Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[Nanya01]

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New Parts 1-45

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - New Part 46:

Filia shuddered as she rematerialized along with Nanoha, Lina, Gourry, Shiro and Amelia in front of the temple. "That felt... Weird."

"Trust me, I know the feeling." Gourry shook his head as he wobbled slightly. "Feels weird."

"Well, Filia..." Lina gestured to the temple. "Care to let us in?"

Filia walked forward and closed her eyes before chanting in Draconic tongue, the first barrier falling down. "I... Can cast this spell?"

"Thought so..." Lina muttered as she slapped Filia's back. "I thought your magic was only sealed for most everything, otherwise they wouldn't have told you to undo the barriers."

The group walked into the temple and were greeted by statues of Ancient Dragons. "Wow..." Amelia looked around in awe. "This is..." She gasped as a pillar that they were walking to suddenly glowed dark and several Dragons appeared, glaring at Filia.

"Golden Dragon, you dare to defile this place with your presence?"

Filia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I know... My people wronged you a long time ago, before I was born." Opening them, she looked at the angry spirits with nothing but regret and remorse. "And any punishment that you wish to give me, I would be willing to accept, but we need to know, what was it that you had hidden from my people?"

"A weapon of power so great that with it, we would have single-handedly won the war against the Mazoku. However, such a weapon would have only doubled the efforts of the Lords to destroy the world themselves. We chose to use the power of Black and Holy magic to create a barrier to seal it away."

"How did?" Filia looked at the spirits in confusion.

"We had our own methods, as the weapon in question was a Mazoku lord that transformed itself into its current form permanently. It was known as a Weapon of Light in this world."

"Galveira!" Nanoha gasped, her eyes wide. "Valgaav mentioned that name earlier."

"Yes, the Weapon of Light was the strongest weapon that we had ever seen. If it had fallen into the hands of the Mazoku, then all of our Lords would have been destroyed. It was better to seal it away to keep the balance of power than to let it fall to the darkness."

"For all the pain that the Gold Dragons under the Fire Dragon King caused you and your tribe," Filia fell to her knees and bowed deeply to the spirits, "I apologize and wish that there was some way that I could undo the damage that we did."

"There is no way that you can undo the damage that your kind caused us." Filia winced at the words, knowing that they were true. "However, you may pass, for now."

"Thank you." Filia stood up and the group continued on slowly.

"Mom?" Nanoha looked at Lina as Filia undid another barrier. "What's going on?"

"It seems... That the spirits of the Ancient Dragons are still angry, but they just wanted the Gold Dragons to understand what they did was wrong." Lina saw Filia trembling as she undid another barrier, before she put a hand on Filia's shoulder, causing her to gasp. "Filia... You aren't the same as they are. What your people did was wrong, but it was a long time ago. You had nothing to do with it."

"My people... We..."

"There's still a chance to make things right." Shiro spoke up to her. "You can't change the past, but you can work to make a better future."

Filia took a shuddering breath, before nodding. "You're right." She undid the next barrier and continued to walk forward.

As the barriers fell one after another, Lina frowned, this was almost... Too easy. "Shiro..."

He nodded and got close to her, squeezing her hand while his other hand gripped the Blast Sword tightly. "I know..." The hairs on the back of his head were standing straight up.

As the last barrier fell, Lina took a deep breath and walked forward and grabbed Filia's shoulder, before leaning close and whispering something to her. "Got it?"

"But, Miss Lina..." Filia was confused, but nodded at Lina, who walked forward. She gasped as she felt a tingling sensation over her body. "What the?" Her eyes widened as she felt the choker around her neck disappear, and along with it, the "clothing" that she had been wearing. She blushed as the only thing she was wearing now was a loose-hanging short-sleeved vest and a skirt, and nothing else. "Um..."

"Told you to wear the shirt." Lina rolled her eyes and pulled out a shirt from somewhere and tossed it to her. The Dragoness turned around and quickly pulled her vest off before putting the shirt on and then the vest. It wasn't the best, but it was far better than being naked. And at least the others of the group had enough decency to look away from her while she was putting on her shirt.

The others were confused as well, but didn't say anything Lina walked towards something that was glowing in the middle. "This must be..."

"Galveria." Lina spun as she heard that voice, it wasn't one she recognized. In the room was Sherra, grinning as she held her sword, Dyn and his two remaining servants, all holding onto their staffs, some minor demons and a man in the middle, holding the hilt to a weapon. "And," the man holding the hilt held it forward as it lit up, "I'd suggest that you just stand down."

"Dynast Grausherra, Frozen Demon King of the North, one of the remaining Mazoku Lords of this world." Lina said, as she looked at him seriously.

He grinned as he felt raw fear coming from the smaller redhead. "Your daughter seems to be afraid of me."

Lina chuckled and smirked, revealing a small fang. "Oh, she's just worried what she's going to do to you if you attack her."

"Really?" Dynast smirked at Lina and chuckled, he did enjoy a human that could put up a brave front. "Do you think you can win against all of us? The two of you?"

"Well, I wouldn't say just two of them." Dynast frowned as a familiar Priest appeared next to Lina, his eyes closed. "I was wondering when you'd make your move, Lord Dynast."

"Xellos, don't tell me that you're planning on interfering with my plans." He held out his axe at the Priest. "I'll crush you where I stand."

"Of course not, I wouldn't plan on getting in the way of your plans. But, unfortunately, your plans are in the way of my plans." He opened his eyes and stared hard at the Mazoku Lord. "And while I know that I cannot beat you, I'm afraid that I will have to oppose you this time."

"Just what does dear Zelas have planned this time?" Dynast snorted at Xellos, who just smirked at him.

"That... Is a secret."

Dynast chuckled heavily. "Oh, I should have guessed... You Metalliums NEVER tell the full story, even under the threat of certain death."

Xellos frowned as he said those words. "Don't tell me that you're planning to use these weapons and take over the race yourself."

"That... Is a secret." Dynast smirked at him. "Bodigar, bash them all!" He swung his weapon out, sending out an arch of power that caused Xellos and Lina to both leap from the attack that crashed against the barrier.

"Amelia! Take care of those Demons!" Lina yelled as she jumped in front of Dynast. "I'm your opponent, Lord of the Frozen North." She snarled and snapped forth a Ragna Blade.

"Interesting." Dynast grinned. "The power of L-Sama. Let's see if you can use it properly!" He swung Bodigar out, crashing against the Ragna Blade.

"Man, what I wouldn't give for a weapon!" Gourry whined as he jumped away from an attack from the Minor Demons.

"Would this help?" Gourry gasped as a weird sword was dropped just in front of him. "Forgot to give you this before you left." Mary's face appeared on a screen just in front of him. "It might not do too much, but it's really strong, so you should be able to defend yourself with it."

"Alright!" Gourry grabbed the sword and parried an attack. "Don't worry about us, Lina! We got this!"

Nanoha was had Raising Heart Excellion in front of her as she and her father faced off against the two Dragon servants while Dyn and Filia had a stand off on their own.

"Why, Dyn?" Filia frowned at him. "Why did you lie to me for so long?" She shuddered slightly. "What was the point of the curse? And why did you betray Lord Vrabazard?!"

"You wouldn't have understood." Dyn closed his eyes. "Everything I did was for the betterment of the world." Opening them, he pointed his staff at Filia. "The curse was only to last until you broke through the last barrier. At which point, we Dragons would have celebrated with you."

"While I was naked, huh?" Filia growled at him. "You... SICKEN ME!"

Up in the air, Xellos smirked at Sherra, who went a touch blue in the face. "I'm sorry, but for this fight, your opponent is me. I can't have Miss Lina fight against two high ranking Mazoku on her own, after all, Sherra."

"Damn." Sherra disappeared to the outside, followed by Xellos.

"Raising Heart..." Nanoha whispered.

"Assault Mode, Activate."

A flash of energy later and Nanoha had her main cannon and whip weapons ready to fight.

"Can I stay in Assault Mode longer if I don't use the Chaos power?"

"For a little while."

Nanoha nodded as her screen started to display the power that was being used by everyone. "Then let's go!"

"Ruby-Eye Blade!" The two Dragons called out at once, one swinging for Nanoha and the other at Shiro. Nanoha avoided by going high while Shiro just slid to the side, avoiding the attack by inches.

"Really now, that attack was powerful, but so obvious that anyone with any training could see it coming." Shiro's eyes widened as he saw his shadow appear in front of him and a red light coming from behind.

"DAD!" Nanoha called out as Shiro turned, just in time to see a spell rushing right at him.

"Dragon Slave."

"Dyn, you..." Filia's eyes widened, before Shiro swung the Blast Sword into the spell, slicing through it and causing it to fall apart.

"What the?" Shiro looked at the sword as red energies spiraled around it to the tip. "I wonder..." He held the weapon high and the energy spun around, faster and faster.

"What are you.." Dyn gasped as Shiro turned and swung his weapon at the Dragon he was fighting.

"Dragon SLAVE!" Shiro called out, the Blast Sword fulfilling its second ability, to absorb spells and use them again.

"Ruby-Eye Blade!" The traitorous Dragon called out, his spell colliding with the other spell from Shabranigdo and cutting through the destructive energies. He gasped as Shiro swung in, the Blast Sword, still glowing red, before it sliced through the staff like it was nothing and causing the energy that was held in it to quickly vacate the weapon and dispel into the air harmlessly. "What?"

"You're still a Gold Dragon! Use your power!" Dyn commanded him, before turning and taking a golden tail to the face, sending him flying across the room and into a stone wall.

"You have NO RIGHT to call yourself a Dragon, you traitor!" Filia yelled out, in Dragon form, tears falling from her eyes as she opened her mouth and fired a powerful laser breath.

"Chaotic Disintegrate!" The Dragon cast his spell, which was sliced in twain by the Blast Sword, before mixing with the red energies there. "Impossible! Black and Draconic spells?!" He gasped as Shiro held the Blast Sword to his throat.

"You betrayed everything for what?" Shiro jumped back as the Dragon shifted to his true form and glared at Shiro.

"I would follow Lord Dyn wherever he went." His mouth opened up as magic charged up.

"I see." Shiro closed his eyes. "I'm sorry then." He leapt up and swung forward, slicing the Dragon's head off in one go.

While Shiro was fighting off that Dragon, in the air, Nanoha was darting out of the way of several spells, both large and small, that the Dragon fired at her, those that would have hit collided with her more powerful barrier. "Just stop! You'll lose if you keep this up." Her eyes widened as her visor warned her about a sudden increase from the side. "DAD!" She saw Dyn fire a Dragon Slave right at the back of her father. Before anything more could happen, he spun and used the Blast Sword to block the Dragon Slave and absorb the energies it contained.

"You should pay attention to yourself." The Gold Dragon she was fighting had transformed into some sort of hybrid of human and Dragon form.

Nanoha floated back and grimaced. "Any suggestions, Raising Heart?"

"Confined combat mode, activate."

"Confined combat..?" Nanoha gasped as her cannon and whip disappeared and two smaller guns were put into her hands. "What?"

"This mode will help you fight smaller, faster, multiple opponents, or in small areas."

"Works for me!" Nanoha smirked as she fired several shots and gasped, as each of them was at least as powerful as any of her Divine Busters. However, the small beams, each only the width of a marble, had a lot more piercing power than she was used to, as the ones that got through to the Dragon actually pierced his shoulders, legs and arms. "Just give up."

"NEVER!" The Dragon howled as his power and the black energy of the staff mixed together in mid-air. "I will NEVER let Lord Dyn down."

"I'm sorry then, I can't let you harm anyone." Nanoha idly noticed that the Supreme Elder guy was belted across the room, but didn't pay it any attention as she fired a continuous stream of energy from both guns, aiming for the staff.

She just hoped that he would stop before she was forced to take lethal action.

(---)

Lina stared at Dynast, who was smirking at her. "Aren't you worried, Dynast? That your force here will fail?"

Dynast laughed at what she said. "They're all expendable." He pointed at the barrier that was behind Lina. "That is all that matters. With that, even the frozen piece of Shabranigdo could be released." He swung his axe out again and Lina leapt out of the way. "Looks like you can keep up a flight spell and a high level spell at the same time, huh?"

Lina closed her eyes as she landed. "I didn't want to ever use this, but, against you, Dynast, I'll make an exception."

"Use what?"

"Fragment of the Lord of Nightmares.
Free yourself from heaven's bonds.
Become one with my body
One with my power
and let us WALK the path of Destruction together!"

Dynast blinked in confusion. "What are you doing? You already have a Ragna Blade active."

"Let us guarantee destruction for all."

Lina smirked as her left eye glowed brightly. "Hey, Dynast, here's just how powerful I really am."

"DOUBLE RAGNA BLADE!"

"Wh..WHAT?!" Dynast took a step back as Lina spun around, black energy forming above her head as she reached up and grabbed it and spun, taking a pose, one arm above her head and the other in front of her, both hands holding a large Ragna Blade, the one above her was pointing out and the one in front of her was pointing to the side..

Lina hated using this spell, it took more than ten times the amount of stamina to use it than a normal Ragna Blade did, but the effects were far more devastating.

"D...Double..?" For the first time in over four thousand years, Dynast actually felt something that he wasn't used to feeling.

Fear.

He growled as he took a stance, Dyn crashing into a nearby wall, before Sherra fell from the sky and landed in a heap next to him, Xellos, who didn't have a scratch on him, appeared next to Lina. "Oooh, nice upgrade, Miss Lina." Xellos commented idly, his eyes still open. "Your General is strong, Lord Dynast, but you really should have made sure that your original General and Priest were as strong as they should have been, otherwise you wouldn't have had to made two more."

Lina wasted no more words as she moved towards the Mazoku Lord.

Dynast growled as his aura flashed into existence. "Bodigar! Let's work together!" His whole body became engulfed in black and white energy as he faded from existence, but not before his non-weapon arm was lobbed off completely.

"Lord... Dynast..." Sherra looked up, beside her, the broken remains of Dulfoga dissipated. "Help me..." She gasped as Dynast appeared behind Lina attempting to slice her head off, only to find that she blocked it with her other sword. "Please..."

"Shut up, you worthless servant!" Dynast growled as the room got colder and colder by the moment. "I'll just end all of you one way or another."

"Yeah, just try it." Lina growled as she swung down, missing Dynast, and Xellos, both of whom teleported out of the way. However, the tip of the Ragna Blade hit the barrier, cracking it.

"I'll kill you..."

"Dragon Slave!"

Dynast snorted as the Black magic spell struck his barrier, dissipating in an instant. "Don't you know anything, human?" He snorted as he saw Shiro glaring at him. "That level of magic won't work!" He yelled, letting loose a wave of destruction that killed the bleeding Dragon that Nanoha was fighting.

"Shiro!" Lina's eyes widened.

"Dad!" Nanoha cried out in alarm. The power here was a LOT stronger than even a single Dragon Slave.

Shiro grabbed the Blast Sword and blocked the attack, letting out a grunt of exertion in the process, and blinked as the thing started to glow black. "What the?"

"The Blast Sword?" Dynast's eyes widened as he realized his blunder. "And I just powered it up..." He looked up as Filia glared at him, sure, she wasn't any threat, neither was Xellos, but the humans... "Now I understand..." He chuckled, before dropping Bodigar on the ground. "I understand why Hellmaster was so interested in you, Lina Inverse." He turned to face her, before bowing to her. "I've lost this fight, for now. I look forward to having a rematch."

"Hold it!" Amelia pointed at him, frowning. "You're just running away?"

Dynast shook his head and smirked. "Part of being a good strategist is knowing when you've been beaten, my dear..." He then grinned as Bodigar floated up to his hand. "And I haven't been beaten yet!" He disappeared, before reappearing right next to Galveira. "With this, I'll be able to free Lord Ruby-Eyes from his frozen prison and there's..." He gasped as his body was cut in half, from head to crotch. "W...What?" Bodigar and Galveira, which had shrunk down to the size of a normal bow, fell to the floor.

Lina panted as the energies of her spell dissipated and she grinned as she walked towards him. "I figured that you were going for this weapon, Dynast, that's why I moved twenty centimeters to the right." She grabbed Galveira and Bodigar, and bounced away, tossing Bodigar behind her, where Gourry grabbed it. "Use that until we get your weapon back."

All I can say is...

Go Lina! Go Filia!

Now I need to get to bed.

Page Claim for awesome moments.

Edit: Updated on FF.Net again.

[Nanya01]

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New Parts 1-45

New Part 46

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - New Part 47:

"Where..." Fate looked around, surprised by the layout. They were on a large circular platform, several small cylinders were floating around them and in the sky, there was a large door just floating there.

"We shouldn't be here." Lyos said softly. "This is where Shabranigdo and Cephied ended their fight against each other."

"The center of this world." Almace said as he put Nezzard into its proper place in a small circle on the edge of the platform. The large Shinzoku turned to face them, a serious look on his face. "Sirius is searching this planet for the Mazoku who stole Bodigar from Erulogos. What are you doing here?"

"We have questions, Almace." Zelgadis said as he looked at the Shinzoku. "And we need answers."

"Very well." The Shinzoku nodded to Zelgadis. "What is it that you want to know?"

"Why bring your conflict with Dark Star to this world?"

Almace closed his eye and took a deep breath. "We don't have a choice, after merging with our master, Vorfeed, his power became too strong for anyone to deal with. Dark Star's subordinates disappeared and the best that we could do was die in front of his overwhelming power. If we could have dealt with this back on our world, we would have, but it was too much, none of us had the power to do anything."

"Why?" Yuuno asked the god. "Why would he merge with his mortal enemy?"

"I don't know, sadly. But after merging, he promised to erase the worlds and start anew."

Valgaav glared at the group as he stood up, leaning on Jillas. "What are you here for? To end me like those Gold Dragons tried to?"

Chrono shook his head. "No. But you're walking down a dangerous path."

Valgaav growled and let his body start glowing with power. "You're just like all of them. First the Dragons, then Almace, and finally the Mazoku themselves."

"I don't see what the big deal is, Valgaav, it was just Sherra who turned on you, and only because Lord Dynast told her to." A familiar voice had Valgaav's pupil's shrinking as he turned and saw Riksfalto there, smirking at him. "Oh, don't get your Dragon panties in a twist, I'm not here for you." She looked at Yuuno and grinned, though her face got a touch red as she looked at him. "That was a hell of an attack, boy. Maybe you can show me your other tricks?"

Fate frowned as she took a step closer to Yuuno. "You aren't going to hurt him."

"Hurt him?" Riksfalto laughed at her. "Oh please, I just want to fight him again." She licked her lips in anticipation. "See if he's got anything like what he used before."

"Actually." Yuuno closed his eyes and let out a breath as he let Vrabazard's power flow through him.

"You can use Holy power?" Riksfalto asked, her face becoming flushed as her body trembled slightly and she let out a groan, causing everyone to look at her weirdly. "Oh... This is going to be so much fun!"

"Uh..." Yuuno felt uncomfortable at the grin she was giving him, he really wasn't sure why, either.

"Bardiche." Fate whispered. "Zamber form."

"Yes, sir."

Riksfalto gave Fate a flat stare as she stood in front of Yuuno. "Not interested in you..." A weird smile came to her face as it became more flushed. "Unless he's into that kind of stuff."

"Uh..." Fate blinked several times, unsure as to what was going on.

"Well, this is the weirdest set-up to a fight ever." Zelgadis, back in his Chimera form, muttered. "I've never seen a love-struck Mazoku before."

"They can't feel love." Almace looked at Zelgadis, who just shrugged and pointed at Riksfalto.

"Well, what would you call it then?"

"Enough!" Riksfalto floated straight up. "Come on, boy... I know you can fly."

Yuuno looked at Fate. "You don't have to." She looked like she was about to do something crazy at that moment.

Fate smiled at him. "We're friends, which means we stick together."

Yuuno nodded as the two took into the air, his body was engulfed in an orange glow, his eyes practically lighting up in power and Riksfalto shuddered and grinned at him. "Alright, Mazoku... Let's go."

"This will be fun." Riksfalto grinned as she rushed towards the two kids.

(---)

"I should go up there." Chrono muttered, but in front of him was Valgaav and Jillas. Valgaav may have been injured, but Jillas had those weapons, and he was flat-out scared of what Jillas could do with them.

Jillas growled as he pulled out his guns. "I won't... Let you harm Lord Valgaav!"

"Jillas..." Valgaav got to his feet and glared at them. "Almace, it's your decision, who's side are you on?"

The Shinzoku looked at Valgaav, then at the humans, before turning and walking to the edge. "I will not participate in this battle, either way."

"Good enough for me." Valgaav growled as he looked at them. "So, Knight of the Aqua Lord, a Chimera, and a human with some magic..." He was hurting, but he could take them all out, he was certain. "All of you are standing in my way..." He looked at Jillas. "Do what I told you to do earlier. Leave them to me."

"Lord Valgaav..." Jillas nodded as he stepped back.

Valgaav's wings opened up and he snarled at the three in front of him. "If I can't kill Lina Inverse, I'll settle for her friends."

"Looks like words won't reach him now." Zelgadis said as drew his sword. "He needs to calm down first."

Chrono shook his head and sighed. Just what was up with all these missions needing to come down to violence?

Lyos pointed Banisher at Valgaav. "Listen, I don't know what's going on, but I don't care, you need to be stopped."

Valgaav just growled. "Then let us walk down the same path of destruction together."

(---)

Riksfalto grinned as she phased through a sword strike from Fate, before punching the girl away. "Come on! You're plenty strong for a human, aren't you?" Her eyes widened as a super concentrated ball of fire came right at her. "Holy magic, huh?" She chuckled and disappeared, letting the attack pass through where she was. "You're good, kid." Just as she reappeared, her neck snapped back as chains wrapped around her throat. "Not this again." Grabbing the chains, she pulled and shattered them before disappearing again.

"Almost..." Yuuno shook his head. Even if he had gotten stronger, she was still so much more powerful that it was almost stupid. Not to mention that her speed was far above his. "I can't hit her." His eyes widened as he found her face inches from his and her fist in his gut. "Ugh..."

"Come on..." She whispered to him softly. "I know that you can go harder than that." She leaned in and whispered to his ear. "I'm betting that when you get older, you can go a lot longer and harder too." She really wasn't sure why she was doing it like this, but it sure was fun.

Fate narrowed her eyes as Yuuno floated backwards, coughing from that. "Bardiche... That new mode... Set up."

"Rubin Blitz Form."

Fate blinked, wondering when Bardiche picked up German, before she gasped as her belt, skirt and cape came undone, before a new cloth wrapped around her legs, body and arms, tightening and hardening around her body, becoming solid, instead of cloth-like. She could feel it wrap around her neck to the underside of her jaw and all around the base of her neck, her body armor was still black, but the armor on her arms, legs and neck was red.

Bardiche Zambar shifted and shrank, the blade becoming thinner and shorter, as did the hilt. "What?"

"Oh, you activated it." She blinked as she heard Mary's voice. "This is just a recording I put into Bardiche, so listen up. This is your Ruby Flash Form. Part of the idea we already had in store when we came up with it, but thanks to experimenting on the Blast Sword, we came up with this little addition. It super condenses all of your magic. You're not any stronger, but since your magic is more compressed, you can do more damage with it. Though, you might find that it has a side-effect or two. Like making you three times faster."

Riksfalto looked at Fate, who disappeared, even to her Mazoku eyes. The next thing that she knew was that her left arm was missing from the elbow down. "Woah..." She spun and saw Fate's blade had a red outline to it. "Heh!" She grinned at Fate. "You're interesting, girl. But I prefer him." She let out a gasp as her back lit up in flame. "Heh..." She looked at Yuuno and at Fate and chuckled. "Damn, either of you can give me a good fight." This was becoming fun! She couldn't wait to...

Suddenly, Riksfalto's eye widened and she spun, looking at Lyos and growling. "What the hell?! Huraker?!"

Both Yuuno and Fate looked at her in confusion, before they heard Lyos scream in pain.

(---)

Down below, before anyone could make a move, Lyos let out a scream as a hand appeared through his chest, holding onto an emerald green ball of energy. Behind him, Huraker appeared and chuckled. "That was easy, I have to thank you, Valgaav," she looked at Almace and smirked, "you too, Shinzoku, and of course..." She looked up at the confused look of Riksfalto. "If she hadn't distracted those two, I could never do this." She grinned at Fate, who was looking at her with a pale face. "And thanks you your memories, I was able to change my plans... Linker Cores." She laughed as she closed her fist and started draining the power of Ragradia from Lyos, who found himself unable to move.

"Stop it!" Chrono fired a spell at Huraker, who flicked her wrist, and the spell was bounced back at him, causing him to gasp as he was knocked back, his clothing and skin shredded from that attack.

Huraker turned her body and held up a finger, stopping Zelgadis' sword cold. "The power of Ragradia... It's mine... HAHAHAHAHA! With this... I don't need Master Dolphin... I will succeed Lord Hellmaster as the leader of the Mazoku until Lord Ruby-Eyes comes back to life!" She stared at Almace, who was looking at her in surprise. "Of course, the first thing that needs to happen..." She pointed at Almace, who screamed as his body expanded from the inside out, before exploding painfully. "Oooh!" Her eyes lit up as her body was flooded with Holy magic. "This is... So incredible..."

"Mi...Lady..." Lyos groaned painfully as he looked at her.

"Well, for being such a helpful pawn..." Huraker chuckled and leaned forward, kissing him on the lips, and causing him to blush heavily. "I won't kill you." After a few more moments, she pulled her hand out of his chest and watched as he dropped to the ground painfully.

Huraker closed her eyes and grinned as her power started to increase tremendously.

"No!" Fate rushed at her as fast as she could, before gasping as Huraker looked at her, causing her to stop and fall, flat on her face mere inches from the Mazoku Priest.

"Yes... I shall succede Lord Hellmaster. And I shall destroy all those who oppose me." Huraker looked at the humans, before looking up at the door. "Dark Star increased his power by fusing with a god... I have done the same."

"But you aren't as strong as he is." She turned as she saw Erulogos, gripping Nezzard and looking at her with narrowed eyes. "Even we, the servants of Vorfeed were helpless against him."

"Light Come Forth!" Jillas said as he held Gorun Nova and Ragudo Mezegis, before tossing the latter to Valgaav. "Lord Valgaav."

Huraker smirked as she slowly walked away from the dead body of Fate. "I wouldn't bother, little boy." She snorted as she saw Yuuno trying to revive Fate. "She's dead, I stopped her heart."

Yuuno blinked, if that was all...

"Huraker!" Riksfalto landed near Jillas. "What are you planning?! Lord Dolphin never gave you permission for this stunt!"

Huraker laughed at the General. "You were so stupid... I just used your lust for battle against you. I didn't think that you'd find someone who could hurt you though..." She shook her head and laughed. "And to think that you're just like Gaav was around Ragradia!"

"Give me Gorun Nova." Riksfalto said to Jillas. "She's changed somehow. She's a lot calmer normally."

Jillas gulped and handed it over to her, pulling out his weapons and looked at Yuuno, wondering why he was pushing on Fate's chest, before pinching her nose and blowing into her mouth.

A moment later, his eye widened as Fate gasped and started coughing as she sat up.

"How?!" Huraker looked at Yuuno in shock. "I stopped her heart!"

Yuuno chuckled softly. "Where I come from, it's common practice to know how to restart a person's heart."

"Well, Riksfalto, are you going to fight against me?"

"You aren't the same person you were yesterday." Riksfalto stated as she held Gorun Nova in front of her. "And Lord Dolphin would hate what you've become."

"Well then... Shinzoku, Mazoku, Dragons, and humans against me, huh?" Huraker chuckled, closing her eyes, before she frowned and opened them. "YOU CAN ALL DIE TOGETHER!!"

Hey, vic-vic, how's that for ya?

[RadiantBeam]

Here we are, part two of the Shadowcat saga! Apologies for the late post; I meant to get it up right after Stray, but then finals started, and I came home, and there was holiday shopping, and then to top it all off I got sick. Nonetheless, enjoy!

Spoiler for Solution:

The clock beside the motel bed lit up in the darkness, alerting the sole occupant still awake that it was well after three in the morning. Sighing and shifting in the bed, settling back against the pillows, Miranda Creed was in no rush to fall back to sleep; she and Lutecia had to get up in two hours, anyway. Her mind on her partner, Miranda glanced over at the girl, sleeping peacefully in the other bed. The kitten was snuggled in the crook of her arm, its breathing soft and even, snuggled tightly against her.

Miranda sighed softly. Perhaps she was worrying too much over the situation, but she couldn’t see this ending well. At all. Lutecia had never struck her as a cat person, but the girl was clearly attached to the small white fur ball.

The black-haired woman knew that on the scale of evil, leaving a kitten in the streets wasn’t the worst thing she had done; in some ways, it saddened her that the thought only caused her a brief twinge of guilt. And in the rush of getting to the ship and heading home, it would be easy for Lutecia to lose track of the cat and for it to go missing. Miranda doubted the girl would even think she’d had anything to do with it.

Problem was, she just didn’t have it in her to do that to the kid. At fifteen, a Shadow of two years, Lutecia still had quite a bit of maturing to do before she reached her full potential. It was Miranda’s job to guide her to becoming the best agent she could be, with quick reflexes and a clean conscience. Sooner or later, she’d have to learn that sometimes, you just lost things.

But not now. Grimacing a little, the older woman rubbed her eyes. Man, I’ve gotten soft.

Well, there was always the third option. Miranda highly doubted Lutecia would manage to sneak the kitten through the guards when they boarded.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

“I can’t believe ya managed to sneak ‘im in.”

Lutecia had the decency to look sheepish, but Miranda didn’t miss the small gleam of satisfaction in her red eyes as the younger girl leaned against the window, gazing down at the gradually disappearing planet. Its purr muffled by the fact that it was hidden in her coat sleeve, the kitten snuggled happily into its warm hiding place.

“I’ve had a good teacher,” the summoner murmured, smirking when Miranda rolled her eyes.

“I don’t remember teachin’ ya how to sneak.”

The purple-haired girl shrugged, the perfect picture of innocence. Since they were currently alone and in a secluded part of the ship, she lifted her arm up a little, letting the kitten squirm out of its hiding place and scramble onto her shoulders, nuzzling her cheek with its nose.

Miranda had to admit, it was a cute scene. “So, what now, Alphine?”

Lutecia winced, lifting a hand to scratch the kitten between its shoulder blades. “I have to figure out who will take him.”

“Your mom doesn’t like animals?”

The summoner shrugged, moving carefully to mind her companion. “It’s not really that. I know cats are supposed to be independent, but she’s at work pretty much all day, and I’m always gone too unless I have time off. Our apartment is really small. I don’t think it’s fair to him to keep him cooped up in there.”

“No friends?”

“Well, there’s Vivio,” Lutecia admitted; it was clear from her tone that she had been considering the option before Miranda had asked. “But, um… I think Fate-san is really more of a dog person.”

Sensing there was an implication there that currently flew over her head, Miranda blinked several times before she sighed. “So basically, no plan.”

“Basically.”

Silence fell between them then; Miranda glanced at her partner. Clearly, Lutecia had no idea what to do with her furry feline friend, and it was the kind of thing that would eat at her until a solution presented itself.

Acting perfectly nonchalant, the brown-eyed woman shifted closer to her partner and lifted her hand, lightly passing her fingers down the kitten’s back in a soft stroke. Instantly, the animal purred and arched, enjoying the touch. Amused, Miranda repeated the gesture, then gently lifted the animal off its perch and into her arms.

“Miranda?”

Shrugging, the older woman gently tickled a sensitive spot at the back of the kitten’s neck, amused when it mewled in pleasure. “Well, I’m just thinkin’ here. Kel and I, we’ve got a decently sized house. Nothin’ big o’ fancy, but a good size. And the man’s always been sweet on animals of every size an’ shape.”

Lutecia’s eyes lit up. “Then?”

“I’ll take your buddy home and see what ‘e says about it, ‘kay?”

All things considered, Miranda Creed had never been an animal person. She certainly hadn’t expected to start thinking about pets now.

But seeing the way her partner’s eyes lit up with relief and delight, and the way she smiled, made the change worth it.

….

They still needed to have that discussion about attachment issues, though. The sooner Lutecia learned to keep a distance, the better.

Spoiler for Ramblings:

1. Yeah, I know Lutecia's reasoning is somewhat flawed, but I really needed to get the cat with Miranda. Feel free to rip apart her reasoning to your heart's content.

2. The mention of Fate being a dog person is a small reference to the running gag in Dezo's fics, in which cats don't like Fate. At all.

Stray

[vic-vic]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

A's

Jump

New Parts 1-45

New Part 46

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - New Part 47:

"Where..." Fate looked around, surprised by the layout. They were on a large circular platform, several small cylinders were floating around them and in the sky, there was a large door just floating there.

"We shouldn't be here." Lyos said softly. "This is where Shabranigdo and Cephied ended their fight against each other."

"The center of this world." Almace said as he put Nezzard into its proper place in a small circle on the edge of the platform. The large Shinzoku turned to face them, a serious look on his face. "Sirius is searching this planet for the Mazoku who stole Bodigar from Erulogos. What are you doing here?"

"We have questions, Almace." Zelgadis said as he looked at the Shinzoku. "And we need answers."

"Very well." The Shinzoku nodded to Zelgadis. "What is it that you want to know?"

"Why bring your conflict with Dark Star to this world?"

Almace closed his eye and took a deep breath. "We don't have a choice, after merging with our master, Vorfeed, his power became too strong for anyone to deal with. Dark Star's subordinates disappeared and the best that we could do was die in front of his overwhelming power. If we could have dealt with this back on our world, we would have, but it was too much, none of us had the power to do anything."

"Why?" Yuuno asked the god. "Why would he merge with his mortal enemy?"

"I don't know, sadly. But after merging, he promised to erase the worlds and start anew."

Valgaav glared at the group as he stood up, leaning on Jillas. "What are you here for? To end me like those Gold Dragons tried to?"

Chrono shook his head. "No. But you're walking down a dangerous path."

Valgaav growled and let his body start glowing with power. "You're just like all of them. First the Dragons, then Almace, and finally the Mazoku themselves."

"I don't see what the big deal is, Valgaav, it was just Sherra who turned on you, and only because Lord Dynast told her to." A familiar voice had Valgaav's pupil's shrinking as he turned and saw Riksfalto there, smirking at him. "Oh, don't get your Dragon panties in a twist, I'm not here for you." She looked at Yuuno and grinned, though her face got a touch red as she looked at him. "That was a hell of an attack, boy. Maybe you can show me your other tricks?"

Fate frowned as she took a step closer to Yuuno. "You aren't going to hurt him."

"Hurt him?" Riksfalto laughed at her. "Oh please, I just want to fight him again." She licked her lips in anticipation. "See if he's got anything like what he used before."

"Actually." Yuuno closed his eyes and let out a breath as he let Vrabazard's power flow through him.

"You can use Holy power?" Riksfalto asked, her face becoming flushed as her body trembled slightly and she let out a groan, causing everyone to look at her weirdly. "Oh... This is going to be so much fun!"

"Uh..." Yuuno felt uncomfortable at the grin she was giving him, he really wasn't sure why, either.

"Bardiche." Fate whispered. "Zamber form."

"Yes, sir."

Riksfalto gave Fate a flat stare as she stood in front of Yuuno. "Not interested in you..." A weird smile came to her face as it became more flushed. "Unless he's into that kind of stuff."

"Uh..." Fate blinked several times, unsure as to what was going on.

"Well, this is the weirdest set-up to a fight ever." Zelgadis, back in his Chimera form, muttered. "I've never seen a love-struck Mazoku before."

"They can't feel love." Almace looked at Zelgadis, who just shrugged and pointed at Riksfalto.

"Well, what would you call it then?"

"Enough!" Riksfalto floated straight up. "Come on, boy... I know you can fly."

Yuuno looked at Fate. "You don't have to." She looked like she was about to do something crazy at that moment.

Fate smiled at him. "We're friends, which means we stick together."

Yuuno nodded as the two took into the air, his body was engulfed in an orange glow, his eyes practically lighting up in power and Riksfalto shuddered and grinned at him. "Alright, Mazoku... Let's go."

"This will be fun." Riksfalto grinned as she rushed towards the two kids.

(---)

"I should go up there." Chrono muttered, but in front of him was Valgaav and Jillas. Valgaav may have been injured, but Jillas had those weapons, and he was flat-out scared of what Jillas could do with them.

Jillas growled as he pulled out his guns. "I won't... Let you harm Lord Valgaav!"

"Jillas..." Valgaav got to his feet and glared at them. "Almace, it's your decision, who's side are you on?"

The Shinzoku looked at Valgaav, then at the humans, before turning and walking to the edge. "I will not participate in this battle, either way."

"Good enough for me." Valgaav growled as he looked at them. "So, Knight of the Aqua Lord, a Chimera, and a human with some magic..." He was hurting, but he could take them all out, he was certain. "All of you are standing in my way..." He looked at Jillas. "Do what I told you to do earlier. Leave them to me."

"Lord Valgaav..." Jillas nodded as he stepped back.

Valgaav's wings opened up and he snarled at the three in front of him. "If I can't kill Lina Inverse, I'll settle for her friends."

"Looks like words won't reach him now." Zelgadis said as drew his sword. "He needs to calm down first."

Chrono shook his head and sighed. Just what was up with all these missions needing to come down to violence?

Lyos pointed Banisher at Valgaav. "Listen, I don't know what's going on, but I don't care, you need to be stopped."

Valgaav just growled. "Then let us walk down the same path of destruction together."

(---)

Riksfalto grinned as she phased through a sword strike from Fate, before punching the girl away. "Come on! You're plenty strong for a human, aren't you?" Her eyes widened as a super concentrated ball of fire came right at her. "Holy magic, huh?" She chuckled and disappeared, letting the attack pass through where she was. "You're good, kid." Just as she reappeared, her neck snapped back as chains wrapped around her throat. "Not this again." Grabbing the chains, she pulled and shattered them before disappearing again.

"Almost..." Yuuno shook his head. Even if he had gotten stronger, she was still so much more powerful that it was almost stupid. Not to mention that her speed was far above his. "I can't hit her." His eyes widened as he found her face inches from his and her fist in his gut. "Ugh..."

"Come on..." She whispered to him softly. "I know that you can go harder than that." She leaned in and whispered to his ear. "I'm betting that when you get older, you can go a lot longer and harder too." She really wasn't sure why she was doing it like this, but it sure was fun.

Fate narrowed her eyes as Yuuno floated backwards, coughing from that. "Bardiche... That new mode... Set up."

"Rubin Blitz Form."

Fate blinked, wondering when Bardiche picked up German, before she gasped as her belt, skirt and cape came undone, before a new cloth wrapped around her legs, body and arms, tightening and hardening around her body, becoming solid, instead of cloth-like. She could feel it wrap around her neck to the underside of her jaw and all around the base of her neck, her body armor was still black, but the armor on her arms, legs and neck was red.

Bardiche Zambar shifted and shrank, the blade becoming thinner and shorter, as did the hilt. "What?"

"Oh, you activated it." She blinked as she heard Mary's voice. "This is just a recording I put into Bardiche, so listen up. This is your Ruby Flash Form. Part of the idea we already had in store when we came up with it, but thanks to experimenting on the Blast Sword, we came up with this little addition. It super condenses all of your magic. You're not any stronger, but since your magic is more compressed, you can do more damage with it. Though, you might find that it has a side-effect or two. Like making you three times faster."

Riksfalto looked at Fate, who disappeared, even to her Mazoku eyes. The next thing that she knew was that her left arm was missing from the elbow down. "Woah..." She spun and saw Fate's blade had a red outline to it. "Heh!" She grinned at Fate. "You're interesting, girl. But I prefer him." She let out a gasp as her back lit up in flame. "Heh..." She looked at Yuuno and at Fate and chuckled. "Damn, either of you can give me a good fight." This was becoming fun! She couldn't wait to...

Suddenly, Riksfalto's eye widened and she spun, looking at Lyos and growling. "What the hell?! Huraker?!"

Both Yuuno and Fate looked at her in confusion, before they heard Lyos scream in pain.

(---)

Down below, before anyone could make a move, Lyos let out a scream as a hand appeared through his chest, holding onto an emerald green ball of energy. Behind him, Huraker appeared and chuckled. "That was easy, I have to thank you, Valgaav," she looked at Almace and smirked, "you too, Shinzoku, and of course..." She looked up at the confused look of Riksfalto. "If she hadn't distracted those two, I could never do this." She grinned at Fate, who was looking at her with a pale face. "And thanks you your memories, I was able to change my plans... Linker Cores." She laughed as she closed her fist and started draining the power of Ragradia from Lyos, who found himself unable to move.

"Stop it!" Chrono fired a spell at Huraker, who flicked her wrist, and the spell was bounced back at him, causing him to gasp as he was knocked back, his clothing and skin shredded from that attack.

Huraker turned her body and held up a finger, stopping Zelgadis' sword cold. "The power of Ragradia... It's mine... HAHAHAHAHA! With this... I don't need Master Dolphin... I will succeed Lord Hellmaster as the leader of the Mazoku until Lord Ruby-Eyes comes back to life!" She stared at Almace, who was looking at her in surprise. "Of course, the first thing that needs to happen..." She pointed at Almace, who screamed as his body expanded from the inside out, before exploding painfully. "Oooh!" Her eyes lit up as her body was flooded with Holy magic. "This is... So incredible..."

"Mi...Lady..." Lyos groaned painfully as he looked at her.

"Well, for being such a helpful pawn..." Huraker chuckled and leaned forward, kissing him on the lips, and causing him to blush heavily. "I won't kill you." After a few more moments, she pulled her hand out of his chest and watched as he dropped to the ground painfully.

Huraker closed her eyes and grinned as her power started to increase tremendously.

"No!" Fate rushed at her as fast as she could, before gasping as Huraker looked at her, causing her to stop and fall, flat on her face mere inches from the Mazoku Priest.

"Yes... I shall succede Lord Hellmaster. And I shall destroy all those who oppose me." Huraker looked at the humans, before looking up at the door. "Dark Star increased his power by fusing with a god... I have done the same."

"But you aren't as strong as he is." She turned as she saw Erulogos, gripping Nezzard and looking at her with narrowed eyes. "Even we, the servants of Vorfeed were helpless against him."

"Light Come Forth!" Jillas said as he held Gorun Nova and Ragudo Mezegis, before tossing the latter to Valgaav. "Lord Valgaav."

Huraker smirked as she slowly walked away from the dead body of Fate. "I wouldn't bother, little boy." She snorted as she saw Yuuno trying to revive Fate. "She's dead, I stopped her heart."

Yuuno blinked, if that was all...

"Huraker!" Riksfalto landed near Jillas. "What are you planning?! Lord Dolphin never gave you permission for this stunt!"

Huraker laughed at the General. "You were so stupid... I just used your lust for battle against you. I didn't think that you'd find someone who could hurt you though..." She shook her head and laughed. "And to think that you're just like Gaav was around Ragradia!"

"Give me Gorun Nova." Riksfalto said to Jillas. "She's changed somehow. She's a lot calmer normally."

Jillas gulped and handed it over to her, pulling out his weapons and looked at Yuuno, wondering why he was pushing on Fate's chest, before pinching her nose and blowing into her mouth.

A moment later, his eye widened as Fate gasped and started coughing as she sat up.

"How?!" Huraker looked at Yuuno in shock. "I stopped her heart!"

Yuuno chuckled softly. "Where I come from, it's common practice to know how to restart a person's heart."

"Well, Riksfalto, are you going to fight against me?"

"You aren't the same person you were yesterday." Riksfalto stated as she held Gorun Nova in front of her. "And Lord Dolphin would hate what you've become."

"Well then... Shinzoku, Mazoku, Dragons, and humans against me, huh?" Huraker chuckled, closing her eyes, before she frowned and opened them. "YOU CAN ALL DIE TOGETHER!!"

Hey, vic-vic, how's that for ya?

Good job Nanya.

You was able to make Riksulafto sympathetic without changing her character.

And Huraker (in russian transaltion Huireka) seems to walk on the same path as Darkstar i.e. got her mind screwed with power of opposite polarity.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Here we are, part two of the Shadowcat saga! Apologies for the late post; I meant to get it up right after Stray, but then finals started, and I came home, and there was holiday shopping, and then to top it all off I got sick. Nonetheless, enjoy!

Spoiler for Solution:

The clock beside the motel bed lit up in the darkness, alerting the sole occupant still awake that it was well after three in the morning. Sighing and shifting in the bed, settling back against the pillows, Miranda Creed was in no rush to fall back to sleep; she and Lutecia had to get up in two hours, anyway. Her mind on her partner, Miranda glanced over at the girl, sleeping peacefully in the other bed. The kitten was snuggled in the crook of her arm, its breathing soft and even, snuggled tightly against her.

Miranda sighed softly. Perhaps she was worrying too much over the situation, but she couldn’t see this ending well. At all. Lutecia had never struck her as a cat person, but the girl was clearly attached to the small white fur ball.

The black-haired woman knew that on the scale of evil, leaving a kitten in the streets wasn’t the worst thing she had done; in some ways, it saddened her that the thought only caused her a brief twinge of guilt. And in the rush of getting to the ship and heading home, it would be easy for Lutecia to lose track of the cat and for it to go missing. Miranda doubted the girl would even think she’d had anything to do with it.

Problem was, she just didn’t have it in her to do that to the kid. At fifteen, a Shadow of two years, Lutecia still had quite a bit of maturing to do before she reached her full potential. It was Miranda’s job to guide her to becoming the best agent she could be, with quick reflexes and a clean conscience. Sooner or later, she’d have to learn that sometimes, you just lost things.

But not now. Grimacing a little, the older woman rubbed her eyes. Man, I’ve gotten soft.

Well, there was always the third option. Miranda highly doubted Lutecia would manage to sneak the kitten through the guards when they boarded.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

“I can’t believe ya managed to sneak ‘im in.”

Lutecia had the decency to look sheepish, but Miranda didn’t miss the small gleam of satisfaction in her red eyes as the younger girl leaned against the window, gazing down at the gradually disappearing planet. Its purr muffled by the fact that it was hidden in her coat sleeve, the kitten snuggled happily into its warm hiding place.

“I’ve had a good teacher,” the summoner murmured, smirking when Miranda rolled her eyes.

“I don’t remember teachin’ ya how to sneak.”

The purple-haired girl shrugged, the perfect picture of innocence. Since they were currently alone and in a secluded part of the ship, she lifted her arm up a little, letting the kitten squirm out of its hiding place and scramble onto her shoulders, nuzzling her cheek with its nose.

Miranda had to admit, it was a cute scene. “So, what now, Alphine?”

Lutecia winced, lifting a hand to scratch the kitten between its shoulder blades. “I have to figure out who will take him.”

“Your mom doesn’t like animals?”

The summoner shrugged, moving carefully to mind her companion. “It’s not really that. I know cats are supposed to be independent, but she’s at work pretty much all day, and I’m always gone too unless I have time off. Our apartment is really small. I don’t think it’s fair to him to keep him cooped up in there.”

“No friends?”

“Well, there’s Vivio,” Lutecia admitted; it was clear from her tone that she had been considering the option before Miranda had asked. “But, um… I think Fate-san is really more of a dog person.”

Sensing there was an implication there that currently flew over her head, Miranda blinked several times before she sighed. “So basically, no plan.”

“Basically.”

Silence fell between them then; Miranda glanced at her partner. Clearly, Lutecia had no idea what to do with her furry feline friend, and it was the kind of thing that would eat at her until a solution presented itself.

Acting perfectly nonchalant, the brown-eyed woman shifted closer to her partner and lifted her hand, lightly passing her fingers down the kitten’s back in a soft stroke. Instantly, the animal purred and arched, enjoying the touch. Amused, Miranda repeated the gesture, then gently lifted the animal off its perch and into her arms.

“Miranda?”

Shrugging, the older woman gently tickled a sensitive spot at the back of the kitten’s neck, amused when it mewled in pleasure. “Well, I’m just thinkin’ here. Kel and I, we’ve got a decently sized house. Nothin’ big o’ fancy, but a good size. And the man’s always been sweet on animals of every size an’ shape.”

Lutecia’s eyes lit up. “Then?”

“I’ll take your buddy home and see what ‘e says about it, ‘kay?”

All things considered, Miranda Creed had never been an animal person. She certainly hadn’t expected to start thinking about pets now.

But seeing the way her partner’s eyes lit up with relief and delight, and the way she smiled, made the change worth it.

….

They still needed to have that discussion about attachment issues, though. The sooner Lutecia learned to keep a distance, the better.

Spoiler for Ramblings:

1. Yeah, I know Lutecia's reasoning is somewhat flawed, but I really needed to get the cat with Miranda. Feel free to rip apart her reasoning to your heart's content.

2. The mention of Fate being a dog person is a small reference to the running gag in Dezo's fics, in which cats don't like Fate. At all.

Stray

A nice moment of showing a typical Shadow agent's priorities with the first few paragraphs. And about Miranda speculating on how she could make the cat go missing while they were leaving....now I'm imagining a movie scene where Lutecia is searching desperately, then finally gives up as Miranda kindly puts a hand on her shoulder, and they board the ship together with Lutecia giving one last sad glance backwards...for the camera to pan down to an alley behind a dumpster, where a white cat lies with it's neck wrung @_@......

I liked the small touch of how Lutecia was secretly proud of succeeding at sneaking the cat aboard . It reminds me of how kids/teenagers often know they weren't supposed to do something outrageous, and show the proper remorse, but yet can't help but feel that satisfaction at being successful .

*imagines a white kitty stuffed up Lutecia's coat sleeve* Awwwwwwwwwww .....

I admit, I'm not very fond about reading accents in dialogue . Miranda's is not too bad, but I still gritted my teeth whenever I hit more than one slurred word due to the accent in a sentence . Personal preference though!

.....And a nice eerie slip about Shadow ethics at the end .

[Nanya01]

A's

Jump

New Parts 1-45

New Part 46

New Part 47

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - New Part 48:

"So, Dyn..." Filia, who was back in her human form, looked at him with eyes that held nothing but questions. "Why did you sell yourself to Dynast?"

"He's stronger than you think..." Dyn grimaced as he saw Galveira in Lina's hands. "After we gained the Weapons of Light, we were going to free Shabranigdo from his frozen prison and find the other fragments and awaken them."

"What was my role in all of this?" Filia asked him, trembling in anger.

Dyn smirked slightly. "You were going to be a reward... For all of us. After all, we'd need to make sure that there was enough Gold Dragons to repopulate after the rest have been destroyed."

Filia's eyes widened as the others stared, hard, at Dyn. "You..."

"My, my..." Xellos shook his head. "Even we Mazoku aren't that twisted... Servants of the Gods really are hypocrites." He eyed Sherra, who was trembling on the ground, before snorting. He had no reason to kill her anymore, she looked ready to fall apart right then and there.

Dyn growled and moved slightly, before he found himself smashed back against the wall thanks to a fist from Amelia.

"Just stay right there, traitor of justice!" Amelia pointed a finger at him. "If you move again, I'll make sure to snap your arm off and use it to beat you to a pulp!"

"Amelia!" Lina chuckled softly and shook her head. She had forgotten just how... Violent her friend could get when she got upset.

Then again, she was no different.

"Alright, Dyn, so you were going to turn Filia into breeding stock, and you were going to kill the rest of the Dragons, and free Shabranigdo, is there any other crimes you want to admit to?"

"Warning, master!"

Nanoha's eyes widened as a wave of power crashed into her back a moment later, causing her to scream out in pain as her outfit was shredded, her legs, arms and back were cut up and bleeding. Spinning around, Lina gasped as she saw Dynast standing there, not looking like he was injured at all.

"Did you really think that was enough to kill me?"

"I was hoping it would be." Lina muttered and turned as Filia let out a yelp, only to find that Dyn had taken her and was standing by Dynast's side. "Dammit!"

Filia groaned and yelped as Dyn pressed his body to hers tightly. "Now then..." Dynast spoke up. "Hand over the weapons, you have no idea how they work."

Lina saw Amelia working on healing Nanoha and turned her attention to Dynast. "Huh, you know..." She looked at Galveira in confusion. "You're right... I have no clue how to use this. I mean, there's no hilt, no obvious markings, and I was never good at archery... How does this thing work?" She moved it around as she looked at it in confusion.

"Good, now just..."

Lina looked at him and smirked. "Got'cha. LIGHT COME FORTH!" She yelled as the weapon powered up and Lina let loose a single arrow that went between Dyn and Dynast, causing both of them to move slightly as that single arrow soared out of the temple and into the sky.

"Woah! That weapon does surpass the Sword of Light, it makes it look like a candle." Xellos was impressed. This was something that he never had expected.

"Xellos..." The Mazoku was shocked to hear Lina's voice in his head. "Listen to me, I can't get a clear shot unless Filia's out of the way, can you help me out?"

Xellos smirked and disappeared from view.

"It seems that Xellos has abandoned you..." Dynast chuckled as he moved towards them. "And even if you kill me, Lina Inverse, unlike Gaav and Hellmaster, I always win."

"Really." Lina said flatly and cast a glance at Nanoha, who was sighing in relief as her skin was no longer bleeding. "You aren't going to survive this, Dynast..."

"What are you waiting on then?" Dynast asked, before hearing Dyn cry out in pain and let go of Filia.

"You really should choose your allies better, Dynast." Xellos' voice was heard as Dyn let go of Filia, who stumbled away. Sticking out of Dyn's chest was a giant cone that was breaking Dyn's body down as it spun around and around.

"Xellos!" Dynast growled before the cone disappeared, leaving a large hole in the middle of Dyn's body.

The former Supreme Elder fell to the floor, dead.

"Thanks, Xellos." Lina smirked as she took aim at Dynast. "Now, Dynast, time for you to die."

"Fragment of the Lord of Nightmares."

Black energy started pooling into Galveira, causing the Mazoku Lord's eyes to widen.

"Free yourself from Heaven's bonds."

"That won't work!" Dynast growled as he faded back into the Astral Plane.

Or tried to. He gasped, finding his ability to teleport away being blocked. "WHAT?!"

"Become one with my body! One with my power! And let us WALK the path of destruction together!"

Galveira was covered in black energy crackling with white lightning.

"Power that can smash even the souls of the gods!"

"Really, Dynast..." A new voice spoke up and the Mazoku Lord looked up and gasped at who he saw.

"Zelas!" He hissed as he saw her sitting there lazily, drinking wine from a goblet. "What are you doing here?"

"Ending a nusance." She smirked at him. "You just don't hurt a mother's child after all."

"RAGNA BLADE! Fly through Galveira!"

Dynast gasped as Lina let loose a black pillar of energy, one that flew so fast and wide that even if he could move at the speed of light, he couldn't have dodged it.

He let loose a scream as his body was consumed by the Ragna Blade. "I won't..." He grit his teeth as he felt himself dying. "I won't LOSE LIKE THIS!" That was the last thing that any of them heard as his body disappeared in a flash of gold.

Lina sighed softly as her weapon powered down, before she fell to her knees and started coughing up blood. "Dammit..."

"Here." Shiro was by her side in an instant, holding onto her and helping her up. "I got you."

Filia and Gourry were stunned by the power that they had seen.

"Master..." Xellos was by her side in an instant. "I... Didn't expect to see you."

"It's fine... I just was checking up on my servant, that's all." She looked at Sherra, who had black energy flowing into her. Extending a hand, Sherra's body disappeared, before reappearing next to Zelas. "Keep up with what you were doing, Xellos. This one, I have plans for her."

Xellos nodded, though he wondered just why his master would be interested in Dynast's servant.

He also wondered why he felt her gaining so much power after her master was dead.

[vic-vic]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

A's

Jump

New Parts 1-45

New Part 46

New Part 47

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - New Part 48:

"So, Dyn..." Filia, who was back in her human form, looked at him with eyes that held nothing but questions. "Why did you sell yourself to Dynast?"

"He's stronger than you think..." Dyn grimaced as he saw Galveira in Lina's hands. "After we gained the Weapons of Light, we were going to free Shabranigdo from his frozen prison and find the other fragments and awaken them."

"What was my role in all of this?" Filia asked him, trembling in anger.

Dyn smirked slightly. "You were going to be a reward... For all of us. After all, we'd need to make sure that there was enough Gold Dragons to repopulate after the rest have been destroyed."

Filia's eyes widened as the others stared, hard, at Dyn. "You..."

"My, my..." Xellos shook his head. "Even we Mazoku aren't that twisted... Servants of the Gods really are hypocrites." He eyed Sherra, who was trembling on the ground, before snorting. He had no reason to kill her anymore, she looked ready to fall apart right then and there.

Dyn growled and moved slightly, before he found himself smashed back against the wall thanks to a fist from Amelia.

"Just stay right there, traitor of justice!" Amelia pointed a finger at him. "If you move again, I'll make sure to snap your arm off and use it to beat you to a pulp!"

"Amelia!" Lina chuckled softly and shook her head. She had forgotten just how... Violent her friend could get when she got upset.

Then again, she was no different.

"Alright, Dyn, so you were going to turn Filia into breeding stock, and you were going to kill the rest of the Dragons, and free Shabranigdo, is there any other crimes you want to admit to?"

"Warning, master!"

Nanoha's eyes widened as a wave of power crashed into her back a moment later, causing her to scream out in pain as her outfit was shredded, her legs, arms and back were cut up and bleeding. Spinning around, Lina gasped as she saw Dynast standing there, not looking like he was injured at all.

"Did you really think that was enough to kill me?"

"I was hoping it would be." Lina muttered and turned as Filia let out a yelp, only to find that Dyn had taken her and was standing by Dynast's side. "Dammit!"

Filia groaned and yelped as Dyn pressed his body to hers tightly. "Now then..." Dynast spoke up. "Hand over the weapons, you have no idea how they work."

Lina saw Amelia working on healing Nanoha and turned her attention to Dynast. "Huh, you know..." She looked at Galveira in confusion. "You're right... I have no clue how to use this. I mean, there's no hilt, no obvious markings, and I was never good at archery... How does this thing work?" She moved it around as she looked at it in confusion.

"Good, now just..."

Lina looked at him and smirked. "Got'cha. LIGHT COME FORTH!" She yelled as the weapon powered up and Lina let loose a single arrow that went between Dyn and Dynast, causing both of them to move slightly as that single arrow soared out of the temple and into the sky.

"Woah! That weapon does surpass the Sword of Light, it makes it look like a candle." Xellos was impressed. This was something that he never had expected.

"Xellos..." The Mazoku was shocked to hear Lina's voice in his head. "Listen to me, I can't get a clear shot unless Filia's out of the way, can you help me out?"

Xellos smirked and disappeared from view.

"It seems that Xellos has abandoned you..." Dynast chuckled as he moved towards them. "And even if you kill me, Lina Inverse, unlike Gaav and Hellmaster, I always win."

"Really." Lina said flatly and cast a glance at Nanoha, who was sighing in relief as her skin was no longer bleeding. "You aren't going to survive this, Dynast..."

"What are you waiting on then?" Dynast asked, before hearing Dyn cry out in pain and let go of Filia.

"You really should choose your allies better, Dynast." Xellos' voice was heard as Dyn let go of Filia, who stumbled away. Sticking out of Dyn's chest was a giant cone that was breaking Dyn's body down as it spun around and around.

"Xellos!" Dynast growled before the cone disappeared, leaving a large hole in the middle of Dyn's body.

The former Supreme Elder fell to the floor, dead.

"Thanks, Xellos." Lina smirked as she took aim at Dynast. "Now, Dynast, time for you to die."

"Fragment of the Lord of Nightmares."

Black energy started pooling into Galveira, causing the Mazoku Lord's eyes to widen.

"Free yourself from Heaven's bonds."

"That won't work!" Dynast growled as he faded back into the Astral Plane.

Or tried to. He gasped, finding his ability to teleport away being blocked. "WHAT?!"

"Become one with my body! One with my power! And let us WALK the path of destruction together!"

Galveira was covered in black energy crackling with white lightning.

"Power that can smash even the souls of the gods!"

"Really, Dynast..." A new voice spoke up and the Mazoku Lord looked up and gasped at who he saw.

"Zelas!" He hissed as he saw her sitting there lazily, drinking wine from a goblet. "What are you doing here?"

"Ending a nusance." She smirked at him. "You just don't hurt a mother's child after all."

"RAGNA BLADE! Fly through Galveira!"

Dynast gasped as Lina let loose a black pillar of energy, one that flew so fast and wide that even if he could move at the speed of light, he couldn't have dodged it.

He let loose a scream as his body was consumed by the Ragna Blade. "I won't..." He grit his teeth as he felt himself dying. "I won't LOSE LIKE THIS!" That was the last thing that any of them heard as his body disappeared in a flash of gold.

Lina sighed softly as her weapon powered down, before she fell to her knees and started coughing up blood. "Dammit..."

"Here." Shiro was by her side in an instant, holding onto her and helping her up. "I got you."

Filia and Gourry were stunned by the power that they had seen.

"Master..." Xellos was by her side in an instant. "I... Didn't expect to see you."

"It's fine... I just was checking up on my servant, that's all." She looked at Sherra, who had black energy flowing into her. Extending a hand, Sherra's body disappeared, before reappearing next to Zelas. "Keep up with what you were doing, Xellos. This one, I have plans for her."

Xellos nodded, though he wondered just why his master would be interested in Dynast's servant.

He also wondered why he felt her gaining so much power after her master was dead.

Zellas also make her appearance... and what about Sherra, hm?

[Kaijo]

Why hello there, fic that I haven't updated in 5 months!

Whipped

Part 2: Trial and Error

Part 1 can be found here.

Spoiler for Whipped, Part 2: Trial and Error:

Whipped
Part 2: Trial and Error

Xx~~*~~xX

Nanoha awoke lazily, turning her head to the side and yawning, wondering exactly when she had rolled onto her stomach. It wasn't a position she normally slept in, but it wasn't altogether uncommon, either. She went to rub the sleep from her eyes... and found she couldn't.

[What the...?] she wondered internally as her arms were held fast. [And my legs, too!?]

"Good morning, Nanoha," came Fate's soothing voice, but there was something odd about the tone.

Nanoha turned her head to the other side. "Fate-chan? What's going..."

She trailed off in shock at the sight of Fate in black leather, fishnet stalkings, while lightly tapping a coiled whip against her hip. For a moment, she wondered if Fate's enhanced chest size was an illusion brought on by the black leather bustier; it was almost hypnotic in the way it bounced with each small movement.

"Well, you do want to help me, don't you?" Fate reminded her coyly, then let the whip uncoil while pulling the blanket off Nanoha in one smooth motion. "You want to understand me and what I went through?"

Nanoha's eyes widened as she saw her wrists and ankles handcuffed to the corners of the bed. "F-Fate..chan? W-what are you...?"

"Allow me to show you, ohohohoho!" Fate laughed as she cracked the whip repeatedly, shredding the backside of Nanoha's pajamas.

"Aaaauuu...!"

x~~*~~x

"...gggghhhh!"

*THUNK!*

"Ow," Nanoha mumbled sleepily, finding herself face down on the floor. Hesitantly, she reached back and felt the backside of her pajamas, sighing upon finding them intact.

She slowly sat up on her knees while rubbing her forehead, wondering if perhaps she had been watching too much of the anime Arisa kept sending her; it seemed to be blending together with what she learned of Fate and certain other subjects lately.

Yawning, she stood up and headed downstairs to prepare breakfast, opening up a holographic screen to check the forum from last night. She was curious to know what kind of responses she got, especially that the subject was now quiet vividly on her mind. There were a few replies, but most didn't say too much, other than general advice of waiting for her to talk about it on her own and wishing her good luck. That was something Nanoha had initially considered, but it was affecting Fate's job and so obviously couldn't continue for too long without issues. Still others were asking for more information, and after pondering during breakfast exactly what to add, she began to type:

Thank you for your comments and concern, everyone! The abuse happened over 10 years ago, so I didn't think it was an issue anymore. Normally, I probably would give her time, or not press her about it as she usually tells me everything, but it's affecting her job.

Nanoha sat back and studied the post, hesitating about adding the next part, then sighed and reached up to continue typing.

I talked to her adoptive mother, who told me that she went from being a good girl, to one who acted out and misbehaved and wouldn't stop until she spanked. The adoptive mother seemed to think my friend needed a physical reprimand, but I don't know enough about psychology to really understand. I'm not sure it's related, but reading what everyone else has written here, I figure it might play a part.

Also, we weren't friends when I first knew her; we actually fought quite a bit, and it wasn't until a won a physical confrontation with her that she started to open up to me and we finally became close friends. Before that, she was highly devoted to her abusive biological mother.

Nanoha nervously hit submit, still feeling a bit of shame for revealing things like this. She figured Fate would probably be upset if she knew that Nanoha was sharing her personal life details, but she decided it was worth the risk; it was anonymous enough.

Almost immediately, she got a response:

Since it sounds like it's interfering with her work, perhaps you could organize some extra training for her? That might be enough to snap her out of it.

Nanoha sat back and thought about that. [Hmmm...]

x~~*~~x

Fate clashed in mid-air with her opponent, the energy blade of her scythe blocking the sword strike. The two met eyes for just a moment, before springing apart again, but Fate was already preparing for next next move; a Plasma Lancer volley. She knew it wouldn't do too much to Signum, but it would help her keep the initiative. The Belkan knight was already on the move, however, and even though Fate was guiding the shots to stay on her opponent's tail, Signum wasn't one to go on the defensive.

This was how their fights usually went, Fate realized. Signum preferred powering on through any attacks coming her way, while Fate relied on her speed and agility. She hadn't yet gone into Sonic Form, but she realized she'd probably have to in order to get the winning shot. Yet, somehow, the very thought of lessening her defenses made her nervous for some reason.

Then there was no more time to consider that, as the Belkan knight was charging straight for Fate, a half-dozen Plasma Lancer shots still chasing her. Fate knew as well as Signum that those shots wouldn't hurt their caster at all, so she clearly wasn't planning on veering off at the last moment. But Fate decided to test her opponent's resolve, twisting and swinging her scythe.

"Arc Saber," Bardiche intoned, releasing the spinning blade.

Signum didn't change course, the projectile impacting and exploding in a cloud of smoke that briefly obscured the knight from view.

Fate wasn't done, however, and continued the turn while gathering her magic, thrusting out her left hand. "Thunder Smasher!"

It was the weakest of her direct-fire beam spells, but it was also the fastest to cast due to lesser mana used, and she counted on the fact that her opponent might not expect a long-range attack used at short-range. The golden beam exploded forth as Signum emerged, her scabbard out and smoking, indicated that she had used it to block.

Fate smiled, knowing that wouldn't protect her opponent from the stronger beam, but the smile disappeared as Signum brought her flaming sword around, pointing straight into the beam, cleaving it and continuing her forward charge. Fate cursed and tried to dodge, but the range was too close; still, she managed to avoid a complete skewering by throwing her left hand outward and smacking the blade, seething as her gauntlet cracked and splintered, accompanied to the tune of her cape being torn when Signum continued past.

Her left arm temporarily numb, Fate descended rapidly from the sky as Bardiche popped a cartridge. "Blitz Rush."

Finally, Signum turned and threw up a shield as Bardiche enhanced the speed of Fate's magic missiles to catch up, while the caster glanced at her mostly shattered gauntlet, realizing she couldn't spare the magic to reform it.

During the brief pause in the action, Fate glanced over to the side, where Vita and Nanoha were observing from the holographic controls. Fate realized it must have been Nanoha's plan when the latter had urged the former to help her with something at work. They had ended up next to the ocean-side holographic combat area where the Section 6 Forwards used to train, right as Vita was apparently wrapping up one of her combat classes. While they stopped to talk, Signum had showed up, requesting a match as she hadn't been in heavy combat for awhile and didn't want to get rusty.

Fate recognized that it was a trap, pure and simple.

Nanoha must have found out Fate failed her latest combat exam, and probably figured Signum was the perfect sparring partner to get her back into the swing of things.

[And it's obvious that Signum feels the same,] Fate noted ruefully. [Given the way she's been pushing me; this isn't just a sparring match.] While touched by their concern, Fate didn't really see the point; her combat skills were fine, and it was just a little stress that caused her to fail the exam, that was all. She'd retake it after some time off.

However, indulging her friends was something she could afford to do, and she had to admit she was enjoying the little off-and-on rivalry she had going with Signum all these years.

"You seem a little slower today, Testarossa," Signum taunted as the smoke cleared. "And your spells apparently lack that extra punch I had grown accustomed to. Do not tell me you have grown a bit out of shape?"

Fate growled internally, knowing the knight was just goading her in a friendly fashion. "Sometimes people can get lucky. I wouldn't expect a warrior such as yourself to rely on luck, however."

Signum's lips turned upward into a mild grin. "Let us see if it was luck, then. Levanteinn!"

"Schlangenform!" her sword announced, popping a cartridge.

By this point in their lives, both fighters were intimately aware of each others fighting style and tactics, so Fate knew Signum was planning on using the extended form to cut off Fate's movement area. It worked well against slower mages, but "slow" wasn't a term that described Fate; she shot straight up into the air as Signum began weaving her weapon through the sky, getting above the enclosing noose.

One Sonic Move later, Fate came in at Signum's backside, but suddenly the Belkan knight shortened her snakeform-sword to just a few meters in length while setting it ablaze, then whipping it around in Fate's direction. Fate found her eyes drawn to the object as if suddenly nothing else in the world mattered.

x~~*~~x

"Ow, what hit me?" Fate muttered, sitting up and cracking an eye open, beholding the trio standing nearby and looking at her. "What?"

"You don't remember?" Nanoha asked tentatively, crouching down to check Fate's head. "Signum's attack that struck you?"

"I was expecting you to dodge, and found it odd that you did not," Signum stated curiously. "And I did not expect it to cause you to lose consciousness from so simple a blow. Are you alright, Testarossa?"

Fate froze, realizing there was a gap in her memory. [I... don't remember? How? Why?] "I... just a momentary lapse. I'm fine."

"Fate-chan, are you sure?" Nanoha inquired,a note of worry in her voice. "Perhaps we should have Shamal-"

"No, I'm fine," Fate declared, but inwardly she was shaking. "I'll walk it off. I'm sorry, Signum, but I can't continue our match right now. I have some things to do. Perhaps later. Excuse me."

Her limbs felt light and almost unsteady, but Fate tried her best to steady them as she walked away. Still, inside there was a gnawing fear that wouldn't go away; twice now, she had blacked out in a critical moment. If it was just once, she could have written it off as coincidence, but it was twice now, and that was beginning to scare her.

[I'm fine, everything's fine, I just need to relax some more,] Fate told herself. [I can't let the others worry about me.]

Straightening up, she took a deep breath, determined to just put this behind her.

x~~*~~x

With the training idea not working out so well, Nanoha grew even more concerned and returned to the forum boards to see if new posts held more ideas. One post caught her eye:

"It really might just be stress. Get her to have some fun, loosen her up, and show you care. Perhaps share some secret of yours, as that might get her to open up, if there really is something there."

Which is why she now found herself at Marine Gardens with Fate and Vivio, and one of Vivio's friends. Ostensibly it was just a request from Vivio to Fate to come to the amusement park with her, although the little girl had been coached by Nanoha. When faced with those innocent eyes, Fate admitted defeat almost immediately.

The Signum match was a partial failure, but it did confirm to Nanoha that something was wrong with Fate. But for whatever reason, the other woman didn't want to talk about it, which made things difficult; how was Nanoha to help her friend, if Fate didn't want to admit there was a problem in the first place? Even if Nanoha couldn't ultimately do anything to help Fate, if she could at least just get the woman to recognize there was an issue, then Fate could possibly see a specialist to work through it.

"Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama, I wanna ride the 'Sky Ace Rumble' next!" the little girl announced eagerly, tugging on their hands and breaking Nanoha out of her thoughts, and then turning to the fourth and final member of their group. "Come on, Corona!"

[If Fate suspects anything, she's hiding it well,] Nanoha told herself, glancing at the woman's smiling face as they were pulled along.

"I'm not so sure about that," Corona put forth timidly, hesitant at how the roller coaster made many upside down loops and even dropped straight down at one point.

But Vivio would not be deterred, dropping her mamas hands to focus on her recently-made friend. "You'll love it, trust me!"

To add to Corona's horror, there wasn't much of a line, which meant they quickly made it into the ride itself, which consisted of car five rows long and four seats across, hanging from a single rail overhead. Vivio pushed Corona all the way over, while Nanoha took the other middle seat next to her, and Fate took the last seat. As the attendants fastened them in, Nanoha spied an opportunity.

"You know, Corona, these kinds of rides actually scare me a bit, too," she stated, watching Fate out of the corner of her eye, but the other woman was merely watching with mild interest.

The little girl stared at her. "But you can fly and do all sorts of stunts in the sky! Vivio showed me some recordings. Why would this scare you?"

Nanoha shrugged thoughtfully, as well as she could being due the harness holding her in. "Perhaps it's because in those cases, I am in control. With something like this, someone else is in control, and the anticipation of not knowing exactly where you are going next, makes me nervous." She smiled. "Almost like the idea that you can't really tickle yourself."

"Then why do you ride them?" Corona asked curiously.

"Nanoha-mama isn't really scared of anything!" Vivio declared proudly, as the ride began to slowly move forward out of the embarkation area.

Nanoha laughed as they leisurely ascended into the sky on the single track. "There are things I am afraid of, but confronting those fears is what makes you strong. Also knowing the ones I care about are close by to help me, if anything does go wrong."

The little girl digested that, and while she did still seem afraid, she wasn't trembling as much as before. But Nanoha also noticed Fate looking rather thoughtful, at the edge of her peripheral vision. The way her face was angled slightly down, and her brow barely furrowed, were all signs Nanoha had learned to interpret over the years; and they told her now that perhaps Fate was considering her words.

"Nanoha, I-" Fate started to say, but that was as far as she got, as it melded into a yelp, that had something to do with the ride several stories in half as many seconds.

For the next minute and a half, the air was filled with the delightful squeals of Vivio and the terrified screams of Corona. As they went through the twists and turns, Nanoha wondered if she should admit she had embellished her earlier tale just a bit; she didn't find the rides half as scary as she had told Corona, and although there were fairly strong feelings of apprehension and nervousness, that made the experience all the more fun. In short, the fear was almost a source of pleasure. She did manage to look over at Fate at one point during the ride, and was surprised to see Fate gripping the harness so tightly, her knuckles having turned white.

"I didn't realize these rides scared you, too, Fate-chan," Nanoha teased as the car finally pulled back into the starting area.

The other woman looked a bit short on breath as her safety harness was removed. "I-I'm fine, I just think I wasn't quite... prepared for that one."

Vivio happily leapt out of her seat, while her friend practically melted out of it. "See, Corona? It wasn't that bad; I was right next to you the whole time!"

Corona shakily accepted Vivio's hand to be lead out of the area. "Yeah... not bad... piece of cake..."

"How about we go on it again, then?" Vivio enthusiastically suggested.

When the poor girl turned an even lighter shade of white, and so Nanoha tactfully suggested, "Vivio, how about that one over there? You liked the Fairy Tail ride last time we were here. Corona might enjoy a slower ride for now. We'll let you two enjoy it and wait out here; we'll have lunch when you get out."

"Okaaay!" Vivio called back as she dragged her friend to the next ride.

The two women found a table within view of the ride, complete with a wide umbrella to shield against the sun. For a few moments, they just relaxed and engaged in smaller talk, mostly about Nanoha's current class schedule and how Vivio was doing in school. Just as Nanoha wondered how to broach the subject, Fate seemingly hit it first.

"You surprised me a bit," Fate offered with a small, amused smile. "I didn't think you'd be one to be scared of those kinds of rides. I admit I was a bit nervous, too, but it was fun. In fact, this whole day has been fun. Thank you for bringing me out. It reminds me of when I brought Caro here."

"You should thank Vivio," Nanoha replied, repeating to herself that it wasn't a total lie; even though Nanoha had suggested this particular trip, Vivio had wanted to go for awhile. "But I feel safe enough with my friends and family confessing my fears, so I figured it would help Corona to know she wasn't alone in them."

Fate quieted down after that, her gaze drifting over the noisy crowds nearby, as people moved to the next attractions. Nanoha hoped her subtle pokes were getting through; the whole idea behind this trip was to get her to open up. But if Fate herself wasn't really aware of exactly what was wrong (and more than one forum member had suggested it might be subconscious), then she wouldn't be able to tell anyone. It was the one option Nanoha was most anxious about.

"Sometimes I think..." Fate started to say, then paused, biting her lip.

Nanoha leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. "Hmm?"

Several expressions went across Fate's face, her jaw tightening ever so slightly, as if she was struggling to find the right words. "Sometimes I wonder... I'm not too sure, but..." She trailed off again, then shook her head. "Nevermind, forget it."

"No, tell me, what it is?" Nanoha probed gently.

Unfortunately, the two younger girls picked that moment to return. "We're back, mama! Can we have pizza for lunch?"

Corona was apparently very much on-board with that idea, so the two older women relented. And while Nanoha wondered how to broach the subject again, she found she couldn't; for one, another opportunity didn't really present itself, and for another, Fate had seemed to change her mind about sharing at all, so Nanoha wondered if she should.

She wondered if perhaps there was another route she could take.

x~~*~~x

A forum poster held another... interesting... suggestion:

"If the source of her fear is something she is uncomfortable with, that could be why she hasn't shared it with anyone. You might be able to help bring her out of it by scaring her with something else. A fear that's more "normal" and thus easier to talk about. By empathizing with that fear, she may open up about the more uncomfortable one that's affecting her."

The advice seemed a bit dubious, but it did make a certain kind of sense, and it made Nanoha think; [What else could Fate-chan be afraid of?]

x~~*~~x

Nanoha held her breath as she felt Fate get up from the bed and head into the bathroom, having stayed over the night before. She stilled her breath, preparing for a shriek. [Any minute now... Just about...]

But when no screaming was evident, Nanoha sat up, just in time to see Fate exit the bathroom carrying a small creature the size of her hand.

"Not sure how this fuzzy Gentosha spider got into the bathroom, but I'll put him back outside where he belongs," Fate said, heading for the bedroom door. "Most people don't know these little guys are harmless."

Nanoha stared, and then sighed.

x~~*~~x

"Any particular reason why you suddenly wanted me to teach you to drive?" Fate asked from the passenger side of her car. "I thought you liked the public transportation system."

"Oh, no reason," Nanoha innocently declared, shifting the car and lurching it into motion like Fate had showed her, but putting a little more roughness into it then necessary.

"Careful!" Fate cautioned. "Slow and and easy at first."

The car squealed out of the driveway as Nanoha hit the accelerator, than careened in a sharp turn as she cranked the wheel and sped down the street.

Fate calmly gripped the side armrest. "Nanoha, watch the traffic lights..."

"...pedestrians have the right of way..."

"..take your foot off the gas before you shift..."

"...red means stop..."

"...that button activates the siren lights and it's not an emergency right now..."

"...however, that car behind us with lights are the traffic police, so you'll want to pull over now."

Nanoha glanced over at Fate sheepishly as the vehicle came to a rest. "Sorry, Fate-chan, but I thought I was doing well, too."

The other woman sighed while pulling out her wallet. "It'll only be my first ticket, since I'm responsible for student drivers. I should be able to get it removed off my record after a few months."

Inwardly, Nanoha still felt a bit bad about this, especially when the traffic cop showed up at her window, but Fate had shown no fear throughout the entire deal. So when the ticket was issued and the lesson continued, Nanoha decided to tone things down a bit and try and think of something else.

x~~*~~x

"Oh, Fate-chan, Hayate just called, and she said they'd like you to give the speech at the next departmental dinner and benefit next Tuesday," Nanoha informed her. "Something from your perspective as an Enforcer. It'll be in front of several thousand people, from the upper brass, to new recruits and their families."

Fate thought about that while she watched one of her shows. "Okay. I'll have a speech prepared in a day or so."

Nanoha raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't that worry you at all? The event is in four days, and you haven't spoken in front of that many people before."

"While I don't care for fancy dinners and speeches, I've handled a little public speaking before, and I have a few ideas for the speech, so I should be fine," Fate replied with a shrug.

"Mou," Nanoha sighed silently and scratched "Public Speaking" off her list.

x~~*~~x

This was her final attempt, she decided. After this, no more attempts at scaring Fate.

Or at least, that's what she told herself.

She had positioned Fate's chair closest to the hall entryway. She had pulled out all the stops for this one, so if it didn't work, then nothing else would. As they sat eating dinner with Vivio and Arf, watching a news show on the holoscreen, Nanoha subtly signaled Vivio.

"Fate-mama, did you hear the earlier news?" the little girl said, playing her part well. "A razorbear escaped from the zoo earlier today!"

"I hadn't, actually," Fate replied with mild interest. "They haven't caught it yet?"

She shook her head and hugged her body. "Not yet."

"There's been no word on it since earlier, when they were warning people not to approach, since it can be rather ferocious," Nanoha added.

Fate smiled at Vivio. "Well, we'll be safe enou-"

The roar of a mighty beast echoed throughout the room as the razorbear entered, then stood up on hind legs menacingly to tower over the quartet only a couple of meters from Fate's corner of the table.

"Eeek!" Vivio squealed appropriately, hopping into Nanoha's lap

"How did he get in?" Arf wondered aloud, shifting to full wolf form.

Nanoha leapt back and put Vivio behind her, preparing to fight, but was surprised when Fate continued to sit there, unmoving. [Did it work? Is she frozen with fear?]

Fate slowly turned to look at the creature, then casually inquired, "Chrono, what are you doing?"

"Rawr?" the bear attempted again, waving the razor-sharp claws that helped give it its name.

Fate poked him with am electrically-charged finger, and the transformation magic was canceled almost immediately, leaving a certain admiral standing there in an embarrassing stance.

"Heh heh, how'd you know it was me?" he asked sheepishly.

Fate sighed. "You never were very good at transformation magic. And I seem to remember you trying this prank on me once before when we were younger...." She frowned, recalling the memory.

"Just a little humor!" he protested, waving his hands defensively while walking backwards towards the entryway. "Well, I should be going; sorry to interrupt your dinner!"

"Well, that was odd," Arf commented, watching him rapidly disappear.

x~~*~~x

"Alright, time for bed, Vivio," Nanoha called from the kitchen where she was finishing up the dishes, while Fate paused the entertainment view-screen. "It's a school night!"

"Awww, I wanted to stay up a little more," the little girl complained.

"I'll race you to see who can get ready for bed first!" Arf challenged, which Vivio instantly responded to by running for the stairs first. Arf chuckled, walking after her. "What an interesting night..."

Fate walked around the counter to help put things away. "An interesting night indeed. Say, Nanoha, do you know what that was all about earlier?"

Nanoha was glad her back was currently to Fate as she crouched down to place dishes inside a lower cabinet.. "I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps since you're back for awhile, he wanted to play a little joke."

"He's not usually the joking type," Fate reflected, closing an upper cabinet door, and then turned and waited for the brunette to stand back up. "Nanoha... what's going on?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, Fate-chan," she replied, giving her best disarming smile.

Fate seemed to struggle a bit to put it into words. "Things have been a bit strange for awhile now, and I was wondering what you knew about it. What's wrong?"

Nanoha considered offering some kind of disarming explanation, but she really didn't want to lie to her friend; she turned around and offering what she hoped was a sympathetic look. "Maybe I should be the one asking that; do you still not want to talk about it?"

Fate shifted uncomfortably, crossing her arms over her chest. "There's nothing to talk about, really. I appreciate the concern from you and Hayate and everyone else, but nothing is wrong! The past is the past, and I'll be back on duty in a week. I'm just taking a vacation! It's not like I'm some fragile porcelain doll."

She accompanied the last statement with a short laugh attempt, but it came out sounding a bit empty. Also her voice had gone up a few notches during the proclamation, but Nanoha realized Fate had probably said more than she intended to say; and the fact that Fate was still fighting it, worried her even more. The only other time Fate had resisted listening, was way back in their first meetings... and with a burst of lucidity, Nanoha realized exactly how that situation was eventually resolved. She held out her hand.

"Raging Heart, please," she intoned in an even voice, a red jewel flying into her open palm and instantly transforming into Buster mode which Nanoha pointed at Fate. "I did this once, and I'm not afraid of doing it again if I need to. If you aren't fragile like you say, then you can take it."

There was a tense moment where Fate's eyes widened, staring at her and the staff as if she couldn't believe what was happening. And for a little while, Nanoha felt Fate would give in to the "fight or flight" impulse, one way or the other.

Instead, Fate sighed and turned away, her arms hugging her body. "Okay, maybe I'm a bit wary of retesting, but it's not a big deal. Sometimes..." She trailed off, as if searching for the words. "Lately, I suppose... I'm not sure, but I feel like sometimes I might have lost my edge. That maybe what happened to Zest is happening to me, and it just took longer in my case."

The staff lowered; Nanoha didn't expect that particular revelation. "Is that why you've resisted going to Shamal? Or seeing anyone? You're afraid you can't be an Enforcer anymore."

"Remember after the Book of Darkness incident?" Fate asked, her back still towards Nanoha. "How I said I wanted to join the Bureau to prevent more incidents from ending in sadness? If I can't... if I can't be a Bureau mage, at the front lines..."

Nanoha took two steps and reached up with her right hand, placing it on Fate's left shoulder. "I was shot down once before, so I know what you're going through. That's all that's happened here, I'm sure of it. I'll help you train, if you like, so you can return to the sky without worry."

Fate finally turned and nodded, a small but grateful smile on her face. "Thank you."

"Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama, I'm ready for bed!" came Vivio's call from upstairs, interrupting the conversation.

The two women traded smiles and then headed for the stairs with Fate taking the lead, but inwardly, Nanoha was still troubled. [Is this all there is to it? Or is there really something more?] She mentally shook her head. [I'm not sure, but at least this is a start. Hopefully.]

x~~*~~x

Nanoha took one last moment before bed to check in on the forum while Fate was taking a quick shower. She wanted to see if there was anything new, and perhaps see if she could share the little progress she thought she had made. Surprisingly, there weren't any other further posts, but she did notice that she had received a personal message from a user named "MothToAFlame." Curious, she opened it up and read it:

"Like your friend, my partner and I had to deal with many years of abuse, so we have an idea of what she may be going through. If she has internalized it in her subconscious like we did, then she probably doesn't even know what her problem is exactly. Locking things in one's one subconscious is a way for the mind to protect itself from trauma, but unless it is brought to the fore and dealt with, issues can persist.

I can't say exactly what you can do, as each situation is unique, but it has to be brought out somehow and confronted, and then dealt with. For us, we managed to turn the source of the fear into a source of joy and love. I can give you more details if you are interested, but only if you're serious. Most people not only can't handle it, but they wouldn't understand. The choice is up to you."

[Turning the source of fear into a source of joy and love?] Nanoha wondered, sitting back. [But how can that apply in Fate's case? Her own mother whipped her and derided her, so how would I...]

That mental thought trailed off as images of the website she had visited previously, and the dream she had several days ago, returned to her. And those thoughts were then juxtaposed by her earlier words about how she was going to help "train" Fate.

She suddenly found her cheeks burning and slapped them, closing down the forum website for now and climbing into bed. She desperately sought to shove all those thoughts aside for now, as Fate finally came out of the bathroom and laid down on the other side of the big bed while yawning a good night. As Nanoha lay there, trying to get to sleep, one thought kept repeating itself through her mind:

[What have I gotten myself into?]

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

For those wondering, Rio isn't in this because Vivio had Corona has a friend for a year or two before she met Rio, which was shortly before Vivid. I got a bit inspired for this chapter, so I was finally able to finish it, but my main focus is on Future Tense; I find I work better when I can focus on one thing, but I realize a lot of people wanted to see this continue, so I'll try. I just can't guarantee when Part 3 will come out.

[SilentOutlaw]

Posted that Vivio Travels Back In Time to the original series on FF.net, now titled Three Steps back

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

Why hello there, fic that I haven't updated in 5 months!

Whipped

Part 2: Trial and Error

Part 1 can be found here.

Spoiler for Whipped, Part 2: Trial and Error:

Whipped
Part 2: Trial and Error

Xx~~*~~xX

Nanoha awoke lazily, turning her head to the side and yawning, wondering exactly when she had rolled onto her stomach. It wasn't a position she normally slept in, but it wasn't altogether uncommon, either. She went to rub the sleep from her eyes... and found she couldn't.

[What the...?] she wondered internally as her arms were held fast. [And my legs, too!?]

"Good morning, Nanoha," came Fate's soothing voice, but there was something odd about the tone.

Nanoha turned her head to the other side. "Fate-chan? What's going..."

She trailed off in shock at the sight of Fate in black leather, fishnet stalkings, while lightly tapping a coiled whip against her hip. For a moment, she wondered if Fate's enhanced chest size was an illusion brought on by the black leather bustier; it was almost hypnotic in the way it bounced with each small movement.

"Well, you do want to help me, don't you?" Fate reminded her coyly, then let the whip uncoil while pulling the blanket off Nanoha in one smooth motion. "You want to understand me and what I went through?"

Nanoha's eyes widened as she saw her wrists and ankles handcuffed to the corners of the bed. "F-Fate..chan? W-what are you...?"

"Allow me to show you, ohohohoho!" Fate laughed as she cracked the whip repeatedly, shredding the backside of Nanoha's pajamas.

"Aaaauuu...!"

x~~*~~x

"...gggghhhh!"

*THUNK!*

"Ow," Nanoha mumbled sleepily, finding herself face down on the floor. Hesitantly, she reached back and felt the backside of her pajamas, sighing upon finding them intact.

She slowly sat up on her knees while rubbing her forehead, wondering if perhaps she had been watching too much of the anime Arisa kept sending her; it seemed to be blending together with what she learned of Fate and certain other subjects lately.

Yawning, she stood up and headed downstairs to prepare breakfast, opening up a holographic screen to check the forum from last night. She was curious to know what kind of responses she got, especially that the subject was now quiet vividly on her mind. There were a few replies, but most didn't say too much, other than general advice of waiting for her to talk about it on her own and wishing her good luck. That was something Nanoha had initially considered, but it was affecting Fate's job and so obviously couldn't continue for too long without issues. Still others were asking for more information, and after pondering during breakfast exactly what to add, she began to type:

Thank you for your comments and concern, everyone! The abuse happened over 10 years ago, so I didn't think it was an issue anymore. Normally, I probably would give her time, or not press her about it as she usually tells me everything, but it's affecting her job.

Nanoha sat back and studied the post, hesitating about adding the next part, then sighed and reached up to continue typing.

I talked to her adoptive mother, who told me that she went from being a good girl, to one who acted out and misbehaved and wouldn't stop until she spanked. The adoptive mother seemed to think my friend needed a physical reprimand, but I don't know enough about psychology to really understand. I'm not sure it's related, but reading what everyone else has written here, I figure it might play a part.

Also, we weren't friends when I first knew her; we actually fought quite a bit, and it wasn't until a won a physical confrontation with her that she started to open up to me and we finally became close friends. Before that, she was highly devoted to her abusive biological mother.

Nanoha nervously hit submit, still feeling a bit of shame for revealing things like this. She figured Fate would probably be upset if she knew that Nanoha was sharing her personal life details, but she decided it was worth the risk; it was anonymous enough.

Almost immediately, she got a response:

Since it sounds like it's interfering with her work, perhaps you could organize some extra training for her? That might be enough to snap her out of it.

Nanoha sat back and thought about that. [Hmmm...]

x~~*~~x

Fate clashed in mid-air with her opponent, the energy blade of her scythe blocking the sword strike. The two met eyes for just a moment, before springing apart again, but Fate was already preparing for next next move; a Plasma Lancer volley. She knew it wouldn't do too much to Signum, but it would help her keep the initiative. The Belkan knight was already on the move, however, and even though Fate was guiding the shots to stay on her opponent's tail, Signum wasn't one to go on the defensive.

This was how their fights usually went, Fate realized. Signum preferred powering on through any attacks coming her way, while Fate relied on her speed and agility. She hadn't yet gone into Sonic Form, but she realized she'd probably have to in order to get the winning shot. Yet, somehow, the very thought of lessening her defenses made her nervous for some reason.

Then there was no more time to consider that, as the Belkan knight was charging straight for Fate, a half-dozen Plasma Lancer shots still chasing her. Fate knew as well as Signum that those shots wouldn't hurt their caster at all, so she clearly wasn't planning on veering off at the last moment. But Fate decided to test her opponent's resolve, twisting and swinging her scythe.

"Arc Saber," Bardiche intoned, releasing the spinning blade.

Signum didn't change course, the projectile impacting and exploding in a cloud of smoke that briefly obscured the knight from view.

Fate wasn't done, however, and continued the turn while gathering her magic, thrusting out her left hand. "Thunder Smasher!"

It was the weakest of her direct-fire beam spells, but it was also the fastest to cast due to lesser mana used, and she counted on the fact that her opponent might not expect a long-range attack used at short-range. The golden beam exploded forth as Signum emerged, her scabbard out and smoking, indicated that she had used it to block.

Fate smiled, knowing that wouldn't protect her opponent from the stronger beam, but the smile disappeared as Signum brought her flaming sword around, pointing straight into the beam, cleaving it and continuing her forward charge. Fate cursed and tried to dodge, but the range was too close; still, she managed to avoid a complete skewering by throwing her left hand outward and smacking the blade, seething as her gauntlet cracked and splintered, accompanied to the tune of her cape being torn when Signum continued past.

Her left arm temporarily numb, Fate descended rapidly from the sky as Bardiche popped a cartridge. "Blitz Rush."

Finally, Signum turned and threw up a shield as Bardiche enhanced the speed of Fate's magic missiles to catch up, while the caster glanced at her mostly shattered gauntlet, realizing she couldn't spare the magic to reform it.

During the brief pause in the action, Fate glanced over to the side, where Vita and Nanoha were observing from the holographic controls. Fate realized it must have been Nanoha's plan when the latter had urged the former to help her with something at work. They had ended up next to the ocean-side holographic combat area where the Section 6 Forwards used to train, right as Vita was apparently wrapping up one of her combat classes. While they stopped to talk, Signum had showed up, requesting a match as she hadn't been in heavy combat for awhile and didn't want to get rusty.

Fate recognized that it was a trap, pure and simple.

Nanoha must have found out Fate failed her latest combat exam, and probably figured Signum was the perfect sparring partner to get her back into the swing of things.

[And it's obvious that Signum feels the same,] Fate noted ruefully. [Given the way she's been pushing me; this isn't just a sparring match.] While touched by their concern, Fate didn't really see the point; her combat skills were fine, and it was just a little stress that caused her to fail the exam, that was all. She'd retake it after some time off.

However, indulging her friends was something she could afford to do, and she had to admit she was enjoying the little off-and-on rivalry she had going with Signum all these years.

"You seem a little slower today, Testarossa," Signum taunted as the smoke cleared. "And your spells apparently lack that extra punch I had grown accustomed to. Do not tell me you have grown a bit out of shape?"

Fate growled internally, knowing the knight was just goading her in a friendly fashion. "Sometimes people can get lucky. I wouldn't expect a warrior such as yourself to rely on luck, however."

Signum's lips turned upward into a mild grin. "Let us see if it was luck, then. Levanteinn!"

"Schlangenform!" her sword announced, popping a cartridge.

By this point in their lives, both fighters were intimately aware of each others fighting style and tactics, so Fate knew Signum was planning on using the extended form to cut off Fate's movement area. It worked well against slower mages, but "slow" wasn't a term that described Fate; she shot straight up into the air as Signum began weaving her weapon through the sky, getting above the enclosing noose.

One Sonic Move later, Fate came in at Signum's backside, but suddenly the Belkan knight shortened her snakeform-sword to just a few meters in length while setting it ablaze, then whipping it around in Fate's direction. Fate found her eyes drawn to the object as if suddenly nothing else in the world mattered.

x~~*~~x

"Ow, what hit me?" Fate muttered, sitting up and cracking an eye open, beholding the trio standing nearby and looking at her. "What?"

"You don't remember?" Nanoha asked tentatively, crouching down to check Fate's head. "Signum's attack that struck you?"

"I was expecting you to dodge, and found it odd that you did not," Signum stated curiously. "And I did not expect it to cause you to lose consciousness from so simple a blow. Are you alright, Testarossa?"

Fate froze, realizing there was a gap in her memory. [I... don't remember? How? Why?] "I... just a momentary lapse. I'm fine."

"Fate-chan, are you sure?" Nanoha inquired,a note of worry in her voice. "Perhaps we should have Shamal-"

"No, I'm fine," Fate declared, but inwardly she was shaking. "I'll walk it off. I'm sorry, Signum, but I can't continue our match right now. I have some things to do. Perhaps later. Excuse me."

Her limbs felt light and almost unsteady, but Fate tried her best to steady them as she walked away. Still, inside there was a gnawing fear that wouldn't go away; twice now, she had blacked out in a critical moment. If it was just once, she could have written it off as coincidence, but it was twice now, and that was beginning to scare her.

[I'm fine, everything's fine, I just need to relax some more,] Fate told herself. [I can't let the others worry about me.]

Straightening up, she took a deep breath, determined to just put this behind her.

x~~*~~x

With the training idea not working out so well, Nanoha grew even more concerned and returned to the forum boards to see if new posts held more ideas. One post caught her eye:

"It really might just be stress. Get her to have some fun, loosen her up, and show you care. Perhaps share some secret of yours, as that might get her to open up, if there really is something there."

Which is why she now found herself at Marine Gardens with Fate and Vivio, and one of Vivio's friends. Ostensibly it was just a request from Vivio to Fate to come to the amusement park with her, although the little girl had been coached by Nanoha. When faced with those innocent eyes, Fate admitted defeat almost immediately.

The Signum match was a partial failure, but it did confirm to Nanoha that something was wrong with Fate. But for whatever reason, the other woman didn't want to talk about it, which made things difficult; how was Nanoha to help her friend, if Fate didn't want to admit there was a problem in the first place? Even if Nanoha couldn't ultimately do anything to help Fate, if she could at least just get the woman to recognize there was an issue, then Fate could possibly see a specialist to work through it.

"Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama, I wanna ride the 'Sky Ace Rumble' next!" the little girl announced eagerly, tugging on their hands and breaking Nanoha out of her thoughts, and then turning to the fourth and final member of their group. "Come on, Corona!"

[If Fate suspects anything, she's hiding it well,] Nanoha told herself, glancing at the woman's smiling face as they were pulled along.

"I'm not so sure about that," Corona put forth timidly, hesitant at how the roller coaster made many upside down loops and even dropped straight down at one point.

But Vivio would not be deterred, dropping her mamas hands to focus on her recently-made friend. "You'll love it, trust me!"

To add to Corona's horror, there wasn't much of a line, which meant they quickly made it into the ride itself, which consisted of car five rows long and four seats across, hanging from a single rail overhead. Vivio pushed Corona all the way over, while Nanoha took the other middle seat next to her, and Fate took the last seat. As the attendants fastened them in, Nanoha spied an opportunity.

"You know, Corona, these kinds of rides actually scare me a bit, too," she stated, watching Fate out of the corner of her eye, but the other woman was merely watching with mild interest.

The little girl stared at her. "But you can fly and do all sorts of stunts in the sky! Vivio showed me some recordings. Why would this scare you?"

Nanoha shrugged thoughtfully, as well as she could being due the harness holding her in. "Perhaps it's because in those cases, I am in control. With something like this, someone else is in control, and the anticipation of not knowing exactly where you are going next, makes me nervous." She smiled. "Almost like the idea that you can't really tickle yourself."

"Then why do you ride them?" Corona asked curiously.

"Nanoha-mama isn't really scared of anything!" Vivio declared proudly, as the ride began to slowly move forward out of the embarkation area.

Nanoha laughed as they leisurely ascended into the sky on the single track. "There are things I am afraid of, but confronting those fears is what makes you strong. Also knowing the ones I care about are close by to help me, if anything does go wrong."

The little girl digested that, and while she did still seem afraid, she wasn't trembling as much as before. But Nanoha also noticed Fate looking rather thoughtful, at the edge of her peripheral vision. The way her face was angled slightly down, and her brow barely furrowed, were all signs Nanoha had learned to interpret over the years; and they told her now that perhaps Fate was considering her words.

"Nanoha, I-" Fate started to say, but that was as far as she got, as it melded into a yelp, that had something to do with the ride several stories in half as many seconds.

For the next minute and a half, the air was filled with the delightful squeals of Vivio and the terrified screams of Corona. As they went through the twists and turns, Nanoha wondered if she should admit she had embellished her earlier tale just a bit; she didn't find the rides half as scary as she had told Corona, and although there were fairly strong feelings of apprehension and nervousness, that made the experience all the more fun. In short, the fear was almost a source of pleasure. She did manage to look over at Fate at one point during the ride, and was surprised to see Fate gripping the harness so tightly, her knuckles having turned white.

"I didn't realize these rides scared you, too, Fate-chan," Nanoha teased as the car finally pulled back into the starting area.

The other woman looked a bit short on breath as her safety harness was removed. "I-I'm fine, I just think I wasn't quite... prepared for that one."

Vivio happily leapt out of her seat, while her friend practically melted out of it. "See, Corona? It wasn't that bad; I was right next to you the whole time!"

Corona shakily accepted Vivio's hand to be lead out of the area. "Yeah... not bad... piece of cake..."

"How about we go on it again, then?" Vivio enthusiastically suggested.

When the poor girl turned an even lighter shade of white, and so Nanoha tactfully suggested, "Vivio, how about that one over there? You liked the Fairy Tail ride last time we were here. Corona might enjoy a slower ride for now. We'll let you two enjoy it and wait out here; we'll have lunch when you get out."

"Okaaay!" Vivio called back as she dragged her friend to the next ride.

The two women found a table within view of the ride, complete with a wide umbrella to shield against the sun. For a few moments, they just relaxed and engaged in smaller talk, mostly about Nanoha's current class schedule and how Vivio was doing in school. Just as Nanoha wondered how to broach the subject, Fate seemingly hit it first.

"You surprised me a bit," Fate offered with a small, amused smile. "I didn't think you'd be one to be scared of those kinds of rides. I admit I was a bit nervous, too, but it was fun. In fact, this whole day has been fun. Thank you for bringing me out. It reminds me of when I brought Caro here."

"You should thank Vivio," Nanoha replied, repeating to herself that it wasn't a total lie; even though Nanoha had suggested this particular trip, Vivio had wanted to go for awhile. "But I feel safe enough with my friends and family confessing my fears, so I figured it would help Corona to know she wasn't alone in them."

Fate quieted down after that, her gaze drifting over the noisy crowds nearby, as people moved to the next attractions. Nanoha hoped her subtle pokes were getting through; the whole idea behind this trip was to get her to open up. But if Fate herself wasn't really aware of exactly what was wrong (and more than one forum member had suggested it might be subconscious), then she wouldn't be able to tell anyone. It was the one option Nanoha was most anxious about.

"Sometimes I think..." Fate started to say, then paused, biting her lip.

Nanoha leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. "Hmm?"

Several expressions went across Fate's face, her jaw tightening ever so slightly, as if she was struggling to find the right words. "Sometimes I wonder... I'm not too sure, but..." She trailed off again, then shook her head. "Nevermind, forget it."

"No, tell me, what it is?" Nanoha probed gently.

Unfortunately, the two younger girls picked that moment to return. "We're back, mama! Can we have pizza for lunch?"

Corona was apparently very much on-board with that idea, so the two older women relented. And while Nanoha wondered how to broach the subject again, she found she couldn't; for one, another opportunity didn't really present itself, and for another, Fate had seemed to change her mind about sharing at all, so Nanoha wondered if she should.

She wondered if perhaps there was another route she could take.

x~~*~~x

A forum poster held another... interesting... suggestion:

"If the source of her fear is something she is uncomfortable with, that could be why she hasn't shared it with anyone. You might be able to help bring her out of it by scaring her with something else. A fear that's more "normal" and thus easier to talk about. By empathizing with that fear, she may open up about the more uncomfortable one that's affecting her."

The advice seemed a bit dubious, but it did make a certain kind of sense, and it made Nanoha think; [What else could Fate-chan be afraid of?]

x~~*~~x

Nanoha held her breath as she felt Fate get up from the bed and head into the bathroom, having stayed over the night before. She stilled her breath, preparing for a shriek. [Any minute now... Just about...]

But when no screaming was evident, Nanoha sat up, just in time to see Fate exit the bathroom carrying a small creature the size of her hand.

"Not sure how this fuzzy Gentosha spider got into the bathroom, but I'll put him back outside where he belongs," Fate said, heading for the bedroom door. "Most people don't know these little guys are harmless."

Nanoha stared, and then sighed.

x~~*~~x

"Any particular reason why you suddenly wanted me to teach you to drive?" Fate asked from the passenger side of her car. "I thought you liked the public transportation system."

"Oh, no reason," Nanoha innocently declared, shifting the car and lurching it into motion like Fate had showed her, but putting a little more roughness into it then necessary.

"Careful!" Fate cautioned. "Slow and and easy at first."

The car squealed out of the driveway as Nanoha hit the accelerator, than careened in a sharp turn as she cranked the wheel and sped down the street.

Fate calmly gripped the side armrest. "Nanoha, watch the traffic lights..."

"...pedestrians have the right of way..."

"..take your foot off the gas before you shift..."

"...red means stop..."

"...that button activates the siren lights and it's not an emergency right now..."

"...however, that car behind us with lights are the traffic police, so you'll want to pull over now."

Nanoha glanced over at Fate sheepishly as the vehicle came to a rest. "Sorry, Fate-chan, but I thought I was doing well, too."

The other woman sighed while pulling out her wallet. "It'll only be my first ticket, since I'm responsible for student drivers. I should be able to get it removed off my record after a few months."

Inwardly, Nanoha still felt a bit bad about this, especially when the traffic cop showed up at her window, but Fate had shown no fear throughout the entire deal. So when the ticket was issued and the lesson continued, Nanoha decided to tone things down a bit and try and think of something else.

x~~*~~x

"Oh, Fate-chan, Hayate just called, and she said they'd like you to give the speech at the next departmental dinner and benefit next Tuesday," Nanoha informed her. "Something from your perspective as an Enforcer. It'll be in front of several thousand people, from the upper brass, to new recruits and their families."

Fate thought about that while she watched one of her shows. "Okay. I'll have a speech prepared in a day or so."

Nanoha raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't that worry you at all? The event is in four days, and you haven't spoken in front of that many people before."

"While I don't care for fancy dinners and speeches, I've handled a little public speaking before, and I have a few ideas for the speech, so I should be fine," Fate replied with a shrug.

"Mou," Nanoha sighed silently and scratched "Public Speaking" off her list.

x~~*~~x

This was her final attempt, she decided. After this, no more attempts at scaring Fate.

Or at least, that's what she told herself.

She had positioned Fate's chair closest to the hall entryway. She had pulled out all the stops for this one, so if it didn't work, then nothing else would. As they sat eating dinner with Vivio and Arf, watching a news show on the holoscreen, Nanoha subtly signaled Vivio.

"Fate-mama, did you hear the earlier news?" the little girl said, playing her part well. "A razorbear escaped from the zoo earlier today!"

"I hadn't, actually," Fate replied with mild interest. "They haven't caught it yet?"

She shook her head and hugged her body. "Not yet."

"There's been no word on it since earlier, when they were warning people not to approach, since it can be rather ferocious," Nanoha added.

Fate smiled at Vivio. "Well, we'll be safe enou-"

The roar of a mighty beast echoed throughout the room as the razorbear entered, then stood up on hind legs menacingly to tower over the quartet only a couple of meters from Fate's corner of the table.

"Eeek!" Vivio squealed appropriately, hopping into Nanoha's lap

"How did he get in?" Arf wondered aloud, shifting to full wolf form.

Nanoha leapt back and put Vivio behind her, preparing to fight, but was surprised when Fate continued to sit there, unmoving. [Did it work? Is she frozen with fear?]

Fate slowly turned to look at the creature, then casually inquired, "Chrono, what are you doing?"

"Rawr?" the bear attempted again, waving the razor-sharp claws that helped give it its name.

Fate poked him with am electrically-charged finger, and the transformation magic was canceled almost immediately, leaving a certain admiral standing there in an embarrassing stance.

"Heh heh, how'd you know it was me?" he asked sheepishly.

Fate sighed. "You never were very good at transformation magic. And I seem to remember you trying this prank on me once before when we were younger...." She frowned, recalling the memory.

"Just a little humor!" he protested, waving his hands defensively while walking backwards towards the entryway. "Well, I should be going; sorry to interrupt your dinner!"

"Well, that was odd," Arf commented, watching him rapidly disappear.

x~~*~~x

"Alright, time for bed, Vivio," Nanoha called from the kitchen where she was finishing up the dishes, while Fate paused the entertainment view-screen. "It's a school night!"

"Awww, I wanted to stay up a little more," the little girl complained.

"I'll race you to see who can get ready for bed first!" Arf challenged, which Vivio instantly responded to by running for the stairs first. Arf chuckled, walking after her. "What an interesting night..."

Fate walked around the counter to help put things away. "An interesting night indeed. Say, Nanoha, do you know what that was all about earlier?"

Nanoha was glad her back was currently to Fate as she crouched down to place dishes inside a lower cabinet.. "I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps since you're back for awhile, he wanted to play a little joke."

"He's not usually the joking type," Fate reflected, closing an upper cabinet door, and then turned and waited for the brunette to stand back up. "Nanoha... what's going on?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, Fate-chan," she replied, giving her best disarming smile.

Fate seemed to struggle a bit to put it into words. "Things have been a bit strange for awhile now, and I was wondering what you knew about it. What's wrong?"

Nanoha considered offering some kind of disarming explanation, but she really didn't want to lie to her friend; she turned around and offering what she hoped was a sympathetic look. "Maybe I should be the one asking that; do you still not want to talk about it?"

Fate shifted uncomfortably, crossing her arms over her chest. "There's nothing to talk about, really. I appreciate the concern from you and Hayate and everyone else, but nothing is wrong! The past is the past, and I'll be back on duty in a week. I'm just taking a vacation! It's not like I'm some fragile porcelain doll."

She accompanied the last statement with a short laugh attempt, but it came out sounding a bit empty. Also her voice had gone up a few notches during the proclamation, but Nanoha realized Fate had probably said more than she intended to say; and the fact that Fate was still fighting it, worried her even more. The only other time Fate had resisted listening, was way back in their first meetings... and with a burst of lucidity, Nanoha realized exactly how that situation was eventually resolved. She held out her hand.

"Raging Heart, please," she intoned in an even voice, a red jewel flying into her open palm and instantly transforming into Buster mode which Nanoha pointed at Fate. "I did this once, and I'm not afraid of doing it again if I need to. If you aren't fragile like you say, then you can take it."

There was a tense moment where Fate's eyes widened, staring at her and the staff as if she couldn't believe what was happening. And for a little while, Nanoha felt Fate would give in to the "fight or flight" impulse, one way or the other.

Instead, Fate sighed and turned away, her arms hugging her body. "Okay, maybe I'm a bit wary of retesting, but it's not a big deal. Sometimes..." She trailed off, as if searching for the words. "Lately, I suppose... I'm not sure, but I feel like sometimes I might have lost my edge. That maybe what happened to Zest is happening to me, and it just took longer in my case."

The staff lowered; Nanoha didn't expect that particular revelation. "Is that why you've resisted going to Shamal? Or seeing anyone? You're afraid you can't be an Enforcer anymore."

"Remember after the Book of Darkness incident?" Fate asked, her back still towards Nanoha. "How I said I wanted to join the Bureau to prevent more incidents from ending in sadness? If I can't... if I can't be a Bureau mage, at the front lines..."

Nanoha took two steps and reached up with her right hand, placing it on Fate's left shoulder. "I was shot down once before, so I know what you're going through. That's all that's happened here, I'm sure of it. I'll help you train, if you like, so you can return to the sky without worry."

Fate finally turned and nodded, a small but grateful smile on her face. "Thank you."

"Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama, I'm ready for bed!" came Vivio's call from upstairs, interrupting the conversation.

The two women traded smiles and then headed for the stairs with Fate taking the lead, but inwardly, Nanoha was still troubled. [Is this all there is to it? Or is there really something more?] She mentally shook her head. [I'm not sure, but at least this is a start. Hopefully.]

x~~*~~x

Nanoha took one last moment before bed to check in on the forum while Fate was taking a quick shower. She wanted to see if there was anything new, and perhaps see if she could share the little progress she thought she had made. Surprisingly, there weren't any other further posts, but she did notice that she had received a personal message from a user named "MothToAFlame." Curious, she opened it up and read it:

"Like your friend, my partner and I had to deal with many years of abuse, so we have an idea of what she may be going through. If she has internalized it in her subconscious like we did, then she probably doesn't even know what her problem is exactly. Locking things in one's one subconscious is a way for the mind to protect itself from trauma, but unless it is brought to the fore and dealt with, issues can persist.

I can't say exactly what you can do, as each situation is unique, but it has to be brought out somehow and confronted, and then dealt with. For us, we managed to turn the source of the fear into a source of joy and love. I can give you more details if you are interested, but only if you're serious. Most people not only can't handle it, but they wouldn't understand. The choice is up to you."

[Turning the source of fear into a source of joy and love?] Nanoha wondered, sitting back. [But how can that apply in Fate's case? Her own mother whipped her and derided her, so how would I...]

That mental thought trailed off as images of the website she had visited previously, and the dream she had several days ago, returned to her. And those thoughts were then juxtaposed by her earlier words about how she was going to help "train" Fate.

She suddenly found her cheeks burning and slapped them, closing down the forum website for now and climbing into bed. She desperately sought to shove all those thoughts aside for now, as Fate finally came out of the bathroom and laid down on the other side of the big bed while yawning a good night. As Nanoha lay there, trying to get to sleep, one thought kept repeating itself through her mind:

[What have I gotten myself into?]

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

For those wondering, Rio isn't in this because Vivio had Corona has a friend for a year or two before she met Rio, which was shortly before Vivid. I got a bit inspired for this chapter, so I was finally able to finish it, but my main focus is on Future Tense; I find I work better when I can focus on one thing, but I realize a lot of people wanted to see this continue, so I'll try. I just can't guarantee when Part 3 will come out.

5 months?! =O Around here, that's ancient!

Been waiting on this to update.

Nanoha's dreams are pretty naughty. Good thing she woke up, otherwise she might have found a few more things about herself.

[Justin_Brett]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

Why hello there, fic that I haven't updated in 5 months!

Whipped

Part 2: Trial and Error

Part 1 can be found here.

Spoiler for Whipped, Part 2: Trial and Error:

Whipped
Part 2: Trial and Error

Xx~~*~~xX

Nanoha awoke lazily, turning her head to the side and yawning, wondering exactly when she had rolled onto her stomach. It wasn't a position she normally slept in, but it wasn't altogether uncommon, either. She went to rub the sleep from her eyes... and found she couldn't.

[What the...?] she wondered internally as her arms were held fast. [And my legs, too!?]

"Good morning, Nanoha," came Fate's soothing voice, but there was something odd about the tone.

Nanoha turned her head to the other side. "Fate-chan? What's going..."

She trailed off in shock at the sight of Fate in black leather, fishnet stalkings, while lightly tapping a coiled whip against her hip. For a moment, she wondered if Fate's enhanced chest size was an illusion brought on by the black leather bustier; it was almost hypnotic in the way it bounced with each small movement.

"Well, you do want to help me, don't you?" Fate reminded her coyly, then let the whip uncoil while pulling the blanket off Nanoha in one smooth motion. "You want to understand me and what I went through?"

Nanoha's eyes widened as she saw her wrists and ankles handcuffed to the corners of the bed. "F-Fate..chan? W-what are you...?"

"Allow me to show you, ohohohoho!" Fate laughed as she cracked the whip repeatedly, shredding the backside of Nanoha's pajamas.

"Aaaauuu...!"

x~~*~~x

"...gggghhhh!"

*THUNK!*

"Ow," Nanoha mumbled sleepily, finding herself face down on the floor. Hesitantly, she reached back and felt the backside of her pajamas, sighing upon finding them intact.

She slowly sat up on her knees while rubbing her forehead, wondering if perhaps she had been watching too much of the anime Arisa kept sending her; it seemed to be blending together with what she learned of Fate and certain other subjects lately.

Yawning, she stood up and headed downstairs to prepare breakfast, opening up a holographic screen to check the forum from last night. She was curious to know what kind of responses she got, especially that the subject was now quiet vividly on her mind. There were a few replies, but most didn't say too much, other than general advice of waiting for her to talk about it on her own and wishing her good luck. That was something Nanoha had initially considered, but it was affecting Fate's job and so obviously couldn't continue for too long without issues. Still others were asking for more information, and after pondering during breakfast exactly what to add, she began to type:

Thank you for your comments and concern, everyone! The abuse happened over 10 years ago, so I didn't think it was an issue anymore. Normally, I probably would give her time, or not press her about it as she usually tells me everything, but it's affecting her job.

Nanoha sat back and studied the post, hesitating about adding the next part, then sighed and reached up to continue typing.

I talked to her adoptive mother, who told me that she went from being a good girl, to one who acted out and misbehaved and wouldn't stop until she spanked. The adoptive mother seemed to think my friend needed a physical reprimand, but I don't know enough about psychology to really understand. I'm not sure it's related, but reading what everyone else has written here, I figure it might play a part.

Also, we weren't friends when I first knew her; we actually fought quite a bit, and it wasn't until a won a physical confrontation with her that she started to open up to me and we finally became close friends. Before that, she was highly devoted to her abusive biological mother.

Nanoha nervously hit submit, still feeling a bit of shame for revealing things like this. She figured Fate would probably be upset if she knew that Nanoha was sharing her personal life details, but she decided it was worth the risk; it was anonymous enough.

Almost immediately, she got a response:

Since it sounds like it's interfering with her work, perhaps you could organize some extra training for her? That might be enough to snap her out of it.

Nanoha sat back and thought about that. [Hmmm...]

x~~*~~x

Fate clashed in mid-air with her opponent, the energy blade of her scythe blocking the sword strike. The two met eyes for just a moment, before springing apart again, but Fate was already preparing for next next move; a Plasma Lancer volley. She knew it wouldn't do too much to Signum, but it would help her keep the initiative. The Belkan knight was already on the move, however, and even though Fate was guiding the shots to stay on her opponent's tail, Signum wasn't one to go on the defensive.

This was how their fights usually went, Fate realized. Signum preferred powering on through any attacks coming her way, while Fate relied on her speed and agility. She hadn't yet gone into Sonic Form, but she realized she'd probably have to in order to get the winning shot. Yet, somehow, the very thought of lessening her defenses made her nervous for some reason.

Then there was no more time to consider that, as the Belkan knight was charging straight for Fate, a half-dozen Plasma Lancer shots still chasing her. Fate knew as well as Signum that those shots wouldn't hurt their caster at all, so she clearly wasn't planning on veering off at the last moment. But Fate decided to test her opponent's resolve, twisting and swinging her scythe.

"Arc Saber," Bardiche intoned, releasing the spinning blade.

Signum didn't change course, the projectile impacting and exploding in a cloud of smoke that briefly obscured the knight from view.

Fate wasn't done, however, and continued the turn while gathering her magic, thrusting out her left hand. "Thunder Smasher!"

It was the weakest of her direct-fire beam spells, but it was also the fastest to cast due to lesser mana used, and she counted on the fact that her opponent might not expect a long-range attack used at short-range. The golden beam exploded forth as Signum emerged, her scabbard out and smoking, indicated that she had used it to block.

Fate smiled, knowing that wouldn't protect her opponent from the stronger beam, but the smile disappeared as Signum brought her flaming sword around, pointing straight into the beam, cleaving it and continuing her forward charge. Fate cursed and tried to dodge, but the range was too close; still, she managed to avoid a complete skewering by throwing her left hand outward and smacking the blade, seething as her gauntlet cracked and splintered, accompanied to the tune of her cape being torn when Signum continued past.

Her left arm temporarily numb, Fate descended rapidly from the sky as Bardiche popped a cartridge. "Blitz Rush."

Finally, Signum turned and threw up a shield as Bardiche enhanced the speed of Fate's magic missiles to catch up, while the caster glanced at her mostly shattered gauntlet, realizing she couldn't spare the magic to reform it.

During the brief pause in the action, Fate glanced over to the side, where Vita and Nanoha were observing from the holographic controls. Fate realized it must have been Nanoha's plan when the latter had urged the former to help her with something at work. They had ended up next to the ocean-side holographic combat area where the Section 6 Forwards used to train, right as Vita was apparently wrapping up one of her combat classes. While they stopped to talk, Signum had showed up, requesting a match as she hadn't been in heavy combat for awhile and didn't want to get rusty.

Fate recognized that it was a trap, pure and simple.

Nanoha must have found out Fate failed her latest combat exam, and probably figured Signum was the perfect sparring partner to get her back into the swing of things.

[And it's obvious that Signum feels the same,] Fate noted ruefully. [Given the way she's been pushing me; this isn't just a sparring match.] While touched by their concern, Fate didn't really see the point; her combat skills were fine, and it was just a little stress that caused her to fail the exam, that was all. She'd retake it after some time off.

However, indulging her friends was something she could afford to do, and she had to admit she was enjoying the little off-and-on rivalry she had going with Signum all these years.

"You seem a little slower today, Testarossa," Signum taunted as the smoke cleared. "And your spells apparently lack that extra punch I had grown accustomed to. Do not tell me you have grown a bit out of shape?"

Fate growled internally, knowing the knight was just goading her in a friendly fashion. "Sometimes people can get lucky. I wouldn't expect a warrior such as yourself to rely on luck, however."

Signum's lips turned upward into a mild grin. "Let us see if it was luck, then. Levanteinn!"

"Schlangenform!" her sword announced, popping a cartridge.

By this point in their lives, both fighters were intimately aware of each others fighting style and tactics, so Fate knew Signum was planning on using the extended form to cut off Fate's movement area. It worked well against slower mages, but "slow" wasn't a term that described Fate; she shot straight up into the air as Signum began weaving her weapon through the sky, getting above the enclosing noose.

One Sonic Move later, Fate came in at Signum's backside, but suddenly the Belkan knight shortened her snakeform-sword to just a few meters in length while setting it ablaze, then whipping it around in Fate's direction. Fate found her eyes drawn to the object as if suddenly nothing else in the world mattered.

x~~*~~x

"Ow, what hit me?" Fate muttered, sitting up and cracking an eye open, beholding the trio standing nearby and looking at her. "What?"

"You don't remember?" Nanoha asked tentatively, crouching down to check Fate's head. "Signum's attack that struck you?"

"I was expecting you to dodge, and found it odd that you did not," Signum stated curiously. "And I did not expect it to cause you to lose consciousness from so simple a blow. Are you alright, Testarossa?"

Fate froze, realizing there was a gap in her memory. [I... don't remember? How? Why?] "I... just a momentary lapse. I'm fine."

"Fate-chan, are you sure?" Nanoha inquired,a note of worry in her voice. "Perhaps we should have Shamal-"

"No, I'm fine," Fate declared, but inwardly she was shaking. "I'll walk it off. I'm sorry, Signum, but I can't continue our match right now. I have some things to do. Perhaps later. Excuse me."

Her limbs felt light and almost unsteady, but Fate tried her best to steady them as she walked away. Still, inside there was a gnawing fear that wouldn't go away; twice now, she had blacked out in a critical moment. If it was just once, she could have written it off as coincidence, but it was twice now, and that was beginning to scare her.

[I'm fine, everything's fine, I just need to relax some more,] Fate told herself. [I can't let the others worry about me.]

Straightening up, she took a deep breath, determined to just put this behind her.

x~~*~~x

With the training idea not working out so well, Nanoha grew even more concerned and returned to the forum boards to see if new posts held more ideas. One post caught her eye:

"It really might just be stress. Get her to have some fun, loosen her up, and show you care. Perhaps share some secret of yours, as that might get her to open up, if there really is something there."

Which is why she now found herself at Marine Gardens with Fate and Vivio, and one of Vivio's friends. Ostensibly it was just a request from Vivio to Fate to come to the amusement park with her, although the little girl had been coached by Nanoha. When faced with those innocent eyes, Fate admitted defeat almost immediately.

The Signum match was a partial failure, but it did confirm to Nanoha that something was wrong with Fate. But for whatever reason, the other woman didn't want to talk about it, which made things difficult; how was Nanoha to help her friend, if Fate didn't want to admit there was a problem in the first place? Even if Nanoha couldn't ultimately do anything to help Fate, if she could at least just get the woman to recognize there was an issue, then Fate could possibly see a specialist to work through it.

"Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama, I wanna ride the 'Sky Ace Rumble' next!" the little girl announced eagerly, tugging on their hands and breaking Nanoha out of her thoughts, and then turning to the fourth and final member of their group. "Come on, Corona!"

[If Fate suspects anything, she's hiding it well,] Nanoha told herself, glancing at the woman's smiling face as they were pulled along.

"I'm not so sure about that," Corona put forth timidly, hesitant at how the roller coaster made many upside down loops and even dropped straight down at one point.

But Vivio would not be deterred, dropping her mamas hands to focus on her recently-made friend. "You'll love it, trust me!"

To add to Corona's horror, there wasn't much of a line, which meant they quickly made it into the ride itself, which consisted of car five rows long and four seats across, hanging from a single rail overhead. Vivio pushed Corona all the way over, while Nanoha took the other middle seat next to her, and Fate took the last seat. As the attendants fastened them in, Nanoha spied an opportunity.

"You know, Corona, these kinds of rides actually scare me a bit, too," she stated, watching Fate out of the corner of her eye, but the other woman was merely watching with mild interest.

The little girl stared at her. "But you can fly and do all sorts of stunts in the sky! Vivio showed me some recordings. Why would this scare you?"

Nanoha shrugged thoughtfully, as well as she could being due the harness holding her in. "Perhaps it's because in those cases, I am in control. With something like this, someone else is in control, and the anticipation of not knowing exactly where you are going next, makes me nervous." She smiled. "Almost like the idea that you can't really tickle yourself."

"Then why do you ride them?" Corona asked curiously.

"Nanoha-mama isn't really scared of anything!" Vivio declared proudly, as the ride began to slowly move forward out of the embarkation area.

Nanoha laughed as they leisurely ascended into the sky on the single track. "There are things I am afraid of, but confronting those fears is what makes you strong. Also knowing the ones I care about are close by to help me, if anything does go wrong."

The little girl digested that, and while she did still seem afraid, she wasn't trembling as much as before. But Nanoha also noticed Fate looking rather thoughtful, at the edge of her peripheral vision. The way her face was angled slightly down, and her brow barely furrowed, were all signs Nanoha had learned to interpret over the years; and they told her now that perhaps Fate was considering her words.

"Nanoha, I-" Fate started to say, but that was as far as she got, as it melded into a yelp, that had something to do with the ride several stories in half as many seconds.

For the next minute and a half, the air was filled with the delightful squeals of Vivio and the terrified screams of Corona. As they went through the twists and turns, Nanoha wondered if she should admit she had embellished her earlier tale just a bit; she didn't find the rides half as scary as she had told Corona, and although there were fairly strong feelings of apprehension and nervousness, that made the experience all the more fun. In short, the fear was almost a source of pleasure. She did manage to look over at Fate at one point during the ride, and was surprised to see Fate gripping the harness so tightly, her knuckles having turned white.

"I didn't realize these rides scared you, too, Fate-chan," Nanoha teased as the car finally pulled back into the starting area.

The other woman looked a bit short on breath as her safety harness was removed. "I-I'm fine, I just think I wasn't quite... prepared for that one."

Vivio happily leapt out of her seat, while her friend practically melted out of it. "See, Corona? It wasn't that bad; I was right next to you the whole time!"

Corona shakily accepted Vivio's hand to be lead out of the area. "Yeah... not bad... piece of cake..."

"How about we go on it again, then?" Vivio enthusiastically suggested.

When the poor girl turned an even lighter shade of white, and so Nanoha tactfully suggested, "Vivio, how about that one over there? You liked the Fairy Tail ride last time we were here. Corona might enjoy a slower ride for now. We'll let you two enjoy it and wait out here; we'll have lunch when you get out."

"Okaaay!" Vivio called back as she dragged her friend to the next ride.

The two women found a table within view of the ride, complete with a wide umbrella to shield against the sun. For a few moments, they just relaxed and engaged in smaller talk, mostly about Nanoha's current class schedule and how Vivio was doing in school. Just as Nanoha wondered how to broach the subject, Fate seemingly hit it first.

"You surprised me a bit," Fate offered with a small, amused smile. "I didn't think you'd be one to be scared of those kinds of rides. I admit I was a bit nervous, too, but it was fun. In fact, this whole day has been fun. Thank you for bringing me out. It reminds me of when I brought Caro here."

"You should thank Vivio," Nanoha replied, repeating to herself that it wasn't a total lie; even though Nanoha had suggested this particular trip, Vivio had wanted to go for awhile. "But I feel safe enough with my friends and family confessing my fears, so I figured it would help Corona to know she wasn't alone in them."

Fate quieted down after that, her gaze drifting over the noisy crowds nearby, as people moved to the next attractions. Nanoha hoped her subtle pokes were getting through; the whole idea behind this trip was to get her to open up. But if Fate herself wasn't really aware of exactly what was wrong (and more than one forum member had suggested it might be subconscious), then she wouldn't be able to tell anyone. It was the one option Nanoha was most anxious about.

"Sometimes I think..." Fate started to say, then paused, biting her lip.

Nanoha leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. "Hmm?"

Several expressions went across Fate's face, her jaw tightening ever so slightly, as if she was struggling to find the right words. "Sometimes I wonder... I'm not too sure, but..." She trailed off again, then shook her head. "Nevermind, forget it."

"No, tell me, what it is?" Nanoha probed gently.

Unfortunately, the two younger girls picked that moment to return. "We're back, mama! Can we have pizza for lunch?"

Corona was apparently very much on-board with that idea, so the two older women relented. And while Nanoha wondered how to broach the subject again, she found she couldn't; for one, another opportunity didn't really present itself, and for another, Fate had seemed to change her mind about sharing at all, so Nanoha wondered if she should.

She wondered if perhaps there was another route she could take.

x~~*~~x

A forum poster held another... interesting... suggestion:

"If the source of her fear is something she is uncomfortable with, that could be why she hasn't shared it with anyone. You might be able to help bring her out of it by scaring her with something else. A fear that's more "normal" and thus easier to talk about. By empathizing with that fear, she may open up about the more uncomfortable one that's affecting her."

The advice seemed a bit dubious, but it did make a certain kind of sense, and it made Nanoha think; [What else could Fate-chan be afraid of?]

x~~*~~x

Nanoha held her breath as she felt Fate get up from the bed and head into the bathroom, having stayed over the night before. She stilled her breath, preparing for a shriek. [Any minute now... Just about...]

But when no screaming was evident, Nanoha sat up, just in time to see Fate exit the bathroom carrying a small creature the size of her hand.

"Not sure how this fuzzy Gentosha spider got into the bathroom, but I'll put him back outside where he belongs," Fate said, heading for the bedroom door. "Most people don't know these little guys are harmless."

Nanoha stared, and then sighed.

x~~*~~x

"Any particular reason why you suddenly wanted me to teach you to drive?" Fate asked from the passenger side of her car. "I thought you liked the public transportation system."

"Oh, no reason," Nanoha innocently declared, shifting the car and lurching it into motion like Fate had showed her, but putting a little more roughness into it then necessary.

"Careful!" Fate cautioned. "Slow and and easy at first."

The car squealed out of the driveway as Nanoha hit the accelerator, than careened in a sharp turn as she cranked the wheel and sped down the street.

Fate calmly gripped the side armrest. "Nanoha, watch the traffic lights..."

"...pedestrians have the right of way..."

"..take your foot off the gas before you shift..."

"...red means stop..."

"...that button activates the siren lights and it's not an emergency right now..."

"...however, that car behind us with lights are the traffic police, so you'll want to pull over now."

Nanoha glanced over at Fate sheepishly as the vehicle came to a rest. "Sorry, Fate-chan, but I thought I was doing well, too."

The other woman sighed while pulling out her wallet. "It'll only be my first ticket, since I'm responsible for student drivers. I should be able to get it removed off my record after a few months."

Inwardly, Nanoha still felt a bit bad about this, especially when the traffic cop showed up at her window, but Fate had shown no fear throughout the entire deal. So when the ticket was issued and the lesson continued, Nanoha decided to tone things down a bit and try and think of something else.

x~~*~~x

"Oh, Fate-chan, Hayate just called, and she said they'd like you to give the speech at the next departmental dinner and benefit next Tuesday," Nanoha informed her. "Something from your perspective as an Enforcer. It'll be in front of several thousand people, from the upper brass, to new recruits and their families."

Fate thought about that while she watched one of her shows. "Okay. I'll have a speech prepared in a day or so."

Nanoha raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't that worry you at all? The event is in four days, and you haven't spoken in front of that many people before."

"While I don't care for fancy dinners and speeches, I've handled a little public speaking before, and I have a few ideas for the speech, so I should be fine," Fate replied with a shrug.

"Mou," Nanoha sighed silently and scratched "Public Speaking" off her list.

x~~*~~x

This was her final attempt, she decided. After this, no more attempts at scaring Fate.

Or at least, that's what she told herself.

She had positioned Fate's chair closest to the hall entryway. She had pulled out all the stops for this one, so if it didn't work, then nothing else would. As they sat eating dinner with Vivio and Arf, watching a news show on the holoscreen, Nanoha subtly signaled Vivio.

"Fate-mama, did you hear the earlier news?" the little girl said, playing her part well. "A razorbear escaped from the zoo earlier today!"

"I hadn't, actually," Fate replied with mild interest. "They haven't caught it yet?"

She shook her head and hugged her body. "Not yet."

"There's been no word on it since earlier, when they were warning people not to approach, since it can be rather ferocious," Nanoha added.

Fate smiled at Vivio. "Well, we'll be safe enou-"

The roar of a mighty beast echoed throughout the room as the razorbear entered, then stood up on hind legs menacingly to tower over the quartet only a couple of meters from Fate's corner of the table.

"Eeek!" Vivio squealed appropriately, hopping into Nanoha's lap

"How did he get in?" Arf wondered aloud, shifting to full wolf form.

Nanoha leapt back and put Vivio behind her, preparing to fight, but was surprised when Fate continued to sit there, unmoving. [Did it work? Is she frozen with fear?]

Fate slowly turned to look at the creature, then casually inquired, "Chrono, what are you doing?"

"Rawr?" the bear attempted again, waving the razor-sharp claws that helped give it its name.

Fate poked him with am electrically-charged finger, and the transformation magic was canceled almost immediately, leaving a certain admiral standing there in an embarrassing stance.

"Heh heh, how'd you know it was me?" he asked sheepishly.

Fate sighed. "You never were very good at transformation magic. And I seem to remember you trying this prank on me once before when we were younger...." She frowned, recalling the memory.

"Just a little humor!" he protested, waving his hands defensively while walking backwards towards the entryway. "Well, I should be going; sorry to interrupt your dinner!"

"Well, that was odd," Arf commented, watching him rapidly disappear.

x~~*~~x

"Alright, time for bed, Vivio," Nanoha called from the kitchen where she was finishing up the dishes, while Fate paused the entertainment view-screen. "It's a school night!"

"Awww, I wanted to stay up a little more," the little girl complained.

"I'll race you to see who can get ready for bed first!" Arf challenged, which Vivio instantly responded to by running for the stairs first. Arf chuckled, walking after her. "What an interesting night..."

Fate walked around the counter to help put things away. "An interesting night indeed. Say, Nanoha, do you know what that was all about earlier?"

Nanoha was glad her back was currently to Fate as she crouched down to place dishes inside a lower cabinet.. "I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps since you're back for awhile, he wanted to play a little joke."

"He's not usually the joking type," Fate reflected, closing an upper cabinet door, and then turned and waited for the brunette to stand back up. "Nanoha... what's going on?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, Fate-chan," she replied, giving her best disarming smile.

Fate seemed to struggle a bit to put it into words. "Things have been a bit strange for awhile now, and I was wondering what you knew about it. What's wrong?"

Nanoha considered offering some kind of disarming explanation, but she really didn't want to lie to her friend; she turned around and offering what she hoped was a sympathetic look. "Maybe I should be the one asking that; do you still not want to talk about it?"

Fate shifted uncomfortably, crossing her arms over her chest. "There's nothing to talk about, really. I appreciate the concern from you and Hayate and everyone else, but nothing is wrong! The past is the past, and I'll be back on duty in a week. I'm just taking a vacation! It's not like I'm some fragile porcelain doll."

She accompanied the last statement with a short laugh attempt, but it came out sounding a bit empty. Also her voice had gone up a few notches during the proclamation, but Nanoha realized Fate had probably said more than she intended to say; and the fact that Fate was still fighting it, worried her even more. The only other time Fate had resisted listening, was way back in their first meetings... and with a burst of lucidity, Nanoha realized exactly how that situation was eventually resolved. She held out her hand.

"Raging Heart, please," she intoned in an even voice, a red jewel flying into her open palm and instantly transforming into Buster mode which Nanoha pointed at Fate. "I did this once, and I'm not afraid of doing it again if I need to. If you aren't fragile like you say, then you can take it."

There was a tense moment where Fate's eyes widened, staring at her and the staff as if she couldn't believe what was happening. And for a little while, Nanoha felt Fate would give in to the "fight or flight" impulse, one way or the other.

Instead, Fate sighed and turned away, her arms hugging her body. "Okay, maybe I'm a bit wary of retesting, but it's not a big deal. Sometimes..." She trailed off, as if searching for the words. "Lately, I suppose... I'm not sure, but I feel like sometimes I might have lost my edge. That maybe what happened to Zest is happening to me, and it just took longer in my case."

The staff lowered; Nanoha didn't expect that particular revelation. "Is that why you've resisted going to Shamal? Or seeing anyone? You're afraid you can't be an Enforcer anymore."

"Remember after the Book of Darkness incident?" Fate asked, her back still towards Nanoha. "How I said I wanted to join the Bureau to prevent more incidents from ending in sadness? If I can't... if I can't be a Bureau mage, at the front lines..."

Nanoha took two steps and reached up with her right hand, placing it on Fate's left shoulder. "I was shot down once before, so I know what you're going through. That's all that's happened here, I'm sure of it. I'll help you train, if you like, so you can return to the sky without worry."

Fate finally turned and nodded, a small but grateful smile on her face. "Thank you."

"Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama, I'm ready for bed!" came Vivio's call from upstairs, interrupting the conversation.

The two women traded smiles and then headed for the stairs with Fate taking the lead, but inwardly, Nanoha was still troubled. [Is this all there is to it? Or is there really something more?] She mentally shook her head. [I'm not sure, but at least this is a start. Hopefully.]

x~~*~~x

Nanoha took one last moment before bed to check in on the forum while Fate was taking a quick shower. She wanted to see if there was anything new, and perhaps see if she could share the little progress she thought she had made. Surprisingly, there weren't any other further posts, but she did notice that she had received a personal message from a user named "MothToAFlame." Curious, she opened it up and read it:

"Like your friend, my partner and I had to deal with many years of abuse, so we have an idea of what she may be going through. If she has internalized it in her subconscious like we did, then she probably doesn't even know what her problem is exactly. Locking things in one's one subconscious is a way for the mind to protect itself from trauma, but unless it is brought to the fore and dealt with, issues can persist.

I can't say exactly what you can do, as each situation is unique, but it has to be brought out somehow and confronted, and then dealt with. For us, we managed to turn the source of the fear into a source of joy and love. I can give you more details if you are interested, but only if you're serious. Most people not only can't handle it, but they wouldn't understand. The choice is up to you."

[Turning the source of fear into a source of joy and love?] Nanoha wondered, sitting back. [But how can that apply in Fate's case? Her own mother whipped her and derided her, so how would I...]

That mental thought trailed off as images of the website she had visited previously, and the dream she had several days ago, returned to her. And those thoughts were then juxtaposed by her earlier words about how she was going to help "train" Fate.

She suddenly found her cheeks burning and slapped them, closing down the forum website for now and climbing into bed. She desperately sought to shove all those thoughts aside for now, as Fate finally came out of the bathroom and laid down on the other side of the big bed while yawning a good night. As Nanoha lay there, trying to get to sleep, one thought kept repeating itself through her mind:

[What have I gotten myself into?]

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

For those wondering, Rio isn't in this because Vivio had Corona has a friend for a year or two before she met Rio, which was shortly before Vivid. I got a bit inspired for this chapter, so I was finally able to finish it, but my main focus is on Future Tense; I find I work better when I can focus on one thing, but I realize a lot of people wanted to see this continue, so I'll try. I just can't guarantee when Part 3 will come out.

I hadn't read the first chapter of this, and forgot the title halfway through, so I did a double take at the end.

...assuming that's what you're implying, of course.

[Yasanagi]

Spoiler for MD returns after a light X Mas break!:

“Sette’s out… and she is going to kill us! Better yet, she’ll chop us all into sardine bits and-”

“Sein, get a grip! Why are you thinking that she would do such a thing?” asked Otto after having finally managed to talk a little sense into Deed on the fact that such questions are inappropriate and wouldn’t even apply anyway since Vice is a military officer and not a freelance assassin. The earlier mess that Sein had caused from the dropping of her breakfast tray had been cleaned up and the sisters were all taking their morning meals in a more secluded area where they could talk amongst themselves.

“It’s what I would do if I ever got ditched! Think about it! As far as I know, the three of us never did make time to check on how she’s doing and stuff in prison since we were so busy with our training! I don’t think that Cinque-nee and the others who joined the Nakajima family checked up on her either since they get caught up in work too! That means that Sette would feel like-”

“There is an error in your assumption, Sein. Sette does not have the ability to feel,” replied Deed. “She was created to be a perfect weapon of war according to what Tre-neesama had said.”

“Okay, so concepts like loneliness won’t bother her but you know how she’s a strict stickler to the rules and to her perceived superiors. She’ll see that we deserted our posts and joined the enemy. Actions like treason only have one punishment.” And the eldest of the trio made a cutting motion across her neck with her index finger, complete with sound effects.

Otto merely sighed. “You’re thinking too much about this. All of us know that Sette is attempting to undergo a rehab program. Granted, it’s taking longer and it’s quite different but I think by now, she should have made some progress breaking out of that ‘Perfect Soldier’ mindset.”

The blue haired female started relaxing a bit. “I guess you’re right about that.”

“But if what that agent mentioned earlier is correct, then it is highly likely that this Material will try to use Sette against us,” commented Deed.

Her twin groaned underneath her breath. ‘Did she really have to mention that? Now Sein’s going to lose it again in three… two… one…’

“So I was right earlier!” wailed Sein. “The Material girl’s probably gonna mess up Sette’s head even further so that she’ll enjoy punishing us and chopping us into sardine bits!”

“Sein, she’s not…!” At this point, Otto just knew it was going to be a long day.

**********

Material-D couldn’t tell which one of these insects she disliked more.

The one clad in black with the blonde hair reminded her of a flea. Something that would bounce around on a dog’s flesh, suck blood for nutrients and be damn hard to catch. No matter how many times this body tried to get a hold of her, the other girl was a step ahead of her. Of course, it didn’t look like she placed a lot of emphasis on defensive armour so one good hit would take her out.

As for the one in white, she couldn’t tell what type of bug she would be. Perhaps a cockroach? She certainly was annoying enough to qualify for one, complete with that ugly attempt to plead that the destruction end.

“Hayate-chan and the Book of Darkness… please stop this! We aren’t the ones------!”

Oh, what Yami would give to be able to tear off that girl’s head from her body. For starters, she addressed her by that Hayate name. To be addressed in such a common manner was irritating. In addition, they seemed to have committed some offense and were trying to beg for their own lives.

“------ the rest… we…!”

The other voice that echoed throughout her senses was different. It must belong to the blonde. It was almost as annoying as the first one that tried to communicate to her.

But there was something about those two that she couldn’t quite put a finger on. For some reason, the one in white reminded her of the Starlight Destroyer while the blonde seemed to be just like the Lightning Assailant, except sane. Very sane. It was rather weird hearing her voice come out so mature.

Then she heard a voice… a most wonderful voice that promised the end of everything. A voice that carried power and loyalty to her proper Mistress. No matter how hard Yami tried, she couldn’t put a face or a name to that voice.

“My mistress wishes that this world…”

…… who is she? There’s something about her…

“… the world that took away her----------”

A name… there’s a name on the tip of my tongue…! What is it?

“… be turned into nothing more than a nightmare. I am simply granting that wish.”

Then grant my wish! TELL ME YOUR NAME!

And in the waking world, where nobody could hear her, a small sound escaped from the lips of the sleeping Lord of Darkness.

“Re…in…force…”

Yes, I know that there's a bit of OOCness but I've been wanting to add a dash of paranoia to a perky girl so... I'll see how it works out.

[vic-vic]

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for MD returns after a light X Mas break!:

“Sette’s out… and she is going to kill us! Better yet, she’ll chop us all into sardine bits and-”

“Sein, get a grip! Why are you thinking that she would do such a thing?” asked Otto after having finally managed to talk a little sense into Deed on the fact that such questions are inappropriate and wouldn’t even apply anyway since Vice is a military officer and not a freelance assassin. The earlier mess that Sein had caused from the dropping of her breakfast tray had been cleaned up and the sisters were all taking their morning meals in a more secluded area where they could talk amongst themselves.

“It’s what I would do if I ever got ditched! Think about it! As far as I know, the three of us never did make time to check on how she’s doing and stuff in prison since we were so busy with our training! I don’t think that Cinque-nee and the others who joined the Nakajima family checked up on her either since they get caught up in work too! That means that Sette would feel like-”

“There is an error in your assumption, Sein. Sette does not have the ability to feel,” replied Deed. “She was created to be a perfect weapon of war according to what Tre-neesama had said.”

“Okay, so concepts like loneliness won’t bother her but you know how she’s a strict stickler to the rules and to her perceived superiors. She’ll see that we deserted our posts and joined the enemy. Actions like treason only have one punishment.” And the eldest of the trio made a cutting motion across her neck with her index finger, complete with sound effects.

Otto merely sighed. “You’re thinking too much about this. All of us know that Sette is attempting to undergo a rehab program. Granted, it’s taking longer and it’s quite different but I think by now, she should have made some progress breaking out of that ‘Perfect Soldier’ mindset.”

The blue haired female started relaxing a bit. “I guess you’re right about that.”

“But if what that agent mentioned earlier is correct, then it is highly likely that this Material will try to use Sette against us,” commented Deed.

Her twin groaned underneath her breath. ‘Did she really have to mention that? Now Sein’s going to lose it again in three… two… one…’

“So I was right earlier!” wailed Sein. “The Material girl’s probably gonna mess up Sette’s head even further so that she’ll enjoy punishing us and chopping us into sardine bits!”

“Sein, she’s not…!” At this point, Otto just knew it was going to be a long day.

**********

Material-D couldn’t tell which one of these insects she disliked more.

The one clad in black with the blonde hair reminded her of a flea. Something that would bounce around on a dog’s flesh, suck blood for nutrients and be damn hard to catch. No matter how many times this body tried to get a hold of her, the other girl was a step ahead of her. Of course, it didn’t look like she placed a lot of emphasis on defensive armour so one good hit would take her out.

As for the one in white, she couldn’t tell what type of bug she would be. Perhaps a cockroach? She certainly was annoying enough to qualify for one, complete with that ugly attempt to plead that the destruction end.

“Hayate-chan and the Book of Darkness… please stop this! We aren’t the ones------!”

Oh, what Yami would give to be able to tear off that girl’s head from her body. For starters, she addressed her by that Hayate name. To be addressed in such a common manner was irritating. In addition, they seemed to have committed some offense and were trying to beg for their own lives.

“------ the rest… we…!”

The other voice that echoed throughout her senses was different. It must belong to the blonde. It was almost as annoying as the first one that tried to communicate to her.

But there was something about those two that she couldn’t quite put a finger on. For some reason, the one in white reminded her of the Starlight Destroyer while the blonde seemed to be just like the Lightning Assailant, except sane. Very sane. It was rather weird hearing her voice come out so mature.

Then she heard a voice… a most wonderful voice that promised the end of everything. A voice that carried power and loyalty to her proper Mistress. No matter how hard Yami tried, she couldn’t put a face or a name to that voice.

“My mistress wishes that this world…”

…… who is she? There’s something about her…

“… the world that took away her----------”

A name… there’s a name on the tip of my tongue…! What is it?

“… be turned into nothing more than a nightmare. I am simply granting that wish.”

Then grant my wish! TELL ME YOUR NAME!

And in the waking world, where nobody could hear her, a small sound escaped from the lips of the sleeping Lord of Darkness.

“Re…in…force…”

Yes, I know that there's a bit of OOCness but I've been wanting to add a dash of paranoia to a perky girl so... I'll see how it works out.

Paranoid Sein is hilarious and Otto seems to be voice of reason between Church-Numbers.

Yami continued her venture into Hayate`s past. And now she remembered Rein 1.

[Kaijo]

Originally Posted by Justin_Brett

I hadn't read the first chapter of this, and forgot the title halfway through, so I did a double take at the end.

...assuming that's what you're implying, of course.

We shall see. ;p And yes, that's what happens when I try to work on more than one project at a time; stuff gets delayed and left behind, heh.

Anyway, uploaded Whipped, Chapter 2: Trial and Error to ff.net. Let's hope it doesn't take 5 months for part 3, heh.

For those curious, Chapter 26 of Future Tense is done, and undergoing some revisions and edits as I proof-read it. Hopefully, I'll have it up in a day or two. In a burst of inspiration, I even got most of chapter 27 done, so hopefully I can pick up the pace on this, too. It's amazing what one can do when one has several days off from work, heh.

[Nanya01]

A's

Jump

New Parts 1-45

New Part 46

New Part 47

New Part 48

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - New Part 49:

"Zelas..." Lina coughed as she leaned on Shiro and looked up at the Mazoku Lord tiredly. "Don't tell me that you're going to kidnap my husband and then use him to force me to release a fragment of Shabranigdo from somewhere or try to destroy the world."

Zelas just blinked at her a few times. "...Why would I do that?"

Lina nearly face-faulted, but the blood that she coughed up kept her from doing too much.

"I mean, killing all the humans on the planet? Easy, but dull. After all, when they're gone, my food supply would be gone, and then where would I be?"

Lina sweat-dropped at the look that Zelas was giving her. "Then... Why help me kill Dynast?"

"Those reasons are my own." Zelas narrowed her eyes as she looked at Sherra's body. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to make sure that he doesn't come back."

A moment later, Zelas and Sherra both disappeared with a flash.

"That... Wasn't what I expected from a Mazoku." Filia admitted, before shaking her head and going to Lina, casting a healing spell to ease the pain she was feeling. "Are you okay?"

"Just fine..." Lina panted heavily. Something was wrong, she shouldn't be so worn out like she was, even a Double Ragna Blade couldn't take up that much stamina. 'Ugh, I just hope that I'm sick and it's not what I think it is.' While it wouldn't be bad if it was what she thought it was, she just hoped that she wasn't.

At least not at this time.

"Well, I'll be taking my leave now." Xellos smiled at the group. "Oh, before I go..." He snapped his fingers and tossed something to the ground near Filia. "I figure that you wouldn't mind having your mace back." He smiled as he disappeared from view.

"What did that woman mean by making sure that he doesn't come back?" Gourry asked and Lina shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe Dynast decided that he should take his power, mind, experience and Astral body and shove them into Sherra to avoid being killed for good."

"Whatever the case," Lina looked and grimaced as she saw Sirius appear in front of the group, "I need Bodigar and Galveira."

Before anyone could respond, a screen with Amy's face popped up. "What's going on down there?! First we got a SSS+ reading from where you're at, and now there's a power beyond even that coming from where Chrono and the others are at!"

Lina sighed softly. "Get us to the ship, I need to see Sylphiel."

"What about him?" Amy asked as Sirius walked to them silently.

"Go ahead, I don't trust him, but it's probably safer to have a god on board than a Mazoku."

Amy nodded as the group was teleported onto the ship.

When they got on board, Sirius blinked. "Looks like something from back home." He shrugged at the looks he was given. "Vessels like this aren't too uncommon where I'm from. I'll have to tell you about the humans that got onto the Sword Breaker sometime." He took a step forward, before turning to the group and giving them a serious look. "Please tell me that you don't have a member of the crew who's an excellent cook but destroys the kitchen when she makes a meal."

"Uh... No."

"Oh good." Sirius let out a sigh of relief. "I'll never forget Lord Vorfeed's comments about all the pain she went through when she was used like that."

"Uh..." Gourry scratched his head. "I thought that Vorfeed was a Dragon?"

"For awhile, she, Dark Star and all of his subordinates decided to live as space-ships."

Lina shook her head as she leaned on Shiro's body. "Your world is just weird, Sirius."

The pink Shinzoku just shrugged as Sylphiel ran up to Lina and gasped at her. "You over-did it, Miss Lina!"

"Didn't have a choice." Lina muttered as Sylphiel cast her Resurrection spell over the redhead's body. "Glad I had you and Arf stay up here."

"Miss Arf collapsed for a bit, I don't know what happened, but then she got up and got better, saying that Fate was badly hurt and..." She trailed off at the look on Lina's face. "Miss Lina..?"

"Hurry up and heal me, dammit!" Lina snarled, her hair starting to float upwards. She looked at Nanoha. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine..." Nanoha nodded at her, before gasping as Filia and Amelia both cast healing spells to her back. "Oww, okay, but I'll be fine."

"I'm sure you will be, but Miss Lina would kill us if you got hurt because we didn't heal you properly." Amelia smiled at her. "Just put up with it for a little bit longer."

Nanoha nodded, she would, she just wished that she could get there and help Fate out.

(---)

In a secluded meadow, Zelas sat under a tree, her eyes closed. Her hand was softly running through Sherra's hair as the other Mazoku rested her head on the Lord's lap.

It would be an incredibly pleasant scene, if not for the violently snapping energies around the two of them.

"Dynast... I told you, didn't I?" Zelas said softly as she looked at a rock monument not more than ten feet from her position as her eyes clouded over slightly. "I told you, one day, you would pay for what you did to me all those years ago."

Looking at Sherra, she narrowed her eyes as they flashed brightly. "Too bad for you, you really shouldn't have done that." Oh well, what was done, was done.

Even more so, since she finally got her revenge on him.

(---)

Yuuno stood in front of Fate and Lyos, several barriers in place around them, including the one that covered them, healing them and letting them recover. "Wish I had more time."

"Hey..." He blinked as he saw Riksfalto standing next to him. "Huraker's not one to make the first move, but she's not really that good in combat."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Riksfalto smirked as Huraker closed her eyes. "I'm not sure why..." Though, what Huraker said to her, about being like Gaav, had her thinking about something. Of all the Mazoku that existed, Shabranigdo could have chosen any of them to go after Ragradia, hell, Hellmaster was more powerful than anyone else, yet Gaav had been chosen to go against the Shinzoku.

There was more to it, she was sure.

"YOU CAN ALL DIE TOGETHER!" Huraker yelled and lashed out at the closest person to her, which happened to be Erulogos, who could barely hold off that wave of destructive energy.

Huraker held up a hand, energy in the form of water pooling up into it, before lashing out and flooding the platform. Most everyone flew up, except for Jillas, who was swept away with the water, as well as Fate and Lyos, who were behind the barriers, but the barriers thankfully held from the attack.

"Whyyyyyyy!?" Jillas screamed as he grabbed the edge of the platform, tears falling out of his eye.

"Yaaaah!" Riksfalto growled as Gorun Nova slashed into Huraker's back, causing the Priest to stumble forward, a large gouge where Riksfalto struck.

"Fool." Riksfalto's eye widened as a funnel of water emerged from Huraker's back, and sending the General crashing into one of the pillars that were circling the platform they were on.

"Ahhhh..." Riksfalto groaned, that hadn't felt good, the mix of Holy and Black felt wrong on so many levels that it wasn't funny.

Yuuno held his hands out, Holy fire escaping from his hands as it rushed at Huraker. The Priest held up a hand and returned the favor, a stream of Holy water crashing against the fire. "You can't win, boy." Huraker's voice was starting to sound wierd. "Our Holy powers cancel each other out, but unlike you..." She suddenly grinned as a red ball appeared in her other hand. "I've got my Black magic as well!" Letting out a scream, she lauched the sphere at Yuuno, who's eyes widened, before a yellow barrier went up right in front of him, causing the attack to explode.

"What?" Yuuno blinked in surprise, he hadn't done that.

"I... Can still... Fight this much." Fate panted, her hand dropping to the platform with a heavy thud.

"Fate." Yuuno gasped.

"Oh, how nice, I'll have to kill her again." Huraker grinned, before looking up as she saw a shadow overhead. "Valgaav..." She grinned as he let loose a yell and charged at her, Ragudo Mezegis leading the way. "Don't you know?" She moved away from where he was and laughed when the fire power that Yuuno was using covered his body. "Never attack someone who has the advantage?"

Valgaav just smirked at her when the flames dissipated, revealing that he wasn't hurt in the slightest. "Seems that kid saw through your plan."

"Maybe..." Huraker nodded, before letting out a yell, her aura snapping into life around her, whip tendrils of magic and water forming around her. In her hands red energy was surrounded by water, which she fired, in a funnel shape, at Valgaav, who held up Ragudo Mezegis and grimaced as his body was burning from the energy. "You... Bitch..."

"Ra Tilt!" Zelgadis called out, catching Huraker off guard. The Mazoku grimaced before letting out a yell and the spell broke into magical particles. "Impossible!"

"Heh heh heh!" Huraker's eyes had an insane gleam as she snapped her fingers and Valgaav was encased in ice. "This power... Even Hellmaster didn't have this power!"

She turned her attention as a powerful spell crashed into her water barrier. "Oh yes, Knight of Vrabazard..." She flicked her wrist at him and Yuuno was surprised as he was surrounded by a bubble of water. "I think that you need to learn just what the true power of the gods is like."

Yuuno's eyes widened as he felt his temperature starting to drop dramatically.

"I'll freeze you... I think having a statue like you would be interesting..." Huraker smirked, before frowning as the water shattered around Yuuno, causing him to drop to the platform, panting, behind him, Riksfalto narrowed her eye at the Priest. "Oh really, Riksfalto... There used to be a time where you would have enjoyed doing that."

Riksfalto didn't answer as she rushed forward, Gorun Nova swinging down at Huraker, who grinned and stopped her by wrapping water tentacles around the General's body. "You really are pathetic, aren't you?"

Riksfalto's eye wavered slightly as she stared at Huraker in shock. "Just... What are you going to..."

"Do?" Huraker grinned up at her. "After I'm done playing here, I'm going to take over as the leader of the Mazoku." She smirked at Riksfalto's shocked look. "Lord Dolphin... She just has no ambition, and quite frankly, it annoys me, the way that she's always hanging around Zelas, or going crazy over some chocolate... Maybe I'll do the world a favor and put her out of everyone's misery."

"She created you! And this is how you repay her?!" Riksfalto growled.

"Hey..." Huraker turned, still keeping Riksfalto wrapped up, and blinked as Valgaav broke through the ice. "You really are stupid, aren't you?"

"Is that what you think?" Huraker raised an eyebrow at him. "Then you can just die!"

"Why don't you?" Erulogos growled as he thrust Nezzard at Huraker's neck. His eyes widened as the attack was stopped mere millimeters from her. Looking down, he saw that his body was covered in the same binds as Riksfalto was.

"Unlike Riksfalto, I have no connection with you..." Huraker held a hand up and Erulogos' eyes widened at the power that was being gathered. "So... Goodbye."

"Valgaav!" Zelgadis yelled as he cast a spell. "Use this! Ra TILT!" The energy of the Ra Tilt connected with Ragudo Mezegis and the blade's energy increased tremendously.

"Well, this is interesting." Valgaav muttered before swinging the weapon down. His eyes widened as he saw the wave of tremendous power at the shocked Mazoku Priest, who let out a scream as the power engulfed her.

Riksfalto frowned as Huraker disappeared. "That was too easy..."

Erulogos chuckled at the General. "Stupid Mazoku, thinking that she can, ARRRGH!" He screamed as a hand escaped his chest. Behind him, Huraker reappeared and smirked at him.

"Did you really think that would be enough to stop me?" She asked, chuckling, before swinging her arm up and slicing Erulogos' body in half. She watched as the god fell to the ground, dead. "Pathetic... If you had only kept your Astral Body with you, you would have survived that."

Watching that, Yuuno trembled, if she could kill a god so easily, what chance did they have?

Huraker smirked at the remaining survivors. "So..." Her body was glowing blue by now. "Which of you fools will be the next to die?"

Spoiler for Comments:

For those who don't get what Sirius meant, he was referencing to Millie from Lost Universe. After all, he's FROM that universe.

[vic-vic]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

A's

Jump

New Parts 1-45

New Part 46

New Part 47

New Part 48

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - New Part 49:

"Zelas..." Lina coughed as she leaned on Shiro and looked up at the Mazoku Lord tiredly. "Don't tell me that you're going to kidnap my husband and then use him to force me to release a fragment of Shabranigdo from somewhere or try to destroy the world."

Zelas just blinked at her a few times. "...Why would I do that?"

Lina nearly face-faulted, but the blood that she coughed up kept her from doing too much.

"I mean, killing all the humans on the planet? Easy, but dull. After all, when they're gone, my food supply would be gone, and then where would I be?"

Lina sweat-dropped at the look that Zelas was giving her. "Then... Why help me kill Dynast?"

"Those reasons are my own." Zelas narrowed her eyes as she looked at Sherra's body. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to make sure that he doesn't come back."

A moment later, Zelas and Sherra both disappeared with a flash.

"That... Wasn't what I expected from a Mazoku." Filia admitted, before shaking her head and going to Lina, casting a healing spell to ease the pain she was feeling. "Are you okay?"

"Just fine..." Lina panted heavily. Something was wrong, she shouldn't be so worn out like she was, even a Double Ragna Blade couldn't take up that much stamina. 'Ugh, I just hope that I'm sick and it's not what I think it is.' While it wouldn't be bad if it was what she thought it was, she just hoped that she wasn't.

At least not at this time.

"Well, I'll be taking my leave now." Xellos smiled at the group. "Oh, before I go..." He snapped his fingers and tossed something to the ground near Filia. "I figure that you wouldn't mind having your mace back." He smiled as he disappeared from view.

"What did that woman mean by making sure that he doesn't come back?" Gourry asked and Lina shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe Dynast decided that he should take his power, mind, experience and Astral body and shove them into Sherra to avoid being killed for good."

"Whatever the case," Lina looked and grimaced as she saw Sirius appear in front of the group, "I need Bodigar and Galveira."

Before anyone could respond, a screen with Amy's face popped up. "What's going on down there?! First we got a SSS+ reading from where you're at, and now there's a power beyond even that coming from where Chrono and the others are at!"

Lina sighed softly. "Get us to the ship, I need to see Sylphiel."

"What about him?" Amy asked as Sirius walked to them silently.

"Go ahead, I don't trust him, but it's probably safer to have a god on board than a Mazoku."

Amy nodded as the group was teleported onto the ship.

When they got on board, Sirius blinked. "Looks like something from back home." He shrugged at the looks he was given. "Vessels like this aren't too uncommon where I'm from. I'll have to tell you about the humans that got onto the Sword Breaker sometime." He took a step forward, before turning to the group and giving them a serious look. "Please tell me that you don't have a member of the crew who's an excellent cook but destroys the kitchen when she makes a meal."

"Uh... No."

"Oh good." Sirius let out a sigh of relief. "I'll never forget Lord Vorfeed's comments about all the pain she went through when she was used like that."

"Uh..." Gourry scratched his head. "I thought that Vorfeed was a Dragon?"

"For awhile, she, Dark Star and all of his subordinates decided to live as space-ships."

Lina shook her head as she leaned on Shiro's body. "Your world is just weird, Sirius."

The pink Shinzoku just shrugged as Sylphiel ran up to Lina and gasped at her. "You over-did it, Miss Lina!"

"Didn't have a choice." Lina muttered as Sylphiel cast her Resurrection spell over the redhead's body. "Glad I had you and Arf stay up here."

"Miss Arf collapsed for a bit, I don't know what happened, but then she got up and got better, saying that Fate was badly hurt and..." She trailed off at the look on Lina's face. "Miss Lina..?"

"Hurry up and heal me, dammit!" Lina snarled, her hair starting to float upwards. She looked at Nanoha. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine..." Nanoha nodded at her, before gasping as Filia and Amelia both cast healing spells to her back. "Oww, okay, but I'll be fine."

"I'm sure you will be, but Miss Lina would kill us if you got hurt because we didn't heal you properly." Amelia smiled at her. "Just put up with it for a little bit longer."

Nanoha nodded, she would, she just wished that she could get there and help Fate out.

(---)

In a secluded meadow, Zelas sat under a tree, her eyes closed. Her hand was softly running through Sherra's hair as the other Mazoku rested her head on the Lord's lap.

It would be an incredibly pleasant scene, if not for the violently snapping energies around the two of them.

"Dynast... I told you, didn't I?" Zelas said softly as she looked at a rock monument not more than ten feet from her position as her eyes clouded over slightly. "I told you, one day, you would pay for what you did to me all those years ago."

Looking at Sherra, she narrowed her eyes as they flashed brightly. "Too bad for you, you really shouldn't have done that." Oh well, what was done, was done.

Even more so, since she finally got her revenge on him.

(---)

Yuuno stood in front of Fate and Lyos, several barriers in place around them, including the one that covered them, healing them and letting them recover. "Wish I had more time."

"Hey..." He blinked as he saw Riksfalto standing next to him. "Huraker's not one to make the first move, but she's not really that good in combat."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Riksfalto smirked as Huraker closed her eyes. "I'm not sure why..." Though, what Huraker said to her, about being like Gaav, had her thinking about something. Of all the Mazoku that existed, Shabranigdo could have chosen any of them to go after Ragradia, hell, Hellmaster was more powerful than anyone else, yet Gaav had been chosen to go against the Shinzoku.

There was more to it, she was sure.

"YOU CAN ALL DIE TOGETHER!" Huraker yelled and lashed out at the closest person to her, which happened to be Erulogos, who could barely hold off that wave of destructive energy.

Huraker held up a hand, energy in the form of water pooling up into it, before lashing out and flooding the platform. Most everyone flew up, except for Jillas, who was swept away with the water, as well as Fate and Lyos, who were behind the barriers, but the barriers thankfully held from the attack.

"Whyyyyyyy!?" Jillas screamed as he grabbed the edge of the platform, tears falling out of his eye.

"Yaaaah!" Riksfalto growled as Gorun Nova slashed into Huraker's back, causing the Priest to stumble forward, a large gouge where Riksfalto struck.

"Fool." Riksfalto's eye widened as a funnel of water emerged from Huraker's back, and sending the General crashing into one of the pillars that were circling the platform they were on.

"Ahhhh..." Riksfalto groaned, that hadn't felt good, the mix of Holy and Black felt wrong on so many levels that it wasn't funny.

Yuuno held his hands out, Holy fire escaping from his hands as it rushed at Huraker. The Priest held up a hand and returned the favor, a stream of Holy water crashing against the fire. "You can't win, boy." Huraker's voice was starting to sound wierd. "Our Holy powers cancel each other out, but unlike you..." She suddenly grinned as a red ball appeared in her other hand. "I've got my Black magic as well!" Letting out a scream, she lauched the sphere at Yuuno, who's eyes widened, before a yellow barrier went up right in front of him, causing the attack to explode.

"What?" Yuuno blinked in surprise, he hadn't done that.

"I... Can still... Fight this much." Fate panted, her hand dropping to the platform with a heavy thud.

"Fate." Yuuno gasped.

"Oh, how nice, I'll have to kill her again." Huraker grinned, before looking up as she saw a shadow overhead. "Valgaav..." She grinned as he let loose a yell and charged at her, Ragudo Mezegis leading the way. "Don't you know?" She moved away from where he was and laughed when the fire power that Yuuno was using covered his body. "Never attack someone who has the advantage?"

Valgaav just smirked at her when the flames dissipated, revealing that he wasn't hurt in the slightest. "Seems that kid saw through your plan."

"Maybe..." Huraker nodded, before letting out a yell, her aura snapping into life around her, whip tendrils of magic and water forming around her. In her hands red energy was surrounded by water, which she fired, in a funnel shape, at Valgaav, who held up Ragudo Mezegis and grimaced as his body was burning from the energy. "You... Bitch..."

"Ra Tilt!" Zelgadis called out, catching Huraker off guard. The Mazoku grimaced before letting out a yell and the spell broke into magical particles. "Impossible!"

"Heh heh heh!" Huraker's eyes had an insane gleam as she snapped her fingers and Valgaav was encased in ice. "This power... Even Hellmaster didn't have this power!"

She turned her attention as a powerful spell crashed into her water barrier. "Oh yes, Knight of Vrabazard..." She flicked her wrist at him and Yuuno was surprised as he was surrounded by a bubble of water. "I think that you need to learn just what the true power of the gods is like."

Yuuno's eyes widened as he felt his temperature starting to drop dramatically.

"I'll freeze you... I think having a statue like you would be interesting..." Huraker smirked, before frowning as the water shattered around Yuuno, causing him to drop to the platform, panting, behind him, Riksfalto narrowed her eye at the Priest. "Oh really, Riksfalto... There used to be a time where you would have enjoyed doing that."

Riksfalto didn't answer as she rushed forward, Gorun Nova swinging down at Huraker, who grinned and stopped her by wrapping water tentacles around the General's body. "You really are pathetic, aren't you?"

Riksfalto's eye wavered slightly as she stared at Huraker in shock. "Just... What are you going to..."

"Do?" Huraker grinned up at her. "After I'm done playing here, I'm going to take over as the leader of the Mazoku." She smirked at Riksfalto's shocked look. "Lord Dolphin... She just has no ambition, and quite frankly, it annoys me, the way that she's always hanging around Zelas, or going crazy over some chocolate... Maybe I'll do the world a favor and put her out of everyone's misery."

"She created you! And this is how you repay her?!" Riksfalto growled.

"Hey..." Huraker turned, still keeping Riksfalto wrapped up, and blinked as Valgaav broke through the ice. "You really are stupid, aren't you?"

"Is that what you think?" Huraker raised an eyebrow at him. "Then you can just die!"

"Why don't you?" Erulogos growled as he thrust Nezzard at Huraker's neck. His eyes widened as the attack was stopped mere millimeters from her. Looking down, he saw that his body was covered in the same binds as Riksfalto was.

"Unlike Riksfalto, I have no connection with you..." Huraker held a hand up and Erulogos' eyes widened at the power that was being gathered. "So... Goodbye."

"Valgaav!" Zelgadis yelled as he cast a spell. "Use this! Ra TILT!" The energy of the Ra Tilt connected with Ragudo Mezegis and the blade's energy increased tremendously.

"Well, this is interesting." Valgaav muttered before swinging the weapon down. His eyes widened as he saw the wave of tremendous power at the shocked Mazoku Priest, who let out a scream as the power engulfed her.

Riksfalto frowned as Huraker disappeared. "That was too easy..."

Erulogos chuckled at the General. "Stupid Mazoku, thinking that she can, ARRRGH!" He screamed as a hand escaped his chest. Behind him, Huraker reappeared and smirked at him.

"Did you really think that would be enough to stop me?" She asked, chuckling, before swinging her arm up and slicing Erulogos' body in half. She watched as the god fell to the ground, dead. "Pathetic... If you had only kept your Astral Body with you, you would have survived that."

Watching that, Yuuno trembled, if she could kill a god so easily, what chance did they have?

Huraker smirked at the remaining survivors. "So..." Her body was glowing blue by now. "Which of you fools will be the next to die?"

Spoiler for Comments:

For those who don't get what Sirius meant, he was referencing to Millie from Lost Universe. After all, he's FROM that universe.

Wow, and peoples say that the scariest type of woman it`s Woman Scorned. How about the 1000 years old mazoku-priestess who obtained power of god?

[NorthernFallout]

Tried something different from what I usually do. No horror this time. No idea how this short turned out...

Spoiler for Hayate's Fear:

A black feather slowly dwindled from the sky onto the Yagami residence in the middle of a cold January night. Frost lay heavy on the roof and it glittered from the vibrant moonlight. The feather settled down and gently slid downwards from the roof.

When it reached the edge it continued its descent, towards its new home on the frozen ground. But first it dwindled down, past the window looking into Miss Yagami’s bedroom. From there one could see that she was deep asleep, but that she was worried about something. She turned in agony, nightmares haunting her mind and her heart rupturing with loss. What nightmares she might have had was unknown, but her loss was not.

Clues as to what she could be dreaming about lay strewn inside the residence. Not obvious ones, but abstract ones. Small ones you would have to think about before understanding.

Clothes lay neatly stacked upon the sofa in the quiet living room. Four pairs of pants, four sweaters and four pairs of socks. On the table next to them lay accessories. A necklace, a ring and a hat with a sad bunny stitched into it. The owners of these were nowhere to be seen in the Yagami residence.

The phone blinked in the darkness without making a sound. It did so because it had messages waiting to be opened. It had blared its tone several times during the previous day, but it had not received the pleasure of being answered.

Clues in form of letters. The lay inside the door from which they had been pushed through. Some was still stuck in the intake, others had fallen to the floor in a heap. They were all addressed to the Yagami residence, but none had been open. Their senders were close acquaintances to Miss Yagami, yet that had not prompted her to open them.

The only thing which had its prayers answered was the simple doorbell. Its only purpose it had succeeded with, that of to be rung. That was because of the visitors that had not been let in through the door. It had rung and rung, yet, even if its purpose was fulfilled, it was for naught.

As the living room stood quiet and dark, so do the other rooms within the residence. Though there once had been ancient souls living her before, the rooms now stood empty. It had been sudden for them, not to be used as usual. It was their purpose after all.

Indeed, the Yagami residence stood in silence and darkness. Silent as it had been before Miss Yagami had found her purpose. Dark as it had been before Miss Yagami discovered the secret that lay dormant within her very own walls.

Silent and dark as the ancient souls whose existence had begun on that very same day. What had the purpose been for the ancient souls that had once inhabited the Yagami residence? Their purpose might have been finite as most things are and they had as such gone to where all ancient souls go when their purpose has reached its end.

But Miss Yagami, who lay in her bed, sleeping with the nightmares, with tears glinting below her closed eyelids, had not wanted that purpose to end. Because she had known all along. She had known all along...

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for MD returns after a light X Mas break!:

“Sette’s out… and she is going to kill us! Better yet, she’ll chop us all into sardine bits and-”

“Sein, get a grip! Why are you thinking that she would do such a thing?” asked Otto after having finally managed to talk a little sense into Deed on the fact that such questions are inappropriate and wouldn’t even apply anyway since Vice is a military officer and not a freelance assassin. The earlier mess that Sein had caused from the dropping of her breakfast tray had been cleaned up and the sisters were all taking their morning meals in a more secluded area where they could talk amongst themselves.

“It’s what I would do if I ever got ditched! Think about it! As far as I know, the three of us never did make time to check on how she’s doing and stuff in prison since we were so busy with our training! I don’t think that Cinque-nee and the others who joined the Nakajima family checked up on her either since they get caught up in work too! That means that Sette would feel like-”

“There is an error in your assumption, Sein. Sette does not have the ability to feel,” replied Deed. “She was created to be a perfect weapon of war according to what Tre-neesama had said.”

“Okay, so concepts like loneliness won’t bother her but you know how she’s a strict stickler to the rules and to her perceived superiors. She’ll see that we deserted our posts and joined the enemy. Actions like treason only have one punishment.” And the eldest of the trio made a cutting motion across her neck with her index finger, complete with sound effects.

Otto merely sighed. “You’re thinking too much about this. All of us know that Sette is attempting to undergo a rehab program. Granted, it’s taking longer and it’s quite different but I think by now, she should have made some progress breaking out of that ‘Perfect Soldier’ mindset.”

The blue haired female started relaxing a bit. “I guess you’re right about that.”

“But if what that agent mentioned earlier is correct, then it is highly likely that this Material will try to use Sette against us,” commented Deed.

Her twin groaned underneath her breath. ‘Did she really have to mention that? Now Sein’s going to lose it again in three… two… one…’

“So I was right earlier!” wailed Sein. “The Material girl’s probably gonna mess up Sette’s head even further so that she’ll enjoy punishing us and chopping us into sardine bits!”

“Sein, she’s not…!” At this point, Otto just knew it was going to be a long day.

**********

Material-D couldn’t tell which one of these insects she disliked more.

The one clad in black with the blonde hair reminded her of a flea. Something that would bounce around on a dog’s flesh, suck blood for nutrients and be damn hard to catch. No matter how many times this body tried to get a hold of her, the other girl was a step ahead of her. Of course, it didn’t look like she placed a lot of emphasis on defensive armour so one good hit would take her out.

As for the one in white, she couldn’t tell what type of bug she would be. Perhaps a cockroach? She certainly was annoying enough to qualify for one, complete with that ugly attempt to plead that the destruction end.

“Hayate-chan and the Book of Darkness… please stop this! We aren’t the ones------!”

Oh, what Yami would give to be able to tear off that girl’s head from her body. For starters, she addressed her by that Hayate name. To be addressed in such a common manner was irritating. In addition, they seemed to have committed some offense and were trying to beg for their own lives.

“------ the rest… we…!”

The other voice that echoed throughout her senses was different. It must belong to the blonde. It was almost as annoying as the first one that tried to communicate to her.

But there was something about those two that she couldn’t quite put a finger on. For some reason, the one in white reminded her of the Starlight Destroyer while the blonde seemed to be just like the Lightning Assailant, except sane. Very sane. It was rather weird hearing her voice come out so mature.

Then she heard a voice… a most wonderful voice that promised the end of everything. A voice that carried power and loyalty to her proper Mistress. No matter how hard Yami tried, she couldn’t put a face or a name to that voice.

“My mistress wishes that this world…”

…… who is she? There’s something about her…

“… the world that took away her----------”

A name… there’s a name on the tip of my tongue…! What is it?

“… be turned into nothing more than a nightmare. I am simply granting that wish.”

Then grant my wish! TELL ME YOUR NAME!

And in the waking world, where nobody could hear her, a small sound escaped from the lips of the sleeping Lord of Darkness.

“Re…in…force…”

Yes, I know that there's a bit of OOCness but I've been wanting to add a dash of paranoia to a perky girl so... I'll see how it works out.

Eh, I don't think it works. None of the Numbers save Tre really knew about Sette. She was the last to be brought online and she didn't interact much with the others. Even then she was all quiet and stuff so I don't think Sein would immediately jump to the conclusion that "OMG SHE'S GONNA BRUTALLY MURDER US ALL!" Maybe she'd react that way if Quattro was the one who broke out but she has no reason to believe that Sette would be out for their blood.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

Tried something different from what I usually do. No horror this time. No idea how this short turned out...

Spoiler for Hayate's Fear:

A black feather slowly dwindled from the sky onto the Yagami residence in the middle of a cold January night. Frost lay heavy on the roof and it glittered from the vibrant moonlight. The feather settled down and gently slid downwards from the roof.

When it reached the edge it continued its descent, towards its new home on the frozen ground. But first it dwindled down, past the window looking into Miss Yagami’s bedroom. From there one could see that she was deep asleep, but that she was worried about something. She turned in agony, nightmares haunting her mind and her heart rupturing with loss. What nightmares she might have had was unknown, but her loss was not.

Clues as to what she could be dreaming about lay strewn inside the residence. Not obvious ones, but abstract ones. Small ones you would have to think about before understanding.

Clothes lay neatly stacked upon the sofa in the quiet living room. Four pairs of pants, four sweaters and four pairs of socks. On the table next to them lay accessories. A necklace, a ring and a hat with a sad bunny stitched into it. The owners of these were nowhere to be seen in the Yagami residence.

The phone blinked in the darkness without making a sound. It did so because it had messages waiting to be opened. It had blared its tone several times during the previous day, but it had not received the pleasure of being answered.

Clues in form of letters. The lay inside the door from which they had been pushed through. Some was still stuck in the intake, others had fallen to the floor in a heap. They were all addressed to the Yagami residence, but none had been open. Their senders were close acquaintances to Miss Yagami, yet that had not prompted her to open them.

The only thing which had its prayers answered was the simple doorbell. Its only purpose it had succeeded with, that of to be rung. That was because of the visitors that had not been let in through the door. It had rung and rung, yet, even if its purpose was fulfilled, it was for naught.

As the living room stood quiet and dark, so do the other rooms within the residence. Though there once had been ancient souls living her before, the rooms now stood empty. It had been sudden for them, not to be used as usual. It was their purpose after all.

Indeed, the Yagami residence stood in silence and darkness. Silent as it had been before Miss Yagami had found her purpose. Dark as it had been before Miss Yagami discovered the secret that lay dormant within her very own walls.

Silent and dark as the ancient souls whose existence had begun on that very same day. What had the purpose been for the ancient souls that had once inhabited the Yagami residence? Their purpose might have been finite as most things are and they had as such gone to where all ancient souls go when their purpose has reached its end.

But Miss Yagami, who lay in her bed, sleeping with the nightmares, with tears glinting below her closed eyelids, had not wanted that purpose to end. Because she had known all along. She had known all along...

This was really sad, both on Hayate's side and on the Wolkenritter's side. I really liked the simple language, nothing too flashy, just lots of short statements and questions--it really set the mood, making me imagine a silent movie in my head, which really added to the atmosphere.

The part about the phone was a nice callback to the first episode of A's, and gives that "things came around full circle" kind of tragic feel.

I wonder how old Hayate is here (as I don't think it had been evident in the piece). If Hayate had been 9 (taking place right after A's), then it's sad since she had just lost Reinforce and would also lose the Wolkenritter too (and for the Wolkies, for them to have laboured so hard to save Hayate and to have succeeded, should make them happy, but yet still sad because they would know by now how badly Hayate would take their deaths); if this is sometime in the future when Hayate is older but the Wolkies' "contract" is over, then it's even worse since it could have come as a shock, or all of them could have been dreading this day. Either way, I'm very sad for them .

Hm, "She had known all along..."....I wonder if this is referring to her knowing that she'll always be alone, or that she always knew that the Wolkenritter would have to die/leave/disappear someday?

Great piece, it wrung my heart ^^.

[00-Raiser]

So earlier this month Alavon approached me and asked if I would write a story for a holiday themed doujinshi that she'd draw. I agreed and she's been hard at work on it ever since. I 'wrote it' in the sense that I described what was going on it in, because there's no dialouge in it. It's three pages in length.

Alavon is using a program to tone that she's not used to, and she doesn't think she'll have it done by New Years when it'd still be relevant. So for now I'm just going to post what she's done so far.



It's still a work in progress, but I hope you enjoy it