"I find that quite...difficult to grasp... I hope you understand," Fleaux groaned out, placing a hand on his forehead.

"Then I'm sure you can understand why we didn't say anything sooner," Negi replied, completely serious.

"Yes...no one would've believed you anyway. But that doesn't change how...shocking it is. Time travel?" the elder continued.

"It shouldn't seem so surprising," Nodoka added after a moment, "Even magic revolves around the flow of time. It should only make sense that time itself flows around magic as well."

Fleaux eyed the girl for a moment before his gaze returned to his desk. These mysterious youths, three of whom were biracial, appeared out of nowhere with power beyond imagination. Surely they were speaking the truth...he would've heard of these prodigies else-wise; to top it off, there was proof in written documents that these travelers had passed through the dimensional rift that controlled time...written in text books that he himself read as a child in school.

"So what time did you say you come from...?" the older man asked, obviously a migrane was setting in.

"The twentieth century...roughly three hundred fifty years from now," Negi replied, his face as stotic as ever.

"...Please tell me this is the biggest surprise you have for me," the elder practically begged, "I don't know if I could handle anything more...mentally trying than this."

"There are a few other things, but they can wait until we've all recovered our stamina," Negi finished, running his hand through his hair, "They're regarding the battle from a few days ago..."

Fleaux glanced up at Negi and Nodoka; standing there they seemed to fit the governing role more than he did right now. Even with everything they'd been through in the past ten years...in the past few days, even with several of their own suffering from sheer exhaustion, they were standing tall and proud, showing no signs of weakness. They were a guiding light for so many right now...and they knew it.

"Alright...enough with the business for now," Fleaux commented, sweeping his hand as to wave aside the mere thought of it all, "How are Kotaro and Yue?"

"Yue hasn't woken up since we got back," Nodoka replied, the worry for her friend obvious in her voice, "And Kotaro has woken up twice, but they were brief instances...he'd only wake up long enough to look over to Yue and try to reach out to her before he'd pass out again."

"I see..." the mage replied. He seemed to age years in moments, slumping as he did so; it seemed Fleaux had become rather attached to the canine couple.

"They'll recover just fine," Negi added, trying to consol the elderly mage, "Konoka is the best healer I've ever seen. They just need some time to regain their strength. They'll be up and moving around before you know it."

Fleaux smiled at Negi's attempt to cheer him up. "Thank you," he replied, "You two should probably get on out of here. I'll be calling for your entire group in two days time. We're having a counsil meeting, so as many of you that can make it would be wonderful."

"Of course, elder-sama," the two intoned, bowing at the same time.

As they exited his office, Fleaux turned to glance out the window. "From the future...and a bright one it seems."

- - -

"And you truely expect us to believe that tale?" a clean-shaven elderly man stated from behind his chair.

"You don't have to believe it for it to be true," Negi replied quickly. It was obvious that he wasn't a fan of speaking with higher officials; they always thought themselves better than others.

"As we told you before...we are merely travellers trying to get home."

"I'm afriad I'm finding this...rather difficult to believe," the elder mage replied, narrowing his eyes in Negi's direction.

"I for one," General Tobei spoke up, rubbing his goatee, "Believe him."

Murmurs spread throughout the council chambers and Tobei waited for them to cease before he continued, "These travellers assisted us in repelling an invasion by those blasted heathens...I have seen this man fight, and I have seen his comrades fight alongside him. They are no ordinary people, and I will lay my honor on the line to say that what they speak is the truth."

There were no murmurs this time, only disbelieving stares; Tobei was known as a warrior that held his honor higher than his life...if he was willing to stake it on something, odds were he was right.

"Then with the words of our General, we wil accept your tale as truth," the elderly man spoke up again, "Now before we begin our main discussion...might I enquire as to the whereabouts of the rest of your group?"

"I'm afraid Yue, Kotaro, and Konoka are suffering from extreme exhaustion; Setsuna is with Konoka at the moment," Negi replied, taking his place in front of the remainder of his group.

"Your comrade found this...Konoka...to be of higher priority than this council meeting?" an elderly woman piped up.

"Yes."

"And why is that?" another elderly man spoke up from his place in the stands.

"Because she doesn't owe her alliegance to anyone but Konoka," Negi replied tersely.

The cousilroom was once again engulfed in murmurs.

"Rest assurred," Negi continued, gathering their attention, "That we will continue to stay and assist this village so long as Elder Fleaux requests it, and we will pledge our loyalty to it so long as we are here..."

By now, Fleaux had a grin from ear to ear, watching the council writhe beneathe Negi's commanding voice.

"But we only pledge our loyalty as Allies, not soldiers for you to command. We will be continueing our journey in six months, whether your war is over or not."

"If you won't pledge your undying fealty to us, then we could always..." another councilman began.

"Watch your tongue before it lands you under the guillotine!" Fleaux bellowed, lifting himself to hover over the councilman, "If I find even a hint of malace towards these travellers then I will see to your immediate execution myself!"

The room became silent and still...it was an uncomfortable reminder to every man and woman on the council that Fleaux Taminari was still the ruler of their village.

"Enough of this, you're wasting our time," Asuna stated, taking her place beside Negi, "Either let us get down to business or let us out of here. I'm tired of this useless squabble."

"My apologies, Asuna," Fleaux immediately responded, bowing low, "Allow us to continue on to the main topic..."

- - -

"Where am I?" Yue asked aloud, slowly easing herself up in bed, "That's right...the battle...where are...Kotaro!"

Yue lept out of her bed and landed beside his, looking him over as she did so.

"No wounds..." Yue stated, "Konoka must've patched him up..."

"Yue..." Kotaro whispered, his face contorting slightly.

"I'm here!" she replied hurriedly, taking his right hand in both of hers.

"Where are you...Yue..." he whispered again after a moment, his head slumping to the side.

"You're asleep...at least you're all right..." Yue mumbled, placing her forehead on his hands. She immediately recoiled from how cold he was.

Wide-eyed, the woman rushed over to her bed and grabbed her blanket for Kotaro and, after placing it over him, crawled into bed with him. Hopefully her body heat would be enough to warm him back up.

Instinctively, his arm moved over her body and he embraced her. She nuzzled her head into his chest and quickly fell asleep.

- - -

It had been five days since the battle and Kotaro had still not awakened. Yue was by his side all day, every day for that time frame, just in case he woke up or if his fever jumped.

More than anyone else, Kotaro had been pushed beyond his limits. He'd been forced to use his lycanthropy in battle, atop of having already used it against Shinmei Ru, he'd been run through with a sword, and he'd had two of the most difficult battles of his life. Konoka and the others worried he may not wake up for several more days.

Chisame, Haruna, and Chamo were easy enough to find; Nodoka had purposefully left them in the town with the other villagers, having deemed them too inexperienced to face a battle like that one. If nothing else, they could be considered the villages final trump cards had the battle turned ill in their favor.

Konoka was magically drained, as was Negi...both of them had to call on reserves that had locked inside of them for emergencies: Negi to fight the fox; Konoka to heal all the wounded soldiers. Among the group, ony Setsuna and Asuna were in true fighting condition...even Nodoka was below the weather; freezing time and space for hundreds of people at once was no easy task.

But none of this stopped Asuna from digging the information she wanted out of Negi's thick skull. Apparently, according to Negi's hypothesis, the magical amulet they'd picked up from the past suffered a sort of...leak. When it mingled with it's original energy source, the World Tree, it leaked some of it's magic out and, seeing as it had been slightly contaminated now that it was no longer in a pure source, it found its only outlet in their organic bodies.

Yue, Negi presumed, had an ancestor of demonic heritage, whether half-breed or pure, so when the magic entered her body, it brought out her Kitsune blood; the nine tailed fox was merely the taint in the magic.

While it was unknown whether the fox would resurface again or not, Negi and Asuna both believed that the fox wasn't the worst of their problems. The contaminated magic didn't just make its way into Yue's body...it made its way into all of their bodies. Even Asuna wasn't an exemption to the World Tree's magic. There was no telling what it may do to any of them, but seeing what it had done to Yue, the were sure it wouldn't be good.

- - -

"Yue!" Kotaro yelled out, cutting his way through the enemies closest to him, "Where are you!"

Kotaro heard Yue's voice call out to him from afar, but it was closer than it had been a few minutes ago. He immediately barrelled through the enemy ranks, each step taking him closer to his goal, until he finally stood in front of the woman of his dreams...but it didn't look like she was herself.

"...Yue?" Kotaro asked, even as the demons he'd been fighting through surrounded them, "Are you..."

He was cut of by a deep, menacing growl that seemed to come from every direction. Immediately, he rushed for Yue, meaning to sweep her up in his arms and get away from the sound, but he was stopped short when her hand reached up and grabbed him by the throat.

"Y...Yue...?" Kotaro choked out, trying to pull her hand of him.

"You fool..." Yue chuckled in the same menacing growl, "She's mine now."

"Let...her...go..." Kotaro replied, struggling for breath.

"Never. I will torture her for the rest of existence!" the beast laughed out in malicious glee.

"I...said..." Kotaro repeated, his eyes beginning to change, "Let her go!"

- - -

A fully transformed Kotaro roared and leapt out of his best, slamming his fist into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Kotaro!" Yue yelled out as she grabbed and tried to subdue him, "Kotaro, it's me! Calm down!"

Kotaro couldn't hear her. The next thing she knew, she had been thrown across the room onto the other bed while Kotaro continued to pummel the wall, occasionally turning and swiping at the air.

Before Yue could get up and attempt to stop her lover a second time, the door to the room burst open, and soldiers started filing in.

"Get out of here!" Yue screamed at them, "He's lost himself! He doesn't know friend from foe right now!"

The soldiers didn't bother listening to her, but before Kotaro could decapitate the closest of his new enemies, he stopped cold...but his growling showed he was still very aware of his position.

"Nodoka, you're just in time!" the Kitsune called out to her friend as she walked past the soldiers.

Negi soon followed her into the room and stood in front of Kotaro, examing him.

"It seems the taint has begun to get to him as well..." the mage whispered to himself, noting that Kotaro's blind eye had turned black, "But it doesn't look..."

Negi's eyes widened in surprise before he reached into his medical kit. "Nodoka," he called out, grabbing his ministra's attention, "When I give you the signal, I want you to release him, okay?"

Nodoka nodded her head and began the spell required to free him.

"Now."

Kotaro's swipe was swiftly blocked by one of Negi's own and countered when the mage placed a vial of smelling salts below the half-demon's nose. The effect was instant.

Kotaro shook his head after a moment of howling and rose to his feet, "Wha...Negi?" Kotaro looked around for a moment, "What happened here?"

"You started reacting to a nightmare," Negi informed him, "And you destroyed half this room. You almost killed someone."

Kotaro stared at the mage in disbelief before falling back and placing a hand on his head.

"It's okay guys, you can go," Negi informed the soldiers in the room. They quickly filed out to return to their posts.

"Kotaro..." Yue whispered into his ear as she wrapped her arms around his neck from behind.

"Yue!" Kotaro cried out, whipping around and engulfing her in a bone-crushing hug, "You're okay..."

It didn't take a genius to realize what Kotaro's nightmare had been. The tears running over his fur confirmed it.

"Kotaro..." Negi continued, "You realize you're in your lycanthropic state, don't you?"

"What?" Kotaro asked, looking himself over. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and, when he reopened them, nothing had changed. He was still transformed.

"Kotaro?" Yue asked when he opened his eyes, "You can't go back, can you?"

"No..." he responded, bewildered, "I can't...what's going on here?"

"I was afraid of this," Negi commented as he called the rest the the group into the room. After the others had arrived, he began by telling them what he had learned and concluded after Yue's transformation.

"I'm afraid that it doesn't just end with Yue and Kotaro though," Negi added, his tone of voice dropping, "I'm afraid we're all tainted."