Author's Note: Before the chapter starts, I want to say thanks to two people who helped me and inspired me to write and continue with my story. Ambrant Arandel and heroes1202, both author of great stories, I give them my thanks and appreciation. Especially to Ambrant Arandel for giving me his permission to use some of his material from his stories and put in mine. So reader, if in the future chapters, some parts remind you of Ambrant's work, don't think I have stolen it, I ask him via e-mail and he gave me the go-ahead. Enough of this, on with the story.
The Children of the Pactio
Chapter Two
It is said that your whole life flashes before your eyes when you're about to die.
Negi found that to be true.
From the moments of spending time with Nekane and Anya, to the winter when his village was attacked and meeting his father for the first and only time, Negi saw it all.
After seeing his life, he should be dead, but he wasn't.
A demon, who transformed his arm into a sword and swung it overhead, aiming to slice Negi down the middle, should have killed the boy mage, but it didn't.
At that last moment, as the sword was coming closer, someone rushed in between Negi and the demon that called himself Eton and blocked the attack with a staff.
"What the...?" Eton was surprised someone had managed to stop one of his sword strikes with a just a staff.
"Aaarrgh!" Eton pushed down on the staff with all his strength, trying to break it in two.
The mystery savior used all of its strength to keep Eton's sword back and not hitting Negi.
The stranger pushed back Eton and thunderous footsteps were made as he fell back away from Negi.
The stranger stood up, with its staff in its left hand, it raised its right arm and made what seemed to be a ball of wind the size of a basketball in its right hand. The stranger then charged across the field to Eton.
Eton had little time to straighten himself, as he saw the stranger running right at him, with an attack in its hand.
As the stranger was getting closer, Eton swung his sword, aiming for the stranger's head.
However, the stranger anticipated this and as it saw the sword, it ducked and rolled under the sword. The stranger was right under Eton's gaze and slammed the ball of wind right into Eton's gut, not enough to rip a hole in him, but enough to send Eton flying backwards and deep into the forest.
Negi could feel the wind from the attack from where he was sitting. The attack was so powerful, that the leaves on the trees shook, the water in the river was pushed all to one side for a couple of second and it was powerful enough to tear off the uniforms of the girls, thankfully that didn't happen.
The stranger looked at the knocked down trees caused by Eton flying into them. The stranger knew it would only be a matter of minutes before Eton would return, it needed to move fast.
The stranger looked around and saw all the injured people. Asuna and Setsuna struggled to get up, Chachamaru tried to reattach her leg and Konoka and Evangeline were over to where Negi was, seeing to his injuries.
The stranger walked over to them.
Negi, Evangeline and Konoka saw the stranger approach them, Konoka got up, stretched out her arms and made a barricade between Negi and the stranger, "I'm not letting you hurt Negi-kun." Konoka said with her eyes full of tears.
The stranger saw as Asuna and Setsuna tried to get up and rush over to Konoka, but fell down, writhing from the pain of their broken ribs.
The stranger looked back at Konoka and shook its head, the stranger than placed its hand on Konoka's shoulder and gently moved her out of the way and walk over to Negi, where Evangeline was at his side.
The stranger kneeled down by Negi and examined him, from top to bottom.
Negi saw as the mysterious person was looking at his injuries, but he couldn't see under the hood.
"Are you okay Negi?" He heard the hooded stranger ask him in a feminine voice. "Do you think you can walk?" she asked him.
Negi sat up straight against the tree, "My back...My back hurts." He then tried to lift his right arm, "I think my arm is sprained."
The mystery girl gently touched Negi's arm and saw that it was indeed sprained. "Evangeline-san, go and open the door to your cabin."
The hooded girl then looked at Konoka, "Konoe-san, go and get Sakurazaki-san and take her inside." She turned around and looked at Asuna, "Kagurazaka-san, do you think you can walk?"
Asuna got up from the ground with all her strength, "Yea... Yeah, I think I can." Asuna answered her, though her knees wobbled at the strain of holding her up.
"Wait a minute," Evangeline said getting up from her spot next to Negi, her clothes dripping wet from when she was thrown into the river, "Who do you think you are ordering me around?"
The hooded girl faced Evangeline, but Evangeline couldn't see her face, "It's not an order, but a request Evangeline-san, we don't have much time." The mysterious girl said to her looking towards to forest, the direction Eton went.
Evangeline gave no struggle and walked towards her cabin to unlock the front door.
The hooded girl put her staff on her back and gently picked up Negi bridal style, while Konoka picked up Setsuna, her arm over Konoka's shoulder as Konoka help Setsuna walk.
Asuna walked along with them, dragging her injured leg along the ground, as they all went to Evangeline's cabin.
"Karakuri-san, just wait right there, I'll come back for you." She said to Chachamaru, who was still trying to get up.
As they entered the cabin, the hooded girl laid Negi softly on the couch, as Asuna and Setsuna both took a seat on the couch.
While Evangeline went upstairs to change into some dry clothes, Konoka was try to get everyone comfortable, "Konoe-san," the mystery girl call to Konoka, "try to heal Sakurazaki-san as much as you can." She then turned to Asuna and Negi, "You two, sit here and rest, I'm going to go get Karakuri-san."
As the hooded girl left the cabin, she saw Chachamaru coming up the stairs of the cabin, with her broken leg in her hand. She was leaning up against the cabin for support, "I told you to stay where you were." the hooded girl said.
She helped Chachamaru up the stairs and inside the cabin, "Are you operating functionally?" She asked Chachamaru as she sat her on the couch.
"All systems are operating at half strength, now switching to reserved power." Chachamaru said, but the hooded girl shook her head "You don't have to do that, save your energy...you're not much help now." She looked at all the people in the room, "None of you are."
They all heard it, 'Boom...Boom...Boom' the sound of footsteps caused by something...or someone big.
"He's coming back." She pulled out three vials from beneath her cloak, filled with a green liquid inside and gave one each to Asuna, Setsuna and Negi, "Drink it, it will help heal your injuries."
As the hooded girl neared the door, Negi sat up on the couch "Where are you going?" he asked her.
The hooded girl turned around and faced him, "I'm going to go handle Eton." She said as took her staff from behind her back and gripped it in her hands. She walks out and closed the door behind her.
Everyone else looked at each other and didn't say a word.
Konoka started to heal Setsuna, while Negi drank the strange liquid inside. Asuna moved to the window to see the mystery girl.
'Boom... Boom... Boom.' The sound of giant footsteps was getting closer and with every step, the ground would shake.
The hooded girl stood in the middle of the field, hearing the footsteps getting closer and closer, waiting for Eton to make his move.
Her heart beated with every step she heard, the leaves on the tree shook, the river had a ripple effect caused by Eton's footsteps, he was close now.
Then all of a sudden 'Boom...Boom...' it stopped.
The hooded girl hasn't expected this. She didn't know where Eton would come from now.
The grip on her staff was getting tighter and tighter, she was preparing for what would happen next.
She looked left and looked right, but she could see any sign of him.
Just to be sure she looked up, in case he decided to drop in as he did with Negi and the others.
The sound of a branch snapping brought the girl's attention to the spot where Eton flew through, but as she saw in its direction, a log was coming right at her.
At that moment, the mystery girl did a split and lean all the way back so her back touched the ground.
She saw the log fly overhead and smash against a tree, breaking into slightly larger pieces.
The girl got up from the ground and saw the broken log. She turned her attention from the log and to direction the log came from and saw Eton coming from the shadows.
"At first, I didn't know who you were, because there are so many people who would come and help Negi." Eton said in his gruff voice as he came closer to the hooded girl.
"But when I saw your staff and the ball of wind, in which you hid a delayment spell inside of it, to buy you enough time to get inside the cabin, I knew there is one person smart enough to do it...Natsuko."
Eton was now a foot away from her. He turned his head to the cabin, "Everyone's inside, eh? Well, that just makes my job easier."
"The only way you're going to lay your filthy hands on them is through me." Natsuko said pointing her staff at Eton.
Eton cranked his head back at her, "Heh...I was hoping you'd say that Natsuko."
Eton transformed his right arm into an ax and swung it across at her, however she was anticipating such an attack and jump high into the air, before the sword could touch her.
Eton looked up and saw Natsuko in the air. She points her staff at Eton and lighting shot from the blue orb on it.
"So her name is Natsuko." Asuna said as she, Negi, Konoka and Setsuna saw the fight between her and Eton from the window of the cabin.
"That is a very beautiful name." Negi said as he saw her dodge Eton attacks.
"Negi, what are you doing standing up? Aren't you hurt?" Asuna asked in a worried tone.
Negi shook his head, "Actually, I feel quite fine. In fact, I feel all better." He held the empty vial in his hand, "Whatever this is, it really worked."
"You drank it Negi-sensei?" Setsuna asked him leaning on the side wall.
Negi saw Asuna and Setsuna still had their vials in their hands, "You two didn't drink yours? Why not?"
"Negi you idiot." Asuna said with an aggravated tone, "You don't know if it was poison. She could be trying to kill you."
"Asuna's right Negi-kun." Konoka said, "We don't know anything about her, just her name. We don't know if she's human underneath her cloak."
"You should have let me analyze the vial, Negi-sensei." Negi turn his view from the fight outside to Chachamaru still on the couch, "I would have told you if it poisonous." Chachamaru said, while she was still trying to reattach her leg.
Negi walked from the window and sat next to Chachamaru, he could still hear the battle going on outside, "I didn't want to you to use up what little power you had left by checking the vial for me Chachamaru."
She looked into Negi's eyes, "I want you...to get better Chachamaru." The gears in her chest were moving faster.
"But if she doesn't get better, I can always ask Hakase to build me a new, stronger, more powerful robot." Negi saw Evangeline coming down the stairs in dry clothes, drying her hair with a towel.
"Evangeline-san, that's a mean thing to say to Chachamaru." Negi said to her.
"Whatever, so what happen to the mystery girl who saved your skinny ass?" Evangeline said to Negi walking past him and Chachamaru and over to the window.
"Well you see, she went out and-"
'BOOM!'
Negi stopped talking when he heard a strong explosion coming from outside.
Natsuko proved to be a worthy fight for Eton. She dodged every swing, blow and strike.
Luckily for him, all of her spells didn't do any harm on him.
Natsuko was out of breath, she needed to think up a plan and quick. She doesn't know how long she can go on. She was by herself; her brothers aren't here to help her.
Eton transformed his arm from an ax and into a sword.
He gave a big, evil grin at Natsuko, "I have to say Natsuko, you're without a doubt one of the finest female mages I had the pleasure of knowing."
Natsuko gripped her magic staff tight; she had no idea what he was planning.
Eton continued his monologue, "It's a shame we never had the...'pleasure.'" Eton said with a grin.
Natsuko threw up a little in her mouth, but forced it back down "Sorry, I don't go out with those who threaten my family."
"Family?" Everyone inside the cabin heard what she said.
"What do you think she means by that?" Konoka asked, unfortunately no one had an answer.
Eton shook his head, "Oh well, it was fun fighting with you Natsuko." He said.
Natsuko saw Eton raise his right leg and slam his foot into the ground hard, causing the ground shake violently.
Inside the cabin, the walls shook, chairs turned over, plates and glass were falling off of the cabinets and everyone was trying to grab a hold on something, so they couldn't fall down.
Natsuko herself was trying to keep her balance as the ground beneath her feet shook.
She saw as Eton was coming at her, raising his sword-arm, about to swing it at her.
She jumps out of the way, but was unsuccessful and Eton's sword managed to slash her on her left arm.
She lands near the tree, where the log had been slammed into it. Blood stained her white robes from the gash she got from Eton.
She knew what he did. He wanted to cause the tremor, so the ground would shake making her lose her balance, unable to get a good jump.
Eton was really trying to kill now, that leaves her with no choice.
"You are proving to be a real problem Natsuko. I thought I had you right there." Eton looked at his sword that had a bit of Natsuko's blood.
He brought the blade to his mouth and licked the blood off of it, "Mmm...The blood of a virgin, delicious."
Natsuko was enraged by what Eton did and said. She pointed her staff towards him and shot another bolt of lightning at him.
It hit him, but still no effect, she had to find some way to hurt him, "You can keep doing that forever. But like I said, my skin is harder than diamond."
Natsuko had to think fast, the pain in her left arm was getting worse, 'His skin is harder than diamond.' She thought to herself. 'My attacks won't work on him, because his skin is harder than..."
Then, an idea struck her and a plan, but she would need... 'A-ha.' She reach down, not taking her eyes off of Eton and grab piece of wood from the broken log.
'Now I need for the right moment.' Her arm was throbbing in pain.
"When I kill Natsuko, I know you will be lonely in the afterlife. But don't worry; I'm going to send everyone in the cabin to join you, Aha-Ha-Ha-Ha..."
'NOW!'
Natsuko ran quickly across the field, towards Eton, she has one shot.
She has her staff in her left hand and the chuck of wood in her right. As she got close enough, she jumps at him and lands on his shoulders, facing him.
As he laughs, she shoves the piece of wood in his mouth, leaving it open.
"You might be tougher than diamond...on the outside, but on the inside you must be different." Natsuko rammed her hand inside Eton mouth and began to recite her spell.
"Sagitta Magica Series Fulgurales!" Natsuko recited her spell at fast speed and arrows of lighting shot from her hand and into Eton's mouth.
Eton could feel the lighting enter his body.
His blood started to boil and his organs began to cook.
The lighting shot straight up his spine and began to burn his brain.
He was shaking from all the electricity going through inside his body "AAAAHHH!"
Natsuko saw as blood came out of Eton's ears and eyes. She pulled out her arm and jump down from Eton.
He coughed up a pool of blood. He stood still for a few more seconds and then he began to lean forward and fell down, causing the ground to shake again.
Natsuko grabbed her left arm with her right hand.
She walked slowly over to Eton's body, she was being very cautious. She looked at his face, listens to his breathing...but, there wasn't any.
Eton was dead.
From within the cabin, the spectators saw the death battle between a girl and a demon.
"I can't believe what I have just seen." Negi said, shocked at how the hooded girl had defeated the giant monster.
"You have better believe Negi." Asuna said, just as shocked, "That girl just fried a demon."
Evangeline looked out the window to the scene, "I have to say that I'm a little bit impressed. But I want to ask her some questions."
"You might get the chance Eva-chan, because here she comes." Konoka said pointing at her outside the window as the hooded girl walked towards the cabin.
Natsuko was tired.
She walks up the stairs of the cabin, dragging her staff in her left arm.
The bleeding had stopped, but it still hurted, 'I hope they are feeling better.' She thought to herself as she reached the door.
As she opened the door, she expected everyone on the couch recuperating.
She didn't expect to have Setsuna at the door, holding her sword at her face. Asuna held her paper fan at her body.
Natsuko looked at both of the hurt swords-women and saw that they still had the green vials in their hands, "Why didn't you drink what I gave?" She asked them in a frustrated tone.
"We don't trust those whose face we can't see." Setsuna said to her, her sword still at her face.
Asuna agreed, "Yeah, besides how do we not know if it's poisoned or something."
Natsuko looked all around the living room of the cabin.
Setsuna and Asuna stood in front of her, weapons pointed at her. Negi and Konoka stood right behind them. She saw Evangeline by the window, arms crossed at her chest, giving her a cold stare. She saw Chachamaru reattaching her leg with a tool box on the coffee table; she joined Negi and the others.
She shouldn't have entered the cabin again. She should've left when she killed Eton, but she needed to be sure if they were alright. She knew she wasn't follow her brother's orders, but their safety came first. She felt completely terrible from the looks she was receiving.
Negi saw the girl lowering her head, as if she was upset. Everyone was looking at her, not saying a word.
This girl was not an enemy and if she meant to harm them, she would have done it by now.
"Thank you for saving me out there." He said to her.
Everybody looked at Negi, "Negi..." Asuna was about to say, when the hooded girl answered back, "You don't have to thank me, I wanted to do it."
Everyone moved aside and a path was made with Negi at one end and the hooded girl at another.
Negi saw her still holding her left arm "Come inside and we'll see what we can do about that cut." Negi said extending his arm to the couch.
She hesitated a second, she should leave and get back to her brothers, but the throbbing in her arm made her think otherwise.
She nodded her head and walked past the other girls and took a seat on the couch.
Negi felt a punch to the back of his head.
He grabs the back of his head and rubbed the spot to ease the pain. He turned around and saw it was Evangeline who punched him.
"You baka. What do you think you're doing? This isn't your home. Don't go inviting strange people here." Evangeline said very sternly.
"Negi-sensei, I have to say that you are too trusting." Setsuna said standing next to Konoka.
"She's right Negi." Asuna said nodding her head, "When it comes to other people, you are too stupid to..."
The hooded girl shot out of the couch and stood up, "He's not stupid!" She yelled to Asuna.
Everybody looked at her. Her sudden outburst caused Setsuna to tighten her grip on her sword, Asuna to have her paper fan ready and Chachamaru next to Evangeline.
Though her hood still covered her face, they knew she was angry a little bit.
Negi saw the cut on her arm had started to bleed again. "Evangeline-san, may I use your kitchen?" he asked her.
"Uhh...sure." Evangeline said, she was still looking at the hooded girl.
They all heard the sound of the faucet running. All the girls in the room continued to watch the hooded girl as she sat back down on the couch.
A few minutes later, Negi came back with a red bowl filled with warm water and a wash cloth.
He took a seat next to the hooded girl "Can you get your arm out of your sleeve?" he asked her.
"Yes." she answered him.
It hurted her to move her arm, but she managed to get her left arm out of the sleeve.
The slash was diagonally on her forearm, three inches wide and was bleeding a little bit.
"I'm washing the area of the cut, cleaning off the blood." He said as the blood was being washed off.
She didn't take her eyes off him.
The rest of the girls watched, as Negi helped treat the stranger.
They looked at each other, some worried, because the stranger could attack them after Negi was done.
The others were surprised that the mystery girl let herself be taken care of by a boy younger than her.
Negi was finishing up, "Well, that cleans off the blood. But, I don't know what we can do about that gash." He told the hooded girl. "Konoka-san, do you think you can heal a gash this big?" Negi asked her.
"I'm sorry Negi-kun." Konoka said. "I can only heal injuries in the first three minutes when they occurred. I still need more training." She told him.
"That's alright Konoka-san." Everyone turned and saw as the hooded girl pulled out two vials, both filled with the same green liquid she gave Negi and the sword wielders.
She opens the first one and poured it over the gash. It burned her as the gash began to shrink until it was gone, it left no scar.
"It's really painful everytime." She said as she blew over the area where the gash was. "But, I hate this even more." She opens the second vial and drank all of the green liquid inside.
"Yuck...they could never improve on the taste." She said as she put away hers and Negi's vials into a bag attached to a belt around her waist.
She looked at Asuna and Setsuna "The green stuff is a super stimulant. It heals any injury, internal or external."
They both at each other. They opened the vials and drank up the stimulant "That's nasty." Asuna said as she and Setsuna gave back the vials to the hooded girl.
Negi took this chance to ask her a question "Why did that demon want to kill me?"
She looked at Negi "I'm sorry, but I can't say why..."
"After what has happened you better tell us." Evangeline said coming around the couch and stood right in front of her.
The rest of the girls began to ask other questions "Where did he come from?" asked Konoka.
"How did he know where to find us?" Asuna asked.
"Why couldn't we sense him earlier?" asked Evangeline.
But Negi asked the question that was on his mind when she first appeared "Can you tell us who you are?"
The cloaked girl got up from the couch, "Look, I'm really sorry, but I can't tell you. No matter how much I want to, I just can't tell or let you know anything about me and why I'm here." She said as she walked towards the door.
"We know the demon's name is Eton." Setsuna said as she moved to the door to stop the girl from leaving.
"You're a mage that has studied western magic." said Evangeline, she too moved to the door.
The hood girl was getting nervous. Everybody was getting closer, how much did they know she wondered.
"We also know you're name is Natsuko and for some reason, you called us your family." Asuna said, placing her hand on the door, so the girl couldn't open it.
"So... you also know my name." She said as she tried to open the door, but with no results as Asuna's strength proved too much for her.
She saw everyone looking at her; she was feeling more uncomfortable now than she was before.
"Please," Negi said, "all we want to know is what this all about."
The hooded girl saw the look on Negi's face.
Worried, yet concerned.
A man who worries about others and puts them in front of himself.
That's what she admires about him. She moves away from the door and slowly moves towards Negi.
"I could never lie to you, no matter the circumstances." She said to him, she looked down at Negi. Her mother was right; You could tell him anything. She looked back at the other girls, she couldn't lie to them either, after all they were her...
'I'm sorry big brother. I'm going to break you rules, but they deserve to know.' she thought to herself, they had a right to know.
"Alright, I'll tell you, but only what you need to know. No more, got it?" She said to them.
Everyone ran over to the couch and sat down. It was as if they were going to watch a movie.
The hooded girl stood in front of all of them, she felt like a doll on display, their eyes glued on her.
"My name is..." she hesitated, 'It's now or never.' she thought one last time "My name is...Natsuko...Springfield."
Everyone's mood went from curious to shock.
"WHAT?!?" The girls yelled loud enough that it could be heard outside the cabin.
"Did you just say Springfield?" Setsuna asked standing up from the couch.
"Negi, do you have any family that you haven't told us about?" Asuna asked him holding him up by the collar of her shirt.
"Not that I know of." He told her, gasping for air.
'Springfield? Could she be Nagi's daughter?' Evangeline thought to herself.
She gripped the arm rest of the couch, thinking of Nagi with another woman.
Chachamaru tried to loosen her grip before her tore the couch.
"So, are you a cousin of Negi-kun?" Konoka asked Natsuko.
Natsuko shook her head "No, I'm not his cousin, but I am related to Negi." She answered her.
"But if you're not a cousin and Negi is an only child, how are you related to him?" Asuna asked her.
"I am his daughter." Natsuko said calmly.
"MY WHAT?!?" Negi said loud enough, that the roof of the cabin almost came off.
"This is some kind of joke right, you aren't really his daughter." Asuna said hoping that it really was all a joke.
"This is no joke Asuna; I really am Negi's daughter." Natsuko said to her.
Everybody was getting more and more freaked out.
Natsuko saw that no one was believing her 'I guess I have no choice.' She reaches up for her hood and took it off.
They saw her face for the first time.
Long blue hair, the brown of her eyes, the forehead not as wide, but the face was similar. "I am the daughter of Negi Springfield and Ayase Yue." Natsuko said with a kind smile.
No one said anything, they all looked at Negi.
So many were going through his mind 'Saved life, killed demon, Natsuko, daughter, me, father, Yue, mother.' With all those thoughts in his head, he did the only thing that people do when they get more-than-usual news, he fainted.
"Negi!" The girls said to as he lay unconscious on the floor.
Mahora Academy (Future)
In the same snow covered field where Natsuko and her brothers had been, eight figures dressed in similar white cloaks could be heard arguing, "Are you sure you heard them correctly?" A tall hooded female asked one of the smaller people with her.
"I did hear them correctly sister. I wrote down the incantation they used to go back." The second person said in a girl's voice, handing her big sister a piece of paper.
"So we don't have the scroll, but if we recited the spell it might be as good." The third person said in a male voice. He had something big, wrapped in cloth on his back, attached with a chain.
"I don't mean to be mean," A fourth person said in a gentle female voice "but it's getting colder and these three might get sick." She said, two figures, smaller than anyone else each held on to each of her hands with their tiny hands.
"Are we going to go and see daddy and mommy?" The small boy on the left asked his sister.
"I want to see daddy and mommy too, I miss them so much." The figure in the front said with a little girl's voice.
"I can't wait to see what they used to be like." The figure said standing next to his big sister. He rubbed his hands in order to stay warm.
"Why did Natsuko-nee-chan leave without telling us?" The small girl on the right asked.
"I don't know, but we are going to find out why those four left and didn't tell us." The first figure said and she began to recite the incantation.
Author's note: Did you see that coming? Natsuko has revealed herself. What are her brothers going to say? With Eton dead, who is she going to fight next? Eight more time travelers from the future, who are they? Will we ever get to meet them all?
You are going to have to read to find out. See you readers soon.