This is an idea that I have been kicking around, and I finally caved in and wrote it. Just to clarify, I tend to write things all in one sitting and don't fine-tune it much. I am placing it here for constructive criticism and honest opinions.
Enough of my rambling, I disclaim Negima and all that.
---
Negi Springfield was often called a genius by his peers. At ten years old he had graduated the magic academy and become the youngest teacher at Mahora Gakuen. He had college level English linguistic skills, which the child mage often attempted to impart upon his students, all of which were four to five years his senior.
Intelligent though he was, every now and again he did something stupid. In fact, he was doing something remarkably stupid at this very moment!
"Why wouldnÆt it work?" Negi queried aloud, although nobody was around to hear him. It was the day after the annual school festival, and Chao had finally been stopped. Because of her mischief, the teachers had agreed to erase her memory of magic forever, and in response she had used a magical device to return to her time.
This leads us to Negi's current plight. At school, the class had been extremely subdued, as everyone mourned the absence of the missing student. Those of the class not familiar with the Chao situation had been told that she had died, leading to a blanket depression of the entire class. Unable to bear the absence of his student, the child professor had thought of a way to bring her back.
He was going to use the Cassiopeia, and return to the first day of the festival to stop Chao from enacting her scheme, erasing the need for her memory to be erased and convince her to stay. The problem was the world tree, it had stopped glowing and was no longer permeating the air with its magical energies. Obviously the device needed magic to run, but did he have enough to make it work by himself?
'Well, no point thinking too hard about it,' Negi reasoned. 'What's the worst that could happen?'
Pointedly ignoring the label on the side of the pocketwatch-like time machine, Negi began pouring his own magical energy into the watch. Immediately, the Cassiopeia began to smoke, and the scent of melting metal permeated the air. Just before the device activated, Negi finally read the tiny label.
Not to be used without the presence of a class S catalyst.
"Oh shi-" he had already disappeared.
Negi: What could have been
To loosely quote Hawk: one of the best questions for any author to ask themselves when writing an AU has always been ôWhat if?ö This is one such fic. What would Negi have done if certain things in his life never happened, or if something new did?
-o-
Negi awoke in a vaguely familiar area, standing up he surveyed his surroundings. There were some tall redwoods around, the sunlight filtering in through the leaves. The sound of a brook could be heard in the distance.
æMy head hurts.Æ Negi jumped, he had been unaware anyone was in the immediate area.
Gripping the wrapped staff his father had left him, he turned to face the voice that had sounded like it was right behind him.
Only to find nothing.
'Geez, I must be going crazy.' Negi thought, and started following the stream.
æThis is boring.Æ that voice rang out again. It sounded very upbeat, which was strange considering it was complaining.
ôWhoÆs there?ö What if it was a ghost? Oh please donÆt let it be a ghost!
æI am a big scary ghost! Booooooooooooo!Æ The child teacher hugged himself, he hated scary things!
æStop messing with him, you know he isnÆt going to understand.Æ A second voice said, joining the first. This voice sounded more mellow, as if it didnÆt care about anything that was happening.
ôAm I just supposed to accept that I am going crazy, or is somebody going to explain this to me?ö Negi asked, obviously there werenÆt any ghosts around. He knew that right from the start. Really, he did!
æItÆd probably be easier to show him than tell.Æ A new voice said, and Negi fell unconscious.
-o-
This time around it only took Negi a few seconds to awaken, and it was in a much stranger place. The room was completely white, and inhabited by four more people. That was strange enough, but who they all were surprised him even more!
ôYouà.YouÆre me!ö Negi stuttered.
ôVery perceptive.ö Negi identified this one as the second voice that had spoken earlier. Indeed, he looked just like Negi almost to the last detail. He had chocolate brown hair, done back in a ponytail, and the same eyes. The only real difference was the muscle structure. This look-alike had very well-toned arms, especially considering his age. He was attired in dark grey cargo pants and a black vest with a spiral insignia on the right breast with what appeared to be a fishnet undershirt. He also had a dark grey scarf around his neck, which was really long in the back, possibly meant to trail behind him.
ôWelcome to our humble abode, Negi-kun. Donæt worry, this place is ghost-free.ö The owner of the first voice had said with a mischievous grin. He was dressed in the typical mage-type outfit, colored sky-blue. His arms didnÆt have the tone of the other, but he did keep in shape. Negi had him beat, though.
ôSorry for pulling you in like that so rudely.ö The last voice Negi had heard before he passed out chimed in. ôIt was the only real way to make you aware of ouràsituation.ö This one was wearing an open white trench coat and black pants with no undershirt. He had decent stomach muscle, but all of his strength seemed to be in his legs. Maybe he ran a lot? He was also holding a carbon copy of the staff that Negi himself was carrying, meaning he was most likely an arch-mage (traditional). The mage also seemed to have two magic guns tucked into the inside of the aforementionted trench coat.
ôWho are you guys? Where am I?ö The ten year old was starting to get a headache. What was going on?
The last of them stepped up, this one just seemed to be wearing a normal school uniform.
ôI believe I would be the one most suited to answer that question. The first thing you should know, is that we are inside your head. This is where we reside now, as we donÆt know how to get back to our realities, or even if we can. While we are here, we may talk to you, but we cannot control you. We spent the first five minutes or so of our being here pinching ourselves to see if this was a dream. When we found out it wasnÆt, we then began talking about ourselves.ö
ôThatÆs great and all, but it doesnÆt really answer my other question.ö Negi replied, feeling his headache growing by the second.
ôThen allow me to finish uninterrupted. As I was saying, we compared lives to each other only to find that all of our stories turned out to be the same, at least until a certain point. Upon arrival, we found that we could touch your memories at any time, and we compared ours to yours. It seems that which separates us all from being the same entity is merely a minor change in our particular lives, which caused us to be completely different people. Strange, neh?
Negi was now listening in rapt attention. ôWhat do you mean?ö
ôThe fellow in blue, his life was the same as ours until the day the demons attacked the village in the snow. For him, that never happened and he grew up in the village. Without the motivation of the attack, he got much lower grades than we did, although he shares our magical energy. Also, he learned healing magic because there was no specific enemy he wanted to defeat, and he felt that helping people was more important. He still was assigned to our class, and because he did not share our zeal in looking for our father he went to Hawaii with the class instead of Kyoto, and none of his students knew of his magical potential.ö
The boy in the sky-blue mage outfit nodded, as if confirming the story.
ôSo you wish to be a healing-mage, yes? It isnÆt an easy path.ö
ôI understand that, Eishun-sensei. But I want to help people.ö
ôDo you realize that in helping somebody, you may be hurting another? What if whomever you helped had enemies that would suffer at their return?ö
ôYou do not understand, it is enough to help those dear to me. I will do what I can, without worrying about whom I may be hurting in the process. I would just heal them too.
ôGreat answer. Let us begin.ö
ôThe one in the white trench coat, his story is a bit shorter. Actually, it is quite similar to your own. Everything goes the same until Wilhelm attacks. The key difference in this reality is Wilhelm is not reluctant to murder. Kotaro is killed in the assault, with that Negi nowhere near enough to help. As his slimes round everyone up, all of his companions are killed, sans Asuna. He needed her for the magic canceller. As he was losing that fight, Mana showed up on the scene and shot him, distracting Wilhelm enough for that guy to leap back and hit him with his most powerful spells, defeating and killing him in the process. He started training with Mana, and became an arch-mage to learn how to fight at a distance. I presume he believes that if he can kill enemies before they get close enough to do harm, he can protect people easier.ö
The boy in the trench coat nodded his acceptance of that rendition, unwanted memories fluttering back.
ôI canÆt die, not until IÆve gotten my rematch.ö Kotaro had weakly stated, as he lay dying in his arms.
ôNegi-bouzu, try not look so sad. Is only goodbye for a little while.ö Ku Fei had said.
ôYou is my disciple, kick ass good for me.ö She too had died, just like all the rest.
ôNegi-kun, please help m-ö Nodoka had begun, before she too was stabbed by one of the slimes.
ôNegi-kun, run away! We canÆt have you die too!ö A teary-eyed Konoka had cried out, before being silenced by Wilhelm himself.
ôNegi-kun!Æ
ôNegi-bouzu.ö
The trench-coated boy shook his head, desperately trying to escape the memories of those faces that so haunted him.
ôHim in the cargo pants was a bit less complicated. When you fled from Evangeline, fearing the confrontation, you came across Kaede in the mountains, correct?ö
Negi just nodded, his head still spinning.
ôHe had a weak moment, and spilled out the truth of magic to Kaede, and asked her to be his partner. She turned him down, saying that magical enhancement wasnÆt her cup of tea. She did agree to train him, and he should be between high Genin (low level) to low Chuunin (mid level). He is a combat-mage, combining ninjutsu with magic.ö
The ninja nodded his acceptance of his tale, as well.
ôKaede-san? Would you be my partner?ö
ôIÆm afraid I canÆt help you there, de gozaru. One must learn to do things for themselves. Nin-nin!ö
ôThen will you teach me, Kaede-sensei?ö
ôMost of those stories seemed relatively uneventful. I feel bad for arch-mage-san, though. What happened to you, bookie-san?ö Negi asked.
ôWell, I graduated from magic academy at the top of my class. After that, I decided to give up on being an active mage and decided just to be a strategist for the world of magic. I enjoy reading far too much to want to spend any time on the battlefield. Besides, do you know how badly coordinated most mages are?ö
Negi shook his head.
ôDidnÆt think so.ö
ôJust one more question.ö Negi suddenly asked.
ôYes?ö
ôWhat are your names?ö
They all looked at each other, then stated in unison. ôNegi.ö
Negi (the original) face-vaulted. ôCanÆt you just use nicknames?ö
Once again, they all looked at each other. Finally, the ninja stepped up and stated ôJust call me Shadow.ö
ôArigatou, Shadow-san. Any others?ö Negi asked.
The Negi in sky-blue stepped up. ôCall me Ghost! Boooo! I shall use my magic to spread love the world over!ö He hopped a little as he proclaimed this, and it was hard to tell if he was serious or not.
ôThe Judge.ö Was all the trench-coated boy would say, before flipping the back of his coat to catch it in the non-existent breeze. Just because it looked cool.
ôSince we all seem to just be using titles based on our abilities, except for Ghost (idiot), call me the Pilot. That shall be my role, as all I do is direct. We are also going to be ever-present in this landscape of your mind, and we should tell you. When the watch malfunctioned, it still deposited you back in time, but further than you wished. Not by too much, though. Also, the discharge of the energy as it self-destructed while still in between times seemed to create a vortex, which sucked us into you. I hypothesize that time, as it were, was trying to correct the vortex and putting things back in their place. We, who are essentially you, were drawn into you by mistake.ö
ôThatÆs all well and good, but how the hell do I get out of here?ö Negi asked, his headache worsening. The last thing he needed to think about was why time-travel did what it did.
-o-
Blinking his eyes open, Negi found himself back in the clearing he had collapsed in. æWas that all a dream?Æ
æBoooooo. You just wish we would quit haunting you.Æ rang out GhostÆs voice.
æGuess thatÆs a no.Æ Negi thought, once again following the stream, leading him directly to EvaÆs house.
As soon as it loomed in to view, he could feel Ghost tensing up in his mind. æWhatÆs wrong with you?Æ
æHer and I hadàunfinished business.Æ
æAka, he ran away from her and hid, because he canÆt fight.Æ Judge called out, clearly amused.
æDid not! We were just playing hide and seek! Honest!Æ Ghost replied hastily, giving Negi the mental image of his arms flailing in the air in frustration.
The merrymaking was cut short, however, as the door swung open.
ôNegi? What the hell are you doing on my front porch?ö The diminutive vampire demanded. ôAnd why did you run away from my challenge?ö
æWhat?Æ Negi shouted in his mind. æWhen did I run away from her?Æ
æUhm.Æ Ghost started sheepishly. æI think we are in my world.Æ
---
Thats it for the first chapter, I also posted it at ffnet, and will probably go back and edit out any mistakes I may have made. Hope to hear some good reviews! ^_^
Enough of my rambling, I disclaim Negima and all that.
---
Negi Springfield was often called a genius by his peers. At ten years old he had graduated the magic academy and become the youngest teacher at Mahora Gakuen. He had college level English linguistic skills, which the child mage often attempted to impart upon his students, all of which were four to five years his senior.
Intelligent though he was, every now and again he did something stupid. In fact, he was doing something remarkably stupid at this very moment!
"Why wouldnÆt it work?" Negi queried aloud, although nobody was around to hear him. It was the day after the annual school festival, and Chao had finally been stopped. Because of her mischief, the teachers had agreed to erase her memory of magic forever, and in response she had used a magical device to return to her time.
This leads us to Negi's current plight. At school, the class had been extremely subdued, as everyone mourned the absence of the missing student. Those of the class not familiar with the Chao situation had been told that she had died, leading to a blanket depression of the entire class. Unable to bear the absence of his student, the child professor had thought of a way to bring her back.
He was going to use the Cassiopeia, and return to the first day of the festival to stop Chao from enacting her scheme, erasing the need for her memory to be erased and convince her to stay. The problem was the world tree, it had stopped glowing and was no longer permeating the air with its magical energies. Obviously the device needed magic to run, but did he have enough to make it work by himself?
'Well, no point thinking too hard about it,' Negi reasoned. 'What's the worst that could happen?'
Pointedly ignoring the label on the side of the pocketwatch-like time machine, Negi began pouring his own magical energy into the watch. Immediately, the Cassiopeia began to smoke, and the scent of melting metal permeated the air. Just before the device activated, Negi finally read the tiny label.
Not to be used without the presence of a class S catalyst.
"Oh shi-" he had already disappeared.
Negi: What could have been
To loosely quote Hawk: one of the best questions for any author to ask themselves when writing an AU has always been ôWhat if?ö This is one such fic. What would Negi have done if certain things in his life never happened, or if something new did?
-o-
Negi awoke in a vaguely familiar area, standing up he surveyed his surroundings. There were some tall redwoods around, the sunlight filtering in through the leaves. The sound of a brook could be heard in the distance.
æMy head hurts.Æ Negi jumped, he had been unaware anyone was in the immediate area.
Gripping the wrapped staff his father had left him, he turned to face the voice that had sounded like it was right behind him.
Only to find nothing.
'Geez, I must be going crazy.' Negi thought, and started following the stream.
æThis is boring.Æ that voice rang out again. It sounded very upbeat, which was strange considering it was complaining.
ôWhoÆs there?ö What if it was a ghost? Oh please donÆt let it be a ghost!
æI am a big scary ghost! Booooooooooooo!Æ The child teacher hugged himself, he hated scary things!
æStop messing with him, you know he isnÆt going to understand.Æ A second voice said, joining the first. This voice sounded more mellow, as if it didnÆt care about anything that was happening.
ôAm I just supposed to accept that I am going crazy, or is somebody going to explain this to me?ö Negi asked, obviously there werenÆt any ghosts around. He knew that right from the start. Really, he did!
æItÆd probably be easier to show him than tell.Æ A new voice said, and Negi fell unconscious.
-o-
This time around it only took Negi a few seconds to awaken, and it was in a much stranger place. The room was completely white, and inhabited by four more people. That was strange enough, but who they all were surprised him even more!
ôYouà.YouÆre me!ö Negi stuttered.
ôVery perceptive.ö Negi identified this one as the second voice that had spoken earlier. Indeed, he looked just like Negi almost to the last detail. He had chocolate brown hair, done back in a ponytail, and the same eyes. The only real difference was the muscle structure. This look-alike had very well-toned arms, especially considering his age. He was attired in dark grey cargo pants and a black vest with a spiral insignia on the right breast with what appeared to be a fishnet undershirt. He also had a dark grey scarf around his neck, which was really long in the back, possibly meant to trail behind him.
ôWelcome to our humble abode, Negi-kun. Donæt worry, this place is ghost-free.ö The owner of the first voice had said with a mischievous grin. He was dressed in the typical mage-type outfit, colored sky-blue. His arms didnÆt have the tone of the other, but he did keep in shape. Negi had him beat, though.
ôSorry for pulling you in like that so rudely.ö The last voice Negi had heard before he passed out chimed in. ôIt was the only real way to make you aware of ouràsituation.ö This one was wearing an open white trench coat and black pants with no undershirt. He had decent stomach muscle, but all of his strength seemed to be in his legs. Maybe he ran a lot? He was also holding a carbon copy of the staff that Negi himself was carrying, meaning he was most likely an arch-mage (traditional). The mage also seemed to have two magic guns tucked into the inside of the aforementionted trench coat.
ôWho are you guys? Where am I?ö The ten year old was starting to get a headache. What was going on?
The last of them stepped up, this one just seemed to be wearing a normal school uniform.
ôI believe I would be the one most suited to answer that question. The first thing you should know, is that we are inside your head. This is where we reside now, as we donÆt know how to get back to our realities, or even if we can. While we are here, we may talk to you, but we cannot control you. We spent the first five minutes or so of our being here pinching ourselves to see if this was a dream. When we found out it wasnÆt, we then began talking about ourselves.ö
ôThatÆs great and all, but it doesnÆt really answer my other question.ö Negi replied, feeling his headache growing by the second.
ôThen allow me to finish uninterrupted. As I was saying, we compared lives to each other only to find that all of our stories turned out to be the same, at least until a certain point. Upon arrival, we found that we could touch your memories at any time, and we compared ours to yours. It seems that which separates us all from being the same entity is merely a minor change in our particular lives, which caused us to be completely different people. Strange, neh?
Negi was now listening in rapt attention. ôWhat do you mean?ö
ôThe fellow in blue, his life was the same as ours until the day the demons attacked the village in the snow. For him, that never happened and he grew up in the village. Without the motivation of the attack, he got much lower grades than we did, although he shares our magical energy. Also, he learned healing magic because there was no specific enemy he wanted to defeat, and he felt that helping people was more important. He still was assigned to our class, and because he did not share our zeal in looking for our father he went to Hawaii with the class instead of Kyoto, and none of his students knew of his magical potential.ö
The boy in the sky-blue mage outfit nodded, as if confirming the story.
ôSo you wish to be a healing-mage, yes? It isnÆt an easy path.ö
ôI understand that, Eishun-sensei. But I want to help people.ö
ôDo you realize that in helping somebody, you may be hurting another? What if whomever you helped had enemies that would suffer at their return?ö
ôYou do not understand, it is enough to help those dear to me. I will do what I can, without worrying about whom I may be hurting in the process. I would just heal them too.
ôGreat answer. Let us begin.ö
ôThe one in the white trench coat, his story is a bit shorter. Actually, it is quite similar to your own. Everything goes the same until Wilhelm attacks. The key difference in this reality is Wilhelm is not reluctant to murder. Kotaro is killed in the assault, with that Negi nowhere near enough to help. As his slimes round everyone up, all of his companions are killed, sans Asuna. He needed her for the magic canceller. As he was losing that fight, Mana showed up on the scene and shot him, distracting Wilhelm enough for that guy to leap back and hit him with his most powerful spells, defeating and killing him in the process. He started training with Mana, and became an arch-mage to learn how to fight at a distance. I presume he believes that if he can kill enemies before they get close enough to do harm, he can protect people easier.ö
The boy in the trench coat nodded his acceptance of that rendition, unwanted memories fluttering back.
ôI canÆt die, not until IÆve gotten my rematch.ö Kotaro had weakly stated, as he lay dying in his arms.
ôNegi-bouzu, try not look so sad. Is only goodbye for a little while.ö Ku Fei had said.
ôYou is my disciple, kick ass good for me.ö She too had died, just like all the rest.
ôNegi-kun, please help m-ö Nodoka had begun, before she too was stabbed by one of the slimes.
ôNegi-kun, run away! We canÆt have you die too!ö A teary-eyed Konoka had cried out, before being silenced by Wilhelm himself.
ôNegi-kun!Æ
ôNegi-bouzu.ö
The trench-coated boy shook his head, desperately trying to escape the memories of those faces that so haunted him.
ôHim in the cargo pants was a bit less complicated. When you fled from Evangeline, fearing the confrontation, you came across Kaede in the mountains, correct?ö
Negi just nodded, his head still spinning.
ôHe had a weak moment, and spilled out the truth of magic to Kaede, and asked her to be his partner. She turned him down, saying that magical enhancement wasnÆt her cup of tea. She did agree to train him, and he should be between high Genin (low level) to low Chuunin (mid level). He is a combat-mage, combining ninjutsu with magic.ö
The ninja nodded his acceptance of his tale, as well.
ôKaede-san? Would you be my partner?ö
ôIÆm afraid I canÆt help you there, de gozaru. One must learn to do things for themselves. Nin-nin!ö
ôThen will you teach me, Kaede-sensei?ö
ôMost of those stories seemed relatively uneventful. I feel bad for arch-mage-san, though. What happened to you, bookie-san?ö Negi asked.
ôWell, I graduated from magic academy at the top of my class. After that, I decided to give up on being an active mage and decided just to be a strategist for the world of magic. I enjoy reading far too much to want to spend any time on the battlefield. Besides, do you know how badly coordinated most mages are?ö
Negi shook his head.
ôDidnÆt think so.ö
ôJust one more question.ö Negi suddenly asked.
ôYes?ö
ôWhat are your names?ö
They all looked at each other, then stated in unison. ôNegi.ö
Negi (the original) face-vaulted. ôCanÆt you just use nicknames?ö
Once again, they all looked at each other. Finally, the ninja stepped up and stated ôJust call me Shadow.ö
ôArigatou, Shadow-san. Any others?ö Negi asked.
The Negi in sky-blue stepped up. ôCall me Ghost! Boooo! I shall use my magic to spread love the world over!ö He hopped a little as he proclaimed this, and it was hard to tell if he was serious or not.
ôThe Judge.ö Was all the trench-coated boy would say, before flipping the back of his coat to catch it in the non-existent breeze. Just because it looked cool.
ôSince we all seem to just be using titles based on our abilities, except for Ghost (idiot), call me the Pilot. That shall be my role, as all I do is direct. We are also going to be ever-present in this landscape of your mind, and we should tell you. When the watch malfunctioned, it still deposited you back in time, but further than you wished. Not by too much, though. Also, the discharge of the energy as it self-destructed while still in between times seemed to create a vortex, which sucked us into you. I hypothesize that time, as it were, was trying to correct the vortex and putting things back in their place. We, who are essentially you, were drawn into you by mistake.ö
ôThatÆs all well and good, but how the hell do I get out of here?ö Negi asked, his headache worsening. The last thing he needed to think about was why time-travel did what it did.
-o-
Blinking his eyes open, Negi found himself back in the clearing he had collapsed in. æWas that all a dream?Æ
æBoooooo. You just wish we would quit haunting you.Æ rang out GhostÆs voice.
æGuess thatÆs a no.Æ Negi thought, once again following the stream, leading him directly to EvaÆs house.
As soon as it loomed in to view, he could feel Ghost tensing up in his mind. æWhatÆs wrong with you?Æ
æHer and I hadàunfinished business.Æ
æAka, he ran away from her and hid, because he canÆt fight.Æ Judge called out, clearly amused.
æDid not! We were just playing hide and seek! Honest!Æ Ghost replied hastily, giving Negi the mental image of his arms flailing in the air in frustration.
The merrymaking was cut short, however, as the door swung open.
ôNegi? What the hell are you doing on my front porch?ö The diminutive vampire demanded. ôAnd why did you run away from my challenge?ö
æWhat?Æ Negi shouted in his mind. æWhen did I run away from her?Æ
æUhm.Æ Ghost started sheepishly. æI think we are in my world.Æ
---
Thats it for the first chapter, I also posted it at ffnet, and will probably go back and edit out any mistakes I may have made. Hope to hear some good reviews! ^_^