Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[ghazghkull]

Originally Posted by Tempy

Alright. Sadly, stuff has happened that makes writing very difficult and nigh impossible to get anything done. I'd be lucky to even get online to visit ASuki

As such, I'm retiring from writing, and I'll be far less active on the boards. It's been fun, folks.

Peace out.

I initially shrugged at this when I read it, because I figured it happens all the time, and I thought, "Meh, at least I'll still see him on IRC."

And then I read the comments people have made in regards to your statement XD

Well played good sir

[Kaijo]

And now, here we go...

Future Tense

Chapter 35: History Fulfilled

In which the horrifying plan is finally revealed...

Previous chapters can be found here.

Spoiler for Future Tense, Chapter 35: History Fulfilled:

MGLN: Future Tense
Chapter 35: History Fulfilled

Xx~~*~~xX

The room was silent following Precia's pronouncement; no one not named Precia Testarossa had any idea of how to respond, or whether she was even telling the truth. Well, all except one.

Quattro's laughter sounded from near one corner of the room, then she winced, letting everyone else know what kind of pain that simple action had induced. "So this is how things played out, Due? You knowingly betrayed Jail and his dream?"

Her cyborg mentor shrugged. "Jail miscalculated back then; Zest's strike was fatal. If it wasn't for Precia, I would have died. You disappoint me, my protege. I had expected you, of all people, to figure all this out long ago. You should have seen the signs."

"You were behind everything!?" Nanoha questioned in disbelief, staring.

Instead of answering, Precia merely smiled mysteriously, as more laughter echoed throughout the room, causing all eyes to return to Quattro; a standing Quattro, looking suddenly whole and uninjured. "Oh, I think it is you who disappointed me, teacher."

Before anyone could question that, Quattro faded from view, and in the next moment, Precia turned and stabbed Due with a short sword tthat had suddenly appeared in her hand. "You aren't the only one who can play the deceiver's game."

Blood trailed from Due's mouth as she bent over the weapon. "It was you... all along..."

Nanoha could barely follow what was going on anymore, as Precia changed into Quattro and pulled the bloody blade from her cyborg sister and kicked the body away. "You taught me too well, sister. It was actually I who went back in time, and pretended to be Precia in the guise of Marial."

"Quattro," Fate growled, gripping her weapon tighter. "I should have known. You won't get away with this."

"Oh, my dear Fate; you don't want to kill your own mother, do you?" Quattro told her mockingly, wearing Precia's face again. "Not when we can be a family again?"

"You're not my mother!" Fate nearly screamed.

Quattro's eager grin stretched across her face. "Oh, but I am, in a matter of speaking. Falling into that dimensional void at the Garden of Time sent me across time and space, where I took the place of the real #4 cyborg the moment she was born. The illusionary powers I gained with my IS gave me the perfect cover; neither Jail nor Due, nor anyone else, ever suspected a thing. And now I will go back in time and tell myself exactly what to do: create you, a tool, that I can manipulate and play with once more."

Fate-chan..." Nanoha whispered, growing disturbed at how Fate's head was hung low, her eyes hidden by her bangs.

In the next moment, Fate's surged forward in a flash of golden light, her device weapon shifting into Zanber form while it came down in an attempt to cleave Precia/Quattro's body in two. But the weapon fizzled before it made contact, the golden blade disappearing.

"Apparently you forgot that I made Vulnificus," Precia/Quattro tsk'ed. "Too bad for you." Without even a gesture, Fate's body was encompassed by lightning binds. "I'm very sorry you don't believe so, but what is done is done."You can't change history, only fulfill it. Though I don't blame you; when I discovered my own role in history, I didn't quite believe it at first, either. We are all pawns to destiny."

"Why?" Fate uttered at last, a million feelings and emotions surging through her mind. "What do you plan to do when you go back in time? What history are you fulfilling?"

Precia grinned. "Don't ask me a question you already know the answer to. What is the only reason for me to go back in time?"

Fate stared. "You can't... you wouldn't..."

"I'd love to explain, however..." Precia started to say, then turned to glance at Carim's linker core which had expanded to several meters in diameter. "As you can see, it's almost time for me to go. But first...""

She turned and released a blast of magical energy from her hand, meeting Nanoha's Divine Buster with one of equal strength. The edges of her lips turned upwards and she increased the flow of magic, overpowering Nanoha's spell and knocking the brown-haired woman into a wall.

"And now that's taken care of, it's time for me to go," Precia/Quattro stated, and then sent one last look at Fate. "See you again!"

"NO!" Fate cried as Precia/Quattro jumped into the enlarged linker core and disappeared.

Nanoha pulled herself from her indentation in the wall, noting in despair that the linker core portal was rapidly shrinking again; in moments, it was gone. "Fate, what was she talking about? Where is she going?"

She was struck by the haunted look in Fate's eyes. "Somewhere you can't possibly imagine...."

x~~*~~x

"I can tell you put a lot of effort into this," she told the person before her, who had been nervously waiting for the verdict.

The artist beamed with pride, but also nervousness, hopes rising.

Precia/Quattro put the painted picture down on her desk and sighed. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid it's not quite what we're looking for here, at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. The style is decent, but it an amatuerish beginner way. I'm afraid you are just not fit to be an artist. I commend you for trying, but I would highly suggest you look to apply your abilities in another field."

"But..." the young man nearly whined, looking desperate. "I love painting! What else am I supposed to do?"

Precia/Quattro folded her hands in front of her face to hide her grin, having waited an eternity for this very moment. "Oh, I'm sure you'll find something, Mr. Hitler."

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

And this is when you realize what day it is.^^ (check the calender if you are unsure :P )

For those who don't know, Hitler was an aspiring artist, twice rejected from the Academy of of Fine Arts Vienna. Perhaps if he had been accepted... but maybe someone deliberately rejected him... someone twisted enough. ;p

The real chapter 35 is almost done, and will be coming along soon.. hopefully. But now, to further poke some fun at myself:

Xx~~*~~xX

Alternate Ending:

Due coughed up blood as she stared at Precia, who had just revealed herself as Quattro, her expression a mixture of surprise and horror

Then she laughed.

Quattro raised an eyebrow. "I'm glad that you find this amusing."

"You forgot my very first lesson: always have another plan," Due reminded her.

Quattro's eyes narrowed. "What could you possibly-"

"QUATTRO!" came the scream, accompanied by several shots.

The #4 cyborg turned just in time to be peppered by several orange bolts that made Swiss cheese out of her body, while Due hit the ground. She stared as Teana walked into the room, guns raised, continuing to calmly fire. When she was done, Precia/Quattro's body fell over and hit the ground with a thud.

"How could you possibly..." Quattro started to say.

Due grinned evilly, then coughed up more blood. "I may not win... but neither will you!"

"Neither one of you will win!" Hayate stated, drawing everyone's eyes over to the corner as she calmly stood up. "Because it was I who went back in time! I set all this up, so I could go back in time and stop Nanoha from dying! The Bureau would never have agreed to time travel research, so my only option was to take it over and rule with authoritarian government!"

"Hayate!?" Nanoha questioned in surprise. "You? How? Why? Did you create me, too?"

"I needed a clone of you to occupy their attention, someone who could take action while I merely played the part they designed for me, so as to not arouse suspicion of my true goals," Hayate explained.

Nanoha couldn't believe what she was hearing. "But everyone who died, or suffered... you did all of that?"

Hayate strode over to the portal. "It had to be done. Sacrifices had to be made. And now, I'll go back in time-"

"No, you won't, because I will!" came a new voice from someone who shot rapidly past Teana to enter the room.

The gunmage did a double take. "Subaru!? You're alive!"

"And I set all this up, because I was the one who went back in time!" Subaru declared, skating on her road and heading directly for the portal. "Pretending to be dead all this time was the perfect cover."

Nanoha rubbed her temples. "None of this makes any sense."

"No!" Hayate shouted, firing a spell. "Excalibur!"

"And now she's dead again," Nanoha noted, becoming increasingly disconnected from events.

"SUBARU!" Teana cried as her cyborg lover was obliterated, then turned her guns on her new target. "HAYATE!"

The Supreme Commander easily shielded against the gun mage's shots, then fired back, a humongous beam that enveloped Teana's body, dissolving it under massive pressure alone. "Now there's no one left who can-"

Six gun shots rang out in rapid succession and Hayate's body hit the floor, six holes in the back of her head.

Jail slowly rose to his feet, smoke trailing from the barrel of the Silver Dagger gun in his hand. "I knew she was planning to do that, because I-"

"-went back in time, we know," Nanoha finished for him, then sighed. "So you were behind all this after all?"

"Yes, I-ack!" Jail started to say, then frantically clawed at the emerald green bubble that had closed over his head, panicking as he tried to draw breath.

"No, it was me all along," Yuuno said, rising from the ground as Jail suffocated and expired. "I-"

One of the beam supports that was holding the magnifying glass up finally dislodged due to damage from stray shots, and landed on him, crushing him under it's weight.

In the silence that followed, Nanoha kept waiting for someone else to show up or take credit, then she glanced at the only other living occupant remaining. "So... was it you, Fate-chan?"

The blue-haired girl shook her head. "I thought it was you!"

"But you might not be Fate," Nanoha stated, suddenly wary. "You could be Due or Quattro..."

"And you could be my mother!" Fate countered, raising her weapon warily.

There was an awkward pause, as both glanced at the glowing portal, still floating there, unused, almost insulted that no one had gone through.

"Well, this is rather... unsettling," Nanoha noted aloud.

Fate nodded sympathetically. "Indeed. After having come this far, the readers will want a satisfying ending, and the author doesn't seem to know what to do."

Nanoha shrugged. "So... hot lesbian sex?"

Fate considered that, then deactivated her weapon and nodded. "Okay."

Reminder that any comments be contained withing SPOILER text for the benefit of those who haven't read it yet!

[Kuroi Hadou]

Welcome back, Kaijo.

[vic-vic]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

And now, here we go...

Future Tense

Chapter 35: History Fulfilled

In which the horrifying plan is finally revealed...

Previous chapters can be found here.

Spoiler for Future Tense, Chapter 35: History Fulfilled:

MGLN: Future Tense
Chapter 35: History Fulfilled

Xx~~*~~xX

The room was silent following Precia's pronouncement; no one not named Precia Testarossa had any idea of how to respond, or whether she was even telling the truth. Well, all except one.

Quattro's laughter sounded from near one corner of the room, then she winced, letting everyone else know what kind of pain that simple action had induced. "So this is how things played out, Due? You knowingly betrayed Jail and his dream?"

Her cyborg mentor shrugged. "Jail miscalculated back then; Zest's strike was fatal. If it wasn't for Precia, I would have died. You disappoint me, my protege. I had expected you, of all people, to figure all this out long ago. You should have seen the signs."

"You were behind everything!?" Nanoha questioned in disbelief, staring.

Instead of answering, Precia merely smiled mysteriously, as more laughter echoed throughout the room, causing all eyes to return to Quattro; a standing Quattro, looking suddenly whole and uninjured. "Oh, I think it is you who disappointed me, teacher."

Before anyone could question that, Quattro faded from view, and in the next moment, Precia turned and stabbed Due with a short sword tthat had suddenly appeared in her hand. "You aren't the only one who can play the deceiver's game."

Blood trailed from Due's mouth as she bent over the weapon. "It was you... all along..."

Nanoha could barely follow what was going on anymore, as Precia changed into Quattro and pulled the bloody blade from her cyborg sister and kicked the body away. "You taught me too well, sister. It was actually I who went back in time, and pretended to be Precia in the guise of Marial."

"Quattro," Fate growled, gripping her weapon tighter. "I should have known. You won't get away with this."

"Oh, my dear Fate; you don't want to kill your own mother, do you?" Quattro told her mockingly, wearing Precia's face again. "Not when we can be a family again?"

"You're not my mother!" Fate nearly screamed.

Quattro's eager grin stretched across her face. "Oh, but I am, in a matter of speaking. Falling into that dimensional void at the Garden of Time sent me across time and space, where I took the place of the real #4 cyborg the moment she was born. The illusionary powers I gained with my IS gave me the perfect cover; neither Jail nor Due, nor anyone else, ever suspected a thing. And now I will go back in time and tell myself exactly what to do: create you, a tool, that I can manipulate and play with once more."

Fate-chan..." Nanoha whispered, growing disturbed at how Fate's head was hung low, her eyes hidden by her bangs.

In the next moment, Fate's surged forward in a flash of golden light, her device weapon shifting into Zanber form while it came down in an attempt to cleave Precia/Quattro's body in two. But the weapon fizzled before it made contact, the golden blade disappearing.

"Apparently you forgot that I made Vulnificus," Precia/Quattro tsk'ed. "Too bad for you." Without even a gesture, Fate's body was encompassed by lightning binds. "I'm very sorry you don't believe so, but what is done is done."You can't change history, only fulfill it. Though I don't blame you; when I discovered my own role in history, I didn't quite believe it at first, either. We are all pawns to destiny."

"Why?" Fate uttered at last, a million feelings and emotions surging through her mind. "What do you plan to do when you go back in time? What history are you fulfilling?"

Precia grinned. "Don't ask me a question you already know the answer to. What is the only reason for me to go back in time?"

Fate stared. "You can't... you wouldn't..."

"I'd love to explain, however..." Precia started to say, then turned to glance at Carim's linker core which had expanded to several meters in diameter. "As you can see, it's almost time for me to go. But first...""

She turned and released a blast of magical energy from her hand, meeting Nanoha's Divine Buster with one of equal strength. The edges of her lips turned upwards and she increased the flow of magic, overpowering Nanoha's spell and knocking the brown-haired woman into a wall.

"And now that's taken care of, it's time for me to go," Precia/Quattro stated, and then sent one last look at Fate. "See you again!"

"NO!" Fate cried as Precia/Quattro jumped into the enlarged linker core and disappeared.

Nanoha pulled herself from her indentation in the wall, noting in despair that the linker core portal was rapidly shrinking again; in moments, it was gone. "Fate, what was she talking about? Where is she going?"

She was struck by the haunted look in Fate's eyes. "Somewhere you can't possibly imagine...."

x~~*~~x

"I can tell you put a lot of effort into this," she told the person before her, who had been nervously waiting for the verdict.

The artist beamed with pride, but also nervousness, hopes rising.

Precia/Quattro put the painted picture down on her desk and sighed. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid it's not quite what we're looking for here, at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. The style is decent, but it an amatuerish beginner way. I'm afraid you are just not fit to be an artist. I commend you for trying, but I would highly suggest you look to apply your abilities in another field."

"But..." the young man nearly whined, looking desperate. "I love painting! What else am I supposed to do?"

Precia/Quattro folded her hands in front of her face to hide her grin, having waited an eternity for this very moment. "Oh, I'm sure you'll find something, Mr. Hitler."

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

And this is when you realize what day it is.^^ (check the calender if you are unsure :P )

For those who don't know, Hitler was an aspiring artist, twice rejected from the Academy of of Fine Arts Vienna. Perhaps if he had been accepted... but maybe someone deliberately rejected him... someone twisted enough. ;p

The real chapter 35 is almost done, and will be coming along soon.. hopefully. But now, to further poke some fun at myself:

Xx~~*~~xX

Alternate Ending:

Due coughed up blood as she stared at Precia, who had just revealed herself as Quattro, her expression a mixture of surprise and horror

Then she laughed.

Quattro raised an eyebrow. "I'm glad that you find this amusing."

"You forgot my very first lesson: always have another plan," Due reminded her.

Quattro's eyes narrowed. "What could you possibly-"

"QUATTRO!" came the scream, accompanied by several shots.

The #4 cyborg turned just in time to be peppered by several orange bolts that made Swiss cheese out of her body, while Due hit the ground. She stared as Teana walked into the room, guns raised, continuing to calmly fire. When she was done, Precia/Quattro's body fell over and hit the ground with a thud.

"How could you possibly..." Quattro started to say.

Due grinned evilly, then coughed up more blood. "I may not win... but neither will you!"

"Neither one of you will win!" Hayate stated, drawing everyone's eyes over to the corner as she calmly stood up. "Because it was I who went back in time! I set all this up, so I could go back in time and stop Nanoha from dying! The Bureau would never have agreed to time travel research, so my only option was to take it over and rule with authoritarian government!"

"Hayate!?" Nanoha questioned in surprise. "You? How? Why? Did you create me, too?"

"I needed a clone of you to occupy their attention, someone who could take action while I merely played the part they designed for me, so as to not arouse suspicion of my true goals," Hayate explained.

Nanoha couldn't believe what she was hearing. "But everyone who died, or suffered... you did all of that?"

Hayate strode over to the portal. "It had to be done. Sacrifices had to be made. And now, I'll go back in time-"

"No, you won't, because I will!" came a new voice from someone who shot rapidly past Teana to enter the room.

The gunmage did a double take. "Subaru!? You're alive!"

"And I set all this up, because I was the one who went back in time!" Subaru declared, skating on her road and heading directly for the portal. "Pretending to be dead all this time was the perfect cover."

Nanoha rubbed her temples. "None of this makes any sense."

"No!" Hayate shouted, firing a spell. "Excalibur!"

"And now she's dead again," Nanoha noted, becoming increasingly disconnected from events.

"SUBARU!" Teana cried as her cyborg lover was obliterated, then turned her guns on her new target. "HAYATE!"

The Supreme Commander easily shielded against the gun mage's shots, then fired back, a humongous beam that enveloped Teana's body, dissolving it under massive pressure alone. "Now there's no one left who can-"

Six gun shots rang out in rapid succession and Hayate's body hit the floor, six holes in the back of her head.

Jail slowly rose to his feet, smoke trailing from the barrel of the Silver Dagger gun in his hand. "I knew she was planning to do that, because I-"

"-went back in time, we know," Nanoha finished for him, then sighed. "So you were behind all this after all?"

"Yes, I-ack!" Jail started to say, then frantically clawed at the emerald green bubble that had closed over his head, panicking as he tried to draw breath.

"No, it was me all along," Yuuno said, rising from the ground as Jail suffocated and expired. "I-"

One of the beam supports that was holding the magnifying glass up finally dislodged due to damage from stray shots, and landed on him, crushing him under it's weight.

In the silence that followed, Nanoha kept waiting for someone else to show up or take credit, then she glanced at the only other living occupant remaining. "So... was it you, Fate-chan?"

The blue-haired girl shook her head. "I thought it was you!"

"But you might not be Fate," Nanoha stated, suddenly wary. "You could be Due or Quattro..."

"And you could be my mother!" Fate countered, raising her weapon warily.

There was an awkward pause, as both glanced at the glowing portal, still floating there, unused, almost insulted that no one had gone through.

"Well, this is rather... unsettling," Nanoha noted aloud.

Fate nodded sympathetically. "Indeed. After having come this far, the readers will want a satisfying ending, and the author doesn't seem to know what to do."

Nanoha shrugged. "So... hot lesbian sex?"

Fate considered that, then deactivated her weapon and nodded. "Okay."

Reminder that any comments be contained withing SPOILER text for the benefit of those who haven't read it yet!

What a twist. He-he-he

Anyway, welcome back Kaijo, it`s nice to see you again.

[Rising Dragon]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

And now, here we go...

Future Tense

Chapter 35: History Fulfilled

In which the horrifying plan is finally revealed...

Previous chapters can be found here.

Spoiler for Future Tense, Chapter 35: History Fulfilled:

*snip*

Reminder that any comments be contained withing SPOILER text for the benefit of those who haven't read it yet!

Spoiler for Response:

... it took me a little bit to remember what day it was today as things got more and more insane. >.>

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

And now, here we go...

Future Tense

Chapter 35: History Fulfilled

In which the horrifying plan is finally revealed...

Previous chapters can be found here.

Spoiler for Future Tense, Chapter 35: History Fulfilled:

MGLN: Future Tense
Chapter 35: History Fulfilled

Xx~~*~~xX

The room was silent following Precia's pronouncement; no one not named Precia Testarossa had any idea of how to respond, or whether she was even telling the truth. Well, all except one.

Quattro's laughter sounded from near one corner of the room, then she winced, letting everyone else know what kind of pain that simple action had induced. "So this is how things played out, Due? You knowingly betrayed Jail and his dream?"

Her cyborg mentor shrugged. "Jail miscalculated back then; Zest's strike was fatal. If it wasn't for Precia, I would have died. You disappoint me, my protege. I had expected you, of all people, to figure all this out long ago. You should have seen the signs."

"You were behind everything!?" Nanoha questioned in disbelief, staring.

Instead of answering, Precia merely smiled mysteriously, as more laughter echoed throughout the room, causing all eyes to return to Quattro; a standing Quattro, looking suddenly whole and uninjured. "Oh, I think it is you who disappointed me, teacher."

Before anyone could question that, Quattro faded from view, and in the next moment, Precia turned and stabbed Due with a short sword tthat had suddenly appeared in her hand. "You aren't the only one who can play the deceiver's game."

Blood trailed from Due's mouth as she bent over the weapon. "It was you... all along..."

Nanoha could barely follow what was going on anymore, as Precia changed into Quattro and pulled the bloody blade from her cyborg sister and kicked the body away. "You taught me too well, sister. It was actually I who went back in time, and pretended to be Precia in the guise of Marial."

"Quattro," Fate growled, gripping her weapon tighter. "I should have known. You won't get away with this."

"Oh, my dear Fate; you don't want to kill your own mother, do you?" Quattro told her mockingly, wearing Precia's face again. "Not when we can be a family again?"

"You're not my mother!" Fate nearly screamed.

Quattro's eager grin stretched across her face. "Oh, but I am, in a matter of speaking. Falling into that dimensional void at the Garden of Time sent me across time and space, where I took the place of the real #4 cyborg the moment she was born. The illusionary powers I gained with my IS gave me the perfect cover; neither Jail nor Due, nor anyone else, ever suspected a thing. And now I will go back in time and tell myself exactly what to do: create you, a tool, that I can manipulate and play with once more."

Fate-chan..." Nanoha whispered, growing disturbed at how Fate's head was hung low, her eyes hidden by her bangs.

In the next moment, Fate's surged forward in a flash of golden light, her device weapon shifting into Zanber form while it came down in an attempt to cleave Precia/Quattro's body in two. But the weapon fizzled before it made contact, the golden blade disappearing.

"Apparently you forgot that I made Vulnificus," Precia/Quattro tsk'ed. "Too bad for you." Without even a gesture, Fate's body was encompassed by lightning binds. "I'm very sorry you don't believe so, but what is done is done."You can't change history, only fulfill it. Though I don't blame you; when I discovered my own role in history, I didn't quite believe it at first, either. We are all pawns to destiny."

"Why?" Fate uttered at last, a million feelings and emotions surging through her mind. "What do you plan to do when you go back in time? What history are you fulfilling?"

Precia grinned. "Don't ask me a question you already know the answer to. What is the only reason for me to go back in time?"

Fate stared. "You can't... you wouldn't..."

"I'd love to explain, however..." Precia started to say, then turned to glance at Carim's linker core which had expanded to several meters in diameter. "As you can see, it's almost time for me to go. But first...""

She turned and released a blast of magical energy from her hand, meeting Nanoha's Divine Buster with one of equal strength. The edges of her lips turned upwards and she increased the flow of magic, overpowering Nanoha's spell and knocking the brown-haired woman into a wall.

"And now that's taken care of, it's time for me to go," Precia/Quattro stated, and then sent one last look at Fate. "See you again!"

"NO!" Fate cried as Precia/Quattro jumped into the enlarged linker core and disappeared.

Nanoha pulled herself from her indentation in the wall, noting in despair that the linker core portal was rapidly shrinking again; in moments, it was gone. "Fate, what was she talking about? Where is she going?"

She was struck by the haunted look in Fate's eyes. "Somewhere you can't possibly imagine...."

x~~*~~x

"I can tell you put a lot of effort into this," she told the person before her, who had been nervously waiting for the verdict.

The artist beamed with pride, but also nervousness, hopes rising.

Precia/Quattro put the painted picture down on her desk and sighed. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid it's not quite what we're looking for here, at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. The style is decent, but it an amatuerish beginner way. I'm afraid you are just not fit to be an artist. I commend you for trying, but I would highly suggest you look to apply your abilities in another field."

"But..." the young man nearly whined, looking desperate. "I love painting! What else am I supposed to do?"

Precia/Quattro folded her hands in front of her face to hide her grin, having waited an eternity for this very moment. "Oh, I'm sure you'll find something, Mr. Hitler."

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

And this is when you realize what day it is.^^ (check the calender if you are unsure :P )

For those who don't know, Hitler was an aspiring artist, twice rejected from the Academy of of Fine Arts Vienna. Perhaps if he had been accepted... but maybe someone deliberately rejected him... someone twisted enough. ;p

The real chapter 35 is almost done, and will be coming along soon.. hopefully. But now, to further poke some fun at myself:

Xx~~*~~xX

Alternate Ending:

Due coughed up blood as she stared at Precia, who had just revealed herself as Quattro, her expression a mixture of surprise and horror

Then she laughed.

Quattro raised an eyebrow. "I'm glad that you find this amusing."

"You forgot my very first lesson: always have another plan," Due reminded her.

Quattro's eyes narrowed. "What could you possibly-"

"QUATTRO!" came the scream, accompanied by several shots.

The #4 cyborg turned just in time to be peppered by several orange bolts that made Swiss cheese out of her body, while Due hit the ground. She stared as Teana walked into the room, guns raised, continuing to calmly fire. When she was done, Precia/Quattro's body fell over and hit the ground with a thud.

"How could you possibly..." Quattro started to say.

Due grinned evilly, then coughed up more blood. "I may not win... but neither will you!"

"Neither one of you will win!" Hayate stated, drawing everyone's eyes over to the corner as she calmly stood up. "Because it was I who went back in time! I set all this up, so I could go back in time and stop Nanoha from dying! The Bureau would never have agreed to time travel research, so my only option was to take it over and rule with authoritarian government!"

"Hayate!?" Nanoha questioned in surprise. "You? How? Why? Did you create me, too?"

"I needed a clone of you to occupy their attention, someone who could take action while I merely played the part they designed for me, so as to not arouse suspicion of my true goals," Hayate explained.

Nanoha couldn't believe what she was hearing. "But everyone who died, or suffered... you did all of that?"

Hayate strode over to the portal. "It had to be done. Sacrifices had to be made. And now, I'll go back in time-"

"No, you won't, because I will!" came a new voice from someone who shot rapidly past Teana to enter the room.

The gunmage did a double take. "Subaru!? You're alive!"

"And I set all this up, because I was the one who went back in time!" Subaru declared, skating on her road and heading directly for the portal. "Pretending to be dead all this time was the perfect cover."

Nanoha rubbed her temples. "None of this makes any sense."

"No!" Hayate shouted, firing a spell. "Excalibur!"

"And now she's dead again," Nanoha noted, becoming increasingly disconnected from events.

"SUBARU!" Teana cried as her cyborg lover was obliterated, then turned her guns on her new target. "HAYATE!"

The Supreme Commander easily shielded against the gun mage's shots, then fired back, a humongous beam that enveloped Teana's body, dissolving it under massive pressure alone. "Now there's no one left who can-"

Six gun shots rang out in rapid succession and Hayate's body hit the floor, six holes in the back of her head.

Jail slowly rose to his feet, smoke trailing from the barrel of the Silver Dagger gun in his hand. "I knew she was planning to do that, because I-"

"-went back in time, we know," Nanoha finished for him, then sighed. "So you were behind all this after all?"

"Yes, I-ack!" Jail started to say, then frantically clawed at the emerald green bubble that had closed over his head, panicking as he tried to draw breath.

"No, it was me all along," Yuuno said, rising from the ground as Jail suffocated and expired. "I-"

One of the beam supports that was holding the magnifying glass up finally dislodged due to damage from stray shots, and landed on him, crushing him under it's weight.

In the silence that followed, Nanoha kept waiting for someone else to show up or take credit, then she glanced at the only other living occupant remaining. "So... was it you, Fate-chan?"

The blue-haired girl shook her head. "I thought it was you!"

"But you might not be Fate," Nanoha stated, suddenly wary. "You could be Due or Quattro..."

"And you could be my mother!" Fate countered, raising her weapon warily.

There was an awkward pause, as both glanced at the glowing portal, still floating there, unused, almost insulted that no one had gone through.

"Well, this is rather... unsettling," Nanoha noted aloud.

Fate nodded sympathetically. "Indeed. After having come this far, the readers will want a satisfying ending, and the author doesn't seem to know what to do."

Nanoha shrugged. "So... hot lesbian sex?"

Fate considered that, then deactivated her weapon and nodded. "Okay."

Reminder that any comments be contained withing SPOILER text for the benefit of those who haven't read it yet!

Spoiler:

Good one. I like the time that you took setting it up to lull people into a false sense of security despite the day (and your return to the forum happening today helped with that, too) so that while initially suspicious I was still caught off-guard. The alternate ending was a bit funnier, though--probably because you couldn't use the "surprise!" moment there and so had to make the whole thing humorous.

[Justin_Brett]

Oh hey Kaijo.

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

And now, here we go...

Future Tense

Chapter 35: History Fulfilled

In which the horrifying plan is finally revealed...

Previous chapters can be found here.

Spoiler for Future Tense, Chapter 35: History Fulfilled:

MGLN: Future Tense
Chapter 35: History Fulfilled

Xx~~*~~xX

The room was silent following Precia's pronouncement; no one not named Precia Testarossa had any idea of how to respond, or whether she was even telling the truth. Well, all except one.

Quattro's laughter sounded from near one corner of the room, then she winced, letting everyone else know what kind of pain that simple action had induced. "So this is how things played out, Due? You knowingly betrayed Jail and his dream?"

Her cyborg mentor shrugged. "Jail miscalculated back then; Zest's strike was fatal. If it wasn't for Precia, I would have died. You disappoint me, my protege. I had expected you, of all people, to figure all this out long ago. You should have seen the signs."

"You were behind everything!?" Nanoha questioned in disbelief, staring.

Instead of answering, Precia merely smiled mysteriously, as more laughter echoed throughout the room, causing all eyes to return to Quattro; a standing Quattro, looking suddenly whole and uninjured. "Oh, I think it is you who disappointed me, teacher."

Before anyone could question that, Quattro faded from view, and in the next moment, Precia turned and stabbed Due with a short sword tthat had suddenly appeared in her hand. "You aren't the only one who can play the deceiver's game."

Blood trailed from Due's mouth as she bent over the weapon. "It was you... all along..."

Nanoha could barely follow what was going on anymore, as Precia changed into Quattro and pulled the bloody blade from her cyborg sister and kicked the body away. "You taught me too well, sister. It was actually I who went back in time, and pretended to be Precia in the guise of Marial."

"Quattro," Fate growled, gripping her weapon tighter. "I should have known. You won't get away with this."

"Oh, my dear Fate; you don't want to kill your own mother, do you?" Quattro told her mockingly, wearing Precia's face again. "Not when we can be a family again?"

"You're not my mother!" Fate nearly screamed.

Quattro's eager grin stretched across her face. "Oh, but I am, in a matter of speaking. Falling into that dimensional void at the Garden of Time sent me across time and space, where I took the place of the real #4 cyborg the moment she was born. The illusionary powers I gained with my IS gave me the perfect cover; neither Jail nor Due, nor anyone else, ever suspected a thing. And now I will go back in time and tell myself exactly what to do: create you, a tool, that I can manipulate and play with once more."

Fate-chan..." Nanoha whispered, growing disturbed at how Fate's head was hung low, her eyes hidden by her bangs.

In the next moment, Fate's surged forward in a flash of golden light, her device weapon shifting into Zanber form while it came down in an attempt to cleave Precia/Quattro's body in two. But the weapon fizzled before it made contact, the golden blade disappearing.

"Apparently you forgot that I made Vulnificus," Precia/Quattro tsk'ed. "Too bad for you." Without even a gesture, Fate's body was encompassed by lightning binds. "I'm very sorry you don't believe so, but what is done is done."You can't change history, only fulfill it. Though I don't blame you; when I discovered my own role in history, I didn't quite believe it at first, either. We are all pawns to destiny."

"Why?" Fate uttered at last, a million feelings and emotions surging through her mind. "What do you plan to do when you go back in time? What history are you fulfilling?"

Precia grinned. "Don't ask me a question you already know the answer to. What is the only reason for me to go back in time?"

Fate stared. "You can't... you wouldn't..."

"I'd love to explain, however..." Precia started to say, then turned to glance at Carim's linker core which had expanded to several meters in diameter. "As you can see, it's almost time for me to go. But first...""

She turned and released a blast of magical energy from her hand, meeting Nanoha's Divine Buster with one of equal strength. The edges of her lips turned upwards and she increased the flow of magic, overpowering Nanoha's spell and knocking the brown-haired woman into a wall.

"And now that's taken care of, it's time for me to go," Precia/Quattro stated, and then sent one last look at Fate. "See you again!"

"NO!" Fate cried as Precia/Quattro jumped into the enlarged linker core and disappeared.

Nanoha pulled herself from her indentation in the wall, noting in despair that the linker core portal was rapidly shrinking again; in moments, it was gone. "Fate, what was she talking about? Where is she going?"

She was struck by the haunted look in Fate's eyes. "Somewhere you can't possibly imagine...."

x~~*~~x

"I can tell you put a lot of effort into this," she told the person before her, who had been nervously waiting for the verdict.

The artist beamed with pride, but also nervousness, hopes rising.

Precia/Quattro put the painted picture down on her desk and sighed. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid it's not quite what we're looking for here, at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. The style is decent, but it an amatuerish beginner way. I'm afraid you are just not fit to be an artist. I commend you for trying, but I would highly suggest you look to apply your abilities in another field."

"But..." the young man nearly whined, looking desperate. "I love painting! What else am I supposed to do?"

Precia/Quattro folded her hands in front of her face to hide her grin, having waited an eternity for this very moment. "Oh, I'm sure you'll find something, Mr. Hitler."

Xx~~*~~xX

Author's notes:

And this is when you realize what day it is.^^ (check the calender if you are unsure :P )

For those who don't know, Hitler was an aspiring artist, twice rejected from the Academy of of Fine Arts Vienna. Perhaps if he had been accepted... but maybe someone deliberately rejected him... someone twisted enough. ;p

The real chapter 35 is almost done, and will be coming along soon.. hopefully. But now, to further poke some fun at myself:

Xx~~*~~xX

Alternate Ending:

Due coughed up blood as she stared at Precia, who had just revealed herself as Quattro, her expression a mixture of surprise and horror

Then she laughed.

Quattro raised an eyebrow. "I'm glad that you find this amusing."

"You forgot my very first lesson: always have another plan," Due reminded her.

Quattro's eyes narrowed. "What could you possibly-"

"QUATTRO!" came the scream, accompanied by several shots.

The #4 cyborg turned just in time to be peppered by several orange bolts that made Swiss cheese out of her body, while Due hit the ground. She stared as Teana walked into the room, guns raised, continuing to calmly fire. When she was done, Precia/Quattro's body fell over and hit the ground with a thud.

"How could you possibly..." Quattro started to say.

Due grinned evilly, then coughed up more blood. "I may not win... but neither will you!"

"Neither one of you will win!" Hayate stated, drawing everyone's eyes over to the corner as she calmly stood up. "Because it was I who went back in time! I set all this up, so I could go back in time and stop Nanoha from dying! The Bureau would never have agreed to time travel research, so my only option was to take it over and rule with authoritarian government!"

"Hayate!?" Nanoha questioned in surprise. "You? How? Why? Did you create me, too?"

"I needed a clone of you to occupy their attention, someone who could take action while I merely played the part they designed for me, so as to not arouse suspicion of my true goals," Hayate explained.

Nanoha couldn't believe what she was hearing. "But everyone who died, or suffered... you did all of that?"

Hayate strode over to the portal. "It had to be done. Sacrifices had to be made. And now, I'll go back in time-"

"No, you won't, because I will!" came a new voice from someone who shot rapidly past Teana to enter the room.

The gunmage did a double take. "Subaru!? You're alive!"

"And I set all this up, because I was the one who went back in time!" Subaru declared, skating on her road and heading directly for the portal. "Pretending to be dead all this time was the perfect cover."

Nanoha rubbed her temples. "None of this makes any sense."

"No!" Hayate shouted, firing a spell. "Excalibur!"

"And now she's dead again," Nanoha noted, becoming increasingly disconnected from events.

"SUBARU!" Teana cried as her cyborg lover was obliterated, then turned her guns on her new target. "HAYATE!"

The Supreme Commander easily shielded against the gun mage's shots, then fired back, a humongous beam that enveloped Teana's body, dissolving it under massive pressure alone. "Now there's no one left who can-"

Six gun shots rang out in rapid succession and Hayate's body hit the floor, six holes in the back of her head.

Jail slowly rose to his feet, smoke trailing from the barrel of the Silver Dagger gun in his hand. "I knew she was planning to do that, because I-"

"-went back in time, we know," Nanoha finished for him, then sighed. "So you were behind all this after all?"

"Yes, I-ack!" Jail started to say, then frantically clawed at the emerald green bubble that had closed over his head, panicking as he tried to draw breath.

"No, it was me all along," Yuuno said, rising from the ground as Jail suffocated and expired. "I-"

One of the beam supports that was holding the magnifying glass up finally dislodged due to damage from stray shots, and landed on him, crushing him under it's weight.

In the silence that followed, Nanoha kept waiting for someone else to show up or take credit, then she glanced at the only other living occupant remaining. "So... was it you, Fate-chan?"

The blue-haired girl shook her head. "I thought it was you!"

"But you might not be Fate," Nanoha stated, suddenly wary. "You could be Due or Quattro..."

"And you could be my mother!" Fate countered, raising her weapon warily.

There was an awkward pause, as both glanced at the glowing portal, still floating there, unused, almost insulted that no one had gone through.

"Well, this is rather... unsettling," Nanoha noted aloud.

Fate nodded sympathetically. "Indeed. After having come this far, the readers will want a satisfying ending, and the author doesn't seem to know what to do."

Nanoha shrugged. "So... hot lesbian sex?"

Fate considered that, then deactivated her weapon and nodded. "Okay."

Reminder that any comments be contained withing SPOILER text for the benefit of those who haven't read it yet!

I think my brain got turned to munched potato in this chapter... @_@

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Mixed feelings about this one but I'll put her up anyway.

Spoiler for Whee, more MD:

‘Just what was that about back there?’ Yuuno stood there in the hallway for a bit, pondering just what had distracted Yami before he left.

“A scattered dream leading to a far-off memory… I wonder if she’ll be able to line the pieces up between herself and the one she’s searching for.”

“Rai?” A quick glance showed him that the Fate replica had just made a visit to the fridge, judging by the amount of food that she was carrying. “Do you know something about what was bugging Yami?”

Material-L giggled slightly. “Whatever happens… whenever that happens, it’ll probably be an epic event to remember, complete with the FMV sequence and a background song too!”

He wasn’t sure what she meant but since he was here with Rai, he may as well take the opportunity to get around to some earlier business. “Do you have a moment? I guess now would be a good time as any to have that chat I promised you earlier.”

“Ah, okay. I guess the event took a bit longer to trigger but I’m sure that I figured out the best responses to keep flags open!”

“… I’ll take that as a yes?” muttered Yuuno to himself as he followed the blue haired woman into her quarters where Sette was lying down, appearing to be asleep. “Um, maybe we should go somewhere else so we won’t disturb her?”

“Nah, it’s okay! She said some stuff about doing some drills in her noggin with her book thingy before lying down. She never got bothered when I started singing or playing hacky sack with a little lightning ball.” Material-L placed down the items and started looking around the treats to decide which one to devour first.

“If you’re sure about that…” He took a seat on one of the chairs before trying to figure out how to best approach the subject. Then again, it wasn’t like the subtle approach would work with someone like the Fate replica so he would have to be direct. “So can you tell me what happened back at the prison where you got Sette?”

“Eh… let’s see. I snuck in, spooked some enemies, got a case of the munchies just as Vulnificus complained about not getting any…” A beat and then a demented giggle. “Yuu-nii just thought of something perverted, eh?”

Yuuno merely sighed. “Just keep going.”

She took out a cold piece of meat from one of the boxed containers and bit into it before continuing. “Let’s see… I hadn’t done any level grinding in a while at the time and Vulnificus would have complained if I let it go on any further so I killed the enemies for the measly experience points. As usual, they don’t drop any good items since they were regular battle encounters and it’s not like we were going to visit a pawn shop in the near future to trade stuff.”

“That was your reason?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Rai, this isn’t a game!”

“But that’s the way it is! Life’s the ultimate game… and I don’t even get extra credits, lives or continues if my HP goes down to zero! Not even have a bloody save point! I can’t even get Vulnificus to enter in some cheat codes! I mean, I’ve been lucky on some occasions back when I was a scrub but it ain’t gonna last forever!”

“But if you cheat, doesn’t it take away some of the experience?” asked the device resting just above her cleavage.

“When you got no save points and no extra lives whatsoever, then of course I gotta resort to trying to cheat!” The Fate replica merely huffed. “Seriously, what psycho game designer wouldn’t even leave a save point? That’s just wrong!”

“You shouldn’t have anything to fear. Your rookie days are behind you and you passed the tutorial sections I designed at the start with flying colours. Now you can easily smash through any obstacles as you continue gaining power for the both of us. And speaking of power, you still have thirty more levels to go until you unlock the Tony Jay voice to use on any of my forms.”

Her red eyes lit up with delight briefly before she stopped. “Yeah but I’ve only been gaining two experience points per kill recently. You know how many kills I would have to get to level you up thirty more times if I keep running into the same low level fighters?”

“Sixty-five million, three hundred and forty thousand, two hundred and eighty five. This should take us seven weeks, five days, thirteen hours and twenty minutes, giving ourselves three hours a night to sleep.”

She glumly finished off the cold meat while the Librarian beside her looked on in disbelief. “Ehhh… that won’t be any fun though. Don’t wanna bother with anyone who’s weaker than me unless I hafta.”

“But you still need to kill to maximize my power to aid you in your quest.”

“Whoa, wait a second!” Yuuno needed to try and establish a sense of control here (and reign in that rising frustrating feeling that was bubbling up in his chest). “What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Why do you need to get power?”

“Isn’t it obvious, Yuu-nii? Oh, wait… you don’t have access to my mission profile so I’ll tell you.” She paused for a moment as her red eyes hardened. “I’m going to find mommy and then I’m going to beat her. Her power level’s probably over 9,000 so I gotta keep grinding before I can trigger the boss encounter. Once I win the fight, I’m going to get the truth outta her and then hurt her as bad as she hurt me. But it ain’t gonna be through regular torture and stuff since Sette-chan said I gotta keep in mind her pain tolerance or something.”

‘W-what’s she talking about? Why is she thinking like this?’ Her words greatly bothered him, allowing that frustration of his to build some more.

“Then Vulnificus said… we go after my sister. Alicia, was it? The one that mommy cared about so much? Ah well… now that I think about it, that suggestion he made back there’s sounding real good,” said the Fate replica with a small malicious smile. “We go get her body and then I can get Vulnificus to transform into tweezers so I can play Operation right in front of mommy! Although it’s kinda strange… when you think about it, how the hell are ya gonna find a slice of bread undigested in the stomach? Weird how something like that is worth 1,000 points when ripping out the heart is only 100 points.”

That did it for the Librarian. “STOP IT!”

“Hm?”

“Stop talking like that, Rai! Why do you have to cling on to such painful thoughts?” Honestly, he didn’t understand all that rambling from earlier although when he heard her say Alicia, it was obvious that she inherited some aspect of Fate’s memories.

For a brief moment, he saw the veil of madness dissipate just for a moment. Instead of insanity reflecting in her eyes, there was a hint of melancholy and bitterness. “… … because it’s all I got. Mommy broke me in the beginning and even with Vulnificus helping; I can’t keep it together for long. So before I shatter like Humpty Dumpty, I’ll end the hatred that mommy put in everyone’s hearts.”

“W-what?”

“And then, I guess I’ll go burn out brightly in the sky… like a large chicken pie! Hehehehehe!”

While she giggled in that demented fashion of hers, Yuuno felt a sensation of fear. He couldn’t tell whether to be scared for where she’s going in life or whether to be scared of the girl herself but he couldn’t let that fear bother him. Not when there was someone leaning on the edge of madness sitting right in front of him. “Rai, why would want to burn out when you still have so much ahead in life to experience?”

She stopped her giggling before smiling sadly. “What else is there for someone like me after my mission? Drifting along, searching for endless battle and blood? I guess that’s what I have to look forward to since I probably didn’t trigger enough flags for a good happy ending. At least I won’t lose even if I can’t win.”

“Don’t say things like that,” said Yuuno gently before motioning the Fate replica over. “Come on, let’s sit down and talk.”

Without a word, Material-L scooted over and eventually settled herself on his lap. Upon noticing his surprised look, she blinked. “What is it?”

“Er, nothing…” He pushed up his glasses. “You know, when you say stuff like you want to burn out, that makes me sad. It’ll make Seikou and Yami sad too. You don’t want to make your family sad, do you?”

“No…”

“Seikou and Yami are probably looking forward to living normal lives and if I know them well, they want you to be a part of it. They’ll want to be a part of your life as well.”

“You’ll be there too, Yuu-nii?” asked the blue haired woman in a quiet tone.

He laughed softly. “If that’s what you want, Rai. You can still get that happy ending and live a normal life without having to see blood and battle. All you have to do is stop with the… level grinding and killing. If you go on with that, you’ll just create hatred in other people’s hearts as well.”

“That’s… kinda true when you think about it. Regardless of how lame or boring they are, every character has at least one fan. Probably even that Alicia too.” She paused for a minute. “But if I don’t level up, then what’s going to happen when I finally trigger that boss fight? And how do I rub my awesomeness in mommy’s face when I win?”

“If it’s someone who did indeed hurt you terribly in the past, then we’ll find her and bring her to justice,” said Yuuno in a firm tone while mentally pondering how Material-L would take the truth in that Precia Testarossa was no longer among the living.

Her red eyes lit up briefly. “Ooh, wait! Will this be like a total party thrashing with lots of combination attacks or will I take her one on one while you guys hold off the millions of grunt robots?”

“Uh, I guess we’ll find out when we do get to that point. But either way, you won’t be alone in this.”

“Hehe… if anything, Sette-chan will definitely tag along if she’s a proper sidekick so you’re probably right there.” No response came from the Combat Cyborg even though she wasn’t too far away from them. “You still didn’t answer my question about my proof of awesomeness.”

“Maybe pick an area that she takes pride in and surpass her there?” Yuuno figured that Material-L wouldn’t be able to conduct Project F activities since she definitely didn’t have the smarts to work on such a complicated project.

The Fate replica pondered over this for a second before snapping her fingers. “I GOT IT! I’ll be Alicia’s new mommy! Once she gets better and stuff, she’ll need someone to love her, teach her how to smash people in the face with a big ass sword and only show her the good porn! Someone like me! Then I can go ‘neener neener neener’ in front of mommy’s face!”

Material-L as a parent? Now that’s a disturbing thought. “Er, maybe I should help out with that. Since you’ll be busy trying to adjust to a regular life once we land on my world and everything.”

“Does that mean you’re Yuu-nii-papa or Uncle Yuu-nii? Wait, I got it! You’ll be known as Pancle Yuu-nii! Hehehe… that word needs to be added to the next galactic dictionary or something! Let’s go make a detour and find those dictionary people!”

“Let’s not.” He already had enough of that, thank you very much.

can you make Rai/Levi meet Marvel's Deadpool? They'll might get married while breaking every possible walls in-between the multi-verse as we know it....

[Kuroi Hadou]

Alright, so this shall be my very first foray into the world of Nanoha fanfiction, with spawnofthejudge as my co-pilot. This plot bunny basically started its dance after our discussion about Yuuno's role in both canon and fanon, and poor spawn has reluctantly agreed to co-author at the expense of his gaming time (apparently the bunnies are holding him here under threat of death).

Anyway, without further ado I present:

The Ties That Bind

Spoiler for Prologue:

Yuuno Scrya was exhausted, though he couldn’t really blame anyone but himself for that. Several days without sleep and nothing but stimulants to keep him nourished and functioning tended to catch up with a person rather quickly.

His duties as Head Librarian required he be available for consultation all hours of the day, but not that he actually be in the Library all hours of the day. Yuuno hadn’t seen his bed in nearly a week, and he found himself missing it.

I really should get something to eat and go home.

He couldn’t stop though. The book he had found stashed away in a forgotten and neglected corner of the Library a few days ago was one he had never seen before, and according to the logs it hadn’t been cataloged yet.

He hadn’t seen his friends in a while.

I should see if they’re available for a group lunch in the near future. It’ll be nice to see them again.

Nanoha, Fate, Chrono, Hayate… they were so busy with their work at the Time-Space Administration Bureau they barely had any free time, which they typically spent with their precious families. He didn’t mind though: Just seeing them when they needed his department’s help with researching a particular mission objective or location was than enough for him.

In fact, such an occasion had happened just a few weeks ago. Fate had come to him seeking information about a particular world in Sector 17. Their time together was short though; the relevant information had been located rather quickly and Fate was under a tight schedule.

If this keeps up, I'll be completely irrelevant in a few years, came the wistful thought.

Ever since he'd invented Archive magic and taught the people working with him how to use it, his personal assistance was sought less and less. Yuuno was happy though: He had dedicated the better part of his lifetime to this project, and he was determined to see it through to the end.

Speaking of...

He turned back to the book in front of him, turning a musty page. The book was written in what he referred to as “modern” Belkan, but there was something odd about it. There was no logical progression from one page to the next. Sentence structure varied wildly. Magical formulas and seals of both Belkan and Mid-Childan origin littered surface of the pages, but the text not only didn't reveal their purposes, it didn’t even make any sense.

It was in some form of random placement code he had never encountered. Even more troubling was the observation that the binding was so old it was falling apart. If he wasn't careful, the spine would break and loose the pages within into a chaotic mess.

“Yuuno.”

There was one phrase, though, that stood out. It wasn't in code like everything else; it wasn't even in Belkan. It was in a language from Mid-Childa itself that had long since fallen out of public awareness:

"Veritas Prohibitorum"

“Yuuno.”

He frowned. 'Prohibited... Truth'...? What in the world was that supposed to mean?

"Yuuno!"

Yuuno's head snapped up, his hands automatically slamming the book shut. A small cloud of dust escaped from between the worn pages. With shock, he realized that someone had been in his office doorway for some time now. He’d been so absorbed by the manuscript on his desk that he hadn’t even noticed. He quickly collected himself, hiding his shock.

It was Fate.

"Fate? I thought you weren't going to be back on Mid for another week."

She wrapped the long coat around herself more tightly and stepped into Yuuno's office, heels clacking against the floor.

Heels...? Fate didn't wear heels. At least... not ones quite that tall...

She flashed Yuuno a small, gentle smile as she came in front of the desk he was sitting at, "Our mission was less difficult than predicted, so we finished up and came home early."

"I-I see."

Trailing her fingers gently along the edge of the desk, she calmly walked around to Yuuno's side.

What is she…?

She was getting awfully close…

Before Yuuno had time to process it Fate had rounded the desk and come to Yuuno’s side, eyes on the closed manuscript at its center. Reaching for it, her hand stopped just before touching it.

“May I?”

He nodded, “Just be careful.”

Tenderly lifting the book, she softly opened it and leafed through the pages. Her smiling face turned serious as her eyes took in the contents within.

“What is this?”

“I honestly can’t say. The condition of the pages indicates an age of at least two thousand years, but the writing is what we call ‘modern Belkan’, which didn’t rise to standard usage until roughly one-and-a-half thousand years ago according to our records.” He was so deep in his disposition mode he didn’t notice Fate’s eyes flash from the book in her hands to his face. “Even more puzzling is that a dead language from ancient Mid – which fell out of use long before ‘modern Belkan’ even began to emerge – shows up several times, and it’s always the same phrase…”

Gently sitting the manuscript down, Fate’s eyes were hidden by her bangs, “I see…”

Faster than Yuuno could react Fate pounced on his lap, her long, bare legs straddling his waist. Calmly reaching down, she slowly undid her coat's buttons and loosened the coat’s neckline, revealing the smooth mounds of flesh underneath to his rounded eyes.

"Fa-Fa-Fa-Fate... w-what are y-y-you...?"

She leaned forward, resting her forehead against his, her eyes so close he could make out the individual flares and shades of red in them. "Yuuno... where is the Veritas Prohibitorum?"

What?

"W-What?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her cheek touching his and close enough that her warm breath tingled his ear. Fate’s voice dropped an octave, to an alluring, husky alto that sent jolts through his frozen body. "The Veritas Prohibitorum… where is it?"

With dawning horror, Yuuno realized what was happening.

"No, you're not Fate… you’re not even real! None of this is real!"

'Fate' drew back, looked shocked for a moment. She then smiled a smile that twisted and warped her entire face into an ugly mockery of its former, elegant beauty. Red eyes that were once filled with kindness turned malicious and sadistic. Yuuno shrank back, terrified by the abrupt change.

"Clever man."

The familiar settings of his Library office and Fate’s form shattered like glass around Yuuno, leaving him alone in a cold, dark room. At least he thought he was alone. It was too dark to see if anyone was in the room with him; he didn’t even know how big the room was.

There were no windows, and the only light came from the few dim candles flickering around the place. A deep, echoing voice resounded through the room, but Yuuno couldn’t discern a precise location.

"So you saw though that one as well, despite your exhaustion. Apparently the charms of women don’t work on you like most. We'll have to be more creative in our methods from now on."

It was calm and methodical, almost whimsical in tone.

“Why are you being so stubborn, Mr. Scrya? It would be so much easier on all parties involved if you would just tell us the location.”

Yuuno curled into a tight ball on the floor, clothes soaked with cold sweat. He tried to comfort himself with thoughts of his beloved friends, but was far too tired to even conjure up their faces in his mind.

Another voice, female this time, chimed in, “The magics might work better if he’s well rested and fed. He’s so out of it he can barely keep his head raised.”

Nanoha, Chrono, Fate, Hayate... please help me... please find me. I don't know... how much longer... I can keep this up...

Yuuno’s body finally succumbed to its neglect, and he knew no more.

****************

Several thousand light years away, Vivio Takamachi was woken from a disturbing dream by a crash of thunder.

Spoiler for Authors' Notes:

1) So there you have it. This was originally written to be a “teaser” to gauge interest, but we just decided to make it a full-blown prologue and jump right in.

2) This is set post-ViVid (for what it’s worth), mostly so we can include a certain character.

3) In case you couldn't tell, Latin is standing in for Ancient Mid, much like German does for Belkan.

4) Updates posted here by me will show up in a few days time on fanfiction.net under spawnofthejudge's account.

5) No: This is not an April Fool’s joke, unlike a certain someone who’s prison sentence recently expired.

[Rising Dragon]

Originally Posted by Kuroi Hadou

Alright, so this shall be my very first foray into the world of Nanoha fanfiction, with spawnofthejudge as my co-pilot. This plot bunny basically started its dance after our discussion about Yuuno's role in both canon and fanon, and poor spawn has reluctantly agreed to co-author at the expense of his gaming time (apparently the bunnies are holding him here under threat of death).

Anyway, without further ado I present:

The Ties That Bind

Spoiler for Prologue:

*snip*

Spoiler for Authors' Notes:

1) So there you have it. This was originally written to be a “teaser” to gauge interest, but we just decided to make it a full-blown prologue and jump right in.

2) This is set post-ViVid (for what it’s worth), mostly so we can include a certain character.

3) In case you couldn't tell, Latin is standing in for Ancient Mid, much like German does for Belkan.

4) Updates posted here by me will show up in a few days time on fanfiction.net under spawnofthejudge's account.

5) No: This is not an April Fool’s joke, unlike a certain someone who’s prison sentence recently expired.

Spoiler for The Ties That Bind:

Well, that's certainly an effective way to catch a person's interest. I've seen this kind of start before, but for the life of me I can't remember where. :V

[Yasanagi]

Originally Posted by mega1987

can you make Rai/Levi meet Marvel's Deadpool? They'll might get married while breaking every possible walls in-between the multi-verse as we know it....

Sorry but Deadpool is already dedicated to Cable, Bea Arthur and Lady Death.

[Thesinwithin]

So... it's been a while, ne? I've been out of the loop for so long. I feel terrible. I've been lurking, but didn't feel much like posting.

I've been rewatching the series and felt inspired to finish a few of the cracky oneshots that I started to write here way back in the day. I finally finished one and posted it on fanfiction.net and promptly got accused of writing a self-insert. I guess I should have known that writing a story that was deviant from the set canon and ignored aspects of it would be not received well. I just wasn't expecting it to be that harsh, considering that it was supposed to be funny and cute, not some weird wish-fulfillment story.

I'm working on a story called Blood of the Mother and a one-shot. So yeah, what have I missed?

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by Kuroi Hadou

Alright, so this shall be my very first foray into the world of Nanoha fanfiction, with spawnofthejudge as my co-pilot. This plot bunny basically started its dance after our discussion about Yuuno's role in both canon and fanon, and poor spawn has reluctantly agreed to co-author at the expense of his gaming time (apparently the bunnies are holding him here under threat of death).

Anyway, without further ado I present:

The Ties That Bind

Spoiler for Prologue:

Yuuno Scrya was exhausted, though he couldn’t really blame anyone but himself for that. Several days without sleep and nothing but stimulants to keep him nourished and functioning tended to catch up with a person rather quickly.

His duties as Head Librarian required he be available for consultation all hours of the day, but not that he actually be in the Library all hours of the day. Yuuno hadn’t seen his bed in nearly a week, and he found himself missing it.

I really should get something to eat and go home.

He couldn’t stop though. The book he had found stashed away in a forgotten and neglected corner of the Library a few days ago was one he had never seen before, and according to the logs it hadn’t been cataloged yet.

He hadn’t seen his friends in a while.

I should see if they’re available for a group lunch in the near future. It’ll be nice to see them again.

Nanoha, Fate, Chrono, Hayate… they were so busy with their work at the Time-Space Administration Bureau they barely had any free time, which they typically spent with their precious families. He didn’t mind though: Just seeing them when they needed his department’s help with researching a particular mission objective or location was than enough for him.

In fact, such an occasion had happened just a few weeks ago. Fate had come to him seeking information about a particular world in Sector 17. Their time together was short though; the relevant information had been located rather quickly and Fate was under a tight schedule.

If this keeps up, I'll be completely irrelevant in a few years, came the wistful thought.

Ever since he'd invented Archive magic and taught the people working with him how to use it, his personal assistance was sought less and less. Yuuno was happy though: He had dedicated the better part of his lifetime to this project, and he was determined to see it through to the end.

Speaking of...

He turned back to the book in front of him, turning a musty page. The book was written in what he referred to as “modern” Belkan, but there was something odd about it. There was no logical progression from one page to the next. Sentence structure varied wildly. Magical formulas and seals of both Belkan and Mid-Childan origin littered surface of the pages, but the text not only didn't reveal their purposes, it didn’t even make any sense.

It was in some form of random placement code he had never encountered. Even more troubling was the observation that the binding was so old it was falling apart. If he wasn't careful, the spine would break and loose the pages within into a chaotic mess.

“Yuuno.”

There was one phrase, though, that stood out. It wasn't in code like everything else; it wasn't even in Belkan. It was in a language from Mid-Childa itself that had long since fallen out of public awareness:

"Veritas Prohibitorum"

“Yuuno.”

He frowned. 'Prohibited... Truth'...? What in the world was that supposed to mean?

"Yuuno!"

Yuuno's head snapped up, his hands automatically slamming the book shut. A small cloud of dust escaped from between the worn pages. With shock, he realized that someone had been in his office doorway for some time now. He’d been so absorbed by the manuscript on his desk that he hadn’t even noticed. He quickly collected himself, hiding his shock.

It was Fate.

"Fate? I thought you weren't going to be back on Mid for another week."

She wrapped the long coat around herself more tightly and stepped into Yuuno's office, heels clacking against the floor.

Heels...? Fate didn't wear heels. At least... not ones quite that tall...

She flashed Yuuno a small, gentle smile as she came in front of the desk he was sitting at, "Our mission was less difficult than predicted, so we finished up and came home early."

"I-I see."

Trailing her fingers gently along the edge of the desk, she calmly walked around to Yuuno's side.

What is she…?

She was getting awfully close…

Before Yuuno had time to process it Fate had rounded the desk and come to Yuuno’s side, eyes on the closed manuscript at its center. Reaching for it, her hand stopped just before touching it.

“May I?”

He nodded, “Just be careful.”

Tenderly lifting the book, she softly opened it and leafed through the pages. Her smiling face turned serious as her eyes took in the contents within.

“What is this?”

“I honestly can’t say. The condition of the pages indicates an age of at least two thousand years, but the writing is what we call ‘modern Belkan’, which didn’t rise to standard usage until roughly one-and-a-half thousand years ago according to our records.” He was so deep in his disposition mode he didn’t notice Fate’s eyes flash from the book in her hands to his face. “Even more puzzling is that a dead language from ancient Mid – which fell out of use long before ‘modern Belkan’ even began to emerge – shows up several times, and it’s always the same phrase…”

Gently sitting the manuscript down, Fate’s eyes were hidden by her bangs, “I see…”

Faster than Yuuno could react Fate pounced on his lap, her long, bare legs straddling his waist. Calmly reaching down, she slowly undid her coat's buttons and loosened the coat’s neckline, revealing the smooth mounds of flesh underneath to his rounded eyes.

"Fa-Fa-Fa-Fate... w-what are y-y-you...?"

She leaned forward, resting her forehead against his, her eyes so close he could make out the individual flares and shades of red in them. "Yuuno... where is the Veritas Prohibitorum?"

What?

"W-What?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her cheek touching his and close enough that her warm breath tingled his ear. Fate’s voice dropped an octave, to an alluring, husky alto that sent jolts through his frozen body. "The Veritas Prohibitorum… where is it?"

With dawning horror, Yuuno realized what was happening.

"No, you're not Fate… you’re not even real! None of this is real!"

'Fate' drew back, looked shocked for a moment. She then smiled a smile that twisted and warped her entire face into an ugly mockery of its former, elegant beauty. Red eyes that were once filled with kindness turned malicious and sadistic. Yuuno shrank back, terrified by the abrupt change.

"Clever man."

The familiar settings of his Library office and Fate’s form shattered like glass around Yuuno, leaving him alone in a cold, dark room. At least he thought he was alone. It was too dark to see if anyone was in the room with him; he didn’t even know how big the room was.

There were no windows, and the only light came from the few dim candles flickering around the place. A deep, echoing voice resounded through the room, but Yuuno couldn’t discern a precise location.

"So you saw though that one as well, despite your exhaustion. Apparently the charms of women don’t work on you like most. We'll have to be more creative in our methods from now on."

It was calm and methodical, almost whimsical in tone.

“Why are you being so stubborn, Mr. Scrya? It would be so much easier on all parties involved if you would just tell us the location.”

Yuuno curled into a tight ball on the floor, clothes soaked with cold sweat. He tried to comfort himself with thoughts of his beloved friends, but was far too tired to even conjure up their faces in his mind.

Another voice, female this time, chimed in, “The magics might work better if he’s well rested and fed. He’s so out of it he can barely keep his head raised.”

Nanoha, Chrono, Fate, Hayate... please help me... please find me. I don't know... how much longer... I can keep this up...

Yuuno’s body finally succumbed to its neglect, and he knew no more.

****************

Several thousand light years away, Vivio Takamachi was woken from a disturbing dream by a crash of thunder.

Spoiler for Authors' Notes:

1) So there you have it. This was originally written to be a “teaser” to gauge interest, but we just decided to make it a full-blown prologue and jump right in.

2) This is set post-ViVid (for what it’s worth), mostly so we can include a certain character.

3) In case you couldn't tell, Latin is standing in for Ancient Mid, much like German does for Belkan.

4) Updates posted here by me will show up in a few days time on fanfiction.net under spawnofthejudge's account.

5) No: This is not an April Fool’s joke, unlike a certain someone who’s prison sentence recently expired.

Spoiler for Comment:

Aww.... I was hoping for something a little more... Smutty... Maybe "fate" taking her coat off at least.

[Yasanagi]

@Kuroi: You've got my attention. Hell, even Yuuno's recovery would be an interesting story by itself (DS9 did an ep like that with Chief O'Brien IIRC).

[Tiresias]

Originally Posted by Kuroi Hadou

Alright, so this shall be my very first foray into the world of Nanoha fanfiction, with spawnofthejudge as my co-pilot. This plot bunny basically started its dance after our discussion about Yuuno's role in both canon and fanon, and poor spawn has reluctantly agreed to co-author at the expense of his gaming time (apparently the bunnies are holding him here under threat of death).

Anyway, without further ado I present:

The Ties That Bind

Spoiler for Prologue:

[...]
She wrapped the long coat around herself more tightly and stepped into Yuuno's office, heels clacking against the floor.

Heels...? Fate didn't wear heels. At least... not ones quite that tall...

[...]

"So you saw though that one as well, despite your exhaustion. Apparently the charms of women don’t work on you like most. We'll have to be more creative in our methods from now on."

Spoiler for Comment::

So she's the one who flunked the illusion spell...and shifted blame by accusing him of being a eunuch? Nasty dragon lady

[Rising Dragon]

Finally uploaded Part 5 of Window of Opportunity to Fanfiction.net. I managed to add one new original scene, but I couldn't really think of anything else to add. The next part will also be the final part, and hopefully a bit more original in its content.

EDIT: Which, coincidentally, I just got my first criticism about in a review...

EDIT: It's bugging me enough where I've removed the chapter--I'm gonna rewrite the whole damn thing so it's more original. Christ, my neurosis...

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Sorry but Deadpool is already dedicated to Cable, Bea Arthur and Lady Death.

what can i say? the more, D merrier...

[Moczo]

Originally Posted by Kuroi Hadou

Alright, so this shall be my very first foray into the world of Nanoha fanfiction, with spawnofthejudge as my co-pilot. This plot bunny basically started its dance after our discussion about Yuuno's role in both canon and fanon, and poor spawn has reluctantly agreed to co-author at the expense of his gaming time (apparently the bunnies are holding him here under threat of death).

Anyway, without further ado I present:

The Ties That Bind

Spoiler for Prologue:

Yuuno Scrya was exhausted, though he couldn’t really blame anyone but himself for that. Several days without sleep and nothing but stimulants to keep him nourished and functioning tended to catch up with a person rather quickly.

His duties as Head Librarian required he be available for consultation all hours of the day, but not that he actually be in the Library all hours of the day. Yuuno hadn’t seen his bed in nearly a week, and he found himself missing it.

I really should get something to eat and go home.

He couldn’t stop though. The book he had found stashed away in a forgotten and neglected corner of the Library a few days ago was one he had never seen before, and according to the logs it hadn’t been cataloged yet.

He hadn’t seen his friends in a while.

I should see if they’re available for a group lunch in the near future. It’ll be nice to see them again.

Nanoha, Fate, Chrono, Hayate… they were so busy with their work at the Time-Space Administration Bureau they barely had any free time, which they typically spent with their precious families. He didn’t mind though: Just seeing them when they needed his department’s help with researching a particular mission objective or location was than enough for him.

In fact, such an occasion had happened just a few weeks ago. Fate had come to him seeking information about a particular world in Sector 17. Their time together was short though; the relevant information had been located rather quickly and Fate was under a tight schedule.

If this keeps up, I'll be completely irrelevant in a few years, came the wistful thought.

Ever since he'd invented Archive magic and taught the people working with him how to use it, his personal assistance was sought less and less. Yuuno was happy though: He had dedicated the better part of his lifetime to this project, and he was determined to see it through to the end.

Speaking of...

He turned back to the book in front of him, turning a musty page. The book was written in what he referred to as “modern” Belkan, but there was something odd about it. There was no logical progression from one page to the next. Sentence structure varied wildly. Magical formulas and seals of both Belkan and Mid-Childan origin littered surface of the pages, but the text not only didn't reveal their purposes, it didn’t even make any sense.

It was in some form of random placement code he had never encountered. Even more troubling was the observation that the binding was so old it was falling apart. If he wasn't careful, the spine would break and loose the pages within into a chaotic mess.

“Yuuno.”

There was one phrase, though, that stood out. It wasn't in code like everything else; it wasn't even in Belkan. It was in a language from Mid-Childa itself that had long since fallen out of public awareness:

"Veritas Prohibitorum"

“Yuuno.”

He frowned. 'Prohibited... Truth'...? What in the world was that supposed to mean?

"Yuuno!"

Yuuno's head snapped up, his hands automatically slamming the book shut. A small cloud of dust escaped from between the worn pages. With shock, he realized that someone had been in his office doorway for some time now. He’d been so absorbed by the manuscript on his desk that he hadn’t even noticed. He quickly collected himself, hiding his shock.

It was Fate.

"Fate? I thought you weren't going to be back on Mid for another week."

She wrapped the long coat around herself more tightly and stepped into Yuuno's office, heels clacking against the floor.

Heels...? Fate didn't wear heels. At least... not ones quite that tall...

She flashed Yuuno a small, gentle smile as she came in front of the desk he was sitting at, "Our mission was less difficult than predicted, so we finished up and came home early."

"I-I see."

Trailing her fingers gently along the edge of the desk, she calmly walked around to Yuuno's side.

What is she…?

She was getting awfully close…

Before Yuuno had time to process it Fate had rounded the desk and come to Yuuno’s side, eyes on the closed manuscript at its center. Reaching for it, her hand stopped just before touching it.

“May I?”

He nodded, “Just be careful.”

Tenderly lifting the book, she softly opened it and leafed through the pages. Her smiling face turned serious as her eyes took in the contents within.

“What is this?”

“I honestly can’t say. The condition of the pages indicates an age of at least two thousand years, but the writing is what we call ‘modern Belkan’, which didn’t rise to standard usage until roughly one-and-a-half thousand years ago according to our records.” He was so deep in his disposition mode he didn’t notice Fate’s eyes flash from the book in her hands to his face. “Even more puzzling is that a dead language from ancient Mid – which fell out of use long before ‘modern Belkan’ even began to emerge – shows up several times, and it’s always the same phrase…”

Gently sitting the manuscript down, Fate’s eyes were hidden by her bangs, “I see…”

Faster than Yuuno could react Fate pounced on his lap, her long, bare legs straddling his waist. Calmly reaching down, she slowly undid her coat's buttons and loosened the coat’s neckline, revealing the smooth mounds of flesh underneath to his rounded eyes.

"Fa-Fa-Fa-Fate... w-what are y-y-you...?"

She leaned forward, resting her forehead against his, her eyes so close he could make out the individual flares and shades of red in them. "Yuuno... where is the Veritas Prohibitorum?"

What?

"W-What?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her cheek touching his and close enough that her warm breath tingled his ear. Fate’s voice dropped an octave, to an alluring, husky alto that sent jolts through his frozen body. "The Veritas Prohibitorum… where is it?"

With dawning horror, Yuuno realized what was happening.

"No, you're not Fate… you’re not even real! None of this is real!"

'Fate' drew back, looked shocked for a moment. She then smiled a smile that twisted and warped her entire face into an ugly mockery of its former, elegant beauty. Red eyes that were once filled with kindness turned malicious and sadistic. Yuuno shrank back, terrified by the abrupt change.

"Clever man."

The familiar settings of his Library office and Fate’s form shattered like glass around Yuuno, leaving him alone in a cold, dark room. At least he thought he was alone. It was too dark to see if anyone was in the room with him; he didn’t even know how big the room was.

There were no windows, and the only light came from the few dim candles flickering around the place. A deep, echoing voice resounded through the room, but Yuuno couldn’t discern a precise location.

"So you saw though that one as well, despite your exhaustion. Apparently the charms of women don’t work on you like most. We'll have to be more creative in our methods from now on."

It was calm and methodical, almost whimsical in tone.

“Why are you being so stubborn, Mr. Scrya? It would be so much easier on all parties involved if you would just tell us the location.”

Yuuno curled into a tight ball on the floor, clothes soaked with cold sweat. He tried to comfort himself with thoughts of his beloved friends, but was far too tired to even conjure up their faces in his mind.

Another voice, female this time, chimed in, “The magics might work better if he’s well rested and fed. He’s so out of it he can barely keep his head raised.”

Nanoha, Chrono, Fate, Hayate... please help me... please find me. I don't know... how much longer... I can keep this up...

Yuuno’s body finally succumbed to its neglect, and he knew no more.

****************

Several thousand light years away, Vivio Takamachi was woken from a disturbing dream by a crash of thunder.

Spoiler for Authors' Notes:

1) So there you have it. This was originally written to be a “teaser” to gauge interest, but we just decided to make it a full-blown prologue and jump right in.

2) This is set post-ViVid (for what it’s worth), mostly so we can include a certain character.

3) In case you couldn't tell, Latin is standing in for Ancient Mid, much like German does for Belkan.

4) Updates posted here by me will show up in a few days time on fanfiction.net under spawnofthejudge's account.

5) No: This is not an April Fool’s joke, unlike a certain someone who’s prison sentence recently expired.

Spoiler for Comments:

Not a bad beginning at all. Time for Vivio's library adventures?

In any event, very nice! I'm interested enough to keep reading, and that's the big thing for a first chapter.

[Yasanagi]

Dunno what possessed me to do this when I have other fics I want to write on my plate.

Spoiler for Unknown Title, Prologue Part 1:

Heat… smoke… those sensations that burned against her skin… but that didn’t matter. She made it outside with this last little girl from the burning building. “I got her!”

“Bring her over here!” She moved to the medical station as quickly as she could and placed the child’s body down and grabbed a ventilator before placing the mask section on the child’s mouth. A quick check showed the magical battery in place.

She looked down at the child. “You’re gonna be okay. You hear me?”

There was no response from the girl, even as the ventilator did its job of pumping oxygen.

“She’s… she’s not breathing? Why isn’t she breathing?”

The nearby medic ran scans. “Her respiratory system has sustained burns. She’s inhaled too much smoke.”

An older male voice tried to pull her away. “Sergeant, that’s enough. Let it go.”

“She just needs to get direct oxygen into her lungs, right? I can save her!”

“NAKAJIMA!”

‘Dammit…’

It was April 28th MC 0077. A nice spring day on TSAB Administrated World #3, Vaizen. Subaru Nakajima would have agreed if thoughts on the last disaster mission did not plague her.

After being granted a leave of absence from her commanding officer, she figured that she could travel to Vaizen for a training trip to clear her head and get stronger. This way, when the next disaster hit, she would be able to save everyone. It was hard trying to get in the mood for training though, especially when her mind kept replaying that scene over and over.

The morning was a bit of a write off so she decided to prepare lunch. Hopefully, she would get her mental well being back on track after a full meal. Her lapse in concentration however caused her to put too many ingredients into the pot. Even if she was a big eater, she was certain that she wouldn’t be able to finish all that food, which meant some of it would go to waste.

A rustle in the bushes behind her shook her out of her thoughts along with the ramblings of a young male child. “Alright, time to catch some fish for… lunch?” From out of the bushes, a small boy with brown hair and light blue eyes emerged. He was dressed in a light blue and white shirt and a pair of jeans and carried some fishing gear.

‘A local kid?’ Hm… perhaps he could help make sure this food doesn’t go to waste. She gave a small smile in order to make the child at ease. “I’ve made a bit too much food. You mind joining me for lunch?”

“My mom says I’m not supposed to talk to strangers or take any food from them,” said the young boy with a guarded look.

“Um, that’s true… but I’m not a bad guy! I’m a Bureau officer.” Subaru fished out her identification to show to the boy. “See?”

He looked at it for a moment before asking another question. “… um, can I bring my mom with me? If we eat here, we can save our fishing supplies for another trip.”

“Sure! There’s plenty enough for everyone!” As soon as the boy disappeared back into the bushes, Subaru decided that since he would be bringing a guest, she would need to carefully season the stew for maximum taste. “Let’s see what I got here… garlic? Hmmm… thyme?”

“Mom, over here! The officer lady’s over here!”

Wow, that kid was quick. ‘Looks like I’ll stick with plain old pepper,’ thought the young woman to herself as she reached for the small container…

“Hold on, Touma! Don’t be so hasty!”

… And nearly dropped it as she heard a very familiar female voice call out for her son. ‘That woman… it can’t be…’

She turned around just in time to see the boy pull his mother along, a young attractive woman in a white sundress. But two particular features stood out and those were her eyes and her hair colour. They were the exact same colours as…

“Vivio?”

“I beg your pardon?” asked the woman with a polite smile.

“S-sorry, I got you mixed up with someone else. She has the same eyes as you.” Yeah, that’s right… Vivio’s just a kid and she’s back at the home world with school so there’s no way…

“Really? I always thought I was unique.” The mother and son took a place at the picnic bench nearby while Subaru brought the pot over so she could serve lunch.

“Whaaa… that’s a big pot there, officer lady!” exclaimed the boy while Subaru brought out some bowls and spoons along with the serving spoon.

“Please don’t call me that! Kinda feels awkward. Just call me by my name, Subaru. Or you can call me Su-chan if you like! What are your names?”

“Olivie Segbrecht. And this is my adopted son, Touma Avenir. A pleasure to meet you!” replied the other woman in a sunny tone.

‘Olivie… Olivie… for some reason that name sounds kinda familiar,’ thought Subaru to herself.

‘That’s the name of the last Saint King, you moron!’ sounded a voice in her head that sounded awfully familiar to her best friend.

‘Ah, that’s it! Just as I expected of Te-’

That was when all thought processes came to a screeching stop causing her to drop the serving spoon.

“EEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH?!?!?!”