I decided I'd better upload these, if anything they'll help me keep track of all my short stories.

So here's the first one.

Disclaimer: I don't own MGLN or its characters.

Just a Bit Too Far

I stared out of the window, stared at a blood-red sky. The hospital room was dark, the only light coming from the sunset outside. The wind was picking up, black clouds raced along the edge of the horizon, threatening to overwhelm the light of the sun.

The weather outside matched my mood, my normally joyous and light-hearted demeanour was running parallel with black feelings of worry and guilt. I ran my fingers through my head of long brown hair and cast my eyes around the room for a mirror.

I looked awful; but I couldn't bring myself to leave the side of the blond man lying on the bed by which I sat. His hair lay flat upon his head matted with sweat, his face twisted in a grimace of pain.

"Yuuno-kun." the words were less than a murmur, not as loud as the wind, yet he stirred as if somehow, someway he'd heard me.

Two days he'd been like this, found unconscious in the infinity Library, head resting on his arms as though he were merely taking a nap. Until you saw his face that was, a sleeping person would never show a face like that one, not in the foulest nightmare.

Everyone had come to see what had happened to him, the room was flooded with visitors, literally from sunup to sundown making as much noise as at a house party and he hadn't budged an inch.

We were still waiting, Hayate, Fate and I, for the results of the scans that had been performed on him after they brought him in. These scans would tell us how long ago he had been attacked, for it was obvious that this was an attack. It should also tell us who did it, that is provided the assault had been magical and the residues could be read.

We had been given special permission to stay by his side day and night, just in case the one who attacked him wasn't satisfied and tried to come after him again.

I alone now sat by Yuuno's bedside, everyone else had returned home, Hayate to complete her paperwork and Fate to look after Vivio – I didn't want her to see Yuuno like this.

I knew that it wasn't my fault that he was like this, yet for some reason I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe if I'd taken more time to visit him I might have been there to see what happened and prevent it.

The longer I sat there and the more I thought about it the more it seemed to me that it would have been so easy to go to the library that day after work, just like I'd intended to. I wonder if things would have been different if I had.

My eyes lingered on his face, I was sure I saw the corners of his mouth twitch, was he coming to? No, I guess I was seeing things; I haven't slept since I first saw him. My body longs for rest, but I can't sleep – not until I know for sure – once I know it will ease my heart.

The only thing we've confirmed about the incident is that Yuuno hit his head, hard on the back. The reason could have been anything from a fall to an assault so it's not much, but it's all we have to go on.

The door opened and I wearily got to my feet, only to sit down again as Hayate came through the doors.

"Has there been any change Nanoha-chan?" she asked me, her eyes full of worry. She took the chair next to me as I answered.

"No, none at all."

" Nothing?"

"I thought he moved once but it was probably my imagination." My voice was dull with fatigue and Hayate looked as bad as I felt.

We continued to sit beside Yuuno's bed as the sky darkened behind us. There was no clock in the room, so there was no way to find out what time it was, the best we could do was guess by the position of the moon…or we could have if it wasn't covered by clouds.

My memory of that night is quite fuzzy, because I was so tired, but I'll do my best to try and say exactly what happened. Around 11pm (I think) Hayate returned home saying that she needed to sleep. Truth was I also needed to sleep but I was beyond the point of trying because I knew it was an exercise in futility.

All through the night I sat there, my eyelids grew more leaden by the minute. I knew I couldn't keep this up much longer, but we should be getting the results of the scans today and then I'll know what happened and be able to sleep again.

I couldn't tell you what time of the morning it was when I looked up at the sound of an opening door. I was relieved this time it was a member of the hospital staff, one of those who had seen to Yuuno when he was first brought in.

She crooked a finger at me and I wearily got to my feet and headed for the door. Outside she looked at me and I saw her face, really saw it. She didn't look sad – so that meant no bad news right? It was more of a perplexed look, like someone trying to get their head around a difficult riddle.

"What is it?" I got straight to the point; I had no energy to be excruciatingly polite about it.

"There's…something strange about this, you see…we did the tests for magic residue and we found some…"

"Then what was strange about it? Whose residue was it?"

"It was…the magical signature emitted by Yuuno Scrya."

"You're trying to tell me Yuuno attacked himself?" I exclaimed.

"That is…what the tests we did tell us."

My mind was still fuzzy but something was getting through. Something's wrong here, unless he, no way, he wouldn't, unless, but… I couldn't think straight, it was like a fog was clouding my mind.

A loud sound made me turn around and stare at the empty bed where Yuuno had lain but a moment before, I also noticed that the ground floor window was open.

"He did, didn't he?" I was shaking, all of this and for what, so he could– "YUUUUUNOOO-KUUUNN!"

Several blocks over, the young archaeologist felt a chill run down his spine as he crouched behind the corner of a building. "Maybe trying to get more attention this way was a bad idea."

As for why I wrote this, well I heard this "joke" a while ago and got this idea into my head and couldn't get it out.

So here's the joke.

A man is standing at a bus-stop when he is joined by a second man.

The second man says to the first "Do you want to see an amazing trick?"

With nothing better to do the first man says okay.

The second man takes out a hammer and says for the first man to hit him in the head with it.

The first man exclaims "No way, I can't do that!" but the second man keeps insisting until he does.

After he's been hit by the hammer the second man drops to the floor bleeding.

Panicking the first man calls an ambulance and waits for it to arrive.

He travels to the hospital with the other man and sits by his bedside.

The second man goes into a coma, while the first man waits by his bedside out of guilt.

As time passes and the second man doesn't wake up the first man's feeling of guilt grow.

He starts to drink excessively to drown his feelings.

His life starts spiralling down into disaster, he loses his job, and his girlfriend leaves him.

But he still stays by this man's side.

Weeks later as he still sits there now beginning to contemplate suicide, the second man suddenly jumps out of bed performs an elaborate bow and cries "TA-DA"

What do you think? Awful isn't it?