Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Crime Never Sleeps
Part 13

Spoiler for Crime Never Sleeps, Part 13:

Auris studied the girl, and turned off the audio recording device. “Raven, killing your parents’ killers will never make you feel better.”

The little girl stiffened and raised her chin, her green eyes glinting. “Blood for blood. It’s the only justice in our world.”

Ironic, how at some level, Auris completely agreed. “Justice, no matter what kind, doesn’t make up for the loss.” She knew that Holden would be eavesdropping, and that suited Auris’ purpose just fine. Grassroots talk always spread faster than direct speeches, after all, and were always viewed as ten times more sincere through hearsay, even for cynical people like Shadows.

Raven blinked, then gave a half-smile, her eyes empty once more. “No…but I still felt a little better.”

Okay, I just e-mailed you the Big Review, but I just had to mention this part in public because I thought it was so fragging brilliant. This was, quite literally, the first time ever that I have seen a fiction author, fan or otherwise, treat revenge as not being an all-or-nothing affair, but as having a positive emotional effect that's not "it makes it all feel all right." That one can still feel the pain of loss and suffering, and yet still feel a little bit better from making those who hurt a person suffer in return.

Originally Posted by deathcurse

I didn't know that it was Thanksgiving down south for you guys! ^^

That's okay; I had to marry a Canadian to find out that you have it on Columbus Day.

Yes, success! Now, I'll really have done a good job when you start hating Hayate, hehehe.....

I thought Part 11 did that nicely for most people. I mean, hey, kick both Fate and Nanoha in the privates will do that!

Edit: Pageclaim for writing more chapters of ongoing fics!

[Nanya01]

This is a 2 chapter post.

Day in the Life

Chapters 44 and 45

Spoiler for All Good Things:

"Those streamers should go over there!" Hayate yelled at the decorators and sighed as she put her left hand to her forehead, trying to stave off an oncoming headache. "Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have waited until now."

"How's it going, Hayate-chan?" She turned and smiled wanely at Nanoha. "Need help?" Darn it, did she have to be so beautiful when she was concerned? Oh well, she was happy, that was all that really mattered in the long run.

Hayate shook her head to clear out any negative thoughts that were trying to form. "Maybe if you had some asprin and knew how to give massages, I've got a hell of a headache forming right now." She wasn't even trying to start anything, Hayate really did have a bad headache forming.

Nanoha sighed and moved Hayate over to a chair and made her sit down. "Really, I thought you were... Wow." Nanoha blinked as she put her hands against Hayate's shoulders. "You really are tense, aren't you?"

"Nnnmmmhmm..." Hayate moaned softly as Nanoha's thumbs threaded into her muscles, working and relaxing the tension away. "When did..."

"Subaru taught me." Nanoha giggled softly. "Anyway, Hayate-chan, are things going alright?"

"Ugh, your mom and Lindy-san are helping out, but it's so much to get ready, we need the catering company to make a big enough cake, we had to rent out this dance hall, Carim's letting us use the church to have the wedding and I'm getting swamped by reporters asking me for any details about your wedding." Hayate took a breath and groaned as Nanoha's fingers worked on her neck. "Aahhhhooowww..."

"Sorry." Nanoha stopped when Hayate let out that groan of pain. "You got a really hard knot next to your spine, that's not good, Hayate-chan."

"I know." Hayate nodded slightly and Nanoha continued to work on the tension in her neck. "Anyway, how did your mother put up with this when she got married?"

"Mom had a small wedding, and she wasn't a celebrity back on Earth." Nanoha smiled at her friend. "Besides, while the wedding will be big, the reception won't be, and you did really, really great getting all this put together in only a couple of weeks."

Hayate smiled at that. Her family was finally out of the hospital, though Vita still complained about her skin hurting and Signum still moved slowly at times, though most of her cuts had faded and healed due to Shamal's healing efforts. Zafira was moving just fine, which was something she was thankful for. She hated seeing her family hurting so much.

"Why'd you change your minds to have the wedding on Mid-Childa?" Hayate asked as Nanoha worked to her shoulder blades, before stopping to punch a rather large and stubborn knot just under her right shoulderblade.

"Sorry about that." Nanoha went back to massaging the knot out of her friend's back. "Fate talked to Yuuno and I about it, and we decided that if we were going to have a media circus about our wedding anyway, we might as well have it here, on Mid-Childa, rather than somewhere else."

Nanoha pulled her hands away from Hayate's back and smiled as her friend rolled her shoulders. "Feel better?"

Rolling her neck as she rolled her shoulders, Hayate let out a small groan of satisfaction. "Yeah... Feels like butter." She sighed as she saw someone knock over a stack of chairs. "Those decorations go on the north side." She pointed at someone who was trying to stack some decorations up. "Those go over here!"

"Hayate-chan." Nanoha put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Need my help?"

Hayate smiled at her and nodded. "Please. So, Fate-chan and Yuuno-kun convinced you to have the wedding here?" Nanoha nodded as they went and moved some decorations around and Hayate giggled softly. "Seems that the media's going to have a field day with this one."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Nanoha grimaced as she remembered some of the tabloids she had seen. "Some magazines are putting up false rumors that my feelings for Yuuno aren't as strong as they are for Fate."

"The ones that said you having his children was the worst thing to happen to Mid-Childa and how there's no way you would have his children?" Hayate blushed softly at Nanoha's questioning look. "I get a lot of magazines at work. Kind of stupid, to be honest. I don't know what those people are smoking."

"Yeah. I nearly went to the magazine publisher and dropped a Divine Buster on their heads." Nanoha grumbled, seriously, how could those people get away with what they wrote about Yuuno and her relationship with him and Fate?

It made her... Well, she was sure that Yuuno didn't complain when she got home after shopping that day, she sure didn't.

Hayate blinked, then gave Nanoha a flat look as her friend went from angry to blushing. "I don't want you to start thinking about the fun times that you had with Fate-chan and Yuuno-kun when you're supposed to be working with me, Nanoha-chan."

"Nyahahahaha!" Nanoha stuck her tongue out as she continued to move decorations around. "Sorry about that."

Hayate rolled her eyes, it was rather fun teasing her friend.

(---)

"Fate-mama?" Vivio looked at the woman, who was slightly spaced out. "Are you okay?" When Fate turned to her, she smiled at her mother. "You seem distracted."

"Sorry." Fate smiled as she looked at Vivio. "I was just thinking, I'm still not sure what name I should take."

Vivio blinked a few times. "I thought Fate-mama was going to take Testarossa-Harlaown-Takamachi-Scrya? Nanoha-mama said she was going to take be Takamachi-Harlaown-Scrya and Yuuno-papa said that he was going to take Takamachi-Harlaown-Scrya as his name. But then Nanoha-mama said that he didn't need to, but Yuuno-papa said that he should, because it's not fair to Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama and..."

"Eh?" Fate sweat-dropped at Vivio, before gasping slightly. "Isamu!" She ran across the room and grabbed the baby, who was trying to crawl out the door. "You can't go outside just yet." She sighed softly and closed the door, wondering how it got open.

"NA!" Isamu grunted and kicked his little legs up and down. "NI!"

Fate smiled softly and touched him on the nose. "Sorry, Isamu, but you can't go outside, not just yet." It was still a touch chilly to let the babies go outside freely, at least for Fate's peace of mind.

The boy just grunted and kicked his legs in the air futilely.

Vivio giggled as she watched Fate put Isamu down on the ground and let him crawl around again. "Isamu, you silly."

Fate sighed softly, the babies were a handful at times, but she wouldn't trade them for anything. "Vivio, what was that you were saying earlier, about Nanoha and Yuuno taking my name?"

Vivio blinked a few times before her eyes turned blank white. "Whoops! Nanoha-mama and Yuuno-papa wanted to surprise you and I overheard and then you were trying to figure out a name and I thought you'd take Nanoha-mama's and then Yuuno-papa's name and they were going to take your name because they love you so much and then I..."

"Vivio..." Fate smiled and knelt down, hugging her daughter. "Thank you." She could feel some tears welling up in her eyes even as she felt the tension that was in her body start to melt away. "You made it easy for me."

"Fate-mama?" Vivio blinked as Fate pulled back and smiled at her. "You okay?"

"Yes, thank you, Vivio." Fate nodded to her daughter.

"Okay!" Vivio nodded as Fate let go. "Ack! Sora!" She saw her other brother crawling out of the room. "Get back here!"

Fate had to bite back a laugh. Vivio was going to be a good big sister, that was for sure.

She just hoped that Vivio didn't decide rough-housing was the best way to play with her siblings

(---)

"Oww..." Teana winced and grabbed her wrist as pain throbbed through her body.

"Ack! I'm sorry, Teana."

She shook her head and smiled softly. "It's okay, Touma, it was more shocking than painful." Chuckling, Teana rubbed the top of his head with her good hand. "Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. Besides, I took worse in training."

"Are you sure?" Touma looked embarrassed that he caused her pain like he did.

"Yeah." Teana smiled at him. "I can't feel it anymore, so I'm fine." She waved her bandaged hand slightly. "My back hurts a bit more than my wrist, but I'll be fine. Anyway, I've got an appointment to keep, so I'll see you later."

Touma blinked as Cinque walked into the room, twirling some car keys on her finger. "Come on, Teana." She smiled softly as she saw Touma. "Good morning, Touma."

"Ah, hi, Cinque." He rubbed the back of his head as she smiled at him. "How are you?"

"Just fine." She sighed as Teana asked her to hurry up. "I do hate being the only one with a driver's license." Well, Genya and Ginga both did, but Genya had to go back to work and no one wanted Ginga to drive right now anyway. "Coming."

Touma watched them go and nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt some fingers attack his armpits. "Ack!" He spun around and came face to breast with one of Subaru's sisters. "Hey!"

"Sorry, kiddo." Wendi winked at him and giggled at his flat look. "You just looked so out of it that I had to do something to get your attention."

"Picking on poor Touma again?" Nove asked as she walked into the room. "Honestly, Wendi."

Wendi laughed and got behind Touma, hugging him from behind. "Oh come on, Nove." She winked at the other redhead, who sighed.

"Sorry, Touma, Wendi's a bit of an idiot at times."

"Hey!" Wendi pouted and gave her a flat look as she let go of Touma.

He shook his head. "Nah, it's okay." He didn't mind it, it was actually pretty nice, having older people he could look up to and hang out with. At least it kept the feelings of helplessness that he felt at times from popping up. Besides, Wendi was rather funny, so it was okay.

"You're loud as usual, Wendi." Dieci smirked as she walked into the room and smiled at Touma. "But I suppose if Touma finds it okay, that's fine."

Wendi pouted and hugged Touma again. "Touma..." She whined. "My mean sisters are making fun of me again."

Nove chuckled and shook her head. "I wouldn't listen to her, Touma. If you do, she'll drive you crazy." She laughed softly at the way Wendi pouted at her. "It's true you know." If she and Wendi weren't so close, even before getting into a romantic relationship together with Ginga, she probably would have found Wendi incredibly annoying.

Then again, Nove couldn't imagine Wendi being anything but the way she was. The more she tried to think of Wendi as serious, the more her brain felt like breaking.

Dieci shook her head at her sisters' antics, but had a soft laugh as Wendi let go of Touma and glomped onto Nove, causing the shorter redhead to fall to the floor under her weight. "Come on, Touma." She led the boy out of the room. "Let's leave those two before Wendi decides to do something silly."

Touma nodded. It hadn't taken him long to get used to the antics around the house. "I have a feeling that someday I'll be telling a psychologist about all of this." When Dieci looked at him, he laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Nah, probably not. I like you guys too much."

Dieci smiled and gave him a quick hug. "We like you too." She let go of him a moment later as the two sat in the living room and turned on the television. There wasn't much to do that day, so they were both taking it pretty easy.

Touma would have said something, but his face was pretty red. It wasn't his fault, it was hard to think when his face got pressed into Dieci's chest like that. The brunette was quite beautiful and he was just short enough that a hug pressed his face into her breasts.

Oh well, it was better than being back on Vaizen at least.

(---)

Some time later...

Verossa looked at Hayate and Carim and smiled at them. "You two look lovely." When the two blushed at him, he chuckled as Hayate verbally expressed her embarrassment. "If one didn't know any better, one would say that you two were getting married."

"I'm wearing a yellow dress." Carim rolled her eyes at her brother. "And Hayate's in a pink dress." When Verossa chuckled at her and opened the door. "Well, we should get going, the church is getting pretty full now."

Hayate smiled softly. "Come on." She really wanted to see Nanoha and Fate in their wedding dresses. "Don't forget the reception later."

"Yeah." The two nodded as they walked out the door.

(---)

"You look so beautiful." Momoko smiled at her daughter as she helped zip up the back of the white dress.

Nanoha blushed as her mother helped her finish getting into the dress. The changing room wasn't that large, but it didn't need to be. "Thank you, mother." Raising Heart glittered around her neck in pendant form. Shiro had insisted that she and Fate keep their devices close to them in a way that wouldn't look unnatural. Not that she disagreed with it herself, knowing about her family's history like she did.

Momoko smiled and gave her daughter a tight hug. "I'm so happy for you, Nanoha." She let go of her daughter a moment later. "I'm a grandmother and now I'll have a daughter and son-in-law." She giggled softly. "I was wondering if it was Fate or Yuuno that you were going to marry."

Nanoha smiled, even with the blush still on her face. "Did Arisa-chan, Suzuka-chan, Kyouya-nii, and Shinobu make it?" A knock on the door interrupted Momoko. Walking to the door, she opened it up and smiled brightly and turned to Nanoha.

"Speak of the devil and she appears."

"Who's a devil?" Arisa grumbled as she walked in, dressed in a light blue dress. "Nanoha!" She gasped as she looked her friend over. "You're so beautiful!" She grabbed Nanoha's hands as she started gushing over Nanoha's looks. "Oh, Yuuno and Fate are so lucky."

"Arisa-chan." Nanoha hugged her friend. "I was worried that you wouldn't make it."

Arisa giggled as she hugged Nanoha back. "Nah, Lindy-san sent a crew to pick myself and Suzuka up, then we made a pit-stop over to the bakery and picked up your brother and sister-in-law."

Nanoha's eyes lit up. "Kyouya-nii's here too?" Arisa nodded as the two let go of the hug. "I'm glad. I was worried that none of you would make it."

Arisa rolled her eyes at Nanoha. "Please, if you didn't invite us, I'd never speak to you again." She gave her friend a dry smirk as Nanoha chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. "Besides, you having children and being married, I never thought I'd see it. You were always so busy."

Nanoha smiled softly. "I never thought so myself. I'm just glad that it happened with people I know and trust." There was a wistful look in her eyes. "And the babies, even though it was hard to bring them into the world, I'm glad I did."

Arisa sighed and shook her head. Nanoha had such lovey-dovey eyes, if she was younger, she would probably comment about how she would need some insulin soon. "Well, just take of them, Nanoha, you're one lucky woman."

"Thanks." Nanoha smiled, blushing softly even as she lightly bounced from foot to foot, trying to settle the butterflies in her stomach. It was really happening.

(---)

"Fate..." Lindy smiled as she put the finishing touches to her daughter's hair. "I've been waiting for this day for awhile now."

"Mother." Fate blushed softly as she stood there demurely. "Are you sure about this look?" She asked, motioning to her bare shoulders.

"Yes." Lindy patted Fate on the shoulders. "I wore this when I got married to Clyde, I hope you don't mind." Her daughter, dressed in her old white wedding dress, was a sight to see. The fact that Bardiche was on a bracelet on her right wrist didn't even detract from the beauty she saw before her.

Fate shook her head. "No. It's lovely." She felt like a doll, with heavy makeup on her eyes, lips and cheeks, but Lindy and Amy both had insisted on the makeup, stating that Nanoha would have a similar amount on her face and they were sure that she wanted to look pretty for her wedding day photos. "Where is Chrono?"

"Making sure Yuuno doesn't try to do something stupid." Amy spoke up as she took a step back and looked Fate's dress over and nodded, giving her younger sister a thumb up. "Looks good, sis."

Fate was about to ask what that was about when a knock on the door interrupted her question. Amy answered the door and smiled, letting in a purple-haired woman, who smiled brightly at Fate. "Fate-chan!"

"Suzuka!" Fate smiled brightly as the woman entered the room. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Suzuka smiled as she walked up to Fate and squeezed the blond's hands. "I'm glad that I got to come here for this." When Fate nodded, she gave the bride a quick hug. "Just tell me one thing, Fate-chan, how are the children?"

Fate blushed softly as she thought about the children. "Vivio and Shiro are watching over the babies until the wedding starts, Amy said that she'd help Arf watch the children when it starts."

Amy chuckled and rubbed her swollen belly. "Sadly, Chrono and I won't be staying for the reception, Fate, I just hope Karel and Liera will behave themselves long enough for the wedding to finish." She was just grateful that her sister was having the wedding before she gave birth, since she wanted to see her sister get married.

Fate nodded and smiled softly. "Thanks for offering to watch Vivio, Sora, Isamu and Alicia for the night, Amy."

Amy shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Fate, I know that you'd do the same for me if I needed you to watch Karel and Liera." She smiled as Fate nodded at her. "So, feeling nervous?"

"Extremely." Fate said, her face completely red. There was another knock on the door and when Amy opened it, Fate's eyes widened in delight. "Arf!" She was surprised to see Arf in her adult form, but the familiar in an orange dress that complimented her hair was quite nice. "How is it out there?"

Arf winked at her. "Getting fuller by the moment. I talked to Carim, they're going to start soon, she said that if you think of fainting, she'll douse you with cold water."

Fate laughed, a lot of tension suddenly fleeing her body at that moment. "Thanks, Arf."

Arf giggled and turned to Suzuka, who looked amused. "Hey! Been awhile since I saw you, how's the kittens?"

"They're doing good." Suzuka nodded at her. "Well, I think I'll go and get seated." She slipped out after giving Fate one last hug.

Fate took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves. It was really happening, and she just couldn't wait.

(---)

"Come on, Yuuno, it won't be that bad." Chrono rolled his eyes at his friend. "Was I this bad?" He'd have to ask to know for sure.

In front of him, pacing back and forth, was Yuuno, who was muttering something about screwing up and having his voice crack and a whole lot of other things.

"Is he okay?" Kyouya asked as he slipped into the area. It was just outside of the main seating area and he sighed softly seeing the nervousness that was etched on Yuuno's face had him chuckling in remembrance. "Dad said I was just like that."

Yuuno didn't seem to notice and the two brother-in-laws looked at each other, sighed and went up to Yuuno, grabbing his arms to get him to stop moving. "Calm down." Chrono rolled his eyes at the blond. "Look, everything will go fine, if something weird or bad does happen, don't forget about all your friends here." Besides, everyone that was being let in was being scanned for weapons, both magical and mundane, as well as devices and other trinkets that registered magic. That was something that Nanoha had asked for personally. In fact, he was almost certain that the only people who had devices were the Church members. Well, maybe his sister and Nanoha were wearing their devices as jewelry, but that would be it.

"But..."

Kyouya shook his head and frowned at the blond man. "Don't worry about it. Any worry that you show will translate to Fate and Nanoha. This is their special day with each other, with you, so don't go and be too nervous."

"I love them, I had children with them, I live with them, why is this making me so nervous?"

Chrono and Kyouya shared a look of amusement that only two people who had gone through what Yuuno was going through could appreciate. "Because, ferret, you're proclaiming your love publicly, to my sister, to Nanoha, and to everyone in the church. This is permanent too."

Kyouya nodded and let go of Yuuno's arm. "Besides, if you do hurt my sister and make her cry, well, I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't find the body."

"Even if they did," Chrono smirked as he let go of Yuuno's other arm, "they'd never be able to identify it."

Yuuno gulped, but nodded. Hell, he would rather teleport himself into a star than hurt either of his soon-to-be wives.

(---)

"Vivio, over here." Momoko smiled as her granddaughter, in a cream-colored dress, sat down next to her in the front row. She smiled as she saw Arf, Zafira and Amy taking care of the sleeping forms of Isamu, Sora and Alicia. Privately, she was glad that they were sleeping, babies could be very, very loud when they were up.

"Okay, gramma." Vivio smiled and turned to Corona, who was in a similar dress. "Come on." She led her friend over to the row sat down, Corona sitting down between her and Zafira. She jumped slightly as someone touched her on the shoulder. Turning, her eyes widened as she saw Reiko in a red dress. "Auntie."

Reiko winked at her. "Hey, I said I'd make it." She chuckled and sat back, nodding forward.

Vivio smiled and turned around, happy that her aunt, well, Reiko was a cousin, but Vivio just called her auntie and Reiko didn't seem to mind it.

Corona hoped her parents didn't mind her sitting with her friend instead of them, then again, they didn't seem to mind Vivio, so it was okay.

At least she hoped so.

(---)

"Over here, Touma." He blinked as Dieci, in a brown dress, and Cinque in a light colored dress, patted an open seat between them. He nodded and got between them, smiling as he got a good look up front.

"Where's Su-chan and Teana?" Touma blinked as the two girls in question sat down on the other side of Cinque. "Oh."

Subaru winked at Touma. "Glad that you decided to come with today." She chuckled softly as he blushed and stopped when Teana elbowed her side. "Ack, sorry."

Teana lowered her voice. "You're just lucky that they haven't started yet."

(---)

Genya turned his head and blinked a couple of times as Ginga, then Nove and finally Wendi sat down on the right side of him. "Hey, dad." Ginga smiled softly at him as she put her crutches down. Thankfully the doctor said that she wouldn't need them soon.

"I thought you were still mad at me." Genya spoke softly to them.

Ginga shrugged slightly. "Maybe a little, but you're my dad." She squeezed his hand lightly

Genya smiled softly and saw Nove look at him, not in anger, but in concern. "I'm sorry, girls. For what I did."

Nove shook her head. "This isn't the time to talk about it, dad. Wait till we get home, okay?"

Genya nodded and leaned back against his chair. He didn't know if he would even be here if Hayate hadn't teamed up with Cinque and Dieci to drag him down. Oh well, he was glad that he was here.

He was reminded of when he and Quint had gotten married all those years ago. How he missed her. 'What would you say, Quint, if you were still here?' He wondered to himself.

(---)

Rein, in her large mode, smiled at Agito, also in her large mode, as they waited for the wedding to start. "I bet Nanoha's really pretty."

Agito nodded, though she was trying to hold back some laughter as Vice was sitting there, pouting. "Oh, come on, you knew that she was Fate's Maid of Honor, you weren't going to be able to sit with her here."

"Bah, I know." Vice rubbed the back of his head. "Still, seeing Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno finally tie the knot is going to be something else."

The Unison devices nodded and waited for the wedding to begin.

(---)

"You made it." Hayate smiled as she saw the last two people slip into the church just before the wedding started. "I was getting a bit worried, you four."

Erio chuckled as he, in a tuxedo, led in Caro, dressed in a light pink dress, and Megane and Lutecia, the older of the two wearing a light blue dress while Lutecia wore a purple dress that went with her hair. "I'm surprised you would do this for me, Hayate-san." Lutecia smiled at Hayate, who shook her head.

"A one-day pass wasn't hard to get, especially since it's a really special occasion, I think that I can get a few concessions over-all." It was actually a lot harder than she was letting Lutecia and Megane know, but it was better that they didn't know. "Anyway, Erio, Caro, you two remember your parts that we discussed?"

The two nodded, getting a smile from Hayate as Erio pulled out a small box that had three rings and Caro was given some flowers. "I'm surprised Vivio didn't want this." Caro said softly and Hayate shook her head.

"She said that she wanted to make sure that Sora, Isamu and Alicia stayed quiet." Hayate led the four of them in, putting Caro and Erio by a door while leading Lutecia and Megane to two unoccupied chairs near the back. "We'll be starting soon." She whispered, nodding as she saw Sein walk up to the organ. "...Can't believe she's going to be playing the songs." Sein wasn't someone who took too many things seriously, but it seemed like the cyborg was taking this a lot more seriously than she did most things, which was good.

(---)

Chrono walked up to the front with Yuuno, standing behind him and mentally sighed, even though he was looking calm and collected. "Relax, will you? Everything will be fine."

"I'm trying."

"Take a deep breath then, because I guarantee that when you see them, you won't have any breath left."

Yuuno took a breath and closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them as the doors opened up and his brides walked in.

He always knew that they were beautiful, that was always in his mind, but seeing them as they were, it far out-stripped most everything in his mind.

Idly, he mentally cursed Chrono. That jerk was right.

He was always right about things like this.

(---)

As the music started up, Miyuki blinked as she felt a hand on hers. Turning, she stared as Shamal sat down next to her. "Hi." She whispered softly.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Miyuki shook her head and gave Shamal's hand a squeeze. "No, I don't. Thanks, Shamal." She suspected that things would never be easy between them, but her mom was right, a relationship was about compromise, not everyone got everything they wanted all the time, after all. "And, I'm sorry I stayed at mom's for the past few weeks."

"I'm sorry too, for making you think you needed to leave."

"Let's talk about this later." Miyuki whispered and Shamal nodded as they saw Caro start walking and lightly showering the isle with flowers, Erio right beside her while Shiro escorted Nanoha to the front and Lindy did the same for Fate. 'Good job, sis.' Miyuki thought to herself.

(---)

"They're beautiful." Deed whispered as she, Otto and Schach walked around on the upper balcony, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

Schach nodded and smiled as she saw several cameras going off, friends, family and the media all making sure to get this event immortalized. "They are, but don't forget why we're up here."

The twins nodded and split up, nodding to other Church members as they slowly and quietly circled the main area, softly communicating with the security detail outside.

(---)

Carim smiled as she stood at the front while Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno took their places in front of her, behind them was Chrono, Signum, and Hayate. It was nice that Nanoha had Hayate as her maid of honor. "Welcome." She said to the microphone and smiled as everyone seemed to settle down and pay more attention to the front. "I'm glad that you could all make it today and observe as we join these women and this man in holy matrimony. These three are some of our best friends, our family, or represent something that we look up to and strive to be. It is not out of family duty, or obligation that joins these three together today, but love."

(---)

"One must remember that love isn't something that we say, but rather what we do."

Touma looked at Subaru and smiled softly before turning back to the front. For some reason, he found his eyes misting up with tears.

(---)

"And that love comes in many shapes and forms, love for friends, sisters, brothers, children, parents, grandparents and grandchildren."

Genya blinked as Ginga squeezed his hand. She had a soft smile on her face and even Nove and Wendi had smiles on their faces.

Maybe, just maybe things would work out. He hoped so and he really wished that he could take back what he did to them.

What was done was done, it didn't mean that he had to like what an idiotic decision it was.

(---)

"Love is kindness, it is caring. Love can hurt and be hurt just as easily as anything. But most of all, love is forgiveness."

Shamal was a little surprised as Miyuki squeezed her hand tightly. Looking at Miyuki, she could see tears leaking out of her eyes, before she squeezed back, getting a smile from the other woman.

(---)

"Whether we are young, old or somewhere inbetween, no one can survive without love in their lives. All of us are here today because someone reached out with love and kindess to someone else. The methods each person uses is different, but a single gesture of love is the only reason that all of us are here today."

Vita, sitting in a pink dress near the front, smiled as she looked at Hayate and then at Nanoha. If it hadn't been for them having so much love and kindess in their hearts, she knew that she, the rest of the Wolkenritter, Fate, Yuuno, and all their friends wouldn't be there today.

Hayate had taken all the pain that they had felt in the past and shouldered it onto herself, treating them as her family. And, Nanoha reached out with her hands, so small and tiny back then, in friendship to all of them. 'No matter what happens in the future, Hayate, Nanoha, I'll make sure that you two have someone protecting you.' She glanced at Rein and Agito, who were sitting to her side and smiled, seeing the way they looked both happy and determined. She suspected that she had a similar look on her face.

(---)

Carim took a deep breath and smiled at them. "So, let no one say that these three do not love each other. Should anyone think that these three do not love each other or should not be wed, speak now, or forever hold your peace." She looked around and saw no one standing or speaking up. "Now, if the rings can be presented."

Erio nodded as he opened the box and handed the rings off to Yuuno, Nanoha and Fate before taking a step back.

Carim smiled at that and nodded to Yuuno. "Now, take these rings and with them, take these women to be your lawfully wedded wives. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do you part."

"With these rings, I take these women to be my lawfully wedded wives, to have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do I part." Yuuno repeated her words as he put the rings on Nanoha and then Fate's left ring fingers.

Carim smiled as she repeated those words to Nanoha. "Now, take these rings and with them, take these two to be your lawfully wedded husband and wife. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do you part."

Nanoha smiled and took her rings, and put them on Fate's left middle finger and Yuuno's left ring finger, repeating those words. "With these rings, I take these two to be my lawfully wedded husband and wife. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do I part."

Carim turned to Fate. "Now, take these rings and with them, take these two to be your lawfully wedded husband and wife. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do you part."

Fate nodded and took her rings, putting them on Nanoha and Yuuno's middle fingers. "With these rings, I take these two to be my lawfully wedded husband and wife. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do I part."

Carim nodded and smiled brightly. "Then, by the power vested in me as the head of the Saint Church, I pronounce you husband, wife and wife. You may kiss each other." She closed her book and smiled as Nanoha and Fate shared a quick kiss, before Yuuno kissed Fate, then Nanoha.

People stood up and started clapping as Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno came down from the platform, making their way out as the maids of honor, the best man, Caro, and Erio followed them, the front rows following out after them.

Carim smiled softly as she watched people leave. "Good luck."

"Don't look so melancholic." Carim turned and saw Verossa there, smiling at her. "You were lovely up there, sister."

Carim blushed softly. "Thanks, Verossa."

Spoiler for Notes for All Good Things:

I know that this was shorter than most weddings. I haven't been to one in twenty-one years.

Spoiler for Epilogue:

"Can't I go to the reception?" Vivio asked Amy, who sighed softly.

"Well..." The pregnant woman blinked as Lindy put a hand on her shoulder. "Lindy?"

"I'll take charge for Vivio. It isn't every day that her parents get married." Lindy smiled at her daughter-in-law. "I'll make sure she gets home."

"Thanks, gramma!" Vivio grinned at the older woman.

Amy shook her head and sighed. "Honestly." She chuckled as Karel and Liera stood by Chrono, calling for her. "Fate, I'm taking Sora, Isamu and Alicia, okay?"

Fate nodded to her, smiling softly. "Thank you, and take care."

"Of course." She nodded and winked at Fate. "Don't have too much fun tonight, okay?" She laughed as Fate blushed bright red. "Have fun everyone." She waved as she got into the car and Chrono drove off, taking them home.

What seemed like an incredibly long time, but was in actuality less than thirty minutes, Yuuno, Nanoha and Fate found themselves alone for a moment, before they piled into Fate's car. "I still say you should call this Cardiche, Fate." Nanoha giggled as Fate rolled her eyes at her wife.

"I am not naming my car after my device, Nanoha."

Yuuno shook his head, oh well, this was amusing, and it was relaxing.

Even if he was in the back seat this time.

(---)

As their friends and family pooled into the hall, Hayate stood up and smiled as she saw everyone standing around the table with the large wedding cake. "Thank you all for being here. I'd like to say something, but I'm pretty sure that none of you want to fall asleep." There was some laughter and she shook her head. "But, no, seriously, I'm glad to have been a part of this, and got everything set up and done so fast. You can all thank me by worshipping the ground I stand on." She couldn't stand it and started laughing along with the others. "Ah, but I'll be honest. Nanoha-chan, you, Fate-chan, and Yuuno-kun are my best friends. And the three of you were total idiots." She shook her head as the three blushed hard. "I swear, if this was a story, I would have had to use a plot device to get you three to do anything together." She cleared her throat. "Anyway! I think we came here for only a few things! To see the gifts, throwing the bouquet, cake and dancing!"

After Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno had the first pieces of cake, and some gifts were opened, the two women turned their backs to the group and tossed the flowers behind them.

Shamal blinked as she caught Nanoha's bouquet. "Well, I didn't expect this."

"Neither did I." Nove muttered as she caught Fate's bouquet. Hell, she hadn't even wanted to be anywhere near where the bouquet was going to land and yet she still caught it.

Touma looked at the garder in his hands and blushed heavily.

Arisa laughed as she caught the other one. "Well, that's interesting." Really, it had shot straight up, hit the ceiling and then fell flat on her head.

Lindy closed her eyes and smiled. "I think it's time for the opening dances."

Fate cleared her throat and spoke up. "I know it's traditional for the bride and groom to have the first dance alone, but since there's three of us, we decided to forego tradition, so, everyone, grab a partner and dance happily."

Nanoha nudged Yuuno. "Go on, dance with Fate." She winked at him.

"Alright." He smiled and kissed her gently. "I get the second dance with you then."

Nanoha nodded as Fate and Yuuno took the floor, before blinking as Hayate asked for a dance from her. "Sure." She wasn't sure why Hayate was blushing so hard, but Hayate was a pretty good dancer from what she remembered.

She idly noticed that Arisa and Suzuka were dancing as well, and she nearly laughed as she saw that boy Subaru had brought home dancing with Lutecia, both of them were very awkward while trying to get the beat down.

"Thank you." She blinked as she and Hayate did some spins. "I always wanted to dance with you like this." She blinked in surprise as Hayate smiled at her and leaned in close. "Fate-chan and Yuuno-kun are lucky, Nanoha-chan, luckier than any of you think."

"Hayate-chan?" Nanoha turned and blinked as Hayate gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "What?"

Hayate was blushing, but touched Nanoha on the lips. "Please, Nanoha-chan, just let me have this memory for awhile?" The two had stopped and were thankfully a bit away from where the others were, Hayate having led the dance off to the side. "I know, you love them, and you have his children, I won't take that from you. I'm not that needy, I just wanted to be a little selfish."

"Hayate-chan..." Nanoha trailed off and Hayate shook her head.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine, I just wanted a little fantasy to myself." She shook her head and turned to look at the dancing that was still going on. "I'll be fine, Nanoha-chan, I will. Just take good care of them." She turned her head to look Nanoha in the eye. "Because you're the most important person to them."

"Hayate-chan, why didn't.."

"By the time I thought to, you were already sleeping with them." Hayate started to walk off slowly. "I love you, Nanoha-chan, but I wasn't going to, and I won't interfere with your love life, that's not fair to anyone."

"Will you?"

Hayate nodded and turned around. "I'll be fine, Nanoha-chan, I just wanted one kiss, that's all."

Nanoha sighed and caught up with Hayate. "I'm..."

"Don't." Hayate shook her head. "Don't ruin your happiness with Yuuno-kun and Fate-chan for me. I'm not that lonely, Nanoha-chan, I'll be fine." Smiling the shorter woman patted her on the shoulder. "So, don't you dare worry about me, okay? I just wanted to be a little selfish."

"...If you're sure?"

Hayate nodded and nodded to Fate and Yuuno. "Yes, besides, the next song started, go dance with Fate-chan." She laughed and pointed as Vivio seemed to steal Yuuno for herself.

Nanoha sighed softly and nodded. "Very well." She walked off and Hayate smiled before blinking as someone touched her shoulder, turning, she saw Verossa standing there, smiling.

"Rossa?" She blinked as he grabbed her hand and gently kissed it. "What are you?" Her face was turning red from his gestures.

"May I have this dance, milady?" Verossa smiled as she blushed heavily and nodded, following him out onto the dance floor.

(---)

"Erio-kun..." Caro smiled as she looked around, and pouted as she saw him talking to Cinque. "Hey, Er..." She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder, turning, she saw Nove there, shaking her head. "Nove? But, why?"

"Please, Caro." Nove whispered to the pinkette. "Cinque needs this, just let her have this dance, okay?"

Caro pouted, but nodded, though she nearly ran out to the dance floor as she saw Cinque lean in close to Erio as they danced. "But she..."

"Just trust me, please?" Nove asked her and she sighed, nodding slightly.

On the floor, Erio's face was slightly red as Cinque leaned in close, her body close enough to his that he swore he could feel her heartbeat, not to mention her petite breasts, what little she had, pressing against his chest. "Cinque, what?"

"I don't want much, Erio..." She whispered to him as the music continued to play while they danced. "But you feel nice, I just want to enjoy this a little more."

Erio blinked several times, but nodded softly as they continued to dance. He noticed that Lindy was dancing with Genya, though he didn't think anything of it, especially since Megane was dancing with Nanoha's father.

As the music wound down, he gasped as Cinque grabbed his head and planted her lips against his. "Mmmph?!"

It didn't last that long, though he was certain he heard some people raising a fuss over it. "Cinque?" He asked as she broke the kiss and blushed heavily.

"I don't know what came over me." She admitted to him, before taking his arm and walking back to the side. "But, thank you for the dance." Cinque was a little non-plaused by the look Caro gave her.

After Caro took Erio away, Nove looked at Cinque and smiled. "Get what you wanted?" When Cinque looked at her in confusion, she shook her head. "Closure, big sis. You always were swooning over him."

Cinque blushed, but looked back at Erio, before smiling softly and nodding. "Yeah." Strange, the desire to get another kiss from him wasn't there anymore. "Feels nice."

Nove chuckled and nodded, before nudging Cinque towards Touma. "Go dance with him before Lutecia or Dieci steal him away." She laughed as Cinque gave her a bit of a dirty look, before Wendi grabbed her and dragged her to the dance floor. "Ack!"

"Heh, matchmaker." Wendi giggled as the music picked up and the two danced a quicker dance.

Nove rolled her eyes, but didn't deny it. "Just looking out for Cinque's happiness is all."

Wendi smiled as they continued to dance.

(---)

Signum raised an eyebrow as Vice asked her to dance when the next slow song came on. "Trying to get in good graces with the maid of honor?"

Vice shook his head. "No, I just want to dance with a lovely lady, is that a crime?"

Signum shook her head and allowed herself to be pulled out to the dance floor. Idly, she noticed Arf and Zafira dancing, as well as Vita and Hayate. "No, I was just making sure you wanted to dance with me, and not the maid of honor."

Verossa shook his head. "If that was the case, I'd be trying to dance with Hayate and getting upset when she went off with others. I just wanted to dance with you."

Signum's cheeks turned a slight touch red even as he led her through the dance. "Thank you." She whispered softly.

(---)

As the night wore on, and people started to tire out from constant dancing, Lindy found herself standing near a window with Hayate. "This was wonderful, Hayate."

"Thank you." Hayate smiled as she looked over everything, before yawning. "I think it's time to get going home."

Lindy nodded at that as she saw Vivio yawning and trying to stay awake, even as she, Corona and Lutecia were no longer dancing, but sitting on the floor and chatting with each other. "Vivio... Time to go home."

"Okay, gramma." Vivio yawned and looked at her friends. "See you two later."

"Lutecia." Megane spoke up from where she and Shamal were talking. "Come on, time to go back."

"Alright." Lutecia smiled and went to her mother.

Hayate smiled as she watched the dance hall eventually clear out. "Was a nice dance at least." She walked over to the table that had some paper plates and smiled gently as she saw some half-eaten cake on the plates.

"Hayate?" She turned and saw Vita looking at her.

"Vita-chan?" Hayate walked up to her. "What's wrong?"

Vita hugged her and buried her face against Hayate's chest. "We're all waiting for you to come home with us."

Hayate put a hand on Vita's back and nodded. "Sorry, I'm coming." She held out her arm and Vita took it, the two walking out of the dance hall, before closing the doors behind them.

(---)

"Enjoy the peace while it lasts..." A male voice spoke up as he looked at the shadows of several large things being put together.

"Sir." He turned to his assistant. "It will take around six years to complete these."

He shrugged. "We have time. I wonder if they'll survive when it happens." He chuckled to himself.

Day in the Life
End

Spoiler for Notes for Epilogue:

Man, Cinque *IS* a shota-con, huh?

There will be a sequel to "Day in the Life", look for it soon.

[vic-vic]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

This is a 2 chapter post.

Day in the Life

Chapters 44 and 45

Spoiler for All Good Things:

"Those streamers should go over there!" Hayate yelled at the decorators and sighed as she put her left hand to her forehead, trying to stave off an oncoming headache. "Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have waited until now."

"How's it going, Hayate-chan?" She turned and smiled wanely at Nanoha. "Need help?" Darn it, did she have to be so beautiful when she was concerned? Oh well, she was happy, that was all that really mattered in the long run.

Hayate shook her head to clear out any negative thoughts that were trying to form. "Maybe if you had some asprin and knew how to give massages, I've got a hell of a headache forming right now." She wasn't even trying to start anything, Hayate really did have a bad headache forming.

Nanoha sighed and moved Hayate over to a chair and made her sit down. "Really, I thought you were... Wow." Nanoha blinked as she put her hands against Hayate's shoulders. "You really are tense, aren't you?"

"Nnnmmmhmm..." Hayate moaned softly as Nanoha's thumbs threaded into her muscles, working and relaxing the tension away. "When did..."

"Subaru taught me." Nanoha giggled softly. "Anyway, Hayate-chan, are things going alright?"

"Ugh, your mom and Lindy-san are helping out, but it's so much to get ready, we need the catering company to make a big enough cake, we had to rent out this dance hall, Carim's letting us use the church to have the wedding and I'm getting swamped by reporters asking me for any details about your wedding." Hayate took a breath and groaned as Nanoha's fingers worked on her neck. "Aahhhhooowww..."

"Sorry." Nanoha stopped when Hayate let out that groan of pain. "You got a really hard knot next to your spine, that's not good, Hayate-chan."

"I know." Hayate nodded slightly and Nanoha continued to work on the tension in her neck. "Anyway, how did your mother put up with this when she got married?"

"Mom had a small wedding, and she wasn't a celebrity back on Earth." Nanoha smiled at her friend. "Besides, while the wedding will be big, the reception won't be, and you did really, really great getting all this put together in only a couple of weeks."

Hayate smiled at that. Her family was finally out of the hospital, though Vita still complained about her skin hurting and Signum still moved slowly at times, though most of her cuts had faded and healed due to Shamal's healing efforts. Zafira was moving just fine, which was something she was thankful for. She hated seeing her family hurting so much.

"Why'd you change your minds to have the wedding on Mid-Childa?" Hayate asked as Nanoha worked to her shoulder blades, before stopping to punch a rather large and stubborn knot just under her right shoulderblade.

"Sorry about that." Nanoha went back to massaging the knot out of her friend's back. "Fate talked to Yuuno and I about it, and we decided that if we were going to have a media circus about our wedding anyway, we might as well have it here, on Mid-Childa, rather than somewhere else."

Nanoha pulled her hands away from Hayate's back and smiled as her friend rolled her shoulders. "Feel better?"

Rolling her neck as she rolled her shoulders, Hayate let out a small groan of satisfaction. "Yeah... Feels like butter." She sighed as she saw someone knock over a stack of chairs. "Those decorations go on the north side." She pointed at someone who was trying to stack some decorations up. "Those go over here!"

"Hayate-chan." Nanoha put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Need my help?"

Hayate smiled at her and nodded. "Please. So, Fate-chan and Yuuno-kun convinced you to have the wedding here?" Nanoha nodded as they went and moved some decorations around and Hayate giggled softly. "Seems that the media's going to have a field day with this one."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Nanoha grimaced as she remembered some of the tabloids she had seen. "Some magazines are putting up false rumors that my feelings for Yuuno aren't as strong as they are for Fate."

"The ones that said you having his children was the worst thing to happen to Mid-Childa and how there's no way you would have his children?" Hayate blushed softly at Nanoha's questioning look. "I get a lot of magazines at work. Kind of stupid, to be honest. I don't know what those people are smoking."

"Yeah. I nearly went to the magazine publisher and dropped a Divine Buster on their heads." Nanoha grumbled, seriously, how could those people get away with what they wrote about Yuuno and her relationship with him and Fate?

It made her... Well, she was sure that Yuuno didn't complain when she got home after shopping that day, she sure didn't.

Hayate blinked, then gave Nanoha a flat look as her friend went from angry to blushing. "I don't want you to start thinking about the fun times that you had with Fate-chan and Yuuno-kun when you're supposed to be working with me, Nanoha-chan."

"Nyahahahaha!" Nanoha stuck her tongue out as she continued to move decorations around. "Sorry about that."

Hayate rolled her eyes, it was rather fun teasing her friend.

(---)

"Fate-mama?" Vivio looked at the woman, who was slightly spaced out. "Are you okay?" When Fate turned to her, she smiled at her mother. "You seem distracted."

"Sorry." Fate smiled as she looked at Vivio. "I was just thinking, I'm still not sure what name I should take."

Vivio blinked a few times. "I thought Fate-mama was going to take Testarossa-Harlaown-Takamachi-Scrya? Nanoha-mama said she was going to take be Takamachi-Harlaown-Scrya and Yuuno-papa said that he was going to take Takamachi-Harlaown-Scrya as his name. But then Nanoha-mama said that he didn't need to, but Yuuno-papa said that he should, because it's not fair to Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama and..."

"Eh?" Fate sweat-dropped at Vivio, before gasping slightly. "Isamu!" She ran across the room and grabbed the baby, who was trying to crawl out the door. "You can't go outside just yet." She sighed softly and closed the door, wondering how it got open.

"NA!" Isamu grunted and kicked his little legs up and down. "NI!"

Fate smiled softly and touched him on the nose. "Sorry, Isamu, but you can't go outside, not just yet." It was still a touch chilly to let the babies go outside freely, at least for Fate's peace of mind.

The boy just grunted and kicked his legs in the air futilely.

Vivio giggled as she watched Fate put Isamu down on the ground and let him crawl around again. "Isamu, you silly."

Fate sighed softly, the babies were a handful at times, but she wouldn't trade them for anything. "Vivio, what was that you were saying earlier, about Nanoha and Yuuno taking my name?"

Vivio blinked a few times before her eyes turned blank white. "Whoops! Nanoha-mama and Yuuno-papa wanted to surprise you and I overheard and then you were trying to figure out a name and I thought you'd take Nanoha-mama's and then Yuuno-papa's name and they were going to take your name because they love you so much and then I..."

"Vivio..." Fate smiled and knelt down, hugging her daughter. "Thank you." She could feel some tears welling up in her eyes even as she felt the tension that was in her body start to melt away. "You made it easy for me."

"Fate-mama?" Vivio blinked as Fate pulled back and smiled at her. "You okay?"

"Yes, thank you, Vivio." Fate nodded to her daughter.

"Okay!" Vivio nodded as Fate let go. "Ack! Sora!" She saw her other brother crawling out of the room. "Get back here!"

Fate had to bite back a laugh. Vivio was going to be a good big sister, that was for sure.

She just hoped that Vivio didn't decide rough-housing was the best way to play with her siblings

(---)

"Oww..." Teana winced and grabbed her wrist as pain throbbed through her body.

"Ack! I'm sorry, Teana."

She shook her head and smiled softly. "It's okay, Touma, it was more shocking than painful." Chuckling, Teana rubbed the top of his head with her good hand. "Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. Besides, I took worse in training."

"Are you sure?" Touma looked embarrassed that he caused her pain like he did.

"Yeah." Teana smiled at him. "I can't feel it anymore, so I'm fine." She waved her bandaged hand slightly. "My back hurts a bit more than my wrist, but I'll be fine. Anyway, I've got an appointment to keep, so I'll see you later."

Touma blinked as Cinque walked into the room, twirling some car keys on her finger. "Come on, Teana." She smiled softly as she saw Touma. "Good morning, Touma."

"Ah, hi, Cinque." He rubbed the back of his head as she smiled at him. "How are you?"

"Just fine." She sighed as Teana asked her to hurry up. "I do hate being the only one with a driver's license." Well, Genya and Ginga both did, but Genya had to go back to work and no one wanted Ginga to drive right now anyway. "Coming."

Touma watched them go and nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt some fingers attack his armpits. "Ack!" He spun around and came face to breast with one of Subaru's sisters. "Hey!"

"Sorry, kiddo." Wendi winked at him and giggled at his flat look. "You just looked so out of it that I had to do something to get your attention."

"Picking on poor Touma again?" Nove asked as she walked into the room. "Honestly, Wendi."

Wendi laughed and got behind Touma, hugging him from behind. "Oh come on, Nove." She winked at the other redhead, who sighed.

"Sorry, Touma, Wendi's a bit of an idiot at times."

"Hey!" Wendi pouted and gave her a flat look as she let go of Touma.

He shook his head. "Nah, it's okay." He didn't mind it, it was actually pretty nice, having older people he could look up to and hang out with. At least it kept the feelings of helplessness that he felt at times from popping up. Besides, Wendi was rather funny, so it was okay.

"You're loud as usual, Wendi." Dieci smirked as she walked into the room and smiled at Touma. "But I suppose if Touma finds it okay, that's fine."

Wendi pouted and hugged Touma again. "Touma..." She whined. "My mean sisters are making fun of me again."

Nove chuckled and shook her head. "I wouldn't listen to her, Touma. If you do, she'll drive you crazy." She laughed softly at the way Wendi pouted at her. "It's true you know." If she and Wendi weren't so close, even before getting into a romantic relationship together with Ginga, she probably would have found Wendi incredibly annoying.

Then again, Nove couldn't imagine Wendi being anything but the way she was. The more she tried to think of Wendi as serious, the more her brain felt like breaking.

Dieci shook her head at her sisters' antics, but had a soft laugh as Wendi let go of Touma and glomped onto Nove, causing the shorter redhead to fall to the floor under her weight. "Come on, Touma." She led the boy out of the room. "Let's leave those two before Wendi decides to do something silly."

Touma nodded. It hadn't taken him long to get used to the antics around the house. "I have a feeling that someday I'll be telling a psychologist about all of this." When Dieci looked at him, he laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Nah, probably not. I like you guys too much."

Dieci smiled and gave him a quick hug. "We like you too." She let go of him a moment later as the two sat in the living room and turned on the television. There wasn't much to do that day, so they were both taking it pretty easy.

Touma would have said something, but his face was pretty red. It wasn't his fault, it was hard to think when his face got pressed into Dieci's chest like that. The brunette was quite beautiful and he was just short enough that a hug pressed his face into her breasts.

Oh well, it was better than being back on Vaizen at least.

(---)

Some time later...

Verossa looked at Hayate and Carim and smiled at them. "You two look lovely." When the two blushed at him, he chuckled as Hayate verbally expressed her embarrassment. "If one didn't know any better, one would say that you two were getting married."

"I'm wearing a yellow dress." Carim rolled her eyes at her brother. "And Hayate's in a pink dress." When Verossa chuckled at her and opened the door. "Well, we should get going, the church is getting pretty full now."

Hayate smiled softly. "Come on." She really wanted to see Nanoha and Fate in their wedding dresses. "Don't forget the reception later."

"Yeah." The two nodded as they walked out the door.

(---)

"You look so beautiful." Momoko smiled at her daughter as she helped zip up the back of the white dress.

Nanoha blushed as her mother helped her finish getting into the dress. The changing room wasn't that large, but it didn't need to be. "Thank you, mother." Raising Heart glittered around her neck in pendant form. Shiro had insisted that she and Fate keep their devices close to them in a way that wouldn't look unnatural. Not that she disagreed with it herself, knowing about her family's history like she did.

Momoko smiled and gave her daughter a tight hug. "I'm so happy for you, Nanoha." She let go of her daughter a moment later. "I'm a grandmother and now I'll have a daughter and son-in-law." She giggled softly. "I was wondering if it was Fate or Yuuno that you were going to marry."

Nanoha smiled, even with the blush still on her face. "Did Arisa-chan, Suzuka-chan, Kyouya-nii, and Shinobu make it?" A knock on the door interrupted Momoko. Walking to the door, she opened it up and smiled brightly and turned to Nanoha.

"Speak of the devil and she appears."

"Who's a devil?" Arisa grumbled as she walked in, dressed in a light blue dress. "Nanoha!" She gasped as she looked her friend over. "You're so beautiful!" She grabbed Nanoha's hands as she started gushing over Nanoha's looks. "Oh, Yuuno and Fate are so lucky."

"Arisa-chan." Nanoha hugged her friend. "I was worried that you wouldn't make it."

Arisa giggled as she hugged Nanoha back. "Nah, Lindy-san sent a crew to pick myself and Suzuka up, then we made a pit-stop over to the bakery and picked up your brother and sister-in-law."

Nanoha's eyes lit up. "Kyouya-nii's here too?" Arisa nodded as the two let go of the hug. "I'm glad. I was worried that none of you would make it."

Arisa rolled her eyes at Nanoha. "Please, if you didn't invite us, I'd never speak to you again." She gave her friend a dry smirk as Nanoha chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. "Besides, you having children and being married, I never thought I'd see it. You were always so busy."

Nanoha smiled softly. "I never thought so myself. I'm just glad that it happened with people I know and trust." There was a wistful look in her eyes. "And the babies, even though it was hard to bring them into the world, I'm glad I did."

Arisa sighed and shook her head. Nanoha had such lovey-dovey eyes, if she was younger, she would probably comment about how she would need some insulin soon. "Well, just take of them, Nanoha, you're one lucky woman."

"Thanks." Nanoha smiled, blushing softly even as she lightly bounced from foot to foot, trying to settle the butterflies in her stomach. It was really happening.

(---)

"Fate..." Lindy smiled as she put the finishing touches to her daughter's hair. "I've been waiting for this day for awhile now."

"Mother." Fate blushed softly as she stood there demurely. "Are you sure about this look?" She asked, motioning to her bare shoulders.

"Yes." Lindy patted Fate on the shoulders. "I wore this when I got married to Clyde, I hope you don't mind." Her daughter, dressed in her old white wedding dress, was a sight to see. The fact that Bardiche was on a bracelet on her right wrist didn't even detract from the beauty she saw before her.

Fate shook her head. "No. It's lovely." She felt like a doll, with heavy makeup on her eyes, lips and cheeks, but Lindy and Amy both had insisted on the makeup, stating that Nanoha would have a similar amount on her face and they were sure that she wanted to look pretty for her wedding day photos. "Where is Chrono?"

"Making sure Yuuno doesn't try to do something stupid." Amy spoke up as she took a step back and looked Fate's dress over and nodded, giving her younger sister a thumb up. "Looks good, sis."

Fate was about to ask what that was about when a knock on the door interrupted her question. Amy answered the door and smiled, letting in a purple-haired woman, who smiled brightly at Fate. "Fate-chan!"

"Suzuka!" Fate smiled brightly as the woman entered the room. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Suzuka smiled as she walked up to Fate and squeezed the blond's hands. "I'm glad that I got to come here for this." When Fate nodded, she gave the bride a quick hug. "Just tell me one thing, Fate-chan, how are the children?"

Fate blushed softly as she thought about the children. "Vivio and Shiro are watching over the babies until the wedding starts, Amy said that she'd help Arf watch the children when it starts."

Amy chuckled and rubbed her swollen belly. "Sadly, Chrono and I won't be staying for the reception, Fate, I just hope Karel and Liera will behave themselves long enough for the wedding to finish." She was just grateful that her sister was having the wedding before she gave birth, since she wanted to see her sister get married.

Fate nodded and smiled softly. "Thanks for offering to watch Vivio, Sora, Isamu and Alicia for the night, Amy."

Amy shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Fate, I know that you'd do the same for me if I needed you to watch Karel and Liera." She smiled as Fate nodded at her. "So, feeling nervous?"

"Extremely." Fate said, her face completely red. There was another knock on the door and when Amy opened it, Fate's eyes widened in delight. "Arf!" She was surprised to see Arf in her adult form, but the familiar in an orange dress that complimented her hair was quite nice. "How is it out there?"

Arf winked at her. "Getting fuller by the moment. I talked to Carim, they're going to start soon, she said that if you think of fainting, she'll douse you with cold water."

Fate laughed, a lot of tension suddenly fleeing her body at that moment. "Thanks, Arf."

Arf giggled and turned to Suzuka, who looked amused. "Hey! Been awhile since I saw you, how's the kittens?"

"They're doing good." Suzuka nodded at her. "Well, I think I'll go and get seated." She slipped out after giving Fate one last hug.

Fate took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves. It was really happening, and she just couldn't wait.

(---)

"Come on, Yuuno, it won't be that bad." Chrono rolled his eyes at his friend. "Was I this bad?" He'd have to ask to know for sure.

In front of him, pacing back and forth, was Yuuno, who was muttering something about screwing up and having his voice crack and a whole lot of other things.

"Is he okay?" Kyouya asked as he slipped into the area. It was just outside of the main seating area and he sighed softly seeing the nervousness that was etched on Yuuno's face had him chuckling in remembrance. "Dad said I was just like that."

Yuuno didn't seem to notice and the two brother-in-laws looked at each other, sighed and went up to Yuuno, grabbing his arms to get him to stop moving. "Calm down." Chrono rolled his eyes at the blond. "Look, everything will go fine, if something weird or bad does happen, don't forget about all your friends here." Besides, everyone that was being let in was being scanned for weapons, both magical and mundane, as well as devices and other trinkets that registered magic. That was something that Nanoha had asked for personally. In fact, he was almost certain that the only people who had devices were the Church members. Well, maybe his sister and Nanoha were wearing their devices as jewelry, but that would be it.

"But..."

Kyouya shook his head and frowned at the blond man. "Don't worry about it. Any worry that you show will translate to Fate and Nanoha. This is their special day with each other, with you, so don't go and be too nervous."

"I love them, I had children with them, I live with them, why is this making me so nervous?"

Chrono and Kyouya shared a look of amusement that only two people who had gone through what Yuuno was going through could appreciate. "Because, ferret, you're proclaiming your love publicly, to my sister, to Nanoha, and to everyone in the church. This is permanent too."

Kyouya nodded and let go of Yuuno's arm. "Besides, if you do hurt my sister and make her cry, well, I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't find the body."

"Even if they did," Chrono smirked as he let go of Yuuno's other arm, "they'd never be able to identify it."

Yuuno gulped, but nodded. Hell, he would rather teleport himself into a star than hurt either of his soon-to-be wives.

(---)

"Vivio, over here." Momoko smiled as her granddaughter, in a cream-colored dress, sat down next to her in the front row. She smiled as she saw Arf, Zafira and Amy taking care of the sleeping forms of Isamu, Sora and Alicia. Privately, she was glad that they were sleeping, babies could be very, very loud when they were up.

"Okay, gramma." Vivio smiled and turned to Corona, who was in a similar dress. "Come on." She led her friend over to the row sat down, Corona sitting down between her and Zafira. She jumped slightly as someone touched her on the shoulder. Turning, her eyes widened as she saw Reiko in a red dress. "Auntie."

Reiko winked at her. "Hey, I said I'd make it." She chuckled and sat back, nodding forward.

Vivio smiled and turned around, happy that her aunt, well, Reiko was a cousin, but Vivio just called her auntie and Reiko didn't seem to mind it.

Corona hoped her parents didn't mind her sitting with her friend instead of them, then again, they didn't seem to mind Vivio, so it was okay.

At least she hoped so.

(---)

"Over here, Touma." He blinked as Dieci, in a brown dress, and Cinque in a light colored dress, patted an open seat between them. He nodded and got between them, smiling as he got a good look up front.

"Where's Su-chan and Teana?" Touma blinked as the two girls in question sat down on the other side of Cinque. "Oh."

Subaru winked at Touma. "Glad that you decided to come with today." She chuckled softly as he blushed and stopped when Teana elbowed her side. "Ack, sorry."

Teana lowered her voice. "You're just lucky that they haven't started yet."

(---)

Genya turned his head and blinked a couple of times as Ginga, then Nove and finally Wendi sat down on the right side of him. "Hey, dad." Ginga smiled softly at him as she put her crutches down. Thankfully the doctor said that she wouldn't need them soon.

"I thought you were still mad at me." Genya spoke softly to them.

Ginga shrugged slightly. "Maybe a little, but you're my dad." She squeezed his hand lightly

Genya smiled softly and saw Nove look at him, not in anger, but in concern. "I'm sorry, girls. For what I did."

Nove shook her head. "This isn't the time to talk about it, dad. Wait till we get home, okay?"

Genya nodded and leaned back against his chair. He didn't know if he would even be here if Hayate hadn't teamed up with Cinque and Dieci to drag him down. Oh well, he was glad that he was here.

He was reminded of when he and Quint had gotten married all those years ago. How he missed her. 'What would you say, Quint, if you were still here?' He wondered to himself.

(---)

Rein, in her large mode, smiled at Agito, also in her large mode, as they waited for the wedding to start. "I bet Nanoha's really pretty."

Agito nodded, though she was trying to hold back some laughter as Vice was sitting there, pouting. "Oh, come on, you knew that she was Fate's Maid of Honor, you weren't going to be able to sit with her here."

"Bah, I know." Vice rubbed the back of his head. "Still, seeing Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno finally tie the knot is going to be something else."

The Unison devices nodded and waited for the wedding to begin.

(---)

"You made it." Hayate smiled as she saw the last two people slip into the church just before the wedding started. "I was getting a bit worried, you four."

Erio chuckled as he, in a tuxedo, led in Caro, dressed in a light pink dress, and Megane and Lutecia, the older of the two wearing a light blue dress while Lutecia wore a purple dress that went with her hair. "I'm surprised you would do this for me, Hayate-san." Lutecia smiled at Hayate, who shook her head.

"A one-day pass wasn't hard to get, especially since it's a really special occasion, I think that I can get a few concessions over-all." It was actually a lot harder than she was letting Lutecia and Megane know, but it was better that they didn't know. "Anyway, Erio, Caro, you two remember your parts that we discussed?"

The two nodded, getting a smile from Hayate as Erio pulled out a small box that had three rings and Caro was given some flowers. "I'm surprised Vivio didn't want this." Caro said softly and Hayate shook her head.

"She said that she wanted to make sure that Sora, Isamu and Alicia stayed quiet." Hayate led the four of them in, putting Caro and Erio by a door while leading Lutecia and Megane to two unoccupied chairs near the back. "We'll be starting soon." She whispered, nodding as she saw Sein walk up to the organ. "...Can't believe she's going to be playing the songs." Sein wasn't someone who took too many things seriously, but it seemed like the cyborg was taking this a lot more seriously than she did most things, which was good.

(---)

Chrono walked up to the front with Yuuno, standing behind him and mentally sighed, even though he was looking calm and collected. "Relax, will you? Everything will be fine."

"I'm trying."

"Take a deep breath then, because I guarantee that when you see them, you won't have any breath left."

Yuuno took a breath and closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them as the doors opened up and his brides walked in.

He always knew that they were beautiful, that was always in his mind, but seeing them as they were, it far out-stripped most everything in his mind.

Idly, he mentally cursed Chrono. That jerk was right.

He was always right about things like this.

(---)

As the music started up, Miyuki blinked as she felt a hand on hers. Turning, she stared as Shamal sat down next to her. "Hi." She whispered softly.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Miyuki shook her head and gave Shamal's hand a squeeze. "No, I don't. Thanks, Shamal." She suspected that things would never be easy between them, but her mom was right, a relationship was about compromise, not everyone got everything they wanted all the time, after all. "And, I'm sorry I stayed at mom's for the past few weeks."

"I'm sorry too, for making you think you needed to leave."

"Let's talk about this later." Miyuki whispered and Shamal nodded as they saw Caro start walking and lightly showering the isle with flowers, Erio right beside her while Shiro escorted Nanoha to the front and Lindy did the same for Fate. 'Good job, sis.' Miyuki thought to herself.

(---)

"They're beautiful." Deed whispered as she, Otto and Schach walked around on the upper balcony, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

Schach nodded and smiled as she saw several cameras going off, friends, family and the media all making sure to get this event immortalized. "They are, but don't forget why we're up here."

The twins nodded and split up, nodding to other Church members as they slowly and quietly circled the main area, softly communicating with the security detail outside.

(---)

Carim smiled as she stood at the front while Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno took their places in front of her, behind them was Chrono, Signum, and Hayate. It was nice that Nanoha had Hayate as her maid of honor. "Welcome." She said to the microphone and smiled as everyone seemed to settle down and pay more attention to the front. "I'm glad that you could all make it today and observe as we join these women and this man in holy matrimony. These three are some of our best friends, our family, or represent something that we look up to and strive to be. It is not out of family duty, or obligation that joins these three together today, but love."

(---)

"One must remember that love isn't something that we say, but rather what we do."

Touma looked at Subaru and smiled softly before turning back to the front. For some reason, he found his eyes misting up with tears.

(---)

"And that love comes in many shapes and forms, love for friends, sisters, brothers, children, parents, grandparents and grandchildren."

Genya blinked as Ginga squeezed his hand. She had a soft smile on her face and even Nove and Wendi had smiles on their faces.

Maybe, just maybe things would work out. He hoped so and he really wished that he could take back what he did to them.

What was done was done, it didn't mean that he had to like what an idiotic decision it was.

(---)

"Love is kindness, it is caring. Love can hurt and be hurt just as easily as anything. But most of all, love is forgiveness."

Shamal was a little surprised as Miyuki squeezed her hand tightly. Looking at Miyuki, she could see tears leaking out of her eyes, before she squeezed back, getting a smile from the other woman.

(---)

"Whether we are young, old or somewhere inbetween, no one can survive without love in their lives. All of us are here today because someone reached out with love and kindess to someone else. The methods each person uses is different, but a single gesture of love is the only reason that all of us are here today."

Vita, sitting in a pink dress near the front, smiled as she looked at Hayate and then at Nanoha. If it hadn't been for them having so much love and kindess in their hearts, she knew that she, the rest of the Wolkenritter, Fate, Yuuno, and all their friends wouldn't be there today.

Hayate had taken all the pain that they had felt in the past and shouldered it onto herself, treating them as her family. And, Nanoha reached out with her hands, so small and tiny back then, in friendship to all of them. 'No matter what happens in the future, Hayate, Nanoha, I'll make sure that you two have someone protecting you.' She glanced at Rein and Agito, who were sitting to her side and smiled, seeing the way they looked both happy and determined. She suspected that she had a similar look on her face.

(---)

Carim took a deep breath and smiled at them. "So, let no one say that these three do not love each other. Should anyone think that these three do not love each other or should not be wed, speak now, or forever hold your peace." She looked around and saw no one standing or speaking up. "Now, if the rings can be presented."

Erio nodded as he opened the box and handed the rings off to Yuuno, Nanoha and Fate before taking a step back.

Carim smiled at that and nodded to Yuuno. "Now, take these rings and with them, take these women to be your lawfully wedded wives. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do you part."

"With these rings, I take these women to be my lawfully wedded wives, to have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do I part." Yuuno repeated her words as he put the rings on Nanoha and then Fate's left ring fingers.

Carim smiled as she repeated those words to Nanoha. "Now, take these rings and with them, take these two to be your lawfully wedded husband and wife. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do you part."

Nanoha smiled and took her rings, and put them on Fate's left middle finger and Yuuno's left ring finger, repeating those words. "With these rings, I take these two to be my lawfully wedded husband and wife. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do I part."

Carim turned to Fate. "Now, take these rings and with them, take these two to be your lawfully wedded husband and wife. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do you part."

Fate nodded and took her rings, putting them on Nanoha and Yuuno's middle fingers. "With these rings, I take these two to be my lawfully wedded husband and wife. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do I part."

Carim nodded and smiled brightly. "Then, by the power vested in me as the head of the Saint Church, I pronounce you husband, wife and wife. You may kiss each other." She closed her book and smiled as Nanoha and Fate shared a quick kiss, before Yuuno kissed Fate, then Nanoha.

People stood up and started clapping as Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno came down from the platform, making their way out as the maids of honor, the best man, Caro, and Erio followed them, the front rows following out after them.

Carim smiled softly as she watched people leave. "Good luck."

"Don't look so melancholic." Carim turned and saw Verossa there, smiling at her. "You were lovely up there, sister."

Carim blushed softly. "Thanks, Verossa."

Spoiler for Notes for All Good Things:

I know that this was shorter than most weddings. I haven't been to one in twenty-one years.

Spoiler for Epilogue:

"Can't I go to the reception?" Vivio asked Amy, who sighed softly.

"Well..." The pregnant woman blinked as Lindy put a hand on her shoulder. "Lindy?"

"I'll take charge for Vivio. It isn't every day that her parents get married." Lindy smiled at her daughter-in-law. "I'll make sure she gets home."

"Thanks, gramma!" Vivio grinned at the older woman.

Amy shook her head and sighed. "Honestly." She chuckled as Karel and Liera stood by Chrono, calling for her. "Fate, I'm taking Sora, Isamu and Alicia, okay?"

Fate nodded to her, smiling softly. "Thank you, and take care."

"Of course." She nodded and winked at Fate. "Don't have too much fun tonight, okay?" She laughed as Fate blushed bright red. "Have fun everyone." She waved as she got into the car and Chrono drove off, taking them home.

What seemed like an incredibly long time, but was in actuality less than thirty minutes, Yuuno, Nanoha and Fate found themselves alone for a moment, before they piled into Fate's car. "I still say you should call this Cardiche, Fate." Nanoha giggled as Fate rolled her eyes at her wife.

"I am not naming my car after my device, Nanoha."

Yuuno shook his head, oh well, this was amusing, and it was relaxing.

Even if he was in the back seat this time.

(---)

As their friends and family pooled into the hall, Hayate stood up and smiled as she saw everyone standing around the table with the large wedding cake. "Thank you all for being here. I'd like to say something, but I'm pretty sure that none of you want to fall asleep." There was some laughter and she shook her head. "But, no, seriously, I'm glad to have been a part of this, and got everything set up and done so fast. You can all thank me by worshipping the ground I stand on." She couldn't stand it and started laughing along with the others. "Ah, but I'll be honest. Nanoha-chan, you, Fate-chan, and Yuuno-kun are my best friends. And the three of you were total idiots." She shook her head as the three blushed hard. "I swear, if this was a story, I would have had to use a plot device to get you three to do anything together." She cleared her throat. "Anyway! I think we came here for only a few things! To see the gifts, throwing the bouquet, cake and dancing!"

After Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno had the first pieces of cake, and some gifts were opened, the two women turned their backs to the group and tossed the flowers behind them.

Shamal blinked as she caught Nanoha's bouquet. "Well, I didn't expect this."

"Neither did I." Nove muttered as she caught Fate's bouquet. Hell, she hadn't even wanted to be anywhere near where the bouquet was going to land and yet she still caught it.

Touma looked at the garder in his hands and blushed heavily.

Arisa laughed as she caught the other one. "Well, that's interesting." Really, it had shot straight up, hit the ceiling and then fell flat on her head.

Lindy closed her eyes and smiled. "I think it's time for the opening dances."

Fate cleared her throat and spoke up. "I know it's traditional for the bride and groom to have the first dance alone, but since there's three of us, we decided to forego tradition, so, everyone, grab a partner and dance happily."

Nanoha nudged Yuuno. "Go on, dance with Fate." She winked at him.

"Alright." He smiled and kissed her gently. "I get the second dance with you then."

Nanoha nodded as Fate and Yuuno took the floor, before blinking as Hayate asked for a dance from her. "Sure." She wasn't sure why Hayate was blushing so hard, but Hayate was a pretty good dancer from what she remembered.

She idly noticed that Arisa and Suzuka were dancing as well, and she nearly laughed as she saw that boy Subaru had brought home dancing with Lutecia, both of them were very awkward while trying to get the beat down.

"Thank you." She blinked as she and Hayate did some spins. "I always wanted to dance with you like this." She blinked in surprise as Hayate smiled at her and leaned in close. "Fate-chan and Yuuno-kun are lucky, Nanoha-chan, luckier than any of you think."

"Hayate-chan?" Nanoha turned and blinked as Hayate gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "What?"

Hayate was blushing, but touched Nanoha on the lips. "Please, Nanoha-chan, just let me have this memory for awhile?" The two had stopped and were thankfully a bit away from where the others were, Hayate having led the dance off to the side. "I know, you love them, and you have his children, I won't take that from you. I'm not that needy, I just wanted to be a little selfish."

"Hayate-chan..." Nanoha trailed off and Hayate shook her head.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine, I just wanted a little fantasy to myself." She shook her head and turned to look at the dancing that was still going on. "I'll be fine, Nanoha-chan, I will. Just take good care of them." She turned her head to look Nanoha in the eye. "Because you're the most important person to them."

"Hayate-chan, why didn't.."

"By the time I thought to, you were already sleeping with them." Hayate started to walk off slowly. "I love you, Nanoha-chan, but I wasn't going to, and I won't interfere with your love life, that's not fair to anyone."

"Will you?"

Hayate nodded and turned around. "I'll be fine, Nanoha-chan, I just wanted one kiss, that's all."

Nanoha sighed and caught up with Hayate. "I'm..."

"Don't." Hayate shook her head. "Don't ruin your happiness with Yuuno-kun and Fate-chan for me. I'm not that lonely, Nanoha-chan, I'll be fine." Smiling the shorter woman patted her on the shoulder. "So, don't you dare worry about me, okay? I just wanted to be a little selfish."

"...If you're sure?"

Hayate nodded and nodded to Fate and Yuuno. "Yes, besides, the next song started, go dance with Fate-chan." She laughed and pointed as Vivio seemed to steal Yuuno for herself.

Nanoha sighed softly and nodded. "Very well." She walked off and Hayate smiled before blinking as someone touched her shoulder, turning, she saw Verossa standing there, smiling.

"Rossa?" She blinked as he grabbed her hand and gently kissed it. "What are you?" Her face was turning red from his gestures.

"May I have this dance, milady?" Verossa smiled as she blushed heavily and nodded, following him out onto the dance floor.

(---)

"Erio-kun..." Caro smiled as she looked around, and pouted as she saw him talking to Cinque. "Hey, Er..." She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder, turning, she saw Nove there, shaking her head. "Nove? But, why?"

"Please, Caro." Nove whispered to the pinkette. "Cinque needs this, just let her have this dance, okay?"

Caro pouted, but nodded, though she nearly ran out to the dance floor as she saw Cinque lean in close to Erio as they danced. "But she..."

"Just trust me, please?" Nove asked her and she sighed, nodding slightly.

On the floor, Erio's face was slightly red as Cinque leaned in close, her body close enough to his that he swore he could feel her heartbeat, not to mention her petite breasts, what little she had, pressing against his chest. "Cinque, what?"

"I don't want much, Erio..." She whispered to him as the music continued to play while they danced. "But you feel nice, I just want to enjoy this a little more."

Erio blinked several times, but nodded softly as they continued to dance. He noticed that Lindy was dancing with Genya, though he didn't think anything of it, especially since Megane was dancing with Nanoha's father.

As the music wound down, he gasped as Cinque grabbed his head and planted her lips against his. "Mmmph?!"

It didn't last that long, though he was certain he heard some people raising a fuss over it. "Cinque?" He asked as she broke the kiss and blushed heavily.

"I don't know what came over me." She admitted to him, before taking his arm and walking back to the side. "But, thank you for the dance." Cinque was a little non-plaused by the look Caro gave her.

After Caro took Erio away, Nove looked at Cinque and smiled. "Get what you wanted?" When Cinque looked at her in confusion, she shook her head. "Closure, big sis. You always were swooning over him."

Cinque blushed, but looked back at Erio, before smiling softly and nodding. "Yeah." Strange, the desire to get another kiss from him wasn't there anymore. "Feels nice."

Nove chuckled and nodded, before nudging Cinque towards Touma. "Go dance with him before Lutecia or Dieci steal him away." She laughed as Cinque gave her a bit of a dirty look, before Wendi grabbed her and dragged her to the dance floor. "Ack!"

"Heh, matchmaker." Wendi giggled as the music picked up and the two danced a quicker dance.

Nove rolled her eyes, but didn't deny it. "Just looking out for Cinque's happiness is all."

Wendi smiled as they continued to dance.

(---)

Signum raised an eyebrow as Vice asked her to dance when the next slow song came on. "Trying to get in good graces with the maid of honor?"

Vice shook his head. "No, I just want to dance with a lovely lady, is that a crime?"

Signum shook her head and allowed herself to be pulled out to the dance floor. Idly, she noticed Arf and Zafira dancing, as well as Vita and Hayate. "No, I was just making sure you wanted to dance with me, and not the maid of honor."

Verossa shook his head. "If that was the case, I'd be trying to dance with Hayate and getting upset when she went off with others. I just wanted to dance with you."

Signum's cheeks turned a slight touch red even as he led her through the dance. "Thank you." She whispered softly.

(---)

As the night wore on, and people started to tire out from constant dancing, Lindy found herself standing near a window with Hayate. "This was wonderful, Hayate."

"Thank you." Hayate smiled as she looked over everything, before yawning. "I think it's time to get going home."

Lindy nodded at that as she saw Vivio yawning and trying to stay awake, even as she, Corona and Lutecia were no longer dancing, but sitting on the floor and chatting with each other. "Vivio... Time to go home."

"Okay, gramma." Vivio yawned and looked at her friends. "See you two later."

"Lutecia." Megane spoke up from where she and Shamal were talking. "Come on, time to go back."

"Alright." Lutecia smiled and went to her mother.

Hayate smiled as she watched the dance hall eventually clear out. "Was a nice dance at least." She walked over to the table that had some paper plates and smiled gently as she saw some half-eaten cake on the plates.

"Hayate?" She turned and saw Vita looking at her.

"Vita-chan?" Hayate walked up to her. "What's wrong?"

Vita hugged her and buried her face against Hayate's chest. "We're all waiting for you to come home with us."

Hayate put a hand on Vita's back and nodded. "Sorry, I'm coming." She held out her arm and Vita took it, the two walking out of the dance hall, before closing the doors behind them.

(---)

"Enjoy the peace while it lasts..." A male voice spoke up as he looked at the shadows of several large things being put together.

"Sir." He turned to his assistant. "It will take around six years to complete these."

He shrugged. "We have time. I wonder if they'll survive when it happens." He chuckled to himself.

Day in the Life
End

Spoiler for Notes for Epilogue:

Man, Cinque *IS* a shota-con, huh?

There will be a sequel to "Day in the Life", look for it soon.

How sweet, great job Nanya.

Also, very sweet Nanoha-Hayate conversation and Chinque-Erio moment.

[spawnofthejudge]

Three years running winning Nanowrimo.

I'm back, everyone. I'm gonna try to get an update onto Beyond the Edge on or about December first. We'll see what happens.

[Kaijo]

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving, and ended up more stuffed than the Turkey(I know I did x_x). Or got drunk and thus dealing with a hangover today. At any rate, hope no one is out there getting stampeded by the Black Friday crowd!

Instead, how about something to read?

Future Tense

Chapter 24: Bloodsport

In which Nanoha gets exposed to the dirty underground world of illegal mage fighting, while another important discovery is made elsewhere, and Fate makes a choice...

Previous chapters can be found here.

Spoiler for Future Tense, Chapter 24: Bloodsport:

MGLN: Future Tense
Chapter 24: Bloodsport

Xx~~*~~xX

"Winner by knockout, the Starlight Destroyer, Seeeeiiiikouuuuuu!"

Nanoha paused to catch her breath, then raised her hands and waved to the cheering crowd as the arena landscape dissolved around her. Much like the old training grounds where she educated the forwards many years ago, the arena used a holographic system to create the terrain the mages fought over. It usually wasn't much; usually just dirt and rock, with the odd cliff or ruined building, but slightly bigger than the one the forwards trained on next to the sea.

This was Nanoha's second fight of the day, although third in total if she counted the qualifying fight a couple days ago, but the difficulty of her opponents was rapidly increasing. Her latest opponent was easily AAA rank in power, and fairly intelligent, but the fact that she used lightning based attacks meant Nanoha was up against magic she was already very familiar with. Her adversary wouldn't have been a problem at all if Nanoha had access to Raging Heart instead of this crude staff storage device, but Raging Heart was still in self-repair mode and the technician Sein had been able to find was still having trouble locating suitable parts. It didn't help that Raging Heart was a highly advanced Intelligent Device, and thus most parts on the market weren't quite up to par.

"Don't worry, though, because I trust Griez with my life," Sein had said, brimming with confidence. "He performed many repairs on my cyborg parts when I was fighting in the circuit; he's good."

"Another fine show!" Sein congratulated, coming out with a robe, then grinned wryly "But how long do you want to stand there showing off?"

Nanoha turned to stare at her, then looked down and realized her bust was nearly popping out of her modified barrier jacket due to damage, and she quickly and gratefully accepted the robe. She sighed, hating the fact that she had to wear this modified barrier jacket; it almost covered less than Fate's Sonic Form. While the base was her standard Aggressive Mode barrier jacket, they made her shed her outer coat as well as the longer skirt portion that hung down from behind her waist. Also, the ribbon up front apparently had to go, and in its place was a heart-shaped opening that revealed a decent amount of cleavage.

"Advertising!" they had explained gleefully. "A good lookin' woman brings in the crowds, and you need the crowds to make enough bets to earn the money you need, right?"

[Advertising my butt,] Nanoha thought grimly, both figuratively and literally as her mini-skirt was partially tattered. She didn't consider herself too much of a prude, and in combat she normally didn't care about clothing damage that may expose her; that was part of the risk of mage combat, after all. But somehow it felt a bit different when there was a crowd that was openly leering and hoping to see it.

"Thank you," Nanoha let out with a sigh. "For this, and for everything you've done. If it hadn't of been for your information on my opponent for this match...."

Sein grinned. "That's what I'm hear for! Speaking of which, just be glad you don't have her for your manager."

An older-yet-regal looking woman had stomped pat them with a glare, pausing above the fallen body of Nanoha's opponent for a moment before kicking it viciously. "Get up, you lazy daughter of mine! I know you're faking it! Apparently I'll have to double and triple your training again, so you don't dishonor the Dahlgren family name like this. Why, back in my day, I made it far higher than you ever did on the tournament ladder...."

"Ow! Cut it out, MOM," the younger Dahlgren protested, jumping to her feet. "I'm almost 30 years old now, and don't need you to run my life! Besides, you never made it higher than 4th place; or was it 5th?"

The elder Dahlgren furnished her daughter with a slap, then grabbed the younger woman's ear. "Shut up and come along; Don't embarrass me any further!" The mother pulled her daughter towards the arena entrance where Nanoha and Sein had stopped to watch, then paused and shot her daughter's opponent with a glare. "And YOU! Something about you seems familiar, but while you may have won this fight, the Dahlgren 'Thunder Emperor' style will triumph over you next time! Prepare yourself!" She whipped out a fan with her other hand to cover her mouth, laughing as she resumed pulling her daughter along. "Ohohohoho!"

Nanoha stared back at Sein as the laughter receded, then shook her head. "Well, anyway, do you know who my next opponent is and when I have to fight?" The latter was more of a concern to her, as she had to be careful about rationing her mana to handle the ever increasing difficulty of her competitors.

"Yes, but there is something more important you need to see first," Sein announced, leading her down the hall into a private side room and closing the door after, then bringing up a large screen. "This is the recording from Zira's last fight. As you know, there was a normal tournament in progress and Zira just earned her shot at the finals. You're only being allowed in if you win seven special matches, with your eighth being against the other semifinalist... in this case, Zira."

Nanoha nodded, then sat down in one of the padded chairs. "I figured that much. The championship fight is in three days, which means I have three fights today, three fights tomorrow, and the final fight the day after, with the championship later that evening."

"Right, and I've been trying to get you info on your opponents, who have been mages that washed out of the tournament at various points but took this chance to get another shot by beating you," Sein agreed, then started the recording. "All of Zira's opponents, though, were too badly injured to participate in your exhibition matches, and you're about to see why."

Nanoha turned her attention to the show, which was apparently already midway through. Both Zira and her female opponent looked fairly winded already, but Zira was grinning. She then straightened up and held out her hand, making a thumbs-down motion, which seemed to drive the crowd into a frenzy.

"It looks like it's that time again, folks!" the announcer declared enthusiastically. "Both combatants have put on quite a show, but it appears that Zira Rinaldi has just signaled her opponent's defeat; are we about to see the legendary Triple Smash Finisher? No one has yet been able to counter it, so things don't look too good for her opponent, Miry Hart."

Miry merely scowled and immediately charged in, apparently eager to prove everyone wrong; it was almost a rookie mistake, Nanoha decided, since the woman was allowing her emotions to cloud her judgment by letting Zira bait her. Miry flew low to the ground, but Zira seemed unconcerned while she punched the rocky arena floor. Green spikes shot up from the terrain in a manner Nanoha found most familiar, as if attempting to impale Miry, but the young woman wove through them with ease. With a mighty shout, her glowing blue fist smashed into the last few broad spikes that had formed a wall in front of Zira

"One!" the crowd shouted enthusiastically.

As the wall shattered, Nanoha's eyes narrowed while the audience gasped; Zira was no longer there. Instead, she was now floating far above, the spikes continuing to grow, taking up space and forcing Miry higher to avoid them. Yet she continued her assault, flying towards Zira again with glowing fists, but something forced to her stop and put up multiple shields; however, those were sliced up multiple times seconds later and Miry was promptly bound by an almost invisible force.

"Two!" the crowd chanted once again.

[Each one of the spikes is emitting an incredibly thin thread-like bind,] Nanoha deduced by the way Miry's limbs and body showcased multiple indentations from the very fine, yet tough filament.

While the challenger screamed in pain from the threads cutting into her skin, Zira blurred towards her opponent and paused just in front for a split second before finally drawing the sword attached to her waist and swinging twice in quick succession. The afterimage of an X-shaped magic strike hung in the air for a very short moment. However, Nanoha couldn't get the most disturbing aspect out of her mind:

Miry's wide-eyed sightless stare coupled with her mouth dropping wide open in a soundless scream, as if she was experiencing something absolutely terrifying.

The crowd leapt to their feet. "Three!"

Then it was over, and after a brief pause during which Zira canceled the thread-bind, Miry's body fell helplessly to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Zira was promptly announced to be the winner, without even waiting to see if Miry would get up; apparently it was obvious to all that she wouldn't. Sein picked that moment to pause the recording.

"What happened?" Nanoha wondered aloud. "An attack like that shouldn't have taken her out; at best, her auto-barrier and barrier jacket would have absorbed most of the damage."

Sein rewound the video to the moment just before impact. "That's what I thought, too. But look closely at what happens just before Zira's strike."

She zoomed the camera view in, then let it go forward in slow motion again. While it was a bit blurry, Nanoha watched as a strange, yet familiar, green portal appeared on Miry's chest a split second before the attack hit... and a hand emerge from it holding a small glowing object; Miry's linker core. Glancing over, Nanoha realized that, while Zira was pulling her sword out with her right hand, her left hand had sunk wrist deep into an identical green portal.

Nanoha stared at Sein. "The attack... Zira temporarily removed Miry's linker core, preventing her from using magic to shield herself at all, and the blast struck it directly. There's no telling what kind of damage was done; Miry will be lucky if she can even use most of her magic!"

"It took me several viewings to catch that," the cyborg admitted, all traces of humor gone from her voice. "This isn't the DSAA; there is a reason these fights are technically illegal, because anything goes. There are no rules, other than the winner is the last one standing."

Nanoha reflexively raised a hand to her chest, remembering the maddening pain of when her own linker core was temporarily removed from her body. It was only through sheer force of will driven by the fact that her friends were counting on her that she managed to finish her Starlight Breaker at all. In fact, if she hadn't prepared the spell in advance, nor had Raging Heart primed to release it, she probably couldn't have pulled it off at all.

"If you face her, you can't let her get close, and you have to keep on the move," Sein explained, more serious that Nanoha had ever seen the nun. "What I showed you was just the ending, but Zira also assaults her enemy's linker core multiple times throughout the fight, usually to paralyze the target before a strike. Also, figuring she was going to be your opponent, I took the liberty of having Tony dig up some data on her. I found out who her mother was, and more importantly, the people who trained her mother and thus most likely passed those techniques down to her; but you can probably already guess."

Sein tossed a datapad onto the table beside Nanoha, who picked it up and scanned the contents; just as she feared, her suspicions were correct.

x~~*~~x

Nanoha wrapped a towel around her body as she stepped out of the showers in the girl's locker room. She had just finished her third and final fight, and it hadn't exactly been a cake walk. She wasn't exactly going into the fight fresh, and her opponent this time had managed to land several painful attacks; apparently, these tournament fighters hadn't learned the meaning of stun magic.

Sein had left to investigate some things, but Nanoha wasn't worried; the cyborg could take care of herself. Not only due to her own IS abilities, but the fact that she was much more experienced in this world that Nanoha was. That point stood out even more starkly when she found her competition waiting for her at her locker, and the look in those eyes promised it wouldn't be a pleasant chat; for a moment, Nanoha even thought the woman would attack her.

"Impressive performance you put on out there," Zira commented neutrally, tanned arms crossed against her smallish chest. "Adaptive binds to suit the situation, and then a powerful knockout blow."

Nanoha didn't bat an eye as she opened her locker to get her clothes. "You, too. I saw your last fight."

"I have a lifetime career of 63 wins and 2 losses," Zira informed her, and Nanoha got the impression it wasn't an idle boast. "I've had to work my way up from the bottom of the dregs, and I won't let anyone take away the prize that is rightfully mine. If you want to fight a few more times, that's up to you. But if you've seen my match, then you know what happens to those that stand against me. If you promise to lose, I won't injure you... too badly."

Nanoha finally turned and met the other woman's harsh gaze with a sympathetic and understanding one. "It's very clear that you intend to win. But why is it so important to you?"

Zira clearly hadn't been expecting that question, but her short moment of surprise quickly passed to be replaced by anger as she slammed a fist against the lockers. "That's not something you need to know. The important thing is that you either step down or get hurt. It's up to you."

"I do know one other thing, however," Nanoha revealed calmly. "The magic spells you used are dangerous; they were intended for a horrible purpose, and misusing them to harm people wouldn't be something the original owners of those techniques would approve of."

The taller woman laughed derisively. "What would you know about it?"

"Do the names 'Zafira' and 'Shamal' mean anything to you or your mother?" Nanoha questioned, noting instantly by Zira's widened eyes that she was correct after all. "I'm even guessing you were named after your mother's teacher."

Zira's face went through an interesting mix of interesting emotions, most prominent being anger and annoyance. "I don't care what you know; I use my magic the way I want. The only thing you need to concern yourself with is dropping out of this tournament before something bad happens to you. Think about it."

She turned on her heel and strode out after that while Nanoha watched her go, noting that there seemed to be something more behind the tough facade, but couldn't figure out what; Zira almost seemed too desperate. She glanced down at the clothes in her locker and began to get dressed, wondering what it was that drove the woman, but the reasons why still eluded her.

x~~*~~x

Fate wandered into the device lab, noticing the two identical triangles, one gold and one light blue, floating in individual containers. She paid more attention to the gold one, feeling a bit relieved that it appeared to be whole, lacking the cracks and missing chunks it had when she saw it several days ago. The sight brought triggered a pang in her heart.

"I'm sorry, Bardiche," she spoke softly. "You were hurt because you were protecting me, because I fought with Nanoha."

"Ah, you're here," Marial's voice came from a side room, the head scientist entering the room shortly thereafter. "We've done as much as we could for Bardiche, but there were a few unresolvable errors that necessitated wiping of data and installation of new code and parts. It won't be quite the same, and I feel it's at the end of it's productive life. You can still use it, but it won't be able to keep up in serious combat. However, the new device next to it, codenamed 'Vulnificus' has been built from the ground up to accommodate your full powers. It's up to you as to which one to take."

Fate glanced back and forth between the two; if she fought Nanoha again, it was obvious she wouldn't be able to win with Bardiche alone, but she was reluctant to toss aside the friend she had fought with all these years. Yet, if she did take Bardiche again, she'd be admitting that she couldn't fight Nanoha, and thus turning her back on 50 years of choices that led her to this point.

"I couldn't..." Fate found herself whispering.

"Well, it's up to you, but you have to be careful to use the right tools for the job or could find them failing you in a critical moment, and I'm sure neither one of us wants that," Marial stated, right before a chime sounded from the next room."Oh, excuse me, I have to handle something, but I'll be back in a bit. Take your time."

Fate glanced up as the woman left, feeling an odd chill. [Something...] She immediately dismissed the thought even before it formed, and returned to her earlier dilemma, wrestling the choice before her. [Why did we have to fight, though? Why couldn't we work things out? Why couldn't Nanoha see that she was on the wrong side? I'm not wrong! The Bureau has done a lot of good, and you're threatening to undo all that!]

"Too many individual freedoms have been lost by the Bureau forcing it's will on the people."

[It's for their own good!] Fate countered against Nanoha's voice in her head, almost hating herself for taking this position, but she didn't know why.

"Have you been out there yourself, and really seen what things are like? Not as an Enforcer Commander, but as a normal person."

At that time, Fate avoided the question. [What would being out there as a normal person prove? I've been out plenty of times; I know how things are. It's a bit rough, but things will get better.]

She shook her head; somehow, it didn't seem as convincing as it once did. She gazed at the two devices, her heart and mind in conflict. She knew the logical choice was to take the new device so she could be at her best. No matter what she felt, she couldn't let emotions sway her decision; that was why she could fight Nanoha. That's why Nanoha could fight her. Her hand reached out to grab her choice, but then paused for unknown reasons.

[Why?] Fate questioned, distressed at her trembling hand. [It's a simple choice! The same ones I've made all this time!]

Almost growling, she made her choice, and then turned and left the room quickly.

"Fate, I'm..." Marial's voice trailed off as she came back and saw the room was empty, then her lips turned upwards into a smile when she noticed the device containers.

Both of them were empty.

x~~*~~x

[Another day...] Nanoha thought to herself as she dodged a hail of magical bullets from her crazed adversary. [Another fight.] He was her first one today, the fourth in her series of special matches to qualify for the championship match, and after a good night's sleep, she was ready for more.

As she twisted through the air, expertly dodging most of them and shielding against the rest, she contented herself with letting her opponent burn through his mana while conserving as much of her own as possible; she needed to make it last throughout the day. It helped that the tactic was popular with the crowds, as it lengthened the fight, drawing the conclusion out. Her handlers were quite pleased at the increased entertainment factor, too.

However, she couldn't say the same about her current opponent.

"Playing hard to get, bay-bee?" he taunted, pausing in the air and licking his lips while continuing to pelt Nanoha with magical rain in an almost machine-gun-like fashion. "Ooh, I like it when they struggle!"

Nanoha sighed while dodging behind some rocky outcroppings for a moment's peace, trying to shove his visual appearance out of her mind; nose rings, earrings, lips rings, a mohawk, facial paint, spiked shoulder pads.... His "post-apocalyptic biker" look was quite distinctive, but according to Sein, this guy who went by the moniker "Chuckles" was more notorious for his... ways with women. Already he had spent most of the match detailing what he planned to do to her unconscious body, if it was still in one piece that is; or at least if there was enough of the right pieces still intact. Nanoha didn't let the psychological warfare tactics faze her, though; it probably worked on some of his female opponents, but not on her.

However, there were other aspects of his that did present a problem, most notable being his Armed Device; no sooner had Nanoha put the several meter thick rock between her and her opponent, then it was instantly shattered by a large metal ball covered with short spikes. It rammed her right side and pushed through two other rock formations, and when she finally came to a stop, the spiked ball erupted with dozens of magic shots at point blank range before finally retreating. Nanoha pulled herself upright, stumbling a bit as pain shot through her side; the attack apparently had barrier penetrating qualities, and thus she had taken an almost-full blow to her body.

His Armed Device consisted of a ball and chain, wherein the ball was a few times times larger than his head and covered in short spikes and the chain was easily expandable, much like Levantein's snake form. Despite it's seemingly unwieldy nature, Chuckles was rather quick with it, adapting it for short or long range combat, even using it to disperse straight magical attacks like her earlier attempt at a Divine Buster. Combined with his magical bullets that were fired in volleys much like her own MG Shooter, but thankfully unguided, he was proving to be quite a troublesome adversary.

Chuckles feigned confusion. "What's the matter, bay-bee? Was I too rough for you?"

However, Nanoha judged she had learned enough now, and pointed the basic staff weapon at him. "If you like it rough, I can oblige."

His leering grin reappeared as Nanoha prepared an Axel Shooter volley, which he answered with one of his own. Carefully controlling them to shoot down each one of his shots, she stood her ground and fired a Divine Buster immediately after. As expected, his swung his weapon straight at it, sending it right down Nanoha's beam and dispersing the attack.

"I thought you learned earlier that doesn't wor...huh?" Chuckles started to say, before his ever-present grin faded.

Nanoha had ceased firing and dodged just enough that the steel ball whizzed passed her, then jammed her staff down on the chain, pinning it to the rocky ground with both of the staff's prongs. There was bind magic in her move, so despite him frantically tugging on it, the weapon wouldn't return. Nanoha raised her right hand, pink magic swirling around her wrist.

"This particular spell is great for cooling the heads of those who get too worked up," she stated evenly as she fired the first volley of her own Crossfire Shoot.

Chuckles tried to drop his weapon, but promptly found that Nanoha's bind spell had worked itself up the chain and now held his wrist firmly in place. His eyes widened in shock a second before Nanoha's attack hit his hastily formed shield, followed closely by a second shot from the index finger on her left hand. The shield and bind spells eventually broke as Nanoha continued, alternating shots from each finger, batting the now helpless opponent around like a pinball. As he slammed into the shields encasing the arena, Nanoha pulled the staff back out, took aim, and finished it with another Divine Buster then sent her opponent to dreamland. Chuckles dropped like a rock, but Nanoha took a bit of pity on him and slowed his descent with a floater field.

The crowd erupted into a mighty cheer as the announcer's voice, normally muted to the combatants during a match, finally echoed through the arena now that the match was over. "Once again, a stunning display of power and skill by Seikou! Be here in two hours, for her next match, folks. Will she triumph over the deadly Togu? Or will this be the end of the Starlight Destroyer's rise? Tune in and see!"

Nanoha glanced around, noting that Sein normally came out at this time, but she was nowhere to be seen. Instead, after waving to the crowd, Nanoha headed back to the woman's locker room to freshen up and recover before the next match, but paused just outside upon hearing voices within.

"...you think you're doing?" Zira's voice rang out. "Just because you're my manager, doesn't mean you can stalk me in here!"

"And here I thought we were more to each other," the man replied in an almost false suave manner. "After all, we-"

Zira cut him off, irately responding, "That was then! I told you I'm just doing this last tournament for the prize money, and no more!"

"You still using that lame crap reason about paying for your daughter's operation?" her manager questioned with disbelief. "You should rid of the runt-"

A sharp slapping sound echoed into the hallway.

"OUR daughter, Grenn!" Zira yelled angrily. "But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at that attitude. It's your fault she's like that. One more fight, this championship, and I'm done! Now get OUT!"

The sound of steps gradually grew in volume indicating that one of them was heading towards the exit, which turned about to be the manager, Grenn, but he paused and spoke again before reaching the exit. "You NEED me, Zira! Who else do you think is going to protect and hide you from the Bureau? You leave, and neither you nor your daughter will be safe. Think about that!"

Nanoha quickly hopped upand plastered herself to the hallway ceiling as the manager exited the locker room and strode down the hall, glad that he hadn't glanced up. But as Nanoha landed and entered, debating on what to say to Zira, she didn't quite get the chance when she nearly bumped into the woman upon turning a corner of lockers.

"Out of my way!" Zira groused, shoving the other woman aside as she pushed past.

"Zira, I-" Nanoha started to say, but the other woman ignored her and was soon gone.

Spirits dropping, Nanoha walked back to her locker to get dressed, realizing that the situation had just become much more complicated, and she wasn't sure what to do about it.

x~~*~~x

Givo yawned and attempted to stretch in his small hiding place within a wall, and then glanced back at the monitor that was tapped into the surveillance system, but noting that Quattro was still in her quarters following her normal routine of reading before bed. He didn't really need to do this, as his own magical senses would tell him which direction the cyborg was in, but watching might also give him a clue as to what she was up to.

Unfortunately, there had been nothing out of the ordinary ever since he had started following her, several days ago. She'd get up and make her rounds, talking to various department heads or otherwise playing around in her lab, before heading back to bed. He was beginning to doubt she was up to anything at all, but the deal he had with Teana could free Layla and the other prisoners as well as himself, so it was a shot he had to take. If nothing else, he might be able to learn enough of the system to free them himself.

[Maybe I should just escape myself; I could probably manage,] he had often thought to himself, almost preferring being a lone wolf. But Layla had been kind to him, and he felt a bit guilty about leaving them behind, so the least he could do was try this.

After focusing his senses, he did a double-take at the monitor, but Quattro was still shown sitting on the couch reading a magazine. However, his magical sense clearly indicated that her position had shifted; what was going on? Was this how she tricked everyone else, by somehow manipulating the surveillance feed? He didn't know, but he quickly extricated himself from his hole in the wall and sprinted down past her quarters, following his senses.

Quattro was descending now, so he found an elevator and took it down, weaving through hallways once he reached the bottom. After several minutes of pursuit closing in on his target, he heard three low distinctive tones, and then turned a corner to find Quattro passing through a dead end at the far terminus of the hall. He waited for her to fully pass through, then tiptoed up to do the same, but only found a very solid wall obstructing his path.

[A secret room, obviously, but there has to be some trick for entry,] he deduced, running his hands across the cool, smooth metal plate of the dead end, but nothing stood out. [Those tones... perhaps some kind of trigger? Did she have a secret device with her that allows access to the hidden room?] He couldn't rule it out, which made it all the more frustrating; how was he supposed to pursue her if he didn't have the same device? Did he have to give up and get Teana involved? He decided against that; that woman wanted proof, and Givo needed the evidence to free Layla and the others. [Three tones....]

He paused, glancing at the lights attached to the sides of the hallways and was struck by the number; there were three on each side. Curious, he reached up and touched one, surprised when it made a sound much like a musical note that lasted for several seconds. Confirming his forming hunch, he tapped the other five, also getting different notes. A slow smile spread across his face, and recalling what he heard, he was able to find the correct three and then touch the wall, grin growing wider as his hand passed through.

[Bingo!] he thought in jubilation as he quickly phased through. [The tones must trigger the wall to become non-solid.] It also apparently blocked sound, for once he was through, he began to hear voices.

"...adjust the y-factor by 0.023%," a male voice was saying, as Givo carefully moved close in the darkness, trying to avoid looking at the naked floating women in the yellow tubes and instead crouching down behind the boxes of some computer equipment. "Now then, shall we try this again? Unless you'd like to be more cooperative now."

Givo could see the speaker, but not who that person was addressing.

"By all means, don't let me keep you from your work," came a lighter male voice in response.

x~~*~~x

"I truly do regret this," Jail admitted with a note of false regret in his tone. "We're all scientists here of one type or another; we should be able to have a conversation about such topics. It's only the sharing of ideas that science progresses."

"Maybe some other time," Yuuno replied drily, his wrists and ankles still clamped to the hi-tech chair and a helmet covering his head. "You've done enough playing with science, between clones and cyborgs. Some things man shouldn't attempt to play with."

"And yet you are planning to do so," the doctor accused, grinning when his point hit the mark. "Quite hypocritical. Ah well, the devices I have created to download information from cyborg brains only needs a few more adjustments before I can make it work on human brains. If this fails, I can still make a cyborg clone of you to get the information I seek, or even create a unison device that can take over your mind and body. However, both of those options will take considerably longer."

"My heart bleeds," Yuuno retorted drily. "This may sound cliche, but you won't get away with this. Your predecessor failed, too, despite all his planning. Although I am a bit surprised that you were even using him."

The doctor shrugged. "What can I say? He must have become frail in his old age, having given up taking control and seeking to somehow amend for past actions. I won't make the same mistakes. I've debated going back in time to take his place to keep the cradle and the key, but that would be quite the literal Grandfather Paradox, wouldn't it? Hahaha!"

Yuuno resisted the urge to join in laughing at Jail's little joke, but before he could respond, something else got their attention.

"Hey, let mmmm!"

Quattro appeared from behind a computer rack, cyborg arms firmly holding a struggling young boy, a hand clamped over his mouth. "Look what I found! I apologize, doctor, I didn't think anyone followed me."

"Hmm, interesting, who do we have here?" Jail wondered, turning his attention to the pair. "Some stray rat? I don't recognize him."

In the next instant, white binds snapped into place around Quattro's body. "Hey, you little ru-OW!"

As he slipped out of the cyborg's grasp, he turned on his heel and smacked her in the face with a magical bullet, knocking her into Due, and then bolted from the room as the two women went down in a tangle of arms and legs.

"I'll kill him!" Quattro growled as Due disentangled herself from her sister and destroyed the binds with her claws.

"I'd like him alive if possible, to find out who he is with and what he knows!" Jail ordered as his two cyborgs took off in pursuit.

"I can't promise anything!" came Quattro's echoing voice.

Jail sighed, then turned back to Yuuno. "Kids these days; what can you do? Now where were we...."

x~~*~~x

Nanoha winced as her opponent's weapon, a three-section nunchuck, smacked against her sore right side, still tender from her clash with Chuckles. But she grit her teeth through the pain and clamped her arm down on it, trapping the weapon. In return, the lean and well-muscled martial artist began to spin on his left foot, bringing his right up to kick her away; however, Nanoha was hugging her staff under her left arm with a firm grip, thrusting it up against his stomach. The kick painfully struck her left arm at the same instant she fired.

"Divine Buster!" she managed to shout, the two adversaries being flung away from each other through different means.

Nanoha was disheartened to see her current challenger, the highly skilled martial artist mage Togu, stand up again and light brush the dust off his body, seemingly unhurt, while she was inwardly battling the pain as she regained her own feet. In addition to his quick movements, he had a keen eye for weaknesses and had already identified Nanoha's right side as one, making it a point to strike there repeatedly.

And for once, Nanoha found herself distracted enough that her opponent was managing to work through her guard; she had allowed her mind to drift again, and it had cost her. Better than anyone else she knew the dangers of letting the mind get unfocused during combat; it was something she had drilled into her students enough.

But she couldn't get that conversation out of her head, the one she overheard between Zira and Grenn. However, knowing what other woman was fighting for now didn't do her a lot of good, since she hadn't had a chance to talk to her, nor figure out exactly what to do about it. Zira wanted to win to get the prize money for her daughter, but Nanoha needed to win to procure transport back to Mid-Childa. She had considered dropping out or losing and trying again, but the next tournament was months away, which would be too late.

The only other option, almost unmentionable, made her skin crawl.

"So you do feel pain," Togu stated, his tone indicating satisfied curiosity. "It seems the rumors of your near-invincibility were greatly exaggerated. I, however, have trained myself to ignore pain, and thus can fight past my limits, far beyond any normal human."

"Feeling pain is a good thing; it lets us know we're alive, and reminds us our limits are there for a reason," Nanoha replied evenly, bracing her legs and pointing her staff. "They shouldn't be broken for minor things. It seems like I have another lesson to give in regards to overdoing it."

[Although I might have to overdo it a little myself,] Nanoha added silently to herself, hoping her staff could take the extra magic she'd need to force it to regulate. [Even though I wanted to conserve as much mana as possible for my third fight today. I really could have used some more info from Sein before this fight; the little bit she left for this guy isn't much.]

Togu shook his head, making a show of twirling his weapon around his body before assuming his own attack stance, a small smile on his face. "I had a feeling you were holding back, but you will have to face me at your full strength, if you want a chance to defeat me!"

Nanoha gripped her staff tighter, clearing her mind and beginning the preparations for what she had to do next. "As you wish," she replied, leaping into the sky and firing off a large volley of magic orbs.

He appeared calm as he launched into the air straight at her, whipping his weapon around to smack most of the missiles, but the rest exploded near him into a mass of binding chains. But Nanoha kept her firing rate up, smacking him with shot after shot before winding up her next spell.

"Strike Stars!" She cried, a large beam accompanied the next salvo of orbs that drove him into the ground and cratered the ground, a couple of cracks appearing on the staff under the strain.

"I... will not..." he sputtered, amazingly trying to rise once more, but Nanoha released another Divine Buster while flying straight down at him.

And then a second. And a third. And a fourth, before finally landing next to him and whacking him across the back of the head, which finally did the trick.

"Winner by knockout once more, the Starlight Destroyer, Seeeeiiiikouuuuuu!"

Nanoha blew out a breath and waved, then headed towards the arena exit, expecting to find Sein, but seeing someone else instead; a man in a suit, eyes hidden by shades, who was smiling lightly at her. She recognized him as one of her handlers.

"Keep your seats for the short intermission, folks!" the announced continued as she reached him. "Seikou's next fight will be in 15 minutes!"

Nanoha spun to face the man, the aches in her body protesting. "What? My last fight was supposed to be later this evening! Where's my manager?"

"She's busy on assignment," he told her with a sneer. "And the deal was for you to fight three times today; it didn't say when. Of course, you can always drop out now...."

Nanoha grit her teeth and resisted the urge to blast him; she had counted having at least a few hours to rest and recuperate her mana between matches, but it felt like they pushed up this fight so she would be even more disadvantaged. "Fine."

She'd just have to get through it, but where was Sein?

x~~*~~x

The cyborg glanced up, feeling a slight chill, which was odd because it wasn't particularly chilly and her body regulated heat well enough that she was rarely, if ever, cold. [I really hate leaving Nanoha without a word like this. But she should be okay without me.]

"Sein?" came the voice over her ear communicator. "Everyone else is in place."

The #6 cyborg shook her head. "I'm ready, beginning the operation now."

As she dove for the wall, her Deep Diver IS activating almost automatically, she hoped Nanoha was alright.

x~~*~~x

Nanoha inwardly cursed as the thorny whips left more scrapes and lacerations across her body, executing a second Flash Move to back out of range. But she was left bewildered at how Rose, her third and final opponent for the day, had managed to so accurately trace her first Flash Move; no sooner had she appeared behind her adversary, then the whips were there, almost moving of their own accord to seek her out.

"Everyone admires the beauty of the Rose, but few can withstand its thorns," her pink-haired opponent declared, working her twin whips in circles. "None can get past my perfect defense."

Nanoha wiped the blood from a scratch on her cheek and gripped her staff tighter, trying to figure out Rose's secret. Like the other woman had just taunted, those twin whips were simultaneously functioning as both offense and defense; Rose expertly used them to disperse long magic attacks like Nanoha's Axel Shooter bullets and he Divine Buster beam, while also preventing her from getting close for a melee strike. It was much like Levantein's snakeform times two.

[If only I had Raging Heart, I could pump enough mana through spells to break through her defenses,] Nanoha cursed inwardly, beginning to pant heavily. [I need to do something about those whips. And I can't let this go on; I've used up too much mana today already.] She winced and held her right side, welcoming the dull throbbing of pain that had been antagonized greatly last fight; she'd only begin to worry when she could no longer feel that section of her body. [But I need to get past her defenses with what I have left. Maybe...]

Rose smirked and shook her head when Nanoha charged straight for her. "Don't you ever learn? You can't reach me!"

Nanoha fired several shots which she guided to come in at varying angles, and as expected, Rose expertly twirled her long whips to strike each bullet. As the distance closed and the whips changed direction to come straight for her, Nanoha switched spells.

"Sacred Cluster!" she called, firing a volley into the small openings.

True to form, the whips changed course smashed the new bullets and then snared Nanoha's arms and legs. However, Rose was caught off-guard when the fractured pieces of the supposedly destroyed bullets homed in on her from close range, where they detonated.

"Bitch!" Rose spat, managing to hold onto Nanoha with her whips despite the attack tearing gashes in her barrier jacket.

She promptly slammed her captured quarry against the arena shields and then down onto the rocky floor, kicking up a large amount of dust that obscured each combatant's view of the other. Rose tugged on her lashes to pull Nanoha back up for another few rounds, but was puzzled when they held fast.

Spots appeared in Nanoha's vision while a red stain slowly spread along her right gloved hand, but she had managed to hold onto both thorny whips. Her feet were braced horizontally against a large section of rock, providing the brace against Rose's attempts to pull her whips back up.

Nanoha took aim and fired. "Divine Buster!"

While neither one could see the other due to the dust smokescreen, Nanoha could trace her aim in the direction the taunt whips were coming from. Rose was barely able to put up a shield in time, although, the force of the beam's impact began rending parts of her barrier jacket. Still, her defenses held and she managed to slip her whips out of her enemy's hand by retracting the thorns as Nanoha's spell died down.

Nnaoha pulled herself from her crater, albeit with some difficulty, and shook her head to clear the spots in her vision, wondering what would she could do next. She had managed to hit her opponent finally, but Rose probably wouldn't fall for the same trick twice and Nanoha was beginning to run critically low on mana from the day's nearly continuous fights; she needed a way to work past those whips, and she doubted their either tactic she had just employed would work again. Gazing at the gashes on her hands, she wasn't sure she could use that second method again.

The spots were taking longer to vanish, and suddenly Nanoha realized they weren't due to the effects of the recent impact; she was actually seeing hundreds of incredibly tiny magical spheres, highlighted by the dissipating dust, but they were quickly fading from view again as the smokescreen did. That was how Rose was so expertly anticipating her; a distributed search spell covering the entire area, functioning as sort of a sixth sense by instantly relaying up to the millisecond information on opponent and spell locations.

There were gasps from the audience as the dust cloud began to fade and Nanoha walked out of it, steeling herself to appear unfazed by the numerous gashes over her arms and legs; Rose in particular was taken back, visibly gritting her teeth in frustration. "You need to learn when to lay down and die!"

"I've been dead once," Nanoha commented evenly, leaping back into the sky and meeting Rose's shocked gaze with a haunting look. "You've put up a decent fight, but it's over now; your last attack told me everything I needed to know." To Rose's widening eyes, Nanoha pointed her staff straight down. "Divine Buster!"

Before Rose could figure out what was going on, Nanoha walked her beam around the arena floor, kicking up a an even larger cloud of dust and debris once more, that began to obscure the entire arena. Rose immediately snapped her long range whips at Nanoha's previous location, but the woman was already gone.

"This cheap trick won't stop me!" she cried, going into a spin, her whips flailing outward like a fan, blowing all the dust against the arena shields. "Now where are... above!?" [How did she create a spell that big? No wait... she's sucking my magical pollen sensor net up into that thing!?]

"It's time I show you exactly why I have my nickname," Nanoha declared from behind the large ball of pink magic at the very top of the arena. "Let's see your perfect defense deal with this! Starlight... BREAKER!"

Rose instantly sent both whips up, spiraling in a drill like fashion against the onslaught of magic, but the action was simply overwhelmed and even Rose's hastily formed shields were rapidly destroyed, one after another. The attack finally engulfed the panicking woman, overwhelming her and sending her off to dreamland. The silence was deafening in the aftermath, the entire stadium stunned in response to the sheer display of magical power, as Nanoha managed to catch her unconscious and plummeting adversary. Gently, she laid Rose down on the ground, then stood and raised her heavily cracked staff above her head.

After a considerably delayed moment, the crowd erupted into a massive cheer.

x~~*~~x

"Nanoha!" Sein called, running up to the arena entryway, but her enthusiasm dying when she caught sight of the look in the approaching woman's eyes. "I'm sorry for not being here, but I thought you could... Nanoha?"

"I'm sorry, but I'll need to ask for your assistance," the woman stated in a tired voice, a very small smile on her face, perhaps in satisfaction of making it out of the arena on her own two feet.

Before Sein could question it, Nanoha's eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she fell into the cyborg's arms. "Nanoha!"

Sein began to berate herself for not being here, a sickening feeling forming in her gut as she, shocked at the woman's general haggard appearance. The heavily cracked staff slipped out of Nanoha's grasp and fell to the floor, while blood leaked from her lip and right hand and similar gashes marred her limbs, but that wasn't what worried Sein the most. it was the deepening purplish discoloration spreading along the mage's right side, just visible under the large tears rending her barrier jacket.

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

Fans of Stargate: Atlantis may have caught the reference up there. I do loves me my Stargate references, heh. Also, first use of Victoria Dahlgren in a fanfic! Mwahahahaha! Actually added in after the fact just because of Dezo. ;p One thing that amuses me about this fic, is how I keep trying to add the latest from Force and Vivid chapters as soon as I have information, heh. I don't really need to, but I find it fun to see what I can fit in.^^

Sometimes I wonder if I'm drawing things out a bit on purpose, just because I have no fucking clue how to end this (I'm only half joking, heh).

Anyway, this chapter came out a bit longer, but I had to add something special for Dezo based on his comments before. That particular bit is near the beginning... you should see it. ^_~

[vic-vic]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving, and ended up more stuffed than the Turkey(I know I did x_x). Or got drunk and thus dealing with a hangover today. At any rate, hope no one is out there getting stampeded by the Black Friday crowd!

Instead, how about something to read?

Future Tense

Chapter 24: Bloodsport

In which Nanoha gets exposed to the dirty underground world of illegal mage fighting, while another important discovery is made elsewhere, and Fate makes a choice...

Previous chapters can be found here.

Spoiler for Future Tense, Chapter 24: Bloodsport:

MGLN: Future Tense
Chapter 24: Bloodsport

Xx~~*~~xX

"Winner by knockout, the Starlight Destroyer, Seeeeiiiikouuuuuu!"

Nanoha paused to catch her breath, then raised her hands and waved to the cheering crowd as the arena landscape dissolved around her. Much like the old training grounds where she educated the forwards many years ago, the arena used a holographic system to create the terrain the mages fought over. It usually wasn't much; usually just dirt and rock, with the odd cliff or ruined building, but slightly bigger than the one the forwards trained on next to the sea.

This was Nanoha's second fight of the day, although third in total if she counted the qualifying fight a couple days ago, but the difficulty of her opponents was rapidly increasing. Her latest opponent was easily AAA rank in power, and fairly intelligent, but the fact that she used lightning based attacks meant Nanoha was up against magic she was already very familiar with. Her adversary wouldn't have been a problem at all if Nanoha had access to Raging Heart instead of this crude staff storage device, but Raging Heart was still in self-repair mode and the technician Sein had been able to find was still having trouble locating suitable parts. It didn't help that Raging Heart was a highly advanced Intelligent Device, and thus most parts on the market weren't quite up to par.

"Don't worry, though, because I trust Griez with my life," Sein had said, brimming with confidence. "He performed many repairs on my cyborg parts when I was fighting in the circuit; he's good."

"Another fine show!" Sein congratulated, coming out with a robe, then grinned wryly "But how long do you want to stand there showing off?"

Nanoha turned to stare at her, then looked down and realized her bust was nearly popping out of her modified barrier jacket due to damage, and she quickly and gratefully accepted the robe. She sighed, hating the fact that she had to wear this modified barrier jacket; it almost covered less than Fate's Sonic Form. While the base was her standard Aggressive Mode barrier jacket, they made her shed her outer coat as well as the longer skirt portion that hung down from behind her waist. Also, the ribbon up front apparently had to go, and in its place was a heart-shaped opening that revealed a decent amount of cleavage.

"Advertising!" they had explained gleefully. "A good lookin' woman brings in the crowds, and you need the crowds to make enough bets to earn the money you need, right?"

[Advertising my butt,] Nanoha thought grimly, both figuratively and literally as her mini-skirt was partially tattered. She didn't consider herself too much of a prude, and in combat she normally didn't care about clothing damage that may expose her; that was part of the risk of mage combat, after all. But somehow it felt a bit different when there was a crowd that was openly leering and hoping to see it.

"Thank you," Nanoha let out with a sigh. "For this, and for everything you've done. If it hadn't of been for your information on my opponent for this match...."

Sein grinned. "That's what I'm hear for! Speaking of which, just be glad you don't have her for your manager."

An older-yet-regal looking woman had stomped pat them with a glare, pausing above the fallen body of Nanoha's opponent for a moment before kicking it viciously. "Get up, you lazy daughter of mine! I know you're faking it! Apparently I'll have to double and triple your training again, so you don't dishonor the Dahlgren family name like this. Why, back in my day, I made it far higher than you ever did on the tournament ladder...."

"Ow! Cut it out, MOM," the younger Dahlgren protested, jumping to her feet. "I'm almost 30 years old now, and don't need you to run my life! Besides, you never made it higher than 4th place; or was it 5th?"

The elder Dahlgren furnished her daughter with a slap, then grabbed the younger woman's ear. "Shut up and come along; Don't embarrass me any further!" The mother pulled her daughter towards the arena entrance where Nanoha and Sein had stopped to watch, then paused and shot her daughter's opponent with a glare. "And YOU! Something about you seems familiar, but while you may have won this fight, the Dahlgren 'Thunder Emperor' style will triumph over you next time! Prepare yourself!" She whipped out a fan with her other hand to cover her mouth, laughing as she resumed pulling her daughter along. "Ohohohoho!"

Nanoha stared back at Sein as the laughter receded, then shook her head. "Well, anyway, do you know who my next opponent is and when I have to fight?" The latter was more of a concern to her, as she had to be careful about rationing her mana to handle the ever increasing difficulty of her competitors.

"Yes, but there is something more important you need to see first," Sein announced, leading her down the hall into a private side room and closing the door after, then bringing up a large screen. "This is the recording from Zira's last fight. As you know, there was a normal tournament in progress and Zira just earned her shot at the finals. You're only being allowed in if you win seven special matches, with your eighth being against the other semifinalist... in this case, Zira."

Nanoha nodded, then sat down in one of the padded chairs. "I figured that much. The championship fight is in three days, which means I have three fights today, three fights tomorrow, and the final fight the day after, with the championship later that evening."

"Right, and I've been trying to get you info on your opponents, who have been mages that washed out of the tournament at various points but took this chance to get another shot by beating you," Sein agreed, then started the recording. "All of Zira's opponents, though, were too badly injured to participate in your exhibition matches, and you're about to see why."

Nanoha turned her attention to the show, which was apparently already midway through. Both Zira and her female opponent looked fairly winded already, but Zira was grinning. She then straightened up and held out her hand, making a thumbs-down motion, which seemed to drive the crowd into a frenzy.

"It looks like it's that time again, folks!" the announcer declared enthusiastically. "Both combatants have put on quite a show, but it appears that Zira Rinaldi has just signaled her opponent's defeat; are we about to see the legendary Triple Smash Finisher? No one has yet been able to counter it, so things don't look too good for her opponent, Miry Hart."

Miry merely scowled and immediately charged in, apparently eager to prove everyone wrong; it was almost a rookie mistake, Nanoha decided, since the woman was allowing her emotions to cloud her judgment by letting Zira bait her. Miry flew low to the ground, but Zira seemed unconcerned while she punched the rocky arena floor. Green spikes shot up from the terrain in a manner Nanoha found most familiar, as if attempting to impale Miry, but the young woman wove through them with ease. With a mighty shout, her glowing blue fist smashed into the last few broad spikes that had formed a wall in front of Zira

"One!" the crowd shouted enthusiastically.

As the wall shattered, Nanoha's eyes narrowed while the audience gasped; Zira was no longer there. Instead, she was now floating far above, the spikes continuing to grow, taking up space and forcing Miry higher to avoid them. Yet she continued her assault, flying towards Zira again with glowing fists, but something forced to her stop and put up multiple shields; however, those were sliced up multiple times seconds later and Miry was promptly bound by an almost invisible force.

"Two!" the crowd chanted once again.

[Each one of the spikes is emitting an incredibly thin thread-like bind,] Nanoha deduced by the way Miry's limbs and body showcased multiple indentations from the very fine, yet tough filament.

While the challenger screamed in pain from the threads cutting into her skin, Zira blurred towards her opponent and paused just in front for a split second before finally drawing the sword attached to her waist and swinging twice in quick succession. The afterimage of an X-shaped magic strike hung in the air for a very short moment. However, Nanoha couldn't get the most disturbing aspect out of her mind:

Miry's wide-eyed sightless stare coupled with her mouth dropping wide open in a soundless scream, as if she was experiencing something absolutely terrifying.

The crowd leapt to their feet. "Three!"

Then it was over, and after a brief pause during which Zira canceled the thread-bind, Miry's body fell helplessly to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Zira was promptly announced to be the winner, without even waiting to see if Miry would get up; apparently it was obvious to all that she wouldn't. Sein picked that moment to pause the recording.

"What happened?" Nanoha wondered aloud. "An attack like that shouldn't have taken her out; at best, her auto-barrier and barrier jacket would have absorbed most of the damage."

Sein rewound the video to the moment just before impact. "That's what I thought, too. But look closely at what happens just before Zira's strike."

She zoomed the camera view in, then let it go forward in slow motion again. While it was a bit blurry, Nanoha watched as a strange, yet familiar, green portal appeared on Miry's chest a split second before the attack hit... and a hand emerge from it holding a small glowing object; Miry's linker core. Glancing over, Nanoha realized that, while Zira was pulling her sword out with her right hand, her left hand had sunk wrist deep into an identical green portal.

Nanoha stared at Sein. "The attack... Zira temporarily removed Miry's linker core, preventing her from using magic to shield herself at all, and the blast struck it directly. There's no telling what kind of damage was done; Miry will be lucky if she can even use most of her magic!"

"It took me several viewings to catch that," the cyborg admitted, all traces of humor gone from her voice. "This isn't the DSAA; there is a reason these fights are technically illegal, because anything goes. There are no rules, other than the winner is the last one standing."

Nanoha reflexively raised a hand to her chest, remembering the maddening pain of when her own linker core was temporarily removed from her body. It was only through sheer force of will driven by the fact that her friends were counting on her that she managed to finish her Starlight Breaker at all. In fact, if she hadn't prepared the spell in advance, nor had Raging Heart primed to release it, she probably couldn't have pulled it off at all.

"If you face her, you can't let her get close, and you have to keep on the move," Sein explained, more serious that Nanoha had ever seen the nun. "What I showed you was just the ending, but Zira also assaults her enemy's linker core multiple times throughout the fight, usually to paralyze the target before a strike. Also, figuring she was going to be your opponent, I took the liberty of having Tony dig up some data on her. I found out who her mother was, and more importantly, the people who trained her mother and thus most likely passed those techniques down to her; but you can probably already guess."

Sein tossed a datapad onto the table beside Nanoha, who picked it up and scanned the contents; just as she feared, her suspicions were correct.

x~~*~~x

Nanoha wrapped a towel around her body as she stepped out of the showers in the girl's locker room. She had just finished her third and final fight, and it hadn't exactly been a cake walk. She wasn't exactly going into the fight fresh, and her opponent this time had managed to land several painful attacks; apparently, these tournament fighters hadn't learned the meaning of stun magic.

Sein had left to investigate some things, but Nanoha wasn't worried; the cyborg could take care of herself. Not only due to her own IS abilities, but the fact that she was much more experienced in this world that Nanoha was. That point stood out even more starkly when she found her competition waiting for her at her locker, and the look in those eyes promised it wouldn't be a pleasant chat; for a moment, Nanoha even thought the woman would attack her.

"Impressive performance you put on out there," Zira commented neutrally, tanned arms crossed against her smallish chest. "Adaptive binds to suit the situation, and then a powerful knockout blow."

Nanoha didn't bat an eye as she opened her locker to get her clothes. "You, too. I saw your last fight."

"I have a lifetime career of 63 wins and 2 losses," Zira informed her, and Nanoha got the impression it wasn't an idle boast. "I've had to work my way up from the bottom of the dregs, and I won't let anyone take away the prize that is rightfully mine. If you want to fight a few more times, that's up to you. But if you've seen my match, then you know what happens to those that stand against me. If you promise to lose, I won't injure you... too badly."

Nanoha finally turned and met the other woman's harsh gaze with a sympathetic and understanding one. "It's very clear that you intend to win. But why is it so important to you?"

Zira clearly hadn't been expecting that question, but her short moment of surprise quickly passed to be replaced by anger as she slammed a fist against the lockers. "That's not something you need to know. The important thing is that you either step down or get hurt. It's up to you."

"I do know one other thing, however," Nanoha revealed calmly. "The magic spells you used are dangerous; they were intended for a horrible purpose, and misusing them to harm people wouldn't be something the original owners of those techniques would approve of."

The taller woman laughed derisively. "What would you know about it?"

"Do the names 'Zafira' and 'Shamal' mean anything to you or your mother?" Nanoha questioned, noting instantly by Zira's widened eyes that she was correct after all. "I'm even guessing you were named after your mother's teacher."

Zira's face went through an interesting mix of interesting emotions, most prominent being anger and annoyance. "I don't care what you know; I use my magic the way I want. The only thing you need to concern yourself with is dropping out of this tournament before something bad happens to you. Think about it."

She turned on her heel and strode out after that while Nanoha watched her go, noting that there seemed to be something more behind the tough facade, but couldn't figure out what; Zira almost seemed too desperate. She glanced down at the clothes in her locker and began to get dressed, wondering what it was that drove the woman, but the reasons why still eluded her.

x~~*~~x

Fate wandered into the device lab, noticing the two identical triangles, one gold and one light blue, floating in individual containers. She paid more attention to the gold one, feeling a bit relieved that it appeared to be whole, lacking the cracks and missing chunks it had when she saw it several days ago. The sight brought triggered a pang in her heart.

"I'm sorry, Bardiche," she spoke softly. "You were hurt because you were protecting me, because I fought with Nanoha."

"Ah, you're here," Marial's voice came from a side room, the head scientist entering the room shortly thereafter. "We've done as much as we could for Bardiche, but there were a few unresolvable errors that necessitated wiping of data and installation of new code and parts. It won't be quite the same, and I feel it's at the end of it's productive life. You can still use it, but it won't be able to keep up in serious combat. However, the new device next to it, codenamed 'Vulnificus' has been built from the ground up to accommodate your full powers. It's up to you as to which one to take."

Fate glanced back and forth between the two; if she fought Nanoha again, it was obvious she wouldn't be able to win with Bardiche alone, but she was reluctant to toss aside the friend she had fought with all these years. Yet, if she did take Bardiche again, she'd be admitting that she couldn't fight Nanoha, and thus turning her back on 50 years of choices that led her to this point.

"I couldn't..." Fate found herself whispering.

"Well, it's up to you, but you have to be careful to use the right tools for the job or could find them failing you in a critical moment, and I'm sure neither one of us wants that," Marial stated, right before a chime sounded from the next room."Oh, excuse me, I have to handle something, but I'll be back in a bit. Take your time."

Fate glanced up as the woman left, feeling an odd chill. [Something...] She immediately dismissed the thought even before it formed, and returned to her earlier dilemma, wrestling the choice before her. [Why did we have to fight, though? Why couldn't we work things out? Why couldn't Nanoha see that she was on the wrong side? I'm not wrong! The Bureau has done a lot of good, and you're threatening to undo all that!]

"Too many individual freedoms have been lost by the Bureau forcing it's will on the people."

[It's for their own good!] Fate countered against Nanoha's voice in her head, almost hating herself for taking this position, but she didn't know why.

"Have you been out there yourself, and really seen what things are like? Not as an Enforcer Commander, but as a normal person."

At that time, Fate avoided the question. [What would being out there as a normal person prove? I've been out plenty of times; I know how things are. It's a bit rough, but things will get better.]

She shook her head; somehow, it didn't seem as convincing as it once did. She gazed at the two devices, her heart and mind in conflict. She knew the logical choice was to take the new device so she could be at her best. No matter what she felt, she couldn't let emotions sway her decision; that was why she could fight Nanoha. That's why Nanoha could fight her. Her hand reached out to grab her choice, but then paused for unknown reasons.

[Why?] Fate questioned, distressed at her trembling hand. [It's a simple choice! The same ones I've made all this time!]

Almost growling, she made her choice, and then turned and left the room quickly.

"Fate, I'm..." Marial's voice trailed off as she came back and saw the room was empty, then her lips turned upwards into a smile when she noticed the device containers.

Both of them were empty.

x~~*~~x

[Another day...] Nanoha thought to herself as she dodged a hail of magical bullets from her crazed adversary. [Another fight.] He was her first one today, the fourth in her series of special matches to qualify for the championship match, and after a good night's sleep, she was ready for more.

As she twisted through the air, expertly dodging most of them and shielding against the rest, she contented herself with letting her opponent burn through his mana while conserving as much of her own as possible; she needed to make it last throughout the day. It helped that the tactic was popular with the crowds, as it lengthened the fight, drawing the conclusion out. Her handlers were quite pleased at the increased entertainment factor, too.

However, she couldn't say the same about her current opponent.

"Playing hard to get, bay-bee?" he taunted, pausing in the air and licking his lips while continuing to pelt Nanoha with magical rain in an almost machine-gun-like fashion. "Ooh, I like it when they struggle!"

Nanoha sighed while dodging behind some rocky outcroppings for a moment's peace, trying to shove his visual appearance out of her mind; nose rings, earrings, lips rings, a mohawk, facial paint, spiked shoulder pads.... His "post-apocalyptic biker" look was quite distinctive, but according to Sein, this guy who went by the moniker "Chuckles" was more notorious for his... ways with women. Already he had spent most of the match detailing what he planned to do to her unconscious body, if it was still in one piece that is; or at least if there was enough of the right pieces still intact. Nanoha didn't let the psychological warfare tactics faze her, though; it probably worked on some of his female opponents, but not on her.

However, there were other aspects of his that did present a problem, most notable being his Armed Device; no sooner had Nanoha put the several meter thick rock between her and her opponent, then it was instantly shattered by a large metal ball covered with short spikes. It rammed her right side and pushed through two other rock formations, and when she finally came to a stop, the spiked ball erupted with dozens of magic shots at point blank range before finally retreating. Nanoha pulled herself upright, stumbling a bit as pain shot through her side; the attack apparently had barrier penetrating qualities, and thus she had taken an almost-full blow to her body.

His Armed Device consisted of a ball and chain, wherein the ball was a few times times larger than his head and covered in short spikes and the chain was easily expandable, much like Levantein's snake form. Despite it's seemingly unwieldy nature, Chuckles was rather quick with it, adapting it for short or long range combat, even using it to disperse straight magical attacks like her earlier attempt at a Divine Buster. Combined with his magical bullets that were fired in volleys much like her own MG Shooter, but thankfully unguided, he was proving to be quite a troublesome adversary.

Chuckles feigned confusion. "What's the matter, bay-bee? Was I too rough for you?"

However, Nanoha judged she had learned enough now, and pointed the basic staff weapon at him. "If you like it rough, I can oblige."

His leering grin reappeared as Nanoha prepared an Axel Shooter volley, which he answered with one of his own. Carefully controlling them to shoot down each one of his shots, she stood her ground and fired a Divine Buster immediately after. As expected, his swung his weapon straight at it, sending it right down Nanoha's beam and dispersing the attack.

"I thought you learned earlier that doesn't wor...huh?" Chuckles started to say, before his ever-present grin faded.

Nanoha had ceased firing and dodged just enough that the steel ball whizzed passed her, then jammed her staff down on the chain, pinning it to the rocky ground with both of the staff's prongs. There was bind magic in her move, so despite him frantically tugging on it, the weapon wouldn't return. Nanoha raised her right hand, pink magic swirling around her wrist.

"This particular spell is great for cooling the heads of those who get too worked up," she stated evenly as she fired the first volley of her own Crossfire Shoot.

Chuckles tried to drop his weapon, but promptly found that Nanoha's bind spell had worked itself up the chain and now held his wrist firmly in place. His eyes widened in shock a second before Nanoha's attack hit his hastily formed shield, followed closely by a second shot from the index finger on her left hand. The shield and bind spells eventually broke as Nanoha continued, alternating shots from each finger, batting the now helpless opponent around like a pinball. As he slammed into the shields encasing the arena, Nanoha pulled the staff back out, took aim, and finished it with another Divine Buster then sent her opponent to dreamland. Chuckles dropped like a rock, but Nanoha took a bit of pity on him and slowed his descent with a floater field.

The crowd erupted into a mighty cheer as the announcer's voice, normally muted to the combatants during a match, finally echoed through the arena now that the match was over. "Once again, a stunning display of power and skill by Seikou! Be here in two hours, for her next match, folks. Will she triumph over the deadly Togu? Or will this be the end of the Starlight Destroyer's rise? Tune in and see!"

Nanoha glanced around, noting that Sein normally came out at this time, but she was nowhere to be seen. Instead, after waving to the crowd, Nanoha headed back to the woman's locker room to freshen up and recover before the next match, but paused just outside upon hearing voices within.

"...you think you're doing?" Zira's voice rang out. "Just because you're my manager, doesn't mean you can stalk me in here!"

"And here I thought we were more to each other," the man replied in an almost false suave manner. "After all, we-"

Zira cut him off, irately responding, "That was then! I told you I'm just doing this last tournament for the prize money, and no more!"

"You still using that lame crap reason about paying for your daughter's operation?" her manager questioned with disbelief. "You should rid of the runt-"

A sharp slapping sound echoed into the hallway.

"OUR daughter, Grenn!" Zira yelled angrily. "But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at that attitude. It's your fault she's like that. One more fight, this championship, and I'm done! Now get OUT!"

The sound of steps gradually grew in volume indicating that one of them was heading towards the exit, which turned about to be the manager, Grenn, but he paused and spoke again before reaching the exit. "You NEED me, Zira! Who else do you think is going to protect and hide you from the Bureau? You leave, and neither you nor your daughter will be safe. Think about that!"

Nanoha quickly hopped upand plastered herself to the hallway ceiling as the manager exited the locker room and strode down the hall, glad that he hadn't glanced up. But as Nanoha landed and entered, debating on what to say to Zira, she didn't quite get the chance when she nearly bumped into the woman upon turning a corner of lockers.

"Out of my way!" Zira groused, shoving the other woman aside as she pushed past.

"Zira, I-" Nanoha started to say, but the other woman ignored her and was soon gone.

Spirits dropping, Nanoha walked back to her locker to get dressed, realizing that the situation had just become much more complicated, and she wasn't sure what to do about it.

x~~*~~x

Givo yawned and attempted to stretch in his small hiding place within a wall, and then glanced back at the monitor that was tapped into the surveillance system, but noting that Quattro was still in her quarters following her normal routine of reading before bed. He didn't really need to do this, as his own magical senses would tell him which direction the cyborg was in, but watching might also give him a clue as to what she was up to.

Unfortunately, there had been nothing out of the ordinary ever since he had started following her, several days ago. She'd get up and make her rounds, talking to various department heads or otherwise playing around in her lab, before heading back to bed. He was beginning to doubt she was up to anything at all, but the deal he had with Teana could free Layla and the other prisoners as well as himself, so it was a shot he had to take. If nothing else, he might be able to learn enough of the system to free them himself.

[Maybe I should just escape myself; I could probably manage,] he had often thought to himself, almost preferring being a lone wolf. But Layla had been kind to him, and he felt a bit guilty about leaving them behind, so the least he could do was try this.

After focusing his senses, he did a double-take at the monitor, but Quattro was still shown sitting on the couch reading a magazine. However, his magical sense clearly indicated that her position had shifted; what was going on? Was this how she tricked everyone else, by somehow manipulating the surveillance feed? He didn't know, but he quickly extricated himself from his hole in the wall and sprinted down past her quarters, following his senses.

Quattro was descending now, so he found an elevator and took it down, weaving through hallways once he reached the bottom. After several minutes of pursuit closing in on his target, he heard three low distinctive tones, and then turned a corner to find Quattro passing through a dead end at the far terminus of the hall. He waited for her to fully pass through, then tiptoed up to do the same, but only found a very solid wall obstructing his path.

[A secret room, obviously, but there has to be some trick for entry,] he deduced, running his hands across the cool, smooth metal plate of the dead end, but nothing stood out. [Those tones... perhaps some kind of trigger? Did she have a secret device with her that allows access to the hidden room?] He couldn't rule it out, which made it all the more frustrating; how was he supposed to pursue her if he didn't have the same device? Did he have to give up and get Teana involved? He decided against that; that woman wanted proof, and Givo needed the evidence to free Layla and the others. [Three tones....]

He paused, glancing at the lights attached to the sides of the hallways and was struck by the number; there were three on each side. Curious, he reached up and touched one, surprised when it made a sound much like a musical note that lasted for several seconds. Confirming his forming hunch, he tapped the other five, also getting different notes. A slow smile spread across his face, and recalling what he heard, he was able to find the correct three and then touch the wall, grin growing wider as his hand passed through.

[Bingo!] he thought in jubilation as he quickly phased through. [The tones must trigger the wall to become non-solid.] It also apparently blocked sound, for once he was through, he began to hear voices.

"...adjust the y-factor by 0.023%," a male voice was saying, as Givo carefully moved close in the darkness, trying to avoid looking at the naked floating women in the yellow tubes and instead crouching down behind the boxes of some computer equipment. "Now then, shall we try this again? Unless you'd like to be more cooperative now."

Givo could see the speaker, but not who that person was addressing.

"By all means, don't let me keep you from your work," came a lighter male voice in response.

x~~*~~x

"I truly do regret this," Jail admitted with a note of false regret in his tone. "We're all scientists here of one type or another; we should be able to have a conversation about such topics. It's only the sharing of ideas that science progresses."

"Maybe some other time," Yuuno replied drily, his wrists and ankles still clamped to the hi-tech chair and a helmet covering his head. "You've done enough playing with science, between clones and cyborgs. Some things man shouldn't attempt to play with."

"And yet you are planning to do so," the doctor accused, grinning when his point hit the mark. "Quite hypocritical. Ah well, the devices I have created to download information from cyborg brains only needs a few more adjustments before I can make it work on human brains. If this fails, I can still make a cyborg clone of you to get the information I seek, or even create a unison device that can take over your mind and body. However, both of those options will take considerably longer."

"My heart bleeds," Yuuno retorted drily. "This may sound cliche, but you won't get away with this. Your predecessor failed, too, despite all his planning. Although I am a bit surprised that you were even using him."

The doctor shrugged. "What can I say? He must have become frail in his old age, having given up taking control and seeking to somehow amend for past actions. I won't make the same mistakes. I've debated going back in time to take his place to keep the cradle and the key, but that would be quite the literal Grandfather Paradox, wouldn't it? Hahaha!"

Yuuno resisted the urge to join in laughing at Jail's little joke, but before he could respond, something else got their attention.

"Hey, let mmmm!"

Quattro appeared from behind a computer rack, cyborg arms firmly holding a struggling young boy, a hand clamped over his mouth. "Look what I found! I apologize, doctor, I didn't think anyone followed me."

"Hmm, interesting, who do we have here?" Jail wondered, turning his attention to the pair. "Some stray rat? I don't recognize him."

In the next instant, white binds snapped into place around Quattro's body. "Hey, you little ru-OW!"

As he slipped out of the cyborg's grasp, he turned on his heel and smacked her in the face with a magical bullet, knocking her into Due, and then bolted from the room as the two women went down in a tangle of arms and legs.

"I'll kill him!" Quattro growled as Due disentangled herself from her sister and destroyed the binds with her claws.

"I'd like him alive if possible, to find out who he is with and what he knows!" Jail ordered as his two cyborgs took off in pursuit.

"I can't promise anything!" came Quattro's echoing voice.

Jail sighed, then turned back to Yuuno. "Kids these days; what can you do? Now where were we...."

x~~*~~x

Nanoha winced as her opponent's weapon, a three-section nunchuck, smacked against her sore right side, still tender from her clash with Chuckles. But she grit her teeth through the pain and clamped her arm down on it, trapping the weapon. In return, the lean and well-muscled martial artist began to spin on his left foot, bringing his right up to kick her away; however, Nanoha was hugging her staff under her left arm with a firm grip, thrusting it up against his stomach. The kick painfully struck her left arm at the same instant she fired.

"Divine Buster!" she managed to shout, the two adversaries being flung away from each other through different means.

Nanoha was disheartened to see her current challenger, the highly skilled martial artist mage Togu, stand up again and light brush the dust off his body, seemingly unhurt, while she was inwardly battling the pain as she regained her own feet. In addition to his quick movements, he had a keen eye for weaknesses and had already identified Nanoha's right side as one, making it a point to strike there repeatedly.

And for once, Nanoha found herself distracted enough that her opponent was managing to work through her guard; she had allowed her mind to drift again, and it had cost her. Better than anyone else she knew the dangers of letting the mind get unfocused during combat; it was something she had drilled into her students enough.

But she couldn't get that conversation out of her head, the one she overheard between Zira and Grenn. However, knowing what other woman was fighting for now didn't do her a lot of good, since she hadn't had a chance to talk to her, nor figure out exactly what to do about it. Zira wanted to win to get the prize money for her daughter, but Nanoha needed to win to procure transport back to Mid-Childa. She had considered dropping out or losing and trying again, but the next tournament was months away, which would be too late.

The only other option, almost unmentionable, made her skin crawl.

"So you do feel pain," Togu stated, his tone indicating satisfied curiosity. "It seems the rumors of your near-invincibility were greatly exaggerated. I, however, have trained myself to ignore pain, and thus can fight past my limits, far beyond any normal human."

"Feeling pain is a good thing; it lets us know we're alive, and reminds us our limits are there for a reason," Nanoha replied evenly, bracing her legs and pointing her staff. "They shouldn't be broken for minor things. It seems like I have another lesson to give in regards to overdoing it."

[Although I might have to overdo it a little myself,] Nanoha added silently to herself, hoping her staff could take the extra magic she'd need to force it to regulate. [Even though I wanted to conserve as much mana as possible for my third fight today. I really could have used some more info from Sein before this fight; the little bit she left for this guy isn't much.]

Togu shook his head, making a show of twirling his weapon around his body before assuming his own attack stance, a small smile on his face. "I had a feeling you were holding back, but you will have to face me at your full strength, if you want a chance to defeat me!"

Nanoha gripped her staff tighter, clearing her mind and beginning the preparations for what she had to do next. "As you wish," she replied, leaping into the sky and firing off a large volley of magic orbs.

He appeared calm as he launched into the air straight at her, whipping his weapon around to smack most of the missiles, but the rest exploded near him into a mass of binding chains. But Nanoha kept her firing rate up, smacking him with shot after shot before winding up her next spell.

"Strike Stars!" She cried, a large beam accompanied the next salvo of orbs that drove him into the ground and cratered the ground, a couple of cracks appearing on the staff under the strain.

"I... will not..." he sputtered, amazingly trying to rise once more, but Nanoha released another Divine Buster while flying straight down at him.

And then a second. And a third. And a fourth, before finally landing next to him and whacking him across the back of the head, which finally did the trick.

"Winner by knockout once more, the Starlight Destroyer, Seeeeiiiikouuuuuu!"

Nanoha blew out a breath and waved, then headed towards the arena exit, expecting to find Sein, but seeing someone else instead; a man in a suit, eyes hidden by shades, who was smiling lightly at her. She recognized him as one of her handlers.

"Keep your seats for the short intermission, folks!" the announced continued as she reached him. "Seikou's next fight will be in 15 minutes!"

Nanoha spun to face the man, the aches in her body protesting. "What? My last fight was supposed to be later this evening! Where's my manager?"

"She's busy on assignment," he told her with a sneer. "And the deal was for you to fight three times today; it didn't say when. Of course, you can always drop out now...."

Nanoha grit her teeth and resisted the urge to blast him; she had counted having at least a few hours to rest and recuperate her mana between matches, but it felt like they pushed up this fight so she would be even more disadvantaged. "Fine."

She'd just have to get through it, but where was Sein?

x~~*~~x

The cyborg glanced up, feeling a slight chill, which was odd because it wasn't particularly chilly and her body regulated heat well enough that she was rarely, if ever, cold. [I really hate leaving Nanoha without a word like this. But she should be okay without me.]

"Sein?" came the voice over her ear communicator. "Everyone else is in place."

The #6 cyborg shook her head. "I'm ready, beginning the operation now."

As she dove for the wall, her Deep Diver IS activating almost automatically, she hoped Nanoha was alright.

x~~*~~x

Nanoha inwardly cursed as the thorny whips left more scrapes and lacerations across her body, executing a second Flash Move to back out of range. But she was left bewildered at how Rose, her third and final opponent for the day, had managed to so accurately trace her first Flash Move; no sooner had she appeared behind her adversary, then the whips were there, almost moving of their own accord to seek her out.

"Everyone admires the beauty of the Rose, but few can withstand its thorns," her pink-haired opponent declared, working her twin whips in circles. "None can get past my perfect defense."

Nanoha wiped the blood from a scratch on her cheek and gripped her staff tighter, trying to figure out Rose's secret. Like the other woman had just taunted, those twin whips were simultaneously functioning as both offense and defense; Rose expertly used them to disperse long magic attacks like Nanoha's Axel Shooter bullets and he Divine Buster beam, while also preventing her from getting close for a melee strike. It was much like Levantein's snakeform times two.

[If only I had Raging Heart, I could pump enough mana through spells to break through her defenses,] Nanoha cursed inwardly, beginning to pant heavily. [I need to do something about those whips. And I can't let this go on; I've used up too much mana today already.] She winced and held her right side, welcoming the dull throbbing of pain that had been antagonized greatly last fight; she'd only begin to worry when she could no longer feel that section of her body. [But I need to get past her defenses with what I have left. Maybe...]

Rose smirked and shook her head when Nanoha charged straight for her. "Don't you ever learn? You can't reach me!"

Nanoha fired several shots which she guided to come in at varying angles, and as expected, Rose expertly twirled her long whips to strike each bullet. As the distance closed and the whips changed direction to come straight for her, Nanoha switched spells.

"Sacred Cluster!" she called, firing a volley into the small openings.

True to form, the whips changed course smashed the new bullets and then snared Nanoha's arms and legs. However, Rose was caught off-guard when the fractured pieces of the supposedly destroyed bullets homed in on her from close range, where they detonated.

"Bitch!" Rose spat, managing to hold onto Nanoha with her whips despite the attack tearing gashes in her barrier jacket.

She promptly slammed her captured quarry against the arena shields and then down onto the rocky floor, kicking up a large amount of dust that obscured each combatant's view of the other. Rose tugged on her lashes to pull Nanoha back up for another few rounds, but was puzzled when they held fast.

Spots appeared in Nanoha's vision while a red stain slowly spread along her right gloved hand, but she had managed to hold onto both thorny whips. Her feet were braced horizontally against a large section of rock, providing the brace against Rose's attempts to pull her whips back up.

Nanoha took aim and fired. "Divine Buster!"

While neither one could see the other due to the dust smokescreen, Nanoha could trace her aim in the direction the taunt whips were coming from. Rose was barely able to put up a shield in time, although, the force of the beam's impact began rending parts of her barrier jacket. Still, her defenses held and she managed to slip her whips out of her enemy's hand by retracting the thorns as Nanoha's spell died down.

Nnaoha pulled herself from her crater, albeit with some difficulty, and shook her head to clear the spots in her vision, wondering what would she could do next. She had managed to hit her opponent finally, but Rose probably wouldn't fall for the same trick twice and Nanoha was beginning to run critically low on mana from the day's nearly continuous fights; she needed a way to work past those whips, and she doubted their either tactic she had just employed would work again. Gazing at the gashes on her hands, she wasn't sure she could use that second method again.

The spots were taking longer to vanish, and suddenly Nanoha realized they weren't due to the effects of the recent impact; she was actually seeing hundreds of incredibly tiny magical spheres, highlighted by the dissipating dust, but they were quickly fading from view again as the smokescreen did. That was how Rose was so expertly anticipating her; a distributed search spell covering the entire area, functioning as sort of a sixth sense by instantly relaying up to the millisecond information on opponent and spell locations.

There were gasps from the audience as the dust cloud began to fade and Nanoha walked out of it, steeling herself to appear unfazed by the numerous gashes over her arms and legs; Rose in particular was taken back, visibly gritting her teeth in frustration. "You need to learn when to lay down and die!"

"I've been dead once," Nanoha commented evenly, leaping back into the sky and meeting Rose's shocked gaze with a haunting look. "You've put up a decent fight, but it's over now; your last attack told me everything I needed to know." To Rose's widening eyes, Nanoha pointed her staff straight down. "Divine Buster!"

Before Rose could figure out what was going on, Nanoha walked her beam around the arena floor, kicking up a an even larger cloud of dust and debris once more, that began to obscure the entire arena. Rose immediately snapped her long range whips at Nanoha's previous location, but the woman was already gone.

"This cheap trick won't stop me!" she cried, going into a spin, her whips flailing outward like a fan, blowing all the dust against the arena shields. "Now where are... above!?" [How did she create a spell that big? No wait... she's sucking my magical pollen sensor net up into that thing!?]

"It's time I show you exactly why I have my nickname," Nanoha declared from behind the large ball of pink magic at the very top of the arena. "Let's see your perfect defense deal with this! Starlight... BREAKER!"

Rose instantly sent both whips up, spiraling in a drill like fashion against the onslaught of magic, but the action was simply overwhelmed and even Rose's hastily formed shields were rapidly destroyed, one after another. The attack finally engulfed the panicking woman, overwhelming her and sending her off to dreamland. The silence was deafening in the aftermath, the entire stadium stunned in response to the sheer display of magical power, as Nanoha managed to catch her unconscious and plummeting adversary. Gently, she laid Rose down on the ground, then stood and raised her heavily cracked staff above her head.

After a considerably delayed moment, the crowd erupted into a massive cheer.

x~~*~~x

"Nanoha!" Sein called, running up to the arena entryway, but her enthusiasm dying when she caught sight of the look in the approaching woman's eyes. "I'm sorry for not being here, but I thought you could... Nanoha?"

"I'm sorry, but I'll need to ask for your assistance," the woman stated in a tired voice, a very small smile on her face, perhaps in satisfaction of making it out of the arena on her own two feet.

Before Sein could question it, Nanoha's eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she fell into the cyborg's arms. "Nanoha!"

Sein began to berate herself for not being here, a sickening feeling forming in her gut as she, shocked at the woman's general haggard appearance. The heavily cracked staff slipped out of Nanoha's grasp and fell to the floor, while blood leaked from her lip and right hand and similar gashes marred her limbs, but that wasn't what worried Sein the most. it was the deepening purplish discoloration spreading along the mage's right side, just visible under the large tears rending her barrier jacket.

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

Fans of Stargate: Atlantis may have caught the reference up there. I do loves me my Stargate references, heh. Also, first use of Victoria Dahlgren in a fanfic! Mwahahahaha! Actually added in after the fact just because of Dezo. ;p One thing that amuses me about this fic, is how I keep trying to add the latest from Force and Vivid chapters as soon as I have information, heh. I don't really need to, but I find it fun to see what I can fit in.^^

Sometimes I wonder if I'm drawing things out a bit on purpose, just because I have no fucking clue how to end this (I'm only half joking, heh).

Anyway, this chapter came out a bit longer, but I had to add something special for Dezo based on his comments before. That particular bit is near the beginning... you should see it. ^_~

Ororo, Nanoha got injected by some type of poison? Still very nice combat sequences.

Can`t help but feel sorry for younger Dahlgren - she just can`t have a rest not from nanoha, nor from her own mother.

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by spawnofthejudge

Three years running winning Nanowrimo.

Hey, congrats for winning again! Sounds like you had a lot of fun with it. ^^

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Okay, I just e-mailed you the Big Review, but I just had to mention this part in public because I thought it was so fragging brilliant. This was, quite literally, the first time ever that I have seen a fiction author, fan or otherwise, treat revenge as not being an all-or-nothing affair, but as having a positive emotional effect that's not "it makes it all feel all right." That one can still feel the pain of loss and suffering, and yet still feel a little bit better from making those who hurt a person suffer in return.

Yes, I got the Big Review, thank you!

Wow, thanks for pointing that out...I really hadn't thought about it before, I just wanted to add more depth to Raven's motives and character .

I thought Part 11 did that nicely for most people. I mean, hey, kick both Fate and Nanoha in the privates will do that!

Well, for those who are still willing to give Hayate a second chance! I'll see how far I can push sympathetic readers, MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

[Moczo]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

This is a 2 chapter post.

Day in the Life

Chapters 44 and 45

Spoiler for All Good Things:

"Those streamers should go over there!" Hayate yelled at the decorators and sighed as she put her left hand to her forehead, trying to stave off an oncoming headache. "Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have waited until now."

"How's it going, Hayate-chan?" She turned and smiled wanely at Nanoha. "Need help?" Darn it, did she have to be so beautiful when she was concerned? Oh well, she was happy, that was all that really mattered in the long run.

Hayate shook her head to clear out any negative thoughts that were trying to form. "Maybe if you had some asprin and knew how to give massages, I've got a hell of a headache forming right now." She wasn't even trying to start anything, Hayate really did have a bad headache forming.

Nanoha sighed and moved Hayate over to a chair and made her sit down. "Really, I thought you were... Wow." Nanoha blinked as she put her hands against Hayate's shoulders. "You really are tense, aren't you?"

"Nnnmmmhmm..." Hayate moaned softly as Nanoha's thumbs threaded into her muscles, working and relaxing the tension away. "When did..."

"Subaru taught me." Nanoha giggled softly. "Anyway, Hayate-chan, are things going alright?"

"Ugh, your mom and Lindy-san are helping out, but it's so much to get ready, we need the catering company to make a big enough cake, we had to rent out this dance hall, Carim's letting us use the church to have the wedding and I'm getting swamped by reporters asking me for any details about your wedding." Hayate took a breath and groaned as Nanoha's fingers worked on her neck. "Aahhhhooowww..."

"Sorry." Nanoha stopped when Hayate let out that groan of pain. "You got a really hard knot next to your spine, that's not good, Hayate-chan."

"I know." Hayate nodded slightly and Nanoha continued to work on the tension in her neck. "Anyway, how did your mother put up with this when she got married?"

"Mom had a small wedding, and she wasn't a celebrity back on Earth." Nanoha smiled at her friend. "Besides, while the wedding will be big, the reception won't be, and you did really, really great getting all this put together in only a couple of weeks."

Hayate smiled at that. Her family was finally out of the hospital, though Vita still complained about her skin hurting and Signum still moved slowly at times, though most of her cuts had faded and healed due to Shamal's healing efforts. Zafira was moving just fine, which was something she was thankful for. She hated seeing her family hurting so much.

"Why'd you change your minds to have the wedding on Mid-Childa?" Hayate asked as Nanoha worked to her shoulder blades, before stopping to punch a rather large and stubborn knot just under her right shoulderblade.

"Sorry about that." Nanoha went back to massaging the knot out of her friend's back. "Fate talked to Yuuno and I about it, and we decided that if we were going to have a media circus about our wedding anyway, we might as well have it here, on Mid-Childa, rather than somewhere else."

Nanoha pulled her hands away from Hayate's back and smiled as her friend rolled her shoulders. "Feel better?"

Rolling her neck as she rolled her shoulders, Hayate let out a small groan of satisfaction. "Yeah... Feels like butter." She sighed as she saw someone knock over a stack of chairs. "Those decorations go on the north side." She pointed at someone who was trying to stack some decorations up. "Those go over here!"

"Hayate-chan." Nanoha put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Need my help?"

Hayate smiled at her and nodded. "Please. So, Fate-chan and Yuuno-kun convinced you to have the wedding here?" Nanoha nodded as they went and moved some decorations around and Hayate giggled softly. "Seems that the media's going to have a field day with this one."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Nanoha grimaced as she remembered some of the tabloids she had seen. "Some magazines are putting up false rumors that my feelings for Yuuno aren't as strong as they are for Fate."

"The ones that said you having his children was the worst thing to happen to Mid-Childa and how there's no way you would have his children?" Hayate blushed softly at Nanoha's questioning look. "I get a lot of magazines at work. Kind of stupid, to be honest. I don't know what those people are smoking."

"Yeah. I nearly went to the magazine publisher and dropped a Divine Buster on their heads." Nanoha grumbled, seriously, how could those people get away with what they wrote about Yuuno and her relationship with him and Fate?

It made her... Well, she was sure that Yuuno didn't complain when she got home after shopping that day, she sure didn't.

Hayate blinked, then gave Nanoha a flat look as her friend went from angry to blushing. "I don't want you to start thinking about the fun times that you had with Fate-chan and Yuuno-kun when you're supposed to be working with me, Nanoha-chan."

"Nyahahahaha!" Nanoha stuck her tongue out as she continued to move decorations around. "Sorry about that."

Hayate rolled her eyes, it was rather fun teasing her friend.

(---)

"Fate-mama?" Vivio looked at the woman, who was slightly spaced out. "Are you okay?" When Fate turned to her, she smiled at her mother. "You seem distracted."

"Sorry." Fate smiled as she looked at Vivio. "I was just thinking, I'm still not sure what name I should take."

Vivio blinked a few times. "I thought Fate-mama was going to take Testarossa-Harlaown-Takamachi-Scrya? Nanoha-mama said she was going to take be Takamachi-Harlaown-Scrya and Yuuno-papa said that he was going to take Takamachi-Harlaown-Scrya as his name. But then Nanoha-mama said that he didn't need to, but Yuuno-papa said that he should, because it's not fair to Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama and..."

"Eh?" Fate sweat-dropped at Vivio, before gasping slightly. "Isamu!" She ran across the room and grabbed the baby, who was trying to crawl out the door. "You can't go outside just yet." She sighed softly and closed the door, wondering how it got open.

"NA!" Isamu grunted and kicked his little legs up and down. "NI!"

Fate smiled softly and touched him on the nose. "Sorry, Isamu, but you can't go outside, not just yet." It was still a touch chilly to let the babies go outside freely, at least for Fate's peace of mind.

The boy just grunted and kicked his legs in the air futilely.

Vivio giggled as she watched Fate put Isamu down on the ground and let him crawl around again. "Isamu, you silly."

Fate sighed softly, the babies were a handful at times, but she wouldn't trade them for anything. "Vivio, what was that you were saying earlier, about Nanoha and Yuuno taking my name?"

Vivio blinked a few times before her eyes turned blank white. "Whoops! Nanoha-mama and Yuuno-papa wanted to surprise you and I overheard and then you were trying to figure out a name and I thought you'd take Nanoha-mama's and then Yuuno-papa's name and they were going to take your name because they love you so much and then I..."

"Vivio..." Fate smiled and knelt down, hugging her daughter. "Thank you." She could feel some tears welling up in her eyes even as she felt the tension that was in her body start to melt away. "You made it easy for me."

"Fate-mama?" Vivio blinked as Fate pulled back and smiled at her. "You okay?"

"Yes, thank you, Vivio." Fate nodded to her daughter.

"Okay!" Vivio nodded as Fate let go. "Ack! Sora!" She saw her other brother crawling out of the room. "Get back here!"

Fate had to bite back a laugh. Vivio was going to be a good big sister, that was for sure.

She just hoped that Vivio didn't decide rough-housing was the best way to play with her siblings

(---)

"Oww..." Teana winced and grabbed her wrist as pain throbbed through her body.

"Ack! I'm sorry, Teana."

She shook her head and smiled softly. "It's okay, Touma, it was more shocking than painful." Chuckling, Teana rubbed the top of his head with her good hand. "Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. Besides, I took worse in training."

"Are you sure?" Touma looked embarrassed that he caused her pain like he did.

"Yeah." Teana smiled at him. "I can't feel it anymore, so I'm fine." She waved her bandaged hand slightly. "My back hurts a bit more than my wrist, but I'll be fine. Anyway, I've got an appointment to keep, so I'll see you later."

Touma blinked as Cinque walked into the room, twirling some car keys on her finger. "Come on, Teana." She smiled softly as she saw Touma. "Good morning, Touma."

"Ah, hi, Cinque." He rubbed the back of his head as she smiled at him. "How are you?"

"Just fine." She sighed as Teana asked her to hurry up. "I do hate being the only one with a driver's license." Well, Genya and Ginga both did, but Genya had to go back to work and no one wanted Ginga to drive right now anyway. "Coming."

Touma watched them go and nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt some fingers attack his armpits. "Ack!" He spun around and came face to breast with one of Subaru's sisters. "Hey!"

"Sorry, kiddo." Wendi winked at him and giggled at his flat look. "You just looked so out of it that I had to do something to get your attention."

"Picking on poor Touma again?" Nove asked as she walked into the room. "Honestly, Wendi."

Wendi laughed and got behind Touma, hugging him from behind. "Oh come on, Nove." She winked at the other redhead, who sighed.

"Sorry, Touma, Wendi's a bit of an idiot at times."

"Hey!" Wendi pouted and gave her a flat look as she let go of Touma.

He shook his head. "Nah, it's okay." He didn't mind it, it was actually pretty nice, having older people he could look up to and hang out with. At least it kept the feelings of helplessness that he felt at times from popping up. Besides, Wendi was rather funny, so it was okay.

"You're loud as usual, Wendi." Dieci smirked as she walked into the room and smiled at Touma. "But I suppose if Touma finds it okay, that's fine."

Wendi pouted and hugged Touma again. "Touma..." She whined. "My mean sisters are making fun of me again."

Nove chuckled and shook her head. "I wouldn't listen to her, Touma. If you do, she'll drive you crazy." She laughed softly at the way Wendi pouted at her. "It's true you know." If she and Wendi weren't so close, even before getting into a romantic relationship together with Ginga, she probably would have found Wendi incredibly annoying.

Then again, Nove couldn't imagine Wendi being anything but the way she was. The more she tried to think of Wendi as serious, the more her brain felt like breaking.

Dieci shook her head at her sisters' antics, but had a soft laugh as Wendi let go of Touma and glomped onto Nove, causing the shorter redhead to fall to the floor under her weight. "Come on, Touma." She led the boy out of the room. "Let's leave those two before Wendi decides to do something silly."

Touma nodded. It hadn't taken him long to get used to the antics around the house. "I have a feeling that someday I'll be telling a psychologist about all of this." When Dieci looked at him, he laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Nah, probably not. I like you guys too much."

Dieci smiled and gave him a quick hug. "We like you too." She let go of him a moment later as the two sat in the living room and turned on the television. There wasn't much to do that day, so they were both taking it pretty easy.

Touma would have said something, but his face was pretty red. It wasn't his fault, it was hard to think when his face got pressed into Dieci's chest like that. The brunette was quite beautiful and he was just short enough that a hug pressed his face into her breasts.

Oh well, it was better than being back on Vaizen at least.

(---)

Some time later...

Verossa looked at Hayate and Carim and smiled at them. "You two look lovely." When the two blushed at him, he chuckled as Hayate verbally expressed her embarrassment. "If one didn't know any better, one would say that you two were getting married."

"I'm wearing a yellow dress." Carim rolled her eyes at her brother. "And Hayate's in a pink dress." When Verossa chuckled at her and opened the door. "Well, we should get going, the church is getting pretty full now."

Hayate smiled softly. "Come on." She really wanted to see Nanoha and Fate in their wedding dresses. "Don't forget the reception later."

"Yeah." The two nodded as they walked out the door.

(---)

"You look so beautiful." Momoko smiled at her daughter as she helped zip up the back of the white dress.

Nanoha blushed as her mother helped her finish getting into the dress. The changing room wasn't that large, but it didn't need to be. "Thank you, mother." Raising Heart glittered around her neck in pendant form. Shiro had insisted that she and Fate keep their devices close to them in a way that wouldn't look unnatural. Not that she disagreed with it herself, knowing about her family's history like she did.

Momoko smiled and gave her daughter a tight hug. "I'm so happy for you, Nanoha." She let go of her daughter a moment later. "I'm a grandmother and now I'll have a daughter and son-in-law." She giggled softly. "I was wondering if it was Fate or Yuuno that you were going to marry."

Nanoha smiled, even with the blush still on her face. "Did Arisa-chan, Suzuka-chan, Kyouya-nii, and Shinobu make it?" A knock on the door interrupted Momoko. Walking to the door, she opened it up and smiled brightly and turned to Nanoha.

"Speak of the devil and she appears."

"Who's a devil?" Arisa grumbled as she walked in, dressed in a light blue dress. "Nanoha!" She gasped as she looked her friend over. "You're so beautiful!" She grabbed Nanoha's hands as she started gushing over Nanoha's looks. "Oh, Yuuno and Fate are so lucky."

"Arisa-chan." Nanoha hugged her friend. "I was worried that you wouldn't make it."

Arisa giggled as she hugged Nanoha back. "Nah, Lindy-san sent a crew to pick myself and Suzuka up, then we made a pit-stop over to the bakery and picked up your brother and sister-in-law."

Nanoha's eyes lit up. "Kyouya-nii's here too?" Arisa nodded as the two let go of the hug. "I'm glad. I was worried that none of you would make it."

Arisa rolled her eyes at Nanoha. "Please, if you didn't invite us, I'd never speak to you again." She gave her friend a dry smirk as Nanoha chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. "Besides, you having children and being married, I never thought I'd see it. You were always so busy."

Nanoha smiled softly. "I never thought so myself. I'm just glad that it happened with people I know and trust." There was a wistful look in her eyes. "And the babies, even though it was hard to bring them into the world, I'm glad I did."

Arisa sighed and shook her head. Nanoha had such lovey-dovey eyes, if she was younger, she would probably comment about how she would need some insulin soon. "Well, just take of them, Nanoha, you're one lucky woman."

"Thanks." Nanoha smiled, blushing softly even as she lightly bounced from foot to foot, trying to settle the butterflies in her stomach. It was really happening.

(---)

"Fate..." Lindy smiled as she put the finishing touches to her daughter's hair. "I've been waiting for this day for awhile now."

"Mother." Fate blushed softly as she stood there demurely. "Are you sure about this look?" She asked, motioning to her bare shoulders.

"Yes." Lindy patted Fate on the shoulders. "I wore this when I got married to Clyde, I hope you don't mind." Her daughter, dressed in her old white wedding dress, was a sight to see. The fact that Bardiche was on a bracelet on her right wrist didn't even detract from the beauty she saw before her.

Fate shook her head. "No. It's lovely." She felt like a doll, with heavy makeup on her eyes, lips and cheeks, but Lindy and Amy both had insisted on the makeup, stating that Nanoha would have a similar amount on her face and they were sure that she wanted to look pretty for her wedding day photos. "Where is Chrono?"

"Making sure Yuuno doesn't try to do something stupid." Amy spoke up as she took a step back and looked Fate's dress over and nodded, giving her younger sister a thumb up. "Looks good, sis."

Fate was about to ask what that was about when a knock on the door interrupted her question. Amy answered the door and smiled, letting in a purple-haired woman, who smiled brightly at Fate. "Fate-chan!"

"Suzuka!" Fate smiled brightly as the woman entered the room. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Suzuka smiled as she walked up to Fate and squeezed the blond's hands. "I'm glad that I got to come here for this." When Fate nodded, she gave the bride a quick hug. "Just tell me one thing, Fate-chan, how are the children?"

Fate blushed softly as she thought about the children. "Vivio and Shiro are watching over the babies until the wedding starts, Amy said that she'd help Arf watch the children when it starts."

Amy chuckled and rubbed her swollen belly. "Sadly, Chrono and I won't be staying for the reception, Fate, I just hope Karel and Liera will behave themselves long enough for the wedding to finish." She was just grateful that her sister was having the wedding before she gave birth, since she wanted to see her sister get married.

Fate nodded and smiled softly. "Thanks for offering to watch Vivio, Sora, Isamu and Alicia for the night, Amy."

Amy shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Fate, I know that you'd do the same for me if I needed you to watch Karel and Liera." She smiled as Fate nodded at her. "So, feeling nervous?"

"Extremely." Fate said, her face completely red. There was another knock on the door and when Amy opened it, Fate's eyes widened in delight. "Arf!" She was surprised to see Arf in her adult form, but the familiar in an orange dress that complimented her hair was quite nice. "How is it out there?"

Arf winked at her. "Getting fuller by the moment. I talked to Carim, they're going to start soon, she said that if you think of fainting, she'll douse you with cold water."

Fate laughed, a lot of tension suddenly fleeing her body at that moment. "Thanks, Arf."

Arf giggled and turned to Suzuka, who looked amused. "Hey! Been awhile since I saw you, how's the kittens?"

"They're doing good." Suzuka nodded at her. "Well, I think I'll go and get seated." She slipped out after giving Fate one last hug.

Fate took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves. It was really happening, and she just couldn't wait.

(---)

"Come on, Yuuno, it won't be that bad." Chrono rolled his eyes at his friend. "Was I this bad?" He'd have to ask to know for sure.

In front of him, pacing back and forth, was Yuuno, who was muttering something about screwing up and having his voice crack and a whole lot of other things.

"Is he okay?" Kyouya asked as he slipped into the area. It was just outside of the main seating area and he sighed softly seeing the nervousness that was etched on Yuuno's face had him chuckling in remembrance. "Dad said I was just like that."

Yuuno didn't seem to notice and the two brother-in-laws looked at each other, sighed and went up to Yuuno, grabbing his arms to get him to stop moving. "Calm down." Chrono rolled his eyes at the blond. "Look, everything will go fine, if something weird or bad does happen, don't forget about all your friends here." Besides, everyone that was being let in was being scanned for weapons, both magical and mundane, as well as devices and other trinkets that registered magic. That was something that Nanoha had asked for personally. In fact, he was almost certain that the only people who had devices were the Church members. Well, maybe his sister and Nanoha were wearing their devices as jewelry, but that would be it.

"But..."

Kyouya shook his head and frowned at the blond man. "Don't worry about it. Any worry that you show will translate to Fate and Nanoha. This is their special day with each other, with you, so don't go and be too nervous."

"I love them, I had children with them, I live with them, why is this making me so nervous?"

Chrono and Kyouya shared a look of amusement that only two people who had gone through what Yuuno was going through could appreciate. "Because, ferret, you're proclaiming your love publicly, to my sister, to Nanoha, and to everyone in the church. This is permanent too."

Kyouya nodded and let go of Yuuno's arm. "Besides, if you do hurt my sister and make her cry, well, I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't find the body."

"Even if they did," Chrono smirked as he let go of Yuuno's other arm, "they'd never be able to identify it."

Yuuno gulped, but nodded. Hell, he would rather teleport himself into a star than hurt either of his soon-to-be wives.

(---)

"Vivio, over here." Momoko smiled as her granddaughter, in a cream-colored dress, sat down next to her in the front row. She smiled as she saw Arf, Zafira and Amy taking care of the sleeping forms of Isamu, Sora and Alicia. Privately, she was glad that they were sleeping, babies could be very, very loud when they were up.

"Okay, gramma." Vivio smiled and turned to Corona, who was in a similar dress. "Come on." She led her friend over to the row sat down, Corona sitting down between her and Zafira. She jumped slightly as someone touched her on the shoulder. Turning, her eyes widened as she saw Reiko in a red dress. "Auntie."

Reiko winked at her. "Hey, I said I'd make it." She chuckled and sat back, nodding forward.

Vivio smiled and turned around, happy that her aunt, well, Reiko was a cousin, but Vivio just called her auntie and Reiko didn't seem to mind it.

Corona hoped her parents didn't mind her sitting with her friend instead of them, then again, they didn't seem to mind Vivio, so it was okay.

At least she hoped so.

(---)

"Over here, Touma." He blinked as Dieci, in a brown dress, and Cinque in a light colored dress, patted an open seat between them. He nodded and got between them, smiling as he got a good look up front.

"Where's Su-chan and Teana?" Touma blinked as the two girls in question sat down on the other side of Cinque. "Oh."

Subaru winked at Touma. "Glad that you decided to come with today." She chuckled softly as he blushed and stopped when Teana elbowed her side. "Ack, sorry."

Teana lowered her voice. "You're just lucky that they haven't started yet."

(---)

Genya turned his head and blinked a couple of times as Ginga, then Nove and finally Wendi sat down on the right side of him. "Hey, dad." Ginga smiled softly at him as she put her crutches down. Thankfully the doctor said that she wouldn't need them soon.

"I thought you were still mad at me." Genya spoke softly to them.

Ginga shrugged slightly. "Maybe a little, but you're my dad." She squeezed his hand lightly

Genya smiled softly and saw Nove look at him, not in anger, but in concern. "I'm sorry, girls. For what I did."

Nove shook her head. "This isn't the time to talk about it, dad. Wait till we get home, okay?"

Genya nodded and leaned back against his chair. He didn't know if he would even be here if Hayate hadn't teamed up with Cinque and Dieci to drag him down. Oh well, he was glad that he was here.

He was reminded of when he and Quint had gotten married all those years ago. How he missed her. 'What would you say, Quint, if you were still here?' He wondered to himself.

(---)

Rein, in her large mode, smiled at Agito, also in her large mode, as they waited for the wedding to start. "I bet Nanoha's really pretty."

Agito nodded, though she was trying to hold back some laughter as Vice was sitting there, pouting. "Oh, come on, you knew that she was Fate's Maid of Honor, you weren't going to be able to sit with her here."

"Bah, I know." Vice rubbed the back of his head. "Still, seeing Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno finally tie the knot is going to be something else."

The Unison devices nodded and waited for the wedding to begin.

(---)

"You made it." Hayate smiled as she saw the last two people slip into the church just before the wedding started. "I was getting a bit worried, you four."

Erio chuckled as he, in a tuxedo, led in Caro, dressed in a light pink dress, and Megane and Lutecia, the older of the two wearing a light blue dress while Lutecia wore a purple dress that went with her hair. "I'm surprised you would do this for me, Hayate-san." Lutecia smiled at Hayate, who shook her head.

"A one-day pass wasn't hard to get, especially since it's a really special occasion, I think that I can get a few concessions over-all." It was actually a lot harder than she was letting Lutecia and Megane know, but it was better that they didn't know. "Anyway, Erio, Caro, you two remember your parts that we discussed?"

The two nodded, getting a smile from Hayate as Erio pulled out a small box that had three rings and Caro was given some flowers. "I'm surprised Vivio didn't want this." Caro said softly and Hayate shook her head.

"She said that she wanted to make sure that Sora, Isamu and Alicia stayed quiet." Hayate led the four of them in, putting Caro and Erio by a door while leading Lutecia and Megane to two unoccupied chairs near the back. "We'll be starting soon." She whispered, nodding as she saw Sein walk up to the organ. "...Can't believe she's going to be playing the songs." Sein wasn't someone who took too many things seriously, but it seemed like the cyborg was taking this a lot more seriously than she did most things, which was good.

(---)

Chrono walked up to the front with Yuuno, standing behind him and mentally sighed, even though he was looking calm and collected. "Relax, will you? Everything will be fine."

"I'm trying."

"Take a deep breath then, because I guarantee that when you see them, you won't have any breath left."

Yuuno took a breath and closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them as the doors opened up and his brides walked in.

He always knew that they were beautiful, that was always in his mind, but seeing them as they were, it far out-stripped most everything in his mind.

Idly, he mentally cursed Chrono. That jerk was right.

He was always right about things like this.

(---)

As the music started up, Miyuki blinked as she felt a hand on hers. Turning, she stared as Shamal sat down next to her. "Hi." She whispered softly.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Miyuki shook her head and gave Shamal's hand a squeeze. "No, I don't. Thanks, Shamal." She suspected that things would never be easy between them, but her mom was right, a relationship was about compromise, not everyone got everything they wanted all the time, after all. "And, I'm sorry I stayed at mom's for the past few weeks."

"I'm sorry too, for making you think you needed to leave."

"Let's talk about this later." Miyuki whispered and Shamal nodded as they saw Caro start walking and lightly showering the isle with flowers, Erio right beside her while Shiro escorted Nanoha to the front and Lindy did the same for Fate. 'Good job, sis.' Miyuki thought to herself.

(---)

"They're beautiful." Deed whispered as she, Otto and Schach walked around on the upper balcony, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

Schach nodded and smiled as she saw several cameras going off, friends, family and the media all making sure to get this event immortalized. "They are, but don't forget why we're up here."

The twins nodded and split up, nodding to other Church members as they slowly and quietly circled the main area, softly communicating with the security detail outside.

(---)

Carim smiled as she stood at the front while Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno took their places in front of her, behind them was Chrono, Signum, and Hayate. It was nice that Nanoha had Hayate as her maid of honor. "Welcome." She said to the microphone and smiled as everyone seemed to settle down and pay more attention to the front. "I'm glad that you could all make it today and observe as we join these women and this man in holy matrimony. These three are some of our best friends, our family, or represent something that we look up to and strive to be. It is not out of family duty, or obligation that joins these three together today, but love."

(---)

"One must remember that love isn't something that we say, but rather what we do."

Touma looked at Subaru and smiled softly before turning back to the front. For some reason, he found his eyes misting up with tears.

(---)

"And that love comes in many shapes and forms, love for friends, sisters, brothers, children, parents, grandparents and grandchildren."

Genya blinked as Ginga squeezed his hand. She had a soft smile on her face and even Nove and Wendi had smiles on their faces.

Maybe, just maybe things would work out. He hoped so and he really wished that he could take back what he did to them.

What was done was done, it didn't mean that he had to like what an idiotic decision it was.

(---)

"Love is kindness, it is caring. Love can hurt and be hurt just as easily as anything. But most of all, love is forgiveness."

Shamal was a little surprised as Miyuki squeezed her hand tightly. Looking at Miyuki, she could see tears leaking out of her eyes, before she squeezed back, getting a smile from the other woman.

(---)

"Whether we are young, old or somewhere inbetween, no one can survive without love in their lives. All of us are here today because someone reached out with love and kindess to someone else. The methods each person uses is different, but a single gesture of love is the only reason that all of us are here today."

Vita, sitting in a pink dress near the front, smiled as she looked at Hayate and then at Nanoha. If it hadn't been for them having so much love and kindess in their hearts, she knew that she, the rest of the Wolkenritter, Fate, Yuuno, and all their friends wouldn't be there today.

Hayate had taken all the pain that they had felt in the past and shouldered it onto herself, treating them as her family. And, Nanoha reached out with her hands, so small and tiny back then, in friendship to all of them. 'No matter what happens in the future, Hayate, Nanoha, I'll make sure that you two have someone protecting you.' She glanced at Rein and Agito, who were sitting to her side and smiled, seeing the way they looked both happy and determined. She suspected that she had a similar look on her face.

(---)

Carim took a deep breath and smiled at them. "So, let no one say that these three do not love each other. Should anyone think that these three do not love each other or should not be wed, speak now, or forever hold your peace." She looked around and saw no one standing or speaking up. "Now, if the rings can be presented."

Erio nodded as he opened the box and handed the rings off to Yuuno, Nanoha and Fate before taking a step back.

Carim smiled at that and nodded to Yuuno. "Now, take these rings and with them, take these women to be your lawfully wedded wives. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do you part."

"With these rings, I take these women to be my lawfully wedded wives, to have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do I part." Yuuno repeated her words as he put the rings on Nanoha and then Fate's left ring fingers.

Carim smiled as she repeated those words to Nanoha. "Now, take these rings and with them, take these two to be your lawfully wedded husband and wife. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do you part."

Nanoha smiled and took her rings, and put them on Fate's left middle finger and Yuuno's left ring finger, repeating those words. "With these rings, I take these two to be my lawfully wedded husband and wife. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do I part."

Carim turned to Fate. "Now, take these rings and with them, take these two to be your lawfully wedded husband and wife. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do you part."

Fate nodded and took her rings, putting them on Nanoha and Yuuno's middle fingers. "With these rings, I take these two to be my lawfully wedded husband and wife. To have and to hold, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, till death do I part."

Carim nodded and smiled brightly. "Then, by the power vested in me as the head of the Saint Church, I pronounce you husband, wife and wife. You may kiss each other." She closed her book and smiled as Nanoha and Fate shared a quick kiss, before Yuuno kissed Fate, then Nanoha.

People stood up and started clapping as Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno came down from the platform, making their way out as the maids of honor, the best man, Caro, and Erio followed them, the front rows following out after them.

Carim smiled softly as she watched people leave. "Good luck."

"Don't look so melancholic." Carim turned and saw Verossa there, smiling at her. "You were lovely up there, sister."

Carim blushed softly. "Thanks, Verossa."

Spoiler for Notes for All Good Things:

I know that this was shorter than most weddings. I haven't been to one in twenty-one years.

Spoiler for Epilogue:

"Can't I go to the reception?" Vivio asked Amy, who sighed softly.

"Well..." The pregnant woman blinked as Lindy put a hand on her shoulder. "Lindy?"

"I'll take charge for Vivio. It isn't every day that her parents get married." Lindy smiled at her daughter-in-law. "I'll make sure she gets home."

"Thanks, gramma!" Vivio grinned at the older woman.

Amy shook her head and sighed. "Honestly." She chuckled as Karel and Liera stood by Chrono, calling for her. "Fate, I'm taking Sora, Isamu and Alicia, okay?"

Fate nodded to her, smiling softly. "Thank you, and take care."

"Of course." She nodded and winked at Fate. "Don't have too much fun tonight, okay?" She laughed as Fate blushed bright red. "Have fun everyone." She waved as she got into the car and Chrono drove off, taking them home.

What seemed like an incredibly long time, but was in actuality less than thirty minutes, Yuuno, Nanoha and Fate found themselves alone for a moment, before they piled into Fate's car. "I still say you should call this Cardiche, Fate." Nanoha giggled as Fate rolled her eyes at her wife.

"I am not naming my car after my device, Nanoha."

Yuuno shook his head, oh well, this was amusing, and it was relaxing.

Even if he was in the back seat this time.

(---)

As their friends and family pooled into the hall, Hayate stood up and smiled as she saw everyone standing around the table with the large wedding cake. "Thank you all for being here. I'd like to say something, but I'm pretty sure that none of you want to fall asleep." There was some laughter and she shook her head. "But, no, seriously, I'm glad to have been a part of this, and got everything set up and done so fast. You can all thank me by worshipping the ground I stand on." She couldn't stand it and started laughing along with the others. "Ah, but I'll be honest. Nanoha-chan, you, Fate-chan, and Yuuno-kun are my best friends. And the three of you were total idiots." She shook her head as the three blushed hard. "I swear, if this was a story, I would have had to use a plot device to get you three to do anything together." She cleared her throat. "Anyway! I think we came here for only a few things! To see the gifts, throwing the bouquet, cake and dancing!"

After Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno had the first pieces of cake, and some gifts were opened, the two women turned their backs to the group and tossed the flowers behind them.

Shamal blinked as she caught Nanoha's bouquet. "Well, I didn't expect this."

"Neither did I." Nove muttered as she caught Fate's bouquet. Hell, she hadn't even wanted to be anywhere near where the bouquet was going to land and yet she still caught it.

Touma looked at the garder in his hands and blushed heavily.

Arisa laughed as she caught the other one. "Well, that's interesting." Really, it had shot straight up, hit the ceiling and then fell flat on her head.

Lindy closed her eyes and smiled. "I think it's time for the opening dances."

Fate cleared her throat and spoke up. "I know it's traditional for the bride and groom to have the first dance alone, but since there's three of us, we decided to forego tradition, so, everyone, grab a partner and dance happily."

Nanoha nudged Yuuno. "Go on, dance with Fate." She winked at him.

"Alright." He smiled and kissed her gently. "I get the second dance with you then."

Nanoha nodded as Fate and Yuuno took the floor, before blinking as Hayate asked for a dance from her. "Sure." She wasn't sure why Hayate was blushing so hard, but Hayate was a pretty good dancer from what she remembered.

She idly noticed that Arisa and Suzuka were dancing as well, and she nearly laughed as she saw that boy Subaru had brought home dancing with Lutecia, both of them were very awkward while trying to get the beat down.

"Thank you." She blinked as she and Hayate did some spins. "I always wanted to dance with you like this." She blinked in surprise as Hayate smiled at her and leaned in close. "Fate-chan and Yuuno-kun are lucky, Nanoha-chan, luckier than any of you think."

"Hayate-chan?" Nanoha turned and blinked as Hayate gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "What?"

Hayate was blushing, but touched Nanoha on the lips. "Please, Nanoha-chan, just let me have this memory for awhile?" The two had stopped and were thankfully a bit away from where the others were, Hayate having led the dance off to the side. "I know, you love them, and you have his children, I won't take that from you. I'm not that needy, I just wanted to be a little selfish."

"Hayate-chan..." Nanoha trailed off and Hayate shook her head.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine, I just wanted a little fantasy to myself." She shook her head and turned to look at the dancing that was still going on. "I'll be fine, Nanoha-chan, I will. Just take good care of them." She turned her head to look Nanoha in the eye. "Because you're the most important person to them."

"Hayate-chan, why didn't.."

"By the time I thought to, you were already sleeping with them." Hayate started to walk off slowly. "I love you, Nanoha-chan, but I wasn't going to, and I won't interfere with your love life, that's not fair to anyone."

"Will you?"

Hayate nodded and turned around. "I'll be fine, Nanoha-chan, I just wanted one kiss, that's all."

Nanoha sighed and caught up with Hayate. "I'm..."

"Don't." Hayate shook her head. "Don't ruin your happiness with Yuuno-kun and Fate-chan for me. I'm not that lonely, Nanoha-chan, I'll be fine." Smiling the shorter woman patted her on the shoulder. "So, don't you dare worry about me, okay? I just wanted to be a little selfish."

"...If you're sure?"

Hayate nodded and nodded to Fate and Yuuno. "Yes, besides, the next song started, go dance with Fate-chan." She laughed and pointed as Vivio seemed to steal Yuuno for herself.

Nanoha sighed softly and nodded. "Very well." She walked off and Hayate smiled before blinking as someone touched her shoulder, turning, she saw Verossa standing there, smiling.

"Rossa?" She blinked as he grabbed her hand and gently kissed it. "What are you?" Her face was turning red from his gestures.

"May I have this dance, milady?" Verossa smiled as she blushed heavily and nodded, following him out onto the dance floor.

(---)

"Erio-kun..." Caro smiled as she looked around, and pouted as she saw him talking to Cinque. "Hey, Er..." She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder, turning, she saw Nove there, shaking her head. "Nove? But, why?"

"Please, Caro." Nove whispered to the pinkette. "Cinque needs this, just let her have this dance, okay?"

Caro pouted, but nodded, though she nearly ran out to the dance floor as she saw Cinque lean in close to Erio as they danced. "But she..."

"Just trust me, please?" Nove asked her and she sighed, nodding slightly.

On the floor, Erio's face was slightly red as Cinque leaned in close, her body close enough to his that he swore he could feel her heartbeat, not to mention her petite breasts, what little she had, pressing against his chest. "Cinque, what?"

"I don't want much, Erio..." She whispered to him as the music continued to play while they danced. "But you feel nice, I just want to enjoy this a little more."

Erio blinked several times, but nodded softly as they continued to dance. He noticed that Lindy was dancing with Genya, though he didn't think anything of it, especially since Megane was dancing with Nanoha's father.

As the music wound down, he gasped as Cinque grabbed his head and planted her lips against his. "Mmmph?!"

It didn't last that long, though he was certain he heard some people raising a fuss over it. "Cinque?" He asked as she broke the kiss and blushed heavily.

"I don't know what came over me." She admitted to him, before taking his arm and walking back to the side. "But, thank you for the dance." Cinque was a little non-plaused by the look Caro gave her.

After Caro took Erio away, Nove looked at Cinque and smiled. "Get what you wanted?" When Cinque looked at her in confusion, she shook her head. "Closure, big sis. You always were swooning over him."

Cinque blushed, but looked back at Erio, before smiling softly and nodding. "Yeah." Strange, the desire to get another kiss from him wasn't there anymore. "Feels nice."

Nove chuckled and nodded, before nudging Cinque towards Touma. "Go dance with him before Lutecia or Dieci steal him away." She laughed as Cinque gave her a bit of a dirty look, before Wendi grabbed her and dragged her to the dance floor. "Ack!"

"Heh, matchmaker." Wendi giggled as the music picked up and the two danced a quicker dance.

Nove rolled her eyes, but didn't deny it. "Just looking out for Cinque's happiness is all."

Wendi smiled as they continued to dance.

(---)

Signum raised an eyebrow as Vice asked her to dance when the next slow song came on. "Trying to get in good graces with the maid of honor?"

Vice shook his head. "No, I just want to dance with a lovely lady, is that a crime?"

Signum shook her head and allowed herself to be pulled out to the dance floor. Idly, she noticed Arf and Zafira dancing, as well as Vita and Hayate. "No, I was just making sure you wanted to dance with me, and not the maid of honor."

Verossa shook his head. "If that was the case, I'd be trying to dance with Hayate and getting upset when she went off with others. I just wanted to dance with you."

Signum's cheeks turned a slight touch red even as he led her through the dance. "Thank you." She whispered softly.

(---)

As the night wore on, and people started to tire out from constant dancing, Lindy found herself standing near a window with Hayate. "This was wonderful, Hayate."

"Thank you." Hayate smiled as she looked over everything, before yawning. "I think it's time to get going home."

Lindy nodded at that as she saw Vivio yawning and trying to stay awake, even as she, Corona and Lutecia were no longer dancing, but sitting on the floor and chatting with each other. "Vivio... Time to go home."

"Okay, gramma." Vivio yawned and looked at her friends. "See you two later."

"Lutecia." Megane spoke up from where she and Shamal were talking. "Come on, time to go back."

"Alright." Lutecia smiled and went to her mother.

Hayate smiled as she watched the dance hall eventually clear out. "Was a nice dance at least." She walked over to the table that had some paper plates and smiled gently as she saw some half-eaten cake on the plates.

"Hayate?" She turned and saw Vita looking at her.

"Vita-chan?" Hayate walked up to her. "What's wrong?"

Vita hugged her and buried her face against Hayate's chest. "We're all waiting for you to come home with us."

Hayate put a hand on Vita's back and nodded. "Sorry, I'm coming." She held out her arm and Vita took it, the two walking out of the dance hall, before closing the doors behind them.

(---)

"Enjoy the peace while it lasts..." A male voice spoke up as he looked at the shadows of several large things being put together.

"Sir." He turned to his assistant. "It will take around six years to complete these."

He shrugged. "We have time. I wonder if they'll survive when it happens." He chuckled to himself.

Day in the Life
End

Spoiler for Notes for Epilogue:

Man, Cinque *IS* a shota-con, huh?

There will be a sequel to "Day in the Life", look for it soon.

Okay, why is it in these chapters, the main emotion I end up feeling despite The Big Wedding is 'poor Hayate'? Poor thing.

That said, a very nice ending to a nice story. The ceremony was well done, and all the couples got at least a little character moment to remind us of the crazy interlinking relationships you've built up here.

Cinque isn't a shotacon! Everyone knows that the lolis go after older guys, for maximum awkwardness factor.

I'll express a little disappointment that no idiot terrorist made a play at the reception and got stomped by the Galaxy's Most Powerful Wedding Party.

Very nice chapters, again. Looking forward to the sequel!

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Well, for those who are still willing to give Hayate a second chance! I'll see how far I can push sympathetic readers, MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

...

I do believe you have surpassed me. Well done, my apprentice.

[spawnofthejudge]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Hey, congrats for winning again! Sounds like you had a lot of fun with it. ^^

If you don't have fun, what's the damn point?

Hopefully all those ideas for Beyond and my other ongoing fics that came while I was writing that come back soon.

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

Future Tense

Chapter 24: Bloodsport

In which Nanoha gets exposed to the dirty underground world of illegal mage fighting, while another important discovery is made elsewhere, and Fate makes a choice...

Previous chapters can be found here.



Sometimes I wonder if I'm drawing things out a bit on purpose, just because I have no fucking clue how to end this (I'm only half joking, heh).

Anyway, this chapter came out a bit longer, but I had to add something special for Dezo based on his comments before. That particular bit is near the beginning... you should see it. ^_~

Ha ha ha! Thank you; I do so enjoy seeing the ojousama laugh get smacked down (not that it ever takes...anyone who can laugh the ojousama laugh is too delusional to notice they've been smacked down by very definition!). I'm annoyed that I missed the Stargate: Atlantis reference. Hm...Due named Fate's new device after a shellfish bacteria? That can't possibly be a good omen. Will Givo's escape with key information prove to be a major boost to the good guys? Or just a Hope Spot soon to be quashed. I guess that settles the point about what Original!Jail was up to. I'd quibble about the whole clone/memories thing, but right-from-S1 canon tells us that it's possible to transplant memories into a clone and all New!Jail is threatening to do to Yuuno is make the clone in a form where he can freely get those memories out of him (since one can assume any clone with Yuuno's memories would be equally unlikely to want to share those memories with Jail as the original), so it clearly works fine.

Intriguing backstory hints on Zira; I guess Nanoha's got an ethical crisis coming up in the finals. Well, unless the poison just kills her. (I can see you cackling now: "What, you poor readers thought this fic was about Clone!Nanoha? Don't you know by now what Anyone Can Will Die means?" )

Anyway, continuing good work here, with important character moments nicely balanced by action scenes.

[Rising Dragon]

IIRC the name of Fate's new Device is the same as Material L's... and Mariel named it that, not Due.

[Yasanagi]

She actually named it Vulnificus? I think I must have missed that.

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

IIRC the name of Fate's new Device is the same as Material L's... and Mariel named it that, not Due.

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

She actually named it Vulnificus? I think I must have missed that.

Hm, since Yasanagi asked that question, I'm guessing that RD is referring to the actual Battle of Aces game (though now I wonder why the game designers or Seven Arcs would name Material-L's device after a shellfish bacteria; at least if Kaijo did it here for this story it would have some creepy context behind it).

As for the other part of that comment, let's just say that I've been convinced that Due's been using Mariel as her cover identity inside the TSAB ever since that first "sister" comment by Quattro a while back. Unlike Hayate, Fate, Wendi, Tea, etc., etc., who are all "tormented, angsty evil"; Mariel has been acting evil and enjoying it in classic Due/Quattro fashion. Pretty much exclusively the "gone evil" cast has done so under the influence of tragedy and torment that have broken them the wrong way, so I'm giving Kaijo credit for giving us clues that Mariel dropping nasty hints and evil smiles is a sign that something is wrong there.

[Kaijo]

Originally Posted by vic-vic

Ororo, Nanoha got injected by some type of poison? Still very nice combat sequences.

Huh, you think it's poison, eh? Guess we'll have to find out in the next chapter. =)

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Ha ha ha! Thank you; I do so enjoy seeing the ojousama laugh get smacked down (not that it ever takes...anyone who can laugh the ojousama laugh is too delusional to notice they've been smacked down by very definition!). I'm annoyed that I missed the Stargate: Atlantis reference.

Did you see it after? It was when Givo was figuring out the trick behind where Quattro went, at the dead end. Daniel Jackson and McKay did the same thing in the last season of SGA, heh.

Intriguing backstory hints on Zira; I guess Nanoha's got an ethical crisis coming up in the finals. Well, unless the poison just kills her. (I can see you cackling now: "What, you poor readers thought this fic was about Clone!Nanoha? Don't you know by now what Anyone Can Will Die means?" )

Anyway, continuing good work here, with important character moments nicely balanced by action scenes.[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Hm, since Yasanagi asked that question, I'm guessing that RD is referring to the actual Battle of Aces game (though now I wonder why the game designers or Seven Arcs would name Material-L's device after a shellfish bacteria; at least if Kaijo did it here for this story it would have some creepy context behind it).

I fully admit I pulled the name from Aces, but I don't know where they got it. The "Yersina" from Yersina Kruez (Yami's device in Aces) is also named after a bacteria. Taken in that light, you could look at the material's devices as being infected, thus the names make a kind of sense. Luciferion (S's device) just seems to be based off Lucifer, which makes sense for a Dark Nanoha. Also, Vulnificus also sounds fairly evilish, in my opinion.

But that's all I'll say about them for now.^^

Thanks for the comments, RD and Yasanagi, too! It's interesting to see people guess what is going on. Sometimes I wonder if I was too blunt in my hints, like in this chapter. x_x

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

Huh, you think it's poison, eh? Guess we'll have to find out in the next chapter. =)

Methinks you're enjoying this quite a bit, good sir.

[Kaijo]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Methinks you're enjoying this quite a bit, good sir.

What? Watching people try to figure out my clues? Being vague? Using teasing questions? Killing people? Torturing Nanoha?

Yes.

[Justin_Brett]

So, Kaijo, I've been reading Future Tense lately, and while I do like it, some things about it have rankled me. (I'm at Chapter 11, so I apologize if these have been resolved later on).

- So far you've killed off about ten characters in flashbacks or off-screen for apparently no other reason than making Hayate, Fate, and Teana rigid in their beliefs. Some of them might have been pretty interesting to see in this kind of setting.

- This political talk and Nanoha's 'am I really right' monologues are fairly superfluous given that, even if she isn't, it's a given that Hayate is wrong. The only named characters who have supported her views are Teana and her subordinates, who have made certain they aren't terrible sympathetic characters.

- I can buy Hayate and Fate, but Teana doesn't even seem like the same character anymore. It's like you just have her hate Nanoha now to force conflict between the two.

[Kaijo]

You bring up some good questions, so let me see if I can answer your concerns.^^ But yes, I would recommend continuing to read.

Originally Posted by Justin_Brett

So, Kaijo, I've been reading Future Tense lately, and while I do like it, some things about it have rankled me. (I'm at Chapter 11, so I apologize if these have been resolved later on).

- So far you've killed off about ten characters in flashbacks or off-screen for apparently no other reason than making Hayate, Fate, and Teana rigid in their beliefs. Some of them might have been pretty interesting to see in this kind of setting.

Yeah, it really seems like our characters have been specifically driven to this point, doesn't it?

- This political talk and Nanoha's 'am I really right' monologues are fairly superfluous given that, even if she isn't, it's a given that Hayate is wrong. The only named characters who have supported her views are Teana and her subordinates, who have made certain they aren't terrible sympathetic characters.

That is certainly one viewpoint, and as the reader, you have a certain advantageous aspect with which to view the story from as you can see things Nanoha can't. But to Nanoha, Hayate and Fate were her closest friends; it's often hard to accept that your best friends may be wrong, and there is that nagging doubt in the back of her mind that, "I didn't live through what they did; maybe they have very good reasons for doing what they did? Who am I to judge? They wouldn't deliberately hurt people, right?"

- I can buy Hayate and Fate, but Teana doesn't even seem like the same character anymore. It's like you just have her hate Nanoha now to force conflict between the two.

Well, 50 years have gone by. She doesn't hate Nanoha; to her, it's just business to her. She's always been a very focused, professional individual, and I just expanded on that. After losing Subaru and parts of her family, she agrees with Hayate that sometimes you have to do things you may not like to protect the people you care about. She may be Nanoha, but she's also a clone created by Jail, and it's too much of a risk to let it run around free.

At any rate, I'd encourage you to keep reading, and the rest of your questions and concerns should be answered. Just keep in mind that while I've given hints, I haven't fully revealed everything yet, either.^^