2010-11-04, 10:25
|
Link
#27718
|
Bibliophile
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: There's this dot on the world map...
|
Mmm.
Spoiler for Make some friends:
"What are you going to do?"
The Italian in the white hooded robes stopped short of the doorway he was about to step through and turned to look at his comrade. "Make some friends."
There was a flash and now a man in a similar-yet-different white robe leaned against a wall in a Middle Eastern marketplace. He waited until a bunch of patrolling guards was almost past his position, then stepped forward and put his right hand over the mouth of the last one
while punching the man’s back with the left. Before the guard could resist, a blade sprang through where the robed man's left fourth finger should have been and stabbed into the guard's spine. The robed man gently put his victim on the ground and strolled away calmly.
There was another flash and the view was back to the Italian, who was wearing a different set of robes from the first time. Hidden in a group of gaudily-dressed courtesans, he had his left forearm raised to point at an old man on a ship, with the right arm supporting it. There was the sound of fireworks going off and the old man fell forward-
"Nanoha!"
The sight dissipated, leaving Nanoha Takamachi to shake herself out of her stupor and turn to face her friends. The twenty year-old brunette played with her side-tied ponytail and chuckled nervously. "Sorry."
"Are you still thinking about the coming visitor?" Yuuno Scrya asked.
Nanoha looked at her green-eyed blond friend and wondered how to answer. She had never told anyone, not even her family, about the visions that had once troubled her. They had started after her father Shiro had been badly injured in a bombing. In the days that had followed, the rest of her family had spent time at the hospital where he had been warded, leaving her by herself most of the time. Her mind had brought to the fore sights that she should not have known, centred on white-robed men slaying evildoers. The visions had taken her all around the world, but more often than not reflected a part-Arab during the Third Crusade and an Italian who lived during the Renaissance.
The visions had stopped appearing after she had met Yuuno and gained the magical Device known as Raising Heart, introducing her to a wider inter-dimensional world and the Bureau that watched over the myriad realms. That had been 11 years ago. So why had they returned recently?
Nanoha suspected that it had something to do with the message and the visitor. Scarce a week ago, her father had sent a message to her informing her that a distant cousin of his would be visiting her. He had also hinted not-too-subtly that he had known about the visions.
"Isn't it about time?" Nanoha's other present friend, the red-eyed blonde Fate Testarossa Harlaown, said.
Nanoha looked at the cafe's wall clock and said, "Yes, it-"
"Excuse me?" said a man who had appeared by the table from seemingly nowhere. He looked at Nanoha, then at something on a smartphone, then back to her. "Are you Nanoha Takamachi?"
The three jumped in their seats.
"Sorry, I know I have that effect on people sometimes," the newcomer said. "I should introduce myself." He made a shallow bow, then offered his right hand. "Luis Ramon Columba." Black-haired, brown-eyed, dressed in an unremarkable smart casual outfit, he could have been one of any number of generic civilians. The three of them knew better and Nanoha, finding something about him reminiscent of her visions, reflexively looked at his left forearm.
There was indeed a bracer on it, the inner side of which he was trying to keep out of sight, as if there was something to hide there.
***
A/N: I blame my friend who WMG'd the idea of Ezio being Nanoha's ancestor, based on those two lines that I quoted at the start. Is this a oneshot? I do not know yet, but I have no concrete plans. This was meant as a throwaway to indulge the muse, so I did not bother to shore up any potential plotholes.
__________________
Yo dawg, I heard you like QB...
Thanks MAEt for the av!
|
|
|