it's up, if slightly unedited! comments, accolades, and not-mean criticism welcome! thanks for reviewing so far, gang!
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If the world was going to hell (and Xan was reasonable sure it was) then Cincinnati would have to be its seventh ring. Though, to be completely fair to the Queen City of the West, the recent problems were for once not caused by politicians squabbling over money or by a losing sports team. Not even race riots could be blamed. No, the destruction of the beautiful (and recently remodeled) Fountain Square had been done by a force far different from Cinci's usual afflictions. The pestilence currently plaguing the city was decidedly foreign.
God damn magic.
Magic. Xan couldn't help but feel a tinge of bitterness at the word. He hated the stuff and the stuff hated him. He took this attack on his hometown as personal. Though when he mentioned magic's possible vendetta to Nate he was met with only a scoff and a terse statement to the effect that while magic did break all the laws of physics (laws which Xan happened to hold in very high regard) it was hardly sentient and therefore held no personal grudges against anyone; least of all some crazy American blond dude.
Xan supposed that this was a fair point, as, up until the moment some crazy asshole in a stupid hat showed up ranting and blasting the hell out of Fountain Square, magic had been pretty much remained the territory of the Japanese. And since he held no ties to that country whatsoever, his direct acquaintance with magic could not possibly have been long enough to cause any extreme form of enmity. Probably. If magic could feel. Which was doubtful. But even if it couldn't, he certainly had feelings. And right now they were of intense hatred toward magic.
Though their direct acquaintance hadn't been for long (in all honesty, he'd only been gaping in the Square for about twenty minutes now) he'd know of magic for years. Ever since it and those damn freaky sailor-suited women rose up and started ruling Japan. Oh, his mistake, since they started ruling Crystal Japan.
He couldn't read Japanese and he didn't really believe what the American newsmen reported so he wasn't really up on the whole story, but what he did know was this: one day, the world went to bed and woke up with the whole of Japan covered in some strange crystal-ice amalgam. Two days after that, the country woke up and there was an announcement sent all over the world explaining a) magic existed, b) no really, it existed, see? and c) by the way, Japan has been renamed and is now happily ruled by small women with weird hair and short skirts; all previous alliances had been voided and entirely new trading and military contracts had to be renegotiated. Thanks bunches.
The world had been in shock…for about a millisecond, and when the final reactions came in, they went about four ways:
1. Forceful condemnation of the heathen witches (religion)
2. Being pissed off at the possible loss of lucrative trade (U.S. government)
3. Trying to immigrate to Japan and worship the rulers and gods (um, weirdoes)
4. Hating magic because it ruined your stable world view and put at risk your livelihood as part of a crack military investigation team (Xander)
Yes, magic had messed with his source of income (not to mention idea of reality) and now it was messing with his city. Stupid Hat Man was totally going down. That freak may have been magical but he had never dealt with a pissed off General.