Still Waters Another Turn, Chapter 7

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All These Lines On My Face Getting Clearer

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Natsumi was up on stage, doing Hamlet in an actual professional production. She was playing the Prince of Denmark Himself and doing a great job of it, if she had anything to say about it. Only, the audience was getting restless. Just as she (quite magnificently) 'died' after 'killing' Claudius, someone in the audience stood up. A hush fell over the theater as the man, who Natsumi recognized as a leading theater critic in the area, walked up toward the stage and paused in the center of the aisle. A spotlight swept over to him and he adjusted his glasses slightly, squinted his eyes as he looked directly at her, and made a short 'hmph' of disgust. The man shook his head in disdain and walked down the center aisle all the way to the exit. The sound of the heavy door opening and closing was thunderous in the now-silent theater.

Someone else stood up, shook their head, and headed for the exit, followed by another and another.

"Wait! The play isn't over yet…!"

No one paid any attention, and soon the entire audience was on its feet, shuffling toward the exit. Natsumi looked to the other actors for help, but none of them would look at her.

"Hey, what are we gonna do?" she asked, but none of them even acknowledged her existence. "Kuzuki-sempai? Kuzuki-sempai, do you hear me?" No response.

"I guess we went out on a limb…we need someone to play the prince after all," he said to another actor.

"Listen to me!"

"Yeah, that was a mistake," the actor replied.

"Maybe we should have gotten that girl…what's her name?"

"Who are you talking about? I don't remember anyone like that."

"Yeah, she might as well not even exist," Kuzuki-sempai said carelessly. "Oh well, I have more important things to do."

"I…I might as well not even…It's true…I'm useless…I'm forgettable…No one will ever acknowledge me…"

Natsumi snapped upright in bed and realized she was sobbing hysterically. Almost immediately, Chizu-nee was beside her.

"Natsumi-chan? What's wrong?" But Natsumi couldn't even answer, she was crying too hard.

Kotarou came in, wiping the sleep from his eyes absently. "What's wrong? Natsumi-nee-san, why are you crying?"

"Oh Kotarou-kun," she wailed as she grabbed hold of his shirt. Ayaka came out of the bathroom with a haggard look on her face at this point.

"Hey! You're getting me all wet," he said, trying ineffectually to push the teenager away until he saw the look on Chizuru's face. He settled for putting a hesitant hand on her back instead.

"It will be all right, Natsumi-chan," Chizuru said. "Kotarou-kun, please stay with her, I'll make some tea. Come with me, Ayaka-san."

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Gaze sat back in the chair in his office and stretched. He had been up most of the night, and only had time for a few hours of sleep before coming in to work this morning. Already he had drifted off twice, only to be awakened by his secretary. It had been quite fun, playing with the child's friends like that. But somehow, things weren't going as quickly as he'd hoped. He had hoped to drive at least a few of them to murderous levels of paranoia, but either the full affect was being blocked somehow, or the entire class was amazingly well balanced, mentally and emotionally. Somehow, he doubted the latter…they were a class of fourteen and fifteen year old girls, after all; they should be knifing each other right and left by now.

He riffled through the reports he had had his people gather on the students. Several mages, a ninja, a mercenary, and a lot of untrained potential. Somehow, he had a feeling the vampire wouldn't interfere.

Some of them had quite a bit of potential. Maybe after this was over, he could brainwash any survivors and keep them as his personal guard during his retirement? He pulled out a piece of paper and began a list as he thumbed through the reports again. Konoe Konoka, Akashi Yuuna, Kakizaki Misa, Sasaki Makie… Maybe he could build a harem instead. It wasn't as though they were illegal everywhere, after all.

Those happy thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. "Come in."

"Mister Gaze, a Mister Averruncus is here to see you," the secretary said as Fate walked through the doorway.

"Hello, Gaze," the boy said as his blank eyes scanned the room and finally settled on the big man on the other side of the desk.

"Welcome, Fate," Gaze replied as he motioned for the secretary to leave. "Would you like some tea?"

"No thank you, I prefer coffee," Fate replied as he pulled a chair up and sat down opposite Gaze. He looked the much older man over, noting his receding hairline and graying hair, down to the worry-wrinkles beginning to show on his face. "It seems as though you are not doing very well, Gaze."

The man sighed and shook his head. "My power is fading. I knew it would happen eventually, but…" He stood up and paced around the room in an aggravated manner. "I should still have enough time to do this," he said as he pulled out an old pocketknife and began to flick it rapidly open and shut in a steady rhythm. Click-click. Click-click. Click-click. A steady two clicks a second. It was a nervous habit he had developed a long time ago. He still held his teacup, which seemed like a toy in his other hand. While Gaze was a very big man, he was not fat. His strength was quite surprising, and he used to say in the old days that he had never pushed anything that didn't move, and had never punched a man that hadn't hit the floor immediately after.

"See that you do," Fate said as he picked up the folder with the reports on the students inside. He flipped through them for a moment, finally stopping on Nodoka. He pulled the report out and showed it to the other man. "This one is incredibly dangerous, she is a mind reader." He pulled out Asuna's report. "She is a magic canceller."

"What?! But that can't be…" Gaze exclaimed, suddenly lost in thought.

"The royal family? It seems to be that way, but we don't know for sure. In any case, if you get a chance, try to capture her alive. Now," Fate said, pulling out another folder. "This one is Shinmeiryu, Tsukuyomi tells me she is quite good," he said, showing Setsuna's report to the older man. He shuffled through them for a moment more. "This one," he finally said, pulling out Chizuru's folder. "She is incredibly dangerous. The report from Wilhelm stated that she was able to physically strike him before he could react, and he is a high-class demon." Fate dropped the stack of reports back on the desk, placing those he had pulled out to the side.

"My thanks for the information, Fate."

"Now it is up to you to put it to use," the white haired boy replied. They remained in silence for a moment. "How are you planning to do this? The boy seems to be unimportant, but they demand his immediate death or imprisonment. And, as I am sure you know, they are not patient."

Gaze returned to his chair. "This," he said finally, pulling a small gold-colored object from a hidden pocket. He offered it to Fate, who took it curiously.

"A dreamgazer. Interesting. I thought they had all been lost or destroyed." He passed it back to the other man. "Where did you find it?"

Gaze took it back and put it away. "It was quite expensive, let me assure you," he said. "An old friend found it in the ruins of Ostia. He was the only member of his party to escape the ruins…as you know, that place is quite dangerous." Gaze didn't bother to mention that the 'friend' had seen to it personally that the rest of the group didn't leave the ruins, and that things had been arranged to ensure that after the delivery of the valuable artifact, no one would ever know that Gaze even possessed such a thing.

"I see. That should augment your other abilities quite well."

Gaze frowned, but remained silent.

Fate finally stopped hinting around. "How long do you have left?"

Gaze's frown deepened, and he looked away. "Maybe six months. Maybe a year. My power will be gone in two years at the most. After that…"

The boy nodded at the unspoken words. After that, Gaze would fade away.

"Very well, shapeshifter. Do what you can. I must go now…is there any message you wish to send?" While he normally wouldn't offer such a thing to anyone, Gaze had been an acquaintance for a long time, and he felt a vague sense of disappointment at the thought that the man wouldn't be around for much longer. But…such was the fate of all artificials.

Gaze looked over at the boy, wondering why he was being so generous. "Tell them my vow for vengeance will soon be fulfilled. Their defeat at the hands of the Thousand Master and his mercenaries will not go unavenged. After that…I will finally get some rest."

Fate studied the man across the desk. "Very well. Goodbye, Gaze," he said as a faint sense of disappointment flooded him. It seemed Gaze would remain a tool for others to use for the rest of his life.

"Goodbye, Fate."

The two stood and looked across the desk at each other for a moment. It seemed as if this would be the last time they saw each other…it was quite an unsettling feeling, in Fate's opinion. The boy turned and left the room in silence.

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"Ako-san? Ako-san, please wake up," Negi said from his place at the front of the classroom.

"Ah…I'm sorry, Negi-sensei," she said, rubbing her eyes. She felt herself half fall out of her desk, but managed to grab hold of the desktop before she hit the floor.

"Ako-san!"

"Hey, Ako, are you ok?"

Negi quieted the class and took a look around. Most of them looked tired, and Sakurako-san was practically drooling as she slumped over her desk. Iincho was still stunned from the information overload of the past few days, and was staring blankly through a nearby window. With mounting worry, Negi took a good, long look at the class. Everyone was drooping or rubbing their eyes or yawning, and Natsumi-san, Chizuru-san, and Kazumi-san weren't even present. Well, Zazie-san looked normal. Of course, Zazie-san was Zazie-san. Negi felt fine. 'What is happening here?' he thought frantically. He returned his attention to Ako-san, who suddenly seemed very frail. Asuna-san was the only one that looked fully awake, so he called on her. "Asuna-san, please take Ako-san to the nurse's office."

The girl glanced sharply at Iincho before answering. "Alright, Negi-sensei."

Ako barely noticed Asuna put on her sword case and approach her desk, and hardly realized that any time had passed when she found herself outside the nurse's room. Asuna told her to sit down by the wall, and she realized with a start for the first time that there were others here. In fact, there was a line of people waiting to get in. What was going on here?

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Negi, Asuna, Setsuna, and Konoka were the only ones at practice after school. One by one during the day, the others had all shrugged off the training, claiming exhaustion for the most part.

"I don't like this," Asuna said after a moment, causing the others to look at her. "Everyone's acting weird," she explained. The others looked at each other and nodded slowly.

Finally Setsuna broke the silence. "I…I had a dream," she began. Konoka turned sharply toward her as she continued. "K-k-Kono-chan, Konoka-ojou-sama, she…In the dream, she…it was like what happened during the class trip to Kyoto, only…Konoka-ojou-sama was…she was…" Setsuna stopped and looked at Negi, Asuna, and Konoka. She gulped and continued. "She was…was petrified. And Fate, that white haired boy, he hit her, and…" Setsuna's breath hitched and Konoka hugged her, prompting a shocked fit of spluttering on Setsuna's part. Asuna and Negi stared at the girl in shock; neither had ever seen her act like that before.

After a moment, Konoka started speaking, not letting go of the other girl. "In mine, we were all older. Probably about twenty, I think." She kept clinging to Setsuna, who was barely holding back tears. "We were all fighting a dragon, and Secchan…she was flying, and the dragon, the dragon…" She buried her face in Setsuna's neck and started sobbing as Asuna and Negi looked at each other.

"I haven't had any bad dreams, I don't even really remember having any dreams at all, lately. What about you?" Asuna asked. Negi shook his head, but his face was firm.

"Has anyone else had bad dreams?"

"Iincho said something about not being able to sleep lately," Asuna answered as she thought for a moment. "Asakura too."

Negi nodded. "I wonder if the rest of the students are the same…?"

Asuna thought back to the classroom earlier that day. "Probably. You saw everyone, right? It doesn't look like anyone has gotten much sleep." She looked at Negi with a serious expression. She didn't like her friends to suffer like this. "This isn't natural, we have to tell somebody."

Negi nodded seriously as he considered what he knew of such things. They would have to tell the magic teachers, for one thing. But the headmaster would have to know first.

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Author's Note: Aha, plot! Along with another short chapter.

Also, a dreamgazer is a small charm-like thing like the magic objects Nodoka uses to enhance her artifact's abilities in the magic world arc in the manga. If you can't guess its purpose by the name, well…