My entire body hurt. Everything, everywhere, even places I didn't know could be hurt were throbbing. The only time I was ever in this much pain before was when I first met Aura, many years ago, when most of my bones had been destroyed. Actually now that I think about it, the thing that caused me to be in this state was much worse. I remember it happening but the pain was so great then that I couldn't even fathom it anymore despite me having gone through it. To make the worst time in my life merely the after effects, I knew it had to be bad. At least now it wasn't searing pain that made me want to cry, it was as if my entire body was bruised deeply. I knew this kind of pain, it was the result of laying in bed for a long time after Shamal had her way with me. I loved the girl so much, she was a second mother to me, but when she treated me she would always use those needles...I hate needles and I could feel an I.V. Line on the top of my right hand. First thing I would do when I could truly move again would be to take it out. She knew I would do it. I knew she knew I would do it, and if my arms were responding to me right now, it would have been done. At that moment I felt my left hand raised up and slender fingers rub my palm in a circle. It was Fate, I could tell before I smelt her, before I even heard her voice. The motion was old, always the same, always making me feel better. I knew I was smiling and the hand paused a moment before continuing. Fate's soft voice floated down to me, accusing me of being awake and requesting to know if I was okay. Her scent hit me then; she must have just freshly showered. It felt so much easier to move now, and I immediately opened my eyes at her words. It was weird for a moment; I could smell her, feel her, hear her, but for some reason I couldn't seem to see her. “Fate?” My voice was a little horse, but I didn't mind. “Where are you, Fate?” She answered my question and I looked at the voice, suddenly scared again. “Fate? Take this off my eyes, I want to see you.” It was quiet a moment and slowly I heard her say that nothing was covering my eyes. I trusted Fate with my life but I still removed my hand from hers and brought it to my face. I was shaking. Hard. Indeed there was nothing covering my eyes, but still I could not see. Everything was a dark inky black. No shapes, no blobs, no spots, nothing. Just black. Nothing but black. “Fate?” My voice broke. “I... I can't see, Fate.” It was silent again, only a short moment, before my lover's voice screamed louder than I ever heard her before, demanding Shamal come to her straight away. “Fate?” I could feel tears start to come, my shock ending quickly. “I'm scared, Fate.” Her name had always given me confidence before, even coming from my own lips. But right now, in this darkness, I felt more alone than ever. “I'm scared,” I repeated, words getting weaker as more tears came. “I'm scared... Fate I'm scared...” I was being embraced, but I took no comfort. “Fate...” I was crying in earnest now, gripping her so hard I knew it hurt. “I'm so scared...”
6th Mobile Division: Redemption III
By: Satashi
“Nanoha, calm down sweetheart,” Fate placed her forehead against her fiancées as spoke close to her lips. “Calm down, take a few breaths. Shamal needs to check you out okay?” She felt Nanoha take a few slow breaths and after a moment slowly nodded. “Good. I'm right here, don't worry. I have to let go of you now but I'm right beside you okay?” Again another scared nod and Fate slowly pulled away. At once the girl in the bed went stiff, losing most of the confidence she had just built up. “I'm here,” The words made her calm down only slightly.
“Move your fingers for me please,” Shamal requested gently, watching as the request was carried out. “Now curl your toes...Great. Can you feel this?” She lightly pinched a finger on both hands and then her feet, getting small nods. “Open your mouth, I'm going to put a magical reading thermometer in under your tongue all right?” She did open her mouth but closed it instantly when she felt something touch her lips. “Just me, Nanoha-chan, just me. Open. Open for me. Under your tongue...Thank you. Now here's the hard part. Open your eyes for me.” Shamal took a penlight from her lab coat and shined it into Nanoha's bright blue eyes. “If you can see a light, follow it.” She moved it to the far left and held it there. Moments later Nanoha's eyes slowly drifted that direction. “Again.” She moved it above her head and held it. The girl seemed confused a moment, looking around in all directions before finally looking up and holding her gaze there. “I'm going to take the thermometer from you now.” When her hand touched the device the girl jerked in surprise even though she had just been told to expect it. “You followed my light, did you see it?”
“Kind of?” Her voice was shaking. “I saw... like if your eyes are closed in the dark and someone cuts on the light, I saw that.” She reached out. “Fate? You're still there right?”
“Of course.” The blond took her hand instantly. “Shamal, Will she be okay?”
“I'm no specialist but it sounds like the cones in her eyes were damaged...I need to do some test.”
“Tests!?” She almost screamed. “Screw the test, tell me if I'm going to see!” sitting up, she looked around. “Shamal! Tell me I'm going to be all right! Tell me there's some healing spell you can cast!”
“Nanoha, dear, calm down.”
“I will not calm down! I can't see!” Nanoha looked around more, moving her hand and pulling the IV line from herself. “Ow!” she held her hand in shock and realized that she had just hurt herself. The room went quiet, the only sounds being the hard panting coming from the brown haired ace. “...Shamal?” She got a soft reply. “Are the lightning and stars members okay?” Again a soft confirmation. “Is anything wrong with me besides my eyes?”
“Long story, but you are okay.” She looked at the thermometer in her hands. “Your linker core is half it's normal energy. I had to do surgery on you when you got back three days ago, the jewel seed grafted on your body was shifted by whatever attack hit you. It healed itself while I did whatever else I could for you but your stitches are already out.”
“I want to go home.” She whispered the words. “I don't want to stay here. Please, Shamal, let me go home.”
“...I'll let you go if you let me take pictures of your eyes. It won't hurt, nothing will touch you.”
“...Okay.”
“What do you mean?” She pulled him over to the couch and sat down. “I thought he had a one hundred percent success ratio?”
“He does, or at least did, just in a different way. You see; to him 'death' is the existence without power. He lives to fight, and when he wins a battle, he doesn't take the person's life, but instead something else: Their linker core.”
Hayate gasped. “You mean like I-”
“No, no!” He shook his head. “There's a difference in your ability to drain magic and this. You see, The Azure Flame actually takes the linker core. Completely removes it from the person so there is no way for them to ever use magic again. The process is called “Data Draining” it seems. They named it such because he also takes all the information, or data, from the victim's device and uses it to farther better himself. Skeith used a similar attack, the principle the same: She would drain information and magic from her victim but would have to 'phase shift' into it to be able to access this power. Her version is corrupt and incomplete so she can't permanently hurt people nor does it have any ill effects on her.”
“So this Flame person... Does he have ill effects.”
“Yes, very bad ones.” Yuuno clicked on a monitor and darkened the room. “Tri-Edge uses a very advanced type of weapon. See his twin daggers? They are actually two devices. Velkan in nature but still different.”
“How so?”
“Know how we can make different levels of cartridges? Everything from small pistol bullets up to over sized shotgun shell types?”
“Of course, I just approved the advancement of the forwards to use standard rifle-type shells as their main ammunition.” Hayate nodded as well.
“Well, Tri-edge uses something more powerful than our triple-S shells like the ones that Nanoha and Fate only keep one of because of their insane magic draining requirements.”
“Yes, whenever they make one they sleep for an entire day... How can someone possibly make something more powerful than that?”
“He doesn't.” Yuuno looked down. “Remember how I told you he steals literal Linker Cores...?”
She gaped, bringing a hand to her mouth. “He can't...?”
“He loads the core into his weapon and infuses it into his body, just like our Aces would do to keep heir barrier jackets on when inside of an AMF. We get an explosive amount of temporary magical power. He on the other hand...”
“Gets his mage rank boosted up however many levels of the core he uses...” Hayate spoke the words no louder than a whisper. “Nanoha couldn't touch him and she was unhindered by a limiter.”
“I place his normal powers to be around S. Loaded with a Linker Core, say another S, he wouldn't just get SS, he would literally double his power. This enabled him to defeat Nanoha, even with her third phase shift: Skeith, which is un-officially ranked triple-S. But there's more.”
“More!?” She cried out. “I can't take much more...”
“This really scares me.” He fast forwarded to a certain part in the battle.
“So you too possess an avatar. This makes things interesting.” Kite's voice came into the room. With a little more fast forwarding, he played it again. “We are we.”
“I don't understand...?”
Yuuno turned to her. “How are you and Rein doing?”
Hayate gave him a confused look. “We're okay I guess.” When he raised an eyebrow at her, it clicked. “Unison!?”
“The same as Nanoha.”
“Jewel seed!?”
“An 'avatar' as he called it. Hayate, what we are fighting against isn't someone who came across a jewel seed and figured out that it was made from a human...These people made the originals in their un-flawed state.”
“Nanoha is a sitting duck against something like that! As soon as he realizes that Nanoha still has her linker core he'll come for her again, taking us out as well... Wait a second, you said there was a ill-effect of this?”
“Mana Burn.” Yuuno smiled without humor. “Just like when someone loads a cartridge and channels it into themselves instead of their weapon. If it's not used, it makes the user sick with too much power; normally making them bed ridden for a while until their body regains it's normal magical flow. Also causes pain and discomfort. If you get that from a single shell, imagine what a core will do to you. I researched it; When Tri-Edge, The Azure Flame, Kite, whatever you want to call him, makes an assassination he isn't seen anywhere for almost a week.”
“Recovering from Mana Burn?”
Yuuno nodded. “And that's when we strike.”
“But Nanoha is-”
“Going to Earth with the forwards and Fate. We should go for a while as well just to make sure they get settled in and have everything they need. After that we can come back here and continue planning.”
Slowly the female nodded. “Okay, let's talk more later. Thank you for the briefing. Now...” She took a long slow breath. “Too many questions... you said Nanoha was blind, right? Give me more details please.”
“Fate...?”
“Yes, Honey?”
Nanoha turned to look at her. “Are my eyes funny looking?” She felt her cheeks be embraced and Fate's nose touch hers. Seconds passed by as she was observed, holding her breath.
“No, they are still a very pretty blue, there's no telling anything at all is wrong. Even if they were, your eyes would still be lovely.”
“I just realized...” She ran her hands along Fate's body, searching for her neck and then touching her cheeks as well. “ I'll never be able to see your eyes again. God, Fate, I love your eyes. No one has red eyes but you, I always enjoyed looking at them... at you... at anything...” She started crying again but the spray of the showers didn't let the blond know. “Now... Now I'll never see it anymore... You, Hayate, Yuuno, Subaru, Tia, Elio, anyone, anything!” Shoulders shaking, her breath started getting heavier. “I'll never see anything anymore!”
“Don't say that!” Fate gripped her. “It isn't definite yet. You can see light, that means your not completely blind. Just wait until Shamal gives us the word. Until then, have faith. I'll take care of you every day I promise.”
“I'm sorry,” She tried to calm down. “I'm just so scared...I, I don't even know how to turn off this water if I wanted to... I don't know what way I'm facing...Do I walk left to get out of the shower or right? Then how do I get a towel? How do I dress, how can I even cook something if I'm hungry!?”
“Nanoha,” She embraced her. “I'll help you. We'll get through it. We've been through a lot of things, this will be one of them we look back at years down the line and we'll be even more thankful we're together and fine then.”
“How am I fine? How are the forward fine?”
“They were knocked out more than anything else,” She explained softly. “He wasn't trying to kill them so a little healing magic and a day's rest set them back in shape. You, on the other hand, had two hours of surgery. I was told your jewel seed mended itself and Shamal fixed what it couldn't. Said it was a medical miracle, one we're thankful for. Do you hurt?”
“Yes, but nothing too bad. I'm weak but alive...” The conversation died off, leaving them sitting in the shower together for a few more moments before Fate reached out and cut the water off.
“Come on,” She encouraged her. “Let's get you dried off and into bed.”
“Fate,” Yuuno took a breath. “There's something you need to know. The mage Nanoha fought, Kite, is an assassin.”
“What?” She instantly got deathly serious. “What do you mean assassin? As in someone payed to kill someone? Who?”
Hayate looked at the ground a moment before replying. “Us. All three here and Nanoha.”
“Why?”
“Long story short, the U.F.Q. Took interest in the 6th division after you killed Jail Scaglietti. They wanted Hayate's leadership skills, your teaching ability, Fate's power, and my knowledge. When we turned them down they sent someone to make sure we couldn't be used against them anymore.”
Fate stared at the two for a long while. “You knew this before now didn't you?” Her voice was soft, shocked. “Why? Why didn't you tell me?” Walking forward, she slammed her hand down on Hayate's desk and leaned over. “Why didn't you tell me someone was trying to kill us!? If I had known I could have-”
“That's why!” Hayate yelled back at her. “Because you would have! He tossed Nanoha around like a rag-doll! There's no chance of beating him when he's like that, you could have died!”
“Better me than someone else!” Fate screamed into Hayate's face. “I had a right to know!”
Hayate tried to remain calm. “If you knew Nanoha was in danger you would have flown out there to battle that very second. I couldn't risk you acting rash.”
“Nanoha?” Fate hit the desk again.
“I knew you would be mad if she was in danger.”
Fate's hand acted before she even realized what happened. Hayate's face jerked to the side, a loud clacking sound rang from the blond's slap. “Nanoha?” The word shook as she glared into Hayate's eyes. The short girl slowly brought a quivering hand up to touch the rapidly redding cheek. “You think I'd be upset and mad just for her? Hayate, do you value our friendship so little?” She shook off Yuuno's hand on her shoulder. “You think I'd risk my life only for her? You think I'd hear about an assassin and instantly try and protect just her? Did you even stop and think for a moment that I'd want to protect you!? To protect Yuuno!?” She kept her eyes fixed on the smaller girl's. “This risked the lives of my friends, of the people I care about! Just because I'm in love with Nanoha doesn't mean I don't love you as well, or Yuuno any less than that! Damn it, Hayate if anything happen to you two I would act rash alright! I would hunt him down and kill him in his sleep! I'm not mad because you kept a secret from me, I'm pissed that you think I would act rashly only to protect one person who's being targeted! We should have been working on this together!”
The brown haired girl could only look down, eyes watering. The red eyed one growled walking away over to the couch, falling down on it and crossing her arms angrily. “I'm sorry,” Hayate finally spoke, slowly walking over to the couch. “I heard you were being targeted, I only thought about keeping you two together. You've been through so much the past year I didn't want anything else to happen. You mean the world to me.”
“If I didn't feel the same way, I'd be tempted to really hurt you,” Fate told her, glaring. “Luckily I'm not hard headed so I'll forgive you on one condition.”
“What's that?”
“Forgive me for slapping you.”
“I deserved it.” Sitting down, she gave the blond a hug and got one in return. “You could have slapped Yuuno instead tho, that really hurt.”
Fate couldn't help but give a short laugh. “Okay, I'll hit him next time.”
“H-hey!” The male stopped his path to the two girls, unsure if he should get near the other blond. “If it was anyone else but you, Be sure I would have hit whoever slapped her.”
“It's natural to protect the ones you care about,” Fate pulled away from Hayate and wiped her eyes. “Okay, this Earth thing: I refuse to go unless you come too. I'm not going to run and hide but I'll go if it means the others will stay safe.”
Yuuno finally sat on the other side of Fate. “All of us will go, except the Cloud Knights. There is no record of Kite purposely harming people he has no reason to. He let the Lightning members as well as Signum and Vita off without much trouble so until we can work out a plan and let Nanoha recover it will be best to stay in a place no one will get caught in the crossfire. Once we have a plan we'll come back and toast this guy.”
“Okay. Does anyone else know?”
“Only you. We wanted to wait and see how Nanoha would take it. Speaking of, will she talk to anyone yet?” Hayate twiddled her thumbs. “We're all really worried you know...”
Fate gave her a soft smile that held no happiness. “She's a wreck. Her hands are shaking really bad, I had to rub her back for almost half an hour before she went to sleep. If we could wait a while before telling her we were going to move a while I think it would be for the best.”
“Three days,” Yuuno answered the look Hayate gave him. “Any more than that and we could be pushing another attack.”
“Okay. Well, I need to get back before Nanoha wakes up. I'll ask her if she's up to speaking to anyone and if so I'll contact you alright?” Two nods greeted her and she was walked to the door by her male friend. “Oh, and Yuuno?” She looked up and over her shoulder at him. “What I said to Hayate earlier, the same goes for you as well, I hope you know that.” After a short pause he nodded at her. “Tho if it was you, I think I would have kept my fist closed instead of a slap, so watch your butt and don't make me mad anytime soon okay Babe? Good.” She left then, leaving him to wonder if he had really been forgiven for his foolishness or not. The path to the residential area was made quickly, several small raindrops starting to tap onto her still slightly damp from shower hair. 'What a day to rain,' She grumbled, shivering in the freezing cold. 'I'm probably going to have a cold now...' Closing her door she sighed out happily as the warm air rushed over her body. Seconds later a scared voice called out her name, making Fate run to the stairs. “Nanoha? What's wrong?” The girl in the bed jerked around to the sound and reached out a hand, crying openly. “Hey, don't cry, I'm here.” Fate held onto her, rubbing the girl's back as she sobbed out, trembling. “What's wrong Sweetheart?”
“I'm just...scared...” Nanoha held onto Fate tighter. “I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I know I'm acting like a child but-”
“Nanoha, shush. You are not, don't say that. You can't see, I can't imagine what it's like but I would be terrified as well.”
“I'm thirsty,” She spoke against the blond's chest. “My throat hurts but... the thought of walking downstairs, even though I've done it countless times, I don't know where I'm going... How could I even pick out a soda from the refrigerator? I just... I mean...I'm so helpless.”
“Shh.” Fate stroked the long hair on her lover. “I'm here for you, I'll get you whatever you need so just ask. I'll hold your hand when you walk and tell you whatever you need to know. Now, let's get you a drink and we can talk. I'll be right back, don't worry.” After getting a small nod Fate quickly ran to the kitchen and grabbed Nanoha's favorite soda. Back upstairs she popped the top and placed it into her hands, watching Nanoha feel around for the opening before bringing it to her lips and drinking almost half of it on the first go. “Better?” She had calmed down noticeably, no longer shivering. “Good... because I have some unpleasant news about the guy we fought...
Subaru meekly raised her hand, getting nodded at for permission to speak. “Um, my sister, Ginga, is having her birthday soon... Is there any chance I can come here for one day for it? I was planning on putting in leave for that...”
Fate saw Nanoha go stiff at the request. “I'm sorry,” The blond spoke after a moment. “Once we're gone we can't come back here and then go back, it could put the entire operation in jeopardy.” Subaru looked down sadly but nodded anyway. “You may leave after this meeting to spend time with her if you would like?”
“Thank you, but she's currently out on a mission.” The girl saluted Fate and met her eyes. “I knew when I signed up stuff like this could happen, so I'm okay with it. Thank for the kind offer.”
“Anyone else then?” The enforcer pondered, smiling at Subaru's dedication. “...Okay, any questions? Elio?”
“Where will we be going? A warship?”
“Non-administrated planet ninety-seven, also known as Earth. Nanoha and Hayate's home planet. Mine too if you really get down to it; same one where we went when I asked Nanoha to marry me. We have a house there; rooming will be tight for a while but I don't want us to separate into different apartments.” The blond looked at them a little longer before nodding. “Okay, that being said, we leave first thing tomorrow morning. Right now they are five hours ahead of us so once there we can get something to eat and get to out new apartment. Also it's summer time there, so pack cool clothes.” She gave them another small moment and finally saw Caro looking a little uneasy. “Something wrong, Caro?”
“Um, well,” She pointed to the side, where Freidliche and Shiva were seemingly talking to each other. “I can't just leave them here...”
“She has a point...” Fate whispered to herself, trying to figure out something. “They can come because you need them to train with, but you must keep an eye on them. Absolutely no flying in town.” She got a happy nod in reply. “Last chance for questions.”
“Ma'am, what about money? If it's a non-administrated planet...?”
Nanoha spoke up for the first time. “We have two civilian collaborators who can exchange Earth money for things, don't worry about that.” She could feel the people staring at her and if she hadn't just heard the voiced being spoken she would have wondered if she was even facing the right direction to speak with them. “So,” She began after a moment of silence. “Dismissed.” The familiar sound of heels clicking met her ears and she was sure she was being saluted. Just as she expected no sounds of idle chatter or footsteps met her ears. Taking in a steadying breath, she reached for Fate's hand and found it a few seconds later. “Staying inside won't help me,” She told them. “I have to face this sooner or later, sorry for avoiding everyone the last day and so...” The questions came all at once, leaving her stammering to keep up with everyone. Fortunately Fate came to her rescue after a few moments and explained to them that Nanoha didn't really want to be bombarded all at once. After assuring them she was not in physical pain, which was a lie, they slowly departed to start preparing for the trip and leaving the two alone. “Can we go home?” Nanoha asked after a moment's silence.
“Hayate's office is close,” Fate told her softly. “If you want to go back I'll take you, but if you think you can make it we really need to see them. Yuuno and Hayate are worried sick...”
“Okay.” She nodded despite obviously not wanting to. “Let's go then,” Taking two steps forward, she felt Fate squeeze her hand and gently pull enough to get her to stop.
“This way...” Fate almost whispered, moving so Nanoha turned so she was facing the opposite direction and lead her to a building. “Um,” She stopped walking and wondered how she should go about leading her friend. “Stairs to the front door.” Nanoha slowly moved forward, reaching out her foot until it touched the first step. Now with it in mind she stepped up on it.
“This isn't so hard,” She told Fate, looking over to her as the two made their way up the small stairway. Before Fate could agree they made it to the top where the blind girl tried to step up again, making her over balance. Her back foot already lost it's foundation, making her toe hit the step in front of it. With a small startled cry she fell forward, getting caught by Fate before she could hit the concrete. Although it was a simple trip it seemed to really mess Nanoha up, making her pant with wide eyes.
“Nanoha... It's okay. Everyone trips on stairs, this has nothing to do with your vision.”
“Yes it does!” She countered her, voice going into a scream without really meaning for it to. “Am I so helpless I can't even go up stairs even with someone holding my hand!?” She pulled away from Fate's grip and turned to where she thought the direction for the door would be but ended up walking into the middle hand railing on the stairs and had to grip it to keep from falling over. Her eyes were still wide, gripping the metal tightly. “I'm... not even where I thought I was...” She could feel herself losing it again and quickly tried to press down the feeling. “No,” She spoke her thoughts aloud in an attempt to calm herself down. “I'm strong... I'm strong... I can handle this...”
“Yes, you can.” Fate told her gently, placing her hands onto Nanoha's shoulders. “You're a tough cookie, but even cookies need guidance sometimes. Take my hand.” Sliding down her arm, Fate re-took her friend's fingers. “We're going this way.”
“I can make it on my own...”
“You could,” Fate told her, meaning it. “But I'm here with you. You can go alone when you're alone. When I'm here, I'll be with you so don't push me away.”
“Fate...” She looked down, closing her eyes for a moment. Despite not being able to see she couldn't keep them closed for long and after a moment opened them back up, looking in the direction Fate would be in. “Okay, I'm ready. Sorry for the delay.”
“It's not the first time we've made them wait on us,” She teased back, getting Nanoha to actually smile lightly. “Let's go before it starts to rain on us again, I'm getting cold.”
“Making coffee,” Came the simple reply. “Be careful, I accidentally knocked over a mug onto the floor. I'll clean it up once this starts to steep okay?” She moved her hands out on the counter in front of her, patting it every now and then as she searched. “Ah there it is,” She opened the container's lid and took a long intake of air through her nose. “Yes,” She confirmed aloud, reaching into the bin and taking the scooper. Several beans were loaded into her grinder but more seemed to fall onto the counter top. The blond noticed that there was coffee grins and beans scattered all over the counter as well as a few on the floor, where Nanoha's bare feet were inches away from the broken cup. “It will be ready in just a moment, so go ahead and get dressed okay Honey?” Her hands pushed the lid of the grinder down, but since it wasn't lined up properly some of the dust leaked out of it.
“Nanoha,” Fate walked to stand behind her directly, watching her feel her was over to the thermos and carefully pour the grinds onto the filer above it. The motion was simple enough but in the determination to be as careful as she could the pour was slightly misplaced, ending up about a quarter of the not fine enough grinds to go onto the counter. “Here, let me do that.” Her hand reached out and touched her friend's.
“No!” The harsh word made Fate jump back, scared. “I'm doing this!” Reaching out, she felt her way to the water pitched and winced lightly when she touched the glass containing the ripping hot water. After finding the handle she picked it up and used her free hand to feel for the thermos. Once found she gripped it and started to pour it onto her beans. “Ow!” She almost jerked when some of it flashed on her arm but she held it steady, listening as hard as she could to the sound of it being poured and stopped when it seemed it was full enough. “See? I can do this just fine!”
Fate wasn't even about to tell her she over filled it. “Nanoha, Kitten, I can just help so-”
“No!” She repeated again. “I make coffee! I do it every morning! And, and,” She looked to where Fate's general area was. “You're supposed to be in bed and the smell will wake you up and I'll bring you a cup and you'll say 'Thank you Sweetheart' and I'll, I'll.” She started to falter with her words.
“Yes, but I'm just saying, I can help.”
“No!” Nanoha shook her head hard. “This is what I do! Fate cleans and cooks and I wake up early to get you coffee every morning! I'm not a child, I don't need my hand held! I'm not going to be a bur don to anyone, I can do this!” Moving to sit the pitcher back on the heater, she stepped to the side and onto the broken glass. The girl let out a startled cry of pain and jerked her foot up. The motion made her grab the counter to steady herself and would have knocked over the thermos steeping if Fate hadn't been there to catch it. “Ow... Ow...” Carefully she patted the counter to find the water heater and jerked her hand back when she accidentally touched the hot plate. Rearing back, she almost brought her foot down again if Fate hadn't been there to grab her. “...I... I can do this...” She said again, this time unsure of herself. “Fate needs me to do this... I'm not a child... I'm not going to be a burden...I'm not...I'm not.” Her words were breaking as tears started coming down her cheeks. “I'm...Oh god...” She put the pitcher down onto the counter and simply braced herself, standing on one foot. “I-I don't even know where to step! H-How can I get the glass from my foot when I can't even move to sit down and do it!?” Choking, she bit back a sob. “I-I don't even really know where I'm standing anymore!” Turning, she looked at Fate with a hopeless expression. “I can't even make you coffee?” It was more of a statement than a question and she had given up trying not to cry.
“Nanoha...” Fate gently wrapped her arms around her and lifted, carrying her two steps to the side and sitting her onto the counter. “Let me see your foot.” Moving her hands down, she kneeled and inspected the bleeding area. “I'm going to touch you all right?” She didn't wait for and answer and instead went about dabbing her finger against the blood to make the glass stick to her instead of being embedded into her friend's foot. “You have pretty feet,” She spoke up after opening a cabinet to take out a small first aid kit. “I never noticed before. Why don't we go get a pedicure later? With Alisa and Suzuka?”
“You're not going to say anything about my mess?” Nanoha whispered softly. “I know I made one, and I didn't even finish your drink...”
“I'll clean it up and then we'll make coffee together.” After cleaning the area she placed a bandage onto the foot. “Sit right there for a moment okay?” She kissed the top of Nanoha's foot and started putting the kit away before going to get the glass.
“Fate, say something about what I'm doing...”
“Why?” She pondered as she worked.
“Because I'm worthless... How could anyone want to take care of an adult who can't even make something to drink...?”
“Because I love her, and I'm not 'taking care of' anything,” Fate told her in a caring voice. “We have to adjust to this. It doesn't have much to do with our relationship, it's more about you personally, but I'm still there.” Standing up, she started cleaning the counter now. “I told you, you're not worthless. I don't love you any less if you didn't make me coffee. Such a small matter.”
“That's just it,” Nanoha hung her head, no longer panicking but still obviously displeased with herself. “It's such a small matter and I can't do it.”
“Yet.”
“Huh?”
“I said you can't do it 'yet'. After all, Nanoha makes me coffee right?” Walking over to her, she placed her hands onto the blind girl's shoulders. “We just have to adjust, won't we?” Leaning forward, she kissed her lips. “Remember when we first started living together? Was it easy?”
“Yes.”
“Don't lie to me,” Fate scolded. “You know it sucked.” This earned her a brief fleeting smile from Nanoha. “There you go, you remember. We argued for days about cleaning, where we threw out dirty clothes, me eating in the bed, you working while I tried to sleep, me going behind you while you cooked and put your things in the dishwasher before you were done with them...” Nanoha smiled again, this time lasting longer. “Easy my ass; we changed a lot to match each other didn't we?” She got a small nod. “This isn't exactly the same, but it's close. We will adjust ourselves to match once more. You're not a burden at all, so don't think that, not even for a moment.”
“But... How can I-?”
“I'll help you. We'll learn how to do things, we'll put things in a specific place so you'll always know where everything is, we'll get voice activated stuff as well so you can use that, we'll... do lots of things. Yuuno can research it for us, after all many many people live alone that are blind and have great lives. If anything, I'll burden you sometimes by not putting things in the proper place.”
“You're never a burden!” Nanoha countered instantly, making Fate smile at her. “I love Fate! You could never burden me!”
“And I feel the same for you,” Leaning over, she touched her cheeks. “I'm going to kiss you again, okay?”
“Never ask,” She managed out before Fate moved to stand between her legs and hug her. Their lips met softly at first but picked up at Fate's insistence.
“Okay,” she breathed out after a minute or two of frenching each other. “We have to stop before I get carried away.”
Nanoha smiled to herself, this time feeling it. “Thank you.”
“For what Honey? Being myself? No need to thank me for that is there?”
“I don't deserve you.”
“Well we could argue for hours on which one of us deserves which, but instead how about we make some coffee?”
“But I just tried-”
“Nanoha,” The word made the other girl stop talking. “I said 'how about we make some coffee' didn't I?”
“...Fate...” Reaching up, she wiped her eyes quickly, giving the blond a large happy smile. “Yeah! Let's do it together.”
“Okay, so...” She looked around, suddenly realizing how helpless she was. “What do I do first?”
“Open the cabinet above the stove and get out the filters...” She instructed, swaying her feet since she was sitting on the counter. “Now get the grinder and-” She smiled as the instructions were given.
Hayate looked at Nanoha a moment before turning to Fate and receiving a cheerful nod. “Alright then!” She told everyone around them, mood suddenly boosted by knowing her friend was doing better about her condition. “Let's go to Earth!”
Fate: Oh sweet merciful Elune, I forgot how hot it was here in the summer!
Nanoha: Oh shush, it feels great!
Subaru: Hey,hey, Tia! Let's go explore the town together!
Elio: Eh? Three days off for a vacation? Seriously!?
Lutecia: Elio, let's go on a date?
Caro: No fair, I want to go too!
Hayate: Let's... Get to our house first at least...
Fate: Arf! Mother! I missed you!
Yuuno: Next time on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's 6th Division Redemption: “Riot Force Six's Vacation!”
Hayate: While everyone is having fun, let's plan our strategy...
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