Hmm... sorry for the long wait...
Now, I know I said that I would have showed up in a little, but there are been... complications. XD But back to the story!
We have now arrived at the end of this journey into the past, there are only to settle the final details for the return (here and in the next chapter), then finally the ending!
Good reading!
P.S. Of course any rewiew is very welcome, advice or impressions that are, even constructive criticism are gratefully accepted!
Chapter 12 On the way back
(Negi's Group)
The sea sparkled, reflecting the colors of dawn that was lazily illuminating the ship.
On the parapet, Negi watched the distant outline of the coast, and the shimmering dome of the basilica.
Finally they were in sight of Byzantium. The city had a magic aspect, mysterious, with its small buildings in mudbrick and stone, topped by the impressive Roman structures already in the process of decay.
You could see the Hippodrome and various churches, as well as the aqueduct, the whole surmounted by a tall lighthouse on the coast.
A massive city walls enveloped the city from the mainland in both directions.
"It's beautiful, do not you think?" Said a voice behind the boy.
"Yes. There are no words to describe it. All right below deck?" he said without turning around.
"They're still sleeping. I gave Miss Chao some herbs, she now seems to be a bit better." Marcus leaned back next to the young magician, supporting himself with his elbows.
They stood a few minutes in silence, gazing at the sea.
"That's... I wanted to thank you very much, Mr. Marcus. For all that you have done..." Negi began, but the words died in his throat.
He felt relieved.
And excited.
Finally, they would return home!
It was now a month that they had been embarked on the 'Spirit of the Lagoon'.
After meeting with the wyvern they had traveled to Venice without major hitches, and within ten days had come to the Serenissima.
They were all were fascinated by the lagoon city, with all its colors, smells, and all its people of every ethnicity, or language.
In the chaos of merchants and water they had easily found a boat heading towards the ancient Constantinople, and selling the horses, they were able to pay for the passage abundantly.
"Hmm..." then went out on the deck Chisame, stretching.
"Damn Setsuna and her omnipresent Konoka! Why the hell should I find she wrapped around me every morning?" she said angrily.
"Good morning Miss Chisame! I suggest going to wake up even your companions: we are in the home stretch." the Welsh greeted her while indicating her the city in the distance.
With a push, Negi stood up and made a gesture with his hand.
"Forget it, I'll go. You may also enjoy the show!" said moving away, while the bracket placed near there joined him.
Below deck there were already some sailors at work.
Greeting them, Negi reached the cargo hold where they were staying from the beginning of the journey.
The scene of sleeping girls made him smile: Ako clutched Kotaro as these were a teddy bear, nibbling at his ear, while a little farther on Setsuna had replaced Chisame with a much more embarrassed Chachamaru, somewhat undecided on waking her friend to point out that her name was not 'Konochan' as she continued to sputter, and that her bra, was perfectly well in its place.
Chao was sprawled in a corner, with an unhealthy greenish in color the face, as if she had waved a nightmare.
William was instead placed in a small barrel, with Evangeline curled up on his legs, covered by the mantle of him.
Filling his lungs, the boy woke up everyone with a powerful "Wake up! Come on sleepyhead! We're coming!" and then go back upstairs with an amused smile in his mouth and with a light run.
Once docked, they reached a small square near the Basilica and made stock of the situation.
"So now, we have just to get in and start the clock, right?" Negi asked, excited.
"Yes, in theory, yes." Said Chao, who was still getting used to her beloved land.
"Good! Come on then!" enthusiastic, the teacher left, almost running down the hill.
"He is really excited, ne!" the inventor chuckled.
"Why?" Ako asked curiously "You're not? Finally we get home!"
"Wait, Professor!" Chachamaru followed, with Eva behind.
The Basilica was immense, shimmering, splendid.
Its domes lit up with spectacular reflections around the garden.
"Good! You should go!" Marcus affirmed "We are exactly in the middle!"
Chao took out the watch and set it up for the jump, then stood looking at it for a moment, puzzled.
Again, she tried to change the settings, but her expression did not change rather, became tougher.
"Damn device!" she muttered, patting the Cassiopeia.
"What is happening? It's all right, Chao?" Negi asked worriedly.
"Yes.. ngh... must have just stuck the needle!" replied the girl trying to force the crank in question with all her strength.
"No. .." said the teacher then turning pale.
"Nonononononono! Not now! Not after all this! "Put his hands in his hair with desperate look.
"What is it, Professor?" Setsuna noticed.
All had stopped to watch, as well Chao had stopped working.
"I-it is not Cassiopeia that does not operate... Here... there is no trace of magic! The sacred place is completely devoid! It's switched off!" those present put us a few moments to connect the two things, and how they did their expressions became of stone.
"When... when was the last time the Mana went through this place?" Negi asked feebly, after a while, with a glimmer of hope in his voice.
"Three years ago, I think. The rumors are slow to turn. But I would not rely too much on a near awakening: There is a dictum which say that a man is not allowed to see twice the white light of the Dome, in life." Marcus replied softly, with an air of regret.
"I see ..." the teacher whispered sadly, closing his eyes.
"Okay!" he said, pulling up suddenly, after a few seconds "Come on! You will see that we will find a way to come back! Leave it to me!"
The market was crowded as usual: bazaar of all types and sizes were opened in their variegated colors on the narrow streets of the city.
The merchants loudly and proudly was exposing their wares, calling loudly all the possible buyers.
Only in a small clay house, away from the urban chaos, stillness reigned sovereign.
Suddenly, that quiet was broken by a low rumble that shook the structure slightly.
"Damn it!" A voice was heard shouting from inside, from where it had started to leak a slight bluish smoke.
"I was there almost!"
The people in the street looked curious at the structure, only two raised their eyes to heaven, with a resigned air.
They had in the hands just two baskets filled with fruits and vegetables.
"Can you please remind me of whose turn it is to fix?" the first asked, with a tight smile on his face.
"Your." The second replied dryly.
Chao lowered her head with a sigh, thinking of the pitiful state in which would have been the house.
"It 's always comforting to talk to you, Chachamaru..."
The android cocked her head quizzically, but her inventor dismissed the matter with a wave.
"Strength and courage. Let's go and see what has combined this time the small Negi." the Chinese said, advancing.
By now it had been a year since they were stuck in the past.
After discovering that they can not return to their own time, they decided that the best move would have been to stay there, in the almost nothing hope of reactivation of the place in a short distance from the previous one.
Marcus was able to recover from some of his knowledge in the city, probably other members of his order, a small house under the west walls.
Initially, life was hard enough for the boys of Mahora, but with the help of the Welsh wizard and the neighborhood fortunately friendly and helpful, in a few months they have adapted to the new situation and also began to slowly learn the language of the city.
Negi had never ceased, however, to seek a solution to get them back to their present, and for this he had started an exremely serious study of the arcane arts of alchemy and, under the leadership of Marcus and his friends magicians.
At the same time, he performed small errands and found small jobs to bring home the need to afford food.
As the girls entered, they found the young magician colored of a bright blue, which was frantically collecting boxes and alembics, while Eva, with an amused expression, sticking out from behind an overturned table, which is also now a of an uniform tint of blue.
In the rest of the room looked like a hurricane passed.
"Girls! Welcome back!" Negi greeted, running towards them careless about his appearance "I found it! I've done it! I have a solution."
The two girls looked at each other for a second, then returned their gaze on the boy all excited, and then slide it out of Evangeline.
"Do not look at me! He is so just after you exit... suddenly shouted 'It' s true! Why did not I ever think of that? 'and then launched himself to the bench to create something, but he refused to give any explanation." the girl said with a shrug.
"It's obvious thing! I am ashamed of myself for not having figured out right away, then!" was meanwhile continuing Negi.
"Calm down, little Negi!" Interrupted Chao
"And tell us what is so obvious."
"I... I can not. Not now. First I have to create the serum!" and showed them a bottle half full of a liquid highlighter blue, slightly thick.
At that moment the other tenants came back as well, also returning from the market.
"Wa! But what is this mess?" Chisame jumped back, seeing the state of the property.
"Oh! Are you all!" exclaimed The little magician hopping to meet them "I found a way to come back! There are still a few details, but it should work."
"What? Really? "Ako said, putting her hands to her mouth, with a spark of hope in her eyes "We will come back from our friends? From our families?"
"I can see again Miss Konoka?" Setsuna asked, blushing.
"Yes! Now I will explain. But first I need to talk to you, Mr. Marcus. Alone." he said leaving interdicted the girls ,filled with new hopes.
Nevertheless, no one objected when the magicians went away in a room adjacent to discuss.
Once the door closed behind them, Negi began "First of all you must forgive me, Mr. Marcus. I... I never said anything about our place of origin. See... the truth is that we do not belong to this period. I know it's hard to believe, almost absurd, but we come to you from what appears to be the 'future'." he paused a moment.
Marcus was looking at him seriously, without comment.
With a gesture invited him to continue.
Nodding, the professor told the Welsh of modern Japan, and the Mahora festival, how they ended up there.
He tried to be comprehensible towards the man and the hours flew in the speech.
"...So we need the magical power of the sacred place to activate the time machine. Now, reflecting on what happened, I found what unites us 'travelers': while in the life of Mahora we had no particular ties, during the Festival we have all made use of the power of Cassiopeia! This is the center of the whole thing! Its use has as... 'marked' us. And it is thanks to these signs that I mean make us go home!" the teacher finished, hopeful in the understanding of the knight.
Marcus, who until then had listened unmoved and silent, except for the occasional question, he nodded thoughtfully.
"I think... I think I understand. It is not easy, it is true, but I do not perceive lies in your words. So, assuming that everything is as you say, enlighten me: how you intend to use these 'signs'? "He finally said.
"Well... Here comes the hard part. I intend to use these marks as 'beacons', if we want to call them, for an evocation and for the same enchantment. I try to explain better. I want to create a sort of 'bridge' between two temporal distinct Cassiopeia: that of the present, that is your future, and that of the past, that is what I have here in my pocket today. In this way we can be directly evoked by the passage from this time, using as focalizers these marks, so that we can be identified and collected with ease and without error by the spirits of the spell. Now there is just one problem..."
"...That no one has ever even touched the idea of such a spell, making it necessary to have to create it from scratch." Marcus finished for him.
"Exactly. And time is not our friend. Forgive the wordplay and the bad joke, but it is." said the professor, smiling bitterly to the irony of what he had just said.
"I have made part of the solution to one of the books of your friends here in Byzantium. It is a potion with peculiar properties, which I finished a little while ago to distill: it makes falling into a long sleep those who take it, confining them in a spell of stasis that slows down the flow of time inside almost up to stop it , and so its effects on the subject. Unfortunately, the effect lasts no more than a decade, and you can not take it multiple times without incurring serious risks for the body placed under the stasis. "resumed the professor with sad eyes" it was since I discovered that I reflected on the use, but now that I know what should I look for, I know it will work. "
"So I assume that you are not going to take it, but you mean mke drink it only to your classmates. While they sleep you'll stay awake instead to create the necessary formula. Maybe I'm wrong something?" asked the Welsh arching an eyebrow.
"No. It 's all right." Negi said, shaking his head "At least, if it works, when we come back we will not be aged too much respect to our friends."
"And what will be of the little Eva?" Then asked the magician "From what you told me, you can not take her with you."
"Correct that too. See... Evangeline in our time is one of my students, so I'm sure that she will survive the centuries, with the basics of magic that I gave her. This at one condition: that the story that has allowed her to reach the twenty-first century is not altered, unfortunately thing happened when we met. Unfortunately I have only one way to put everything in place: for much as I hate myself in having to do it, I have to modify her memories so that she does not retain memory of us guys up at the right time. It will be her, even if unconsciously, to get us back. Also, I have to make sure that absolutely she does not come back here prematurely, otherwise it might ruin our last chance to return, accidentally unlocking her memories. Now that you know everything, I have to ask just one last favor: in case you decide to help me or not, do not make a word of these last things said. Please." he finished making a deep bow.
"Damn it, ne! They always talked in tight Welsh!" snorted Chao moving away from the door, where the girls were all crowded.
"For me, you'll pass trouble if you get caught to eavesdrop..." Eva called from the main room, while gave back at the table its original color with a cloth "Then do not say that I didn't tell you so."
Chao put on a sullen face and followed by others, returned to clean, just in time before the door opened and the two wizards came up.
"Well girls! Come! We have to hurry with the preparations! Chisame! Could you lend me your laptop? "
-Chapter End-