Standard issue disclaimer: Negima was created by Akamatsu Ken and its ownership is somewhat disputed. I am not him, or any of them. This is parody, protected speech.

Descendant Habits
Chapter One

"It's a boy," the nurse told Nekane.

To her eyes, filled with tears, he looked much like his father had, all those years ago. "Nigel," she said. "His name is Nigel." That was what she'd wanted to name her first born. There'd been a book she'd loved growing up, where the young hero who went out into the world was named Nigel. Right now, she couldn't remember much about it, because of the pain and because of what was mostly keeping it at bay. But she remembered that.

And the tears resumed as the nurse took him away from her, so that she could get some rest, even though all that she wanted was to hold him in her arms and never let him go, as she'd had no choice but to let go of Negi. But her arms were too weak, and so she eventually subsided and let sleep take her as her second child was carried to rest in the nursery with all his brothers and sisters.

---

Roughly eleven years earlier, this happened.

"She didn't eat any of it," the chief of guards reported to the facility's warden, to give them greater dignity than either of them deserved.

"She will eventually," replied the warden, not bothering to look up from her fashion magazine as she sat at her desk, receiving the chief. "Our guest is not some fanatic whom we're going to have to force feed, and she's not suicidal, either. Once she accepts that no rescue is coming, she'll also accept that she needs to survive this in order to take revenge when we slip up and allow her an opening to escape. And she'll eat, and become much more manageable. That will be all."

A few seconds later, on realizing that her primary lackey was not stepping away from the desk as expected, the gangleader looked up with an annoyed expression. "Or is there something else?" she asked, taking a look at his troubled expression. "Don't tell me you're having moral qualms."

"No, of course not. Practical ones. Is this stuff that we're putting in her food actually going to work? I don't know much about the Royal Magic, but isn't it supposed to work against poisons and such?"

One of the secrets to effective leadership is learning not to discourage your subordinates from exercising their intelligence on your behalf. The warden's adherence to this particular doctrine was spotty at best, but at this particular juncture, she elected to nod. "Yes. It counters poisons and even medicinal drugs unless it recognizes them as genuinely helpful to the body's pattern. But the substance we're putting in her food will be recognized like that."

"How -"

"Deviluke technology," she said. This was actually code for 'I don't know.' In the circles in which these people moved, any advanced technology was always be assumed to be manufactured by the sorcerer-engineers of the Deviluke Empire. She neither knew nor truly cared how the chemical additives in question functioned, nor where they came from, but only that they would function in accordance with her needs. Or she would have words with her supplier, and possibly other people further up the line of supply. Words that might be the last thing such people ever heard. "Anything else?" she asked, in a way that strongly implied that the answer should be no.

The information given satisfied the chief of guards, who shook his head in response and left the room at a brisk walk, heading out of the well-lit office into one of the prison's shadowy hallways. He was so focused on his task that he didn't notice that one of the shadows was moving behind him until it was on top of him, in a section of the hallway which fortuitously afforded a blind spot in the near-ubiquitous surveillance. And then it was too late.

The shadow's name, at least the one most commonly used, was Kamiya, and he was presently male. After satisfying himself that the man would live but remain unconscious for enough time to complete the operation, Kamiya shoved him into the cloak he had inherited from his mother, before assuming the man's form and resuming his walk. After the conversation he'd just had with his superior, it would be perfectly understandable if he went to check on the prisoner again, and so Kamiya did so as well.

He arrived at the cell at the center of this prison complex, designed to hold a single person, made the appropriate adjustments to the cell's controls - tightening restraining devices remotely - and slid open the top slit in the door. The woman within the cell, naked save for her long blonde hairs, stared cool murder at him from heterochromatic eyes. Kamiya found himself impressed despite everything. He honestly wished that he could free her ahead of schedule. But that was not to be, and his wishes mattered much less than the fulfillment of his duty.

He closed the slit and proceeded to his actual target - the prison's supplies. As it was intended to be self-sustaining, the facility had been equipped with all the supplies that it would need for roughly twenty years of continuous operation, using techniques similar to those employed by continuance-of-government facilities. This included its supply of a certain chemical.

Ironically, the doctrines that allowed it to be self-sufficient also left it open to sabotage. If any of the supplies were tampered with, they could not easily be replaced. And if that tampering was very subtle ... then it would never be discovered. By adulterating their supplies of the chemical, in a way that would be undetectable for a group of operatives unfamiliar with the biotechnology involved, Kamiya could radically change the outcome of the imprisonment of the Queen of Calamity.

And yet he hesitated to do so.

This was not a case of defending his own right to exist. In both the history in which he (or someone else) did this and the history in which he did not, he came into existence. What changed as a consequence was certain facts in the lives of his allies. And so he hesitated as he had not before seducing his own parents. Ensuring one's own existence was selfish, true, but far less than ensuring that one's allies were of a certain quality and nature, when it truly mattered not at all as long as they were allied.

As was so often the case, his hesitation resulted in the decision being made for him. Alarms abruptly began to blare, announcing that there was an intruder in the base. He did not permit himself to freeze, since he was certain that he could not be the intruder detected. But whoever it was had compromised the operation. Releasing the man he was impersonating from his cloak, he shifted away from this time and place with his mission unfulfilled.

The chemical that would have sterilized the Queen of Calamity would now only slow her cycles to a crawl, with no lasting effects once it was out of her system. In time, she would know childbirth again.

With all the potential wonder and horror that entailed.

A stone cast before an avalanche. Yet one that turns its course, though that will not be apparent for many years to come.

---

"My son, from what I am told, you are familiar with the uses of these?" she said, holding up a bottle of age-changing pills.

"Oh, yes, I've used these quite a few times."

"Very well." She handed him the bottle. "I would then ask you to take one and assume the semblance of a fifteen year old."

"Well, all right," Negi said, and obeyed his mother at once. Fortunately, the age increase pills also caused ones clothes to expand with one.

"Thank you. The purpose of this exercise, then, is to permit me to, as your sister might put it, establish some freaking ephebophilia." She took Negi's somewhat larger face between her hands. "Negi, I love you regardless of how you look ... but I admit that I will feel more comfortable as your lover when you are as old as you look now. For at this size, I need neither bend so far nor kneel to do this." She kissed him passionately and forcefully.

To Negi, it felt strange. The tangible illusion in which he was surrounded conveyed the sensation of being touched, but there was a minute but perceptible delay between the stimulus and his awareness of it. The sensation of his mother's lips on his own was different from the way that it felt when he was in his natural form. It wasn't bad, just ... different.

So too was the sensation he felt as she reached with one hand to stroke him there. She pulled back, and there was a smile on her face. "Ah. You have grown." With one hand, she undid the button of his pants - he'd stopped wearing his belt recently - slid down the zipper, and reached in. He groaned softly as she took him in hand.

"This exercise will involve only fellatio and intercourse," Arika explained. "While in this state you have the size to better develop technique with paizuri, I have, I think, explained to you that paizuri is - what?" Her eyes stared deeply into his own.

Oh, a test. "Primarially a way for a woman to satisfy a man, rather than anything she will voluntarily enjoy," he repeated from memory. "In some cases, it might even be used simply as a way for a man to assert dominance over a woman. But, ma'am, don't women generally enjoy cunnilingus?"

"Yes, that is quite true, and it's praiseworthy that you remember that," she said as she slid his suspenders off his shoulders and let his pants fall. "But we are engaging in absolute minimal foreplay on this occasion. I am or will be sufficiently lubricated by the time arrives for you to penetrate my cunt." He noted again, as she dropped down to one knee in front of him, the odd dichotomy of her normally precise words and the blunt words she used for the genitalia. But she had taken him into her mouth, and it was hard to think about such matters.

He grew harder as her lips, teeth and tongue moved up and down him. She was beyond any doubt the most skilled fellatrix of his admittedly limited experience, Negi decided as he ran his fingers through her hair. After only a few moments, he was as hard as ever; harder, actually, if the sensations of the disguise were to be trusted. Arika pulled back and rose to her feet, one hand wrapping around his hardness as she started pushing him towards the bunkbeds. "Lift my skirt, please," she said.

Unsteadily, as he backed up, he reached down slowly hiked up the skirt that stretched down to her ankles until its hemline was up around her hips. This revealed that she was wearing garters and stockings, but no panties. That done, she paused, then slowly turned them both around so that she was backing towards the bunkbeds and - gently, ever gently - pulling him with them. She pulled him - still gently - with her as she sat down on the bottom bunk. Their distance between their hips closed, and she firmly guided his hardness -

"Are you thinking of this as a hardness?" she asked abruptly.

"Um," he answered, not wanting to lie.

"What is this?" she asked, squeezing slightly.

"That is ... my cock," he answered.

"And this?" she asked, spreading her lower lips.

"That ... is the cunt I came out of," Negi answered.

"Almost correct. It is the cunt you will soon cum into again," Arika answered. And then she pushed, and pulled, and guided, and his cock was in her cunt.

"Do it now. Do it hard. Do it long," she told him.

And he did, pumping back and forth, hands on her sides as he pushed up and into her, as her legs came up and crossed behind his rear to pull him in further. He managed a respectable ten minutes before his breathing changed, telling her that he was fighting off orgasm.

"Do not fight it. Give in to it, give it into me, give me my grandchildren -" his mother told him, working him like a pump with her muscles below.

"Wait, what? gasped Negi.

"Give me your children -" Pump.

"But, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to be a father at my age!" Negi protested.

"Nor was I happy about becoming a mother at your age, but we don't -" Pump. "- always get -" Pump. "- what we want!" Pump, pump, pump. "Now cum!"

And he did, and though she had not achieved climax, it was no matter. The pleasure was intellectual, now, as she reached down with her extrasenses to feel the sperm fertilizing her ovae.

There it was! Ah, how beautiful. She smiled broadly at the sensation, at the joy of taking her son and all that was him back into her, and ...

Wait, she thought, as her senses gave her a view of the genetic pattern which was even now combining with her own. If this is my son, why is there so little of me in him? She withdrew her awareness from her womb, and tightened her embrace of Negi's teenaged body. Arika had heard of a condition called 'chimerism' which caused different patterns of life to express themselves in different parts of the body, and so she carefully examined the body of the teenager who still crouched between her legs, panting heavily. As she did so, her smile became somewhat fixed.

"Mother?" Negi asked hesitantly, picking up on her abrupt change of mood. "Is something the matter?"

"I'm not sure," Arika lied as she got the answer she feared, and found herself considering how best to kill this creature who had just inseminated her under the guise of being her child. Until this very moment, she had never quite comprehended the anger and fear most men felt at the prospect of being cuckolded. Now she understood in full what it was to cherish someone and realize that they had come from someone else. It filled her with a towering fury.

"Please, tell me what's wrong," he pleaded, pulling away slightly. "Did I do something to -"

As quickly as it had arisen, her fury ebbed. "No, no, it's fine," she assured him, pulling him close. "I just expected to be happier about all this than I am." Another lie, but one of kindness. His obvious concern forced her to realize that whatever trickery had been worked upon her had been worked on him as well.
And even beyond that, he was definitely, beyond any doubt, Nagi's son, the child of the one she loved most in all of time and space. In fact ... yes, he was Nagi's child twice over; now that she was calm, she recognized those patterns as well.

Nekane's child, she concluded in silence. Why is Nekane's child posing as mine?

Where is mine?

Questions for another day. Right now, she bent down to soundly kiss the face of the child who was now the father of her next child.

---

Arika's sleep the next night was somewhat troubled, though no one who didn't know her well would have realized it. Fortunately, Konoka had still not returned from wherever she'd gone when she'd departed this morning, so Arika had the lower bunk all to herself. While her meditations were somewhat distracted by the sounds of Asuna and Negi above her, with the way that the amusement she'd felt at the thought of her children's union had ended thanks to the discovery that only one of them was in fact her child, she was able to ignore it.

Still, it's not as though I could make them stop, if I wanted to do that, she decided. Asuna truly loves him for himself, despite the fact that she now believes he is her brother. I refuse to destroy her happiness, simply because my own has been tainted somewhat.

But

why did Nekane raise her son to believe that he was simply her cousin? And why did her friends and family cooperate with this grand deception?

And

where is my son?

A terrible anger was growing in her heart. Whatever had become of the son she'd carried for nine months beneath her heart, his birthright, his very identity, had been stolen and given to another. She had never begrudged Nekane's crush on Nagi, had found it amusing when Nagi himself was discomfitted by it and confessed his cuckolding of his brother to her. How could she, who loved her own father desperately and without requital, possibly despise another for the same feelings? But this was taking matters too far. Much too far.

But the best and most poetically just revenge would be to take it that much further. Arika began thinking of ways to do that.

Once the sounds from above subsided enough to make her believe that the children had descended into sleep, for the moment, she arose from the bunk and padded barefoot over to the nook where Albert Chamomile had, until very recently, slept. He had been in such a hurry to depart - itself rather suspicious - that he'd left certain of his belongings behind. Such as his small computer.

His password ('iluvpanties') was childishly easy to figure out, and he'd foolishly permitted the shopping sites he employed record his credit card information. She found that the items she wished to purchase were readily available, and, even in the quantities she required, could be shipped to her and arrive by morning. The hypocrisy of being angry that her son's identity had been stolen, and responding by stealing another's identity, did not trouble her in the slightest. Royalty makes its own rules.

Anger momentarily satisfied, she returned to bed, and went to sleep dreaming of someone else's grandchildren, rather than her own. And the revenge she would take with them.

---

"A strategy session?" Negi asked the next day when she proposed the idea over breakfast

Arika nodded. "Didn't you say yesterday that you wanted to see Asuna surrounded by people with real world experience, so long as this Tsukuyomi person is wandering about? Let us gather our forces, then, and make plans."

He frowned as he considered it. "You're right, of course," he said at last. "But at the same time -" Negi paused as he looked around the dorm room.

"It will be kind of tricky squeezing everyone in here," Asuna supplied at last.

"We need not do so," Arika replied easily. "For now, let us just involve those whom you consider the most capable. Tatsumiya-san, for example. And perhaps that ninja who was present the other day, who retrieved -"

"We're back," announced Konoka, accompanied by Setsuna. They both looked tired, and Setsuna in particular had a rather haunted expression on her face. It reminded Arika of how Eishun had looked after learning of a mistake that he'd made unwittingly. But they were holding hands tightly, which argued that steps were being taken.

"Ah, splendid," Arika said. "Join us, please." She poured them both juice, adulterated with the fertility drugs she'd purchased, and watched them drink it wth pleasure. Her plans were proceeding nicely.

---

"Yes, this one's on the house," Mana agreed. "The bounty on Tsukuyomi is enough that I can probably forego any other fees and still break even. Of course, donations to my favorite charities are always welcome." She glanced at her rival with readily apparent annoyance. "But what's she doing here?"

"This one is endeavoring to provide our esteemed hosts with a more secure meeting place and shelter," Kaede answered in much the same tone. "Further, this one does so for the joy of assisting one's friends, rather than any extortionate fees."

"What was that about extortion?" Mana growled.

"No fighting, please," Negi groaned as the two of them began to square off.

Smiling faintly at the sexual tension between the two young women, Arika nonetheless found herself uneasy about Nagase's motivation. Friendship was admirable, but fragile, as well. The bonds of love were better and more binding. She believed that Nagase did love her s- Negi. (She was finding it hard to stop thinking of the boy as her son. How frustrating.) But did she love him enough, or would that friendship be shattered by -

"I told her, you know," Konoka said quietly.

Arika blinked. She had of course been aware that Konoka was standing beside her, and it was for that reason that she had not yet added the fertility drugs to the tea she was planning on sending into the cloak with them. But she hadn't realized that the young woman was perceptive enough to realize what she was thinking, or at least the subject of those thoughts. "Did you indeed?"

"The other day, when I messed up and went out looking for her. She's not bothered by it. I'm not sure why."

"How intriguing. Thank you." She paused, then pressed on. "I'm glad that you and Setsuna-san have grown closer again. I did not wish to be the source of more pain to you than I had to be." That was probably as close to an expression of regret as she could come.

Konoka smiled sweetly and went over to stand with Setsuna, who was trying, without success, to get a straight answer from Mana about why their dorm room had been so bloodied yesterday. This finally permitted Arika to add the drugs to their tea. Enough for four women. She paused, and then doubled the dose, just to be well past safe. She hoped that neither the half-demon nor the ninja would detect the adulterant ...

They all went into the cape and began their meeting well. Arika decided to absent herself momentarily to give their natural instincts a chance to flourish without adult supervision. She was fairly certain what she would find when she went back in, so she stripped off her clothes while waiting. The surprise of a knock at the door momentarily froze her, and so she quickly pulled on a housecoat before answering.

"Takahata," she said, with chill politeness, when she saw who was at the door. "What seems to be the matter?"

"I need to speak to Negi. It's very urgent," the teacher explained.

She lifted an eyebrow and held open the door allowing him to brush past her as he entered the room. He found it deserted, with a cloak lying on the kotatsu. "Where are -"

"That's Kaede-san's artifact, Tengu no Kakuremino," Arika explained as she shut the door and followed him in. "Negi and some of his partners are having a strategy session with Mana-san in the cloak's cottage."

"A strategy session?" Takamichi asked.

"A strategy session," Arika confirmed, smiling inwardly.

"Well, regardless, I need to talk to him, and it is very -"

"Urgent, you said. Forgive me, but I think I'll be the judge of what's urgent where Negi is concerned," Arika said, sitting down on the bottom bunk and crossing her legs. "What's the matter, Takahata?"

He drew in a deep breath. "I've been fired from my position at Mahora due to the discovery of a certain indiscretion I committed a little while ago," he began.

"You mean how you had sex with Konoka-san," Arika interrupted. "Yes, I'm aware of the incident. She mentioned it in passing. You have my sympathies for the loss of your job, but I'm not sure what you think Negi can do about it."

"That's not the problem," Takamichi continued, looking startled but only briefly. "That's just the prelude. Konoemon-sensei is understandably furious about it, but when I was confronted by Eishun-sama, he ... he acted as though it was a joke. He even claimed that he'd also had relations with Konoka," he added, softly.

"And?" Arika asked.

"Don't you find that a bit odd?"

"Takahata. You know how Asuna came to be, correct?" she asked wearily.

"That, that and this are two completely different situations!" Takahata nearly shouted.

"Be that as it may, I'm not seeing your cause for concern."

"Do you really think a father would act that way if his daughter had been molested?"

Arika let out a disgusted noise. "There are all manner of fathers in the world. What I wonder is whether he was trying to provoke some sort of reaction from you, perhaps getting you to admit to other incidents of wrong-doing by posing as one who shares your 'interests'. Had you admitted to it, he would probably have killed you. I think you are making something of nothing," she said dismissively.

"Do you really think Eishun-sama would -"

"I think Eishun has changed, in many ways from the way he was when I knew him," Arika interrupted, shrugging. "Some ways for the better, some ways for the worse. What I describe is a fairly common social feint, something that someone with his responsibilities might well use." She paused. "Come to that, though, I was under the impression that he was heading back to Kyoto."

"He's still here, I just spoke with him," Takamichi pressed. "Please, Arika-sama, I am telling you that something very wrong is happening. I'm asking you to please trust my instincts!"

She frowned heavily, letting him know that he'd just made a very poor choice of words. "It is very difficult to trust the instincts of one whom one does not trust, Takahata," she said, standing up as she did so.

He closed his eyes. "Yes, I suppose that would be the case. I can't prove that my master didn't betray you, and I suppose that I am tainted -"

"Nor can you prove that you yourself did not," Arika interrupted again, this time softly.

Takamichi's eyes snapped open and he stared at her. "Me?" he asked hoarsely. "But, but I wasn't even entrusted with your secret. I couldn't have ..."

She shook her head and he trailed off. "You realize, of course, that the only person who can confirm that you were never told the secret is dead," she said quietly. "And even your own memories cannot truly be trusted, Takahata. Gateau was always too fast on the draw when it came to memory manipulation, and I have seen signs that you are the same way. How hard would it be for you to modify your own memories?"

All that Takamichi did for a moment was just stare at her with his jaw dropped.

There was a knocking at the door, and Arika rose up to answer it. "Oh, hello, Arika-sama," Ayaka said, as she stood there in a bathrobe, looking very nervous. "Is Negi in?"

She had been right to double the dose. "Certainly, please come in. Takahata was just leaving, weren't you?" she added without even a glance in his direction.

---

Her plan was proceeding nicely, she decided the next day. The seed had been planted in all six of the girls, and she was certain that it had germinated in four of them. Setsuna's biology was a bit puzzling, unfortunately, so she couldn't be completely sure about her. Asuna's power made using such diagnostic tools on her somewhat difficult, but considering the frequency with which the boy had spewed forth his sperm into her daughter's cunt, it would be ridiculous if it hadn't fertilized one of her ovae by now.

Unless, of course, Asuna's tryst with Akashi Wataru was to be surprisingly fruitful. That was a troubling thought, as was the possibility that Mana was already pregnant by Rakan. She could be certain that no such condition had obtained in the case of Konoka and Setsuna, having been able to examine their sweet young bodies very carefully even before she'd embarked on this path, but such was not the case with Mana. She blamed the Japanese reserve, which kept her from doing such things as casually embracing people to facilitate a deeper examination. Admittedly, she could have done it anyway, playing the role of the overly affectionate foreigner, but that would square ill with her general persona as someone equally reserved.

Ah well. As these people - of whom she was growing ever more fond - were pone to say, it couldn't be helped.
There had been a few other worrying moments in yesterdays revelry, such as when Ayaka had, after watching with wide eyes as Negi coupled with Mana and then with Kaede in his lightning infused form, that she wished to do the same. She proclaimed (semi-truthfully) that she was not afraid and (completely truthfully) that she loved her dear little brother no matter what he looked like, and wished to shower him with her love in his every form. Asuna, annoyed by this and certainly not afraid for the welfare of someone who was not her friend, had held her back while Arika attempted to make things a bit easier by pushing Setsuna forward, helped by Konoka.

What followed had been almost inhumanly beautiful, as Setsuna, as she reached her first of several orgasms, unconsciously allowed her wings to explode forth from her naked shoulders while she rocked upon him, looking angelic as she pounded her hips on Negi's decidedly godlike form. The sight would probably have done nothing to persuade Ayaka to abandon her plan. Thankfully, she'd been in the way of the wings as they swept out, and was knocked senseless by the force of the blow. By the time she'd recovered, it was already too late to continue in that way, though she'd settled for a normal bout of sex once Negi recovered. Then Konoka had finally had her turn, wrapping her legs around him while Asuna nearly crushed her breasts as she held them both tightly.

Now to decide on the next step, Arika mused. Chisame-san, I think. How to -

Her meditations were disturbed by the ringing of the phone. As Asuna and Konoka had taken Negi to the baths to fuck him stupider and give him a bath, not necessarily in that order, she was alone in the room, and so felt obligated to answer rather than let the machine take it. "Hello?" she said.

"Good morning, Arika-sama," said the cool, even voice that she recognized promptly. "I hope that I find you well this day."

"Good morning to you as well, Chachamaru-san," she said calmly, despite her surprise at the unexpected phone call. "Forgive me for omitting the formalities, but why are you calling Negi's room?"

"No forgiveness is necessary. In fact, you are precisely the person with whom I was hoping to speak. I am attempting to arrange a meeting between myself, Negi-sensei, Hakase Satomi-san, and Chisame-san. The latter two have already agreed to the meeting, but Chisame-san insisted on having it in a place where she feels ... safe ... in my presence."

Anyone else would probably never have noticed the brief hesitations around that word, which communicated a great deal of pain. But the mechanism pressed on regardless. "I proposed Negi-sensei's room as a safe place, and she eventually agreed to it as a location."

"Did you indeed?" Arika said flatly. "Before even consulting ... him?" She had been about to say 'me' but realized how it might sound at the last possible moment.

"It seemed a wiser course of action to ask forgiveness rather than permission," Chachamaru admitted. "And while I am certain that he would agree to it, I do recognize that you are presently acting as a gatekeeper, of sorts, and controlling access to him. I hope to be able to persuade you to agree to my proposal, as I believe you to be a logical and reasonable person."

"Do you indeed," Arika said, so flatly that it was no longer even a question. "I would be very interested to know how you intend to do that."

"In this way. I deduce, from your comments and actions during your rescue Yukihiro-san, Naba-san, and Chisame-san that the other children of your husband are of considerable interest to you. You would very much like to have further interactions with them, possibly but not necessarily of a sexual nature, and you have not to this point been able to do so with Chisame-san, because she has avoided contact with you. I deduce that fact from the way that she agreed with feigned reluctance to a meeting where Negi-sensei would be present, but far more genuine discomfort and reluctance when she realized that you would be present as well.

"In summary - I believe that you will agree to this meeting because it serves your own goals and interests as well as mine," the girl whom Arika could no longer think of as a mechanism concluded.

"... well done," she said after a moment. "You are correct. I will pleased to host this conference. When would you -"
"In one and a half hours."

Not a great deal of time, but she required very little in the way of preparations, once Negi returned and was informed of this. It would be wise to send Asuna off with Konoka and Setsuna. "I look forward to seeing you then," she said with total sincerity.

It was truly a pity that this one could not bear any of Negi's children. Truly, truly a pity.

---

The next day, this happened.

As she exited the buidlding, Asuna breathed deeply for the first time since she'd arrived at the school. She looked down at the card Shizuna had given her. At the very least, she'd need to visit this doctor to get some -

"Why do you need to visit a doctor?" asked Arika, who was standing just beside her.

It was difficult, but Asuna mastered the impulse to shriek and jump away from the woman who had, to all appearances, come out of nowhere to stand beside her. She couldn't quite keep aggravation out of her tone when she spoke. "You followed me, didn't you?"

"Daughter. There is a person loose on this campus who specifically wants to kill you, and has already killed one person. Of course I followed you; were the world mine, you would go nowhere without a small army of bodyguards."

Asuna's head snapped in Arika's direction. "She's killed someone? What, who -"

"Apparently, one of the magic teachers disappeared last night while patrolling, leaving only a quantity of blood to mark his presence," Arika answered, her face utterly still, her voice low and level. "I haven't been able to find out more than that. My subversion of the school's surveillance system is not complete. Be that as it may, I would ask that you not try to get around my question. Why do you need to visit a doctor, Asuna?"

"I don't," Asuna answered, looking away and trying to tuck the card away in one of the pockets of her jeans. "But, y'know, if I did, it'd be good -"

"I saw the characters for Obstetrican and Gynecologist on the the card, daughter," Arika said, in the same low, level tone.

Asuna said nothing.

"This is a foreign land to me," her mother continued, looking away herself. "I really only know about it what I have learned since you brought me here, and what Nagi told me he had learned during his journeys here. One of those things was that the primary method of dealing with ... unwanted childen ... was one that required a surgical procedure."

Asuna struggled to keep her calm. "That, that was true, once, but not anymore. But ... yes. The doctor I'm seeing ... does that procedure."

"Indeed." Arika still wasn't looking at her. "I find that notion disgusting. But on the other hand, the primary method of dealing with unwanted children in my homeland was, at one time, to abandon them on a hillside shortly after their birth. Perhaps your way is more humane. Perhaps."

"I don't know from humane," Asuna snapped, no longer trying to keep calm. "But, but - do you really want to have this conversation in public?"

"I took the liberty of casting a spell to deceive the ears of those near us. Please try to avoid raising your voice, both to make it easy for the spirit it called up to improvise a plausible conversation about tonight's dinner, as well as for the obvious reason," Arika replied, facing her daughter again.

Reigning it in, Asuna began walking and Arika walked alongside her. "I got to talking with Negi last night, after we, well, and after you fell asleep."

"I don't sleep, I -"

"Uh-huh, well, while you were making snoring noises while waiting, we were talking about what he did with Chisame-san and Hakase." She glared at Arika. "I'm a little pissed that I didn't get to stick around and watch that."

"That is your right," Arika agreed.

"Gee, thanks. He, he was a little freaked out about it, about being a father, and, and then he told me about what you said a few days ago ..." She trailed off.

"Ah." The former queen nodded. "Yes, I can see why you might grow concerned."

Asuna clenched her fists and stopped in her tracks. "You are so damned casual about all of this!" she bit out. "I'm fifteen years old! And don't give me any crap about, 'I was twelve'!"

"Very well. I will not give you such crap. I will give you the truth. I would very much like grandchildren." She spread her hands. "I think most parents would."

"Yeah, but most parents don't want to become the parents of their grandchildren!" Asuna snapped.

"Voice," Arika said warningly. "And the circumstances are somwhat complex. But I think you can understand why I'd want more children, whose lives I would hopefully not miss as I've missed yours and Negi's."

"Okay, but ... when we were talking, he mentioned something about how you touched their stomachs and looked happy for no reason, and I remembered how you did that to me, too, and to Iinchou and Konoka and Setsuna, and, and - are you trying to get us all pregnant by him?"

"Yes," she answered. "That's exactly what I'm doing."

"Why?" Asuna pressed. "It can't just be because you want grandchildren. There's got to be more to it than that!"

Arika was tempted to sigh as she was reminded that for all the ways that her daughter reminded her of her own soul mate, neither she nor Nagi was as much of a fool as they seemed at times. There was indeed more to it, but she neither wanted to lie to the girl nor tell her the shattering truth just yet. "Isn't that reason enough? Asuna, do you want to know if you are with child?"

The question succeeded in distracting her. "You can really tell, this early on?" the girl asked.

Arika nodded. "One of the attributes of the Royal Magic which I have cultivated is an awareness of the functioning of my own body. With effort, I can extend that awareness to perceive changes in another's body as well. With you, it's a bit difficult, because you resist attempts to examine you magically as well as you do attempts to harm you. But I believe with enough time, I would be able to tell."

Asuna rolled her eyes. "With enough time, everyone is going to be able to tell, particularly if the answer's yes and I swell up like a balloon," she growsed. Then, much more quietly, she added, "I'm scared."

"You have a right to be."

As though she hadn't heard that, Asuna continued. "What if, what if it -"

"He or she, not it," Arika said, just a bit sharply.

"What if the baby is, is wrong? If he or she is sick, or twisted, because Negi is ..." She trailed off again.

"Asuna. Daughter. That is a possibility that you must face regardless of who you would choose to be the father of your children," Arika reminded her softly. "You are my daughter and my sister, for good or ill, and given how closely our father and my mother were related, I could probably add cousin to the list as well. Will you let fear rule your life?"

"I don't want to, but it's bigger than just my life, isn't it?" Asuna pointed out, almost tearfully.

"So it is," Arika allowed.

"It's easy for you, your crazy religion says all of this is all right," the girl said as she started to get angry again.

Arika seemed startled. "My reli- Ah." She nodded. "Tatsumiya. I'm afraid she's given you some bad information. Yes, I was associated with the Mysteries of Aphrodite and Eros for a short while after you were born. It was a casual thing ... well, no, it wasn't. I was looking to the gods in hopes that they'd grant me understanding of what had happened to me. I followed many paths in that time. But while the Mysteries accept incest, they don't actively encourage it, and in many ways try to subtly discourage it.

"And in any event, after the destruction of Ostia, I was officially anathematized by every religion in which I'd ever been initiated, including that one," she concluded. "Even without that, I don't really believe in anything I learned from them, anymore."

Asuna had listened to this in silence as her assumptions were undone. "Then why? If it's not because of that, then ... why?"

Arika drew in a deep breath. "Because it gives me pleasure, and I believe that it gives you pleasure too. Am I wrong? If so, then we'll stop. All you have to do, is say no. And I will respect that."

Asuna stared at her for a long moment, before falling forward and pressing her face into Arika's shoulder. Startled, there was another pause before Arika's arms came up to wrap around her daughter's shoulders.

"I don't want to stop," Asuna murmured. "Even though I'm scared, even though I don't know if it's right or not, I don't want to stop."

"Then we won't," Arika said. "Rather we will go on and go even further."

---

A little while later, Asuna poked her head out of the bushes to make sure they wouldn't be seen when they emerged. No one was present, so she stepped out of cover and beckoned for Arika to follow, which the former Queen did with unhurried grace.

"I can't believe you can walk after all that," Asuna said, just a bit enviously.

"Stamina, dear. One of our many gifts. Feeling better, I hope?" Arika asked as she walked beside her older child.

"A little," Asuna allowed. "I'm still not sure -"

"Nor should you be. Such decisions should never be untroubled. But I think you now are in a better state of mind, daughter, to hear some additional facts that might alter your views on this subject. What I told you about your situation is cold fact, but you should also know that -"

By that point in Arika's monologue, they had reached an intersection in the tree-lined pathway, and began to turn to head back towards the dormitory.

"Ah! Asuna-san and Arika-san, what a pleasant surprise!" said Ayaka from behind them.

Asuna couldn't quite suppress a sigh. She'd really been enjoying her private time with her mother, and even though she and Ayaka had gotten a lot closer than she'd ever thought they would, this was an interruption she hadn't looked for. Still, maybe she could just exchange a few pleasantries and be on her way without an argument breaking out.

Okay, it was never going to happen, but she might as well give it a shot. So she painted on a smile and turned to look at Ayaka, who was wearing a bright pink sun dress and white heels. She was surprised to see that the class representative was being accompanied by a handsome looking fellow who looked to be in his sixties or so, who was regarding them from behind a pair of thick spectacles. The impulse to tease her about hanging around with the sort of guys she thought Asuna found attractive was almost overpowering, but she pushed it down.

"Ayaka-san," she said instead. "What a fortuitous meeting!" Let her puzzle that one out.

"Indeed," Ayaka agreed, sort of ruining the effect Asuna had been going for. "I was hoping to introduce you and Arika-san to my grandfather. Grandfather, this is Asuna-san, whom I believe I've told you about already, and her mother."

"Indeed," the old man said, looking long at Asuna. "She's just as I imagined her to be, from your descriptions of her."

The hairs on the back of Asuna's neck started to stand up for no readily apparent reason. She had to be imagining things. He couldn't be leering at her, could he?

Beside her, Arika had gone utterly still. "Ayaka," she said, not bothering with honorifics. "This man is the person you know as your grandfather?" Her voice was nearly without tone.

Ayaka blinked at the odd question and the informality with which she was being addressed. "Yes, that's what I said. He's my grandfather. Is something -"

"Have you ever seen this man," Arika asked, voice unchanging, "without his glasses?"

And suddenly, the old man laughed. It was not a pleasant sound, not an indication of mirth or pleasure, but something far colder. "I suppose I shouldn't really have expected these to fool you, of all people, with these," he said, touching his hand to the spectacles' frames.

"Not when your face is indelibly etched in my memories," Arika agreed steadily.

Ayaka, who had clearly been spooked by the sound of the old man's laughter, took a few quick steps that brought her to the side of Asuna and Arika before turning to face him. "Grandfather, you are behaving very strangely all of a sudden," she said with feigned calm. "May I ask how it is that you know Arika-san?"

"Let us dispense with the absurdities," he replied. "You are not the daughter of Yukihiro Teruo, and so should not call me grandfather. I was involved in other affairs, or I would surely have done something about Springfield's cuckolding of the boy when it occurred. Or perhaps not, since the other side of the absurdity of calling me grandfather is that Teruo is not my son." And with that, he removed the glasses.

And abruptly, they could all see his mismatched eyes, one blue, one green.

Just like Arika's.

Just like Asuna's.

"No," Asuna whispered, knowing who this man was, knowing who was leering at her, knowing -

"Who are you, sir!" Ayaka thundered. "Who do you think you are, posing as my grandfather? Where is he? And who are you? What is your name?"

"Your companions already know my name, but allow me to introduce myself nonetheless. I am Alladia Autarkia vespertatia Entheofushia. As to the whereabouts of your supposed grandfather," he continued, much more scornfully, "he is long-dead, since before you were born, in fact. He provided me with a useful cover identity that I have enjoyed a great deal. But the time for such deceptions is over, and I've known that since you escaped from your captivity, daughter."

"Indeed?" Arika asked quietly, eyes never leaving his face. Her next words were not a question. "You were responsible for that, weren't you. I am surprised that you didn't take credit before this. It's uncharacteristic of your type of egomania."

The old man sneered. "I have learned subtlety since you stole my throne from me, girl. Tell me, do the memories of your brief reign console you when you think of what I have stolen from you?"

Arika's eyes went wide. "That was you as well?" she cried out.

Now he blinked as he stepped back. "'As well'? Has the realization of your barren womb driven you mad, girl, or do you not realize -"

As this confrontation had gone on, Asuna had silently drawn out her pactio card and was preparing to unsheathe her sword, eyes nearly wild with fury. Ayaka's hand on hers and a quietly whispered plea for calm had halted her, but now they both turned in confusion as Arika, incredibly, began to laugh.

"You are the mad one, you senile delinquent," Arika said at last. "A child grows within me at this very moment. But I will have the truth of your misdeeds from you before we are done here today."

"I don't think you will, really," the old man said, looking oddly disconcerted. "This is not quite the way that I wanted our reunion to occur. I still have considerable work to do before that occurs, but I suppose that this is for the best. I am free now to do that work rather than continue the pretense of touring this place with a certain hoyden." That got Ayaka to snap her head around to glare at him, but he ignored the look just as he ignored her words.

"If you'll excuse me, then, I'll be off and attending to my plans," he said, taking a step backwards.

"We won't excuse you -" Asuna snapped.

"Then I leave unexcused," he said, then turned and bounded off in a gigantic leap that soon had him out of sight.

Arika swore an unfamiliar oath. "We must be after him!"

"Not necessary. Whatever he's planning, he just lost," Ayaka replied. "Right, Miyazaki?"

"Right, Iincho," said Nodoka as she stepped from behind one of the trees lining the pathway, with her Diary out and open.

"Teamwork and forgiveness," Ayaka said to a startled Arika and Asuna, as Yue also stepped out from behind one of the other trees. "Aren't they wonderful lessons?"

---

"Pregnant? She's pregnant? How can she be pregnant?"

He'd been saying that for a while now, and it was honestly starting to get on Tsukuyomi's nerves. That wasn't very hard to do, but it was a bit surprising. When she'd first met him, he'd seemed completely in control of himself, in a way that was very sexy, though she'd been too busy with her sempai's daddy to really explore those possibilities. Watching him fall apart like this was sort of depressing.

After all, she wanted the woman he was going on and on and on about to accept her destiny as her mother, and every time she had a kid with someone else, that got harder and harder to do. Well, harder might be too strong a word. Killing people was easy. Killing babies was really easy. But when you killed a lot of them, people started objecting for whatever weird reason and trying to protect them and that just raised the necessary body count even further, and it went on and on on.

Like Alladia-sama was doing now. Interesting parallel there. She'd had enough of sitting around in silence watching him freak out, and decided to join the conversation he was having as he paced back and forth in the monitor room.

"Why's it so bad that she's pregnant again?" she asked.

He whirled around to stare at her with wide, angry eyes. "I don't know!" he yelled.

"Ah, so funny!" she said, laughing politely at his joke. "No, really, why?"

"I'm telling you, I don't know!" he repeated. "I, I just have the sense that something has gone very wrong with my plan because of this, even if I can't ... can't quite put my finger on what exactly it is!" His hand was over his face, as though trying to shield it as he admitted all of this.

"Reeally," Tsukuyomi said, fishing in the purse that she carried at her side. "That's interesting." Out came the phone, and she started to dial a certain number.

"Who are you calling, wench?" he snapped.

"I'm calling the number you told me to call if you ever started going on about things going wrong with your plan," she told him calmly. "I don't - ah, moshi-moshi!"

"I never told you any such thing!" Alladia protested.

Tsukuyomi wasn't really listening to him anymore. The voice on the other side of the phone commanded far more of her attention, though she did briefly look at her employer with a speculative stare. "Ooookayyy," she said. "Um, Alladia-sama, apparently one of your allies has prepared contingencies in this event, and he wants to talk to you. If you'll turn your attention to the big screen?"

He frowned, but nonetheless did so, waiting for the screen to illuminate.

He was still waiting when Tsukuyomi ran him through from behind. His neck managed to bend enough to look at the sword blade protuding from his stomach, and his mouth opened as though to say something. But he didn't get anything out before his eyes rolled up and he dropped to the ground, to start decaying with unseemly haste.

"Ew," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"Spare me your complaints," said the voice of the man she'd just killed - or so she'd assumed - over the phone. "I will arrive at location shortly."

"You will, or another homonculous will?" Tsukuyomi asked craftily.

"... we shall see. In any event, please describe what he said about my plans going wrong. In detail."

Tsukuyomi rolled her eyes. Why couldn't they just let her go around killing people? Why did they always insist on pushing her past such comfortable boundaries? Why did she put up with it rather than just killing everyone she ever met? Nonetheless, she answered his question in as much detail as she could.

She'd never killed anyone more than once after all. This was a rare opportunity!

---

"There's something I have to ask you," Nodoka said quietly, as she sat across the table from Arika in Negi and Asuna's room, temporarily cleared of its other residents.

"Then ask," Arika said again, with a faint smile curling her lips this time.

Nodoka hesitated for several moments before pressing on. "How did Asuna make you pregnant? Is this something all magical princesses can do?" she added before she realized that Arika had fallen on her side for some reason.

"No," the former queen said, somewhat more loudly than was her wont, as she pushed herself upright once more. "Although I suppose, with the right spells - but that is neither here nor there. Asuna is not the father of my child. Our bond is intimate yet not exclusive." And now she will ask -

"Then who is the father?"

Arika smiled coolly. "Come now, Miyazaki-san. You are one of the most clever of Negi's associates. You should be able to realize the identity of the only male that I've been around in the weeks since I was freed from captivity. And that had it happened during captivity, I would surely have mentioned it before now. I know you can grasp it without having to be told."

And indeed, she clearly could. "Negi-sensei?" Nodoka said, eyes shrunk down to tiny dots.

Arika graced her with a nod.

"But," Nodoka said, and found it somewhat difficult to move beyond that word. "But. But. But. But he is your son," she finally gasped.

Arika momentarily considered taking the girl into her confidence. Though she could lie easily, she actually preferred to tell the truth when possible. Still, the revelation would probably just confuse her. "As I said to him, he is the perfect combination of what I admire most in myself and what I desire most in Nagi. How could I possibly resist that?" And that was true, for she had said that, even if she no longer believed it and had other motives. Time now to strike at where the girl was most vulnerable. "You of all people should understand what it is to desire something so much that you will do anything to have it."

The girl winced. "But, I mean ... what about Chisame? I don't like her, but ... doesn't it bother Negi-sensei to be cheating on her?"

For a brief interlude, Arika could only stare at Nodoka in near-total befuddlement. And then she understood. Somehow, this clever, clever girl had developed the idea that Chisame was Negi's one true love. She hoped that Chisame never learned of this, or the dislike Nodoka felt for her would be fully requited. For now, though, it would be best to tell only part of the truth.

"Chisame accepts the situation, for she has found momentary happiness elsewhere as well, as I think you know." And she could tell from the look on the girl's face that she was right about that. "What shape our association will ultimately take remains to be seen. But I, and I think Negi as well, would be very happy if you and your dear friend Yue were to join it as it takes shape."

Nodoka blinked. "You mean -"

"Yes," Arika interrupted. "I do mean. But that discussion can wait. We must now gather our forces to begin talk of war."

---

"Our main assault force will be split up into groups of two. Keep your partner in line of sight at all times. Kotaro-kun, I have a special assignment for you and Natsumi-san, that I'll explain in just a little bit. Um ... I guess that's everyone ... oh. Akira-san, will you help Ako-san in -"

"Actually, sensei, I -" Akira broke off, visibly steeled herself, then blurted out, "I've decided that I want to make a pactio with you."

Dead silence fell.

"Good idea," said Satomi after a moment. "He's a very good kisser."

"That's not why," Akira said, blushing brightly. "I, I want to be a help. And not have to stand back and watch."

"Akira-san, you don't have to -" Negi started to say.

"We accept your generous offer," interrupted Arika.

"Yes, welcome to the Ala Alba," Asuna agreed, then clapped her hands. "Okay, everyone, out of the room, let's give them some space." It took a few minutes, but eventually everyone except for Negi, Akira and Arika were out of the room, and Arika only stayed long enough to finish drawing the circle, and favor Akira with a smile before departing.

"Your mother's very nice," Akira said, more to fill in the silence than anything else.

"Yes, she is, but she does have a few odd ways," Negi replied apologetically. "Akira-san, you really don't have to do this. You've been a lot of help without a pactio, and there's no reason for you to -"

"Negi-sensei," Akira interrupted gently. "I want to do this. I've seen what Ako, and Makie, and Yuna have become because they made a pactio with you. They've become more of what they always were. I want to stand beside my friends, and beside you, too, sensei. I want to be able to do more to help."

"... okay," Negi said at last. If you could, well, kneel down, then I'll, um." Incredibly, he was blushing.
Akira took a deep breath, then knelt down before him, closed her eyes and puckered her lips. A moment later, she felt a pair of lips resting gently on her own. They didn't feel anything like the lips of the girls she'd been kissing. Even though sensei was still too young to have any facial hair, his lips were somehow distinctly male ... or maybe that was the odor that came up through her nose from the closeness of him.

Her mouth opened just a bit, and she was startled to feel his tongue push forward past their locked lips, to rub against her own tongue. Well. This too was part of kissing, after all, and she supposed that it made sense that the deeper and more passionate the kiss, the more potent the pactio produced by it. That made sense. Right?

How long were they supposed to keep this up, anyway? No one had told her anything. What if she broke off before things were done? What if -

And then Negi was the one to pull back, and glance to one side. He froze.

"Where is it?" he asked.

"Eh?" said Akira, just a little bit dazed by the effects of the kiss.

"The card," Negi explained. "It should have appeared right beside the circle. But, but it didn't." He turned to look at the other side of the circle, in hope that it had simply shown up over there instead, but this proved an empty hope as well. The card was nowhere to be seen.

"Did, did I do something wrong? Should I have used my tongue -" Akira started to ask.

"No! No, no, I'm sure that's not it," Negi rapidly reassured her. "Um ... maybe, maybe mother doesn't really know how to do the circles all that well, and she messed up this time." Which didn't explain why there hadn't been any problems with Ayaka or Satomi's pactios. "Let's get her in here, and maybe she can explain."

A moment later, Arika came back in and examined the circle, as well as peering closely at Akira, who felt a little uncomfortable with the stress of her regard.

Finally, the former queen sighed. "I was afraid of this. Negi, it appears that the spirits which govern pactios are reluctant to bestow one upon Akira-san for whatever reason, just as they were reluctant to bestow one on Karakuri. We could speculate for ages on why this might be," she quickly added, to forestall the cries of 'why not' that were about to burst out of the two young people. "And it would get us nowhere. For now, the only reasonable solution is to do what you did then."

"Ummmm," Akira hummed hesitantly. "What ... exactly ... did he do then?"

"Kiss harder, of course," Arika said as she settled down to watch. This should be interesting. Admittedly there was a chance that if Negi pushed the limits of magic again to force a pactio on a creature without a soul, he would either break himself or shatter the world around him. But either result would be fascinating to observe.

"All right," Negi said, face set with grim resolution. "I'll do it. Akira-san, are you ready?"

"Should I use the tongue?" she asked in a bewildered tone.

"It couldn't hurt," Arika opined.

And then, before she could say or do anything else, he was upon her, pressed up against her both with his lips and his body, almost forcing her to the floor beneath him. With what tiny fragments of her mind could still think, Akira was amazed again at just how strong he was, how tight and toned his little body had become. And his tongue! Where had he learned some of this stuff? She answered back, without much confidence that he could possibly be feeling good because of anything she was doing.

And then, if her eyes hadn't been tightly shut, an observer would have seen them cross, as she felt a bulge below, where his hips were pressing up against her stomach. Evidently, she was wrong about him feeling good.

Negi was oblivious to all this. Just as before, he was silently addressing whoever it was that was in charge of the pactio system. One might have called it a prayer, of sorts, except that prayer does not normally include threats of terrible violence against the entities thus invoked. Yet for all the fury, there was a tenderness in it as well, as he spoke to the anonymous higher powers of how sweet, and kind, and very brave, Akira was, and how much she deserved to have some sign of their bond. So once again, he concluded, do not screw with me!

For all that, it seemed that there was to be nothing, nonetheless. Just as before, he didn't sense the formation of the card anywhere nearby. And worse than that, something was happening to Akira. For a terrible moment, he had the sensation of trying to hold water in his hands, and any sense of the person he was pressed up against vanished. No! he thought. Come back to me! And forced his eyes open.

Instantly, he relaxed. It must only have been his imagination. Akira was right there in his arms, flustered and blushing and naked as the day she was born, but safe and hey wait a minute what was she doing naked?

He jerked back from her lips, leaving her blinking. After a moment, she looked down at herself, and her blush deepened. Negi was somewhat startled by the fact that his stoic pupil blushed all over.

"Um," Akira said, once she'd managed to find her voice. "What happened to my clothes?"

"You're sitting on them," said Arika, watching with amazement. The girl had transformed to liquid and then in seconds been restored to flesh by the sheer force of Negi's will. In the process, her clothes and dropped right through her. "Strange things happen when one pushes the boundaries of magic," she added, in an attempt to sound like she knew what was happening. After realizing that neither of them seemed ready to move, she pressed on. "Unless you were planning to go for a permanent pactio, you might want to get dressed."

"Then it worked?" Negi asked.

Arika nodded and held up the card, which depicted Akira as a mermaid wearing boxing gloves. "It did indeed. Since we don't know just what this can do, you might want to hang back and look after the base team," she added to Akira.

"Thank you," the swimmer said faintly as she took the card in her hands, holding it like a treasure.

This one definitely has to be in, Arika mused.

And so they assembled at the rally point even as Asakura's remotes began to move through the labyrinths beneath Mahora. The rally point happened to be one of the great caves that opened up on the subterranean lake, specifically that one that had been used to store the large number of robot warriors employed by Chao during the festival.

"Makes sense," Arika observed to her chosen partner. "Even though the academy's administration have been alerted to these blind spots in their surveillance, what with one thing and another, there hasn't been time enough to cover those spots."

Haruna could only nod. Just as when Arika had casually volunteered to partner with her for this operation, she had no idea what she was supposed to say. It wasn't a situation she enjoyed. Here she was, waiting for the signal to go in and begin assaulting a group of mercenaries out to destroy her home, and all she could do was wonder. "Why me?" she finally murmured.

Curse Arika's keen ears. "I chose you for a number of reasons," the former queen replied calmly. "First of all, your abilities supplement my weaknesses. As I said, I can cast only a few minor magics, certainly not the battle spells that my son favors. Your abilities as a summoner, then, will be greatly useful for any confrontation in which we find ourselves. Secondly, I judge that you are just as brave in your way as your brother in his."

Haruna jerked. "You know my brother?" she asked.

"I met him some thirteen years ago, during his European journeys. Under the circumstances, I can well imagine why he wouldn't have talked about it. But he impressed me quite a bit. In many ways." She smiled fondly at the memories, then grew serious once more. "And you have impressed me as having much of the same steel in your character."

Of all people, Haruna was the least deaf to subtext, and the implications of that statement were fairly obvious to her. Now was not the time to be addressing them, however. "I see. Thank you," she said, still a bit tense.

"And finally, should it happen that you were seriously injured in this affray, you might be moved to unburden yourself of certain of your secrets to your companion," Arika continued. "So it would be well for all concerned if that companion was already acquainted with those secrets. And also motivated to see that you were ... taken care of, shall we say," she added after a moment to consider.

Haruna, again, was not deaf to subtext. And the knives that Arika called up by her pact were sheathed at the woman's hips.

---

Arika checked the door, determined it was locked through those weird extra-senses of hers, and nodded before stepping back. Haruna filled out the sketch she'd made based on a battering ram she'd seen in a movie a year or so ago, and then let it expand off the page until it smashed the door off its hinges. Then it slid back to allow them to charge in.
On the other side was a command centre much like the one Satomi had described when telling them about Chao's set-up. Standing in front of the monitors, glowering and bored-looking respectively, were the person that Arika had described to them as her father and the girl Haruna had seen a few times - Tsukuyomi.

"You!" Alladia hissed, making the word a curse.

"Me," Arika agreed, bounding over the desks to approach them. Fulfilling their expectations, Tsukuyomi stepped forward to stand between Arika and her master, drawing her sword.

"Kill them. Kill them both!" the man snapped.

Tsukuyomi tilted her head. "Nah," she said, then reversed her sword and drove it backwards towards Alladia's chest. He was standing far enough behind her, however, that he could see the blow coming and dodge back out of the way.

"Treachery!" he nearly shrieked. "I am always surrounded by traitors and -"

"Takes one to know one," opined Haruna as she summoned up a hundred-handed giant - okay, so it was more like a seventy-handed giant, but nobody else was likely to count them out - and sent it past Tsukuyomi, whose focus was solely on Arika at the moment, to slam into the supposed king and hold him up against the far wall.

"Ah, mommy," Tsukuyomi was saying, as she faced off with Arika, her two swords held in check by Arika's two knives, the older woman's arms trembling faintly under the pressure. "At last we meet."

Perhaps, had Tsukuyomi known of the anger that hid just beneath Arika's placid surface, that had been boiling since she'd learned the truth about Negi, she would have chosen some other greeting. Most likely not. "You are no child of mine!" Arika snapped, then headbutted the young girl.

The unusual attack caught Tsukuyomi completely offguard, and she stumbled back a pace with a low whine. Freed from her lock, Arika pressed further on, taking advantage of the momentary lapse in the girl's defense to slam a foot up into her abdomen and send her back against the giant TV screen at the room's head. This blow left her reeling even further, as did the abruptly thrown chair that Arika pitched at her.

"Fighting with the furniture," the girl murmured as Arika closed in. "I'm disappointed in you, momm-"

"Stop calling me that!" Arika demanded as she knocked Tsukuyomi down to the floor, kicked the swords out of her hands and sent them sliding to the far wall, climaxing her maneuver by stapling the girl's hands to the ground with her blades. That finally provoked something more than a taunt from her - instead, a low wail of pain escaped her mouth, sending a chill up Haruna's spine as she stood watch over Alladia's struggles.

"And now," Arika said as she rose up and turned to look at him. There was a dangerous look in her eyes, as of one pushed much too far. "And now, we will have answers from you." Slowly, she began walking towards him.

"Uh, m-maybe we ought to wait until Nodoka gets here so she can probe his mind?" said Haruna.

Arika slowed, and reason started to come back into her eyes. "Perhaps you're ri-"

"He can't tell you anything," Tsukuyomi said through whimpers of pain. "He's just a homonculous."

Arika's eyes narrowed. "Indeed." And then another knife was in her hand, and then it was flying through the air to slam into "Alladia's" throat. He choked, gurgled and died ... then decomposed rapidly. "It would seem that he is."

"Of course he is," said Tsukuyomi. "I wouldn't lie to you, mommy."

"I'm not sure why you're calling me that," Arika said, slowly and carefully. "Because I am very certain that I am not your mother."

Tsukuyomi actually managed to laugh through her tears of pain. "Oh, don't be silly, mommy. You're the mommy I was supposed to have, you see."

"Really," Arika said non-comittally.

"Oh, yes," the mad girl said, warming to her theme. "Daddy told me all about you. It was so obvious that he was utterly in love with you, and so I decided he shouldn't have to settle for anything less. He was so mad about what I did to the bitch who birthed me, though. I can't understand it, really. But anyway, I ran away to look for you, and then I got a little distracted with this and that, you know how it is, but here we are at last!"

"Yes. Here we are."

Haruna, who had drawn back her summons and was watching this discussion with what might be called horror on her face, realized with a start that Arika was trembling. "Are you -"

Arika held up a hand. "Let me see if I understand this," she said, looking down at Tsukuyomi. "Your wish is for me to come back and live with you and your father, as a wife to him and a mother and lover to both of you. But you have never even known my touch. You don't know what I like."

"I can be what you like," Tsukuyomi said, eyes shining. "I can be anything."

"Let us test that theory," Arika said, dropping to her knees beside the girl's supine form.

"Wait a minute, you can't be serious -" Haruna started to say.

And then the screaming started.

"Dear me, so soon," Arika's voice said, audible despite the terrified screams that were coming from Tsukuyomi's throat. "I am only getting warmed up. You have a lot to learn. But I am happy to teach you."

Haruna ran.

---

Lying on her bed, carefully examining the latest Victoria's Secret catalogue for her next strategic purchase, Kakizaki Misa was abruptly aroused from her studies by the sound of a knock on the door. She idly entertained the notion of not answering it. It wasn't like it was a boy, after all. Any would-be gentleman callers would be stopped at the dormitory's entrance, and those with whom she was already acquainted would know her cell number and know how to call and arrange a meeting.

That meant that whoever was knocking on her door was probably one of her classmates. And the allure of a quiet evening at home, freed of the drama into which Madoka and Sakurako had recently descended, was great indeed. In contrast, opening the door to whatever drama was waiting for her on the other side was not nearly such a pleasant thought.

But then there was another knock, and Misa realized, regretfully, that whoever it was would not be dissuaded by her attempts to create the illusion that no one was home. So she closed her catalogue, filed it away in the nightstand drawer with the others, and got up and headed to the door.

"Hey, Ako," Misa said, trying to be as polite as possible to a nominal friend. "Akira-san. Yuna-san. What brings you here this evening?"

"We need to talk to Kugimii and Saku," Ako answered for the group. "Are they here?"

"Nope," Misa answered, not bothering to keep the complete lack of regret out of her voice. "I think they're on a date, with each other, if you can believe that ... buuut then again, I suppose some of you wouldn't find that all that surprising," she added after a moment's consideration.

Ako looked crestfallen. "On a date?"

"It's, it's probably just a friendly meal between friends," Akira tried to reassure her.

"Well, there's definitely going to be some eating out," Misa said bluntly. "They've been doing it pretty much constantly. It's very distracting. A little funny, like when that earthquake happened yesterday, and Saku's all happy and saying, 'It really does happen!'" she explained, delivering the last phrase in a frighteningly good imitation of Sakurako's voice.

Yuna glared. "Y'know, it occurs to me that maybe we shouldn't be having conversations like this out in the hallway where anyone can overhear them?"

Misa shrugged. "C'mon in, then." She stood back to let them walk past her into the room, then closed the door. "Should I take it from your presence that you're now involved in this polygon they've got going?" she asked Yuna once that was done.

"Yeah," Yuna replied. "Should I take it from your comments that you're not?"

"Oh yeah," Misa said firmly. "I mean, really, whatever makes you happy, but the only way I'm doing anything with a girl is if some guy is giving me a realllly good present."

Ako and Akira flinched as they sat down beside each other on the same bed they'd been in earlier. For her part, Yuna just glared. "Does the commodification of your sexuality not bother you at all?" she asked.

"Nope," she answered bluntly, inwardly marveling at Yuna's unexpected sophistication. Maybe having a teacher for a dad did do her a few favors. "Does being expected to receive only transient emotional gratification for the use of your sexuality not bother you at all?"

"Okay, what are you talking about?" Akira interjected.

"I'm talking about how queen enjo kosai here is basically just prostituting herself," Yuna said scornfully.

"Hey!" Ako said, frowning. "Don't say mean things like that!"

"Ako, relax. I don't get bothered by the term," Misa said. "Don't you think it's a little funny that her attitude can basically be summarized as, 'It's wrong for a woman to receive payment for services rendered, when those services are sexual in nature?' Can you think of another area where anyone, male or female, is not only expected to do something for no pay but is actually criminalized for accepting it?"

"But ... sex is something you're supposed to do with someone you love," Akira pointed out.

"That's what I mean by transient emotional gratification," Misa said patiently. "Think about it. Suppose you're 'in love' and then you get dumped and fall 'out of love'. What do you have to show for the weeks you spent 'in love'? Bittersweet memories, at best. In contrast, if you make sure to get presents every time you have sex, when the relationship is over, you still have the presents." She pointed at her earrings. "I haven't seen the guy who gave me these in months. Aren't they nice?"

"This is pointless," Yuna said as she headed for the door. "Whatever we were hoping to find here, this bullshit isn't it. I'm going back to bed."

"No, you're not," Akira said as Yuna's hand reached for the doorknob. Her eyes had suddenly gone very distant, just like they'd been before Ako had gotten her into the shower a little while ago. "You're going to join them, aren't you?"

Slowly, Yuna let her hand fall from the doorknob back to her side, and just as slowly, she turned to look back at Akira with a disturbed expression. "How did you know about that? I was only just thinking about it, and - how did you even know about them?"

"Which them are we talking about here?" Misa interjected as she and Ako watched this exchange with confused and (in Misa's case) curious expressions.

Akira didn't seem to have heard her. "I don't ... I mean, I don' t know how I know, but somehow ... maybe it's because it's him ... I guess. Maybe."

"Which him are we talking about here?" Misa asked, starting to get a bit annoyed. Particularly when she noticed obvious understanding spreading across Ako's face, as she looked from Akira to Yuna.

"Is she right? About you and him?" Ako quietly asked.

"Sort of," Yuna answered, looking sort of embarassed.

"Y'know, having conversations that someone can't follow when you're in their room has got to be the height of rudeness," said Misa, quite angrily.

"I was just leaving," Yuna snapped back at her.

"I'm coming with you," Akira said faintly.

"I'm coming with both of you," Ako added quickly.

Misa watched them walk out of her room without a word of farewell. "I am never going to know what that was all about, am I?" she asked no one in particular.

As it happened, she was wrong.

---

"You're kidding," Yue said, aghast as she sat heavily on the bed while Nodoka stood in front of her.

"I'm not. She told me herself," Nodoka assured her. "And she asked me to come see her later. I think she meant now."

"Well, you're not going, of course," said Yue "I've thought there was something very wrong about that woman from the first time we met, and this just confirms it! Nodoka, when I tried to talk to Haruna about what happened on her mission, she wouldn't say anything! Haruna! Wouldn't say anything! She was too upset! Think about what that means!"

"It means that she's very frightening," Nodoka agreed.

"Yes, and -"

"But I'm not afraid of anything, Yue, as long as you're with me." She finished by reaching out to brush her fingers against Yue's cheek.

Yue found herself leaning into the caress, almost unwillingly. "So what you're saying is, you'll only go if I go with you?" she asked, faintly.

"Well ... we said that we were going to compete fairly, right?" Nodoka asked, smiling cutely. "I didn't go through all that to get you back so we could stop at the very end."

Yue drew in a deep breath. "Okay. Let's go."

"Go where?" Collet asked from the top bunk as she rolled over to look down at the two of them. Her eyes widened as she realized what she was looking at, and she coughed in an embarassed sort of way. Nodoka simply met her gaze steadily, and without drawing her hand back from Yue's cheek.

"Ah!" Yue said. "I thought you went with Bea and Iinchou to interrogate the prisoner?"

"They decided they didn't need three of us for that. Where are you going?" Collet repeated, a little insistently.

"Well, it's sort of ..." Yue started to explain, then trailed off.

Collet made an annoyed, whiney noise. "Yue! It's bad enough that you lett us out of your plans when you went after that Tsukuyomi person. It's not right for you to just forget all about us like this. Wherever you're going, I'm coming with you!"

"Uh, I'm not -"

"Fine," Nodoka interrupted.

"Eh?"

"Really?" Collet asked, a bit surprised.

"I'm willing to compete fairly with anyone," Nodoka said, firmly, her eyes locked on Collet. Because I'm going to win. Negi is going to be mine, and Yue is going to be mine.

---

Yuna paused outside the door to Asuna and Konoka's room, largely because she was somewhat startled to see Nodoka, Yue and one of the Ariadne girls whose names she'd never really bothered to learn because she didn't care approaching said door from the other way down the hall. They looked a bit surprised to see her, too. Well, who knew but that they were actually expecting her and were just surprised to see her accompanied by Akira and Ako? Probably not, but unless she broke this awkward moment of silence and stillness by asking, she'd never know.

Except that, again, she didn't care. So instead, she hesitantly raised a hand, and, after a moment of delay, knocked on the door. A quick aside glance showed that Nodoka looked a little put out by that. She'd probably wanted to do it herself. It was tempting to give her the hairy eyeball, but Yuna was more mature than that. Okay, she wasn't, but there wasn't time.

The door opened a minute later, revealing Arika in a loosely belted bathrobe and slippers. The former queen smiled broadly at her. "Yuna-chan," she said, warmly. "I was hoping you would join us this evening. And I see you've brought quite a few friends, too." She looked over Akira and Ako approvingly, and then turned to watch as Nodoka, Yue and whatserears came up, nodding to them ... then blinking as she saw the girl from Ariadne, who was regarding her with mild shock.

Arika began to speak in a language none of them recognized, which seemed largely composed of short cries and whines. After a few moments of stunned amazement, the Ariadne girl - Collet! That was her name! - answered her in that same language.

"You are too kind," Arika said after a few moments of this. "Be that as it may, it is rude for us to continue speaking in this fashion that none but we two can understand. Won't you all please come in?"

Yuna swallowed. "Then ... we're having a party?" She couldn't hear any noise at all from the room behind Arika, and certainly none that she associated with, ahem, celebration.

"Of course," Arika said, looking surprised at the question. "We have had a victory, after all, and such things should be celebrated. But the others have removed to a somewhat more expansive area for the festivities. Even before you had arrived, the room was a bit too small for comfort. Nonetheless, please come in. We should discuss a few things first, I think."

With a gulp, Yuna entered the room, followed closely by the others. The door closed firmly behind them.

Several minutes later, they emerged again, the casual clothes they'd been wearing replaced with bathrobes much like the one Arika had been wearing, and started towards the bathing area.

Ako was clinging to Akira with a somewhat frightened look on her face. "Are, are we seriously going to do this?" she asked her friend quietly.

"It's only a little bit different from the thing with Sakurako and Madoka," Akira answered with the same strange look of distant serenity on her face that she'd had since she spoke up in the cheerleader's room.

"I think it sort of is, really," Ako whined. "And, I mean, Negi-kun is -"

"That's what makes it right," Akira interjected smoothly, with no sign of worry at all. No sign of any emotion, actually. She seemed calm even beyond what would be normal for Akira. "It is certainly right that we become one with our Master."

"Well, of course, I love him, but wait what Master?" Ako asked.

Akira simply nodded. And such was her placidity that Ako found it impossible to say anything at all.

A bit behind them, Collet was clinging to Yue in a way that would, in a more visual medium, have been very reminiscent of the way Ako was clinging to Akira, complete with Nodoka walking ahead of them and doing her best to ignore them just like Yuna had been trying to ignore her friends discomfort. "Yue-yue, I'm scared," Collet confessed.

Nodoka missed a step as she fought the urge to turn around and inform Collet that using certain pet names for certain people was utterly prohibited under the Because Nodoka Said So Law of the current year.

"It's all right, Collet, I won't let them do anything to you that you don't want them to do," Yue assured her ... with absolutely nothing in the way of confidence that she was going to be able to do that.

"Eh?" Collet said, blinking. "Oh, that's not it. We're not at Ariadne, so it's not like I can be expelled for moral turpitude. I'm just terrified of what's going to happen when Iinchou finds out that I knew about this and didn't bring her."

"... oh," said Yue. She was never entirely sure what possessed her to say what she said next. "Would you like to go get her, maybe?"

Nodoka slowly turned to glare at her.

"No, that's a bad idea," Yue said quickly. "Bea would want to come too, and this is already complicated enough. Yes. Bad idea."

"I'm a little amazed that they're doing this in the bath-house," Yuna said, somewhat oblivious to all of this. "I mean, anyone could just walk in -"

"Only if they could walk through the forbiddance ward the way we just did," Yue supplied. "I'm guessing Arika-sama put the key in the tea she had us drink."

"It was very good tea, too," Collet said. "I still prefer water, though."

---

With one more apprehensive gulp, Yuna slid the bath door open.

Beyond it was the purest example of bacchanalia she'd ever seen. Immediately in front of them, at the edge of the big pool, Hakase of all people was lying on her back, panting and twitching and occasionally letting lose a tiny scream from what Konoka and Setsuna were doing between her legs. It shouldn't have been so much of a shock to see this as it was; when the mad scientist had revealed that she was now pacito'd to Negi, Yuna had suspected that something of this nature must have happened to bring it about. But she'd never imagined that she'd see the class' other brilliant but eccentric inventor brought screaming to orgasm by those sweet lips that Yuna found herself yearning for once again.

To her side, Yuna heard Nodoka sighing in what sounded like disgust. "Chisame really will do it with anyone, won't she?" the library girl muttered.

Following Nodoka's line of sight over to the far side of the pool, she wasn't all that surprised to see that Ayaka was holding a struggling Chisame down on top of her, Chisame's back to her front, while Asuna was leaning over her and fiddling with Chisame's nipples as she brought their faces together. From the looks of things, it seemed like they were talking, but they were too far away and there was way too much noise for Yuna to hear whatever it was. It probably wasn't all that important, clearly, because Asuna broke off to go down on Chisame rather than continue with whatever it had been.

"Um, maybe you shouldn't judge her too harshly," Ako said faintly as she looked in a direction neither of them had yet gazed.

Following that perspective showed Natsumi and that Kotaro kid, sitting pretty closely together in the shallow end of the pool, looking a bit scared as they watched Mana and Kaede grappling with each other ferociously. But that line of sight went past them, to alert them to the fact that Negi was presently having sex with -

"Ah, so good!" Fuuka cried as she ground her vulva against Fumika's face while Negi took her twin from behind, pumping firmly against her buttocks. "So good, Negi-kun! You're making sweet little sister even sweeter today! Fuck her hard! But don't come in her, that's not allowed!"

"Hmmmm!" Fumika made a sound of vague protest, her lips and tongue being restricted from talking.

"See, she agrees with me!"

"NNNNNN!" Fumika cried.

From the look of deep focus on his face, Negi wasn't really paying attention to this byplay. But perhaps he actually was more attentive to Fumika's somewhat incoherently expressed wishes than he appeared to be, because a moment later, he gasped and let loose with an ejaculation right up Fumika's vulva.

"AGGGH!" Fuuka shrieked. "Negi-kuuuun! We're twins, so how come only Fumika gets your sweet load!"

With a grunt, Fumika pulled her face free of her sister's netherparts. "Because you're a jerk and a hooligan and a bad boyfriend and nearly smothered me and -" She likely would have continued this litany of Fuuka's personal failings for quite some time had said malefactor not grown weary of listening to her and yanked her mouth up to start kissing her quite passionately, interrupting it.

"Fuuka and Fumika?" Yuna asked, eyes wide. "What the hell are they even doing here?"

"This one brought them, obviously," Kaede yelled back at them before Mana forced her mouth down to her cunt again.

"I don't believe this shit," Nodoka announced as she unhesitatingly undid the belt of her robe and let it fall to the ground a mere moment before she dashed across the bathroom floor to where Negi was lying back, small erection still waving in the air! "Negi-kuuun!" she cried as she drew near him. "I thought you were going to wait until I graduated!"

"Eh?" Negi said, as he realized who was running up to him and dropping onto him, hand wrapping firmly onto his erection. "But, but Nodoka-san, you said you -"

"Never mind what I said!" Nodoka cried as she began pumping him back to full hardness. "Just focus on what I say!"

At the best of times, Negi could never have hoped to follow that. These were not such times.

"Nodoka!" Yue gasped as she watched this. What about competing fairly? What about the two of them? What about -

And then Collet was growling softly as she jumped on her, brought her to the ground and began pulling her robe open. "So mean, to look away from me like that!" the beast-girl said poutingly as she brought her lips down to Yue's tiny breasts.

"I, I don't think this is -" Ako started to say.

But Akira didn't appear to be listening as she, too, dropped her robe and walked slowly and purposefully over to where Nodoka was energetically (if not all that skillfully) fellating Negi and dropped down beside him to press up against his body. "Master," she murmured as she kissed him again.

"- this isn't - " Ako continued to say.

"Shhh," Yuna interrupted as she turned to her and took her in her arms. "It's okay, Ako, no one's going to make you do anything you don't want to do ..."

"But I'm a contagious slut and so I'll make people do things they wouldn't do and -" Ako's self-accusation abruptly cut off as she felt her robe being taken off from behind.

From behind.

Her scar.

"Noo!" she sobbed.

"It's okay, Ako-chan," Konoka said right into her ear as she ran her fingers down the scar. "It's pretty. I think it's very pretty. My daddy has much worse scars, and they're very pretty, just like this one ..."

Ako collapsed back into Konoka's arms as they tumbled to the floor. of the bathroom, with Yuna following them quickly down.

---

Much later, after the party had settled down to sleep for a while, Negi found himself lying on top of Akira, using her breasts as pillows. She said not a word of objection to this, and was completely oblvious to the rather hostile looks she was getting from Chisame, Nodoka and Ayaka. (To balance things out, Negi was far too tired to notice the moderately hostile look he was getting from Ako.)

"I can't help but think that I've forgotten something," Negi mused wearily, just on the verge of falling asleep. "Something kind of important."

"It will wait until tomorrow, Master," Akira assured him, petting his hair gently.

"Prob'ly," he agreed, and within moments, only the soft sounds of sleep were coming from him.

"... that 'Master' stuff is really starting to creep me out'," Kotaro muttered to Natsumi as they watched this from a short distance away.

"All of this creeps me out," she told him. "I wish we hadn't let Arika-sama talk us out of going back to Chizu-ne's room."

"Does that mean you want me to stop?" he asked as he paused in his foot massage.

"No, of course not."

---

Several hours later, as Nekane Springfield watched as the rather bulky gentleman in the uniform collected her bags from the carousel. She'd found him waiting for her holding a sign with her name on it when she'd emerged from the arrivals gate. Though he hadn't said so, or actually much of anything, she suspected that he must be an employee of Ayaka's company, sent here to help bring her to the school. It was nice, but she would honestly have preferred a more personal touch.

What she would have preferred, of course, would fill several volumes. And so she endured this with grace and dignity, following along behind the man with her bags until they reached the limousine parked at the airport's front door. After putting her bags into the car's boot, he silently opened the door for her. She thanked him again and bent down to step into the car.

"Hello, Nekane Springfield," said Arika Anarcha Entheofushia, seated in the rear compartment, wearing a long black dress even more severe than Nekane's preferred garb, and holding the leash of a collar wrapped around the neck of a young, blonde girl with glasses, dressed in far more elaborate and frilly clothes, who was seated on the car's floor, staring off into the distance. The fallen queen's tone sounded much like someone informing someone else that they were already dead.

Nekane froze.

"Get in," Arika said. "That was not a request."

Slowly, Nekane did just that, sliding in and onto the seat, while at the same time trying to keep as much distance between herself and the obviously infuriated queen as possible. She knew that her doom was upon her, and yet still she hoped -

"Where is my son?" Arika asked.

Hope died completely. "I, I am truly sorry," she said. For she was. "There was an accident. Shortly after you and Nagi left, there was an accident, and -"

"Are you telling me that my son is dead?" Arika asked. "And that you raised yours in his place? Why? Why did you do such a thing?" Her voice wasn't raised, and her face seemed set in iron for all that it moved. But if a scream could be said to have a shape, then one would have been plainly visible in her eyes.

"The village worshipped Nagi," Nekane tried to explain. "I knew that I would need all the help that I could to ... so I let them think that my baby was gone, and that Nagi's son needed our help. And -"

"And of course," Arika interrupted. "You could not tell them that your son was Nagi's son as well. Too many suspected that you were his child, and not Seoman's. They would have been revolted."

She seemed to have calmed measurably, and Nekane began to hope again.

"You betrayed us, didn't you. To have more time to practice this deception," Arika said, killing that newborn hope.

"Yes," Nekane whimpered.

"My child is dead. My husband missing. All because of you. What should I do to you?"

"I, I, I won't fight you ..." Nekane said through sobs of terror. "If you want to kill me -"

"Kill you?" the queen said, with the air of one genuinely baffled. As though this was a concept she had never even considered. "Kill one of the children of my beloved? I could never do such a thing. Why, did I not imprison, rather than execute, my own father for his many crimes against our people and against me personally? Am I not merciful?" she asked, through clenched teeth. Pulling on the leash, she repeated herself. "Am I not merciful, Tsukuyomi?"

"You are the very soul of mercy, Arika-sama," the girl answered without ever ceasing her thousand yard stare out the window.

"Indeed. I will not kill you. The punishment for the lies you have practiced is to go on living them, to watch as your son grows up and never knows you as his mother, to see him have children of his own who will never call you grandmother. And there will be many of them, that I promise you."

Only now did Arika lift a hand to gently reach out and touch the stream of tears flowing from one of Nekane's eyes, before pulling her finger back and bringing it to her mouth to taste it. "Ahhh," she said, savoring it. "But as I am merciful, I will not wholely deprive you of the joys of motherhood. Rather, I will see to it that you have a new son to replace him who I am taking from you."

And now she was smiling, and Nekane cursed the very notion of hope as a cheat and a lie as the smile gave her completely to despair. "Indeed," said Arika. "You will know the joy that I never will ... knowing that your own son has given you a child."

Nekane began to scream, but it never went beyond an inhalation of breath before Arika was on her, and whatever she did sent her spiralling down into unconsciousness.

"Now, Kotaro-kun," Kaede asked patiently. "Do you not trust Natsumi-chan?"

"Of course I do, but -" the wolfboy said as he struggled vainly beneath her. He could have broken free of her embrace - probably - but not without hurting her. And despite everything, he still didn't want to hurt her.

"Then you should trust that even after this, she will still come back to you," Kaede continued as though he hadn't said anything like 'but', all the while gently sliding her vulva up and down alongside his erect penis. "You trust her, and she trusts you, and all manner of things will be well. Or do you not trust me?" She paused, eyes half-opened, to look down at him.

"No, no, I trust you," the flustered boy answered.

"Goooood," she cooed - then jerked her hips so that the tip of his penis was against the mouth of her vulva, and slid down once more to take him inside. "And admit it, you've dreamed of this from time to time. Knowing the embrace of another warrior."

He had, though admittedly, Kaede had not been the other warrior in question. But he carefully drew his thoughts away from that, just as he drew his eyes away from the sight on the other side of the room that he could just about glimpse - the sight of Negi and Natsumi together.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god," Natsumi kept saying as Negi pumped away between her legs.

Yue, seated nearby and watching as she rested from her last encounter, trying not to listen to Nodoka and Collet discuss their arrangement of her life - in which she was not being consulted even slightly - watched Natsumi with a bit of envy. The other girl hadn't really wanted to do this, but she'd been seduced into it by Ayaka's kisses and promises that 'Chizu-ne' would not be upset by all of this. Despite her hesitation, though, and despite what she was saying even now, it was clear to Yue that Natsumi was actually enjoying this.

She was, after all, the most quietly observant of all the girls, and she'd seen enough of them brought to orgasm over the last ... oh, how many hours had it even been? They'd slept through part of it, but irregularly. In any event, she'd seen enough girls really enjoying sex with Negi to know what one of them looked like.

And to recognize the complete absence of those signs in herself.

It wasn't that she didn't love him. She did. But it was an intellectual passion, not something of the emotions or physical desires. Only other girls provoked those sorts of things in her. And so she'd had to fake it when he'd dumped a load of his semen into her, because she'd honestly felt nothing other than wetness and embarassment. But he hadn't known.

She was sure that he hadn't known.

The door to the bathhouse began to slide open, and Yue felt herself freeze in momentary panic. Had the forbiddance failed? Were they about to be discovered? What to do what to do -

And then Arika came in, smiling brightly in the same bathrobe as she'd been wearing yesterday, and slid the door shut behind her. "I see that our revels yet continue," she said. "I just refreshed the wards, incidentally."

Despite embarassment, Yue couldn't help but feel a fair bit of gratitude for the older woman as she casually walked over to where Negi was just finishing up with Natsumi, to the other girl's evident satisfaction. "And I see you've been busy, Negi," Arika said. "All of them?"

"Ah, well, yes," he admitted, a bit shamefacedly. "Not, not all at once, but -"

"Well done," she interrupted with a compliment. "And as a reward, I have a special treat just for you. Two of them, actually."

"Just for me?" Negi asked. "What is it -"

"Come and see," she said, pausing just long enough to kiss Natsumi on the forehead before standing and offering him a hand. After a moment, Negi rose up to join her, with a brief glance over at where Asuna and Mana were grappling, with Tatsumiya in full demon mode and yet still pressed down as Asuna ground their crotches together.

"It's just for you," Arika repeated. "Well, Setsuna might enjoy part of it as well, but she seems preoccupied," she added with a look at where Setsuna, tied up with ropes that the Narutakis had provided, was being sexually tortured by Ayaka and Konoka, with the class representative enjoying the opportunity to show Konoka some things she'd learned from Chizuru.

"Okay," Negi said as he followed her out into the hallway. "Shouldn't I get -"

"It'll save time later if you don't."

Matters were proceeding well, Arika decided as she led Negi down the corridor, with the boy trying very hard to hide in her profile when there was a chance that he might be seen. She would probably have enjoyed his shyness a bit more if he'd been her son in truth, but it was not unamusing regardless. Likewise, she might have wished that she'd had time to confirm that the seeds she'd 'seen' planted in Natsumi had been laid there by him, rather than the dog-boy who was apparently her swain. But she supposed that she would find out the truth of that soon enough.

And if by chance the hanyou has planted or might yet plant seeds elsewhere among Negi's harem ... well. As I have lately been informed, anything can happen in a child's first year of life. All sorts of ... accidents ... can happen.

Not even Negi noticed the brief pause in her step as that thought crossed her mind.

No, her better nature asserted itself. I must not allow my anger to lead me down that path. I am a better person than that. Perhaps not much of one, but that thing I will not do unless given no choice in the matter. Even if I do not believe that it was an accident. Even so.

She could tell that Negi was picking up on her mood from the way that he was looking at her, but they'd arrived at the dorm room before he could say anything. She smiled sincerely down at him as she opened the door and ushered him in, and this stopped him from addressing the point, both because he smiled back at her and because he was immediately distracted by what he saw within.

It took him a moment to recognize her without her glasses. "Tsukuyomi-san?" Negi asked, blinking, as he looked at the figure lying flat on her back on top of the kotatsu, her ankles and wrists fastened together with short chains. Consequently, her legs were pulled back and spread to expose her genitalia plainly to view.

"Ah, Negi-sama," she said in a flat tone as she managed to lift her head up and look around as though trying to place the source of his voice. "I have been waiting for you for so long now."

Negi blinked. Sama? he thought. In utter silence, he turned to look up at Arika with a cutely bewildered expression.

"She is the first part of your gift, Negi," Arika confirmed.

"But, but I thought she was taken into custody after you disabled her," Negi said.

"She was, but, after her wounds were healed, I prevailed upon the authorities to surrender her into my care," Arika summarized. "And then I spent most of the night ... discussing matters with her. I believe that I have brought her around to our point of view. Haven't I, Tsukuyomi? She now speaks only when spoken to, incidentally," she added, softly.

"Yes, Arika-sama, I have completely abandoned my former attitudes," Tsukuyomi continued, still in that same flat, even tone. It was a bit like someone reading lines without putting any effort into making them convincing. "I now realize that I was foolish to try and compel you to become my mother, and that it would be a far more reasonable course of action to take such steps as will permit you to become my mother-in-law."

"Uh ... wh-why did you do this?" Negi asked Arika.

"Well, I don't particularly want to kill her, and I can't have her coming after my children at some point in the future, so the only course of action which seemed sensible was to make her into an ally," Arika explained. "And she is not without a certain appeal, after all." She pushed on Negi's shoulders. "Go on, then."

"Uhhhh," Negi temporized. "I'm not really ... um, Tsukuyomi-san, do you really want this? I thought -"

"I burn for your touch, Negi-sama. Please fuck me like I deserve to be fucked."

Was he imagining it, or was there actually a bit of genuine emotion peeking through her dull recital that time? No, he couldn't be imagining it. And his mother was right, it was always better to make former foes into friends. Like with Kotaro, or even ... well, it was too much to think of Fate like that. This was just a different form of friendship than that, and he was honestly getting used to it. And, after all, his mother was also right that she had a certain appeal, much like a combination of Ayaka and Setsuna. And that thought aroused him, honestly, as did her words.

Without further ado, he stepped up between her spread legs and began rutting into her. Her stoicism lasted only a few moments before she was crying out in what he decided to interpret as pleasure.

Arika watched them with pride, and with the occasional glance over towards the closet, where the second part of Negi's gift was bound and gagged and being made to watch all this. She hoped that Nekane liked the show.

All right, that was a lie. But she was allowed a lie or two to herself.

Arika Godel (and wasn't it a scream how just talking to her father for a few minutes, a few days before, had her thinking of herself by that name for the first time since she'd left home, three years and a thousand corpses ago?) was miserable. It wasn't anything that the boy was doing to her. He was, she supposed, a fairly skilled practitioner of these arts.

Not that she had much basis for comparison. Aside from daddy, there'd only been one or two others in her life. They - if it had been two and not one; she wasn't sure, since her memories of everyone she'd ever met tended to blur together in a faceless bloody mass - had been unscrupulous blademasters who'd made her participation in this sort of thing a part of her tuition fee. She'd acquiesced since she hadn't had other options. Oh, she supposed that there'd been other, more honest teachers who would have given her the training she wanted in exchange for - ugh - hard work. But really, who would ever choose hard work when there were other options available?

Had anyone ever said to her, "Cheaters never prosper", Tsukuyomi would have cheerfully answered back, "For if they do prosper, none dare call them cheaters." Right before she killed whoever had dared to talk to her like that. Educated, but fairly straightforward. That was how Arika Godel liked to think of herself.

Honestly, the number of people who'd talked to her whom she hadn't killed could probably be counted on both hands and maybe one of her feet. One of them was busily pounding away at her vulva, and really, she'd have been fairly happy with this situation if she'd only been able to maintain some sort of illusion about it. Like that she was really just playing along with all this while she schemed a way to (a) get her beautiful wonderful singing-to-her-in-her-head sword back from wherever it was being held and (b) escape and fulfill her contract on awful-lousy-princess-who-fucked-sempai-right-in-fr ont-of-me and (c.i.) get away or ( ) take vast numbers of would-be-avengers with her in a failed attempt to get away. Or something of that nature.

But the truth was very different. And though Tsukuyomi had no particular regard for the truth, or much of anything, really, she did have to accept the facts of her condition. She had been healed of the wounds that Mommy-who-she-should-really-start-thinking-of-as-A rika-sama had inflicted on her while she was demonstrating how fiercely she could love. (And wow, could she be fierce! It had been great!) The problem was, a wound by definition was a puncture in the epidermis, and what had been done to her had gone much deeper than that.

The chains that were holding her legs in position, so that um-whatsisname-ah-right-his-name-is-Negi could slam into her, were more for her own benefit than for anyone else's protection. Her muscle was damaged. It would heal and it could be trained to obey her will once more, but the healer who had taken care of her injuries had only closed her wounds so she wouldn't bleed to death. As these things go, he hadn't been even close to being a healer as good as she needed.

She supposed that was to be expected, but she couldn't help but feel a bit wistful for the time when her sempai's precious ojousama had healed her, after her last duel with sempai. That had been so much better than this. Admittedly, she'd been unconscious and by the time she'd regained self-awareness, she'd been dogpiled by Mesembrian soldiers so that she couldn't properly thank her sempai's precious ojousama by cutting her throat and laughing as the blood sprayed into her own face. That would have made it so much better than anything.

But there was no point in pleasant reminiscences or fantasies. Even if she was unbound, she wouldn't have been able to stand, much less fight. She couldn't fight. She couldn't fight. She couldn't fight. She couldn't fight.

Just like when Daddy had started, she couldn't fight.

"... am I hurting you?" Negi asked abruptly, pausing and breathing heavily as he stared at her tear-stained visage.

"No, Negi-sama," she said, lying, and she thought convincingly. "This is wonderful. You are the best lover I've ever had." Probably that was true. He actually seemed to be concerned for her pleasure, something none of the others had ever been. It sickened her, really; he ought to take what he wanted, as those with power always did.

"Okay," he said, relieved. "I'm just about done, and then ... I'm really happy you've seen reason, Tsukuyomi-san, and I'm sure that Setsuna will want to see you, and mmmmaybe she'll want to be with you this way, too. I think you might like that better."

... sempai? Seeing her like this? Seeing her so weak and helpless and unable to fight her forever like they both deserved? "NNNNNnnnaggghhh!" she cried as his caresses provoked a meaningless physiological response, tipping him over into spewing his boyjuice into her.

She was miserable.

And the worst part was, something told her that she was going to be miserable for a long while to come.

---

"Well done, Negi," Arika complimented him as he pulled back from the girl's bound form. "Very well done." It was clear - to her, at least - that he'd broken her just a bit further.

"Ah, th-thank you," Negi said, reeling a bit. While he'd slept well last night, and slept in far later than he was normally prone to do this morning, he'd had a few encounters before this and was not really feeling at his best. "You said something about another reward, but, well, you know, I could certainly wait a while before -"

"Nonsense," she said primly, and produced a small tea set from behind her. "A few moments of rest should suffice to allow you to recover your stamina."

He did find it easy to relax once he'd had a cuppa, so he nodded politely and drank the tea. It was a surprisingly rich herbal blend that he didn't quite recognize. Quite tasty. Actuallly, very tasty. And ... he didn't feel tired anymore. Not at all. That was a bit strange actually. Tea was stimulating, but it shouldn't be this stimulating, should it?

Arika smiled as the last step of her plan was finally accomplished. With Negi dosed with herbal viagra, he was more than ready for the woman she'd kept bound and gagged in the closet with her eye up against the slightest crack in the doorway, one wide inenough for her to have been watching Negi's peformance with Tsukuyomi. And she, kept on the boil by a vibrator shoved into her and left on all this time, pumped full of an almost dangerous dose of fertility meds, was more than ready for him.

"Now, Negi -" Arika began to say.

"Why don't you call me 'my son', anymore?" he said, a bit plaintively.

Because you are not. Since the truth would provoke more questions and probably confuse him, she promptly developed a truthful lie. "Lately, I have come to see that you are a man, more than a boy." She paused, looking down at his erection, which he wasn't bothering to hide. "And in light of our relationship, I have decided to treat you as a man, rather than simply assuming that because you are my son, you will do as I tell you."

"Oh," Negi said, starting to twitch a little. "That, yes, I suppose that makes sense. Um ... I'm not sure how to ask this, but was there -"

"Now for the surprise," she said, standing up to walk over to the closet door. "Negi, you have won the hearts of many young women here in Japan, and apparently elsewhere as well. But I wonder if you realize that there are those who have been attracted to you for much longer than that?"

"Eh?" he said, perhaps baffled by the change of subject.

She opened the door, and Nekane slid out and into sight. "Nnnggghhh," she said, from behind the gag.

"Nekane-neechan!" Negi gasped. "Oh, no! With all the excitement, I forgot she was - what, why is she -"

"Your cousin and I have had a nice long talk," Arika said, bending over to remove the gag, and the vibrator as well. "She has been hiding a deep passion for you for the longest time, under the guise of being your big sister. But even when I told her that she was free to act on such desires, she couldn't believe that you were truly mature enough to allow that. So I arranged things so that she would be offered incontrovertible evidence that you were. Isn't that nice of me?"

"Ahhhhh," Negi said, eyes wide, as he glanced from Tsukuyomi (who seemed entirely removed from these events) and Nekane, who was looking at him with eyes that he only call 'hungry'. "Is, is this true, neechan?"

This was the critical moment, Arika knew. If the foolish girl didn't follow the script, it would all fall to pieces, now. If they weren't both Nagi's children, she might have threatened either of them to get Nekane to do her bidding, but that wouldn't work. So now she had to wait.

"It's true," Nekane nearly whispered. "It's true," she said more loudly. "I love you, Negi. I always have, and I always will, no matter what. And if this ... this is what you like to do ... then I'll do it with you, Negi. Because I love you." Tears were flowing freely now. "Please come fuck me," she said to her son.

Negi murmured her name just once, and then stumbled over to her, bringing his erection to her lips so that she could begin sucking on him, moving back and forth, licking and laving his cock. It was of necessity a hands-free operation, but that in no way detracted from the sensation she made him feel.

He pulled back from her mouth, picked up her legs under his arms. "I love you too, big sister," he said in Welsh, and slammed into her.

Ah, I truly love family unity, thought Arika, as she began to stroll out of the room in search of more conquests.

The worst part of it was that she couldn't hold him, with her arms bound behind her as they were. As a consequence, she'd been transformed into nothing more than a vessel for Negi's lust, and he apparently saw nothing wrong with that. She thought that she'd raised him better than this. Apparently, a week or so with Arika-sama was enough to undo ten years with her. Perhaps, on consideration, that was the worst part of it.

No, the worst part had to be the fact that she was, against her will, enjoying it. She'd never wanted this. Sometimes, though, she'd found herself fantasizing about boys and girls around Negi's age, like Anya, and wondering what it would be like. She'd never indulged in such fantasies, of course, and she knew why. She'd wanted to be the good, pure older sister for Negi's sake, even though she was not good, not pure, and not his sister.

Was the failure of all her hopes for him the worst part, then?

She felt a sudden wave of disgust with herself as she realized that she was wondering whether or not the worst part of it was that she might have to tell Negi that he didn't really measure up to his father in this department. And the sickest part of that had to be that Nagi hadn't even been trying, for he'd been half-asleep when she snuck into his room that night, wanting ...

She wasn't sure what she'd been wanting, anymore. Was it to give the hero who'd saved her a hero's reward? Was it to prove that she was a grown-up at her young age? Had she suspected that he was her true father and been driven by Electral issues?

If the latter, then they'd had that in common, for he'd groaned 'Mother' as he fucked her, or she fucked him, riding him as he lay there insensate despite the way that she'd sucked his member, so much bigger than the tiny one that Negi now wielded, to hardness. She did look like pictures of her grandmother. His confusion had been understandable.
She wondered if he'd thought it was just a dream. He'd looked at her oddly at breakfast the next day, but never said anything, even when he came back with his wife and saw that she was with child too. He was able to count. She assumed so at any rate. He should have known.

He should have known!

But if he had, he hadn't cared, and maybe that was the worst part of it all.

"Ahh," Negi said, as he began to twitch while still pumping away at her.

Wait, no, why iis he -

He gasped as he climaxed, driving sperm up the channel from whence he'd been born.

- why, why, why is he finished before me? When do I get to -

No. That was definitely the worst part of it all.

And then the door to the room was abruptly flung open.

Pleased with herself, Arika strolled down the hallway. She was aware, and amusedly so, that she was retracing the steps her daughter had walked less than a week ago, the ones that had ultimately led her to reveal all to Saotome Haruna. And she did glance at that door speculatively. It would be interesting to take the girl as a lover, despite Haruna's obvious fear of the notion. There had never been anyone that she couldn't seduce, given the opportunity.

But that was not what she was there to do. Instead, she politely knocked on the door beside Haruna's. It opened up and Chizuru stepped into view, wearing a robe and slippers much like Arika's own. The girl blinked in surprise at the sight of Arika. "Oh. Good afternoon," she said, without much warmth in her tone.

"Good day," Arika replied, ignoring the tone. "How is your hand?"

Reflexively, Chizuru looked down at the cast before answering. "It still hurts, from time to time, but I imagine that means that the bones are knitting back together." She coughed, then looked up, but not at Arika directly. "Since Natsumi-chan and Kotaro-kun didn't come home last night, should I conclude that you've brought them under your sway?"

"I wouldn't put it like that," Arika said, taking no offense. Yet. "But they have joined the celebration that the others are having. They looked to be enjoying themselves when last I saw them. As was Ayaka."

Chizuru sighed. "I see. I suppose that I should be happy for them."

Arika almost shook her head in dismay. "You realize that you are also welcome to -"

"I decline to do so," Chizuru interrupted firmly. "What you are doing is wrong." Her voice was quiet, but incredibly firm.

Arika blinked. "I see. I won't thank you for that unsolicited opinion, but I suppose you've a right to it. Tell me, please, is it right for a fifteen year old woman to seduce a twelve year old girl?" There was just a bit of an edge in her tone.

To her surprise, Chizuru didn't visibly react to the salvo. "No, it is not," she admitted. "In retrospect, I should have waited until she was more mature. But whatever I've done does not change the fact that what you are doing is wrong."

Now Arika felt herself getting a bit angry. "Indeed. Who says so?"

"I do. I say so. I may not be able to stop you personally, and I might not be in any position to get other people to do it, but I can choose my own actions, and I choose not to be involved in your activities. Because what you are doing is wrong."

"You keep repeating that. It does not become more charming with repetition," Arika snapped. "Why is it wrong?"

"Why is it right?" Chizuru replied automatically.

Arika blinked. "How can something that brings happiness to so many be wrong?" she asked.

"Many things bring momentary happiness but subsequent misery," Chizuru answered smoothly. Her face had remained calm all this while, and her tone betrayed no stress whatsoever. "Should any of Negi's romantic partners find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy, that would be an example of a lasting misery."

"Children are always a delight," Arika objected.

"It's convenient for you, then, that someone else raised yours."

To Arika, the world went red. "That," she said in a quiet and patient tone, "was not a wise or safe thing to say to me."

The girl, perhaps perceiving a minuscule amount of the danger into which her words had placed herself, side-stepped out of the doorway, moving fully into the hallway to give herself more room to maneuver. "And so, now that trickery and persuasion have failed to get what you want, you move to threats and violence," she snapped. "How typical of the rich and the powerful."

"Rich?" Arika hissed. "I own not even the clothes on my back, you foolish child. And power? Oh, I have that. Faint good it did me, when my child died while I was -" She choked back the tears that she had never allowed herself to shed, even in private. She would not grant this ignorant little girl the privilege of seeing them. No one, save Nagi, would ever have that of her, whatever else they had.

Chizuru, meanwhile, was torn between the impulse to come forward and comfort the woman, despite their differences, and the much more primal impulse to step back, away from the woman who seemed both mad-as-in-angry and mad-as-in-insane. That impulse won out. "What in the world are you talking about?" she said, stepping back again. "Negi-kun is -" She realized that she was bumping into someone, and reflexively turned to see who it was.

"Hi," said the naked Negi in a strange voice ... and then his features began to melt. Before either Arika or Chizuru could react, the slime that had taken Negi's form expanded to cover the younger woman.

"What?" Arika snapped.

A second slime appeared behind the one engulfing Chizuru, this one resembling a little girl with twin-tails. "Hiya!" she said cheerfully. "Our boss, your dad, says to tell you that if you want this one back, come alone to the World Tree. Seeya!"

"Wait, no -" she shouted, but they were already gone.

Arika cursed in a way that would have made strong men shudder, then turned and unhesitantly kicked open the door to Haruna's room.

"Avaunt, Saotome!" she shouted. "I need your aid!"

In Japan, one generally did not expect to have one's door kicked in and a crazy woman appear demanding that one "avaunt." (Haruna wasn't exactly sure what word meant, actually.) And though this was not the first time that the door-kicking-in part had happened to her, the avaunt-demanding thing, and more particularly who was making it, was not really conducive to her sangfroid.

"GYAH!" she said from where she was sitting on the couch watching cartoons she'd recorded last night, hands up in a position that she'd learned from watching her older brother. "What -"

"I told you already!" Arika yelled. "I need your help!"

"You need help in general, and I'm not really qualified to -"

"Enough! My father is still among the living and has begun his scheme. I must go to answer it alone or a more-or-less innocent person will suffer an unjust fate!"

"More-or-less -"

"Never mind! I need you to go and gather Negi and the others and warn them about this!"

"Why can't you -"

"Because they would insist on coming with me to the library and I must go alone! Please, Saotome! What is or is not between us does not matter now!" And with that, the former queen dashed off without another word.

Haruna stared at the void in space she'd formerly occupied for a few moments. "Despite everything," she muttered. "Despite everything, she trusts me. Aw, hell. Life would be so much easier if I didn't have a conscience." With that, she got up and ran out into the hallway.

A moment later, she was throwing the door to Negi's room open and shouting, "Hey, Negi-kun, there's an oh god please put some clothes on!"

"Ahh!" he shouted, covering himself. "Ha-ha-haruna-san?"

She stared in mute horror at the bound form he was bent over. I used to draw stuff like this, she thought faintly. I used to - "That's, that's your cousin," she said, just as faintly.

"Ah, yes - um, is something the matter?" he asked.

She stared at him, head slightly tilted. "Yeah, I should say so," she said. Then with a quick shake of her head, she continued. "But yes, yes there is, and you need to get dressed, and untie her - actually untie both of them," she said, until she abruptly recognized the other woman lying bound in the corner. "Uh, okay, actually, only your cousin, only untie her."

Tsukuyomi's eyes swung dazedly in her direction, and Haruna found herself flinching at her regard.

Negi quickly did that. "What's wrong?" he asked while doing so. "I mean, other than -"

"Apparently, we didn't kill the bad guy enough yesterday, because he's back and your mom went somewhere other than the library to fight him. Alone."

"Mother?" he sqwawked. "Wait, what do you mean other than -"

"Well, obviously, she wouldn't have told me she was going to the library unless she wanted me to tell you she was going to the library so you wouldn't be able to follow her, so wherever she's going, it's not there!"

Negi stared. "Run that by me one more time?"

"I'm gonna have to do it to the rest of the gang later so let's save it for then!" Haruna almost shrieked, at that moment wanting nothing more than to get out of this den that stank of sex as fast as she possibly could. "Where are they?"

"Bath house," he told her as he pulled on pants, not bothering with a shirt. "Neech- Nekane, I'm going to have to go now, so you just wait here and everything will be fine, okay?"

"... okay," Nekane mumbled, still staring up at the ceilling.

"Oh, and Tsukuyomi-san, um ... I gotta go. Bye!" He actually waved before he dashed out beside Haruna.

"What a sweet boy," Tsukuyomi said. "You don't meet boys like that everywhere. Well, maybe there'll be more of them in the future."

Nekane shuddered at that thought as she got up and pulled on some clothes. She didn't respond as she started to stumble out of the room.

Moments later, it was silent except for Tsukuyomi's breathing.

And a tiny voice, murmuring, "Interesting," as a third slime girl moved past the open door.

---

"Well done, Purin," Alladia said to the slime sister as he examined the still slumbering form of Chizuru Naba. "It was a good idea to release you and your sisters. You have given excellent service."

The girl continued to demonstrate her qualifications by not speaking. He despised minions who did nothing but talk, talk, talk. That was his job, while theirs was to listen and obey. Her sisters were not quite so capable, but remained useful. Speaking of usefulness, he frowned as he considered Chizuru.

"Her arm was like that when you found her?" he asked abruptly.

The slime girl nodded.

"Hm. Well, that won't do. She should be in ideal form to be offered as a sacrifice, along with the maiden and the ... crone," he said, abruptly becoming aware that there was a problem with that formula, one that he couldn't quite put his finger on at the moment. Something was off. But what?

Ah well, it was probably nothing too important, or he'd have taken care of it before now. With that self-reassuring thought, he cast a simple healing spell that finished repairing the fractures in the girl's hand and arm. If she'd been awake, it would probably have been very painful for her. As it was, she groaned in the enforced sleep. As he was neither sadistic nor empathetic, he regarded her pain as mere data, nothing more.

"That should be better," he mused, as he hefted her sleepiig body and set it against the cruciform restraints on the wall. Understandably, this put her body in close proximity to his own. If matters weren't so pressing, he would have sampled his younger daughter's charms to see how they compared to the girl he'd taken all those years before. Actually, matters weren't that pressing, were they?

Purin quietly coughed, to draw his attention to her, and then the monitor which displayed the roots of the World Tree, where his eldest daughter had just arrived.

"It seems they are, after all. Ah well." Alladia stepped back from Chizuru and began chanting. The words grew as they called the attention of powers that lightly slumbered at the best of times, and focused them on the here and now.

---

Evangeline, brooding in her resort, realized what was happening immediately, and had most of a subjective hour to prepare a response. Unfortunately, she wasted quite a bit of that hour shouting abuse at whoever was doing this. That still left most of what remained for her to try to reinforce the resort's barriers to resist the spell. Given just a little more time, or some help, she probably would have succeeded.

But she was alone.

Three minutes after Alladia began to cast his spell, Evangeline's cottage ceased to exist. Her resort exploded forth from the container in its basement and burst through the building's walls as it expanded to its actual size, crushing much of the forest around the location of the cabin as well. The small sea at the base of resort also swept out to drown much of the area as well.

Last but not least, two minutes after the spell finished, the bridge between the two towers of the resort complex, architecturally unfeasible in a less magically rich environment, collapsed to the ground below. Then, and only then, did silence reign over the remnants of the forested area.

Nor was this the only demiplane whose contents spilled out on the region of Mahora. Most were simply places of storage. Library Island contained far more books than even its awesome shelving could hold, and so the magicians had placed less frequently used volumes in places reserved for such rarely-used books. Now they all exploded forth, spewing those books out into the library proper as they broke down the walls and floors where they were hidden away.

All across Mahora, the demiplanes expanded, wrecking the buildings that contained them. Mayhem ensued, the lines of power around the city were altered by the changes to its structure, and a certain barrier, limiting the powers of a certain shinso vampire even further than the Infernun Scholasticus curse did, ceased to do so.

But there was one demiplane not hidden by the Mahora mage order. A great dark tower that exploded forth from the grounds of the academy, rearing up to challenge the World Tree itself, announcing that a new power had come into the world.

Arika, almost knocked off her feet by the tower's rising from the ground, watched it in horror. "But why did he tell me to come here if -"

At that point, the mercenaries he'd hired and equipped with cloaking devices shot her in the back with several stun bolts.

Moments later, a teleportation sutra attached to her forehead, Arika's unconscious body appeared on the floor of Allaidia's control room. "Your swain was always better at dealing with surprises than you, my dear," he said as he bent to pick her up and set her on the wall as well.

If the temptation to sample Chizuru had been strong, that he faced this time was almost overpowering. He struggled against the urge to claim her once more, to remind her that he would always have that power over her, as she admitted but did not truly accept. But if there had been little time before, there was even less now that he had begun his play - far too little for such pleasures.

Not without regret, he hung her on the mounting, then quickly stepped back to take his chair and swivel it away from them as they began to come around. After a minute or so, the chair swivelled around to face them, revealing the face that Chizuru recognized as the retired master of the Yukihiro Financial Group - although until this moment, she had never seen him without his glasses, or realized that his eyes were two different colors.

"Greetings," he said cloyingly.

"That would have been far more dramatic if you hadn't had your agent tell me that you were behind all this," Arika said wearily.

Inwardly, he snarled at her insolence, though not a trace of that showed on his face.

"I suppose that I should introduce you. It's the polite thing to do," Arika continued. "Chizuru-san, this is ... well, a person who believes himself to be my father, Alladia Autarkia -"

"I am him," the man said, anger clear in his tone as his gaze snapped up to take them both in. "You do not face any homonculous this time, my dear."

"So you say."

"So I do."

---

In fact, a homonculous, one with a specifically limited set of memories, was precisely what they were facing. The original body (and soul) of Alladia Autarkia Vespertatia was some distance away, considering what Ameko, the noisiest and least effective of his trio of slime servants, had to show him.

"I followed her from the dorms," the slime girl explained as she stood over the unconscious body of the woman in the bathrobe. "There was something really strange about all that stuff, and I couldn't see why the bint you had us watching -"

"Ahem."

"- your eldest daughter, I mean, sent someone else to alert the brat instead of warning him herself. And then I found them doing stuff."

"I see," said Alladia, leaning close to Nekane's slumbering face, remembering a girl long dead as he gently caressed the line of her chinbone. "Fascinating."

He straightened, and looked towards the black tower with an expression best categorized as smug. "You may have somehow foiled my first plan, eldest daughter, but what you've done since has given me an opportunity beyond any that I'd imagined. Your death will be lingering and painful, but have my thanks nonetheless."

With that, he bent down once more and pressed his hand to Nekane's lower abdomen, chanting softly in a language as ancient as the Sphinx. Glowing ensued, and then he pulled his hand back. "I win," he declared. "Let us be off, Ameko."

"Just like that?"

"Just. Like. That."

A moment later, Nekane roused herself. She must have passed out, from the fatigue and ... from the fatigue. There wasn't much further for her to go, though. She was almost to the end of her journey.

---

Minutes later, this happened.

Evangeline's eyes stayed closed for a few more moments, before she heard a footstep nearby. She opened them and became wary once more. There was something familiar about the blonde woman in the disheveled dress who was approaching her, but she couldn't quite - and then she did place her. "Nekane Springfield," she said.

"You are Evangeline ... aren't you?" she asked, her voice as unsteady as her tread. "Negi told me about ... please, you have to help him."

"I've sent the best part of me to do just that," Evangeline replied. "I don't have to do anything more."

"I kind of object to that description," Chachazero noted, but no one was paying attention.

"No, no, I know, I heard stories about you, you're the Mage of the Evil Sound, you can do things -"

"Right now, I'm a moderately powerful vampire who doesn't have to hide in the darkness and isn't bothered by holy symbols, and that's about it," Evangeline snapped. "Even if I wanted to help him, which I don't, I couldn't do a blessed thing -"

"Please!" Nekane cried out. "You have to save my son!"

Evangeline snorted. "Am I supposed to care that you raised him because his mother got kidnapped and -"

"No! I bore him!" Nekane shrieked.

Few things in this world could truly surprise Evangeline. This managed it. All she could do for a second was stare at the English woman with an open mouth, before she finally hissed, "What?"

"I, I was young, a-and foolish, and I wanted to show my father how grown-up I was, and when Nagi came back to tell us he was going to be a father, I decided that this would be a good way to do it, and so I crept into his room, and, and I didn't know he'd slept with my mother, I didn't know he might be my, my, and I didn't know, and then I was pregnant, and he'd left, and I couldn't tell anyone who the father was, and they came back together, and she was so so much more perfect than I was, and I knew he'd never leave her for me ..."

She drew in a shuddering breath before continuing, slightly more calmly. "Our babies were born in the same week, hers just a few days before, and everyone thought it was funny how much they looked alike. And then they started to make plans, and they were going to leave Negi with me while they set things up to go to America, and I said I'd take care of him, and ... and I tried, I really did, but he wouldn't stop crying, and, and ..."

"What did you do?" Evangeline asked, appalled.

"It was an accident!" Nekane sobbed.

Chachazero might have made a comment at this point, but the horrified look on the Master's face kept her in check.

"So, you see, I, I had to betray them, I had to have time to set things up so that they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the children, you see. I've paid!" She was sobbing, now. "I've paid for the crime, surely? I've never been able to tell him I'm his mother, I've only ever been the big sister, and surely that's payment, surely, and what I've done, what I've had to do -"

"I pity you," Evangeline interrupted. "I really do. I don't think I've ever met anyone as pathetic as you. But I can't do anything, I'm cursed -"

"I can break the curse," Nekane told her. "I have the Thousand Master's -"

"Stop it," Evangeline said as she started to get to her feet. "Don't, don't even - I'd have to drain all of your blood, you'd die, he'd never forgive me."

"I don't want to live like this! I'm all rotten inside, can't you see that? He, I, this can't go on!"

"Then tell him, or kill yourself, I don't care which! I don't kill women and children, I will not be a party to your suicide!"

And then, quite suddenly, just as Nekane prepared to rush Evangeline in a charge that would surely have accomplished nothing, a man was standing behind her, grabbing her in an elbow lock around the stomach that kept her still. "No, grandma," he said. "There's a better way."

Evangeline blinked as she took in the sight of this new arrival, and the staff that he was holding in his free hand, then gaped. "Nagi? But how -"

"No," he said. "Not quite."

"Let me go," Nekane wept. "Let me go!"

"Somnus imperius," the man said, directly into her ear. The girl's body stiffened, then went limp as her eyes rolled shut in sleep.

Setting her down, gently wiping some of the tears that stained her cheeks clear, he stood up to face Evangeline with a calm, even cold, look on his face. "I am Nara Springfield," he said. "Three-fold descendant of Nagi Springfield. I am no woman, and no child. I am the prey you seek." He pulled back the hood of his raggedy cloak, exposing his neck to her.

A few moments later, Evangeline felt his body fall away from her lips. Felt, rather than saw, for her eyes were far away. She felt his absence with her lips, and her tongue, as the taste of his blood ceased to register in her mouth.

It had been so long since she'd done this, she'd almost forgotten how it felt. Oh, not the drinking blood - she'd done that countless times. But drinking someone's life, down to the dregs? It had been ages since she'd had to do that. And she couldn't ever recall anyone ever voluntarily permitting her to do that. Sometimes, she'd convinced or cajoled people into lowering their defenses so that she could, but whenever they realized what she was actually doing, they fought for their lives. Usually to no avail, since by then they'd been weakened past the point when fighting meant anything. Never had someone calmly and without visible hesitation let her take his life, until now.

She supposed that made him some manner of saint.

She was inclined to despise saints on principle.

"Fool," she said quietly to the man who called himself Nara, as he lay before her, still vaguely clinging to life. "You are indeed his child, for you are the greatest fool I have ever met. Throwing away your life for - for - I don't even understand what you were trying to accomplish, here!" she finally wailed.

Incredibly, his jaw moved, and he managed, with what was left of his strength, to gasp out a single word. "Envy," he whispered. And then was still and cold and dead.

"That doesn't make any sense!" she protested reflexively. Then, shaking her head, she let glamour enshroud her in the form of an adult once more, and called up her cloak of bats to let her take flight.

Once she was gone, and Chachazero with her, a shadow detached itself from one of the trees knocked over by the tower's explosion onto this dimension, and flew over to the side of the corpse that lay before the stairwell. There, Kamiya paused a moment, allotted in the timeline of this mission, to mourn him, knowing that he was the only one in this time and place who would do so.

Long ago - very long ago, in his frame of reference - he had found himself thinking that a choice he would face would ultimately only impact the quality and nature of certain of his allies. At the time, he had not fully understood that. Now, looking back on the times when his life had crossed this man's - both in that lifetime and in the other one - he was no longer sure that was such a small and trivial thing. Comparing the roaring, laughing, joking Nara of that life with this one, who had only ever truly lived for this last moment ...

He would have wept, but ninjas could not do so.

Instead, he bent to kiss him, just once more, before picking up the Cassiopeia he carried in his shirt pocket and activating a device concealed on Nara's person that reduced the corpse to ashes, making him nothing more than dust in the wind.

As are we all, he reminded himself.

Then, without even a glance at the slumbering form of Nekane Springfield - who was not, after all, his grandmother, or any kin to him - he rose, time alotted for mourning now elapsed, and darted off to continue his mission. He did find time to wish that Nara had been able to finish his last words to the Queen of Puppets, however, though he knew it was best that he had not.

Envy me. A truly clever warning. A pity it was never spoken.

---

Within less than ten minutes of that, this happened.

With a roar, a mass of pink light roughly the size of a small building slammed into the colossus' torso, essentially annhilating it. The arm that it had been swinging up towards the Chao Bao Zi started drop, narrowly sliding under the cable car instead of impacting it, before twisting like a helicopter rotor blade towards the ground. So too with its other arm, as well as the head formerly perched atop the torso. But there was enough time, barely, for those who had been attacking the monstrosity's legs to get out of the way of the falling body parts.

The head's eyes still glowed for a moment, and though its facial features were as immobile as rock, they nonetheless managed to convey a strange sort of amusement. Then the light went out forever.

"Incredible," Negi murmured from his position in the sky, turning to look up where his Master had cast down that awesome spell. He started to see that she was descending rapidly, and in an uncontrolled manner. His first impulse was to fly up and try to match her velocity so as to catch her.

"Negi," said Arika, behind him. "Negi, there's something -"

No, that wouldn't work; he had a passenger, and he couldn't very well ask his mother to get off. So there was only one real option, and he almost chuckled at the notion. The very spell he'd cast on his first day here, to slow Nodoka's fall. He began casting at once.

"Negi," Arika said forcefully. "There's something that you need to know before you -"

"Not now, Mother," he answered, just as forcefully.

He didn't see her face go white, as though she'd been slapped. He didn't see her eyes close, nor hear a sigh escape her lips. His focus was solely on the person he was trying to rescue.

And then it was done, and her fall was slowed. He had a few precious seconds to spend before going up to catch her, and chose to spend them by turning around to look at his mother contritely. "I apologize, mother, but the safety of my students, all of them, comes first. Now what's the matter?"

And then she told him.

---

Negi rode his wand down to the ruins of Evangeline's cabin, with the resort still standing there. At the bottom of the stairs, he found Nekane's slumbering form.

He hopped off of the flying staff before it had quite settled down, leaving his mother to drop the rest of the way, though she landed easily and caught the staff before it hit the ground. He paid her no mind as he ran up to the body, the neck in particular, before he let out a great sigh of relief.

"She's fine," he said, turning to look at Arika, who met his look of consternation with one of bewilderment. "Why did you say that? Why did you tell me that Master had done that to her?"

"I was sure that was what she meant," Arika answered, remembering her own fury at her thwarted vengeance. "She told me that she'd drained a member of the Springfield line, down to the last drop. And I could see you and your sisters, so I knew it wasn't any of you, and so ... Negi, I am sorry. I was wrong. But I don't see how -"

"Negi-sensei," said Chachamaru, from behind both of them.

Negi turned quickly, Arika somewhat more slowly. She was hovering just a bit above the ground, holding Evangeline's limp body in her arms.

"She won't wake up," Chachamaru said, her voice expressing less emotion than it had in the first days of their acquaintance. "I do not know what to do."

"Bring her here, and I'll see what I can do," he said, as calmly as he could under the circumstances. He paused to give Arika a look of more than a little mistrust, before heading over to where Chachamaru landed, her burden held out for him to take.

"She's so ... warm," was the first thing he said.

Arika looked up at the resort towering above her, and then turned to look back at the wreckage of Mahora, then at Nekane, sleeping peacefully. "What a mess," she said at last.

---

At almost the same time, this happened.

Asuna stood on the plaza, sword planted tip-first into the ground and her mailed fists resting on its hilt, resting for a while and looking like some sort of warrior princess. (Which, you know, she was.) She was gazing at the wreckage of the statue, and feeling surprised at the sorrow she felt. As though she'd missed some chance that would never come again. But she forced that line of thought away from her. He was dead, and she was glad. She turned around to look up, and saw Chachamaru flying up into the air, and Negi speeding away on his broomstick. She wondered what the matter was, and got ready to run after him.

"Asuna."

She stopped, and turned to look at Takamichi, who'd come out of nowhere to stand behind her with a grim expression on his face.

"We need to talk," he said.

"Okay," Asuna replied, a moment later. He'd led her over to the foyer of one of the buildings around the boulevard. "So talk."

"Yesterday, you told me, in so many words, that you were having sex with Negi. Right?" the former teacher asked, his face eerily calm.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. If you were planning on selling us out, then I definitely -"

"Asuna. You know me better than that," he interrupted.

"I thought I did," she said. "Can we get to the point? My little brother probably needs me."

Takamichi drew in a long breath. "If Negi is planning to continue as a teacher here at Mahora, then that can't continue. In the wake of my exposure, every teacher here will be under increased scrutiny. If they catch you, Negi will not only lose his job, but his hope of becoming one of the Magister Magi. It has to end."

Asuna blinked, then opened her mouth to try and say something. For a few moments, though, nothing came out. "Then we'll stop," she finally said, a faint note of hysteria in her tone. "It's just a few months until graduation, and then, then everything will be ..." She trailed off.

"You won't last a week," Takamichi said, not ungently. "And you'll get caught. And it will all go to dust."

"So what do I do?" she asked, angrily and desperately. "What should I do?"

"If you love something, set it free," he told her. "In your case, that means you need to walk away from all of this. With me, I hope."

She looked at him, confused.

"Yes," he said, answering her unasked question. "I've come to terms with it. You're not a virgin princess, and I'm not a prince on a white horse. I'm not even a very good knight. But I think that we can be good together, Asuna. Wherever you go, I hope you'll GGGHURK."

Asuna blinked. The interruption this time hadn't come from her forcibly planting a fist in his face, though she'd felt tempted to do so. Instead, it had been prompted by a little girl who'd dropped down from above them both to land squarely on Takamichi's head, knocking him down from sheer surprise if not from her mass. She guessed that she had to be about nine years old, with hair just a shade darker than Asuna's own, done up in a pair of braids that led up to buns on either side of her head.

"Dumpling head," Asuna heard herself saying, somewhat reflexively.

The little girl, who was rubbing her butt with an annoyed expression, looked up sharply. "Ahhh!" she expressed. "Mama! Only papa can call me that, I told you you're not allowed! Why do you do things that aren't allowed? Why? Why do you taunt me by doing things that aren't allowed?" She punctuated the question with an obvious pout.

Asuna's eyes probably could have been bigger. She wasn't sure how, but she thought they probably could. "Mama?" she repeated. "You're my - but how? I haven't - I mean ..."

"You haven't married papa yet, I know, that's why I came back! To figure out how you did it so that I can do it and get papa to marry me too!"

"... what," Asuna said.

"To figure out how you did it so that I can do it and get papa to marry me too!" Chibi-Asu repeated.

"That, that was a heretical question," Asuna explained, feeling faint. Seeing the question coming, she quickly added, "That means I didn't really expect an answer. Um ... but, but he's my teacher, so how can we -"

"Oh, that," Chibi-Asu said dismissively. "Grandma fixed that." Abruptly, she looked around in a panic. "She's not here, right now, is she? She gets mad when I call her that and not Arika-sama."

"Yeah, I can see how that would happen," Asuna said. "I'm gonna sit down, okay?"

"Okay," Chibi-Asu said agreeably. "Can we talk about how you got the Springfield Family jewels?"

---

A few hours later, this happened.

"Then you can't be sure what's wrong with her?" Negi asked the doctor, as politely as he could. It had been a few hours since the battle had come to an end, and he had had a chance to rest, but his repose had been less than easy due to his concern over Evangeline's welfare. He was worried about all of his students, of course, regardless of his personal relationship with them, but he'd heard from most of them so far and knew that they'd come through all right, miraculously as ever.

Actually, the only ones he hadn't heard from Ayaka (and by extension Chizuru) and Asuna. He knew that the first two were all right, since he'd seen them together after that awesome spell was cast. But he didn't know what had become of his best beloved, and the worry was starting to get to him. Still, he also knew that he had to keep his focus on his immediate concerns. Chiefly, Evangeline, who looked so small as she lay in the hospital bed, eyes closed and body limp.

Sagisawa Yohko shook her head. "This is all well outside my areas of expertise, and I'd never done more than a cursory examination of her before this. But from what's in the file, and from what I'm seeing ... she's basically a perfectly normal, healthy ten year old girl. And that's all - we do have tests that we can run on unconscious subjects to determine whether they're magically active, and she's not registering any of them. Whatever she did turned her into an ordinary girl, and there's no reason that she shouldn't be awake and fully conscious. No reason that I can detect, at least."

"I can," Nodoka said softly from the doorway to the room.

They both looked up at her. "There's something wrong mentally?" Negi asked, guessing part of where this was going.

Nodoka nodded as she walked into the room, standing at the foot of Evangeline's bed. "I don't ... I'm not sure if I can explain this very well, but ... basically, her self-awareness is drowning under the weight of six hundred years of memories. At any given moment, her mind is reliving things from decades or even centuries earlier, randomly. It's ... awful," she finally said, after searching for something stronger and finding nothing. "I think the only way she could have borne up under the weight of all those years was through the use of magic to structure her memories. If you take that away -"

"Then this happens," Negi finished for her, turning to look at Evangeline with a horrified expression. "I don't know nearly enough about psychic magic to be able to fix this. I'm not even sure where to start."

Nodoka cleared her throat. "I ... think I might be able to do something. But it'd be a, a very blunt treatment."

Sagisawa frowned. "I'm not sure I like the sound of this. What do you mean?"

Nodoka held up a small red gem. "At the very start of all of this, Evangeline gave me this. It contains a spell that would allow someone to selectively remove memories. I didn't end up using it on ... well, that doesn't matter now. The problem is, we'd probably have to take everything out, back to when she was last a normal mortal."

"If that's our only option, other than leaving her like this, then -" Negi began to say, looking very unhappy.

"There's actually another option," said an unfamiliar voice from the doorway.

Standing there was a tall and voluptuous woman, who looked so much like Evangeline's aged up form that Negi promptly did a double take to determine whether Evangeline was actually abed beside him. It was only on the second glance that he saw that her hair was light green, while her eyes were a reddish brown. Her bust, exposed by the haltertop that she wore beneath the long cape that trailed behind her, was substantial and why was he staring there? With difficulty, he jerked his eyes upward to see that she was meeting his gaze, looking at him with an amused and perhaps even hungry expression. Again, just like Evangeline.

"Who, who are you?" Nodoka asked.

"No one to be trifled with, Miyazaki Nodoka," the woman answered as she sauntered in as though she owned the place. "I will resolve this situation without recourse to your blunt instrument approach." Her voice, hard as a rock, grew quiet as she came closer to the bed. "It is the very least of what this woman is owed."

"Hold it, I don't know who you think you are, waltzing into a hospital to try out treatments, but -" Sagisawa began to object.

The woman stared at her, and her eyes glowed.

"- clearly it would be best for all parties to let you do just that," Sagisawa concluded, in a perfectly calm tone.
"Sensei?" Negi asked, gaping.

This left an opening for the woman to reach out to touch Evangeline's head, and begin chanting in Greek. The whole room was filled with a bright glow like that in her eyes, earlier. "Psechike Anaseykrotese!" she concluded.

Evangeline screamed, her body convulsing just once.

"What did you do!" Negi demanded, angrily.

"As Miyazaki said, the Queen was only able to maintain her memories through magic," the woman said, drawing back. "I rebuilt her memory palace. It should last until she learns to do it for herself. Do not bother to thank me. And now I must go." This was said complete with a swirl of the cape, which seemed to shift as though it were made out of bats.

"Who are you?" Negi asked, now completely bewildered. "At least, tell me your name!"

The woman paused. "I have often wondered where it came from," she said after a moment of consideration. "So be it. I am Seraphine. Until we meet again." And then she was gone, as though turning herself into mist, with an explosion of bats.

---

The mist (and bats) reformed atop the hospital roof, which was presently occupied by a woman in a long black coat and matching hat, who, save for her red hair, could have been Arika's twin. "All done?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing is ever truly done," the woman called Seraphine answered. "You of all people should know that, surely."
"... it wasn't actually the ultimate question, Sera-chan," she replied.

"I. Hate it. When you call me that!" the green-haired woman hissed. "Dammit, Anarchia!"

With a sad little sigh, and a shake of her head, the red-haired woman held up a Cassiopeia. "Come on," she said. "Our Master awaits us."

"Bah." But she took her hand all the same.

And then they were gone.

---

Negi was distracted from his bewildered contemplation of what just happened by a quiet gasp from the bed. He turned just in time to see Evangeline's eyes quiver part of the way open. She regarded him in silence for a moment, before speaking in a weary tone that he almost didn't recognize. "Boya," she said. "What happened?"

"You did it," he told her. "You saved us all."

"... saved you from what?" she continued after a moment. "And why would I do something so stupid?"

"Don't you remember?" he asked impulsively, then cursed himself silently.

"I ..." Her eyes slammed shut again, and she grunted. "Everything is as clear as it ever is, up to the fifth of August. After that, it's all a blur." Her face twisted in annnoyance. "And there's this bloody thumping noise in my head that's playing all hell with my concentration."

The last two days were lost to her. Considering the alternatives, Negi thought that sounded pretty good. But now he had to tell her the rest of it. "Um ... I think that's your heartbeat."

Evangeline was perfectly still for a moment. She broke it with a sudden cough, as one might if one had been holding one's breath and was forced to inhale abruptly. Her eyes opened again. "My what now?" she asked.

"You're alive again. Whatever you did, did that to you. Somehow."

He wasn't at all prepared for her reaction. "I'm alive? But that's ... but ... how ..." She was stammering, confused, with an edge of near hysteria in her tone.

"It's all right," he said, trying to sound reassuring. "Everything's going to be okay. Chachamaru and I are right here, and with everyone's help, we'll make sure -"

"Excuse me," Arika said, leaning into the room from the hallway. "I hate to interrupt, Negi, but you should probably know that Nekane has woken up."

"I'll be right back," Negi said, still trying to sound reassuring as he immediately got up, turned away and dashed out into the hallway with nary a glance back at Evangeline ... nor, she noted in passing, a glance up at his mother. And she looked a bit upset at that, before she headed after him.

Evangeline wasn't really paying attention, though. She was too busy being utterly terrified of the prospect of all her old enemies learning that she was powerless, now.

---

"Neechan!" Negi cried as he arrived at Nekane's bedside. Her room wasn't any different from Evangeline's, but it seemed much more brightly lit to him, and she was sitting up in bed where Evangeline had still been lying flat on her back.

"Negi," she said, still sounding half asleep. "Is it really all over?"

"Yes, we won, everything is fine. Why did you -"

She shook her head. "I don't really ... everything seems like just a very bad dream, that I just now woke up from. I dreamed that you were ... that I said you were ..." Nekane swallowed as she saw Arika lurking in the open doorway. "But you're not, of course, so of course, that had to be just a dream."

"Huh?" Negi asked, blinking.

"It's not important," she said, smiling for the first time in a while. "What's important is that I love you, Negi, and I can't wait to have our baby."

"... huh?" Negi repeated, in a somewhat higher tone.

---

Arika wasn't sure she liked how this had turned out. Negi was behaving rather strangely, as though he found it difficult to look her in the face. Still, she supposed that all would be well in time.

She heard a familiar throat clearing behind her. "Ah, I was starting to fret over you, daughter," she said as she turned to look at Asuna. Then blinked as she saw that she was being accompanied by a small girl with an odd hairstyle.

"Um ... I'm honestly not sure how to go about doing this, so I'm just going to do it," Asuna said. "Mom, this is Asuna Jr., my daughter from the future."

"H-h-hello, Arika-obasan," the little girl stammered.

Arika just stared. Then, abruptly, it seemed to Asuna that her eyes took on a strange heart-shape. "It worked," she said faintly, smiling broadly at her grandchild before scooping the startled girl up in an embrace. "It wooorked!" she cooed.

"What worked?" Asuna asked, bewildered.

Chibi-Asu wasn't sure she could answer her mama's question, even if she wanted to, as she was hugged tightly against the woman who looked like a slightly younger version of Don't-Call-Her-Grandma. But the lady seemed happy, so she supposed that was all right. Over her shoulder, she was a bit surprised to see Nekane-obasan hugging a little boy as she lay in bed in the room off the hallway.

She wondered who the boy was. He looked cute.

---

A day later, this happened.

"I am appalled," Konoemon said.

"And shocked?" Arika asked mildly as she stood before his desk.

"Yes, and shocked!" the old man snapped, annoyed at having his words anticipated like that. "In the wake of Takamichi's dismissal, I cannot believe that you have the sheer effrontery to, to simply inform me of these facts as though they are merely trivial."

"I wouldn't describe them as trivial," the former queen said with a polite shrug. "I'm not honestly sure that they're any of your business, though, so I'd consider my telling you to be something of a courtesy."

"Not any of my business!" gasped Konoemon, eyes wide open and bushy eyebrows high on his forehead. "The safety and security of the students of this academy are most certainly my business. And for a teacher to have willfully impregnated nearly a dozen of the students I have placed under his care -"

"Not exactly willfully," Arika objected quietly.

"- with your knowledge and consent, if not actual contrivance -"

This time she simply smiled faintly, not arguing the point.

"- it goes beyond the definition of gross misconduct to the point of criminality!" he raged. "Frankly, only Negi-kun's youth would prevent me from seeking to have charges filed against him. You are another matter! And then, on top of that, you have the temerity to demand that Negi-kun be allowed to continue working here, despite all of this!"

"It wasn't a demand," Arika said, taking advantage of the old man's pause to catch his breath. "It was a statement of fact. Negi will continue to work here as a teacher as long as it pleases him to do so."

The audacity almost stunned Konoemon. "And why in the wondrous world should I ever permit that?" he asked, quietly, as though genuinely curious.

"Because," said Arika, leaning forward and setting her hands on the facing edge of his desk. "If you do not, I will have no choice but to discuss with Negi the fact that you and the Magus of Meridiana have conspired to deceive and defraud him."

"What?" he gasped. "There has been no fraud! I will admit that neither of us have been as forthright with him as we might have been, but there's been no -"

"Negi's goal has always been to become a Magister Magi," she interjected mercilessly. "And while it is true that the magical academies of this world and the other act as though they can bestow that title upon someone, it is also true that such degrees are honorary, and that a true Magister Magi is self-declared, upon the performance of a great deed of magic. Such as the renewal of the spell sustaining the entire Magical World."

Her fingers clenched tightly on the desk, denting the wood slightly. "For quite some time now, you and your peers have been aware of the fact that he is already a Magister Magi, and that you no longer have any claim on his time or energy. And yet you have not revealed this to him, and allowed him to believe that it is his duty to continue teaching here, and that a failure to perform that duty will result in the denial of the accolade that he has most certainly earned. That, sir, is fraud."

After a long moment, Konoemon spoke without looking directly at her. "There is something to what you say, but -"

"No buts. I am doing you the favor of not telling him this, because I believe that he truly enjoys being a teacher, and I wish him to have everything that his heart desires. So you will continue to employ his services, at the same grossly reduced salary that you have been paying him until now, since I've no wish to beggar you, as you would be by the fees customarialy paid to a Magister Magi to teach here. But you will definitely overlook his little eccentricities and living arrangements. It is most definitely in your interest to do so, unless you wish to make an enemy of him."

Konoemon sagged back into his chair, looking utterly beaten. "Very well," he said at last, after a long pause. "I seem to have no choice but to agree. But!" He abruptly regained some measure of defiance. "You are the one who will have to tell their parents!"

"Very well," Arika said equitably ... since she'd been planning on insisting on that in any event. "I'm pleased that you saw reason so easily."

"Reason has very little to do with any of this," Konoemon muttered.

She ignored that complaint. "And so I'm going to reward you." She clapped her hands once.

"What -" he said, but anything he might said died aborning as the door to his office opened up and a stocking-clad leg slid into view, arching and rubbing against the door - before the rest of Konoka, dressed in a similarly stripper-esque costume that clearly exposed her breasts, came into view. "Hi grandpa," she said in a very soft voice.

"... no," Konoemon gasped. "You can't be serious."

"Quite," Arika said as she went out the door. "Have fun, dear," she said in Konoka's direction, before closing it behind her.

With a dash and a bound, Konoka was across the room and in the headmaster's lap before he could move. (Actually, he probably could have moved rather easily, but he was genuinely stunned by this turn of events.) "Daddy's still healing from all he went through," she told him sweetly. "And Setchan and I are getting along great, now, but a healthy girl needs a good dicking now and then." A tiny bit of edge entered her tone. "That's what he said to me, you know."

"No, no, Konoka-chan, this is wrong," the old man protested, trying to shift her out of his lap without hurting her. It was not so easy as you would think.

"Mmmm?" she said, licking up the side of his neck. "But this doesn't seem to think it's wrong." She reached down to his crotch and rubbed the organ which seemed to be getting harder there. "Is that for me?" Her voice got quieter. "Or is it for mommy who looked like me?"

He let out a helpless groan.

He let out another one a few moments later, as he held her legs and began slamming into her, and still another one when he emptied into her some time later, listening to her giggle as he did ...

---

A month or so later, this happened.

As Arika had promised, she took responsibility for informing the parents of Negi's partners of their situation. Of course, she pursued her own ends in doing so. Thus, it was understandable that the first one they informed was Chisame's mother, Sora. After a few false starts, and some highly enjoyable diversions, the mechanic was brought around to their way of thinking, and started to assist them in developing solutions to the problems presented by Chisame's pregnancy.

"When I was pregnant with Negi," Arika was saying, "I employed certain enchanted disguises to conceal it so that our enemies would not believe me to be weakened or vulnerable. These would not be inexpensive, but -"

"But if anything disrupted them, I'd be right back where I started. And a lot of things could go wrong over the next nine months to make that happen."

"Time is the problem," Negi murmured. "I wish Master was in a position to help us. Her resort would make that problem a lot easier to solve."

Sora blinked. "Resort? When you talk about this 'master' ... do you mean Evangeline?"

Arika turned sharply to look at the other woman. "Nagi told you about her?" she asked, frowning. "He didn't talk about her with me until I asked, and I only learned of his battle with her through other sources."

"When I asked about what he was doing for the Headmaster at Mahora, he told me everything," Sora replied, undaunted by Arika's expression. The thought that Nagi had been more forthcoming with her than with her buoyed up her self-confidence a bit. "And I thought that turning her into a child was a bit cruel, so he told me about her resort, where time slowed down. That's possible?" she asked, abruptly. "I wasn't sure whether to believe that part of it."

"It's possible," Arika confirmed, frown not fading. "But creating such artifacts is a magic more potent than any of us can use, and those who can use it might ask still higher prices for their assistance. Further, they would attract unwelcome - where are you going?"

"The kitchen," Sora said, having gotten up and started walking away. "Please excuse me for a moment."

---

A few moments later, this happened.

After Arika recovered from her momentary loss of poise, she sat down to listen to the young goddess' discussion with the others, never taking her eyes off of her for even a second.

"So what you need is basically a stable singularity with a normal gravity 'chamber' inside the event horizon," Skuld said, reviewing the notes she'd taken.

"Yes, I suppose that's a good description," Sora agreed. "We -"

"Okay, I'll just go get some stuff I'm going to need to put it together," Skuld continued brusquely as she stood up.

"Uh, aren't you going to ask why we need it?" the ex-mechanic asked, a little startled by how quickly things were moving along.

Skuld looked at her oddly. "When you helped me, you didn't ask why I needed you to do things."

"Oh."

"Um, just a moment," said Negi, striving to keep up with this conversation. Understandably, physics wasn't one of his strong suits. When one can defy what are generally thought of as laws of nature, understanding those laws is seldom a priority. But he had picked up a few things over the last little while, particularly after Satomi had started lending him science fiction stories.

So he felt inclined to ask for confirmation. "A singularity is what they call a black hole, correct?"

"It's technically the other way around, but, yes," Skuld answered. "Time is distorted by a sufficiently large amount of gravity, like you encounter inside the event horizon of a singularity. By controlling the gravity you experience, you feel like time is passing at a normal rate, even though it's actually sped up dramatically. And of course, you aren't crushed into subatomic particles."

"Oh," said Negi, and gulped. "And this is how all time distortion areas work?"

"There's other ways, but this is easiest. The others take a lot more start-up time."

"I see," he said faintly. "Thank you." Despite his unease at discovering exactly what they were about to go through, he felt a bit relieved to be talking to a woman who didn't seem to be even remotely -

And then he saw the look she was giving him from the corner of her eye as she turned back to talk to Sora again. "I'll be back in just a bit," she said, and he was sure that he wasn't imagining the faint note of promise in her tone.

With a serious effort, he stopped himself from sighing as she walked back into the kitchen.

As Chisame discussed certain heretofore unknown facts about her youth with her mother, Arika was lost in thought. At last she spoke up. "Sora-san," she said, in her politest tone. "I would request your permission to use your telephone. I have quite a few calls to make."

"Please, feel free," said Sora, bewilderedly.

There was a large splashing noise from the kitchen. Skuld promptly darted into the room. "Okay, I'm going to need a second pair of hands for this."

---

An hour or so later, this happened.

Sora's kitchen resembled the engine room of the USS Enterprise.

"All right, one last bit of fine tuning and we're good to go," Skuld opined as she examined some charmingly retro-looking gauges through her goggles. "About how much time distortion are we looking at, here?"

"The one in the resort was an hour outside for every day inside," Negi started to say.

"So you only need about three days, then?" Skuld interrupted. "Because this thing won't hold together for longer than about three hours. I've basically used the equivalent of baling wire in assembling it, and I'm going to have to watch it like a hawk or it'll collapse and take out most of this part of Japan."

"Really," said Negi, starting to panic again. "Maybe then -"

"A year," Chisame interjected. "Make an hour outside last a year inside ... and that'll be enough."

"Okay, about 1:9000 then. I can't get any more precise than that, so it's going to be a year to a little less than an hour, but ... well, anyway. Who's going in?"

"We are," said Negi, gesturing between himself and Chisame.

"You're not," said Chisame, gesturing at him.

"Ehh?" he asked sharply.

"You can't," she said firmly. "If it takes a year, then by the time you come out, you could be going through a growth spurt. People will notice. They will ask questions. You can't."

"I can't let you go through this alone, is what I can't do!" Negi protested.

"I won't," Chisame said.

"Of course you won't," Sora interjected. "I'm coming with you."

Chisame blinked. "Mother!" she said, startled.

"I haven't been a good one, I know, but I won't let you go through this without any help -"

"That will not be an issue," Arika interjected. "If you believe nothing else, believe that a lack of help will not be an issue."

There was a knock at the door. The former queen sauntered out of the kitchen to answer it ... and then there was the sound of many feet and more than a dozen voices chattering as they came closer. Arika, accompanied by the young girl whom Sora recognized from Negi's memories as Asuna, holding a much younger girl who looked markedly similar to her in her arms. She was accompanied by dozens of other young women whom Sora also recognized from those memories, most of whom looked fairly cheerful - though one (Naba was her name, she thought) was regarding Arika with a rather hostile expression as she walked along behind the blonde girl whom Sora knew to be Ayaka. And then there was a young boy with odd ears, and two girls who were clearly and obviously not human, and ...

"Whawhawha?" Sora asked.

"As I said, your daughter will not lack for help," Arika said. "Introductions can wait until we are safely within the phenomenon. I will be entering it myself, as well."

Skuld slowly looked from the large group of girls to Negi to the girls again. "Ooookay," she said. "This is straining my 'ask no questions' policy quite a bit, you know."

"But it's a wise policy nonetheless," said a tall blonde whom Sora recognized as Negi's cousin, though she was dressed in a pure white sundress and had a distant, vague expression on her face.

"Probably," said Skuld. "Okay, then, hold hands and -" She threw a large switch, and on top of a flat surface, a glowing purple globe appeared. "- step into the glowing purple globe."

They started to do so, though Chisame gave a start and a hostile stare as she ended up having to hold hands with a petite, violet haired girl who gave her one in return. But they all marched into the globe, leaving Negi and Skuld alone in the kitchen.

That condition lasted a moment, until a very petite girl with long blonde hair poked her head in. "Are they gone?" asked Evangeline.

"Yes, for an hour or so," Negi told her, looking unhappy.

"... they'll be back, you know," she told him. "Wait and hope."

---

Over the next objective hour, and the next subjective year, this happened.

With Sora's help, Chizuru and Kotaro were able to care for the large number of pregnant women. It wasn't easy, particularly given the rivalries and emnities that had developed among them. But everyone was conscious that they were part of something greater and more wonderful than such things.

As it happened, Collet gave birth to her triplets first, being of a people with a shorter gestation period than mundane humanity. But Asuna's daughter followed sooner, and if they were all surprised by the way that Chibi-Asu seemed incapable of realizing that the baby her mother had just delivered was herself, it was more of amusement than anything else. One by one, they delivered safely and easily, and the babies were put in the nursery so the mothers could rest and recuperate.

Including Nigel, Negi's first-born son, born from Nekane. Chizuru settled him into his crib and then quickly headed over to attend to the wailing of Yue's daughter.

And so she didn't see Nigel's eyes open, and the vague blue color of one of his eyes turn bright green for just a moment.

It was the end of the beginning, and the beginning of the end.

To Be Continued.