Disclaimer: I own nothing having to do with Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, including plot, characters, setting, whatever. I wish I owned it, though. That'd be pretty cool.

A/N: Well, here's my first Nanoha fic. It's just my take on the events before StrikerS where Nanoha got hurt. Probably going to be 3 – 4 chapters or so. Please review, and I'll love you forever! Also: translations for Graf Eisen's German words at the bottom.

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It Was My Fault

By MedliSage

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Chapter One

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"It's a short mission, I'll be back soon."

"Be careful anyway."

The brown-haired girl nodded. "Ready, Vita?"

Vita nodded. "Let's go, Eisen."

Nanoha Takamachi and Vita of the Wolkenritter jumped out of the helicopter into the snowy fields, transforming into their barrier jackets during the drop. The opening shut where they had left.

"You worry too much," Vice, the helicopter pilot said. "She'll be fine."

Fate turned and smiled. "I know. I just don't want her to get carried away." She took her seat in the helicopter.

"It's lucky they were here," Fate continued, "and we were in the area. Smuggled Lost Logia can be really dangerous."

The pilot nodded. "How come Signum isn't here?"

"I believe she's assisting Shamal and Zafira on another small mission," Fate said.

Vice nodded, and Fate leaned against the wall. It was really too bad, since she, Nanoha, and Vita were coming back from a TSA meeting, and planned on going out later today. Even though this mission wouldn't take long, they'd have to write up reports after that, which would take a while.

It had been three years since the Book of Darkness incident. Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, and the Wolkenritter continued to work for the Bureau. Lindy was still in command of Asura, but it had been rumored she was to retire soon, and Chrono, who had recently become engaged to Amy, was going to become Admiral. Fate smiled at the thought of her adopted older brother, and her adopted mother. They were very kind to her. And of course, she had great friends. Signum acted almost like a mentor and older sister to her. Nanoha and Hayate were her best friends. And of course, the rest of the Wolkenritter, even though Hayate was getting older, still looked after her and cared about her deeply.

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"Tödliche Strafe!" Graf Eisen said out, as Vita charged another bot. "Dammit," she muttered. "I didn't think there'd be this many...!"

Nanoha nodded. "Whoever wanted to smuggle this relic wanted to smuggle it badly..."

Another droid came up behind them, and Nanoha shielded them once again. It was getting tiring, and although the number of bots seemed to be thinning, there were still many. It was getting tiring for them, Nanoha especially, and Vita could see it. This wasn't like her to tire out so early.

"Nanoha, are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said between deep breaths, "I'm fine. I'll let the shield down and you try and hit more of them."

Vita nodded. "Eisen!" She called out to her device.

"Explosion!" Graf Eisen said as another cartridge was loaded.

The shield was lowered. More bots were gathering around them.

"Schwalbe Fliegen!"

Vita had four silver balls appear between her fingers, and hit them all in a row with her device. Each was a direct hit as they exploded on their target.

That didn't do much however, since they were being grouped up on more and more.

"Let's go higher," Nanoha said.

"Right," Vita replied as the two ascended.

"I'm going to try a mass attack," Nanoha said, looking at the swarm of bots beneath them. Some were even bigger and had sharp blades attacked to their tentacle-like arms. She didn't like the looks of this. By the time they had got there, the building was already burning. They didn't think it was that bad. Luckily there wasn't anyone around. It was just a small transport center, after all.

"Alright," Vita said, flying behind her. "I'll cover you." Bots were flying up now, just the small ones though. She took them down easy with one hammer smash.

Nanoha's signature pink aura appeared under her. "Div... Divine..." She closed her eyes, and the aura faded. She was running out of energy.

"Nanoha, are you sure you're okay? You usually don't run out of power that fast."

"I can do it, I'm fine," Nanoha said. With more determination, the magic aura appeared under her once again, as she pointed her staff down at the gadgets. "Divine..."

Vita looked around. There was one bot headed up over to the right, just out of her reach. She flew down a little bit, since Nanoha was going to get everything else anyway. She raised her hammer to smash it down.

That's when she heard the most sickening noise ever. It was the sound of something slicing into something, but just what were the somethings? Maybe a bot accidentally killed another... no... there was something dripping... she could hear it... some fell on her arm... a red substance... it couldn't be blood...

She blinked. Was there another mage around? No. They'd scanned the area beforehand. She feared for her partner, but didn't look at her. That would never happen, right? Not to Nanoha. Nanoha was too skilled for that. She scanned the ground quickly. Nothing but bots. Just to prove her fears wrong, Vita looked back up.

The blade came out of her chest, dripping with blood. The red essence slowly spread over the top of her barrier jacket, as Nanoha began to drop out of the sky, Raising Heart falling helplessly next to her as she dropped it.

For a split second, Vita froze, her eyes wide. She couldn't believe it. Did Nanoha just get hurt? Nanoha got hurt, never mind stabbed? And no, no not... not killed... That's impossible...

"Nanoha!!" She cried, flying after her. She managed to catch her, stumbling onto the ground. "Nanoha!!" She yelled again, holding her. There wasn't a response. Her eyes were shut, and the blood was spreading. The two were knocked to the side by another bot.

Vita and the unconscious Nanoha tumbled over the snowy landscape. The red-haired girl slowly stood up. There were still a good deal of the bots around.

"You bastards..." She tightened her grip on Graf Eisen.

"Explosion – Raketen form."

"YOU BASTARDS!" Vita yelled, jumping up and smashing everything she could hit, with all her strength. She used the boost of her missile form to spin around, busting everything she hit in a single shot. Not long after she began her rampage, just scrap metal covered the ground, snow slowly speckling it.

Vita looked around, disoriented from her own rage. What was going on? Where was Nanoha? Nanoha... Nanoha got hurt, right! Where was she... Vita looked down at herself. She definitely had some bruises and a few cuts, but nothing bad. She looked around for Nanoha. She really over did it there – her vision was a little foggy. Then, she saw those brown pigtails slowly blowing in the wind, blood splatter on some of her hair.

"Nanoha!!" She yelled, running clumsily over to her. Vita collapsed on her knees, holding her back up. "Nanoha!"

Nanoha made a small, soft moan, as her eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Nanoha! Nanoha, I'm so sorry, I, I just, are you okay?!" Vita managed to put this semi-coherent sentence together.

"I'm sorry..." Nanoha said, her voice barely audible. "It was my mistake... are you alright, Vita?"

"I'm fine!" Vita yelled. "Just hold on, help's on the way! Just hang in there, Nanoha!" It occurred to her Nanoha was unconscious again.

"Hayate! Hayate!" Vita said frantically through her mind.

"Vita, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Hayate! Nanoha, Nanoha's...!"

"I'll get help there right now!"

Hayate sent orders for a helicopter to take Shamal and a couple other doctors to the scene immediately. Fate arrived back at the Ground Forces HQ soon after, and found Shamal getting into the helicopter.

"What happened?" Fate asked.

"I don't have time to explain," Shamal said, "Go talk to Hayate!"

Fate blinked, confused. However, she did as she was told, and went to see Hayate.

"Hayate, what's –"

"I really don't know. I just got a transmission from Vita, a few minutes ago."

"Did something happen? Is Vita okay?" Fate said, starting to worry.

"She said she was fine."

"Then..."

"It's Nanoha, Fate. It sounded bad."

Fate's eyes went wide as panic struck her like a knife to the stomach. "Is she okay? What happened?"

"I really don't know," Hayate repeated. "Vita was really worried though..."

The two stood in silence for a moment.

"They should be back soon," Hayate said. "We can see what's up then, and probably get the full story from Vita."

Fate slowly nodded, and looked out the window. Nanoha... please be safe...

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"Nanoha..." Vita repeated, shaking her lightly. "Nanoha, please wake up!! Hey, Nanoha!!"

Yet again, there was no response from Nanoha Takamachi. She just lay there, not making a sound, her eyes shut. By now, the blood had spread all over. Vita had been doing her best to try and wipe her with her own barrier jacket, but she couldn't do much.

After what seemed like hours of waiting, the helicopter came down. Shamal rushed out. "Vita, what's wrong?!"

"It's Nanoha!!" Vita said. She was actually sobbing now. "Shamal, you need to help her, please!"

Shamal knelt down on the other side of Nanoha to give her a quick overview. She didn't say anything, but her expression clearly said that it was very, very bad. Vita saw this, and sobbed harder.

"Vita, it's okay," Shamal said, making a failed effort to calm her. The other doctors came out of the helicopter.

"Come on, let's get her to HQ, fast," one of them said. "And I mean fast, by the looks of this."

Two of them picked Nanoha up, and rushed to the helicopter with her.

Shamal gently took Vita's hand. "Come on, Vita."

"Wait!" Vita said, tears still streaming down her face. "Raising Heart, where's Raising Heart?!" She looked around, and saw the cracked staff lying on the ground. She ran over and picked it up.

"Is my master alright?"

Vita swallowed, trying to stop the sobs. "She will be," Vita said. "Nanoha will be fine. Nanoha just got a little hurt."

"All right."

"Are you okay too, Raising Heart?"

"As long as my master is fine, I am as well. Don't worry."

Vita nodded, and followed Shamal inside the helicopter, carrying both devices. The door shut and it took off.

She glanced at Nanoha, who they were beginning to take a closer look at. They stuck needles in her, put a cloth on, and some other doctor stuff. Vita watched in silence.

I'm sorry, Nanoha. It was my fault... I didn't protect you...

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Chapter 1 end.

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Please review.

Notes:

Tödliche Strafe – Deadly Punishment

Schwalbe Fliegen – Swallow Flier

Raketen form – Missile Form