Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

I'm going to get so flamed when I start working on that fic again.

COMRADE!!!

Originally Posted by Jimmy C

Or maybe Daddy put her up as collateral for his gambling debts. You raise a good point. Whatever excuse she uses should be time sensitive as well. It'll make him desperate enough to steal the Shroud because there's no other way to get the money needed in time.

Yes, I think I'll use that one. On top of the time contraints there's also the fact that she would be taken away from him.

"They will certainly sell me to the highest bidder where I'll be forced to do all sorts of things. I don't want that to happen, I'm saving myself for you!"

Something like that.

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

lmao, since I put the three completed chapters of Altered Course up on fanfiction.net, I've already got some people sensing danger!

and by danger I mean Yuunoha.

I'm going to get so flamed when I start working on that fic again.

Edit: the reviewer said that if I really wanted to make season one "darker" I should kill or maim Yuuno. (I guess they missed Yuuno's severe injury in the prologue?)

The hatedom is strong in this one!

Yeah, so?

I won't flame it.

I look forward to more from it.

[ZeroIchiNi]

Hello everyone. been a long time lurker here at this forum.

Used to be a fanfic writer a few years ago.

There is a story idea that been on my head for a little while. I'm just hoping that I can finish it even with the lack of free time that I have.

Nanya, you know what I'm talking about.

Even though this fic set place in the PSP timeline I hope that I don't mess up too much with the already establish continuity of the main timeline.

maybe I should think about using my neglected FF.net account.

Well, enjoy.

Spoiler for The Unbreakable Darkness: Prologue:

MGLN – The Unbreakable Darkness

Prologue

It has been a long time since she looked up towards the skies in her human form. Back then the skies were filled with enough warships to block out the sun. But in its place are snows floating downwards towards the houses and the ocean. On the previous night, there was a major battle against the part of her that had caused much sadness and suffering for many generations. She hears footsteps in the snows and turn towards the new arrivals.

To Reinforce’s despair those footsteps were not from the couple of girls she was expecting. “Ah. My knights, have they made their decision?”

There is a short pause among the group before the pink hair leader of the group speaks, “I’m sorry, they are still deciding at the moment.”

“I see.” Reinforce looks down towards the snow covered ground before turning her looks back towards the sky, “If they do not arrived, then the sadness I had caused will continue.”

None of the Wolkenritter could say anything. Wither the two girls will arrive or not will determine the course of the future. Unknown to them, the decision had already been made. Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Testarossa will not arrive to destroy Reinforce.

---

One week later. The Dark Fragment incident quickly arrived and left leaving behind new memories for those who were involved in the Book of Darkness incident. During the incident 3 girls were created by the Darkness of the Book of Darkness, The Materials.

Material-S, also called The Starlight Destroyer, the clone of Nanoha with short hair and has a cold, uncaring expression.

Material-L, also called The Lightning Blade Assailant, the Blue hair version of Fate with a smile that can kill.

Material-D, also called The Lord of Darkness, the gray hair clone of Hayate with a sinister face.

The three were defeated and had disappeared along with the Dark Pieces.

However, as Material-S was disappearing in front of Nanoha, she wore a genuine smile for the first time in her short life.

---

Six months later.

Hayate’s sweet quiet voice echoes through the darkness, “Time to wake up… Wakey… Wakey..”



“I SAID WAKE UP YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A COSTER!!!”

That voice Boomed across the darkness.

Reinforce woke up very rudely as she felt pain on her face as if someone blasted her with a powerful magic spell. Her visions started getting clear from the darkness and the image of her mistress appears in front of her. However the image of her master was completely off. The person, whom pointing a cross shapes staff at her, was not Hayate.

“Material-D?!? Where am I?” Reinforce took a defensive stance. She was already in her knight armor without any recollection as to when she put it on. She tries to look around while keeping her sights still at the Material in front of her. As far as she can tell she is inside the separate dimension within herself, the place where she and her mistress stopped Material-D from initiating the Unbreakable Darkness. “Why am I here?”

“Oh don’t be like that,” Material-D had a very bright smile, “I’ve brought you very good news regards to the Unbreakable Darkness. Would you like to know?“ Material-D put out one of her foot towards Reinforce. ”All you have to do is to knee before me and kiss my boots like a good little book to her owner.”

Reinforce didn’t even bat an eye to that last sentence, she knew that Material-D personality of that of her worst masters in the past. Except that it is more of their childish aspect of their personality. “You are not and will never be my Master.”

“Oh well,” Material-D doesn’t even feel angry at all about this as if she already knew the answer, “Worth a shot since I am based off of that worthless peasant.”

Before Reinforce can respond the voice of Fate Testarossa can be heard throughout the area, “Oh come on you two!! Don’t ignore me! I’m right here!”

And the voice of Nanoha Takamachi, “Yami Suberu Ou. If you continue like this then it will be a very long time before we can complete the Unbreakable Darkness.”

Reinforce quickly turns towards the two familiar voices behind her. She realized that the other two Materials were spaced out evenly. She is surrounded by the three girls, and she knew that she was in trouble. She had a few months to recover most of her strengths, but even if she was back to full power, it is nowhere close to the powers she had when Hayate, as the Unision device, merge with her during the last moment of the Dark Fragment incident. If she were to fight all three of them now then she will not be able to win.

The thoughts of sacrificing herself for her mistress has once again crossed her mind, however as she had learned all those months ago, everyone and everything will stop her from doing so.

“Don’t worry we are not here to fight you,” Material-S said interrupting Reinforce’s thinking. “We are here to give you a warning. The Defense Program is almost complete. It will be finish shortly, most likely in the next few hours.”

Reinforce eyes widen as she hears this, “What!? How did it recompile itself that much without my knowledge? I’ve been performing a full system scan and deletions every day!”

Material-D smiles as she lifts a back hand underneath her mouth. “Oh? You didn’t know that the Defense Program can avoid detections from all scan by secretly compile little and little of itself and moving them around the storage system? Now I can see why. Oh ho ho ho.”

Material-L cheers while nodding her head, “Yeah! Yeah!”
She then points both her index finger to her left. “It starts there,”
Then to her right “It goes there,”
Then upwards “It flies there,”
Then downwards “Then falls there! It’s all over the place!”

Reinforce was speechless. She knew that deleting the Defense program little by little would not stop it completely. Sometimes she even let the technicians aboard the Asura to run some test on her to make sure she didn’t miss anything. At lease doing those could have slow it down and give enough time to warn everyone about the upcoming danger. From what they have just said what she was doing was meaningless and time is already running out.

Material-S was not part of the pick on the ‘poor book’ pack and said to her, “It will not be like last time with the Dark Pieces. It will be just the three of us awaking at the same time at different locations.”

“Huh?” Reinforce was stumped, even if the three of them were to attack, they would be quickly put down and dealt with by the TSAB and her Knights.

“Confused?” Material-D asked still keeping her smile, “Remember all that power the Defense program had granted you?”

Material-L continues to nod happily, “It’s ours now so...” Her happy innocent smile turns into a murderous one, “Let’s begin the Bloodshed and Massacre!!! Blood, Gore, and Decapitation!!! YEAH!!!”

This was another shocker for Reinforce. That power was the one that she had used against Nanoha and Fate after the final pages of the Book of Darkness was complete, it was a one sided battle in her favor until Hayate manages to separate the Program from her. If those three have that power, who knows if they can be stopped.

Material-S wore a sad expression, “We will be arriving at the place where we were extracted.”

Extracted?

“Hey Reinforce. Is everything okay in there?”

Her surroundings had quickly changed in a blink of an eye. She is currently lying down on a scanning bed aboard the Asura with nothing on and is hugging her book tightly in front of her chest. She remembers that she is currently performing a system check up with one of the Technician.

Mariel asked while looking between Reinforce and her monitors, “You’ve been moving a lot more then usual.”

She quickly sat up with her book and demands, “Call Everyone Quickly!!!”

The thing about writing fanfic is that I got some ideas, especially at the beginning and the end of the story, but it seems like there are holes in between those ideas. Is it common to write stuff and have ideas to just jump at you during writing or should I just wait and try to get everything down first?

[Nanya01]

Well, this'll be... Interesting.

They REALLY needed to do something about that thing...

Of course, I made a suggestion already.

Still... I would like to see more about this.

[Yasanagi]

Originally Posted by ZeroIchiNi

Hello everyone. been a long time lurker here at this forum.

Used to be a fanfic writer a few years ago.

There is a story idea that been on my head for a little while. I'm just hoping that I can finish it even with the lack of free time that I have.

Nanya, you know what I'm talking about.

Even though this fic set place in the PSP timeline I hope that I don't mess up too much with the already establish continuity of the main timeline.

maybe I should think about using my neglected FF.net account.

Well, enjoy.

Spoiler for The Unbreakable Darkness: Prologue:

*Snip*

The thing about writing fanfic is that I got some ideas, especially at the beginning and the end of the story, but it seems like there are holes in between those ideas. Is it common to write stuff and have ideas to just jump at you during writing or should I just wait and try to get everything down first?

Hey, more authors writing about those crazy and cute Materials works for me! And I'm not exactly sure what you meant by that last question but I usually try to iron out ideas in my head or just throw out a rough note outline with some core dialogue/ideas that go with those notes.

Pageclaim for the Materials Authors!

[WarpObscura]

Originally Posted by ZeroIchiNi

The thing about writing fanfic is that I got some ideas, especially at the beginning and the end of the story, but it seems like there are holes in between those ideas. Is it common to write stuff and have ideas to just jump at you during writing or should I just wait and try to get everything down first?

The way I write involves ideas popping out all over my planned timeline. I do not try to force my thoughts onto the chronological sequence but take them as they come and fit them in after the fact. Do what you think works best for you.

I wonder if I am suffering from Cookie-Cutter Condition.

DEATH OF A NOBODY

Spoiler:

Mr. Gecinre Nodentcrips repressed a sigh as he looked at the open grave the pallbearers were lowering a coffin into. As a minor official, part of his portfolio was the duty of being present at paupers’ funerals.

How many of these had he been at already? Gecinre had not kept track after the tenth, but he estimated that he was nearing the 50-mark. Although Mid-Childa liked to present itself as a picture of prosperity, it was an inconvenient truth that it still had a small share of homeless bums/tramps despite the various welfare initiatives put in place to try and solve the problem. Not known to or unclaimed by family when they passed on as all inevitably would, it fell on the state to provide them with a final resting place. This was an entitlement also extended to those who died anonymously.

Gecinre did not struggle to maintain a neutral expression, but let a few tears escape him. It never got any easier to attend these funerals, even though he had been to so many and had never known any of the deceased personally. He knew his friends called him a bleeding heart sometimes and it was not a description he attempted to deny. No one should have to die alone, unmourned, unremembered except as an impersonal part of the Ministry of Home Affair's records, to be filed away and forgotten by the bureaucratic monolith.

Gecinre remembered that the state coroner had taken particular interest in this case. When the body had come in, discovered by a good citizen in some alleyway, it had just two knife wounds. One had gone through the spinal cord, ensuring paralysis, while the other, slightly newer one started at the bottom of the head, between the jawbone and Adam's Apple and went up into the brain. It appeared that the first wound had been left to bleed out for a while before the second had been delivered. The precision of the murder spoke of a professionalism that had the police worried, but the victim's body had already been left to rot some days before its discovery and no leads could be found. As a result, despite the regrets of all involved in the investigation, the murder had been cold-cased. The funeral arrangements were simple and inelegant; a washing and dressing of the dead man, short last rites by a representative of the Belkan Saint Church, a mass-produced coffin. Fortunately, there was more than enough left to learn the victim’s identity through the government records.

After the gravedigger finished shovelling earth to fill the grave and smoothing out the earth over the coffin, Gecinre reverentially dropped to his knees to leave a white chrysanthemum on the grave. The gesture was not officially funded by the government, but he felt that the deceased deserved at least that much and had contributed one to all whose funeral rites he had witnessed. After he stood back up, he touched his fingers to his right brow and held the half-salute for a few seconds before backing away and turning to leave the cemetery grounds.

Behind him, the simple tombstone read "Yuuno Scrya".

Spoiler for Author's Notes:

Gecinre's name is an anagram. I hope you can solve it!

This was triggered by the Shadowsverse discussion a few pages back and the idea that, with Yuuno being forgotten by the time of Vivid, it would be safe for him to be eliminated. Implicit in the two wounds delivered is the idea that, after paralysing him first, the operative responsible would spend some time monologuing before killing him.

I know we do not see much of the TSAB's full machinations, but I ran on the assumption that it, like many other RL governments, would have such a service.

This is probably going in my collection of shorts; it's far too... short to stand alone, I should think.

[Moczo]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

lmao, since I put the three completed chapters of Altered Course up on fanfiction.net, I've already got some people sensing danger!

and by danger I mean Yuunoha.

I'm going to get so flamed when I start working on that fic again.

Edit: the reviewer said that if I really wanted to make season one "darker" I should kill or maim Yuuno. (I guess they missed Yuuno's severe injury in the prologue?)

The hatedom is strong in this one!

Good, gooooood! Let their hate flow through you. It will make you strong. You don't know the power, of the Dark Side of the Fandom.

Seriously, though: pairing matters to me very little under nearly any circumstances. The only way the pairing could make me not read a good story is if I don't like one of the characters involved no matter who they're paired to, and while there are a ton of characters in the Nanoha fandom that I am basically neutral towards (Like, 90% of the characters introduced in StrikerS. Including, amusingly enough considering I'm writing a fic about them, Vivio and Lutecia. Though admittedly, ViVid has seriously improved my opinion of the latter. Which is also sort of amusing considering it's the former's series.), there aren't really any that I actively dislike. Except for the ones you're supposed to hate, like Precia and Quattro, and I enjoy hating them so that doesn't count.

I like Yuuno, and I like Nanoha, so Yuunoha holds no terror for me. Write what you wish.

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

lmao, since I put the three completed chapters of Altered Course up on fanfiction.net, I've already got some people sensing danger!

and by danger I mean Yuunoha.

I'm going to get so flamed when I start working on that fic again.

Edit: the reviewer said that if I really wanted to make season one "darker" I should kill or maim Yuuno. (I guess they missed Yuuno's severe injury in the prologue?)

The hatedom is strong in this one!

Isn't it sad, Yuuno-kun?

[synaesthetic]

Chapter 6 of false light will expand the OC cast by one (adding Victor Stormhawk) and expand the canon cast by... a lot. Vivio and Yuuno return in a big way, but otherwise, adding Hayate, Sein, Otto, Deed, Verossa, Carim and that nun from the Saint Church who I can never remember how to spell her name.

Yeah, Chrono calls in the really big guns.

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

adding Hayate, Sein, Otto, Deed, Verossa, Carim and that nun from the Saint Church who I can never remember how to spell her name.

Sister Schach Nouera, the one who personally taught Verossa and is teaching Sein in canon right now.

[synaesthetic]

Thank you.

[Yasanagi]

Spoiler for Material Days V:

She couldn't remember how long it had been since they had been blasted to the ground by that Luciferion Breaker. It had been quite a blur but when she checked her device's chronometer, it had only been a few minutes. As she got up, she noticed that her entire balance felt a bit off too. She looked down... and frowned when she saw a missing chunk of her torso. "And I liked this dress too..." One quick regeneration later and her body was restored, although the clothing damage remained.

"Hn," came the grunt of her partner who was behind her with a missing left arm.

"You okay there?"

"Peachy." After taking a moment to regenerate his arm, he glanced at the woman. "Shouldn't you be searching for those mages now?"

"Yeah, yeah. Initiating Wide Area Search." Her device flew out before flipping open to a specific page and sent out multiple orbs of light in all directions. After reviewing the feedback from the spell, she made her report. "There are no signs of them on this world but the mana signatures of those interesting mages are still fresh."

"A transport?"

"Looks like it. Refining search parameters......" The tome glowed once as it locked on to their targets. "Bingo... they're in a vessel orbiting this world. Coordinates 45 Mark 87."

Without wasting a moment, the young male got into position and prepared his device. "EC Divider... Super Substratospheric Altitude Mode."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took a while for Material-D's eyes to readjust to the light after that teleport but once she regained her sight, she couldn't help but gawk at what she saw. "... this is your ship?"

The group had transported right to the cockpit area where there were two seats, one for the pilot and one for the co-pilot. Behind them was a door which led to a room that acted as a combination of living quarters and storage space. Material-L immediately spotted an unused clean bunk and helped the tired Material-S towards it so she could rest from her last massive attack.

"It's really just a personal shuttlecraft," panted Yuuno heavily as he was gently moved into the pilot seat by Material-D. "One of the perks being Chief Librarian of the Infinity Library, I guess."

"Hm... perhaps I should enlist you as my scholar when I finally establish my kingdom," mumbled the Hayate replica. "To document the dawn of my legacy is an important task after all."

"Let's just get out of here first," said the wounded male as he began booting the systems back up and keyed in his passcodes while Material-D resumed administering the healing magic she had applied to his burn from earlier.

"Identify verified. All systems unlocked. Welcome back, Yuuno Scrya," chirped the voice of the on-board computer.

Hearing that name caused Material-S to slightly stir out of her dazed state. If it weren't for Material-L steadying her, she probably would have fallen off the bunk. "Y-Yuuno? That name...... sounds..."

Before he could respond, the computer began beeping rampantly. "Warning. Incoming attack spell."

"Raise the shields!" Just as soon as Yuuno made the order, the ship rocked violently as the alarm signals started ringing heavily. "Damage report!"

"Hold still so I can heal you!" growled Material-D as she kept at her work.

"Shields down to 55 percent..."

"We're not going to blow up, are we?" asked the Fate replica in a slightly worried tone. "I don't wanna become fireworks!!"

Another violent impact rocked the ship. "Ten percent."

"Computer, open the mage-interface port!" The console on the co-pilot's side shimmered a bit before Yuuno shuffled over to the other seat, to Material-D's annoyance, and placed his palms on the newly activated console. "Synchronize!"

"Peon, if you want me to properly treat this burn, then stop moving around so much!" Honestly, why did he have to make this so difficult?

"Synchronization complete."

"Circle Protection!!" The defense spell was cast directly through the ship's systems, allowing a barrier to immediately sprang up and surround the exterior of the ship, softening the next blow to just a small shake. "Ah, good..."

The small shake though was enough to cause Material-D to lose enough of her balance and whatever was left of her patience. "You..." She stopped administering the healing magic, causing Yuuno to pause what he was doing when he felt the flow of her magic cut off.

"What's......" He didn't have a chance to say anything else as the freshly summoned Paper Fan of Doom came upon him.

"WHEN! I! TELL! YOU! TO! HOLD! STILL! YOU! HOLD! STILL!" screeched Material-D, emphasizing her words with a heavy smack to the head from the fan before taking a moment to catch her breath.

"Ten hit combo! Yay!!" exclaimed Material-L just as they all noticed the flow of power around the ship shut off.

"Warning. Synchronization has been disrupted due to improper connection to the interface."

The trio all looked at Yuuno, who was now out sprawled out over the console and out cold thanks to his stamina giving out after taking that sudden barrage from the Paper Fan. "You knocked him out?" asked Material-S, glaring at the Hayate replica who was now sweating bullets.

"I... er..."

"Nice job breaking it, your Majesty," said Material-L in a sarcastic tone.

"SHUT UP!!"

[NorthernFallout]

A Wallachia back-to-the-roots short with extra cake.

Spoiler for The Monster in the Tunnel:

So burning. So despicable. So horrifying. So terrifying. So painful. So demonic. So unforgiving. As such is the Monster.

*

The young woman stepped into another pool of dirty water that splashed on the walls. She ran, her own ragged breathing and her feet traversing the cold ground being the only thing echoing inside the tunnel, except for a sharp noise far behind her; the sound of a knife dragged along the walls in a slow, hungry stride.

In every turn she took, another nightmare stepped up to infest her already broken mind. The heads on spikes, their empty eyes screaming at her, made her shriek in horror; limbs spiked into the walls made her turn in revulsion; and intestines organized into grotesque, demonic symbols made her stomach turn. The stench reeked from far beyond, into the deepest part of the tunnels from where she had escaped. The wretched smell refused to leave her, rotting her mind and driving her further into panic.

"This is fun!" A giggle, somewhere behind her. "Please, entertain me more!"

"Monster! Monster!" she screamed and almost stumbled across another body. Its hands had been cut off and offered to the Monster now chasing her. His face had been eaten by the Monster. His skin was white as snow, his blood drunk by the Monster.

The Monster was chasing her.

"Ahahaha~~" The laughed bounced of the walls, echoing further in her mind; the damning reminder of certain death slowly making its way towards her. Soon enough, she would join the dead haunting these tunnels, unless she could find the correct path to escape.

"Why didn't I listen?! Fuck!" she swore in a high-pitched voice. It too echoed and produced another giggle from the Monster.

The tunnel took another turn and she halted as the passage split into two separate tunnels. From both a warm light was illuminating in the far distance. The distant noise of traffic could be heard. Both led to freedom!

She took the left tunnel and forced her muscles to run as fast as she possibly could. She was already out of breath, her muscles and blood burning with adrenaline. She vomited as she ran, incapable of stopping from pure mindset. The light grew stronger and stronger. She could smell the fresh air waiting for her. Tears of joy ran down her cheeks as she turned the last corner, embracing the freedom.

She ran straight into a solid brick wall. Drunk on relief, she didn't stop and her nose breaking could be heard through the tunnels, followed with a splash as she fell into the dirty water. Lying on her back she could see the manhole five metres up, the sun shining brightly into it and the noise from the traffic passing by up there vibrated in the walls.

"I was lucky. Imagine if you'd taken the right tunnel. You would have escaped! Ahahaha~~"

The splosh of water with each of the Monster's steps resounded in her head. No way, she thought. No way. No.

Tears of joy no longer ran from her eyes. Fear had gripped her body like a steel clamp. The Monster now stood right above her with a grin on its face. The light bounced off the water and made it even more horrible.

"Found you~~"

The butcher knife slashed silently through the air and hit her right shoulder, cleaving its way straight through the flesh until its edge cut into her bone. Pulling it backwards to slice more, it got stuck in the bone. Blood flooded out of the gaping wound and the woman screamed in horrified pain.

With another pull the knife loosened, spraying an arc of blood into the air that clung to its sharp edge. Before it was back in its original position, it was thrown down again into the same wound, cutting deeper into the bone.

"Ah~~ Smells good!"

The Monster put a foot on the knife's upper side and pushed down. The woman's body convulsed as she tried to squirm herself free from the blade, but a heavy push crushed the bone and the rusty knife eventually forced its way through her whole shoulder. The blood changed direction and now dripped down on the floor as the rest of her arm hang in slices of meat and tendon.

The woman had fallen quiet, too tried to scream, but her mind remained awake. Next to her the Monster kneeled and sniffed the wound. She could feel its breath licking the torn flesh.

Then it took a bite. A giggle reached her ears. The Monster thrashed about, its jaws gnawing into her tender flesh and drinking the blood surging from the open wound. The insane pain reached her mind again, but her throat couldn't make a sound.

Suddenly the Monster stopped eating. It appeared over her face with a disappointed frown, bearing on childish.

"You are awfully quiet. Usually they scream and trash about. You aren't even trying."

The Monster's face erupted into a wide grin as something within it came to light, letting the blood and pieces of meat that remained between its teeth fall down onto the woman's face. It smeared her cheeks red and the meat stuck to them. She didn't blink, but instead kept her stare into the red glowing eyes above her while gritting her teeth.

"It couldn't be... That you like it?" The Monster laughed heartily. "Wonderful!"

It embraced the woman's wound with a tiny hand and sent a surge of magic through the open veins. She could feel her blood stop and return into her body, stopping her from escaping this hell. The darkness that had begun to encompass her soul was violently withdrawn.

"So, what do you want to do now, Princess?" The Monster's eyes travelled across her body until they settled on the other shoulder. "Of course."

The Monster placed the butcher knife over the shoulder as it had been before, but now kept one hand on the handle and the other pressed down on the front. In an achingly slow fashion it began to grind it back and forth, carefully cutting the meat and tendons. The Monster straddled the woman's stomach and grinned into her face as it wagged back and forth.

As her blood no longer left her body, and kept her mind awake, the energy to scream returned and it did so with strength. Someone would hear it above, she thought. For something so loud to go unnoticed they'd have to be deaf!

"Haha~~. Yes, please scream more! Let me hear your satisfaction!"

The blade cut deeper and deeper into her shoulder. It took forever to begin breaking her bone. Minutes passed as it sawed through the muscles and the remaining flesh. Tears of pain drowned her eyes.

"No arms!" the Monster declared in a happy, child-like, voice when the blade finally cut through the last millimetre of flesh. "Now, Princess, it's time to feast!"

The butcher knife was thrown to the side, bouncing off the wall with an audible clank and the Monster brought its head down to smell the woman's neck.

"You smell like roses... Inviting..."

The Monster moved backwards and straddled the woman's hips. With two firm hands it gripped her shirt and ripped it apart, baring her naked chest. The Monster licked its lips and bent down, letting its tongue run across the woman's stomach, between her breasts and up towards her throat where the Monster's mouth opened and sucked on the skin. Its hands grabbed her breasts so hard its nails almost drew blood.

"Delicious..." The Monster's voice become softer and it didn't carry as much weight as before. The woman forced herself to yet again stare into the blood-red eyes, pushing aside her pain and horror, and could see them shudder in their sockets. A trance-like state began to cloud the Monster's mind as its mouth sucked and licked her flesh.

So much pain. The magic unleashed on her wounds finally broke and her blood flooded out into the water slowly streaming past, giving it a hellish red color. Darkness made its entrance in the corner of her eyes again and it was so comforting. So very warm.

"Already?" The Monster looked up with those bright red eyes. "Let me say goodbye then."

The Monster supported the woman's head in her hand and gave her a deep kiss. Its tongue rummaged about, tasting her saliva. When they disengaged the Monster gave off a happy, satisfied sigh and smiled.

The last thing burning in the woman's retina was the Monster opening its mouth, baring tiny fangs within and lunging downwards towards her neck.

*

Wallachia heard the slurping noise far away in the left tunnel that lead into a dead-end. Striding that way, silent as a fox, she sneaked up to the next corner and peeked around it. Sure enough, there the Monster was, feasting on the woman she'd held prisoner for two days.

She smiled to herself, sighed and let her presence be known by stepping into the water streaming past. The Monster peaked its head up at the splash and its face turned from delight into a blushing surprise.

"Ah! I'm s-sorry!" the Monster stuttered and flew to its feet, drabs of meat still hanging from its mouth and blood still spattered on its burning cheeks. "I-It's just she got loose and I, I wanted to... Well... That is..."

Wallachia approached the dead woman and bent down to eye the mess of a human being. Arms torn off and her throat ripped to shreds. She let two fingers scratch the bloody wound that used to be a shoulder and put it in her mouth, licking her fingers clean.

"It is quite delicious... But it can't be helped I guess." She stood up and looked at the Monster with an annoyed stare, putting her hands on her hips. "You know you are supposed to tell me when these things happen. What if she'd escaped? If you've followed her into the streets, how knows what could have happened?"

"Yes," the Monster whimpered. "I know. I just..."

Wallachia smiled softly and put an arm around its shoulders, leading it away from the mangled body. "Come on, Kronia. Let's head home and practice."

The teenage girl nodded her head and gave Wallachia a smile of relief. "Yes, mother."

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for Material Days V:

She couldn't remember how long it had been since they had been blasted to the ground by that Luciferion Breaker. It had been quite a blur but when she checked her device's chronometer, it had only been a few minutes. As she got up, she noticed that her entire balance felt a bit off too. She looked down... and frowned when she saw a missing chunk of her torso. "And I liked this dress too..." One quick regeneration later and her body was restored, although the clothing damage remained.

"Hn," came the grunt of her partner who was behind her with a missing left arm.

"You okay there?"

"Peachy." After taking a moment to regenerate his arm, he glanced at the woman. "Shouldn't you be searching for those mages now?"

"Yeah, yeah. Initiating Wide Area Search." Her device flew out before flipping open to a specific page and sent out multiple orbs of light in all directions. After reviewing the feedback from the spell, she made her report. "There are no signs of them on this world but the mana signatures of those interesting mages are still fresh."

"A transport?"

"Looks like it. Refining search parameters......" The tome glowed once as it locked on to their targets. "Bingo... they're in a vessel orbiting this world. Coordinates 45 Mark 87."

Without wasting a moment, the young male got into position and prepared his device. "EC Divider... Super Substratospheric Altitude Mode."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took a while for Material-D's eyes to readjust to the light after that teleport but once she regained her sight, she couldn't help but gawk at what she saw. "... this is your ship?"

The group had transported right to the cockpit area where there were two seats, one for the pilot and one for the co-pilot. Behind them was a door which led to a room that acted as a combination of living quarters and storage space. Material-L immediately spotted an unused clean bunk and helped the tired Material-S towards it so she could rest from her last massive attack.

"It's really just a personal shuttlecraft," panted Yuuno heavily as he was gently moved into the pilot seat by Material-D. "One of the perks being Chief Librarian of the Infinity Library, I guess."

"Hm... perhaps I should enlist you as my scholar when I finally establish my kingdom," mumbled the Hayate replica. "To document the dawn of my legacy is an important task after all."

"Let's just get out of here first," said the wounded male as he began booting the systems back up and keyed in his passcodes while Material-D resumed administering the healing magic she had applied to his burn from earlier.

"Identify verified. All systems unlocked. Welcome back, Yuuno Scrya," chirped the voice of the on-board computer.

Hearing that name caused Material-S to slightly stir out of her dazed state. If it weren't for Material-L steadying her, she probably would have fallen off the bunk. "Y-Yuuno? That name...... sounds..."

Before he could respond, the computer began beeping rampantly. "Warning. Incoming attack spell."

"Raise the shields!" Just as soon as Yuuno made the order, the ship rocked violently as the alarm signals started ringing heavily. "Damage report!"

"Hold still so I can heal you!" growled Material-D as she kept at her work.

"Shields down to 55 percent..."

"We're not going to blow up, are we?" asked the Fate replica in a slightly worried tone. "I don't wanna become fireworks!!"

Another violent impact rocked the ship. "Ten percent."

"Computer, open the mage-interface port!" The console on the co-pilot's side shimmered a bit before Yuuno shuffled over to the other seat, to Material-D's annoyance, and placed his palms on the newly activated console. "Synchronize!"

"Peon, if you want me to properly treat this burn, then stop moving around so much!" Honestly, why did he have to make this so difficult?

"Synchronization complete."

"Circle Protection!!" The defense spell was cast directly through the ship's systems, allowing a barrier to immediately sprang up and surround the exterior of the ship, softening the next blow to just a small shake. "Ah, good..."

The small shake though was enough to cause Material-D to lose enough of her balance and whatever was left of her patience. "You..." She stopped administering the healing magic, causing Yuuno to pause what he was doing when he felt the flow of her magic cut off.

"What's......" He didn't have a chance to say anything else as the freshly summoned Paper Fan of Doom came upon him.

"WHEN! I! TELL! YOU! TO! HOLD! STILL! YOU! HOLD! STILL!" screeched Material-D, emphasizing her words with a heavy smack to the head from the fan before taking a moment to catch her breath.

"Ten hit combo! Yay!!" exclaimed Material-L just as they all noticed the flow of power around the ship shut off.

"Warning. Synchronization has been disrupted due to improper connection to the interface."

The trio all looked at Yuuno, who was now out sprawled out over the console and out cold thanks to his stamina giving out after taking that sudden barrage from the Paper Fan. "You knocked him out?" asked Material-S, glaring at the Hayate replica who was now sweating bullets.

"I... er..."

"Nice job breaking it, your Majesty," said Material-L in a sarcastic tone.

"SHUT UP!!"

*Snicker* Never underestimate the power of the paper fan of doom.

It'll be interesting to see what happens next.

[SilentOutlaw]

Yeah, Chrono calls in the really big guns.

Oh yea!!! I think that will jack up False Light's awesomenss by 30%

Although that puts it at like 130%.....

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

Yeah, Chrono calls in the really big guns.

As long as the really big guns are shiny and powerful as all heck and blow the other side to kingdom come, I have no complaints.

[DezoPenguin]

Well, it still doesn't have a title yet, but hey, it still has Fate! And Bardiche! That should count for something!

Spoiler for She seems to have spent too much time with Nanoha...:

"You're sure you ladies don't need to rest after traveling?" Aztek said when the Enforcers rejoined him after checking into the hotel. Yaris wasn't sure if he was being polite or obtuse.

"Adjutant, our travel consisted of standing in place for less than a minute during dimensional transport. It took longer to get out of the spaceport."


"Yeah, I guess you have a point there."


She ignored her own momentary reaction to the transport; the ill effects had faded in under twenty minutes, although Aztek's driving had brought back echoes of them. She wondered if she'd be better off putting on her Barrier Jacket to absorb the stress of the high-G maneuvers.


"Anyway, you said that you had a suggestion for our next step?"


Aztek nodded.


"Right. Now, you know that the Security Forces have already completed the initial investigation—crime scene examination, forensic tests, witness interviews, and so on."


"Uh-huh." In the interest of cooperation, Yaris chose not to mention that the locals had significantly exceeded their responsibilities before calling in the Enforcement Bureau. After all, they were here now, working together, so there was no point in complaining about how they got there.


"Well, one of the major players in the illegal antiquities trade is based here in Caledon City. I'd set up a meeting to talk with him, and I thought that the two of you might want to join me. He may have been able to hang out in the gray areas of local law, but offworld heat is another kettle of fish entirely. If he wasn't involved in swiping the Circlet of Thessidor, then he should be able to find out who was."


It was the first time any of them had used the name of the missing Lost Logia. It hadn't been intentional, but even so breaking that curious silence had an effect on them all. Even Harlaown seemed to sense it, a shadow seemed to flicker across her deep red eyes. Lost Logia were like that, these ghosts of the fallen pasts. When they were involved even simple cases of theft and sale for profit got complicated.


"So who is this man?" Yaris pushed past the moment, as she always did. "What do we need to know about him?"


"His name is Nicolas Zil. Ostensibly, he's a restauranteur. The Chateau d'Argent is, in fact, one of the most well-known and highly-regarded restaurants in the city."


"Five-star cuisine, eh?"


"Oh, yeah. He does business out of his private rooms above the restaurant, and he's well known as a collector of antiquities, particularly Legarian rarities. I'm sure that won't surprise you, since one of the best ways to conceal illegal business is to do it within a legal one, clouding the picture."


"If he had a fancy for Legarian rarities, then is it likely he commissioned the theft?"


"It's possible. We're certain that his private collection is significantly larger than his 'public' private collection, if you know what I mean, and he's brokered deals that weren't for his own purchases as well."


"Why hasn't this man been arrested?" Harlaown asked.


"Knowing he's a crook and being able to prove it in court are different things, Enforcer. That's particularly true when a man has powerful friends as Zil does. That means we can't act without all the Is dotted and Ts crossed, probable cause obtained for every action and no allegations without solid evidence backing them up. There's no chance of acting on suspicion alone and getting away with anything. Lost Logia, though, that's a little different."


"You're looking forward to this, aren't you?" Yaris said slyly.


Aztek affected a face of mock innocence.


"Me? Whyever could you think so?"


"Oh, I don't know. But, if I were a law officer who's had to handle a suspected criminal with kid gloves and the opportunity came to bring him before TSAB authorities who haven't the slightest interest in how big a player he might be on this one single world and a mandate to make very sure that he isn't playing around with restricted magical technology, I'd probably be grinning from ear to ear at the idea."


Aztek's smile slowly widened until it matched Yaris's description.


"You know, there just might be something to that." He coded on the car's engine and shot out into traffic.


~X X X~


More than one person looked up when the three uniformed officers walked into the Chateau d'Argent's elaborately furnished lobby. Nicolas Zil's love for antiquities was plain to see, as four pillar-shaped display cases showed off artifacts: an elaborate mask of what looked like porcelain, an ornate double-bladed dagger, and other items. Along one wall a tapestry of a battle scene was covered by glass, opposite the maitre'd's stand. Yaris tried to keep her rubbernecking to a minimum, letting her eyes take in the décor without moving her head as she followed Aztek's crisp stride towards the host.


"Good afternoon, Adjutant," the maitre'd said, his glance flicking over the rank insignia on Aztek's collar. "How may I help you?"


"Deacon Aztek, National Security Forces. My associates and I have an appointment with Mr. Zil."


The host looked surprised at that; he touched a button on his podium and a small screen, no more than three by five inches, appeared.


"Pardon me, but I have an Adjutant Aztek and companions to see Mr. Zil?"


"I'll be there in a moment," replied whomever was on the other side of the screen.


"Very well." The host raised his eyes to Aztek and said said, "It will just be a moment, Adjutant, ladies."


The "moment" did in fact take no more than forty seconds before the lobby door opened and a slender, dark-skinned man with a shaved (or just bald) head and very sharp, angular features right down to the line of his eyebrows approached.


"Adjutant Aztek. We weren't expecting such an...imposingly official presence."


Yaris stepped up next to her local aide.


"Enforcers Yaris and Harlaown, Time-Space Administration Bureau," she said crisply, her tone matching the mood Aztek seemed to think would be the most effective approach with Zil. "Are you Mr. Zil?"


"No, Enforcer," the dark man said, momentarily taken aback.


"Then we'll save the explanations for when we see him. I don't like to repeat myself."


He glanced back and forth between Aztek and herself, the pause before his response long enough that Yaris wondered if he was a mage and communicating telepathically with his boss. If he was, he must have received a positive answer.


"Of course. Please come with me."


He led them from the lobby down a hall paneled in dark wood. Through doors on both sides Yaris could see dining rooms, light glittering off crystal, brightly polished silver, and snowy linens, and caught further hints of opulent furnishings. She wasn't familiar enough with Andorelan history to know the culture or time period being evoked, but it gave her the feeling of a post-medieval aristocratic luxury, of a time when birth meant privilege and entitlement and technology was sufficient to support it. At the end of the hall he touched a button and a section of paneling slid aside to reveal an elevator, the car outfitted in brass and more dark wood. Yaris felt a soft buzz at the back of her neck as they entered, her Device letting her know that they were being scanned for weapons.


The elevator ascended smoothly and their escort brought the three law officers to a large conference room. The furnishings here were equally elaborate, and the walls were pierced with glass cases, each bearing further antiquities. Was it because Zil liked to be surrounded by the objects of his passion, or because he was trying to show off, present an image to the people he met with?


Looking at the man who awaited them, Yaris had to conclude that it was the latter. Zil was a thick-bodied, well-fed man wearing an immaculate white suit, plum-colored shirt and lilac tie. His brown hair was a rich chocolate color with lighter highlights and he had a neatly trimmed beard into which he'd allowed a little gray, just enough to suggest experience and wisdom without a loss of strength and virility. He had short-fingered plowman's hands from which three rings glittered, and one ear was pierced for a diamond stud.


"Adjutant, Enforcers, good afternoon!" he greeted them heartily, waving his hand, but did not get up from his seat at the head of the long table—a classic power move. Yaris wasn't impressed; she'd seen it all before. "Come, join me, and tell me what I can do for such eminent guests." He gestured at the table.


The three of them approached, not responding to his hail-fellow-well-met heartiness. The point was to present a front of stern, overwhelming officialdom, although Yaris couldn't help but think that with Harlaown in tow they looked more like a family playing dress-up than a law enforcement squad.


Since beating around the bush would only undermine the impression they wanted to make, Yaris came out and said, "Adjutant Aztek tells up that you have extensive knowledge of the market for Lagarian artifacts."


"You do me too much honor. I have a collector's instinct, true, but nothing more."


She gestured at the walls.


"More than just an ordinary collector, I'd say."


"Trinkets. Mere baubles to whet the appetite. The time period is fascinating to me: a technologically advanced lost civilization existing on our own world long before Belkans or Midchildans sailed the dimensional sea. It's inspiring to think of. The artifacts I collect are not priceless treasures of gems and precious metal; their value lies in that they offer a window into the far-off past, into the lives of people now long passed on."


"Then how much," Aztek said, "would an artifact that literally gave you a window into that past be worth to you?"


"I'm afraid that I don't follow."


"The Circlet of Thessidor has been stolen from the Provincial Museum."


"The Circ—" Zil began, and avarice flickered in the depths of his deep brown eyes. "Incredible. But why do you come to me?"


"You know the market," Aztek said. "If the Circlet was being offered for sale, you would know."


"Surely you are not asserting that you believe I would traffic in stolen goods."


"You know as well as I do that in the antiquities trade, provenance is often forged, winked at, or ignored entirely."


"You are being extremely insulting, Adjutant. I assure you that my ownership of every item you see here is backed up with complete and valid documentation."


"And the ones we don't see, in your private collection?" Yaris said, her voice somewhere between a drawl and a sneer. Zil puffed up with false indignation—or heck, maybe it was real; some of these crime-boss guys were touchy about being accused of things even when they were guilty, as a matter of face and ego. She cut him off, leaning forward, palms on the conference table so her face was no more than six inches from his, making his seated posture one of weakness instead of strength. "Maybe you don't quite grasp the situation. This isn't about what you may or may not have bought through legal, dubious, or illegal channels in the past. This is about a stolen Lost Logia. Do I have to spell out for you what that means?"


"Why you little—" Zil's urbane polish vanished as he shot to his feet, knocking his chair back. "I'll have you know—"


"Don't push me on this. I'm not in a mood to listen to a two-bit hustler—" she shot back, watching Zil's face turn purple, but she too was interrupted by a voice from behind her carrying the telltale metallic echo of a Device.


"Get set."


Yaris, Zil, and Aztek all turned towards Harlaown. The triangular pendant around the girl's neck flashed an in an instant her uniform was gone, replaced by a Barrier Jacket of black tunic and tights—very similar, actually, to her Enforcer uniform—and high-collared white cape. Her black-gloved right hand closed around the shaft of a short-handled Device with a head like a blunt-edged axe blade. The yellow crystal in the axe-head flashed, and the metallic voice spoke again.


"Plasma Lancer."


Six spears of yellow energy blasted off in multiple directions, crashing into the walls between the display cases and smashing open hidden panels. From behind the panels, one man toppled, unconscious, a heavy rifle-like weapon tumbling out of his slack hands, while five goons charged. Blasts of magical energy shot into the room from gaps in what had to be two more panels at the end of the room, but were stopped by the glittering yellow dome that sprang up around the Enforcers and Aztek. "Defenser Plus" echoed in the air, confirming the source of the barrier.


Yaris said something not precisely suitable for an eleven-year-old's ears, but since Harlaown had started this mess her partner figured she could deal. She assumed her own Barrier Jacket, neck-to-front black with a crimson cape and tiny halo hat, her blue hair coming loose from the braid and spilling down her back. She plucked her own Device's card-shaped standby form from her pocket and converted Star Sentry into its combat-ready staff form.


The five thugs she could see appeared to include three men and a woman with typical rod-type Storage Devices, along with another weapon-user. Even as Yaris was assessing the situation, Harlaown was already moving to resolve it.


"Haken Form."


The axe-head tipped back, sprouting a scythelike blade. The child sprang towards the two attackers on her side of the table. A sweep of her scythe cut down the defenseless non-mage, and in a motion so quick Yaris could barely track she bought it back around towards the second man.


"Haken Slash."


Sparks flew as the enhanced attack tore through the mage's rudimentary Barrier Jacket, overwhelming his defenses and blasting him unconscious with magic damage. Yaris whipped Star Sentry towards the goons on the other side.


"Plasma Shock."


A bright explosion of blue-white light staggered two of them, utterly disrupting their attempts to cast spells. The third pointed his Device at Harlaown. "Strike Fire!" he yelped, and four shooting-magic "bullets" sprang from the rod's tip. Two missed outright, shattering a display case, one impacted the skirt of her Barrier Jacket without apparent effect, and the last she actually swatted away with her scytle.


Zil had tried to make a run for it the instant the firefight broke out, but Aztek had intercepted him, tackling him to the carpet. They rolled over and over, grappling and punching while the Enforcers dealt with the armed opposition.


More blasts came from the end of the room, but Yaris was ready for them, raising her Mystic Defender barrier spell to protect herself. The force of the impacts was negligible; she doubted the opposition would have qualified as better than C-rank.


"Harlaown, get those two behind the wall!" she ordered, then pointed at the mage who'd launched the Strike Fire spell.


"Pulse Laser," Star Sentry recited.


"Haken Saber," Harlaown's Device said almost at once.


Four blue-white orbs shimmered into place around Yaris's target, then blasted into him, dropping him unconscious. Simultaneously, Harlaown's scythe-blade launched into a spinning arc off the Device and blew apart the protective panel, knocking out the man behind it. Her Device switched back to its original form, she pointed it at the remaining panel, and a Mid-style rune glowed beneath her feet.


"Plasma Rage!" she cried, and a blast of lightning blew the better part of the wall apart. Impressed despite herself, Yaris Plasma Shocked her last two enemies into unconsciousness. That just left Aztek, who was getting the worst of it with Zil. The man in the white suit had Aztek pinned down, one hand gripping his throat while the other rose and fell like a triphammer, methodically beating the Adjutant down.


It would have been easy for either Enforcer to blast the enraged Zil, but Yaris decided it would be polite to give Aztek the opportunity.


"Iron Tiger," Star Sentry intoned. Blue light swelled around Aztek, enhancing his physical strength like a Belkan knight's magic did. He knocked Zil's arm away, then pumped his fist up into the restauranteur's face. Zil's head snapped back, blood spraying from a broken nose, and a second punch toppled him off Aztek onto his side on the rug. Aztek pushed himself to his feet, rubbing his jaw and panting heavily, while Yaris surveyed the sprawled bodies and the damage to the room. She turned her gaze to Harlaown, skewering the child with her eyes.


"We," she announced, "are going to have a long talk about this."


~X X X~


The lobby was awash in brilliant sunlight spilling through floor-to-ceiling windows descending in streams through ornately-wrought, circular skylights. He stumbled a bit as he came out of the staircase elevator, as if his feet wouldn't quite go where he wanted them to. The images before his eyes were shifting and confusing. Fanciful patterns in green, scarlet, and gold writhed into existence in the beige wall-to-wall lobby carpeting, taking shape just long enough to tease at his memory for the meaning of their symbolism, then vanishing again, swallowed by the drab fibers. An ornamental wooden table set with a decanter and glasses shimmered as a cart rolled through it, pushed by a white-aproned housekeeper.


He swayed as he walked forward, trying not to set his feet on the eerily erupting griffons and hydras, giving his advance the disconcerting aspect of a strange, patternless dance, putting him in mind of a drunken courtier who'd attempted a quadrille, only to miss steps and ricochet to and fro as he bumped into dancer after dancer until he was approached by—


"Excuse me, sir, but do you need help?" gingerly asked a young man in livery, the gold and green tabard of a page red jacket and cap with gold braid of a doorman, on his first first week week on the job.


Memory becoming reality, as he recalled the servant using those same words to the dancer? Was he the dancer? Is it memory? Or what is happening now? But no, just a memory; as I resemble that man, so does the response.


Ahead of him a woman in a scarlet gown passed through a closed glass door, the panel seeming to fly apart in a thousand fragments open archway that came back together as she passed on. His head pounded at the sight, and he shook off the grasping hand of the interloper whose offered kindness only served to irritate him the more as it provided one more discordant note in the haze of his perception.


"Let me go!" he snapped, more harshly than the boy deserved for he had only been trying to be of service. He swayed forward, then set his jaw and marched straight for the archway door, heedless of the way the air seemed to stream and flow around him. He collided heavily with a barrier he could not see fumbled for the door handle for a long moment as if he couldn't quite grasp what he was supposed to do with it, the knowledge slipping from his grasp until at last the door gave way before him and he staggered out into the burning sunlight.

Previously:

Chapter 1

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Well, it still doesn't have a title yet, but hey, it still has Fate! And Bardiche! That should count for something!

Spoiler for She seems to have spent too much time with Nanoha...:

"You're sure you ladies don't need to rest after traveling?" Aztek said when the Enforcers rejoined him after checking into the hotel. Yaris wasn't sure if he was being polite or obtuse.

"Adjutant, our travel consisted of standing in place for less than a minute during dimensional transport. It took longer to get out of the spaceport."


"Yeah, I guess you have a point there."


She ignored her own momentary reaction to the transport; the ill effects had faded in under twenty minutes, although Aztek's driving had brought back echoes of them. She wondered if she'd be better off putting on her Barrier Jacket to absorb the stress of the high-G maneuvers.


"Anyway, you said that you had a suggestion for our next step?"


Aztek nodded.


"Right. Now, you know that the Security Forces have already completed the initial investigation—crime scene examination, forensic tests, witness interviews, and so on."


"Uh-huh." In the interest of cooperation, Yaris chose not to mention that the locals had significantly exceeded their responsibilities before calling in the Enforcement Bureau. After all, they were here now, working together, so there was no point in complaining about how they got there.


"Well, one of the major players in the illegal antiquities trade is based here in Caledon City. I'd set up a meeting to talk with him, and I thought that the two of you might want to join me. He may have been able to hang out in the gray areas of local law, but offworld heat is another kettle of fish entirely. If he wasn't involved in swiping the Circlet of Thessidor, then he should be able to find out who was."


It was the first time any of them had used the name of the missing Lost Logia. It hadn't been intentional, but even so breaking that curious silence had an effect on them all. Even Harlaown seemed to sense it, a shadow seemed to flicker across her deep red eyes. Lost Logia were like that, these ghosts of the fallen pasts. When they were involved even simple cases of theft and sale for profit got complicated.


"So who is this man?" Yaris pushed past the moment, as she always did. "What do we need to know about him?"


"His name is Nicolas Zil. Ostensibly, he's a restauranteur. The Chateau d'Argent is, in fact, one of the most well-known and highly-regarded restaurants in the city."


"Five-star cuisine, eh?"


"Oh, yeah. He does business out of his private rooms above the restaurant, and he's well known as a collector of antiquities, particularly Legarian rarities. I'm sure that won't surprise you, since one of the best ways to conceal illegal business is to do it within a legal one, clouding the picture."


"If he had a fancy for Legarian rarities, then is it likely he commissioned the theft?"


"It's possible. We're certain that his private collection is significantly larger than his 'public' private collection, if you know what I mean, and he's brokered deals that weren't for his own purchases as well."


"Why hasn't this man been arrested?" Harlaown asked.


"Knowing he's a crook and being able to prove it in court are different things, Enforcer. That's particularly true when a man has powerful friends as Zil does. That means we can't act without all the Is dotted and Ts crossed, probable cause obtained for every action and no allegations without solid evidence backing them up. There's no chance of acting on suspicion alone and getting away with anything. Lost Logia, though, that's a little different."


"You're looking forward to this, aren't you?" Yaris said slyly.


Aztek affected a face of mock innocence.


"Me? Whyever could you think so?"


"Oh, I don't know. But, if I were a law officer who's had to handle a suspected criminal with kid gloves and the opportunity came to bring him before TSAB authorities who haven't the slightest interest in how big a player he might be on this one single world and a mandate to make very sure that he isn't playing around with restricted magical technology, I'd probably be grinning from ear to ear at the idea."


Aztek's smile slowly widened until it matched Yaris's description.


"You know, there just might be something to that." He coded on the car's engine and shot out into traffic.


~X X X~


More than one person looked up when the three uniformed officers walked into the Chateau d'Argent's elaborately furnished lobby. Nicolas Zil's love for antiquities was plain to see, as four pillar-shaped display cases showed off artifacts: an elaborate mask of what looked like porcelain, an ornate double-bladed dagger, and other items. Along one wall a tapestry of a battle scene was covered by glass, opposite the maitre'd's stand. Yaris tried to keep her rubbernecking to a minimum, letting her eyes take in the décor without moving her head as she followed Aztek's crisp stride towards the host.


"Good afternoon, Adjutant," the maitre'd said, his glance flicking over the rank insignia on Aztek's collar. "How may I help you?"


"Deacon Aztek, National Security Forces. My associates and I have an appointment with Mr. Zil."


The host looked surprised at that; he touched a button on his podium and a small screen, no more than three by five inches, appeared.


"Pardon me, but I have an Adjutant Aztek and companions to see Mr. Zil?"


"I'll be there in a moment," replied whomever was on the other side of the screen.


"Very well." The host raised his eyes to Aztek and said said, "It will just be a moment, Adjutant, ladies."


The "moment" did in fact take no more than forty seconds before the lobby door opened and a slender, dark-skinned man with a shaved (or just bald) head and very sharp, angular features right down to the line of his eyebrows approached.


"Adjutant Aztek. We weren't expecting such an...imposingly official presence."


Yaris stepped up next to her local aide.


"Enforcers Yaris and Harlaown, Time-Space Administration Bureau," she said crisply, her tone matching the mood Aztek seemed to think would be the most effective approach with Zil. "Are you Mr. Zil?"


"No, Enforcer," the dark man said, momentarily taken aback.


"Then we'll save the explanations for when we see him. I don't like to repeat myself."


He glanced back and forth between Aztek and herself, the pause before his response long enough that Yaris wondered if he was a mage and communicating telepathically with his boss. If he was, he must have received a positive answer.


"Of course. Please come with me."


He led them from the lobby down a hall paneled in dark wood. Through doors on both sides Yaris could see dining rooms, light glittering off crystal, brightly polished silver, and snowy linens, and caught further hints of opulent furnishings. She wasn't familiar enough with Andorelan history to know the culture or time period being evoked, but it gave her the feeling of a post-medieval aristocratic luxury, of a time when birth meant privilege and entitlement and technology was sufficient to support it. At the end of the hall he touched a button and a section of paneling slid aside to reveal an elevator, the car outfitted in brass and more dark wood. Yaris felt a soft buzz at the back of her neck as they entered, her Device letting her know that they were being scanned for weapons.


The elevator ascended smoothly and their escort brought the three law officers to a large conference room. The furnishings here were equally elaborate, and the walls were pierced with glass cases, each bearing further antiquities. Was it because Zil liked to be surrounded by the objects of his passion, or because he was trying to show off, present an image to the people he met with?


Looking at the man who awaited them, Yaris had to conclude that it was the latter. Zil was a thick-bodied, well-fed man wearing an immaculate white suit, plum-colored shirt and lilac tie. His brown hair was a rich chocolate color with lighter highlights and he had a neatly trimmed beard into which he'd allowed a little gray, just enough to suggest experience and wisdom without a loss of strength and virility. He had short-fingered plowman's hands from which three rings glittered, and one ear was pierced for a diamond stud.


"Adjutant, Enforcers, good afternoon!" he greeted them heartily, waving his hand, but did not get up from his seat at the head of the long table—a classic power move. Yaris wasn't impressed; she'd seen it all before. "Come, join me, and tell me what I can do for such eminent guests." He gestured at the table.


The three of them approached, not responding to his hail-fellow-well-met heartiness. The point was to present a front of stern, overwhelming officialdom, although Yaris couldn't help but think that with Harlaown in tow they looked more like a family playing dress-up than a law enforcement squad.


Since beating around the bush would only undermine the impression they wanted to make, Yaris came out and said, "Adjutant Aztek tells up that you have extensive knowledge of the market for Lagarian artifacts."


"You do me too much honor. I have a collector's instinct, true, but nothing more."


She gestured at the walls.


"More than just an ordinary collector, I'd say."


"Trinkets. Mere baubles to whet the appetite. The time period is fascinating to me: a technologically advanced lost civilization existing on our own world long before Belkans or Midchildans sailed the dimensional sea. It's inspiring to think of. The artifacts I collect are not priceless treasures of gems and precious metal; their value lies in that they offer a window into the far-off past, into the lives of people now long passed on."


"Then how much," Aztek said, "would an artifact that literally gave you a window into that past be worth to you?"


"I'm afraid that I don't follow."


"The Circlet of Thessidor has been stolen from the Provincial Museum."


"The Circ—" Zil began, and avarice flickered in the depths of his deep brown eyes. "Incredible. But why do you come to me?"


"You know the market," Aztek said. "If the Circlet was being offered for sale, you would know."


"Surely you are not asserting that you believe I would traffic in stolen goods."


"You know as well as I do that in the antiquities trade, provenance is often forged, winked at, or ignored entirely."


"You are being extremely insulting, Adjutant. I assure you that my ownership of every item you see here is backed up with complete and valid documentation."


"And the ones we don't see, in your private collection?" Yaris said, her voice somewhere between a drawl and a sneer. Zil puffed up with false indignation—or heck, maybe it was real; some of these crime-boss guys were touchy about being accused of things even when they were guilty, as a matter of face and ego. She cut him off, leaning forward, palms on the conference table so her face was no more than six inches from his, making his seated posture one of weakness instead of strength. "Maybe you don't quite grasp the situation. This isn't about what you may or may not have bought through legal, dubious, or illegal channels in the past. This is about a stolen Lost Logia. Do I have to spell out for you what that means?"


"Why you little—" Zil's urbane polish vanished as he shot to his feet, knocking his chair back. "I'll have you know—"


"Don't push me on this. I'm not in a mood to listen to a two-bit hustler—" she shot back, watching Zil's face turn purple, but she too was interrupted by a voice from behind her carrying the telltale metallic echo of a Device.


"Get set."


Yaris, Zil, and Aztek all turned towards Harlaown. The triangular pendant around the girl's neck flashed an in an instant her uniform was gone, replaced by a Barrier Jacket of black tunic and tights—very similar, actually, to her Enforcer uniform—and high-collared white cape. Her black-gloved right hand closed around the shaft of a short-handled Device with a head like a blunt-edged axe blade. The yellow crystal in the axe-head flashed, and the metallic voice spoke again.


"Plasma Lancer."


Six spears of yellow energy blasted off in multiple directions, crashing into the walls between the display cases and smashing open hidden panels. From behind the panels, one man toppled, unconscious, a heavy rifle-like weapon tumbling out of his slack hands, while five goons charged. Blasts of magical energy shot into the room from gaps in what had to be two more panels at the end of the room, but were stopped by the glittering yellow dome that sprang up around the Enforcers and Aztek. "Defenser Plus" echoed in the air, confirming the source of the barrier.


Yaris said something not precisely suitable for an eleven-year-old's ears, but since Harlaown had started this mess her partner figured she could deal. She assumed her own Barrier Jacket, neck-to-front black with a crimson cape and tiny halo hat, her blue hair coming loose from the braid and spilling down her back. She plucked her own Device's card-shaped standby form from her pocket and converted Star Sentry into its combat-ready staff form.


The five thugs she could see appeared to include three men and a woman with typical rod-type Storage Devices, along with another weapon-user. Even as Yaris was assessing the situation, Harlaown was already moving to resolve it.


"Haken Form."


The axe-head tipped back, sprouting a scythelike blade. The child sprang towards the two attackers on her side of the table. A sweep of her scythe cut down the defenseless non-mage, and in a motion so quick Yaris could barely track she bought it back around towards the second man.


"Haken Slash."


Sparks flew as the enhanced attack tore through the mage's rudimentary Barrier Jacket, overwhelming his defenses and blasting him unconscious with magic damage. Yaris whipped Star Sentry towards the goons on the other side.


"Plasma Shock."


A bright explosion of blue-white light staggered two of them, utterly disrupting their attempts to cast spells. The third pointed his Device at Harlaown. "Strike Fire!" he yelped, and four shooting-magic "bullets" sprang from the rod's tip. Two missed outright, shattering a display case, one impacted the skirt of her Barrier Jacket without apparent effect, and the last she actually swatted away with her scytle.


Zil had tried to make a run for it the instant the firefight broke out, but Aztek had intercepted him, tackling him to the carpet. They rolled over and over, grappling and punching while the Enforcers dealt with the armed opposition.


More blasts came from the end of the room, but Yaris was ready for them, raising her Mystic Defender barrier spell to protect herself. The force of the impacts was negligible; she doubted the opposition would have qualified as better than C-rank.


"Harlaown, get those two behind the wall!" she ordered, then pointed at the mage who'd launched the Strike Fire spell.


"Pulse Laser," Star Sentry recited.


"Haken Saber," Harlaown's Device said almost at once.


Four blue-white orbs shimmered into place around Yaris's target, then blasted into him, dropping him unconscious. Simultaneously, Harlaown's scythe-blade launched into a spinning arc off the Device and blew apart the protective panel, knocking out the man behind it. Her Device switched back to its original form, she pointed it at the remaining panel, and a Mid-style rune glowed beneath her feet.


"Plasma Rage!" she cried, and a blast of lightning blew the better part of the wall apart. Impressed despite herself, Yaris Plasma Shocked her last two enemies into unconsciousness. That just left Aztek, who was getting the worst of it with Zil. The man in the white suit had Aztek pinned down, one hand gripping his throat while the other rose and fell like a triphammer, methodically beating the Adjutant down.


It would have been easy for either Enforcer to blast the enraged Zil, but Yaris decided it would be polite to give Aztek the opportunity.


"Iron Tiger," Star Sentry intoned. Blue light swelled around Aztek, enhancing his physical strength like a Belkan knight's magic did. He knocked Zil's arm away, then pumped his fist up into the restauranteur's face. Zil's head snapped back, blood spraying from a broken nose, and a second punch toppled him off Aztek onto his side on the rug. Aztek pushed himself to his feet, rubbing his jaw and panting heavily, while Yaris surveyed the sprawled bodies and the damage to the room. She turned her gaze to Harlaown, skewering the child with her eyes.


"We," she announced, "are going to have a long talk about this."


~X X X~


The lobby was awash in brilliant sunlight spilling through floor-to-ceiling windows descending in streams through ornately-wrought, circular skylights. He stumbled a bit as he came out of the staircase elevator, as if his feet wouldn't quite go where he wanted them to. The images before his eyes were shifting and confusing. Fanciful patterns in green, scarlet, and gold writhed into existence in the beige wall-to-wall lobby carpeting, taking shape just long enough to tease at his memory for the meaning of their symbolism, then vanishing again, swallowed by the drab fibers. An ornamental wooden table set with a decanter and glasses shimmered as a cart rolled through it, pushed by a white-aproned housekeeper.


He swayed as he walked forward, trying not to set his feet on the eerily erupting griffons and hydras, giving his advance the disconcerting aspect of a strange, patternless dance, putting him in mind of a drunken courtier who'd attempted a quadrille, only to miss steps and ricochet to and fro as he bumped into dancer after dancer until he was approached by—


"Excuse me, sir, but do you need help?" gingerly asked a young man in livery, the gold and green tabard of a page red jacket and cap with gold braid of a doorman, on his first first week week on the job.


Memory becoming reality, as he recalled the servant using those same words to the dancer? Was he the dancer? Is it memory? Or what is happening now? But no, just a memory; as I resemble that man, so does the response.


Ahead of him a woman in a scarlet gown passed through a closed glass door, the panel seeming to fly apart in a thousand fragments open archway that came back together as she passed on. His head pounded at the sight, and he shook off the grasping hand of the interloper whose offered kindness only served to irritate him the more as it provided one more discordant note in the haze of his perception.


"Let me go!" he snapped, more harshly than the boy deserved for he had only been trying to be of service. He swayed forward, then set his jaw and marched straight for the archway door, heedless of the way the air seemed to stream and flow around him. He collided heavily with a barrier he could not see fumbled for the door handle for a long moment as if he couldn't quite grasp what he was supposed to do with it, the knowledge slipping from his grasp until at last the door gave way before him and he staggered out into the burning sunlight.

Previously:

Chapter 1

You know... it really needs a title.

Very nice; I like it very much. The ending paragraphs continue to do an excellent job of building up from where you left off with chapter one, only now we seem to have thrown in flashes of the past, increased pain and suffering in general.... oh, man, this thing must have bonded with him pretty deep, and yet even so a part of me wonders why. Was it an accident? Perhaps he suited it magically or in terms of personality? Or was it all some kind of sick experiment?

Fate definitely took a page from Nanoha's book, though I get the feeling Yaris didn't quite appreciate her decision; that talk next chapter should be very interesting. I'm forever amused by Yaris herself; she can't seem to decide if she's Fate's guardian, her partner in equal terms, or an annoyed baby-sitter with a difficult charge. I'm beginning to think she believes she's a little bit of all three!

Zil's take on this will be interesting. Was he simply managing the trade, or did he want the artificat for himself, only for something to go wrong? Is the man suffering at the end of the chapter his friend, a family relative, or perhaps an innocent mook who was in the wrong place at the wrong time?

So many questions! I love it!

[Moczo]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Well, it still doesn't have a title yet, but hey, it still has Fate! And Bardiche! That should count for something!

Well, yeah, Bardiche is the best character in the series. I'm still waiting for the spin-off where he and Thoma's Divider team up to fight Nazi vampires.

Oh, and... nice chapter. I particularly enjoyed the part where Fate, y'know, beat the tar out of everybody. I think Yaris's annoyance is one part 'Oh my God this little kid just flipped out and beat up everybody without so much as warning me, does she not realize we were supposed to be talking here?' and one part '... ... ... uh-oh, she could kick my ass'.

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

A Wallachia back-to-the-roots short with extra cake.

Spoiler for The Monster in the Tunnel:

So burning. So despicable. So horrifying. So terrifying. So painful. So demonic. So unforgiving. As such is the Monster.

*

The young woman stepped into another pool of dirty water that splashed on the walls. She ran, her own ragged breathing and her feet traversing the cold ground being the only thing echoing inside the tunnel, except for a sharp noise far behind her; the sound of a knife dragged along the walls in a slow, hungry stride.

In every turn she took, another nightmare stepped up to infest her already broken mind. The heads on spikes, their empty eyes screaming at her, made her shriek in horror; limbs spiked into the walls made her turn in revulsion; and intestines organized into grotesque, demonic symbols made her stomach turn. The stench reeked from far beyond, into the deepest part of the tunnels from where she had escaped. The wretched smell refused to leave her, rotting her mind and driving her further into panic.

"This is fun!" A giggle, somewhere behind her. "Please, entertain me more!"

"Monster! Monster!" she screamed and almost stumbled across another body. Its hands had been cut off and offered to the Monster now chasing her. His face had been eaten by the Monster. His skin was white as snow, his blood drunk by the Monster.

The Monster was chasing her.

"Ahahaha~~" The laughed bounced of the walls, echoing further in her mind; the damning reminder of certain death slowly making its way towards her. Soon enough, she would join the dead haunting these tunnels, unless she could find the correct path to escape.

"Why didn't I listen?! Fuck!" she swore in a high-pitched voice. It too echoed and produced another giggle from the Monster.

The tunnel took another turn and she halted as the passage split into two separate tunnels. From both a warm light was illuminating in the far distance. The distant noise of traffic could be heard. Both led to freedom!

She took the left tunnel and forced her muscles to run as fast as she possibly could. She was already out of breath, her muscles and blood burning with adrenaline. She vomited as she ran, incapable of stopping from pure mindset. The light grew stronger and stronger. She could smell the fresh air waiting for her. Tears of joy ran down her cheeks as she turned the last corner, embracing the freedom.

She ran straight into a solid brick wall. Drunk on relief, she didn't stop and her nose breaking could be heard through the tunnels, followed with a splash as she fell into the dirty water. Lying on her back she could see the manhole five metres up, the sun shining brightly into it and the noise from the traffic passing by up there vibrated in the walls.

"I was lucky. Imagine if you'd taken the right tunnel. You would have escaped! Ahahaha~~"

The splosh of water with each of the Monster's steps resounded in her head. No way, she thought. No way. No.

Tears of joy no longer ran from her eyes. Fear had gripped her body like a steel clamp. The Monster now stood right above her with a grin on its face. The light bounced off the water and made it even more horrible.

"Found you~~"

The butcher knife slashed silently through the air and hit her right shoulder, cleaving its way straight through the flesh until its edge cut into her bone. Pulling it backwards to slice more, it got stuck in the bone. Blood flooded out of the gaping wound and the woman screamed in horrified pain.

With another pull the knife loosened, spraying an arc of blood into the air that clung to its sharp edge. Before it was back in its original position, it was thrown down again into the same wound, cutting deeper into the bone.

"Ah~~ Smells good!"

The Monster put a foot on the knife's upper side and pushed down. The woman's body convulsed as she tried to squirm herself free from the blade, but a heavy push crushed the bone and the rusty knife eventually forced its way through her whole shoulder. The blood changed direction and now dripped down on the floor as the rest of her arm hang in slices of meat and tendon.

The woman had fallen quiet, too tried to scream, but her mind remained awake. Next to her the Monster kneeled and sniffed the wound. She could feel its breath licking the torn flesh.

Then it took a bite. A giggle reached her ears. The Monster thrashed about, its jaws gnawing into her tender flesh and drinking the blood surging from the open wound. The insane pain reached her mind again, but her throat couldn't make a sound.

Suddenly the Monster stopped eating. It appeared over her face with a disappointed frown, bearing on childish.

"You are awfully quiet. Usually they scream and trash about. You aren't even trying."

The Monster's face erupted into a wide grin as something within it came to light, letting the blood and pieces of meat that remained between its teeth fall down onto the woman's face. It smeared her cheeks red and the meat stuck to them. She didn't blink, but instead kept her stare into the red glowing eyes above her while gritting her teeth.

"It couldn't be... That you like it?" The Monster laughed heartily. "Wonderful!"

It embraced the woman's wound with a tiny hand and sent a surge of magic through the open veins. She could feel her blood stop and return into her body, stopping her from escaping this hell. The darkness that had begun to encompass her soul was violently withdrawn.

"So, what do you want to do now, Princess?" The Monster's eyes travelled across her body until they settled on the other shoulder. "Of course."

The Monster placed the butcher knife over the shoulder as it had been before, but now kept one hand on the handle and the other pressed down on the front. In an achingly slow fashion it began to grind it back and forth, carefully cutting the meat and tendons. The Monster straddled the woman's stomach and grinned into her face as it wagged back and forth.

As her blood no longer left her body, and kept her mind awake, the energy to scream returned and it did so with strength. Someone would hear it above, she thought. For something so loud to go unnoticed they'd have to be deaf!

"Haha~~. Yes, please scream more! Let me hear your satisfaction!"

The blade cut deeper and deeper into her shoulder. It took forever to begin breaking her bone. Minutes passed as it sawed through the muscles and the remaining flesh. Tears of pain drowned her eyes.

"No arms!" the Monster declared in a happy, child-like, voice when the blade finally cut through the last millimetre of flesh. "Now, Princess, it's time to feast!"

The butcher knife was thrown to the side, bouncing off the wall with an audible clank and the Monster brought its head down to smell the woman's neck.

"You smell like roses... Inviting..."

The Monster moved backwards and straddled the woman's hips. With two firm hands it gripped her shirt and ripped it apart, baring her naked chest. The Monster licked its lips and bent down, letting its tongue run across the woman's stomach, between her breasts and up towards her throat where the Monster's mouth opened and sucked on the skin. Its hands grabbed her breasts so hard its nails almost drew blood.

"Delicious..." The Monster's voice become softer and it didn't carry as much weight as before. The woman forced herself to yet again stare into the blood-red eyes, pushing aside her pain and horror, and could see them shudder in their sockets. A trance-like state began to cloud the Monster's mind as its mouth sucked and licked her flesh.

So much pain. The magic unleashed on her wounds finally broke and her blood flooded out into the water slowly streaming past, giving it a hellish red color. Darkness made its entrance in the corner of her eyes again and it was so comforting. So very warm.

"Already?" The Monster looked up with those bright red eyes. "Let me say goodbye then."

The Monster supported the woman's head in her hand and gave her a deep kiss. Its tongue rummaged about, tasting her saliva. When they disengaged the Monster gave off a happy, satisfied sigh and smiled.

The last thing burning in the woman's retina was the Monster opening its mouth, baring tiny fangs within and lunging downwards towards her neck.

*

Wallachia heard the slurping noise far away in the left tunnel that lead into a dead-end. Striding that way, silent as a fox, she sneaked up to the next corner and peeked around it. Sure enough, there the Monster was, feasting on the woman she'd held prisoner for two days.

She smiled to herself, sighed and let her presence be known by stepping into the water streaming past. The Monster peaked its head up at the splash and its face turned from delight into a blushing surprise.

"Ah! I'm s-sorry!" the Monster stuttered and flew to its feet, drabs of meat still hanging from its mouth and blood still spattered on its burning cheeks. "I-It's just she got loose and I, I wanted to... Well... That is..."

Wallachia approached the dead woman and bent down to eye the mess of a human being. Arms torn off and her throat ripped to shreds. She let two fingers scratch the bloody wound that used to be a shoulder and put it in her mouth, licking her fingers clean.

"It is quite delicious... But it can't be helped I guess." She stood up and looked at the Monster with an annoyed stare, putting her hands on her hips. "You know you are supposed to tell me when these things happen. What if she'd escaped? If you've followed her into the streets, how knows what could have happened?"

"Yes," the Monster whimpered. "I know. I just..."

Wallachia smiled softly and put an arm around its shoulders, leading it away from the mangled body. "Come on, Kronia. Let's head home and practice."

The teenage girl nodded her head and gave Wallachia a smile of relief. "Yes, mother."

I don't even know what Wallachia looks like but I keep thinking "kinda like Remilia Scarlet..."

The ending was pretty WTF.