Took a while due to having to watch through the Shuffle anime and focus on my Mass Effect Trilogy playthrough as an Engineer (complete with Leviathan DLC storyline).
DISCLAIMERS (COPY/PASTED FROM 1ST CHAPTER OF LAST BOOK):
Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha (Teana, concept of Intelligent Devices, some magic) – 7Arcs
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Shion) – 07th Expansion and Studio Deen
Shuffle! (Kaede Fuyō, everyone else in this particular Book) – Navel and Asread
Erika's New Perfume (Swanson Family, Timmy) – Deviant-Art artist Lance the Young
Mai-chan's Daily Life (Mai & Kizuna) – Waita Uziga
Star Wars (Ahsoka, Cody, Rex) – George Lucas, Lucasfilm
Halo (Forerunners, UNSC, Sangheili Alliance) – Bungie and 343 Industries
StarCraft (multiple mentions of characters, events, and devices) – Blizzard Entertainment
Naruto (jutsu, abilities) – Masashi Kishimoto
Mahō Sensei Negima (spells, abilities)– Ken Akamatsu
CHARACTER HEIGHTS (SEE BOOK 6 FOR GAMMA TEAM, SWANSON FAMILY, TIMMY, & KIZUNA):
Rin Tsuchimi: 5. 9.8" (1.775m)
Asa Shigure: 5' 4.2" (1.63m)
Ama Shigure: 5' 3.5" (1.613m)
Lisianthus "Sia" Eustoma: 5'3" (1.6m)
Nerine Forbessi: 5' 0.5" (1.54m)
Primula: 4' 11.4" (1.51m)
-BOOK START-
Rin Tsuchimi sat on the park bench that he frequented, bags under his eyes, looking numb to the world. It had been eight weeks since that day – the day when his attempt to give an old friend the chance to move on had instead resulted in her disappearing forever, to almost-certain death.
He constantly berated himself for not noticing as Kaede slowly unraveled as – he now admitted – he ignored her in favor of Asa. He had failed to realize that her mental state had never truly recovered from all those years ago, and that he had literally still been her only reason to live. And then she'd attacked Asa, hands around the other girl's neck until Rin had pried her off, screaming obscenities and threats as Asa's "condition" flared up and she collapsed. When Rin had promptly spent nearly all of his time tending to Asa in the hospital while still passing Kaede over, the girl had finally gotten desperate enough to crawl into his bed while naked and latch onto him, begging him not to leave her alone, to stay with her, to stop ignoring her.
He'd freaked out and ran out of the house despite her broken pleas for him to stay. When he'd eventually returned, she'd broken down again when he admitted his plans to move out of the house, and had then shut herself away in her room for days after failing to convince him not to, with Primula bringing her food and water. He knew she was suffering, but he told himself and others that she needed this, that she had to learn to live without using him as a crutch, and that she would prove strong enough to endure and move on.
And then, while gathered at the hospital, he and the others – Asa & Ama, Lisianthus, Nerine, Primula, and even Mayumi & Itsuki – had gotten the magic-based recorded message from her, a ball of magical light that expanded and transformed into a holo-screen, showing Kaede looking an absolute wreck – bags under her bloodshot eyes, pale & thin, shivering and twitching ever so slightly.
"Everyone…" she had said in the message, her voice trembling. "I am leaving this world. There is a fluctuation in the dimensional boundaries. I'm going to take advantage of it… and leave this realm forever. I… Many years ago, Rin-kun made himself a scapegoat, crafting a lie so my misplaced hatred of him would keep my alive. Three years ago I discovered the truth, and he stopped me from dying again. I devoted myself to serving him. I had no other purpose, no reason to live other than to atone, to serve him in any & every way he wanted or needed. And now… he has gotten involved with Asa-senpai. He's cast me aside. I'm not needed anymore by him… by anyone. And… at some point, I… fell in love with him. I love Rin-kun so, so much. …But he doesn't love me. And never will.
"I… I have no reason to keep going. I'm filled with coldness and hatred. I hate Asa for stealing Rin-kun from me. Even though I love him, I also hate Rin-kun for ignoring me, for rejecting me, for not loving me back. And… I hate myself… for feeling all these things… for not being able to stop things from getting to this point… for not having a purpose, a reason to exist. I have no reason to live… so I should just die.
"I'm going to set the dimensional transference spell to send me somewhere dangerous, somewhere war-torn. There, I'll… meet my end. I've already found an alternate Earth in the midst of an invasion, with millions dead so far. I will be among them. Asa… I hope you're happy, you bitch. Now you can have Rin-kun all to yourself. And Rin-kun… now you won't have to worry about putting up with me tripping over myself to keep you happy. …Rimu-chan… take care of yourself.
"If things go as planned… then none of you will ever see me or hear from me again. Goodbye."
Less than 10 seconds after the message had ended, there'd been a deep pulsing sound reverberating through the city, accompanying a brilliant beam of light that shot up into the heavens… straight up from Rin & Kaede's house. They had all rushed to the house, to find that she was indeed gone, having left all her things behind, her room now bearing a crushing emptiness.
That was the first time Primula had ever openly broken down in tears, as it all sank in.
Lisianthus' & Nerine's fathers had nigh-immediately called together a task-force of their best mages to try and locate Kaede, to no avail. They had confirmed, however, that the world she jumped to was under siege by an extraterrestrial invasion (though other extraterrestrials were supposedly helping the humans of that Earth in trying to push the invaders back), and that there was a very low chance she'd last more than a day there. As far as everyone & anyone could tell, Kaede was dead. And as far as Rin could see, it was his fault.
The girls took it hard as well. Primula, who now lived with Nerine, was constantly moping and restless, overcome with sorrow over losing her big-sister figure, and was now quite cold (even for her) to Rin, blaming him for Kaede's apparent death. Lisianthus and Nerine were deeply saddened, the former slightly more so due to the beginnings of attraction she had held for Kaede. Asa was grief-stricken; she felt it was her fault just as much as Rin felt it was his, and she couldn't really bear the fact that the girl who used to be a beloved little-sister figure had come to hate her, and that their last interaction ever was Kaede trying to strangle her. The girl's legion of fanboys – "Kitto, Kitto Kaede" – were utterly (and melodramatically) devastated when the news got out at school, a few of them attempting suicide; the school had to hire security to prevent some of them from trying to kill Rin and/or Asa.
Rin let out a shuddering sigh as the mid-morning sun beat down on the empty park, the bench he was currently seated on shaded by a tree. He faintly recalled something about Nerine's father mentioning one of his team's scanners detecting a strange, brief burst of Cherenkov radiation in high orbit yesterday evening; it was probably some random stellar phenomenon. He barely noticed as someone sat down next to him.
"It looks like something's really bothering you" said a girl's voice. Rin turned his head, and saw the human girl now seated next to him, clad in a brown, face-obscuring cloak that seemed to make it hard for him to focus directly on her.
"You look like Hell" she said bluntly.
"I feel like I belong in it" Rin replied in a listless tone. "I… caused the death of one of my oldest and dearest friends."
The girl tilted her head. "How so?"
He sighed. "She fell in love with me. I was too dense to notice, and fell for another girl. I wound up unintentionally ignoring my friend, who has never been fully stable since her mother's death 10 years ago. My friend used me as an anchor; she justified her existence by 'serving' me. I figured that by moving out of her house, I could force her to move on, to become stronger so that she wouldn't have to rely on people. …Instead, it drove her to leave a message revealing that she loved me, and then use a dimensional transference spell to whisk herself away to a planet in the midst of an invasion, with the intent of getting herself killed by the invaders. She left us with the express intent to die. Because of me. I… I killed her. It's because of my actions and inactions that she went off to get herself killed. It's my fault she's dead…"
After several seconds, the girl reached into her pocket and pulled out a disc of some sorts.
"Get your friends – and this 'dead' girl's – together and observe the data on this disc. It's imbued with a temporal distortion field projector so you can squeeze all of its data into less than a day. It will answer some questions for you."
"What is it?" Rin asked as he took the disc.
"Recordings of various events and happenings in other dimensions, other realms – complete with flashbacks, dramatic camera angles, and music."
"…Is one of those realms… the one that Kaede sent herself to?"
"Perhaps, perhaps not."
"…So we at least might find out what kind of force she committed suicide-by-alien-invasion with."
The girl got up and began walking away. Before Rin's astonished eyes, she vanished; his eyes caught a faint blur of motion bounding away along the rooftops.
"Super-speed magic?" he wondered aloud. "Sia's father mentioned something like that existing…"
With that done, he headed to the small, dingy little apartment he now lived in, and soon made calls to everyone. It wasn't long before Primula, Mayumi, Itsuki, Asa & Ama, Lisianthus & her father, and Nerine & her father all arrived. They squeezed into the living room, which was uncomfortably small for so many people… until Nerine's father cast a spatial distortion spell (being a fan of human media, he had nicknamed it "the TARDIS spell") that enlarged the room's internal area without affecting its external size. After settling in, they sat down and watched, with the recordings somehow letting them sense things as well as see & hear them (the shinzoku and mazoku of the group could already naturally sense such things, while Ama had taught Rin how to sense people's energies recently, as she'd taught Asa a couple years back; Mayumi & Itsuki were just plain out of luck, though).
They watched the story of the little nine-year-old named Nanoha Takamachi, witnessing the girl's extraordinary magical power (Nerine's father stated that what he now knew was a Jewel Seed was presently locked up in a magically-sealed vault down in Makai), watching and gauging her fights against the mysterious blonde girl… and felt anger and horror at the sight of her being tortured by her 'mother'. As things progressed, Fate's true nature made something stir within Nerine, and she felt pity for the poor thing who had received the exact opposite of what her beloved but short-lived 'sister' Lycoris had: a normal lifespan, but being treated as a disposable 'thing' by her creator. They also heard Precia's final, repentant and remorseful thoughts as she plummeted into the void. They watched the Book of Darkness Incident play out, feeling nearly suffocated by the unholy energy of the Beast, and watching with awe as it was struck down.
They watched the rise of the United Nations Space Command, the troubles it faced over the centuries, the implementation of the morally gray Spartan-2 program… and the horror of the Covenant's arrival and declaration of intent, along with the Prophet Triumvirate's true, unforgivably selfish motivations for the war. They saw as human colonies fell one by one and billions died, watched the adventures of the Spirit of Fire and its crew, the gradual loss of a few Spartans, and ending with the humans' victory at Sigma Octanis.
It then switched to the events of the Koprulu Sector – the oppressive Confederacy, the enigmatic Protoss, the nightmarish Zerg, and the trials & tribulations of James Raynor. The fall of the Confederacy and birth of Mengsk's Dominion, the triumph of the Overmind, the splintering of the Protoss, the sacrifice of Tassadar (the feel of him channeling ki/chakra, magic, the Force, and the Void all at once during his final act was awe-inspiringly overwhelming), the ascension of Kerrigan, the arrival of the UED, Duran's betrayal, the deaths of Fenix, Duke, and Raszagal, Zeratul's horrifying discovery and the true nature of Duran (the two realm-kings actually displayed open fear at the presence and interference of a daemon), culminating with Kerrigan's trouncing of the three armies who tried and failed to make revenge upon her.
They witnessed the background and corruption of the Sol Confederacy, the rise of the Phoenix League, that Earth's 4th World War, and the following events (including the revelation that the entity calling itself Duran had a hand in Dragovich's fall). They watched the rise of Naruto Uzumaki, the forging of Team 7, the Demon of the Mist's redemption, the Forest of Death, the Exams, the Invasion, the search for Tsunade, Sasuke Uchiha's fall to darkness.
They then watched as focus shifted to the planet Midchilda; they saw the formation of Force Six, the opening moves of Scaglietti… and then the Hotel Augusta and White Devil Incidents. They watched as an enraged and broken Teana called Nanoha out with never-before-seen viciousness, ending with a self-applied total Linker Core Seal (to the open shock of the group's mazoku and shinzoku) and then made her exit from the realm… on a Forerunner warship.
It had then shown Teana's ordeals in the realm that the UNSC and Covenant called home – her augmentation, her arrival, her integration, her assigning to Noble Team, the Covenant's massive invasion of Reach and the death of Noble Team, which left the girl utterly heartbroken; the incidents on Halo-04, the revealing of The Flood, the Master Chief's rise to galactic-scale heroism, and the following long ride home for the few survivors; the Covenant's stumbling upon Earth and being chased off, the rise of the Arbiter, the discovery of Halo-05, the Prophets' betrayal, the reveal of the Gravemind (whose tainted psychic voice made the viewing group feel nauseous and disoriented), the outbreak of the Covenant Civil War and resulting allegiance change of the Sangheili and those loyal to them; the death of Tartarus, the awakening of Teana's bloodline, the race back to Earth, the battles against Truth's forces in Africa, the opening of the Ark Portal and the traveling to the ancient megastructure; the death of Truth, and with him the Covenant; the rescuing of Cortana; the firing of the incomplete Halo and the apparent death of the Gravemind.
They saw as Teana returned to that realm's Earth and settled in. They watched with surprise as the American girl – Marie – emerged from a rift in reality, being tended to by Teana and eventually confessing her "sins" to the girl. And then, to the shock of everyone viewing, they saw as, two days after Marie's arrival, a brilliant beam of light shot down from the heavens into the large garden at ONI HQ Teana & Marie were talking in - a very familiar-looking beam of light… which faded to show an orange-haired girl who fell to her hands and knees, magical energy arcing across her body.
"Kaede?-!" "Kaede-chan!" "Kaede!-!"
As the recording showed Teana and Marie racing over to her as she passed out ("Another one?-!" Teana had shouted), the viewing group was shocked silent. Shock segued into relief as they realized that, under the care of someone of Teana's level, and with the UNSC, Kaede's odds of still being alive had just soared upward.
They watched and listened as, a few hours later, Kaede explained herself to them, giving a somewhat more detailed version of the message she'd left for Rin and company. She and Marie soon found themselves comforting and supporting each other, with Teana helping both. The group watched as two more figures arrived – the green-haired girl named Shion who stated she had no surname, and the girl named Mai… whose truncated explanations and flashbacks of her past left them all disgusted and horrified. A few days afterward, it showed as Kaede, Shion, Marie, and Mai simultaneously and spontaneously had the skills and knowledge of soldiers, what Teana had learned through experience, dumped into their head by an unknown force (which left the four with headaches that lasted for a few hours as their brains sorted through all the new data; Nerine voiced how her merger with Lycoris years ago had caused the same thing for her).
They watched the campaign on the desert world of Crassus, and how UNSC & Sangheili Alliance reinforcements – including Teana and the other four girls – arrived just in time to turn the tide, with Kaede showing remarkable aptitude with the BR55 Heavy-Barrel Scoped Rifle. A few other missions against Loyalist holdouts followed, and then came the formation of Gamma Team, followed by the departure from that realm. They were also rather worried by the advice Teana gave Kaede to keep her going, advice that Kaede said she would take to heart:
"If you can't live for yourself, and you don't have anyone else to live for, then do what I've done: live for revenge. Remember what this Shigure girl did to you, what she took from you. Never forget it, and never forgive it. Keep yourself going, day by day, with the goal of eventually getting revenge on her for all that… just as I've kept myself going with the need to avenge Noble Team by killing Truth… and how I will become strong enough to get revenge on the woman who betrayed me. Use your hatred of this 'Asa' to keep yourself going, just as my hatred of Takamachi has kept me alive and strong. …Though, should you eventually find somebody else to live for in addition to that hatred and revenge, go for it; a little love will keep the hatred from completely consuming you."
The thought that Kaede's hatred of her was literally all the other girl was running on made Asa feel both scared and sad.
They watched the brief stop-over in a certain galaxy, expressing shock (and, in Itsuki's case, fanboy-ing) at the adding of a Jedi and two Clone Commanders to the team. They watched as events shifted to the Koprulu Sector, as Kaede and her team got involved with Raynor and his forces, fighting Zerg and Dominion forces, learning of Zeratul's earth-shattering revelations and discoveries (including the Dark Voice, a Daemon Lord whose presence was as unnatural and suffocating as the Gravemind's), the exposing of Mengsk's cruelty to the public, the assault on Char, and the purification of Kerrigan.
Then came something not including Gamma's exploits: a return to the realm of shinobi. It showed Naruto's return; the emergence of Akatsuki, the loss and then reclaiming of Gaara (and the sacrifice of Elder Chiyo); the introduction of Yamato and Sai, the battle at the bridge… and Naruto's complete loss of control, becoming an abomination whose presence left the viewers (except the sensory-ability-lacking Mayumi & Itsuki) near-terrified; and finishing with the clash against Sasuke.
Then they watched the Starshot's arrival in the realm that the Phoenix League and the Tripartate called home; the implantation of knowledge of chakra and how to use it into the minds of the six girls of Gamma Team; the missions against pirates, intercut with casual downtime; Shion's explanation of her past; the fight against a greater demon… that culminated in the awakening of Teana's Mangekyō Sharingan; the reveal of Marie's Intelligent Device; the shot of Marie & Kaede lying in bed together (covered by a bedsheet yet obviously nude), asleep and with blissful smiles on their faces, entwined together and holding each other close ('She actually found someone else' Rin thought, 'a new reason to live, another person to live for…'); and the ship's departure from that realm.
They watched the girls' arrival at the world of shinobi, their integration into Konohagakure; the revelation of Teana's heritage; the emergence, alongside Shion's & Mai's confirmed Jinchūriki status (well, Type-2 for Mai), of Kaede's kekkei genkai, which left the group quite shocked indeed, especially since the ability to manipulate her bones in such a way also came with a healing factor as what Itsuki dubbed "required secondary powers"; the debacle with the Type-2 Jinchūriki named Sora; the 'bonding' of Shion and Mai; the attack of Hidan & Kakuzu, the tragic death of Asuma (which had everyone crying, even Primula a little), and Shikamaru's vengeance & Naruto's devastating new attack; the incident with the 3-Tails; the revelation of the Masked Man's true role; the epic clash between Pain and Jiraiya that ended with the noble old warrior's death; the landscape-shattering duel between Sasuke & Itachi… and the crushing revelations that followed, along with Sasuke's full fall to darkness; Pain's devastating invasion of the Hidden Leaf Village, Naruto's triumphant return with dazzling new power… and the new power's failure, resulting in the full rage and fury of the Kyūbi being unleashed like never before; the revelations of Nagato's past; Naruto's ultimate choice, and the choice that Nagato in turn made to undo some of the damage he'd caused; the aftermath of the battle, and the Starshot's departure.
They also witnessed during the stay on that world as Gaara, having heard about Kaede's bloodline ability, had a flashback of comparisons thanks to having overheard her explanation of a part of her past to Tsunade ("Serving and loving Rin-kun was the only thing that gave my life meaning! It was everything! But he couldn't understand that, and he cast me out! Rejected me! Took away my reason to exist!-!" "I am not his pawn! Orochimaru-sama is the only one to ever give my life meaning! But how could the likes of you ever understand that?-!"), which worried and struck a chord with Rin as he found himself seeing exactly how Kaede and Kimimaro had more in common than a kekkei genkai…
The group watched the tale of Negi Springfield; his graduation and appointment at Mahora; how Asuna found herself caught up in events; Evangeline's attack (Sia & Nerine's fathers were surprised to not only see a shinso-class vampiress in action, but one who was such an absurdly powerful mage), and the introduction of another girl named Kaede (though Nagase used different kanji for her name than the Kaede the viewers knew); the incidents in Kyōto; Negi's heart-wrenching past, Kotarō's switching over to the good guys, and the first glimpse of the depths of Negi's trauma and rage; the arrival of the Starshot, and the revelations that rocked Teana's world and shattered her strongly-held beliefs; the blending and bonding of Gamma Team with the locals; training; preparations for the Mahora Festival, and then the actual festival itself, with the various events that took place within it; Chao's gambit, and the battle between her & Negi… and the following revelations by her on just what was at stake; the summer vacation and assorted hijinks; Kaede's tearful confessions to Marie ("I didn't care how many girls Rin-kun was involved with! Just so long as I was one of them!") that brought a fresh wave of guilt to Rin and Asa.
Then they watched as things got serious. The trip to London and then to Mundus Magicus… and the battle that broke out with Negi's near-death and ended with everyone scattered across the planet; Negi nearly succumbing to internal damage by mana overload (everyone recognized the similarities to what had befallen Primula, while Asa looked a tad uncomfortable with herself) only to be "saved" by Kotarō (Chisame: "Why couldn't you have just, I dunno, had him fire spells into the air, or something?" Kotarō: "That wouldn't have been as fun for me"); Kaede & her group meeting up with Negi's (complete with Kaede and Marie practically leaping into each other's arms); the discovery of Ako & co.'s predicament… and the short but one-sided battle that followed; the entry into the New Ostia Tournament; Negi's accepting of Magia Erebea (which had Sia & Nerine's fathers quite uneasy, especially that a human child with deep-seated psychological issues was trying to wield such a power); the fight against Averruncus in New Ostia; Rakan's vids giving some detail on the Great War, including Princess Arika and the Lifemaker… followed by the revelation that the real Asuna was now in Averruncus' clutches, with a sleeper agent amongst the good guys.
They watched as the days leading up to the Finals rolled by; Negi's demonstration of his obscenely powerful spell against an unfortunate floating mountain; the 30-in-3-days training montage; Ako getting her heart broken as the truth about 'Nagi' comes out; the world-shaking battle between Negi and Rakan that left the viewers' jaws dropped; finding Yue and restoring her memories; the encounter with Kurt Gödel; the Ostia Ball (including Kaede's delighted reaction to Teana & Marie in tuxedoes); Kurt's revelations, and Negi's daemonic transformation ("Saw it coming" Nerine's father had muttered); the three-way clash between Team Negi, the Megalomesembrian forces, and Cosmo Entelecheia (including Kaede carving through shadow-summons, and Marie & Teana showing off their new top-level magic attacks); the horrible truth about Mundus Magicus; the unmasking of "Shiori"; Negi's trial of darkness; the flight to the Gravekeeper's Castle; the interference of Zazie's sister, and the reveal that she was a Mazōku whose power far outstripped even Nerine and her father, as well as that Mana was a very powerful half-mazōku (Ama chanced a look at Asa when this came out).
The battle in the castle (including Kaede's rather one-sided battle against Koyomi); Negi descending deeper into darkness than ever before; the operation to rescue Asuna from Fate… and the sudden emergence of Averruncus 4 through 6, and the resulting battles; the final clashes between Negi & Fate and between Teana & Dynamis; the surprise appearance of the Lifemaker; the counterattack of unexpected reinforcements for the heroes; the freeing of Asuna, and the truth behind Nagi's fate; the return to that realm's Earth; the Lifemaker's breaking free of his seal; Chao's return; the battles against Cosmo Entelecheia (including Kaede and the other Kaede easily dispatching Tésseris); the discovery and freeing of Arika; the fight against Dynamis and the few other remaining CE members, followed shortly afterward by the Lifemaker being exorcised from Nagi… and then returning with a new body, killing Chao, and revealing himself to be a Precursor; the encounters within the dream world of the Eternal Garden, including Kaede's encounter with the ghost of her mother; the team rallying around Teana, pulling her away from the "despair event horizon", and then combining power to break free of the Lifemaker's realm; the final, epic clash against the Last Precursor, culminating in his destruction.
The calm aftermath of the final battle… and the revelation that the girls would have to swing by the realms they left behind; the departure, and then arrival at Mai & Marie's homeworld; Mai getting long-deserved vengeance against the woman who'd ruled and ruined her life; the rescuing of Kizuna; the trip across that Earth's Pacific Ocean to California, and the heartwarming reunion between Marie and her family; the days of peace and normalcy, which ended with the addition of four new people to the Starshot's group.
As the vids finally came to an end, the sun was setting outside, even with the time dilation spell in effect. The shock still hadn't worn off yet at just how much Kaede had been through since departing. After nearly a minute of total silence, however, Sia's father spoke up.
"Rin-chan, you said that a girl in a cloak gave this data to you?"
"Y-Yes" the boy replied.
"…May I use a memory-scan spell on you? I'd like to check something."
A minute later, the memory of the girl's voice had been pulled free, and the man then inputted the sound into a magitech computer. He then ran it through voice-recognition software… and came up with an exact match for Mai Kitagawa.
"The burst of Cherenkov radiation…" Nerine's father said, eyes wide in realization. "During the UNSC arc, they mentioned how that accompanies a ship carrying nuclear warheads transitioning from slipspace releases a burst of it…"
Before anyone could process this further, Sia's father got a call. After he terminated the connection, he turned to the group.
"We just picked up a peculiar aircraft flying in from overseas. It… matches the description of a D77 Pelican dropship. And it's heading for here. …They're here. She's come home."
-CHAPTER END-
Next chapter, Gamma Team actually shows up, and old tensions boil over…