Waking up was painful to say the least. My head felt like something on the inside was hitting it with a hammer each time my heart beat. I groaned softly, feeling a horrible taste in my mouth. The light almost blinded me when I opened my eyes and forced me to bring a hand up to cover them. ‘I’m never drinking again,’ my mind thought groggily as I sat up and scratched the back of my head, realizing I only had one pigtail left in my hair. ‘Why are my legs so sore?... And why is it so cold?’ I finally managed to open my eyes and squint through the headache inducing light. ‘Why am I naked…?’ Looking to the side I noticed that I wasn’t even in my own bed. A sudden feeling of dread washed over me as I shakily moved my hand over to the lump of covers next to me. Swallowing, I braced myself for what was about to come. Slowly the covers were pulled back, revealing the blue hair of an equally naked Subaru. “Oh god…” My hand instantly went to my mouth in shock. I had slept with my best friend…
TSAB 6th mobile division III
By: Satashi
Subaru moaned lightly, pushing herself up from the pillow and sitting upright. The girl let out a large yawn, broken half way by suddenly grabbing her head. “Oh wow, my first hang over…” She coughed slightly, looking over towards the terrified Tia. “…G’morning,” She greeted shyly. “Last night was amazing,” Her cheeks colored more, as if she couldn’t believe she actually said that.
Tia’s eyes widened slightly when she saw the hickies on her friend’s body. Everything that happened last night crashed on her all at once: Making out on the elevator, scrambling to get to the door, the slow removal of clothing, and the small gasp of her name. “I… I mean we…”
“Yes?” Subaru sat Indian style, pulling the covers up to cover her body with one hand and using the other to try and block out some of the light.
The red head swallowed again, mind flashing back to Subaru’s nervous request that they should probably stop and her constant insistence that she wanted to continue. ‘We had sex…we had sex…we had SEX!’
“Tia, what’s wrong?” Subaru scooted over towards her, embracing the girl. “Does you head hurt too? Want me to get you some medicine?”
“N-no!” She quickly pushed the girl away, making her fall over onto the bed. “I…I…”
“Tia…?” Subaru looked hurt at the motion.
“I…I have to go,” she quickly got out of bed and stumbled over to her closet to find some clothes. When that didn’t go as fast as she wanted, the girl grabbed her device card and called forth her battle uniform to cover herself.
“Wha…wait! Don’t leave me alone!” Subaru gasped out, reaching for her from the bed. “T-Tia!?”
Tia looked over her shoulder at the scared girl calling for her. A quick memory of Subaru laying naked underneath her came to her mind. She had just asked if they should stop, voiced that she was nervous since it was her first time. Tia had denied her, kissing the girl softly and whispering words of love into her ear. Now with Subaru’s frightened eyes looking at her Tia felt fear in her own heart. Instead of answering her, the redhead quickly opened the door to their room and ran out.
“Tia…” Subaru blinked quickly, trying to hold back her tears. After the first one escaped her, she felt her defenses break and fell onto her bed, sobbing into a pillow.
Tia ran down the hallway and to the elevator, pleased to find it open almost instantly to her beckoning. The doors opened and revealed a fully dressed Nanoha, who almost bumped into her. “Ah, good morning Tia-san.” She noticed that she was in battle gear. “Going to train already? I thought you would have a killer hang over from all that you drank last night?”
“No, um, I mean I do but…” She looked over at her dorm room door and quickly hopped into the elevator when Nanoha stepped out. “I’m going to train!”
“Want to have breakfast first?” The girl offered happily. “I’m getting the Lightning members and Subaru-san as well?”
“S-sorry, no.” Tia reached out and pressed a button on the elevator. The ‘ding’ sound made her bring a hand back to her head in pain as she gave Nanoha an apologetic look.
“That was weird…” Nanoha shrugged and merrily walked over to Caro’s room since it was the first along the way and knocked on it lightly. “Caro-saaaan? You awake yet?” No answer greeted her in return so she tried again. “Caro-san? It’s already eight, you need to get up silly girl.” Again nothing answered her, making her frown. “You okay in there?” She waved her hand across the lock, using her rank to make the door open. The lights were off but the sunlight streaming through the closed blinds gave her enough light to see the girl curled up in bed. She took a moment to look around as she walked over to her, pleased that the small girl had decorated her room. Stuffed animals were everywhere, as well as posters of random things. To her amusement she found picture frames along the walls and desk, most of which showed Fate and Caro together. “Hey there,” she greeted the girl softly, kneeling beside the bed.
Caro opened her eyes slowly, giving Nanoha a sad look. “…Hey…” She whispered back, pulling the covers up to her nose. “My tummy hurts…”
“I’m sorry,” Nanoha pet her lightly. “I gave you my drink by accident, please forgive me?” She got a small nod. “I know you don’t want to, but you need to get up and eat something. You’ll feel amazingly better in just a little bit, I promise.”
“I can’t stay in bed?”
“You can, but you’ll feel bad almost all day long,” She helped move the covers back and lifted the girl up into her arms. “If you eat something it’ll settle your stomach. Come on, I made muffins this morning.”
“Okay.” Caro nodded sleepily and held onto her. “The lights are bright…”
Nanoha laughed nervously. “Ten years old and having her first hangover… Man am I the teacher of the year or what?” She carried the girl outside into the hallway, nearly running into Elio in the process. “Hey there,” She greeted, dancing around him expertly so they wouldn’t collide. “Almost ran over two people in under five minutes, I’m on a roll.”
“Hey Aunt Nanoha,” He saluted her. “Er, Nanoha-san.”
“Want to come to breakfast?” She smiled when he nodded. “Could you ask Subaru-san as well for me?
“Ngghhh…” Fate pushed her head into a pillow and groaned. “Shut up, I’m not getting out of bed.”
“Come on.” Nanoha slid her hands under the girl and hefted her into the air.
“Nanoha!”
“That’s better,” She sat the blond down on her feet and held her when she looked like she was about to fall over. “Change clothes and come downstairs, I have breakfast and medicine for you already okay sweetheart?”
“Ngh,” Fate nodded, walking over to her dresser with one hand nursing her head. “How is it you never get hung over?”
“Skill,” Nanoha giggled before going back downstairs to her company. “Fate-chan’ll be down in a moment, go ahead and eat your hearts out.” Her friends nodded and began to eat slowly at first, then picking up their pace once they realized how hungry they were. A knock at the door revealed Subaru, who was still finger combing her hair to try and get it half way presentable. “Hey Subaru-san,” Nanoha motioned for her to join the rest of them. “Hungry?”
“Starved,” The blue haired girl leaned against the counter since the two little ones were sitting on the only barstools across from her. “What kind?”
“Blueberry today.” Nanoha handed her a few pills and a glass of orange juice. “Here, this’ll knock out your hangover really fast.”
“How did you know I was hung over?” Subaru accepted the pills and took them quickly.
“Your eyes are puffy and your cheeks are red.” Nanoha looked a little closer. “Looks like you’ve been crying?”
“No,” Subaru took a bite of the offered treats and changed the subject. “How are you this morning Caro?”
“I feel funny,” She nibbled on her muffin slowly. “But it’s going away.”
“I see,” Subaru ate in bigger bites, chugging her juice. ‘I always seem to eat when I’m stressed out…’
Tia felt her skin itch, a signal that something was wrong around her. Sure enough a pink blast of energy landed right where she had just been standing. The girl rolled across the ground, avoiding more blast as they collided with the dirt. As she reclaimed her footing several different color blast came at her from different directions. ‘Okay then,’ She though bitterly. ‘A surprise training session, huh? Fine! I need to work out some frustration anyway!’ The practice clips disengaged from her gun and she instantly reloaded with her real cartridges. “Cross mirage, Let’s go all out!”
“All right! Reload complete!”
Her feet spread along the ground, gripping into the dirt. Eyes scanned the area and hands blurred as bullets flew thickly around her. The girl spun around quickly, blasting several shots that were sneaking up on her. The attacks doubled in number, forcing her to quickly adapt and speed up as well. Soon different color bullets were leaving her guns as well, each tracking down their intended targets. ‘I’ll get hit like this,’ she realized as she was forced to slide to the side to avoid that scenario. ‘… I wonder…’
Quickly Tia loaded another clip into her gun and fended off the attacks with one hand, using the new one to shoot into the air several times. The orange bullets came back down and circled her body. Now with bullets flying around her she went back to shooting down what was being aimed at her again, relief washing over her as her bullet shield took out any shots that would normally make her have to move. “You have to do better than that, Nanoha-san!” She cried out, frantically moving faster to blast the remaining shots out of the air. “Ha!”
Tia heard the high pitched sound of a charge up attack, making her freeze in her tracks. “Divine…!” The words reached her ear but she didn’t move. Instead she put both barrels in front of her and charged up her own attack. “…Buster!”
“Scatter shot!” Tia let loose her own fire, shooting the large pink mass of energy flying at her. Just as she had hoped, the blast was destroyed. A smile came across her face for a full two seconds before she realized that the dissipated energy formed into balls, each zipping towards her. The red head brought her guns up to counter but each clicked, signaling that they were out of energy. “Oh no…”
“You’re wound up,” Nanoha finally revealed herself, flying down to the girl who was still braced for impact. Tia slowly opened her eyes and saw that the balls of energy were hovering in front of her, only attacking enough to destroy her barrier. “If your mind is clouded you will make bad mistakes on the battle field.”
Tia panted, wiping her mouth. “I’m just a little out of it, that’s all.”
“Anything you want to talk about?” Nanoha stood in front of her, allowing her magic to dissipate around them. “I’m a good listener.”
“…Sorry, it’s personal.” The shorter girl closed her eyes sadly. “I just need a while to clear my head.”
Nanoha observed her for a moment, debating if the younger one was having battlefield regrets. “All right then,” She put a hand on her head, making Tia look up at her. “If you ever need me, I’m here for you. Personal or Military.”
“Thank you,” The girls both looked to the side as someone approached them. The figure came into view quickly, gliding along skates. “Subaru…”
“Tia!” The girl stopped in her tracks instantly, looking over at her. “…Tia, about last night…”
“Nothing to talk about,” The redhead turned around and allowed her guns to reform back into a card. “Thanks for the training, Nanoha-san. I have to be going now.” With those words, the girl ran away, not looking back.
“…Did something happen…?”
Subaru looked down. “…No, nothing happened…”
“Welcome home, and yes.” Fate called from the kitchen. “Care-san made them!”
“Oh?” The brown haired girl looked amused for a moment. The young female had flour on her face and hair, as well as cookie dough stuck to her hands. “What’s the occasion?”
“Fate-san told me that Elio-kun carried me all last night, so I’m making him cookies as a thank you,” Caro told her happily. “I asked Fate-san if I could use the mess hall kitchen but she said that she would help me in here…sorry if it’s an inconvenience?”
“Not at all,” Nanoha pet the girl on the head before starting to put things away. “Do you not remember much of last night?”
“It’s kind of fuzzy,” She admitted, arranging cookie dough on a baking sheet.
Nanoha laughed nervously when Fate gave her a nasty look. “Nya haha…sorry again…”
“It’s okay, I feel fine now,” Caro picked up the sheet and went to the oven, smiling when Nanoha pulled the door down for her. “Now to just let them bake.”
“I’ll watch over them for you,” Fate told her, bending over to be more eye level with the girl. “Why don’t you go watch some TV for a little while?” She cleaned her up as best she could with a tea towel.
“Okay, thank you.” Caro bowed lightly before leaving the kitchen.
“You’re so kind,” Nanoha spoke softly so the little one wouldn’t overhear. “Always going out of your way to make sure they have a childhood.”
Fate blushed lightly, looking around the corner at the pink haired girl who was happily watching the screen. “They’re so young. I know each one has their own reason for being here but I still want them to have fun whenever they can… Like you allowed for me.”
“Don’t worry,” Nanoha hugged her from behind and whispered in her ear. “They’ll grow up happy and strong, we’ll see to that.”
“Nanoha…” Fate embraced the hands around her stomach a moment before turning around in the embrace and hugging her back. “You’ve always helped me take care of Elio, and now Caro as well…Thank you.”
“They’re my kids too,” She winked. “Elio has called me ‘aunt’ since the first time I’ve met him after all.”
“Just because he thought you were my sister,” She teased happily at the memory.
“Would you rather him call us both ‘mommy’?” Nanoha smiled brightly at her, leaning up to kiss her girlfriend.
“But that would make you my…”
“Yeah, it would.” The two kissed soundly, holding back their gasp for air so Caro wouldn’t come to check up on them. Moments passed by quickly, the kiss getting deeper until finally the buzzer on the oven went off right behind them. Frightened by the sudden loud noise the girls pulled away quickly, Nanoha bringing a hand to her mouth. “You bit my tongue!” She accused.
“S-sorry!” Fate quickly turned off the buzzer and got some distance between her girlfriend just in time for Caro to come back in.
“Are they cookies yet?” She looked over at the girls and blinked. “Um, did I forget to do something?”
“No, no!” Fate opened the oven and took out the sheet. “They’re perfect, hehehe… yeah, perfect!” She gave Nanoha an apologetic look; sure she wouldn’t live that one down for years to come.
Nanoha lazily sat up in the bed, covering a yawn. “Thank you, Raising Heart…” After rubbing her eyes she looked over to the side to see Fate pressed against the wall hugging a pillow. “Wake up, Fate-chan.” She crawled over the large bed to her friend and shook her lightly. “What time did you go to sleep?”
“Too late,” The blond groaned. “I went through that entire folder yesterday… Let me sleep.”
“Can’t; today’s Earthsday. You have to run with the forwards while I’m at my kickboxing class. Come on, you promised.”
“Ugggh… Have I ever mentioned I hate you?”
“Once or twice,” Nanoha kissed her girlfriend’s forehead. “Now get up.” She gave her a quick pat to the stomach and rolled out of bed. “You’ll get out of shape if you don’t run everyday.”
“I don’t want to hear that from the girl who flies everywhere she can, despite constantly getting scolded about it.”
“Cranky this morning are we?” Nanoha giggled to herself. Fate had never been a morning person. “I’ll make you some coffee.”
“Thank you,” Fate waited until Nanoha was out of sight and curled back under the covers, closing her eyes.
“Get out of bed, Fate-chan!”
“You can’t even see me!”
The blue haired girl blushed lightly. “Well, um, I kind of…” She looked down to the floor while trying to remember the excuse she had come up with. “I heard you have a personal trainer?” Changing the subject was always a nice way to get the focus off oneself.
Nanoha nodded. “Yeah, because I was never any good at physical things. I almost failed my gym classes in school and when I joined the military I was so out of shape for this kind of thing they had to get me a PT.” She smiled lightly, embarrassed. “I couldn’t fight hand to hand at all so they got someone special for me.”
“I see…” Subaru bit her bottom lip, debating. “Say?”
“Yes?”
“Can I… I mean, would you mind if…?”
“You want to try it out as well?”
“Yes.”
“Sure, I don’t mind.” Nanoha looked around the gym a moment before spotting her instructor. “Arnold-san!” The name was combined with a wave, catching the man’s attention. “This is Subaru-san,” Nanoha introduced, pointing to her student. “She wants to train too, is that okay?”
The man known as Arnold looked at the petite blue haired girl and rubbed his chin with one hand. He was rather large in size, towering both of the girls by an easy two feet. His body was tone and muscular, not to mention very tan. “All right,” He agreed after a moment. “Get ready,” he continued, voice heavy with an accent. “Because I am gonna pump!” He clapped his hands once and pointed at her. “You up!”
Subaru was seriously having second thoughts.
“Hello,” Nanoha smiled at her while Subaru bent over and panted for air. “Will you be able to join us today?”
“Yes, Vita is already inside getting to know everyone.”
“Go ahead and join them, Subaru-san,” Nanoha nodded at her. “Fate-chan, do you want to teach the lightning members?”
“Sure,” Fate nodded as Subaru sped away on her roller blades. “I was a little worried about them being in different ‘teams’ but it turns out that Tia-san stayed with Caro-san last night. I guess they’re getting to be good friends.”
“She did?” Nanoha looked over at the field. “…Say, Fate-chan? Have… Subaru-san and Tia-san been acting a little strange lately?”
“…I haven’t noticed anything, why?”
“No reason,” She shook her head. “I’m just imagining things. Come one, let’s get this day started!”
“Oh?” Hayate blinked, letting Rein fly up and over to her desk so she could see as well. “Patch him through please.”
“Yes ma’am!” The voice clicked off and after a few moments a small three dimensional image of Yuuno appeared on the desk.
“Good afternoon, Yuuno-kun,” Hayate greeted.
“Hi, Yuuno!” Rein added in, landing on the desk and standing in front of the man.
“Good afternoon,” Yuuno replied in kind. “I’d like to make small talk but I have some big news.”
“What is it?” The leader of the sixth division leaned forward, putting her chin on her hands.
“Well, as you know, I’ve been using some of my time to try and find smugglers of Relics to aid in your Division.” He got an encouraging nod to continue. “I hacked some information from an underground source: turns out there is supposedly going to be some sort of black market auction for a Relic on Midchilda.”
“You’re kidding!?”
“I can’t say for certain as of right now, but we should probably look into it. If we can find out exactly what, when, and where we could intercept it and possibly bring down one smuggler route.”
“True…But where should we start looking? There are countless auctions going on around Midchilda, and if there really was a black market influence, it would probably be high class to cover any suspicion of top dollar items…”
The three crossed their arms and thought silently for a moment. “Why don’t we get some information from crooks themselves?” Rein finally suggested. “A little undercover work to back-up Yuuno’s research?”
“Direct from the source would be best…”Yuuno mused out as he thought. “I know! Every big city has a street racing organization!”
“Yes, they give us a lot of problems.” Hayate sighed out. “I’m going to have to send my unit to shut them down one day since we’re also public safety.”
Yuuno grinned. “How about we join them instead?”
“Eh?”
“Th-thank you….”Subaru pushed herself up shakily. Her body was bruised in several places, matching the multiple small cuts that littered her flesh. ‘And I though Nanoha was strict…she’s brutal!’
“Can you not stand?” Vita leaned against her hammer. “You won’t improve any lying down.”
“I’m fine!” Subaru grunted deep in her throat, forcing herself up completely. “Something like that won’t keep me down!” Her words made Vita smirk. “Come on, I’m ready!”
“Nanoha treats you all too nicely,” Vita voiced her thoughts aloud as she plucked her weapon from the soil. “But I won’t be so kind. If you don’t have experience to back up your power then you will lose against people who are a lot weaker than yourself. Your goal right now is to continue fighting me as long as you can. The more you can do by yourself the less others will have to support you. That’s the goal of our positions; we rip through anything and everything so the others won’t be in that much danger.”
“Ma’am!”
“Then,” Vita held up Graf Eisen. “Graf, set personal limiters –both physically and magically- to B-rank.” Her weapon replied in an affirmative manor, washing over the short female with a sluggish green haze. “Tell me, Subaru,” She started to walk forward slowly. “We are now the same rank. I can not use any abilities that are above me, and if I did they wouldn’t be nearly effective. I cannot speed faster than the average B-rank mage, nor can I fly. With this, what are your chances of besting me in battle?”
‘I’m a little weak but after everything I’ve been through I think I could be classified as a B+ mage… Vita isn’t used to being so weak so she may allow things to break through that she normally wouldn’t flinch at…’ With a grin Subaru ran her thumb across her nose. “Sixty percent!”
Vita laughed openly. “Cocky, aren’t you?” Instantly her eyes narrowed and she pointed her battle hammer at her with one hand. “Your chances are zero.” The words made Subaru flinch. “Come at me!”
“Hiyaa!” The girl blurred forward, rearing back a punch and shooting out two cartridges.
“Too slow!” Vita was already ducking down, allowing the punch to fly over her head. The arm was grabbed and Vita shifted her stance, slinging Subaru over her shoulder and slamming her into the ground. ‘Nanoha would stop here, but…’ Continuing, the red headed girl gripped the wrist she was holding and jerked it to the side, slinging her into a tree. Subaru’s eyes went wide as the breath was robbed from her with the impact. Her lungs tried to reclaim the lost air but found it gone once again when Vita’s hammer slammed into her side, saved only by Mach Caliber’s auto shield.
The blue haired girl coughed violently, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. She allowed herself three seconds to recover before putting one hand onto the ground and flailing out her foot in a sweep kick. Her opponent jumped over it and cut a few back hand springs to reclaim her distance. “Accelerate!” Subaru screamed, flaring forward on her wheels. Once again she reared back her hand. The attack missed once more, this time being sidestepped. All of her momentum stopped at once when she felt the tiny girl’s elbow on her chest.
“Not done yet!” Vita told her, gripping her shoulder and hoisting herself up into the air before spin kicking her and robbing the trainee of her consciousness.
Subaru awoke slowly, vision swimming momentarily as she tried to regain her bearings. For some reason she felt cool and comfortable, a drastic change from the heat of being outside. With a grunt she forced herself to sit up and realized that she was in a hospital bed. “Ow… What hit me?”
“Vita-chan,” Shamal answered her, leaning over to inspect the now awake girl. “You were out for almost three hours.”
“My head is killing me…” Subaru groaned, allowing the doctor to inspect her and answered the standard questions before being allowed to get out of the bed. “How did I even get here?” She wondered briefly, accepting the pain killers the doctor handed her.
“Tiana carried you,” Shamal replied happily. “She asked me to take care of you but she left when I was debating using smelling salts.”
“Tia…”
“Understood,” Fate told the screen as she continued to follow the bright green car with the racing spoiler. The lights reflected off of it as if it had just been waxed and washed several times over. Light flames came from the exhaust and the engine could be heard even through the soundproofing of the enforcer’s car. “I’m going to disable all law enforcements now so I won’t stand out. I’ll be back late tonight or early tomorrow morning.”
“Be safe out there, contact me via cell phone every chance you get all right?”
“I’m a big girl, Yuuno-kun.”
“Tell that to Nanoha, I have to report to her after you report to me…”
The blond giggled to herself. “Okay. Going undercover now.” She got a nod in reply so she reached under her steering wheel and pulled up a cover hiding a button, which she pressed. “Okay then…Everything relating to law enforcement is disabled and hidden…” She took a breath and revved her engine at the stoplight next to the green car and a sharp looking dark blue one. The light turned green and the two shot forward instantly. Fate slammed her gas and followed them, ignoring traffic regulations as she power slid around a turn and drifted through the traffic to keep up with them. The two cars weaved through the traffic hazzardly, followed closely by Fate’s pitch black machine. The routine was carried on for almost five minutes before they finally pulled into a parking garage and sped downwards to the bottom floor.
Fate looked around, keeping a steady expression on her face. Several cars were lined up with their hoods open to show off their engines. Music blared around them as she drove slowly through the mass of people in search of a spot. Seeing one, she pulled into it and got out of her car. Two people approached her quickly while she popped the hood and walked around to the front of her car and opened it.
“What’s a girl like you doing with daddy’s car?” The first asked, eying her up and down.
“My car,” Fate corrected, crossing her arms and leaning a little to the side. She wore a black miniskirt with matching black stockings and high heeled platform shoes. Her shirt was a tight fitting tube top and her makeup was overly done, especially the eye shadow. Fate’s fingernails were done with a pitch black polish, complete with white specks on them to match the dog-type collar she wore. “Won it after I smoked some jerk-off who underestimated me. A little work and here she is,” Fate nodded to the car, pleased to find more people coming over to inspect it.
“And on the inside?”
“That’ll cost you.” She held up her hand and rubbed her index finger and her thumb together in the classic ‘money’ hand motion.
“She’s got spunk!” One man declared, reaching into his pocket and shoving bills into her hand. After receiving a nod he opened her driver side door and got in. “Whoa man, this stuff is tight, yo!” His hands reached around, inspecting. “Dual nos and…” He gripped her hand brake and pulled it. “Ohhhh-ho-ho man! This thing has seen a lot of use!”
“So what you want here?” A new voice came up, making Fate turn.
“I want to race,” She declared, holding her ground when the man got in her face.
“We don’t race for kicks around here, princess.”
“I only race for pinks.” She held up a slip, making several people whistle. “You got the balls to accept?”
The man looked at her a moment longer before smirking. “All right. You’re in.” He turned and called out above the music. “Clear the track, we’re going!”
“You got some guts challenging the King like that, miss-priss.” One of the first men told her as she swapped places with the man inside her car. “Kiss your ride goodbye.”
Fate chose to ignore him, closing her door and following the man who had paid her to inspect. He led her to a line drawn in spray paint and stopped her car there. Shortly after the man she challenged pulled up next to her, glaring. Their eye contact was broken when someone walked between their cars and stood in between them. He pointed to the man’s side and got a confirmation before pointing over to Fate’s side as well. The girl nodded at the person beside her car and they relayed the message as well. “Set!” The man held out both hands. “Go!” The hands dropped and Fate instantly hit the gas.
The female shifted quickly, eyes glaring in front of her as she sped through the parking garage. She felt her hands start to sweat heavily as she maneuvered around cars and people alike, speeding around concrete pillars on her way around the loop. Her opponent sped by her quickly, turning his car and sliding around to easily take the almost ninety degree turn to go up the ramp to the second floor. Following suit, Fate downshifted and pulled her E-brake, also sliding around to ascend as well. She felt her back end glance against the stone wall and grind as she went up. The sparks in her rearview mirror confirmed that she had, indeed, failed at the drift.
With a frown the girl shifted again, speeding up and using a straight away to her advantage by injecting nos into her system and instantly shooting ahead once again. The parking lot section turned to loop around, making Fate’s eyes go wide. She downshifted and over steered once again, pulling her brake. Her car slid sideways as she turned, back end slamming into the wall. Her opponent skidded along in front of her, almost as if it was nothing to turn a complete one-eighty at their speeds. Slamming her hand onto the wheel, Fate shifted down into first and floored her gas.
The way up onto the third floor was made easily, this time correctly sliding her car around to speed up the ramp. Ahead of her, the so called ‘king’ was cutting another turn, easily leaving black marks in a perfect half circle. Fate glared at the turn, over steering one way before cutting hard and pulling her brake again, successfully looping around one of the concrete pillars of the parking garage. The fourth floor was a repeat and the fifth floor led them neck and neck again. ‘I’m going to hit the wall again when we cut,’ she realized quickly why the man seemed to be so confident. ‘I have to get ahead but how!?’ The path came on her quickly, forcing the girl to swerve hard. The front side of her car collided with a pillar, making her spin around backwards. Not stopping, the girl threw her car into reverse and floored it, using the momentum to slip around behind the man as he turned and go up the final ramp backwards. Cutting hard, she smiled at the shocked face of the man in front of her as she steered her car in reverse up the ramp
“What the hell!?” One of the men came up to Fate’s smoking car and looked over it. When the two stopped on the roof. “You can’t even drift and you challenge the best? You have some nerve lady!”
“A win’s a win.” Fate declared, getting out of her car after pushing the send button to message Yuuno to proceed with the next step on her cell phone. “Your car is mine.” She held out her hand. “Keys and slip.”
A cell phone rang amidst the cheering and yelling, answered by one of the random people in the crowd. “Oh man,” he gasped out. “Oh man! Yo, we got cops! COPS!” The scream of sirens emphasized his point, making the people on the rooftop instantly scramble. Fate jumped into her car and started it, allowing the small screen to appear on her steering wheel after her door closed.
“Hey Yuuno-kun,” She greeted him happily, screaming her car down the off ramp along with the others. “The one we want has a white car with black and red flames on the side.”
“Rodger that.” He typed on a keyboard in front of him as Fate ripped onto the streets, laughing at the blue and red lights flashing all around her.
“This is so much fun!”
Yuuno sweated lightly. “Do I need to remind you that you’re an officer, Fate-san?”
“Sure, sure,” Fate grinned, following the white car. Several police vehicles shot by them, forcing the two away from the rest of the crowd of scrambling street racers. Pressed on, the two zipped through the streets, running red lights and turning around back allies. “Okay I think that’s enough,” Fate told her partner as she shifted and sped past the white car. She made a motion at him and got a nod before cutting around and speeding out ahead. “Call off the chase on us.”
“Done and done,” Yuuno confirmed. “Good luck, Fate-san!”
“Thanks,” She skidded her car around a turn and cut it off, soon joined by the man behind her. She held her breath unconsciously, even if she knew that the police wouldn’t follow her. Seconds passed by slowly before she opened her door and got out.
“Not bad, for a woman.” The man called as he got out of his ride as well. “Seems you know how to run from the police.”
“You could say that.” Fate strutted over to him and sat on the hood of her car.
“Here,” He held out his keys. “It’s yours. I have several more anyway.”
“Keep you car, I want something else.”
“Oh?” He crossed his arms. “What’s that?”
“Money,” she replied easily. “More than just a car can bring in, I need a job.”
“What kind?”
“Transporter.” Fate crossed her legs and looked over at him. “I was sent from another country over here after I was set up on a delivery. I need to get in with the big dogs around here and start my runs again.”
“Transporter huh? Well you certainly drive like one.” He eyed her car. “It shows the way you drift, you’re used to fast races where you have plenty of room… All right then, what’s the first rule of a transporter?”
“Never open the package.”
“Good, and the second?”
“Get it there on time.”
“And the third?”
Fate smirked. “There is no third rule.”
“…All right, since you bailed me and are letting me keep my car I’ll hook you up. There’s a cruise ship coming by the harbor in six days. Onboard will be several of the richest people on Midchildra. One of the items being sold is a crystalline energy source, a type of battery that holds unspeakable power.”
“I see,” She cut to the point.
“It will go on auction, and Onisuka-san will place top bid on it. The ship will be circling out in the ocean and once the auction is over and we get back to harbor he’ll need a driver incase anyone decides to ‘reconsider the sale’ if you know what I mean.”
“Exactly.” Fate smirked. “What ship?”
“The mayflower. Six days from now, it leaves at one in the afternoon.”
“Thank you.” Fate nodded at him and slid off the car. “I’ll be there.” Sliding in, she cranked her car and backed out, cutting on her headlights and driving off. “Yuuno-kun,” her cell phone displayed the screen once again. “I got the information, take him down.”
“Rodger.”
“You would have woken me when you got in bed,” She replied easily as Fate walked over to her. “Besides, I told you to wake me up when you got home. I worry, you know.”
“Everything went according to plan.” She soothed, leaning over to kiss the girl’s forehead. “I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow morning…what?” She blushed lightly when Nanoha’s gaze went lower.
“What are you wearing!?”
“Um,” Fate scratched her cheek. “You have to look the part when you’re undercover…”
“You look like a five dollar hooker.” Nanoha teased her happily.
“Oh gee, thanks, that’s just what I want to hear.”
“It’s okay,” Nanoha pulled her down onto the bed, obviously more awake now. “Because,” She whispered up into her ear. “I have five dollars.”
Fate blushed darkly when her girlfriend started rubbing her back and stomach. “Mou, you really are like a rabbit…It’s three in the morning!”
“Nya haha! C’mere!” She playfully growled at her lover and rolled her on the bed so she was on top. “I always wanted to play dress up!”
“Impossible.” Rein informed her. “That ship is one of the classiest reserve-only type ships that has to be booked months in advance. The thought of putting military on board is laughable. Their personal security is top notch so they’ll turn down any help we offer.”
“I see…” Fate put a hand to her chin.
“We could stay undercover,” Hayate mused. “With the connections I have, I’m sure we could talk the people into letting a few of us on board to observe. We would have to blend in perfectly, though.”
“I see…”
“All right, my master.” The empty training ground around them changed quickly to a type of large elegant room with tile flooring and chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings.
“I doubt any of you can waltz so the first step is to learn.” Nanoha looked to the side. “My friend Yuuno-kun has agreed to help out on this mission and has already secured himself a place as the auctioneer thanks to his extensive knowledge on items and antiques.”
“Hi there,” He nodded that the group of people in front of them.
“Music please?” Nanoha watched Yuuno type a few things on a floating keyboard display, getting a soft steady song going. “Shall we?”
“With pleasure, my lady.” Yuuno bowed to Nanoha and took her hand. His free arm went to her waist and felt Nanoha’s rest on his shoulder.
“And, one, two, three, four,” Nanoha stepped to the beat along with the male dancing with her. “Once you get these basic steps down you can simply repeat them.” She had to pause as she was twirled. “You want to blend in as much as possible so if anyone ask you to dance, accept.”
“We really have to do that?” Subaru asked nervously, watching the couple dance.
“It’s easy,” Rein encouraged her, sitting on her shoulder. “A little practice and you’ll be fine.
“Now you try,” Nanoha let go of Yuuno and looked at them. “Pair up and lets see what you have.” She saw Elio look over at Caro and shyly reach out his hand, even giving a little bow. The pink haired girl smiled to herself and accepted, placing her palm on top of his.
“Tia…?” Subaru looked over at her friend nervously.
“Idiot,” Tia looked away. “What’s the point of one of us learning to lead when we’ll both be following at the mission?”
“Oh… I see…”
“Here,” Fate stepped forward and offered her hand to Tia. “I know how to lead.”
“You do?” Tia accepted the hand and got into position.
“Someone has to be the lead when two girls dance,” She replied easily, making Tia blush a little when she realized that the blond had learned for Nanoha.
“I guess that puts you with me,” Yuuno spoke to Subaru, making her jump lightly. “Easy, I don’t bite.”
“He does so!” Nanoha accused playfully.
“Oi!” Yuuno glared at her, only getting a smile back.
“I guess someone like me would only cause trouble here.” Vita voiced up to Hayate as the couples tried to dance, failing miserably.
“Don’t say that,” Hayate knelt down next to Vita and ruffled her hair. “You have a role too.”
“What part am I going to play?” The pigtailed girl looked up at Hayate, pleased at being rubbed.
“I’m going to be using illusion magic to make myself look a little older. You will be my daughter.”
“I see…”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Tia replied softly, turning to walk again. She made it three steps before her hand was caught. “Subaru, let go!”
“No!” She spun her friend around and grabbed her shoulders. “Tia! It hurts! Stop ignoring me! Please!”
“Just let it go,” Tia looked away and spoke softly, avoiding her eyes. “We were drunk.”
“I don’t care,” Subaru’s eyes started to water. “Tia…”
“Subaru, stop it.” She looked at her friend’s face, accidentally meeting her eyes. ‘I don’t want to see you like this… I don’t want to feel like this!’ She tried to pull away but found herself being held still. “Let me go, Subaru.”
“No…I don’t want to.” She forced her friend into a hug. “Tia, we made love together!”
“We were drunk Subaru!” Tia countered, trying to will herself to force the girl away. “Stop it, please let me go.”
“I don’t want to,” The girl gripped her tighter. “We hugged…”
“I didn’t know what I was doing.” Tia felt her eyes moisten lightly. “Please let me go.”
“We kissed…”
“I’m not gay. Please let me go.”
“We touched…”
“I don’t like girls. Please let me go.
“I like you.” Subaru’s voice started to shake.
“I don’t like you like that. Let me go. Now.” Tia closed her eyes tightly. ‘I’m not gay, I’m not gay, I’m not gay, I’m not!’
“You said you loved me!” Subaru screamed out, gripping her harder.
“I lied!” Tia finally shoved her away, turning around quickly and running. “I don’t love you!” Tears ran down her cheeks when the sudden cry of her name left Subaru’s lips. ‘Stop it Subaru!’ she sobbed mentally as she ran. ‘Why are you making me feel like this!? I’m not ready for this! I can’t deal with these feelings!’
“Tiaaa…” The single word broke softly as the girl sank to her knees sadly.
The redhead saluted her instantly. “Yes ma’am. I am to pose as a waiter and try to find out any information I can while serving refreshments during lunch and eavesdrop on the floor before the auction starts while offering drinks.”
Caro nodded to herself when she was looked at. “I am going to help Elio-kun during the luncheon and if need calls for it, be a distraction. My main goal is to try and find out who Onisuka is.”
“Once Caro finds out who the target is I will talk to him before or after the auction and gain information on the items he won.” Nanoha added in. “Best case scenario I will be able to get him alone and see it. Worst case I will have to follow him.”
Subaru swallowed nervously. “I will be dancing with anyone who might be part of the conspiracy and try to uncover any information about what they have bid on, just incase there is more than one relic being sold.”
“And I will be observing anyone who takes or brings in an item from the auction.” Tia finished the confirmation.
“Good,” Hayate nodded at them. “We’re almost there, time to prepare yourselves. Vita-chan?”
“Okay,” The forever young girl closed her eyes and concentrated. Seconds ticked by and when she re-opened them, Hayate was a little taller with waist length hair. Mature features graced her face, showing that of a girl approaching her mid-thirties. “There you go, Hayate.”
“That’s ‘Mommy’.” Hayate corrected her, making Vita blush darkly.
“Okay… Mommy.” Vita’s word made Nanoha snort, covering her mouth to prevent herself from laughing. Glaring, the small girl reached out and stomped her foot, instantly cutting off the giggles and making her give an apologizing glance.
“We’re here,” Fate stated as the limo parked. “Remember, the most important thing is to act casual and do not meet anyone in the eyes. You want them to see you and forget you a few seconds later.”
“Ma’am!” the door opened from the outside and one by one the girls carefully got out of their transportation. Fate was the first, gracefully walking on black high heels with a tight fitting elegant black dress with a large slit running up the side. Nanoha followed in a green dress that hugged her curves to her waist, where it flared out dramatically. A sheer scarf went around her back and looped around her arms to hold itself up. Her hair was done up in a simple bun, held on place by two jewel studded chopsticks.
Subaru, not being able to walk in heels, had on graceful slippers and a casual dress with sheer coverings around her arms. Her short hair was fixed to curl, giving her a rather cute look about her. To offset the childness of it, sapphire earrings hung from her lobes, turning her into a girl who border-lined being a woman.
Tia chose rather to wear a Chinese style dress of Nanoha’s. The red silk clung to her body from the neck down to her waist, where a slit in it allowed her ample room to walk around in, as well as give any males around her a little eye candy. Her normal pigtails were gone, allowing her hair to flow out behind her casually.
Hayate and Vita came out next, wearing matching red frilly dresses that flared out with several ribbons tied to it for fashion. Hayate’s version had black lace added to it, giving her a more mature look than her counterpart, who instead had a stuffed bunny in her arms. The red head’s hair was let down as well, showing natural curls thanks to years of braiding.
Finally Elio slid out of the car, adjusting his tight collar of his black tuxedo slightly before offering his hand to Caro, who had a simple pink dress. It covered her shoulders completely with the rest of her arms being graced by long silk gloves. A soft clicking came when her sandal type shoes touched the ground, following her as she walked along with the group towards the long stairway that allowed for boarding.
Hayate spoke with the men standing next to the entrance and was granted permission to board along with her friends. Upon reaching the top the ship’s captain took notice and went to properly greet them. “Welcome aboard,” He cheerfully told them. “Please do make yourselves at home. We will be gathering in the main lobby once everyone is accounted for.”
“Thank you sir.” Hayate bowed lightly towards him.
“You are most welcome,” He replied in kind before looking down at Vita. “Oh what a cutie you have there, is she your daughter?”
“Yes sir,” Hayate looked down at her friend.
Vita hopped forward lightly, bending over almost in half in a bow. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir!” She told him happily before lifting up and hugging her bunny in a cute girlish way.
“The pleasure is all mine little lady,” The captain laughed merrily.
“Come on now, Vita-chan,” Hayate motioned for her. “Let the nice man continue along, he’s very busy.”
“Yes ma’am,” Vita instantly reached for and gripped two of Hayate’s fingers, holding her stuffed animal with her free hand. “Will they have ice cream here too, mommy?” She looked up at Hayate as they walked along.
“We’ll see, if you’re a good girl.”
“Yay!” Vita skipped a few steps along before walking properly.
Subaru’s eyebrow twitched lightly. ‘That’s the same girl who knocked me out a few days ago…scary…’
“You have to play your part completely,” Nanoha spoke to her mentally as she happily greeted the captain while introducing everyone. “Or you’ll blow everyone’s cover.” Subaru nodded lightly towards Nanoha, making the girl smile. ‘Although,’ The brown haired girl thought to herself, watching Vita retreat from them. ‘Deep down, she’s enjoying the chance to act like a child…’ The thought made her smile brightly to herself. ‘I’m SO going to pet her later.’
“No one has said the name, although there is someone here who seems to be a favorite.” Caro waved to the people before fixing the tray of glasses back on her hand and walking around, seeking out people with empty glasses. “The man to your right in the brown suit and gray hair, his name is Oridarn. They say he will be the most successful today.”
“Thank you, I’ll look into it.” Nanoha walked over to the man and thanks to Elio’s clever timing, bumped into him. “Oh excuse me sir,” She apologized instantly. “It seems I’m not used to walking on a ship.”
“Oh is this your first time?” He greeted her, taking a quick glance over her body.
Nanoha smiled and nodded at him. ‘Most definitely not a gentleman is he?’ she thought to herself, subconsciously wishing her dress didn’t show as much cleavage as it did. “Are you used to these kind of things, mister…?” She trailed off lightly.
“Oridarn, my lady.”
“Oridarn-sama,” She cooed at him.
Smiling, the man caught Elio’s eye and got him to come over. “A drink for my new friend would you?”
“Right away sir!” He replied instantly, pulling his tray down from his palm held in the air and took a glass of champagne from it. “Here you are, Madam.” He handed over the glass and bowed to them before continuing along his way.
“My, how thoughtful,” Nanoha motioned with her free hand, brushing against him lightly in the process. Oridarn smiled to himself, making Nanoha inwardly smirk. ‘Weakness to flirting, huh?’ She put on a large smile. “You simply must tell me how these auctions work so I won’t make a fool of myself?”
“Most certainly!”
Fate watched the man talking to Nanoha for a moment before the two took to the dance floor. “Tia-san, how goes your end?”
“Slow but steady,” Tia thought back to her. “I have a good perch to observe with no problems. A few people here are chatting to me about random things.”
“Good, hold your position and let me know immediately if anything resembling a crystal comes in or out.”
“Rodger.”
The blond looked around the room to find Hayate and Vita talking to a few people. Vita was using her child-like innocence to look around the room sharply in search for anything out of place while Hayate talked to random guest. Subaru crossed across her vision as she did a slow dance with one of the more charming males of the night, making the blond grin at her reactions at being forced to adapt to a dance she didn’t really know. All in all she improvised rather well, making Fate a little proud. “Subaru-san, hang in there,” She thought to the Stars member happily. When no reply greeted her she tried again. “Subaru-san? Subaru?” testingly she looked over at Caro. “Caro-san, can you hear me?” The pink haired girl kept walking past her, as if nothing happened. ‘Dammit, an AMF… There has to be gadget drones somewhere nearby…I need to check in on Tia.’
Fate left the ballroom after talking to a random waiter to inquire on where the restrooms were. With a valid reason of not being in the main lobby, the girl proceeded to walk down the hallways, eyes glancing around while keeping her head forward. The way to where the items were being held was made in peace, but upon arriving she noticed that Tia was nowhere to be seen. She was about to turn back but a small glitter made her look down on the floor. Slowly she knelt down and picked up the empty cartridge shell, gripping it into her fist.
“Can I help you find something, miss?”
Fate stood up and turned around, looking at two men standing before her. “Yes,” She flushed. “I’m looking for the powder room?”
“We’ll be more than happy to show the way,” The other spoke, stepping forward and ushering Fate away from where she knew they were. ‘Nanoha!!’
Back in the large lobby Nanoha felt a sudden sting in her heart, making her conversation falter. “Excuse me,” She covered, holding a hand to her mouth. “Champagne is a little fizzy on a ship.”
Oridarn chuckled merrily to himself, letting the slip up slide by him. “Yes, it rather is, isn’t it?”
“Y-yes,” Nanoha smiled at him. “Fate-chan? Fate-chan!” her telepathy got no reply, making her hold back a frown. “I’m sorry, I do think I need some fresh air, would you terribly mind if I take a moment?” She pawed at his hand in a flirting way.
“No, no, by all means my dear. I shall be around here when you return.”
“Thank you,” Nanoha walked a little ways away from him. ‘Ugh I suddenly want to wash my hands,’ She repressed the urge to shiver and caught Caro’s eye, holding her glass up lightly in a silent beckoning. When the young girl got close enough, she placed her half empty glass onto her tray. “Thank you little lass,” She greeted. Before Caro walked away she whispered another word. “Distraction.” She didn’t look to see if she had heard, but instead continued along her way.
Caro walked instantly up to Yuuno, who was standing next to the auction stage talking with a few other males about fine art. “Excuse me, sir?” She spoke up to him, catching Yuuno’s attention. “I was told to speak with you about my number?”
“Oh, that would be Sakisaku-san here you need,” Yuuno picked up instantly. “Sir, it seems this young lady would like to put on a performance.”
“My, how interesting.” He looked over her, “What would you like to be played?”
“Um, something…exotic sounding, with lots of fast beats. I would like to dance, if it would please you, sir?”
Yuuno looked down at the girl, impressed that she had picked up on ‘proper public speaking’ so quickly. For being so young, the girl obviously had a lot of maturity to her.
“I have just the thing,” Sakisaku spoke after thinking a moment. “When would you like it?”
“In five minutes, if you would?”
“Most certainly.” Caro gave the man a curtsey before turning to track down Elio. “Girls are so cute at that age.”
The girl found her partner a moment later, catching his eye and nodding to the side. The red head instantly began walking over to her and followed her trail past the side exit of the lobby and into a small dressing room used for performers putting on plays on the stage. “There’s been a problem,” She whispered quickly. “Nanoha-san left the room and asked me to put on a distraction.”
“I haven’t seen Fate lately either, nor Tia, they should have checked in… Okay, I’ll get with Subaru-san and check things out. Hayate-san and Vita-san can stay here with you for the auction just incase we don’t make it back in time.”
“Okay,” Caro nodded at him but grabbed the boy’s arm when he turned to leave. “Um, before you go… can you undo my zipper? I can’t reach it…”
“S-sure…” Elio watched his partner turn around and one shaking hand went to the small hidden zipper on her back. Slowly it came down, revealing her bare back.
“K-kya!” Caro quickly brought her hands up to catch the dress before it fell off of her, despite wearing another suit under it. “Thank you…”
“You’re welcome…” Elio guiltily allowed himself just one more second to look at her before turning and leaving the room.
Caro blushed happily to herself when the door closed. ‘I can’t think about that,’ She shook her head quickly to clear it, allowing her dress to fall off her body completely, leaving her in a bikini top complete with shining pink scales on it that reflected light. Her bottom half was covered by the matching bottom half to the set, although she also had a sheer pink fabric coming from the bikini bottom that went all the way down to her ankles. Stepping out of the dress she looked around quickly to find what she needed, eventually coming across a long string with several small golden cymbals on it that jingled together when moved. Using it, she wrapped it around her stomach and tied it off. With a testing shake of her hips, she was pleased to find a soft jingling sound come from it.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Yuuno’s voice came over the speakers of the room, signaling to her that it was time to go. “We have a special treat for you tonight!” He went on, catching everyone’s attention. “From all the way across the country we have a charming little girl who is going to share with you a cultural dance! Please welcome Rushie!” A spotlight hit center stage, illuminating the little gypsy. Music started to flow into the lobby, getting everyone’s attention on the girl on stage. At first she stood still, seemingly paralyzed by having everyone looking at her. ‘Come on Caro…don’t get stage shy…you can do this!’ Yuuno gripped his fist in anticipation.
Caro licked her lips lightly, lifting her head when the music picked up instantly and began to shake her hips to the beat as well as tap her feet in a rhythm. The sounds merged with the music, allowing her to twirl and dance freely as she remembered the dances she used to have with her tribe before she was exiled.
“Subaru-san,” Elio whispered to the girl, standing next to her. “We need to go.”
“Right,” She allowed the male to leave the room first before following him. Once outside they began to run down the decks quickly. “What went wrong?”
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly as they made their way to where the items were supposed to be held. “Nanoha-san and Fate-san are gone. I think Nanoha will be back inside after she makes a round but we should get to the bottom of it.”
“Rodger.” Subaru nodded at him before flipping over a railing and landing on the deck below them. The girl sped along the hallways as fast as she could, ducking into corridors or sliding around corners when crew members would get close enough to see her. ‘According to the blue prints, the items should be through this door and into the engine room…’ She put one hand on the door and slowly turned the knob. Bracing herself, she busted into the room and slid along the floor when a magical blast was shot right where she had been standing. Thinking fast, she kicked her leg up and nailed the man in his chin, knocking him out. “Aw man, I ripped my dress,” She pouted, looking at the tear that had just happened. Several mumbling sounds made her look to the side, seeing Tia tied up and gagged. “Tia!” Quickly she ran over to her and freed the girl. “Are you okay?”
“Been better,” She gasped out honestly when she was able to talk again. “No time; Fate allowed herself to be brought here but they don’t think she’s one of us. They went through that door.” She pointed to emphasize. “We need to go the other way, some people are trying to steal the relic before it goes on auction. Fate-san can deal with the rest.”
“Damn it, why did things have to get this complicated?” Subaru grimaced, pulling out her necklace. “No one but the criminals and smugglers will be down there, let’s suit up and split to cover more ground.”
“Agreed.” Tia shifted her dress and plucked her device card from a garter belt high on her thigh. “…What?”
“Nothing,” Subaru looked away. “It’s not the time for that.”
“… Let’s go.”
“Right.”
“Spectacular performance,” A voice made Caro turn, looking up at Oridarn. “Tell me, is Rushie your stage name?”
“Y-yes sir!” She answered nervously, bowing.
“What is your name then?” He pondered.
“Eh!?” She blushed, realizing that she couldn’t use her first name and also that she just admitted to her last name being false one made for the stage. “Um,” Her eyes glanced around, trying to find something to name herself after. Finally her sight rested on Nanoha as she made her way over to them. “Na… Takamachi.” She declared. “My name is Takamachi.”
“Oh? The same name as,” He saw Nanoha stop next to them, staring down at the girl, who was shaking nervously, afraid she just blew their cover.
“She’s mine,” Nanoha covered smoothly, placing both hands onto Caro’s shoulders from behind.
“Oh, I see.” Oridarn chuckled to himself. “Please forgive me, my lady, you look so pretty I didn’t realize you were old enough to be a mother.”
Nanoha had to force herself from faltering. ‘I was going for sister…’ She laughed nervously. ‘Do I look old enough to be a mother of a ten year old!?’ Nanoha rubbed Caro’s shoulders to try and calm herself down. “What can I say, I age well, Hehehe…”
“I would say, you don’t look a day over twenty five!”
Caro felt Nanoha’s grip on her shoulders tighten, making her look up at her ‘mother’. ‘She’s nineteen…’ She thought to herself. “Um… Mother?” the word seemed to have trouble coming from her mouth. “Do you mind if I get something to drink? I’m a little thirsty after dancing.”
“Sure thing sweetheart,” Nanoha pet her head. “Be sure to come back when the auction starts okay dear?”
“Yes ma’am.” Caro almost saluted but stopped herself in time. “I’ll be off then,” She bowed to the man. “Thank you for the compliment, sir.” With that, she trotted away to re-catch the attention of those around her.
“You’ve come to steal the Relic haven’t you?” He countered her, getting in a fighting stance with magical spades coming from his knuckles. “I won’t allow it!”
Subaru frowned, launching herself forward with a kick. The man easily caught the ankle sailing towards him and gripped it before slinging the girl behind himself using her own momentum against her. Subaru yelped at the sudden change in direction and screamed out when she cracked against a skinny pipe coming from the wall. Falling, she gripped her side, pushing back tears in her eyes. ‘Oh my god, I think it broke one of my ribs…’ She looked up in fear. ‘There’s no way I can match that kind of power…’
Pushing herself up anyway, she narrowed her eyes, blurring around him when he charged at her and punched. Looking back, the girl gasped at the hole in the wall where his hand went. The man turned and dashed towards her, punching and sending the girl reeling. Her shield shattered in front of eyes as she ricocheted off the wall and slid along the ground, leaving a blood smear on the floor. ‘He has to be at least double A…’ her eyes teared up as she stood once more. ‘I can’t even see him move…’ Turning, she set her accelerators and retreated. One hand held her ribs while the other flailed out for balance. Her instincts made her duck, feeling the wind of a punch over her head. The attack hit the wall next to her, shattering it instantly.
Her skates twisted around to allow the girl to slide backwards. Subaru panted out, looking at the man crack his knuckles. ‘No good, I can’t run like this…’ With a frown she shot forward, raising her hand to strike. The man side stepped slowly, making her eyes go wide. ‘I’ve seen this before!’ Quickly Subaru brought a hand to her chest and caught the man’s elbow before it crashed into her. The momentum caused her body to flip upwards and twist. Her hands went to the man’s shoulder, mind picturing Vita doing the same thing to her earlier. With a sharp kick she buried the front wheel of her rollerblade into the man’s temple, knocking him to the side and into the wall. Not stopping, two shells shot out of her glove before she roughly punched the man’s stomach, breaking the wall and sending him through it.
Subaru panted harshly, gripping her side that was still bleeding. ‘I… I did it…’ Slowly she turned and skated off down the hallway and back to the door of the room standing out in the middle of the engine area. ‘Now to just get the relic and get the hell off this ship…’ Her weak pace stopped slowly as the sounds of crunching metal came to her ears. Ever so slowly she turned around, breath getting faster as the man she had just knocked down pulled himself through the hole. “No…” She skated backwards. “No… No!” Terrified, she stumbled back around and tried to skate faster, ribs now screaming in pain from the sudden movements. “Stay back!” Up in front of her she saw Tia land on top of the room she was originally supposed to be going into. ‘Tia! Help me!’ She couldn’t find the words, mouth too busy gasping for air.
Tia looked to the side, seeing Subaru stumbling away from a large man chasing her. ‘He must be the main guy,’ Her guns aimed at the man. ‘Subaru, are you hurt?’ her mind hazed slightly. ‘I guess you always do need me to watch out for you…’
‘Tia! Tia! Tia! Tia!’ Subaru faltered her escape.
’Then why are you making me run from you? Can’t you see that you’re putting too much on me?’
‘Why hasn’t she shot yet!? Is something wrong Tia!?’
Tears fell from the girl’s eyes. ‘I can’t think straight Subaru, can’t you see that?’
‘She’ll shoot…she’ll shoot… I know she’ll shoot… Save me Tia!’
Tia shook her head, gripping her pistols again. ‘No, I have to focus on the here and now! I have to…’
“Tiaaaaaaaaa!” Subaru blasted forward as the man finally reached her and threw a punch.
“Subaru!?” Tia fired her guns, hitting the man and knocking him back several yards onto his back. “Oh my god, Subaru!” Dropping quickly, she ran over to her. “I…I…” Swallowing, she tried to find her words. “Say something… Subaru say something! Anything!” Turning her over, she gasped at the blood on her hands. “Subaru… no, no! You’re okay! You have to be okay!”
“One down…” The man grunted, pushing himself up and wiping the blood from his chest where he was shot. “You have more spunk than her at least. Managed to actually hurt me.”
“You… you… you…” Tia stood up, guns shaking into her hands
“I killed her,” He confirmed standing right in front of the smaller girl. “And now I’ll kill you.”
Tia screamed, eyes dilating to the point where there was no color left in her eyes. Before she could even think her guns were already in front of her. “Barrier break,” Cross Mirage stated calmly, blasting two shots that shattered the barrier the mage had in front of him and knocking him onto his back form the force of it. Before he could react, Tia was already on top of him, still screaming. “Rapid fire.”
The sound of magical gunfire rang loudly through the empty engine room of the ship. Long moments passed by as the screaming and blast continued before finally the sounds of clicking echoed throughout.
Tia panted as the smoke cleared, fingers still clicking the empty barrels of her gun. Slowly she became aware of herself again as her adrenaline wore off. Gasping out, she looked down at the man beneath her. All at once her stomach twisted at the sight, forcing the girl to stumbled back and drop her guns. Cross mirage instantly went into card form and into her pocket. The girl, however, could only clamp a hand over her mouth before falling to her knees and throwing up.
“Tia-san!” Elio’s voice came to her ears, making her look blankly behind herself. The male landed on top of the room before jumping down from it and looked at her. “…What is it?”
“Don’t’ look,” Tia spat sickly before crawling a few paces. Once she was farther away from the sight that would forever haunt her, she stood up. “The relic…get it. Subaru needs help. I’ll carry her.”
“Subaru-san?” Elio looked behind himself at the girl lying in a smeared area of blood. “…Oh no…”
“Hurry!” Tia screamed at him as she carefully lifted her. “She wouldn’t…” The girl had to swallow in mid sentence. “Want us to fail this mission because of this…”
The girl blinked. “Fate-chan?” She asked mentally to the person contacting her.
“Good, that was the last of the drones.” She sounded relieved. “There were two groups trying to steal the relic. I took care of one of them, Subaru-san and Tia-san should be onto the other.”
“I think they succeeded,” Nanoha smiled to herself as Yuuno announced that the last item for auction had been sold. “The relic didn’t make it to the stage, they must have it.”
“Great.” Fate replied happily. “I’m heading to the main deck now.”
“I’ll take care of Onisuka here, it’s obviously him now.” Nanoha watched the man stand up and walk out of the isle of people. Quickly following, she tailed the man until he made it outside. “Oridarn-sama? Why didn’t we bid on anything?” She asked innocently. “I wanted to raise your number for you!”
“What are those fools doing!?” He suddenly demanded, slamming his hand onto the ship railing. “They had one job, one!”
“Sir?”
“I’m sorry missy,” Onisuka turned and raised a gun up to her. “But you’ve been with me long enough, heard too much.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” Vita stated, pointing her hammer up at the man as well. “I would hate to get blood stains on my pretty dress.”
Onisuka glared down at the girl. “Mages…”
“Top rank mages,” Vita corrected him.
“I’m afraid she’s correct.” Nanoha quickly flashed her hand up, making the gun fly from his hands by hitting it with a magical ball of energy. “The game’s up, Onisuka.” She watched the man jump backwards and try to run, only to get knocked out by Hayate’s staff. “Well, that was nice.”
“There’s Fate,” Vita mused, seeing the girl walk over to them in a slightly ruffled dress. “Where are the others?”
“I’m here,” Caro greeted them, holding her dress in her arms, along with Vita’s stuffed rabbit. “Yuuno was just contacted by Elio, he’s going to send a clean up crew to the engine room, there was a battle there as well as where Fate-san was.”
“Well then… All we need now are my two stars members and Elio-kun.”
“Nanoha-saaaaaan!” Tia cried desperately as she ran towards them with Subaru in her arms. “She’s hurt!”
“Broken ribs, and her body seems to be one giant bruise. From the looks of it she was thrown against or hit with every inanimate object around her. Her back was hurt pretty bad as well, and I’m afraid she’ll be bedridden for almost a week… Even after that I won’t allow her to train for another few days, if that soon.”
“So she’ll be all right…right?” Tia asked quickly, wiping her eyes with her arm. “Right!?”
“Yes, she will make a complete recovery in time. She will be in intensive care for another two days at most. As long as her condition doesn’t worsen she will be fine.”
“She can worsen!?” Tia almost screamed.
“Tia-san, calm down.” Fate put a hand onto the shorter girl’s shoulder. “Shamal is the best of the best. Subaru will be okay.”
“I need a definite answer!” She screamed at the blond, voice breaking.
“Shamal-san,” Nanoha asked calmly. “Can we see her?”
“I’m afraid I’d rather have her alone right now, I don’t want her to wake up and exert any energy.” The blond apologized with her eyes.
“Okay then,” Nanoha motioned to the people around her. “Well then, it’s late and we need to get some rest after today’s mission.” She motioned for the Lightning members to follow her out, joined by Hayate and her knights, save the doctor.
“Tia-san,” Fate started when Shamal went back into the room to check on Subaru. “What are you not telling me?”
“I…” Tia looked down. “I hesitated… I could have shot the man coming after her instantly, but my mind wondered…”
Fate took a long intake of air through her nose. “So this is your fault?”
“…Yes.”
“Tia-san?”
“Yes ma’am?”
Fate turned to look at her. “You killed someone today didn’t you?” She knew the answer before she asked it, Yuuno having informed her of the body close to the item storage room.
“…Yes ma’am.”
“I don’t know what happened exactly, but the reason you took a life was because you hesitated to save one, correct?”
“I… I thought she was dead…because I didn’t help her right away… I…I…”
“Why did you hesitate?” Fate turned to look at her and forced the girl to look up into her eyes as well. “Tell me.”
“Be…Because I…” She closed her eyes tightly. “Subaru and I… we were drunk and we had sex with each other…and…”
“…And?”
“…And I couldn’t deal with that, with the feelings it was giving me…So I ran from her… When I saw her trying to get away from that man I… I don’t know, my mind just froze. I couldn’t think because all I saw was Subaru and my unclear feelings…”
“Tia-san.” Fate lifted her chin up with a finger. “You will see and experience many, many things on and off the battlefield. No matter what happens, you must always act when you need to. If you don’t, things like this will happen.”
Tia glared up at her, sniffing. “How… How can you say that so calmly!?” Her voice started getting louder. “I killed someone tonight, Fate! I almost lost the person I care about!”
“I know, but getting upset will only-”
“Only what? Annoy you?” Tia wiped her eyes quickly, still sniffing. “Remind you how indifferent you’ve become!? How could someone so cold like you ever understand what it’s like to be so scared of a relationship!? You have a fairytale love life, you can’t even begin to imagine what I’m going through right now!”
Fate slapped the girl in front of her quickly, making her stop her rambling. “Tia,” She began, trying to keep her voice steady. “As your captain I will guide you along the correct path and encourage you as best I can, accepting you mistakes. However, I will not sit here and let you belittle Nanoha and myself like that. You think you are the only one who’s had problems!? Ha!” Fate laughed bitterly at her. “You are the one who has no idea what it’s like, Tia. You don’t know how it feels to be called ‘The Terror of Death’ and ‘The White Devil’. You don’t know what it’s like to be talked about behind your back. Let me ask you, Tia, I’m sure you’ve heard the expression ‘Ace muff divers’ used to make fun of lesbian couples haven’t you?” She got a small shocked nod while still holding her cheek. “That term came into being because of the two young Ace girls who just so happened to find love in each other. Yeah; us. We have been together through good times and bad, through the taunts and jeers and through the encouragement. We have fought and thrown things at each other and held each other close crying. You are the one who’s clueless, Tiana.” Fate glared down at her. “Look in there, Tiana.” When the girl didn’t, Fate grabbed her and turned her head to look at Subaru laying in the hospital bed. “You don’t want to see this do you?”
“N-no,” She sobbed out.
“Then don’t hesitate, Tia!” Fate turned her to once again meet her eyes, suddenly softening. “Stop hesitating. On the battlefield, or in your love life. It’s okay to be scared, it’s okay to be nervous. It’s okay, Tia. So don’t make yourself confused.”
“I…I’m sorry,” the girl choked out, sniffing again as tears fell from her eyes. “I’m just so, so scared!”
“It’s okay…” Fate opened her arms and let the girl hug her. “It’s okay…”
“I l-love her!” Tia cried out softly, gripping Fate’s shirt. “I can’t do anything without her, I’m too scared to even try!”
“Shhh… Its okay, let it all out.”
“I …I…I…!” Tia hugged her tighter.
“Yes, what is it Caro-san?” Kneeling down, she got to eye level with her.
“Um…Well,” She looked at her nervously. “I’m sorry.” The pink haired girl bowed deeply. “For…For using your name today.”
“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” Nanoha giggled. “Actually I’m rather happy about it. I’ve been a little jealous of Fate, to tell the truth.” She winked. “Elio is like a son to her, even if he is technically her brother. I want to take care of someone too. I’m sorry if I act that way to you, Caro-san, I know you’re a big girl.”
“It, its okay.” Caro suddenly looked like she was about to cry. “I… never had a mother before. Everyone at my tribe took turns taking care of me…before…before…”
“I know sweetheart,” Nanoha whispered softly. “I was the one who told Fate-chan about you.”
“When Fate-san ‘rescued’ me from those people…It was the first time someone ever cared for me…It felt really nice…” She looked down. “Tonight… was the first time I ever called someone ‘mother’… I just wanted to say…” Caro looked up at her. “I’m glad it was you.”
“Caro…-chan.” Nanoha pulled the girl against her chest and held her. All at once the young one started to cry, gripping her shirt. ‘She probably never allowed herself to think about it… Never knew any difference… Now that she’s here with us, and she sees families all the time…It must be hard on her. Even Elio had Fate-chan to take care of him for a few years before coming here… Caro was just exiled and thrown around like a doll until Fate brought her here last month…’
“I’m sorry,” Caro finally said, sniffing. “I got your shirt all wet…”
“It’s okay,” Nanoha whispered. “Say, Caro-chan?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t know how good of one I’ll be, but if you want… you can call me ‘mother’?”
Caro moved back just enough to look at the older woman holding her. “…Really?”
Nanoha smiled and nodded down at her. “Yeah.”
“You’ll…take care of me?”
“Of course.”
“And…scold me if I’m bad and hug me if I’m good?”
“I do that anyway, don’t I?” She laughed lightly.
Her small hand went up to Nanoha’s shoulders slowly before she threw herself against her in a hug again. “…Mother?”
“Yes,” Nanoha held her.
“Can I call you mommy too?”
“Yes,” She nodded again. “So any time something is troubling you, come to me all right?”
“…Thank you!”
“Say, want to come sleep with me tonight?”
“Sure,” Caro hugged her tighter. “Will Fate-san be there too?”
“Yes she will, and we’ll all sleep in our giant bed.” Nanoha let go of the girl and held her hand, leading her out of her room and back into the hallways. ‘These children need as much of a home-life as they can get, or the military will just brain wash them into killing machines…’ Her hand held onto Caro’s a little tighter, smiling down at her. ‘I won’t let that happen… not to my little ones.’
As for Caro, I’m sorry if you don’t like her scene at the end. She’s ten, and already in the military after being exiled from the people who took care of her. The girl needs a mother, and fast. Nanoha and Fate are the only ones there for her so naturally it would be one or both of them. Currently, I think it would be both. Her dancing? Something just for the AU I have going here. Her ‘tribe’ and magic users and dragon summoning had to have some sort of custom or ritual dance for special occasions. I gave Caro the ability to dance (in this case, a type of belly dance) because A.) it seems fitting for her background and B.) It’s gosh darn cute to have an innocent girl shaking her hips and making people feel guilty for watching her. She’s going to be quite a heart breaker when she grows up.
Fate’s driving? I’m not good at cars at all, nor do I know anything about them, so I did some research by watching “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” Why did I make Fate so good at driving? In the anime she has a sweet looking car that you know isn’t issued to her by the military (look at the military-ish cars shown in other episodes, they are all ATV camouflage vehicals.). So every girl needs a funny quirk. Fate just likes cars in my story.
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