"...sika… Isika…"

"Mmmmmwuh…?" Isika murmured through the fog of her mind.

"Isika, are you with me now?" said a voice, it sounded familiar, almost like…

"Marisa…?" she mumbled.

"Yup, right here kid." Marisas voice said.

"Where are you… why can't I see?"

"Probably because you haven't opened your eyes."

"Oh yeah…"

…

"You gonna open them?"

"Oh right… that might help."

Isika's eyelids slowly lifted, flickering in the rooms dim light. To her left was Marisa, and she might have caught a glimpse of Alice to her right.

"Where… Wha…" Isika mumbled.

"Easy there, the stimulants are still kicking in. Take your time." Marisa said.

Isika stopped trying to talk, and just started looking around the room.

It was a new room again, it was small, but roomy. Isika was lying in a rather comfy bed. Marisa was sitting on a chair to her left, just watching her with a grin. Near the door, the girl with long ears, Reisen she vaguely remembers, was packing equipment into a suitcase. On her right was indeed Alice, who seemed to be tastefully arranging her various plush toys on various surfaces.

As her mental facilities slowly trickled back, she realised what this actually means. Isikas eyes slowly widen.

"It worked?" Isika said, in disbelief.

"Take a look for yourself." Marisa said, pointing to Isikas right hand, her grin widening.

Isika lifted her right arm, surprised that she could do it so easily. The last time she had seen it, it had been covered in scars and bandages, and it could barely move. Now it was pristine, without a scratch or blemish upon it, although her skin was a lot paler than she remembered, almost white, with only the slightest hint of blue.

"Yeah, you lost a lot of pigment colour during treatment, not sure if its because of the lack of Eezo, or just an unforeseen side effect…"

"So It really worked…" Isika said, her voice filled with wonder, excitement slowly driving out the grogginess.

"That it did." Marisa said. "Congratulations, you are now the first Eezo free Asari."

"Well, that's my job done." Reisen, said, closing up the case she had been packing and hoisting it up. "I'll be around the station for the next few days. Call me if there are any complications."

"Owe you one Reisen, thanks for the help." Marisa said, turning in her seat.

"I'll be holding you to that Marisa." Reisen warned playfully, "See you round."

Reisen left.

"I really did it… I lived!" Isika cheered, unable to contain the excitement. "I'm gonna become a Magician!"

"Hey I told you you would. Why are you so surprised?" Marisa said.

"Please, you were more worried than anyone, you were practically sleeping on the Wonderland." Alice interjected, a note of playfulness in her voice.

Marisa pouted. "I don't get worried Alice, you know that."

"Of course you don't Marisa." Alice teased, she picked up one of the plush toys from the bag. "Hey look, Marisa, she has one of you." She said showing off the 'Ordinary Magician' doll.

"Awww. That's pretty cute." Marisa said, her mood switching from pouty to playfull. "How long have you been fixing to be my Apprentice huh?"

"Ehh?" said Isika looked at the small grinning doll, then at the grinning Marisa. The clothes were different, but it was the same hue of blonde, and the grins seemed uncannily familiar…

"Huh… I'm surprised I didn't notice that earlier." Isika said, blushing. Embarrassed, as she had been bringing that one to bed.

"Yes, this outfit was back when Marisa was cute." Alice said, smiling, before putting it on an unoccupied bit of desk.

"Hey, are you saying I'm not cute now?" Marisa said, pouting again.

"Oh grow up." Alice said, shaking her head, but she was still smiling.

She sat down on Isikas right side. "Well now that you are awake, I suppose we should debrief you to the results of the treatment. Nothing to worry about, but there are a few things to go over."

"Ok." said Isika, a little bit nervous, but not very. The worst was now over after all.

"For a start, let me just confirm what you already know." Alice said, reading from her wrist-comp The Element zero has been purged from your body, and the damage caused by the treatment has been repaired. You are, as far as we can tell, a perfectly healthy Asari, minus the biotic ability."

"There has been an almost complete loss of blue Pigment, but this seems to have had little effect on your overall health. So unless you want it corrected, we would be content to leave it."

She looked up at Isika to check for her reaction.

"I'm… not really bothered, I think." Isika said, thinking about it. It was actually rather cool, she thought. It made her unique.

"Very well, let us know if it does." Alice said, before going back to her display. "Now during the healing process, along with repairing skin, tissue, organ damage, and muscle atrophy, We also had to replace the dead space in your nervous system caused by the loss of your biotic nodes, after some discussion, Marisa suggested replacing them with a similar construction but with silver instead of eezo. theoretically, this will make it easier to cast without a foci, and maybe ease the transition from biotics to magic in your mind. If not however, it should not cause any undue problems."

The mention of magic got Isikas heart fluttering. She had been so elated that she had got through treatment, that she had almost forgotten why she underwent the treatment in the first place. She was almost vibrating with excitement.

"I think this takes care of the medical side of things." Alice said, looking up from her tablet. "Just tell us if you start feeling unwell, or something starts hurting. Any questions?"

Isika opened her mouth, but Marisa cut her off. "Not about the magic, we will get to that in a minute."

Isika shut her mouth out of embarrassment, before another question came to mind. "How long have I been asleep?"

"About three months." Alice said.

"Woah." Isika said.

"Yes. Unfortunately I could not devote my whole day to treatment like Eirin could, so progress was slower, and your torso proved more difficult than the limbs." Alice said, "but that is in the past."

Isika hoped that Ajū wasn't too worried.

"But enough about that. Now onto the main event, Magic!" Marisa cheered.

Isika gave Marisa her full undivided attention.

"Now at first, we will be taking this slow, you are young after all." Marisa said, "Plenty of time to learn and make mistakes."

"Yes, and nothing to do with the fact that the council magic classes will be continuing for another seven months." Alice said dryly.

"Yup, completely coincidental." Marisa said without an ounce of shame. "Regardless, it works, because it will give you a chance to get to grips with the basics of magic at a nice relaxed pace, as well as do a little independent research so as to figure out what kind of magician you want to be."

"What kind?" Isika said.

"Yup." Marisa said, "Because just like Youkai, Magician is a blanket term…. As well as a type of youkai, but that's not important right now. You see, a Magician is someone who has mastered magic to some degree, but to what degree, what kind, and how they apply it can vary greatly."

Marisia deployed the the strange octagonal block on her wrist and it hovered above her open palm. "For example, as a Magician, I specialise in light and heat, but that's not all, you have probably heard my title of Ordinary Magician, but I am also referred to as 'The Love Coloured Magician' and the 'Spark Mage'. The Ordinary Magician title is a story for another day, but The love coloured Magician is because I fuel my most powerful magics with my own strong emotion, the more passionate I feel, the more power I can bring to bare. In fact my most powerful spell, my Master Spark, the reason for the last title, is ignited with a single spark of love as a catalyst. Just a little bit of passionate feeling to unleash a rainbow of pure love and destruction." The octagon landed in her hand, and a small pilot light ignited at its center.

"Woah…"

"Yeah, pretty cool huh?" Marisa said, the flame going out, and the Octagon returning to her wrist. "But it's not for everyone, like Alice for example."

Isika turned to Alice, who sighed and raised a hand.

At once the Ordinary Magician doll on the desk behind her stood up, and floated onto the bed in front of Isika, it then bowed and started a slow dance.

"As you know, my name is Alice, but my title is The Seven Coloured Puppeteer." she said as she moved her hand in time with the dancing toy, invisible strings attached to her rings occasionally catching the light. "While Marisas style is often as spontaneous as she is, my battles start weeks before in the workshop. I specialise in crafting, enchanting and controlling dolls." Another doll flew out from behind Alice, this one seemed to resemble a miniature Alice, but made of wood, ceramics, and in a cute lacy dress, that landed in front of the plush doll, where they bowed, and then started slow dancing with each other. Isika noticed that Alice didn't seem to be directly controlling that one with her hands.

Isika watched the waltzing dolls transfixed.

"While I can bring forth magical power in a similar way to Marisa, although not as directly powerful I'll admit, I far prefer more subtle and precise magics such as this. I am an artist, and magic is my medium."

"It's so pretty…" Isika said.

Alice smiled, "thank you."

The dance ended, and the Marisa doll returned to the desk, while the Alice doll disappeared behind Alice again.

"And there is more besides that." Marisa said. "Patchouli bases herself around the Elements of the Japanese week, fire, water, wood, metal, earth, sun, and moon."

"And Byakuren uses magic to enhance her body, improving her physical and sensory capabilities." Alice added.

"In short, It's all about style and specialisation." Marisa said. "While most magicians do keep a general skill set, what will set you apart from others is not how many forms of magic you know, but which ones you can do better than anyone else. Pick a style and run with it, that's what I say."

So that's what your first seven months are going to be." Marisa said, standing up, with her hands on her hips, "We are going to find your style. Once we know that, we can get into the serious training."

"Ok…" Isika said. Magic seemed a lot more complicated than she thought, although paradoxically she kinda expected that. Nothing to do but buckle down and give it her all. "OK!" she said with more conviction, her eyes burning with determination.

"But before we get started-" Marisa said, puncturing Isikas attempt to psych herself up, "You gotta sign these."

Isika looked down at the clipboard she was being handed. "Whats this?"

"Your citizenship papers." Marisa said, causing Isikas eyes to boggle.

"Well you do intend on staying right?" Marisa said to Isikas shocked expression. "Admittedly this isn't quite official, I had Flan whip this up a few days ago in a couple of hours, and you might need to sign a different one later on, but at least this way we got it on paper. Think of it as 'proof you exist'."

"Marisa, you cannot honestly tell me that this entire process was off record." Alice said.

Marisa put her finger to her chin in thought as Isika took the clipboard. "Well I think Eirin kept some, I'll have to ask her."

Alice massaged her temple. "Unbelievable."

"Ummm… Can I have a pen?" Isika said.

Marisa started patting her pockets, before looking imploringly at Alice.

"Unbelievable." Alice repeated, reaching into her pockets.

"So I just touch the ball?" Isika said.

"And hold your other hand out in front of you, with the palm up." Marisa said. "This will test your base magical Affinity, as well as checking if you have any Elemental affinities we can work with. Elemental magic is a good gateway into other magical studies, especially if you have a strong affinity right off the bat."

"Okay." Isika said, putting her hand on the sphere. There was a weird feeling from hand to hand. Alice and Marisa checked the console.

Marisa then smiled up at her. "Congratulations Isika!"

"What?" Isika said, excited.

"You are exceedingly average!" Marisa cheered.

"Huh?" said Isika, halfway between confused and disappointed.

"To be honest, it was better than we were expecting." Alice said. "Considering the amount of Eezo that was in your body, worst case scenario was no affinity whatsoever. This way, while it is nothing impressive, it is something we can work with."

"Oh, ok then." said Isika, she was still kinda disappointed, but at least it was better than nothing, perspective and all that.

"Alright then, let's test for elemental affinities." Alice said, "Don't close your left hand, or remove your right from the apparatus."

Isika nodded. Alice tapped away at the console, and a small ball of fire appeared above Isikas hand.

"Woah…" Isika intoned breathlessly, as the tiny ball of fire gave way to water, then dirt and stone.

While Isika was transfixed with the elements in her palm, Marisa and Alice watched.

"Hmm, not getting much of a reaction is she?" Alice said quietly, as the ball became wind.

"Well elemental magic isn't for everyone," Marisa mused, as the ball shifted to electricity. "I hope she at least has one though, it would be irritating if it turned out her affinity is spiritual, that would be just my luck."

"You can't rule out Omni, perhaps something close to her biotics would suit her, it might make it easy for her mind to grasp." Alice said, as it became metal.

"True, I'll have to check out if Patchy has any books on manipulating mass that I could bor- Damn, no light affinity." Marisa cursed under her breath.

"Of course, that would have been far too convenient…" Alice said but stopped when the element swapped again.

The small ball of light became a pitch black sphere the size of her head, that pulsed ominously.

"Woah! this one got big." Isika said.

Marisa got over her surprise and grinned. "Nice! that's a pretty impressive dark affinity you got there."

"Dark affinity?" said Isika. 'What's that?"

Alice turned off the machine, and the ball of darkness vanished. "Dark is the opposite of light, and therefore is everything Light is not. Whereas Light is heat, movement and energy, Dark is cold, stillness, and entropy. Dark is the magic of absence. It also one of the more difficult ones to utilize effectively in combat."

"That sounds… kinda cool." Isika said.

"Glad you like it," said Marisa, "because dark is the only elemental affinity you have."

"Eh?" Isika said.

"You registered low to average on all other elements." Alice clarified.

"Oh." said Isika, another small puncture in her self esteem.

"Ehh, don't worry about it, said Marisa. "You don't need to have an affinity to learn magic, it just makes it way, way easier, and remember, not all magic is elemental, this machine can't test for Omni or spiritual affinities, so you may have a few tucked away in those categories. Anyway, Dark will be the core of your magic tuition."

"Okay." Isika said, something was better than nothing after all, just stay positive, like Marisa.

"For now, Let's show you around the ship some more." Marisa said.

"Ship?" Isika said.

"Didn't I tell you?" Marisa said. "This is on board my ship, the Final spark, which for all intents and purposes, will be your home for the foreseeable future."

"Oh, right… wait what?" Isika said.

"Let's show you around!" Marisa cheered, leading Isika out the room, Alice following behind, shaking her head in amusement.

"Alright, this is the mess hall." Marisa said, gesturing across the empty room. "You will be eating your meals here, so get used to the space. Food is served on the far wall. Sit anywhere, but mind other people's personal space, magicians can be a touchy lot. If you are worried about upsetting people come sit next to me, I will be here at breakfast and dinner, lunch too if I'm not busy with something, like teaching aliens magic on the Philosophe."

Isika nodded, vaguely intimidated at the thought of this room filled with people.

"Mooooving on." Marisa said leading her out again, and further into the ship, Alice having gone to fetch something.

A brisk walk later, they arrived in a much larger room. It was a sort of oblong shape, with a tiered arrangement of chairs on the far wall. There was various lines across the floor, denoting some sort of boundaries, as well as some sections that look like they could rise to form walls or barriers. And near the roof there appeared to be some balconies, with more seating. And on the roof there seemed to be some arrangement of doors and hatches

"This is The Final Sparks Main practice hall. This is where a lot of practical lessons take place." Marisa said. Once more sweeping her hand across the space. "It's also a place for free practice, I imagine once you start getting to grips with magic, you will be using this space a lot. Be mindful of others though, this hall is likely to constantly be in use, either for practice, study or duels, as well as a place to hang out and socialise, as long as it doesn't distract the people practicing."

Isika looked around the room. For a place that apparently saw constant use, it was remarkably empty, there was only one person in the room, a vaguely familiar blue haired girl sitting in the stands reading something.

Now that she thought about it, the ship has been pretty quiet for a magical academy.

As Marisa led her back the way they came to the student habitation, Isika asked. "Why are there so few people?"

Marisa laughed. "So you noticed huh? As it happens due to me being tied up in teaching the general class over on the Philosophe, normal classes have been suspended. Most of the students have gone home until we resume normal activity. While the naval personnel are all still here, only the real dedicated students and teachers are still around, taking advantage of the place being practically empty. It works for you though, you basically get it all to yourself, about seven months to get used to the ship before it starts getting busy again."

"That makes sense I guess." Isika said, this made her feel slightly better about the whole situation.

"Now right there is your room, Oh-four-two, in case you didn't memorize it when we left." marisa said, pointing out the bedroom as they passed.

"Oh-four-two," Isika repeated, trying to remember.

"And here is your nearest rec-room." Marisa said, a door opening in front of her, to reveal a comfy looking room with an arrangement of couches and sofas, tables and chairs, spread haphazardly around the room. There was a large screen against one wall, with a shelf next to it. Many bookshelves are spread along the walls. "In your downtime you are free to use this space, to either relax or study, but once more bear in mind that other people use this space too."

"It looks pretty nice." Isika said.

"I believe that an important part of being a magician is knowing when to unwind and have fun." Marisa said. "Otherwise you end up with a stick up your butt."

"What?" Isika said, vaguely alarmed.

"Figure of speech." Marisa said, dismissively. "Let's get back to your room. Alice is probably back by now."

"What was Alice getting anyway?" Isika asked on the short walk back to her room.

"Well, we decided you need a good way of keeping in contact with us." Marisa said opening the door to Isikas room. "And that little datapad you had was really low tech, so we decided you needed an upgrade."

"You mean?-" Isika asked excitedly.

"Congratulations, Isika." Alice said, who was already in her room, handing her a device. "Your very own Wrist-comp."

Ajū, groaned, as a notification noise disturbed her light sleep. She had pulled an all nighter the night before and was still sleeping it off.

She fumbled for her Wrist-comp. And checked the display.

It was a message from Isika.

Suddenly very awake, she sat up and opened the message.

It was a picture, clearly taken from a Wrist comp, Of a very pale, but otherwise healthy-looking Isika beaming, with Alice and Marisa in the background, the latter doing a V sign.

Attached was the message. "I made it! Gonna be a Magician, just you wait!"

Ajū slowly smiled, the little knot of worry she had been holding for three months, slowly uncoiling.

"Thank the gods…"

Chapter Notes:

She lives!

And thus ends the first Arc of the story, but it only gets harder from here.

At least she's not gonna be alone.

Warning, due to the lack of available Mass Effect characters, and most cannon touhou characters being too old to be students, this story will be getting rather OC heavy. I hope this won't turn anyone off, but I thought it best to give fair warning.

Plus did anyone catch the reference to Isika in the main story, I'm super happy about it!