Disclaimer – I don't own negima.

Author's note – So, I have good news for you all who've managed to stick it out with this fic. Or, at least, it'll be good news to those of you that both stuck it out and enjoyed it.

I'm extending this fic. Indefinitely. I looked a t the end I had planned, and this little voice nagged at me, saying that Lee and Zazie have more to tell. So I'm going to finish up this arc, and from then on it could go anywhere. Literally. Updates will be a little more sporadic, too, but just be patient, and it'll be worth it.

Tikigod784 – Yup, the climax is nigh. And I'm glad I didn't spoil the ah-ha! Moment.

TzuiAssassian – yeah, errors suck, I'm sorry. Also, you're right about the clothes, and I will work on my date writing skills, but honestly, never having been on one myself, I just blanked.

Daughter of ether – well, any insight you got before I revealed stuff in this chapter is probably coincidence. I dropped a few hints early on, but maybe those just seem obvious to me because I knew what they meant.

Sparky – thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you enjoy it.

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In Lee's dorm room, the mood was very grim. Mana, Negi, Asuna, Kaede, Konoka, Setsuna, and Ku Fei all sat in a circle looking at Lee, who was staring at the floor with the look of a man who's lost everything.

Negi spoke up, "So… Lee. What's going on?" Lee looked up with dead eyes.

"…you know that evil group I told you about earlier?" They all nodded.

"I never told you its name because looking for it would have drawn its attention to you. However, now that I've found it, I feel you all need to know everything I know." Lee clasped his hands in front of him, and looked up at the ceiling as though seeking comfort.

He sighed, "To start with, the name of the organization is The Nightmare Circus." Everyone gasped. Mana clapped her hand to her mouth in horror as tears welled up in her eyes, but she fought them away. She spoke up,

"The club Zazie's in?"

"One and the same." Mana bit her lip to hide her tears.

Lee carried on emotionlessly, "I believe that they used Zazie as a puppet without her knowledge, acting the part of a friendly club, when in truth they used her as a spy of information on the outside." Mana got a grip on herself and interrupted.

"Actually, The Nightmare Circus and Zazie moved here at the same time. She said the circus took care of her after she was orphaned."

Lee sighed, "That's even worse, then. They would have had more time to use her." He got up and strode to the window. "With the world tree nearing its peak power, they're probably planning to strike soon. Once they no longer needed her, my guess is that they imprisoned her after her show. I don't know what's going to happen to her now."

He turned his back on the window and looked up at them all. "But before anything else, I need to tell you what I know." He came back and sat down again.

He took a deep breath and began. "The Nightmare Circus is an evil organization convened and directed for the sole purpose of stealing dreams. This is why we believe that their leader is a Nightmare Clown."

"What's a Nightmare Clown?" Negi asked.

"A Nightmare Clown is a demon formed of nightmares; as such, they feed on good dreams to live. In the process of their feeding, though, the victim will be given terrifying nightmares."

"A Nightmare Clown is extremely dangerous, not only because he gives nightmares, but because he can do it merely by focusing on his victim, no matter how far away. This is how I believe he used Zazie; to see new victims to feed upon."

Asuna, frowned, "But if all he does is give nightmares, why is he so evil? Nightmares aren't so bad after you wake up."

Lee frowned as well, and thought for a second. Then he asked, "Asuna, after you've woken up from a really bad nightmare, how do you feel?"

Asuna shrugged, "Fine, except a little tired. The worse the nightmare, the more tired I am."

Lee fixed her with a piercing glare. "Exactly."

"You see, the tired feeling you get isn't because it woke you up sooner than you would have liked, it's because the good dream you no longer have as much energy as you did before."

Asuna furrowed her brow, "I don't get it."

Lee sighed, "Nightmares diminish the energy you have in a detrimental way. It's like sucking the life out of someone, except slower. However, the more exposure you have to a Nightmare Clown, the worse the nightmares get, until eventually you simply have no more energy left."

"And worse yet, this specific Nightmare Clown is incredibly powerful; he can cause nightmares in those he's not even focusing on just from the leak of his power while he's feeding."

The mood, if it was possible, became even grimmer.

Lee continued, "Once, there was a group of magical individuals dedicated and raised to finding and destroying the Nightmare Clowns. They called themselves the Dream Clan. They were very good at what they did, too."

"Too good, some say. They fought against horrific demons and suffered terrifying nightmare's for their entire lives."

"The strain it put on each of them was tremendous. Eventually, their emotions shut down. They simply did nothing but search out the demons and destroy them. It was their driving purpose, their hunger. All other emotions stopped mattering."

"Finally, the greatest and most powerful Nightmare Clown, believed to be the last, was destroyed by the few remaining clan members. After that horrific battle, there were only two left, both of whom had their hair turn stark white after the horror of watching their friends and family slaughtered."

He paused, "This was about 15 years ago."

He took a deep breath and continued, "Five years later, they were found near the edge of the Sahara." His eyes rose to meet Negi's. "Dead."

"It wasn't clear what killed them at the time, but both of them had an expression of sheer terror stamped on their features, along with slashes all along their bodies. 6 months later, The Nightmare Circus was discovered, and it was concluded that one of the demons must have survived the purge of the Dream Clan."

Here Lee paused and choked back a sob. "The first agents of the magical world to be sent after them… were my parents. I was six at the time." He looked down at the ground.

"We found their bodies three months later, in exactly the same condition as the first two." Everyone gasped again. Mana touched Lee's shoulder in sympathy. Nodding his thanks, he continued.

"After that, I was sent to a relative's house, where I trained myself to fight. At ten, I ran away and was accepted into a secret dojo that taught me the Libra style. While I was there, I also taught myself instant movement, and at twelve I went to learn fist pressure from Takahata."

"He was famous for his triple A ranked fighting ability, so I sought him out and had him train me for a while. After that, I found a secret village of ninja's, who taught me to 'lift my limits', or 'open the gates' as they termed it."

His voice grew stronger. "At sixteen I was accepted into the same group my parents were in, and requested and was given this assignment to find and destroy the Nightmare Clown."

His shoulders slumped, "And now Zazie has been taken prisoner right under my nose."

He seemed to shrink before their eyes, "That's all I know, along with how I knew it. But now, I don't know what to do. If he's gotten powerful enough to conceal himself from me for this long… I don't know if I can take him anymore. Even the Dream Clan, who lived specifically to kill the clown, were killed. If they couldn't kill him, how can I?"

He buried his face in his hands. Mana stood up.

"Lee, you idiot." Lee looked up. "Are you just gonna sit there while Zazie's being held prisoner?"

Lee shrugged, "But what can I do? He's to strong."

Mana smacked him.

Everyone else looked on in shock.

Mana spoke again, her voice seething with disgust. "Is that it then? Is this how far your love and need to avenge your parents takes you? Is this how far your love for Zazie will go? When the Circus strikes tomorrow, hundreds of people will die terrible, horrifying deaths, right?" Lee nodded slowly "So why are you sitting there? I thought you had more guts then that."

Mana turned away. "If I'd have known that this was it, I wouldn't have let you date Zazie in the first place. She's to good for you."

Lee mumbled something. Mana turned around.

"Eh? What was that?"

Lee exploded. "I said I KNOW! She's way to perfect for me, way to cute, and funny, and nice, and kind to need to have anything to do with me!" Lee's tears flowed freely now "But she does any ways. She hangs out with me, and holds my hand, and hugs me willingly. She's amazing to me. She's the first girl I've ever loved."

His eyes blazed with fire. "Which is why we're not leaving her for that Clown bastard!" He ran to his chest and threw it open, dug in under a false bottom, and drew out a pair of leather studded belts, and hung them around his waist so they formed an X over his waist. Hanging from the low end of each belt was a four bladed steel claw, with a steel rod handhold and bars to steady the hand on either side.

He looked at them fondly. "These claws were formed of the melted won swords of the Dream Clan, along with the steel from my parents' swords. They're my weapons, my Dream Claws."

He looked at them all with a fiery glint in his eyes. "Let's go rescue Zazie!"

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Looooooooooooooooong chapter, although you wouldn't know it by the page count. There are some minor details that I never worked out, I realize, but on the whole this could be believable, right?