurako frowned, then told Haruna, "Paru, you'd better take her under your wing."

Haruna blinked. "What? Are you... sure? Like, I mean, really really sure?"

"I agree with Saku-chan," Konoka said, just a bit coldly. "I think... she needs it!"

"And you, too!" Alice was telling Ai, who held her card to hide as much of her face as possible.

"A-A-Actually, m-m-mine's with Itoshiki-sensei..." the older girl stuttered from behind her card.

Alice blinked yet again, looked at the miserable looking man suitting next to Ai, and asked dubiously, "It's... only her?"

They both nodded reluctantly.

Alice straightened, thought it over, and then nodded and said soberly, "That is perfectly acceptable!"

"BUT I'M HER TEACHER!" Itoshiki wailed.

"Still perfectly acceptable as long as you take responsibility..." Alice replied. "You, on the other hand!" she huffed, turning around to face Negi, wagging a finger at him. "I know you're very young, but you're wise enough as to be a teacher, so I was expecting better from you! Fourteen girls now, for shame! Don't you have any self-control? You... You Casanova! You enemy of all women!"

Negi began sobbing, further puzzling Kirie. "I know, and I'm sorry! There's no day I don't spend thinking about it, and how much I have sunk, dragging my students down with myself! It's my fault, for I've been weak in more than one sense!"

Then Misa stood up, walked to Alice, and placed her hands on her shoulders. "Alice-chan."

"Yes?"

"Look," Misa patiently said. "I understand how you must be feeling. Culture shock aside, all girls think the same deep down, just like all guys think the same deep down, and I mean down, like in between their—"

"Aaaaaaaactually, I think that's rather debatable..." Mamoru coughed into a fist.

"Shut up, Vigilante-san," Misa primly told him, and then spoke again to Alice. "Oh, dear, my dear. I know you must be feeling disappointed and livid, for a boy you thought to be all so proper and different, capable and gentlemanish, to have been so... somewhat promiscuous."

"What does 'promiscuous' mean?" Negi asked Chisame.

"Even so," Misa gently told Alice, "we aren't his victims. We aren't anyone's victims, Alice-chan. Because we are strong women, each one in our own way, and we all knew what we were getting into when we agreed to this. Implying otherwise is, actually, quite insulting to all of us, so please don't ever do it again. Sure, it's fun to imagine, at times, when you're feeling frustrated, this is all Negi's fault, and to dream of chasing him around between all of us to punish his womanizing ways, but you know what? That's stupid and childish, and we're no children anymore. Well, except Makie-chan, but that's what makes her special..."

"Am I supposed to be flattered?" Makie asked, genuinely curious.

"Actually, chasing Negi-kun around like that... sounds kinda neat!" Haruna mused.

"Yeah, same here..." Yuuna hummed while Akira grimaced in disgust.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" Misa snapped at them. "And you, Negi-kun, don't ever apologize about any of that again, you hear me?! Show your spine! We know you have it, so don't hide it just because you feel guilty, or you'll end up like Despair-sensei!"

"That's quite true..." Itoshiki said.

Negi gulped. "Yes, Ma'am!"

Misa's hands were on his shoulders now. "We're in this because we chose to be in this!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"In a fair competition, for those who are interested! Cheering for us at the sidelines, for those who aren't!" Misa vigorously added.

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Hey, I don't ship anyone! Leave me out of that!" Asuna said.

"We are well aware of the risks! We're intelligent women, hear us roar!" Misa began getting carried away. "That's our courage, the proof of our worth! Even Misora's got it! And the man who stands with us has to be as courageous as we are!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Negi's voice rang loud and clear now.

Misa let go of his shoulders and nodded, satisfied. "Now that's what I wanted to hear!"

Ayaka was awed. "Wow, Kakizaki-san! That was... surprisingly mature from you!"

"What?" Misa snorted. "I can do mature!"

"Yeah, but she wasn't talking about your previous flings, but about this speech of yours," Sakurako snickered. "You realize you're that confident just because you were brought in very early in the game, don't you? Had you learned about Negi-kun after everyone else, you'd be even more outraged than Alice-chan, and organizing a lynching party yourself..."

"There's no point on dwelling about the impossible, Saku!" her friend told her. "So, do you have any other question for now, Alice-chan?"

Alice, with her eyes very round and wide, just shook her head slowly, still trying to process what had just happened.

"Good!" Misa said and sat back. "I have no questions myself, so who's next?"

Mahora:

"—achi-san?" she heard, as she felt soft slaps patting her cheeks. "Takamachi-san, you'd better wake up already."

The last thing Takamachi Nanoha remembered was fighting flying monsters, most of them small but very persistent, in large numbers all across the skies of Mahora. Yuuno-kun had said they weren't Jewel Seed created, and that he had no idea about their origins. Nanoha had actually notable success against them, almost fully clearing the area, before the mysterious, silent blond girl in skintight black showed up again. With the same beautiful sad eyes, but now holding control over the airborne enemies.

"Fate-chan!" Nanoha had called out, remembering the simple name the girl had given her during their second encounter, weeks ago. "Now why are you doing this? I thought you only were after the Jewel Seeds!"

"I was. And I would have preferred keeping it that way," the girl whispered in the breeze. "But my personal desires hold no importance here," she finished, then gestured to sic an even larger swarm of flying creatures on Nanoha.

Now she was waking up to see a familiar figure in a black bustier and pants, with a long and open Badass Trenchcoat over them, kneeling at her side, and holding Nanoha's head up, carefully. "Tatsumiya-san? Tatsumiya Mana-san?" the red-haired child weakly asked, recognizing the frequent visitor of her father's cafeteria, which she would often hit with her apprentice long after classes.

Mana nodded, smiling down at her. It was a strange, small smile, but not a false one; rather, it was the smile of somebody who had problems to smile at all. Tatsumiya-san's eyes, Nanoha finally noticed it now, while far more feline and mature than Fate-chan's, were also just as melancholic. "You fought well, and so you have my congratulations. Can you stand up now?"

Could she? Nanoha's eyes tilted up to the skies she had been blown off from, and saw them pitch black and devoid of any stars or clouds. The only plus side was there were no monsters in sight either, but the sight still was crushingly bleak. Everything around them was darkness, except for the ground, which faintly glowed in greenish hues through small fissures on his blackened surface, allowing just enough light for Nanoha to look at Tatsumiya-san. "Where's Yuuno-kun?" she asked instead of trying to stand.

"Who's Yuuno-kun?" Tatsumiya-san asked.

"My fr—My pet ferret," Nanoha corrected herself. "He was on my shoulder when I, well…"

"When the Heartless shot you down?" Mana said. "No, I haven't seen him. You are just the second person I've been able to find since Mahora collapsed."

Now Nanoha sat up, alarmed. "Collapsed?!"

Mana, instead of answering, looked towards the other, even taller and almost as busty woman standing apart from them, trying to stare into the distance with a fierce scowl. "Have you seen any ferrets in the vicinity?"

"None at all," said the woman, whom Nanoha had never seen before. She was one of the most beautiful ladies Nanoha had ever met, old enough as to be her mother, but also well toned and built, yet standing graceful and feminine, a long sword in a hand. Her golden hair was long enough as to fall past her waist, and she wore a long white dress, her feet bare. From where she sat, Nanoha could see one of her eyes was emerald green, but she tilted her face back towards them, Nanoha realized the other eye was crystal blue. "Did I hear you call those hellspawn 'Heartless'?"

"They're a legend amongst… my people. From long ago, when even my ancestors feared them," Mana blandly said, as she helped Nanoha stand up. Nanoha nervously looked all around for Raising Heart, and found the staff nearby in the dirt, then rushed to retrieve it, holding it tightly against her chest. "Is your other friend okay?" she heard Mana asking her then.

Nanoha swallowed, but then heard the gem's voice warmly telling her, I remain fully operational, Master. She gulped and nodded. "Yeah. She's alright, thanks for asking."

"Your secret is safe with me, assuming there remains anyone else to keep it a secret from," Mana added, dusting her hands off on her own hips. Nanoha looked further around, and shuddered to the marrow. Their surroundings had been reduced to a charred wasteland, where Mahora's once eyecatching architecture laid broken into rubble and wreckage, a few buildings still standing as ghostly skeletons protruding from the disaster. Nanoha's lower lip tightened and her eyes teared up. "M-Mom… Dad! Alissa-chan, Suzuka-chan, Kyouka-niichan! Miyuki-neechan!"

"Don't cry for anyone until you have seen them dead," Mana told her, standing over her now kneeling and sobbing form. "As long as there is—"

"No," the other woman said. "Let her cry. I would too, if I had any tears left to shed."

She looked down at her hands, which now felt filled with the actual essence of life again, rather than the blaspheme mimicry of it the Great Grail supplied its Heroic Spirits with. She couldn't feel her connection to the Cup anymore either, so she supposed it had been destroyed or their links had simply been cut by the cataclysm. But in either case, the most logical thing would have been for her to disappear, not to be reborn like this. Perhaps Rei would have known, or at least been able to formulate an educated guess.

She looked again at the World Tree in the distance, which remained stubbornly strong and straight at the middle of the devastation. No corpses anywhere, but that only made it all that much more sinister. It was not only that whatever had happened had killed all life in Mahora but the Tree and the grass, but that it had just made it disappear altogether. She had witnessed many of the horrors of war, but few as subtly chilling as those.

"Where to?" Mana asked her.

"Is there a difference?" the blonde mused. "All ways looks just as hopeless from here. As soon as the child recovers, if she can still fly, make her get a better view from above. If not, we'll head into Library Island and hope what lies within has survived."

"As you wish, Queen of Calamity," Mana bowed her head to her.

The woman stared at her.

Mana half smirked. "As I just said, my race knows many things. The ones we don't, the Headmaster filled me in. However, I had been told you were dead. Or is this the afterlife?"

Arika looked into the horizon line again. "I don't know either."

Traverse Town:

"Other than someone else to smooch, what did you find in that 'Wonderland', Negi-kun?" Misora asked. "Any clues on your dad's whereabouts?"

"Only a possibility, Misora-san," Negi said. "The Cheshire Cat told me, in the next planet orbiting this system, I could find Philoctetes, the trainer of heroes, who might have trained my father in the past…"

"Wait, your dad trained in another planet? For real?" an incredulous Sakurako asked.

"I don't know! At this point, I'm not discarding anything! I think I should check it out anyway! We even might find another Princess of the Heart there!" the boy replied.

"So you can kiss her too?" Haruka asked, deadpanning as much as her hot tempered nature would allow her to.

"Well," Chamo said, "it seems making a Pactio is the safest way we have to make sure someone's a Princess of the Heart or not. You'll see, when my Bro kissed Alice-chan, there was this huge glow of a holy light that never was in any other Pactio, except, well—"

The looks of Ala Alba instantly drifted toward Konoka, who put a hand on her cheek and giggled. "Oh, why are you looking at me like that? Surely, Skuld-chan, who knows so much about everything, would know if I were one of those Princesses!"

"Well, your lineage is told to be regal and come from Amaterasu, goddess of the sun, and I won't confirm or deny that," Skuld said. "Back in the days when epics across realms were common, a few of your ancestors might have ventured out of our dimension, and thus out of my jurisdiction, to have adventures like the fiasco Lunar Larry described. But if it went that way, even I have no way to know what they did during their time out of our territory. They might have been in the ranks of those great heroes. They might have not."

"Buzz Lightyear! Not Lunar Larry!" Buzz protested.

"Assuming all of that is true," Setsuna said, "both Ojou-sama and Liddell-sama should be kept under constant surveillance."

"You already keep Konoka under constant surveillance anyway!" Misa pointed out.

Buzz nodded. "Yeah. The story I heard warned, if the forces of evil ever captured the Princesses, they would have the power to cover the universe with darkness. Which reminds me of the classic Princess Mira Nova storyarc in my TV show, which—"

"There's something else that concerns me," Ayaka interrupted, her arms folded. "That name, Philoctetes, hails from the Greek mythology. After your visit to a world that mirrors Lewis Carroll's stories, it's somewhat reasonable assuming the next world might reflect the Greek myths. Especially since our own ranks happen to include a Norse goddess…"

"So you REALLY are a goddess!" Alice gasped at Skuld.

"That's what I tried telling you the whole time!" Skuld groaned, before telling the assembly, "In all truth, the Greek pantheon was supposed to have perished in our world long ago, except for Lord Hades and Lady Eris. And yes, I'm aware of the cynical connotations of Death and Discord outliving everything else. However, there's a possibility the Pantheon might keep on living in other worlds. Deities exist in a multiplanar state, which means there are different aspects of ourselves across several planes of existence." At that point, Negi, Cocone, Ayaka, Haruna, Konoka, Kirie, Itoshiki, Sailor Pluto, Satomi, Gadget and Cid all nodded, but everybody else just looked dumbfounded.

"Anyway!" Skuld continued. "Even assuming the Greek Pantheon keeps on living in the vicinity, it might be a bad idea if I venture there. Last time our Pantheons met, we didn't part ways in the best of terms. It began with Thor and Heracles, who kept on getting in stupid macho contests with each other…"

"So, if you step there, they could have us punted out?" Konoka asked.

"They are Greek gods," Skuld pointed, "they don't punt people, they…"

Those with a passing knowledge of the seedier parts of the myth Greeks fell into an awkward silence.

"… what?" Negi asked.

"Sensei," Kirie took over, "do you know of the myth of Prometheus?"

Negi nodded.

"Danae?"

Negi shook his head.

"Icarus?" Kirie asked.

"Yeah, but I never got why the King had him and his father imprisoned…"

"Narcissus?" Kirie asked next.

"Of course! Everyone knows the tale of Narcissus!"

"Ganymede?"

"He was Zeus' manservant, but I didn't know there was supposed to be a backstory about him…"

"Arachne?"

"Yes."

"Acteon?"

"No."

"Medusa?"

"Naturally!"

"Oedipus?"

"Who's that?"

"Do you have any idea about the true nature of the relationship between Zeus and Hera?" Kirie demanded, growing louder.

"I'm realizing perhaps I know less about the Greeks than I thought, but they were husband and wife, weren't they?"

Kirie sighed, rubbing two fingers against her forehead, in circles. "I see. Negi-sensei was given a sexually sanitized version of Greek mythology."

"There was indecent material in the Greek myths?!" Alice and Negi gasped at once, horrified.

The others stared at them. Alice and Negi shared a few confused glances between themselves, and then the boy asked the gathering, "Exactly how much I have missed?"

"Let me put it the only way I can without having Chisame-chan kill me," Haruna said, "you are a Cute Shoutaro Boy, and we are Bishoujo. No way we are stepping anywhere close to Olympus' shadow without being impregnated by a swan, and that includes you, Negi-kun."

"A swan?" a confused Negi repeated.

Haruna rasped, feeling several threatening glares on herself. "A swan, a rain of gold, a god posing as a loved one, you name it… Greek gods were, to put it simply, raunchy enough to make me look tame."

"Oh," Negi faintly said. "So, what you are trying to say is…"

Haruna nodded. "Even I think, and I believe I speak for all those who ever have thumbed through a book on myths present here, you shouldn't go there, Negi-kun."

Negi blanched.

To be Continued.