[markesellus]

Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki

DIVIDED DESTINY
Two People, Two Paths

Spoiler for Divided Destiny, pt. 13:

Mother and daughter parted ways back at the entrance to the lab. The metal doors closed, leaving Fate alone with her thoughts. Her original plan to head back to work just didn't seem like a good idea at the moment, not with the information her mother divulged to her fresh in her mind. With no room to retreat to, she opted to take a walk instead. It would be better than standing around and letting her new knowledge eat away at her.

Walking away from the lab, she was alone. Even given the current circumstances, the rules about keeping the tubes in front of structures was strictly enforced. Not only was it a safety hazard, but allowed for people to enter and leave easier. The lack of distractions let her mind wander the most recent thoughts: The Blight. Just what had they been thinking when they developed such a microbe? Surely the scientists on the project would have realized that they needed a counter-measure in case it would get out of hand. Historical documents from Earth had many lessons of engineered bio-organisms which had gotten lose. It was also taught and emphasized at the University. Unless...the council. The council was the only group powerful enough to override procedures. But why? Were they really that determined to terraform the planet?

Coming upon the intersection in the tubes, her thoughts are abruptly broken. The sections before her were filled with people. Since the evacuation of the main colony, there hasn't been enough time or materials to construct Residencies to accommodate all the colonists. As a result, most are forced to spend their nights in the tubes between structures with that little belongings they had if any at all. A path was kept clear for foot traffic, but it still felt cramped. Fate carefully made her way through the wall of people. She couldn't help but notice the expression on their faces. That look of worry and fear of the unknown. Besides the council and a few scientists which now included herself, no one knew about the cause of the evacuation. If word got out about the microbe, who knows what would happen. What was sure was that it would definitely not help the current morale, as low as it already was.

A glance at her watch showed that she had better start getting back to the lab.

A) Try not to dwell too much more on the situation with The Blight
B) See if she can uncover some more information regarding the microbe
C) Change to Nanoha'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

Let's see what Nanoha is doing! C

Originally Posted by Knight of L-sama

Let's try this again...

Spoiler for Pt. 7- Fate's Revolution:

"You promise to be good?"


Fate withheld her sigh. "Yes, Nanoha."

"You promise to break that promise?"

"Yes, Nanoha."

"You promise to be a good lying demon and lie to me?"

"Yes, Nanoha."

Nanoha hugged Fate one last time. "Good Fate-chan. I'll see you when I get home. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, all right? They're all yours for the weekend."

"Yes, Nanoha." This time, Fate put feeling into it, smiling as she indulged in Nanoha's hugging. She whispered, "Don't come back hurt."

Nanoha snorted at the idea, but her eyes showed her acknowledgment of Fate's concern. "I won't. Let's move!" With that she turned away from Fate and walked away with her entourage of lower-level demons.

Fate watched as they all flew off, watched until the flight hatch closed, and then let out a loud whoop of unrestrained joy. She danced around in a little circle with Arf before running off.

"Come on, let's hurry! We have to go call Hayate and tell her Nanoha's gone out of town!"

Minutes later, Fate had flopped onto the bed with the M2D screen up. Puppy-form Arf was at the foot of the bed, stretching out for a good long nap on the comfy bed Nanoha always kicked her out of when she was there.

Hayate answered instantly, as if she had been expecting the call. "Well, hello there, Fate-chan. What can I do for you? Nanoha's not home?"

Fate smiled, a little calmer having made contact. "Nope. She went to go kill some rebellious demons on the border. She said she'll be gone the whole weekend."

Hayate smiled back. "She'll probably be back early you know."

Fate hesitated, and then decided to plow through. "I know that, but... well... Oh, Hayate, just come over anyway, won't you? It's my first time being left in control without the old ninny Vita watching my every step. Come on, it'll be fun."

Hayate laughed. "Devilish fun?"

Fate flushed as she unconsciously looked down at her more than adequate chest, which had grown well with all the love it had received. "Um, well, something like that. But come on, you gotta help me! You know I don't have much time left."

Hayate's smile softened and she moved to get up from wherever she was sitting. "Be ready to open the doors in about an hour, all right? I'll be there."

Fate grinned wildly, the adrenaline pumping into her usually languid blood stream. "Thanks, Hayate! You won't regret it."

Hayate chuckled. "A devil never regrets-"

"-only forgets." They shared a smile. "I'll get them ready on this side too."

"See you in a bit then."

"Mm. Bai-bai!" With a giggle, Fate disconnected and hopped off the bed. "Come on Ar-" She paused as she saw Arf happily sleeping like she had never slept before. Creeping quietly over, Fate leaned down and kissed Arf's forehead. "Sleep the good sleep, Arf."

Arf murmured something, but did not appear to awaken. Fate changed her clothes to something between comfortable and commanding, pilfered tapes from her secret stash in the back of her sock drawer, and slipped out of the mistress bedroom.

She hadn't even walked down one hallway before she came across a subordinate.

The subordinate stopped and saluted. "Fate-sama!"

Fate stopped as well and leaned her weight on the heels of her feet with her arms folded. "At ease. Griffith, I want you to gather everyone in the mess hall in ten minutes. I want to... address them all at once."

"Yes, Fate-sama!"

"Dismissed."

After he scampered off, Fate let out a low sigh and pretended to gag. She hated telling people what to do, but she had to admit, it got things down faster here and didn't confuse those with small minds.

She arrived in the mess hall early and went to the cafeteria lines, where everyone immediately stepped back to let her cut in. She growled in her best I'm-in-a-bad-mood snarl and ordered, "Give me my usual."

Fate amused herself on the glowing eyes of respect that watched her drink dark red liquid from a tin can typically reserved for whiskey. It took a real devil among devils to drink that concoction at this early hour.

Of course, Fate would never tell that, unlike Nanoha, her concoction was only Hawaiian Punch with extra red dye, not alcoholic blood.

With her teeth stained red, dripping with fake blood, she snapped, "Meeting in 10 in the hall. Be there or die."

She walked away to their simultaneous salutes. Fate already felt a headache coming on and she gulped down more of her punch. She could never understand how Nanoha was willing to do all that and more. Upon reaching the podium upon the dais, Fate sat down in Nanoha's usual seat and collected her thoughts.

When she saw Griffith amongst the other gathered minions down below, she stood up, ready to make her announcement.

They waited with baited (and nauseatingly bad) breath as Fate took advantage of the silence to add tension. Then, she started talked, soft, even, using her powers to echo her words into the cores of their undead souls.

"I've been with you lot for a while, and you know who I am probably better than I know any of you personally. You know that should anything happen to the White Devil, I will take her place. I haven't said anything concrete until now, but I'm sure you've all heard your share of rumors over the years on how I intend to change things.

"As I suspect days like this where I am in temporary control will become more and more frequent, I expect you to treat my word as if I am the ruling devil here in such times. Today is only the first day of many. I will lay down my ground rules here and any who oppose it, or any who ignore it, will meet a fate worse than death."

Fate went on to discuss punishments under her regiment, how dungeon prisoners would be dealt with, how they were expected to treat each other, yada yada, etc etc.

By the time she finished 20 minutes later, a few weaker souls had passed out from the very idea of some things she had suggested, while the rest merely quaked in their non-bootish boots.

Fate scanned the crowd with well-concealed emotion and growled, "Is that clear?"

There was a mass salute. "Yes, Fate-sama!"

"Good. Devil Mistress Hayate will be visiting us today, to help with preparations, so I expect you all to obey the new protocol. Return to your normal stations and implement my changes immediately. Dismissed!"

"Yes, Fate-sama!"

By the time the doors were opened for Hayate, the place had been transformed from the inside out.

Hayate whistled, openly impressed, as she looked around. She pointed to the newly appointed janitors in rainbow colored outfits with mops. "Are those prisoners or employees?"

"Prisoners serving actively passive punishment."

"Oh really? How so? Are those... ear plugs?"

Fate smiled as they walked past. Strains of the tune, "It's a small world," escaped the earplugs in a way that made Hayate cringe. "They listen to music agreed to be undesirable by demons but even less desirable for other folk, while doing jobs that no self righteous demon would be caught doing. Like making a place cleaner."

Hayate laughed. "Did you empty out the dungeons?"

"Mostly. The bigger creatures were released into the moat with trackers and are being trained into sentries."

"What happens to them if they escape?"

"They get shot by the goodie-goods practicing archery on the other side of the forest."

"Well there's a happy thought."

Fate sighed, smiling a little as she took Hayate's hand. "But enough of that. Come on, let's go to the bedroom. I've collected just about everything we'll need."

"Do you think... do you think Nanoha will... mind? I know she doesn't exactly like me..."

Fate smiled a secret smile. "It's fine, I promise. My word is rule for today and I say it's fine."

Hayate laughed. "All right, if you say so, Fate."

The day passed as Fate and Hayate locked themselves in the room. Any paserbyer may have been concerned at the noises that came from within, but after the speech that morning, they were hardly willing to risk Fate's wrath.

It was in this way that Nanoha came home (early) to prisoners cleaning her halls and Hayate asleep in her bed with Fate.

Before she even had a chance to be livid though, Fate opened her eyes, as if sensing her presence. Fate smiled languidly, and then poked Hayate awake.

Hayate caught on quickly to the new presence and also smiled. She put a finger to her lips as she stepped out of bed and walked towards Nanoha.

Her eyes pinned Nanoha to the back of the door. Hayate closed the door with a gentle click. "Welcome back, Nanoha."

"You're... here."

"Yes, I'm here. Surprised?"

"Very." Nanoha's eyes grew lidded.

"Do you know what today is?"

"I'm not so far gone that I would forget."

Hayate reached up, gently cupping Nanoha's cheek. "Happy anniversary, love."

"Happy death-versary, you mean. The day we became devils to protect each other."

No more was said, no more needed to be said. They kissed.

Fate slowly rolled off the bed, replacing her presence with all the things that she had helped prepare with Hayate.

As things gravitated toward the bed, Fate slipped away, until she was able to close the door behind her. After a pause, she made sure that she had gone largely unnoticed, Fate sighed happily and walked off.

If Nanoha was happy... if she could only let her guard down and be truly happily one day in the whole year... If Fate's precious person could be aided in that way... then Fate would not, did not, hesitate to help.

That was her devilish charm after all.

Spoiler for After you read:

Twist much?

OMG, the beginning was great! The end....was quite the surprise, but very cute. (That was as twisted as Devil!Nanoha's mind)

Originally Posted by Satashi

Just a little help... (Part 1)
Just a little help... please? (Part 2)

Spoiler for Just a little help... 3:

"Are you sure about this?" Fate's uneasy voice faltered when she looked around the corner to where Nanoha was sitting. The girl was eating lunch on the weekend by herself while happily reading a book on magical techniques.

"Sure I'm sure," Hayate confirmed, looking over Fate one last time. A very tight black mini skirt hugged the girl's hips before revealing black stocking clad legs that went into heels. A fashionable matching top covered the girl's upper half while still showing off a mass of cleavage for the world to see. The hair was left flowing completely and dark sunglasses covered her eyes. To top it off, a gold bracelet was on her slender wrist and a purse was carried as well. "You look like a buisness woman, she'll fawn all over you!"

Fate took a deep breath and nodded, getting one last thumbs-up before she rounded the corner and began to strut her way over to the girl. Her hips wagged with each step, breasts bouncing just enough to get the attention of the males around her. One man choked on his coffee as she passed and another walked into a lamp post while looking at her butt. When she got over to Nanoha, she noticed that the girl was now on her cell phone so she bent over lightly, her breasts begging for attention. "Nanoha," Her voice was slightly husky and she pulled down her sunglasses just lightly to look at her.

"Really!?" Nanoha jumped up, shocking Fate into standing properly again. "Just now? I'll be right there!" She hung up the phone and looked at Fate excitedly. "Ah, Fate-chan, Suzuka's cat just had her kittens! I'm going to go see!" With that, she ran off happily. Fate blinked, slowly opening her mouth as if she were about to say something but closed it back shortly after.

"Hey there sexy," A voice made her turn to look up at a group of college students eying her chest. "What say you come to our frat party tonight? We could... ease some of the stress from the work day."

Fate glared hard. "I'm sixteen!" The men jumped back in shock, staring at her fora few more moments before moving off and away from her. "Mou, I knew this wouldn't work!" Turning, she tried to go back to Hayate but she tripped over her heels and crashed to the ground. "Ugh!" As she tried to stand on her heels, she unconsciously wiggled her butt in front of a man who couldn't help but whistle at her. "Animals!" She shrieked loudly, blushing and hurrying off.

To be continued!

Poor Fate. Nanoha's so oblivious to her surroundings sometimes. I want a picture of Fate in that outfit.