Beforehand: This is going into an A/U story, so please keep in mind that thigns will be differnt than what the series has offically stated.
TSAB: 6th mobile division II
By: Satashi
“Video letter?” Fate pondered as she walked up the stairs.
“Yeah!” Nanoha turned the screen to focus onto the blond. “Fate-chan is in charge of actual missions, though she seems to be bogged down with paperwork lately,” She narrated as her friend got closer.
“Hello everyone,” Fate bowed to the camera. “Have you told them yet?”
“Just about to,” Nanoha hopped around to stand beside Fate. “I will be able to come visit around Christmas time! I know it’s a long way away, but I already put in for leave.” The girl blushed lightly. “I asked Fate-chan to come too and she said she would, so I’m looking forward to being with all my family. “
“I can’t wait,” Fate added in with a smile and a wave.
“So, I’ll see you then… I love you guys.” Her blue eyes started to tear up a little. “I miss you.” She gave a small wave and cut off the recording device before she had to sniff and wipe her eyes. “Hard to believe I haven’t seen them in almost two years now.”
“Ever since Chrono became an Admiral and couldn’t use his ship as a middle point for teleportation,” Fate agreed, sitting on the bed. “I remember him and Amy having to go through the teleporting logs and erase it so no one would know you were skirting your duties to see your family back on Earth.”
“Haha, you make it sound like it was a bad thing!”
“If we were caught we’d all be demoted!” Fate grinned despite the seriousness of her words. “Wow, we broke a lot of rules back then didn’t we?”
“Nyahaha, makes me wonder what our students are doing right now while we’re not watching over them.” Nanoha smiled at her and crawled on the bed behind her, starting to rub her shoulders. “You’re tense…”
“Don’t even start.” Fate turned and grabbed the hands. “I don’t have time today.”
“Spoilsport,” Nanoha pouted. “I have almost two hours to kill.”
“I only have half an hour.”
“What are you plans?” The girl fell back onto their large bed and stared up at the ceiling.
“Going to lunch with Hayate-chan before dropping her off at the church, then heading over to check up on some Intel while I’m over at the main base. There’s supposed to be some new model of gadget and I want to get the information as soon as I can.”
“Bring me back a folder please?”
“Of course,” Fate turned to look at her. “You’re panty-shotting again.” Her words got a half hearted attempt to fix the mini skirt. “Still,” She teased.
“Meh, you’ve seen them anyway.” Nanoha gave up and sprawled out in an X shape. Several second ticked by before she found Fate crawling on top of her. “Oh no,” She crossed her arms. “If you don’t have enough time to nap then you don’t have enough time to….hey…stop that… s-stop…Ah…. Fate-chan we can’t….we –nng-… don’t have time…to do…this… ahnn…okay-five-minutes!” She grabbed her neck and pulled her down.
“Then I’d be more worried about my status than feeling bad I made them wait,” Fate finished for her as she sat down and buckled up. “Sorry, Hayate-chan. Nanoha wouldn’t let me leave.”
“It’s all right,” Hayate glanced at her mirror before driving off. “Did she try to put you to sleep again?”
“Attempted to.”
Hayate looked over at the slightly red girl and noticed that she had obviously been sweating recently. “You’re not sick are you?”
“Eh? Um, no.” Fate tried to finger comb her hair, even going as far as to flip down the sun visor to look at the mirror on the back of it.
“…Oh!” Hayate blushed. “Mou, no wonder you’re late.”
“We didn’t do anything bad.”
“I don’t need to know my two best friend’s love lives,” She complained. “So please don’t do anything to even hint at it, especially when I’m waiting on you!”
“We didn’t I promise!” Fate reached over to touch her shoulder but the girl moved away playfully.
“I don’t know where those fingers have been,” She stuck out her tongue.
Fate instantly felt her cheeks color and ears burn. “We just kissed, stop teasing me!”
The concrete under Nanoha exploded into shrapnel instantly, forcing the girl to take to the air. “No you don’t!” Subaru yelled out as her wing road flashed above the instructor, cutting off her escape path.
“Not here either!” Tia shot several blast to the side, making sure Nanoha couldn’t veer that way either. Both of the girl’s false images on the ground vanished now that they were no longer needed as a distraction.
Looking down, Nanoha saw Elio shooting upwards at her, spear extended. The ruble from his exit was still flying thick, cutting off her vision with the dust. ‘Only one way out,’ she mused, instantly flying directly backwards. The back of her neck itched slightly, making the battle veteran smile to herself. Caro had apparently put a delayed binding spell there. ‘I could twirl my way through it,’ she thought quickly, seeing Elio break through the dust and prepare to strike her. ‘But with this kind of teamwork, I think letting them win would be a more of a moral boost to encourage this in the future…holes can be worked on later.’
Elio let out a war cry, thrusting forward with everything he had. His spear clashed violently against Nanoha’s shield, flaring out a magical ripple around them. “Break through!” his words were screamed out, arm struggling to keep up the momentum. A pink flare of energy ripped into him, cursing through his veins and out into his weapon. The tip exploded in light and shattered Nanoha’s barrier, allowing it to cleanly sink into her barrier jacket.
Nanoha turned her body quickly to avoid any damage to her shoulder, also allowing the child to soar past her since he couldn’t stop the momentum of the attack. The group went still as the dust settled, each holding their breath to see if the mission was a success or not. “Mission finished,” Raising Heart declared as Nanoha landed. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled lightly to herself at the sight of Elio caught in the binding spell Caro had put it. “Status: Complete.”
“Congratulations,” Nanoha informed them, pointing to the ripped cloth of her jacket. “Mission complete, you cut through my defenses.”
“Oh thank god,” Subaru fell to the ground and panted out. “I can’t move…”
“Whoa…” Tia rubbed her shoulders ruefully. “Talk about intense… Great job, Caro.”
“It was nothing…” The pink haired girl’s arms were shaking lightly. Trying to push herself up only made her fall, however, and she chose to lay there to rest a moment. “Hehe, I can’t move.” She looked up at her friends with a light smile.
“Here,” Elio finally managed to get down from the floating chains and knelt down in front of her, offering his back. “I’ll carry you to the base?”
“…Thank you,” She managed to get up enough to fall over onto him when she realized her legs were too tired to support her as well. The red headed youth grunted lightly under her minute weight but managed to stand up while giving the piggy-back ride.
‘All that with their own devices,’ Nanoha’s eyes went from Subaru’s smoking roller blades to Tia’s sparking gun. Even though Elio’s spear was put back into its unit form she got enough sight on it during the attack to know it was cracking under all the stress it was going under. ‘Caro is also having a hard time since she can’t use cartridges…I think it’s time for them to receive their official weapons and armor.’ Clapping her hands together, she called everyone’s attention. “Okay people, for now let’s all go to the 6th division’s HQ and get cleaned up. Once you’ve had a shower we will meet in the lobby okay?”
“Ma’am!”
“Nanoha is going to give the recruits their official devices today; I thought it would be good if we tuned up yours and hers as well.”
“How long will it take?” Fate looked down at her hand towards the yellow triangle gem embedded on her glove. She had never liked going anywhere without her life-long partner, even if it was getting a check up.
“Well normally it would only take a few hours, but since its you we’re talking about… Two days maybe?”
She sighed. “All right, I can live with that. Don’t do anything he doesn’t want, all right?”
Shari gave her friend an amused look. “Like I ever would.” Turning, the girl looked behind herself. “I have to go, it looks like they’re all here now. I need to explain how their devices work and such.”
“See you, Shari.” Fate sighed when the screen disappeared, leaving her alone once again to eat her meal. Hayate was at the cathedral doing her meeting and she had already obtained all the information she could while at the local Intel center so she was stuck with waiting for her friend to give her a ride back home. ‘Too bad Hayate had to go in early, I hate eating alone…’
“Um…”
“What is it, Elio-kun?” The instructor paused to turn back and look at him.
“I love our new uniforms but…Strada doesn’t really look any different…”
“Have you tried asking him?”
“Eh?”
Nanoha knelt down in front of him and put a hand on top of his head. “Strada is now alive, Elio-kun. Even if his intelligence is artificial… He has a heart. For now on you two will be working together, so be good friends okay?”
Gazing down at the smooth metal in his hands, the boy took in a breath. “Strada… How do you feel?”
“100, sir.” It replied briskly. “Are you in good condition?”
“Y-yes!” he looked surprised that it would ask him. “So this is an intelligent device…” His mouth turned up into a grin. “Let’s become great partners, all right!?”
“Yes sir!”
With a light giggle the woman stood up again. “So then, I have a special playground in mind for you to get used your new devices,” Nanoha moved out her hands to summon keyboards in the air. “The object of this training exercise is to have fun and get the feel for what you can do. I don’t mind what activities you choose to do inside the field, just don’t go to sleep on me okay?” Her words got a few laughs, making her smile as well. “Okay, here we-”
“Nanoha!” Shari’s voice broke in over hers as a display screen appeared right in front of her followed by several flashing red screens that read Alert. “We have a lock on a relic! Can you dispatch!?”
The woman turned to look at her students. Several things went through her mind all at once, but one thing locked into place when seeing the determined expressions all glaring at her. “Yes.”
“Then bring everyone to the central building!” The screens cut off, leaving them alone once again.
“This is it, your first mission.” Nanoha spoke officially to them. “All of you are up to this, correct?”
“Ma’am!”
“Good,” She waved out her hand. “Then sixth mobile unit, move out!”
Fate nodded to herself, forcing her car through traffic. A screen to her right showed Nanoha with her students and another next to it showed Hayate in a car as well. “Request permission for personal flight,” The blond spoke out as she downshifted and puller her emergency brake, making her car slide sideways. Halfway into the spin she counter-steered sharply and hit the gas, smoking her tires. Her hand shoved the handle brake back down and allowed her wheels to grip pavement again, slinging her around the turn without losing any of her speed.
“Scary…” Nanoha whispered, feeling herself sweat lightly.
“Permission requested,” Hayate acknowledged her as her hands typed around in front of herself. “…granted for mage Fate.” She was glad the church was giving her a ride back thanks to the emergency call.
“Can someone give me a ride back here to reclaim my car once it’s over?”
“I can,” Nanoha replied easily.
“Then I’m parking and flying the rest,” She cut another power slide into a parking lot and leapt out of her door.
“Here I am, so nervous I can’t breathe straight,” Subaru began, getting Tia to look over at her. “And they talk about where they’re parking her car…” The girl looked around the small holding area of the helicopter they were currently in. There were no windows, making her feel rather closed in. “Amazing how they’re used to this…”
“That’s how Aces work huh?” Tia whispered back, swallowing. “Something as simple as this is child’s play to them…”
“Us too,” Elio joined in, gripping his watch with one hand. “We’re ready.” He received two sharp nods and could tell the females suddenly felt more secure about themselves. His gaze went back over to Caro next to him and then go down to her lap, where she was nervously rubbing her hands. “Hey, you okay?”
“Eh? Um, yes.” She tried to smile at him. “Just nervous.”
“Don’t be, I’ll protect you so you can cast without any worries okay?” He reached over and placed his hand on top of hers.
“Elio-kun…”
“Emergency reading!” Shari called out, face appearing on the screen again. Several monitors flared around them momentarily to warn them. “New gadget type device spotted in the vicinity of the trucks, they’re airborne models we’ve never encountered before!”
“Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan, can you handle those?” Hayate’s display came to the foreground of the others floating in the air. “Vice-kun, can you manage without their cover fire?”
Yet another display appeared in the air, showing the brown headed pilot. “Don’t underestimate me, Hayate-chan! I’ll fly circles around whatever they let by!”
“We won’t let any by,” Nanoha challenged.
“Ohh? If you do, even one, drinks are on you tonight babe!” Vice grinned.
“It’s a bet!” Nanoha smiled and held out Raising Heart. “But don’t get mad when you’re treating me!”
Caro fidgeted in her seat. “They’re so relaxed…”
“Its like a switch,” Nanoha kneeled down in front of the pink haired girl. “One thing that you will eventually have to learn to do as well.” Her hands went to both of the younger soldier’s shoulders. “Listen you two… This is a real battle now, so look after each other… I won’t lie, it may get ugly down there, but you are both strong. Just remember… what you do down there is for the sake of countless innocent people you will be protecting from this dangerous substance. Be strong you two, go all out, and when you’re done, let it go. Don’t reflect on it, just let it go.”
Elio swallowed thickly. “Yes ma’am.”
“Okay…” Caro looked even more nervous.
“Caro-san,” Nanoha took both of her hands in her own. “You’re a sweet girl, and I know you have a great passion to protect everyone around you… you have a very special power that will allow you to do that, so embrace it. Because of you and your lovely gentle power of protection, I’m not worried about any of you.”
“…Thank you.”
Nanoha stood and looked over at the two older members. “And you two…”
“Make it fast, Nanoha-chan!” Vice yelled out suddenly. “We’re about to engage!”
The teacher grinned. “Kick booty out there, okay?” She gave them a thumbs up.
“Ma’am!” They both saluted.
Nanoha giggled lightly before turning to look at the opening hatch. All at once her eyes narrowed and her fist clenched. “Raising Heart…”
“Yes master?”
“Set up!” The girl screamed as she leapt from the vehicle, wind flaring around her as her cloths shattered into the sky. Her body was kissed by the clouds, the soft mist clinging to her body. The sky blessed her with its color, stringing through the white cloud residue. Finally the sun loaned her its warmth, solidifying the elements to form her barrier jacket. Raising Heart was already in its staff form, shooting out a cartridge to instantly change into accel shooting mode. Her eyes lost their shine, no longer kind and caring. Tight gloved hands gripped the cool metal as magical energy ripped through her veins, cursing with a power that her enemies would soon never forget. “Raising Heart,” Even her voice was no longer gentle but now firm and set.
“I know, my master.” The voice was soothing to its master, making the girl loosen up just a little. “I will protect you. Sealing cartridge loaded in reserve clip.”
“…Thank you.” Nanoha launched herself into combat.
“Okay you guys,” Hayate looked at the four remaining people in the helicopter. She was now running through hallways while speaking to them. “Here is your mission: You will be divided into two groups, Stars and Lightning. The object we are after is being carried by a standard eighteen wheeler truck and trailer. Currently it is with a group of other trucks that are constantly swapping positions so we can’t be sure which one currently has the lost logia. Of course the recovery is our primary focus so whoever gets to the correct truck first will secure it.”
“Understood,” The four replied at the same time as Hayate finally made it to her commanding room and claimed her chair. Her supporters were in chairs in front of her, bringing up maps and other information for the girl to read.
“Vice-kun, are the charges set?”
“Rodger!” Vice’s voice called out cheerfully.
“To avoid further confusion and conflict, once you investigate a truck you will set a time bomb that will release a short ranged EMP, forcing the truck to slow down and stop.”
“Ma’am, why don’t we just stop them first?” Subaru questioned.
“The Electro Magnetic Pulse could activate the lost logia, releasing any power it has stored.” She narrowed her eyes. “I trust I don’t have to explain what would happen if it went out of control because of a mistake?”
“N-no ma’am…” Subaru shivered lightly. “We’ll be precise and efficient.”
“Since this is your first mission I’ll repeat myself to sooth any uneasiness you may have,” Hayate smiled at them now, making them lighten up. “Get to the trucks, inspect the cargo, if it isn’t what we want, set the time bomb and get onto the next truck and repeat. We will pick you up by air once you retrieve it and then remotely stop the remaining trucks.”
“And the drivers of the trucks?” Elio questioned.
“Gadget drones have already taken them over,” Shari informed regretfully. “ New mission objective is to rescue the seven drivers.”
“Rodger!”
“Then prepare to deploy!” Hayate threw out her hand as the helicopter veered away and down to the road, where seven unmarked truck and trailers were speeding along the highway. Now with an area to look at, the four soldiers stood up and braced themselves to jump out when they were close enough. The air shook them lightly as a shockwave from one of Nanoha’s attacks flew by, forcing Elio to grab Caro’s hand so she wouldn’t fall over.
Nanoha twirled around enemy fire, forcing herself through a thicket of drones. Once by, she looped around and passed by them again, flipping over the group and spinning them around before destroying them. “Is that enough?” she asked into the wind, pausing to hover in her spot and plan out her next wave of attacks against the innumerable mechanical army.
“Yes, we have a full model now,” Shari confirmed. “Thanks for the video feed, we’ll start recording their statistics when you engage for real.”
“Rodger.” Nanoha loaded a cartridge into her staff and aimed, ripping a hole through the mass of metal.
“I’m here, Nanoha.” Fate thought to her friend when she was in range of telepathic communication. “Brief?”
“There are too many to count,” She replied in kind, looking around until she spotted her girlfriend. “The forwards are on the trucks below, we are to secure the air and protect them. I have their data so destroy as many as you can.”
“I’m going in, cover fire for me?”
“Always, Fate-chan.” Nanoha braced herself in the air, eyes focusing in on her opponents. “Accel shooter….forty bullet mode!” The balls of energy appeared around her quickly before each doubling in size. ‘One through twenty, follow Fate and protect her… the rest seek and destroy…’
Tia landed with a loud clang on top of the first truck, followed closely by Subaru. Across from them, several lengths down the road, their two team mates landed on the last truck. “I’ll take this one,” Tia began, standing. “You get on the next one, I’ll hop to the third when the first is disabled.”
“Sure.” Subaru unlocked her wheels on her new blades and instantly slid down the top of the truck. “Wha, whoa!” Flailing, she tried to regain her balance.
“Wing road,” Mach Caliber’s calm voice floated up to her, forming the road and making the path to the next truck as simple as gliding forward.
“Th-thank you!” Subaru recomposed herself and got serious. “You’re amazing, doing what I was thinking before I even reacted…”
“I was created to serve your will.” Subaru dodged to the side to avoid a sudden laser beam shot at her. “Assault grip.” Mach Caliber stated again, locking the wheels to the metal as she rolled, giving the girl complete control. Seconds passed and the drones that had attacked her were destroyed.
“Nanoha-san said you had a heart…” Subaru smiled. “So I don’t want you to serve me… Instead, how about we work together?”
“…We shall see, in time.”
The sky lit up with a brief flash of yellow lightning followed closely by black smoke and raining metal pieces. Fate’s long hair flew out behind her as the electricity flared more, shorting out several of the enemy devices. “They seem to be thinning,” She mentally informed her friend, who had just blasted several drones attempting to attack the blond from behind. “How are our soldiers?”
“Looks like the last truck is stopping. I think Tia is inspecting the first while Subaru is defeating the drones from both the leading vehicles.”
“And my children?”
“Moving onto the next to last truck right now.” Nanoha shot several more bullets before being forced to move and take to aerobatic evasive movements. “Fate-chan, I’m going to charge starlight breaker to finish this, can you thin out the ones not collected in the center?”
“Yes,” Fate loaded several cartridges, changing into her sonic form and launching herself to the outskirts of the aerial battle. Bardiche’s pulsating blade flared out around her before slashing forward and cleaving several into pieces.
“Energy of the stars, head to my call…” Nanoha’s hair lifted up slowly as glowing pink energies flowed around her and began to form. “Planet…Sky….Sun…Air… loan me some of your energy…” The clip in her staff emptied itself, speeding up the process. “All living things spare me some of your will to-” Her heartbeat resounded in her ears, stopping the chant. Silence reigned over her, broken only by another heartbeat thundering her ears. ‘No… not now…not now!’ her hands started to sweat as Raising Heart was shakily held onto.
“What!?” Hayate stood up frantically. “Display me her status!” Several screens appeared in front of her, showing her increasing heartbeat and blood pressure. “Oh no…”
“She’s going into a seizure!” Shari screamed, hands dancing over the keyboards, bringing up a visual of the girl in the air.
“Fate-chan!” Hayate forced an emergency battle contact onto her. “Nanoha-chan’s blood is going yellow!”
“What’s going on!?” One of the other members asked, looking over her shoulder.
“You will be informed later,” Hayate tried to calm herself down as Fate turned her flight path to head to her friend, not bothering to reply.
“I…can handle… this…” She replied shakily, obviously in pain. “Go…”
“No! I-”
“I said go!” She screamed, pushing Fate away. “They need… to be covered… or they’ll…get hurt!” Slowly the girl flew away backwards, leaving the shield. “Cover me… Fate-chan…”
The blond looked down sadly at her before nodding. “I’m coming back in three minutes…”
“By then I’ll be smiling at you…” Nanoha allowed herself to freefall away from her.
“Be careful, Elio-kun!” Caro ran along the truck that was currently slowing down thanks to her bomb and leapt onto the one her partner was currently occupying.
“Caro!” Elio flashed forward, pushing her out of the way of a large piece of metal thrown at her. The pink haired girl gasped, looking to her side as Elio was flung off the truck from the force of it. As if in slow motion she watched in horror while her friend’s body fell down, slowly being removed from view.
“Elio-kun!” Her mind instantly launched out a pink set of chains, looping around his wrist. The chains went taut quickly, forcing the girl over onto her stomach and pulling her along the truck as Elio continued to fall. ‘I can’t pull him up!’ She cried out in fear, tears coming to her eyes as the chains buried into her hands.
All at once the girl stopped sliding and felt something around her waist. Looking up, she saw Tia holding her with one arm while aiming her gun at the device with her other. Several shots rang out, making the thing drop the briefcase. Subaru was already ahead of everyone else, quickly grabbing it as she flew by on her wing road.
Elio gasped out, quickly pulling on the chain connected to his wrist to get the attention of his friend. Metal sparks flew all around him, grinding off the metal piece that was beneath his feet. The boy street-surfed on top of the shrapnel, not holding back his amused grin when Caro looked over the side of the truck at him. “Pull me up!?” He asked, gripping his spear.
“Yes!” Caro let a magic field fly beneath her, summoning her power. “Grant this young knight the power to fly,” She breathed out, sending the energy through the chain that connected them. “Bless upon him the blade of warriors…” Her partner flew up beside her quickly, using the momentum to keep up with the truck while in the air. “And the speed of an assassin!”
Elio let out his war cry, holding Strada above his head in preparation to strike. “Caro’s Knight,” He named his attack as he descended. “Seek!” His blade cut through the defensive barrier and armor, revealing the core to the monster. “And destroy!” His body turned, thrusting his spear into it.
“Ye….Yes…” Nanoha aimed the tip towards herself. “Begin…sealing…” Her heartbeat resounded again, making her hands shake. Suddenly she was trying to force Raising Heart away from herself. “Cancel order,” Her words sounded colder all of a sudden, wisp of yellow flecking the iris of her eyes.
“Request denied.” Raising Heart fired the blast, engulfing the brown haired girl in a sphere of blue light. “Sealing.” The light shrank down quickly, covering her body in a light haze. “…Sealed. Are you all right, my master?”
Nanoha cried softly. “It hurts…”
“Please stay still.”
“I can’t,” Nanoha slowly pushed herself up. “I have to shoot it… I have to help Fate-chan…”
“You are in no condition to battle,” It told her. “Please rest, Master.”
“Let’s shoot it,” Nanoha hefted her staff and twisted the head back to reveal her cartridge loading dock and slamming a clip into it. “Load complete, begin countdown.” Her eyes closed. “Fate-chan?”
“Are you okay?”
“Move, I’m shooting Starlight.”
Fate didn’t argue with her but instead flew down to the ground.
“Guess so,” Subaru agreed, looking up in awe as shrapnel fell. The group stood on the side of the road, relic safely in hand and drivers all accounted for.
“Mission complete,” Shari informed them. “We are dispatching a clean-up crew right now, the rest of you head back to base for some well deserved rest.”
“Yes ma’am!” They all saluted the image, but Subaru looked back up into the sky. “Where are Nanoha-san and Fate-san…?”
“Fine,” She replied softly as she realized that she was laying against her lover’s chest with her back. Fate’s arms were wrapped around her loosely, simply holding the girl. “How are you?”
“A few scratches but fine,” The red eyed girl replied honestly. “Really…?”
“I’m weak from shooting Starlight.”
“You know what I mean, Honey.”
Nanoha closed her eyes. “It’s sleeping again.”
“Good,” Fate held her closer.
“Can we stay like this for a few minutes?”
“Yes. Yes, we can. As long as you want to.”
The brown haired girl turned off the display showing her two best friends and sat down into her chair with a relieved sigh. “She’s okay…”
“Ma’am!” Shari pressed on, obviously displeased at not knowing what was going on.
“It’s a long story…” Hayate leaned forward, remembering. “This is classified information, so nothing leaves this room all right?” Several nods greeted her so she continued. “It was several years ago, not long after I became a ranking officer in the TSAB… Nanoha-chan and Fate-chan were sent on a mission, their first mission with a limiter. The two didn’t fight very well, both being reduced from triple A to regular A…” She took a breath before going on. “The two were caught, taken prisoner, and later rescued. They split up… Fate-chan met up with Signum to take out the drones, one of the first times we fought them… Nanoha-chan went after people who had a Lost Logia, a Jewel Seed to be exact.”
“Jewel Seed?” Shari blinked.
“It’s a type of Lost Logia that a certain civilization made,” Hayate explained to her. “They can manifest themselves into a physical form, or they can attach to a host, giving them a huge upgrade in power. Although they normally react to strong feelings and desires, the each have their own personality. Some good, some bad, some indifferent. The one that day, however, was clearly evil.” The girl looked over her hands to the people in the room, each hanging onto her every word. “A blast was fired, powered by the logia. In order to save countless people, Nanoha had to try and overpower the attack and absorb whatever was left into a shield. She managed to counter most of the attack with her own, but because of her limiter she couldn’t completely do it and ended up being wounded…mortally…”
“But she’s alive and fine now…?”
“Let me finish,” Hayate scolded her gently, already saddened by the story she was telling. “Vita found her, alone and dieing on the battlefield. She called for a medical team at the same time as Fate-chan and Signum checked in with us… Due to the weak AMF fields from damaged robots, the transmission wasn’t clear; Fate-chan and Signum only heard Vita say that Nanoha was dieing, and then a scream…” She looked down. “Fate-chan… found… the people who were responsible.” Her words made Shari swallow. Obviously ‘found’ wasn’t the only thing that happened. “She recovered the logia and was informed Nanoha was still alive. She rushed to her and when she was dieing in her arms, Nanoha-chan told Fate-chan that she loved her.”
“Oh my…”
“Fate-chan’s feelings activated the sealed Jewel Seed… Nanoha-chan’s desire to live and Fate-chan’s fear of losing someone she loved mixed together and before they realized it, the Jewel Seed merged with Nanoha, healing her completely.”
“Completely? Just like that?”
“Jewel seeds merge with things to make their desire come true. The Seed attached itself and healed the wounds, but also was bound to her in the process. As I said, they each have their own personality…”
“So it’s a parasite?”
“More like a symbionite. A parasite finds things and latches onto them to feed off it…They can be removed. A symbionite merges with their host…becoming one with them.”
“So Nanoha-san…?”
“Has a corrupt Jewel seed grafted into her body. Every now and then it will awaken and try to take over her body, but we can seal it thanks to Shamal’s medical knowledge. The only thing is, we only thought we would have to do it once. Several years later it came back, and a few years after that…and then the next year… then months…”
“It’s losing its effect?”
“…Yes. Now Nanoha randomly suffers from ‘episodes’, where the seed will awaken and she has to seal it before it takes her over from the inside out. We’re currently looking desperately for a way to save her but…”
“Okay,” Shari rubbed her eyes. “Okay. I got it. Thank you.”
The girl in charge looked down sadly. ‘The episodes are getting closer and closer together…It’s only a matter of time until…’
“Tip-top!” Nanoha cheered happily.
“I’m fine, thank you,” Fate replied softly, looking over at her friend.
“Then that’s it.” Rein let the displays around her fade away. “You are all free to go!”
“What now?” Tia asked her instructor, wondering if there was anything else, despite being told they could do what they wanted.
“To Fuji’s!” Nanoha replied, smiling down at her.
“Fuji’s?” Subaru asked, leaning over to get a look at her. “What’s that?”
Fate looked at her partner. “Nanoha, we are not going to Fuji’s tonight. We are going straight home.”
“Oh don’t be such a spoil sport!” The brown haired girl put a hand on her hip. “It’s tradition!”
“For the air force!” Fate gasped out. “You are not taking them to Fuji’s! Especially not Elio-kun and Caro-san!”
“Oh they’ll be fine.” Nanoha waved off the notion and leaned forward, smiling brightly. “I really want to go after today, all right?” She put on her best puppy dog eyes she could and felt her lips slowly move up in a smile when Fate’s resolve weakened. “All right!”
“What’s Fuji’s?” Caro asked Elio in a whisper.
“I don’t know, but it sounds like fun.”
“I like my Van!” Nanoha protested as her friends piled in. “Much better than Fate-chan’s car, it can only hold two people.”
“Hey, my car is nice!” Fate cried out, obviously offended. “It can run a quarter mile in seven seconds!”
“And gets, what, six miles to the gallon?” Nanoha stuck out her tongue.
“So,” Elio interrupted before the two would argue with each other. “Nanoha-san,”
“Drop the formalities, we’re going off base,” Nanoha smiled at him through the rearview mirror.
“Aunt Nanoha,” He continued, “What is Fuji’s exactly?”
“You’ll see when we get there. It’s a tradition to go to a place like this on the first successful mission. I was about Subaru-san and Tia-san’s age when I first went myself.” The words made Fate snort out, apparently remembering something funny connected to what was just said. “Anyway,” she went on before said memory could be shared, “Vita-chan and Vice-kun are going to meet us there.”
“I see,” Elio mused, leaning back in the seat.
The van headed into the city at a steady pace, turning into the back allies after a while and then into the flashy night-life style of town. “And here we are!” Nanoha smiled, shifting her van into park. “And there’s Vita’s car!” She hopped out to go pounce on the smaller girl.
“Mount Fuji’s,” Subaru read the name of the neon sign. “…This is a bar isn’t it?”
“Night Club,” Fate corrected. “But they have alcohol, yes.” She lead the rest of the troops to the door and waved to the bouncer as they passed by. “The owner here was a friend of Nanoha’s family back on Earth, er, non-administrated planet ninety-seven.” The music inside was rather loud so she spoke up while leading them over to a table. “Believe it or not, they have really good food here.”
“I see,” Subaru looked around, eyeing a scantily clad girl with a slight blush on her face. “Is this place all right for the little ones?”
“No,” Fate gave them a light smile. “But Nanoha-chan has been looking forward to continuing the tradition of celebrating for a while now so…” She covered Elio’s eyes. “Don’t stare, it’s not polite.”
“S-sorry!” He went rigid at being caught. “I didn’t mean too!”
“Stop staring,” Tia elbowed Subaru in the ribs, making the girl flush.
“She’s hot…” The girl protested, making Tia blush a moment then turn away in slight annoyance.
“Welcome!” A man greeted them as they sat down. “Oh, Fate-san!”
“Haseo,” she greeted with a smile. “How are you?”
“Been great, how about yourself? Haven’t seen you in a while?”
“We were re-stationed, I’m sure you heard?”
Haseo smirked. “The new 6th mobile division, I read all about it in the papers.” He nodded over to the group with the blond. “These your troops?”
“They are,” Fate pointed as she talked. “Subaru, Tia, Elio, and the little girl hiding behind him is Caro.”
“I see,” Haseo walked over to the table where the younger members were and leaned over. “Hey there,” His silver hair reflected a little of the light at the club. “If anyone here gives you trouble, just get my attention and I’ll toss’m out okay?”
“Sure,” Elio nodded, now liking this person.
“Thank you,” Caro replied, coming from behind Elio.
“It’s their first time, I think Caro is a little nervous.” Fate offered the man, reaching over to pet the girl.
“Well in that case, I’ll whip up something that’ll make her want to come back!” Haseo gave a short bow to the small girl before executing a fluid back flip to get back to the head of the table. A pad was tossed up from the pouch on his waist and a pen followed suit. The items twirled in the air a moment before being caught. “May I take your order?”
“Haseo is showing off again,” Nanoha greeted the bartender with a smile, hopping onto a stool. Vita followed her actions and leaned up against the counter as well. “You’re not keeping an eye on him.”
“Nanoha-chan!” The man smiled brightly. “My, it’s been almost three weeks since you last came in, I was about to go see if you was okay!”
“Nya haha,” Nanoha smiled at him and leaned over the bar to give him a hug. “Sorry about that, Kuhn. Been real busy. I brought my friends with me, though.” She pointed to the table. “We had our first mission today so I’m treating them.”
Kuhn flipped his long blue ponytail over his shoulder. “I see. Drinks all around?”
“Yup!” She nodded happily. “Oh, um, when is your next restock run…?”
“This week,” He winked. “Another letter?”
“Please?” She handed over a small package containing the DVD she recorded earlier. “You’re the only one who can do it…”
“I don’t mind at all. Gives me a reason to see my friends again.” He put it behind the bar. “What would you like?”
“Fuzzy Navel for me, the usual for Fate-chan, um, give my other girls something easy since this is probably their first time.”
“And for you?” Kuhn turned to Vita.
“Give me a daiquiri, a real daiquiri and don’t bring me one of those sissy-fied neon slushies either!”
“Snappy today, Vita-chan.” Kuhn made small talk as he went about making the drinks. “Some poor fool try to toss you out?”
“Your bouncer pulled me off before I could hurt the guy,” She crossed her arms. “But if someone else calls me “Kiddo” I’m going to knock their head off.”
Nanoha laughed nervously. “Don’t get me in trouble please, Vita-chan…”
“So,” Tia began, looking around. “The owner here had a mage friend who came to mid-childa and opened this bar?”
“And after a while brought the current owner here from Earth to set up an ‘exotic’ bar,” Fate confirmed. “They mix drinks here using Earth materials, making them a lot different than what everyone here is used to. Because he has a special license to transfer items from other planets, Nanoha normally communicates with her family through the owner/Barkeep, Kuhn.”
“Hmmm,” Subaru hummed, examining the place they were currently in. They were currently on a second floor of the building, although it only covered half of the floor area. The other half was open, showing a dance club on the bottom floor and the bar where Nanoha and Vita were getting their drinks. Neon lights decorated the walls, as well as several plastic bead necklaces and other random things that were probably used for fashion back on Nanoha’s home planet. From what she could tell, the bottom part was for partying and the top floor was more reserved for eating.
“Sorry to make you wait,” Nanoha greeted, carrying a tray of drinks on her palm. Haseo followed her, looking as if he was nervous about the girl doing his job. “Here you go,” She twisted the platter and sat it onto the table, handing out the drinks. “Scotch on the rocks for Fate-chan.” She placed the old fashioned glass with the amber liquid in front of her friend. “My drink here,” She sat the Collins glass filled with orange juice, ice, and vodka at an empty chair. “And for my Stars members,” She poured them both a glass of beer. “Samual Adams, always a good decision!”
Elio blinked at the different types of drinks before he had a glass placed in front of him as well. “Eh?”
“Juice for the lightning squad.” Nanoha winked. “You’re a little young so this will have to do.”
“Thank you,” Elio accepted the glass, as did his team mate. Haseo took the now empty tray and retreated back downstairs as Vita and Vice joined the group.
“We’re all here now, so…” Nanoha picked up her glass and raised it to the middle of the table. “To us, for our first successful mission in our new unit!”
“To us!” The rest chorused, each tapping glasses before drinking.
“Hey this is kind of good,” Subaru mused, looking into the liquid before drinking some more.
“Drink up!” Nanoha encouraged happily. “Vice is paying for it all!”
“Hey!” he gasped. “No way, you let one through!”
“I did!?”
“Well, Fate did but it still counts!”
“Fate-chan!” Nanoha turned on her friend, who grinned over the glass in her hands while taking a very small sip.
“And we soaked them in water and froze them, then ran them up the flagpole!” Tia finished, also laughing like an idiot.
Vita snorted at the story, more amused at the drunk girls than what they were saying. “Lightweights…”
“Oh shush,” Nanoha nudged her, cheeks slightly red as well. “Just because you don’t get- hic- drunk, doesn’t mean others can’t!” She smiled down at her before drinking another large gulp of her beverage. “Haseo! Heyyyyyyyy, Haseo!” She saw him look over at her so she raised her empty glass and shook it.
“Coming up, toots!” Haseo called back at her.
“You’re embarrassing…” Vita complained, putting a hand to her head. “Are you sure this is okay? You go awe fully easy on these people.”
“They’ll be fine,” She waved it off. “Tomorrow is Firesday.”
“Why do you give them an entire day off?” Vita pondered, finishing her drink and motioning for another in a more sophisticated manor than her friend.
“Earth thing,” Nanoha giggled. “First day of the week is a free day to rest”
“Here you are,” Haseo placed another full glass of orange juice in front of Nanoha and also giving Vita a small cocktail glass filled with a cloudy liquid.
Elio and Caro sat back down at the table, having just come back from dancing downstairs at Nanoha’s insistence. The two noticed the food had arrived and started getting slices of pizza and hot wings on their plate curtsy of Fate.
“Are these hot?” Caro asked, looking at a small wing. Elio licked his fingers after quickly scarfing one and shook his head. “Okay…” She bit into it and nibbled the meat off the bone and chewed a few times before her eyes went wide.
“They’re not hot but they’re spicy,” Elio finally voiced after swallowing. “..Oh! you meant if they were ‘spicy’ hot!”
Caro swallowed thickly and coughed, realizing her drink was gone. “I need a drink…”
“Here’s some juice,” Nanoha pushed a glass just sat down over towards her.
Caro took the offered glass and drank all of it in one sitting, gasping out when it was all gone. “Those things are like fire!”
Fate paused a moment, looking over at the now empty glass with ice in it. “…Nanoha did you just give Caro your drink?”
“No,” Nanoha picked up another glass and giggled. “I’m not that stupid.” She took a long drink out of it and frowned. “Hey, Kuhn forgot to put the alcohol in this…”
Fate looked over at Caro, who was looking a little odd. She reached over and picked up the glass, allowing some of the ice in it to reach her mouth. Crunching on it, she frowned. “Nanoha-chan! You just gave Caro vodka!”
“She’ll be fine,” Nanoha protested, obviously having fallen past the ‘tipsy’ line. “She’s a big girl.”
“She’s ten!”
The entire table looked over at the pink hired girl, who seemed to be fine after getting the taste out of her mouth by eating some pizza. “…What?” she asked meekly. The table got quiet a moment, each debating on if the girl would be okay or not. Seconds ticked by before Tia and Subaru lost interest and started laughing at nothing in particular again. With the silence broken, conversation picked up once more across the table, leaving no one to hear the small hiccup come from the girl.
The time went on into the night, eventually crossing midnight and breaking into the early morning hours. Caro was leaning against Elio, fast asleep after running around in a drunken state and dancing all night long. The boy had one arm around her, occasionally rubbing her shoulder when she would hiccup in her dreams. Tia and Subaru had calmed down slightly, now playing drinking games with each other. Vice was cheering them on while Vita reluctantly joined in. “So,” Fate’s voice caught Nanoha’s attention again. “How are you?”
Nanoha looked over at her friend a moment before gazing down into her glass, which now held a dark amber liquid that matched what Fate had been drinking all night. “I’m still a little scared,” she admitted, taking a sip. “I was hoping this would make me forget.”
“We’ll find a way to stop it.” Fate held her glass by the brim, even if she had stopped drinking from it long before. “Don’t worry too much about it.”
“When it does happen,” Nanoha whispered softly. “When I lose control and go berserk… You’ll take care of me won’t you, Fate?”
The red eyed girl looked down into her glass sadly. “…No.”
“You have to!” She snapped at her, voice saddened. “Don’t let me hurt anyone…”
“I won’t hurt you,” She whispered back, suddenly downing the rest of the drink. “It will never happen.”
Nanoha looked back over her glass at the laughing people in front of her. She stayed silent a moment longer, trying to force unpleasant thoughts from her mind. “Think it’s time to head back, before they get into any of the hard stuff?” She decided a change of subject would be the best idea right now.
“Sure,” Fate didn’t move, however. “Can you drive?”
“No way, can you?”
“I’m wasted…” The two girls looked at each other and smiled lightly.
“Sorry; thanks again.” Nanoha stumbled out of the car, the brisk night air seeming to ease her mind a little. “Come on everyone. Out.” She helped Tia and Subaru out of the car, giggling as the two instantly got onto each other again.
“You’re drunk,” Tia slurred to her friend when she fell onto her.
“You’re sexy!” The blue haired girl replied instantly, pointing at her. “I wanna…. I wanna kiss ya,” Her words mixed together, but she still received the requested kiss. “Hey, you want to…?”
“Oh yeah,” Tia grinned at her a moment before both of them hurried away from the group and into the building, holding hands and stumbling over each other.
“Easy does it,” Elio whispered, carrying Caro piggy back style. The girl on his back muttered something about not feeling very well, the alcohol in her stomach obviously making her woozy. “We’re almost home,” he soothed her as he also headed towards the building.
“G’night.” Fate waved to Haseo as he drove off with an amused smile on his face. “I really want to sleep,” She added in. One hand went to rub the bridge of her nose while the other sought out her girlfriend’s.
Nanoha gripped her hand gently and the two made their way to the elevator. The ride up was made quickly and they made their way across the hallway to their room. After getting in, the pair made a beeline to their bed, where they collapsed down with their cloths still on. “Sweet dreams,” She yawned out.
“Sweet dreams,” Fate replied in kind before putting her face in a pillow and passing out.
Fun facts:
- The days of the week on Midchilda (at least in this story) go like this: Firesday - Earthsday - Watersday - Windsday - Iceday - Lightningsday - Lightsday - Darksday
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