MGLN: Future Tense
Chapter 8: Adrift
Xx~~*~~xX
Grains of sand lifted by the wind blew past the lone traveler in a spiral pattern, causing her to hunch over slightly and pull her brown cloak tighter around her body due to the brush of cold air. Her head was lowered slightly, covered with a hood that masked her features as she journeyed across the treeless prairie. Tufts of grass were the only vegetation, and the dusty road was visible for miles ahead, winding it's way across the mostly flat landscape between the hilly plateaus.
But all this was of minor thought to the traveler; the only things Nanoha could think about were Uno's final moments a couple of days ago. She continued to vacillate between just giving up and allowing her self to break down, and holding strong to her promise and Uno's faith in her. Just when she had finally begun to find some footing and make a change in her attitude to fit her new reality, she found the ground she was standing on gone, forcing her to wonder just what she had been doing all this time.
She was continuing on as best she could, using the earpiece to avoid patrols and search parties, but she still had no idea where she was going. Uno's only map was in the cyborg's mind, and although Nanoha had a decent knowledge of Mid-Childa, that was from 50 years ago. She had no idea if certain towns still existed, or what was different. She knew the major metropolises that existed in her time where she might get the amulet fixed, but she wasn't near any of them.
And so she kept walking in the general direction that Uno was moving in before, but taking a detour across this prairie, since apparently the search parties were concentrating on combing the woods. They apparently didn't expect her to cross this near-wasteland, and for good reason; less chance of finding food or water out here.
Which brought her back to how much she found herself missing her travel companion. Uno, a clone of Jail himself, had once tortured her daughter and refused rehabilitation afterward, and even though she was a party to Nanoha's clone creation and thus being in this mess in the first place.... somehow, Nanoha had come to depend on her as a friend and guide; her loss left holes in two big areas.
Her foot caught on a small rock and she stumbled, nearly falling to her feet, and she berated herself for not watching where she was going, wondering why she didn't see it as she wiped her eyes. She knew, though; despite Uno and Jail getting her into this situation, she knew that this world needed saving, and her friends needed her help, whether they realized it or not. So she wasn't angry at Jail or Uno for this; in their own twisted way, they were actually trying to do the right thing. Nanoha didn't know if there was an afterlife, but she honestly hoped Uno had found some measure of peace in it.
More sand blew past her, a greater volume than last time as the wind picked up, flapping the loose ends of her cloak around. Nanoha realized that regardless of anything else, she hoped this road would lead her to where she needed to go; because she was a currently a woman in need of a destination.
x~~*~~x
"So you never did tell me about the kid," Pendo whispered, barely sparing a glance into the back of the horse-drawn cart that was moving at a decent clip down the dusty road.
His partner shrugged as they rode along. "I didn't ask. He simply paid money for passage. I think he might have mentioned that he was looking for someone, though."
Pendo scratched his head. "Really? Wonder who a kid like that is looking for all by himself."
He finally did spare a glance back, but the small form was mostly covered by his own cloak, holding it tight against the colder air as a shield against the wind-chill factor. He hadn't said a word the entire trip, and he didn't appear to be likely to for the rest of it, either.
"Well, long as there is no trouble on the road to Farhaven," Pendo said at last. "I just want-"
Without warning, the kid suddenly stood up. "Thanks for the ride, but I'm gettin' off here."
The two men stared in disbelief as the boy jumped out of the cart, rolled to his feet, and sprinted off into the woods.
"Well, if that don't beat all,." Pendo declared, summing up his partner's feelings as well.
x~~*~~x
"Still no sign of her?" Wendi asked, yawning as she entered the bridge of Teana's small transport ship.
"None," Nove answered, not looking up from her screen. "We've covered almost a hundred square kilometers now; they couldn't have just disappeared!"
Wendi sat down beside her sister, looking morose. "It's my fault. If I had followed orders, they wouldn't have been able to slip away."
"You messed up, yeah, but whining about it won't help," Nove admonished her. "If only we had some clue as to where they were headed, or what they were planning to accomplish."
"I still don't know, but the clone seemed to have all of Nanoha's memories and abilities, and acted like her," Wendi added, gazing lazily over her report screens. "Whatever Jail was planning, he seemed to really need Nanoha herself."
"Well, from the battle results, it certainly seems like Nanoha," Nove continued thinking aloud. "Only one Enforcer died. The rest were beat up, but they'll make it. From what I know of her, she doesn't like to kill. Even Quattro survived the JS incident and Nanoha had every reason to kill her."
"Fate didn't kill the doctor, either, when she had the chance back then, and now look at her," Wendi countered, then her brow furrowed. "Wait a minute... Uno was with her and must have been the one who killed the Enforcer...."
Nove shrugged. "Yeah, so?"
Wendi began digging through multiple screens. "You know how Uno was Jail's other brain, always planning and scheming and thinking ahead, kinda like Quattro."
"You think you know what she's up to?" Nove questioned, standing up and walking over to look over her sister's shoulder.
Wendi continued to flick through screens, until she finally found it. "Not exactly, but... ah, here it is."
"Isn't that the autopsy report from your Enforcer?" Nove inquired.
"Yeah, here it is, cause of death was a broken neck, which isn't the sort of thing this Nanoha would do, I think," Wendi noted, continuing to scroll down, reading. "So Uno must have done it. And here we go; he was missing his ear communicator. At the time, I assumed it might have fallen out or something. But if Uno was close enough to him to break his neck...."
"Then she could have grabbed it at the same time," Nove finished, smacking her hand with her fist. "And she'd know about the technology we have. She could use it to listen in on our search operations, and that's how they could avoid us and stay hidden! I'll have to issue manual orders to switch communication frequencies, and-"
"Don't bother," came Teana's voice, causing the two cyborgs to look over at their sister and commander's smiling face in the doorway. "We can use it to our advantage. We'll still have to issue orders manually, but we can make Uno think we're somewhere else with the official frequencies. Good job, Wendi, by the way."
"I learned from the best," Wendi replied, grinning.
Teana brought up a wide area map. "We've searched over here and found nothing, but by now they could be almost anywhere. There are four towns where they could head to, and we have Enforcers undercover in each one. We'll have the rest begin a straight sweep north, sector by sector, and change our base of operations to this location here, where we can respond more quickly once we receive sign of them."
"They could still be anywhere," Nove noted. "Especially if the double-backed."
Teana shook her head. "I don't think so. Uno seems to be very deliberately taking Nanoha somewhere. After they destroyed that base, they went back to Hellena and crossed the ocean. That was a risky move, when they could have hidden out in the mountains northeast of the facility. It would have been rougher, but safer.
Teana leaned back and tapped the top of the holographic map. "No, they're heading north for some reason, and that leads to one place."
All three glanced upwards at the border marked by dotted lines, and the description of that territory which read, "Saint Church Occupied Zone."
x~~*~~x
Fortunately the prairie slowly gave way to more trees and greenery, and even allowed her to find a small stream trickling along in a sparse forest. It was a good thing, too, as she had emptied both canteens over the two days it took her to cross that prairie. But while the water quenched her thirst, it did nothing for her heavy heart, or her sense of being directionless; she still didn't know where she was, or even where she was going.
However, the cool water did pick her spirits up some as she removed her shoes and dipped her sore feet in the cool water, laying back in the grass and closing her eyes to rest. She was used to hard work, but days of travel could wear even her out, and she didn't know when she'd get another chance at a stream. Plus, and this area seemed peaceful enough. However, the occasional bird call, the low trickle of the stream, and the trees swaying to the breeze all spoke to her of what she was missing:
Someone to talk to.
Oh, she was more than capable of being alone, but it would have been nice to have some company, and she realized that Uno did serve that function as well. It would be nice to find a travel companion, anyone really, just to talk to.
She sighed, her spirits dropping again as she realized a truth. [Except I probably shouldn't get to close to people, since they could figure out who I am and it would give me away. But who I am supposed to trust? Can I really do this all on my own?]
Maybe it was exhaustion from all the travel or her own lowered spirit, but she just barely managed to roll out of the way of the attack at the last moment when she would have normally sensed it coming long before. However, as she came to her feet and dodged the next thrust, she realized that her attacker had a distinct range and height disadvantage; and obviously not too skilled with that dagger, either.
Nanoha sidestepped the jumping slash, then grabbed the kid's cloak and yanked it hard, pulling him back to her and draping it over his head, pinning his arms.
"Let me go!" came a muffled shout that Nanoha recognized. Curious, she disarmed him of the knife and pushed him away, eyes widening as the kid pulled the cloak off to see, revealing his face.
Givo wiped his cheek and glared at her. "Give me back my knife."
"You attacked me with it, so it's mine now," Nanoha told him, more curious now than surprised, glancing down at the simple hunting knife, about 15 centimeters in length. "But I might be willing to give it back to you for a trade."
He studied her, incredulous. "What kind of trade?"
"You tell me why you decided to attack me," she explained; Nanoha had a guess, but she she needed to hear him say it. "And I'll give this back to you."
"You killed my mother," he spat at her; if his eyes were daggers, Nanoha knew she'd be dead now.
"That was Wendi, not me," she told him sadly, tossing the knife to stick in the grass midway between them.
"You could have stopped her if you killed her!" he shouted angrily at her, leaping forward to pull the knife out and assaulting her again.
The comment stung, and was probably responsible for her brief lapse which allowed him to get a shallow slash on her forearm, then she regained her bearings and quickly disarmed him again, this time kneeing him in the chest to knock the wind out of him.
"Well, you're not going to get your revenge like that," Nanoha told him, retrieving her shoes and pack. "And I have places to be. Go home. I'm sorry about your mother, and you can blame me if you like, but killing me won't bring her back. In fact, traveling with me will only get you killed. Do you think your mother would want that?"
She turned and started walking away, figuring to follow the small river downstream, to see where it would take her. At least she wouldn't want for water for awhile, and most towns were located by bodies of water.
This time she more clearly sensed the attack coming, spinning and putting up a Round Shield as the white bolt exploded against it, surprising her with how weak it was; or was it that she was that much stronger?
"That's right, you're a mage," she remembered as he continued to glare at her, but she turned her back to him once more. "All the more reason to return to your town to hide from the Enforcers. You can't beat me."
She heard his growl of frustration as she continued walking away. For a moment, she almost considered taking him with her, as it was her fault that his mother was dead; she couldn't be a replacement mother to him, but she could at least take care of him. But then she realized that's what the old Nanoha would do; she had to think more pragmatically, that taking him along would only be dangerous to both of them. He had a better chance on his own; at least, if he was caught by himself he'd just be pressed into service and be trained, whereas he'd be killed if he was found with her.
Sighing, Nanoha continued following the stream.
x~~*~~x
The small building was so pockmarked with holes, burn marks, and broken wooden pillars, that it was a miracle that it was even still standing; which the nun took to mean in the most literal sense, given her work in the Church and her faith in their Saint. Now if only she could figure out what the Saint's reasons for her current predicament, as she tried to pull herself up into a sitting position, wiping the blood trickling from her split lip and glaring steadily at her opponent.
"Schach Nouera, you are under arrest for treason, conspiracy to overthrow the government, assaulting an officer, and resisting arrest," Fate informed her solemnly, a line of Enforcers behind her to back up her position.
"You told me that before we started," the combat nun remarked, smiling slightly, then winced at the pain in her chest which she assumed to be from broken ribs, obtained from Fate blasting her into the altar.
"You're also finished," Fate added, pointing Bardiche at her. "Surrender, and tell me where Carim is."
"On Sabbatical," Schach answered with amusement.
The combat nun screamed as Fate jabbed her device into the former's stomach, unleashing a storm of electrically energy that sent Schach into spasms. After a moment, Fate pulled her weapon back, allowing the smoking and still-twitching form to recover as it curled into a fetal position.
"Don't make me do this, Schach," Fate implored her, her tone dropping into something more soothing. "Just tell me what I want to know, and this will all be over. We'll take care of you."
"Just like you... took care of Runessa and Isis?" Scach spat bitterly, still tryign to regain control her body. "Just two more poor... traumatized girls we were helping... who ultimately committed the horrible crime of standing up to dictators. Don't lie, you like doing this!"
"Sacrifices have to be made," Fate replied, leaning down and pushing the woman onto her back. "Doesn't your faith demand those as well?"
"We are called upon to make... tough decisions, yes," the nun answered without hesitation. "But never to torture or harm innocents!"
"It's not a perfect world, but we make the best of it," Fate somewhat agreed, reaching down to grab Schach by the neck and lift her slowly against the wall. "But if you won't tell me where Carim is, perhaps you can answer one other question for me."
Still partially numb from the shocks and weak from the fight, Schach could only halfheartedly grab Fate's arm and glare at the woman. "And what... would that be?"
Fate fixed her with a deathly serious look. "Where is my daughter?"
x~~*~~x
Nanoha sighed as Givo lunged at her for the fourth time today, interrupting her as she lounged by her fire. Normally, she wouldn't have risked starting one since there was no cave to hide in this time, but the night air was growing colder, probably as a result of her continuing to move in a general northward direction, and so she needed the heat.
What she didn't need, however, was her pint-sized would-be assassin.
As before, she disarmed him easily enough, but this time he managed to get a kick in along her calf. Grimacing at the slight sting, she tossed him to the ground then cast a single circular bind, pinning his arms to his upper torso.
"Hey, let me go!" he yelled at her as he rolled a bit on the ground, trying to get free.
"You know, you really should just give up," she told him tiredly, sitting down next to her fire again. "You can't defeat me."
"I'll get stronger, and then you'll be sorry!" he shot back, still struggling against his binds. "I'll keep hunting you until you make a mistake, and then you'll be dead!"
Nanoha poked at the fire with a stick, lifting it to expose the smoldering tip. "Perhaps I should just kill you now so you don't bother me again, hmm?"
He quieted down at that, but she could feel him continuing to glare daggers at the back of her head. "Like you could do that; you're a coward! If you couldn't kill that woman, you can't kill me. And after I kill you, I'll go after her. Which is more than you can do!"
Something about that statement triggered something inside Nanoha and made her pause, as she partially glanced over her left shoulder. As he was now, he stood no chance of fighting Wendi, and was liable to get himself killed. And even on the off chance he did manage to take another life, it would start him on a path that would cause more pain and suffering, something this world had seen too much of already. However, he probably wouldn't be swayed directly from his course of action, so perhaps there was another way.
"You really want to go through with this revenge of yours?” she asked carefully. “Are you really prepared to take the life of another human being?”
His gaze didn't waver. "Of course!"
She stood up and turned to face him, thinking about how to phrase this. "How far are you willing to go to get your revenge?"
"As far as I have to!" he proclaimed.
Nanoha allowed a small smile to appear on her face. "How about if I trained you?"
That made him pause as he stared at her, his glare turning into confusion. "Why would you do that when I want to kill you? Why would you help me?"
"I'll take that chance, if you will," Nanoha told him, hands on her hips. "But as you stand now, you'll never defeat me or Wendi. So, yes or no?"
His gaze was firm. "Yes. But no promises that I won't kill you while you sleep or something!"
Nanoha smiled. "Good, then we start now. Break out of that bind."
"I've been trying to!" he growled at her, his face contorting a bit as he strained again.
"That's because you're trying to do so with pure physical force, which won't work," she informed him. "My magic is greater than your physical strength. I've seen you cast spells before, so you know how to harness your mana. Calm down and do that now, but instead of working it into a spell, force it into the bind. Use that to disrupt the magic holding it together."
He eyed her for a second, then closed his eyes as he concentrated; a short moment later, the bind wavered and dissipated and he leapt to his feet in triumph. "I did it!"
"That was your first lesson," she told him. "Binds are an important part of combat, both knowing when to use them, and how to get out of them. If I had forced more of my magic into it to counter your attempt to break it, I could have kept you bound, so it won't always work if a more powerful mage is fighting you on it. But most mages in the midst of combat will toss a quick bind up with a predetermined amount of magic in them in order to focus their energies on their next move, so you have to work at breaking binds until it's second nature.
She turned around and sat down, patting the space next to her. "Now, for lesson number two, come sit here."
Warily, he did as she asked, surprised when she handed him a granola bar. "You're giving me your food?"
"A mage's diet is also important to increase the flow and quality of mana you have access to," she explained, then tapped her upper chest. "What you eat affects your linker core, here. Keep it healthy, and your magic will grow in strength. I have some meat strips I'm cooking at the moment, too."
Silence descended as the two sat there and watched the fire, then consumed the cooked meat when it was done. Nanoha could occasionally feel his eyes on her, but while the anger and hate was still there, she sensed some confusion was beginning to replace it. She briefly wondered about all this, as she couldn't really spare the time to look after a child; but she realized he wouldn't go home, and she did still feel responsible for him. Teaching him would keep him safe for now, and perhaps enable him to survive without his mother.
Eventually, she stopped feeding the fire and let it slowly die while she laid down and rested her head on her pack, facing away from him. "You can kill me during the night if you want to. But then you won't learn what you need to know to fight Wendi. It's your choice."
She sensed he didn't move for some time, probably debating it, then she heard his footsteps travel away from her, into the bushes. Curious, she turned over to see him dragging a pack in, apparently having stashed it prior to his latest ambush. He unrolled a sleeping mat and laid down, shooting her a dark look.
"Same goes for you," he told her evenly. "If you leave in the middle of the night, I'll just hunt you down again and next time I won't hesitate!"
She nodded, smiling. "Agreed." Then a thought struck her. "How did you manage to find me?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. I've always been able to find stuff when I focus on it. But it has to be something I'm familiar with, or can visualize really well."
"I see," Nanoha replied, deducing it probably was a byproduct of his particular magic style. She also realized that it wouldn't be too useful to her own predicament; that would be too easy. She only knew that someone awaited her somewhere, and that probably wasn't enough info for him to go on.
"Where's your friend?" Givo suddenly asked, seemingly noticing for the first time that she was alone. "Did you two separate?"
Nanoha closed her eyes and turned over. "Something like that. Her injuries were too great, and she passed away a couple of days ago."
"So you know what it's like to lose someone," he noted, his voice unreadable.
She thought of Uno, and Randy, Tre, Subaru, Shamal, Zafira, and so many others, who had died. And then of those who had changed so much and didn't seem like what she knew before, with Hayate and Fate. Then finally, those who she didn't know whether they were alive or dead, or whether she'd ever see them again: Vivio, Yuuno, Erio, and Caro among others.
A single tear ran leaked from her closed eyes. "Something like that."
x~~*~~x
Nanoha still felt directionless, but over the next few days, she began to fill that would a small purpose in the form of training Givo. She had him work on binds, and perfect a bind spell before brushing him up on the fundamentals of defense, with barriers and shields. He complained, because he wanted to learn bigger and better attack spells, and wondered why she wasn't teaching him those.
"My old teacher stressed to me the important of barriers and binds," she told him mysteriously, which only made him sigh in frustration. “When you've perfected those, we'll move onto attack spells.”
But despite his annoyance, he kept with it and progressed relatively quickly, and close to the end of the fourth day, he was able to create a decent shield, though nothing too powerful; Nanoha could break it easily. It wasn't entirely his fault as he had never been trained before and was now really working out a muscle he had rarely exercised. However, his bind spells showed more promise
She remembered Uno's warning about unnecessary use of magic, but since Uno had also informed her that the sentinel drones were the magic detectors, and she hadn't seen one of those since she left Organtz, she felt his small spells were safe enough and might go undetected. A calculated risk, although she could hear Uno in her mind admonishing her for her carelessness, but it was one she took anyway. It actually felt good to train someone again, as it put her back in familiar territory; in a world where everything was different, this was something she knew.
But the last of the supplies Uno had taken with them out of Organtz were slowly drying up, and Nanoha had Givo take them to the nearest town to restock. She still had some money, but she informed him they might take up some temporary jobs to get more. That's when he showed her his money that he gained from selling the restaurant. It wasn't a whole lot, but more than enough to sustain them for awhile. When she questioned him about it, he blew it off.
"Meh, I only liked living there because mom was there," he told her, shrugging. "I didn't really feel like a serving boy, and I'm no cook."
"So what did you want to do with your life?" she asked him, curious.
He didn't blink an eye. "Take revenge on the Bureau that took my dad from me. And now my mom."
Nanoha quieted down at that, not knowing what else to say as the pair approached the next tow, covering her head with her cloak's hood almost by reflex, and keeping her face lowered. While it was unlikely that anyone here would recognize her, she didn't want it known she was here, either; she didn't want to take anyc hances.. According to the ear piece, Teana's group was searching a section 50 kilometers west of here, so she figured she was safe. Still, she didn't want to stay here very long.
Farhaven was a small oval shaped village cut out of the surrounding forest and surrounded by a several meter tall wall made of tree trunks bound together, which gave it the appearance of an old frontier fort town. According to Givo, it was a gathering place for lumberjacks, hunters, trappers, and farmers to exchange goods, mainly, so Nanoga figured there would be a good chance of stocking up on fresh food and supplies.
She allowed Givo to go into the general store do the buying in order to not draw attention to herself, and instead hung back and pretended watch the goings-on in the town; and that's when she started to feel a bit uncomfortable. There was something wrong, she decided as she gazed around in as subtle a manner as she could manage. She wasn't sure what, as it was there just tickling the edge of her mind, but there was definitely something about the place off.
It reminded her a bit of those wild west towns from old movies, with a dirt main road straight through town and various wooden shacks and buildings no more than two stories high on either side. There were even some horses among the various old trucks and assorted vehicles, and most people sported either cloaks or ponchos similar to hers, or wide-brimmed hats that would shield against the rains.
And that's what bugged her, she realized; it was almost as if everyone was deliberately trying to be inconspicuous, but trying too hard at it. Why? It was supposed to be some sort of market town, so she expected more activity.
"We're leaving, now," Nanoha told Givo as he returned.
He looked at her. "What for? I haven't got everything we need, and I thought you said you wanted a sleeping mat?"
She began to walk with him back towards the entrance. "I'll explain later, but..."
She trailed off as they both noticed the large front gate swinging shut, causing her to pause and evaluate her other options; but any plans she was formulating dissipated the moment she felt something press against her head to the sound of a click.
"Nice of you to join us, Nanoha," Teana told her, having stepped out from between two buildings, holding one of her guns against the cloned mage's head. "About time you showed up here. Though, it wouldn't be very friendly of you to leave right away, not when we set this party up just for you."
Without moving much, Nanoha quickly glanced around noticed some of the men and women around the area remove their ponchos and cloaks, revealing Enforcer armor and uniforms, with two of them being Nove and Wendi.
"It's payback time for what you did at Organtz," Wendi threatened, smacking one fist into the palm of her other hand.
A cold numbing pit formed in her stomach as she realized she had just walked into a trap.
Xx~~*~~xX
Author's notes:
Oh hey, seems like a nice cliff to hang from. =)
Few extra notes, mainly about ages. People seem rather spry for 70, but given how old Precia was and yet how powerful she was, I'm going with the "advanced Mid-Childa medical technology makes 70 the new 40-50ish." If she wasn't sick, she'd had been more of a force to contend with. Then there's Momoko in Vivid, and Lindy... in fact, I think Genya is the only one who shows his age, heh.
About last chapter: Yeah, I realized later about the burning hair and smell, so I'm kinda going "oops" and then whistling in innocence as I ignore it to preserve the drama of the scene, heh.
2010-07-01, 14:25
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