Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ The Dreamer ❯ (Almost) Happily Ever After ( Chapter 17 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“Good morning!” Negi exclaimed, sliding the door to his classroom open. The class turned to greet him, all smiles. Seeing their bright and cheery faces was enough to make getting up in the morning worthwhile, he had to admit.

Once they had all bowed and returned to their seats, Negi started in, “Today’s a pretty good day, isn’t it? We get to pick something for our class to do for the Mahora festival. I’m really excited about this! I hear it’s supposed to be fantastic!”

Several students started to tell him about the festival at the same time, and after a few seconds everybody was talking. Before he was sure exactly what he had said to bring it upon himself, everyone was standing around, talking in loud voices, and pretty much ignoring the fact that they were in a classroom.

“Y-You guys.....we’re losing class time.....” Negi tried to say loudly, but his voice fell short of noticeable amidst the flurry of girls. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to find it was Yue, “Yue-san, good morning.”

“Good morning, Negi-sensei,” His student replied with a bow. When she rose back to look Negi in the eye, he could tell he wasn’t going to like what she had to say.

“Y-You need to get back to your seat, ‘cause we’re not even going to pick out an activity if we don’t focus.....” He mumbled, looking away.

“Negi-sensei, where are Ku Fei, Kaede, and Connor-sensei?” She decided to ask anyway. There would be lots of time to sit around and not ask him questions later.

Negi laughed a little, rubbing the back of his neck, “Ku Fei and Kaede.....after last night, are a little worn out. C-Connor used to say he’d leave as soon as we took care of everything,” He was whispering this part to Yue, “And I guess he meant it. He went back to Wales,” The boy lied through a feigned smile.

“.....Did he? That’s too bad.....” She tried to let Negi believe that she believed him, but she could guess that he was dead. The boy wasn’t a great liar, even though he put up a pretty good front. Ku Fei was upset, so she didn’t come to class, and Kaede stayed with her to try and comfort her, she assumed. “So that means you stopped the voice, right?”

“Y-Yes, we did. The aura’s completely gone, and the Angel’s activity has dropped to almost nothing. I guess there are still a few fanatics around the world, but the magic world is taking care of them. It was weird.....” Negi thought back to the dead messiah on Connor’s chest, “She looked a lot like Asuna-san. It was scary to see her.....not alive.”

“Just try and forget about it. We can put all of this behind us, now,” She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a smile, “You saved us, Negi-sensei. You both did.”

With a flying kick the incentive to move, Yue was quickly replaced with Nodoka as Haruna switched the two out. The manga artist, with an arm around her shoulder as though she hadn’t just kicked her short friend in the face, was all smiles as she prodded her friend, “What were you whispering with Negi-kun about?”

“Nothing!”

“Nothing?̶ 1;

“Nothing!”

-

Sitting on her bed, which had the slight scent of liquor on it, Ku Fei read the letter again. It was what he had left behind, specifically for her, and she loved it, even though it made her sad. His handwriting was sloppy, probably because he was drunk, but she didn’t care. The words were nice, even if they didn’t look pretty.

‘Hey Sunshine! I got some good news, and I got some bad news. Since I’m a cold-hearted bastard, I’ll tell you the bad news first. This is my way of saying goodbye, a letter. I don’t think we’re going to see each other again, and if we do, it probably won’t be nice. I think whoever is handing out the dream is doing it from the Tats......tat.....miya shrine,’ She laughed a little at how he couldn’t seem to write ‘Tatsumiya’ down in Japanese, ‘and I’m gonna go tear it up before I cut out of here.’

‘Then, there’s the good news. First off, you won’t have to worry about anymore nightmares, or freaks in masks who want you dead. That’s always good, right? Well, I guess that’s it. Before I let you go, though, I just want you to know that I might not have been able to show it very well, but you did mean a lot to me. My first Japanese -sorry, Chinese- friend, and the most important. I guess I’m leaving a letter because if I saw you again, I might not be able to leave, and I can’t stay here. I remember I promised I’d stay around if you were more careful, but you broke that one too, right? I’m recalling a half destroyed library island, at the moment.....Sunshine, stay out of trouble for me, alright? Oh, and don’t listen to Negi. Everything’s funnier that way. Good luck with life, Sunshine. It’s a bitch, but you gotta love it all the same.’

Ku Fei rubbed the water out of her eyes, trying to smile at the final words Connor left her. She had lost count of how many times she’d read it, but she knew it hadn’t been enough, yet.

“Ku Fei, we’re late for class,” Kaede spoke quietly, disturbing the quiet in the room. The only sounds previously had been the Chinese girl’s sniffles, which made the kunoichi sad, herself.

Folding the note up and sticking it in her pocket, Ku Fei hopped out off of the bed, offering a smile to her last remaining roommate. “You right.....let’s go!” She would do her best to enjoy what life had in store for her, to live life to its fullest. Whether it be through tears or through laughter, she’d experience them both and be all the stronger for them. That’s what he would want, she figured.
-

“So he sacrificed himself in order to save everyone,” Takamichi spoke to his tiny friend as they slowly made their way to the old clock tower.

“I don’t know if he ever meant to come out alive or not, but I know he wanted to help us,” Negi replied softly, having to take big steps to keep up with the older teacher, “And I’ll never forget him for that.”

“Ah.....it’s a beautiful day, eh, Negi-kun? Like the whole world is waiting for us to run out and enjoy it.”

“It is! With the messiah gone, we can all slow down and breathe. It’s like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders, and I’m sure there are people all over the world who feel the same. In a weird way, she’s sort of brought us all a little closer.....”

“You’re right, I can feel that, too. But I’ll never know for sure if what I did was really the right thing to do, in the grand scope of things. In the long run, maybe the world would have been better off. But when I think about everyone who would have had to die for it to happen.....it helps me to think I made the right choice,” Takamichi considered lighting up a cigarette, but chose not to. The fresh air was enough.

“Oh! How’s the headmaster, by the way? Is he feeling any better?” Negi tilted his head to look up at his friend, who nodded.

“He’s pretty sore, but he’ll live. He’s a tough old codger, to stand up to Evangeline and come away breathing.”

“A-And Evangeline-san? Is she ok?”

“Well.....physically, she’ll recover. There might be a scar, but with her, who knows? But I think the real damage wasn’t physical.....” Takamichi admitted, his eyes directed up at the slowly rising clock tower as it rose up over the trees.

“Her ego, you think?”

“Well, that, too. I think that what hurts her the most is that.....maybe she thought she was being offered some sort of redemption, for all of the things she’d done wrong in her life. Somehow, that making a perfect world would have exonerated her of her past. I think she’s also feeling guilty about what she tried to do, and what she was ready to do. But that’s just my opinion, I could very well be wrong.....What about Konoka-kun and Setsuna-kun? Have you heard from them?”

“No, not yet. I’m expecting a call later on tonight, but they probably have so much to do, they might forget about me!” Negi laughed.
“I don’t think so. Konoka-kun’s probably crying because you aren’t there to pick up your phone, right now,” Takamichi stated seriously, crossing his arms.

“Th-That’s not funny!” Negi said, slowing down as they approached the garden by the old building, both coming to a complete stop when they saw who was there.

Ku Fei was sitting beside the pair of gravestones, one Asakura’s, and one Connor’s. For a split second, Negi thought that he saw Sayo, but as soon as he thought it, she was gone. They could hear her crying, but both thought it better to give her a little space, at least for the time being.

“Negi-kun,” Takamichi whispered, “I’ll come back later, to pay my respects. I’ll see you tomorrow,” And with that, he turned around and walked off down the dirt path.

The boy waited a few minutes to see if Ku Fei would get up, or even move, but she didn’t seem like she planned on doing so for awhile. She really had loved him, after all. Now he was gone, though, and there was nothing anyone could do to change that.....or was there? He dipped his fist into his pocket, pulling out the bronze pocket watch he had received from Chao. Maybe he could use it to go back and stop Connor from dying! Maybe.....if he thought about it, there was nothing stopping him from going back to stop Asakura from dying, either! He felt a fire ignite in his soul, that moment. He never wanted to see one of his students crying like that ever again, and he would do everything in his power to fix things!

“Negi-bozu, you aren’t thinking of trying to go back and stop this from happening, are you?” Chao asked, her hand on Negi’s shoulder. He nearly jumped out of his skin at her sudden appearance, but managed to keep his heart in his chest, “Because that wouldn’t be right.....”

“Is there anything ‘right’ about that?” Negi asked, motioning to the crying girl beside the graves.

“It’s not easy to accept, but when someone dies, they’re gone. Don’t forget, it’s impossible for you to travel anywhere beyond the first day of the festival, which hasn’t even begun, yet. There is a thing called fate, and when someone is meant to die, no amount of effort can change that. That goes for all of us.”

“But if what you said is true, and this really is a time machine, why couldn’t I change fate?” Negi asked defiantly, though he was careful to keep his voice low enough that Ku Fei didn’t notice them.

“Ugh, didn’t you read the manual, Negi-bozu?”

“Yeah, I did. I need a large store of magic to move back through time, and that’s why large spaces of time are virtually impossible to move through. That’s also why I can only use this during the festival, because of the overflow of magic from the World Tree. There’s plenty to go around in the air, which means I can use it without a problem in that period. But what if I could tap into the tree directly, and use the power from the source, to jump back even further?”

“You’d break the Cassiopeia, and wind up lost in a tear in the space time continuum, possibly opening up a wormhole on the spot, and sucking the planet into an alternate dimension, or just kill us all. That’s why we don’t play with the time machine more than it allows, Negi-bozu,” Chao exhaled deeply, patting the boy on the back.

“.....How did you find us out here, anyway? It’s supposed to be a secret,” Negi said, trying to think of a way to use the Cassiopeia safely, but still achieve his goal.

“Hm? Oh, I planted a tracking chip in Ku Fei’s head about a year back, while she was sleeping. I was just wondering why she was late for class, that’s all,” Chao admitted innocently, turning confused eyes at the look of shock on Negi’s face, “Is that not normal?”

“N-No! It’s not!”

“Anyway, I can see that she’s a little busy, so I’ll just find out later. I suggest you stop thinking about dangerous things, Negi-bozu, and think more about the test we have on Friday. Makie was looking particularly lost, in the five minutes of lecture we got today. See ya,” Chao whipped around, and was hurrying down the path before the boy could stop her.

He looked over his shoulder at Ku Fei, who had seemed to have slowed her crying, but was still sniffling. ‘I can’t leave things like this.....if there’s even a chance at changing things, I’m going to try!’ With that thought, he ran off down the path to speak with Hakase about some possible modifications to the Cassiopeia.

Kaede, perched up on the hour hand of the busted clock tower, watched Negi run down the path, wondering what he was so riled up over. Letting it go, she resumed watching the sun dip down beyond the horizon, resting her back against the hand as she laid back down. Soon the curtains of night would fall over the sky, and this brief part of their lives would be over. She, along with a few others, would be left to wonder what Connor could have been to them, if anything at all, had things happened differently. She was ashamed when she felt the desire to have been able to mend his heart after Asakura’s death. She knew Ku Fei had wanted to be the one to take on that task. Maybe things were simpler with him gone.

She cast a glance down at her friend, sitting beside the graves, “But still, I’d change it if I could. Easy or not.....if only for you, Ku Fei.”

The sun vanished as nighttime won over the land, a chapter of life at Mahora academy coming to a close.

-Fin-


-----Author’s note: And there we have it, the completion (sort of) of my first fanfic. I would, first of all, like to thank everyone who took the time to review frequently (or at all) and encourage my efforts. You know who you are, Tokunaga! Also, thanks to everyone who even bothered to read at all. No exclamation mark for you guys, though.

I, personally, like the ending. It leaves the door open for a sequel if I choose, but it’s not so indefinite that readers can’t imagine what happens. I didn’t want to leave Ku Fei so unhappy, but that’s just how everything turned out. Everything kind of spun out of control when I tried to do filler chapters.....I hope I get that down, eventually.....

Also, before I shut up, I did NOT plan for the story to be as dark as it finished. I planned for plenty of romantic tension and hurting relationship moments, though, but never got to hit on a lot of them. Guess that all just goes to show not everything winds up the way you think it will, even when you’re in total control.

Once again, thank you everyone for reading, and have a good time with all the other Negima! Goodness out there!