9 years ago…
A young white-haired boy with red eyes looked warily at the large building in front of him. The man in the lab coat in front of him motioned for him to go in.
"Hurry up and go in. I don't have all day."
Tentatively, the young boy walked into the Special Abilities Institute, gazing in awe at the high-tech equipment and the clean, blank white walls. Behind him, there was the sound of footsteps retreating. He turned to the man.
"Why am I here?"
"You possess an ability which is very rare and powerful. We wish to train you and your ability for good use in Academy City."
"What if I say no?" The young Accelerator asked, his attitude now defiant that he was alone with the scientist.
The scientist sighed. "I wish you'd come along peacefully. I really don't want any violence."
"That's a load of crap and you know it. I know you guys will do anything to get me since I also know magic."
"Then why did you come in?"
The boy sneered. "Did it look like I had a choice? For some reason, you guys didn't get affected by my ability and forcibly brought me here."
"I'll give you one last chance. Come peacefully or else."
"Or else what? No weapons work on me." Accelerator smiled confidently.
The scientist snapped his fingers. At once, a group of men surrounded him and started shooting bullets at the young esper. The boy smirked as the bullets were reflected back to the men and sent them flying, but more kept on aiming their guns at him.
"Enough." A tired, yet familiar voice said.
Accelerator whipped his head around to face the person walking towards him. "Uncle Nagato? What are you doing here?"
"Nephew, just go with them. As for you," he turned to the scientist, "how much more idiotic can you guys get? You know guns don't work on him."
"We're not idiots! We were thinking his ability would tire him out eventually and then we would be able to capture him."
"His ability's instinctive and almost like a part of him. Now back off. I'll handle him. You voted to have his memories erased and replaced, right? I'll do that. "
The scientist nodded and called off his men. Nagato knelt in front of Accelerator, so that he was the same height as the boy. Accelerator stared at him defiantly. "Why did you let them kidnap me when you were still in the house?"
"I'm sorry. This had to happen."
"Don't tell me this has to do with what Mother and Father wanted with me." The boy's words only wavered slightly at the mention of his parents.
"Your parents never wanted this for you. But as the future says, this has to happen. I'm sorry, my boy. No matter what, remember that your parents will always love you. And remember Haruka as well. You'll see her again one day. But for now, you have to stay with the scientists. Now, stay still."
The young esper looked confused. "Uncle Nagato, what are you…?"
Nagato put his hand on the boy's head and spoke a spell. The boy collapsed, unconscious. Nagato gathered the boy into his arms and laid him on a nearby table.
The scientist peeked out from another room. "How did you neutralize him?"
"He's my nephew. I know him and his ability well."
"What are you doing?"
"Helping you… for now. When I'm done with him, he'll go along with you guys and stay here."
"Why are you helping us? I thought you'd want to prevent this happening."
"It has to happen. However, this conversation never happened. You never saw me. You believe that you managed to neutralize the boy that you call Accelerator and that he will stay in the Special Abilities Institute." The man's eyes glazed over and he nodded robotically. He promptly turned and marched into another room.
Nagato turned back to his young, unconscious nephew. He placed his fingers on the boy's temples, chanting. White light flared out from the esper's head and floated towards the ceiling, where it condensed into a magic circle. Then, filaments of black light streamed from Nagato's hands and into the boy's head. After the black disappeared, the white magic circle descended after it.
Nagato finished the chant and took his hands away. If someone looked closely, they would have seen his eyes sparkling with unshed tears of grief. Grief at what he had condemned his own flesh and blood to. Grief that spoke of losing yet another family member.
Nagato swiped at his eyes and quickly slipped out of the Institute, leaving no trace of magic.
***
Nagato forced himself to calm down, ignoring the lump rising in his throat. He took one last glance at Accelerator.
He's grown a lot. Nii-san would've been amazed at his growth.
Then Nagato glided over to Haruka's bed, looking down at the sleeping female. He had also put the seal on her head when she was taken to the Institute, exactly one year before Accelerator was taken. Her parents's dying wish was to let Haruka play out the role that she needed to play in the future. They had died shortly after making that wish. Nagato shuddered as he remembered how they died. It wasn't pretty. A group of magicians from the French Catholic Church had wanted revenge against the couple for abandoning the magic side completely. He had also heard that the group had some petty grudge against them as well. Whatever the story was, the magicians had created a vicious monster out of magic and it had attacked them when they were out on a walk alone. Caught off guard, they were wounded badly and could barely fight back, let alone send a signal for help. Nagato had been in the area and responded as soon as he felt the monster, but it was too late to rescue any of them after he had destroyed the monster. Luckily, Haruka had no idea what happened to her parents, as she was at home. And then a day after that, she was taken to the Institute.
He also had no idea how and why Haruka met and became friends with Accelerator. Two years after his parents's death, Accelerator had become withdrawn and hurt, with a fiery temper that always flared if someone tried talking to him, even at the young age of 6. He was the only one that could talk to Accelerator back then.
When they had met, none of the two knew that the other knew magic. Somehow, the two had become fast friends. When Nagato had found out her parents were Hakutsuki Minato and Kushinada Kushina, he was surprised and delighted that his old friends were in the city. However, he was saddened when they told him they had given up the magician life. They had wanted Haruka to be safe from magicians, since her ability with the elements was too powerful for anybody to handle. They had managed to pass off her ability as an esper ability, so they were able to move in with success. He had asked them to take Accelerator in once he knew their situation. Back then, Nagato was still grief-stricken over his brother's death, and didn't have the emotional capability back then to properly take care of a young child who was also in pain from his parents's deaths. He knew that Accelerator was the first-hand witness of his parents's deaths. Any child was bound to have cracked emotional and mental health, but Accelerator seemed fine, until Nagato had seen his actions in the Level 6 Shift Project.
Nagato sighed again as he slipped out of the room, heading to the living room. In the darkness, he could still see the sleeping form of Touma stretched out on the ground, and Index sleeping on one couch. He went over to the other couch and laid down, staring at the blank ceiling. Most of this, he knew, was his fault. His fault for erasing Accelerator's memories. His fault for putting his brother's son through a living hell. Yet if his visions were true, everything was preordained to happen.
He recalled the scenes of his training time at Necessarius with his brother. Both of them had wanted to study divinity at a young age. However, his brother's visions consisted mainly of war and pain, and he had many nightmares throughout training. His own visions consisted of individual beings and their families, but mainly their lives.
It would be the truth to say that he and his brother were the masters behind the puppet show, even at the same level as Aleister Crowley. Yet they were also puppets, driven by the unshakable future and fate.
In another blink of an eye, Nagato closed his eyes and fell asleep, not aware that something else was also in Accelerator's head, speeding up his counter-seal