[Alavon]

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

Well it's certainly been gloomy around here recently, but unfortunately I have nothing that could help the situation x.o I just have more of The Location of Happiness to post.

Spoiler for The previous parts:

Yuuno sighed as he sat at his desk, certain that it was going to be another long day at the office. Today would be even worse, he knew, because Chrono wouldn’t be making another order for at least a few more days. As such, all Yuuno could do was sit at his desk and wait for some one to come to him for assistance.

He had many such visitors at first, all of them relying on his abilities to find the knowledge they seeked, but as time went on there was a sharp decline in number and Yuuno knew he had only himself to blame for that. The system he had worked so hard to perfect had made finding books in the Infinity Library as simple as using an internet search engine. No one was in need of his services anymore since they could easily locate the tome they wanted themselves.

The number of archaeological dig sites he was invited to had also surprisingly dropped. A consultation was rare as well, and Yuuno could only think of a few explanations. The first was the people in the field were skilled enough not to require his services, the second was that there were no more artefacts to be found, and the third was that they didn’t consider him to be of any use anymore.

That third possibility was the most troubling. After all these years, was he really obsolete? Certainly the library could function well enough without him, but was he not needed anywhere by anyone anymore?

“What’s the point of me being here?” He wondered aloud. “Would anyone care if I just disappeared?”

When there was a knock on his door, Yuuno shook those thoughts from his head. Quickly wiping his hands over his face, he forced a smile and told his visitor to enter.

“Good morning, Yuuno.” Fate greeted as she walked in.

“Good morning, Fate.” He said back. “What can I do for you today?”

“Well, I was wondering…” Fate paused to consider her friend a moment. “Yuuno, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” He lied. “I’m just fine.”

“If something’s bothering you, you know you can talk to me about it.”

“Like I said, there’s nothing wrong. I’m fine. So, what’s your business?”

“That can wait.” Fate insisted. “Please, tell me what’s wrong.”

“I said I’m fine didn’t I?!” Yuuno said with a surprising amount of sharpness.

“… Now I know something’s wrong.” Fate smiled softly. “Talk to me.”

“I said…”

“I’ve had to become perceptive enough to know when something is bothering Nanoha,” Fate explained. “You’re much easier to read by comparison.”

“…” Yuuno signalled his defeated by swivelling in his chair so its back faced her. “Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Try me.”

Yuuno sighed and wished his friend wasn’t so stubborn at times. “I was just thinking about how the system I created has made my job completely unnecessary. People can find whatever they like easily enough without me.”

“That’s not true, Yuuno.” Fate countered. “You still have an important role to fill.”

“Like what?” He shot back. “These days all I do is sit here in my office and read whatever happens to be on my desk. If it weren’t for Chrono’s large requests, I wouldn’t have any actual work to do. It’s just a matter of time before the Bureau decides to stop wasting a paycheque on me.”

“You’re still a big player in the archaeological community…”

“I used to be, anyways. I haven’t been contacted about a dig or any other sort of assignment in ages! Face it, Fate, no one needs me.”

“You still have your tribe.” She tried.

“Even though my tribe raised me, I’m still effectively an outsider.” Yuuno said. “The responsibility was diffused through everyone, so no one is particularly attached to me, and I’m not particularly attached to any of them, either. I haven’t had much contact with them ever since I took up my position here so I doubt any of them even remember me.”

“You still have us!”

“Yeah right.” He laughed derisively. “I got your holiday cards. You all looked so happy, with your families and loved ones and it was painfully clear to me that I have no place among you. You get to go home and be with Nanoha and Vivio and every night I return to that empty apartment of mine where no one is waiting for me and no one would even care if I never returned at all!”

Fate could tell from the way his voice broke that he was crying. She tried to round the desk to comfort him, but he kept turning away.

“So what would you understand?” He sobbed. “You have everything I ever wanted, so there’s no way you know how I’m feeling right now! I guess it’s just too much to ask for a little happiness and some one to share that happiness with. I’m twenty-four and I’ve never even been on a date once! All the girls I was ever close to are lesbians, and I’m so effeminate that other women have no interest in me at all! Look at how I’m crying like a sissy right now! Some man I am…”

“Yuuno, stop it already!” Fate finally just spun the chair around and grabbed his shoulders. She thought of telling him that he was a great guy and any girl would be lucky to have him, but she realised it would probably sound like a hollow comment coming from her.

“Just face it, Fate, I’m pathetic!” He kept crying. “It’s no wonder I lost Nanoha to you…”

“That’s…” Fate stopped, not sure how she could reply to that. “That’s just how it turned out. It wasn’t because there was something wrong with you…”

“Then how come no women show any interest in me?” He whispered. “Even after I gave up on Nanoha, why haven’t I been able to find some one?”

“The time just hasn’t been right, I guess.” Fate answered lamely.

“… The time hasn’t been right in twenty-four years… I doubt it’ll ever be…”

Fate felt so helpless seeing the man broken like this. She wanted to say something that could make everything all better, but she just couldn’t think of anything.

“If… If you had told us this sooner, we could have helped you…”

“There’s no way I could have done that.” He said. “I won’t ruin your happiness by dragging in my problems. Just… forget it, Fate.” He sighed, regaining some composure. “I shouldn’t have blown up like this at you. I’m sorry.”

“But Yuuno, it’s not good to bottle up your feelings like that. You’re my friend and I want to help you.”

“Don’t bother yourself with my problems.” He smiled meekly. “It’s just something stupid that doesn’t matter anyways.”

“It clearly matters to you.”

“Just tell me what you came here for. I won’t waste any more of your time.”

“Yuuno…” Fate stopped as she realised what she could do to help him just a little. “Come work with me, Yuuno!”

“Excuse me?”

“Just sitting here is giving you too much time to brood over this, so come work with me on this case I’m doing now!”

“But it’s not like I could really help…”

“Sure you could.” Fate smiled. “I’m investigating a certain group that seems to have gotten its hands on an unknown Lost Logia, so your expertise would be invaluable. I was just going to consult you here, but why don’t you come out into the field with me? A change of pace would be good for you.”

“But…”

“I insist.” Fate gently took his arm and pulled him out of his chair. Yuuno sighed and gave in, knowing his friend had the best intentions in mind. After what he just did, he didn’t want to spit on her kindness any further.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt…”

---

Fate disliked the silence that permeated her car. Yuuno was more intent on staring out the window at the sky than make casual conversation. Well, considering he had just bared his soul to her not too long ago, she couldn’t exactly blame the guy. Still, she felt she should say something.

“Nice weather today, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.” He answered plainly, causing Fate to sigh at her failed attempt. She searched for other topics, but knew she’d just be rubbing salt in his wounds if she talked about how happy Vivio was opening her presents, or how she and Nanoha were planning a vacation in the near future.

“I’m sorry again for earlier.” Yuuno spoke instead. “I guess being alone for the holidays was too much for me and everything just sort of came flooding out. I didn’t mean to burden you with my problems.”

“But it’s ok that you did, you know that, right?” She replied. “I do love you, Yuuno. It may not be in the way that you want, but you are still my friend. I’m always here for you, and so is Nanoha and everyone else.”

“I know.” Yuuno turned back and smiled slightly. “And I do feel a bit better getting it off my chest, so thanks for listening. It still doesn’t address the root of the problem, though.”

“I wish I could say something to make it all better, but…” Fate sighed. “Would you believe me if I said you are a wonderful guy and any girl would be lucky to have you?”

“… I’d like to, but my mind immediately thinks that if it were true, I wouldn’t be single.”

“I thought so.” Fate sighed again.

“Please don’t worry too much about it, Fate. I am glad you’re here for me, but… it just isn’t enough anymore…”

“Well, you never know what will happen or what kind of people you will meet.” Fate tried to sound hopeful. “Maybe you’ll even meet some one on this assignment!”

“If only life were that convenient,” He sighed. “Well, tell me more about this assignment first.”

“I’ll explain the specifics once we meet up with Shari.” Fate said as she pulled her car into the parking lot. “We’re catching a transport to our base of operations from here.”

“Ok then.” Yuuno said as he got out of the car and they made their way into the depot.

“Ah, Fate-san, there you are!” Shari ran up to her boss when she saw her. “Oh? Hello there, professor. I wasn’t expecting you to come along too.”

“It’s nice to see you again, Shari.” Yuuno shook her hand. “It’s been awhile.”

“I thought it might be better for him to come with us.” Fate explained. “I’m sure he’ll be a great help in determining what we’re up against.”

“Sounds good to me.” Shari smiled. “Pleasure to be working with you.”

“You too.” He said back.

The trio boarded their transport which then headed off to their destination. As he looked out the window, Yuuno noted that the view kept deteriorating as they went along. Eventually it was nothing more than a rocky wasteland.

“So where are we going?” He asked.

“We’re heading to a base out in the fringes.” Shari explained. “Apparently some sort of militant group is hanging out in the area.” She called up a magical display and showed a picture of a large, bearded man standing before a group of people. “This is their leader, a man by the name of Hummer. This is a still from a video he sent out, declaring his intent on deposing the TSAB. You know, the usual.”

“They’re a small group that the Bureau would normally ignore,” Fate picked up. “However, this is the issue.” The image zoomed into Hummer’s hand, which held an odd looking gun into the air. “He claims the weapon he holds is an ancient gun with highly destructive powers.”

“Hmm…” Yuuno studied the image. “I definitely feel like I’ve seen this before. Once we get to the base I’ll access the Library’s databanks and see what I can find.”

“If it really is as great a threat as he claims it is, then we’ll need to find a countermeasure.” Fate noted. “If it’s just a bluff, we can go in and put a stop to his operation easily enough.”

“Even if it is some sort of super weapon, I’m sure it’ll be no match for Fate-san!” Shari grinned. “She’ll have everything wrapped up so fast, you might as well have stayed home, professor.”

“You’re over exaggerating, Shari.” Fate chuckled awkwardly. “If things finish quickly, it will be because of Yuuno’s great wealth of knowledge.”

“Now who’s exaggerating?” Yuuno smiled derisively. “It’s not much to brag about.”

“Actually, your essay on the design concepts of ancient machines was very insightful.” Shari nodded sagely. “Mariel was also quite impressed with it. We even ended up discussing it into the wee hours of the morning.”

“That was one of the ones you got an award for, isn’t it?” Fate put in. “See, a lot of people recognise your talents.”

Spoiler for The New part:

“… I guess that’s true.” He smiled a little more genuinely. It’s not like he could deny that, seeing as how the award and a few others still hung on the wall of his office. “I haven’t written anything in a while, so perhaps I’ll start something when we return.”

“I’m sure it’ll be another hit.” Fate said, pleased that some light had returned to his eyes.

Shortly after, they reached their destination and were greeted by the commander of the outpost. Not wanting to waste any time, they were lead to a room that contained various terminals and scanners.

“Shari, Yuuno, you two will set up shop in here.” Fate directed. “You should be able to do all the inquiries and analysis you need. See what you can find on that gun while I go discuss our course of action with the commander.”

“Ok.”

“You got it!”

When Fate left the room, Shari made her way over to the equipment and gave it a once over.

“Hm, not bad for a place way out here.” She noted. “We can manage with these.”

“Well, all I need is a terminal that can access the network.” Yuuno said, taking a seat at one of the screens and flicking it on. The screen lit up and he began typing away.

“So, I guess I’m a little confused.” Shari admitted as she stood behind him. “You’re going to ask one of the other librarians to find the info for you, right? Wouldn’t it have been easier if you stayed at the library to do it yourself? I mean, there won’t be much else to do until the case is closed and we actually get our hands on the gun to analyze it.”

“Ah, well,” Yuuno paused as smiled up at her sheepishly. “There are… various reasons. Fate thought it best that I get out and do something so she invited me along.”

“Ah, I see.” Shari nodded. “What kind of reasons?”

“To address your earlier comment,” Yuuno changed the subject. “I won’t be asking anyone to look up anything. One of the projects I started when I took over the library was the digitization of all the information so it can be accessed without needing the book itself in hand.”

“Woah.” Shari gasped. “All that data… I can’t even imagine how long that would take and how many terabytes that could be!”

“I’ve been at it for fifteen years, so yeah.” He chuckled slightly. “It certainly wouldn’t be possible without the Bureau providing us with the disk space. I can’t say we’ve gotten all of it just yet, but there’s a good chance the info we need will be in here.”

“Hm…” Shari hummed thoughtfully as she turned back to the screen. Yuuno had pulled up the image of the gun from the video and was examining it closely.

“That writing isn’t ancient Belkan…” He mused. “Characters are too elongated to be Balmarian… I know I’ve seen it… Ah! That’s it!” His fingers danced over the keyboard, minimizing the image and pulling up a wall of text which scrolled down the screen.

Shari had to glance away before the moving text gave her a headache, but when she looked at her companion, she saw his eyes dart back and forth rapidly, taking in all the information presented to him.

“Here it is.” He said after a moment. The text stopped moving and a new image popped up, displaying a stone wall covered with intricate carvings. “Just as I thought, it was Orphenoc!”

“Orphenoc?”

“They were a tribe of people that once ruled over non-administrated world 555.” Yuuno explained. “They were said to have descended from the heavens and enslaved the natives using something called The Light of God.”

“That sounds ominous.” Shari noted.

“Hold on a moment…” Yuuno muttered as he scrolled through some images. “Here, this is it.” He angled away from the screen to allow Shari a better view of it. Displayed on it was another stone carving, this one depicting a group of humanoid forms standing on an elevated platform. Below them were many prostrated individuals, their crouched positions allowing them to avoid a thick, horizontal column that passed over head. The column seemed to originate from an object being held by one of the raised peopled.

“… And there’s our boom stick.” Shari said, recognising the object as the gun from the video.

“No doubt about that…” Yuuno frowned. “If they have their hands on the Light of God, they can do some serious damage.” Yuuno pulled up yet another image of a pair of mountains. “These are the twin peaks located on non-administrated world 555 where the Orphenoc ruins were found. They may look like ordinary mountains, but if you do a simulation factoring erosion into account…” The mountains in the images began moving as the date counter in the corner of the screen went backwards. The peaks curved towards each other, eventually forming a perfect circle between the two. “You can see that they used to be a single mountain until something blasted a hole into it.”

“For such a tiny little thing it sure packs a punch, huh?” Shari hummed a bit. “Or maybe it was just wielded by a powerful mage? Or what if it features some sort of power amplification device? Mmm, I can’t wait to get my hands on this baby so I can take her apart and find out all its dirty little secrets!” An ominous laugh followed.

“It’s good to see you’re so passionate.” Yuuno smiled at her, causing the girl to pause.

“Hm, not used to hearing something like that.” Shari chuckled.

“What do you mean?”

“Heh, well when I get like that people usually either laugh nervously or back away slowly. Heck, Griffith still runs away as fast as he can.” She smiled as she shook her head. “And I even promised him I wouldn’t use him as a guinea pig anymore.”

“Griffith?” Yuuno blinked. “Admiral Leti’s son, right? He’s your…”

“Mmm,” Shari indicated an affirmative. “We’ve known each other since we were kids. I loved toying with machines even back then, so whenever I came up with something new, I’d get Griffith to try it out for me. After about the fifth time his hair caught on fire, he made me promise to stop, though. He’s always been such a wet blanket.”

“I see.” Yuuno said, slightly jealous that she had some one special like that. “Well, I think it’s a good thing you’re so enthusiastic about what you like to do. I admire that a lot.”

“Well thank you very much, professor.” She grinned. “Now let’s tell Fate-san about what we found out!”

---

When Yuuno headed to the roof of the base to get some air, he found that Fate was already up there with the same purpose.

“Hi Fate.” He greeted his friend. “Did you get the data?”

“Yes, Shari sent it over to me.” Fate smiled. “We’re just taking a little break before we discuss our next course of action.”

“I see.” Yuuno joined her in looking up at the clear sky that hung over the barren wasteland.

“So… How are you feeling?” Fate asked hesitantly.

“A lot better, actually.” Yuuno smiled. “Shari is so energetic it’s almost impossible to feel down around her.”

“Yeah, she does have that effect.” Fate laughed. “She reminds me so much of Hayate in that sense. When those two get together, they cause all kinds of trouble.”

“I’ve heard the horror stories of the Riot Force 6 days.” Yuuno chuckled. “Wish I was there to see it.”

“Ah, well, we all wanted you to be there too, but you were so busy, and…”

“It’s fine, Fate.” He dismissed with a shake of his head. “I’m okay with it, really. I don’t want you being worried about me so much. I know how you tend to make slip ups when you’re worried.”

“I do not!” Fate pouted slightly. “I only failed my officer’s exam twice…”

“Even after I helped you study for it, too.” He smirked at her teasingly.

“You’re worse than Signum.” Fate huffed before smiling sadly and turning away.

“Fate, if there’s something else worrying you, please talk me about it. Just like you were there for me, I’m here for you.”

“Well…” Fate looked back to him hesitantly. “I hate to bring this up when you’re finally in a better mood, but something you said earlier stuck with me, so I was wondering…” Fate glanced away and then looked back again, swallowing hard. “Yuuno, do you… Do you resent me?”

“What?” Yuuno reeled back in shock. “What makes you think that?”

“Well, before you mentioned that I had everything you wanted, so… I thought maybe you hated me because I took Nanoha away from you. If I wasn’t around you’d be happy with her right now…”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Fate.” Yuuno gave her a stern look. “I may be jealous of you, but I do not hate you. How could I? You’re such a great friend, a caring mother, and an over all wonderful person. No one could make Nanoha as happy as you can and that’s why you two are together.”

“Really? But…”

“That you’re together with Nanoha and not me is not something I hold a grudge against.” Yuuno sighed. “The thing that gets to me is that it wasn’t that Nanoha chose you over me, it’s that she never saw me as a potential partner in the first place. She never saw me as a man, just a ferret…”

“That’s…” Fate was unable to deny that honestly. “… I’m sorry for bringing it up…”

“No, that’s just… something I need to come to terms with on my own.” Yuuno managed a smile. “But don’t worry, Fate. I don’t hate you, and I never will. Thank you for being my friend.”

“I should be the one thanking you.” She smiled back and because she thought he needed it, drew him into a hug. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“I’m glad I could help you.” Yuuno said, returning the hug. Most of his negative feelings were blown away by the embrace, but a few still lingered. So when they moved away from each other, Yuuno decided on his next course of action.

“I’m going to go talk to the commander and see if there’s an area I could go patrol.” He said.

“Why?” Fate blinked. “You don’t need to do something like that.”

“I just want to go on a bit of a walk.” He explained. “A change of pace is good for you, right?”

“Well… I’ll go with you, then!

“You’re going to resume your meeting soon, right? I can go by myself.”

“But… Ok…” Fate relented. “Please be careful.”

“Don’t worry.” He said. “I’ll be fine.”

Yuuno is feeling better, but now he's going off on his own... Will it be an uneventful walk or will he find himself in trouble? Tune in next time...

Also, I love Shari She's fun to write.

I will forgive you for not updating Remembrance if you can do an update soon? :3 lol Just pulling your leg.

It was well written and I can definitely feel Yuuno's pain. Heck! I feel kinda angry towards Nanoha...