A/N: Merry Christmas, one and all, to all our followers, big and small.
"That night was not an ending. It was a new beginning. Armed with a new resolve, I knew it was time to return home, to fight the unsung war that was waiting for me."
- Chao Lingshen; 'On a Wing and a Storm'
Chapter XXIV:
Flinging a Light Into the Future
June 24, 2007
4000 Meters Above the World Tree Plaza
1945 hours, local time
The firestorm of magic from the combined spells of Negi and Chao roiled across the sky, the last reverberations of the thunder echoing over the embattled city below. Slowly, the clouds of fire and smoke began to dissipate, but before they did, Negi caught sight of Chao's form falling from within the flames. At a glance, he saw that some combination of his own attack and her spell backblasting on her had done significant damage to her, burning away the upper half of her left arm's armor, everything from her right shoulder down, and from her waist down her right leg to just below her knee. Energy cascades arced across her body, burning away the bao cover and braiding on the left side of her head, allowing the hair on that side to flow free.
He waited for her to recover and arrest her rapid descent. But several long moments passed with no motion on her part, and it was clear by her limp posture that she wasn't even conscious.
Without wasting another second, he dropped into a crouch on his staff and thrust the head down, shooting through the sky in pursuit of his student. It took him almost no time at all to reach her, his left hand reaching out to snag her by the wrist, halting her fall toward the ever-more-brightly-glowing World Tree below.
"Chao-san!"
The sudden stop, coupled with the shouting near her head, roused her from unconsciousness. She blinked her eyes open slowly, staring down at the long distance to the ground below, then up at what had a hold of her arm. "Negi...bozu...?"
"Thank goodness, Chao-san..." the boy mage said, leaning up to pull her toward safety.
Without warning, a blindingly-brilliant light flashed into existence above them, drawing Negi's attention back to the dirigible. A pillar of light emanated from the magic circle with Satomi at its center, rising into the sky above and disappearing into the distance.
"The spell!?" he gasped.
Dangling beneath him, Chao couldn't help but grin, taunting, "The Forced Recognition spell... It's been activated-yo."
"Impossible..."
The Chinese genius chuckled. "What, did you expect me to be a load-bearing boss-ne? Even in defeating me, if you couldn't stop Hakase, then the ritual would be completed." Rolling her head in an effort to ease the strain she was feeling from the battle before, she murmured to herself as an aside, "Of course, you never would have been able to touch Hakase without going through me-yo..."
Down below, swirling air currents and the roar of winds drew both their attention to the World Tree, where a halo of magic energy several city blocks wide was beginning to form above the canopy of the monolithic tree, absorbing the ambient energy of the tree and the surrounding area. "That powerful spell will climb to eighteen thousand meters," she explained to her great ancestor, "absorbing more and more magic from the World Tree and everything around as it goes-ne. In a few minutes, it will resonate with the twelve other holy locations around the globe."
She lifted her head again, smirking up at the boy mage. "You've been beat. You spent too much time fighting me-yo."
His grip on her wrist unexpectedly tightened before he hauled her up to support her bridal-style in his arms. Her face flushed with shame and irritation, but the soot and burns covering most of her body managed to hide it well enough. For his part, Negi was completely and blissfully unaware of the implications behind the way he was carrying her, his attention already completely focused on the dazzling light coming from above. "I have to go stop it!" he proclaimed. "There's still a couple of minutes, right? I can-"
The boy's words came to a crashing halt as a full-body shiver ran its course through him. He swiftly pressed his right hand to his mouth moments before a violent series of coughs struck him. Blood seeped through his fingers where he had coughed it up, prompting a raised eyebrow of concern from the equally-injured Chinese genius.
"No!" He gripped his chest with his bloodied hand, straining against his body's automatic shutdown process to recover from everything he'd been through. "Did I reach my limit? Not now...!"
He made an admirable effort to power through, wordlessly shouting his determination to continue and stop the spell from going off. Chao knew immediately that was the worst thing he could have possibly done in that moment, as all it did was put more strain on him. From her position, she had a clear view as the proverbial lights went out, his body beginning to pitch forward as he fell unconscious.
Calmly, almost boredly, Chao caught the falling boy mage in the crook of her left arm, looking down at him pityingly. I'm not surprised, she thought. He used up everything he had in the last attack. Her stomach flipped over on itself as gravity reasserted its dominion of the two, but she ignored the beginnings of the rush of wind around them. I relied on the World Tree to supply me with additional magic, but he used his own reserves to power the Cassiopeia again and again, and then fight even afterward. This was bound to happen.
Blinking slowly, she looked up toward the blazing light of the spell above. He did extremely well for his age, but he's still a child with much to learn. She smirked faintly, closing her eyes. Of course, I'm no different, am I?
Her armor had been badly damaged by the backblast of her spell and the hit from Negi's immediately after, with so much of it burned away that she wasn't entirely sure any of it still functioned anymore. Opening her eyes, she looked down at her waist, focusing on the inobtrusive half-spheres at her hips. The recessed edges of the devices flickered faintly for a moment, pulsing once to a vibrant dull yellow glow, before giving out entirely with a burst of electricity.
That's what I get for reverse-engineering Covenant tech... she thought sourly. Knocking off a cheap knock-off... Setting that train of thought aside, she turned her attention to activating her personal energy shield. There was a moment's delay before a sudden crack of energy prompted an involuntary start, and then the familiar hum of the shield coming into existence filled her ears. Looking down her body, she could even see the shield where the brilliant light of the spell shined down on her; the energy of the shield refracting the light just enough to create a very dim aura centimeters around her body.
I have no regrets, but I will use the last of my power to protect this child. She pulled Negi against her chest, orienting the two of them so that she would hit the ground first, and wrapped her arms around him. Hugging him tightly, she redirected all the remaining power in her suit to extend the energy shield around the boy teacher and increase its durability and elasticity.
Hopefully, it would be enough.
After all, I can't allow my great ancestor to die...
World Tree Plaza
1948 hours
Gasps and noises of horror tore through the crowd as the full understanding of the dire straights that Negi and Chao were in hit the citizens of Mahora who had been, until moments ago, fighting desperately against the droid army.
"They're falling!"
"Are they going to be okay?"
Biting her lip, Yuuna shoved her pistols—having finally actually recovered them both—into the holsters on her hips and looked around frantically, trying to come up with something, anything, she could do. "We have to help them!" she announced.
"Yuuna, none of us can fly..." Hotaru said apologetically, holding up a hand but hesitating in trying to forestall the frantic pacing of her magistra. Flashes of color drew her attention to the side, where she saw two of their winged allies, Naru and Setsuna, rising rapidly into the sky to assist, with Setsuna carrying Konoka in her arms. "I don't think there's anything that we can do..."
"That not exactly true-aru," the voice of one of Yuuna's classmates rang out.
The gunslinger girl and the archer looked back down the fiercely-embattled pathway, seeing the mobile food stall of the Chao Bao Zi trundling across a parallel street, its path being cleared of wrecked droids by Ku Fei. It was the martial artist who had called out to them, and was now waving for them to come to her. Shrugging, the pair trotted down toward the cart, with Yuuna asking, "What's going on?"
"No time to talk-aru," Ku Fei answered, seeming to be in an unusually-good mood considering her friend and teacher were currently plummeting to their deaths. "Just get on!"
The two exchanged looks, then climbed aboard the stall and stood behind the counter, watching as Ku Fei made one last quick walk around the tram before jumping on behind Satsuki. "Okay, we all clear-aru."
Satsuki nodded at the martial artist, then reached underneath the normal driving controls and pulling a concealed lever. A tremor worked its way through the stall and the faint whine of a jet engine starting up began to cut through the noise of the area. Yuuna sighed and looked over at Hotaru. "What do we keep getting ourselves into?"
Airspace Above Mahora Academy
The Same Time
The fastest of the individuals with self-propelled flight, Naru reached the altitude of the falling figures first, but refrained from immediately snatching them out of their free-fall. Some might have questioned her doing so, but she understood the importance of camaraderie, and determined that protecting their friends was something that Negi's students and comrades had to do themselves. It wasn't as though she was being irresponsible; after all, she was on hand to save them if, for any reason, Negi's own students couldn't do the job.
Looping into a dive and following at a constant pace, she watched as Mei was the next to reach their altitude. Coming to the same unspoken conclusion as her older step-sister, Mei also circled around them, ready to assist Naru in securing them if it became necessary. Setsuna arrived shortly after Mei, but lacked the ability to do anything, busy as she already was carrying Konoka. Finally, Misora made it to their altitude, the time it had taken her to get there increased due to having to balance Asuna on the front of her broom.
Without a moment of hesitation, Asuna jumped from the front of Misora's broom, the sudden shift in balance nearly causing the young nun to flip over backwards. Extending her arms, Asuna managed to position herself beneath Chao and catch the Chinese genius, and their teacher, in a bearhug. Naru and Mei moved in at that point, ready to provide their powers of flight to slow the gaggle of people below terminal velocity.
The roar of engines startled the half-angel and her step-sister as the last thing they expected to see swept into the area: the mobile food cart of Chao Bao Zi. Demonstrating remarkable spatial awareness and piloting skill, the cart maneuvered into position beneath the falling Asuna, adjusting its speed to negate the effects of terminal velocity, allowing them to land with only a mild impact rather than a fatal strike.
"I got 'em!" Asuna called out triumphantly.
Yuuna, having climbed on top of the cart, clapped her armored classmate on the shoulder. "Amazing work! You caught both of them and made it look easy!"
Down on the lower deck, Hotaru kept one arm wrapped around one of the cart's support brace, her other hand clinging to Yuuna's armored boot in a vice-like grip to at least provide some semblance of a safety line in the event that the younger girl fell for whatever reason. "Yuuna, that's not safe!"
Setsuna swooped in and alighted gracefully on the rooftop, setting Konoka down and remaining nearby as the healer went to work on her friends' injuries. "Thank goodness that they're both alright," the hanyou remarked.
Having closed in as well, Naru smiled and answered, "It's a festival, after all. We can't have people dying."
A change in the wind currents drew the attention of those not actively involved in helping Konoka heal Negi and Chao to the grounds below. From their vantage point, they could see the remaining four and a half demons begin to disintegrate, dissolving into streams of pure magic that gravitated toward the World Tree. The halo of magic that had been forming around its upper boughs collapsed in on itself, condensing into a flattened ovoid that continued to rotate and absorb the energies from the demons.
"All right, everyone!" Kazumi's voice drifted out of a radio installed in the cart that was normally used to play music. "The invading Martian robot army has been destroyed! The giant robot demons are all disappearing, thanks to your hard work! And on top of that, the child teacher has emerged victorious in the battle against the evil final boss! This means that we, the Mahora Mage Knights Defense Brigade, have achieved total victory!"
Almost as if on cue, the gathering magic energy above the world tree burst outward in a brilliant display of energy streamers that spread to all corners of the city academy, turning the darkness of night into the light of a new day.
The cheer that went up from the proud citizens of the city shook the heavens.
The contents of the spell had changed from "the forced recognition of the possibility of magic" across the world to "for twenty-four hours, may the entire world be a place of peace with neither hatred nor sadness."
I thought she was a cold-blooded realist. As it turns out, she really was just a dreamer...
Several more minutes passed before Negi finally came around. The first thing he saw upon awakening was Chao, standing at the edge of the flying food stall, looking down at the city below her. The upper level winds billowed the loose strands of her hair and the remnants of her hip skirt out behind her, lending her the air of someone having a great reflection upon their life.
"Chao-san..." the boy mage croaked, his throat parched from the grueling battles he had been through.
Smiling faintly, the Chinese genius half-turned in his direction, enough to acknowledge him, but still keep her face hidden. "A revolutionary should not fear death when her ideals are crushed-yo," she morbidly stated.
Negi sat up in alarm at her words, taking them at their face value. "Chao-san, you needn't worry about-"
She held up a hand, curtailing his statement. "That's what would be the cool thing to say-ne," she joked. "But I've gained as much as I've lost through this battle."
Having sat supporting Negi the entire time, Asuna tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"I've been looking at everything the wrong way," Chao answered, leaning forward and resting a foot on the guard railing as the mobile cart descended through the clouds. "My technology, my magic, my operation. They're all just tools. In the end, they can only be as effective as the will and desire of the people who use them. That was a lesson I think I lost sight of-ne."
Turning back to face her classmate and teacher, Chao smiled broadly, perhaps the first real smile she could remember for as long as she had been at Mahora. "You have great friends and comrades, Negi-bozu. Always cherish them, and you'll reach what you strive for."
World Tree Park, Base of the World Tree
2005 hours
Truth be told, Yuuna had expected that the return of all the people who had been transported forward in time by Chao's special ammunition would look and sound similar to the DeLorean in the Back to the Future films, and was slightly disappointed when it turned out to be nothing more than the familiar black sphere of the displacement effect, a sound like that of a sonic boom, and then the afflicted individuals were there. From their perspective, the transmission between the moment they were struck and now had been instantaneous.
Standing with Hartley, Hotaru, and Katsuki near a fountain at the edge of the park, the gunslinger girl watched and waited as her squadmates popped back into their timestream one after another, finishing up with Matsunaga standing in the same stance that he'd challenged the droid who had eliminated him in, the echoing click of his assault rifle's bolt cycling a new round into the chamber making a pretty fitting closing statement on the whole affair.
"Well, welcome back, my misguided children," Yuuna greeted, grinning widely as she balanced her helmet on her hip. "So, what have we learned today?"
"Dragons suck," Hatsu grumbled, thumbing the fire selector of his weapon over to 'SAFE' and slinging it up onto the magnetic plate on the back of his armor.
"'Dragon' comes before 'droid' in the threat priority ranking," Nishiyama added, reaching up and tugging off his helmet one-handed. Despite the relative warmth of the evening, steam rose from the student-soldier's head after his exertions, and sweat matted his hair to his face.
"We need a faster way to clear out of buildings, that's for sure," Kouya remarked. The medic looked around the area as she spoke, watching the other participants who had been taken out returning in ones and twos, on up to large groups. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason, no order in which people were returning. "If that energy blast had been a JDAM," she continued, "then Yuuna would have a lot of letters to write."
That was a sobering, mood-killing thought that Yuuna didn't even want to entertain. She had just led the last vestiges of the Mage Knights to victory against the droid army, even if she felt her own contribution was insignificant, and was still feeling proud of all their accomplishments, and didn't want to dwell on the fact that, had this been a real battle, she would have lost nearly all of her command. Acknowledging the point with a nod of her head, she looked between each of the members of her team. "Good points, all, but there'll be time for that later. For now-"
The crackling booms of more displacement spheres from uncomfortably close to the group prompted Yuuna to stop in midsentence and take several steps away from the fountain pool nearby. It took only another moment to realize that there weren't any people coming back in the return spheres, most of which were actually hovering above the ground. An instant later, a barrage of small-arms fire hammered against the opposite side of the fountain from them, sparking an entirely-new set of displacement spheres.
"Cover!" Matsunaga shouted, and the entire team hit the ground. Elsewhere around them, even others who were near enough to consider themselves threatened by the unknown attack were seeking out cover and reaching for weapons.
Yuuna spun herself around on her elbows and knees, checking first to see that Hotaru was safe beside her, and then looking in the direction that she deemed the shots to be coming from. Fully expecting to see more droids stomping down the hills looking for another fight, her brow furrowed in confusion when no such threats presented themselves. "Anyone got contacts?" she called out.
"VISR and motion tracker are clear," Miko reported. The others agreed with the spotter's assessment.
Lowering her head, Yuuna had begun to pull up the overlay of the city map onto her VISR to see what was going on, when she heard and felt something plink off her helmet. Following the sound of the object hitting the ground, she blinked at the sight of a hundred-yen coin spinning out its momentum on the ground before her.
Another displacement sphere's appearance preceded the sound of a great splash in the fountain in front of them. Levering herself up to peer over the lip of the fountain, Yuuna raised an eyebrow when she observed Lorenzo and Mana's combat embrace: the mercenary on her back with one of her pistols pressed to Lorenzo's chest, and the boss of Fireteam Charlie leaning over her with one hand grasping the wrist of her armed hand and the other holding Mana's second pistol into her stomach. Shell casings rained from the air around them, splashing into the fountain or clinking against the stone. A moment later, Lorenzo's modified M14 carbine flashed into existence and fell from above them, the side of it popping him on the back of his head.
"Cleric Team, commander on deck!" Yuuna called out as she jumped to her feet, the rest of her team immediately snapping to attention with her. Hotaru looked around at them, then mimicked their action.
Looking up and noticing the ODSTs for the first time, Lorenzo released Mana and stood up, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. "As you were," he said, automatically putting the pistol in his other hand on safe, then ejected the magazine and racked the slide to remove the loaded projectile. He handed all of these over to Mana, who accepted them with an unreadable expression, reloaded her weapon, and stood off to the side with her arms crossed.
The agent retrieved a PDA from a pouch on his tactical vest as he stooped to retrieve his rifle, frowning for a moment as it had to re-synch with the current time following the displacement effect of Mana's ammunition, then pulled up the latest reports of the event. "It seems as though our forces carried the day," he remarked, flipping between tabs at high speed. "Congratulations on a successful operation, all. Now, to the part that I'm sure all of you are most interested in. Transmitting final score tallies to your HUDs, but special note that fourth place, with a cumulative total of eight hundred ninety-six thousand, two hundred and eighteen points, goes to our very own Cleric Leader. Good work, Sergeant Akashi."
Yuuna literally jumped for joy, pumping her fist into the air. Around her, her team cheered the recognition of her skill and talents, with those closest to her giving congratulatory backslaps. Beside her, Hotaru grinned happily, no small amount of Yuuna's happiness leaking through their bond into the archer's emotions.
"Fourth place is what, seven hundred meal tickets?" Kouya asked.
"Thought it was three hundred," Hatsu responded, looking toward the medic.
"Three hundred is the reward for fourth place," Lorenzo affirmed, having double-checked his PDA.
Yuuna cheered again. "Meals are on me all summer, boys!" She paused a moment, narrowing her eyes, and reached for her helmet. "Wait a minute. If I got fourth place, then who is in third?"
"Third place..." Matsunaga began, checking the score card on his HUD, "is someone who entered under the name of Stromric. He beat you by one point."
The inarticulate noise of anger let out by Yuuna was so sudden and so loud that it startled Hotaru and Nishiyama. The basketball gamer fell to her knees in a show of mock despair, shaking her fists at the sky. "Damn it! That bastard did it to me again!"
Hartley patted her on the shoulder consolingly. "Some day you'll get him, Yuuna."
"Yuuna."
At the sound of that voice, the gunslinger girl's attitude flipped completely the other way, the girl jumping back up to her feet and running in the direction of the voice. "Daddy!" she exclaimed happily.
After a few moments with no immediate response, she drew up short, the tight look of resignation on his face filling her with dread. "Dad?"
"Yuuna, you've accomplished a great deal tonight and I'm very proud of the way you handled yourself out there," her father told her. "You've grown so much in the last few years." He sighed and looked away, seeming to be marshaling his thoughts. "You haven't done anything wrong, Yuuna, but I wish you hadn't stumbled onto things you weren't meant to know."
The other armored students, along with Hotaru, Lorenzo, and Mana, fell silent, watching this scene play out before them.
Yuuna shook her head slowly, taking a hesitant half-step back. "Dad, I don't... I don't understand. What are you talking about? Dad?"
The edge of fear in her voice filled her father with shame, and caused Hotaru's stomach to knot with anxiety.
"You were never meant to learn about the things you've learned tonight," he explained. "For your own safety, I have no choice but to erase your memory of what you have seen."
Yuuna recoiled in horror.
Behind her, Hatsu stepped forward. "Hold on a damn minute. What the hell do you need to do that for?"
A hard edge came to Professor Akashi's voice as he turned to Hatsu. "Not that it is any business of yours, but it's for her own protection." He took a moment to look amongst all the members of Cleric Team. "In fact, not one of you are authorized to have this knowledge. You will all have your memories altered."
"Over my dead body," Hatsu snarled.
Back closer to the fountain, Kouya turned to Lorenzo as Akashi and Hatsu continued to argue. "Colonel, does he have that authority?"
The older man's lips pressed into a thin line. He could feel Mana's gaze boring into his back, observing how he would handle this situation. "Whether or not he does is irrelevant," he answered Kouya. "I don't have the authority to stop him."
In even just that short few seconds, the situation had deteriorated further: Miko and Katsuki had stepped up to support Hatsu, and it seemed Yuuna had drawn the connection between what her father was saying and the reason why she was unable to remember the events of the Kyoto field trip. Her memory had been wiped before, she realized, and it had been at the behest of her father. That betrayal of what should have been an unassailable trust rocked Yuuna to her very core, leaving her in shock and Hotaru frantically fretting over her. The argument between Professor Akashi and Yuuna's three teammates had risen to shouting, drawing stares from people nearby.
Hartley stepped back toward Kouya and Lorenzo, keeping his attention on the confrontation but still turning toward Lorenzo. "Colonel, are you letting this happen?"
"You are making things more difficult than they need to be," Professor Akashi told the three students arrayed against him, patting his pockets as though searching for something. "All of you are already in hot water for knowing things you shouldn't. Don't make matters worse!"
Hatsu scoffed. "You know what, guys?" he called out to his squad, raising his hands innocently at shoulder height. "I'm starting to think we were on the wrong side. If this is the thanks we get for propping up the system we've got, maybe the boss of those droids was on to something."
If a glare could project energy, Professor Akashi would have stricken Hatsu dead for those words. "You have just earned yourself an expulsion," he growled, removing a small magic wand from his pocket. "Now step out of my way."
Without waiting to see if the armored young man would comply or not, the professor muttered a brief incantation and sent Hatsu stumbling away from blocking his path to Yuuna with a burst of wind magic.
At this point, Hartley had seen enough.
Before the professor could take one step toward his daughter, the American had drawn his Magnum and sighted the older man, the click of the safety lever moving to an armed state seeming unnaturally loud. "Drop the weapon and step away from the girls!" he shouted.
Yuuna's father turned the wand toward him. "How dare you-"
Before he could get out another word, the cycle of a bolt silenced him as Matsunaga leveled his assault rifle. The other members of Cleric Team rapidly followed their lead, spreading out into a loose bowl shape to minimize how many of them could be affected by any one attack. Almost as a punctuation mark, Katsuki very overtly racked the slide of his shotgun, sending a still-loaded shell clattering noisily to the concrete below.
"Professor, please reconsider," Lorenzo urged. His hand rested on his own pistol, and though the weapon remained holstered, it was clear that he was backing Cleric Team in this confrontation.
After several heartbeats passed, he was silently grateful to Mana for not bothering to point out to anyone involved that Lorenzo's weapons—all of them—were completely out of ammunition.
Professor Akashi looked past the wall of weapons arrayed against him, his gaze focused on Lorenzo. "This display of loyalty is truly moving, but this is a private matter between Yuuna and myself. It doesn't concern any of you."
"The hell it doesn't," Hatsu quipped.
"The way I see it," Hartley said, his shooter's stance as solid as though he'd been carved from granite, "Yuuna's got herself a good thing going for her right now. We're not letting it get taken from her without a fight."
The professor looked at Hartley, attempting to stare the younger man down. Against Cleric Team's top sniper, the effort was doomed from the start. "She is my daughter-"
"Yeah?" Matsunaga interrupted. "She's our commander."
"And our friend," Reiko chimed in. "We wouldn't be where we are if it wasn't for her."
Professor Akashi shook his head. "I understand and respect that, but I am trying to keep a promise I made, her mother's last wish."
Both Yuuna and Hotaru looked up at that statement, the mention of Yuuna's mother bringing fresh tears to the girl's eyes. Hotaru, on the other hand, sensed an opportunity. Giving her magistra's arm a gentle squeeze, she stood up and moved between Yuuna and her father, holding her hands out to her sides, palms out, in a non-threatening gesture.
"Akashi-sensei, I understand," she said, as soothingly as she could. "You promised Yuuna-san's mother that you would keep her safe, and keeping her away from magic is probably the easiest way to do so." She took a breath, both to organize her thoughts and settle her nerves. "But Yuuna-san is one of those people that run toward the sound of trouble—which you should be proud of! You've raised her to put others before herself. But twice in a row now, that has put her in the center of events that have exposed her to magic. I'm not trying to suggest you give up and stop trying to protect her."
The archer shook her head emphatically to underscore her point, then stepped back and to the side, laying a hand on Yuuna's armored shoulder. "I'm saying that you don't have to bear that responsibility alone." With her free hand, she gestured to Cleric Team. "All of us, and many more besides, would gladly help keep her safe. Won't you give us the chance?"
Behind the younger girl, Hartley smirked slightly, the shadows of early night covering his expression. That Hotaru was alright in his opinion. Even if she never officially joined Fireteam Charlie, she was one of them as far as he was concerned. And he was near to certain that he wasn't the only one with that attitude on the team.
Professor Akashi sighed, his shoulders slumping. Cleric Team took that to be a sign that the fight was out of him, relaxing their postures and lowering their weapons. "I can see clearly how much all of you care for my daughter. As a father, that gives me a great sense of relief. And it is abundantly clear judging by how you carried yourselves tonight that you are all very capable and extremely dedicated." He put away his wand. "So, I will put my faith in your convictions."
Hotaru smiled broadly and bowed to the professor. "As Yuuna-san's partner, I promise to you on my honor as a Kobayashi that no harm will come to her as long as I draw breath."
The professor smiled in return. "I will entrust her safety to you then, Kobayashi-san." He turned his gaze toward his daughter, a look of regret taking over his expression. "Yuuna, I hope you can find it in you to forgive me for this. I've only ever tried to do what's best for you." He paused, clearly giving serious consideration about saying something more, then finally added, "If this is the path that you truly intend to walk, then go to Negi-kun for guidance."
With that last bit of advice given, her father turned and walked away from the group. Hartley watched him go for several long moments, then turned his attention to the two girls in front of him.
Yuuna grabbed her helmet from where she'd dropped it and shoved herself up to her feet, brushing her thumb under her eyes to obliterate any tears and then wiping her gloved hand over her face to make sure she was back under control and presentable again. She turned toward her team, but looked to the ground in shame. "Some leader I turned out to be," she grumbled. "One mind-wipe threat and I disintegrate into a ball of angst."
"Nah, don't sweat that," Hatsu said, for once acting in a respectable manner toward Yuuna as he safed and slung his assault rifle.
"We'd be worried if your dad trying to wipe your memory didn't freak you out," Miko added.
Yuuna hmm'd in acknowledgment and agreement to their words, then shook her head as though coming awake from a dream, looked at her teammates, and grinned. "But that's a problem for later! We've got us a victory to celebrate!"
As the rest of her ersatz Helljumpers cheered, she turned and gave Hotaru a warm smile. "And I've got a promise to keep, don't I?"
World Tree Park
2021 hours
It was a strange sensation. One minute, Seno was tumbling down a city street at dusk, and the next moment, he was faceplanting into a grassy park well after sunset. A short distance away, he could hear the whine of his motorcycle's engine and the crash of metal and plastics as it, too—and its momentum—appeared nearby, shouts and exclamations shortly following as it careened uncontrolled through the crowd.
Standing up shakily, he began to turn to figure out how much harm his out-of-control bike had done when a blur of black and blue hit him with enough force to nearly topple him again. He felt a pair of arms tightly enfold him at about the same time he recognized the scent of Motoko's shampoo, and hugged her in kind.
"Welcome back to the world," he heard Kitsune's voice call out, and looked over Motoko's head to see the fox and most of the rest of the crew approaching. "People accuse me of being a slacker, but at least I didn't skip the grand finale."
"What happened?" he asked. "That droid on the roof shot me, but this is not there."
"The bullets seemed to have a time and space displacement effect," Haruka explained. "It's been an hour since you were shot."
As he contemplated that knowledge, he looked down at Motoko, clinging to him as though he might disappear again. With that in mind, it was clear to him that for that hour, it had been as if he didn't exist at all. He couldn't even begin to fathom how that must have felt for her.
Sensing his gaze on her, Motoko pulled back slightly and looked up at him, a look of nervousness and even fear on her face the likes of which he had never seen on her before. Even more troubling than that, the sensation he was getting across their bond was that the fear and nervousness was of him.
"Seno, I have something extremely important to tell you," she said. A more sincere tone he had never heard from her.
In that moment, the extent of how well the others knew him became clear when, before he could formulate a wisecrack to try and defuse the tension, he caught sight of both Haruka and Naru waving him off of that course. So he instead focused his gaze on Motoko, squeezed her shoulders gently, and nodded for her to continue.
She took a deep breath, and he could very nearly feel her heart hammering in her chest. "We're going to be parents," she told him, her voice beginning unsteady, but soon gaining strength and courage. "I'm pregnant."
To the swordsman's great chagrin, the surprise by which that statement took him caused his knees to give out on him. Only Motoko's arms around him and her own strength kept him from falling out on the spot.
"Seno!?" she cried in alarm, holding him upright until he could stand on his own again. A cold knot of fear coiled her stomach, something she recognized quite distinctly from the life she had growing within her. Doubts began to assail her mind: she had chosen the wrong time to tell him, the wrong setting; he didn't want to have children; he may not even want anything to do with her anymore.
As he got his feet back under him, he could feel her emotional turmoil like a blinding heat, could see the tears forming in her eyes. Quickly, he grabbed her shoulders to get her attention back on him and away from the doubts in her mind.
"No, no, I'm not upset, Motoko," he said. "I just wasn't expecting that." He chuckled nervously, then cleared his throat. "Love, I'm thrilled. And nervous, a lot, but I'm not mad. When did you find out?"
"I took several tests two days ago," she answered. "Haruka and Naru went with me to a doctor yesterday to confirm it." She hesitated a moment, then pressed on. "In all the excitement of the festival, I hadn't had the opportunity to tell you, and I didn't want it to distract you in battle."
He smiled and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "I wasn't accusing, just curious. And hey, I still managed to muck things up even without knowing, eh?"
She smiled as well, her spirits rising again now that he knew and had taken it well. She rested her forehead against his and closed her eyes. "Do you think we are prepared for this?"
"We'll do the best we can," he answered. "But I'm sure we'll be fine. I mean hey, I wasn't expected either and look how I turned out."
"We're doomed," she deadpanned, then short-circuited any attempt by her husband to wisecrack by wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning up to kiss him with all the love she could express.
Unnoticed by the couple, the first of countless fireworks streaked up into the night sky, celebrating not only Mahora's victory in what was already coming to be known as 'Mages vs. Mars', but also the conclusion of the 78th annual Mahorafest.
Elsewhere
"That was a pretty good way to spend an evening, I think," remarked the marionette doll, touching down on one of the few undamaged rooftops left in the battle area, then turning to look up as her master and the headmaster descended behind her. "Not enough blood if you ask me, though."
"Something I believe we owe a great deal of thanks to young Lingshen for," the eldest Konoe said, alighting on the rooftop with nary a sound. He turned his gaze out over the battle-scarred city. "If she had been intent on victory at any cost, I shudder to think of the loss of life we would face."
"It speaks of a foolish girl not truly committed to her ideals," Evangeline huffed dismissively. "If one is looking to shake up the magic community, one doesn't wear kiddie gloves and take half measures. Her defeat was all but determined from the outset."
"But even in defeat, has she not succeeded in shaking up the magic community?" a new voice asked.
The trio turned to find themselves sharing the rooftop with Aeris Gainsborough and Hector Barbossa. No, nothing so fantastic; it was the costumed forms of Mutsumi and Sabashii.
"This event will send shockwaves through the world of magic," the Okinawan continued, "and I suspect there may be no small amount of sympathetic reverberations."
"It is true," Konoemon mused, "that a great many things will change going forward."
"More importantly than that," Evangeline growled, her icy gaze boring into the djinn. "Why have you returned, and trying to play the role of the hero, no less? What happened to the man who tried to learn Magia Erebia from me?"
Sabashii shrugged innocently. "I'm just helping them out a bit to get a break on my rent."
"Yes, you said that the last time," the vampire deadpanned. "It is no more believable now than then."
He met her gaze evenly. "We share a common enemy."
"The Heaven Slayer?" Evangeline looked lazily toward Mutsumi. "You lot are certainly jumping right after the big game."
"We do what we can against those who would threaten the safety of the world," Mutsumi answered steadily. "Surely even you can see the wisdom in that."
Making an irritated noise that sounded like an agreement, Evangeline turned her back to face the brilliantly-illuminated World Tree, looking over the party going on at the park around its base. The celebratory atmosphere had spread to engulf the entire city, with the noise and fireworks such that it would not look out of place in the extra scenes at the end of the special edition of Return of the Jedi.
Mutsumi, more sensitive to the moods of others than one might expect, pressed on, "Don't you think that it's an effort worth lending your strength to?"
For her part, the vampire knew what Mutsumi was doing: with the effects of Chao's 'world happiness' spell coming into full effect, the anemic was leaning hard on the altruism that Evangeline normally worked very hard to hide beneath a veneer of cynicism. Even knowing the effect the spell was having on her, it wasn't really that far from her own desires to smile to herself and respond, "You know, Yochi no Kouken, it might not be so bad to walk in the light for a change."
World Tree Park
Party Area
2045 hours
As it turned out, Motoko had been slightly overzealous in reuniting with Seno; the rush to get to where he was reappearing, along with the all-out sprint to get to him, had aggravated the injury to her leg. Shinobu's healing magic had repaired the break and mended torn tissue, but healing magic wasn't necessarily a painkiller, and therefore the entire area was still tender. Because of this, Seno stuck closer than normal to Motoko's side as they made their way to the largest of the celebratory gatherings, letting her lean on him for support if she felt she needed to take weight off her leg.
The party mood was in full swing as they reached the area where Negi's class had come together. Laughter and a palpable sense of exuberance filled the air, with many of them moving their hands about in various ways as they pantomimed their war stories to their friends. Satsuki had brought out several containers of their city-famous meat buns to share, wandering about the groups and passing them out.
At the crest of the hill, Seno paused to look out over the spacious park, filled utterly to the brim with reveling students and residents of the city. "Man, this place sure is something else," he remarked, shading his eyes with one hand. "Too bad we don't live closer, you know?"
Beside him, Motoko smiled and laid her hand on his shoulder, taking the opportunity to lean her weight off her sore leg. "It is a very lively place, but there is something to be said for the peace we enjoy at Hinata."
Kaolla hopped up to stand on Seno's shoulders, surprising him with how little her Samus cosplay seemed to weigh, and mimicked his 'look around' gesture. "I likes it!" the MolMolian princess proclaimed. "I think I may try to get into school here!" She squatted, treating Seno's head like a stool as she looked behind them. "Can I do that, Nealla?"
Regal as ever, the black mage considered it a moment. "I don't see why not," she answered. "I believe we can get the appropriate paperwork done during the summer break."
Kaolla made a joyful exclamation and jumped off of Seno's head, taking off into the crowd as Nealla followed, trying to warn her charge about the longer commute to Mahora.
"Honestly, that girl..." Naru huffed, her fists planted on her hips. Just as swiftly, however, she smiled and waved to her approaching step-sister, moving off to talk to the younger girl.
Ahead in the group of students, Konoka noticed them and waved them over. Seno and Motoko made their way to them, joining a group consisting of Konoka, Setsuna, Makie, Akira, and Ako. Setsuna smiled and inclined her head as they approached.
"Good evening, aneue, nii-san," she greeted them.
As Seno gave his usual wave, Motoko smiled at Setsuna's choice of honorific, but knew there would be no dissuading her from using it. "Good evening," she answered, nodding her head to Setsuna's classmates so as not to give the impression she was snubbing them. "Congratulations on a successful event. Was it enjoyable for everyone?"
All five girls nodded in agreement, and Akira smiled at the older woman. "It's the best we've ever had, and I'm not sure we'll be able to top it in the future," the swimmer said.
"That reminds me," Ako said, looking toward Setsuna and Konoka. "How did you guys manage to luck out and land the part of the Hero Units?"
Setsuna and Konoka exchanged worried looks, and behind them, Seno and Motoko shared a glance that said they'd bail the younger girls out with an excuse if they needed to.
"W-well, for the more physically-active roles, Negi-sensei wanted people who could handle a lot of running around, so that's how Asuna-san and I got picked," Setsuna explained.
Konoka nodded exaggeratedly in agreement. "And I got to be the mascot for the aid station because I make a cute white mage girl!" she exclaimed, twirling about to show off the outfit she was still wearing.
"Then Setsuna put in a word for us, gave us a call, so we got to join the fun and games," Seno added. "Got to have a good time, play a real life Musou game..." He exaggeratedly took a deep breath. "Smells like victory."
Fighting back a smirk, Setsuna pointed past him. "I don't think that's victory you're smelling, nii-san."
Motoko and Seno looked back to see that Satsuki had just approached the group with her tray of meat buns, passing them out with a friendly smile. Just before the one that had been intended for Seno could be taken, however, it disappeared as though into thin air. The cause for said disappearance soon became clear when Kazue's voice remarked from a few paces away, "Never in my many years have I ever had food this good."
While the swordsman grumbled and looked around for something to throw at the kunoichi, Satsuki simply stopped what she was doing and frowned in disapproval at the ghostly woman. Kazue froze under that gaze like the proverbial deer in the headlights, then slumped her shoulders in defeat and offered back the stolen—and partially-consumed—meat bun.
Satsuki shook her head and smiled, handing a new one over to Seno. "Everyone should have one who wants one," she said. "But snatching from people is rude. I hope I won't see it happen again."
Kazue murmured an affirmative and slinked away to cause mischief elsewhere. As she passed by Seno and Motoko, they heard her mutter under her breath, "That's like having a cute puppy mad at you... It's not even fair..."
Seno stared after his retainer for a moment, then looked back to the chef. "How'd you do that?" he asked, palming his replacement meat bun between his hands to cool it.
Satsuki shrugged helplessly. "People just seem to listen when I give them advice or break up fights."
"Huh." Determining the handheld meal to be cool enough for his liking, he bit into it and chewed thoughtfully. "Normally it takes a vote of the Senate or a planetary collision to get her to do what I want."
Satsuki blinked in confusion, and Setsuna looked between Seno and Motoko as though expecting that to make his comment make sense. Konoka asked, "What does that even mean?"
Motoko narrowed her eyes at her husband in contemplation; while that line wasn't one she recalled, she did know her husband's preferred source of references and one-liners. "I believe it to be a Star Wars reference," she announced for the others' benefit. "It sounds like it would be Star Wars."
"I've trained you well, my young apprentice," he quipped.
As Satsuki moved on to provide food for more of her classmates, Setsuna smiled. "Aneue is older than you are."
Makie looked between the three Shinmei practitioners. "Really? He looks like he'd be older."
Setsuna nodded to the gymnast. "By seven months, I believe?" She looked to the two for confirmation; Motoko nodded.
Before Makie could say anything further, her cell phone rang. Turning away from the group, she answered it, "Hi, Chiho-nee! What's up?"
Seno blinked as though remembering something. "Oh, forgot that we've got big news for you, Setsuna."
"What would that be, nii-san?"
Seno wrapped an arm around Motoko's shoulders. "Not to put too fine a point on it, you're going to be an aunt."
Setsuna blinked in confusion for several moments. Beside her, Konoka clapped her hands happily. "Congratulations, you two!"
The youngest of the Shinmei caught on fast enough, covering her mouth with a hand in surprise. "Truly?"
Motoko smiled and nodded at her adopted sister. "Indeed. Though Seno may joke about a great many things, this is not one of them."
"I'd only do it once," he interjected.
"Quite so." She elbowed him lightly in the side. "As I was saying, we had wanted you to be among the first to know."
Setsuna beamed at the couple, her wings fluttering. "Thank you both for the consideration. I can't wait to meet my niece...or nephew."
Konoka smiled and nodded, adding, "If you ever need someone to babysit, I hope you'll think of me. Any family of Secchan is family to me, too."
Motoko inclined her head, then smiled at the flustered look on Setsuna's face. "I will keep your offer in mind, Konoka-ojousama."
Konoka made a face like she'd bit into something sour. "Please, could I ask you not to call me that? I have enough trouble trying to make Secchan stop." The Konoe heiress gave her guardian an aside look. "And maybe she'll pick up the habit..."
Motoko laughed, then nodded. "As you wish, Konoka-san."
Setsuna managed to recover from—or perhaps cover for—her embarrassment by asking, "Are the two of you planning to stay for the full party?"
"Not all of it, but for a while yet," Seno answered. "We're old. Can't stay up all night anymore, like you kids can."
Setsuna laughed at her brother-in-law. "Then as you say, old man, let's make the most of it while you're here. We have so much to celebrate, after all."
June 25, 2007
Pillars of Eternity, World Tree Park
0421 hours, local time
The 'Pillars of Eternity' were an art feature located atop the hill overlooking the valley in which the World Tree grew, comprised of seven granite pillars of varying heights driven into the ground. They were meant to invoke a sensation of serenity as one stood amongst them and looked out over a seemingly-endless vista.
Standing atop the tallest of the pillars, looking out to the east in the direction the sun would soon rise, Chao could feel the sensation that the artists had meant to invoke. It was good that she could; this was likely the last peace she would know for a long time. If that damned game Halo 2 was at all accurate—and there was no reason not to think so, given that Combat Evolved had nearly been a word-for-word account of the Battle of Installation 04—then she would be returning to a world under siege, being ground to dust beneath the relentless Covenant war machine.
She took a deep breath of the crisp, pre-dawn air. "Would that those who reside in this era never know the things I have seen-ne," she murmured softly.
"Chao-san."
Turning at the sound of her Great Ancestor's voice, she found the boy mage standing on the second-highest of the pillars, looking at her in concern. "Chao-san, do you still plan to leave?"
She nodded once. "My plan, which meant everything to me, has been defeated-ne. There's nothing left for me here, so I will return to the battlefield that awaits me. You have your own battles to fight here, in this time-yo."
"I don't think that's true," he said, shaking his head. "There's so much more for you here than your plan."
As he spoke, almost as if on cue, Chachamaru touched down on the pillar to Negi's right, her thrusters humming, carrying Satomi. Ku Fei also arrived on the pillar to Negi's left, with Satsuki carried in her arms. Chao had to admit, it was sneaky and devious to bring those closest to her here, and she also had to admit that even she wasn't unaffected by it.
"You said that living here was like a faraway dream," Negi continued. "But if you stay here, surely your dream could be a reality."
"It's a tempting offer-ne, but pass." She raised her hands in front of her, and a familiar pocket watch materialized from her slipspace pocket.
"The Cassiopeia!" Negi exclaimed.
Chao grinned. "I had to keep one in reserve, or I'd have no way home-ne." She pressed one of the buttons along its edge to begin drawing in magic. "So, it'll be goodbye, then..."
Without warning or any tells in his posture that it was coming, Negi was suddenly on the pillar with her, one hand gripping the Cassiopeia and forcefully lifting the activation button, the other having seized her other wrist.
"No!" the pint-sized mage firmly stated.
To cover her surprise at both the suddenness of his movement and his proximity, she absent-mindedly remarked, "What a well-executed shundo-ne! Almost a bonafide shukuchi!"
"Don't change the subject!" Negi flailed, letting go of her and the Cassiopeia. He took a moment to compose himself, then regarded her with a worried expression. "I would like to ask you a serious question. It's about the spell sigils that were inscribed on your body. You didn't do that to yourself, right?"
From a certain point of view, she thought to herself. She hadn't placed them on herself in their original form—as magic suppressors—but she had altered them under the Office of Naval Intelligence's nose to function as a seal on her magic that she could turn off on command. She'd also modified them to enhance her power when the seal was broken.
Negi took her silence for an answer she hadn't given. "I knew it..." he murmured. "What you did was utter insanity! To use magic in such a way can eat away at your very soul. Who would do such a thing to you? Why?"
After several moments of silence, when it became clear she wouldn't answer, he shook his head slowly. "Chao-san, what happened to you in the past? Is it the reason you devised your plan?"
Visions of the massacre aboard the Athens swam before her eyes, and she forced herself to laugh at the boy's question; the other choice was to be crushed beneath the weight of her memories.
"I can't tell you about the future-yo." Before he could interject, she held up a hand. "Knowing someone's history doesn't mean you'll understand them, Negi-bozu. If you want to know me, go read a history book, watch the news, or maybe even play a video game. My past is no worse than the numerous tragedies that happen every day on this planet."
And that was technically true as well. She didn't come from an Outer Colony world, hadn't seen her home reduced to a burning cinder. Removed from the larger picture, the worst her own history had to offer was a near-death experience and the deaths of several close friends. All too common occurrences in the current tiem.
She had told Setsuna that Martians didn't lie, and she was going to stick to that noble descriptor of her homeworld. She never said she wouldn't engage in duplicity, omission, disinformation, or twisting exact words to her own purposes.
"Even if that is the truth," Negi said calmly, "if you went back now, you would still have that troubling future to face. Don't you think it would be better to remain here and strive to affect change? Surely, if you were to become a magistra magi along with me, you would have the power to make things better."
It was an incredibly-tempting offer, and the longer she considered it, the fewer reasons she could think of not to. As she thought about it, she could see the others, Negi's closest companions, arriving close enough to hear the conversation.
She closed her eyes, a brief vision in her mind of her traveling the world with them, bringing humanity closer to uniting with every passing day, and smiled. "Become a magistra magi with you, huh? You're right, that's not a bad future at all."
The boy teacher positively beamed. "Th-then you'll remain here and graduate with the oth-"
"No, I'm going home-yo," she interrupted, crossing her arms.
Most of her classmates nearly fell over in shock. Out of her line of sight, Satomi wore a smirk that suggested she'd seen that response coming a mile away. Over Negi's shoulder, Ku Fei looked crestfallen at that declaration, and Chao did her best not to notice the martial artist's expression.
"Chao-san, why not?" Negi pleaded.
The Chinese genius laughed. "Do you even understand what you said? You practically confessed your love to me."
"What."
She grabbed him by the chin, lifting him off his feet even without the benefit of her ruined armor's strength augmentations. "In the mage societies, asking someone to become a magister together is basically one step away from asking them to get married. That's not a cool thing to say to a direct descendant, Negi-bozu."
Most of Negi's comrades choked at her explanation. "What the hell are you talking about, Chao?" Asuna demanded.
The Chinese genius looked toward the fiery-tempered redhead that she—and so far only she—knew as the Imperial Twilight Princess, and gave a 'so what' shrug. "I'm saying it's not okay for that kind of relationship to exist between blood relatives-yo! Not only is it morally wrong, it's bad genetics! That's what's wrong with so many royal families in this world's past!"
"Chao-san, I'm being totally serious about-" Negi began, only to be interrupted with a thump to the forehead.
"That's even worse-ne," she said flatly. "I'll act like I didn't hear that, so save that line for someone important to you before some jealous girl stabs you."
Rubbing his forehead, Negi puffed up his cheeks in preparation for a stern talking-to, but it had the complete opposite effect of his intent to look serious. "Why do you have to be so stubborn, Chao-san?"
Before he could make another attempt to talk her out of leaving, she sliced her hand through the air between them. "Enough! Honestly, do we have to settle this by force, too?" She shook her head sadly. "Maybe we are destined to shed blood-ne."
She adopted her villainous persona again, grinning evilly at her ancestor. "If that's how it's going to be, then fine. I'll use my secret weapon. It's the greatest weapon I have to use against you. I could have used it to win our final showdown, but it's so dangerous, I deemed it necessary to seal it away."
Reaching behind her back, the tension in the air grew suffocating as the others warily observed her, but she held up a placating finger with her other hand. She produced the broken data crystal chip and tossed it back to Satomi. "Pheidippides would never have approved of my using this weapon, so hold onto that for me-ne."
With a bittersweet smile, Satomi caught the chip and held it to her chest.
Chao turned back to Negi and held her left hand down by her hip, energy and data beginning to coalesce in her palm. Asuna, Setsuna, and Haruna readied their weapons, wisely reading the hostile intent in her posture.
"This ultimate psychological weapon from the future will absolutely destroy the bonds you share with your comrades-yo," she ominously intoned. "Behold!"
The item finished materializing, and she lifted it for Negi and all his comrades to see: what appeared to be a simple notebook with the title 'Lingshen Family Tree' written on the front in calligraphic English.
There was silence in response, and she knew they were expecting something more technological in nature. She chuckled darkly and peered around the book. "Are you paralyzed in terror? Dumbstruck by its insidious form-ne?"
"Y-your family tree?" Negi asked, confusion writ plain on his face.
"Think about it-yo," she explained, a sinister tone in her voice. "I am your descendant, Negi-bozu. Which means that, eventually, you will marry and have children."
She could see the realization—and the horror—begin to dawn on their faces. It was time to go for the kill.
"Which means that your future wife's name is contained in the pages of this eldritch tome!"
Panic exploded across all their faces—except, curiously, Konoka, who looked more amused than anything. She noted that even Ku Fei was affected by the shock. To the side, Ayaka—dragging Makie behind her—skidded into the area from seemingly nowhere. "What about Negi-sensei's future wife!?" the class representative demanded.
"Just what the hell is with your hearing!?" Chisame demanded right back.
Even as she was watching that, the remaining sensors in her armor buzzed to alert Chao of an incoming threat, but she allowed Haruna to snatch the book from her hand in passing on a summoned flying machine. Grinning, she watched the manga-ka depart, commenting that she had to be the one to destroy it—and Asuna immediately calling her a liar.
To twist the knife even further, she added, "Not only does it name his future wife, but also includes details like when he marries and how many children they have."
This had the desired effect, inciting even further panic among her ancestor's ministrae. Smirking in the satisfaction of watching a plan come together, Chao rested her hands on her hips and started to count in her head.
At an order from Chisame, Asuna pitched her sword—reduced to its comical harisen form—at Haruna with stunning accuracy. The pinwheeling paper fan swatted the artist in the face, knocking her from her summon and causing her to drop the book. Setsuna caught Haruna before she could hurt herself, and the book feel into Nodoka's hands. The shy librarian looked around, at a clear moral crossroads, as Yue, Konoka, Ayaka, and Makie crowded around her.
Chao watched with great amusement at the irony, her face betraying nothing, of the actual girl whose name was linked to her great ancestor struggling with her decision.
Just when it seemed Nodoka would succumb to the temptation, Chisame bolted in and charged into Yue with enough force to knock all of them flying, snatching the book out of the air and shaking it at the others.
"Are you all crazy!?" she demanded, her eyes tracking to the book, the cover of which had fallen open from her actions. "What good can come from looking at this!? The future isn't something you..."
She trailed off, but before she could identify any names, Asuna deftly yanked the glasses off her face and jabbed her in the eyes for good measure. As those two got into it, Haruna was the first to dive back after the book, the whole affair shortly devolving into a general charlie foxtrot.
Chao laughed at the ruckus as Negi fretted. "Ah, that was even more efficient than I expected-ne. Fifty-seven seconds to total party implosion!" She cleared her throat, her expression sobering. "Well, on that note, I think I'd better get going."
Negi turned toward her. "Chao-san, do you truly have to go?"
She nodded and grinned. "Yes, but this is a lovely farewell. It's far more than I could have asked for. Thank you for that, Negi-bozu."
"But are you really sure about this?" he pressed. He seemed to at least accept now that there was no talking her out of it. "You didn't get-"
"No, don't worry," she cut in, smiling warmly at him as she powered up the Cassiopeia. "Though my operation failed, you and everyone else here gave me back something I had long thought lost-ne."
"What's that, Chao-san?"
"Hope. Because of the time I spent here-ne, I can go home with a hope for a better future. There is truly no better gift."
A series of concentric magic circles flared to life centered over her, and a pillar of light surrounded her, drawing her up into the sky. She looked at those nearest her, her friends and classmates, and smiled to hold back the tears she could feel rising to her eyes. This would be the last she would ever see of them.
"Satsuki," she called out, turning toward the girl who, by sole dint of her hard work and exceptional culinary talents, had enabled Operation: VALID to have ever taken place. "I leave the Chao Bao Zi in your abundantly-capable hands-ne."
Satsuki nodded her head and smiled kindly. "Leave it to me, Chao."
Motes of magic energy began to swirl around her feet as Chao looked to her two most trusted allies. "Thank you both for your hard work over the years. Satomi, handle the dispensation of the UNSC technology as we discussed. As for the battle recorder data-"
"Chao-san," Satomi chided, shaking her head at the Chinese genius' overthinking. "I'll take care of everything. I will prepare the best possible battlefield for you."
Chao nodded, then looked to her most successful creation. "Chachamaru, I hereby relinquish my authority as creator over you. As of now, you are a free unit-ne. Live your life as you desire."
She could see the processes running behind Chachamaru's eyes, moments before the android firmly nodded her head. "I understand. Thank you for the gift of life, Chao Lingshen."
Lifting her gaze to the sky nearby, Chao smirked at Evangeline, hovering nearby on her broom-like staff. No words needed to be exchanged, but deep down inside, the Martian knew she would be seeing Eva again in the future. For her part, the high daylight walker nodded once in acknowledgment.
As the spiraling magic intensified around her, Chao turned her gaze toward her closest friend, the one she had worked hardest to protect from the consequences of her actions: her own great-grandmother. "Ku!" she called out, projecting confidence to hide her sadness. "One day, we'll spar again!"
It wasn't strictly true; she had never met Ku Fei before coming to this time, but she was willing to let a lie pass this one time so her ancestor would be left on a hopeful note. Her decision was immediately vindicated when Ku's face brightened at her words.
"Oh! Yes! Is promise!"
The wind and magic rose to a gale force around her, the gifts she had been given by her classmates the night before floating up beside her. Down below, Negi shielded his eyes from the intensity of the light, calling out, "Chao-san!"
Two magic circles formed, one above her head, and one below her feet, and she knew her time in this era was coming to an end. "Farewell, Negi-bozu!" she called out over the noise. She raised her left hand above her head, waving goodbye to her friends, classmates, and ancestors. "Zaijian!"
"Y-yes!" Negi answered. "One day..."
His words were drowned out by the familiar thump-whirr of a temporal displacement sphere. This sphere, far more massive than any seen during the battle, consumed four of the seven layers of magic circles, completely obscuring Chao from view. A thin pillar of magic energy descended from the skies through the higher-altitude set of circles, erupting into a blinding burst of illumination as it contacted the temporal sphere. Hidden in the light, but readily-detected by Negi's senses, a flashing pulse of magic denoted the completion of Chao's spell, and the light began to fade, the pillar of magic tapering away into nothingness.
Negi continued to stare into the skies as the disturbed layer of clouds slowly returned to normal. Silence settled over the Pillars, and as the first rays of dawn broke the horizon, the reality fully settled in the boy teacher's mind.
Chao Lingshen was gone.
"She was such a strong woman," he remarked. "Even as her teacher, I couldn't do anything for her."
"That not true," Ku Fei said from the next pillar down. "She smiled when leaving. That good enough for her."
He forced a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "You're right, of course. Well, I think we all deserve a good, long rest after all the excitement lately."
A tone sounded from the nearby public address system as Negi hopped down from atop the pillar, joining his friends and students as they finally headed back toward the dorms. "The final night of Mahorafest is over. Remember that school will be closed today and tomorrow. Don't forget about cleaning up afterward. All groups and class circles, please be responsible..."
Beyond the flow of time, years passed in seconds for Chao. Her mind registered the transition as her soaring through a tunnel of stretched starlight, an illusory perception on which she understood she was probably influenced by the 'hyperspace' phenomenon of Star Wars.
Though she could count on one hand the number of long-distance transits she had made, she realized right away that something was wrong when her sensation of motion slammed to a halt, the 'starfield' likewise freezing around her.
"That is a most interesting device," a sinister voice said from all around her. "Such a tool has an incredible, untold multitude of uses."
A section of the starfield went dark, admitting a shadowy form into the corner of her vision. She tried to round on the male figure, but no part of her body would move.
"How have you interfered with my time travel-yo?" she demanded.
"Any magic effect can be affected from outside if you know what you're doing." The figure drifted to her right side, and she could feel his gaze focused on the Cassiopeia. "I was a bit disappointed that you didn't make full use of the gift I loaned you. It could have been a far more entertaining spectacle."
She narrowed her eyes, straining to turn her head enough to catch a glimpse of her assailant. "I should have trusted Pheidippides' advice-ne, never accepted an item from an unvetted source."
"Ah, but you did take my loan, and that puts you in my debt. I can't very well let you disappear without settling your accounts. Now, unfortunately, it seems that the item I loaned has been rendered useless. Most unfortunate. What, I wonder, could I take from you for just recompense?"
The slimy undertone of the figure's words made her keenly aware of just how exposed she was—in every sense of the word—by her tattered armor. Her inability to move didn't help the matter any. A panic began to rise up in her, one she'd not felt in—to her—just over two years, her throat being crushed in the grip of an angry Sangheili. This time, her Magnum and the Cassiopeia wouldn't be enough to save her.
The figure pried the magical watch from her grip, and there was a pause that suggested he was inspecting it. "Doesn't come with an instruction book, does it?" he asked in jest. "No matter. I'm sure I'll figure it out. This will square us nicely, Chao Lingshen. Ah, but where are my manners? You're a very busy young lady. Pardon my interruption of your journey. Safe travels."
A force struck her in the chest, sending her sprawling away. Gravity—something she had never experienced in her temporal travels—seized her, and to her perspective, she seemed to be falling sideways through the flow of time.
Without warning, she fell back into a normal timestream, the glowing starfield replaced with a dark, clouded night sky. That was all she could see before she slammed through the roof of a damaged building, crashing through a second floor before what had once been a sofa intercepted her.
She stood up out of the debris, adjusting her armor's remnants to preserve her decency. Her ears could pick out the distant rattle of gunfire, and she strained to try and hear the shriek of plasma, but couldn't make it out. Pausing long enough to materialize her Magnum from her slipspace storage pocket, she crept out of the room she had crashed into.
Entering into a dark, abandoned hallway, she estimated she was in what had once been an apartment building. She stalked silently up a flight of stairs nearby, the level of damage she was observing indicating that this building had intercepted a bomb. Just by what she could see, however, she couldn't tell if the hit had been intentional or not.
Priority one, she thought to herself, pausing as the distant sounds of battle drew nearer. Figure out where the hell I am. Followed immediately by when the hell I am.
Above her, the stairs ended abruptly, along with the rest of the building. Now exposed to the nighttime air as she stopped at the landing, she could hear shouting in a language she didn't recognize, and other sounds that she didn't immediately associate with a battlefield. Snapping the safety of her Magnum to the off position, she stepped sideways onto a floor that had now become a roof, keeping her back pressed to the wall.
Looking out over the city before her, there was no question that she found herself in the middle of a battle. Distant fires projected angry red spires into the sky, lighting up columns of black smoke as jets twisted and battled, unseen, in the skies overhead. Adjacent to her building, a tank column trundled noisily along a debris-strewn street. They weren't the Scorpions she was expecting to see, their silhouettes striking her as more Russian in design. A shout came from somewhere in the column, and the lighter vehicles in the group began to fire into the sky behind them as dismounted troops ran screaming for cover. Moments later, the main body of the tank column disappeared in a cloud of smoke and fire, followed swiftly by a pair of A-10 Thunderbolts—tank killers—screaming over the column at just over rooftop level.
The aircraft were anything but uncontested: flames trailed from the engines of the lead plane, and as they passed, the rear jet was set upon by what she could only describe as wyverns, flying draconic creatures that latched to the airframe and tore great furrows into its skin. Between them, they tore one wing free and ripped the cowling from the engines. In the process, one was caught and drawn into the engine, its huge form obliterating even the A-10's legendarily-tough engine. Out of control, it spun into the street and exploded, its remaining munitions touching off a huge fireball.
Even more shocking than the wyverns was the retaliation against the one that was still standing. From a rooftop several streets over, a fireball so potent as to temporarily turn night into day exploded on the creature's flank, sending it flapping and screeching away from the danger. Less than a second later, a spear-wielding figure in spiked light blue metal armor landed on the wyvern's spine with impossible precision. The figure's barbed spear severed the wyvern's spinal column instantly, and without wasting an ounce of momentum, the figure tore its spear free and flipped away gracefully. A barrage of gunfire from street level chased the armored figure, several hits striking sparks from the armor, interrupting its flight and sending it crashing into the next building over.
Her attention was drawn by the thunderous roar of more jets passing close overhead, moving too fast in the darkness for her to identify them. Following the noise of their passage anyway, she looked out over the embattled city, finally spotting a landmark that allowed her to identify where she was: the Tokyo Tower, distinct even with its top destroyed by the war around it, told her she was near Minato.
In the sky around the Tower, she could just barely make out tiny figures darting about, illuminated by fires from the surrounding city and bursts of light in the air amongst them. With a start, she realized she was watching magically-inclined individuals fighting, and the full implication dawned on her: whenever this was, it was not too far in the future, and it was a time of war that realized the full potential of both magic and technology.
This was not the future she remembered.
Save the game?
O : Yes
X : No
- End of Arc 3