Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Sensei Negima, it is a copy righted work of Ken Amakatsu.

The Mage and the Swordswoman

Chapter X "The Silence"

Hello everyone, enjoying the story so far I hope. Well, the count down to the end of the story has begin, second last chapter before epilogue. Sad, isn't it? Well, too bad. Anyway, this chapter, there will be more internal dialogues for our beloved main characters. Therefore, that's it for me here. I will say more at the end of the story.

Then morning came as the three woke up from their slumber.

Even though everything still seemed dark inside, but their biological clock still was the same as before.

But Negi, who slept very little, because of last night, painfully opensedup his eyes and greeted the day.

He got up before everyone else and casted on himself a healing spell, making sure that he would stay awake for the day.

"Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister. Fragrantia floris, meis amicis vigorem,vitalitatem, auram salutarem refecto." Now with that done, he felt a lot better, but then he also remembered why he was awake during most of last night.

"Setsuna-san, confessed to me." He then slowly walked over as he prepared for the breakfast for the other.

"Like Nodoka-san, she confessed to me." He then repeated that fact to make sure that it was not a dream.

Then it sunk into his head and became part of his accepted reality, which troubled him.

Setsuna, for the mean time, had opened up her eyes already, but the first thought she had was to greet Negi-sensei, and after organizing herself mentally, she got off from her bed.

She then looked around to find Negi already there beside the campfire, preparing their first meal of the day, even though it still appeared to be dark in here.

"Good morning, Negi-sensei." Setsuna greeted him as she took a seat besides him.

"Oh, good morning, Setsuna-san." Negi turned around greeted her like he always did.

"Slept well last night?" Negi asked as he stired what inside the stove with a stick.

Setsuna nodded while she enjoyed the presence of being around Negi as a slight blush appeared on her face and the dancing campfire added to her beauty and this drew Negi's attention as he is bewildered by it.

"So beautiful." He said in his mind.

But then he remembered that just last night, this girl in front of him, had confessed to him, telling him that she loved him, even though she thought that he was asleep.

But then he quickly shook that thought off as he tried his best to hide the blush on his face.

And same as all other mornings, they talked and enjoyed each other's company, while Negi, hid all his problems away under that smiling face of his.

However, if it was the old Setsuna, she wouldn't be able to tell, but after spending days with him in the jungle, Setsuna had learned everything that she could possibly learn about him.

"He is not telling me something." Setsuna told herself as she carried on a conversation with Negi.

Then after the breakfast in the dark, they quickly packed up and continued on their way.

However as they went, there seemed to be an unspoken silence as Negi, with Chamo on his shoulder, walked in the front and Setsuna in the back..

"Did he hear me last night?" Setsuna then began to wonder about all the different possible scenarios as they walked slowly down the small corridor while her attention was scattered.

"It's my fault, that I didn't make sure that he had fallen asleep." Setsuna then looked up at Negi who was to her front.

And yet, he seemed troubled by it.

"I shouldn't have told him about it." Setsuna said to herself as she could feel her heart ached.

"I should just…" Setsuna did not finish that thought, but insteaddecided to throw all of it into the back of her mind

"That is not my first concern. I should get ready just in case if there are more enemies along the way." But that day, no enemies came as they walked through the last leg of the journey through the small corridor.

Chamo sensing something was wrong, quickly got to Setsuna's side as he knew that this girl was very lacking in the areas of relationship.

"Setsuna-oneesan, what is bothering you?' Chamo asked as he climbed up her shoulder.

"Chamo-san!" Setsuna was surprised as she did not expect him to come to her.

"Well, tell me." Then Setsuna told him, at least the part where she felt comfortable.

"Onee-san, do you think Negi aniki is that kind of person?" Chamo asked and that went into Setsuna's mind and she shook her head.

"Well, then, I think it is not that you confessed troubles him, but how to respond, as he also likes you from what I can tell." Chamo said as they did not notice that they had walked pass Negi.

"But then wh…" Then a large room appeared before them.

All three of them stood in awe as they watched the amazing sight before.

Then Chamo noticed several objects shining on the other side of the room.

"Aniki, the artifacts." Chamo pointed out and very soon they turned their eyes towards the direction the ermine pointed towards and saw several objects.

Just as they were about to move, Negi sensed something coming towards them and he immediately acted upon his instincts.

"Watch out, Setsuna-san." Negi then pushed her away and while he jumped back as flames engulfed the ground they had stood on a few seconds earlier.

Then Negi looked up as he and Setsuna landed, and what appeared before them seeing was a dragon more than ten times larger than the one they faced yesterday.

"So this is it." Then Negi and Setsuna took hold of their weapon as they readied themselves to face this final battle together.

To be continued…

Edited 03/09/2011

Hello everyone, how is it? I hope you are enjoying the story so far. The next chapter will be the last before the epilogue so enjoy it.

Also remember to check out my other stories if you are interested. That will be it and stay tuned for the next chapter, the final official chapter of this story.