Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[Nanya01]

Spoiler for Material Days 24:

As the ship took off into the air, Yuuno sighed softly, at least no one had… His train of thought trailed off as the ship shook “What the hell?”

“ARRR!! Give us back the booty!” He heard the leader of that group of merchants yell at him over the com system. “And maybe the booty of the thief and we’ll let you all go!”

Sitting against the wall, Isis whimpered. “This isn’t fair, I just wanted to be a normal merchant, not dealing with crazy illegal and stolen things, I don’t even like to fight if I can help it.” She could fight if she had to, but that didn’t mean that she liked it. “I’m just a tailor and all my stuff is down on the ground.” Her golden eyes seemed to shine for a moment. “Hey, hey… Can you pick up my stuff?”

“A little busy!” Yunno winced as the ship was rocked by another blast. “Damn, how many ships do they have?”

Yami frowned and pushed Yuuno away from the control panels. “Just sit down and help my tailor get her stuff back, with the way you do things, we’re likely to be shot down. Oww!” She winced and glared at Seikou, who was shaking her head.

“Please, do not antagonize Yuuno-san like this, Material-D.” Seikou chided the other Material, who just glared at her before getting the ship to start dodging and fighting back.

“I’m simply using the most efficient use of our resources, if he can cast teleporting spells from a distance, it would be easier for me to pilot this while he takes care of that problem.” Yami said, ignoring the way that Material-L kept going on and on about chickens and some bald, tattooed kid with a flying bison and some ship named “Enterprise”.

Rubbing his head, though he had to admit that Yami was a pretty good pilot, better than he was at any rate, Yuuno looked at Isis, who smiled nervously. “We should go…”

“Not without my tailor’s clothing!” Material-D huffed as she used the ship’s systems to create some barriers around the ship. “Now hurry up!”

Yuuno would have said something, but seeing the tired look on her face, he sighed softly. “Alright…” He would talk to her after this was over, but for now. “You’ll need to take us nearer to the place.”

“Right…” Yami was sweating slightly as she fired back an attack, causing the attacks on the ship to stop firing for a short while. “Can you hurry it up?!”

“Just a moment.” Yuuno grimaced as he chanced a glance out of the window. “Where was it..?”

“There!” Isis pointed to a small stall. “Just get the clothes out of there, I can get a new stall later.” She didn’t carry too much, since she was always on the move, but she liked having a selection on hand at all times.

“Right.” Yuuno nodded and concentrated, a green circle appearing under him as he closed his eyes. “Got them.” His eyes opened, just in time for the clothes to drop on him and Isis.

“Avalanche!” Rai giggled as Yuuno and Isis disappeared under clothes. “Does this mean I don’t have to go to school today?”

“Material-D…” Seikou said softly, getting a growl from the sweaty and tired-looking Hayate look-a-like.

“I KNOW!” She yelled at Seikou as she fired another blast, this one far stronger, since she was using her own magic, before flaring the engines and taking off.

Outside, to observers, it looked like the ship that was being fired on suddenly exploded in black before the ships firing on it were suddenly missing parts of their front and sides, as if someone took a knife, cut them off and made the missing parts disappear.

Of course, the only problem with the ships missing their entire front side was that they had no way of staying in the air for very long before gravity, like a mother upset with her child, grabbed the ships and pulled them to the ground, crashing through several buildings and into cars, causing massive collateral damage below.

________________________

Yami was panting, sweating heavily as Seikou grabbed her out of the chair. “I… Can still…”

“No, you’re going to rest, we don’t need you passing out right now, Material-D.”

Yami went quiet as Seikou carried her to the back room, while she was doing that, Rai was throwing the clothes off of the pile until Isis and Yuuno popped their heads up. “Call me… Your majesty!” Yami was heard from the back room.

“Thanks.” Isis chuckled nervously as Yuuno shook his head in exasperation. He was beginning to wonder if every woman he was going to meet on this trip was insane in some way. Hell, if he thought about the women he knew in his life already, he could say that they were all insane somehow.

_______________

Chrono sighed and took another swig of the wine in front of him. All of these headaches, it was becoming too much. “Ah, good old wine, you won’t betray me, will you? No… Your sweet taste, it can’t betray me, nope.”

Watching this, Shi Nye sweat-dropped and turned to Yaz. “Uh… Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the Admiral marry his wife after they got drunk drinking too much wine?”

“The wine will NEVER betray me! It won’t blow me up like Nanoha, it won’t make me blush like my sister, it won’t get pregnant like my wife, no, you won’t betray me…” Chrono giggled and rubbed the bottle of wine, almost seductively. “No, even the doctors said that drinking you is a good thing! Yes… Pressure is too much, doctors said it was good.”

“Think he’s had enough?” Shi asked, sweating more.

“NEVER!” Chrono laughed and fell out of his chair.

“He’s had enough.” Both Yaz and Shi said at the same time, not that they blamed him, after all the headaches and demands that others had made by yelling at the Admiral, none of them blamed him for getting drunk off his ass.

Then again, that never did stop Admiral Leti from getting drunk whenever she could.

“Note to self, keep Admiral Leti away from Admiral Chrono from now on.” Yaz said, getting a nod from Shi.

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Spoiler for Material Days 24:

As the ship took off into the air, Yuuno sighed softly, at least no one had… His train of thought trailed off as the ship shook “What the hell?”

“ARRR!! Give us back the booty!” He heard the leader of that group of merchants yell at him over the com system. “And maybe the booty of the thief and we’ll let you all go!”

Sitting against the wall, Isis whimpered. “This isn’t fair, I just wanted to be a normal merchant, not dealing with crazy illegal and stolen things, I don’t even like to fight if I can help it.” She could fight if she had to, but that didn’t mean that she liked it. “I’m just a tailor and all my stuff is down on the ground.” Her golden eyes seemed to shine for a moment. “Hey, hey… Can you pick up my stuff?”

“A little busy!” Yunno winced as the ship was rocked by another blast. “Damn, how many ships do they have?”

Yami frowned and pushed Yuuno away from the control panels. “Just sit down and help my tailor get her stuff back, with the way you do things, we’re likely to be shot down. Oww!” She winced and glared at Seikou, who was shaking her head.

“Please, do not antagonize Yuuno-san like this, Material-D.” Seikou chided the other Material, who just glared at her before getting the ship to start dodging and fighting back.

“I’m simply using the most efficient use of our resources, if he can cast teleporting spells from a distance, it would be easier for me to pilot this while he takes care of that problem.” Yami said, ignoring the way that Material-L kept going on and on about chickens and some bald, tattooed kid with a flying bison and some ship named “Enterprise”.

Rubbing his head, though he had to admit that Yami was a pretty good pilot, better than he was at any rate, Yuuno looked at Isis, who smiled nervously. “We should go…”

“Not without my tailor’s clothing!” Material-D huffed as she used the ship’s systems to create some barriers around the ship. “Now hurry up!”

Yuuno would have said something, but seeing the tired look on her face, he sighed softly. “Alright…” He would talk to her after this was over, but for now. “You’ll need to take us nearer to the place.”

“Right…” Yami was sweating slightly as she fired back an attack, causing the attacks on the ship to stop firing for a short while. “Can you hurry it up?!”

“Just a moment.” Yuuno grimaced as he chanced a glance out of the window. “Where was it..?”

“There!” Isis pointed to a small stall. “Just get the clothes out of there, I can get a new stall later.” She didn’t carry too much, since she was always on the move, but she liked having a selection on hand at all times.

“Right.” Yuuno nodded and concentrated, a green circle appearing under him as he closed his eyes. “Got them.” His eyes opened, just in time for the clothes to drop on him and Isis.

“Avalanche!” Rai giggled as Yuuno and Isis disappeared under clothes. “Does this mean I don’t have to go to school today?”

“Material-D…” Seikou said softly, getting a growl from the sweaty and tired-looking Hayate look-a-like.

“I KNOW!” She yelled at Seikou as she fired another blast, this one far stronger, since she was using her own magic, before flaring the engines and taking off.

Outside, to observers, it looked like the ship that was being fired on suddenly exploded in black before the ships firing on it were suddenly missing parts of their front and sides, as if someone took a knife, cut them off and made the missing parts disappear.

Of course, the only problem with the ships missing their entire front side was that they had no way of staying in the air for very long before gravity, like a mother upset with her child, grabbed the ships and pulled them to the ground, crashing through several buildings and into cars, causing massive collateral damage below.

________________________

Yami was panting, sweating heavily as Seikou grabbed her out of the chair. “I… Can still…”

“No, you’re going to rest, we don’t need you passing out right now, Material-D.”

Yami went quiet as Seikou carried her to the back room, while she was doing that, Rai was throwing the clothes off of the pile until Isis and Yuuno popped their heads up. “Call me… Your majesty!” Yami was heard from the back room.

“Thanks.” Isis chuckled nervously as Yuuno shook his head in exasperation. He was beginning to wonder if every woman he was going to meet on this trip was insane in some way. Hell, if he thought about the women he knew in his life already, he could say that they were all insane somehow.

_______________

Chrono sighed and took another swig of the wine in front of him. All of these headaches, it was becoming too much. “Ah, good old wine, you won’t betray me, will you? No… Your sweet taste, it can’t betray me, nope.”

Watching this, Shi Nye sweat-dropped and turned to Yaz. “Uh… Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the Admiral marry his wife after they got drunk drinking too much wine?”

“The wine will NEVER betray me! It won’t blow me up like Nanoha, it won’t make me blush like my sister, it won’t get pregnant like my wife, no, you won’t betray me…” Chrono giggled and rubbed the bottle of wine, almost seductively. “No, even the doctors said that drinking you is a good thing! Yes… Pressure is too much, doctors said it was good.”

“Think he’s had enough?” Shi asked, sweating more.

“NEVER!” Chrono laughed and fell out of his chair.

“He’s had enough.” Both Yaz and Shi said at the same time, not that they blamed him, after all the headaches and demands that others had made by yelling at the Admiral, none of them blamed him for getting drunk off his ass.

Then again, that never did stop Admiral Leti from getting drunk whenever she could.

“Note to self, keep Admiral Leti away from Admiral Chrono from now on.” Yaz said, getting a nod from Shi.

Heh, they weren't really thinking, where they? Yuuno could have just teleported Isis to the surface

About Chrono's wedding, it sure didn't result from him being drunk, as they had planned it before hand Also, they got married 4 years before StrikerS, and during StrikerS their kids are 3, so they didn't marry cuz Amy got knocked up

Well, doesn't really matter I guess Drunk Chrono is amusing

[Megaolix]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Spoiler for Material Days 24:

As the ship took off into the air, Yuuno sighed softly, at least no one had… His train of thought trailed off as the ship shook “What the hell?”

“ARRR!! Give us back the booty!” He heard the leader of that group of merchants yell at him over the com system. “And maybe the booty of the thief and we’ll let you all go!”

Sitting against the wall, Isis whimpered. “This isn’t fair, I just wanted to be a normal merchant, not dealing with crazy illegal and stolen things, I don’t even like to fight if I can help it.” She could fight if she had to, but that didn’t mean that she liked it. “I’m just a tailor and all my stuff is down on the ground.” Her golden eyes seemed to shine for a moment. “Hey, hey… Can you pick up my stuff?”

“A little busy!” Yunno winced as the ship was rocked by another blast. “Damn, how many ships do they have?”

Yami frowned and pushed Yuuno away from the control panels. “Just sit down and help my tailor get her stuff back, with the way you do things, we’re likely to be shot down. Oww!” She winced and glared at Seikou, who was shaking her head.

“Please, do not antagonize Yuuno-san like this, Material-D.” Seikou chided the other Material, who just glared at her before getting the ship to start dodging and fighting back.

“I’m simply using the most efficient use of our resources, if he can cast teleporting spells from a distance, it would be easier for me to pilot this while he takes care of that problem.” Yami said, ignoring the way that Material-L kept going on and on about chickens and some bald, tattooed kid with a flying bison and some ship named “Enterprise”.

Rubbing his head, though he had to admit that Yami was a pretty good pilot, better than he was at any rate, Yuuno looked at Isis, who smiled nervously. “We should go…”

“Not without my tailor’s clothing!” Material-D huffed as she used the ship’s systems to create some barriers around the ship. “Now hurry up!”

Yuuno would have said something, but seeing the tired look on her face, he sighed softly. “Alright…” He would talk to her after this was over, but for now. “You’ll need to take us nearer to the place.”

“Right…” Yami was sweating slightly as she fired back an attack, causing the attacks on the ship to stop firing for a short while. “Can you hurry it up?!”

“Just a moment.” Yuuno grimaced as he chanced a glance out of the window. “Where was it..?”

“There!” Isis pointed to a small stall. “Just get the clothes out of there, I can get a new stall later.” She didn’t carry too much, since she was always on the move, but she liked having a selection on hand at all times.

“Right.” Yuuno nodded and concentrated, a green circle appearing under him as he closed his eyes. “Got them.” His eyes opened, just in time for the clothes to drop on him and Isis.

“Avalanche!” Rai giggled as Yuuno and Isis disappeared under clothes. “Does this mean I don’t have to go to school today?”

“Material-D…” Seikou said softly, getting a growl from the sweaty and tired-looking Hayate look-a-like.

“I KNOW!” She yelled at Seikou as she fired another blast, this one far stronger, since she was using her own magic, before flaring the engines and taking off.

Outside, to observers, it looked like the ship that was being fired on suddenly exploded in black before the ships firing on it were suddenly missing parts of their front and sides, as if someone took a knife, cut them off and made the missing parts disappear.

Of course, the only problem with the ships missing their entire front side was that they had no way of staying in the air for very long before gravity, like a mother upset with her child, grabbed the ships and pulled them to the ground, crashing through several buildings and into cars, causing massive collateral damage below.

________________________

Yami was panting, sweating heavily as Seikou grabbed her out of the chair. “I… Can still…”

“No, you’re going to rest, we don’t need you passing out right now, Material-D.”

Yami went quiet as Seikou carried her to the back room, while she was doing that, Rai was throwing the clothes off of the pile until Isis and Yuuno popped their heads up. “Call me… Your majesty!” Yami was heard from the back room.

“Thanks.” Isis chuckled nervously as Yuuno shook his head in exasperation. He was beginning to wonder if every woman he was going to meet on this trip was insane in some way. Hell, if he thought about the women he knew in his life already, he could say that they were all insane somehow.

_______________

Chrono sighed and took another swig of the wine in front of him. All of these headaches, it was becoming too much. “Ah, good old wine, you won’t betray me, will you? No… Your sweet taste, it can’t betray me, nope.”

Watching this, Shi Nye sweat-dropped and turned to Yaz. “Uh… Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the Admiral marry his wife after they got drunk drinking too much wine?”

“The wine will NEVER betray me! It won’t blow me up like Nanoha, it won’t make me blush like my sister, it won’t get pregnant like my wife, no, you won’t betray me…” Chrono giggled and rubbed the bottle of wine, almost seductively. “No, even the doctors said that drinking you is a good thing! Yes… Pressure is too much, doctors said it was good.”

“Think he’s had enough?” Shi asked, sweating more.

“NEVER!” Chrono laughed and fell out of his chair.

“He’s had enough.” Both Yaz and Shi said at the same time, not that they blamed him, after all the headaches and demands that others had made by yelling at the Admiral, none of them blamed him for getting drunk off his ass.

Then again, that never did stop Admiral Leti from getting drunk whenever she could.

“Note to self, keep Admiral Leti away from Admiral Chrono from now on.” Yaz said, getting a nod from Shi.

Oh boy. Chrono snapped under the pressure. I really can't imagine what the report from what happened on the planet that will eventually arrive will do to him.

[Kaijo]

This is something I've been working on for the past few days, that kinda grew out of a discussion in the manga thread awhile back. It's another experimentation, and an actual NanoFate fic, but probably not quite in the method most NanoFate fics go, heh.

Synopsis: How far will you go to help a friend? Are you willing to put the very friendship on the line in order to do what needs to be done? When Nanoha begins to learn about something that Fate has been carrying all these years, the road she travels will challenge her just as much as the one she cares about.

Spoiler for Whipped, Part 1: At A Loss:

Whipped
Part 1: At a Loss

Xx~~*~~xX

"I want to thank you again for this," Nanoha announced to their benefactor for the evening as the group strolled among the crowds. "It's been so long since I've been to the circus, and I've always wanted to bring Vivio to one."

"Anything for my friends!" Arisa beamed proudly, flashing a thumbs up. "And it has been a long time since we've all been together like this. I just can't believe we never brought Fate-chan to one of these."

The golden-haired girl blushed ever so slightly. "Well, there was a lot of Bureau work when I was younger, and I was on probation for quite awhile, and I wanted to make up for what I'd done...."

Nanoha reached up to squeeze the other woman's shoulder. "We know, but that's all in the past. Let's just enjoy this evening, alright?"

"Well, I want to thank you as well," Amy added, directing it towards Arisa. "It's nice being able to get out of the house and give the kids something to do. Speaking of which..." She raised her voice. "Karel, Liera, don't go too far!"

"Not to worry, Vivio and Arf are with them," Nanoha soothed, smiling as she watched the four children run from cage to cage to look at the animals.

Arisa snickered. "Yeah, I was a bit confused when you asked for four child tickets; Arf is sure milking that form for all it's worth."

Amy blew out a breath. "I was just surprised you managed to get them at all. I tried before, but they all sold out too fast."

"Arisa-chan's family has... connections," Suzuka answered a bit cryptically, then sighed. "I was hoping Hayate would come, though. It's been awhile since her last visit."

"She promised next time," Fate told her, patting her sympathetically. "There was a situation that demanded her attention, and she couldn't get out of it. Don't worry, I'll drag her next time if I have to."

The purple-haired woman was mollified some, smiling in amusement. "Thanks, I appreciate that. Well, we might want to go find seats in the big tent now, the show will be starting soon."

"Good idea," Amy agreed, noting the kids in the distance. "Fate, could you contact Arf and have her round up the kids?"

"Sure thing," Fate replied, smiling and nodding as she began to send the telepathic message to her familiar.

x~~*~~x

The children were collected and they found their seats, that turned out to be highly valuable ones in the middle of the front row, which surprised most of the group, who began to wonder again about Arisa's "connections." But the show promptly began and attention refocused on the center ring as the announcer welcomed everyone and began to call out the acts.

It was vaguely similar to what Nanoha remembered from her childhood, although those memories were a bit foggy. The last time she had gone was before Fate and Yuuno arrived, when her father had taken the family shortly after his recovery, so the general atmosphere brought her a nostalgic feeling; she found herself wanting to bring the rest of her family next time as well.

Vivio, Karel and Liera in particular became enraptured by the daring trapeze artists, got many laughs out of the clowns, and even Fate seemed to be quite enthralled by the various circus acts. But that seemed to change when the lion cage came up, as Nanoha noticed the amusement promptly vanish from Fate's face. Wondering why, she glanced back and forth between Fate and the act, as the lion tamer used a chair and a whip to guide the lions through various flaming rings and perform other feats.

Nanoha gently covered Fate's hand, which was currently tightly gripping the arm of her chair, while she leaned over to whisper, "Are you okay?"

Fate turned to her and forced a smile, using her other hand to pat Nanoha's. "I'm fine."

The other woman seemed to relax some as Nanoha returned most of her attention to the show, but out of the corner of her eye, she could see the barest hints of Fate's jaw tighten whenever the whip cracked. It confused her as to why, but then she caught Arf glancing over from the other side, looking a bit concerned.

Despite Fate's words, Nanoha had know Fate long enough to know when something was bothering the other woman, and also knew when she didn't want to talk about it; this seemed to be such a case, but it appeared that Arf at least sensed it, too. Nanoha continued watching the show while Fate's demeanor calmed, but when other animal tamers came out, the stoicism returned. Nanoha briefly wondered if Fate had a problem with animals being treated that way.

Whatever the issue was, Nanoha decided to let it pass and just take Fate's word for it; she'd trust that Fate would talk about it if she needed to. And this was supposed to be a night for enjoyment, so she let her gaze drift back to the show, letting a smile come to her lips as she caught occasional glimpses of Vivio's delighted face.

But little did she know at the time, that it was only the glimpse of bigger things to come.

x~~*~~x

"You had to what?" Nanoa asked in disbelief to the holo screen several days later from her home on Mid-Childa.

"I had to take Fate off active duty for awhile," Hayate was saying. "She didn't mention this to you at all?"

Nanoha bit her lip and shook her head. "No. And she hasn't been by here lately. She might be staying at the apartment she has, but I thought she only used that occasionally when she needed some alone time, or was only going to be in town for a night. She normally stays here to spend time with Vivio and I if she has a few days off. What happened?"

Hayate sighed. "I'm still in the process of going through the report, but there was an incident with a case she and Teana were on, apprehending a class-A criminal on administered world #24. Fate failed to capture him, and Teana had to rescue her and do it instead. And then she failed her annual combat evaluation. It's obvious something is bothering her, but she wouldn't tell me or Teana what it was; I thought you might know."

"She hasn't seemed too different from normal to me," Nanoha answered, thinking, remembering last week. "She did seem a bit troubled at the circus we went to... did the case have anything to do with animals?"

"No, not that I can see," Hayate answered. "I can tell something is bothering her, but so far, she's refused to go see any doctors or counselors I've recommended. Whatever it is, I don't really want to put an official investigation on it unless I have to...."

Nanoha nodded firmly, getting the subtle message as the other woman trailed off. "I'll talk to her and look into it."

Hayate appeared relieved. "Thank you, I was hoping you'd say that. You are both my precious friends, but because of my position in Investigations, anything I do in this matter I'd have to officially record. Fate may not have wanted to speak to me because of that. If you can clear things up, and her scores come back up, I can return to her active duty and record it as just a momentary stress-related incident that was solved by some time off."

"Understood, I'll do my best," Nanoha told her, then signed off, determined to get to the bottom of things.

x~~*~~x

"Thanks for meeting with me like this," Nanoha thanked the other woman as she slid into the private booth in the restaurant.

Except her initial plan didn't go quite as she'd hoped.

"I'm fine, Nanoha, really!" Fate insisted from the other side of the table in her apartment.

"Are you sure?" Nanoha questioned, studying the other woman. "I'm not sure what happened in your last assignment, but Hayate and Teana were worried about you."

The golden-haired agent fidgeted a bit, but nervously laughed it off. "Just a bit of stress; I just need a few days off to relax, that's all."

Nanoha took a sip of her tea, then placed her cup down, realizing the other woman wasn't going to be forthcoming. "Alright, if you think so..."

That was when Nanoha concluded that Fate couldn't be pushed for her reasons, so Nanoha had to handle this carefully if she was going to proceed; she didn't want to upset Fate by going behind her back, but her instincts told her something else was going on here and she needed to find out what. She hadn't actually done any investigations before, but Fate had often talked about hers during their times together, and one thing the agent had always stressed was how important having enough information was, and how to go about getting it. Thus, Nanoha decided that the first order of business was to find out exactly what happened; Hayate obviously couldn't officially tell her, so that left just one person she could ask.

"It's no problem," Teana answered with a smile. "I'm off for a few days awaiting reassignment while Fate is on leave. Although I was a bit surprised you contacted me, though I assume it has something to do with Fate."

Nanoha nodded, pausing for a bit to thank the waitress as she delivered menus and glasses of water and took their orders for drinks, then left. "Can you tell me what happened with your latest assignment? Strictly off the record."

Teana seemed to pick up on her meaning. "I think so. It was actually me who requested that the incident become classified, because I care about her, too. But I know you two are close friends, so I can tell you, and hopefully you'll understand why. It all started when we got our next investigation to track down a criminal on administered world #24, a B-rank mage who had performed a variety of criminal acts such as vandalism, theft, bank robbery, etc. Basically anything involving money or valuables. He had struck a few worlds before, but always managed to stay one step ahead of the authorities pursuing him. However, the Bureau received new reliable intel that placed him on that world, and we went in."

"Seems normal enough for your line of work, I assume anyway," Nanoha commented. "Fate talked about her assignments on occasion. Anything out of the ordinary about this one?"

"He was a bit more skilled than most, as evidenced by the fact that he could stay ahead of the law," Teana answered, pausing as the waitress came back with drinks. "But he was also fairly skilled in combat, too. The few Bureau agents we spoke with before we went in, told us he was able to outwit them in combat. But Fate figured his love for money was his weakness, and managed to deduce where he'd strike next."

"A trap?" Nanoha questioned.

Teana nodded. "Sort of. We put trackers in places on several of the banks and high-class neighborhoods, and sure enough, he struck a home one night and made off with the goods. We tracked him back to his warehouse hideout on the docks, and that's where things began to go wrong...."

x~~*~~x

"This is Teana, still no sign of him," the junior agent reported as she worked her way on foot through the dock district.

"The tracer indicates he entered this area, before it went offline," came Fate's response through the channel. "He has to be here."

"He must have found it," Shari's disappointed voice called out, from her position in the Bureau ship in orbit. "I designed those tracers myself, and no way would anything down here interfere with them."

"Which means he may be onto us," Fate deduced.

"It doesn't matter," Teana replied, coming up on the next warehouse. "We have Enforcers ringing the area and covering the sewer system, and also divers underwater. There's no way he can get out this time; we have all escape avenues covered."

"A cornered snake is a dangerous creature," Fate cautioned. "Be careful. I just cleared B sector, and now moving onto sector C."

Teana nodded. "Roger, I'll join in a bit, after I finish up-"

"Found him!" Fate's voice sounded. "And I think he has a short-range teleporter! Shari, begin tracking magic signals, I'm going in to stop him!"

"Fate, you should wait for backup!" Teana called, taking off running, raising Cross Mirage and firing a grappling shot to an above crane in order to swing over several buildings. She cursed, realizing Fate herself had admonished Teana against rushing in too fast, but she had to admit that sometimes it was necessary.

Fate's open channel continued to broadcast for logging purposes. "Wiggs Bedge, you are under arrest for suspicion of theft. Surrender or-" Her voice cut out for a moment as sounds of a scuffle replaced it.

Teana cursed as she landed from her swing as Cross Mirage continued to guide her to Fate's location, picking up speed and ordering Enforcers in as Fate's anguished cry came over the channel. "Fate! Are you okay? What's happening?"

There was no response, but part of the warehouse she was heading to exploded, blowing out side walls and setting the building ablaze. But Teana didn't let that stop her as she blew open a door and entered, casting her eyes about for Fate and the criminal, and that's when her eyes widened.

"Fate!" she called, firing.

The suspect was brandishing a pair of magical energy whips, crackling with electrical energy, one of which had encircled Fate's ankle. The unmoving agent was currently on her back among some smashed crates, as if he had just toss her into them.

Wiggs dissolved her shots in mid-air with his other whip as he turned to her, coiling it around and sending it in her direction. Teana dove and rolled, coming up to cast her bind, but he was already moving and slipped out of it before it could snag him. He yanked Fate towards him, pulling her along the ground while sending the second whip at Teana again.

"You'll never take me!" he cried triumphantly. "Not while I have your precious agent hostage!"

Teana grit her teeth and decided on a different tack, standing her ground and firing her grapple line straight at him. The line entangled the whip, coiling around it and holding it tight.

"Cross Mirage," she spoke in a low voice.

Wigg's expression changed as he pulled a few times to get his whip loose, and realized he couldn't. "Uh oh...."

Her device pulled the line back hard, yanking him off his feet and sending him straight for the gun mage, who casually brought her second gun around to blast him as he flew toward her. His stunned body hit the ground and the whips dissolved, leaving Teana a bit surprised it was over so quick, but then she remembered Fate and sprinted over to the prone woman, rolling her onto her back.

"Fate, are you okay?" she asked in worry, worried about all the cuts and red gashes along her partner's barrier jacket that left it almost half-shredded.

Fate's eye's seemed to come back into focus. "Teana? What happened?"

"You tell me," she said, helping the other woman to sit up as Enforcers began filing in, binding the suspect. "You should have been able to take that guy. What happened?"

She put a hand to her head, closing her eyes, then opened them, appearing a bit worried. "I... don't know."

x~~*~~x

Nanoha's eyes narrowed a bit as Teana finished her tale, her mind putting something disturbing together from the gun mage's story and the minor incident last week. "Could it be...?"

"You know something?" Teana asked eagerly, sipping her drink.

Nanoha bit her lip. "Maybe, but I don't think I can say, if you'll understand. I'm not entirely sure myself."

Teana nodded. "It's okay. I trust you both, and I just want her back to normal. For a few days afterward, I'd catch her staring off into space, and sometimes when she trained, I could detect her hands shaking a bit. Something spooked her, I think."

"It's personal, and I'm not sure what I can do about it, but I'll do what I can," Nanoha answered, as the waitress began bringing them their lunch.

"I wish you luck, and let me know if I can be of any help," Teana offered as she picked up her silverware.

Nanoha thanked her as they began to eat, but her thoughts were disturbed; she got the impression that Fate had never told her everything that happened between her and Precia all those years ago. All she knew was that Precia had mistreated Fate, but the exact details of which she never found out. She had noticed scars on Fate's body years ago when they took baths together as children, but those had mostly healed over by now.

As Nanoha parted from Teana at the restaurant, she realized that if she was going to help Fate, she'd have to know exactly what happened all those years ago, and there was only one person who could tell her. She was a bit ashamed to go behind Fate's back like this, though she kept telling herself it was for her best friend's own good.

She placed a call to Earth.

x~~*~~x

She was horrified to find her suspicions were correct.

Nanoha shakily put her tea cup down once Arf had finished her story. She had some suspicions about what might have gone on, but she didn't expect this, not glad she had decided on a face-to-face chat in the Harlaown's home in Japan, instead of cover the communicator.

"I figured you might come asking one of these days, and while Fate asked me not to say anything, I heard about Fate being taken off duty," the familiar commented sadly. "She's still trying to hide it and keep it bottled up inside and I don't know what to do about it. Linith once told me there was a brief period where Precia honestly loved Fate, back when she still thought Fate was Alicia. But that slowly changed, and she grew colder and colder, culminating with the abuse sessions after Linith left. Fate never told you partly because she was afraid to, and partly because she considered it over and didn't want to worry you."

"I can see why," Nanoha replied, understanding. "I wondered, but never asked. I never realized it got that bad."

"There's a bit more that I believe to be related to all this, which is why Arf asked me to be here," Lindy added, the last member of the trio present. "This is something only the two of us really knew, although I suspect Chrono was aware of it a bit. When I adopted Fate and became her mother, things were fine for awhile. She was a quiet child, but very obedient and good. Which is why I was surprised a year or two later, when she suddenly started doing things."

"What kind of things?" Nanoha questioned, leaning in.

"Nothing too major at first," Lindy replied, thinking back. "She'd knock something over, like a glass of juice, or not finish her dinner, or make a mess, or just decide she didn't want to do her chores. She'd apologize, but then do it again, almost deliberately. Eventually, I had to start some punishments, which mostly consisted of sending her to her room. It was as if she was behaving like a five-year-old exploring their boundaries, instead of her real age. It really confused me, especially when it showed no signs of stopping. But I have experience with Chrono, and finally found something that worked."

Nanoha glanced back and forth between Arf and Lindy, as the latter paused. "What was it?"

"Spanking," Lindy said at last. "Once I resorted to that, the incidents cleared up. She would still do something occasionally, but it gradually faded away and she slowly became a normal young lady. Other than Arf, I was the only one to really know what Precia did to Fate, so I think subconsciously, she needed to be hit to know she was loved."

Nanoha blinked as an image of Lindy spanking an adult Fate went through her mind, and she quickly shook her head to clear it, instead focusing on the confusing part. "How can someone feel love from being hit?"

"It's complicated, and I'm not too sure myself," Lindy answered. "But it's something about a physical confirmation that someone cares enough to hurt you when you do things you know are wrong. I'm not sure Fate consciously realizes it. Precia hardly spent much time with her, the few such instances being when she was punishing Fate."

Nanoha was still having a bit of a hard time fully grasping things, but could almost see the connection, as strange as it was; Fate had linked attention from loved ones, with physical punishment in her mind. She developed normally past that, mostly, but apparently some still remained.

"When you defeated her all those years ago above the ocean," Lindy continued, "I think you had a bigger impact that you realized. She recovered fairly fast from her mother abandoning her, because she had someone else to focus on: you. If she's refusing to go see a counselor, you might be the only one who can help her now."

"How?" Nanoha questioned. "By defeating her in combat again? We spar from time to time, but I know she holds back because she doesn't want me going all out and stressing myself."

"I'm afraid I don't know," Lindy admitted. "When she grew up and seemingly became a normal woman, I assumed it was over. Some people absolutely refuse to go to counselor, because they don't want to tell a stranger their problems, they don't want to bother someone, they don't think they can be helped, or they are afraid."

"Fate talks to me, but she mostly just tells me she is alright," Arf added. "Even back when we were with Precia, Fate always tried to be strong, not wanting to make me worry or go out of my way to do things. So if you can do anything...."

Nanoah remembered her talk with Hayate, who basically told her the same thing. "I promise, I'll do what I can."

x~~*~~x

Little did Nanoha realize exactly what those words would get her into, however.

She didn't want to involve anyone else, not even to talk to Shamal, but fortunately there was one resource she could turn to, which was the Mid-Childa version of the internet. With Vivio staying overnight at a friend's house, she had all day and night to do some research. The obvious starting point was to find out who else had gone through abuse, and what they did about it; after all, other people had gone through abuse before. How did they deal with it?

She entered "dealing with getting whipped" into the search box and hit enter, watching as the list of links was populated. Most of the link names weren't very descriptive, except for the first one which had a dictionary definition of the word. So, she clicked the second link, deciding to work her way down.

And stared.

There are some things in life that one is aware of in an abstract informational way, but that present added emotions and feelings when seen directly. For instance, Nanoha knew kittens could be cute, but it was a completely different feeling to see a kitten in real life and hold them in your hands.

Her current situation was similar, although "cute" wasn't exactly what she was feeling.

Swallowing, her wide eyes tracked over the various people in the pictures and their positions and outfits, and quickly closed the window before her imagination started placing herself in those positions. In a distant way, she kinda knew about such things, but seeing them up close...

That was definitely not the way to help Fate, she decided. After all, the last thing she needed to do was reintroduce a whip into the woman's life, and how exactly were those knots tied?

[Wait, how did....?] she thought in shock, realizing that the window had reopened due to her finger moving of it's own accord. She blinked and quickly closed it down again. [That's enough of that....]

She slapped her warm cheeks to try and clear her mind to focus on the task at hand, and mostly succeeded as she proceeded through the next few links. A few others were of the similar vein, which only made her a bit more flustered, before she finally found a forum where people talked about physical punishment, both abuse and for love.

Curious, she began to read the posts of people who talked about when they were beat as children, some of which were normal spankings, and others were treated more seriously. The raw personal descriptions of some of them really started to move her, as she reached a finger up to wipe away a tear. One male talked about how he had an abusive father who beat him with a board, while another person, a female seemingly, told about how her own father mistreated her. Still other discussions centered around the limits and proper use of physical punishment for one's children.

Then she moved onto the other parts of the forum, where people talked about the physical punishment as a matter of love and affection, something that seemed so alien to her. She planned to just glance over it, but found herself drawn in, wanting to understand "why" people subjected themselves to this.

Before she knew it, it was dark outside and she had to increase the amount of light in the house, noting the time as very close to midnight. [Have I been at this that long?]

She stretched and decided to call it a night, but before she closed the windows, she decided on one last thing. Registering for the forum, she picked MissSeikou as an anonymous name, deciding to use the Japanese name for starlight. She wasn't quite sure any of the approaches people had talked about would work for her, and so she typed out a brief post:

A friend of mine seems to be having some trouble. She was abused when she was younger by a distant mother who used her and whipped her, among other things. She didn't seem to suffer any ill effects later in life, and I didn't really find out until recently when it appeared to be affecting her job performance negatively. She doesn't seem to want to talk about it, to me or anyone else, but I want to help. Is there anything I can do?

She sat back in her chair and re-read the post. She hoped she made things vague enough, but she was relatively confident no one would be able to figure out the connection. Then again, she was relatively confident no one she knew even came to these forums.

Yawning, she hit "enter" and then closed the window, deciding to take a look tomorrow to see what responses she would get If that failed, she would do more searching, but for now, she felt beat and just wanted to get some sleep. But thoughts about Fate and what she had learned continued to run through her mind as she tiredly crawled into bed and her eyes closed.

Little did she realize the path her dreams would take her that night.

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

Based on some comments in a forum that started about Fate liking to be defeated, I decided to explore the concept a bit, tying it in to her backstory. While this part was mostly from Nanoha's POV, I'll have more from Fate's in the next part, but I will continue to explore Nanoha's evolving feelings as well. Just a fair warning that, while I envision this short series to have a bit of humor and personal drama, it'll probably also end up with some lemony/lime bits.

And it may not be for the faint of heart. ;p

I'm partly wondering if I should continue this or not, as I only have the basic ideas for what's to come, and it won't go much more than 3 or 4 parts. So if you'd like to see me do the rest, let me know. You can probably tell where it's going, but I'm more focused on the journey.

[00-Raiser]

Uploaded Separation Anxiety.

[isagrimorie]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

This is something I've been working on for the past few days, that kinda grew out of a discussion in the manga thread awhile back. It's another experimentation, and an actual NanoFate fic, but probably not quite in the method most NanoFate fics go, heh.

Synopsis: How far will you go to help a friend? Are you willing to put the very friendship on the line in order to do what needs to be done? When Nanoha begins to learn about something that Fate has been carrying all these years, the road she travels will challenge her just as much as the one she cares about.

Spoiler for Whipped, Part 1: At A Loss:

Whipped
Part 1: At a Loss

Xx~~*~~xX

"I want to thank you again for this," Nanoha announced to their benefactor for the evening as the group strolled among the crowds. "It's been so long since I've been to the circus, and I've always wanted to bring Vivio to one."

"Anything for my friends!" Arisa beamed proudly, flashing a thumbs up. "And it has been a long time since we've all been together like this. I just can't believe we never brought Fate-chan to one of these."

The golden-haired girl blushed ever so slightly. "Well, there was a lot of Bureau work when I was younger, and I was on probation for quite awhile, and I wanted to make up for what I'd done...."

Nanoha reached up to squeeze the other woman's shoulder. "We know, but that's all in the past. Let's just enjoy this evening, alright?"

"Well, I want to thank you as well," Amy added, directing it towards Arisa. "It's nice being able to get out of the house and give the kids something to do. Speaking of which..." She raised her voice. "Karel, Liera, don't go too far!"

"Not to worry, Vivio and Arf are with them," Nanoha soothed, smiling as she watched the four children run from cage to cage to look at the animals.

Arisa snickered. "Yeah, I was a bit confused when you asked for four child tickets; Arf is sure milking that form for all it's worth."

Amy blew out a breath. "I was just surprised you managed to get them at all. I tried before, but they all sold out too fast."

"Arisa-chan's family has... connections," Suzuka answered a bit cryptically, then sighed. "I was hoping Hayate would come, though. It's been awhile since her last visit."

"She promised next time," Fate told her, patting her sympathetically. "There was a situation that demanded her attention, and she couldn't get out of it. Don't worry, I'll drag her next time if I have to."

The purple-haired woman was mollified some, smiling in amusement. "Thanks, I appreciate that. Well, we might want to go find seats in the big tent now, the show will be starting soon."

"Good idea," Amy agreed, noting the kids in the distance. "Fate, could you contact Arf and have her round up the kids?"

"Sure thing," Fate replied, smiling and nodding as she began to send the telepathic message to her familiar.

x~~*~~x

The children were collected and they found their seats, that turned out to be highly valuable ones in the middle of the front row, which surprised most of the group, who began to wonder again about Arisa's "connections." But the show promptly began and attention refocused on the center ring as the announcer welcomed everyone and began to call out the acts.

It was vaguely similar to what Nanoha remembered from her childhood, although those memories were a bit foggy. The last time she had gone was before Fate and Yuuno arrived, when her father had taken the family shortly after his recovery, so the general atmosphere brought her a nostalgic feeling; she found herself wanting to bring the rest of her family next time as well.

Vivio, Karel and Liera in particular became enraptured by the daring trapeze artists, got many laughs out of the clowns, and even Fate seemed to be quite enthralled by the various circus acts. But that seemed to change when the lion cage came up, as Nanoha noticed the amusement promptly vanish from Fate's face. Wondering why, she glanced back and forth between Fate and the act, as the lion tamer used a chair and a whip to guide the lions through various flaming rings and perform other feats.

Nanoha gently covered Fate's hand, which was currently tightly gripping the arm of her chair, while she leaned over to whisper, "Are you okay?"

Fate turned to her and forced a smile, using her other hand to pat Nanoha's. "I'm fine."

The other woman seemed to relax some as Nanoha returned most of her attention to the show, but out of the corner of her eye, she could see the barest hints of Fate's jaw tighten whenever the whip cracked. It confused her as to why, but then she caught Arf glancing over from the other side, looking a bit concerned.

Despite Fate's words, Nanoha had know Fate long enough to know when something was bothering the other woman, and also knew when she didn't want to talk about it; this seemed to be such a case, but it appeared that Arf at least sensed it, too. Nanoha continued watching the show while Fate's demeanor calmed, but when other animal tamers came out, the stoicism returned. Nanoha briefly wondered if Fate had a problem with animals being treated that way.

Whatever the issue was, Nanoha decided to let it pass and just take Fate's word for it; she'd trust that Fate would talk about it if she needed to. And this was supposed to be a night for enjoyment, so she let her gaze drift back to the show, letting a smile come to her lips as she caught occasional glimpses of Vivio's delighted face.

But little did she know at the time, that it was only the glimpse of bigger things to come.

x~~*~~x

"You had to what?" Nanoa asked in disbelief to the holo screen several days later from her home on Mid-Childa.

"I had to take Fate off active duty for awhile," Hayate was saying. "She didn't mention this to you at all?"

Nanoha bit her lip and shook her head. "No. And she hasn't been by here lately. She might be staying at the apartment she has, but I thought she only used that occasionally when she needed some alone time, or was only going to be in town for a night. She normally stays here to spend time with Vivio and I if she has a few days off. What happened?"

Hayate sighed. "I'm still in the process of going through the report, but there was an incident with a case she and Teana were on, apprehending a class-A criminal on administered world #24. Fate failed to capture him, and Teana had to rescue her and do it instead. And then she failed her annual combat evaluation. It's obvious something is bothering her, but she wouldn't tell me or Teana what it was; I thought you might know."

"She hasn't seemed too different from normal to me," Nanoha answered, thinking, remembering last week. "She did seem a bit troubled at the circus we went to... did the case have anything to do with animals?"

"No, not that I can see," Hayate answered. "I can tell something is bothering her, but so far, she's refused to go see any doctors or counselors I've recommended. Whatever it is, I don't really want to put an official investigation on it unless I have to...."

Nanoha nodded firmly, getting the subtle message as the other woman trailed off. "I'll talk to her and look into it."

Hayate appeared relieved. "Thank you, I was hoping you'd say that. You are both my precious friends, but because of my position in Investigations, anything I do in this matter I'd have to officially record. Fate may not have wanted to speak to me because of that. If you can clear things up, and her scores come back up, I can return to her active duty and record it as just a momentary stress-related incident that was solved by some time off."

"Understood, I'll do my best," Nanoha told her, then signed off, determined to get to the bottom of things.

x~~*~~x

"Thanks for meeting with me like this," Nanoha thanked the other woman as she slid into the private booth in the restaurant.

Except her initial plan didn't go quite as she'd hoped.

"I'm fine, Nanoha, really!" Fate insisted from the other side of the table in her apartment.

"Are you sure?" Nanoha questioned, studying the other woman. "I'm not sure what happened in your last assignment, but Hayate and Teana were worried about you."

The golden-haired agent fidgeted a bit, but nervously laughed it off. "Just a bit of stress; I just need a few days off to relax, that's all."

Nanoha took a sip of her tea, then placed her cup down, realizing the other woman wasn't going to be forthcoming. "Alright, if you think so..."

That was when Nanoha concluded that Fate couldn't be pushed for her reasons, so Nanoha had to handle this carefully if she was going to proceed; she didn't want to upset Fate by going behind her back, but her instincts told her something else was going on here and she needed to find out what. She hadn't actually done any investigations before, but Fate had often talked about hers during their times together, and one thing the agent had always stressed was how important having enough information was, and how to go about getting it. Thus, Nanoha decided that the first order of business was to find out exactly what happened; Hayate obviously couldn't officially tell her, so that left just one person she could ask.

"It's no problem," Teana answered with a smile. "I'm off for a few days awaiting reassignment while Fate is on leave. Although I was a bit surprised you contacted me, though I assume it has something to do with Fate."

Nanoha nodded, pausing for a bit to thank the waitress as she delivered menus and glasses of water and took their orders for drinks, then left. "Can you tell me what happened with your latest assignment? Strictly off the record."

Teana seemed to pick up on her meaning. "I think so. It was actually me who requested that the incident become classified, because I care about her, too. But I know you two are close friends, so I can tell you, and hopefully you'll understand why. It all started when we got our next investigation to track down a criminal on administered world #24, a B-rank mage who had performed a variety of criminal acts such as vandalism, theft, bank robbery, etc. Basically anything involving money or valuables. He had struck a few worlds before, but always managed to stay one step ahead of the authorities pursuing him. However, the Bureau received new reliable intel that placed him on that world, and we went in."

"Seems normal enough for your line of work, I assume anyway," Nanoha commented. "Fate talked about her assignments on occasion. Anything out of the ordinary about this one?"

"He was a bit more skilled than most, as evidenced by the fact that he could stay ahead of the law," Teana answered, pausing as the waitress came back with drinks. "But he was also fairly skilled in combat, too. The few Bureau agents we spoke with before we went in, told us he was able to outwit them in combat. But Fate figured his love for money was his weakness, and managed to deduce where he'd strike next."

"A trap?" Nanoha questioned.

Teana nodded. "Sort of. We put trackers in places on several of the banks and high-class neighborhoods, and sure enough, he struck a home one night and made off with the goods. We tracked him back to his warehouse hideout on the docks, and that's where things began to go wrong...."

x~~*~~x

"This is Teana, still no sign of him," the junior agent reported as she worked her way on foot through the dock district.

"The tracer indicates he entered this area, before it went offline," came Fate's response through the channel. "He has to be here."

"He must have found it," Shari's disappointed voice called out, from her position in the Bureau ship in orbit. "I designed those tracers myself, and no way would anything down here interfere with them."

"Which means he may be onto us," Fate deduced.

"It doesn't matter," Teana replied, coming up on the next warehouse. "We have Enforcers ringing the area and covering the sewer system, and also divers underwater. There's no way he can get out this time; we have all escape avenues covered."

"A cornered snake is a dangerous creature," Fate cautioned. "Be careful. I just cleared B sector, and now moving onto sector C."

Teana nodded. "Roger, I'll join in a bit, after I finish up-"

"Found him!" Fate's voice sounded. "And I think he has a short-range teleporter! Shari, begin tracking magic signals, I'm going in to stop him!"

"Fate, you should wait for backup!" Teana called, taking off running, raising Cross Mirage and firing a grappling shot to an above crane in order to swing over several buildings. She cursed, realizing Fate herself had admonished Teana against rushing in too fast, but she had to admit that sometimes it was necessary.

Fate's open channel continued to broadcast for logging purposes. "Wiggs Bedge, you are under arrest for suspicion of theft. Surrender or-" Her voice cut out for a moment as sounds of a scuffle replaced it.

Teana cursed as she landed from her swing as Cross Mirage continued to guide her to Fate's location, picking up speed and ordering Enforcers in as Fate's anguished cry came over the channel. "Fate! Are you okay? What's happening?"

There was no response, but part of the warehouse she was heading to exploded, blowing out side walls and setting the building ablaze. But Teana didn't let that stop her as she blew open a door and entered, casting her eyes about for Fate and the criminal, and that's when her eyes widened.

"Fate!" she called, firing.

The suspect was brandishing a pair of magical energy whips, crackling with electrical energy, one of which had encircled Fate's ankle. The unmoving agent was currently on her back among some smashed crates, as if he had just toss her into them.

Wiggs dissolved her shots in mid-air with his other whip as he turned to her, coiling it around and sending it in her direction. Teana dove and rolled, coming up to cast her bind, but he was already moving and slipped out of it before it could snag him. He yanked Fate towards him, pulling her along the ground while sending the second whip at Teana again.

"You'll never take me!" he cried triumphantly. "Not while I have your precious agent hostage!"

Teana grit her teeth and decided on a different tack, standing her ground and firing her grapple line straight at him. The line entangled the whip, coiling around it and holding it tight.

"Cross Mirage," she spoke in a low voice.

Wigg's expression changed as he pulled a few times to get his whip loose, and realized he couldn't. "Uh oh...."

Her device pulled the line back hard, yanking him off his feet and sending him straight for the gun mage, who casually brought her second gun around to blast him as he flew toward her. His stunned body hit the ground and the whips dissolved, leaving Teana a bit surprised it was over so quick, but then she remembered Fate and sprinted over to the prone woman, rolling her onto her back.

"Fate, are you okay?" she asked in worry, worried about all the cuts and red gashes along her partner's barrier jacket that left it almost half-shredded.

Fate's eye's seemed to come back into focus. "Teana? What happened?"

"You tell me," she said, helping the other woman to sit up as Enforcers began filing in, binding the suspect. "You should have been able to take that guy. What happened?"

She put a hand to her head, closing her eyes, then opened them, appearing a bit worried. "I... don't know."

x~~*~~x

Nanoha's eyes narrowed a bit as Teana finished her tale, her mind putting something disturbing together from the gun mage's story and the minor incident last week. "Could it be...?"

"You know something?" Teana asked eagerly, sipping her drink.

Nanoha bit her lip. "Maybe, but I don't think I can say, if you'll understand. I'm not entirely sure myself."

Teana nodded. "It's okay. I trust you both, and I just want her back to normal. For a few days afterward, I'd catch her staring off into space, and sometimes when she trained, I could detect her hands shaking a bit. Something spooked her, I think."

"It's personal, and I'm not sure what I can do about it, but I'll do what I can," Nanoha answered, as the waitress began bringing them their lunch.

"I wish you luck, and let me know if I can be of any help," Teana offered as she picked up her silverware.

Nanoha thanked her as they began to eat, but her thoughts were disturbed; she got the impression that Fate had never told her everything that happened between her and Precia all those years ago. All she knew was that Precia had mistreated Fate, but the exact details of which she never found out. She had noticed scars on Fate's body years ago when they took baths together as children, but those had mostly healed over by now.

As Nanoha parted from Teana at the restaurant, she realized that if she was going to help Fate, she'd have to know exactly what happened all those years ago, and there was only one person who could tell her. She was a bit ashamed to go behind Fate's back like this, though she kept telling herself it was for her best friend's own good.

She placed a call to Earth.

x~~*~~x

She was horrified to find her suspicions were correct.

Nanoha shakily put her tea cup down once Arf had finished her story. She had some suspicions about what might have gone on, but she didn't expect this, not glad she had decided on a face-to-face chat in the Harlaown's home in Japan, instead of cover the communicator.

"I figured you might come asking one of these days, and while Fate asked me not to say anything, I heard about Fate being taken off duty," the familiar commented sadly. "She's still trying to hide it and keep it bottled up inside and I don't know what to do about it. Linith once told me there was a brief period where Precia honestly loved Fate, back when she still thought Fate was Alicia. But that slowly changed, and she grew colder and colder, culminating with the abuse sessions after Linith left. Fate never told you partly because she was afraid to, and partly because she considered it over and didn't want to worry you."

"I can see why," Nanoha replied, understanding. "I wondered, but never asked. I never realized it got that bad."

"There's a bit more that I believe to be related to all this, which is why Arf asked me to be here," Lindy added, the last member of the trio present. "This is something only the two of us really knew, although I suspect Chrono was aware of it a bit. When I adopted Fate and became her mother, things were fine for awhile. She was a quiet child, but very obedient and good. Which is why I was surprised a year or two later, when she suddenly started doing things."

"What kind of things?" Nanoha questioned, leaning in.

"Nothing too major at first," Lindy replied, thinking back. "She'd knock something over, like a glass of juice, or not finish her dinner, or make a mess, or just decide she didn't want to do her chores. She'd apologize, but then do it again, almost deliberately. Eventually, I had to start some punishments, which mostly consisted of sending her to her room. It was as if she was behaving like a five-year-old exploring their boundaries, instead of her real age. It really confused me, especially when it showed no signs of stopping. But I have experience with Chrono, and finally found something that worked."

Nanoha glanced back and forth between Arf and Lindy, as the latter paused. "What was it?"

"Spanking," Lindy said at last. "Once I resorted to that, the incidents cleared up. She would still do something occasionally, but it gradually faded away and she slowly became a normal young lady. Other than Arf, I was the only one to really know what Precia did to Fate, so I think subconsciously, she needed to be hit to know she was loved."

Nanoha blinked as an image of Lindy spanking an adult Fate went through her mind, and she quickly shook her head to clear it, instead focusing on the confusing part. "How can someone feel love from being hit?"

"It's complicated, and I'm not too sure myself," Lindy answered. "But it's something about a physical confirmation that someone cares enough to hurt you when you do things you know are wrong. I'm not sure Fate consciously realizes it. Precia hardly spent much time with her, the few such instances being when she was punishing Fate."

Nanoha was still having a bit of a hard time fully grasping things, but could almost see the connection, as strange as it was; Fate had linked attention from loved ones, with physical punishment in her mind. She developed normally past that, mostly, but apparently some still remained.

"When you defeated her all those years ago above the ocean," Lindy continued, "I think you had a bigger impact that you realized. She recovered fairly fast from her mother abandoning her, because she had someone else to focus on: you. If she's refusing to go see a counselor, you might be the only one who can help her now."

"How?" Nanoha questioned. "By defeating her in combat again? We spar from time to time, but I know she holds back because she doesn't want me going all out and stressing myself."

"I'm afraid I don't know," Lindy admitted. "When she grew up and seemingly became a normal woman, I assumed it was over. Some people absolutely refuse to go to counselor, because they don't want to tell a stranger their problems, they don't want to bother someone, they don't think they can be helped, or they are afraid."

"Fate talks to me, but she mostly just tells me she is alright," Arf added. "Even back when we were with Precia, Fate always tried to be strong, not wanting to make me worry or go out of my way to do things. So if you can do anything...."

Nanoah remembered her talk with Hayate, who basically told her the same thing. "I promise, I'll do what I can."

x~~*~~x

Little did Nanoha realize exactly what those words would get her into, however.

She didn't want to involve anyone else, not even to talk to Shamal, but fortunately there was one resource she could turn to, which was the Mid-Childa version of the internet. With Vivio staying overnight at a friend's house, she had all day and night to do some research. The obvious starting point was to find out who else had gone through abuse, and what they did about it; after all, other people had gone through abuse before. How did they deal with it?

She entered "dealing with getting whipped" into the search box and hit enter, watching as the list of links was populated. Most of the link names weren't very descriptive, except for the first one which had a dictionary definition of the word. So, she clicked the second link, deciding to work her way down.

And stared.

There are some things in life that one is aware of in an abstract informational way, but that present added emotions and feelings when seen directly. For instance, Nanoha knew kittens could be cute, but it was a completely different feeling to see a kitten in real life and hold them in your hands.

Her current situation was similar, although "cute" wasn't exactly what she was feeling.

Swallowing, her wide eyes tracked over the various people in the pictures and their positions and outfits, and quickly closed the window before her imagination started placing herself in those positions. In a distant way, she kinda knew about such things, but seeing them up close...

That was definitely not the way to help Fate, she decided. After all, the last thing she needed to do was reintroduce a whip into the woman's life, and how exactly were those knots tied?

[Wait, how did....?] she thought in shock, realizing that the window had reopened due to her finger moving of it's own accord. She blinked and quickly closed it down again. [That's enough of that....]

She slapped her warm cheeks to try and clear her mind to focus on the task at hand, and mostly succeeded as she proceeded through the next few links. A few others were of the similar vein, which only made her a bit more flustered, before she finally found a forum where people talked about physical punishment, both abuse and for love.

Curious, she began to read the posts of people who talked about when they were beat as children, some of which were normal spankings, and others were treated more seriously. The raw personal descriptions of some of them really started to move her, as she reached a finger up to wipe away a tear. One male talked about how he had an abusive father who beat him with a board, while another person, a female seemingly, told about how her own father mistreated her. Still other discussions centered around the limits and proper use of physical punishment for one's children.

Then she moved onto the other parts of the forum, where people talked about the physical punishment as a matter of love and affection, something that seemed so alien to her. She planned to just glance over it, but found herself drawn in, wanting to understand "why" people subjected themselves to this.

Before she knew it, it was dark outside and she had to increase the amount of light in the house, noting the time as very close to midnight. [Have I been at this that long?]

She stretched and decided to call it a night, but before she closed the windows, she decided on one last thing. Registering for the forum, she picked MissSeikou as an anonymous name, deciding to use the Japanese name for starlight. She wasn't quite sure any of the approaches people had talked about would work for her, and so she typed out a brief post:

A friend of mine seems to be having some trouble. She was abused when she was younger by a distant mother who used her and whipped her, among other things. She didn't seem to suffer any ill effects later in life, and I didn't really find out until recently when it appeared to be affecting her job performance negatively. She doesn't seem to want to talk about it, to me or anyone else, but I want to help. Is there anything I can do?

She sat back in her chair and re-read the post. She hoped she made things vague enough, but she was relatively confident no one would be able to figure out the connection. Then again, she was relatively confident no one she knew even came to these forums.

Yawning, she hit "enter" and then closed the window, deciding to take a look tomorrow to see what responses she would get If that failed, she would do more searching, but for now, she felt beat and just wanted to get some sleep. But thoughts about Fate and what she had learned continued to run through her mind as she tiredly crawled into bed and her eyes closed.

Little did she realize the path her dreams would take her that night.

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

Based on some comments in a forum that started about Fate liking to be defeated, I decided to explore the concept a bit, tying it in to her backstory. While this part was mostly from Nanoha's POV, I'll have more from Fate's in the next part, but I will continue to explore Nanoha's evolving feelings as well. Just a fair warning that, while I envision this short series to have a bit of humor and personal drama, it'll probably also end up with some lemony/lime bits.

And it may not be for the faint of heart. ;p

I'm partly wondering if I should continue this or not, as I only have the basic ideas for what's to come, and it won't go much more than 3 or 4 parts. So if you'd like to see me do the rest, let me know. You can probably tell where it's going, but I'm more focused on the journey.

This is really interesting and I think I should visit the Manga thread more often if it prompted this kind of story. I like how you introduced the topic and the sensitive way you're dealing with it (which should be no surprise given your other stories). I've also been toying with the idea about Fate getting over the emotional trauma that abuse entails but reading about it is even better!

[Nanya01]

An omake from me...

Gawd! I should be in bed!

Spoiler for Riding:

"I still say we shouldn't be doing this." Cinque shook her head as she looked at Deed, Wendi and Sein. The four of them were in a local park, hiding behind some bushes that were just a few feet away from a bench that Otto was sitting on. Thankfully, the boyish-looking girl couldn't see them, even if she turned around, but sadly, the bushes were so thick that the other cyborgs couldn't see her.

Cinque did admit that she was curious to what Otto was up to as well lately, but spying on their sister? That seemed a little too much.

"You can go whenever you want." Sein reminded her, smiling and getting an eye roll from her shorter sister. "Deed's the one who wanted support."

Frowning, the long-haired brunette glared at the bush in front of her, trying to will it to part just enough to let her see what her twin was up to. Oh, she wasn't jealous of Otto, she was just curious and concerned for her twin sister.

"Shhh! Someone's coming." Wendi hushed her sisters as they leaned closer to listen in.

"Hello." They heard Otto say softly, almost affectionately. "I'm glad you could make it today."

"You know that I wouldn't miss this." A deep male voice was heard, the cyborgs thought that they had heard the owner of that voice before, but they couldn't place it.

"So... Should we start then?" Otto asked, her voice getting shy as Deed gasped, her eyes wide while Wendi raised her eyebrows up. Who knew Otto was so bold?

Even Cinque was starting to think something weird was going on.

"Can't wait, huh?" The male was heard chuckling as there was a rustling sound. "Very well, get on."

Otto was heard practically squealing in delight. "I love this! It's so much fun!"

If looks could make fire, the entire park would light up in flames as Deed glared at the bushes while trembling in fury.

"You sure you can handle it this time?"

"I've handled it perfectly well every time we did this." Otto was practically purring now.

"I can't stand this!" Deed growled and got up, bursting through the bushes, Wendi and Sein right on her tail with Cinque just behind them. "Otto just what..." She stopped, her eyes wide as she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

(---)

"Master Hayate, are you sure we need to be tailing Zafira?" Signum, dressed in a trench coat and sunglasses, as ordered by Hayate, who was also dressed in the same outfit, though she had a hat on, asked.

Nodding and turning to the other member of their small group. "Vita, are you sure he can't see or smell us?"

The small redhead, dressed in an identical outfit to the other two, though both Vita and Signum wondered how this was helping them stay inconspicuous, after all, people were looking at them, nodded and held up some fingers. "We're down-wind, he won't smell us." She pulled one finger down. "We're using spells to mask our scent." A second finger went down. "And we're following him on the other side of these bushes using tracer magic." The final finger went down.

Hayate nodded and her eyes narrowed. She wasn't too concerned with what Zafira did with his spare time, but she was concerned that he was spending his free time with someone who didn't care about him, or worse, was just using him and would leave him, hurt and alone, when this was all said and done. She wasn't going to do anything drastic, but she would not let her children get hurt if she could help it.

"Master Hayate, are you sure that we need these outfits to spy on someone?"

"Haven't you watched spy movies, Signum?" Hayate glanced at the pinkette out of the corner of her eye. "The spies always wear these outfits, it's tradition."

"Shhh!" Vita shushed them. "He's stopping." The three leaned in and listened to the conversation that was happening, Hayate just hoped that she was over-reacting.

"Hello." They heard some girl speak up softly, almost affectionately. "I'm glad you could make it today."

"That's Otto." Hayate blinked, wondering why Zafira would meet up with Otto at the park.

"You know that I wouldn't miss this." Zafira seemed to be pleased with himself and Vita blinked, it sounded almost like that time she had accidentally walked in on Griffith and Lucino before they got married, the memory made her face flush. Certainly Zafira wasn't going to be like that with Otto, right?

"So... Should we start then?" Otto asked, her voice getting shy and it caused Signum and Hayate to stare at the bushes. She couldn't mean..?

"Can't wait, huh?" Zafira was heard chuckling as there was a rustling sound. "Very well, get on."

Otto was heard practically squealing in delight. "I love this! It's so much fun!"

"You sure you can handle it this time?"

"I've handled it perfectly well every time we did this." Otto was practically purring now.

'Apparently she does.' Signum thought to herself and was grateful that Shamal and Rein weren't there and she sighed as Hayate pushed through the bushes to demand to know what was going on.

When the three of them got to the clearing, what they saw wasn't what they were expecting.

(---)

Otto blushed as her sisters came through the bushes, her eyes widened as she saw Hayate, Vita and Signum, all in rather silly outfits, crash through bushes on the other side of the pathway that she and Zafira were meeting up. "Um... Hi..?"

Looking at the two, Cinque started giggling and shook her head. "I told you three that it wasn't anything like that, though, what's going on, I don't know..."

"Zafira... What are you doing?" Hayate asked, her voice utterly baffled as she looked at the blue wolf, who shrugged as best he could in his current form and position, considering Otto was sitting on his back.

Zafira sighed and turned his head to look at the cyborg that was sitting on his back. "I told you that we should have told them sooner."

"When did this happen?" Vita scratched her head, though she found it kind of amusing.

"Well, I was out walking one day, enjoying the day off that Sister Schach gave me, and I came across Zafira going to the ice rink..."

"I was treating some children to a day at the rink so that they could have fun and learn to skate, and I asked Otto to give me a hand."

"In the end, I was kind of worn out, so Zafira gave me a ride on his back." Otto smiled softly and almost moved to hug Zafira, but was worried that doing so would cause Deed or Hayate to suddenly snap at them. "He carried me for awhile and... Um..."

"Otto sometimes asks me for some advice on different matters..." Like when she needed a male perspective on something, but Zafira wasn't going to tell that. Otto knew that she was a girl, but she had a more... Masculine outlook than some girls did, but it helped, at times, to get a real man's perspective on certain subjects.

"Oh..." Hayate sounded both relieved and disappointed. "So, why have you been disappearing for long hours at night then?"

Otto blushed hard at that. "That's my fault, I'm sorry, but I just love the feeling of riding on Zafira and feeling the wind on my face." Plus, unless she got permission, she wasn't allowed to fly in civilian areas, with the way that Zafira could run, it was as close as she could get to it.

Signum put a hand on Hayate's shoulder. "Come on, if it's just taking and giving her a ride, we have nothing to worry about."

Hayate sighed and nodded. "You're right, Signum."

"Aww... I thought it was something pervy too." Wendi was pouting as she kicked the ground. "Damn, Nove was right."

Cinque giggled as she and Sein pulled Wendi away. It was rather hilarious, at least in her opinion.

Looking at Zafira and Otto, Deed sighed and shook her head. "Otto, please... Don't do something like this again, at least tell me ahead of time." The two were twins, they did everything together, couldn't Otto have told her about this at least?

"Sorry..." Otto got off of Zafira and hugged Deed. "It's a lot of fun and Sister Schach said that I could do this, as long as I still do my duties at the church."

"Schach knows?" Deed blinked as Otto nodded. "Well, if she said it was okay..." The long-haired cyborg smiled and let go of the hug that she was giving her sister. "Have fun, I have to get back now."

Otto nodded and smiled. "Sure. Next time we go riding, I'll bring you with... Is that okay, Zafira?"

"I don't mind, I'm stronger than I look."

Deed blinked as Otto blushed for some reason.

What? You thought it was something naughty?

Spoiler for Extra bonus Scene:

After Deed left, Otto blushed and smiled at Zafira. "Good thing we didn't tell them about the love hotel we spent last night in, huh?" She giggled as Zafira blushed through his fur.

The extra scene is just a joke, not added to the main part.

[Yasanagi]

I should be in bed now too...

Spoiler for Material Days 25:

“My, my… what a mess!” Isis started going about sorting through the huge pile while Material-D rested on the bed. By her side was Material-S, cooling her down with a paper fan like a loyal servant.

“Hm… a bit slower, Material-S.”

“……” If it weren’t for her friend being in this condition, she would have simply walked out of the room. However, being the polite person that she is, she merely did her best to comply with the demands of the bedridden Lord of Darkness.

“You’re still doing it wrong,” complained the Hayate replica. “Maybe I should get the peon in here to cool me down.”

A frown crossed the face of the Nanoha replica. “Yuuno-san’s busy enough working on the repairs of this vessel. That takes priority.”

“Hmph…” She glanced over at Isis who just kept going through the clothes and sorted them out so easily and quickly by size and type.

“Hey… since when did this get torn?” The former shopkeeper held up a pink tunic that had a hole in the area which covered the left armpit. She sighed before digging out her sewing kit from her bag, buried just under the money she earned from the day‘s sales including the three outfits to the Materials. “Guess I gotta mend it.”

Material-D noticed the activity from her bed and as Isis started to get to work, a feeling of familiarity washed over the Hayate replica. For a moment, she could see the best approach to patch up the shirt, leaving no trace of new stitch marks. It was almost like she could see herself stitching but instead of a shirt, she was fixing up some red hat… with dead looking bunnies?

”So what do you think?”

There was an awkward pause from the tiny redhead as she tried the new hat on. “It’s… uh, how do I say it?”

“Come on, be honest!”

The redhead squirmed a bit more before managing to get out a shaky smile. “It’s… a nice hat! Comfortable too!”

“I’m glad you like!”

“W-what was that?!” hissed Yami under her breath before she saw herself again at a sink, peeling potatoes from a chair and talking to… a Book?

”What’s up, B--- -- ----ness? If you do that you’ll get wet!”

“It’s called a fan, ‘Your Majesty’,” droned Material-S beside her.

“No!! I just saw… I saw myself doing… common household chores!”

“Really? In that case, I will consult with Yuuno-san on how to properly treat a delirious patient,” said the Nanoha replica in that polite monotone of hers.

“I’m not hallucinating!” shouted Material-D firmly. “I was actually doing domestic tasks like cooking and sewing!! And I was actually good at them!!”

Isis couldn‘t help but butt in after that last remark. “You don’t seem like the type of person who would be willing to learn how to cook and sew in the first place.”

“I’m not! I have other important things that I want to learn! Like running a kingdom for instance! Somehow… it was like the knowledge had always been there but only triggered when I saw you at your work!”

“Knowledge that triggers…?” Seikou gave it some thought before a memory of her own triggered and she saw herself in a kitchen mixing something in a bowl.

”Like this?”

“Maybe a bit lighter,” replied a warm older male voice behind her. “If that pancake is going to cook properly, then we have to be careful when handling the batter-”

“……!” Material-S glanced at her gloved hands and could easily imagine them taking grip of a frying pan to whip up an edible dish. “How…?”

“That’s what I want to know,” grumbled the Hayate replica before she fell back on the bed again.

**********

“Okay… this last connection should get navigation up and running. I hope to God this works,” grunted Yuuno from underneath the console.

“In this world, God doesn’t exist,” said Material-L in a serious tone from her spot in the empty pilot‘s seat.

“Really? So what do you believe in?” replied the Librarian, curious to hear what type of religious beliefs are held by the Materials.

“There is only one truth. This universe here, our universe… it all came from one man. Masaki Tsuzuki. AND IT BLOWS!!!” screeched Rai.

“Huh?!”

“It started off well enough. Season one sets up a lot of stuff and grows the beard. Season two’s regarded as an awesome sequel, which is probably why the game where we came from was based after that. Season three’s a mixed bag and where the decay began. And I don’t even know what the hell’s going on with the latest two comic titles! Also, the less said about the wasted opportunity that is the movie, the better.”

Okay, she was now starting to scare him. “Um…”

“It’s not the Les Yay that's a huge bother although lately it’s skirting the edge a lot. Really, if you want maximum Les Yay, see something like Aoi Hana or Black Rock Shooter! No, what irks me is how someone who by all means should be serving in a main or major character capacity gets the Shaft or the dreaded Demotion Stick!”

“…… say wha?”

“It happened to you, Yuu-nii!” shouted Material-L as she got right up in his face. “You never got a chance to show what you’re really capable of! Your career is skyrocketing just as fast as hers and who gets all the attention?! She does, just because she has nuke magic to make stuff go boom and you don’t!! So what?! You could have been a Chessmaster or a Magnificent Bastard!! You had the brains and the resources to pull it off!! Obviously, Tsuzuki doesn‘t care much for the general audience except the Yuri Fans who go squee!!”

“Um, maybe you should just-”

“And what’s probably his biggest crime of all?! Giving ME the big shaft in my debut appearance! Seikou-chan and Yami-chan get their own CG… hell, Yami-chan gets two!! What do I get?! SQUAT!! Instead of being able to kick the ass out of the original girl I came from in her route, I get shoved to other routes where I fight a big bad wolf and a doctor who can’t even cook if her life depended on it! On top of that, I end up giving out information?! Seriously, I‘m so going to kick her ass if I see the original blondie until she‘s pissing blood!!”

“RAI!!”

Material-L finally stopped her rant and looked at the weary Yuuno. “Yes, Yuu-nii?”

“Just what are you talking about earlier?! Nothing made any sense!”

“Eh…? I think I was talking about…” She thought about it and thought about it some more before she came to an answer. “I think I was talking about how… I want to save the world by kicking someone in the crotch?”

He blinked a few times before finally shaking his head, opting to purge her rant from his memory for the time being. “…… just push the big yellow button to turn on the navigation system.”

“Kay!!”

“You guys getting ready to set a course?” asked Isis as she poked her head in from the back.

“Yeah. I’m planning on heading to Mid-Childa. I can give you a ride if you wish as an apology for what happened earlier,” said Yuuno.

“Mid? Not exactly the place where I want to end up being that it’s a big pain to set up shop there with how strict the processes are for small business owners. Anywhere else along the way?”

“Let me see,” muttered the Librarian as he checked possible routes. “I see an Administrated World that’s on the way. World #23: Ruwella. Based on my calculations, it'll be a 2-3 day trip at current speeds.”

“Sounds good to me! Drop me off there and I’ll consider your apology accepted!”

[WarpObscura]

Rai sees past the Fourth Wall?

What.

[Megaolix]

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

I should be in bed now too...

Spoiler for Material Days 25:

“My, my… what a mess!” Isis started going about sorting through the huge pile while Material-D rested on the bed. By her side was Material-S, cooling her down with a paper fan like a loyal servant.

“Hm… a bit slower, Material-S.”

“……” If it weren’t for her friend being in this condition, she would have simply walked out of the room. However, being the polite person that she is, she merely did her best to comply with the demands of the bedridden Lord of Darkness.

“You’re still doing it wrong,” complained the Hayate replica. “Maybe I should get the peon in here to cool me down.”

A frown crossed the face of the Nanoha replica. “Yuuno-san’s busy enough working on the repairs of this vessel. That takes priority.”

“Hmph…” She glanced over at Isis who just kept going through the clothes and sorted them out so easily and quickly by size and type.

“Hey… since when did this get torn?” The former shopkeeper held up a pink tunic that had a hole in the area which covered the left armpit. She sighed before digging out her sewing kit from her bag, buried just under the money she earned from the day‘s sales including the three outfits to the Materials. “Guess I gotta mend it.”

Material-D noticed the activity from her bed and as Isis started to get to work, a feeling of familiarity washed over the Hayate replica. For a moment, she could see the best approach to patch up the shirt, leaving no trace of new stitch marks. It was almost like she could see herself stitching but instead of a shirt, she was fixing up some red hat… with dead looking bunnies?

”So what do you think?”

There was an awkward pause from the tiny redhead as she tried the new hat on. “It’s… uh, how do I say it?”

“Come on, be honest!”

The redhead squirmed a bit more before managing to get out a shaky smile. “It’s… a nice hat! Comfortable too!”

“I’m glad you like!”

“W-what was that?!” hissed Yami under her breath before she saw herself again at a sink, peeling potatoes from a chair and talking to… a Book?

”What’s up, B--- -- ----ness? If you do that you’ll get wet!”

“It’s called a fan, ‘Your Majesty’,” droned Material-S beside her.

“No!! I just saw… I saw myself doing… common household chores!”

“Really? In that case, I will consult with Yuuno-san on how to properly treat a delirious patient,” said the Nanoha replica in that polite monotone of hers.

“I’m not hallucinating!” shouted Material-D firmly. “I was actually doing domestic tasks like cooking and sewing!! And I was actually good at them!!”

Isis couldn‘t help but butt in after that last remark. “You don’t seem like the type of person who would be willing to learn how to cook and sew in the first place.”

“I’m not! I have other important things that I want to learn! Like running a kingdom for instance! Somehow… it was like the knowledge had always been there but only triggered when I saw you at your work!”

“Knowledge that triggers…?” Seikou gave it some thought before a memory of her own triggered and she saw herself in a kitchen mixing something in a bowl.

”Like this?”

“Maybe a bit lighter,” replied a warm older male voice behind her. “If that pancake is going to cook properly, then we have to be careful when handling the batter-”

“……!” Material-S glanced at her gloved hands and could easily imagine them taking grip of a frying pan to whip up an edible dish. “How…?”

“That’s what I want to know,” grumbled the Hayate replica before she fell back on the bed again.

**********

“Okay… this last connection should get navigation up and running. I hope to God this works,” grunted Yuuno from underneath the console.

“In this world, God doesn’t exist,” said Material-L in a serious tone from her spot in the empty pilot‘s seat.

“Really? So what do you believe in?” replied the Librarian, curious to hear what type of religious beliefs are held by the Materials.

“There is only one truth. This universe here, our universe… it all came from one man. Masaki Tsuzuki. AND IT BLOWS!!!” screeched Rai.

“Huh?!”

“It started off well enough. Season one sets up a lot of stuff and grows the beard. Season two’s regarded as an awesome sequel, which is probably why the game where we came from was based after that. Season three’s a mixed bag and where the decay began. And I don’t even know what the hell’s going on with the latest two comic titles! Also, the less said about the wasted opportunity that is the movie, the better.”

Okay, she was now starting to scare him. “Um…”

“It’s not the Les Yay that's a huge bother although lately it’s skirting the edge a lot. Really, if you want maximum Les Yay, see something like Aoi Hana or Black Rock Shooter! No, what irks me is how someone who by all means should be serving in a main or major character capacity gets the Shaft or the dreaded Demotion Stick!”

“…… say wha?”

“It happened to you, Yuu-nii!” shouted Material-L as she got right up in his face. “You never got a chance to show what you’re really capable of! Your career is skyrocketing just as fast as hers and who gets all the attention?! She does, just because she has nuke magic to make stuff go boom and you don’t!! So what?! You could have been a Chessmaster or a Magnificent Bastard!! You had the brains and the resources to pull it off!! Obviously, Tsuzuki doesn‘t care much for the general audience except the Yuri Fans who go squee!!”

“Um, maybe you should just-”

“And what’s probably his biggest crime of all?! Giving ME the big shaft in my debut appearance! Seikou-chan and Yami-chan get their own CG… hell, Yami-chan gets two!! What do I get?! SQUAT!! Instead of being able to kick the ass out of the original girl I came from in her route, I get shoved to other routes where I fight a big bad wolf and a doctor who can’t even cook if her life depended on it! On top of that, I end up giving out information?! Seriously, I‘m so going to kick her ass if I see the original blondie until she‘s pissing blood!!”

“RAI!!”

Material-L finally stopped her rant and looked at the weary Yuuno. “Yes, Yuu-nii?”

“Just what are you talking about earlier?! Nothing made any sense!”

“Eh…? I think I was talking about…” She thought about it and thought about it some more before she came to an answer. “I think I was talking about how… I want to save the world by kicking someone in the crotch?”

He blinked a few times before finally shaking his head, opting to purge her rant from his memory for the time being. “…… just push the big yellow button to turn on the navigation system.”

“Kay!!”

“You guys getting ready to set a course?” asked Isis as she poked her head in from the back.

“Yeah. I’m planning on heading to Mid-Childa. I can give you a ride if you wish as an apology for what happened earlier,” said Yuuno.

“Mid? Not exactly the place where I want to end up being that it’s a big pain to set up shop there with how strict the processes are for small business owners. Anywhere else along the way?”

“Let me see,” muttered the Librarian as he checked possible routes. “I see an Administrated World that’s on the way. World #23: Ruwella. Based on my calculations, it'll be a 2-3 day trip at current speeds.”

“Sounds good to me! Drop me off there and I’ll consider your apology accepted!”

Oh boy. An Administrated World this time. Can't wait for the fireworks. And I do hope Fate is ready, because it doesn't look like Rai will hold anything back.

Also, Yami's the one in bed this time. How will the treatment go? yuuno himself said what he used was risky, so I doubt he'll use it everytime it happens. If he can't find another alternative...

Lastly, 2-3 days? I guess we're going to see Nanoha's group preparations and takeoff during that time.

[Yasanagi]

Originally Posted by WarpObscura

Rai sees past the Fourth Wall?

What.

Well, she won't demolish it on a regular basis like Deadpool. Maybe once in a while.

[WarpObscura]

Oh yeah, I noticed the "Yuri fans who go squee" thing. Is that an intentional Monty Python joke?

How far back do the shared memories go? Or is that something to be revealed later?

[Kaijo]

Originally Posted by isagrimorie

This is really interesting and I think I should visit the Manga thread more often if it prompted this kind of story. I like how you introduced the topic and the sensitive way you're dealing with it (which should be no surprise given your other stories). I've also been toying with the idea about Fate getting over the emotional trauma that abuse entails but reading about it is even better!

Thanks for the comments.^^ I've decided to upload it to ff.net here and see what kind of response I get, to see if I continue it or not. At the very least, it'll be something I can add to when Future Tense has me in a bit of a block.

Speaking of which, the next chapter is almost done, I've just been a bit stumped on how exactly to write three pages of combat or so; there are a couple of ways I can do it, so been writing a few sentences per day. Hopefully shouldn't take me more than a few days.

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

An omake from me...

Gawd! I should be in bed!

Spoiler for Riding:

"I still say we shouldn't be doing this." Cinque shook her head as she looked at Deed, Wendi and Sein. The four of them were in a local park, hiding behind some bushes that were just a few feet away from a bench that Otto was sitting on. Thankfully, the boyish-looking girl couldn't see them, even if she turned around, but sadly, the bushes were so thick that the other cyborgs couldn't see her.

Cinque did admit that she was curious to what Otto was up to as well lately, but spying on their sister? That seemed a little too much.

"You can go whenever you want." Sein reminded her, smiling and getting an eye roll from her shorter sister. "Deed's the one who wanted support."

Frowning, the long-haired brunette glared at the bush in front of her, trying to will it to part just enough to let her see what her twin was up to. Oh, she wasn't jealous of Otto, she was just curious and concerned for her twin sister.

"Shhh! Someone's coming." Wendi hushed her sisters as they leaned closer to listen in.

"Hello." They heard Otto say softly, almost affectionately. "I'm glad you could make it today."

"You know that I wouldn't miss this." A deep male voice was heard, the cyborgs thought that they had heard the owner of that voice before, but they couldn't place it.

"So... Should we start then?" Otto asked, her voice getting shy as Deed gasped, her eyes wide while Wendi raised her eyebrows up. Who knew Otto was so bold?

Even Cinque was starting to think something weird was going on.

"Can't wait, huh?" The male was heard chuckling as there was a rustling sound. "Very well, get on."

Otto was heard practically squealing in delight. "I love this! It's so much fun!"

If looks could make fire, the entire park would light up in flames as Deed glared at the bushes while trembling in fury.

"You sure you can handle it this time?"

"I've handled it perfectly well every time we did this." Otto was practically purring now.

"I can't stand this!" Deed growled and got up, bursting through the bushes, Wendi and Sein right on her tail with Cinque just behind them. "Otto just what..." She stopped, her eyes wide as she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

(---)

"Master Hayate, are you sure we need to be tailing Zafira?" Signum, dressed in a trench coat and sunglasses, as ordered by Hayate, who was also dressed in the same outfit, though she had a hat on, asked.

Nodding and turning to the other member of their small group. "Vita, are you sure he can't see or smell us?"

The small redhead, dressed in an identical outfit to the other two, though both Vita and Signum wondered how this was helping them stay inconspicuous, after all, people were looking at them, nodded and held up some fingers. "We're down-wind, he won't smell us." She pulled one finger down. "We're using spells to mask our scent." A second finger went down. "And we're following him on the other side of these bushes using tracer magic." The final finger went down.

Hayate nodded and her eyes narrowed. She wasn't too concerned with what Zafira did with his spare time, but she was concerned that he was spending his free time with someone who didn't care about him, or worse, was just using him and would leave him, hurt and alone, when this was all said and done. She wasn't going to do anything drastic, but she would not let her children get hurt if she could help it.

"Master Hayate, are you sure that we need these outfits to spy on someone?"

"Haven't you watched spy movies, Signum?" Hayate glanced at the pinkette out of the corner of her eye. "The spies always wear these outfits, it's tradition."

"Shhh!" Vita shushed them. "He's stopping." The three leaned in and listened to the conversation that was happening, Hayate just hoped that she was over-reacting.

"Hello." They heard some girl speak up softly, almost affectionately. "I'm glad you could make it today."

"That's Otto." Hayate blinked, wondering why Zafira would meet up with Otto at the park.

"You know that I wouldn't miss this." Zafira seemed to be pleased with himself and Vita blinked, it sounded almost like that time she had accidentally walked in on Griffith and Lucino before they got married, the memory made her face flush. Certainly Zafira wasn't going to be like that with Otto, right?

"So... Should we start then?" Otto asked, her voice getting shy and it caused Signum and Hayate to stare at the bushes. She couldn't mean..?

"Can't wait, huh?" Zafira was heard chuckling as there was a rustling sound. "Very well, get on."

Otto was heard practically squealing in delight. "I love this! It's so much fun!"

"You sure you can handle it this time?"

"I've handled it perfectly well every time we did this." Otto was practically purring now.

'Apparently she does.' Signum thought to herself and was grateful that Shamal and Rein weren't there and she sighed as Hayate pushed through the bushes to demand to know what was going on.

When the three of them got to the clearing, what they saw wasn't what they were expecting.

(---)

Otto blushed as her sisters came through the bushes, her eyes widened as she saw Hayate, Vita and Signum, all in rather silly outfits, crash through bushes on the other side of the pathway that she and Zafira were meeting up. "Um... Hi..?"

Looking at the two, Cinque started giggling and shook her head. "I told you three that it wasn't anything like that, though, what's going on, I don't know..."

"Zafira... What are you doing?" Hayate asked, her voice utterly baffled as she looked at the blue wolf, who shrugged as best he could in his current form and position, considering Otto was sitting on his back.

Zafira sighed and turned his head to look at the cyborg that was sitting on his back. "I told you that we should have told them sooner."

"When did this happen?" Vita scratched her head, though she found it kind of amusing.

"Well, I was out walking one day, enjoying the day off that Sister Schach gave me, and I came across Zafira going to the ice rink..."

"I was treating some children to a day at the rink so that they could have fun and learn to skate, and I asked Otto to give me a hand."

"In the end, I was kind of worn out, so Zafira gave me a ride on his back." Otto smiled softly and almost moved to hug Zafira, but was worried that doing so would cause Deed or Hayate to suddenly snap at them. "He carried me for awhile and... Um..."

"Otto sometimes asks me for some advice on different matters..." Like when she needed a male perspective on something, but Zafira wasn't going to tell that. Otto knew that she was a girl, but she had a more... Masculine outlook than some girls did, but it helped, at times, to get a real man's perspective on certain subjects.

"Oh..." Hayate sounded both relieved and disappointed. "So, why have you been disappearing for long hours at night then?"

Otto blushed hard at that. "That's my fault, I'm sorry, but I just love the feeling of riding on Zafira and feeling the wind on my face." Plus, unless she got permission, she wasn't allowed to fly in civilian areas, with the way that Zafira could run, it was as close as she could get to it.

Signum put a hand on Hayate's shoulder. "Come on, if it's just taking and giving her a ride, we have nothing to worry about."

Hayate sighed and nodded. "You're right, Signum."

"Aww... I thought it was something pervy too." Wendi was pouting as she kicked the ground. "Damn, Nove was right."

Cinque giggled as she and Sein pulled Wendi away. It was rather hilarious, at least in her opinion.

Looking at Zafira and Otto, Deed sighed and shook her head. "Otto, please... Don't do something like this again, at least tell me ahead of time." The two were twins, they did everything together, couldn't Otto have told her about this at least?

"Sorry..." Otto got off of Zafira and hugged Deed. "It's a lot of fun and Sister Schach said that I could do this, as long as I still do my duties at the church."

"Schach knows?" Deed blinked as Otto nodded. "Well, if she said it was okay..." The long-haired cyborg smiled and let go of the hug that she was giving her sister. "Have fun, I have to get back now."

Otto nodded and smiled. "Sure. Next time we go riding, I'll bring you with... Is that okay, Zafira?"

"I don't mind, I'm stronger than I look."

Deed blinked as Otto blushed for some reason.

What? You thought it was something naughty?

Spoiler for Extra bonus Scene:

After Deed left, Otto blushed and smiled at Zafira. "Good thing we didn't tell them about the love hotel we spent last night in, huh?" She giggled as Zafira blushed through his fur.

The extra scene is just a joke, not added to the main part.

Heh, so you actually went through with that idea, eh? Very nice, though there were a couple of times when you used too many commas and dragged out a sentence.

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

I should be in bed now too...

Spoiler for Material Days 25:

“My, my… what a mess!” Isis started going about sorting through the huge pile while Material-D rested on the bed. By her side was Material-S, cooling her down with a paper fan like a loyal servant.

“Hm… a bit slower, Material-S.”

“……” If it weren’t for her friend being in this condition, she would have simply walked out of the room. However, being the polite person that she is, she merely did her best to comply with the demands of the bedridden Lord of Darkness.

“You’re still doing it wrong,” complained the Hayate replica. “Maybe I should get the peon in here to cool me down.”

A frown crossed the face of the Nanoha replica. “Yuuno-san’s busy enough working on the repairs of this vessel. That takes priority.”

“Hmph…” She glanced over at Isis who just kept going through the clothes and sorted them out so easily and quickly by size and type.

“Hey… since when did this get torn?” The former shopkeeper held up a pink tunic that had a hole in the area which covered the left armpit. She sighed before digging out her sewing kit from her bag, buried just under the money she earned from the day‘s sales including the three outfits to the Materials. “Guess I gotta mend it.”

Material-D noticed the activity from her bed and as Isis started to get to work, a feeling of familiarity washed over the Hayate replica. For a moment, she could see the best approach to patch up the shirt, leaving no trace of new stitch marks. It was almost like she could see herself stitching but instead of a shirt, she was fixing up some red hat… with dead looking bunnies?

”So what do you think?”

There was an awkward pause from the tiny redhead as she tried the new hat on. “It’s… uh, how do I say it?”

“Come on, be honest!”

The redhead squirmed a bit more before managing to get out a shaky smile. “It’s… a nice hat! Comfortable too!”

“I’m glad you like!”

“W-what was that?!” hissed Yami under her breath before she saw herself again at a sink, peeling potatoes from a chair and talking to… a Book?

”What’s up, B--- -- ----ness? If you do that you’ll get wet!”

“It’s called a fan, ‘Your Majesty’,” droned Material-S beside her.

“No!! I just saw… I saw myself doing… common household chores!”

“Really? In that case, I will consult with Yuuno-san on how to properly treat a delirious patient,” said the Nanoha replica in that polite monotone of hers.

“I’m not hallucinating!” shouted Material-D firmly. “I was actually doing domestic tasks like cooking and sewing!! And I was actually good at them!!”

Isis couldn‘t help but butt in after that last remark. “You don’t seem like the type of person who would be willing to learn how to cook and sew in the first place.”

“I’m not! I have other important things that I want to learn! Like running a kingdom for instance! Somehow… it was like the knowledge had always been there but only triggered when I saw you at your work!”

“Knowledge that triggers…?” Seikou gave it some thought before a memory of her own triggered and she saw herself in a kitchen mixing something in a bowl.

”Like this?”

“Maybe a bit lighter,” replied a warm older male voice behind her. “If that pancake is going to cook properly, then we have to be careful when handling the batter-”

“……!” Material-S glanced at her gloved hands and could easily imagine them taking grip of a frying pan to whip up an edible dish. “How…?”

“That’s what I want to know,” grumbled the Hayate replica before she fell back on the bed again.

**********

“Okay… this last connection should get navigation up and running. I hope to God this works,” grunted Yuuno from underneath the console.

“In this world, God doesn’t exist,” said Material-L in a serious tone from her spot in the empty pilot‘s seat.

“Really? So what do you believe in?” replied the Librarian, curious to hear what type of religious beliefs are held by the Materials.

“There is only one truth. This universe here, our universe… it all came from one man. Masaki Tsuzuki. AND IT BLOWS!!!” screeched Rai.

“Huh?!”

“It started off well enough. Season one sets up a lot of stuff and grows the beard. Season two’s regarded as an awesome sequel, which is probably why the game where we came from was based after that. Season three’s a mixed bag and where the decay began. And I don’t even know what the hell’s going on with the latest two comic titles! Also, the less said about the wasted opportunity that is the movie, the better.”

Okay, she was now starting to scare him. “Um…”

“It’s not the Les Yay that's a huge bother although lately it’s skirting the edge a lot. Really, if you want maximum Les Yay, see something like Aoi Hana or Black Rock Shooter! No, what irks me is how someone who by all means should be serving in a main or major character capacity gets the Shaft or the dreaded Demotion Stick!”

“…… say wha?”

“It happened to you, Yuu-nii!” shouted Material-L as she got right up in his face. “You never got a chance to show what you’re really capable of! Your career is skyrocketing just as fast as hers and who gets all the attention?! She does, just because she has nuke magic to make stuff go boom and you don’t!! So what?! You could have been a Chessmaster or a Magnificent Bastard!! You had the brains and the resources to pull it off!! Obviously, Tsuzuki doesn‘t care much for the general audience except the Yuri Fans who go squee!!”

“Um, maybe you should just-”

“And what’s probably his biggest crime of all?! Giving ME the big shaft in my debut appearance! Seikou-chan and Yami-chan get their own CG… hell, Yami-chan gets two!! What do I get?! SQUAT!! Instead of being able to kick the ass out of the original girl I came from in her route, I get shoved to other routes where I fight a big bad wolf and a doctor who can’t even cook if her life depended on it! On top of that, I end up giving out information?! Seriously, I‘m so going to kick her ass if I see the original blondie until she‘s pissing blood!!”

“RAI!!”

Material-L finally stopped her rant and looked at the weary Yuuno. “Yes, Yuu-nii?”

“Just what are you talking about earlier?! Nothing made any sense!”

“Eh…? I think I was talking about…” She thought about it and thought about it some more before she came to an answer. “I think I was talking about how… I want to save the world by kicking someone in the crotch?”

He blinked a few times before finally shaking his head, opting to purge her rant from his memory for the time being. “…… just push the big yellow button to turn on the navigation system.”

“Kay!!”

“You guys getting ready to set a course?” asked Isis as she poked her head in from the back.

“Yeah. I’m planning on heading to Mid-Childa. I can give you a ride if you wish as an apology for what happened earlier,” said Yuuno.

“Mid? Not exactly the place where I want to end up being that it’s a big pain to set up shop there with how strict the processes are for small business owners. Anywhere else along the way?”

“Let me see,” muttered the Librarian as he checked possible routes. “I see an Administrated World that’s on the way. World #23: Ruwella. Based on my calculations, it'll be a 2-3 day trip at current speeds.”

“Sounds good to me! Drop me off there and I’ll consider your apology accepted!”

Hm... the 4th wall part might have been a bit too much. A line here or there can be funny, but to do a whole bunch of paragraphs worth of it like you did here is just jarring, especially since the rant will probably never be mentioned again.

Well, it's easily dismissed anyways, so it's fine. I imagine their shared memories go up until the book had absorbed the originals. Looking forward to what'll happen at their next stop.

[Satashi]

Of Mothers and Daughters Part 2 now up on FF.N ^^

[Yasanagi]

Originally Posted by WarpObscura

Oh yeah, I noticed the "Yuri fans who go squee" thing. Is that an intentional Monty Python joke?

How far back do the shared memories go? Or is that something to be revealed later?

I didn't even notice the Monty Python thing until you pointed it out.

As for the shared memories thing, I haven't fully worked it out yet but it'll most likely be as Raiser said.

[Nanya01]

Spoiler for Material Days 26:

“Why did you call all of us here, Mariel?” Hayate asked, though when she saw Rein, who was looking both scared and worried, she stopped wondering about that, opened her arms up and smiled as Rein flew to her, hugging her body tightly. “Shhh… Rein, it’s okay…” She rubbed the little device’s back, wondering what happened to make the Unison Device so upset.

Looking at the three aces, Mariel sighed, she had known them since they were little girls and just starting out, she had been there when they needed their devices tuned up, when they needed the cartridge systems put into place, when their frames needed to be enhanced. “It took me the last couple of days, I had to call Shari in, and we still almost missed what I found out.”

“Mariel, calm down, you’re not making sense.” Fate tried to calm the green-haired woman, who just sighed and shook her head.

“It’s not that, Fate. If Shari hadn’t suggested we compare Rein’s previous scans to the current one, I would have never found out what we were looking for.” The changes in Rein were so subtle that even knowing what to look for made it hard to find. “Still, I think I might have found out something about these… “Materials”.”

That got their full attention, though Hayate was still rubbing a sobbing Rein on her back. “What is it?” Nanoha asked.

“Do you three remember when you fought against the corrupted protection program of the original Reinforce?” When the three nodded, Mariel sighed softly, this was the hardest part, she wasn’t sure, but if what she saw was right and since the information did stack up… “Do you remember what happened to the remains of the protection program that were in the ocean?”

“I remember that Nii-san was going to send in a clean-up crew, but the body disappeared before they could get there.” Fate had a thoughtful look on her face as she tried to remember everything. “I think… It disappeared when we sealed Reinforce up at that time.”

“Not quite.” Mariel shook her head. “The body disappeared on the same day, true, but it was gone hours before Reinforce asked you to seal her away.”

“So…” Hayate trailed off, getting a bad feeling. “What does that mean?”

“I can’t say for certain, and I know that it’s a bit premature, but from digging around in Rein these last couple of days, it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“What are you saying?” Nanoha was getting scared now as Mariel shook her head. “Tell us, please!”

Taking a deep breath, Mariel closed her eyes for a brief moment, before opening them and looking at the Aces seriously. “The protection program would do anything to survive, anything. From the information I gathered… It’s likely that the protection program decided, after Reinforce decided to seal herself away, to jump back to the remains of itself, reformed them into the Materials that we see, just to survive.”

“But…” Fate couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “That means…”

“Reinforce sacrificed herself for nothing…” Hayate trailed off, tears welling up in her eyes, before she looked down and saw Reinforce Zwei hugging her harder, crying even more. “Shh… It’s not your fault, Rein, you didn’t know.” It hurt Hayate to know that the original Reinforce had been sealed away for no reason, but it hurt more to see the sorrowful look on Rein’s face as she cried. “Shhh… Shhh… It’s okay, Rein, it’s okay.”

(---)

“Thanks for the ride, Yuuno.” Isis smiled as she got the last of her stuff off of the ship. She then smirked at Seikou, who was behind Yuuno. “Now, remember what I told you, if you want something like that, you need to take it.”

Seikou nodded as Yuuno shook his head. “Isis, thanks for not being upset with me.”

She shrugged at that. “Stuff happens, oh, by the way…” She chuckled softly. “Don‘t go and let your girlfriends ruin those clothes, especially if they get a bit rough with you.”

Ignoring the girlfriends quip, Yuuno rolled his eyes at her, “Sure.” Still, even with the way she was, she wasn’t a bad sort at least, and the past couple of days were pretty nice, all told. “Well, good luck getting good customers.”

Isis giggled and she nodded at him. “Well, as long as I don’t have more people show up with weirdo girlfriends and people chasing after them…” She doubted it would happen. After all, what were the odds someone would find some sort of weird girlfriend?

(---)

Touma sneezed and cursed slightly as he rolled out of the way from an overhead strike from Nove. “Ack!”

“What’s wrong, Touma?” Nove tilted her head and waited for him to get back into stance. “You asked me to help you train.” Actually, it was more like Einhart dragged him with her so that he would have something to do, since traveling abroad right now was too dangerous, and she decided to “help” him with his combat training.

The fact that Nove would get to feel up Touma’s body whenever she made contact with him was just a nice bonus.

It wasn’t like she took over training from Einhart so that her daughter/younger sister would stop feeling up Touma, nope, she just wanted to make sure that he was trained properly.

As for Touma? Well, he tended to blush a lot after training with Nove and Einhart for some reason, not that he’d tell them what was wrong with him.

“Nothing, really, I just thought something weird and ironic was going to happen to me.”

Nove sweat-dropped before shaking her head. “Look, Touma…”

“Huh?” He blinked as the short redhead sighed softly. “What?”

“You’re going to leave soon, huh?” When he blinked, she smiled at him softly, walked up to him and hugged him, pushing his face against her chest, since he was sitting on the ground. “Look, if you do leave, at least leave a note.”

“But…” He mumbled and got quiet as Nove just held him. “Nove..? He asked, looking up at her as she looked at him, slightly sad.

“I know you’re going to leave us. You didn’t want us and dad to worry about you, but could you wait at least another week?” When he nodded, she smiled and knelt down, kissing him on the cheek. “Thanks.”

Touma’s face was red, but he smiled at Nove. “Will you tell them?”

Nove shook her head. “No. I care for you too, Touma, so, just be careful, otherwise Subaru will have a breakdown on us.” When he winced, she nodded.

They both knew that Subaru was suffering from some sort of mental problems lately. They both just hoped it was pressure from the job and all she needed was some time off, a lot of time off, maybe a year or more.

“I’ll be careful.”

“Good.” Nove smiled and let him go. “Come on, you can do better than that.” She helped him up, before slapping his butt.

“HEY!” He jumped, his face red.

“You’re leaving your backside exposed.” Nove laughed at him teasingly

ANGST!

[Megaolix]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Spoiler for Material Days 26:

“Why did you call all of us here, Mariel?” Hayate asked, though when she saw Rein, who was looking both scared and worried, she stopped wondering about that, opened her arms up and smiled as Rein flew to her, hugging her body tightly. “Shhh… Rein, it’s okay…” She rubbed the little device’s back, wondering what happened to make the Unison Device so upset.

Looking at the three aces, Mariel sighed, she had known them since they were little girls and just starting out, she had been there when they needed their devices tuned up, when they needed the cartridge systems put into place, when their frames needed to be enhanced. “It took me the last couple of days, I had to call Shari in, and we still almost missed what I found out.”

“Mariel, calm down, you’re not making sense.” Fate tried to calm the green-haired woman, who just sighed and shook her head.

“It’s not that, Fate. If Shari hadn’t suggested we compare Rein’s previous scans to the current one, I would have never found out what we were looking for.” The changes in Rein were so subtle that even knowing what to look for made it hard to find. “Still, I think I might have found out something about these… “Materials”.”

That got their full attention, though Hayate was still rubbing a sobbing Rein on her back. “What is it?” Nanoha asked.

“Do you three remember when you fought against the corrupted protection program of the original Reinforce?” When the three nodded, Mariel sighed softly, this was the hardest part, she wasn’t sure, but if what she saw was right and since the information did stack up… “Do you remember what happened to the remains of the protection program that were in the ocean?”

“I remember that Nii-san was going to send in a clean-up crew, but the body disappeared before they could get there.” Fate had a thoughtful look on her face as she tried to remember everything. “I think… It disappeared when we sealed Reinforce up at that time.”

“Not quite.” Mariel shook her head. “The body disappeared on the same day, true, but it was gone hours before Reinforce asked you to seal her away.”

“So…” Hayate trailed off, getting a bad feeling. “What does that mean?”

“I can’t say for certain, and I know that it’s a bit premature, but from digging around in Rein these last couple of days, it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“What are you saying?” Nanoha was getting scared now as Mariel shook her head. “Tell us, please!”

Taking a deep breath, Mariel closed her eyes for a brief moment, before opening them and looking at the Aces seriously. “The protection program would do anything to survive, anything. From the information I gathered… It’s likely that the protection program decided, after Reinforce decided to seal herself away, to jump back to the remains of itself, reformed them into the Materials that we see, just to survive.”

“But…” Fate couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “That means…”

“Reinforce sacrificed herself for nothing…” Hayate trailed off, tears welling up in her eyes, before she looked down and saw Reinforce Zwei hugging her harder, crying even more. “Shh… It’s not your fault, Rein, you didn’t know.” It hurt Hayate to know that the original Reinforce had been sealed away for no reason, but it hurt more to see the sorrowful look on Rein’s face as she cried. “Shhh… Shhh… It’s okay, Rein, it’s okay.”

(---)

“Thanks for the ride, Yuuno.” Isis smiled as she got the last of her stuff off of the ship. She then smirked at Seikou, who was behind Yuuno. “Now, remember what I told you, if you want something like that, you need to take it.”

Seikou nodded as Yuuno shook his head. “Isis, thanks for not being upset with me.”

She shrugged at that. “Stuff happens, oh, by the way…” She chuckled softly. “Don‘t go and let your girlfriends ruin those clothes, especially if they get a bit rough with you.”

Ignoring the girlfriends quip, Yuuno rolled his eyes at her, “Sure.” Still, even with the way she was, she wasn’t a bad sort at least, and the past couple of days were pretty nice, all told. “Well, good luck getting good customers.”

Isis giggled and she nodded at him. “Well, as long as I don’t have more people show up with weirdo girlfriends and people chasing after them…” She doubted it would happen. After all, what were the odds someone would find some sort of weird girlfriend?

(---)

Touma sneezed and cursed slightly as he rolled out of the way from an overhead strike from Nove. “Ack!”

“What’s wrong, Touma?” Nove tilted her head and waited for him to get back into stance. “You asked me to help you train.” Actually, it was more like Einhart dragged him with her so that he would have something to do, since traveling abroad right now was too dangerous, and she decided to “help” him with his combat training.

The fact that Nove would get to feel up Touma’s body whenever she made contact with him was just a nice bonus.

It wasn’t like she took over training from Einhart so that her daughter/younger sister would stop feeling up Touma, nope, she just wanted to make sure that he was trained properly.

As for Touma? Well, he tended to blush a lot after training with Nove and Einhart for some reason, not that he’d tell them what was wrong with him.

“Nothing, really, I just thought something weird and ironic was going to happen to me.”

Nove sweat-dropped before shaking her head. “Look, Touma…”

“Huh?” He blinked as the short redhead sighed softly. “What?”

“You’re going to leave soon, huh?” When he blinked, she smiled at him softly, walked up to him and hugged him, pushing his face against her chest, since he was sitting on the ground. “Look, if you do leave, at least leave a note.”

“But…” He mumbled and got quiet as Nove just held him. “Nove..? He asked, looking up at her as she looked at him, slightly sad.

“I know you’re going to leave us. You didn’t want us and dad to worry about you, but could you wait at least another week?” When he nodded, she smiled and knelt down, kissing him on the cheek. “Thanks.”

Touma’s face was red, but he smiled at Nove. “Will you tell them?”

Nove shook her head. “No. I care for you too, Touma, so, just be careful, otherwise Subaru will have a breakdown on us.” When he winced, she nodded.

They both knew that Subaru was suffering from some sort of mental problems lately. They both just hoped it was pressure from the job and all she needed was some time off, a lot of time off, maybe a year or more.

“I’ll be careful.”

“Good.” Nove smiled and let him go. “Come on, you can do better than that.” She helped him up, before slapping his butt.

“HEY!” He jumped, his face red.

“You’re leaving your backside exposed.” Nove laughed at him teasingly

ANGST!

Well, there was no way around that truth. Isn't it sad, Rein?

Also, just so you know, this fic now have more than 25k words.

Now, anyone can imagine how big the general panic will be if Yuuno reach Mid-Childa and go with all three girls?

[itanshi1]

Well, if your avatar is any indication, I have a pretty good idea.

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Spoiler for Material Days 26:

“Why did you call all of us here, Mariel?” Hayate asked, though when she saw Rein, who was looking both scared and worried, she stopped wondering about that, opened her arms up and smiled as Rein flew to her, hugging her body tightly. “Shhh… Rein, it’s okay…” She rubbed the little device’s back, wondering what happened to make the Unison Device so upset.

Looking at the three aces, Mariel sighed, she had known them since they were little girls and just starting out, she had been there when they needed their devices tuned up, when they needed the cartridge systems put into place, when their frames needed to be enhanced. “It took me the last couple of days, I had to call Shari in, and we still almost missed what I found out.”

“Mariel, calm down, you’re not making sense.” Fate tried to calm the green-haired woman, who just sighed and shook her head.

“It’s not that, Fate. If Shari hadn’t suggested we compare Rein’s previous scans to the current one, I would have never found out what we were looking for.” The changes in Rein were so subtle that even knowing what to look for made it hard to find. “Still, I think I might have found out something about these… “Materials”.”

That got their full attention, though Hayate was still rubbing a sobbing Rein on her back. “What is it?” Nanoha asked.

“Do you three remember when you fought against the corrupted protection program of the original Reinforce?” When the three nodded, Mariel sighed softly, this was the hardest part, she wasn’t sure, but if what she saw was right and since the information did stack up… “Do you remember what happened to the remains of the protection program that were in the ocean?”

“I remember that Nii-san was going to send in a clean-up crew, but the body disappeared before they could get there.” Fate had a thoughtful look on her face as she tried to remember everything. “I think… It disappeared when we sealed Reinforce up at that time.”

“Not quite.” Mariel shook her head. “The body disappeared on the same day, true, but it was gone hours before Reinforce asked you to seal her away.”

“So…” Hayate trailed off, getting a bad feeling. “What does that mean?”

“I can’t say for certain, and I know that it’s a bit premature, but from digging around in Rein these last couple of days, it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“What are you saying?” Nanoha was getting scared now as Mariel shook her head. “Tell us, please!”

Taking a deep breath, Mariel closed her eyes for a brief moment, before opening them and looking at the Aces seriously. “The protection program would do anything to survive, anything. From the information I gathered… It’s likely that the protection program decided, after Reinforce decided to seal herself away, to jump back to the remains of itself, reformed them into the Materials that we see, just to survive.”

“But…” Fate couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “That means…”

“Reinforce sacrificed herself for nothing…” Hayate trailed off, tears welling up in her eyes, before she looked down and saw Reinforce Zwei hugging her harder, crying even more. “Shh… It’s not your fault, Rein, you didn’t know.” It hurt Hayate to know that the original Reinforce had been sealed away for no reason, but it hurt more to see the sorrowful look on Rein’s face as she cried. “Shhh… Shhh… It’s okay, Rein, it’s okay.”

(---)

“Thanks for the ride, Yuuno.” Isis smiled as she got the last of her stuff off of the ship. She then smirked at Seikou, who was behind Yuuno. “Now, remember what I told you, if you want something like that, you need to take it.”

Seikou nodded as Yuuno shook his head. “Isis, thanks for not being upset with me.”

She shrugged at that. “Stuff happens, oh, by the way…” She chuckled softly. “Don‘t go and let your girlfriends ruin those clothes, especially if they get a bit rough with you.”

Ignoring the girlfriends quip, Yuuno rolled his eyes at her, “Sure.” Still, even with the way she was, she wasn’t a bad sort at least, and the past couple of days were pretty nice, all told. “Well, good luck getting good customers.”

Isis giggled and she nodded at him. “Well, as long as I don’t have more people show up with weirdo girlfriends and people chasing after them…” She doubted it would happen. After all, what were the odds someone would find some sort of weird girlfriend?

(---)

Touma sneezed and cursed slightly as he rolled out of the way from an overhead strike from Nove. “Ack!”

“What’s wrong, Touma?” Nove tilted her head and waited for him to get back into stance. “You asked me to help you train.” Actually, it was more like Einhart dragged him with her so that he would have something to do, since traveling abroad right now was too dangerous, and she decided to “help” him with his combat training.

The fact that Nove would get to feel up Touma’s body whenever she made contact with him was just a nice bonus.

It wasn’t like she took over training from Einhart so that her daughter/younger sister would stop feeling up Touma, nope, she just wanted to make sure that he was trained properly.

As for Touma? Well, he tended to blush a lot after training with Nove and Einhart for some reason, not that he’d tell them what was wrong with him.

“Nothing, really, I just thought something weird and ironic was going to happen to me.”

Nove sweat-dropped before shaking her head. “Look, Touma…”

“Huh?” He blinked as the short redhead sighed softly. “What?”

“You’re going to leave soon, huh?” When he blinked, she smiled at him softly, walked up to him and hugged him, pushing his face against her chest, since he was sitting on the ground. “Look, if you do leave, at least leave a note.”

“But…” He mumbled and got quiet as Nove just held him. “Nove..? He asked, looking up at her as she looked at him, slightly sad.

“I know you’re going to leave us. You didn’t want us and dad to worry about you, but could you wait at least another week?” When he nodded, she smiled and knelt down, kissing him on the cheek. “Thanks.”

Touma’s face was red, but he smiled at Nove. “Will you tell them?”

Nove shook her head. “No. I care for you too, Touma, so, just be careful, otherwise Subaru will have a breakdown on us.” When he winced, she nodded.

They both knew that Subaru was suffering from some sort of mental problems lately. They both just hoped it was pressure from the job and all she needed was some time off, a lot of time off, maybe a year or more.

“I’ll be careful.”

“Good.” Nove smiled and let him go. “Come on, you can do better than that.” She helped him up, before slapping his butt.

“HEY!” He jumped, his face red.

“You’re leaving your backside exposed.” Nove laughed at him teasingly

ANGST!

Another good chapter, though the bit with Thoma is kinda questionable. Einhart, okay, but Nove comes across as being a shota-con I also object to any reference to Einhart being Nove's daughter. It just doesn't feel right.

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