Surprise! I have good news for all my readers. Thanks to my infinite awesomeness as an author, and the fact that I get a break at studying on Fridays, (yes, even during the finals), I was actually able to finish this chapter after just my break day and part of the one and a half hours I get every day to use my computer during exam time. And if I get enough reviews, I might just decide to try and pull it off again. Of course, I'm going to need at least… ohh… 10-15 reviews for that, preferably more, but still, just that much is fine. Remember, I'm open to any suggestions that you may have, flames will be extinguished, comments rewarded and nonsense, ignored. (In other words, non-constructive criticism and stuff that I just can't make any heads or tails out of will simply be completely ignored)

Once again: I don't own anything that has to do with Ranma1/2, Mahou Sensei Negima, or any other aspects and/or characters from other manga and anime that I may squeeze into the story. All I own is the plot and most of the next gen Mahora students.

Let's get this party started!

Chapter IV: Revelations

In the dining room…

"It's hard to believe that it's already been seventeen years hasn't it, ne Yuekichi?" Nodoka asked in a genuinely cheerful voice, the woman sitting across from her nodding in agreement.

"True… though I am quite certain that everybody else is happy about it. In six days, it'll be a full twenty two years since the last activation of the Sacratus Duodecimus (1)."

Yue, much like Nodoka, had grown quite a lot in the past seventeen years since the Ala Alba had parted ways. Gone was the diminutive, immaturely bodied girl, now replaced with a well-formed and boatful woman. Her hair was no longer split in at the back, letting it run smoothly behind her, reaching down to her knees with the same bluish-purple sheen as before.

She had grown taller too; going from the short height of four feet, six inches to around five and half feet. Her figure had become more shapely; with a generous bust size, slim waist and well-rounded hips. She was garbed in a sky-blue dress and a matching skirt that stopped just below the knees, a white blouse over her top. The usual gear one would expect from a librarian.

"Yeah… I can still remember how that whole incident with Chao's 'reveal magic to the world' plan," Nodoka said, a smile forming on her lips as she reminisced about long passed festival. "Come to think of it… that was the very first time that the Ala Alba all worked together wasn't it?"

Yue nodded, a smile of recollection on her own features. "Uh-huh, even though the Ala Alba was only formed later, that was still the very first time that all of us founding members had had a part in a major magical incident. Definitely something one won't easily forget."

She stopped right there, taking a sip of her tea, not noticing the mischievous glint in her best friends eyes. "Hmm… you say that, and yet… weren't you the one that completely forgot it? And after just a few months at that," teased the elder of the two(2).

Yue very nearly choked on her drink upon hearing that, coughing lightly afterwards. She stared at Nodoka with a pout on her face, eyes narrowed towards the innocently laughing woman. Before long, the pout on Yue's face left, being replaced by her own set of laughter.

"How many times have I told you not to bring that back up?" the shorter of the two asked, still laughing lightly. It took the pair of bibliomancers(3) some time to finally quiet down. Yue once again looking at her old friend, a hint of worry in her eyes. "You've really changed a lot… compared to the Nodoka I knew from our school days."

All the amusement on Nodoka's face left her as she heard that, her expression changing into one of sadness. "Well… a lot things change in such a long time. It's only natural." Her words held a deep depression in them, as her head bowed down to the side; her eyes, staring longingly at something that wasn't there, knowing full well what was to follow.

Yue's face too, grew solemn. She reached out her hand to comfort her friend, rubbing Nodoka's arm gently. "Still feeling guilty about it huh?" she nodded, "you really shouldn't, you know? Nobody blames you for what happened; not me, not Haruna, no one. All of us understood what had to be done, and one of us would have done it eventually, you were just the first one to act, one way or another, it still would've happened. There's no need to feel bad about the past."

Calming down a little at her friends voice, the mind reader raised her head to look at the former valkyrie, a large amount of guilt still present in her eyes. "I know Yue… it's just that… well… I still can't forgive myself for forcing Ranma to go through the life that he did. Having to be raised by that fat excuse of a human being, getting engaged to a bunch of girls that only want him as a trophy. Yue, it was bad enough that I separated him from his true father, but I actually let him get taken away from me by that bastard of a panda!"

By that time, Nodoka had already started getting teary-eyed as she let loose seventeen years worth of guilt. Yue could only try her best to console her friend as she started to weep. "Nodoka…" she called pleadingly, "come on now, you can't cry at a time like this. If anything, this is when you need to be your strongest. From what you've told us about Ranma's life, he's already suffered many times because decisions were made for him without his consent. If you don't show him that everything we did truly was for his own good, that it was all unavoidable, then you may very well lose his trust completely."

Slowly, the tears flowing from the mind reader's eyes came to a stop as she regained her composure. Giving out a deep sigh, she steadied her posture, getting ready for what was to come.

-X-

Ranma walked alongside Yume towards the dining room, his godmother right in front of them, leading the way. As they walked into the room, he sent a curious look to his mother, hoping to get answers, but as he cast his gaze on her face, he quickly relented. It was easy to see from her face that she had been crying, and he had no intention of making it worse.

Once all three of them had been settled, a woman –his mother's friend from what he guessed– turned to him; the calm and near completely emotionless look on her face easily giving her away as Yume's relative. "Probably her mother or something. *sigh* I just hope that all this isn't what I think it is."

A barely noticeable smile appeared on face as she looked at him. "Well now… I must say Ranma-san, you've certainly grown since the last time I saw you." Seeing the confused look on the young man's face, it didn't take her long to figure out what he was trying to do. "Don't bother trying to remember if we've met before. The last time I saw you was when you were a baby."

Ranma grew worried at those words. The only people he'd ever met that had known him when he was a child had either been engaged to him or had an engagement between him and their daughter. The look on his face wasn't missed though.

"Don't worry, I'm not here because of some engagement deal. I can assure you, I hold no intent on having you marry Yume," she said, causing Yume to blush at the thought.

Sensing no deception in her voice, Ranma noticeably grew more relaxed as he let he felt his mind relax. One question still remained though. "Okay, so you're Yume's mother then? I don't think I've gotten your name yet," he said truthfully.

She nodded, "my name is Ayase Yue, Haruna and I were both old classmates of your mother." The minute cheerfulness that seeped into her voice as she said that was easy to spot with her usually monotonous tone. It easily gave away just how happy she was of the fact.

Seeing that the introductions were over with, Yume was quick to jump in with her own question. "So Mom, what was it that you wanted to tell me and Ranma?" she asked inquisitively. Her enquiry seemed to have a profound effect on the three adults in the room as the atmosphere quickly grew solemn.

"Ah… yes that matter," Nodoka started, her voice low, as if greatly burdened by what was to come. "Ranma, before we begin with that, let me just tell you now, I really do feel sorry for everything I've done."

Ranma stared curiously at his mother, unsurprisingly confused at what she had just said. "Sorry?... Sorry for what?"

"For keeping so many secrets from you, for letting Genma take you away… and most of all, for allowing you to live a lie your entire life."

Now Ranma was starting to freak out. Never before had he ever heard his mother talk like that, in fact he'd never heard anyone talk like that at all. She was completely serious about this matter, not even a single trace of humour in her voice. He could practically feel all the sadness and regret rolling off of her words. Whatever this was, he knew it was important.

"Wh… Why don't you just tell us what's going on. I'm pretty sure whatever it is, I'll still forgive you. I mean… it can't be that bad can't it?" he asked, hoping to cheer her up. It didn't seem to work though, as she still kept the pained look that she held before she spoke.

Yume didn't dare disturb them, as much as she wanted to continue on with this. Somehow, she knew that this involved her too. That thought was only confirmed by what her mother said next.

"Yume… what Ranma is about to learn concerns you as well. In fact, what we're going to tell you will connect you two to something that only a very small fraction of this world is aware of, and it will do so deeper with you two than most others. I expect you to let us finish explaining before you ask any questions. There's still one manner of business that we need to take care of after this, so I want to end this quickly."

The hidden edge in Yue's words were difficult to pick up by most people, but Yume had spent her entire life with her mother, so she caught on to it immediately. She had always argued with her mother about many things, but whenever her mother added that hidden commanding tone to her voice, she always found herself afraid to keep going. Hearing it now, she certainly wasn't going to argue.

Even her aunt Haruna, who Yume had only ever seen with a wild and excitable personality, now had a calculating look on her face, as if trying to decide on something.

Haruna released a heavy sigh. Seeing as neither of her best friends were willing to start, it fell upon herself to do so. She wasn't surprised really, after all, despite her attempts at cheering Nodoka up, she too had felt guilty about lying to her daughter and was as equally nervous of their reaction to the truth.

"Well… might as well get this over and with."

"I suppose I'll have to start then, let's go with the least complicated of all of this shall we?"

No one protested, it was clear that they all just wanted to start with it. "It's decided then. To start things off, Yume, I gave you all those original copies of my Mahora Magister Magi series right?" Yume nodded, unsure of where this was going. "Alright then, do you think you could summarize for us exactly what happened and what it's all about?"

Yume looked at her curiously. "Uhm… well… okay sure. The Mahora Magister Magi series was based off of things that happened to you and your class back when you were still a junior high student in Mahora academy. All of the events that take place were magical versions of actual events that happened in your life."

"The manga series in itself centred around Negi Springfield; a fifteen year old prodigy in both studies and magic, who was assigned to be class 3A's homeroom teacher, which was also your class. The students of class 3A made up the rest of the main cast, all of them based on your old classmates who, one by one, eventually found out about magic, with many of them actually learning to become mages. A good portion of the beginning of the story is driven mostly by Negi's determination to find his father."

"During the magic world arc, it was found out that Negi's mother was the last Queen of Ostia. The series concluded with Negi being crowned the new king of Ostia after they managed to turn the magic world completely real."

And with that, Yume ended her speech, all her previous confusions having left her as she got into her story telling. She may not have liked books all that much, so long as it had magic in it, she was always interested.

As she listened, Haruna kept a steady expression on the outside, but inwardly, she was practically grinning at the two teens' reactions to what she would tell them. The mangaka nodded in approval. "Good, you remembered most of it. Now tell me, what if I told you two that everything that happened there was real? If I told you that we really are mages?"

The mischievous humour permeating her voice as she asked them was unmistakable, though the reason behind it certainly wasn't.

Yume frowned, "I'd say you were either pulling my leg or bat-shit crazy, though I probably wouldn't be surprised with whichever one it is. Look… I know that I like pretty much everything that has to do with magic and all, but the things that happen in that manga are just too impractical to be true!"

Ranma, on the other hand, just looked intently at his aunt, trying to gauge whether she was joking or not. He'd already seen a lot of 'impossibilities' happen, some… actually, make that all, concerning him directly. He's a guy that turns into a girl for kami's sake. It wouldn't be much of a surprise for him if what she said was true.

"Besides, if aunty is telling the truth, then it might just explain what exactly happened last night with mom. I mean, her knowing martial arts, I understand, but that weird aura she had definitely wasn't ki."

"Uhm… aunty, if you don't mind, do you think you could actually give us proof of that?" the lone male asked carefully, it wouldn't do him any good to get the proof in a painful manner. "Sure, I'd probably survive it, but I'd rather not take my chances whenever magic's concerned, at least until I know what it does."

He became pretty nervous when Haruna regained that shark-like smile that she held earlier. "Heh… seems like that curse of yours has made you more open-minded.," she stated, though Ranma could've sworn that there was something wrong with what she said; it didn't help his suspicions any when Yume's face went red or when the other two adults had rolled their eyes.

" Alright then, if it's proof that you want then that's what you'll get," Haruna announce, pulling out a card from seemingly out of nowhere. Neither of the two teens could see what was on the other side; all they saw was a red background with an odd pattern on it in deep red that resembled a magic circle.

Yume's eyes widened in recognition and disbelief at the sight, an act which wasn't missed by Ranma. It was enough for him to guess that she had seen that card before, and what she said next confirmed it. "Th… that's… y… you're… you're joking… right? That can't really be a… a… a pactio card… can it?" her voice was laden with a mixture of scepticism, denial and, oddly enough desperation; hoping what she saw was real while also refusing to believe it.

The predatory grin on Haruna's face only intensified at hearing that. "Oh… it is. I assure you," she said darkly, easily scaring Ranma and Yume, though the former would never admit it, "now… watch closely."

She turned the card for them to see. The front of the card had the same patterns that were imprinted behind it, but in light green rather than red. Over that was a picture of a younger Haruna in a red dress with an apron over it and a hat on her head. One hand held what appeared to be a sketchbook, while the other, a feather quill.

"Adeat!" she shouted, causing the card to emit a bright light that soon encompassed her body. The light faded to reveal Haruna, now geared in the same clothing as the picture, excluding the red dress. Sketchbook and quill in hand.

She smirked at Yume's look of awe and disbelief as she did her best imitation of a fish. Ranma, for his part, only looked impressed. "So… you need any more proof? I'd think that this were enough, wouldn't you?"

Yume could only give a hesitant nod, her bewildered face hiding away the giddiness that she felt at this revelation.

Ranma looked at his mother inquisitively. "Mom… that thing you used yesterday in our fight, the one you used make me fall asleep… that was magic as well, wasn't it?" Nodoka nodded, "and the book?"

"My Diarium Ejus, it was the third greatest treasure that sensei gave me," she said longingly.

Ranma's eyebrows rose. "Third greatest? So there some other magical stuff that he gave you?" he asked curiously. If a mind reading book –something which was, from his experience the previous night, an extremely powerful and dangerous potential weapon– was only the third greatest, it became hard for him to fathom just what something greater than that could do.

The possibility of such an item's existence was dashed when Nodoka shook her head. "No Ranma, the only magical object I got from Negi-sensei was my pactio artifact. I have some other magic artifacts, but all the rest I got by myself. No… my two most precious treasures, the ones that sensei gave me, neither are magical in nature… at least, not in the same sense as my Diarium Ejus."

"They aren't magical? Then in that case, what are they?" Ranma asked, genuinely curious, to get something more precious than such a powerful and yet not have any power of its own certainly was weird. Yume also listened intently, just as curious as Ranma about the subject.

The three adults, on the other hand, stiffened slightly… okay so it was more like Yue and Nodoka stiffened, Haruna just turned to listen to Nodoka as well, looking at her as if trying to urge her on. After a prolonged silence, the mind reader finally spoke.

"Ranma… have you ever wondered exactly why it is that you are so different from Genma? Why exactly is it that he is an honourless thief while you remain an honourable martial artist despite all the years he's spent raising with you? How it is that you are able to learn a new technique in mere days, a skill which Genma clearly lacked? Or even the reason for your hair becoming red when transform into your girl from?"

Not exactly the answers he'd expected. The aforementioned cursed teenager looked at her oddly. He didn't know where this was going, but if it got his mother to answer, "well, to be honest, I haven't really thought of that. But now if I think about it, it really does seem strange. But what's that got to do with anything?"

Nodoka looked her son right in the eyes. "It has to do with everything… sochi. There's a very good reason as to why there isn't any resemblance between you and Genma. It's time for you to find out just what it is."

Confusion filled Ranma's head at what his mother told him. "Okay… now this is just weird. What could me not being anything like pops have to do with any of this?"

"And that reason would be…"

"Ranma… Saotome Genma is not your real father."

Silence… then… "EHHHHH!"

"W… wh…wha… what di… did you… just say… mom? Are you serious!" Ranma shouted incredulously. Calling Ranma surprised at this point was an understatement. He was well beyond shocked at what his mother had just said, and not just by her words, but by the sheer sincerity at which she said it as well.

It was at that point that something clicked in Yume's mind. It had once come by as a thought to her about what happened to the main character, Negi's love life after the end of the manga. After all, the guy had at least ten girls who were romantically interested in only him, the character based off of her own mother, as well as Ranma's being two of them. If everything that happened in that book was completely real, that would mean that…

"Aunt Nodoka… Ranma's father, his real father… is Negi Springfield isn't it?"

-X-

And that's a wrap. I hope all of you enjoyed this little chapter. I know I may be going slow on the storyline thing, but please bear with me. I really just felt like getting this out of the way ASAP. I had to squeeze writing all of this in just one day and about, ohh… five hours worth of time. And mind you, a third of that was spent on thinking up the best way to make this chapter flow. I worked really hard just to get this out more than a week earlier than promised, so you'd all better thank me by reviewing XD.

(1) Latin meaning sacred twelve. If fans will recall, Chao was planning to use the power from the world tree and eleven other sacred magic locations for her spell. Their roll will be explained next chapter.

(2) Okay, now I'm certain that Akamatsu-sensei had based the library trio off of the ROD series. I mean really, even their heights are in the same order of age. Nodoka is the oldest of the three and the second tallest/shortest, Haruna is the second oldest and the tallest and Yue is the youngest and shortest. This is the same age to height order as in ROD. And to back it up, the youngest in both (Anita and Yue) were the last to be befriended by the other two members, and in both cases, the middle eldest is a golem user.

(3) Latin for 'mage of books', an appropriate title for the library trio.

Well that's pretty much all of it for now… oh wait, there's still one more thing I wanted to say. If you guys paid attention to what Yue said to Yume, then you might just figure out the little surprise I have in store for the next chapter. In the case that you figured out correctly and are the first to review about it, you'll get a special prize that will be awarded in the next chapter. See you all next time.