AN: I said I was going to choose speed, and I delay for longer than I expect. This is my apology, for that and the rather lackluster previous capter.
By the way, it is surprisingly hard for me to think up bad lies.
Touhou owned by ZUN. Negima owned by Akamatsu. Everything else owned by [static]
Meanwhile, in a scene that may or may not be continuity…
The plain didn't even have the decency to be a scene of destruction. Instead, it was a dull scene of despair. Where there used to be life, colour and magic, there was just a mass expanse of… red. It was all gone, except for two lone figures, both covered in red dust. One, a girl that looked about middle school age but was actually much older due to time travel was kneeling on the red dust, turning over a device in her hands. She had her black hair in buns and a face that was much more suited to smiling. She was the descendant of the greatest of mages, and she was staring at nothing. The other was woman who looked older, of middle age, but really was as old as the time traveler. She had purple hair, wore glasses and a lab coat. She shouldn't be alive, and she was staring impassively at the landscape.
She was the one that spoke first. "Do you like what we've done with the place?" She held out her arms to emphasise the vastness of the desolate plain. "We should pave it. Then put up a parking lot."
"Why do you include me in your destruction?"
"You were its harbinger. You harbinged it."
Chao stared at the Cassiopeia. "I intend to unharbinge what I have harbinged."
The woman looked at her curiously. "Oh?"
The time traveller glared at the woman, clutching the device to her chest. "You betrayed me."
"Betrayed you? Isn't this what you- what we wanted?" She looked back at the plain. "Peace. An end to slavery and oppression. A cool time device. What more can a girl ask for?"
"Magic. Monsters."
The woman laughed. "No, no, no. No magic. No monsters. Just science and humans. Clever humans. Like you. Like us."
Chao struggled to her feet. Turning to face the woman completely, she shouted, "I am not one of you!" She activated the Cassiopeia. "I am one of me!" On reflection, she thought as the red plain disappeared from her vision, it sounded much cooler in her head.
"Practe Bigi Nar Lux."
Negi blinked at the light emitted from Marisa's wand.
"You can already do that sort of thing? From self-study?"
"And many repeated attempts." Marisa sighed.
"That's really good!"
"Really? I don't think so. I can only do Practe Bigi Nar Vente," a breeze was emitted, "and Lux. I've been trying fire for ages. Practe Bigi Nar Ardescat." A flame completely failed to appear. "See?"
Negi frowned. "I don't see why you wouldn't be able to do it. You obviously have the talent, and you aren't doing anything wrong. Hmm. Practe Bigi Nar Ardescat!" No flames appeared. "Is this where you always practice?"
"Yeah, no one comes here, you see."
Negi looked at the surroundings. Multi-levelled, books completely covering the walls, it was a huge repository of literature and reference. It was well lit, even in this side passage. Every single detail was designed to create a perfect library. 'Magical' was definitely an accurate description. And apparently, size wasn't the only magical thing about the Voile.
"I think there must be magical restrictions on the place to prevent fire spells being cast."
Marisa's eyes widened. "Really? Well, that would make sense." She frowned. "Negi-sensei, how magical is this library?"
Negi closed his eyes and focused. All libraries had some magical impact, big ones especially so. And with its enchantments and magical texts, the Voile was definitely a magical locale. So he braced himself for the huge sensory overload.
The air hummed with magical energy. The neurons in Negi's brain fired. All of them. At once.
He fainted.
Reimu sighed. She was happy when she was asked for help. But sometimes… "When you said this was an emergency, I expected more than these guys. Shouldn't you get a teacher, or something?"
Dai blinked and looked at her questioningly. "Prodigy-sensei? In this situation?"
"Point." Reimu put her hands on her hips and glared at her seniors. "And you people, talking up your maturity, yet you decide to pick on those younger than you. I smell hypocrisy." I mean, really? I'm solving playground disputes now?
Meanwhile, the rest of the group known as Team (9), were picking up their leader, who had been knocked down during the initial 'assault'.
"You all right, Cirno?" Wriggle asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," came the reply, "Why is Hakurei here? We could have dealt with this ourselves."
"Is that so?"
"Dai insisted," Mystia answered, "Still, it is nice to have the two Shrine Maidens in our class. We can call for their help any time."
Reimu narrowly dodged a ball thrown by the gang of seniors. It sailed past her head, only to fly towards Cirno and knock her down again. "Is that really your response? Come on, that was pathetic!"
"…Hmph…You talk big, but you're just a kid…"
"Just because you're the Hakurei Shrine Maiden doesn't mean you're able to talk to your seniors like that."
Reimu looked behind the gang and smiled. "Well, then I suppose the same applies to you. Hello, Takahata-sensei!"
"Hello, Hakurei-san. I see you've got the situation under control."
The vast majority of the group stared at him. Whispers of "Where the hell did he come from?" were whispered.
"That's right! Let's all stare at the teacher! Let's all just leave your friend lying on the ground! I'm enjoying looking at the sky anyway!" said one of the exceptions.
"Is that so?"
"Rumia, is that all you ever say?"
"You know."
Marisa rarely glared in actual anger. So when she did, it was terrifying. It didn't phase Patchouli, though. Hardly anything did. Negi was lying down on some cushions arranged for maximum comfort. But that wasn't important. Marisa wanted some questions answered.
"I do?" asked the librarian.
"Yes, you do! Remember when…"
"You can do magic," Patchouli said with a monotone hinted with scepticism.
"Yeah! It took me so many attempts, but I can do it!"
Patchouli stared at Marisa's 'wand' and sighed. "If you can create a flame with that, I'll believe you."
Marisa grinned. She hadn't actually done the fire one yet, but she knew the incantation. With a proud breath, she declared, "Practe Begi Nar Ardescat!"
"You knew it wouldn't work. Thus you know about magic. And really, how couldn't you? You practically live here."
"You know, I wasn't going to ask, but with these rants and raves I feel I must. What exactly happened to Springfield-sensei?"
Marisa paused. "I asked him how magical this place was, and he…" What was he trying to do?
"Don't tell me he believes this delusion of yours," Patchouli scolded. Marisa looked away. "Very well then. We shall wait until he wakes, and I will listen to what he has to say."
Marisa reluctantly nodded. Hopefully, Negi-sensei would cover for her.
Magical sensory overload was never fun. Though it did not do any lasting damage, it took consciousness without warning and gave it back just as suddenly. Thankfully, he was lying down on something soft. As he slowly got up, he noticed two of his students staring at him. One was Kirisame, of course, the other was…
"Ah! Knowledge-san?"
"Correct, sensei. I was rather concerned when Kirisame came along carrying your unconscious body, but it seems like you are fine. However, as I am one the librarians of Voile as well as one of your students, I have to ask: What happened?"
Negi looked over at Marisa who looked back at him with a pleading expression. Kirisame-san must be in trouble because of me, he thought, I have to think of a convincing lie! "I- was walking when I tripped and fell over! Marisa must have found me!"
Patchouli gave Marisa what could only be described as a look. "I see."
It was at this Marisa said in a low voice, "Excuse me." She got up and ran out of the library.
Patchouli looked concerned. "Oh dear."
Negi looked at her. "What?"
The purple-haired librarian shook her head. "She's probably just gone off to sulk somewhere. Do you know, she was saying that she was telling you about magic? It's one of her little fantasies from a book she once read. I apologise for her-"She stopped as Negi got up. "It might not be wise to get up so early."
"I just need to get some fresh air. Thank you, Knowledge-san." Then he ran out of the library after Marisa.
Patchouli watched him leave. When she had made sure he did, she drew a card from her sleeve, and put it to her head. Remilia, are you there? I think you should listen to this…
"Hah… hah…You run fast."
Both of them were breathing heavily. Negi had pursued Marisa halfway through the school, pleading for her to stop. She finally did so, when couldn't run anymore.
"H…had to. W…why did you tell Knowledge-san about magic?"
There was a long pause. Marisa stared disbelievingly at the young teacher. Negi noticed that her eyes were red. "Isn't it obvious? Patchy is a mage."
Negi recoiled in shock. "But she said-"
Marisa snorted. "So? At the very best, she's trying to hide her- what's a good word, condition? Eh, good enough. At the very worst, she's doing this on purpose, although I can't imagine why."
"Why would you think Knowledge-san-?"
"Goddamnit, Negi-sensei! Think! How magical was the Voile?"
The memory of the sensory overload sent shivers down Negi's spine. "Very."
"Patchouli lives there. She gets up, goes to class, and then returns to the library. Her lodgings are part of the Voile. When she said she was a librarian, she neglected to mention that she was the Head Librarian. The Voile, you could say is her pride and joy. If it's so magical, she knows that it is." She paused to think. "And I won't be surprised if she was the one who put the fire-magic restriction on the place. It's so very Patchouli."
"But I don't think she would mean any harm." Negi insisted.
Marisa sat down on the ground and looked up the sky. "I don't know. Patchy means what she means. Maybe she has this overarching objective, maybe she has none at all. Enigmatic know-it-all." Marisa laughed, and lay down. "In fact, most of my friends are like that. Patchy, Reimu, Alice…" Marisa smirked. "'specially Alice. I just want to stand on equal footing with them, you know? When I discovered magic, I thought I could do something amazing that even they couldn't do. But it looks like that won't work either, would it? I'm just doomed to be ordinary. Even if I became a mage, I'll just be an ordinary magician."
There was long, reflective silence after these words as Negi tried to find a response. He finally settled on the basic truth.
"You believed in magic, though no one believed you. You taught yourself how to do basic incantations, using only a couple of books. Magical restrictions were placed on you and you still succeeded. You are anything but ordinary, Kirisame-san. Practe Bigi Nar Ardescat."
Marisa looked at the flame hovering over Negi's palm, then drew her wand. "Practe Bigi Nar Ardescat." The wand emitted a small flame. "Huh. Well." She smiled. "That's one way of looking at it." She blew the flame out. "~Ze."
Negi smiled as he extinguished his flame.
That was when the ambush happened.
"Chao, Chao, Chao. What am I going to do with you?"
The woman pulled a similar device of her own out her pocket. It wasn't quite the same as a Cassiopeia. Instead of allowing the user to travel through time, it...did quite a lot of things. One of those things was the ability to track a Cassiopeia. A small smile crept onto her lips as she read where Chao ended up.
She wouldn't be doing anything anytime soon.
Reimu Hakurei
Likes: Tea, helping people, her shrine.
Dislikes: Sanae Kochiya, uncleanliness
Clubs/Organisations: Hakurei Shrine, Gensokyo Dodgeball Team 'Protagonists'
Negi's extra notes: Scary in the mornings.
Marisa Kirisame
Likes: Magic, Stars, Books
Dislikes: Not much
Clubs/Organisations: Astronomy Club, Book Retrieval Team, Gensokyo Dodgeball Team 'Protagonists'
Negi's extra notes: Wants to learn magic. And she's good!
AN: What should I do more of? What should I do less of? Any cool ideas you want to see played out? I won't know unless you review. If you don't, I'll be forced to use my own tortured imagination.
And no one wants that.