The sound the scissors made me cringe as they cut through my hair. I know it was stupid but I couldn't help but close my eyes tightly and grip my fist in an attempt to stay still while allowing Shamal to finish trimming for me. Even though she has trimmed my hair for as long as I can remember, scissors and I have never gotten along. I whimpered softly when another snips made hair fall across my face and Shamal giggled to herself and gently blew on me, making the hair fly away from my eyes. She made some comment about how I never really grew up at all but I ignored it and continued to try and keep myself steady. Truthfully I wanted to scream and run away, to keep as much hair as I could, but I knew this had to be done. My hair looked dreadful after the last mission, some going to the middle of my back while most was just past shoulder length. I won't deny that I cried last night when I took a shower. I know it was childish and there were more important things to be thinking about, but I had been growing my hair for as long as I had been alive. I had managed to get it to my knees, something I had originally tried to do for Nanoha. When we were younger she said that it would be ' the neatest thing ever' if I managed to get it long enough to reach my knees so me, being easily influenced back then, said I would do it for her. I guess after all the years I just kept on, getting it trimmed only when it decided to stop growing on me. Honestly I loved it when Nanoha touched my hair, it felt so soothing and calming. Actually that was how she first seduced me, rubbing my back and playing with my hair until I was in bliss, then kissed me. My eyes closed tighter when Shamal stepped back from me and observed. After several seconds she declared that she was done and placed a mirror in my hand. I did not want to open my eyes at all but I slowly managed to meekly open one of them to see what I had left of my beloved hair.
6th Mobile Division V
By: Satashi
Fate slowly opened her eyes and looked into the large mirror in front of her. So far not much looked like it changed save for the normal two sections that stayed in front of her shoulders looked a little shorter than they used to be. After a deep breath she turned around and held up the mirror in her hand to look behind herself and see what the back looked like in the large mirror. She had lost a good three and a half feet of her hair, now only having it go a few inches past her shoulders. Shamal had managed to make it into a 'V' shape still, giving her the illusion of having it down to almost the middle of her back. “Well,” Fate spoke a little shakingly. “It's not as bad as I thought it would be...”
“You've always had abnormally thick hair, so I tired to keep as much length as I could by just thinning it out some... Is it okay?” Shamal looked rather nervous, as she should. If anyone besides her touched Fate's hair in an attempt to cut it they would probably receive the same wrath as if they touched her car. “It will grow back faster than it took to grow it already long, I promise.” She put her hands on Fate's shoulders. “I can get you some shampoo that's supposed to make your hair grow faster too...”
“Ah.” Fate sighed out. “Thank you Shamal, it looks much better than I thought it would...Do you have anything for a headache?”
“Yes, just one second.” She hurried over to a cabinet and took out a bottle. “Does your scalp still hurt? Do you want some pain killers? You're lucky you got out of that with only a loss in hair.”
“Don't remind me,” She rubbed her head. “And yes, please, I hurt really bad. I think my back is nothing but one large bruise.” Fate took the offered pills and water, taking them quickly. “I'm so glad Hayate lets us take a day off after a mission to re cooperate, I'd go crazy if I had to sit at my desk all day today.”
“Do you want me to write you a doctor's excuse for another day?” Shamal looked at her nervously. “You need to rest okay?”
Fate smiled at her, placing the mirror on the table and hopping out of her chair. Shamal always seemed to treat her like a little sister, probably because of how close Hayate and her were. “I'll be okay after today, thank you.” With a light bow she said her goodbye. “Nanoha is waiting for me to go shopping so I must be off.”
“Take care,” Shamal waved at her after giving a bottle of pills.
Fate made her way to her loft quickly, ignoring the gasp and questioning glances of the people who noticed her hair cut. Her stomach growled at her when she entered the mess hall but she decided to eat out with Nanoha instead when they were in town. The elevator opened up and allowed her entrance but stopped on the fifth floor, opening up to reveal Tia and Subaru in the middle of what appeared to be in the middle of a very deep kiss. “Captain on the deck!” She barked out, making the two instantly pull apart and stand at attention, saluting. The two looked at her for a moment before Tia leaned forward.
“...Fate-...san?”
Fate blushed darkly. “Yes.”
“Oh wow, it looks great!” Subaru hopped in the elevator next to her and circled the girl. “I like it!”
“It's the same... just shorter...” She looked down, going into embarrassment mode when they started complimenting her. Reaching up, she brushed some of her hair that fell over her shoulder back behind her ear and realized all at once that it was probably going to become a habit. When the door opened again she stepped out into the hallway and waved at them lightly, getting saluted once more. “I'm home,” She greeted softly as she walked into her loft. “You ready, Nanoha?”
“Almost,” She replied absently, squinting a little as she looked at the monitor in front of her. “Let me finish the details about Caro's new dragon into the report so she won't have to repeat her story a million times... Fate please move,” She looked up when her lover literally stood in between her monitor display. “ I can't see.” The look she received told her that was the very point Fate was trying to make. With a sigh she gave her the cutest pout she could muster. “But Faaaaateeeeee.” The girl didn't let up so she reluctantly reached over into her purse and pulled out her glasses case and slid them on. “There. Happy?”
“Yes,” Fate leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I'm going upstairs right fast, can you send that to Bardiche for me when you're done?”
“Oh wait, let me see your hair!” Nanoha motioned for her to turn around and smiled when she reluctantly did so. “It looks cute, you're a few years younger.”
“I don't want to look younger,” She groaned out and put her palm to her face.
“Meep, sorry.” Nanoha clearly didn't mean it; instead she was smiling up at her merrily. “It's still really cute though. Going to leave it short or grow it again?”
“Which would you prefer?”
Nanoha stuck out her tongue. “Its your hair.” Fate continued to look at her so she put her hand to her chin and thought. “Well, if it's short it won't tangle with mine so much when we sleep or make love together...But then again I really like it longer too...Mou, I don't know! Pick one and go with it, Fate is Fate.”
“Long then,” the blond reached behind herself and gripped the hair to begin pulling it all together. “I could go with a ponytail in a few months...”
“Sure,” Nanoha started typing again, going much faster once everything was in focus. “As long as I can play with it still.”
“Why did you want to go shopping today of all days?” Fate asked while walking to the stairs, ignoring that last comment. “Normally you use time after missions to catch up on your paper work and plan your upcoming week.”
“Because...” Nanoha sighed. “I'm going to have to leave for a few days tomorrow.”
“What, why?” Fate looked over at her while changing into civilian clothing.
“Training.” Nanoha stood up and stretched before walking over to the stairs and up to her fiancée. “Vita-chan and I were called in by the training forces for a week long training session.”
“Aw... Its been ages since you've been called back.”
“Magic development has been slow.” She smiled up at her lightly before walking to their closet and picking out a sweater to wear. “I'll learn a few new tricks and come back as soon as possible.” With a quick tug she removed her shirt.
Fate looked over at her sadly, eying the large bruise that covered half her stomach as well as the smaller ones that were on her chest. Nanoha smiled at her and covered up, pulling her ponytail out of the back of her shirt and shaking her head. The blond looked away after catching a small glimpse of the bruise around her neck before it was covered with the turtle neck sweater. “Nanoha... When you get back...”
“Okay,” She answered before Fate could even finish. “I'll teach you what I learn.”
The blond gave her an amused look. “What if I was thinking something else?”
“Have I ever finished your sentence with something you wasn't going to say?”
“Well there was a few times that you said:”
“But we had sex after it anyway,” Nanoha cut her off. “So it doesn't count.” She gave a peace sign. “I win!”
“Kind of,” Yuuno moved his hands while talking. “Freidliche stays with Caro constantly unless she ask him to leave her a moment, for when she goes shopping or when Shamal wanted to examine him to make sure he was in top condition. I think since she didn't have her dragon with her last mission, another one sought her out. This ice dragon, Shiva, isn't really friendly.” He brought up a monitor, showing Shiva sleeping on the top of the building next to the helicopter. “She stayed with Caro last night in her room but when she went out about her business, Freidliche followed and Shiva flew away. From what I gather, Shiva will stay in the immediate vicinity of Caro but not by her side.”
“I see...” Hayate sighed out. “I guess I will have to register her as a summoned pet and request permission for her flight since she doesn't seem to want to walk around like Freidliche does... Moving on,” She brought up a new monitor and waved it over to him. “The AMF Scaglietti used blocked out observation but Raising Heart and Bardiche were able to record it as best they could.” She waited a moment as he observed the battle. “As you can tell, he has created much more powerful AMF devices, not even Nanoha's best attempt could supply enough force to last longer than a few seconds, and she's S+.”
“Do you have the device?”
“Nanoha smashed it pretty good, but for the most part it's intact. I was wondering if you could look at it?”
“Yes, I was going to ask... With any luck we'll be able to figure something out.” Yuuno nodded to himself.
“How long do you think it will be before you can find out anything?”
“Not sure, depends on how hard it is to figure out and how much of it was damaged. A day maybe?”
Hayate leaned back in her chair and smiled. “You're simply amazing. I sent the data of it to a few people and they said it would take at least a month.”
Yuuno blushed lightly and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Well, I've had a lot of experience...”
“Did you know people fight over you?” Hayate leaned forward and propped her elbows on the desk and put her chin in her hands. “A lot of divisions put in request to have you transferred but since you're not part of staff they can't get it done. I've been offered quite a lot for your transfer.”
“Oh really?” He looked rather amused, but the man's embarrassment shown through the most. “I guess I'm glad to be in your hands, then.”
“Mm.” Hayate smiled at him, making him blush more. “I'm glad you're here as well.”
“I'll get started on it,” He stood up quickly and stored the monitors into a tome like device in his hands. “I'll contact you later okay?”
“Okay,” Hayate walked around her desk and stood in front of him, reaching up to adjust his glasses to make them straight. “I really appreciate all the help, Yuuno. You've saved my butt so many times.”
“We've known each other for half our lives,” He grinned. “It's only natural.”
“Mm.” She took a step back and waved at him cutely. “Bye-bye then.”
“Bye,” He waved over his shoulder while walking towards the door and leaving through it.
“Mmhmmm...” Rein landed on Hayate's head. “You're face is red, Hayate.”
“It is not!” She turned and humped out, returning to her chair. “Stop saying things like that!”
“I think you're starting to realize Yuuno is male!”
“Rein, do your paperwork!” Hayate reached for a pen but ended up knocking her case of them over onto her desk. “Stop laughing at me, I don't have time for a man! I have to work on setting up the new staff's budget and finding Elio, and, and...Stop laughing!”
“Mm.”
“Ya know,” Tia kept on, despite getting the feeling Caro wanted to be alone. “Sitting down and feeling sorry for yourself never really helps.” The girl looked to the side and offered the little one next to her an encouraging grin. “Believe me, I've been there. What you need to do right now isn't wade in your self-doubt but instead think about the future. We're going to get Elio back, don't think that we won't. It may take a little time but we're all here for you. You're not alone, Caro.”
The pink haired child nodded to herself. “I just feel a little empty when he's not near me...” She turned to look up at her older friend. “At first I was just thinking about Elio-kun being mine...that he belonged to me...” Her eyes saddened and diverted. “But now that I saw him with Lutecia-chan, I feel different. I don't just miss him anymore... I miss the way he looks at me, I miss touching him, I miss his smile... I miss myself.”
“The way he makes you feel?”
“Yes.” Caro took a breath. “Am I a bad person for that?”
“Well, jealousy can do weird things to a person.” Tia hummed to herself. “If you didn't realize it I would say yes, but since you know what you're missing now I'll go with no. You're not a bad person, Caro. You're young and dealing with things most people wouldn't have to worry with for another seven years maybe. If anything, I'm really proud of you.” Reaching out, she ruffled Caro's hair. “You're only ten and you're doing the same thing I am, and believe me I know how hard it is. I don't know how in the world you're not screaming your lungs out, but I'm really impressed.” She giggled lightly. “Caro, don't forget we're here with you as well. We will do everything for you, just as you do everything for us.”
“Thank you.” Caro felt her spirits lift up after the small pep talk.
“If you get all emotionally confused, come to me, I'll listen to anything you have to say. Nanoha-san said so as well, so I won't feel bad if you go to her either.” Tia nudged her. “She's your precious 'mommy' isn't she?”
“Yes!” She nodded happily, wiping her eyes and giving Tia a hug.
“Good. Now you need to trot off, Nanoha-san and Fate-san want you to go shopping with them.”
“Okay,” Caro stood up and turned around, seeing Subaru as well. “You're here too?”
“Of course,” The girl skated over to Caro and knelt down. “But I'm not good with words at all, so I just let Tia do all the talking. I'm here for you as well, so come to me too, all right?”
“Thank you!” Caro gave her a hug as well before running off to where the leaders were waiting on her.
“Wow, you're surprisingly good with kids,” Subaru offered a hand to help Tia up.
“Don't read anything into it.”
“Hehe, If we have children, you're going to be the best mother ever!”
Tia blushed instantly. “We're not having kids!”
“Relax, it was a joke!” Subaru grinned at her and skated next to the girl for a few moments. “...But if we do, you're carrying it.”
“Who do you think you're kidding!?!”
Fate groggily reached up and scratched her chest when she felt something on her. When her hands touched something she quickly sat up and grabbed it. Once she calmed down and she realized that it wasn't some sort of bug that landed on her she opened her hand and gasped out. Her eyes looked at it for a long time before slowly turning over to Nanoha, who was trying to keep from smiling and failing miserably. Fate looked at the necklace one more time before putting it on with shaking hands and then leaning over her fiancée. “You're not asleep,” She accused, making Nanoha open her eyes and bite her bottom lip, still grinning. “I love it,” She continued before Nanoha could ask. “ Let me show you how much...” Her voice trailed off, kissing Nanoha gently.
“C-coming!” Nanoha's voice screamed out from inside the room. “I'm coming, I'm coming!”
Vita crossed her arms and waited, tapping her foot. When nothing happened she knocked again. “Are you going to go with me or not!?”
“Y-Yes! Yes! I'm comiiiiing!!!”
Vita looked at the door oddly, wondering exactly why she sounded so happy about leaving for a week of hard training. Finally, five minutes later, Nanoha opened the door and leaned against the frame. “Why are you still in your pajamas?” The red head wondered. “And why do you look like you just ran a ten mile marathon without a break?”
“S-sorry...” She panted out, fanning herself. “I, um, got caught up in my... kick boxing exercises.”
“No wonder you're so fit, you really enjoy it don't you?”
“Oh yeah. I really enjoy it.” Nanoha panted more, smiling dreamily and still fanning herself.
“Don't push yourself so much. Your legs are shaking, you look like you're about to fall down.”
“She does that to me.”
“Eh?”
“It does that to me,” She corrected herself. “Kick boxing. Hard on the legs. Yeah. Wow.” She giggled happily. “Just a minute, I'll get dressed.”
“No, no, come in.” She ushered the male into her room. “Have a seat. That was Sora's garage.”
“Any news about your car?”
“Yeah, there's an insurance claim issue somewhere. Probably because after I messed it up on that last mission I swapped to full coverage... A month later my car blows up. Literally.”
“Well you are known for purposely hurting your car just for an excuse to upgrade it.” He got a look, making him grin. “Not that it's insurance fraud or anything.” He gave the girl a wink and received a laugh. “I have good news for you,” Yuuno tossed a watch onto her desk. “Guess what that baby is?”
Fate picked it up and observed it. “Looks like a standard device used by civilians for their daily lives.”
“Oh how wrong you are.” He leaned forward. “That's an A.A.M.F.”
“A what?”
“An Anti-Anti-Magic Field.”
Fate looked at him a moment. “Wait a minute, you're telling me that in just two days you already made something that will cancel out an AMF, when our highest researchers and developers havn't even come close in?”
“More or less,” Yuuno nodded. “Yes. Yes, I did.”
“By Elune, I love you!” Fate looked at it with more interest. “How does it work?”
“Its a prototype,” He admitted. “Scaglietti's devices use a certain frequency that interfere with the kinetic properties of the stem cells when they reproduce to cause friction that amplifies the chi flow of your body and-”
“Yuuno!” Fate snapped at him. “Lamen's terms, please!”
“It simply stops the AMF frequency from doing what it's supposed to. Or at least that's what it will do. Right now it scrambles it. You'll still be powered down, but only by ten to twenty percent. I need your help to test it if you would.”
“Let's test it right now!” The girl stood up and closed her monitors.
“But what about your work?”
“I'm not a desk junkie,” Fate grabbed him and hauled him out the door. “Kha-san, finish up for me please!”
“Ehhh!?” The man known as Kha gasped out. “Again!?”
“New assistant for me,” Fate informed Yuuno when he gave her a questioning look. “He helps me do my paperwork when I'm too busy... also runs errands for me, attends meetings so I won't have to, brings me what I need, and even refills my coffee cup from my thermos.”
Yuuno looked over his shoulder while Fate pulled him along. “Being your secretary has gotta suck.”
“What was that?”
“I said the guy sure has a lot of luck, getting to work with you and all.” He replied smoothly.
“I'm sorry, was it too much?” She offered her hand to help Subaru stand.
The blue haired girl smiled to herself but took the offered hand anyway, pretending that the short girl was helping her stand. “Thank you, Caro, I'm just beat.” After getting her balance she dusted off her pants and looked over at her other team mate “Tia, you about ready to call it a day?”
Tia turned around and pointed her guns at separate floating spheres,pulling her triggers and making them glow. Once done the orbs spun around to form a new pattern for her to shoot. When all of the balls were glowing once again they flew around her again and lined up in a row to show her accuracy rating. “Yes,” She finally answered, panting. “I just finished up the afternoon's training.”
“Looks like you're all having fun,” Yuuno greeted them as he stepped onto the blank training field. The three turned to look at him and the device he was holding. “Mind if we take over for a while?”
“You and Fate-san?” Caro pondered. “I didn't know you could go against Fate-san one on one.”
The male faltered lightly. “I'm useful on the battlefield in many ways besides fighting...”
“Yuuno is a support mage,” Fate told them. “Didn't he train you alongside Nanoha once or twice?”
“He acted like a ranged fighter at the time,” Tia mused.
“Yuuno helped Nanoha and me train for several years when we were on Earth. We didn't have a training area so he would form the barriers for us and also made up training exercises. Tia, your shooting orbs are actually originally his design.”
“No way!”
Yuuno sighed out. “I'm never taken seriously...”
“Anyway, Yuuno, if you would?”
“Sure,” He placed the device on the ground and waved out his hand to form a barrier. “You three, please leave the training area. This isn't going to be normal training.”
“We're up to it!” Subaru clenched her fist. “I feel ten times stronger than last time we were together, Yuuno-san! I can handle it!”
Fate ignored them. “Lets do this, Yuuno.”
“Right.” With a quick flick of his wrist the group was encased in a barrier.
“Why aren't we using the training field's barrier?” Caro looked around.
“Specifics?” Yuuno asked, eyes closed and concentrating.
“Training level:SS. Restriction times three.”
The male opened his eyes. “Fate, that's a little extreme don't you think?” He looked over at her when she didn't answer. Fate's gaze was looking at the ground, hand twitching lightly. “...Okay. I understand.”
“Thank you, Yuuno.”
“If I think you'll get hurt, I'm canceling the simulation.” He received a nod and once more he closed his eyes and concentrated.
Subaru looked over at Tia and was about to ask what was going on but a sudden feeling made her stop. All at once she found herself flat on her face, pinned to the ground. “Wha...what's going on!?” She looked at her friend who was slowly falling to her knees. Tia tried to resist be also fell down on her stomach, unable to move. “Tia!? Caro!?” The pink haired girl looked like she was in pain from the sudden force.
“We told you,” Yuuno knelt down and lifted Caro slowly, walking to the edge of the barrier and sitting her outside of it. The girl gasped out, looking instantly relieved. “This isn't your normal training. Everything in this barrier has three times as much force than normal, so basically the simply act of taking a step suddenly becomes a complicated exercise.” With his help the other two girls escaped the field. “Fate, I'm going to activate the AMF, are you ready?” After the nod he knelt by the device he sat down earlier and pushed a button. Fate staggered a moment but still managed to keep her jacket on and Bardiche still flared into assault form. “Good... I'm reading you at seventy five percent your normal power. Personal limiter removed, field status: all green. Fate you are clear to begin your training.” A keyboard came in front of him and after a few strokes, several of the highest threat drones appeared. “I don't need to tell you but I will anyway...If you mess up you could seriously get hurt or killed so I'm going to stop this any second I see fit.” Fate nodded at him. With that being said, he pressed the start button.
“Why do you do that?” The girl finally spoke while he put them on his desk. “Juggle those bottles? You are always doing it when I come see you.”
“It calms me down,” Elio sat next to her on the bed and allowed her to hold his hand. “My escape from the world. Do you have one?”
“No,” She laid back and looked at the ceiling. “Well... I guess the shower. When I'm in the bath I don't think about anything but how nice it feels.” Her eyes turned to look up into his. “...And you.”
“Lutecia...” He let the girl pull him down on top of her and looked into her eyes. “...What is it?”
“I...” The girl blushed. “Want to kiss you.”
Elio sighed softly. “Lutecia...”
“I know.” She closed her eyes and gripped the front of his shirt with both her hands. “I'm sorry... But just for a moment... I want to feel spoiled...Please?” Her eyes closed as she leaned up, pecking his cheek. “It's too much to ask?”
“You're mature for your age,”
“You are too.” She encouraged him.
“I can't open myself to someone keeping me prisoner.” Elio sat up once again.
“I'm not keeping you.”
“You're not?”
“I want to be next to you!” She threw herself against his chest and held onto his shirt. “While you're here I can touch you. If you leave me I'll be sad...but...” She swallowed back her tears. “If I make you this uncomfortable, you can go... I'll take you and let you leave...” Lutecia gasped when she felt herself being embraced. “Elio...?”
“I want you to come with me,” He whispered. “I told you, I won't abandon you. You're not a bad girl, Lutecia. I'll make them understand that. I promise.”
“...I trust you.” Slowly she pulled back from him enough to look up. “Elio...” Once again she closed her eyes and leaned up.
“Caro-hime will be glad to see you again as well, I'm sure.”
Lutecia's breath caught in her throat and she slowly pulled back. “...Yeah...”
“What's wrong?”
She looked down and placed her palm on his chest. “Nothing.”
“Did I say something?”
“You still don't understand.” She stood up. “But that's okay, I won't give up. Caro-chan isn't that far ahead of me yet.”
“What do you mean? Ahead of you at what?”
She smiled. “I'll check to see if we have a new mission soon. Do you have everything you need?”
“With your help I've been able to store all the data I could into Strada. I think I have a complete copy of most everything here.” He nodded. “I know everything about my past now.”
“Will you tell me?” Lutecia inspected the bottles he was juggling earlier.
“You didn't read the files?”
“If you wanted me to know, you would tell me.” She looked back over at him. “I was really tempted, but I only read enough to get your interest when we spoke on the street a while ago.”
“I see.” Elio considered it a moment. “Well, there isn't much to it like I thought...I was created to be a weapon, code named Project F. I was experiment Eli, one that was being tested using information from a scientist named Wily Scaglietti. His files stated that if a human soul had no positive emotions they would be able to be converted into a gem of power, a Jewel Seed. His experiment recorded a girl named Aura undergoing the process. Using that basic principle of the data, someone made me. When I awoke I destroyed the lab and everything around it. I was stopped after being hit in the head. When I awoke I was in a hospital with no memories of what had happened. Two people found me in the fire and assumed I lived in the apartment complex that also burned down since it was on top of the laboratory. They adopted me, but died two years later. Jail found me and wanted me to work for him. Fortunately for me, Fate-san was on the scene and saw my Parents die. Their last words were a request to take care of their son... Fate-san took me back to Midchilda's capital city and I lived in the refugee homes but she still took care of me whenever she could. Two years later, when I was almost ten, she wanted to adopt me. I agreed but legally she was refused. Despite her background and military status she was deemed to be an unfit mother because of her age. Fate's mom, my mom now, adopted me instead, making Fate my older sister and legal guardian. After we realized I could use magic, I enlisted in the military. Boot camp was a nightmare but I came out on top and was promoted Private second class. That more or less brings me to now.”
“And I thought I had it rough.”
“Tell me about yourself?”
“You want to know?”
“I wouldn't have asked unless I did.”
Lutecia smiled, a faint blush across her cheeks. “Well, I don't remember much before I was in the laboratory. It was always really cold there, and we were treated more or less like experiments. Not to the point of being held in cages or anything, but the housing projects were severely under-funded.” The girl walked over to the desk and sat down in the chair so she could look at Elio while talking. “I remember they would talk to us as if we were mindless people, always telling us what to do and where to go. Although they weren't allowed to do anything inhumane to us it still felt like they didn't really care. They made me summon different things, sometimes even forcing me to by using some sort of thing that went over my head. It was during those times I would black out and when I awoke, several people were hurt and I was in bed, restrained. The other people there would undo the straps and I would cry in the corner. A month later Caro-chan came. She went through the same things I did, but I wouldn't let her be strapped to a bed. I would hold her while she cried in her sleep...” Lutecia looked down at her hands. “She was so little, two years younger than myself. I couldn't stand seeing her go through it. One time something went wrong and while under a forced unconsciouses summon, she called forth a dragon. It decimated the entire area before it was dispelled. After that both of us were put in a room together. I remember playing with her, trying to cheer her up, before Zest came to pick me up. I came here and Jail told me that the reason Caro-chan and I destroyed things was because our summons went out of control based on our emotions. He gave me these gloves to make sure I didn't accidentally hurt anything else. After a while he promised to help me live a normal life if I would work for him... After that, Zest and I were sent out to recover relics for him. The more I collected, the better gloves he would give me.”
“That's where we split off. Caro-hime was given gloves to boost her power, not limit it.”
“Boost? But that would go against everything I was told...”
“Lutecia, Do you still believe Scaglietti's lies?” Elio face-palmed. “After all we've done the past...week?”
The girl looked down and rubbed her hands together. “I'm... more scared than anything...What if...What if it's true?”
“Can I see your gloves a moment?”
Lutecia looked at him. “What, why?”
“I just do, please?” He held out his hand. “Just for a bit?” The girl looked at him for a few moments while debating with herself. After a while she finally nodded and called forth her gloves only and allowed Elio to take them. “Thanks,” With Lutecia's age gap he found them to be a pretty good fit, despite his hands being larger. “I'm not giving them back.”
“Elio!” Lutecia reached out her hand but the boy crossed his arms. “This isn't funny, I need those!” She tried to grab his hand and gasped when he turned so she couldn't. “Elio, I'm serious, give them!” She tried again and again, finally pushing him onto the bed and wrestling with him to try and remove the gloves. “Elio please I'm begging you!” The two scrapped a little longer, rolling over each other and getting tangled in the covers. “I'm going to hurt everyone! I can't stop it! Please!” Again she tried but only managed to find herself laying on her chest with his arms wrapped around her, holding the girl so she couldn't move. “Eliooo!”
“When you're stressed emotionally you summon, huh?” He countered her, struggling to keep the spazing girl under his control. “Where are they then!?”
Lutecia went still in his arms. She stayed silent a moment before moving her hands up to look at them behind his head. “They're... they're not even glowing...”
“I told you,” He whispered. “He was lying to you all along.”
The purple haired girl pulled back from him and placed both her arms by his shoulders, panting while looking down at him. “All this time...All the people I hurt...was for... nothing?” She blinked a few times, feeling her eyes water. “All the tears I refused to shed... all the pain I held inside... The times I wanted to scream but stayed an emotional less doll...For... For nothing...?”
“...I'm sorry.” He didn't know what else to say right then. Lutecia finally broke, falling against him and letting out all the pain and stress that had built up inside her over the months. Elio slowly wrapped his arms around her and held the girl, looking up at the ceiling and wondering exactly what he was going to do once he got back to the Sixth Division if Lutecia was with him.
“Nanoha...” She panted out, trying to pull herself up. “Is getting stronger...I have to too...” With a loud groan she forced herself up into a sitting position and used Bardiche as a prop so she could stand. “I can...go on...Set specifics:”
“No,” Yuuno waved out his hands, canceling his barrier and then the training simulation. “You're going to bed. Right now.”
“I want to train! I have to be stronger! So nothing can stop me!”
“This is why you have that nickname, Fate!” Yuuno yelled at her, making the girl freeze in her tracks. “Don't do stupid things. We're going back, we'll continue tomorrow afternoon, after you rest.”
“...Okay,” Fate began to walk to the bridge that connected the training field to the land, limping slightly as she did so. “How long until Nanoha comes back?”
“She still has two days minimal. If she masters the spells given to her then she'll come back then, if her or Vita havn't perfected them, it'll be longer. You know how they are.”
“Yeah,” Fate smiled fondly to herself. “That's my Nanoha. Always pushes herself to the limit to make sure she can take care of everyone.. I can't wait till she gets back, I'm going to cook her a huge dinner, cuddle while watching a movie, and then have hot and wild sex for five hours straight.”
“Ugh, spare me.” Yuuno rubbed his nose. “I don't want to know.”
“I'm teasing,” Fate smiled at him.
“Nanoha rubs off on you too much...”
“Oh?” Fate stood by him while he closed the training ground officially for the night via the console. “She tell you about our love life?”
“Too much,” He shook his head. “More than I ever need to know.”
“Anything interesting?”
“She wanted a three way when we were seventeen.”
Fate blushed darkly. “You're kidding.”
“I am,” He winked at her. “Now we're even.”
“Mou, you!” Fate smiled at him. “I'm going to get in bed if you won't let me train.”
“Go ahead, I have a few stops to make along the way.” He waved to the blond and watched her walk away while he finished recording the data and other miscellaneous details. Once done he yawned to himself and made his way over to the residential area while looking at the stars. The back of his mind instantly started breaking apart the constellations absently, comparing them to how they looked on other planets. 'For thinking so much,' His mind wandered as he walked. 'I sure can't see such a simple thing as Scaglietti attacking personally. It almost cost them their lives...' Yuuno shook his head quickly, trying to rid himself of those thoughts. 'It doesn't matter, Hayate didn't see it either. It was too random. What the hell is he doing? Making an appearance and simply leaving when he could have killed them both? He's sick; toying with people like this. No wonder the girls act so rash around him, they're so angry they can't think straight...' Upon entering the mess hall he looked around at the late night people and the random civilians visiting their friends. To his surprise he saw the forwards at a table together, watching a monitor. Walking over to them he noticed that they were reviewing the training Fate had just gone under and were discussing it piece by piece. By the time he reached them it was ending with him shouting at her to call it a night. “Are you that interested?” He pondered, making all three of them jump in their seats and turn around before saluting. “If you wanted to watch you could have used the training field's monitors instead of just the remote one.”
“Ah, well, we didn't want to be a bother...” Subaru laughed nervously. “We couldn't even move in that field and she was under the influence of the AMF...”
Tia nodded. “And you were constantly tweaking her watch so we didn't want to bother you either.”
Yuuno grinned to himself. “My apologies, we get lost in thought when we train. I'm sure you've seen Nanoha space out when she has something on her mind?”
“Lots of times,” Tia confirmed, making Caro cover a smile. “But one thing caught my attention?” She trailed off as if to ask permission to vocalize her question. She received a nod so she went on. “What was that nickname you mentioned? Was it “The Terror of Death”?”
“How did you know that name?”
Tia looked a little nervous, as Yuuno's voice didn't seem thrilled she knew it. “Well... A few months ago I was getting scolded and she mentioned it...And also 'White Devil' as well.”
“It's not something many new people know,” The male sat down at the table and propped his chin up on the back of his hands. “I guess it would be better coming from me instead of someone else.” After letting out a sigh he went about answering her. “ I'm sure you've been told about 'the switch' that military have, right?” They all nodded at him. “I don't know if you've been able to do it yet but you already know the basics of it anyway: being able to turn on and off your battle mode without letting personal feelings effect your war and not letting the war effect your personal feelings. Well, some of the veterans have another switch, a 'Devil Trigger' as Nanoha calls it. Its a trigger that happens when you see or experience something so intense that you can't control yourself anymore...” The male looked down. “Fate... was the top of her squad at everything they did. You name it, she was always number one: Private first class, Corporal first class, Sergeant first class, Warrant officer first class, Lieutenant first class, you get the picture. Right after she became an enforcer, her leader was called to an emergency and left her in charge of the rest of the squad, unit seven. She was in command of five people that she had gone through most of the ranks with, although they were lower of course, being normal mages. At that time...” Yuuno trailed off.
“If we don't need to know, then-”
Yuuno cut Subaru off. “No, it's okay. If I stop here you'll just look it up when I'm gone anyway, won't you?” The group didn't say anything so he continued. “Fate lead them on a mission, and split up with them. Her team went to explore a mine shaft where some galacticly wanted criminal was supposed to be hiding. It was a trap meant for her...” He closed his eyes. “They all died in seconds.”
“How awful...” Caro whispered.
“Twenty people were waiting for them, it was a massacre. Fate was sent a monitor by the person she was after and saw it all happen live. It was then that Fate snapped her Devil Trigger for the second time, the first being when she thought Nanoha had died. Fate went to the mine and...” Yuuno took a breath. “The news the next day,” He skipped. “Showed the scene recorded by a field reporter. Fate was recorded and it was shown, more of a boost to credit the TSAB's force. They used Fate's pain to send a warning to anyone who opposes us. She was dubbed “The Terror of Death” then and it stuck instantly. Everyone around the base called her that for over a year. Finally it died down when Nanoha graduated from the battle instructor school, also top of her class.”
“Is Nanoha,” Subaru interrupted . “Oh, sorry...”
“It's okay. Yes, Nanoha is 'The White Devil” but it's not as bad as Fate. Nanoha has always had an amazing source of magic, so much so that scientist are still amazed when they see it. The reason she's still classified as an S+ mage is because she only takes the exam to rank up when she's sure she'll ace it perfectly, and also only does them when Fate does as well. She doesn't care about anything other than being as equal to Fate as she can, so there's a higher chance they'll be stationed together. Well, that's not important anymore, but at the time it was. Anyway, Nanoha's sweet personality changes when she's on the battlefield. She fights with mercy but when push comes to shove, she more or less shoves the hardest. Her destructive power mixed with her merciful tactics gave her “White Devil” as a name. Someone who possesses enough demonic energy to destroy anything in her path, but also caring enough not to use it wrongly. Of course people who don't know the full story think it's because she wears white while battling. I don't want any of you to misunderstand them, that's why I'm telling you this.”
“I see...” Tia nodded at him lightly. “Thank you. I almost had doubts about them...”
“Just remember, both of them are caring girls, don't let anything people say make you think otherwise.” He stood up and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “On that note, don't let anything people say about you get to you either. You're Riot Force Six's top forwards, but most importantly, you're all girls with kind hearts.”
“Sir!” All three of them saluted and got one back.
“My, what a filthy mouth you have.” The man crossed his arms with an amused look. “You are not what I need right now, Elio. I need my Lutecia's assistance with something.”
“Why did you come here then?” Elio countered him. He kept his eyes locked on Jail as he approached him and grabbed the covers of the bed, flinging them back to reveal Lutecia who was just waking up.
“Lutecia, I need you to come to my office when you're done with your little fling, okay?”
“Yes,” She replied easily. “I'll be there shortly.” With those words Jail left the room. The two stayed silent a moment longer before Lutecia sat up to swing her legs off the bed and smooth out the wrinkles in her pajamas. “He probably wants me to retrieve something for him.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I'm going to get the information for the mission and come pick you up.” She walked over to him and touched his cheek with a finger before giving him an honest smile. “And then...I'm going to put myself in your hands. Please take care of me?”
“Yes,” Elio reached up and took her hand, giving it a small squeeze. “I'll take care of you.”
“Thank you,” She gave him another look and blush before calling her barrier jacket and leaving the room.
'Lutecia's... Showing emotions again.' He grinned. 'Time to get ready to go home!'
Several monitors appeared around her, flashing red. “Fate-chan!” Hayate's voice suddenly came up, paired with a video image. “We have a lock on Elio, report immediately!”
“Ma'am!” Fate saluted her and called her barrier jacket. “So much for looking pretty today...” She changed her direction and ran to the windows, inputting the command to make them open and leaping through them almost before they allowed her to. With a twist in the air, she scanned the area and saw the forwards running along the ground towards the building as well from different directions. Upon landing in the room she gave Hayate and Yuuno a nod and moved to stand next to them and look at the monitor. “So you found him?” The screen flashed to Elio and Lutecia walking though a forest. “He has his weapon back?”
“And the AMF as well as the jamming field around him has been removed.” Hayate bit her lip. “Yuuno?”
“Either they're about to enter dangerous territory and need to be in top form, or Elio somehow managed to talk his way into getting his powers back.” Leaning forward, he pushed up his glasses. “They're holding hands.”
“Ponderous,” Hayate mused. “Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst. They're about three hours away by flight...”
“Three hours!?” Fate gasped. “There's no way we'll get there in time!”
Hayate bit her lip. “Use a jet instead of the helicopter. It'll be crowded but it will cut the time in half easily. Fate you will have to fly back since there won't be any room with Elio and Lutecia as well.”
“Our goal is to capture her?”
“Yes, please. Primary, Elio. Secondary, Lutecia. I want her under arrest and magic neutralized.”
“Ma'am!” Fate saluted and nodded over at Vice before two ran out of the room. “Turn around!” She told the forwards, who were running to her in the hallway. “We're going to the air strip!”
“I don't know,” Lutecia yelped lightly after almost tripping over a root. “It's hot and sticky out here, I don't like it.”
“Don't like being hot do you?” Elio looked around himself and licked his lips. “For some reason...I have a really bad feeling. Scan the area?”
“Okay,” Lutecia closed her eyes and called forth a circle beneath her feet. “What I desire... Small things to be my eyes, to search the area and tell me where what I seek is.” Several small objects appeared around them, forming into something that resembled mosquitoes. “Be off, take care okay?” she waved at her pets. “They should find something soon.”
“Great.” Elio wiped the sweat from his eyes. “The sooner we can find that relic and get to section six the better.”
Lutecia followed him, once again taking his hand in hers. “Why don't we go there directly?”
“It would look a lot better for you if you offer a relic as a peace gift.” A quick look at his watch made a compass appear on top of it. “We were told to head north from the drop off point but we've been walking for an hour and nothing!” He slashed his spear and cut through a bunch of vines. “What's going on?” A few more steps and he was suddenly in a sort of clearing. “What the...?”
“Why is there a clearing in the middle of the jungle?” Lutecia let go of his hand and walked forward. “Look!” She pointed to the center of the circlish area. “Somethings there!”
“No wait, don't touch it!” Elio yelled, running after her. Lutecia looked over at him with a confused look just as her hand touched the metallic object embedded into the ground. A spark flashed around her but the girl didn't seem otherwise hurt. “Lutecia...?”
“Yes.” The girl stood up straight.
“You okay?” Elio started walking closer to her. “Did you hurt your hand?”
“No.”
“Lutecia?” Elio stopped moving. “You sound kind of odd.”
“Come closer.”
Elio licked his lips but still did as he was asked, stopping right behind her. “Hey...?” The girl in front of him turned around quickly and he felt a searing pain in his stomach. “Lu...te...cia...” Elio's breath caught in his throat, slowly looking down. The girl pulled back, ripping a short dagger from his stomach that immediately started to bleed drastically. “...Why...?”
“Because I was ordered.”
With both hands covering the wound he looked up again and into Lutecia's lifeless eyes. “You're being... controlled!”
“Yes.” Lutecia suddenly shook her head and stepped back. “Ahn... My head...Don't touch it, Elio, it made me blank out a moment.” She paused her rant, looking down at the bloody dagger in her hand and then over at Elio when he fell to his knees. “What...No... I...”
Elio offered her a small smile. “I'm okay...”
“Elio!” Dropping the weapon she ran to him, catching him as he fell. “Oh no... no! I ... I'm sorry! I don't... I didn't mean to...What..!?”
“We were set up,” He felt himself be laid down onto his back. “Your gloves, take'm off...” He watched hazily as she quickly did so. “That's probably how... he did it. He knew... The bastard knew!”
“Don't get upset! Don't move!” She removed her barrier jacket and grabbed her dress, ripping it and placing the cloth over the wound and pressed down to try and make his blood clot. “You'll be okay!” Her eyes watered. “Elio...”
“Don't cry...” Elio's voice trailed off as the shock wore off and the real pain began to set in on him. “Lutecia...”
“Elio!” Her eyes scanned the area frantically. 'What do I do!?What do I DO!?' Swallowing she looked back down at her blood covered hands. 'I can't go back to the base...I don't know how to get to his from here, and even if I did I couldn't carry him!'
“Shiva!” Caro gripped the dragon's neck to stabilize herself. “No wait, we need to go the other way!”
“Our mission is this way,” It told her mentally as she flew away from the rest.
“What do you mean!?” Caro looked around a moment before Fate contacted her. “I'm sorry, Shiva is taking me somewhere,” She sent to Fate. “Keep going, I'll see what she wants and meet up with you.” After she was reluctantly granted permission Caro looked back over where her dragon was taking her. “What is is, Shiva?”
“Your goal is this way,” Shiva circled a clearing in the forest. “I can smell them.”
Caro blinked when they landed and hopped off her back. Turning around, she saw Lutecia hunched over across from her. “Lutecia-chan!?”
“Caro-chan!”
The pink haired girl ran forward a few steps. “Elio-kun!” She picked up her pace but stopped all at once she saw the blood on her hands. “What the!?” She saw Lutecia look to the ground and followed her gaze and seeing the dagger next to them. “You... you...”
The purple haired girl looked at her with a scared expression. “I... I didn't meant to...”
“You...stabbed him...?”
“Caro-chan, listen, I-”
“Did you stab him!?”
“I didn't meant to!”
Caro's vision blurred. “You stabbed my knight!”
Shiva stood behind her and glared. “Take your revenge, Princess.”
Caro's scream echoed around them as she ran forward. “What I ask for-!!!”
“Fate-san!” Subaru looked up as the girl landed. “Where's Caro?”
“Requested permission to investigate something.” Fate looked around the jungle. “I'm hoping she'll be able to find Elio with the help of her dragon. We are to continue as planned.”
“I hear something...” Tia drew both her pistols. “...My neck is itching...”
Fate looked around as her squad went back to back. Slowly she circled around, eyes darting in different directions. “We're surrounded.”
“ But how?” Subaru asked as she swallowed thickly. “We just landed, there's no way...”
“It's a set up!” Fate looked up as a single metallic sphere fell beside them. “Get down!” Thrusting out her hand, she formed a shield in front of them as the device opened up. Instead of a blast of energy a white-ish haze flew over them. “AMF!” The blond turned to check on her teammates. Both of them still had their barrier jackets but they were fading in and out. “Hang on!” She gripped Bardiche tightly. 'Yuuno's device isn't perfect yet, they don't have enough magic energy to stand up to it like I do...'
“They're coming!” Subaru forced herself up and loaded a cartridge into her glove, firing out the rifle shell and solidifying her jacket.
“How many!?” Tia began shooting at the people running at them, loading two cartridges of her own to stabilize herself. “Fate-san!”
“You won't touch my team!” Fate flared out her scythe and flew at the device. Amazingly her attack missed, cutting into the ground as the sphere flew into the air and scattered around between the trees. “Che, Upgrades...”
Subaru blocked a glowing sword with her glove and flicked it away from her, punching the man in the gut and sending him to the floor. “What is this!? Why aren't they effected!?” A spin kick made another man back off of her before blasting him in the chest with a charged magic attack. The spell fizzled out half way and only sent the man stumbling back onto the ground instead of slinging him through the air.
“It's not magic!” Fate flipped the end of her staff up under a man's chin and quickly spun her scythe around and sliced his chest, drawing blood from the gash. “Scaglietti's behind this!”
Tia loaded another two cartridges and reloaded her gun, shooting as quickly as she could. “There's too many!” Five shots were wasted on trying to sink the AMF drone that was still flying above them out of their reach and hiding in leaves whenever it could. “Fate-san!”
Fate growled, eyes scanning the area. “It's come down to it... Either we die... or they do.” Fate narrowed her eyes and took a serious stance, holding her scythe above her head. “Bardiche! Load cartridge!” Three shells shot out of her device. “Plasma Smasher!” The attack ripped through the ground, blowing up the earth and shattering the trees. Several people fell fell to the ground but more just seemed to come. “Tia, Subaru! Don't hold back!” Fate flew to the side and held out her hand, sending several blade like projectiles into her opponents. “This is war, take them down or we'll all die!”
Subaru nodded and tried to steady herself. 'It's like a switch,' she thought nervously. 'This is what I trained for... I can't let them hurt Tia or Fate! If I have to dirty my hands...' Subaru screamed, charging her glove and skating forward on her wing road. 'Then so be it!' The girl punched out. “Divine Buster, Shoot!” Two shells flew out and landed on the forest floor.
“No!” Caro threw her hands out, once again forming her circle. “What I ask for, spears of the earth!” She raised her right hand. “Stone Spiker!”
The purple haired girl leapt into the air as the ground under her shifted and thrust upwards in spikes. “What I desire,” she started while floating in the air. “A means to subdue my opponent, bind her to the ground, vine lash!” She pointed at Caro.
With a roll, Caro avoided the several vines snapping around her and trying to ensnare the girl. “I'm going to take my revenge!” She screamed loudly. “What I ask for!”
“What I desire,” Lutecia countered instantly, forming several wasp around her.
“Flames to consume!” The dragon summoner finished, moving her hands out and incinerating the insects that flew towards her. “I ask for-!”
“My desire!” Once again their attacks canceled each other out, sparks flying around as the flames died out and her summoned insects dissipated. Lutecia flew towards her friend and tackled her hard. They hit the ground and slid together before struggling to get a hold onto each other. “Caro-chan! Stop this!”
“You hurt him! He's dieing!” Caro screamed at Lutecia's face, flipping her over and rolling a few more times. For a moment they simply wrestled on the ground, pulling hair and biting each other. After what seemed like ages, Caro managed to get her in a headlock. “What I... ask for...” She panted out, forming her circle.
“I...desire...” Lutecia countered her, gasping for air while Caro gripped her.
“Earth to rise...”
“Water to soften...”
“Stone Spike!”
“Mud blast!” A column of mud erupted under them, covering both and separating them. “You're making a mistake!” Lutecia steadied herself and moved her hands. “Listen to me! What I desire...”
“What I ask for-!” Caro glared at her, panting hard and holding her right side where Lutecia had landed a solid hit on her. The two girls kept their eye contact for a long time, waiting for one to make a move so the other could cancel it with her own. After what seemed like ages, she started. “A wave of water!”
“A wall of stone!” Lutecia clapped her hands together and touched the ground, summoning forth the earth and covering her body in a small dome as Caro's tidal wave splashed all around it.
“What I need,” Caro panted out as the earth shield vanished to reveal her opponent.
“What I require,” Lutecia spoke softly, wavering as the chain casting took its toll on her. “A swarm of insects, to head my demands!” She thrust out her hand. “Wasp army!”
“A fall of earth and water!” Caro concluded her spell, breaking the ground under them and making it soar at the other girl along with the pressure of a geyser freshly summoned. The bugs assaulting her had their wings covered in mud and forcing them to fall to the ground. Lutecia screamed out as the attack landed, washing over her and finally leaving the soaking wet and mud caked girl on the ground, panting weakly for air. “What I ask for,” She whispered as she slowly walked forward to end it. “Ice from my heart...” She felt Shiva smile behind her as she weakly froze the ground along with the water and mud on her enemy.
“Good job, Princess.” Shiva invaded her mind. “Now you can have your revenge. You can take the life of the one who stole what belongs to you.” Caro held out her hand and called forth water and cold, freezing it into the shape of a dagger. Her small puffs of air came out in burst of fog, breath being so cold it was visible in the heat around them. Slowly she sank to her knees and gripped the weapon with both hands, looking into Lutecia's scared and trembling eyes as she raised it above her head. “With this attack, you will be satisfied,” Shiva coached her along. “Bring it down, and settle this!”
'Jealousy makes you do things you normally wouldn't. We don't want Caro-chan to be a bad person do we?'
' You're not alone, we're all here with you. We'll get Elio back.'
' You have gentle power, so I'm not worried about my team while you are with them.'
'Caro is a kind, loving girl.'
' Power to protect everyone!'
Caro felt the world come back into focus and dropped the dagger behind herself. “What... am I doing...?”
“Do not hesitate!” Shiva screamed into her head. “Take your revenge!”
“This isn't... This isn't what I want to be!” Caro shook her head and looked back over at her dragon. “This isn't who I am! I don't like this!”
“We made a deal! Now kill her!”
Caro shook her head. “No! I'm not going to hurt anymore! I want to help, to protect!”
“She stole your knight!”
“Elio isn't some thing that I own!” Caro stood up and stood her ground. “ He can choose whatever he wants! I want him to be with me for me, not because I own him! He's my precious knight that I will always protect! I belong to him!”
“Then I will do it for you!” Shiva took a huge intake of air “Ice breaker!”
Caro threw herself on top of Lutecia to shield her from the attack. Cold wind ripped all around her, freezing her hands and chilling her bones. Moments passed before she realized that she wasn't being turned to ice and she slowly raised her head and gasped out. “Freidliche!” The full sized dragon shook it's body to rid itself of the frost. “...Thank you!”
“Princess,” The new one spoke to her. “As I promised, I will help you protect whatever you desire.”
Caro stood up and nodded firmly, walking over to him. “I'm sorry, Shiva...” She shook her head sadly. “But I'm not the way you are... I wasn't thinking right at the time...Thank you for watching over me, but I don't want to use you for selfish reasons...I release you.”
Shiva glared at the girl as her body started to fade away as the summon spell was canceled. “There will be a time in the future,” She spoke as blue mist started to settle around them “That you will need my power again. When you seek it to hurt, I will come back when you call my name.”
“Thank you.” Caro watched the last of her summon fade and looked up at Freidliche. “And I'm sorry. I was lost in myself.”
The dragon roared out loudly, spreading it's wings and fully removing the rest of the ice on him. “Your friends are hurt; I can heal them.”
“Please. Lutecia too.” She turned to look at the girl as she slowly broke free of the frozen mud and shivered. “I'll listen to her now. But please, save my Knight!”
Tia collapsed to her knees, panting hard struggling to even just lift her guns anymore. “That's it...I'm out...” A soft glowing came over her as her barrier Jacket vanished, leaving her in only her standard training outfit. “I don't have anymore magic...”
“Tia!” Subaru loaded her last shell and skated over to her, fighting the people who ran in for the kill. “I won't let you die; stand up!” Two people slashed their glowing weapons at her, getting blocked by Subaru's glove. “Go AWAY!” Her glove tried to load another round but came up empty. Her shaking hand started being pushed back, forcing her to her knees. “I won't... Give up...” She glared at them, trying to force her way back up. The next moment the two yelled out and Subaru's face was splashed with blood. Fate stood in front of her, Bardiche starting to flicker. “Fate-san!”
Fate panted heavily, loading a shell just to keep her device active. “Tia...” She took a breath. “Could you not shoot down the AMF device?”
“I swear, I shot it five time!” She told her leader. “There has to be several of them, I saw it explode!”
“I believe you,” Fate steadied herself, eyes narrowing as the remaining force started approaching.'there's no way I can take the rest out by myself... Even if they're not magical, they have weapons that rival A class mages...' She closed her eyes and prepared herself. 'Nanoha...' A loud explosion caught her attention and turned her eyes to it. Smoke rose up from the area and a body was slung out from it, hitting a tree and revealing a long slash mark on his chest. The next moment a blur shot from the dust and over against two people, clashing it's sword with theirs. “Signum!” Fate gripped her weapon harder, encouraged at the appearance of her rival. “No...wait... Nanoha!?”
Nanoha slashed twice, flooring the two people and flying into a group of three. A bright flash of light blinded everyone a brief moment. When they could see again a blue cape twirled around the girl as she spun around, slinging her scythe around in a circle and gouging their stomachs. Looking up, she saw two people leap from the trees at her. The girl spun her scythe around and changed it back into a pendant before flashing another light around herself and jumping into the air, holding the red copy of Signum's sword and graced with the barrier jacket as well, color coded to match her blue and white. The three people landed, but only the female got on her feet again, once again flaring forward and changing into her standard jacket and shooting several bullets. The clip was emptied and she shoved another into it quickly, loading three shells before her armor faded away.
'The White Devil...' Tia thought as Subaru hugged her and looked around in case anything attacked them. 'And...' She looked over at Fate, who just caught a complete magnum reload tossed to her by her partner. Bardiche flared to life fully again and she quickly engaged, bringing several to their knees. 'The Terror of Death.' She swallowed when blood stained Nanoha's outfit, staying even as she shifted forms again. 'Able to kill... to keep fighting even when they're exhausted... To protect their team...' Her guns shook in her hands. 'And I'm here again... Letting Subaru protect me...I can't keep doing this! I'm the leader when Fate and Nanoha aren't here! I have to be strong too!' A scream escaped her mouth as she stood up, bringing her guns up again and shooting, calling upon her own reserves to form the bullets. 'I don't care what they call me!' Her mind flashed to Nanoha and Fate's kind smiles. ' I'll become a devil as well, as long as my precious partners are safe!'
The last man fell by Tia's bullet, leaving them in silence. A few groans rang around them from the people they avoided killing but the battle was over. “Nanoha!” Fate called her over and hugged the girl tightly. “You're not supposed to be back for another day!”
“I finished early,” She replied, hugging her back just as hard. “I called Yuuno-kun to come pick me up and he told me about the mission. I flew over as fast as I could.” A small explosion came and Tia finally collapsed, having destroyed another AMF drone. “Good work, Tia,” She congratulated her. “Good thing, I had to load three entire clips just to keep my jacket around me...”
“Tha...thank you...” She fell onto her hands and knees. “I'm... gonna throw up...” Nanoha looked at Fate a moment longer before running over to Tia and rubbing her back and speaking softly to her.
“Subaru,” Fate called to her. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” She looked half dead though. “I wouldn't mind visiting Shamal once we're back, though. Preferably quickly.”
“Right,” She nodded at her and summoned up a monitor with the help of Bardiche. “Lightning one to HQ.” Hayate appeared in front of her. “We were ambushed, enemies defeated and we're okay.”
“Mission has been completed,” She replied. “Caro found Elio and Lutecia and all three are on their way back. Get out of there as soon as possible, there is no relic.”
“Ma'am.” She saluted and looked into the sky, seeing Vice's jet above them. “Come on, let's load in. Without Caro and her dragon we'll all fit.”
“I understand, it was a bad circumstance...” The purple haired girl shifted uneasily. “So much for making a good impression on your unit...I'll be thrown in jail for sure...”
“No one has to know.” Caro shook her head. “Elio-kun is fine, just drained. I'm sure they will listen to your story, Lutecia-chan.”
“You will still call me that?”
The dragon summoner smiled to herself. “Yes. After all, how can I expect you to forgive me, when I can't forgive what you've done?”
“...Thank you... Caro-chan.” She reached out slowly to embrace the girl. “Thank you so much.”
“You've had a hard time... This time, I will hold you if you want to cry.”
“Thank you...thank you...” her words broke, pulling her tighter. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!”
“We had a lot to deal with,” Fate closed the door behind herself and kicked off her heels, lining them up by the door and straightening Nanoha's carelessly disregarded boots. “I can't believe Elio managed to gain all that data!”
“Lutecia-san hacked it all for him didn't she? I got to say I never saw that one coming. Thanks to her defecting, we have all the information we could ever want, and then some. Do you think the armed forces sent to where his laboratory is right now will be able to do anything?”
“It will be the same as the past. All the data will be scrambled and useless and he will be long gone, taken all of the experiments that looks promising. If there is anything in what Elio and Lutecia gave us then we'll be able to bring the fight to him.” The blond walked up to their bedroom and sat on the bed. “Too bad those two are still in debriefing, I wanted to talk to him so much.”
“Don't mind,” Nanoha sat behind her and started rubbing her back. “I want to as well, but it will be tomorrow before we can and we both know it. Just as well, Vita-chan won't be back until then.”
“Mm...”
“I think you missed this,” She giggled, applying gentle pressure to her points. She took the time to inspect her lover's haircut more as well since she was gone before being able to really look.
Fate moaned out contently. “I missed all of you, not just your back rubs.”
“Really?” Nanoha giggled. “I missed you too.” Reaching around she started undoing Fate's buttons on her shirt. “Let me rub you, it'll ease you up after that battle.”
“Gladly,” Fate shrugged off her shirt and fell face first onto the bed, purring when the hands went to work on her sore muscles. “ Man, I love you.” She got a happy laugh.
“Because,” Hayate replied easily and left it at that.
The blond rolled her eyes and turned back around in time to see a jet black and yellow car skid to a stop in front of the bar. The front was pitch black and slowly faded to yellow as it went along the car, leaving the back of it the same golden color as her hair. “Oh wow!” Fate instantly went into her 'car mode' as they called it and ran over to the vehicle. “This paint job is amazing!” She looked at the dark tinted windows and shaved off door handles. Continuing along she resisted the urge to touch the spoiler and continued to circle the car around the back, even looking at the bright yellow hubcaps. “I can smell the nitros in it! I bet it could smoke my old car!” She looked at the driver's side door. “Who's is it? The entrance to the vehicle hissed slightly as it moved outward and flipped up instead of opening outwards. “Wow!” Her mouth went dry when Nanoha stepped out of it. “What!?”
“Hey,” She greeted casually, tossing her the key. “Happy early birthday.”
Fate caught the key and stared at her a moment before turning back and looking at her friends grinning at her. “What's going on...?”
Hayate giggled. “Nanoha took care of the paperwork and insurance claims and used it to buy you a car. She took it to Sora's place and used all her benefit back pay to customize it for you.”
“I don't know anything about cars,” Nanoha admitted,scratching the back of her neck. “So I just told Sora to do whatever it was you used to have and upgrade it if possible. He said something about a new twin exhaust nitros boost with personal H.U.D display on the dash but I have no clue what that means.”
“Are you serious!?” Fate ran over to the car and stuck her head in. “Oh my god! It has everything!” Testingly she reached out and touched a button, making the clear wind breaker windows disappear and the top shatter into pieces to fold back. “Its a convertible too!?”
“Yup yup!” Nanoha smiled at her. “I havn't used any of my benefit car pay since I started working for the military so I had enough to afford it all. Along with your insurance and Hayate pulling some strings, I was able to move it all you to your car and fix it up.”
A new voice got her attention. “Oh she saw it already? Aw... I wanted to get the picture!” Sora waved at them as he walked out of the bar with a camera.
“You... You did all this?” Fate looked at Nanoha, who nodded. “...For me...?” She got another nod and turned to look at the car again, speechless. “I...wow...”
“Like it?” Nanoha asked, despite the smile on her face. “I'm sorry I totaled your old one... I hope this makes up for it...?” She followed Fate with her eyes as she walked around to the front of the car and stood before her. “...Fate?”
Fate shoved her back onto the hood and jumped on top of her, pulling the girl up so she was laying on it. The next moment she kissed her hard, moaning as her tongue invaded her mouth. Ignoring the cheers around cat calls around them, she instantly started her work unbuttoning Nanoha's shirt and feeling her up.
“Get a ROOM!” Hayate complained, covering Elio's eyes.
Nanoha ignored them as well, pulling Fate's jacket off and tugging her tucked in shirt up so she could get her hands under it. Not a few moments later and they were already on their way to starting to lose the rest of their tops.
“Hey look over here!” Sora called to them, readying his camera. “You're going to be the front cover of next year's hot rod magazine!” Both girls pulled away just long enough to pose nearly topless on the car hood before going back at each other, only stopping when Signum pulled the blond off of her lover.
“Cover up!” She commanded the panting girls. “You're in public, geeze!”
“Don't cover up,” Fate told Nanoha with a mischievous smirk. “Let's go home!” She ran over to the car and smiled when Nanoha hopped in as well. After a quick kiss she made the top come up and grinned at her lover. “I want you naked by the time I get to the apartment.” With that she hit the clutch, shifted gears, and sped out of the parking lot.
Yuuno crossed his arms. “Ten bucks says they don't make it home before stopping.”
No one took the bet.
Fate: My little boy has made his way back, and even brought with us knowledge on our opponent as well as Lutecia into custody. We're reviewing her crimes as well as her story and everything seems to match up. Since this is a special case involving Relics, Hayate-chan was placed in charge of the verdict. Lutecia, despite having given us valuable data, is still a wanted criminal. If Elio say she can be trusted then I believe him, but getting others to see it is a different matter.
Hayate: Lutecia, we have found Jail Scaglietti's main base of operations thanks to your help. If you'll assist us in his capture, I will clean your record...All in the name of justice of course.
Elio: You mean it!? Lutecia's slate will be clean!?”
Hayate: As if nothing ever happened.
Nanoha: Fate, we can't afford to mess this one up! Yuuno-kun's devices are working properly now so the AMF won't effect us anymore! We have to end this once and for all... For us, and for the future of this little girl.
Fate: The final battle...Nanoha, let's go. We will end it.
Tia: What do you mean we can't come!?
Hayate: The Stars and Lightning captains will go alone.
Fate: Next time on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's 6th Division: Reminisce, “The End of Time”
Nanoha: ...I can feel her... Come on... Come on!I'm... right... HERE!
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