Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[vic-vic]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Nearing the end of the Shine Arc...

In an unrelated note, 5 hour energy SUCKS!

Shine 1 -45

Shine 46

Shine 47

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 48:

Meanwhile...

"Ugh, my side..." She groaned and sat up, putting a hand on her forehead and looking around. "Well, at least I'm alive." She muttered and looked down at herself, shrugging as she was in nothing more than a paper thin covering before looking around. "Cinque?" She sighed in relief as she saw the small girl resting peacefully. "You're alive, good."

"Nnngh... Tre?" She blinked as Cinque sat up, the small girl was covered in a sheet that rolled down slightly. "You're alive, I..." Her left eye widened and she suddenly grabbed at the left side of her face. "Nnngh... Oh, oww..."

Before she knew what was going on, Tre was by Cinque's side and gently prying the hand away from Cinque's face. "Let me... Your eye." Cinque looked at her, a scared and pained expression on her face. "...I think your eye is gone, Cinque."

"No wonder it hurts." She grimaced before putting her right hand to her mouth. "Hrk..."

Tre looked around before grabbing an open garbage can and getting it close to Cinque, who turned her head and puked into the bucket, shuddering as her body trembled. All Tre could do was hold the can and pat Cinque's back awkwardly, trying to get her to get rid of what was in her stomach.

After a few minutes of dry heaving and Tre patting and rubbing her back, Cinque pulled her head away from the trash and panted heavily. "Ugh... I feel sick." She wasn't sure if it was that weird power that she had used or something else.

Tre grimaced and put the trash down and slid it away before looking at Cinque. "...You might be in shock." Cinque looked at her, her face seemed very drained and weary. "You know, we could get you a new eye, if that's the problem." Cinque shook her head. "What?"

"You and Due got hurt... and all I could do was watch, then I went crazy and... If you hadn't stopped me, I would have died there... I wouldn't have gotten to see my sisters if that happened."

Tre sighed softly and suddenly grabbed Cinque, pulling the surprised girl into a hug. "Stupid girl, you're my sister," Tre was silently grateful that Cinque suddenly was hugging her back, that was a good sign, "if I let you die because of some sort of stupidity, then what kind of person would I be?"

Cinque shivered and nodded as Tre pulled away. "Thanks." She winced slightly. "Nnngh... My eye..."

"Hold on." Tre turned around and Cinque blushed softly as she saw Tre's naked butt, legs and back. "Here." She held up some guass wrappings and slowly moved the bandages around Cinque's head, covering her bad eye before taping the bandages on her head. "This'll help you keep that eye closed until we can fix it."

"Thanks." Cinque smiled and relaxed, for some reason it was easier to keep her eye closed with the bandages over her eye than without something over it.

Tre nodded. "Well, at least..."

"WAGH!" Both Tre and Cinque were startled to hear Due's voice and turned to look at the number two cyborg. "My boobs are smaller!" She was busy grabbing her chest before blinking and bringing a hand back to the back of her neck. "Yeek! My hair is short!"

Tre blinked a few times, Due's hair was cut short, the back barely brushed against her shoulders while the right side was fluffed upwards while the left side was smooth and pushed against her scalp more directly. "Your hair is also red."

"What, seriously?" Due blinked, getting a nod from the two of them. "Oh great, my boobs are smaller, my hair's shorter and a different color, what else?"

"...You're shorter than before?" Tre offered, causing Due to fall off of her bed, revealing that she was wearing the same kind of gown that Tre was.

"Now this just isn't right!" Due stood to her new full height, which put her at least a head shorter than Quattro. "I think I'm only as tall as Sein!" She then tilted her head as she looked at the two of them. "BAH! You're both being sad frowny faces, aren't you?" She pointed a finger at the both of them.

Cinque sighed softly and looked down. "You're that way because..."

"TUT!" Due held up a hand and stomped her foot on the ground while glaring at Cinque. "Enough talk like that! Now, I got hurt protecting you, there's nothing wrong with it! And, you, Tre! Aren't you supposed to be the combat expert?"

"He was pretty good, Due." Tre shook her head, exasperated. "As good as I am, he got a good shot in on me, I'm fine though, but, why are you so young?"

Due shrugged and tilted her head. "I think you're both being frowny faces though!" She snapped her fingers and grinned as the two of them were suddenly wrapped up in binds. Cinque fell onto her back and Tre fell to the ground, face down and revealing more than she would want most people to see. "Now then..." Her eyes suddenly gleamed, causing her two sisters to suddenly start sweating. "I don't like frowny faces! It's torture time!"

Cinque sweated heavily. "Torture..."

"Yep." Due grinned as she advanced on the prone girl, her fingers flexing. "Tickle torture!"

Cinque's eye widened for a moment before Due's fingers started moving all around her body, causing her to yelp and squirm, laughing and squirming as she tried, futilely to get away. "Stooohahahahaoooppaheheeeheeheheh!"

Due grinned and shook her head. "Nope!" She looked at Tre, who was trying to worm herself away and smirked. "You're next, Tre."

"I'm not ticklish." Tre's muttered words were drowned out by the sound of Cinque's laughter.

"Can't hear you, don't care." Due smirked as Cinque had tears falling out of her good eye while thrashing on the cot she was on.

"Stoooopphahahahahahaha pleahahahahahase?" Cinque begged after several more minutes of being tickled. "Canhanaahahahahat breahahahahahahahahahath!" She gasped as Due pulled her hands away from her, causing the small cyborg to pant heavily, trying to get air into her lungs and recover.

"Now, Tre..." Due grinned as the downed cyborg looked at her oncoming sister in dread. "You're turn."

(---)

Later...

Uno blinked as she walked into the medical room and looked at Cinque, who was squirming on her cot while trying to catch her breath, then at Tre, who had a very flushed face while panting heavily on the floor and finally at Due, who was standing with her back to Uno and licking her hands of something. "What happened?"

Due turned to Uno and grinned at her. "They were being frowny faces, so, I fixed that." When Uno blinked in confusion, she shook her head. "They aren't being frowny faces now, so, it doesn't matter."

Tre groaned at Due. "You're not going to..." She paled as Due looked back at her and grinned. "You would."

"Thaaaaaat's riiiiight!" Due drawled, causing the two cyborgs to gulp in fear.

Uno just wondered what happened.

Aww, so cute. The sister bonding scene was truly heartwarming.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by Kuroi Hadou

Wow... I didn't know it (the vocal minority) was that bad...

It really sucks for those, like me, who do actually like NanoFate . It makes me wary to say that I didn't like a non-NanoFate pairing for other reasons than simply splitting up the NanoFate, since I worry that I'll get hit with the reverse-prejudice and be thought of as just a rabid NanoFate fan .

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

Well, it apparently has to do with what it 'stands for.' NanoFate is latched onto, particularly by yuri fans (lesbian or not) because they see it as a 'rare' realistically portrayed lesbian couple. Yes, because yuri is so scarce

(I'm not particularly responding to just 00-Raiser, it's just that he brings up the points so very well )

*Shrug* I got into Nanoha because I had heard about the NanoFate, and it's still one of the things I enjoy most about the franchise, I admit. And (here's where I get my flame-shield ready in case I get mis-interpreted ) I'm content to genuinely see from my perspective real romance or signs of married-couple-family feel in the series between those two. But I don't think that everyone has to agree with me, I'm happy with my own interpretation about what I read . And for me, I don't think that "yuri" is scarce, but light-handed (I mean light-handed in canon, not so much fanon ) yuri that talks about families, and series with more than just "Girl meets girl = TRUE LOVE" stories are still pretty rare. But even so, it's no reason for the Legion to take up arms .

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

Basically NanoFate represents all lesbian couples, and to deny it is equivalent to saying "being gay is horrible and wrong!"

.....Now that's just stupid . *headdesk at the stupidity of dumb people*

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

Of course their argument is completely invalidated because the only 'lesbian' relationship they get mad about me 'ruining' is NanoFate. No one has a problem with me pairing Teana with Vice and 'destroying' the SubaTea pairing, which arguably is closer to being canon than NanoFate is.

There's a firmly set mindset that the Nanoha franchise is a yuri series (been touted as one of the 'pillars' of the yuri fandom at that), despite the fact it's never listed anywhere under that genre.

That is quite a good point .

Arguably, quite a few shows that are considered "pillars" don't actually have overt declarations of romance in them either . So I personally don't see Nanoha has being any different, it's just that unlike other shows Nanoha has a lot of fans who like pairings other than NanoFate, and also that some who do like NanoFate aren't very....composed in expressing their love for it.

[itanshi1]

some sort of ratio, when you up the number of fans, the 3% looks more like 30%

that is to say the vocal minority looks more vocal and less minor

[D2]

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

Yeah, these are the people who tried to get me arrested for false allegations of child pornography, so...

Forgive me for possibly digging up a can of worms but... WHEN WAS THIS? TELL ME ABOUT IT!

[itanshi1]

O_O wah

yeah save that for PM

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Nearing the end of the Shine Arc...

In an unrelated note, 5 hour energy SUCKS!

Shine 1 -45

Shine 46

Shine 47

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 48:

Meanwhile...

"Ugh, my side..." She groaned and sat up, putting a hand on her forehead and looking around. "Well, at least I'm alive." She muttered and looked down at herself, shrugging as she was in nothing more than a paper thin covering before looking around. "Cinque?" She sighed in relief as she saw the small girl resting peacefully. "You're alive, good."

"Nnngh... Tre?" She blinked as Cinque sat up, the small girl was covered in a sheet that rolled down slightly. "You're alive, I..." Her left eye widened and she suddenly grabbed at the left side of her face. "Nnngh... Oh, oww..."

Before she knew what was going on, Tre was by Cinque's side and gently prying the hand away from Cinque's face. "Let me... Your eye." Cinque looked at her, a scared and pained expression on her face. "...I think your eye is gone, Cinque."

"No wonder it hurts." She grimaced before putting her right hand to her mouth. "Hrk..."

Tre looked around before grabbing an open garbage can and getting it close to Cinque, who turned her head and puked into the bucket, shuddering as her body trembled. All Tre could do was hold the can and pat Cinque's back awkwardly, trying to get her to get rid of what was in her stomach.

After a few minutes of dry heaving and Tre patting and rubbing her back, Cinque pulled her head away from the trash and panted heavily. "Ugh... I feel sick." She wasn't sure if it was that weird power that she had used or something else.

Tre grimaced and put the trash down and slid it away before looking at Cinque. "...You might be in shock." Cinque looked at her, her face seemed very drained and weary. "You know, we could get you a new eye, if that's the problem." Cinque shook her head. "What?"

"You and Due got hurt... and all I could do was watch, then I went crazy and... If you hadn't stopped me, I would have died there... I wouldn't have gotten to see my sisters if that happened."

Tre sighed softly and suddenly grabbed Cinque, pulling the surprised girl into a hug. "Stupid girl, you're my sister," Tre was silently grateful that Cinque suddenly was hugging her back, that was a good sign, "if I let you die because of some sort of stupidity, then what kind of person would I be?"

Cinque shivered and nodded as Tre pulled away. "Thanks." She winced slightly. "Nnngh... My eye..."

"Hold on." Tre turned around and Cinque blushed softly as she saw Tre's naked butt, legs and back. "Here." She held up some guass wrappings and slowly moved the bandages around Cinque's head, covering her bad eye before taping the bandages on her head. "This'll help you keep that eye closed until we can fix it."

"Thanks." Cinque smiled and relaxed, for some reason it was easier to keep her eye closed with the bandages over her eye than without something over it.

Tre nodded. "Well, at least..."

"WAGH!" Both Tre and Cinque were startled to hear Due's voice and turned to look at the number two cyborg. "My boobs are smaller!" She was busy grabbing her chest before blinking and bringing a hand back to the back of her neck. "Yeek! My hair is short!"

Tre blinked a few times, Due's hair was cut short, the back barely brushed against her shoulders while the right side was fluffed upwards while the left side was smooth and pushed against her scalp more directly. "Your hair is also red."

"What, seriously?" Due blinked, getting a nod from the two of them. "Oh great, my boobs are smaller, my hair's shorter and a different color, what else?"

"...You're shorter than before?" Tre offered, causing Due to fall off of her bed, revealing that she was wearing the same kind of gown that Tre was.

"Now this just isn't right!" Due stood to her new full height, which put her at least a head shorter than Quattro. "I think I'm only as tall as Sein!" She then tilted her head as she looked at the two of them. "BAH! You're both being sad frowny faces, aren't you?" She pointed a finger at the both of them.

Cinque sighed softly and looked down. "You're that way because..."

"TUT!" Due held up a hand and stomped her foot on the ground while glaring at Cinque. "Enough talk like that! Now, I got hurt protecting you, there's nothing wrong with it! And, you, Tre! Aren't you supposed to be the combat expert?"

"He was pretty good, Due." Tre shook her head, exasperated. "As good as I am, he got a good shot in on me, I'm fine though, but, why are you so young?"

Due shrugged and tilted her head. "I think you're both being frowny faces though!" She snapped her fingers and grinned as the two of them were suddenly wrapped up in binds. Cinque fell onto her back and Tre fell to the ground, face down and revealing more than she would want most people to see. "Now then..." Her eyes suddenly gleamed, causing her two sisters to suddenly start sweating. "I don't like frowny faces! It's torture time!"

Cinque sweated heavily. "Torture..."

"Yep." Due grinned as she advanced on the prone girl, her fingers flexing. "Tickle torture!"

Cinque's eye widened for a moment before Due's fingers started moving all around her body, causing her to yelp and squirm, laughing and squirming as she tried, futilely to get away. "Stooohahahahaoooppaheheeeheeheheh!"

Due grinned and shook her head. "Nope!" She looked at Tre, who was trying to worm herself away and smirked. "You're next, Tre."

"I'm not ticklish." Tre's muttered words were drowned out by the sound of Cinque's laughter.

"Can't hear you, don't care." Due smirked as Cinque had tears falling out of her good eye while thrashing on the cot she was on.

"Stoooopphahahahahahaha pleahahahahahase?" Cinque begged after several more minutes of being tickled. "Canhanaahahahahat breahahahahahahahahahath!" She gasped as Due pulled her hands away from her, causing the small cyborg to pant heavily, trying to get air into her lungs and recover.

"Now, Tre..." Due grinned as the downed cyborg looked at her oncoming sister in dread. "You're turn."

(---)

Later...

Uno blinked as she walked into the medical room and looked at Cinque, who was squirming on her cot while trying to catch her breath, then at Tre, who had a very flushed face while panting heavily on the floor and finally at Due, who was standing with her back to Uno and licking her hands of something. "What happened?"

Due turned to Uno and grinned at her. "They were being frowny faces, so, I fixed that." When Uno blinked in confusion, she shook her head. "They aren't being frowny faces now, so, it doesn't matter."

Tre groaned at Due. "You're not going to..." She paled as Due looked back at her and grinned. "You would."

"Thaaaaaat's riiiiight!" Due drawled, causing the two cyborgs to gulp in fear.

Uno just wondered what happened.

*snicker* Frowny faces...

[Tiresias]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

...if you need me, I'll be over here headdesking. Again.

Can I join you? I don't want to stain my desk *bangs head*

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

@Dezo
Because yeah, once DA2 lands in my hot little hands, there's no hope of any fic posts until after I beat it. I figure I'll start a DAOrigins/Awakening playthrough with 100% Completion so I can transfer save game when I get DA2.

Think I'm going to go with a rogue Lady Hawke for DA2. Carver's lame, Bethany is better and Hawke's class determines which sibling dies.

I envy those with the hardware to play it...And Hawke's beard is just plain awesome!

I

don't really agree with people who deny NanoFate in canon, even though it's somewhat ambiguous, but the true canon pairing is, as we all know... Nanoha/job.

I always believe in this

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

You actually identified the reason why those are liked--"Center Ring" is an out-and-out comedy and the Daily Activity Logs are close to it, even though both have carefully-crafted worlds and characters. Humor excuses a lot of stuff that people wouldn't be interested in in a "serious" story.

Hmm, I never did comment on my favorite part of Center Ring, did I?

Spoiler for Center Ring:

[...]but in the background had been his three siblings; Prison, Penetentiary, and Herbert Scaglietti (Herbert may have been adopted). [...] at least until they all 'passed away under mysterious circumstances', leaving Jail the sole owner. Nobody had ever quite understood how they'd all managed to be accidentally struck by a bus. While inside their offices. On the twentieth floor of the high-rise building they were renting.

(What really scares me is...these characters are 10 or 11 years old, for God's sake! People shouldn't even be debating romantic shipping between them. )

Terrifying, isn't it?

Pretty much never...but I do always read people's author's notes. I've been able to save myself the trouble of reading any number of bad fics by reading the author's notes.

Well, I admit that one's A/N is sometimes a good way to peek the writer's style...

I just don't understand how anybody can become that emotionally invested in the romantic lives of fictional characters (worse, the fictional romantic lives of fictional characters, in that they don't have said romances in the actual franchise material). I just can't track that mindset.

Ah the mystery of the abominable shipping goggles... Maybe someone can make a paper on this?

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Nearing the end of the Shine Arc...

In an unrelated note, 5 hour energy SUCKS!

Shine 1 -45

Shine 46

Shine 47

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 48:

Meanwhile...

"Ugh, my side..." She groaned and sat up, putting a hand on her forehead and looking around. "Well, at least I'm alive." She muttered and looked down at herself, shrugging as she was in nothing more than a paper thin covering before looking around. "Cinque?" She sighed in relief as she saw the small girl resting peacefully. "You're alive, good."

"Nnngh... Tre?" She blinked as Cinque sat up, the small girl was covered in a sheet that rolled down slightly. "You're alive, I..." Her left eye widened and she suddenly grabbed at the left side of her face. "Nnngh... Oh, oww..."

Before she knew what was going on, Tre was by Cinque's side and gently prying the hand away from Cinque's face. "Let me... Your eye." Cinque looked at her, a scared and pained expression on her face. "...I think your eye is gone, Cinque."

"No wonder it hurts." She grimaced before putting her right hand to her mouth. "Hrk..."

Tre looked around before grabbing an open garbage can and getting it close to Cinque, who turned her head and puked into the bucket, shuddering as her body trembled. All Tre could do was hold the can and pat Cinque's back awkwardly, trying to get her to get rid of what was in her stomach.

After a few minutes of dry heaving and Tre patting and rubbing her back, Cinque pulled her head away from the trash and panted heavily. "Ugh... I feel sick." She wasn't sure if it was that weird power that she had used or something else.

Tre grimaced and put the trash down and slid it away before looking at Cinque. "...You might be in shock." Cinque looked at her, her face seemed very drained and weary. "You know, we could get you a new eye, if that's the problem." Cinque shook her head. "What?"

"You and Due got hurt... and all I could do was watch, then I went crazy and... If you hadn't stopped me, I would have died there... I wouldn't have gotten to see my sisters if that happened."

Tre sighed softly and suddenly grabbed Cinque, pulling the surprised girl into a hug. "Stupid girl, you're my sister," Tre was silently grateful that Cinque suddenly was hugging her back, that was a good sign, "if I let you die because of some sort of stupidity, then what kind of person would I be?"

Cinque shivered and nodded as Tre pulled away. "Thanks." She winced slightly. "Nnngh... My eye..."

"Hold on." Tre turned around and Cinque blushed softly as she saw Tre's naked butt, legs and back. "Here." She held up some guass wrappings and slowly moved the bandages around Cinque's head, covering her bad eye before taping the bandages on her head. "This'll help you keep that eye closed until we can fix it."

"Thanks." Cinque smiled and relaxed, for some reason it was easier to keep her eye closed with the bandages over her eye than without something over it.

Tre nodded. "Well, at least..."

"WAGH!" Both Tre and Cinque were startled to hear Due's voice and turned to look at the number two cyborg. "My boobs are smaller!" She was busy grabbing her chest before blinking and bringing a hand back to the back of her neck. "Yeek! My hair is short!"

Tre blinked a few times, Due's hair was cut short, the back barely brushed against her shoulders while the right side was fluffed upwards while the left side was smooth and pushed against her scalp more directly. "Your hair is also red."

"What, seriously?" Due blinked, getting a nod from the two of them. "Oh great, my boobs are smaller, my hair's shorter and a different color, what else?"

"...You're shorter than before?" Tre offered, causing Due to fall off of her bed, revealing that she was wearing the same kind of gown that Tre was.

"Now this just isn't right!" Due stood to her new full height, which put her at least a head shorter than Quattro. "I think I'm only as tall as Sein!" She then tilted her head as she looked at the two of them. "BAH! You're both being sad frowny faces, aren't you?" She pointed a finger at the both of them.

Cinque sighed softly and looked down. "You're that way because..."

"TUT!" Due held up a hand and stomped her foot on the ground while glaring at Cinque. "Enough talk like that! Now, I got hurt protecting you, there's nothing wrong with it! And, you, Tre! Aren't you supposed to be the combat expert?"

"He was pretty good, Due." Tre shook her head, exasperated. "As good as I am, he got a good shot in on me, I'm fine though, but, why are you so young?"

Due shrugged and tilted her head. "I think you're both being frowny faces though!" She snapped her fingers and grinned as the two of them were suddenly wrapped up in binds. Cinque fell onto her back and Tre fell to the ground, face down and revealing more than she would want most people to see. "Now then..." Her eyes suddenly gleamed, causing her two sisters to suddenly start sweating. "I don't like frowny faces! It's torture time!"

Cinque sweated heavily. "Torture..."

"Yep." Due grinned as she advanced on the prone girl, her fingers flexing. "Tickle torture!"

Cinque's eye widened for a moment before Due's fingers started moving all around her body, causing her to yelp and squirm, laughing and squirming as she tried, futilely to get away. "Stooohahahahaoooppaheheeeheeheheh!"

Due grinned and shook her head. "Nope!" She looked at Tre, who was trying to worm herself away and smirked. "You're next, Tre."

"I'm not ticklish." Tre's muttered words were drowned out by the sound of Cinque's laughter.

"Can't hear you, don't care." Due smirked as Cinque had tears falling out of her good eye while thrashing on the cot she was on.

"Stoooopphahahahahahaha pleahahahahahase?" Cinque begged after several more minutes of being tickled. "Canhanaahahahahat breahahahahahahahahahath!" She gasped as Due pulled her hands away from her, causing the small cyborg to pant heavily, trying to get air into her lungs and recover.

"Now, Tre..." Due grinned as the downed cyborg looked at her oncoming sister in dread. "You're turn."

(---)

Later...

Uno blinked as she walked into the medical room and looked at Cinque, who was squirming on her cot while trying to catch her breath, then at Tre, who had a very flushed face while panting heavily on the floor and finally at Due, who was standing with her back to Uno and licking her hands of something. "What happened?"

Due turned to Uno and grinned at her. "They were being frowny faces, so, I fixed that." When Uno blinked in confusion, she shook her head. "They aren't being frowny faces now, so, it doesn't matter."

Tre groaned at Due. "You're not going to..." She paled as Due looked back at her and grinned. "You would."

"Thaaaaaat's riiiiight!" Due drawled, causing the two cyborgs to gulp in fear.

Uno just wondered what happened.

YAH!!!!

Our pre-teen to early teen Due got loli-Due's little mean streak...

Nanya, Don't you dare get her corrupted by Levi to-er... Levi and Quattro... I don't want to know what the rest of us Due Fans(from your Deu story) will do to you... But I can offer you a Safe Bunker if they gone wild.

[Tempy]

Oh hey. I wrote something.

Not as good as I thought it would be, but at least I get to A's now...

Food For Thought

Previous chapter(s):
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Spoiler for Take Out:

In front of him was a tray, covered with still steaming little cupcakes. Vanilla and chocolate, they
were a major seller at the Midoriya, popular amongst the young and old alike. However, these
cupcakes were not intended to be sold. No, these were for a little side job Kevin had thought
of doing. Now that the cakes were done, he would prepare rest of the needed ingredients as
they cooled.

Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries; a bit of vanilla pudding; perhaps an amaretto cream
cheese frosting; oh, a raspberry drizzle would be good too…

Nanoha had seemed a little down ever since she came back from that strange trip. Yet, seeing
as how her family let her go, the cook merely bid the girl farewell with a bento prepared for her.
Upon her return, Nanoha seemed to have changed. While she did not speak of it much, they
(her family and him) understood that it was for her to figure out.

It wasn’t until she had mentioned a girl named Fate that Kevin finally spoke up, mentioning their
meeting one evening. Nanoha was understandably surprised, though she seemed glad that Fate
was able to meet another kind person. Then, she mentioned that the blonde was leaving…

---

On a certain bridge watching the sea, a girl in a black blouse and blonde hair in twintails stared
at the shimmering waters. What thoughts could this maiden have as she gazed forlornly at the
waves and beyond? She was alone in this world now, yet she was not. A strange conundrum,
though she could not immediately accept the help from these people of the Time Space
Administration Bureau. She had her own demons to deal with, and not enough time to do so.

A gust of wind whipped her hair around, causing her to instinctively reach up to hold her blonde
strands back. The salty breeze stung her eyes somewhat, causing her to squint amidst the winds.
The moment the gusts let up and Fate opened her eyes, a familiar man was approaching her with
box in hand and wearing a light jacket.

“Hey there. I heard you were going away for a bit,” the man smiled, raising a hand up in greeting.

She remembered him, a strange fellow that had made her a meal one day. Nothing came from
that, other than a full and warm belly, and a better appreciation for hot foods. Meeting him
interesting, though, and the small bits of chat that passed between them allowed her to
temporarily forget that she had a mission. Kevin, his name was. A strange person, indeed. Idly,
she could feel Arf’s discomfort with the man’s approach.

“How… did you know?”

“Ehh, that Nanoha, she can’t keep her mouth shut sometimes,” Kevin shrugged. “I’ve known
that girl for years now. The moment she gets something sweet, she gets chatty.”

He… he knew Nanoha?

“How did you meet her?” he asked, meaning Nanoha.

“Um…” Suddenly, the blonde found it difficult to keep look at the taller man, a spike of shame
piercing her as memories of her first and terrifying meeting with the other girl.

“Oi. Don’t keep looking down like that. Keep your head up; otherwise you’ll miss what’s right
in front of you,” the cook scolded, though his expression remained soft as Fate looked back up.
“Well, you have your story, and I shouldn’t go digging about for it. What matters is that you’re
Nanoha’s friend.”

Friend…

“You’ve got a great friend in her. You’re lucky she found you. Bet she hasn’t left you alone until
now.”

“Yes…” Fate trailed off, unable to really say anything back.

“It’s the same way with that me and that ferret. Nanoha found us and gave us a second chance,”
Kevin chuckled and sighed. “Really now, a grown man like me, rescued by a six year old…

Fate blinked. That was news! "She… saved you?”

“Yep. A few years ago, she gifted me bread and water when I was at my lowest point. Not only
that, but her family gave me a job. Years passed, and I stuck around. Now, here I am.”

Such a small world, to meet this man that had known Nanoha for so long.

Fate bowed her head again. “I still don’t know why…”

“Humans are irrational creatures, doing things that do not seem to make sense. They are guided
by emotion rather than logic, for reasons that are not readily apparent. Some may ask ‘why?’
like you, though the answer is a mere shrug. Sometimes… it’s just the right thing to do. Nanoha,
she seems to understand people better than many adults can, though she seems a bit lost herself.
I just ask you to help her when she needs it.”

“Anyways, here. This is for you,” he held out the package, a small opaque tupperware container
roughly the size of a shoebox. “Don’t eat it all in one sitting… or do. Savor it.”

Surprised, Fate took the gift, “What is it?”

“Something good. My bit of irrationality. I heard you were leaving, so I thought I’d leave you
with something to remember this place by.”

“T-thank you very much,” Testarossa looked at the box, confused but not so much as to refuse
a kindness. Ah. She didn’t understand why, but her eyes itched and her vision blurred.

“Hey hey, no need for that. Are you happy?”

Fate, ever so slowly, nodded.

“Alright, girly. Save the waterworks for later. I need to get back before my lunch break ends,
but it was good seeing you again. Take care.”

“Un. Thank you again, and… it was good seeing you too,” Fate gave the cook an honest smile,
waving back to him as he set off. She watched him go, a strange soul in a strange land, friends
with a stranger girl… Perhaps Fate was just as strange. Just as he disappeared around the
corner, however, did the blonde hear a sound behind her. She turned around.

Nanoha.

---

Later, an hour into transit, Fate Testarossa eyed the Tupperware container with curiosity. The
others had left her alone in her cabin, after many assurances that she would be fine and did not
need constant attention. Besides, Arf was with her, even if she snoozed away on one of the
cabin bunks. It did lift her spirits a bit to know that she had friends on board, like Yuuno and
Chrono.

Fate settled onto her bunk, the container in her lap. Carefully, she peeled back the lid, and
immediately her nose was filled with a sweet scent. The delicious smells of chocolate and vanilla
washed over her with nostalgic warmth, with a faint tickle of fruit in the background. She gasped
softly, gazing upon the dozen cupcakes that filled the box… and the little message left on them.
Upon the swirls of frosting, in delicately written icing:

Come back soon!

For a second time that day, Fate desperately fought back tears. With a trembling hand, she
plucked one of the corner cupcakes out, careful not to ruin the message. It was vanilla, with a
small swirl of frosting that smelled faintly of almonds. Gazing that the treat, Fate smiled softly,
despite the encroaching tears. Aah, it was getting hard to hold them back…

She took a bite, momentarily surprised by the creamy center of the cupcake. It was filled! With
custard and fresh fruit, even! Such a thing was never experienced before in her life! Her…
short… artificial life…

Fate wanted to laugh at herself. Typical of her to think back to the bad things after so much
good, but still, she thought, as she took another bite, could anyone blame her? To accept her
place in this world… it would take time; it would be difficult; and she would need to do it alone.
Though she had friends—such a curious thought now, having friends—they could not bring
about the change in her. She had to do that herself… and that was slightly terrifying. At the very
least, at this moment, she would live her Alicia’s place and carry her memories with her. Linith
had mentioned once that, “The only truly dead are those who have been forgotten.”

So she would remember her. She would remember Linith; she would remember Precia
Testarossa; and she would remember Alicia Testarossa. Those happy days and sad days alike;
mother and sister – Fate was thankful for being brought into this world.

And she would have another one of these cupcakes. Maybe Yuuno or Chrono would like one…?

---

Stuffed Cupcakes (Easy Mode)

1 box cupcake mix (can be chocolate, vanilla, whatever you want)
1 pkg instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup cherries (I like fresh Bing cherries)

Prepare the cupcakes as according to package direction. In the mean time, prepare the pudding
as according to package directions then chill in refrigerator. When the cupcakes are done, set
aside to let cool to room temperature.

Pit and dice the cherries, then mix thoroughly into pudding.

With a sharp knife, cut off the “crown” of the cupcake. Use a spoon to scoop out half of the
inside, and fill the hole in with the pudding mixture. Replace the cap. Repeat this action with all
the cupcakes, then chill in the fridge for at least one hour, up to six hours.

Serves: a bunch.

Tempest’s Note: You can substitute chopped up strawberries or blueberries in place of cherries,
or even a mix of the three. Small raspberries may work, but most blackberries tend to be too
big and juicy to cut up well. Experiment. You can also add frosting for an extra layer of taste or
sweetness.

This is rather easy due to all the store-bought product. I have a made-from-scratch recipe
(Lunatic Mode), but it is substantially harder and more complicated. For everyone’s sake, I just
did something easy. Besides, dessert’s not my strongest.

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

*Shrug* I got into Nanoha because I had heard about the NanoFate, and it's still one of the things I enjoy most about the franchise, I admit. And (here's where I get my flame-shield ready in case I get mis-interpreted ) I'm content to genuinely see from my perspective real romance or signs of married-couple-family feel in the series between those two. But I don't think that everyone has to agree with me, I'm happy with my own interpretation about what I read . And for me, I don't think that "yuri" is scarce, but light-handed (I mean light-handed in canon, not so much fanon ) yuri that talks about families, and series with more than just "Girl meets girl = TRUE LOVE" stories are still pretty rare. But even so, it's no reason for the Legion to take up arms .

It's perfectly fine to have that interpretation, and I do see basis to support it. However the problem comes when people insists that it is the one and only true interpretation of things and anyone who disagrees is a heretic.

No need for the flame sheild, dc. We know you're one of the good ones

Originally Posted by D2

Forgive me for possibly digging up a can of worms but... WHEN WAS THIS? TELL ME ABOUT IT!

Just to address this breifly: vic-vic and I release translated doujinshi, mostly of Yuunoha nature. I'll use Megaupload or Mediafire, but both those sites have options to report files for violating rules of the site. Unknown individuals use this reporting function to get my files removed. In one case on 4chan, anonymous specifically said "I reported it at as child porn. I hope he gets arrested."

Originally Posted by Tempy

Oh hey. I wrote something.

Not as good as I thought it would be, but at least I get to A's now...

Food For Thought

Previous chapter(s):
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Spoiler for Take Out:

In front of him was a tray, covered with still steaming little cupcakes. Vanilla and chocolate, they
were a major seller at the Midoriya, popular amongst the young and old alike. However, these
cupcakes were not intended to be sold. No, these were for a little side job Kevin had thought
of doing. Now that the cakes were done, he would prepare rest of the needed ingredients as
they cooled.

Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries; a bit of vanilla pudding; perhaps an amaretto cream
cheese frosting; oh, a raspberry drizzle would be good too…

Nanoha had seemed a little down ever since she came back from that strange trip. Yet, seeing
as how her family let her go, the cook merely bid the girl farewell with a bento prepared for her.
Upon her return, Nanoha seemed to have changed. While she did not speak of it much, they
(her family and him) understood that it was for her to figure out.

It wasn’t until she had mentioned a girl named Fate that Kevin finally spoke up, mentioning their
meeting one evening. Nanoha was understandably surprised, though she seemed glad that Fate
was able to meet another kind person. Then, she mentioned that the blonde was leaving…

---

On a certain bridge watching the sea, a girl in a black blouse and blonde hair in twintails stared
at the shimmering waters. What thoughts could this maiden have as she gazed forlornly at the
waves and beyond? She was alone in this world now, yet she was not. A strange conundrum,
though she could not immediately accept the help from these people of the Time Space
Administration Bureau. She had her own demons to deal with, and not enough time to do so.

A gust of wind whipped her hair around, causing her to instinctively reach up to hold her blonde
strands back. The salty breeze stung her eyes somewhat, causing her to squint amidst the winds.
The moment the gusts let up and Fate opened her eyes, a familiar man was approaching her with
box in hand and wearing a light jacket.

“Hey there. I heard you were going away for a bit,” the man smiled, raising a hand up in greeting.

She remembered him, a strange fellow that had made her a meal one day. Nothing came from
that, other than a full and warm belly, and a better appreciation for hot foods. Meeting him
interesting, though, and the small bits of chat that passed between them allowed her to
temporarily forget that she had a mission. Kevin, his name was. A strange person, indeed. Idly,
she could feel Arf’s discomfort with the man’s approach.

“How… did you know?”

“Ehh, that Nanoha, she can’t keep her mouth shut sometimes,” Kevin shrugged. “I’ve known
that girl for years now. The moment she gets something sweet, she gets chatty.”

He… he knew Nanoha?

“How did you meet her?” he asked, meaning Nanoha.

“Um…” Suddenly, the blonde found it difficult to keep look at the taller man, a spike of shame
piercing her as memories of her first and terrifying meeting with the other girl.

“Oi. Don’t keep looking down like that. Keep your head up; otherwise you’ll miss what’s right
in front of you,” the cook scolded, though his expression remained soft as Fate looked back up.
“Well, you have your story, and I shouldn’t go digging about for it. What matters is that you’re
Nanoha’s friend.”

Friend…

“You’ve got a great friend in her. You’re lucky she found you. Bet she hasn’t left you alone until
now.”

“Yes…” Fate trailed off, unable to really say anything back.

“It’s the same way with that me and that ferret. Nanoha found us and gave us a second chance,”
Kevin chuckled and sighed. “Really now, a grown man like me, rescued by a six year old…

Fate blinked. That was news! "She… saved you?”

“Yep. A few years ago, she gifted me bread and water when I was at my lowest point. Not only
that, but her family gave me a job. Years passed, and I stuck around. Now, here I am.”

Such a small world, to meet this man that had known Nanoha for so long.

Fate bowed her head again. “I still don’t know why…”

“Humans are irrational creatures, doing things that do not seem to make sense. They are guided
by emotion rather than logic, for reasons that are not readily apparent. Some may ask ‘why?’
like you, though the answer is a mere shrug. Sometimes… it’s just the right thing to do. Nanoha,
she seems to understand people better than many adults can, though she seems a bit lost herself.
I just ask you to help her when she needs it.”

“Anyways, here. This is for you,” he held out the package, a small opaque tupperware container
roughly the size of a shoebox. “Don’t eat it all in one sitting… or do. Savor it.”

Surprised, Fate took the gift, “What is it?”

“Something good. My bit of irrationality. I heard you were leaving, so I thought I’d leave you
with something to remember this place by.”

“T-thank you very much,” Testarossa looked at the box, confused but not so much as to refuse
a kindness. Ah. She didn’t understand why, but her eyes itched and her vision blurred.

“Hey hey, no need for that. Are you happy?”

Fate, ever so slowly, nodded.

“Alright, girly. Save the waterworks for later. I need to get back before my lunch break ends,
but it was good seeing you again. Take care.”

“Un. Thank you again, and… it was good seeing you too,” Fate gave the cook an honest smile,
waving back to him as he set off. She watched him go, a strange soul in a strange land, friends
with a stranger girl… Perhaps Fate was just as strange. Just as he disappeared around the
corner, however, did the blonde hear a sound behind her. She turned around.

Nanoha.

---

Later, an hour into transit, Fate Testarossa eyed the Tupperware container with curiosity. The
others had left her alone in her cabin, after many assurances that she would be fine and did not
need constant attention. Besides, Arf was with her, even if she snoozed away on one of the
cabin bunks. It did lift her spirits a bit to know that she had friends on board, like Yuuno and
Chrono.

Fate settled onto her bunk, the container in her lap. Carefully, she peeled back the lid, and
immediately her nose was filled with a sweet scent. The delicious smells of chocolate and vanilla
washed over her with nostalgic warmth, with a faint tickle of fruit in the background. She gasped
softly, gazing upon the dozen cupcakes that filled the box… and the little message left on them.
Upon the swirls of frosting, in delicately written icing:

Come back soon!

For a second time that day, Fate desperately fought back tears. With a trembling hand, she
plucked one of the corner cupcakes out, careful not to ruin the message. It was vanilla, with a
small swirl of frosting that smelled faintly of almonds. Gazing that the treat, Fate smiled softly,
despite the encroaching tears. Aah, it was getting hard to hold them back…

She took a bite, momentarily surprised by the creamy center of the cupcake. It was filled! With
custard and fresh fruit, even! Such a thing was never experienced before in her life! Her…
short… artificial life…

Fate wanted to laugh at herself. Typical of her to think back to the bad things after so much
good, but still, she thought, as she took another bite, could anyone blame her? To accept her
place in this world… it would take time; it would be difficult; and she would need to do it alone.
Though she had friends—such a curious thought now, having friends—they could not bring
about the change in her. She had to do that herself… and that was slightly terrifying. At the very
least, at this moment, she would live her Alicia’s place and carry her memories with her. Linith
had mentioned once that, “The only truly dead are those who have been forgotten.”

So she would remember her. She would remember Linith; she would remember Precia
Testarossa; and she would remember Alicia Testarossa. Those happy days and sad days alike;
mother and sister – Fate was thankful for being brought into this world.

And she would have another one of these cupcakes. Maybe Yuuno or Chrono would like one…?

---

Stuffed Cupcakes (Easy Mode)

1 box cupcake mix (can be chocolate, vanilla, whatever you want)
1 pkg instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup cherries (I like fresh Bing cherries)

Prepare the cupcakes as according to package direction. In the mean time, prepare the pudding
as according to package directions then chill in refrigerator. When the cupcakes are done, set
aside to let cool to room temperature.

Pit and dice the cherries, then mix thoroughly into pudding.

With a sharp knife, cut off the “crown” of the cupcake. Use a spoon to scoop out half of the
inside, and fill the hole in with the pudding mixture. Replace the cap. Repeat this action with all
the cupcakes, then chill in the fridge for at least one hour, up to six hours.

Serves: a bunch.

Tempest’s Note: You can substitute chopped up strawberries or blueberries in place of cherries,
or even a mix of the three. Small raspberries may work, but most blackberries tend to be too
big and juicy to cut up well. Experiment. You can also add frosting for an extra layer of taste or
sweetness.

This is rather easy due to all the store-bought product. I have a made-from-scratch recipe
(Lunatic Mode), but it is substantially harder and more complicated. For everyone’s sake, I just
did something easy. Besides, dessert’s not my strongest.

Scrumptious as always

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by shiroi mahotsukai

I suppose it's about time I actually wrote something.
This exists because of a persistent plot mote that hadn't grown into a bunny yet but was bouncing of the inside of my skull.
Also I consider it balance for what happened to her in Blood That Flows.

Spoiler for Memories of a King:

Memories of a King

“You know, looking back over my life I’ve done a lot. I’m certain I’ve managed to convince the Belkans that peace is far better for society than constant wars… most of them anyway. I’m also sure that I’ll go down in history for it, but those are times I look back on without any real sense of fondness, satisfaction certainly, but not happiness.

No, the happiest memories I have come from the gardens in the palace of Belka’s ruler. Those gardens were here long before I took my first steps in this world and will be here long after my bones have returned to dust. They are immutable and unchanging, not even the great wars touched the gardens. Perhaps it was a sign of what our people really believed in, that true beauty will endure, that even if this ugly world of ours presses in on it, it can survive and bloom into something wonderful. Or perhaps this is all the ramblings of an old woman looking back.

It makes me smile to remember the past, does that mean I had a good life? I wonder how everyone’s handling things now I’m not there anymore, does everything still function?”

The children grouped around the old woman’s bed listened with eager ears, they were used to this scene, every week they’d come here to listen to this strange lady talk about her past. They knew she was the former Saint Kaiser but that was how she had introduced herself “Just a strange old lady” she had said. They were sceptical at first, listening to an old person couldn’t be fun could it? But each tale of fabulous places and wondrous adventures kept them sitting there for hours, the lady never ran out of stories it seemed.

She couldn’t get up out of bed anymore, not without an aide and walking cane anyway, that had never dampened the fire in her eyes though, that passion hadn’t left her since her first battle. It was the fire of one who did everything with the same energy they fought with.

“It’s hot, that’s what I think of first when I remember battles, even in the dead of winter the heat of combat makes you sweat. The second thing is blood, so much blood. It doesn’t come out if it stains you know, you can’t understand if you don’t see it for yourself. The stillness after a fight where all you understand is that you’re still alive and the ones you’re fighting aren’t, and that’s all that matters to you. You don’t care what you were fighting for, be it money, loyalty or revenge, you just enjoy the sweet taste of sheer life.

You remember that, don’t you Klaus? The first time we fought on the same side, at the end we could barely stand up, we had to help each get back up that hill. They probably thought we were mad, two young knights spattered with blood and gore laughing uncontrollably rolling down the hill after the third attempt to climb had failed. We stayed there that night, in the aftermath of bloody slaughter, we didn’t make a fire – no one wanted to see what was left there.

We dressed each other’s wounds and collapsed against each other waiting. It was one of those moments for me, that instant of clarity that stays with you for your entire life. Just the two of us talking, it was only then I even learned your name, and you wouldn’t have told me if I hadn’t asked. I think on it now and I realise that I learned more about you in that one conversation than I did in the decades we’ve known each other since; we poured our hearts out to each other like two old friends.

Where are you Klaus? What are you doing? Are you happy? I feel as though I’d like to see you again, one more time before the inevitable happens. You’ve been a great friend to me for so long, I won’t feel as though it’s complete unless you’re there with me when it happens. I know you’re married now and you have a child, how old is she twelve? Fourteen, maybe? I can’t remember such things, but if they will come bring them, I think I’d like to see them once.”

The Saint King slowly drifted off to sleep. As the woman by the bedside continued to write out what the tired old lady had said – for the fourth time, but she’d promised to copy down everything – a rhythmic knocking rang through the room as the door slowly swung open. Standing framed in the doorway was a bent old man, his head devoid of all but the wispiest tufts of hair and his steps shuffling as he entered the small bedroom. Directly behind him came a young girl, her hair a shade of green that was hard to define, it seemed to shimmer between silver and green-brown as the lights illuminated her. In her eyes were the faintest glimmers of the passion her father had held almost all his life.

As the old man slowly walked towards the bed he stretched out one hand and laid it atop the hand of the former Saint King. At that comradely gesture the eyes of tired King fluttered open, settling on the child.

“If you remember only one thing about your father” she said “know that he was a man like no other and as he would always say with enough willpower anything is possible.”

“My wife sends her best, she was unable to attend to a sickness, but she said to give you her greetings.”

“Thank you Klaus.” With that her eyes drifted closed once again “Yes… thank you.”

She would never again open them.

I think that if I was more clear on the exact relations between these ancient rulers, I'd be able to pick up more nuances in this story . But as I don't, I apologize for a mostly superficial review.

There was a point of view shift in the middle, going from third person to the Saint King's first person narrative all of a sudden--it took me a second reading to puzzle it out, and only realize that she's kind of narratively-saying her thoughts in the middle--but since there are no quotations marks, I assumed she wasn't saying it out loud. Nothing wrong with the narrative approach either though, but maybe make it distinguishable through italics or something?

The paragraph where you described the children's thoughts about listening to an old woman was well-written. The way you wrote and what the paragraph was talking about fit together nicely. My only suggestion is that this line:

But each tale of fabulous places and wondrous adventures kept them sitting there for hours, the lady never ran out of stories it seemed.

Could possibly be changed to "But each tale of fabulous places and wondrous adventures kept them sitting there for hours; it seemed the lady never ran out of stories."

I liked the ending, how the Saint King spoke with Klaus' daughter. It was really sweet and showed a deep kind of admiration/friendship that goes beyond any other complication or relationship. Good job!

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

It's perfectly fine to have that interpretation, and I do see basis to support it. However the problem comes when people insists that it is the one and only true interpretation of things and anyone who disagrees is a heretic.

No need for the flame sheild, dc. We know you're one of the good ones

I agree--how boring things would be if there were only one true interpretation! Having a variety of opinions is always what makes a work interesting.

Thank you ^^. I really appreciate the understanding!

[DezoPenguin]

I must make time to read Tempy's latest chapter; "Food for Thought" is always good.

Bit of a question towards a hypothetical fanfic idea...can anybody infodump me on the Tsukimura family from Triangle Heart 3? For example, I read somewhere (Wikipedia?) that Shinobu's parents were shunned/outcast by the rest of the family...is that because they were vampires? Or because they weren't sufficiently nasty vampires? Is there any particular explanation of their vampirism? Were they killed in-game (in MGLN, that would make them survivors of Shiro Takamachi Syndrome, since StrikerS SS1 says that Suzuka's parents are still alive)? What about Sakura (Kido?), Shinobu's aunt and Noel's creator? Basically, I'm looking for anything and everything I can use to flesh out their backstory and rummage for MacGuffins among. Obviously in the absence of knowledge I can make things up, but I'd rather work from actual detail.

[00-Raiser]

Pretty much that stuff that's on Wikipedia is about all most of us know since the game's not in english.

All that I can really add is that they're the type of vampires whose eyes turn red when they get serious.

EDIT: Oh, I also have Shinobu's birthday and three sizes if you'd like that information. Noel's too.

[Nanya01]

Since Kaijo's still banned, he wanted me to tell you all that he posted up Future Tense 33 to FF.Net

And also...

"I moved Vivio and Einhart's fights to the next chapter, both as a way to make the chapter not as large, and also to adjust it being so combat heavy."

and

"but because of that, chapter 34 is basically done, and I'll have it posted to AS in a day or two."

[SilentOutlaw]

Er... why is Kaijo banned?

[Kuroi Hadou]

Originally Posted by SilentOutlaw

Er... why is Kaijo banned?

He's no longer banned, so don't worry about it.

[itanshi1]

Yay unbanned

Spoiler for why:

Madoka causes headaches

, now to read chap 33

[Nanya01]

This part isn't quite, QUITE done yet but...

Ah, screw it, I'll post what I got. There's 2 parts left to this scene/chapter.

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 49 A:

A week later...

"My head."

"Welcome back, Nakajima." She blinked at the male voice. Turning her head, she blinked as she saw Zest, bandages around his torso, sitting on the other bed. "You've been out for about two weeks now."

"I'm surprised that you're still in the hospital then." She groaned out, her voice raspy.

"Your daughters and husband have been here a lot, visiting you." He stood up. "I was getting out today." Considering that he couldn't even channel his magic properly until just yesterday, it made some sense why the doctors wouldn't let him out of observation. Whatever he had been hit with had not only nearly killed him but had screwed with his magic in such a way that he couldn't do much of anything.

"That's good. Where's Megane?" Quint looked around before chuckling softly. "Knowing her, she's probably already out and taking care of Lutecia."

"No..." Quint looked at Zest, who was looking at her with a downcast expression. "She's not out. She's dead," Quint's eyes widened, "she never made it back with us before the whole site was destroyed."

"Oh no..." Quint's face was pale. "Lutecia... I guess I can..."

"Do nothing." Zest interrupted her. "She was found murdered not too long ago."

"...They're both dead?" Quint asked softly, feeling like someone drove a tree into her gut. When Zest nodded, Quint shuddered slightly. "Megane never told you... She never had the chance to."

"Tell me what?" Zest blinked in confusion.

"Lutecia was your daughter."

Zest paled and felt his muscles go completely limp. "You... She couldn't have been my daughter. Alphine would have told me." He felt himself sliding to the floor, his mind rolling over what he had just heard.

"She didn't want you to treat her differently, and she was ashamed of herself for what happened between the two of you." Quint was feeling numb herself, how the heck did this happen? She was looking forward to seeing what Lutecia was going to grow up and be. Maybe she'd be good friends with her daughters when they got older?

Now she wouldn't know.

Quint nearly jumped out her bed as there was a loud crashing noise, looking, her eyes were wide as she saw the destroyed bed and Zest standing over it, trembling. "Zest, what?"

"What the hell am I fighting for? A world of nothing but lies?" It wasn't often that Zest was anything but stoic, but Quint knew he could feel emotions and had them. "A world where children die... Before even knowing their parents?!"

Quint's eyes widened as Zest turned and punched the wall, leaving a good-sized hole to the bathroom. "Zest, come on! You can't..." She trailed off as he yelled and smashed the sink in the bathroom. "Zest, this isn't like you!"

"What good is it? I can't protect my subordinates, I can't fight, I can't even..." His body was shaking and trembling in anger. "I can't even protect my daughter... What GOOD am I?!"

"Zest!" Quint yelled and winced at how her voice hurt from yelling just like that. She was wondering if she would have to try something drastic when nurses suddenly broke into the room to try and restrain Zest.

It wasn't easy and it wasn't pretty, especially as Zest, in his anger and sadness, was knocking them away pretty easily. It didn't help that the man was stupidly strong normally and the nurses well, they weren't anywhere near his level of strength.

Eventually they managed to get him under binds and sedated, though not before at least three nurses were thrown, painfully, into her bed, causing it to slide across the room and hit the wall.

"What happened?" The doctor asked her, causing her to sigh as Zest was led out of the room.

"He found out that he had a family, and they're lost to him now." Quint said softly, getting a nod from the doctor.

The doctor turned to one of the nurses. "Make sure that he's under strict watch." She nodded and left the room. The doctor ordered the nurses to find an open room to move Quint before leaving her, saying that they'd be right back.

Quint just looked at the destruction, alone in her thoughts.

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - 49 B:

Yuuno blinked as Mizetto asked him, Nanoha and Fate to meet her on the training field. "Uh, sure, we can..." He trailed off and looked at the two, who shrugged and followed him to the field. As they got there, Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno all stared wide-eyed as they saw the people waiting for them.

"Vita-chan! Hayate-chan! Rein-chan! Reinforce! Signum! Shamal! Zafira!" Nanoha yelled as she ran up to them, waving happily. "I'm surprised to see you here."

When they got a little closer, they noticed that Vita was wearing a red jacket and black pants while Hayate, Reinforce and Zwei all were wearing similar dresses, Shamal had a white jacket on over her brown outfit while Signum was wearing a white trench coat.

"What brings you out here?" Fate asked them, glad to see them after what had happened just the other day.

Vita had a sour look on her face. "Been going through officer training lately, Hayate wants to join the Bureau officially, and we all want to stay with her. But learning how to salute, the proper channels, the paperwork." Vita shivered and turned to give someone a flat look. "How the heck do you put up with it, Leti?"

"Admiral Leti Lowran to you." The woman in question adjusted her glasses and chuckled at Vita. "Don't worry, we all have to deal with it. Anyway, I asked Mizetto here to help all of you out." She smirked at the questioning looks and turned to Mizetto. "Want to explain?"

Mizetto rolled her eyes. "Well, it seems like some people have been getting a touch antsy, despite only having a week of training..." She smirked, chuckling softly. "Anyway, considering that both Leti and myself understand perfectly, we decided to let them have some fun."

Leti chuckled as the confusion on people's faces started to slowly change to comprehension. "A full-out sparring match." She looked at the sides and tilted her head a bit. "Then again, the sides are a bit unbalanced..."

"Says who?" Leti blinked as Miyuki walked up to the group, grinning. "I think I can fight with my sisters against her opponents."

Leti shrugged and looked at Mizetto, who was grinning, then at the others. "If it's okay with the rest of you?"

"Miyuki-nee's a good fighter." Nanoha nodded, smirking softly. "Seven on four, huh?"

"Six on four." Zwei spoke up as she floated towards Vita. "I'm not that good a fighter yet, um, sis..."

Vita looked at Signum, who shrugged at her. "You sure?"

"It's better that she gets used to one of us first before trying unison with myself, Shamal or Zafira for now." Signum then looked at Miyuki and raised an eyebrow. "While I don't discourage combatants, this is going to be magical combat, are you sure you can keep up?"

Miyuki chuckled at her. "Don't worry about me. I'm pretty sure that I'll be fine."

"Full-out sparring match?" Nanoha's eyes gleamed happily. "Sure!" She blinked as Zwei disappeared and Vita's hair changed color. "Was that..."

Vita smirked as her eyes changed color as well. "Unison, it's quite useful, plus it lets Zwei get experience with combat." She grabbed her pendant. "Graf Eisen!"

"Laevatein!"

"Klarwind."

"Jawol!"

"Ja." The devices spoke up as the three shifted into their battle outfits.

"Raising Heart..."

"Bardiche..."

"Thoth Driver..."

"Set up!"

"Standbye Ready." The three devices said at once as the three put on their Barrier Jackets.

Miyuki grabbed her weapon. "Light come forth!" She called out as she drew her sword.

"Ready Reinforce?" Hayate looked at the silver-haired device.

Reinforce just smiled. "For you, master, always." A flash of light later and the two were in matching black dresses with dark wings coming out of their backs.

"Raising Heart, Excellion Mode!"

"Ignition."

Nanoha smiled as her staff took a more spear-like look and held it in front of her more defensively.

"Bardiche, Sonic Form."

"Sonic Drive."

"What? No comments to me, boss?" The buckler-shaped device spoke up, sounding almost hurt from not getting an order.

"Sorry." Yuuno muttered as he jumped back into the air. "Just keep doing what you're supposed to do."

"Lame! Hey! Can we at least try some of the newer tricks out?"

Signum nodded to Fate. "I do believe I owe you that rematch."

"Or three." She nodded to Signum as the two slowly floated into the air.

Miyuki pouted as she saw the others float into the air. "Well, gee, make a girl feel insignificant, huh?"

Zafira and Shamal looked at each other and at Miyuki. "Well, since the heavy hitters are going upstairs, we can have fun with you."

Miyuki smirked at Zafira's saying. "I don't think it'll be that easy."

(---)

"Well, well, I've been wanting to get back at you for what happened when we first met." Vita smirked at Yuuno while swinging Graf Eisen to the side. "Let's go, Rein!"

"Alright!" Rein's excited voice filled her head, causing her to smile.

"Graf Eisen! Load Cartridge!"

"Jawol!"

"Well, boss? I dunno if you can hit the girl with boobs."

Yuuno sweat-dropped at his device before shaking his head. "You know all my normal and hybrid spells, so, let's keep to that for now."

"Got it!"

Yuuno clapped his hands together and dozens upon dozens of ice shards filled the air while a green circle appeared under his feet.

"Heh, not this time." Vita grinned at him as she rushed in, screaming. Suddenly she disappeared from sight.

Yuuno's eyes widened as he felt her behind him. Turning his head, he was thankful for the barrier that popped up between the two of them. "Nice try."

"Yeah! Blondie likes to flash her butt at him and do that all the time anyway."

Yuuno sweat-dropped heavily. "You shouldn't talk about Fate like that." He muttered as chains shot out from the barrier and wrapped around Vita. "...Wow, Vita, um..." He blushed as he saw her struggle against her binds. "Ah..."

"Stop looking at my boobs!" Vita yelled at him, her face flush. It wasn't her fault that her breasts had been growing again. She was really beginning to wonder if they'd ever stop growing.

It didn't help that Hayate would grope her in the bath or when they changed together. And Yuuno's chains were squeezing in just the right places that she was starting to feel a tad uncomfortable. "GRR! PERVERT!"

"WAH!" Yuuno flew back as Vita smashed the chains into nothingness and flew at him. "Forgetting something?"

"What?" Vita blinked before Rein warned her to look up. "...Oh yeah... The ice... AHH!" She flew back as the ice shards were finally launched at her, causing her to have to dodge and block the attacks. "Got an idea, Rein?"

"He likes ice, I say we break it and use it against him!" Vita blinked, but then grinned as she caught Rein's thoughts.

"ALRIGHT!" Vita flew up in the air, she didn't know how Yuuno was making the ice change directions in mid-air, but it was becoming an interesting challenge. "Far enough now..." Smirking, she felt Graf Eisen pop off a cartridge. "Raccket Form!" The thruster kicked off the one end as Vita rushed down, through the ice, much to Yuuno's surprise.

He was more surprised as she suddenly appeared in front of him and slammed the spike of her hammer into a hastily thrown-up barrier. Vita let out a growl. "Now... Reinforced Lightning!"

"What?" Yuuno's eyes widened as he let out a scream as lightning crashed down on his body and sent him crashing into the ground, groaning in pain.

"We're getting our butts kicked by a girl with PMS, boss!"

"Thoth Driver, do you have to be like this?" Yuuno groaned as he managed to shake off the attack and stop himself from crashing into the ground too hard.

"What's wrong with it?" The device asked as Yuuno was forced to avoid several small ice shards heading his way.

"When I'm not fighting Vita, I'll tell you." He yelped and dodged out of the way of another hammer strike before holding his hand out. "Burst Flare." A sphere of red erupted from his fingertips and slammed into the girl, forcing her to hold up Graf Eisen to block the attack.

"Wagh!" Vita yelped as she was blasted back across the field until she crashed into a tree. "That hurt!" Flying for him again, she grinned as Graf Eisen's rocket flared up and caused her to start spinning around and around, smashing into Yuuno's barrier and causing the both of them to grunt in effort, Vita to break through and Yuuno to hold it up.

"Hey, boss, I think she wears a thong."

Vita and Yuuno's faces both turned bright red as their concentration waned. Vita was doubly embarrassed, since she could feel Rein's face turning red too. "I do NOT!! If you want a thong, try Signum!" She gave Yuuno a flat look as blood started leaking out of his nose. "You pervert!" She swung Graf Eisen and slammed it, thankfully for Yuuno it was back in its base form, into his gut and sending him bouncing across the field.

Yuuno shook his head. "Okay, she's a lot harder to fight like that." Even though she wasn't trying to hurt him, or at least he hoped so, her and Rein together like that was a lot harder than he remembered her being. "Hey, Vita, hope you don't mind me busting out some new power on you."

Vita blinked as Yuuno's magic suddenly shot up in in power as he was surrounded by an orange glow. "What the?"

"A gift from the Shinzoku Vrabazard." Yuuno grinned at her.

"Goodness, greatness, great balls of fire!"

"Yeah." Yuuno clapped his hands forward as a tunnel of pure fire and heat lashed out, forcing Vita to fly straight up.

Vita's eyes widened as she found it hard to breath, looking down, her pupils shrank in size as the wall of fire suddenly shot up after her and surrounded her. 'What the..?' She flew towards it to try and break through it, but found that she couldn't break through the fire and her gloves turned to ash in an instant.

"He's heating up the air, Vita! Cool it down!"

Vita nodded and concentrated as much as she could to create ice magic. Her vision became hazy as the ice instantly evaporated and the steam made it even harder to breath. "Rein..." She grimaced. "Unison, OUT!" She screamed as she forcibly canceled the unison and got Rein out of the pillar of fire, moments before the lack of oxygen finally took its toll on her and caused her to slump over.

"VITA!" Rein yelled as the fire abated and Vita fell to the ground. Creating a net, she was grateful when Vita stopped falling. Turning, she glared at Yuuno. "MEANIE!"

"Uh..." Yuuno gulped as the sky above Rein started to darken and crackle with lightning. "Sorry, I'm not used to... YIKE!" He jumped out of the way as lightning split the sky and crashed to where he was a moment ago.

"MEANIE MEANIE MEANIE!" Zwei yelled, lightning crashing into the ground behind Yuuno as he ran.

Yuuno gulped and made a mental note to get more practice with using Holy magic against people. He really should have been able to keep it from hurting Vita and Zwei like it did.

"Boss, next time you want to find out what panties she has on, I suggest you burn the clothes off instead of making them pass out."

"A little late now!" Yuuno yelped as he dodged another attack. "Zwei, I'm sorry!"

"BULLY!" Zwei yelled, tears falling out of her eyes. "You hurt Vita, I'll..!"

"I'm okay." Vita said softly, causing Rein to calm down and the storm clouds to disappear as the small device flew to Vita and slammed onto her chest, hugged the redhead, crying. "Hey, come on, your big sister is tougher than that, okay?"

Zwei nodded, but didn't get off of Vita's chest, causing Vita to sigh and rub her back.

Yuuno looked at them and gulped slightly. "Vita, Rein, sorry, I need more practice."

Vita nodded and smirked at him. "Next time you want to fry me, give me more warning, okay?"

All Yuuno could do was rub the back of his head and chuckle nervously.

Spoiler for Comments:

I have NO idea who programmed Thoth Driver, but they NEED to be stopped!

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 49 C:

Holding Bardiche in front of her, Fate smiled softly at Signum. "It's been a long time." Signum nodded to her as she grabbed her sword and shifted into her stance. "I'm glad that we're fighting as friends, not enemies."

"Are you done?" Signum asked, a small grin on her face. "I hope you won't mind..." A cartridge popped from Laevatein before she unsheathed her sword, fire surrounding it. "If I don't hold back." It wasn't any real surprise that Fate wasn't there to take the strike, but Signum had anticipated that and was already moving and twisting her body to avoid several humming attacks from the young blonde. Spinning, she shot straight up into the air to avoid a strike at the back of her head.

Signum frowned softly before shooting straight down and slamming her sword into Bardiche. Letting out a soft grunt, she put more effort into her swing and forced Fate crashing down through the trees and into the ground, hard. "I told you, didn't I, Testarossa? A single hit and you're finished." She rushed down to meet Fate, who had a serious look on her face before disappearing from view.

Signum leaned back from an attack that nearly took her face off before using her free hand to grab Bardiche and keep Fate from pulling it back. Seeing the look in Fate's eyes, Signum frowned and pulled Fate in before driving a knee into the girl's abdomen. "This isn't like you, Testarossa." Spinning her body while still holding onto Bardiche and dragging Fate with her, Signum rushed towards a nearby tree and slammed the blonde, back first, into the tree, before pinning her against it with her knee into Fate's belly while her shin pushed her against the tree harder, Signum moved so that Bardiche was pushing against Fate's chest as she leaned in close. "What's wrong?"

"What?" Fate's eyes widened as Signum narrowed her eyes.

"You're letting anger seep into your attacks, you're more reckless than usual, your swings are wild and you're going for more permanent methods of putting someone down. So tell me, what happened? Did you ask Scrya or Takamachi on a date and they turned you down?"

Fate blanched at the insinuation. "What? No." She groaned as Signum started to grind her leg against her body.

"Then what happened? Last I heard, your adopted mother was fine, though less than a month from giving birth now, Takamachi and Scrya are fine, as is your familiar, so, what's wrong?" She tilted her head as Fate squirmed. "You're not even trying to get free."

"Why are you so insistent?" Fate grimaced, she was trying, maybe not as hard as she could have, but she was trying to get free.

It probably didn't help that Signum's leg was grinding against her body in ways that were... Quite distracting.

"Aren't friends supposed to help friends when they need help?" Signum pulled back and floated away, leaving her trembling slightly. "Let me tell you this, Testarossa, if there is something that is weighing so heavy on your mind that you can only think about it, then maybe you should figure out how to deal with the problem instead of taking your frustration out on someone who does not deserve it." Closing her eyes, Signum turned away from Fate. "As you are now, I cannot fight you, you aren't the same Testarossa that I came respect."

Fate just stared at her. "Wait..."

Signum turned her head to give her a look that chilled her to the bone. "You're human, I'm human, we all have problems that pop up in our lives. If it is something that's causing you to feel anger, you need to deal with it. Venting doesn't always help. And if it did, you would have already vented to Takamachi or Scrya, not me."

"But, we're friends, why wouldn't..."

"Because you're closer to those two than to me." Signum closed her eyes and shook her head. "Whatever is bothering you, Testarossa, you need to deal with it on your own."

"Signun Yagami." Fate floated forward. "You're right, I do have something on my mind." Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. "I've not been fair to you, Bardiche, Rubin Blitz Mode!"

"Yes, sir."

Signum blinked and turned around slowly, her eyes widening as Fate's outfit became more metallic, red metal covering her arms, legs and her neck while her weapon became thinner. "Interesting."

Fate closed her eyes. Mary had adjusted Bardiche since her match against Zest, at the moment, she was only slightly faster than her Sonic Form, but she understood the necessity of it. It was the same reason she only used the Zambar form of Bardiche for big spells, it was really hard on her body to use those forms for very long.

Even if the blade was energy, it had to have some mass to it, otherwise it was completely useless as a weapon.

Signum nodded to Fate. "If you can clear your mind, then you'll go far. Come!" She moved forward, but Fate seemed to move so fast that the space around Fate seemed to distort and warp around her. Signum grunted as she called up her Panzer Geist and crossed her arms as she was slammed into multiple times from multiple sides in the span of less than a second.

With each attack, Signum not only was jerked in various directions, but she found that her arms, legs and sides were getting cuts in them. "Nnngh... What is that..?" Even if it was just a second, it felt much longer to her.

Signum twitched as Fate reappeared in front of her, several feet away. "Impressive."

Fate nodded and took a deep breath, she knew that it wouldn't be that easy to defeat Signum, even with her power being able to slice into her armor. "A bit of a turn-around from our first time." Fate's eyes widened as a chain rushed right at her. Batting it away, she balked as the chain seemed to slink around her blade and pull on her.

"Not completely, you still lack protection." Signum flew towards Fate, who closed her eyes.

"Try a Digger Lancer."

Signum stopped as several white balls of energy appeared around her before each one lashed out at her body with bolts of power that forced her to dodge or block the strikes.

"Got..." Fate's eyes widened as her Blitz mode faded and she found herself in her normal mode. "What..?"

"A timer to protect you has been installed, sir."

Fate nodded, she was thankful for it, but right now, she felt as if she was moving in slow motion and everything was moving twenty times faster than she was. 'What's going on? Why can't I move?'

Seeing Signum rush towards her faster than ever, Fate's final thoughts before the pinkette slammed the hilt of her weapon into her gut was that she just couldn't keep up and needed to ask Mary about it later.

Fate was almost certain that it had something to do with the adjustments that were done to Bardiche.

Spoiler for Comments:

Two more parts after this, I'll get them out soon.

...

It's been...

Three days since I last updated...

I am in despair! My falling into schedule slip has left me in despair!

Edit: I should do the links, huh?

Shine 1 -45

Shine 46

Shine 47

Shine 48

[vic-vic]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

This part isn't quite, QUITE done yet but...

Ah, screw it, I'll post what I got. There's 2 parts left to this scene/chapter.

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 49 A:

A week later...

"My head."

"Welcome back, Nakajima." She blinked at the male voice. Turning her head, she blinked as she saw Zest, bandages around his torso, sitting on the other bed. "You've been out for about two weeks now."

"I'm surprised that you're still in the hospital then." She groaned out, her voice raspy.

"Your daughters and husband have been here a lot, visiting you." He stood up. "I was getting out today." Considering that he couldn't even channel his magic properly until just yesterday, it made some sense why the doctors wouldn't let him out of observation. Whatever he had been hit with had not only nearly killed him but had screwed with his magic in such a way that he couldn't do much of anything.

"That's good. Where's Megane?" Quint looked around before chuckling softly. "Knowing her, she's probably already out and taking care of Lutecia."

"No..." Quint looked at Zest, who was looking at her with a downcast expression. "She's not out. She's dead," Quint's eyes widened, "she never made it back with us before the whole site was destroyed."

"Oh no..." Quint's face was pale. "Lutecia... I guess I can..."

"Do nothing." Zest interrupted her. "She was found murdered not too long ago."

"...They're both dead?" Quint asked softly, feeling like someone drove a tree into her gut. When Zest nodded, Quint shuddered slightly. "Megane never told you... She never had the chance to."

"Tell me what?" Zest blinked in confusion.

"Lutecia was your daughter."

Zest paled and felt his muscles go completely limp. "You... She couldn't have been my daughter. Alphine would have told me." He felt himself sliding to the floor, his mind rolling over what he had just heard.

"She didn't want you to treat her differently, and she was ashamed of herself for what happened between the two of you." Quint was feeling numb herself, how the heck did this happen? She was looking forward to seeing what Lutecia was going to grow up and be. Maybe she'd be good friends with her daughters when they got older?

Now she wouldn't know.

Quint nearly jumped out her bed as there was a loud crashing noise, looking, her eyes were wide as she saw the destroyed bed and Zest standing over it, trembling. "Zest, what?"

"What the hell am I fighting for? A world of nothing but lies?" It wasn't often that Zest was anything but stoic, but Quint knew he could feel emotions and had them. "A world where children die... Before even knowing their parents?!"

Quint's eyes widened as Zest turned and punched the wall, leaving a good-sized hole to the bathroom. "Zest, come on! You can't..." She trailed off as he yelled and smashed the sink in the bathroom. "Zest, this isn't like you!"

"What good is it? I can't protect my subordinates, I can't fight, I can't even..." His body was shaking and trembling in anger. "I can't even protect my daughter... What GOOD am I?!"

"Zest!" Quint yelled and winced at how her voice hurt from yelling just like that. She was wondering if she would have to try something drastic when nurses suddenly broke into the room to try and restrain Zest.

It wasn't easy and it wasn't pretty, especially as Zest, in his anger and sadness, was knocking them away pretty easily. It didn't help that the man was stupidly strong normally and the nurses well, they weren't anywhere near his level of strength.

Eventually they managed to get him under binds and sedated, though not before at least three nurses were thrown, painfully, into her bed, causing it to slide across the room and hit the wall.

"What happened?" The doctor asked her, causing her to sigh as Zest was led out of the room.

"He found out that he had a family, and they're lost to him now." Quint said softly, getting a nod from the doctor.

The doctor turned to one of the nurses. "Make sure that he's under strict watch." She nodded and left the room. The doctor ordered the nurses to find an open room to move Quint before leaving her, saying that they'd be right back.

Quint just looked at the destruction, alone in her thoughts.

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - 49 B:

Yuuno blinked as Mizetto asked him, Nanoha and Fate to meet her on the training field. "Uh, sure, we can..." He trailed off and looked at the two, who shrugged and followed him to the field. As they got there, Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno all stared wide-eyed as they saw the people waiting for them.

"Vita-chan! Hayate-chan! Rein-chan! Reinforce! Signum! Shamal! Zafira!" Nanoha yelled as she ran up to them, waving happily. "I'm surprised to see you here."

When they got a little closer, they noticed that Vita was wearing a red jacket and black pants while Hayate, Reinforce and Zwei all were wearing similar dresses, Shamal had a white jacket on over her brown outfit while Signum was wearing a white trench coat.

"What brings you out here?" Fate asked them, glad to see them after what had happened just the other day.

Vita had a sour look on her face. "Been going through officer training lately, Hayate wants to join the Bureau officially, and we all want to stay with her. But learning how to salute, the proper channels, the paperwork." Vita shivered and turned to give someone a flat look. "How the heck do you put up with it, Leti?"

"Admiral Leti Lowran to you." The woman in question adjusted her glasses and chuckled at Vita. "Don't worry, we all have to deal with it. Anyway, I asked Mizetto here to help all of you out." She smirked at the questioning looks and turned to Mizetto. "Want to explain?"

Mizetto rolled her eyes. "Well, it seems like some people have been getting a touch antsy, despite only having a week of training..." She smirked, chuckling softly. "Anyway, considering that both Leti and myself understand perfectly, we decided to let them have some fun."

Leti chuckled as the confusion on people's faces started to slowly change to comprehension. "A full-out sparring match." She looked at the sides and tilted her head a bit. "Then again, the sides are a bit unbalanced..."

"Says who?" Leti blinked as Miyuki walked up to the group, grinning. "I think I can fight with my sisters against her opponents."

Leti shrugged and looked at Mizetto, who was grinning, then at the others. "If it's okay with the rest of you?"

"Miyuki-nee's a good fighter." Nanoha nodded, smirking softly. "Seven on four, huh?"

"Six on four." Zwei spoke up as she floated towards Vita. "I'm not that good a fighter yet, um, sis..."

Vita looked at Signum, who shrugged at her. "You sure?"

"It's better that she gets used to one of us first before trying unison with myself, Shamal or Zafira for now." Signum then looked at Miyuki and raised an eyebrow. "While I don't discourage combatants, this is going to be magical combat, are you sure you can keep up?"

Miyuki chuckled at her. "Don't worry about me. I'm pretty sure that I'll be fine."

"Full-out sparring match?" Nanoha's eyes gleamed happily. "Sure!" She blinked as Zwei disappeared and Vita's hair changed color. "Was that..."

Vita smirked as her eyes changed color as well. "Unison, it's quite useful, plus it lets Zwei get experience with combat." She grabbed her pendant. "Graf Eisen!"

"Laevatein!"

"Klarwind."

"Jawol!"

"Ja." The devices spoke up as the three shifted into their battle outfits.

"Raising Heart..."

"Bardiche..."

"Thoth Driver..."

"Set up!"

"Standbye Ready." The three devices said at once as the three put on their Barrier Jackets.

Miyuki grabbed her weapon. "Light come forth!" She called out as she drew her sword.

"Ready Reinforce?" Hayate looked at the silver-haired device.

Reinforce just smiled. "For you, master, always." A flash of light later and the two were in matching black dresses with dark wings coming out of their backs.

"Raising Heart, Excellion Mode!"

"Ignition."

Nanoha smiled as her staff took a more spear-like look and held it in front of her more defensively.

"Bardiche, Sonic Form."

"Sonic Drive."

"What? No comments to me, boss?" The buckler-shaped device spoke up, sounding almost hurt from not getting an order.

"Sorry." Yuuno muttered as he jumped back into the air. "Just keep doing what you're supposed to do."

"Lame! Hey! Can we at least try some of the newer tricks out?"

Signum nodded to Fate. "I do believe I owe you that rematch."

"Or three." She nodded to Signum as the two slowly floated into the air.

Miyuki pouted as she saw the others float into the air. "Well, gee, make a girl feel insignificant, huh?"

Zafira and Shamal looked at each other and at Miyuki. "Well, since the heavy hitters are going upstairs, we can have fun with you."

Miyuki smirked at Zafira's saying. "I don't think it'll be that easy."

(---)

"Well, well, I've been wanting to get back at you for what happened when we first met." Vita smirked at Yuuno while swinging Graf Eisen to the side. "Let's go, Rein!"

"Alright!" Rein's excited voice filled her head, causing her to smile.

"Graf Eisen! Load Cartridge!"

"Jawol!"

"Well, boss? I dunno if you can hit the girl with boobs."

Yuuno sweat-dropped at his device before shaking his head. "You know all my normal and hybrid spells, so, let's keep to that for now."

"Got it!"

Yuuno clapped his hands together and dozens upon dozens of ice shards filled the air while a green circle appeared under his feet.

"Heh, not this time." Vita grinned at him as she rushed in, screaming. Suddenly she disappeared from sight.

Yuuno's eyes widened as he felt her behind him. Turning his head, he was thankful for the barrier that popped up between the two of them. "Nice try."

"Yeah! Blondie likes to flash her butt at him and do that all the time anyway."

Yuuno sweat-dropped heavily. "You shouldn't talk about Fate like that." He muttered as chains shot out from the barrier and wrapped around Vita. "...Wow, Vita, um..." He blushed as he saw her struggle against her binds. "Ah..."

"Stop looking at my boobs!" Vita yelled at him, her face flush. It wasn't her fault that her breasts had been growing again. She was really beginning to wonder if they'd ever stop growing.

It didn't help that Hayate would grope her in the bath or when they changed together. And Yuuno's chains were squeezing in just the right places that she was starting to feel a tad uncomfortable. "GRR! PERVERT!"

"WAH!" Yuuno flew back as Vita smashed the chains into nothingness and flew at him. "Forgetting something?"

"What?" Vita blinked before Rein warned her to look up. "...Oh yeah... The ice... AHH!" She flew back as the ice shards were finally launched at her, causing her to have to dodge and block the attacks. "Got an idea, Rein?"

"He likes ice, I say we break it and use it against him!" Vita blinked, but then grinned as she caught Rein's thoughts.

"ALRIGHT!" Vita flew up in the air, she didn't know how Yuuno was making the ice change directions in mid-air, but it was becoming an interesting challenge. "Far enough now..." Smirking, she felt Graf Eisen pop off a cartridge. "Raccket Form!" The thruster kicked off the one end as Vita rushed down, through the ice, much to Yuuno's surprise.

He was more surprised as she suddenly appeared in front of him and slammed the spike of her hammer into a hastily thrown-up barrier. Vita let out a growl. "Now... Reinforced Lightning!"

"What?" Yuuno's eyes widened as he let out a scream as lightning crashed down on his body and sent him crashing into the ground, groaning in pain.

"We're getting our butts kicked by a girl with PMS, boss!"

"Thoth Driver, do you have to be like this?" Yuuno groaned as he managed to shake off the attack and stop himself from crashing into the ground too hard.

"What's wrong with it?" The device asked as Yuuno was forced to avoid several small ice shards heading his way.

"When I'm not fighting Vita, I'll tell you." He yelped and dodged out of the way of another hammer strike before holding his hand out. "Burst Flare." A sphere of red erupted from his fingertips and slammed into the girl, forcing her to hold up Graf Eisen to block the attack.

"Wagh!" Vita yelped as she was blasted back across the field until she crashed into a tree. "That hurt!" Flying for him again, she grinned as Graf Eisen's rocket flared up and caused her to start spinning around and around, smashing into Yuuno's barrier and causing the both of them to grunt in effort, Vita to break through and Yuuno to hold it up.

"Hey, boss, I think she wears a thong."

Vita and Yuuno's faces both turned bright red as their concentration waned. Vita was doubly embarrassed, since she could feel Rein's face turning red too. "I do NOT!! If you want a thong, try Signum!" She gave Yuuno a flat look as blood started leaking out of his nose. "You pervert!" She swung Graf Eisen and slammed it, thankfully for Yuuno it was back in its base form, into his gut and sending him bouncing across the field.

Yuuno shook his head. "Okay, she's a lot harder to fight like that." Even though she wasn't trying to hurt him, or at least he hoped so, her and Rein together like that was a lot harder than he remembered her being. "Hey, Vita, hope you don't mind me busting out some new power on you."

Vita blinked as Yuuno's magic suddenly shot up in in power as he was surrounded by an orange glow. "What the?"

"A gift from the Shinzoku Vrabazard." Yuuno grinned at her.

"Goodness, greatness, great balls of fire!"

"Yeah." Yuuno clapped his hands forward as a tunnel of pure fire and heat lashed out, forcing Vita to fly straight up.

Vita's eyes widened as she found it hard to breath, looking down, her pupils shrank in size as the wall of fire suddenly shot up after her and surrounded her. 'What the..?' She flew towards it to try and break through it, but found that she couldn't break through the fire and her gloves turned to ash in an instant.

"He's heating up the air, Vita! Cool it down!"

Vita nodded and concentrated as much as she could to create ice magic. Her vision became hazy as the ice instantly evaporated and the steam made it even harder to breath. "Rein..." She grimaced. "Unison, OUT!" She screamed as she forcibly canceled the unison and got Rein out of the pillar of fire, moments before the lack of oxygen finally took its toll on her and caused her to slump over.

"VITA!" Rein yelled as the fire abated and Vita fell to the ground. Creating a net, she was grateful when Vita stopped falling. Turning, she glared at Yuuno. "MEANIE!"

"Uh..." Yuuno gulped as the sky above Rein started to darken and crackle with lightning. "Sorry, I'm not used to... YIKE!" He jumped out of the way as lightning split the sky and crashed to where he was a moment ago.

"MEANIE MEANIE MEANIE!" Zwei yelled, lightning crashing into the ground behind Yuuno as he ran.

Yuuno gulped and made a mental note to get more practice with using Holy magic against people. He really should have been able to keep it from hurting Vita and Zwei like it did.

"Boss, next time you want to find out what panties she has on, I suggest you burn the clothes off instead of making them pass out."

"A little late now!" Yuuno yelped as he dodged another attack. "Zwei, I'm sorry!"

"BULLY!" Zwei yelled, tears falling out of her eyes. "You hurt Vita, I'll..!"

"I'm okay." Vita said softly, causing Rein to calm down and the storm clouds to disappear as the small device flew to Vita and slammed onto her chest, hugged the redhead, crying. "Hey, come on, your big sister is tougher than that, okay?"

Zwei nodded, but didn't get off of Vita's chest, causing Vita to sigh and rub her back.

Yuuno looked at them and gulped slightly. "Vita, Rein, sorry, I need more practice."

Vita nodded and smirked at him. "Next time you want to fry me, give me more warning, okay?"

All Yuuno could do was rub the back of his head and chuckle nervously.

Spoiler for Comments:

I have NO idea who programmed Thoth Driver, but they NEED to be stopped!

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 49 C:

Holding Bardiche in front of her, Fate smiled softly at Signum. "It's been a long time." Signum nodded to her as she grabbed her sword and shifted into her stance. "I'm glad that we're fighting as friends, not enemies."

"Are you done?" Signum asked, a small grin on her face. "I hope you won't mind..." A cartridge popped from Laevatein before she unsheathed her sword, fire surrounding it. "If I don't hold back." It wasn't any real surprise that Fate wasn't there to take the strike, but Signum had anticipated that and was already moving and twisting her body to avoid several humming attacks from the young blonde. Spinning, she shot straight up into the air to avoid a strike at the back of her head.

Signum frowned softly before shooting straight down and slamming her sword into Bardiche. Letting out a soft grunt, she put more effort into her swing and forced Fate crashing down through the trees and into the ground, hard. "I told you, didn't I, Testarossa? A single hit and you're finished." She rushed down to meet Fate, who had a serious look on her face before disappearing from view.

Signum leaned back from an attack that nearly took her face off before using her free hand to grab Bardiche and keep Fate from pulling it back. Seeing the look in Fate's eyes, Signum frowned and pulled Fate in before driving a knee into the girl's abdomen. "This isn't like you, Testarossa." Spinning her body while still holding onto Bardiche and dragging Fate with her, Signum rushed towards a nearby tree and slammed the blonde, back first, into the tree, before pinning her against it with her knee into Fate's belly while her shin pushed her against the tree harder, Signum moved so that Bardiche was pushing against Fate's chest as she leaned in close. "What's wrong?"

"What?" Fate's eyes widened as Signum narrowed her eyes.

"You're letting anger seep into your attacks, you're more reckless than usual, your swings are wild and you're going for more permanent methods of putting someone down. So tell me, what happened? Did you ask Scrya or Takamachi on a date and they turned you down?"

Fate blanched at the insinuation. "What? No." She groaned as Signum started to grind her leg against her body.

"Then what happened? Last I heard, your adopted mother was fine, though less than a month from giving birth now, Takamachi and Scrya are fine, as is your familiar, so, what's wrong?" She tilted her head as Fate squirmed. "You're not even trying to get free."

"Why are you so insistent?" Fate grimaced, she was trying, maybe not as hard as she could have, but she was trying to get free.

It probably didn't help that Signum's leg was grinding against her body in ways that were... Quite distracting.

"Aren't friends supposed to help friends when they need help?" Signum pulled back and floated away, leaving her trembling slightly. "Let me tell you this, Testarossa, if there is something that is weighing so heavy on your mind that you can only think about it, then maybe you should figure out how to deal with the problem instead of taking your frustration out on someone who does not deserve it." Closing her eyes, Signum turned away from Fate. "As you are now, I cannot fight you, you aren't the same Testarossa that I came respect."

Fate just stared at her. "Wait..."

Signum turned her head to give her a look that chilled her to the bone. "You're human, I'm human, we all have problems that pop up in our lives. If it is something that's causing you to feel anger, you need to deal with it. Venting doesn't always help. And if it did, you would have already vented to Takamachi or Scrya, not me."

"But, we're friends, why wouldn't..."

"Because you're closer to those two than to me." Signum closed her eyes and shook her head. "Whatever is bothering you, Testarossa, you need to deal with it on your own."

"Signun Yagami." Fate floated forward. "You're right, I do have something on my mind." Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. "I've not been fair to you, Bardiche, Rubin Blitz Mode!"

"Yes, sir."

Signum blinked and turned around slowly, her eyes widening as Fate's outfit became more metallic, red metal covering her arms, legs and her neck while her weapon became thinner. "Interesting."

Fate closed her eyes. Mary had adjusted Bardiche since her match against Zest, at the moment, she was only slightly faster than her Sonic Form, but she understood the necessity of it. It was the same reason she only used the Zambar form of Bardiche for big spells, it was really hard on her body to use those forms for very long.

Even if the blade was energy, it had to have some mass to it, otherwise it was completely useless as a weapon.

Signum nodded to Fate. "If you can clear your mind, then you'll go far. Come!" She moved forward, but Fate seemed to move so fast that the space around Fate seemed to distort and warp around her. Signum grunted as she called up her Panzer Geist and crossed her arms as she was slammed into multiple times from multiple sides in the span of less than a second.

With each attack, Signum not only was jerked in various directions, but she found that her arms, legs and sides were getting cuts in them. "Nnngh... What is that..?" Even if it was just a second, it felt much longer to her.

Signum twitched as Fate reappeared in front of her, several feet away. "Impressive."

Fate nodded and took a deep breath, she knew that it wouldn't be that easy to defeat Signum, even with her power being able to slice into her armor. "A bit of a turn-around from our first time." Fate's eyes widened as a chain rushed right at her. Batting it away, she balked as the chain seemed to slink around her blade and pull on her.

"Not completely, you still lack protection." Signum flew towards Fate, who closed her eyes.

"Try a Digger Lancer."

Signum stopped as several white balls of energy appeared around her before each one lashed out at her body with bolts of power that forced her to dodge or block the strikes.

"Got..." Fate's eyes widened as her Blitz mode faded and she found herself in her normal mode. "What..?"

"A timer to protect you has been installed, sir."

Fate nodded, she was thankful for it, but right now, she felt as if she was moving in slow motion and everything was moving twenty times faster than she was. 'What's going on? Why can't I move?'

Seeing Signum rush towards her faster than ever, Fate's final thoughts before the pinkette slammed the hilt of her weapon into her gut was that she just couldn't keep up and needed to ask Mary about it later.

Fate was almost certain that it had something to do with the adjustments that were done to Bardiche.

Spoiler for Comments:

Two more parts after this, I'll get them out soon.

...

It's been...

Three days since I last updated...

I am in despair! My falling into schedule slip has left me in despair!

Poor Zest, Quint pick not a very good moment to tell him a truth about his family.

Fighting sequence between Yuuno and Vita/Rein was exiting and funny to read, mostly because of Yuuno`s device. This guy sure a quirky one.

And Fate againg got her butt handled to her... Seems her luck as bed as her mother`s (Prcia) own.

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

This part isn't quite, QUITE done yet but...

Ah, screw it, I'll post what I got. There's 2 parts left to this scene/chapter.

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 49 A:

A week later...

"My head."

"Welcome back, Nakajima." She blinked at the male voice. Turning her head, she blinked as she saw Zest, bandages around his torso, sitting on the other bed. "You've been out for about two weeks now."

"I'm surprised that you're still in the hospital then." She groaned out, her voice raspy.

"Your daughters and husband have been here a lot, visiting you." He stood up. "I was getting out today." Considering that he couldn't even channel his magic properly until just yesterday, it made some sense why the doctors wouldn't let him out of observation. Whatever he had been hit with had not only nearly killed him but had screwed with his magic in such a way that he couldn't do much of anything.

"That's good. Where's Megane?" Quint looked around before chuckling softly. "Knowing her, she's probably already out and taking care of Lutecia."

"No..." Quint looked at Zest, who was looking at her with a downcast expression. "She's not out. She's dead," Quint's eyes widened, "she never made it back with us before the whole site was destroyed."

"Oh no..." Quint's face was pale. "Lutecia... I guess I can..."

"Do nothing." Zest interrupted her. "She was found murdered not too long ago."

"...They're both dead?" Quint asked softly, feeling like someone drove a tree into her gut. When Zest nodded, Quint shuddered slightly. "Megane never told you... She never had the chance to."

"Tell me what?" Zest blinked in confusion.

"Lutecia was your daughter."

Zest paled and felt his muscles go completely limp. "You... She couldn't have been my daughter. Alphine would have told me." He felt himself sliding to the floor, his mind rolling over what he had just heard.

"She didn't want you to treat her differently, and she was ashamed of herself for what happened between the two of you." Quint was feeling numb herself, how the heck did this happen? She was looking forward to seeing what Lutecia was going to grow up and be. Maybe she'd be good friends with her daughters when they got older?

Now she wouldn't know.

Quint nearly jumped out her bed as there was a loud crashing noise, looking, her eyes were wide as she saw the destroyed bed and Zest standing over it, trembling. "Zest, what?"

"What the hell am I fighting for? A world of nothing but lies?" It wasn't often that Zest was anything but stoic, but Quint knew he could feel emotions and had them. "A world where children die... Before even knowing their parents?!"

Quint's eyes widened as Zest turned and punched the wall, leaving a good-sized hole to the bathroom. "Zest, come on! You can't..." She trailed off as he yelled and smashed the sink in the bathroom. "Zest, this isn't like you!"

"What good is it? I can't protect my subordinates, I can't fight, I can't even..." His body was shaking and trembling in anger. "I can't even protect my daughter... What GOOD am I?!"

"Zest!" Quint yelled and winced at how her voice hurt from yelling just like that. She was wondering if she would have to try something drastic when nurses suddenly broke into the room to try and restrain Zest.

It wasn't easy and it wasn't pretty, especially as Zest, in his anger and sadness, was knocking them away pretty easily. It didn't help that the man was stupidly strong normally and the nurses well, they weren't anywhere near his level of strength.

Eventually they managed to get him under binds and sedated, though not before at least three nurses were thrown, painfully, into her bed, causing it to slide across the room and hit the wall.

"What happened?" The doctor asked her, causing her to sigh as Zest was led out of the room.

"He found out that he had a family, and they're lost to him now." Quint said softly, getting a nod from the doctor.

The doctor turned to one of the nurses. "Make sure that he's under strict watch." She nodded and left the room. The doctor ordered the nurses to find an open room to move Quint before leaving her, saying that they'd be right back.

Quint just looked at the destruction, alone in her thoughts.

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - 49 B:

Yuuno blinked as Mizetto asked him, Nanoha and Fate to meet her on the training field. "Uh, sure, we can..." He trailed off and looked at the two, who shrugged and followed him to the field. As they got there, Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno all stared wide-eyed as they saw the people waiting for them.

"Vita-chan! Hayate-chan! Rein-chan! Reinforce! Signum! Shamal! Zafira!" Nanoha yelled as she ran up to them, waving happily. "I'm surprised to see you here."

When they got a little closer, they noticed that Vita was wearing a red jacket and black pants while Hayate, Reinforce and Zwei all were wearing similar dresses, Shamal had a white jacket on over her brown outfit while Signum was wearing a white trench coat.

"What brings you out here?" Fate asked them, glad to see them after what had happened just the other day.

Vita had a sour look on her face. "Been going through officer training lately, Hayate wants to join the Bureau officially, and we all want to stay with her. But learning how to salute, the proper channels, the paperwork." Vita shivered and turned to give someone a flat look. "How the heck do you put up with it, Leti?"

"Admiral Leti Lowran to you." The woman in question adjusted her glasses and chuckled at Vita. "Don't worry, we all have to deal with it. Anyway, I asked Mizetto here to help all of you out." She smirked at the questioning looks and turned to Mizetto. "Want to explain?"

Mizetto rolled her eyes. "Well, it seems like some people have been getting a touch antsy, despite only having a week of training..." She smirked, chuckling softly. "Anyway, considering that both Leti and myself understand perfectly, we decided to let them have some fun."

Leti chuckled as the confusion on people's faces started to slowly change to comprehension. "A full-out sparring match." She looked at the sides and tilted her head a bit. "Then again, the sides are a bit unbalanced..."

"Says who?" Leti blinked as Miyuki walked up to the group, grinning. "I think I can fight with my sisters against her opponents."

Leti shrugged and looked at Mizetto, who was grinning, then at the others. "If it's okay with the rest of you?"

"Miyuki-nee's a good fighter." Nanoha nodded, smirking softly. "Seven on four, huh?"

"Six on four." Zwei spoke up as she floated towards Vita. "I'm not that good a fighter yet, um, sis..."

Vita looked at Signum, who shrugged at her. "You sure?"

"It's better that she gets used to one of us first before trying unison with myself, Shamal or Zafira for now." Signum then looked at Miyuki and raised an eyebrow. "While I don't discourage combatants, this is going to be magical combat, are you sure you can keep up?"

Miyuki chuckled at her. "Don't worry about me. I'm pretty sure that I'll be fine."

"Full-out sparring match?" Nanoha's eyes gleamed happily. "Sure!" She blinked as Zwei disappeared and Vita's hair changed color. "Was that..."

Vita smirked as her eyes changed color as well. "Unison, it's quite useful, plus it lets Zwei get experience with combat." She grabbed her pendant. "Graf Eisen!"

"Laevatein!"

"Klarwind."

"Jawol!"

"Ja." The devices spoke up as the three shifted into their battle outfits.

"Raising Heart..."

"Bardiche..."

"Thoth Driver..."

"Set up!"

"Standbye Ready." The three devices said at once as the three put on their Barrier Jackets.

Miyuki grabbed her weapon. "Light come forth!" She called out as she drew her sword.

"Ready Reinforce?" Hayate looked at the silver-haired device.

Reinforce just smiled. "For you, master, always." A flash of light later and the two were in matching black dresses with dark wings coming out of their backs.

"Raising Heart, Excellion Mode!"

"Ignition."

Nanoha smiled as her staff took a more spear-like look and held it in front of her more defensively.

"Bardiche, Sonic Form."

"Sonic Drive."

"What? No comments to me, boss?" The buckler-shaped device spoke up, sounding almost hurt from not getting an order.

"Sorry." Yuuno muttered as he jumped back into the air. "Just keep doing what you're supposed to do."

"Lame! Hey! Can we at least try some of the newer tricks out?"

Signum nodded to Fate. "I do believe I owe you that rematch."

"Or three." She nodded to Signum as the two slowly floated into the air.

Miyuki pouted as she saw the others float into the air. "Well, gee, make a girl feel insignificant, huh?"

Zafira and Shamal looked at each other and at Miyuki. "Well, since the heavy hitters are going upstairs, we can have fun with you."

Miyuki smirked at Zafira's saying. "I don't think it'll be that easy."

(---)

"Well, well, I've been wanting to get back at you for what happened when we first met." Vita smirked at Yuuno while swinging Graf Eisen to the side. "Let's go, Rein!"

"Alright!" Rein's excited voice filled her head, causing her to smile.

"Graf Eisen! Load Cartridge!"

"Jawol!"

"Well, boss? I dunno if you can hit the girl with boobs."

Yuuno sweat-dropped at his device before shaking his head. "You know all my normal and hybrid spells, so, let's keep to that for now."

"Got it!"

Yuuno clapped his hands together and dozens upon dozens of ice shards filled the air while a green circle appeared under his feet.

"Heh, not this time." Vita grinned at him as she rushed in, screaming. Suddenly she disappeared from sight.

Yuuno's eyes widened as he felt her behind him. Turning his head, he was thankful for the barrier that popped up between the two of them. "Nice try."

"Yeah! Blondie likes to flash her butt at him and do that all the time anyway."

Yuuno sweat-dropped heavily. "You shouldn't talk about Fate like that." He muttered as chains shot out from the barrier and wrapped around Vita. "...Wow, Vita, um..." He blushed as he saw her struggle against her binds. "Ah..."

"Stop looking at my boobs!" Vita yelled at him, her face flush. It wasn't her fault that her breasts had been growing again. She was really beginning to wonder if they'd ever stop growing.

It didn't help that Hayate would grope her in the bath or when they changed together. And Yuuno's chains were squeezing in just the right places that she was starting to feel a tad uncomfortable. "GRR! PERVERT!"

"WAH!" Yuuno flew back as Vita smashed the chains into nothingness and flew at him. "Forgetting something?"

"What?" Vita blinked before Rein warned her to look up. "...Oh yeah... The ice... AHH!" She flew back as the ice shards were finally launched at her, causing her to have to dodge and block the attacks. "Got an idea, Rein?"

"He likes ice, I say we break it and use it against him!" Vita blinked, but then grinned as she caught Rein's thoughts.

"ALRIGHT!" Vita flew up in the air, she didn't know how Yuuno was making the ice change directions in mid-air, but it was becoming an interesting challenge. "Far enough now..." Smirking, she felt Graf Eisen pop off a cartridge. "Raccket Form!" The thruster kicked off the one end as Vita rushed down, through the ice, much to Yuuno's surprise.

He was more surprised as she suddenly appeared in front of him and slammed the spike of her hammer into a hastily thrown-up barrier. Vita let out a growl. "Now... Reinforced Lightning!"

"What?" Yuuno's eyes widened as he let out a scream as lightning crashed down on his body and sent him crashing into the ground, groaning in pain.

"We're getting our butts kicked by a girl with PMS, boss!"

"Thoth Driver, do you have to be like this?" Yuuno groaned as he managed to shake off the attack and stop himself from crashing into the ground too hard.

"What's wrong with it?" The device asked as Yuuno was forced to avoid several small ice shards heading his way.

"When I'm not fighting Vita, I'll tell you." He yelped and dodged out of the way of another hammer strike before holding his hand out. "Burst Flare." A sphere of red erupted from his fingertips and slammed into the girl, forcing her to hold up Graf Eisen to block the attack.

"Wagh!" Vita yelped as she was blasted back across the field until she crashed into a tree. "That hurt!" Flying for him again, she grinned as Graf Eisen's rocket flared up and caused her to start spinning around and around, smashing into Yuuno's barrier and causing the both of them to grunt in effort, Vita to break through and Yuuno to hold it up.

"Hey, boss, I think she wears a thong."

Vita and Yuuno's faces both turned bright red as their concentration waned. Vita was doubly embarrassed, since she could feel Rein's face turning red too. "I do NOT!! If you want a thong, try Signum!" She gave Yuuno a flat look as blood started leaking out of his nose. "You pervert!" She swung Graf Eisen and slammed it, thankfully for Yuuno it was back in its base form, into his gut and sending him bouncing across the field.

Yuuno shook his head. "Okay, she's a lot harder to fight like that." Even though she wasn't trying to hurt him, or at least he hoped so, her and Rein together like that was a lot harder than he remembered her being. "Hey, Vita, hope you don't mind me busting out some new power on you."

Vita blinked as Yuuno's magic suddenly shot up in in power as he was surrounded by an orange glow. "What the?"

"A gift from the Shinzoku Vrabazard." Yuuno grinned at her.

"Goodness, greatness, great balls of fire!"

"Yeah." Yuuno clapped his hands forward as a tunnel of pure fire and heat lashed out, forcing Vita to fly straight up.

Vita's eyes widened as she found it hard to breath, looking down, her pupils shrank in size as the wall of fire suddenly shot up after her and surrounded her. 'What the..?' She flew towards it to try and break through it, but found that she couldn't break through the fire and her gloves turned to ash in an instant.

"He's heating up the air, Vita! Cool it down!"

Vita nodded and concentrated as much as she could to create ice magic. Her vision became hazy as the ice instantly evaporated and the steam made it even harder to breath. "Rein..." She grimaced. "Unison, OUT!" She screamed as she forcibly canceled the unison and got Rein out of the pillar of fire, moments before the lack of oxygen finally took its toll on her and caused her to slump over.

"VITA!" Rein yelled as the fire abated and Vita fell to the ground. Creating a net, she was grateful when Vita stopped falling. Turning, she glared at Yuuno. "MEANIE!"

"Uh..." Yuuno gulped as the sky above Rein started to darken and crackle with lightning. "Sorry, I'm not used to... YIKE!" He jumped out of the way as lightning split the sky and crashed to where he was a moment ago.

"MEANIE MEANIE MEANIE!" Zwei yelled, lightning crashing into the ground behind Yuuno as he ran.

Yuuno gulped and made a mental note to get more practice with using Holy magic against people. He really should have been able to keep it from hurting Vita and Zwei like it did.

"Boss, next time you want to find out what panties she has on, I suggest you burn the clothes off instead of making them pass out."

"A little late now!" Yuuno yelped as he dodged another attack. "Zwei, I'm sorry!"

"BULLY!" Zwei yelled, tears falling out of her eyes. "You hurt Vita, I'll..!"

"I'm okay." Vita said softly, causing Rein to calm down and the storm clouds to disappear as the small device flew to Vita and slammed onto her chest, hugged the redhead, crying. "Hey, come on, your big sister is tougher than that, okay?"

Zwei nodded, but didn't get off of Vita's chest, causing Vita to sigh and rub her back.

Yuuno looked at them and gulped slightly. "Vita, Rein, sorry, I need more practice."

Vita nodded and smirked at him. "Next time you want to fry me, give me more warning, okay?"

All Yuuno could do was rub the back of his head and chuckle nervously.

Spoiler for Comments:

I have NO idea who programmed Thoth Driver, but they NEED to be stopped!

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 49 C:

Holding Bardiche in front of her, Fate smiled softly at Signum. "It's been a long time." Signum nodded to her as she grabbed her sword and shifted into her stance. "I'm glad that we're fighting as friends, not enemies."

"Are you done?" Signum asked, a small grin on her face. "I hope you won't mind..." A cartridge popped from Laevatein before she unsheathed her sword, fire surrounding it. "If I don't hold back." It wasn't any real surprise that Fate wasn't there to take the strike, but Signum had anticipated that and was already moving and twisting her body to avoid several humming attacks from the young blonde. Spinning, she shot straight up into the air to avoid a strike at the back of her head.

Signum frowned softly before shooting straight down and slamming her sword into Bardiche. Letting out a soft grunt, she put more effort into her swing and forced Fate crashing down through the trees and into the ground, hard. "I told you, didn't I, Testarossa? A single hit and you're finished." She rushed down to meet Fate, who had a serious look on her face before disappearing from view.

Signum leaned back from an attack that nearly took her face off before using her free hand to grab Bardiche and keep Fate from pulling it back. Seeing the look in Fate's eyes, Signum frowned and pulled Fate in before driving a knee into the girl's abdomen. "This isn't like you, Testarossa." Spinning her body while still holding onto Bardiche and dragging Fate with her, Signum rushed towards a nearby tree and slammed the blonde, back first, into the tree, before pinning her against it with her knee into Fate's belly while her shin pushed her against the tree harder, Signum moved so that Bardiche was pushing against Fate's chest as she leaned in close. "What's wrong?"

"What?" Fate's eyes widened as Signum narrowed her eyes.

"You're letting anger seep into your attacks, you're more reckless than usual, your swings are wild and you're going for more permanent methods of putting someone down. So tell me, what happened? Did you ask Scrya or Takamachi on a date and they turned you down?"

Fate blanched at the insinuation. "What? No." She groaned as Signum started to grind her leg against her body.

"Then what happened? Last I heard, your adopted mother was fine, though less than a month from giving birth now, Takamachi and Scrya are fine, as is your familiar, so, what's wrong?" She tilted her head as Fate squirmed. "You're not even trying to get free."

"Why are you so insistent?" Fate grimaced, she was trying, maybe not as hard as she could have, but she was trying to get free.

It probably didn't help that Signum's leg was grinding against her body in ways that were... Quite distracting.

"Aren't friends supposed to help friends when they need help?" Signum pulled back and floated away, leaving her trembling slightly. "Let me tell you this, Testarossa, if there is something that is weighing so heavy on your mind that you can only think about it, then maybe you should figure out how to deal with the problem instead of taking your frustration out on someone who does not deserve it." Closing her eyes, Signum turned away from Fate. "As you are now, I cannot fight you, you aren't the same Testarossa that I came respect."

Fate just stared at her. "Wait..."

Signum turned her head to give her a look that chilled her to the bone. "You're human, I'm human, we all have problems that pop up in our lives. If it is something that's causing you to feel anger, you need to deal with it. Venting doesn't always help. And if it did, you would have already vented to Takamachi or Scrya, not me."

"But, we're friends, why wouldn't..."

"Because you're closer to those two than to me." Signum closed her eyes and shook her head. "Whatever is bothering you, Testarossa, you need to deal with it on your own."

"Signun Yagami." Fate floated forward. "You're right, I do have something on my mind." Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. "I've not been fair to you, Bardiche, Rubin Blitz Mode!"

"Yes, sir."

Signum blinked and turned around slowly, her eyes widening as Fate's outfit became more metallic, red metal covering her arms, legs and her neck while her weapon became thinner. "Interesting."

Fate closed her eyes. Mary had adjusted Bardiche since her match against Zest, at the moment, she was only slightly faster than her Sonic Form, but she understood the necessity of it. It was the same reason she only used the Zambar form of Bardiche for big spells, it was really hard on her body to use those forms for very long.

Even if the blade was energy, it had to have some mass to it, otherwise it was completely useless as a weapon.

Signum nodded to Fate. "If you can clear your mind, then you'll go far. Come!" She moved forward, but Fate seemed to move so fast that the space around Fate seemed to distort and warp around her. Signum grunted as she called up her Panzer Geist and crossed her arms as she was slammed into multiple times from multiple sides in the span of less than a second.

With each attack, Signum not only was jerked in various directions, but she found that her arms, legs and sides were getting cuts in them. "Nnngh... What is that..?" Even if it was just a second, it felt much longer to her.

Signum twitched as Fate reappeared in front of her, several feet away. "Impressive."

Fate nodded and took a deep breath, she knew that it wouldn't be that easy to defeat Signum, even with her power being able to slice into her armor. "A bit of a turn-around from our first time." Fate's eyes widened as a chain rushed right at her. Batting it away, she balked as the chain seemed to slink around her blade and pull on her.

"Not completely, you still lack protection." Signum flew towards Fate, who closed her eyes.

"Try a Digger Lancer."

Signum stopped as several white balls of energy appeared around her before each one lashed out at her body with bolts of power that forced her to dodge or block the strikes.

"Got..." Fate's eyes widened as her Blitz mode faded and she found herself in her normal mode. "What..?"

"A timer to protect you has been installed, sir."

Fate nodded, she was thankful for it, but right now, she felt as if she was moving in slow motion and everything was moving twenty times faster than she was. 'What's going on? Why can't I move?'

Seeing Signum rush towards her faster than ever, Fate's final thoughts before the pinkette slammed the hilt of her weapon into her gut was that she just couldn't keep up and needed to ask Mary about it later.

Fate was almost certain that it had something to do with the adjustments that were done to Bardiche.

Spoiler for Comments:

Two more parts after this, I'll get them out soon.

...

It's been...

Three days since I last updated...

I am in despair! My falling into schedule slip has left me in despair!

Edit: I should do the links, huh?

Shine 1 -45

Shine 46

Shine 47

Shine 48

don't think like that... it's gonna affect your motivation and quality... XD think positive!

About Zest... will some one give him a Bright Slap to end his wangst and make him one of the men of destiny? XD