NOTE: Updated 3/3/2013

This is a fic I've had runnin' through my head for a while. Or rather, a chain of fics – 'Books' – that make up one big story. This is the Prologue Book, where Teana has an ugly falling-out with the rest of TF6 and makes a drastic decision that will change forever not only her life, but that of millions of other people.

The plot of the entire series is already worked out on an outline, so don't make any major plot suggestions. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism tolerated; flames not. I am going to write this fic, and Teana is going to undergo huge changes; if you don't like the idea of a radically-different-from canon approach (and if you were completely 100% on Nanoha's side in StrikerS episodes 8 & 9, not even paying any mind to Teana's reasoning and emotions), then leave now.

Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha is the property of 7-Arcs.

-STORY START-

Teana gripped the side of the rock wall as she walked toward the cave. Here she was, out hiking in the mountains just outside Cranagan, and she'd found this odd cave, tucked underneath a rocky overhand, the entrance near-overgrown with plants. Feeling a bizarre compulsion she couldn't quite explain, she entered the cave. Cross Mirage came to form in her hand, and projected a flashlight.

For 10 minutes she followed the cave, taking a turn here & there, Cross Mirage mapping the cave as she went so she could find her way out. Eventually, she came to a dead-end chamber. Set into the wall at the end was an odd-looking metal contraption, almost like an access terminal of some sort, angular and silver with faint glowing-blue lines. Compelled to without knowing why, Teana walked up to the device and gently laid her palm on it.

The device came to life, the blue lights increasing from barely-visibly-dim to vibrant and illuminating. The terminal suddenly emitted a flat plane of light that moved up and down Teana; the machine was scanning her. Upon the scan's completion, the machine emitted a series of sounds that Teana could tell was a language, though she couldn't understand any of it. The rock wall nearby fell away, revealing a silver platform, atop which metal components shifted and floated to form a semi-circle; in the middle of it formed a glowing, swirling, blue anomaly.

"Scans identify it as a portal, Master" Cross Mirage stated. "Unknown destination, but safe for humans to traverse."

Teana knew it was reckless, but she felt compelled to approach. So she did, walking up to the portal and then stepping through. In a rush of blue she found herself in another place entirely, a corridor with the walls, floor, and ceiling made of gleaming silver metal with glowing blue lines. She followed the corridor, stepping through an intricate doorway ahead that opened as she approached. As she stepped through, into a truly humongous room nearly two kilometers end to end, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she saw what waited within.

A few hours later, she emerged back through the portal, reappearing in the cave and following Mirage's map out. For now, she thought, she would keep this discovery a secret. She had to get back to headquarters, anyway; the higher-ups were planning that op at Hotel Augusta in a few days…

-SCENE BREAK-

RF6 Headquarters

10 Days Later

Slowly, Teana's eyes opened as she regained consciousness, her body aching as her vision was filled by the ceiling of the infirmary. She sat up, and then closed her eyes as she remembered what had happened earlier that day. The mock battle. The White Devil. The humiliation and failure. She opened her eyes again, and emotion filled them: anger; betrayal; conviction, and grim understanding.

When Shamal came to check on Teana, her words died on her lips when she saw the hateful hardened glare in the teen's eyes. Without saying a word, Teana pulled her pants on, grabbed Cross Mirage and stuffed him in her pocket, and walked out right past Shamal, the doctor too stunned by the vitriol she'd sensed to respond.

When Teana returned to her & Subaru's room, Teana brushed past her blue-haired roommate, ignoring her tired greeting, and flopped onto the bed. Subaru, figuring that the redhead needed her space, left her alone.

Teana spent the next hour silently making and reaffirming decisions and opinions, seething with cold anger and hardening her convictions on what would be done. Subaru, having gone for a walk, missed the point where Teana barely managed to keep herself from screaming in raw fury at the top of her lungs.

When the alarms began to sound, Teana, now possessing a calm surface barely holding back a raging wave of anger, silently changed to her uniform and headed out toward the hangar. Maybe, she surmised, smashing some of Scaglietti's droids would prevent a blow-up.

Unfortunately for all involved, this would not happen.

"And Teana… you'll be taken off combat readiness for three weeks."

Signum and Subaru both noticed as Teana's eyes shot wide open while her pupils shrunk, a twitch forming at her left eye. The girl's fists tightened, the nails digging into the flesh to the point where one pierced the flesh, causing a drop of blood to fall to the ground.

Nanoha and Vita did not notice.

"It's for the best" Vita added, "considering… recent happenings."

*SNAP*

That was the 'sound' of Teana losing it. Everyone sensed the sudden, raw surge of killing intent. Erio and Caro subconsciously clung lightly to each other and took a few steps away from the girl, while Friedrich hid behind his master's back.

"What you're saying," Teana replied in an eerily emotionless voice, "is that you can't use someone who doesn't blindly follow your orders."

Nanoha winced lightly as she realized that she was treading on thin ice. She carefully chose her next words. She chose wrong.

"I-I mean… it's common sense. You disobey my training, you go off on your own instead of following protocol, and…"

The rest, in Teana's ears, descended into unintelligible, as her mind could only hear "you are worthless to us".

"Shut up" she whispered.

"Huh?"

"I said… SHUT THE HELL UP!-!-!"

The resulting pulse of unrestrained magical power literally knocked Subaru, Erio, and Caro off their feet. Teana's hair ribbons had been blown off, allowing her mid-back-length red-orange hair to hang free… only now, it was bushed out and standing on end. Teana's eyes, showing the barest hint of tears, were filled with raw hatred that made Nanoha and Fate subconsciously take steps back, and her face was twisted into a feral grimace. The combined factors resulted in a look that would terrify any normal person, speaking of unleashed raw fury that promised to obliterate any who drew its ire.

"I trusted you" Teana spoke, her voice wavering with barely-restrained emotion. "I trusted… that you would help me become stronger… that you would help me become something more than a C-rank weakling… that you would give me what I needed to bring honor and recognition to the Lanstar name… I was a fool to trust you.

"You… I see it now… you were deliberately working to keep me weak! You, Fate, Yagami and her Knights, everyone! You wanted to build up my false hope just so you could watch me crash down! You all see me as a nuisance! A useless weakling! A nothing! You wanted to see me fail, just like my brother! To take the Lanstar name and drag it through the mud even more!

"You lied to me! You said that with shooting magic, I could become something great! That I could make a name for myself, and silence those who looked down upon my brother and me! But it was all a lie! I threw myself into your training, gave it everything I had and more! All for nothing! My brother…Tīda was a fool. He tried to accomplish life with shooting magic, and look where it got him! The magic you and he taught me… is useless! He's dead because he relied on it! I'm the weakest link in the entire Task Force 6 chain because I rely on it! I…

"I…" she looked Nanoha straight in the eye, her enraged blue eyes meeting Nanoha's horrified ones.

"…I… hate you…"

These three words hit Nanoha like a magic-supercharged punch to the gut. To have a girl she considered her most promising student say these words and mean them… her hand clutched at her heart as she felt a pain completely unlike anything she'd ever experienced. Even being brought to the brink of death eight years ago didn't hurt this bad. And the worst thing was that this wasn't physical pain, which would fade with time. Her body wasn't broken; her heart was.

"I hate you… so much… that it makes me feel physically sick just looking at you…"

Nanoha's knees grew weak. Subaru stood in dumbstruck horror as Erio & Caro hid behind her, similarly affected. Vita and Fate were too stunned to do anything other than stand and stare.

"So much… that every time I hear your Saint-damned voice, I-"

Through a combination of instinct and luck, Teana managed to barely dodge Signum's surprise punch. The young woman was caught off-guard by her attack missing, and was promptly kneed in the gut and kicked away in the face.

"I…" Teana continued after a few seconds, "have seen the truth. That my magic… is useless! That it will bring me nothing but pain and humiliation! To never affect my enemies with any more effect than a thrown pebble! I draw upon everything I have, and still fall short of ever even standing in the shadow of the power you all possess! It would've been better… if I'd never learned magic at all!"

Before anyone could act, Teana lifted Cross Mirage in card form. "Activate the seal!"

"Sir," it responded, "are you certain of this decision?"

"My decision is made, Mirage. Do it."

"Very well"

Within seconds, a black pattern traced through the air, first tracing a black chain-esque pattern on each of her wrists, and then converging just below her neck. She winced as the seal took effect, forming a black seven-pointed star just below her neck, right where her Linker Core would be. Shamal, Vita, and Nanoha gasped as they realized what Teana had just done.

"Linker Core Seal complete" Cross Mirage stated, "all magical capability excluding this unit's innate low-level access has been sealed. Master can no longer channel magic so long as the seal remains."

The group was left stunned into horrified silence as the ramifications hit home. Subaru tried to speak her friend's name, but the words died in her throat.

Teana then spoke to her Device again. "Summon it"

"Yes, sir"

Within a few seconds, space-time warped and then split, and the group looked up in astonishment as a massive object – found waiting by Teana in the subspace storage chamber in that cave 10 days earlier – filled the sky. It was 1,600 meters long, a bizarre mixture of sharp angles and organic curves, apparently composed of grey and dull-silver metal with electric-blue lines running along it here & there.

Cross Mirage spoke: "Destroyer-class vessel has been retrieved from subspace storage. FTL drive on standby. Weapons systems and energy shields online. Teleportation grid ready. Spatial-Temporal coordinates uploaded."

"This vessel" Teana spoke, "is over 100,000 years old. I found it recently, lying dormant and yet in perfect condition, in a recent expedition. It is now my ship. The Starshot.

"I am leaving Midchilda. I do not know where I will go, other than where fate takes me. None of you will ever see me again."

"So that's it, then?!" Vita finally shouted, "You're just running away? Instead of staying and listening to our reasons-"

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!-!-!"

Vita was left too indignant to articulate a response.

"This is my final decision …Subaru… take care of yourself. I am sorry that I can no longer be with you."

"Tia… you can't…" Subaru began to tear up as the realization that her best friend… her love… was leaving her.

"I can. And I am. I'm sorry."

Teana then turned to the instructors. "If, by some random chance, I should ever decide to return here, know this: it will be only after I have become truly strong, achieved the power that I seek. And it will be only for the purpose of revenge against you all for conspiring to ruin my life. Until then… farewell."

Golden rings encircled Teana as the ship's teleport grid homed in on her signature and whisked her away, up into the heart of the vessel. The ship rapidly began its exodus, climbing up through Midchilda's atmosphere. In low orbit, an automated TSAB interdictor (unmanned) was incinerated by a massive bolt of superheated plasma fired by one of the ship's cannons. The ship's trans-dimensional slipstream space drive activated; reality warped, and the Starshot vanished through a blue-white rift in space-time.

Back on the planet, Nanoha fell to her knees. Her most promising student had run out of patience, denounced her teachings, had come to believe Nanoha had been trying to hurt her, had renounced magic itself. Her beloved student, who was like a little sister to her, hated her with all her misguided heart, and now she would never see her again. She'd failed as an instructor. She'd failed as a sister. She'd failed Teana. Fate held her as she began to weep, as Shamal did likewise for Subaru.

-STORY END-

And there we have it. The angst-ridden prologue, the first section of a long, epic storyline that will spawn at least 20 fics.

The next book, Spartan, is in the Nanoha/Halo crossover section.