Characters of Negima and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 belong to their respective owners.

Captains John Price and John 'Soap' MacTavish supported each other as they limped over to the small airship which landed on the sandy ground nearby. From the floating island on which they stood, a distant battle of mammoth proportions could be seen. Hundreds of airborne battleships surrounded a floating tower, facing off against Cosmo Entelecheia in a battle that would determine the fate of this world.

The cockpit door on the airship opened and out stepped a short dark skinned young woman: Theodora, 3rd Princess of the Hellas Empire.

"I thought I told you this was a one way trip!" Price called out as she ran over and helped support Soap.

"Looks like it still is," replied Theodora, checking the stab wound through Soap's tactical vest. "They'll be looking for you, you know."

"Princess, we need to get Soap outta here," said Price as they entered the craft and laid Soap on a couch.

"Yeah, I know a place." Theodora rubbed her hands. "The nearest gateport, you'll be safe back on Earth."

"No I mean somewhere we can lie low. I'd imagine we'd be staying here for a while."

Theodora widened her eyes in surprise and asked, "Why? Shouldn't you be returning home? Back to the Old World?"

Price took off his boonie hat and sat down before saying sadly, "No, members of our Task Force are still out there, the Empire and Confederation are still hunting them down… if there are any left. No one gets left behind. I'm not leaving this world until each member is returned home, dead or alive."

Theodora looked at Soap, his fingers clenching with each slow painful rise and fall of his chest.

"I'm sorry about your men. If we'd found the DSM in time we wouldn't have…"

Price rubbed his large brown moustache. "No war is without deception, not even one with Ala Ruba involved. General Shepherd and Fate Averruncus had everyone fooled." He couldn't help but inject a hint of bitterness as he said this.

Theodora sat down next to Soap and ran a hand through his mohawk. "If that's the case we'll help clear the names of you and your men. Task Force 141 will be taken off the terror watch list for the Empire, Confederation and Ostia. Nagi and-."

Price cut her off with a wave of his hand. "No, no government will do that. Not after what we'd done and what they thought we'd done… Cause all you need to change the world is one good lie and a river of blood. Shepherd and Fate almost completed the greatest trick any liar's played on history. Their truth almost became the truth, and I stress almost."

The Hellain princess looked down. "Captain… all I can say is that Ala Ruba saw through their lies and it will not become the truth so long as the members of Ala Ruba live."

There was a brief moment of silence in as they sat, listening to the distant boom of the battleship cannons and the crackle of small arms fire.

Price nodded and said, "Well it's high time we set off."

Theodora stood up and gave the former SAS captain a pair of keys. "There's a safehouse you can use, coordinates are already programmed into the navcom."

"Thanks and don't try to follow us."

As Theodora went for the door she was stopped by Soap who held out his arm.

"Yes Soap?" she asked, remembering to address him by the callsign only he prohibited his subordinates from using.

"If you find any of them out there, help them. Let them know that we're still here and we won't abandon them," he said weakly.

Theodora smiled and said, "We will. Goodbye Soap."

She turned to Price who'd already gone and sat in the pilot's seat.

"For what it's worth… I'm sorry once again and a thousand thanks to both of you and your men for saving me back then…"

Price grunted in reply, "Think nothing of it. I doubt we will see each other again."

The Princess watched as the airship ascended and sped away south. As she watched it disappear into the clouds another ship, larger than the first landed behind her.

"Gross, look what happened to Shepherd's eye," said a loud voice.

Theodora turned to see Nagi, a young man with a shock of red hair wearing a cloak, nudging the corpse of Shepherd with his foot.

"Better get out of here before the old guy goes bad in this heat," he added with an expression of disgust before asking, "So where did they go? I've really got to compliment the guy who threw that knife."

"They're gone, as far as I know they're the last two alive," she answered.

"A pity," said Nagi. That Price dude was pretty cool. I'm betting if he were in a contract he'd get a new M1911."

Theodora raised an eyebrow as they walked over to the edge of the floating island. "He's dedicated to his way of fighting; he and most of the Task Force did all that without magical assistance."

Nagi whistled, "Yeah, they almost got someone to infiltrate Cosmo Entelecheia itself and look how that turned out. But then they took out an air force base by themselves, nabbed and tortured an arms dealer in broad daylight in Ostia, saved all the hostages on a gas mining platform, a broke into maximum security military prison, raided a Cosmo safehouse and then fought against Shepherd and his private Megalosembrian army. I reckon they must have had some significant magical help."

The Princess silenced him with a glare. "Don't forget they saved me five years ago, during that civil war in the Empire. It doesn't matter if they used magic or not. They're not of this world yet they chose to fight for it. Just like you."

"Ok, no offense to them… well you might want to know that we managed to find a few of them," said Nagi, for once feeling a little chastised.

"Good let's see them."

They walked into the medical bay of the craft. The walls were all sterile white and a filled with beeping electronic instruments."

Crown Princess Arika Anarchia Entheofusia of Vespertatian Royal family of Ostia sat beside one of the occupied beds which were occupied by three bodies.

"How are they?" asked Nagi.

Arika looked up and shook her head. "3rd degree burns and gunshot wounds to the two we recovered from the Cosmo safehouse. Barely conscious and according to Eishun we'll lose them. Jack brought in the other who was the undercover agent from the Hellain gateport massacre. He's been on life support ever in the Empire ever since. I think they were hoping to trial him as soon he wakes up. He's beyond help too."

Nagi sat down next to her. "I guess there's nothing we can do."

"There is."

Nagi, Arika and Theodora huddled around the Task Force commando who'd spoken.

"Hey there, are you alright?" asked Arika.

The man's face was badly burnt. Nagi thought he must have been wearing a mask since a layer of partially melted black substance covered almost his entire face.

"Can you tell me if Price and Soap got away?" the man seemed to gasp with each breath.

"Yes they did, I saw them and they are safe," said Theodora, "They told me to tell you guys that they're not going to leave you guys behind."

The man coughed and attempted to grin, except that his lips had been burned off. With great effort he turned his head to look at the bed to his right which was occupied by another man who was burned just as badly.

"Roach, they made it... Those crazy bastards made it." The effort was too taxing because he stopped and closed his eyes.

Roach couldn't reply. The respirator was all that was keeping him hanging on.

"He'd hung onto so much and for so long," thought Ghost before he slipped back into darkness.

Arika and Theodora had tears running down their cheeks while Nagi placed a hand on Ghost's shoulder before walking over to the body on the far side.

Alexi Borodin was the only name they had for him. Ala Ruba first heard his name as a Megalosembrian agent who was a perpetrator in the terrorist attack on a spaceport in the Hellain Empire. Hundreds of civilians and police were killed in the attack which bore the hallmarks of a well planned military operation. The massacre sparked the war between the Empire and the Confederation, the war which dragged in Arika and then Ala Ruba. A conspiracy was discovered in which the two superpowers would be distracted in their war from Cosmo Entelecheia, the organisation that threatened the entire Magical World.

Nagi sighed as he regarded the man lying before him. The neck wound had long since healed but his brain was no longer functioning.

"Such a waste," he said sadly, regretting having gone after the remaining Task Force members so eagerly. To think that he'd actually swallowed the propaganda about these men being terrorists.

It was then that an idea came to him.

"Girls, can you go find, Jack, Eishun, Gateau, Takamichi and the rest?"

While they left the room Ghost had retained consciousness and was trying to converse with Roach again.

"Hey Roach. When we get out of here we're going to find Price and Soap."

"What the hell did that mean?" wondered Simon Reilly, as soon as his eyes snapped open.

He raised a hand and rubbed them before looking out the window of the Japan Airlines 737. Down below he could see the metropolis which was that of Kyoto.

"EXCUSE ME!"

Simon pulled out the headphones which were blaring Led Zepplin at max volume before turning to the stewardess.

"Yes?"

"You're required to stack up your tray before we can land," she said, a little grumpily.

"Oh, sorry about not answering you, I'll remember to keep an ear out for a pretty voice like yours," he answered with a smile.

The attendant turned a little pink; the fact that he could speak her language helped a little. "Turning down the volume helps, you'll save you ears too."

"I'll remember that, arigato."

A boy around Simon's age of 15 sat between a textbook example of anorexia and a brat of seven. He had short blond hair and was lanky, awkwardly so. He gripped the seat in front nervously, as though he might fall off.

Somehow the guy seemed familiar, but Simon couldn't put a finger on it. He'd never met him before but there was something that went beyond the fact that they'd both boarded the same flight from Heathrow. Simon shrugged it off, not that he had many close friends anyway. But then he noticed the open envelope that the boy had pinned between his left hand and the side of the seat he was gripping. Simon recognised the seal of Mahora Academy. A similar envelope was pinned to his refrigerator back home in London.

Joseph Allen wasn't looking forward to the jet lag after flying across an entire ocean. He'd barely gotten any sleep up in the plane and the in-flight movies came from some arthouse collection run by the likes of his hemp smoking uncle.

Grabbing his duffle bag from the conveyor belt he made his way over to the metal detector booths. As he waited in line he watched as with a beep a lift door opened up.

Five men marched out armed with assault weapons. Everyone stared in shock as for a few ridiculously long seconds no one did anything. And then the gunmen opened fire.

"Excuse me sir." The police officer asked in halting English while Joseph shook his head, coming out of his trance.

"Sorry," he replied in Japanese to the officer's surprise.

Gary Sanderson proceeded quickly to the entrance where hundreds of commuters and tourists were milling about. He'd been told in the letter from Mahora that the person who'd pick him up would be waiting around here. Turning around he wondered if that pale, dark haired guy with the skull T-shirt was still following him. Gary had caught the guy staring at him on the plane and he was sure he had tracked him through customs, a few souvenir stores, a café and a manga bookshop.

All such thoughts were abandoned as soon as he saw his name in English on a sign appear above the heads of the human swarm. Threading his way through, Gary made sure to keep a hand over his right pocket where he kept his phone and wallet. Japan was regarded as a safe place, but there could be worse. For some reason he had a knack for foreign countries, as though he'd been there before.

After holding his breath for almost a minute he jumped back, finding himself facing a well endowed woman with kind eyes behind a pair of glasses.

"Oh hello there might you be one of the boys on the sign?" asked Shizuna Minamoto in English.

"Yes I'm Gary," he answered in her language. He almost offered his hand but remembered to bow instead.

"I'm Shizuna Minamoto, that would be Takamichi Takahata," she pointed to a bespectacled man dressed almost entirely in gray standing next to her.

"Why Gary-kun, how are you?" said Takamichi, offering his hand.

"Long time no-," he caught himself before saying, "My mistake, you just reminded me of someone I knew in the past."

Gary gave him a puzzled glance as they shook hands, "It's alright."

He almost added, "You seem familiar too."

Just then a brown haired guy, about Gary's age turned up with a duffel bad slung over his shoulder. As he drew closer Gary could see his green eyes tracking the ground he was just about to tread upon.

The boy almost ran into Takamichi until he ventured a guess and asked, "Joseph Allen?"

"That's me."

Takamichi and Shizuna introduced themselves. Gary looked at the sign which had two names crossed off: his and Joseph's.

"Well all that's left is Simon," said Takamichi, as he help up the sign again. "Why don't you and the boys go and put the luggage away?" he suggested to Shizuna.

"Off course, follow me." She beckoned the boys over to a black SUV with the Mahora seal over the doors.

Meanwhile Takamichi felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning his head he found himself staring into a pair of cold hard gray eyes.

"Whoa! Simon-san?"

Inside the SUV the three boys sat in the back with Takamichi driving and Shizuna in the front passenger seat.

"You boys heard of Mahora Academy before getting your letters?" asked Takamichi.

There was silence as the boys racked their memories.

"Not that I recall," said Joseph.

"I'll tell you all about it, it'll pass the time," said Shizuna.