[Laith]

Originally Posted by Knight of L-sama

I need to start wrapping up stories that are distracting me from my older stories, so here's another installment of Feito No Hana (the one that started with Nurse!Hayate)

Spoiler for Pt. 4- Hayate/Fate? NanoFate?:

Part 4: Almost Confrontation
“S-shamal isn’t here right now, you know.”

“Oh?” Nanoha looked at her hand, which was covered by a bloody handkerchief. “It’s nothing; a little nick. You know when she’ll be in? She always makes the cleanest heals.”

“Um… she’s on her lunch break, so she’ll probably be back soon.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll wait then.”

Hayate watched as Nanoha sat down on the edge of a vacant bed, her eyes looking more vacant than Hayate had ever seen them. She was returning Hayate’s gaze either.

“Hayate?”

“What?” Hayate winced at the sharpness of her own voice and amended, “What is it?”

“Why are you here? Don’t you have work? Or are you waiting for Shamal too?”

“Ah… no… I just like it here. It’s… peaceful, when no one else is here.”

“Oh… I guess I ruined that for you today. Sorry.” Nanoha didn’t sound at all sorry, but she didn’t seem all that happy either. Nonchalant. That’s what she was. Nonchalant. Blithe.

“No, no, it’s okay, really.” Hayate took a deep steadying breath and sat back down at the nurse’s chair. “So… how did you get inj-“

“I was careless in the last fight.”

“’The last fight’?” Things had been quite recently. Unless she meant… “The practice spar you had during the morning training? With Fate?”

Nanoha looked over at Hayate then, sending a chill down the latter’s spine, as if daring her to say that name with that sort of affection again. Hayate bit her lip. Nanoha looked away with a sigh, absently fingering the cut through the handkerchief. “No. Fate and I… we fought. Last night. We made up, more or less, before we went to bed, but I stayed up. Couldn’t sleep. How can I sleep knowing, no, wondering what I did wrong? She wouldn’t tell me, but I knew she was hiding something.”

If Nanoha noticed the way Hayate’s body seized up, perhaps with guilt, she made no show of it.

Nanoha sighed and continued, “No, we’ll be all right, I’m sure. I mean, Fate’s entitled to her own secrets, just like I am to mine. It’s not a big deal… I just wish she wouldn’t look so… guilty about it if it didn’t matter… or that she would tell me if it did matter.”

“Nanoh-“ Hayate choked on her words when there was a sudden knocking on the door. She froze like a child caught in the off-limits parent’s bedroom when she heard the voice that went with it.

“Hayate? Are you there?”

Nanoha’s eyes began to focus as curiosity and confusion started stirring up trouble in her mind.

Hayate jumped up from her seat and hurried over to the door, opening it quickly to reveal Fate.

Fate broke into a smile upon seeing Hayate, at first not noticing Hayate’s panicked expression. “Hayate! Good, you’re still here. I have to tell you… why are you…?”

It was then that Hayate stepped back and let the vision of Nanoha answer her half-asked question.

“Oh. Hi Nanoha.”

“Hi.” It was a bit perkier than before, but there was the cold chill of suspicion in her voice. “Did you have plans to meet Hayate here? I suppose that is a conference of sorts…”

Hayate swiveled her eyes from Nanoha back to Fate. Her eyes spoke volumes. ‘You lied to her?’

”It just slipped out, okay!” Fate bit her lip as she made a show of checking her watch. “I was just stopping by to see if Hayate was still haunting her usual lunchtime haunt. I wanted to ask her… something.”

Nanoha got off the bed, and Fate froze in place. Nanoha brushed past her, saying, “I’ll leave you two alone to your ‘asking’ then.”

“Nanoha, wa-“ Fate bit her lip as Nanoha shook her head and continued on her way.

“That went well.” Hayate met Fate’s eyes, and smiled that endearing, You’re hopeless but I can’t hate you for it smile. “You better do something nice for her tonight.”

“I will,” Fate promised. She took another look down the hallway, wondering if she should go with her linger conscience telling her to run after her girlfriend. She glanced at Hayate, and that small resolve crumbled to nothing. “Can I come in?”

“Hm? Oh! Oh, yeah, sure, of course.” Hayate stepped back to let Fate in, checked the hallway behind her, and shut the door. As she turned around, she started, “So what did you want to as-“

And suddenly, Fate’s lips were on hers. Memories of what felt like a thousand years ago came rushing back. For both of them.

Hayate whimpered as Fate let her go and crossed the room, putting distance between them just as Hayate had been ready to fully respond. “Fa-“

“I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, Hayate. I love you. Still.” Fate paused in her pacing and looked up at Hayate with such a pained expression that it broke Hayate’s heart to pieces just to see it. “But I also love Nanoha. I always have.”

“H-How?” Hayate shook her head and answered her own question. “No, I know. But… do you love us in the same way?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know!” Fate stopped in front of the chair and sat down, burying her face in her hands. “I’m starting to spiral downward, Hayate. I’m losing my grip on living. I have to set this right again!”

Hayate moved to touch Fate, but at the last moment, decided against it, stopping just in front of Fate. She kneeled down beside her. “What do you want from me, Fate? Just tell me. If I can do it for you…”

“Tell me you don’t love me too.” Fate’s eyes were stained with tears as she looked at Hayate. “Tell me that the way I feel for you is wrong. That you also believe that I should be with Nanoha. That there is no future in loving you the way that I do. Tell me that cheating on Nanoha is the worst thing I could ever do. That only I can stop this.”

“Only you can stop your pain.” Hayate lifted her hand and gently wiped away Fate’s tears. More fell as if as a result of the gesture. “But I won’t lie to you, Fate. You don’t deserve to be lied to.”

Fate was silent for a long moment, burning a hole in the ground with her fixed gaze. Finally, she choked out a single sentence.

“Will you go with me?”

Hayate’s heart nearly stopped. She had been waiting for those words for six long months. “Go where?”

There was a sad, resigned smile on Fate’s lips. “Go with me… to tell Nanoha that she deserves better than what I would be able to give her anymore.”

Hayate hesitated as she followed Fate’s lead in standing up. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

Fate closed her eyes, clearing her thoughts of all but the most necessary. She opened her eyes and smiled a true smile, one that had been a long time in coming.

“Yes.”

That was good. Nice development and the angsty that will come... great

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

Fate of the Reapers
Chapter 9
Conversion

Spoiler for Ch 9:

“Fate. Is that your name? Very fitting if I have learned your language correctly.”

A deep voice was in her head. She realized it was the same voice from the horrendous dream she had some time ago. She couldn’t remember how much time had passed since the battle at the experimental lab. She tried to open her eyes but she couldn’t. She could only breathe and think.

“Do you remember what I said in your dream? That I had disabled your nerve system? Think your answer, don’t try to speak.”

Think? Like this?

“That’s better. The difference from then and now is that I have disabled all of your body functions. Except your ability to breathe, of course.”

Fate’s mind didn’t know what to make out of it all. A dream? Again? But this felt so real, the voice so deep as if it reached into her being.

“As you are a worthy one, I will explain to the best of my knowledge of what will happen to you. That is my duty as a reaper.”

So she had been captured by the reapers. Worthy one? I’ve read and heard that word a lot from you lately. What does it mean?

Fate felt how the voice lost its grip of her mind by just a bit. It was absent for a couple of seconds before returning.

“Not even I, even though it’s my duty, know that. It’s the reason I live, a deep explanation within my core. I’m programmed to search for a worthy one, one that is worthy to join us and help us.”

Join you? Is that why you have always focused on me?

“Your question is correct. We will use a technique, an old technique, used only a few times amongst us. It converts you, transforms your being into one of us. You are our…I do not have a similar word but I guess I can use one of yours.” The voice said and took a short pause. ”God.”

God? You refer to me as your god?

“You can say that, yes. Worthy ones are selected by us, by standards you can’t hope to comprehend.”

Fate grew more scared of what was going to happen. She wasn’t sure, but it certainly didn’t sound good.

And what are you going to do with me? What if I resist and don’t want to join you?

The voice didn’t respond for several seconds. Fate was beginning to wonder I she had asked a question the voice couldn’t handle.
She was wrong.

“Resist? I don’t think you understand your situation. You don’t have a choice. You are one of the few chosen, one of the few worthy ones who have been offered one of the greatest gifts possible.”

Which is?

“Immortality. Godhood. Whatever you want to call it.”

Fate didn’t know what to say.

“The time has come. The conversion process will begin. Our god will soon arrive and we will stand united. Come, Fate. And embrace us as your loyal followers.”

Fate felt something in the back of her head. Her mind was drifting away and she felt light headed.

No. She tried to resist the effect. I don’t want to. Stop.

The voice had disappeared and she was on her own. Memories were flashing past at high speed. She realized that whatever was doing this was destroying them, erasing them as if they had never existed. She still tried to resist, catching one of the few memories left.

No, wait. Caro don’t walk away. Erio, come back. Nanoha…
=== ===

“How could this happen? How could they get past our surveillance?” Hayate said as she was looking through the reports. She was frustrated and sad. Everyone reported the same story. The reapers had come from somewhere inside the building, taken out the guards and managed to get to the medical bay before the alarm went off. How they got inside the building and then outside were still a mystery.
Hayate had received a small warning just before the alarm went off. When Shamal had fallen unconscious, Hayate’s link to the knight had given off a response. A fraction of a second later the alarm had gone off inside the base.

Rein shook her head and turned to Hayate. “I don’t know more than you about this, but I do know that you need to stop blaming yourself. We need you to stay focused.”

The girl nodded and suppressed her feelings, for the moment. She had already called the others for an emergency meeting, to see if they could come up with something that could save Fate.
They were supposed to meet her in ten minutes.
=== ===

They arrived exactly ten minutes later. As they entered her office, the tension rose and the mood went down further. They had lost a battle, an important one to note, and they all knew it.
Stopping in front of Hayate’s desk, they looked at her with determined eyes. Although the mood was low, she sensed that their determination was now higher than ever.

“We were misinformed. The outpost call was a diversion, a scheme to remove our greatest fighting force from the base, allowing them to infiltrate us.” She paused. “Now, I have no doubt that Fate can take care of herself, but I also believe that you, the Nova team, want to help her. You are our single most powerful team we have to offer against the Reapers and I have all of my confidence in you.”

She stopped and entered some commands into a console. A screen lit up and an overlay of a base popped up.

“This,” she said and pointed at the screen, “is a Reaper base. Just after the alarm went off, I assigned a scout to follow them. He managed to get to this location.”

She pointed at a hill some hundred meters to the west of the base. It had a good overlook over a mountain’s wall. As they looked more closely, one part of it seemed metallic. Hayate noticed where they were looking.

“It’s just as you think. This is the entrance to their base, but what is inside we can only speculate of. My scout didn’t notice anything strange outside, but there could be traps everywhere. This is probably not their headquarter either, considering they have no security on the outside.”

She leaned forward and eyed each one of them.

“What I want you to do is to go in there, reach Fate, extract her and get the hell out of there,” she said. “You won’t be alone though. Both myself, and half of our military force will be backing you up.”

She paused to gather her thoughts and continued.

“This is bigger than a simple rescue operation. As soon as you extract Fate, get back inside and help the remaining forces to capture the base. This will give us the opportunity we need to do research on the Reapers and develop a better understanding of how we can counter them more effectively.
Am I making myself clear?”

The others looked at each other before turning their attention back to Hayate. Arms were brought to bear in a salute gesture. They knew Fate needed help and nothing would stop them from bringing it to her.

“Yes, ma’am!”

Hayate nodded and gave them a creepy smile with a sparkle in her eyes.

“Good. Now let’s show these metal cans what a TSAB mage can do.”

=== ===
Who am I? Where am I? This…this sensation. What is it?

“Are you awake?”

Awake? I think so, but I can’t move. Who are you?

“I am simply…Reaper.”

I see. I guess I will remember more soon.

“I hope you do. The reason you can’t move is because your old, biological body have not installed itself properly into your new, reformed body. This is normal.”

I understand. I’m having a vague memory that I am…a worthy one? Is that correct?

“To a certain extent, yes. Now, do you know who I am?”

My loyal believer. You believe in me. You place your trust in me.

“Correct. I am your loyal servant. I do as you order me to, my lord.”

“My lord?” I like the sound of it.

“I’m glad, my lord. Now, do what you have to do. Search your inner self, the being you have become. You will find the answers there. Lead me. Command me. I will do your bidding, my lord. Now, rise from your long sleep.”

The lord felt her limbs returning. Mechanical parts made their unique sound as she straightened up and went towards the railing overlooking the base. Reapers, hundreds of them, stood lined up in perfect lines, their attention directed at her.

Do as I command. Do my bidding and you shall be granted your gift. Follow me, Fate, your lord, your god. Follow me to your destiny.

=== ===
//A.I ’Reaper’ Log #6038980//

Conversion Completed

Change parameters to ‘Follow’

Transferring Administration Rights…..Administration Access transferred

New log name confirmed

Log name: ‘Fate’

‘Fate’ is now active

//Erase ‘Reaper’ log//

Picture inside spoiler, read to find out.

Spoiler for Author's note:

Pretty short chapter, but this series is coming to its ends. Chapter 10 and 11 will be longer (I hope) and the 11th will also be FINAL.

I shouldn't really post this but I need some opinions on this pic I made just now. It's a banner for the last chapter and I'm really satisfied with it. You might recognize where it's from...

Spoiler for Banner for ch 11:

Nice chapter, although it is sad that this is going to end so fast. Also the image is awesome.

Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki

DIVIDED DESTINY
Two People, Two Paths

Spoiler for Divided Destiny, pt. 14:

Time seemed to pass by slowly for the colonists of Plymouth. It had been about a month since the unexpected evacuation of their main colony. The first week or so was especially hard for them. Only the essential structures were erected and online from the structure kits they had managed to evacuate with them. Like their Eden brethren, most had to stay in the tubes between structures until Residencies could be constructed to accommodate them. Though their future was foggy, morale remained fairly stable. They all understood that there would be some hardships living on an un-terraformed New Terra. Although the volcanic eruption was unexpected, natural occurrences were something that they had expected to test them and their determination.

Since the evacuation, the colonists rallied together and helped out in anyway they could to get their colony back on its feet. Recently a second mine had been constructed and was generated a high yield of common ore. The increase in ore provided vital building materials for the construction of new structure kits, including Residencies. A small handful had been finished a few days ago. Priority on housing was given to large families and those with children. Friends and co-workers came together to share the few available rooms until more kits could be made.

A particular blond pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "You alright Nanoha?"

He received a groan in response.

"Work's that bad?"

"You could say that. I love teaching the new workers the ropes, but these young ones...urg."

Since the evacuation, resources had been tight. Even with the new mine operational they needed a lot more common metal to get the colony operational again. As a result, their remote control system wasn't at 100% operation yet. It could handle a handful of vehicles but not as much as it used to. Until they could get a Robot Command Center structure online many of the automated tasks would have to be done manually. That meant training up a lot of workers to handle the various vehicles that colony depended upon.

"I'm sure you can do it, Instructor Takamachi."

"Oh very funny. You make it sound like I'm some kind of drill sergeant or something."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

She sighed and shook her head with a slight smile, "So how are things at the lab, Yuuno?"

With no University, many of the students who were in their last term were brought into the labs to assist with the reconstruction of Plymouth's database and whatever projects were being worked on at the time. For may of the students they looked at it as an opportunity to gain valuable experience and a leg up in being assigned to more high profile projects once they did graduate.

"We're almost done with rebuilding the database. Some people had been taken off the project to work on some of the projects that were saved during the evacuation."

"Oh? Do you know what's going on in that other lab then?"

Last week they had to build a larger lab facility at the edge of the colony. The interior was spacious from what she saw of the plans and they had been requesting a lot of automotive parts recently. Plus they had installed warning lights around the entrances a few days ago when the structure was not to be entered. What they were doing in there when those lights were on she wasn't sure.

"I'm not sure myself. We've been pretty busy at the lab with our own work so I haven't heard anything about the projects in there."

Before either could say anything else, a shout came from behind Nanoha.

"Gather up everyone!"

Nanoha looked over her shoulder before turning her attention back to the phone. "Looks like they're calling a meeting. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright. See you later."

She hung up the phone and jogged over to join her co-workers on the floor to see what the meeting was all about.

"Listen up! It appears that the council has green-lighted a recon mission to the original Eden colony site." People turned to one another, whispering theories about the mission. "As such, they have requested drivers to operate the vehicles they plan on sending in. Since the reason for the evacuation is unknown all control will be done remotely from retrofitted Evacs. The primary recon team will consist of four scouts and several of a new vehicle they had recently developed. What they are not even I was told. Though what I can tell you is that this will be a dangerous mission even if it is by long-distance control. This is strictly by volunteer only. If you want on, come talk with me. That is all."

A) Sign up for the recon mission
B) It sounds too risky. I'll pass.
C) Change to Fate's PoV

Please post your choices BOLD and in DarkOrange

Previous Installments
-Intro
-Chapter 01
-Chapter 02
-Chapter 03
-Chapter 04
-Chapter 05
-Chapter 06
-Chapter 07
-Chapter 08
-Chapter 09
-Chapter 10
-Chapter 11
-Chapter 12
-Chapter 13

So they are okay? That´s good.

And so continue