In response to the above image.
They're fighting for their lives - a desperate struggle to stay alive long enough to say the things that were left unspoken between the two of them. Fate cannot believe that they're in this situation one more - for it seems that they always are drawn into conflict when they're not on the best of terms with each other. They'd started the day on a bad note, Vivio had a test in school and they'd fought about how she should prepare for it, ending in sharp words that were left unresolved before they left for their respective workplaces.
The red alert had gone off two hours later, when they'd been in the middle of work; desperately trying to push the morning's harsh words out of their minds as they struggled through the day. They'd been expected to fight in tandem without a chance to speak more than three words to each other before battle mode fell into place. They should have known better, for now they were stuck defending against magic that they'd never seen before - desperately attempting to stop it before it reached the city.
No luck. Another angry green flash of energy cuts through their joint barrier, catching Fate in the shoulder and causing her to hiss with pain as her barrier jacket ripped right down to the skin. She rights herself without much trouble, but the wound was in such that she will have trouble fighting for much longer unless she spends some of her own magical energy to stop the blood flow. In such a battle, that seems like a bad idea.
They're more focused on surviving right now, anyway.
We've got to do something, Fate! This was bad, Nanoha had dropped the honorific that usually followed Fate's name. She was either still angry or terrified, and Fate guessed that the rising feeling of panic in her stomach matched Nanoha's own.
What can we do? We're powerless to stop them, they're cutting through our shields as though they're butter! Fate knows she sounds hysterical, but the panic is getting worse.
What will Vivio do if she goes home today and finds her parents dead?
I'm going to fire Starlight. Nanoha announces with a resolute set to her chin.
Fate falters, for it is a good tactic, and one that has worked well in the past. The past... which is not now, not now when Nanoha's come dangerously close to expending her magic completely three times in the past two years. Fate will not have Nanoha risking her life just for a chance to defeat a foe that will be overpowered by the ground forces eventually.
Are you sure that that's not overkill? Fate knows that she can't outright tell Nanoha not to do something or she will do it just to prove that she can.
We are making progress.
We're too slow, Fate. I won't let you power up your barrier jacket any more, you've got no defense with it on and we're going to need it in order for me to get Raising Heart powered up enough to actually use Starlight. Nanoha pulls a fresh clip of cartridges out of her pocket and shoves them into Raising Heart's empty chamber, smiling at Fate as she does so.
We can win this.
Fate isn't too sure.
She pushes her device forward and starts the countdown, the magical circles that set up the spell swirling around her. Fate is suddenly taken by her beauty and her presence. This is no time to be struck with love, for they've done that many times now already. She changes her grip on Bardiche and concentrates as much magical energy as she can into their shields. Nanoha's made up her mind already. Fate just has to play along now.
Raising Heart charges Starlight without much trouble, there's so much magical energy already in the air that Nanoha can get a good amount of power without actually draining her core. Fate is glad for that, for if there wasn't that option, Nanoha would surly have died gathering that much magical energy
Starlight Breaker! The magic rips through the air, somehow distorting it so that Fate's perception of reality twists and falters. This isn't supposed to happen when Nanoha uses Starlight, something's wrong. Fate would know, she's been on the receiving end of that attack before - this isn't normal. She looks franticly around, Bardiche at the ready, trying to find the source of the disturbance. She can't see anything.
The magic is splitting reality and Fate can do nothing but watch as Nanoha is pulled forward by the force of her blast. Fate lunges forward and tries to grab onto something, anything, to stop Nanoha from vanishing forever. She grabs at Nanoha, but her fingers slip, leaving her to only grasp cloth that rips easily under the backlash of the blast. Fate spins off course, her hands still clinging to that one fragment of her friend that she'd managed to grasp before she'd vanished into the chaos of the explosion that Starlight caused.
She hurtles towards the ground, landing hard in a pile of rocks with no thought to how much damage she was causing her body. Her eyes clear and her gaze swivvles upwards once more, but she cannot see anything over the explosions of the battle. Fate feels her panic rise and her actions become more frantic as she tries to right herself - to launch herself back into flight so as to look for her missing partner.
What's happened, where's Nanoha? She can't even see any more, her eyes are so clouded with grit and tears.
Where's Nanoha!? She almost screams, seeing only fire and chaos above her.
Fate looks down at her hands, they're clenched tightly in white fabric that could very easily be her own cape, now tattered and damaged by the battle.
Only the cape is moving and is suddenly blinking up at her. Blinking with sad, confused blue eyes that Fate has come to know and love.
Um... What's going on? The form in her arms aks in a voice that Fate almost finds familiar.
Nanoha? Fate asks, blinking her eyes to clear the dust from them. She doesn't see Nanoha, however - just a little girl that could have been Nanoha once upon a time.
Who are you? Where am I? Why do you have Bardiche?
And to those questions, Fate is not entirely sure what is that she's supposed to say.