Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[rxrx]

Kuma is going to bite it isn't it?

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

StrikerS 1-50

StrikerS 51

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - StrikerS 52:

The next day...

Subaru looked at Nove as the two of them walked down the hallway of Jail's base. "Um... He, uh... I think I broke him." She flinched at the glare Nove gave her. "Hey, come on, how was I supposed to know that's what you guys were doing?"

"I tell you, it makes no sense!" Nove growled as she balled her hands into fists. "Why would the Bureau do the same thing that the doctor's doing?"

"Um, we're kind of an experimental group," Subaru chuckled nervously as Nove glared at her, "but why are you all going after those Lost Logia?"

Nove stopped and looked at her sister, before turning and opening a door. "In here, I'll show you why we're after the Relics... At least one of them."

Subaru blinked and stared in shock as the answer became apparent. "...A naked woman?"

"Her name is Megane Alphine." A new voice spoke up and Subaru noticed, for the first time, the silver-haired cyborg in the room. "Someone that I injured heavily years ago."

"Cinque..." Nove was about to move to her but her older sister held a hand up. "What's wrong?"

"I've... I did it again. When I fought that pink haired knight... I was fighting to keep myself from losing control the whole time against her, but still, I..." Cinque drew in a shuddering breath. "I still used that power during that fight."

"You fought against Signum?" Subaru stared at Cinque. "But you're still in one piece." Subaru remembered her first one-on-one spar against Signum. The gash that she took from one of Signum's strikes was so bad that she was afraid that she would have died right then and there.

"I lost my hand in the fight, then I regrew it." Cinque took a deep breath and shook her head. "I was too busy fighting off the urge to destroy everything."

"Ano... Did Signum use any magic on you at all?" Cinque shook her head and Subaru blinked owlishly. "You were really lucky then. She could have turned you into fried chicken from a distance."

"She's lucky she didn't try to then." Cinque narrowed her eye at Subaru. "I was having a hard time keeping myself in check..." She took a deep breath and shook her head. "I don't doubt that she could have beaten me, probably killed me, but if she had tried to use offensive magic on me, I would have lost complete control and that Dragon, the summoner and the two knights would have died in the process." Cinque looked at the floor, shame on her face as her body trembled. "That's what happened to Megane Alphine, and why we have her daughter. Even if we could fix her, I could never repay any debt that I owe her."

Nove glared at Subaru and walked over to Cinque, hugging the smaller cyborg. "Shhh... Cinque, you didn't lose control, you're okay, nothing bad happened, I'm sure."

"It's more... Debt... I owe so much." Cinque hugged Nove and took a shuddering breath. "Nove, how can I repay everyone?"

Nove closed her eyes and looked at Cinque. "You might need to do what you're afraid of the most," Cinque looked at her and they both looked at Megane before turning to look at each other again, "you're going to have to use that power again, but try to use it to save her." Cinque fidgeted in place and looked away. "Dammit, Cinque!" Nove grabbed her shoulders to make Cinque look at her directly. "I love you, but you're really pissing me off right now! You're the only one who can fix her, so either do it yourself or you can let her rot, either way, stop looking at her and being sad. Just do something, anything!" She pushed Cinque away and turned to look at Subaru. "If you don't do something, then you can never achieve anything. If you decide to at least try, get Un-nee to make it easier to get to her."

Cinque could only stare as Nove and Subaru left the lab. Turning her head, she looked at Megane and gulped softly. 'Can I use this power for more than just... Death?' She asked herself as she looked at her trembling hands. It was so terrifying. Nove couldn't understand it. Only Dieci could understand it like she could. Using that power was like being consumed in a sea of infinite darkness and the coast was nowhere in sight. The mere thought of using it scared her. Reaching up to her right eye, Cinque pulled her eye patch off and looked at Megane, gasping as she saw the black and gold energy surrounding the older woman. "...You understand it too, don't you?"

Cinque fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands as tears fell out of her face. "I was an idiot. I'm so sorry. I was so afraid of it... So terrified of what I could do that I never... Never thought what it was like for you, you've been immersed since that day, haven't you?" She looked up and a screen popped up in front of her. "Uno... I need your help."

Uno just looked at her in confusion, but nodded.

(---)

"Nove," both Nove and Subaru turned to see Tre walking up to them, she narrowed her eyes at Subaru, "there's still going to be training today, even if your sister," Tre snorted at that, "wants to watch, she's welcome to, but if not, she'll need to be locked up in your room."

"I'll be there." Nove nodded and Tre brushed past them without a word.

"...She's not nice, is she?" Subaru looked at Nove, who snorted at her. "What?!"

"She doesn't like the Bureau anymore than any of us do." Nove sighed heavily. "Though, she hates it more for a different reason." Subaru blinked several times. "Do you know why Cinque has an eye-patch?" She looked at Subaru, who shook her head slowly. "During one of their earlier missions together, Cinque, Tre, Sein and Quattro ran into a Bureau group and they ended up fighting. Due was part of that group and nearly died, and Cinque lost her right eye in that fight. Tre was badly injured as well. But she was more mad about the fact that Cinque and Due were hurt rather than herself." Nove turned to watch Tre walk away and sighed heavily. "Come on, you wanna watch?"

"Sure..." Subaru followed Nove, wondering just why she was putting up with everything.

Part of Subaru knew why, even if she wouldn't admit it.

She was curious about who her sister was living with, and what kind of people they were.

(---)

"Uno..." Jail spoke up, his voice was distant and sounded old. "What have I done?" No one answered him as no one was in the room with him. Jail was looking up, his eyes unfocused as he leaned back in his chair. "All this time, I was preparing them to fight an enemy so that the world could survive, but, was I wrong? Why didn't we know about this Riot Force? Why didn't we know what it was for?" He stopped leaning back and slumped down in his seat, head hanging low as his arms rested on his legs. "What have I been doing all this time?" He groaned and grabbed his head as a memory came to him, unbidden.

*Flash*

"Mazoku scum!" One of the men around him yelled before firing a weapon at the Mazoku, who laughed as it blasted through his body, doing nothing. "Dammit!"

"You know that won't work, let me!" Jail, no, it wasn't Jail, he wasn't called that back then, his precursor turned to see a woman in a skin-tight black outfit, glowing wings on her back, a sash around her mid-section, a shield on her right hand and a spear in her left, on her chest was a red gem protected by a metal case. Her head was protected by a metal helmet as she looked at the Mazoku that were threatening their lives. "This Knight Valkyrie Armor will end all of you! Raising Heart, let's go."

"Alright, Divine Slasher."

The Mazoku laughed, until a white circle appeared under the woman's feet. "Begone, now!" Gripping the spear with both hands, she rushed in at the group of Mazoku and stabbed forth, "sword," she cried out, her spear turning into a long, single-edge sword that she used to cut down the enemies with ease.

"Dammit! When Lord Garoth hears about this, you'll be, GAH!"

The Mazoku never got to finish as the sword turned into a large, single tube cannon, that rested on the woman's arm, evaporated the Mazoku's body in a single shot.

Jail's precursor could only watch as the woman undid the helmet and take it off, letting her long, silver hair to flow freely down her back. Turning, she smiled at him, her eyes showing nothing but good cheer. "I told you, didn't I, father? Between the Knight Valkyrie Armor, what will happen to me and the Tome of the Night Sky, and also if we get the secret weapon complete, even the mighty Garoth will fall."

He nodded to her. "Yes, that's right."

The weapon would be finished in ten days. If they could just get that much time, they would win.

*End Flash*

"We never got that time," Jail muttered to himself and grabbed his head. "Garoth wiped us out within the week."

He looked to the side and saw a screen as a 3-D model of a ship rotated on it. "The Saint's Cradle." But they had lost the Saint Kaiser, "do I even need it anymore?" He stood up and walked over to the screen and typed in some information. "The real prize, Al Hazard, I know where you are now." The only problem was, getting to Al Hazard. "The cradle could do it, easily."

Jail just hung his head, sighing heavily. For the first time in ten years, he was uncertain about all of his plans.

Spoiler for Comments:

What? I hinted at that stuff in the flashback before.

Me: I think my suspicion was right...
Odin: Hm.... Right under his nose....

[Old_Iron]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

I finally have something worth posting! But it's something new. I blame Nanya for this, and not because of Blood That Flows.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha:
Altered Course

CHAPTER ONE:
Door To The Other Side

Spoiler for Chapter 1:

The observer hung silently in the emptiness of space, a geosynchronous orbit ensuring that its soulless gaze remained locked on the desolate landscape of the lost grounds. Nothing could escape its gaze, or its reach. One command, and it could obliterate anything that tries to escape from the wastes. But for now, it waited, and watched, observing the single point in the mountains… waiting for the command to strike.

Down on the planet below, a single, non-explosive missile embedded in the stone ground spoke to the inlanders gathered around it. The viewscreen within its casing gave a static-y, but nonetheless captivating image of the smug gentleman in a black suit.

“… and while I have you all together, there’s a little present I wanted to give you,” he said amicably, his smile on the snowy screen a sharp contrast to the fear and anger that screwed up the audience’s faces. “It’s not much, really, but it comes from the sky, far, far away.”

The man’s smirk grew a fraction of an inch wider. “I hope you enjoy it.”

The screen cut out as the women among the group began to panic, and up above, the observer was finally given the command it had been waiting upon.

In an instant, an electronic signal traveled through the machine, and the H.O.L.Y. Eye moved into action—panels opened up underneath its chassis, extending the fangs that would strike down the wastelanders within the lost ground. It opened up the solar panels upon its wings, gathering up the energy needed to rain down destruction from the atmosphere as it locked upon the now-dormant missile.

“That bastard, he’s gonna hit us from up there!”

“What’re you waiting for!? We hafta get out of here!”

Underneath the atmosphere, the strongest among them had decided that fleeing from its wrath was not an option.

“You gotta be kidding.”

“Not a chance. I’m staying right here!”

“I’m not gonna RUN AWAY!”

The ground and missile disappeared in a flash of light, consumed by golden and silver power as the fangs of the H.O.L.Y. Eye lit up within the vastness of space, and fired.

The roar of the azure beam erupted all around the lost grounds as it punched through the atmosphere and pierced the clouds, boiling away the air as it came crashing down on the two men. They roared their defiance and met it head-on—the twin rays of gold and silver smashed into it, and a crown of blue light exploded at the top of the mountain, spreading out for all to see. The shockwave was seen and felt for miles as rays of light lanced out, spinning as the two powers fought for dominance. Mountaintops were sheared off in neat lines, and the waters evaporated underneath its heat as it cut into the ocean.

Miles away, in an imposing tower of science and metal, a little girl cried and lifted her hand into the air, dreaming of the two heroes that raged against the satellite that hung above them all like the storied blade of Damocles.

“Reaction is confirmed.”

Within a room showcasing wealth and power, the silver-haired gentleman smiled and removed the green-gray spectacles upon his face, tossing them away in glee—his goal was finally within reach.

“That’s it! It’s the Door to the Other Side! It’s opening the Door to the Other Side!”

The H.O.L.Y. Eye could no longer withstand against their power—but that was all right with the machine, which could only do as it was commanded. Below, the lost grounds felt another shockwave as the two men held their ground and fought back, pushing the baleful azure light back into the sky, lifted up on wings of gold and silver, and the massive rainbow portal that exploded beneath their feet. As the satellite gave up, its power depleted, it was content—its task had been complete, just as the gentleman had wanted. Now, years of planning had finally come into fruition.

He sailed through the blackness, his pale face split in a grin of delight.

“Thank you gentlemen, this is the moment I’ve been waiting for!”

==========

It was a relic, a memory from an age that was all but forgotten. More than machine, but less than a person. But it still lived, and now, as it hung silently in the air, almost forgotten, its heart beat could be felt within the dislocated space of the city. Yet for all its beating, waiting for someone to claim it, it stood forgotten as the two young girls struggled against one another, their power and their words unable to reach one another.

“Fate-chan!”

The tiny gemstone, the Jewel Seed, Serial Number 19, could wait a bit longer. It had waited for millennia, longing for someone to take hold of it and make their wish known to it. Millennia in darkness, waiting since the days of Al-Hazard. As the kind third-grader turned her words upon the child with the sad eyes… It could wait a bit longer.

But not forever.

The reverie of the two girls was broken as the orange-furred wolf cried out in anger at them. “Fate! You don’t have to answer that!” she bellowed, staring up at the two children. “You don’t have to tell anything to a little brat who’s lived her life surrounded by nice people!”

The words stung Nanoha Takamachi, and her voice failed her as the familiar raged on, her words full of fury and pain.

“Our primary objective is to capture all the Jewel Seeds!” Arf yelled. The girl with the sad eyes shut everything else out of her heart, and brought her weapon up to bear.

“Nanoha!” the ferret called out, worried. They couldn’t lose sight of what they had to do! The Jewel Seed was still laying in wait, waiting for one to claim it!

Fate Testarossa turned her cold gaze down upon the street, upon Yuuno Scrya and the crystal hanging silently over the fractured asphalt of the street, and charged down at it, with the white-clad mage quickly following after her.

The Jewel Seed’s heart beat as they closed in. It could be felt throughout the city.

But it didn’t know what to do when it felt the two devices converge upon it, striking one another at an angle. It felt both of their wishes, both of their wants and desires. But it was too much, even for this wondrous jewel from an age long dead.

Sound was destroyed as the Intelligent Devices cracked and the might of the Jewel Seed roared across Unimari City and all of time and space.

==========

He was in a magnificent world of light and color, yet the gentleman in the black suit could only look within himself and rage as he pondered the events that drove him to his destitution and his refinement. It had left him empty, hungry for something more—a hunger that no food, no base desire could ever satisfy. How he had longed to fulfill his desire! That wretched boy who had had everything, while he had been left with nothing… now the tables had been turned.

He had passed through the Door to the Other Side.

It was here, he would finally find the power to satisfy his unrelenting thirst. Light was building up behind him, and he could feel it, calling out to him. He laughed as he turned to face it, and the crystallized form of the Other Side appeared before him, curious at this newfound visitor that had wandered into its realm.

He forced himself forward, taking in its magnificent body of black flame and otherworldly bone. “I knew I would find it!” his demented laugh echoed through the eldritch realm. “This is it! This is the power! The power I’ve been looking for all this time!”

The being was bathed in that wonderful light, and as he approached, it lifted up its white-clad hand, ready to strike. His hand lifted up to meet it.

“Don’t be afraid now,” he soothed, smiling at the frowning, impassive face of the crystallized form. His gloved limb sank into the white hand, and he felt a startling sensation of burning heat and icy cold. He pushed forward. “We’re not enemies, you and I—”

The Other World rocked as something horrible passed through it, a silent scream that twisted the passage of prismatic light about in a violent storm. He halted, his hand slipping from its form as something else called to it. The crystallized form spoke, an unearthly, melodious cry like that of song of a whale. It echoed throughout the other side as it was pulled away by the dimensional tremor.

The gentleman could only scream his rage and shock as the power slipped from his fingers. “No! After this long I won’t be denied! This can’t be happening to me!”

The world twisted and pulled at him, ignoring his indignation and fury. He was swallowed up into the light.

The little girl gasped as she felt his rage echo throughout the Other Side.

==========

As suddenly as it had appeared, the building storm of the Jewel Seed broke, sending its power hurtling into the sky, dispersing the storming clouds up above in a frightful manner. The two girls came plummeting down as they regained their ability to see, blinking red and violet eyes to dispel the spots swimming in their vision.

Nanoha quickly regained control of her flight and stabilized, twisting her body around and aligning herself upright. Her boots hit the ground gently, and she gave a breath of relief before looking up. What had happened?

Fate also landed easily, having regained her senses at the same time. She made a quick check of her Device, and in a broken voice it gave its confirmation, she nodded and allowed it to revert its form. As Bardiche settled down on a niche in her glove, she looked up to see the Jewel Seed rise up from the crater. She’d only have one chance now—she hunched forward and launched herself, hurtling through the air at it.

Nanoha gasped as light broke around the gemstone. In an instant, she knew something was wrong. “Fate-chan, don’t!”

But the other mage had saw it too. Prismatic light, like that of a rainbow, was expanding in points behind the Jewel Seed, like holes in reality. Her feet struck the asphalt once more as she slid to a halt.

Tendrils of a prismatic mist spun about and converged on one another as the rift widened. Motes of blackness settled around one another, and in moments it began to take form. All four beings present gasped in shock as an adult man clad in a crisp black business suit materialized before them. Soon the transformation was complete, and they looked upon a surprisingly youthful face framed in slick, silvery-gray hair held neatly back by curiously pointed ears.

The man was smiling, but Nanoha felt no warmth from it. It couldn’t reach the cold, rage-filled eyes set in his face. As Yuuno raced up her skirt and onto her shoulder, she stepped back fearfully from those monstrous eyes.

The man stared down at the blue Jewel Seed that floated before him, and he cocked his head curiously. After a moment, though, his grin widened imperceptibly.

“So, this is what called me here, away from that spacious world,” he said, his voice amicable in tone. He brought a gloved hand up, never touching the Jewel Seed, but it moved with him, raising up to eye level. Fate froze in her stance, eyes narrowing, unsure of what to do. She could feel how tense the air was, and in the corner of her eye, she could see her familiar also freezing up, waiting for an opportunity to strike but unsure if she should take it.

“How interesting,” he said. “How very interesting that this tiny little thing can hold so much power…”

He lifted up his other hand, bringing it level with the Jewel Seed, lifting it up into the air. And then, he closed his hands around it, causing everyone’s hearts to stop.

Blazing light erupted from his hands, but in an instant he had let go, and not out of fear. He was laughing! His laughter echoed in the city, and as the Jewel Seed’s light blazed, they saw more of that alien mist spreading out from it, being sucked into his mouth.

“Stop!” Fate yelled.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Arf demanded.

The man ignored them both, focused entirely on the power that he was now devouring.

Nanoha and Fate watched in horror as the Jewel Seed’s light began to dim. The suction of that prismatic mist accelerated, disappearing into the man’s open mouth.

Arf transformed, going from a fearsome wolf to a beautiful and angry woman with wolf ears and a bushy tail. She launched forward and swung a gloved fist at the interloper.

The light was extinguished and the Jewel Seed was gone. Arf’s fist crashed uselessly against a rainbow wall as the man licked his lips and smiled.

“Damn you!” Arf roared, smashing her fists against the barrier over and over. Her gloves exploded, blood from her knuckles splashing and sizzling away against it. “What the hell did you do!?

The man turned his gaze upon her, and the familiar froze on the spot. He gestured with his hand, and the barrier suddenly exploded, throwing her back. “All I did was fulfill some of my hunger. I must admit, that little thing was quite satisfying. I’ll have to find more.”

Incensed, the wolf-woman’s eyes narrowed, and she bristled. She launched herself at the man once, howling wordlessly as mana formed over her fist, and she swung for his head. The man closed his eyes, sidestepping her attack effortlessly. Snarling, Arf spun around, energy crackling in her hand as she flung it him. Once more he avoided it within a single step, and brought up an open hand, forming another circular shield of rainbow light to halt her follow-up punch.

“You have such spirit, to wield this curious power of yours with such passion!” he exclaimed, looking delighted. Arf’s eyes snapped open at the look in his eyes. “I guess I’ll take that power too.”

Arf gasped as she felt something within her slip, followed by a jolt of pain. The orange light around her fist dissipated as the interloper opened his mouth again, filled with that horrible prismatic mist. The little ache she felt within her suddenly bloomed, spreading through her and filling her with pain even as her outer extremities felt like they were fading.

She screamed, and his eyes danced in a sadistic light.

He suddenly halted, stepping back as in a split-second, a golden blade cut through the air where he was, only millimeters from his face. The blond-haired girl landed between them as Arf fell back on her rear, gasping and twitching, and she pivoted and swung again, the energy scythe forcing him back further.

The interloper was about to smile again when he looked up, feeling the rush of energy only moments before it would’ve struck. A barrier materialized once more, catching the pink wave of energy with a thunderous crash. He frowned, not realizing the other girls would’ve had this power as well. His grin quickly returned as the blast died out, sending the smoke cloud swirling about him.

The redheaded girl had aimed her staff at him, the intense look in her face set in relief by the glow of the wings of light emanating from her weapon. “Who are you?!” she demanded. “Why are you after the Jewel Seeds?!”

“My name?”

A corona of rainbow light flared around him for the briefest of moments, and green-gray spectacles slowly materialized on his face as he looked straight at Nanoha, still smiling.

“My name is Kyoji Mujo.”

Oh gods. This has the potential to be disturbingly awesome. I'm not as familiar with the s-CRY-ed anime as I am the manga, so the beginning kind of threw me for a loop. But, throwing Kyoji Mujo at the NanoCrew is going to end in disaster for the kids.

I'd really like to see where you take this and I'm wondering if the NanoCrew will develop Alters due to Kyoji's influence on the world.

[Kaijo]

The zombie rises once more, moans something about brains, and puts up another chapter of a fic!

Whipped

Part 5: Demons

Spoiler for Whipped, Part 5: Demons:

Whipped
Part 5: Demons

Xx~~*~~xX

"We should leave some money and a note of apology to the cabin's owners," Fate suggested as the pair finished cleaning up. "It's what I was planning on doing after spending the night here."

Nanoha nodded absently as she folded the sheets, but there was something else on her mind. "So where is he?"

"I'm not exactly sure," Fate confessed surprisingly, which made Nanoha raise an eyebrow.

"I thought you knew where he was?"

"Well, before Teana joined me for the capture, I had been tailing and studying him for several months," Fate explained, putting the vacuum cleaner back in the closet. "Bedge was a thief before he was a smuggler, and it was only because he started trafficking in lost logia, that we got involved. Since he landed, I figured he'd return to base roots."

Nanoha's brow furrowed. "He's committing crimes? But he has to know the Bureau would aiming to recapture him, so why risk drawing attention to himself that way?"

Fate sighed. "It's almost a game to him, to see if he can outsmart the Bureau. Even during the initial investigation, several of his crimes were blatant try-to-catch-me messages." She shook her head to get back on track. "Anyway, the thefts that have occurred in several of the villages match his M.O. Initially, it was just stealing to get by, with food and clothing. But I figured he'd aim higher to rebuild what he's lost, and I was right. He's moving on before the local constabularies can figure out the pattern behind the thefts."

"So you know where he's going to hit next, then?" Nanoha continued to probe, hoping she was being subtle enough.

Fate nodded. "Based on where he's been, and the level I think he's aiming for, I've narrowed it down to a fairly rich family. I plan to be there, waiting when he shows up."

"Where is that?"

When Fate didn't answer right away, Nanoha looked up to see the other woman's looking back at her with a carefully guarded expression. "I can't... I can't tell you, I'm sorry."

The game was up. Perhaps Fate knew Nanoha was searching for information, but either way, it was clear that Fate was going to keep her secrets for now.

Nanoha bit her lip, remembering they had talked a bit about this morning. Fate still wanted to do this, and if Nanoha intervened or helped in anyway, Fate would see it as a failure on her part. She couldn't go into this knowing someone could pull her out if she wasn't winning; she had to know she was facing this completely on her own. So the plan was for Fate to leave, and for Nanoha to not trail her. At all. Nanoha could resume her search tomorrow if she didn't hear back from Fate by then.

Despite the worry and uneasiness in her heart, Nanoha nodded carefully. "I trust you." She desperately willed herself to believe those words, but also realized it wasn't exactly trust that was the issue.

Fate's lips turned upwards into a slight smile. "Thank you." The smile promptly vanished. "I know how hard this is for you, and Hayate and the others. But you in particular. I appreciate all you've done."

And then both of them knew exactly why Fate had been willing for Nanoha to find her; there really wasn't anyone else she could trust on this level.

But was it enough?

Fate set an envelope down on the table - the aforementioned apology and reparations missive for the cabin's owners - and walked out the front door, with Nanoha right behind. For the moment, Nanoha was glad Fate couldn't see her face, and the short trip gave her time to try and create what she hoped was an encouraging expression when the other woman finally turned around. In a way, she was still glad the sun had yet to rise; the darkness provided some comfort, as she presumed it did for Fate last night.

"Well, I'll be going," Fate said, putting on an encouraging smile.

Nanoha wanted to say something, anything, to stop Fate from going, or to allow Nanoha to accompany her. But her voice failed her. Those desperate feelings, a bit subdued until now, were still viciously fighting with the other part of her that told her to have faith.

But as Fate took to the sky and slowly disappeared into the horizon, Nanoha felt those doubts resurface with a vengeance, the ones she had thought she pushed into the deepest recesses of her mind. Now in the forefront, they urged her to follow, in case Fate needed help. That despite what Fate had said, the best thing she could do for her friend, was be there in case Fate was in over her head. That's what friends did.... wasn't it? But if she did, she would lose Fate's trust... but that was better than losing Fate altogether... right?

[When did I become like this?] she wondered suddenly, and then shook her head to try and clear the doubts. [This isn't like me!]

Nanoha bit her lip, floating up into the sky, telling herself it was just to gain a better vantage point to see Fate slipping away into the darkness. The sun had not even begun to peek over the horizon in the early morning sky.

And tried to shake the feeling that she would never see Fate this way again.

x~~*~~x

Rein floated into the office, easily hefting a steaming mug her own size. Her mistress was still there at her desk, tapping away on the holographic keyboard, and didn't even look up as the little unison device set the cup down.

Hayate immediately reached down and picked it up, wrapping both hands around it to absorb the warmth after taking a sip. "Thanks, Rein. The coffee is good."

The diminutive girl bit her lip. "Are you sure you don't want to get some sleep? It's really late."

Hayate leaned back in her chair and sighed. "No. I wouldn't be able to sleep even if I wanted to. I have to be up when I hear Teana's next report."

Rein floated down to sit on the edge of the desk and glanced up at her mistress. "They'll be okay, I'm sure of it."

Hayate forced a smile. "Thanks. But I put them into this situation. My friends are probably going to end up fighting each other, and it's my fault." The worry and apprehensiveness was readily apparent via the slight stress lines that had begun to take root on .her mistress's face.

"No it's not!" Rein insisted strongly; she knew the command regulations as well as the Bureau Investigations Commander. "You did what you were supposed to!"

"Maybe, but I still sent them into this," Hayate countered, and then sighed again, closing her eyes for a moment. "And I keep going back over my actions, trying to analyze them, trying to see what I should have done differently. Did I miss something? Was there another way to avoid this?" Her fingers visibly tightened on the mug. "Nanoha and Fate saved me, saved us, a long time ago. I should be doing something, anything, and I can't help but feel that I failed them!"

Rein frowned, compelled to float up and spread her arms to give Hayate's right cheek a hug. "I think you saved them. I believe in you, and I know they do, too."

Hayate couldn't help her lips turning upwards in a fond smile, even as she raised her right hand to gently press Rein to her cheek, completing the unique hug. "Thanks. I'll try to keep believing that. You can go to sleep, though. But I'm staying up until I hear how this is resolved; it's the least I can do for them."

The little girl floated backwards and and made a strong show of shaking her head while crossing her arms over her chest. "Nu-uh! If you're going to stay here, then so am I!"

Hayate chuckled while she began to set the mug down. "Very well. You can help keep me busy. Can you help me retrieve the Garensen file? I'm not quite sure where I-aaah!"

Rein, who had begun to float away, quickly turned back in time to see that Hayate had apparently accidentally set the cup down on the edge of the desk, and thus it had tipped over when she started to let go. Hayate quickly caught it mid-fall, though, however the force of her catch caused it to strike the edge of the desk with a clunk.

"Ow!" Hayate exclaimed, fanning her hand after wiping it on the edge of her military uniform's skirt.

"Are you okay?" Rein asked anxiously.

"Just spilled a little hot coffee on my hand when I caught it," she explained, sighed as Rein began to automatically heal it. "Thanks."

"No problem," Rein said with a big smile, but the smile disappeared when she glanced over. "Oh, you broke your cup! I'll get another."

Hayate stared at it; it was a standard issue military mug and shouldn't have broken like that, unless it was a random weakness in the material. But there was a large chip missing from the rim along with a crack that ran down the side. She wasn't about to give voice, and thus power, to the omen, and so eagerly assented to Rein's offer to get her another cup. But it didn't help her mood any, and the voice in her mind that as telling her that she had made a grave mistake only got louder.

Gritting her teeth, she shook her head and tried to focus on her work, trying to have Rein's faith that everything would work out. "Now, where is that file..."

x~~*~~x

It all seemed so much easier in her mind, Fate decided. All the planning that had gone into this, had lent a detached feeling in her head, and the apprehension and nervousness had been easily sidelined and ignored. But now that she was actually here, the dread forming in her stomach was quite palpable. She tried to tell herself that this was just another fight, and she would do what she normally did. However, in the silence and solitude of her hiding spot, alone with nothing but her thoughts for company, feelings long ignored could be denied no longer.

She was afraid.

No, not just afraid: terrified. She wanted to deny it, but the way her gloved hands trembled slightly, lent physical evidence that could not be denied. Even during her confrontation with Jail Scaglietti hadn't made her doubt herself this much, although it came in a close second. But back then, it had been Erio and Caro who had given her the courage to stand and fight.

However, she was alone now. She had told Nanoha not to come, not to bail her out, not to be there to save her if she failed. The brave front she had shown earlier, was just to set Nanoha at ease; that confidence, however, didn't reach very far within her. And thus, in this tiny camouflaged lean-to she had constructed in a small park, she waited.

The park itself sat near the center of a well-off gated community consisting of expensive houses on the richer side of this town. Given the direction he had been heading and his particular tastes, Fate knew Bedge would hit at least one of the locales around here; he couldn't pass it up. And with a spell that was a modification of the search magic Nanoha had created long ago, Fate had set a number of small, passive orbs around the community. Hidden from detection, they would alert her when her quarry appeared.

She didn't have to wait long; Bardiche informed her silently that he had arrived. For once, she had almost wished to be wrong, but her detective instincts had come through again. Relieved that her legs could still support her, she emerged from her lean-to and stood. She knew what she was getting into was going to be difficult, but being aware of it was the first step towards combating it.

And at least the waiting was finally over.

x~~*~~x

"I surmise that is the direction Testarossa has gone."

Nanoha turned quickly from where she sat on the cabin's roof, cursing that she had been so distracted watching the direction Fate had gone, that she hadn't even realized someone had managed to sneak up on her. "Signum."

The sun still had yet to rise, but the other woman was clearly visible, having come to a floating stop about a dozen meters away or so. Nanoha couldn't even venture a guess as to how much time had passed since Fate had flown off.

"You need not answer," the Belkan knight stated, floating in mid-air still some distance away. "I can tell. And I can guess as to why you disabled your locator beacon and turned off your communicator."

"I.. don't know what you mean." She winced inwardly at the lame lie.

Signum closed her eyes for a moment. "I will not ask why. Sometimes the feelings for one we hold dear, overrides any other duties or obligations. I know this all too well."

In that moment, Nanoha instantly connected with Signum's feelings. The Belkan knight had, along with the rest of the Wolkenritter, disregarded their mistress's orders long ago in order to save her life. If she understood, then, would she still...?

That hope was dashed when Signum's eyes flashed open again, drawing Laevatein at the same time. "But I have my orders from Hayate, and I would also avoid seeing Testarossa face punishment from this course of action. Thus, I must ask: Where is she? I must bring her in."

Almost reflexively, Nanoha's barrier jacket formed around her, and she raised her staff in a defensive motion. "With the trust of a friend at stake, I can't tell you. I ask that you stand down."

The Belkan knight smiled knowingly. "I had figured your response would be as such, but duty required that I ask."

Nanoha locked eyes with the other woman, mirroring the firm gaze, and nodded slightly. "And I had to ask as well."

Signum's smile disappeared, and the sword came up. "Then we shall let force of arms determine the outcome this day!"

Without further word, the Belkan knight came flying at her, and Nanoha braced herself

x~~*~~x

"Wiggs Bedge, you are under arrest," Fate announced with little fanfare. "Disarm immediately, and you will be granted the chance to defend yourself at trial."

Her approach had been undetected, and thus she had managed to surprise him. Thankfully, he was still outside of one of the mansions, apparently looking for a way to bypass any security systems when she arrived. She could have just bound him, but it was custom for an Bureau officer to give the accused a chance to surrender peacefully. However there was another, deeper reason for not taking tactical advantage of surprise: She'd simply be avoiding something she knew she had to face.

Bedge glanced upwards, the edges of his lips also turning upwards into an amused grin. "Well well, Enforcer Fate T. Harlaown, was it? I'm surprised you managed to track me here, but also surprised you'd face me again, after the beating I gave you last time!"

She raised Bardiche calmly, scythe extended in Haken form, and pointed it at him. "You caught me off guard last time. I can assure you, things will go quite differently this time."

Tendrils of magical energy slowly formed from his hands as Bedge created his signature whips. "We'll see about that; I ain't goin' back!"

Fate's pulse quickened at the sight of those magical weapons, and her heart seemed to jump up towards her throat as the fugitive mage leapt up straight for her. Her insides screamed at her to move, but she suddenly felt like she was swimming in molasses. Before she could even contemplate another thought, twin lashes smashed through an impromptu Round Shield and impacted her body, sending her tumbling from the sky.

x~~*~~x

Nanoha executed a flash move to escape the contracting coils of Laevatein's snake form, but the extremely long chain-whip immediately changed direction and came straight at her again; Signum really was giving her no quarter.

"Divine Shooter," Raging Heart announced, signaling that the spell Nanoha had been forming was complete.

A dozen orbs went streaking in on Signum from a dozen different directions, but the Belkan knight calmly flicked her wrist, sending the chain to intercept each magic missile, easily dissolving each one. But that bought Nanoha enough breathing space and time.

"You can't block this that way!" Nanoha yelled, firing off her Divine Buster spell that had been enhanced by several cartridges.

Rather than reply directly, Signum merely popped a cartridge of her own, setting the chain-whip on fire. "Flying Dragon... Flash!"

The blazing magical energy met the pink beam and formed an explosive whirlwind of destructive energies, but Nanoha was prepared for that; she adjusted her spell mid-firing, unloading the last few cartridges in her magazine.

"Strike... STARS!"

A dozen more orbs formed around the beam and went streaking towards their target, completely bypassing Signum's attack. The Belkan kngiht's eyes widened, and she brought up her scabbard an instant before the shots struck. As the main attacks ended, Nanoha used the brief lull in the action to load another magazine into Raising Heart. Even though she knew her attack got through, she was also aware that the Belkan knight's defense were top-notch.

The smoke gradually cleared, revealing a smoking Signum, patches of her armor and scabbard highly singed. Levantein had also been returned to sword form, as both combatants sought a moment to regain their breath.

"You said before that you would have wanted to let Fate handle this on her own," Nanoha reminded the other woman, a hint of desperation leaking into her pleas. She really wanted to settle this with words if she could. "Can't you please just give her some time to deal with this? Is this really such a difficult request to honor?"

Signum seemed to hesitate. "Do not misunderstand my feelings; I am conflicted, but that is why I have my duty and honor as a knight. That is why I live by the code I do." She paused, seemingly struggling for words, which was an odd sight for Nanoha to see in the usually-calm-and-cool-headed warrior. "I wish I could explain more; perhaps one day I shall. But for now, we fight."

Nanoha felt her inner hopes dissolve, but she had one more card to play. as she brought up her staff and aimed. "Fine. But remember our last fight. You can't beat me; at best, it will end in a draw. And all I need to do is delay you."

"Ah, you are quite the opponent," Signum acknowledged with a small smile that said volumes about how much she was enjoying this match despite the circumstances. The smile didn't last long, however. "But you forget about Teana Lanster, who is, at this moment, tracking Testarossa down. If you want to stop her, then you must stop me first."

Nanoha's hands tightened on her staff, and cursed herself for forgetting about Teana. At first, she thought she only needed to delay Signum. Just buy enough time for Fate. But now her objective had changed, it's nature rising in difficult: she had to beat Signum, yet retain enough time and strength to deal with Teana.

She grit her teeth. [Fate-chan... I hope you're doing better than I am.]

x~~*~~x

"Fate..." Teana whispered under her breath, then double-checked if her current companion driving the car had heard her. But the police captain who was driving her, appeared to still be concentrating on the radio dispatches.

It hadn't been long ago, actually shortly after Signum informed her that she had found Nanoha. But the police began to get reports that some sort of scuffle was taking place in a moderately high-class neighborhood in a secluded , forested gated community. It was relatively out of the way, with the large houses and mansions sitting some distance from each other, so chance of casualties was low. But when she first heard the report, it confirmed her worst gut instinct: she just knew it was Fate engaging Bedge.

And the fact that Teana was even in the area, she credited to her own detective instincts. It actually hadn't taken her too long to narrow down the search area. Between Signum's report on Nanoha's location, and her own knowledge of Fate's investigation into Bedge's behaviors, she had a fairly good idea what the thief/smuggler would have been up to.

[Fate trained me too well,] she grudgingly admitted. Although, at this particular point in time, she almost wish she hadn't. Fate was currently dueling Bedge, and per her exact orders from Hayate, she was to apprehend Bedge immediately if she found him, and/or detain Fate if she found the temporarily relieved-of-duty Enforcer. However... she also knew that Fate would most likely face some kind of disciplinary action.

Teana shook her head. [For as long as I've been her pupil, she's stressed the importance of justice and following the rules to me. I can't just disregard all that now.]

She glanced down at the object in her hand. "What should I do, Cross Mirage?"

The card glistened, and then shifted into gun mode, as if giving it's response.

Teana nodded, made up her mind, and took a deep breath. "Captain, make sure to radio your men not to proceed in. I'll handle the arrest. I just need you to maintain a cordon of the area, and take care of the civilians."

Marso kept his eyes on the road, but there was irritation in his voice. "We may not have a magical contingent on this planet, but we can handle a mage or two." He took one hand off the wheel to pat his sidearm. "We've got more than enough small arms and stun guns. A mage isn't omnipotent; we only need one lucky shot."

"He's roughly A rank in power!" Teana exclaimed in disbelief. "You'll get your men injured or killed!"

"I know the risks!" Marso nearly spat. "And I know the treaty we have with the Bureau, that gives you initial operational authority in these situations, and normally I would let you take charge. But that all changed when a mage battle broke out in one of our neighborhoods; I took an oath to defend the people of my district, and I intend to keep it! Besides, forming a cordon would take too long; we need to end this as quickly as possible!"

Teana bit her lip; she understood his concern and his motivations. And normally she wouldn't be so hesitant on a case; but this was Fate, her friend, teacher, and partner. She felt a keen desire to not see Fate be arrested. But another part of her realized how professionally wrong it was of her to do this; she was giving special treatment, when her Enforcer code told her not to.

And yet...

Her eyes dropped to the police radio, spewing out a near constant stream of reports. "And sounds like the fight has moved farther into the forest, into a considerably less populated area. If we don't seal off the area, some civilians could wander in, or he could escape! We can't take that chance. It will only take an extra ten minutes; fifteen tops."

And that's what her report would show. Technically speaking, her decisions here could be investigated and questioned, but there was an equal chance that it would be taken at face value.

Marso audibly grumbled, and then gave in. "Alright, we'll do it your way. If he does escape, he'll be that much more dangerous." He finally shot her a quick side look. "I hope you're right about this."

[Me, too] Teana added silently, then laid her head back as the police car screamed along the dark road. [Ten minutes, Fate. Fifteen at most. That's all I can do.]

It would only be later, when she finally arrived on scene, that she would immediately regret furnishing that extra time.

x~~*~~x

Signum was impressed; Nanoha had completely skipped Blaster One and Two, and gone directly for Three. She really wasn't pulling any punches, but that was par for the course with Nanoha. She really took to heart the concept of "immediate and overwhelming firepower." And with attacks spells coming at her from multiple angles due to the blaster bits, Signum was hard-pressed to stay aware of all the danger areas.

Still, she knew Nanoha's fighting style, and so when one of the blaster bits managed to snag her ankle with a pink bind, she knew what to expect next. It was a slightly different experience, fighting Nanoha vs. a fight with Fate. While the latter relied on her speed and constant peppering of spells designed to keep an opponent occupied until a mistake was made, the former tended to more tactfully plan out her moves in advance to set her opponent up. Thus, in order to gain advantage on Nanoha, Signum needed to think in advance, too, rather than rely on pure swordplay.

"Crystal Cage!" Nanoha shouted, suddenly above the Signum, encapsulating the latter in a pink diamond before rapidly flying backwards. This was the move she was expecting; some type of bind, followed by a rapid retreat.

The Belkan knight let her opponent have her distance, The growing ball of pink magic that began to form was the prelude to Nanoha's famous Starlight Breaker, with the blaster bits forming their smaller ones for a crossfire attack. Signum knew there was no way she could defend against all that, but in a way, she also felt honored. It mean that Nanoha really felt like she had to go this far in order to defeat the Belkan knight. Everything else was just a warm-up for this moment... but it was one Signum was waiting for.

She calmly joined her scabbard to her sword and aimed directly for the center of the mass of the largest ball. "Sturmfalken!"

It took Signum a few moments to utilize this spell, but it was faster than the charging time required for Nanoha's Starlight Breaker. In six tenths of a second, the arrow easily broke through the walls of the crystal cage and pierced straight through the middle of the largest ball of magic. It was a shame, Signum mused sadly, that Nanoha's fight would end like this. The swordswoman found it regrettable that their separate paths collided in this manner, but she supposed it was inevitable, given the circumstances.

The walls of the crystal cage continued to disintegrate around her, even as the Starlight Breaker sphere began to dissolve, but the enlarging hole through the middle revealed something that made the Belkan knight to do a double-take; she had miscalculated.

"Sacred..."

Signum's eyes widened, even as she tried to turn, but she was too late.

"...IMPACT!" Nanoha finished, letting a fist of charged magic fly.

It connected with Signum's cheek before she could throw up any kind of shield, and her auto-barrier was insufficient for the kind of damage Nanoha was inflicting. Signum felt her brain shake, and even through the haze, she realized how badly she had underestimated Nanoha; a mistake she thought she'd never make. Nanoha had left Raging Heart in standalone flight-mode to handle the charging of Starlight Breaker, while executing a Flash Move to end up behind Signum, catching her off-guard. She never thought Nanoha would go for a physical melee move like this.

But Nanoha wasn't done and followed up with her right fist, also charged with magic, striking Signum's chin and snapping it up with a small pink explosion. Nanoha didn't let up for a moment; she continued to pummel her opponent with melee attacks, letting her fury keep Signum off-balance. She wasn't too skilled as a physical fighter in this regard, but she wasn't a total amateur, either. In the back of Signum's mind, she recognized this spell as one she had picked up from Vivio, who in turn had copied it from Fate.

"[Signum, can you hear me?]" Teana's voiced echoed in her head, even as the Wolkenritter swordswoman finally began to defend herself from Nanoha's melee assault, slashing out with her sword to force her opponent back.

"Nanoha, stop!" Signum commanded, dashing backwards to escape.

"I never thought you'd be one to surrender," Nanoha commented as Raging Heart finally flew back over to her, shifting back into staff mode.

Signum shook her head. "No, you don't understand. Teana has located our errant Enforcer, and it is not good!"

Nanoha's eyes continued to widen as Signum explained, and then quickly agreed to a ceasefire as both woman took off into the distance.

x~~*~~x

*CRACK!*

Blood trickled from her split lip as the impact sent her tumbling backwards through the trees, while every strike filled her body with a strange mixture of pain and numbness.

*CRACK!*

But that wasn't the worst part; every strike also gave her a split second flashback to being strung up in the Garden of Time. And for just a moment, it wasn't Bedge attacking her with his whips, it was her mother's haunting visage, sneering as she derided Fate and struck her repeatedly, all the while proclaiming just how much Fate's actions were hurting her mother. And despite all logical and rational reasoning, some part of Fate's deep inner core, knew it to be true.

*CRACK!*

It was her fault.

*CRACK!*

She had let mother down.

*CRACK!*

A guttural scream of pain escaped Fate's lips in response to another slash that left a burning pain along her stomach, while she drunkenly attempted to get some distance from Bedge.

No, that wasn't right; she was trying to escape from him. It was all she could do, just to drag the fight out of the gated community and into a nearby forest.

I can't do this!

The cold realization struck deep, too deep. I thought I was ready... I thought I could handle this...

But Bedge, laughing in delight as he pressed his attack, wasn't going to let up. "Oh come on, Miss Harleown, don't leave and ruin my fun now! What happened to this time being different? All that's changed, is you've lasted a little bit longer!"

She attempted to fire off a spread of photon lancer shots, not so much aiming to hit him, as to get him to back off. One part of her mind was screaming at her to fight, and to ignore the pain. She didn't know where that voice came from, but she credited it as the only thing that was keeping her conscious.

However, another part of her, which commanded most of her body, was shutting down. She was trying to fight her own body from within, while grappling with Bedge from without. And her body had been conditioned to know that, when the whipping came, it was best just to go passive and let it happen. No, more than that; the whipping had just been the trigger. That's why she couldn't fight back against Bedge, nor against Nanoha. Struggling simply wasn't an option.

Nanoha....

*CRACK!*

A searing strike left it's mark across her back, causing her arch backwards as another pained scream left her lips, while she temporarily lost control of her flight and tumbled into the brush. But something was different about that last strike.

"I swear, I've never met a chick who liked it this much," Bedge chuckled, licking his lips as he landed nearby. "And I've had a few good screamers."

It wasn't Precia's face that popped into her mind with that last attack; it was Nanoha's.

Why?

A follow up attack made a second diagonal slice across her back once more, in the opposite direction this time to complete an "X", and Fate suddenly no longer felt the need to run. She was at a loss to explain it, though. Before, she had been desperately trying to get away, but now her body felt... resigned? Was she finally giving up?

What was it? What was that thought at the edge of her mind? Some connection, some insight, some message waiting to be discovered? She got the feeling it was very important, but it kept eluding her grasp.

Bedge sounded almost gleeful. "Ooh, it appears as if I hit the spot!"

"The spot?" Fate wondered aloud, not entirely aware of, nor in control of, her own voice.

And then the connection was made; she realized that he had hit her just like Nanoha did last night. As she turned her head, she could see Bedge winding up out of the corner of her eye. She could hear a voice inside, screaming at her to move; a voice that wasn't quite hers. Why wasn't she moving, though?

"Every girl has one, and the joy is always finding it!" he shared enthusiastically as licked his lips and studied her for a moment. "Pain and punishment has always been a specialty of mine, you see. It's made me quite famous in some circles. In fact, that's a large reason I developed my magical style this way."

"Punishment?" Fate questioned in a voice that was a bit more shaky than she would have liked. And what's more, she felt her body grow cold, even as she broke out into a sweat. Her hands were cold and clammy, and Bardiche suddenly felt heavy in her grasp. It was a reaction she didn't expect, and it was just one more thing that she couldn't even begin to fathom.

He paused, looking at her a little differently. "A goodie-little two-shoes Bureau girl like you wouldn't know, would you? But that's what makes you curious. That's what draws them to me. That's why you don't run. Yes, punishment! Everyone has guilt inside, no matter how righteous or holier-than-thou they pretend to act. Especially Bureau chicks like you, always thinking you have the moral high ground, always thinking your perfect Bureau world has all the perfect answers. You've been indoctrinated into the Bureau's propaganda, and thus never believing for a moment that you could be in the wrong. But you've begun to see differently, haven't you? And now you need good 'ole Daddy Wiggs to give you a spanking, don't you?"

She stared at him, a sickening and horrifying feeling building in her stomach as she saw him in a new light. And for a moment, his face flickered between Precia and Jail's, each one looking down on her, judging her with a piercing gaze that she felt go right through her.

He wound up slowly, a large ecstatic grin on his face, as if he was looking forward to just how much he was going to enjoy this. Fate had partially turned now, and was aware of him and his actions out of the corner of her eye. To her, everything was proceeding in slow motion, how he leaned back with his right hand, and she knew that in the next moment, the whip would be flung forward like a striking snake. The voice, more muted now, was still telling her to move, to avoid it, to defend, to do something.

But she couldn't.

It was going to hit, and even with her legendary speed, there was no way she could dodge it. She was paying the price, she concluded. She had bitten off more than she could chew due to her stubborn pride. And what's more, she had let Nanoha down; she should have asked for help when she had the chance,

And when he had beaten her, she realized she would lose much more than just her pride.

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

To be concluded next time... hopefully...

[Sunder the Gold]

More Whipped, yay!

And Wiggs Bedge turns out to be into S&M! How delightfully appropriate.

Also, his name is supposed to reference Biggs Wedge, or Vicks and Wedge from Final Fantasy 3/6 and Star Wars, yes?


I like how Fate and Nanoha thoughtfully cleaned up after their break-in and stay over.

[Nanya01]

That was... Interesting, Kaijo.

I admit, I was expecting Fate to get her rear end whipped good too.

Anyway...

StrikerS 1-50

StrikerS 51

StrikerS 52

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - StrikerS 53:

"Yagami..." Zest looked at the screen, seeing Hayate looking at him, worry in her eyes. "We have Zafira, even with Zelgadis's healing, he's in bad shape. We'll be doing an emergency transfer in, have an emergency team on standby."

Hayate nodded and made a mental call to several of the doctors. "Go on, I'll make sure that there's no problems with you transferring."

Zest nodded as the screen turned off and Hayate fought the urge to shudder as she got behind her desk and started typing in data into her computer.

"Hayate..."

Hayate stopped, her pupils shrinking as a cold feeling came over her. "...What's going on? Reinforce? Reinforce, can you hear me?"

Her only answer was an echo of pain, excitement and a sensation of loss. "What's going on?!" Hayate slammed her hands on her desk, anger and frustration building up in her.

(---)

"You should be in bed, Ginga," the long-haired girl looked up to see her mother with a cup of hot liquid, likely coffee, in her hands walk up to her. "Then again, I probably should be as well." Sitting down at the table, Quint looked at Ginga. "Well? After what happened yesterday, only you and Caro are in any real shape to do any training today."

"I'm worried about Subaru, mom," Ginga looked at her, worry written on her face. "What am I supposed to do? If I had been there..."

"Then I might have lost all three of my daughters." Quint spoke up, stopping her rant. "That girl, Nove... She is your sister." Ginga's stunned look told her a lot at that moment. "We'll get Subaru back," Quint smiled lightly, "my daughters, all of them, aren't so weak that any of them would be taken out so easily." Quint winked at Ginga, "besides, I think this might be good for her."

"But, what if Jail does something to her?" Ginga slammed her hands on the table, causing it to groan, "what's to stop him from turning her into a weapon?!"

"I admit, that possibility crossed my mind several times." Quint sighed softly and looked at her coffee, "and it worries me, because if anyone knows how Combat Cyborgs work, it's Jail. Yeah, your sister could be working for him, dead, or in pieces while conscious and..." Quint took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I don't want to think about it, and neither should you. For now, let's just focus on what we can do."

"Which is..?" Ginga blinked as Quint grinned at her. "Mom?"

"We're going to come up with some plans and moves to deal with Jail's cyborgs. Your old woman still has a few moves I haven't taught you yet."

Ginga gulped at the look in Quint's eyes. Part of her wondered just how messed up the training was going to be. "Like what?"

"You and Subaru focus on your hands too much, I think I should teach you some of the leg-work." Granted, Quint thought that Nove would benefit more from this than Ginga or Subaru ever would. "I think I can get Nanoha to let me work with you more directly for a while."

Ginga paled at her mother's grin. Sure, her mother was awesome, nice and wonderful...

But she took her Strike and Shooting Arts seriously. The last time she asked for personal training for special techniques from Quint, Ginga had been knocked out cold and required three days of recovery time before she even tried to learn those moves again.

Of course, that had been without the benefit of specialized healing magic. She doubted that she was going to get the same time to relax this time around.

(---)

Cracking an eye open as her alarm went off, Nanoha reached over and hit the button to turn it off. Sitting up and stretching her arms above her head to get any stiffness out of her back, she blinked as she felt a body touching her. She looked at the other occupant in her bed and blinked, if Fate wasn't curled up against her, who was?

Peeling the blanket back, her eyes softened as she saw Vivio hugging and cuddling against her. Gently peeling the girl off of her, she picked Vivio up and put her next to Fate, smiling brightly as Vivio turned over and hugged Fate, who rolled slightly in her sleep and hugged Vivio back. 'Cute.' She thought to herself as she went to get dressed.

As Nanoha changed her clothes and got ready for the day, she looked at a small box on her dresser top. Her eyes narrowed as she thought about the contents within. "Mom, what would you do, right now?" She asked herself as she put her hair into its side ponytail. "I need your help, mom. Everything's falling apart around me, and I don't think more power can..." She stopped and looked at the box again. "...More power for me won't work," a grin came to her face as she grabbed the box, "but there is someone who'll make more use of this than I can."

As Nanoha walked out of her room, part of her wondered if this was the right thing to do. These items had been in her family for nearly three decades by now.

(---)

Shari looked at the remains of Laevantein and grimaced. Even if they put it back together, at least half of the blade and some of the hilt had been completely destroyed from that explosion. She looked at one of the few pieces that had survived mostly intact, though, it was melted down something fierce. "Well, it's not too hard to fix a cartridge chamber." She muttered and turned to look at the few pieces that were floating in a stasis field. "Damn, I'm surprised you managed to survive, Laevantein." Sure, the body was destroyed, but the core A.I. was mostly intact from what she could see.

Mostly, because other than that last fight, most of what it had in its data banks for the past year was gone. "Good thing we have back-ups." Shari shook her head and blinked as a message appeared on screen. "What the..?" Her eyes widened as she realized what the message was saying. "Are you sure?! I mean, I'm no weapon smith, but that might take awhile to do for us, even if Mary and her crack-pot crew was here with the best Device Meisters on Cranagan."

"Ja."

Shari smiled at the device. "You care for Signum that much, huh?" When the device confirmed what she suspected, Shari found herself nodding and making several calls at once. "You do realize that what you're asking me to do is borderline illegal, right?" Shari snorted at that. "You don't care, and, really, I hope it works."

After all, if it did, it would help Signum more than ever.

If Laevantein could smile, it would. After all, it wouldn't let Signum down, even if it meant that it had to break a few laws in the process.

(---)

As she stood outside of the operating area, Hayate could only stare in helplessness as she saw Zafira on that table, fighting for his life while several medics worked on healing him. "You couldn't get him in sooner?" She asked Zelgadis softly as they watched Shamal, her hair was white, not from magic drain, but from unisoning with Rein Zwei.

"Trust me, I didn't dare move him until just now. I don't know much about anatomy, but I'm pretty sure that the fact that his body was smoking slightly was a bad thing." Zelgadis looked at Hayate as she squeezed her hands into fists. "Now what? I don't know if he'll survive."

When Hayate glared at him, Zelgadis found himself taking a step back. The young woman wasn't the most intimidating person he had ever met, hell, her glare actually made her look somewhat cute, but then again, he knew that she had magic at least on par with Lina's and making someone who had access to lots of different pain-inducing spells and pissing off someone who could flatten cities with ease was not really conductive to living a long and healthy life. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude about it."

"...I know someone who can look into his mind." Hayate turned away and walked out of the room, her eyes felt hot, burning and the sheer anger and frustration on her face kept anyone, even Vita, from speaking to her as she made her way to her office and locked the doors. Taking a deep breath, she called up a view screen and put it on audio-only. "Verossa, this is Hayate, I need you to come down here."

"What's wrong?"

"It's Zafira... He's been badly hurt," what she was going to say next nearly made her cry, "and I don't know if he'll survive much longer."

"I'll be down in three minutes." The communication ended there and Hayate sat down in her chair and spun it so that she wouldn't have to look at the door.

She wouldn't cry, not yet. She would refuse to cry. "Zafira, when I find out who hurt you like that, I'll introduce them to such pain that they'll wish they were never born. And if they hurt Reinforce at all..." She trailed off, squeezing the arms of her chair tightly as a magical aura slowly flickered into life around her. "I swear it."

[Craxuan]

Just going through it briefly somewhat reminds me of Cyclone for some weird ass reason. I've decided not to read the chapter thoroughly, sorry Kaijo. *shivers*

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

That was... Interesting, Kaijo.

I admit, I was expecting Fate to get her rear end whipped good too.

Anyway...

StrikerS 1-50

StrikerS 51

StrikerS 52

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - StrikerS 53:

"Yagami..." Zest looked at the screen, seeing Hayate looking at him, worry in her eyes. "We have Zafira, even with Zelgadis's healing, he's in bad shape. We'll be doing an emergency transfer in, have an emergency team on standby."

Hayate nodded and made a mental call to several of the doctors. "Go on, I'll make sure that there's no problems with you transferring."

Zest nodded as the screen turned off and Hayate fought the urge to shudder as she got behind her desk and started typing in data into her computer.

"Hayate..."

Hayate stopped, her pupils shrinking as a cold feeling came over her. "...What's going on? Reinforce? Reinforce, can you hear me?"

Her only answer was an echo of pain, excitement and a sensation of loss. "What's going on?!" Hayate slammed her hands on her desk, anger and frustration building up in her.

(---)

"You should be in bed, Ginga," the long-haired girl looked up to see her mother with a cup of hot liquid, likely coffee, in her hands walk up to her. "Then again, I probably should be as well." Sitting down at the table, Quint looked at Ginga. "Well? After what happened yesterday, only you and Caro are in any real shape to do any training today."

"I'm worried about Subaru, mom," Ginga looked at her, worry written on her face. "What am I supposed to do? If I had been there..."

"Then I might have lost all three of my daughters." Quint spoke up, stopping her rant. "That girl, Nove... She is your sister." Ginga's stunned look told her a lot at that moment. "We'll get Subaru back," Quint smiled lightly, "my daughters, all of them, aren't so weak that any of them would be taken out so easily." Quint winked at Ginga, "besides, I think this might be good for her."

"But, what if Jail does something to her?" Ginga slammed her hands on the table, causing it to groan, "what's to stop him from turning her into a weapon?!"

"I admit, that possibility crossed my mind several times." Quint sighed softly and looked at her coffee, "and it worries me, because if anyone knows how Combat Cyborgs work, it's Jail. Yeah, your sister could be working for him, dead, or in pieces while conscious and..." Quint took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I don't want to think about it, and neither should you. For now, let's just focus on what we can do."

"Which is..?" Ginga blinked as Quint grinned at her. "Mom?"

"We're going to come up with some plans and moves to deal with Jail's cyborgs. Your old woman still has a few moves I haven't taught you yet."

Ginga gulped at the look in Quint's eyes. Part of her wondered just how messed up the training was going to be. "Like what?"

"You and Subaru focus on your hands too much, I think I should teach you some of the leg-work." Granted, Quint thought that Nove would benefit more from this than Ginga or Subaru ever would. "I think I can get Nanoha to let me work with you more directly for a while."

Ginga paled at her mother's grin. Sure, her mother was awesome, nice and wonderful...

But she took her Strike and Shooting Arts seriously. The last time she asked for personal training for special techniques from Quint, Ginga had been knocked out cold and required three days of recovery time before she even tried to learn those moves again.

Of course, that had been without the benefit of specialized healing magic. She doubted that she was going to get the same time to relax this time around.

(---)

Cracking an eye open as her alarm went off, Nanoha reached over and hit the button to turn it off. Sitting up and stretching her arms above her head to get any stiffness out of her back, she blinked as she felt a body touching her. She looked at the other occupant in her bed and blinked, if Fate wasn't curled up against her, who was?

Peeling the blanket back, her eyes softened as she saw Vivio hugging and cuddling against her. Gently peeling the girl off of her, she picked Vivio up and put her next to Fate, smiling brightly as Vivio turned over and hugged Fate, who rolled slightly in her sleep and hugged Vivio back. 'Cute.' She thought to herself as she went to get dressed.

As Nanoha changed her clothes and got ready for the day, she looked at a small box on her dresser top. Her eyes narrowed as she thought about the contents within. "Mom, what would you do, right now?" She asked herself as she put her hair into its side ponytail. "I need your help, mom. Everything's falling apart around me, and I don't think more power can..." She stopped and looked at the box again. "...More power for me won't work," a grin came to her face as she grabbed the box, "but there is someone who'll make more use of this than I can."

As Nanoha walked out of her room, part of her wondered if this was the right thing to do. These items had been in her family for nearly three decades by now.

(---)

Shari looked at the remains of Laevantein and grimaced. Even if they put it back together, at least half of the blade and some of the hilt had been completely destroyed from that explosion. She looked at one of the few pieces that had survived mostly intact, though, it was melted down something fierce. "Well, it's not too hard to fix a cartridge chamber." She muttered and turned to look at the few pieces that were floating in a stasis field. "Damn, I'm surprised you managed to survive, Laevantein." Sure, the body was destroyed, but the core A.I. was mostly intact from what she could see.

Mostly, because other than that last fight, most of what it had in its data banks for the past year was gone. "Good thing we have back-ups." Shari shook her head and blinked as a message appeared on screen. "What the..?" Her eyes widened as she realized what the message was saying. "Are you sure?! I mean, I'm no weapon smith, but that might take awhile to do for us, even if Mary and her crack-pot crew was here with the best Device Meisters on Cranagan."

"Ja."

Shari smiled at the device. "You care for Signum that much, huh?" When the device confirmed what she suspected, Shari found herself nodding and making several calls at once. "You do realize that what you're asking me to do is borderline illegal, right?" Shari snorted at that. "You don't care, and, really, I hope it works."

After all, if it did, it would help Signum more than ever.

If Laevantein could smile, it would. After all, it wouldn't let Signum down, even if it meant that it had to break a few laws in the process.

(---)

As she stood outside of the operating area, Hayate could only stare in helplessness as she saw Zafira on that table, fighting for his life while several medics worked on healing him. "You couldn't get him in sooner?" She asked Zelgadis softly as they watched Shamal, her hair was white, not from magic drain, but from unisoning with Rein Zwei.

"Trust me, I didn't dare move him until just now. I don't know much about anatomy, but I'm pretty sure that the fact that his body was smoking slightly was a bad thing." Zelgadis looked at Hayate as she squeezed her hands into fists. "Now what? I don't know if he'll survive."

When Hayate glared at him, Zelgadis found himself taking a step back. The young woman wasn't the most intimidating person he had ever met, hell, her glare actually made her look somewhat cute, but then again, he knew that she had magic at least on par with Lina's and making someone who had access to lots of different pain-inducing spells and pissing off someone who could flatten cities with ease was not really conductive to living a long and healthy life. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude about it."

"...I know someone who can look into his mind." Hayate turned away and walked out of the room, her eyes felt hot, burning and the sheer anger and frustration on her face kept anyone, even Vita, from speaking to her as she made her way to her office and locked the doors. Taking a deep breath, she called up a view screen and put it on audio-only. "Verossa, this is Hayate, I need you to come down here."

"What's wrong?"

"It's Zafira... He's been badly hurt," what she was going to say next nearly made her cry, "and I don't know if he'll survive much longer."

"I'll be down in three minutes." The communication ended there and Hayate sat down in her chair and spun it so that she wouldn't have to look at the door.

She wouldn't cry, not yet. She would refuse to cry. "Zafira, when I find out who hurt you like that, I'll introduce them to such pain that they'll wish they were never born. And if they hurt Reinforce at all..." She trailed off, squeezing the arms of her chair tightly as a magical aura slowly flickered into life around her. "I swear it."

Me: The Demon Blood stones!? Lemme guess, Teana's will be the recipient of those stones....

Val: I wonder What will Hayate will do to Levi if she ever find out.

Reia: Who knows... But no doubt it's gonna be either karmic or ironic if you ask me.

[novalysis]

I've posted this ZnT Nanoha-verse crossover before, but I have re-edited it and added in some scenes I felt completed the chapter and resolved a few loose threads that I felt will affect the future plot.

The premise of this fic is simple: What if Louise summons a real familiar instead of the pathetic excuse of a protagonist called Saito. She summons Arf, instead.

This chapter is told from three different perspectives.

Spoiler for The Third Life: Reincarnating Portals:

I: The Portal

Altsiem Ravine , Southern Mid-Childa. Some call it a foreboding formation of spiked rocks , and shifting shadows. Others , a place of shaded beauty , dim yet gentle forests and the occasional light bathed meadows , home to a crown like Rock formation with a mysterious rune carved on the central rock Pillar. . For almost four and half decades , the land around the area was called home to four generations on and off . A mansion abandoned was restored , an abode maintained for occasional use resided in permanently by it's heirs. This tale is not about that mansion, even if it was near here that our Protagonist previous life began. It's only a setting , and one we shall soon leave.

About half a century, a certain embittered Scientist , Precia Testarossa had purchased a good chunk the ravine , and built her abode , from which she executed the closing stages of a Project she designed to achieve a most desperately cherished hope and desire. To her , the project was a desperate attempt of necromancy by cloning. In the eyes of her backers , her project formed part of a spear-head towards a new pinnacle of Trans-Dimensional civilization , another land mark the recovery of Dimensional Space from the ravages of the last apocalypse. It's name was project Fate. It's first success was to be one of the greatest mages in the dimension . But this tale is not about this mage, for her own story has ended, though her legacy makes it possible, in the form of her Familiar.

To this day , the progeny of the project , both persons , and institutions still exist , though on a far more humane , and much less Grey basis. Indeed , the great project , called Infinite Desires never really died , despite all the set-backs , unanticipated betrayals and bouts of mismanagement and disaster the endeavor encountered. It proved resiliently self-sustaining , just like it's creators had intended it to be , it's products fueling the next generation of products , a march back towards a Singularity once lost. A single family , bound by a net-work of adoptions and biological descent and close friendships gradually moved center stage . But this tale is not about the trials that brought them here, nor of the losses they might have faced in doing so.

This tale is about a certain red-wolf who saw it all , the rise of that network of Friends and family. They are known by many names . Testarossa. Harlowan . The Takamichis. The Nakajimas. Mondial and Alpine. They are connected were forged by shared experiences, loyalty, love and the titanium alloyed bonds of friendship. This wolf has played a hand in the raising of their children, their next generation. A long , fulfilling life far beyond the rightful lifespan of her race. That act that day , of the touch of magic caressed that dying soul , giving it a Second Life again formed first step on a long road, that second life. An action that had paid dividends resonating to this current day.

Her name was Arf , and looking back , she could safely say that she was truly contented with her life. She could let go now , free of any regrets , liberated of any outstanding responsibilities that she might feel. The youngest of her charges themselves were beginning to venture out of their den. Pups full grown.

So , yes. She could let go now, fulfilling her agreement with her mistress , and she could be confident that it was in line with her final instructions. To keep living. She could say she already lived , and drunk fully from the fountain of life.

Close in now to the mansion at the base of the Rock formation , extending all the way and built right into the ravine. Ignore the contents within the ravine. They are beyond your classification levels dear readers , for you have none to begin with.

Around the middle of the Rock formation that the mansion is build against lies a certain , reasonably spacious well appointed room. The orange hint of lights peak through the gaps between the lush crimson curtains drawn back against the window , giving us a peak into a rather private and personal room. There is a desk right in the middle of the room. It's a remnant of it's previous occupant , one that our wolf respects and regards as a role model. Ironic really , that a wolf respects a cat , but that full tale , that beginning of the journey of that family would take 2 Standard Earth Hours and 10 Minutes to tell in it's entirety , and that's in it's abbreviated form. It's first telling apparently took a quarter of a day.

The rest of the room was far better appointed than the nearly half century old desk at the center. Against the wall at the far end of the door is a bed of warm orange , fluffy covers and pillows , too wide and long for the usual form of it's occupant.

That bed was not occupied. A second object sat on the rug covered floor of the room , a pet basket of considerable length , woven out of fine Alzadian Fiber ,and a cushy stack of couches on which a young , small Red Wolf cub slowly rolled around , looking at the walls. An illustrious familiar to a recently deceased living legend , bearing a name that reflected the child-like mind of the prodigy that had named her long ago, giving her a life far beyond anything she could have imagined in her first one

There's are several shelves hanging up against the walls , both on the windowed side of the room , and the side of the door. It's filled with a variety of mementos that reflected that life. Precious gifts and presents . A bow , a well woven collar , a sculpture of a magnificent , huge wolf on all four legs , a hologram with two wolves , one blue and one read standing besides each other. Decorations , awards , legacies.

But most meaningfully are the Holo-photos. Starting from the right-side of the door affixed at the eye level of it's occupants oldest form , laid a single beam of wood . On-top of it are photos, the earliest dating back four decades ago.

From the starting point of the collection, just to the right of the door, the wolf can see with a puppy being fondly cuddled by a small , quiet blond hair girl. There are hugs , and muzzles . One of a certain Cat Familiar that went beyond the call of her duty for them both , called Linith. There are other photos after. Happy moments , the first friends , the girl , now distinguished women which the Wolf , Arf owed much of her life ,as well as that of her mistress to. She refused to consider what might have happened had Fate never known Nanoha. All three of them together, as seen posing on a dusk basked concrete bridge with the blissful crimson tinge of an idyllic Earth sunset at the backdrop , smiling . An emotion that dominated the walls.

There are pictures of the first true taste of family her mistress experienced. Four people are in the photo – herself , her mistress in her ten year old body , her adoptive brother with his dour, serious face , and most of all , the serene face of yet another women Arf truly revered. Lindy Harlowan , the person who took in Fate as her own daughter. Who gave both Fate and Arf the beginnings of a true family.

Prominent in the next sequence is a single framed picture , seven persons in all. Two twins , their loving parents behind , their grandmother , that great women , and her mistress , and she besides the twins. Throughout the years , starting from these twins , that cat was her inspiration and goal. If her packmates were still alive , they'd be mocking her for that , she wrly reflected. She hoped that she had at least captured a little bit of what made Linith such a brilliant caregiver , as she reprised the same role several times over the next few decades.

A different girl this time , in the next photo. Hayate , and the Wolkenrittens , most especially than ancient wolf she fondly called , to this day Zaffy. She idly wondered how it would have been like if Linith had met Zafira before.

Then comes Fate herself , and a collection of memories concerning her two adoptive children. An exceptionally powerful Pink Haired Dragon summoner, Caro Le Rushe , and another child just like her , with red hairs and eyes that alternate between gradually attained his adoptive mother's calm , yet never lost it's burning intensity of will. Erio Mondial. Just a little down , though a span of some years had passed was a picture of all three of them together with Arf . Fate finally not only found , but gave others a family. Starting with her , continuing with them. There was another picture of six soon after , this time with Nanoha , Vivio and the other four of them together. And so ,their family grew.

She gave another nostalgic smile as she observed the next shelf of memories. Friends and acquaintances exploded. The Nakajimas . Vivio , her Friends , and the girl called Einhart. Lutecia , Caro and Erio together , some photos with Arf in it , others with only the trio within the picture. There were other collections of that trio , but unfortunately , much of the contents of which were and still is classified today.

She sighed , consciously carefully pulling in a slight tendril of magic , and in that well practiced piece of spell casting , turned herself back into the human form of a girl with long flowing reddish orange hair with faintly Wolfish features , clad in a black mourning gown that reached down to her knees.

Speaking of those three.... She withdrew her Intelligence Device and hung it out from her hands was the device carefully crafted for her a mere half decade ago , a descendant in inspiration and design from her Mistress own device. Corseque Archivist . In it's full form , it would have been a black colored polearm , the glossy ebon handle inscribed with orange runes of varying purposes , ending with a single Orange spike with two other shorter orange blades curving away from the central spike. Or it could have taken the form of black gauntlets with an orange , trident like shape set in between two triangles pointing in the opposite direction from one another to form a star. A seventh generation device personally crafted and designed by one of the best Device Meisters alive in TASB space . She looked up at the picture of Lutecia and her two friends together , Erio leaning to the side while Lutecia clamped her hands on the shoulders on a much shorter Caro and leaning towards the camera.

The device hung out from it's Material-Fibre chain like a pendulum , two similar sized triangles rotating perpendicularly to one another set on a black pedestal rotating back and forth.

It was through that device that she had made her new , provisional contract with Erio a year back. She was yet to announce the decision that the contact asked her to make.

She checked her device chronometer. It was in the wee hours of the early morning. She activated the device tracker function. The boy would not arrive before dawn, though she did appreciate his dedication in flying through the night.

Rolling out of the soft-blankets and yielding cushions covering the base of the litter, she got up to her feet , and climbed up to the bed. More memories still laid beyond the wall . But she'd like her dreams to be nostalgically pleasant that night.

That night, crossing over into the earliest morning is the day that this second life ends , and the third begins. It ends and begins with a certain desperate Green Oval portal leading to another , distant world , abruptly opening up in this room. It will trigger a sequence of significant events on both sides of the portal .

The fate of a world, another weary sequence of that old political dance, and above all, new Life itself would be forged before the dawn. For now, a second life will wind down in the blissful garden of dreams.

But the sowing of another such garden? That remains to be seen.

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


Arf got up with a start , wth her device issuing multiple warnings of an enormous mana surge in the room , of an unusual signature and configuration. Moments later , that surge resolved itself , a bright green light appeared from somewhere within her room It felt like a Dimensional Transfer was being activated right in the room right there and now.

SS Rank Dimensional Transfer Detected , Mistress! The device spoke in a sharp masculine voice.

Combat instincts rarely used for a long period abruptly swung into action. Mana fuelled Adrenaline filled her,she rolled right out of the sheets , out of the bed , entering a combat ready crouch , facing the source of the magic.

A bright glowing Green Oval shaped portal , a Dimensional Transfer spell of a magnitude befitting one of those newer TASB Battle-cruisers ,or an Over S level summoning. It had formed on the center of the far end of the room , right over the door. And it was widening rapidly.

Only , the magic signature was bizarre. Alien , unusual , failing to match anything in her recollections or her exposure , which was vast thanks to the decades working at the Infinite Library , and the memories of her now deceased master. The nearest equivalent she could compare it with was with an AMF , or perhaps an Eclipse Driver. Her device made a quick querry to the data-bases of the infinite Library , for information on all magical variants and types in the Infinite Library Date-base.

She also instructed Corseque to quickly calculate the trajectory and likely destination of the portal , and sent another querry to the Infinite Library Dimensionography data-bases.

Most troubling , it felt very enticing. Like it was welcoming her , drawing her in.

Cautiously , she tried to take a step back from the portal. Arf's golden eyes narrowed further when the portal grew even larger seconds later , expanding till it reached the roof of her room. She now sensed desperation laid right on-top of that sense of welcoming. Desperation , and a frighteningly implacable focus that reminded her of a Starlight Breaker being readied....

The portal now expanded to the point that it blocked the door. And then , it slowly advanced , bit by bit. Begging her.

She clutched Corseques' inactive form in between her clenched fist , sub-consciously drawing again from the mana source she was teetered too , readying a Strike-arts punch in case she had to blow her way out of the room. Her connection was feeling quite sluggish. She cautiously backed up towards the beds' headboard, fist leaning against the wall. Still , the portal advanced. And it seemed to be calling out to her softly. Leap in. Leap in , and the portal will close. It was almost like there was an implicit threat behind that enticement.

Contact Strada and Asclepius. She telepathically instructed. Both of them should have felt a spell of this magnitude by now. There was a slight pause.

Mistress. The portal is breaking up the signal. Only a partial fragmentary transmission could get through.

Nevermind that. Have we found a match to the portal's destination and magic type?

Both questions are inconclusive.

It was then she picked up the massive AMF that suddenly flared across the room , starting from the portal , engulfing the entire house for a moment , before slowly dissipating. She stumbled down onto her knees as the world momentarily whirled and wavered around her, as she realized that her mana connection with Erio was severely constricted by the AMF.

Several more seconds passed. The portal still kept advancing. The AMF within the room was still strong, but rapidly fading. Mana from Erio began sluggishly flowing back into Arf , and she felt him and a second presence rapidly closing in on the room , before suddenly halting. Something was preventing him , and the She could feel a surge of magic right outside her room. A Forced Spatial Transfer spell was being readied. The scent of that magic was unmistakably Lutecia.

Coherent Contact re-established. Data transmission only. At least the jamming signature had deteriorated sufficiently for some communication.

It was a race between the portal , and the teleportation spell being prepared outside. She could sense a second surge from the portal, laced with even more desperation and indignant rage.

For a moment, she sensed a brief clash of magics. In that brief moment, the portal's edge shimmered with tussling purple and silver. And then, just as swiftly as it appeared, the phenomena ceased.

The portal was mere centimeters away , and about to close in on her . Corseque informed her of the most likely outcome of that ongoing race.

Lutecia will not make it in time. The AMF and her still partially active limiters meant that she was not going to execute that spell before the portal engulfed her. There was only one last thing Arf could do.

Corseque , forward the destination and magical signature of the portal to you know whom. And tell them -

She paused for a moment .

- I'm going in.

She took a deep breath , and plunged head-first into the portal.

------------------------------------------------------------
II: A Desperate Call of Souls

Another explosion filled the Summoning grounds again , for the sixth time. This time , there was only a few scatted chuckles from the easily amused. The vast majority of her peers had long since taken to chatting among themselves as the same sequence of events of Incantation , Explosion and Failure repeated itself again and again. Louise's frustration was close to boiling over , her knuckles turning white from the extremely tight grip over her wand.

To be truthful , she would rather have had the jeers and laughter of her peers , as opposed to being completely ignored , and regarded as of no consequence whatsoever. To be almost completely ignored , treated like some fixture of the background itself was a completely new kind humiliation. An increasingly mortifying , and anger inducing one.

She climbed back to her feet. “ One – more – time.” She muttered over tightly gritted teeth.

The bald headed professor , Colbert hesitated for a moment. For a moment , she thought that he was going to refuse. She waited , the silence accentuating the dread building up in her.

“ One last time then , Ms Valliere .” There was a brief burst of relief spreading throughout her body. But she knew it was only temporary. It was her last chance , and the stakes higher than the tallest tower in the Royal Palace.

At stake itself was her right , her pride and her worthiness of being a noble. Everything was invested in that day itself. That day itself was the day she proved all of them wrong , where her magic would finally produce a success. The alternative was worst. Should she fail to summon anything today , she would likely be ejected from the academy. No Second Year ever continued on without a Familiar.

And what then ? Probably a quick , discrete marriage to her fiancee, a marriage based on family influence , and pity to Wardes , as much as she was fond of him. She had contemplated that scenario in her worst nightmares before. With no magic of her own , even such a marriage was nothing but a condemnation to a long wait for death. Without magic , she was nothing by herself. Even if there was love in such a marriage , it was not enough for her. That life as a mother without any magics or influence , to only spawn children was a living death to her. Besides , she could hardly borne such a disgrace to her family name . She would not fail them. She would not fail herself. She would not fail her mother. And above all , she must not fail her beloved Sister's Cattleya's faith in her.

A deep breath of the fresh spring air filled her lungs. She had almost forgotten how refreshing that air was , in the past desperate hour of summoning.

Irrelevant. She shook her head repeatedly , and fixed her eyes firmly in focus on the summoning circle around her. This time , she would succeed. No matter how far her Familiar was , she had to have one. She must. Even if she had to reach beyond the Elven Lands to obtain one , she would do it , with her own might , with her own magic. With every ounce of her soul. Even if she had to blow the entire Academy in one gigantic spherical explosion.

Once more , she drew her wand , whipping it out into drawing a horizontal line , Her arms curled upwards from the far end of the line , arcing upwards to eventually form a full circle. As her arm rose , she begun the incantation again.

“ My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière!” She cried out , willing her voice to carry out , even beyond the stars , even beyond the world if need be . Anywhere . Anytime. Somewhere. There had to be a familiar Her wand begun the orizontal arc upwards.

“ Pentagram of the Five elemental powers!” Why five elements ? Why not more? Why not less ? Why not all at once? Why a Pentagram? She felt something immense surge right through her , pouring through every fibre of her boddy , almost as if she was cut loose from the ground , floating up freely in the skies.

“ Heed my summoning!” Her voice carried through the newly formed ,unseen semicircle , as her wand arced downwards passed the beginning of the previously drawn line.

“ My Servant who exist somewhere in this vast Universe!” This vast Universe ? That was too small . Anywhere . Anything . Anyone. Just to prove she was a mage. Just to make her one. To make her as great as her mother. Greater. It was in her. She just needed a right familiar. She squashed any objections to that potentially heretical line of thought ruthlessly. In doing so , she felt as if something right infront of her , some invisible barrier began to give way , cracks appearing.

Confidence and willpower soaring , she began the next sequence in the Incantation. An Aria to the Dimensions , a shout of every inch of her being and will.

“ My Divine.” She tasted the divine. The first small piece within the barrier shattered . She felt , briefly , a second , far weaker barrier , that felt even more brittle than the first. And then the images begun.

“ Beautiful.” A brief glimpse of a shape of magnificent crimson . The small breach grew.

“Wise” . That prescence. The closest thing she could compare it to was her sister , Catlteya. Yet it felt subtly different. Like her mother in those rare moments of tenderness she so craved. There was more. A magnificent Library the size of the Capital itself , floating in a vast sea. Tomes and Spellbooks , and floating jewels , and pyramid figures. Glowing gaunlets and spears , and more. A Double triangle set opposite each other that could store all the written information on the entire Continent on it. The breach grew wider. A few more pieces fell away from that unseen barrier.

“Powerful.” Glorious golden lightning arced through the air. Beams of glorious light flooded her vision. Claws sharper than steel , speed matching that of her mother's or her fiancee . In service to a state of which Tristian looked like a mite to a giant. More cracks. Her wand almost completed the circuit

“ Heed my call!” That slowly breaking barrier abruptly gave way completely as the wand finished the circle. If her eyes took heed of the world outside , she would have seen an incandescent emerald light consuming her world.

Her arm pointing to the center of the circle , she finished that long aria of summoning . “Heed my summoning... and bring forth...my familiar!!” She began to experience the sensation of crushing pressure. It was an effort , to even maintain the spell.

A roaring sound filled her ears , the same sound as one of her explosions , but distinctly , subtly different.

A mighty wind engulfed and spun around her . The closest she could compare it to was her mother's magics.

The fresh scent of spring on both ends of the portals drifting into her nose , dominating her receptacles of the tounge. One of morning, one of night.

And all five senses seemed as if they were a whole, blended as one.

And then , she became the spell ,and the spell became her , as all wills involved became one , and the only objective remained , to bring the Familiar into her embrace. Her will shall overcome all before her. There was no choice. Not even the most potent of magics will deny her. She felt a chilling pulse of something she could barely comprehend ringing right out through the portal at that thought.

Inch by inch. She pushed . Forward . Forward. Her familiar was close by. The one intended for her. And there was nothing , neither on this world , nor in any world , nor in any universe that could get in her way .

Slowly. The world around her was like unyielding thick dough. Yielding , but so viscous , so thick , so difficult to move in. But she must. She had too. Forward again. And again.

She was getting close. She could feel a presence on the other side. No. Multiple presence , multiple sources of power. She felt someone on the other side attempting to do something. To summon the creature away from her! To steal her familiar! With a growl made without voice , born out of primeval will , a howl of defiance , she pushed still further , hurling a backlack of her magic. For a moment , she caught a glimpse of the startled face of a tall , dignified women with hair and eyes of purple , a pose of confidence momentarily shaken. She realized that eyes too were looking at her in the brief moment their magics touched. And she felt a strange , alien magic reaching out for her.

An instinctive sense of self-preservation kicked in , as the very transitory connection shattered in mutual surprise. More determination surge into her. She would not be denied! She would not be a Zero! This was the proof of her magics , every inch of her will and soul devoted. Again. Forward. It was a race. Between the other summoner and her. But she would triumph ! She would!

Something fell into the portal , and she abruptly felt all the sensations snapping back into her mind at once. Even the memories of the summoning from the completion of the Aria onwards quickly decayed away , except for the most vivid moments. It was just like all other failed spells , where she felt something snap around her , before an explosion.

The green-light collapsed. Something hit the ground. And the smoke and roar of an explosion followed , throwing her back onto the ground for the seventh time this day.

She felt the dirt beneath her. The rough grainy texture of the soil rubbed against the tightly clenched fists of her hand. She could not feel the wand on her hand.

Even before she opened her eyes once more , she could feel the tears sliding down her cheek. There was a sense of great weariness, a sense of dynamism, a sense of faith, a sense of energy absent, drained away like a burned out candle. It was over. It was finished. She was done for. She was a failure. Her life … was over. Forcing her eyes opened , she saw the azure blue sky staring back at her.

Shakily , she sat up , and slowly pulled herself up to her feet as the smoke cleared. Apparently , she had been thrown back by her failed spell , but this time , on her back. She could just make out her wand in the smoke ahead as she tried standing up . It was hard to do so. She felt like her knees could hardly support her , like they would give way at any moment now. She finally managed to get a firm footing , and gingerly walked over to pick up her wand.

The smoke at the center cleared.

And right there and then , she was aware of a complete , absolute dead silence. Gone were the chatting. Gone were the occasional guffaws . Just , complete silence. Like one would expect from a Sermon. Or something wondrous.

Could it be ? A sudden , wild hope seized her , as she approached the circle.

There , she saw a young girl with fairly exotic features, knocked down back-first onto the ground, with long , flowing loose reddish-orange hair extending almost all the way down her back , ending in a very bushy mass of hair sticking out to the right , and a pair of rather unusual reddish protrusions where the ears should have been. Was it some bizzare hair-style? She was clad in a black gown , and hanging on her neck was a strange piece of jewelry involving two triangles set perpendicularly to one another. The girl began to stir as Louise walked closer.

Louise stopped in her tracks as she realized something. Not only did the features of the girl she summoned corresponded to any Halkagenian , but the bushy end of her hair itself was not an unusual hairstyle . It looked like a tail , that looked like either a fox , or wolf tail.

Which meant that those strange protrusions where the ears were , were actually her ears.

She almost dropped her wand at the revelation.

And then , the girl suddenly shot up, and looked around , eyes darting back and forth. Taking in the sky , the castle , lingering briefly on the dresses and wands of the Students that surrounded her , gave Professor Colbert a strange glance that Louise noticed but could not identify. Settling on her finally. Louise could see both the ears and the tail quite clearly , from the distance she was at from the girl she summoned.

The girl appeared to focus briefly , with scrunched up face, briefly as if she was having a big difficulty in something. But it appeared only momentarily. In the next moment , both the tail and the wolf like ears vanished , as if they never had been. A brief curious look, of something close to perturbation flashed across the girls' face briefly, before it was schooled into neutrality. Learning to watch signs of such subtly was part of a Valleries' training.

It's strange. Did I really see a pair of wolf ears and a tail on that girl? Or was I still suffering the effects from the spell? Louise wondered. Briefly , the strange purple haired women she had glimpsed during the spell entered her mind. She dismissed it immediately , though it was a struggle to school her face to maintain composure.

The girl was now talking softly in a very unusual language Louise could not identify – and she knew all Eight languages of Halkagenia , and even some Elvish . It did not correspond to any of the languages she had learned. Even crazier , it sounded like the girl was asking a question – to the strange pendant she had on her , no less!

Louise shook her head in disbelief , as she approached her summon. Collecting herself , she asked“ Where are you from , commoner?” It didn't hurt to try to see whether she understood Halkagenian.

She was denied that answer by a sudden outbreak catcalls and hooting in the air. And a derisive shout from the crowd behind her : “By Brimir , Louise is truly a Zero. She summoned a Commoner!” She could feel heat building up in her face as laughters broke out at that comment.

Her impulse getting the better of her , she turned around to ask whether Professor Colbert could allow her to retry again .

“ No , Louise. This is your last attempt , and the Springtime Familiar Summoning means that you have to bind whatever you summon. Besides , he glanced” Louise could see him frowning in puzzlement for a moment , before drawing his wand in a smooth motion.

“ I saw it” She seemed to hear a brief whisper carried on the wind.

So he saw the tail and the ears too. Did the rest of the school saw it though? Apparently , not , judging my the laughter around her. She decided to bear with it. She would not make a scene of herself infront of those... idiots.

Louise could see the girl make a brief , almost imperceptible nod as she approached the girl. She knelt down to girl.

“ Hey , where is this pla- “ the girl started to ask.

“ Quiet.” The girl suddenly fell silent. Louise felt as if she was being studied. Somehow, by those penetrating, sharp black eyes that reflected a glimmer of the mid-morning sun.

No matter . She got her familiar , and it appeared to be more than it seemed. She had proven that she was a mage. Against the naysayers, in accordance to the faith her sister had placed in her. She closed her eyes , and waved her wand in a well practiced sequence of geometric motions . A pentagram.

"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers; bless this humble being, and make him my familiar." She cupped the girl's face with her left hand and quickly closed the distance between her Familiar's lips and her own. She could feel the Familiar's body stiffening in response. Stiffening in fear , or surprise?

She felt a sharp intake of air from the girl . And then for a moment , it appeared as if her Familiar to be felt extremely insubstantial. As if she was fading away. She felt something drain out of her , from some kind of reservoir that felt increasingly dry. She tensed for a moment, expecting an explosion , and the Familiar to suddenly Fade away. That brief sense of insubtantiality disappeared as quickly as it came , and she felt some kind of vague connection with her Familiar , like a very subtle presence. It was done. Quietly , she pulled away from her familiar , questioning whether that strange sense of insubstantiality was all in her head. And her head began to throb, slightly.

“ It is done. You are now my familiar.” She spoke .

There was a wide eyed look on her familiar's face . A stunned look of utter shock.

"You have failed 'Summon Servant' many times, but you have managed to succeed with 'Contract Servant' in one try," Colbert proclaimed, with a spring in his voice. Relief? Perhaps pleasant astonishment?

She had no time to mull over that, for a gradual tide of chatter slowly began building up behind her back, sounds of indistinct whispers and overlapping distant conversations.

"It's just because she's only a commoner."

"If she was a powerful magical beast, she wouldn't have been able to make a contract."

She gritted her teeth. Her moment of triumph had to be marred by such insults.
The laughter sent her temper over the edge again. "Don't make fun of me! Even I do things right once in a while!" She scowled at the rest of the crowd.

"Truly 'once in a while', Louise the Zero," laughed a girl with gorgeous curly hair and freckles on her face. Again with that insufferable mendicant.

"Mr. Colbert! Montmorency the Flood just insulted me!" Oh yes. It was unforgivable that a nobling from a house as fallen and as financially strained as Montmorency could insult her , a daughter of a Duke and one of the Greatest mages to grace this land. There was a pressure emerging from her depths of her sub-conscious, some scalding anger building up with ever disparaging and derisive word she heard behind her. Surprisingly, Zerbst was not among them. She put away the curious fact into the back of her mind as she devoted her full attention at delivering her retort.

"Who are you calling 'the Flood'? I'm Montmorency the Fragrance!"

"I heard that you used to wet the bed like a flood, didn't you? 'The Flood' suits you better!" Louise was really getting into it. The frustrations of the morning , the repeated humiliations , the difficulty of the summon , and the insults instead of respect she expected to receive upon a successful summoning all got to her. Montmorency was a convenient dumping ground for her fustrations.

"I hadn't expected better manners from Louise the Zero." Manners? That was my pride at stake! Louise indignantly thought to herself.

"Watch it! Nobles ought to show each other proper respect," Colbert interjected with a slight bit of steel in his voice.

Immediately after that statement, the girl Louise had summoned suddenly issued out a brief hiss of pain , as she was brought down to her knees. She swayed for a moment. Louise felt another big surge of an unfamiliar sensation flowing out of her , as she turned her attention on her Familiar. The surge felt like it kept flowing into the girl, as the runes began writing themselves on the back of the hands of both her familiar.
Louise heard a soft , puppy like whine. And then , her familiar abruptly collapsed.
The brief stir from the crowd was soon replaced by a resumption of jeers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Section, next post.

[Kaijo]

Originally Posted by Sunder the Gold

More Whipped, yay!

And Wiggs Bedge turns out to be into S&M! How delightfully appropriate.

Also, his name is supposed to reference Biggs Wedge, or Vicks and Wedge from Final Fantasy 3/6 and Star Wars, yes?


I like how Fate and Nanoha thoughtfully cleaned up after their break-in and stay over.

Yeah, Star Wars reference. Final Fantasy actually grabbed Biggs and Wedge from Star Wars; they appeared in several FF games. When I grab names to use in a fic, I generally like to see if I can find something from another story, series or game. If nothing comes to mind, then I try and make something up.

Anyway, glad you liked it.^^

Originally Posted by Craxuan

Just going through it briefly somewhat reminds me of Cyclone for some weird ass reason. I've decided not to read the chapter thoroughly, sorry Kaijo. *shivers*

I figured it would require the strong of heart/stomach to go through this fic, and thus it wouldn't appeal to everyone. But as I said before, I wanted to go with a unique approach to the subject matter, and cover something about Fate's past that I haven't seen covered yet.

Edit: almost forgot:

Originally Posted by Nanya01

That was... Interesting, Kaijo.

I admit, I was expecting Fate to get her rear end whipped good too.

Heh. Stay tuned for next chapter...

[novalysis]

Spoiler for Reincarnationg Portals: Final Section:

III: A Trans-Dimensional Home Invasion

It was a dream he had not had for years. Not since Freidrich had returned to them, after an absence of eight years. Once more, as it always been, it was evening. They were up on the air, all three of them, riding on Freidrich, on a simple courier mission of certain sensitive information. Looming ahead, high in the serenely dark night sky were the glittering purple hue of the planet the habitable moon orbited around. Erio gazed slightly up at the regal like cloud formations and fixtures on that gigantic orb hanging in the sky. The planet itself was wasted even before the time Old Belka, yet the mana-storms that were theorized to be the aftermath of whatever desolated it still raged on unabated.

But the moon itself was still the same world as it had been for millenniums. Hospitable, varied, fair, full of life. Indeed, the twirling clouds, with it's gentle tendrils slowly swirling up and down serenely floated by, masking the sheer riot of life in the canopy below. He could hear traces of it even up here, from the night-life that resided in the highest levels of the jungle below him.

He looked down at Strada again, serenely floating up in it's inactive state. Years later, he had asked for what was inside his device, all those years ago.

Exploration logs of classified archaeological digs probing into the cause of the mana-storms raging below. The remnants of ancient terraforming methods, turned against the inhabitants of such worlds. That in itself was quite a haul - by that point of time, Terraformation was one of his fields of expertise, a natural out-growth of the interest in Eco-systems that Caro had instilled in him gradually. More tantalizingly, huge caches of largely undecipherable data. The little that could be deciphered painted a picture every bit as grim as the worst atrocities of the Belkan wars. But that was decades into the future. Or perhaps a decade in the past.

Why was he thinking of that now of all times? Shouldn't he appreciate the memory of that gentle , warm pressure on his shoulders? On his left was a pink haired girl clearly deep into her puberty, but having a short status that unfortunately gave her an all too cute look that belied her true age. It was a long time since that happened, in reality was it not? To feel her presence once again, even if it was just a pleasant simulacrum of the mind...

A stirring motion to his left attracted his attention. Erio frowned. That was not how he remembered things. If he recalled correctly, Lutecia was dozing off right behind him, leaning against his back. Of-course, she was technically not supposed to be there, but the normal technicalities never really applied to her, except perhaps for the first few years after their first meeting.

The mana-surge that followed almost immediately felt just like he had just been hit by one of Nanoha-sans' Starlight Breaker. No, more accurately, it felt like a sudden, massive pressure that intruded upon his consciousness, one of his adopted mothers' lightning spells, and the awe inspiring presence that accompanied a major Over S rank summoning all at once.

That tall, purple haired summoner with an eagle like regal face abruptly shot up, and activated her own device. He briefly made out a vague shadow that resembled a certain armoured insect combined with a Bipedal creature off further to the left. The gentle, slightly scaly leathery texture of Freidrich abruptly gave way to the smooth unbroken feel of sheets.

Mana Surge detected , master. Strada warned. Only, this time, it was not the same shape it once was all those years ago.

He shot up with a gasp, and opened his eyes to a completely different world. He could feel Arf already up, with a rising sense of concern tinged with tension.
The room he was in was still dark, with only the hued lights of Mid-Childa's moons providing illumination. He was currently sitting up on a well appointed, wide four poster bed, leaning against the fragrantly scented wood of the headboard. There was a massive throbbing presence rapidly building up around fifteen to twenty meters below him. He swung out of bed, and withdrew Strada from it's chain.
“- and get the Children to safety. That over-S rank dimensional spell is way out of her league.” The terse voice of his wife spoke to his left. Erio felt another huge surge as something broke through, shattering the wards. Arf's sense of concern turned into outright Alarm.

“ Strada?” He asked, standing up.

“ Estimating an SS rank spell. Possible Dimensional Transportation, unknown configuration.”

“A summoning, possibly. And we are at the receiving end. It's monstrous, and I'm sensing a resonance coming from those runes engraved above the house. ” Lutecia walked right into his field of vision, already clad in her own barrier jacket.
“How far down?” Erio asked in general, as a bright light replaced his night-clothes with his own barrier jacket. He decided not to invoke Strada at the current moment. Running down the hall-ways with that device at full length would be a pain.

Lutecia was already opening the door out of the master-bed room. Erio flew after her hovering form down the hallways, as they rushed through the mansion, flying down corridors, past the study, down the central Stair-well.

Approximately three floors down. Asclepius Analytics and Strada Freeform answered in unison. Or at least near unison to his ears anyway. The differences in analytic speeds for seventh generation devices were so small that they were normally trivial except in the most time-sensitive and precise of spell-casting.
His device sent a way-point overlaying his normal vision, pointing the fastest path to the source of the still raging, and rapidly growing mana-surge down below. That was right outside Arf's room, as he had suspected. As they approached the center stair-well, bathed in ghostly sapphire light from the two moons, he attempted reach out to Arf's consciousness to get a visual. He caught a brief glimpse of a bright green oval portal slowly growing, slowly advancing, blocking all exists.

Moments after they flew three floors down the stair-well, a sudden chill immediately spread from his linker-core throughout his body. Suddenly, the visual feed from Arf's senses was severed. Decades of instinct immediately kicked in, as he immediately switched his body-posture to a landing position. Moments later, he felt his mana flowing more sluggishly, and continuous levitation became impossible. Both of them continued on on foot.

"AMF? Did Garyuu got out before the AMF?" He could see Lutecia making a small, almost imperceptible nod in response to that as both of them resumed on foot.

Quite long before the AMF in-fact. Though Kairos was a little indignant of being dragged out. Lutecia's terse, almost mechanical, quiet and nearly unemotional voice rang out in his head. A clear sign that like him, that sudden AMF surge had rattled her too. AMF and Dimensional Transfer at once? Those two were disturbing contradictions that magical theory argued should not exist. At least telepathy was still working. And he supposed that they were quite lucky. Ten more seconds, and the AMF might well have sent both of them plummeting down the stair-well.

That's a relief. Lutecia, I'm sending over the code to unlock your limiter to S He grimly replied. With that settled, he needed to send a few messages. That AMF could easily be followed by a Communications Jamming.
Strada. Raise Capital Defense Corps, Altseim District, 388th Battalion. Alert Shadow Central, Long Arch Spiral and ABMCO and the Investigation Office. Possible Trans-dimensional break in detected. Property and hearth wards have been disrupted. AMF presence detected. Oh, and alert Yuuno, Hayate, Chrono and Lindy. Something major has happened. Get approval for Lutecia's limiters to be completely unlocked, and our boosters activated if you can.

An unusually long wait followed, before Strada send a pulse of acknowledgment to his consciousness.

So communications were partially jammed....Erio commented telepathically, testing out whether short-range non mental communication too was being affected by the phenomena. Again, Lutecia gave one of her tiny, nearly imperceptible nods of acknowledgement.

They swiftly ran with their enhanced bodies down pass picture-frames, decorations, runic markings, library rooms and the elevator access down to the Laboratory his wife used to conduct her various (less sensitive, of course) works whenever they resided on this property.

Arf often went down that access point to deliver meals and various other errands, reagents and other deliveries to Lutecia, whenever she spent a good part of the day inside. Sometimes, Erio wondered whether the parallels between those actions, and his mother's tales of Linith were deliberate on Arf's part. Among other behaviors that Arf displayed around children, including himself in his youth on occasions.

There was a last stretch of the run took them to a hallway with opened windows looking out to a well tended lawn, blooming with spring flowers and the evergreen forests just beyond the first Ward-line, bathed by the celestial, fantastic light of the moons. That yellow on glossy black schemed hover car, the latest incantation of what everyone in his extended family affectionately and jokingly nicknamed “Cardiche” laid parked just at the far end of the lawn. Beyond that laid Arf's room.

They had made in within three minutes, even if Arf's personal quarters was at the “back” of the mansion. And he personally considered both of them very lucky that they had not opt to fly one round around the manor up to Arf's window. Else they would be both stranded on the first-floor by now, even if the dissipating AMF now made some levitation possible. And it also allowed him enough linking capacity to activate Unwetterform for Strada, though the process still felt sluggish, and much delayed.

And then, there was the overwhelming fountain of mana that was the source. Over the years, he had the opportunity to see Titans like a unisioned Hayate, Lutecia, or Thoma up-close, with all limiters unlocked and channeling staggering amounts of mana through their linker-core. Enough to power a Carrier's Reactors. He felt that same glorious, awe inspiring, exultant and light-headed sensation that accompanied any major mana-source at close range, coming from the dimension at close range.

His hands was about to reach for the door, to swing it open before it froze for a moment, his sense of caution, and a brief silent burst of the sensation of alarm sent telephatically from his wife. “ Not safe?” He could feel Arf's emotions returning back to the edge of his awareness again. There was now a mix of both desperation and relief, though it was still not as crisp as it usually was if he focused on the bond.

Lutecia shook her head. “ I'll try to extract Arf out of here via a Space Transfer spell. Don't go in there, Erio. I have a suspicion that this portal has a mind of it's own. And don't blow up the door. If that portal blows, even I can't predict the consequences. ” she replied . Some of the previous emptiness in that voice had disappeared, and the voice of the women he knew better than anyone except for her mother regained some traces of the usual confidence and dynamism it usually had. There were other subtle signs too. Lutecia's posture appeared straighter too, and a certain fire was simmering in her eyes. Her already tall stature seemed to only increases still further.

She swept both her arms , extending it outwards to her side, her glove device shimmering with purple aura. Two runic Mid-Childan Magical Circles, their bluish-purple light enough to light the room in entire hall-way in a cool bluish strobe light like hue formed around both her fist. A Summoning Square, it's magnificently incandescent purple fire dancing around and forming intricate interlocking and progressively smaller squares formed at her feet. In the relative darkness, it felt like it's radiance seeped into the floor and climbed up like pillars of lava bubbling up to the surface.

He sensed another three circles forming at the meadow below. Similar, slightly less elaborate teleportation squares appeared suddenly on the ground, emerging out and shining it's radiance in counter-part to the main square of the summoner.
Calculating a spell is even more difficult in there, the closer you get to the portal, than out here The portal is severely interfering with my calculations. This would take much longer than usual. Lutecia tersely warned.

He felt the crisped, clear chants in Belkan commence at the same time he received that silent message from the purple haired summoner. He could feel Arf backed up against the wall of her room and the headboard of her bed, and the epic-center of the huge mana flow moved slowly to the edge of the room. Though his mana flow to Arf felt very inefficient and sluggish, which meant that tearing a hole out the room with the Strike Arts was out of the question for her. His heart was racing against his ribcage, throbbing hard like the music style from Earth called techno. He forced himself to release his death-grip on Strada, and relax a little. It was hard though. The tension of the race between the two summonings speed gave him the visual imagery of a very thin string stretched at great tensions.

That string grew thinner and thinner, as Lutecia's face tightened considerably, her struggle against the AMF . The interference that the portal itself was playing with her calculations were clearly showing, she was clearly exerting that level of effort she normally only reserved for the most sophisticated and greatest of her spells.

Ten seconds into the start of the aria, he felt something, perhaps that magical string in the air snap and he felt a surge of a very alien magic. Lutecia faltered for a moment, gave a slight start, gasping and releasing a sharp intake of breath. In that moment, several extra-ordinary things happened all at once. In one of her rare faces, Lutecia's face reflected shocked astonishment, her eyes widening significantly, her mouth briefly dropping open. The second unusual thing took place almost immediately after that. Her magical square flickered for the briefest of moments, and at the corner of his enhanced sight, Erio spotted the Summoning Squares almost fading right then. The third strange thing was the color of the circle. It seemed like a tinge of silver touched the burning purple of Lutecia's magic. And even more extra-ordinarily, he saw Lutecia's circle suddenly flare up in response, briefly looping up around and up through the circle, forming for the briefest of instance chains that attempted to warp around the small tinges that appeared.

The tinges abruptly disappeared, and Lutecia made a small rare grunt of irritation.
The teleportation was delayed, and thrown back roughly Five seconds. There was an unusual calmness in her silent thoughts. Like she was pondering for a moment, while she multi-tasked by trying to resume and complete the aria.
He could sense Lutecia desperately attempting to rush the spell. But all of them, including Arf knew it was too late. The portal was too close. His wife would not be able to make it in time, after that sudden disruption. They would not make it now. Even when they arrived, they were cutting it close.

“Incoming Transmission from Corseque.” Both devices in the hall-way announced at once.

I'm going in. Erio could faintly hear Arf's voice echoing in the back-ground.
Good luck Arf. We'll try to get you back as soon as we can. Godspeed. He acknowledged silently. He could feel the emotional connection rapidly fading away into some vast distance, though he could still feel his mana leaping through the dimensions, continuously sustaining Arf, though the signal was faint and transmission times delayed by a noticeable second or so. He silently ordered Strada to record the time-lag to get an idea of the Dimensional Sea distance to the destination dimension.

He had no idea whether his last message reached the Familiar.

Strada quietly apprised that Corseque had sent it every reading that device got from the portal before Arf plunged into the phenomena. Potential trajectory, signatures, unique read-outs, possible mental signature, and other similar technical information. Hopefully, it was enough, and it was much better than just a vague distance estimate via Familiar bond.

“You got it too, Lu?” He quietly asked, his emotional state only betrayed by the deep, and more frequent breaths. Control. With much practiced discipline, he broke the toxic mix of panic, anger and frustration down into nothingness.
Lutecia's shoulders slumped, as she dropped her hand to her side, her Squares fading away like a light switched off. She gave a slight nod. Even in the blue-moonlight, her face looked wan and pale. The adrenaline of being woken up abruptly by a massive surge of magic drained away by the events that followed.

“That. I also got a face. For a brief moment, right during the last back-lash. I think she saw mine to.” She gave a sigh, and turned around to meet him in the eye with a very mixed expression. Curiosity, disappointment, apologies and even sub-conscious relief all merged into one in that strange look on her face.

“When I grappled with that portal, I felt such a strong will behind it. It reminded me of Nanoha or Vita, but that determination was accompanied by an astounding sense of desperation behind it. Such a strong need behind it.” She quietly added. “ The girl was very lucky. Had she decided to prolong our duel, she might have been accidentally swallowed by imaginary space. Or the portal might have blown, scattering her own soul to unsustainable shards, or at least imploding her linker-core. Best case scenario, I would have forced her across her own Portal, right here. Like I said, I can't predict the outcome. ” She shook her head. “I really wonder what drove that girl on to such lengths, to take such a insane risk.”

Erio briefly paused to consider his words. “I see then.” He gave a nod of acknowledgment. “ Good job Lu. Thanks.” It felt a little hollow to him. A little weak.

A slight hesitation followed. He decided to speak again. “ How are you holding up?” He gently asked.

“ Not too bad.” She gave a slight , affectionate smile in reassurance before briefly invoked her magic again.

Free of the interference, and with the AMF almost gone, this time, the transportation took mere seconds , as they emerged out of the purple portal on the grounds of their front gate. and he shortly afterward felt both of them standing on the soft, fur like grassy soil of the front garden path. Through a gap among the mountains, Erio could see on the edge of the horizon, where the distant ground disappeared into the blurry fog that formed the boundary between land and sky; the first hint's of dawn could be seen over the horizon from the open ground stretching out from the front of their front gate,

A early morning breeze picked up, ruffling both their hairs as they stood like that for a few minutes in silence.

At the very edge of audibility, and through a visual from a perimeter scrying emplacement, Erio could hear the slight whirl of the Aerial Transport approaching. Not that he needed to drop the wards though – they were still slowly regenerating, but he asked Strada to authorize the approaching TSAB transport in just in-case.

“ I didn't get a name. I think, if I had just one more moment, I would have. Ah well, shame about that, but there's plenty of material for the investigators to work with.” Her voice was now back to her ordinary self. Poised, confident, elegant, with the same poise of self-assuredness and dynamism that was distinctively reflective of her normal personality “I've prepared another long distance teleportation. Zafira's waiting for our children over at the Yagami residence. ”

There was a slight pause. “ I've messaged Kairos through Caduceus, and told him to join the rest there.” She clasp his shoulders with her warm hands. “ I'll go down to the lab first, to secure the data-bases and see whatever additional readings I can get out of some of the instruments there. I'll see you when I'm done- or more likely, knowing him, when Kairos hails both our devices at once.”

Erio nodded in acknowledgment. “ I guess I'll welcome the Investigative team in then. Here's to hoping that they don't bring a media-circus in with them.” He wryly commented in a voice verging on half-amused, and exasperated. Lutecia chuckles continued floating on the wind for quite some-time after another portal sent her to her next destination.

Erio reverted Strada back into it's standby form, but maintained his barrier jacket. Straightening his posture, he walked out to meet the landing Ground Force Hover-craft. A section of the craft shimmered away in a brief flash of white light, like the dismissal of a barrier jacket. Out of the newly opened exist out of which a certain familiar Investigator with a distinctively rakish cinnamon colored hair clambered out, and saluted him as soon as his feet touched the ground. “Sir, these men will be cordoning of your estate, as per standard procedure. My fellow investigators will be coming in soon. “

Erio saluted back , in a single swift motion. “ At ease.” He ordered, lowering his hands quickly. “ That was fast.” He added, with the slightest of smiles, extending his hand out to the commander. " There's no need for such formality. We are friends after all, and besi-"

That smile faded almost as soon as it appeared, as his hand froze mid-way to being extended. In that very instant, his linker core felt a sudden surge of mana flowing back into his linker-core. That long thin pipe of mana that connected him to Arf suddenly snapped right back into him, a feeling completely symmetrical to the same sensation he had when Arf's soul was first transferred to his linker-core. He could feel all remaining semblance, and links to Arf dissolving right there and then, a sudden, conspicuous emptiness where once a bundle of myriad thought and information once laid at the edge of his waking mind.

The next moment saw a golden Belkan Triangle flare up beneath his feet, the runic seals on all three ends of the triangle scrawling with runes. Runes of a very alien script.

Strada! His device acknowledged wordlessly, already anticipating his request beforehand. On hindsight, it was unnecessary, perhaps, and he should have had more faith in his old friend's A.I core.

More relevantly, there was another clue emerging right here and now, if his suspicions proved true. The mingling of silver particles hovering and weaving in and out of his Belkan Triangle confirmed this. The last time round, it were golden motes of light gently drifting out of his Magical Triangle. The hue of these silver motes were an exact match, both in magical signature and color to same flares that invaded Lutecia's runic circles not too long ago.

Just as significantly, it was a replica of the very same well known Familiar Transfer phenomena that he had witnessed when Arf was placed under his care.

“ Contract fulfilled.” Strada announced. “Familiar transferred.”

The silver particles quickly faded away into emptiness, soon followed by the Golden Triangle. But the vital clues they left behind, along with much other crucial data remained in the memory banks of his and Lu's devices.

A brief silence followed. “ It seems, Alvis, that we've just acquired an important clue. A very crucial one.” Erio briefly brought his inactive device up to his lips, which moved slightly yet inaudibly from Alvis viewpoint. Putting it down, he gave a satisfied, confident grin.

“ I can have activate the analysts at any time, Erio. Just say the word.”

In the distance, both men could hear the faint whirl of additional transports coming in.

And that's it! With that I'm working on the next stage of the ZnT Nanoha crossover.

[Kaijo]

Posted Whipped, Chapter 5: Demons to ff.net.

[Grand Phoenix]

HEY HEY HEY looks who back from the dead! AND I HAVE A NEW STORY.

Well, it's not exactly new; it's been sitting on my hard-drive for a few months. This was written a little after "All Falls Down" was posted. I have an idea as to where I want to take this, but the direction of the story is still up in the air.

You can read it here on FFNET.

It's not necessary, but you should also read "All Falls Down" to better understand what happened prior to NWO.

[Filraen]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Anyway...

StrikerS 1-50

StrikerS 51

StrikerS 52

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - StrikerS 53:

...

I'm sure someone forgot something, but I'm not sure who: either Quint about her two youngest, or me about both of them being male.

[Rising Dragon]

Originally Posted by Filraen

I'm sure someone forgot something, but I'm not sure who: either Quint about her two youngest, or me about both of them being male.

For this segment Quint was merely referring to Subaru, Ginga, and Nove, since she's aware Nove has her DNA.

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by novalysis

Spoiler for Reincarnationg Portals: Final Section:

III: A Trans-Dimensional Home Invasion

It was a dream he had not had for years. Not since Freidrich had returned to them, after an absence of eight years. Once more, as it always been, it was evening. They were up on the air, all three of them, riding on Freidrich, on a simple courier mission of certain sensitive information. Looming ahead, high in the serenely dark night sky were the glittering purple hue of the planet the habitable moon orbited around. Erio gazed slightly up at the regal like cloud formations and fixtures on that gigantic orb hanging in the sky. The planet itself was wasted even before the time Old Belka, yet the mana-storms that were theorized to be the aftermath of whatever desolated it still raged on unabated.

But the moon itself was still the same world as it had been for millenniums. Hospitable, varied, fair, full of life. Indeed, the twirling clouds, with it's gentle tendrils slowly swirling up and down serenely floated by, masking the sheer riot of life in the canopy below. He could hear traces of it even up here, from the night-life that resided in the highest levels of the jungle below him.

He looked down at Strada again, serenely floating up in it's inactive state. Years later, he had asked for what was inside his device, all those years ago.

Exploration logs of classified archaeological digs probing into the cause of the mana-storms raging below. The remnants of ancient terraforming methods, turned against the inhabitants of such worlds. That in itself was quite a haul - by that point of time, Terraformation was one of his fields of expertise, a natural out-growth of the interest in Eco-systems that Caro had instilled in him gradually. More tantalizingly, huge caches of largely undecipherable data. The little that could be deciphered painted a picture every bit as grim as the worst atrocities of the Belkan wars. But that was decades into the future. Or perhaps a decade in the past.

Why was he thinking of that now of all times? Shouldn't he appreciate the memory of that gentle , warm pressure on his shoulders? On his left was a pink haired girl clearly deep into her puberty, but having a short status that unfortunately gave her an all too cute look that belied her true age. It was a long time since that happened, in reality was it not? To feel her presence once again, even if it was just a pleasant simulacrum of the mind...

A stirring motion to his left attracted his attention. Erio frowned. That was not how he remembered things. If he recalled correctly, Lutecia was dozing off right behind him, leaning against his back. Of-course, she was technically not supposed to be there, but the normal technicalities never really applied to her, except perhaps for the first few years after their first meeting.

The mana-surge that followed almost immediately felt just like he had just been hit by one of Nanoha-sans' Starlight Breaker. No, more accurately, it felt like a sudden, massive pressure that intruded upon his consciousness, one of his adopted mothers' lightning spells, and the awe inspiring presence that accompanied a major Over S rank summoning all at once.

That tall, purple haired summoner with an eagle like regal face abruptly shot up, and activated her own device. He briefly made out a vague shadow that resembled a certain armoured insect combined with a Bipedal creature off further to the left. The gentle, slightly scaly leathery texture of Freidrich abruptly gave way to the smooth unbroken feel of sheets.

Mana Surge detected , master. Strada warned. Only, this time, it was not the same shape it once was all those years ago.

He shot up with a gasp, and opened his eyes to a completely different world. He could feel Arf already up, with a rising sense of concern tinged with tension.
The room he was in was still dark, with only the hued lights of Mid-Childa's moons providing illumination. He was currently sitting up on a well appointed, wide four poster bed, leaning against the fragrantly scented wood of the headboard. There was a massive throbbing presence rapidly building up around fifteen to twenty meters below him. He swung out of bed, and withdrew Strada from it's chain.
“- and get the Children to safety. That over-S rank dimensional spell is way out of her league.” The terse voice of his wife spoke to his left. Erio felt another huge surge as something broke through, shattering the wards. Arf's sense of concern turned into outright Alarm.

“ Strada?” He asked, standing up.

“ Estimating an SS rank spell. Possible Dimensional Transportation, unknown configuration.”

“A summoning, possibly. And we are at the receiving end. It's monstrous, and I'm sensing a resonance coming from those runes engraved above the house. ” Lutecia walked right into his field of vision, already clad in her own barrier jacket.
“How far down?” Erio asked in general, as a bright light replaced his night-clothes with his own barrier jacket. He decided not to invoke Strada at the current moment. Running down the hall-ways with that device at full length would be a pain.

Lutecia was already opening the door out of the master-bed room. Erio flew after her hovering form down the hallways, as they rushed through the mansion, flying down corridors, past the study, down the central Stair-well.

Approximately three floors down. Asclepius Analytics and Strada Freeform answered in unison. Or at least near unison to his ears anyway. The differences in analytic speeds for seventh generation devices were so small that they were normally trivial except in the most time-sensitive and precise of spell-casting.
His device sent a way-point overlaying his normal vision, pointing the fastest path to the source of the still raging, and rapidly growing mana-surge down below. That was right outside Arf's room, as he had suspected. As they approached the center stair-well, bathed in ghostly sapphire light from the two moons, he attempted reach out to Arf's consciousness to get a visual. He caught a brief glimpse of a bright green oval portal slowly growing, slowly advancing, blocking all exists.

Moments after they flew three floors down the stair-well, a sudden chill immediately spread from his linker-core throughout his body. Suddenly, the visual feed from Arf's senses was severed. Decades of instinct immediately kicked in, as he immediately switched his body-posture to a landing position. Moments later, he felt his mana flowing more sluggishly, and continuous levitation became impossible. Both of them continued on on foot.

"AMF? Did Garyuu got out before the AMF?" He could see Lutecia making a small, almost imperceptible nod in response to that as both of them resumed on foot.

Quite long before the AMF in-fact. Though Kairos was a little indignant of being dragged out. Lutecia's terse, almost mechanical, quiet and nearly unemotional voice rang out in his head. A clear sign that like him, that sudden AMF surge had rattled her too. AMF and Dimensional Transfer at once? Those two were disturbing contradictions that magical theory argued should not exist. At least telepathy was still working. And he supposed that they were quite lucky. Ten more seconds, and the AMF might well have sent both of them plummeting down the stair-well.

That's a relief. Lutecia, I'm sending over the code to unlock your limiter to S He grimly replied. With that settled, he needed to send a few messages. That AMF could easily be followed by a Communications Jamming.
Strada. Raise Capital Defense Corps, Altseim District, 388th Battalion. Alert Shadow Central, Long Arch Spiral and ABMCO and the Investigation Office. Possible Trans-dimensional break in detected. Property and hearth wards have been disrupted. AMF presence detected. Oh, and alert Yuuno, Hayate, Chrono and Lindy. Something major has happened. Get approval for Lutecia's limiters to be completely unlocked, and our boosters activated if you can.

An unusually long wait followed, before Strada send a pulse of acknowledgment to his consciousness.

So communications were partially jammed....Erio commented telepathically, testing out whether short-range non mental communication too was being affected by the phenomena. Again, Lutecia gave one of her tiny, nearly imperceptible nods of acknowledgement.

They swiftly ran with their enhanced bodies down pass picture-frames, decorations, runic markings, library rooms and the elevator access down to the Laboratory his wife used to conduct her various (less sensitive, of course) works whenever they resided on this property.

Arf often went down that access point to deliver meals and various other errands, reagents and other deliveries to Lutecia, whenever she spent a good part of the day inside. Sometimes, Erio wondered whether the parallels between those actions, and his mother's tales of Linith were deliberate on Arf's part. Among other behaviors that Arf displayed around children, including himself in his youth on occasions.

There was a last stretch of the run took them to a hallway with opened windows looking out to a well tended lawn, blooming with spring flowers and the evergreen forests just beyond the first Ward-line, bathed by the celestial, fantastic light of the moons. That yellow on glossy black schemed hover car, the latest incantation of what everyone in his extended family affectionately and jokingly nicknamed “Cardiche” laid parked just at the far end of the lawn. Beyond that laid Arf's room.

They had made in within three minutes, even if Arf's personal quarters was at the “back” of the mansion. And he personally considered both of them very lucky that they had not opt to fly one round around the manor up to Arf's window. Else they would be both stranded on the first-floor by now, even if the dissipating AMF now made some levitation possible. And it also allowed him enough linking capacity to activate Unwetterform for Strada, though the process still felt sluggish, and much delayed.

And then, there was the overwhelming fountain of mana that was the source. Over the years, he had the opportunity to see Titans like a unisioned Hayate, Lutecia, or Thoma up-close, with all limiters unlocked and channeling staggering amounts of mana through their linker-core. Enough to power a Carrier's Reactors. He felt that same glorious, awe inspiring, exultant and light-headed sensation that accompanied any major mana-source at close range, coming from the dimension at close range.

His hands was about to reach for the door, to swing it open before it froze for a moment, his sense of caution, and a brief silent burst of the sensation of alarm sent telephatically from his wife. “ Not safe?” He could feel Arf's emotions returning back to the edge of his awareness again. There was now a mix of both desperation and relief, though it was still not as crisp as it usually was if he focused on the bond.

Lutecia shook her head. “ I'll try to extract Arf out of here via a Space Transfer spell. Don't go in there, Erio. I have a suspicion that this portal has a mind of it's own. And don't blow up the door. If that portal blows, even I can't predict the consequences. ” she replied . Some of the previous emptiness in that voice had disappeared, and the voice of the women he knew better than anyone except for her mother regained some traces of the usual confidence and dynamism it usually had. There were other subtle signs too. Lutecia's posture appeared straighter too, and a certain fire was simmering in her eyes. Her already tall stature seemed to only increases still further.

She swept both her arms , extending it outwards to her side, her glove device shimmering with purple aura. Two runic Mid-Childan Magical Circles, their bluish-purple light enough to light the room in entire hall-way in a cool bluish strobe light like hue formed around both her fist. A Summoning Square, it's magnificently incandescent purple fire dancing around and forming intricate interlocking and progressively smaller squares formed at her feet. In the relative darkness, it felt like it's radiance seeped into the floor and climbed up like pillars of lava bubbling up to the surface.

He sensed another three circles forming at the meadow below. Similar, slightly less elaborate teleportation squares appeared suddenly on the ground, emerging out and shining it's radiance in counter-part to the main square of the summoner.
Calculating a spell is even more difficult in there, the closer you get to the portal, than out here The portal is severely interfering with my calculations. This would take much longer than usual. Lutecia tersely warned.

He felt the crisped, clear chants in Belkan commence at the same time he received that silent message from the purple haired summoner. He could feel Arf backed up against the wall of her room and the headboard of her bed, and the epic-center of the huge mana flow moved slowly to the edge of the room. Though his mana flow to Arf felt very inefficient and sluggish, which meant that tearing a hole out the room with the Strike Arts was out of the question for her. His heart was racing against his ribcage, throbbing hard like the music style from Earth called techno. He forced himself to release his death-grip on Strada, and relax a little. It was hard though. The tension of the race between the two summonings speed gave him the visual imagery of a very thin string stretched at great tensions.

That string grew thinner and thinner, as Lutecia's face tightened considerably, her struggle against the AMF . The interference that the portal itself was playing with her calculations were clearly showing, she was clearly exerting that level of effort she normally only reserved for the most sophisticated and greatest of her spells.

Ten seconds into the start of the aria, he felt something, perhaps that magical string in the air snap and he felt a surge of a very alien magic. Lutecia faltered for a moment, gave a slight start, gasping and releasing a sharp intake of breath. In that moment, several extra-ordinary things happened all at once. In one of her rare faces, Lutecia's face reflected shocked astonishment, her eyes widening significantly, her mouth briefly dropping open. The second unusual thing took place almost immediately after that. Her magical square flickered for the briefest of moments, and at the corner of his enhanced sight, Erio spotted the Summoning Squares almost fading right then. The third strange thing was the color of the circle. It seemed like a tinge of silver touched the burning purple of Lutecia's magic. And even more extra-ordinarily, he saw Lutecia's circle suddenly flare up in response, briefly looping up around and up through the circle, forming for the briefest of instance chains that attempted to warp around the small tinges that appeared.

The tinges abruptly disappeared, and Lutecia made a small rare grunt of irritation.
The teleportation was delayed, and thrown back roughly Five seconds. There was an unusual calmness in her silent thoughts. Like she was pondering for a moment, while she multi-tasked by trying to resume and complete the aria.
He could sense Lutecia desperately attempting to rush the spell. But all of them, including Arf knew it was too late. The portal was too close. His wife would not be able to make it in time, after that sudden disruption. They would not make it now. Even when they arrived, they were cutting it close.

“Incoming Transmission from Corseque.” Both devices in the hall-way announced at once.

I'm going in. Erio could faintly hear Arf's voice echoing in the back-ground.
Good luck Arf. We'll try to get you back as soon as we can. Godspeed. He acknowledged silently. He could feel the emotional connection rapidly fading away into some vast distance, though he could still feel his mana leaping through the dimensions, continuously sustaining Arf, though the signal was faint and transmission times delayed by a noticeable second or so. He silently ordered Strada to record the time-lag to get an idea of the Dimensional Sea distance to the destination dimension.

He had no idea whether his last message reached the Familiar.

Strada quietly apprised that Corseque had sent it every reading that device got from the portal before Arf plunged into the phenomena. Potential trajectory, signatures, unique read-outs, possible mental signature, and other similar technical information. Hopefully, it was enough, and it was much better than just a vague distance estimate via Familiar bond.

“You got it too, Lu?” He quietly asked, his emotional state only betrayed by the deep, and more frequent breaths. Control. With much practiced discipline, he broke the toxic mix of panic, anger and frustration down into nothingness.
Lutecia's shoulders slumped, as she dropped her hand to her side, her Squares fading away like a light switched off. She gave a slight nod. Even in the blue-moonlight, her face looked wan and pale. The adrenaline of being woken up abruptly by a massive surge of magic drained away by the events that followed.

“That. I also got a face. For a brief moment, right during the last back-lash. I think she saw mine to.” She gave a sigh, and turned around to meet him in the eye with a very mixed expression. Curiosity, disappointment, apologies and even sub-conscious relief all merged into one in that strange look on her face.

“When I grappled with that portal, I felt such a strong will behind it. It reminded me of Nanoha or Vita, but that determination was accompanied by an astounding sense of desperation behind it. Such a strong need behind it.” She quietly added. “ The girl was very lucky. Had she decided to prolong our duel, she might have been accidentally swallowed by imaginary space. Or the portal might have blown, scattering her own soul to unsustainable shards, or at least imploding her linker-core. Best case scenario, I would have forced her across her own Portal, right here. Like I said, I can't predict the outcome. ” She shook her head. “I really wonder what drove that girl on to such lengths, to take such a insane risk.”

Erio briefly paused to consider his words. “I see then.” He gave a nod of acknowledgment. “ Good job Lu. Thanks.” It felt a little hollow to him. A little weak.

A slight hesitation followed. He decided to speak again. “ How are you holding up?” He gently asked.

“ Not too bad.” She gave a slight , affectionate smile in reassurance before briefly invoked her magic again.

Free of the interference, and with the AMF almost gone, this time, the transportation took mere seconds , as they emerged out of the purple portal on the grounds of their front gate. and he shortly afterward felt both of them standing on the soft, fur like grassy soil of the front garden path. Through a gap among the mountains, Erio could see on the edge of the horizon, where the distant ground disappeared into the blurry fog that formed the boundary between land and sky; the first hint's of dawn could be seen over the horizon from the open ground stretching out from the front of their front gate,

A early morning breeze picked up, ruffling both their hairs as they stood like that for a few minutes in silence.

At the very edge of audibility, and through a visual from a perimeter scrying emplacement, Erio could hear the slight whirl of the Aerial Transport approaching. Not that he needed to drop the wards though – they were still slowly regenerating, but he asked Strada to authorize the approaching TSAB transport in just in-case.

“ I didn't get a name. I think, if I had just one more moment, I would have. Ah well, shame about that, but there's plenty of material for the investigators to work with.” Her voice was now back to her ordinary self. Poised, confident, elegant, with the same poise of self-assuredness and dynamism that was distinctively reflective of her normal personality “I've prepared another long distance teleportation. Zafira's waiting for our children over at the Yagami residence. ”

There was a slight pause. “ I've messaged Kairos through Caduceus, and told him to join the rest there.” She clasp his shoulders with her warm hands. “ I'll go down to the lab first, to secure the data-bases and see whatever additional readings I can get out of some of the instruments there. I'll see you when I'm done- or more likely, knowing him, when Kairos hails both our devices at once.”

Erio nodded in acknowledgment. “ I guess I'll welcome the Investigative team in then. Here's to hoping that they don't bring a media-circus in with them.” He wryly commented in a voice verging on half-amused, and exasperated. Lutecia chuckles continued floating on the wind for quite some-time after another portal sent her to her next destination.

Erio reverted Strada back into it's standby form, but maintained his barrier jacket. Straightening his posture, he walked out to meet the landing Ground Force Hover-craft. A section of the craft shimmered away in a brief flash of white light, like the dismissal of a barrier jacket. Out of the newly opened exist out of which a certain familiar Investigator with a distinctively rakish cinnamon colored hair clambered out, and saluted him as soon as his feet touched the ground. “Sir, these men will be cordoning of your estate, as per standard procedure. My fellow investigators will be coming in soon. “

Erio saluted back , in a single swift motion. “ At ease.” He ordered, lowering his hands quickly. “ That was fast.” He added, with the slightest of smiles, extending his hand out to the commander. " There's no need for such formality. We are friends after all, and besi-"

That smile faded almost as soon as it appeared, as his hand froze mid-way to being extended. In that very instant, his linker core felt a sudden surge of mana flowing back into his linker-core. That long thin pipe of mana that connected him to Arf suddenly snapped right back into him, a feeling completely symmetrical to the same sensation he had when Arf's soul was first transferred to his linker-core. He could feel all remaining semblance, and links to Arf dissolving right there and then, a sudden, conspicuous emptiness where once a bundle of myriad thought and information once laid at the edge of his waking mind.

The next moment saw a golden Belkan Triangle flare up beneath his feet, the runic seals on all three ends of the triangle scrawling with runes. Runes of a very alien script.

Strada! His device acknowledged wordlessly, already anticipating his request beforehand. On hindsight, it was unnecessary, perhaps, and he should have had more faith in his old friend's A.I core.

More relevantly, there was another clue emerging right here and now, if his suspicions proved true. The mingling of silver particles hovering and weaving in and out of his Belkan Triangle confirmed this. The last time round, it were golden motes of light gently drifting out of his Magical Triangle. The hue of these silver motes were an exact match, both in magical signature and color to same flares that invaded Lutecia's runic circles not too long ago.

Just as significantly, it was a replica of the very same well known Familiar Transfer phenomena that he had witnessed when Arf was placed under his care.

“ Contract fulfilled.” Strada announced. “Familiar transferred.”

The silver particles quickly faded away into emptiness, soon followed by the Golden Triangle. But the vital clues they left behind, along with much other crucial data remained in the memory banks of his and Lu's devices.

A brief silence followed. “ It seems, Alvis, that we've just acquired an important clue. A very crucial one.” Erio briefly brought his inactive device up to his lips, which moved slightly yet inaudibly from Alvis viewpoint. Putting it down, he gave a satisfied, confident grin.

“ I can have activate the analysts at any time, Erio. Just say the word.”

In the distance, both men could hear the faint whirl of additional transports coming in.

And that's it! With that I'm working on the next stage of the ZnT Nanoha crossover.

Quite interesting. I liked how you showed the other side of what's happening.

BTW, I think I'm a little confused here, but, Lutecia's never had circles, she's always been Belkan in her magic. I might have read that wrong though.

Also, I do like the thought of Erio and Lutecia marrying and having a family together.

Can't wait to see what Arf's up to next. ^_^

[Nanya01]

StrikerS 1-50

StrikerS 51

StrikerS 52

StrikerS 53

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - StrikerS 54:

Outside in the training field...

As she watched Teana shoot some targets with her one good arm, Nanoha chuckled softly. "Teana..." The girl turned to look at her. "You know that you have the day off so everyone can recover properly, right?"

"I just wanted to practice my aim, that's all, nothing strenuous at all."

Nanoha nodded, smiling at her. "That's admirable, actually." She walked up to the shorter girl and nodded. "Teana, could you put your Barrier Jacket on for me?"

Blinking, Teana wondered what Nanoha had in mind, before she finally noticed a box in Nanoha's hand. "Uh, sure." A moment later, she was wearing her black skirt, white jacket, her hair was done up in twin pony tails, there were four belts around her waist and on her feet were white boots. "What's that for?" Her eyes widened as Nanoha opened the box, revealing four red gemstones. "Woah, they're pretty, what are they?"

"They're called the Demon's Blood Talismans." Nanoha put the box down. "My mother had them, and she passed them onto me, but I haven't used them in years. Teana... I want you to have them."

Teana looked at them, shock on her face. "But, I... Why? What are they for?"

"Magic Amplification. With this, even if your magic was sealed away, you could draw upon your magic and use it." Nanoha smiled as Teana's eyes widened almost comically. "My mother gave them to me to help me enhance and control my magic when I was younger. I've gotten past that point, and I don't need the boost anymore. So, I figured you could use them."

"...Because I'm weak?" Teana was a little bitter about the implications and blinked as Nanoha shook her head. "Then why?"

"Teana, if you compare yourself to me, you're not going to be strong." Nanoha knew there was no reason to beat around the bush this time. "But if you compare yourself to most of the Bureau, you're going to be very strong," when Teana gave her a confused look, Nanoha just chuckled softly. "If you were to go to nearly any division or group in the Bureau, you'd be one of the best members they have easily. But I'm not giving you these talismans because I think you're weak. I'm giving them to you... Because you've earned them."

"Even... Even after what happened with Sein and..?" Teana was stopped when Nanoha put a finger on her lips, causing the younger girl to blush heavily.

"Whatever your relationship is with that girl, I don't know. If you two are friends, enemies, lovers, or something else, I don't know, I'm not going to pry. No one here ever thought bad about you for what happened." Nanoha pulled her hand back. "Tell me, Teana, will you accept these?"

Teana looked at Nanoha, then at the Talismans and bit her lower lip. "How do you use them?"

Nanoha smiled and pulled them out of the box. "Teana Lanster, these are very old items," Nanoha hooked one to each of Teana's four belts, "and very powerful. They contain the power of Dark Star, Ruby Eyes, Death Fog and Chaotic Blue, the four most powerful and evil demonic creatures to exist." After attaching them to Teana's belt, Nanoha stood up and took a step back. "I want you to know, however, using them does not mean you will turn evil." Teana nodded and Nanoha pointed at the target range. "Turn around and repeat these words to activate them."

Teana nodded and turned around, wondering what she was supposed to do.

"Lords of Darkness of the Four Worlds," Nanoha began softly.

"Lords of Darkness of the Four Worlds," Teana repeated and blinked as she felt magic starting to surge through her. 'What the heck?'

"Grant me all the power you possess." Nanoha finished the chant.

"Grant me all the power you possess." Teana's eyes widened stupidly as the four talismans suddenly glowed brightly and more magic than she had ever felt flowed through her. "Woah..."

"Now Teana, try firing something." Nanoha smiled as Teana nodded and held Cross Mirage in front of her and a circle formed under her feet.

Teana stared in shock at how fast the spell she was attempting to fire gathered in front of her. "Phantom... BLAZER!" Pulling the trigger, Teana was nearly blown off of her feet from the kick-back and was thankful Nanoha grabbed her from behind. What shocked her though, besides how fast she was able to charge up her strongest, albeit slowest spell, was the sheer size of the blast radius.

"Reminds me of when I first used them and fired a Divine Buster." Nanoha chuckled as the spell wore off, leaving a deep and wide trench in its wake. "Teana, cancel the amplification."

Teana nodded and slumped to her knees, not out of exhaustion, but out of shock. "That was incredible! That was... So powerful," Teana stood up and turned to Nanoha as the talismans powered down, "Nanoha, how... Something like this... I..." She blinked as Nanoha put a hand on her good shoulder.

"Teana, I've watched you, you're still a little hot-headed, still a little stubborn, but you've got a good head on your shoulders," the younger girl blushed heavily, "that's why, I want to teach you a special technique." Teana blinked several times. "I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling something big is coming soon, but... I think I might be trying to teach this to you too soon."

"...You were going to teach it to me anyway?" Teana stared as Nanoha nodded at her.

"Yeah, it's not easy, but I'm sure that you can learn it with ease."

Teana just blinked and tilted her head, but nodded. "Sure."

(---)

Elsewhere...

Reinforce gasped, her eyes wide as she looked straight forward while her body shook.

Levi chuckled heavily as she looked at Reinforce. "My dear Reinforce, you liked that one, huh?" Seeing the device blush and try to look away, Levi just laughed and smirked at her. "I have to admit," Levi leered at Reinforce's naked body from where she was sitting, "you're quite tasty." Levi licked her lips, "especially when you reached your peak." She laughed as shame, humiliation and anger washed off of Reinforce. "And your emotions are pretty tasty as well."

"You're sick," Reinforce panted as she twitched.

"Aww..." Levi mock-whined and walked up to Reinforce, pouting softly. "What? You can't tell me that you didn't enjoy it, I felt you hit release." Reaching up, Levi squeezed Reinforce's breasts and enjoyed how they felt in her hands. "Really, how do you enjoy your time with that girl? She loves groping breasts from what I've seen and heard."

"Hayate doesn't force herself on me," Reinforce growled at Levi and groaned as the tube in her ass suddenly vibrated violently, "st, stop it!"

"Hmm? Oh, that?" Levi shook her head, "no... I need your data, my dear, and I notice that I get more data if your mind is preoccupied with something else, so, I'm going to have to do something rather fun for me, and not-so-fun for you."

"What are you..?" Reinforce stared at what Levi did next. "That's sick."

"What? Don't like it?" Levi chuckled as she looked down at her handy-work. "Lutecia never complained when I did this to her."

Reinforce shuddered as she looked at Levi. "If I ever let that kind of part into my body, it would have to be attached to Hayate and..." Her eyes widened as Levi smirked and her body seemed to shrink slightly, hair changing to brown and becoming much shorter and her clothing disappeared. "St..Stop it!"

"What's the matter, Reinforce?" Levi said, using Hayate's naked body and voice, "I thought you loved me?"

"You're not Hayate!" Reinforce thrashed, trying to get away from Levi. "Don't!" Her eyes widened as she saw what Levi was doing next.

"Don't worry, Reinforce," 'Hayate' said, smiling at Reinforce gently, "it'll only be uncomfortable at first, since you're not used to the stretching sensation yet."

Reinforce just whimpered, before letting out a scream in pain as Levi, using Hayate's body, showed her how futile resistance really was.

(---)

Hayate screwed her eyes shut. 'What is this pain?' She asked, grimacing as she could feel it through her body. "Reinforce," she whispered softly and blinked as she heard a knocking at the door, unlocking it, she leaned back in her chair, which was still facing away from the door, "come in."

"Hayate," she heard Verossa speak up as he walked into the room, "Zafira... He doesn't look good, I did find out what happened though, and, uh..." He started to sweat as Hayate turned to look at him, her eyes narrowed, "you need to see this."

Hayate watched as Verossa pulled out a flat data device, his hand started to glow and an image was projected into the air. "...No way..." She whispered as she saw who it was. "She's dead." When the image ended, Hayate trembled and looked down into her lap. "Get... Get me Fate. NOW!" She glared as she looked up at Verossa, who was sent scrambling out of the room as fast as he could. 'How did she survive? How?! And what does she want with Reinforce?!'

It was almost fifteen minutes later when Fate stood in front of her, dressed in her usual outfit. "You wished to see me, Hayate?" Behind her, Verossa gulped as he saw Hayate's eyes smoldering with anger.

"Tell me, Fate... Do you remember what happened to Alicia?"

Fate blinked several times. "I stabbed her and used a Nemesis Zambar Breaker on her, why?" A chill came over her as Hayate snapped her fingers and said Verossa's name. Her eyes widened as she saw what Verossa had gleamed from Zafira's memories. "...That's impossible. How? I destroyed her when I was nine. Mother was there, Alicia could have come back to kill both of us if she was still alive, how did..?"

"You injured her, badly..." Hayate whispered softly, gripping her chair arms tightly as she tried to hold back her anger, "but she was only injured, not dead. And now," Hayate stood up and for some reason, Fate and Verossa both felt like they were three inches tall, "ten years later, she comes back, kidnaps Reinforce and damn near kills Zafira and who knows what else?!"

"Hayate, I..."

"Get out!" Hayate snapped at Fate and Verossa, "both of you, OUT!"

They both nodded and quickly left the room. When the door closed behind them, Hayate sat down and trembled before giving up and crossing her arms on the desk and burying her face against them, allowing her to muffle her sobs as the emotions were too much for her to deal with.

(---)

"Fate, she's..." Verossa started and Fate held up a hand to silence him.

"I know," she said softly, "if something happened to Erio, Nanoha, or Yuuno like that, I would be like that as well. I'm not mad at her, but I need to do something now."

Verossa could only watch as Fate walked off. "Don't do anything stupid."

Fate stopped, turned and smiled at him. "I don't even know where she is, and if she's been hiding out for ten years, Alicia's not stupid enough to come after me directly. But I think that I need to talk to some people."

Verossa nodded and sighed heavily. "Who is Alicia?" What Fate said next completely floored him.

"My sister."

[biodude711]

Hayate really, really needs to step down as commander of RF6 because if she's too emotionally compromised to make any sort of rational decisions.

[Lycodrake]

Teana gets a possible advantage on whatever "Bigger Fish" might pop up, Levi is being...herself (read sick, twisted, demented, etc.), and the drama unfolds and thickens for Hayate and Fate.
I want to say nice job, but I'm considering kicking you repeatedly in the shins. XP

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

StrikerS 1-50

StrikerS 51

StrikerS 52

StrikerS 53

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - StrikerS 54:

Outside in the training field...

As she watched Teana shoot some targets with her one good arm, Nanoha chuckled softly. "Teana..." The girl turned to look at her. "You know that you have the day off so everyone can recover properly, right?"

"I just wanted to practice my aim, that's all, nothing strenuous at all."

Nanoha nodded, smiling at her. "That's admirable, actually." She walked up to the shorter girl and nodded. "Teana, could you put your Barrier Jacket on for me?"

Blinking, Teana wondered what Nanoha had in mind, before she finally noticed a box in Nanoha's hand. "Uh, sure." A moment later, she was wearing her black skirt, white jacket, her hair was done up in twin pony tails, there were four belts around her waist and on her feet were white boots. "What's that for?" Her eyes widened as Nanoha opened the box, revealing four red gemstones. "Woah, they're pretty, what are they?"

"They're called the Demon's Blood Talismans." Nanoha put the box down. "My mother had them, and she passed them onto me, but I haven't used them in years. Teana... I want you to have them."

Teana looked at them, shock on her face. "But, I... Why? What are they for?"

"Magic Amplification. With this, even if your magic was sealed away, you could draw upon your magic and use it." Nanoha smiled as Teana's eyes widened almost comically. "My mother gave them to me to help me enhance and control my magic when I was younger. I've gotten past that point, and I don't need the boost anymore. So, I figured you could use them."

"...Because I'm weak?" Teana was a little bitter about the implications and blinked as Nanoha shook her head. "Then why?"

"Teana, if you compare yourself to me, you're not going to be strong." Nanoha knew there was no reason to beat around the bush this time. "But if you compare yourself to most of the Bureau, you're going to be very strong," when Teana gave her a confused look, Nanoha just chuckled softly. "If you were to go to nearly any division or group in the Bureau, you'd be one of the best members they have easily. But I'm not giving you these talismans because I think you're weak. I'm giving them to you... Because you've earned them."

"Even... Even after what happened with Sein and..?" Teana was stopped when Nanoha put a finger on her lips, causing the younger girl to blush heavily.

"Whatever your relationship is with that girl, I don't know. If you two are friends, enemies, lovers, or something else, I don't know, I'm not going to pry. No one here ever thought bad about you for what happened." Nanoha pulled her hand back. "Tell me, Teana, will you accept these?"

Teana looked at Nanoha, then at the Talismans and bit her lower lip. "How do you use them?"

Nanoha smiled and pulled them out of the box. "Teana Lanster, these are very old items," Nanoha hooked one to each of Teana's four belts, "and very powerful. They contain the power of Dark Star, Ruby Eyes, Death Fog and Chaotic Blue, the four most powerful and evil demonic creatures to exist." After attaching them to Teana's belt, Nanoha stood up and took a step back. "I want you to know, however, using them does not mean you will turn evil." Teana nodded and Nanoha pointed at the target range. "Turn around and repeat these words to activate them."

Teana nodded and turned around, wondering what she was supposed to do.

"Lords of Darkness of the Four Worlds," Nanoha began softly.

"Lords of Darkness of the Four Worlds," Teana repeated and blinked as she felt magic starting to surge through her. 'What the heck?'

"Grant me all the power you possess." Nanoha finished the chant.

"Grant me all the power you possess." Teana's eyes widened stupidly as the four talismans suddenly glowed brightly and more magic than she had ever felt flowed through her. "Woah..."

"Now Teana, try firing something." Nanoha smiled as Teana nodded and held Cross Mirage in front of her and a circle formed under her feet.

Teana stared in shock at how fast the spell she was attempting to fire gathered in front of her. "Phantom... BLAZER!" Pulling the trigger, Teana was nearly blown off of her feet from the kick-back and was thankful Nanoha grabbed her from behind. What shocked her though, besides how fast she was able to charge up her strongest, albeit slowest spell, was the sheer size of the blast radius.

"Reminds me of when I first used them and fired a Divine Buster." Nanoha chuckled as the spell wore off, leaving a deep and wide trench in its wake. "Teana, cancel the amplification."

Teana nodded and slumped to her knees, not out of exhaustion, but out of shock. "That was incredible! That was... So powerful," Teana stood up and turned to Nanoha as the talismans powered down, "Nanoha, how... Something like this... I..." She blinked as Nanoha put a hand on her good shoulder.

"Teana, I've watched you, you're still a little hot-headed, still a little stubborn, but you've got a good head on your shoulders," the younger girl blushed heavily, "that's why, I want to teach you a special technique." Teana blinked several times. "I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling something big is coming soon, but... I think I might be trying to teach this to you too soon."

"...You were going to teach it to me anyway?" Teana stared as Nanoha nodded at her.

"Yeah, it's not easy, but I'm sure that you can learn it with ease."

Teana just blinked and tilted her head, but nodded. "Sure."

(---)

Elsewhere...

Reinforce gasped, her eyes wide as she looked straight forward while her body shook.

Levi chuckled heavily as she looked at Reinforce. "My dear Reinforce, you liked that one, huh?" Seeing the device blush and try to look away, Levi just laughed and smirked at her. "I have to admit," Levi leered at Reinforce's naked body from where she was sitting, "you're quite tasty." Levi licked her lips, "especially when you reached your peak." She laughed as shame, humiliation and anger washed off of Reinforce. "And your emotions are pretty tasty as well."

"You're sick," Reinforce panted as she twitched.

"Aww..." Levi mock-whined and walked up to Reinforce, pouting softly. "What? You can't tell me that you didn't enjoy it, I felt you hit release." Reaching up, Levi squeezed Reinforce's breasts and enjoyed how they felt in her hands. "Really, how do you enjoy your time with that girl? She loves groping breasts from what I've seen and heard."

"Hayate doesn't force herself on me," Reinforce growled at Levi and groaned as the tube in her ass suddenly vibrated violently, "st, stop it!"

"Hmm? Oh, that?" Levi shook her head, "no... I need your data, my dear, and I notice that I get more data if your mind is preoccupied with something else, so, I'm going to have to do something rather fun for me, and not-so-fun for you."

"What are you..?" Reinforce stared at what Levi did next. "That's sick."

"What? Don't like it?" Levi chuckled as she looked down at her handy-work. "Lutecia never complained when I did this to her."

Reinforce shuddered as she looked at Levi. "If I ever let that kind of part into my body, it would have to be attached to Hayate and..." Her eyes widened as Levi smirked and her body seemed to shrink slightly, hair changing to brown and becoming much shorter and her clothing disappeared. "St..Stop it!"

"What's the matter, Reinforce?" Levi said, using Hayate's naked body and voice, "I thought you loved me?"

"You're not Hayate!" Reinforce thrashed, trying to get away from Levi. "Don't!" Her eyes widened as she saw what Levi was doing next.

"Don't worry, Reinforce," 'Hayate' said, smiling at Reinforce gently, "it'll only be uncomfortable at first, since you're not used to the stretching sensation yet."

Reinforce just whimpered, before letting out a scream in pain as Levi, using Hayate's body, showed her how futile resistance really was.

(---)

Hayate screwed her eyes shut. 'What is this pain?' She asked, grimacing as she could feel it through her body. "Reinforce," she whispered softly and blinked as she heard a knocking at the door, unlocking it, she leaned back in her chair, which was still facing away from the door, "come in."

"Hayate," she heard Verossa speak up as he walked into the room, "Zafira... He doesn't look good, I did find out what happened though, and, uh..." He started to sweat as Hayate turned to look at him, her eyes narrowed, "you need to see this."

Hayate watched as Verossa pulled out a flat data device, his hand started to glow and an image was projected into the air. "...No way..." She whispered as she saw who it was. "She's dead." When the image ended, Hayate trembled and looked down into her lap. "Get... Get me Fate. NOW!" She glared as she looked up at Verossa, who was sent scrambling out of the room as fast as he could. 'How did she survive? How?! And what does she want with Reinforce?!'

It was almost fifteen minutes later when Fate stood in front of her, dressed in her usual outfit. "You wished to see me, Hayate?" Behind her, Verossa gulped as he saw Hayate's eyes smoldering with anger.

"Tell me, Fate... Do you remember what happened to Alicia?"

Fate blinked several times. "I stabbed her and used a Nemesis Zambar Breaker on her, why?" A chill came over her as Hayate snapped her fingers and said Verossa's name. Her eyes widened as she saw what Verossa had gleamed from Zafira's memories. "...That's impossible. How? I destroyed her when I was nine. Mother was there, Alicia could have come back to kill both of us if she was still alive, how did..?"

"You injured her, badly..." Hayate whispered softly, gripping her chair arms tightly as she tried to hold back her anger, "but she was only injured, not dead. And now," Hayate stood up and for some reason, Fate and Verossa both felt like they were three inches tall, "ten years later, she comes back, kidnaps Reinforce and damn near kills Zafira and who knows what else?!"

"Hayate, I..."

"Get out!" Hayate snapped at Fate and Verossa, "both of you, OUT!"

They both nodded and quickly left the room. When the door closed behind them, Hayate sat down and trembled before giving up and crossing her arms on the desk and burying her face against them, allowing her to muffle her sobs as the emotions were too much for her to deal with.

(---)

"Fate, she's..." Verossa started and Fate held up a hand to silence him.

"I know," she said softly, "if something happened to Erio, Nanoha, or Yuuno like that, I would be like that as well. I'm not mad at her, but I need to do something now."

Verossa could only watch as Fate walked off. "Don't do anything stupid."

Fate stopped, turned and smiled at him. "I don't even know where she is, and if she's been hiding out for ten years, Alicia's not stupid enough to come after me directly. But I think that I need to talk to some people."

Verossa nodded and sighed heavily. "Who is Alicia?" What Fate said next completely floored him.

"My sister."

Me: Starlight Breaker already for Teana?

Odin: Considering they're facing alot more dangerous foes ahead, she'll need it.

Val: Levi's is now revealed to be alive in the RF6... Are they going to figure out that the cyborgs are just meatshields for her?

Originally Posted by biodude711

Hayate really, really needs to step down as commander of RF6 because if she's too emotionally compromised to make any sort of rational decisions.

Me: Biodude... Military commanders are human... You're saying that the government should have removed all emotion to their soldiers once drafted into service?

Odin: Anyone will act on their emotion, especially if their love ones are involved. Some might not show it in public eyes or some will show it in a form of anger...

Val: Take note mate. It's a Mazoku who got Rein Eins and who knows what will happen to her if Levi got her way...