Innocent Raccoon presents :

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Fan Fiction

Heart of a Knight

/AN : This is a story, about a knight, with a heart, and how she came to own it and moreover, how it came to move.
Something that I've wondered about ever (short) while since I began writing alone, and here for this site. There isn't much else to say than to ask humbly that you'd try and enjoy this as much as humanly possible.

Edit : corrected wording a bit and added a few lines.

Disclaimer : I do not own the MSLN/MGLN franchise, but I would so like to have a series dedicated to Wolkenritter's love life.

MSLN FF - Heart of a Knight

Enjoying the still silence of the night, a silhouette of a calm stern woman in her white and pink shaded light cotton nightwear breathed in the fresh air gazing the dim light in horizon illuminated by the two moons above. Her long pink hair let now loose from the usual ponytail twirled dancing around in the breeze passing through. Standing beneath the stars has been a special part of her for many long years. Ever since she had begun serving her current, her what is to be her last master, she had taken in the habit of meditating under the late night view.

Although, in the recent years she had mostly grown out of it. New rituals replacing the old with all the new additions and new bonds acquired and forged in her new life. She didn't need to shake away the feelings of the past day any longer, she could sleep without much trouble now, rest peacefully without the horrid memories or having to be always on alert.

She let herself sink into it for what she hoped to be the last time. The horrors she had done in her past lives as a cold emotionless killing machine. Sure, she had been commanded, ordered to shed blood by masters each crueler than the other, but she had complied without resisting. It didn't use to hold a meaning. Not until her soul had received a heart from a small frail girl of only nine years old, from a girl in a wheelchair, dying poisoned by the shackles of the tome binding them in their contract.

She had been saved by the girl, and she had despaired to save the innocent small frail life in return.. ..and she hadn't been the only one. All of the 'Wolkenritter', Vita, Zafira and Shamal, her sisters and brother in arms, were saved all the same and together the swore to save the master that had given them their hearts. It wasn't an easy task, she already knew it then, that the hope had been slim at best, but she hadn't been alone.

It was that bond, created through the common goal of the newly forged hearts, which saved her again, in another meaning, in a different way.

Hearing the faint footsteps behinf her, the woman turned her head letting the deep blue eyes trail and fall lingering in the raspberry orbs gleaming kind warmth. Her another savior had awoken. She couldn't sleep well without the comfort of her other half. The thought raised a smile on the woman's lips.

"It's cold out here." She noted on the thin spring green nightgown the slightly shorter blonde woman approaching was clad in.

"Even trapped in a blizzard, we wouldn't catch a cold." The blonde stepped in closer, smiling happily for the one she had found right where she had thought she would.

"No, but I would still worry seeing you freeze." The pink haired woman leaned in for a light kiss, before she turned to face the night sky once more. She was feeling nostalgic, and as much as the woman beside her soothed her heart, she felt the need to the memories inside to lay them all back in the rest they belonged.

"I recall a night like this, from years back." The blonde hugged the taller woman from behind turning her eyes to face the same view as the other.

The woman held in loving embrace sighed at the memory and the feelings it evoke. There had been many similar nights, but she knew what the other had meant. It was the same night she had been reminiscing as well.

~14 years ago, Uminari city – Yagami residence.

"Signum? You're still out?" A young woman with a shoulder length blonde hair stepped through the sliding door leading out to the veranda and under the sparkling night sky and next to silhouette of a woman of a slightly taller height and her long pink hair tied in a ponytail.

"Shamal.." Signum turned to acknowledge the presence of the blonde woman appearing near her age with only a few years of distance between. In truth, none could tell how old they were, not even the women in question. It had been centuries ago since they were first summoned to a world on a different planet. Those, and years that followed, were ones they could not speak of with pride. Not anymore at least, once – that time – they might have been, now they had gained something they had lacked before, something received through their new master.

And they could feel the change.

"Is Hayate-sa.. Is she asleep?" She had to correct herself to refrain from using the honorific her master had wanted her to drop. She had been used to a strict hierarchy, that she was a sword to be wielded, not a person standing equal to the mage she served. Her new master saw it in a different way. She had wanted them all to become a family, and feel it in their hearts as well. Signum wanted to respect the wish of her small but kind master to the extent she could. Sometimes it was harder than she felt it was supposed to, accepting kindness was a new thing for her after all.

"Yes, she is sleeping soundly cuddling Vita." Shamal giggled at the memory of the sight greeting her when she had gone to check on her master's well being. She knew just how bad the situation was with her young master, how much the illness, the curse had worn her body, but she could only hope that they could complete their task before the darkness could eat the innocent child.

"I see." The pink-haired woman smiled to herself, she had seen something similar a few nights before and it warmed her heart more than she knew she could feel. "She needs all the rest she can get. She is going through a tough battle.." She only wished she could fight it in the place of her master. Not being able to help made her feel.. vulnerable.

"You need to rest too, I know you're worried, but straining yourself will not help to solve anything." The shorter scolded the other with a warm tone, she didn't like the way the taller woman held her worries inside. Standing always alert, bearing and facing the consequences of the choices made did make her a reliable commander and a gallant knight, but she wished her to share the burden and learn to rest at ease whenever there was a chance to do so.

"Hmm.." Signum was growing tired, worn out by their secret endeavors, gathering Linker Cores to fill in the pages and stop the Book of Darkness from devouring the life of their very young and kind master who had given them their lives to live, not as soldiers, but as people belonging among the crowd in their everyday life. "Hmm.." She mumbled a faint hum lost in thought again. Her master truly was kind and gentle, too kind to be a master of such horrifying tome and bloodstained knights like the Wolkenritter.

Shamal sensed the gloomy aura filling the knight beside her and took a step closer leaning faintly against the shoulder harboring so much more than she felt healthy. She wanted to ease the weight, to support her, to be relied as much as they all relied on the leadership of the strong knight gazing the stars.

"I'll stay here then, as long as it takes." She stated calmly brushing her body softly on the taller woman who turned to look at her side.

"You need rest all the same..hmm.. or even more than I." Signum might have had her troubles to fall asleep, but it was something she could, and felt she should, face alone. The others could sleep in her stead, they needn't to wear themselves out in vain. Especially the woman who not only offered her unwavering support, but filled the cartridges their armed devices required with her magic. That was a strenuous task and a one the stern knight was ever-grateful.

"I will not leave you here, mulling things over alone. I wouldn't be able to rest having to spend all night worrying." Shamal, however, had no intention to leave, even if it had been made an order, she wouldn't comply, not until the other woman would head inside all the same. She would stand there beside her, the whole night if needed be.

Signum only murmured a soft response, not in words, but in a low gentle hum and let her shoulder press against the one leaning on it. She knew she would fight a losing battle should she stay stubborn, and in truth, the feeling of her fellow knight on her body wasn't all unpleasant. It awoke something inside, something unfamiliar she had never felt, come to know, nor could understand, only that it gave her warmth and comfort.

It was a feeling that made her believe that everything was going to be alright.

"Meeting Hayate has really changed us.." The taller woman whispered, to herself more than out loud, but the woman by her side heard it still and smiled at the notion.

"Yes.. You the most." Shamal had noticed the same thing, the change, in everyone, and felt it affect the stern knight the most. For all too many years, she had been clad in cold emotionless void, existing only as a blade to cut down their masters' enemies. Now, she had come to know, and show, emotion. Faintly, yet surely. The cold woman carrying a fiery blade had awoken to a warm heart filled with care for all her family. It was a change the blonde had welcomed the most, and wished it grow even more.

"Have I?" Signum could feel it, how something was different from before, but she couldn't tell what. For her past self, introspection had been unnecessary, a distraction if anything. The only things she had needed to observe and contemplate had been the situation at hand and what tactics it required to be solved to best efficiency. Now.. It was a whole new world filled with things unknown.

"Yes, you have." The shorter let her arms rise and circle around the taller, taking her in a gentle embrace. Warm, friendly and loving, but not intruding, at least she hoped it wasn't so for the other. "I like the new you. *giggle* It's not to say I haven't always liked you, but I like the sides I haven't seen before.. It makes me want to learn more of you."

"If there is to find, I am certain you will be the first to learn."

"I don't mind if I'm not the first, as I long as I get to know.. all of you."

The women standing on a soft embrace blushed a bit for the words spoken. They didn't know the meaning, the what felt less important than the who, that part was what mattered the most, that much they could understand. Truly, something, many things had changed, but none of it, was unpleasant. Especially the change they could feel take form in that moment.

"It's quiet.."

"Quiet enough for the Knight of the Sword to lay her blade sheathed for the night?"

"Hmm.. I believe.. It could be."

Enjoying the last brief moment in the arms of the shorter woman supporting her, the pink-haired knight sighed in content bidding good night to the sky above and turned around to step inside for the night's rest. Parting with the other, she came to know another change. She couldn't place a name on the feeling, but she knew she couldn't feel whole all by herself any longer. For that, she would need the presence of the blonde woman that had so gently embraced her. It was that thought, that memory which lead her to a dream more peaceful than she could remember having ever before.

~The present day, Southern Midchilda – Yagami residence.

"Many nights have been a big part on what we've become, but I feel that one still the most important. So many things changed then, or begun to take shape." Shamal spoke softly in her nostalgic mood and held the taller woman in her arms reenacting the scene from their memory.

"Hmm.. It did.. Still, I wonder if I have changed all that much.. If I have.. changed enough." Signum couldn't help but to voice out the concern she faced every day. She knew there had been change, she could feel it. She had come to know love, warmth, the presence of a family but what troubled her was the thought she hadn't changed on the outside enough. She doubted she could convey what it meant for her. The appreciation, and how her heart loved it all in the same way she herself felt cared.

"You wouldn't believe.. Oh, I guess it's won't believe, even after all I've told." The blonde scowled at the pink-haired knight in her arms. She wouldn't fault the other woman for it, but she pained with the knowledge that her beloved still could sometimes fall in doubt lacking confidence in her new self.

"I am sorry.. I know how strongly you feel about this, I do not wish to hurt you with these doubts." The taller knight turned around to gaze into the worried eyes of her beloved.

"It's not as much about not wanting to hear it. If you have any doubts, please tell me. Doubts, insecurities and lack of self-confidence, are something we all have to face every once a while in our lives. It's only natural now that we've come to hold humane hearts. It is the thought of you bearing it alone that hurts me. I want to be your support in every way I can." Shamal couldn't help her worries from echoing through her voice even as she tried all she could to keep it calm. It wasn't a chide, it wasn't a lecture, it was the same it had been so many times before, it was the feelings in her heart that she wanted conveyed.

"I know.. For that I am sorry, I still have a long way to go.. Will you, guide me through it?" Signum understood the meaning and wanted her heart laid bare the same. She might have not mastered the way of the speech, but for every word she didn't voice, the ones she did let out carried a meaning on their behalf.

"I will guide you anywhere you want." The blonde reaffirmed her love and conviction and with a loving smile she gave a light gentle peck on the soft lips of her beloved, cupping the upper inside her mouth. Seeing her stern lover apologetiv, she felt like teasing her a bit.

"Then could you guide me back to bed?" The tall knight arched her eyebrow with a suggestive smile and offered her hand for the Knight of the Lake to take, as her heart revealed another deep rooted desire, a change they both had come to find, share and treasure.

"*chuckle* Now that was a definite change.. A one most welcome. Follow me~ O' Sweet Knight of Mine. I'll guide you through a night to remember."

Shamal took the hand offered and let Signum back indoors feeling a special glow only the woman following behind could make her feel. Tomorrow she would have to thank the little girl, now a woman grown, who had given her a heart, but tonight, she would show her love and appreciation to the woman who made the heart given beat and feel the way it did.

/AN : Innocent Raccoon here, thank you very much for reading this, it has been a pleasure. Hopefully for you, dear readers, as well.
If there's anything you would like to say, or write, about this short humble work of mine, please do not hesitate to do just so.

I will now, hopefully, be able to fully focus on my other works I made this account for. However, that is not to say that (as a fickle little creature this one is) I wouldn't be all opposed to writing a oneshot or two somewhere in the mean, should I find the time. With that small (unpaid) add, I'll stop inflating the word count.

*Innocent Raccoon bows humbly and leaves to fondle the keyboard*