A/N: Wooo~ First update since... 2 months? Sowwiee o.o My muse is kind of dead... Though I'd like to assure everyone waiting for the next update of "Passage..." that I will finish this fic. I'm slowly getting to it once more, and as soon as this madness going on my uni ends, I'm going to come back to writing it.
For now, I'd love to present you the story written and submitted for Shizuran Project's writing contest (yeah, we lost but it was close ;p). The fic was co-written with Yui Moonlight and Major Mike Powell III, and as far as I know, Mike has already posted the first (and kind of alternative) version of the story here. To avoid confusion, this is the final version, the one that was taking part in the contest.
With that said, have a good read~
The Star, the Cross, the Lightning
They say time heals all wounds
But some wounds can't heal, no matter how much time passes. Because they were never really inflicted, to begin with
Love is one such wound
Especially a love like the one of Yagami Hayate's.
She was with her every time I paid her a visit in a hospital. Daytime, nightfall, it didn't matter to them as long as they were together.
"We're friends, after all."
She would say and both of them would giggle at my surprised face. Was it really that? Was I really surprised or just simply jealous? Being 12 years old was enough to feel jealousy over my two best friends. Over Fate and Nanoha who were always together, no matter what.
They had always been close. I couldn't reach them, no matter how much I tried. Everything, every action, every word spoken, every accident happening was bringing them even closer. Though I was always with them, the three of us, laughing together, sharing all things we had, except for one. They couldn't share with me their love. Even if I wanted to share mine.
Was it fear? Or maybe they were just uncertain of their future together? When I was counting all those times, when Fate asked me for advice about her affection towards Nanoha, I realised that I didn't really know any more. I knew they loved each other in a way not really suited for friends. But both being so hard-headed, they needed the final push. And ironically, this one came from me. Even if I was so envious, even if my heart was in pain every time I saw them looking at each other with those dreamy eyes...
I didn't really know why I felt that way. For the whole time, I thought it was just a natural thing to feel when two friends out of three fall in love with each other. I was this third one, the third wheel, the one left out. But in the same time, I was fearing for our friendship. They were the two most important people in my life, they helped me to stand again, they gave me a new life. I honestly wanted to believe that helping them in return was only the right thing to do.
In the end, we lived as friends and we separated as friends. Despite all my efforts to bring them together. And so I tried again. Being a commander of Riot Force 6, I could do whatever I wanted to achieve my goal. But that time, it wasn't necessary any more. The happy couple I met after almost three years wasn't the same as the two teenage girls getting shy around each other. And somehow, I was both happy and hurt. And I didn't know why.
Now I do know. Now I know and it hurts so much.
Time was passing by quickly. For Hayate, who was flooded with work for all the time, maybe a bit too quickly. Devoting her life to the military, advancing to a rank of Lieutenant General, she barely had any time for her friends. She barely had it for herself.
But Hayate's friends were not the ones to abandon people they loved. And so, in one of her very rare days free of duty, the brunette was sitting in a small café with her chin resting on her hand, ignoring occasional curious stares coming from other customers, and waiting for the two most important people in her life. She was waiting to meet with Nanoha and Fate personally for the first time since disbanding Riot Force 6, which took place almost 5 years ago. And honestly, Hayate wasn't sure if she wanted to go further than just telephoning each other.
The two were creating a happy, and what's more important, one of the most known couples in Mid Childa. The two Aces, together forever, leading their more or less peaceful life and raising their daughter.
Their daughter. Yes, Nanoha and Fate's daughter, Vivio. That sweet, adorable little angel with kind and innocent eyes. Hayate didn't blame the girl for anything. But she was also another factor adding to her jealousy towards her beloved best friends.
Once...just once, Hayate would love to hear Vivio calling her "Hayate-mama". Just once...
But speaking of the devil(s), there they were, getting out of Fate's new sports car right across the street from the café Hayate sat in.
The pain, the jealousy, they returned with a vengeance. Hayate's heartbeat increased as she watched her friends through the glass of the café's window. And every single affectionate gesture they exchanged was caught by the brunette's tired eyes.
Nanoha and Fate spotted her quickly and waved cheerfully, before looking both ways and crossing the street once it was all clear.
Hayate's eyes widened as she struggled to lift her hand and wave back at them. Her body suddenly felt heavy... Why was she feeling so... tired, all of a sudden?
Once the two Aces reached the brunette, their cheerful, smiling faces faltered for just a second, the one which Hayate missed.
"Fate-chan..."
The blonde gave her girlfriend a look as she heard her voice inside her head.
"Hayate-chan... something is wrong with her..." Nanoha's voice, audible through their mental link, seemed troubled and worried.
Fate, in return, gripped Nanoha's hand a little harder. "Yes, I see it too."
The brunette woman had resorted to using quite a lot of make-up to mask her tired, sleep-deprived and unhealthy appearance for quite a while now, and while she could easily fool politicians, secretaries and the rest of more or less important people, Nanoha and Fate had known Hayate since childhood, and they could tell when their friend didn't look like her normal self.
"You can't fool them, Hayate..." A soft voice rang out in the brunette's head, making her snap out of her momentary absence.
'Huh? Where...?' Hayate blinked twice and looked around, completely oblivious to her beloved friends' expressions.
"You have been hurting yourself for too long..." The same voice again, soothing and filled with compassion.
'Wha- who- Oh God, am I hearing voices in my head now?' Hayate thought, utterly confused. That voice... That voice felt strangely familiar...
"H-Hey there, Hayate-chan. How are you doing?" Nanoha spoke up first.
Hayate looked up and saw the beautiful auburn-haired girl sitting right next to her on one of the comfortable chairs provided. The shorter brunette was confused, but she was almost blown away when Nanoha leaned in and landed a soft peck on her cheek. "He-eh? Nanoha-chan...?" Her ears burned red as she gingerly put her hand on the spot Nanoha's lips touched.
The other brunette giggled playfully. "What's wrong, Hayate-chan~? I can kiss my best friend I haven't seen for so long, can't I?" She said with complete honesty and innocence.
Fate giggled and did the same, this time, placing a kiss on Hayate's other cheek.
The girl felt her cheeks blushing furiously. "Ah...I, I don't...eh..." Hayate sputtered and her friends smiled warmly.
"So, Hayate, how have you been doing lately?" Fate asked a little bit later, after she and Nanoha had ordered a couple of pastries and soda, while Hayate went for another strong coffee.
"Ah...well...I've been... I've been pretty busy..." She replied, fiddling with her thumbs, looking down at her lap, casting a furtive glance into Nanoha and Fate's eyes once or twice.
"Fate-chan, something is wrong." Nanoha said to the blonde mentally.
Fate looked at her girlfriend with a corner of her eye. "I know, Nanoha. Hayate looks absolutely terrible. Has she been eating well? She's lost weight... too much, to be honest..." She replied through telepathy.
"Has she been sleeping all right? Look at those bags under her eyes..." The brunette Ace continued, watching Hayate slowly sipping her coffee with an absent look.
"I'm worried." They thought at the same time, looking at each other.
A silence fell after that, long and thick, before a buzzling sound broke it suddenly. "It is because of you." A voice spoke, cold and emotionless.
"Huh?" Nanoha and Fate spoke aloud, making Hayate look up at them in surprise.
"Is something wrong?" The shorter brunette asked, raising her eyes from her cup of coffee.
"It is because of them. You have hurt yourself enough. It is time... Meister Hayate." Hayate's eyes widened as a voice pierced through her head again, the same as before.
"Impossible!" She stood up, bracing her hands on the table. Suddenly, her head began to ache. Badly.
She gasped in pain and slumped back in her chair, holding her forehead with one hand and putting the other one on the middle of her chest, closing it in a fist and grabbing a handful of her shirt. "Ah...argh...it...it hurts...!" She stammered, shutting her eyes tightly, taking a step back and tripping over her chair.
"Hayate!" Nanoha and Fate exclaimed in surprise and concern, putting their hands on the pained brunette's shoulders and preventing her from falling.
"N-No...no...Rei-Rein...Reinforce, please...no...stooop...!" Hayate groaned, gasping for air. She felt like fainting...she was tired. So, so tired...
"Hayate-chan! Hold on!" Nanoha was holding her friend in her arms, while Fate was already calling for help.
"Shamal, we need you here right now!" The blonde started as soon as a screen with the doctor's surprised face popped out before her. "Hayate needs help! I'm sending you our location, please, hurry!" She spoke fastly, trying to keep her usual composed self.
"Hayate-chan! Hang in there! Please!" Nanoha wrapped her arms around the whimpering brunette's shoulders and waist, holding her close, trying to ease her friend's pain, even for a little bit.
"N-No...Rein-..." Hayate let out a weak cry and tried to open her eyes but only darkness met her. She felt the warmth of Nanoha's embrace, she felt Fate's hand wiping sweat from her forehead. But even that started to slowly fade into nothingness. With the last silent gasp, her consciousness slipped.
The bed Hayate found herself in was warm and soft. Not without an effort, she opened her eyes, immediately getting blinded by a lamp in the room. Trying once again, this time slowly, taking her time to adjust to the bright light, the brunette looked around the hospital room. A view behind a window on her right let her know that it was already dark. Which meant only one thing: Her only day free of duty went to waste.
Slowly remembering what happened, Hayate sighed silently and tried to raise her hand to her forehead but suddenly she found out that she couldn't move it. As if something heavy was pining it to the bed. She tried with the other one, only to feel the same. Panic slowly started to fill up her heart. What was happening? Had she lost control over her own body? A vision of herself in a wheelchair started appearing in her mind when suddenly something... moved on her left.
With a quick and firm movement, the brunette raised her head, only to see Nanoha partially lying on the bed and holding her hand. A quick glance on the other side and it became clear that Hayate's right hand was also immobilised, this time by sleeping Fate.
The anxiousness Hayate was feeling died as suddenly as it appeared, replaced by warmth and... pain. The sight of her two friends, sleeping peacefully by her, was so heart-warming, and in the same time, the brunette knew that it was not going to last too long.
Carefully, to not wake up Nanoha and Fate, Hayate sat on the bed, feeling the world around her spinning lightly. But she was a tough girl, even if it was so hard, she knew she could do it. Slowly and silently, the brunette slipped her hands out of her friends' gentle holds and got out of the bed, holding to a small night-table when she felt a little dizzy.
Taking a few unsteady steps at first, Hayate started to slowly walk in direction of the door, opening them and slipping outside to an empty and well-lit corridor. She walked through the monotone-white halls, hugging herself, feeling exposed with only the hospital robe she didn't realize she was wearing earlier.
Feeling the need to clean up, the brunette headed for the nearest restroom, finding one fairly quickly. Cupping her hands beneath the faucet, she splashed some ice-cold water on her face to try and help herself with waking up.
Suddenly, her heart froze and her eyes went wide when she looked up from the sink and into the mirror before her.
Standing behind her, no more than a foot away, was Reinforce.
The same silver hair. The same Barrier Jacket. The same garnet eyes. The same caring expression when they were looking at each other. Same…everything.
It wasn't real, was it? It couldn't be real. But... Reinforce's presence was comforting.
Hayate didn't turn around, simply looking into the mirror, into the other woman's eyes. Suddenly finding this motion harder than before, she managed to smile. "It's been a while... Reinforce." The name rolled off her tongue nicely. She felt better after saying that. "Of all times possible... why now?" She whispered.
Reinforce remained as stoic as ever, silence being her only response. Biting her lower lip lightly, Hayate tried again. "Why are you here?" A long while passed with neither of them speaking or moving. Finally, the brunette let out a resigned sigh and rested her hands on the washstand before her, looking down at it. "You know, Reinforce... I'm a coward..." She started slowly, feeling her fingers twitching lightly. "If I suddenly confessed to them, if I told them I love them both, that I want to spend the rest of my life with them..." Hayate closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "They wouldn't be mad. No. I know them better than that. They would let me down gently. Lessen the blow. But that never works, does it?" The brunette kept smiling sadly, hot tears slowly sliding down her soft cheeks. "Who knows? They might even try and let me in... but I don't want them to try. I don't want them to try and let me force myself into their relationship. I don't even want to imagine Vivio letting me into her home as well... Hayate-mama... it doesn't even sound good." There it was. Saying everything out loud for once felt good. "What do you think, Reinforce...?" Hayate brought her hands to her face to wipe her tears and turned around.
She froze once again as soon as her eyes landed not on Reinforce, but on Nanoha and Fate standing in front of her, looking at her with worried and surprised expressions.
"B-But... how...?" Trying to comprehend fully what had just happened, Hayate took a step back subconsciously, her back meeting with a cold wall.
"Hayate-chan..." Nanoha started uncertainly and went silent again, as if she wanted to say something and suddenly changed her mind.
"Hayate," Fate took the initiative instead. "You... do you really...?"
The shorter brunette looked at her blonde friend, her eyes widening when she heard her own name. "I-..." She suddenly didn't know what to say. Blame her sudden dizziness for her own words? Or... to simply say the truth?
Reinforce.
Hayate's heart started to beat faster when she realised what the silver-haired woman wanted to achieve. And although her image was long gone, the brunette could still feel her presence. "Reinforce... thank you." She thought, smiling lightly to herself.
Hayate was a brave person. And even while standing in front of her worst fear, she decided to be brave once more. She took a deep breath and put on a serious expression. Her mouth was dry, as well as her throat. But she wasn't going to be stopped by those mere things.
"I... do." She said and closed her eyes, not wanting to see her friends' reaction. "I do love you both. I love you. I love you more than anything else in this world, for the longest time…" She confirmed and finally looked at Nanoha and Fate. Both still as stunned as they were a while before but still strangely calm.
Nanoha spoke first. "H-How about... going to... a more pleasant place?" She asked with a shy smile.
Hayate blinked.
Twice.
Right, the restroom wasn't really the best place for a love confession. The shorter brunette opened her mouth to say her thoughts when a familiar voice made her close them again.
"I know the right place, Meister Hayate."
The three looked around, searching for the person who said that.
"Reinforce..." Hayate said thoughtfully, making Fate and Nanoha look at her again.
"Huh...?" Nanoha asked with astonishment. Hayate chuckled and wiped the dry tears from her eyes and cheeks, sniffling slightly.
"Reinforce, Nanoha-chan. It's her. I guess magic doesn't go away forever, after all. Either that, or she's my guardian angel." Hayate gave her friends a true smile. Nanoha and Fate simply returned it with one of their own. It was really nice to see Hayate smiling once more.
Hayate reached her hands out to the two.
"So… are you up for a little trip? If you don't want to go... if you just want to keep me as your friend... I'll understand."
Hayate's blue eyes closed and she waited, her hands opened invitingly, her heart beating so hard and fast that she could almost hear it...
She didn't have to wait for too long.
Her eyes shot open and she beamed at her beloved best friends, whose fingers were now intertwined with her own, holding each other's hands tightly.
"Nanoha-chan... Fate-chan... thank you."
They nodded. A magic circle appeared beneath their feet, and in a flurry of white and black feathers, Hayate was in her Barrier Jacket. Fate and Nanoha followed suit without a word.
"You are going back. To where it all started." Reinforce's voice pierced through the silence once again.
And in a flash, the three were gone.
She felt the familiar feeling of a space transfer, the feeling of a vacuum tugging at her body towards a destination she had a hunch of what could be. Nanoha and Fate's grip on her hands never faltered.
Once the tugging feeling was gone and she felt solid ground under her feet, Hayate opened her eyes and saw a light grey sky, a bustling city in the distance and a fluffy white blanket covering everything in sight.
Nanoha and Fate gasped once they realized where they were. Hayate simply smiled and squeezed her friends' hands.
"So, 'where it all started'... does that mean...?" Fate asked. The three found themselves on a familiar looking hill.
The shorter brunette nodded. "Yes, Fate-chan. This is where it all started... for me. Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan... I couldn't realize it myself for the long time. I've loved you ever since that day... since the day Reinforce and I had to say farewell, little time after meeting each other... you two were my anchor during those days. Yes, the Wolkenritter were there for me all along as well, but you... something about you drew me in." She said with a small smile. "It still does." She added with a playful wink.
"Fate-chan," Hayate's blue eyes met the blonde's garnet orbs. "Ever since I first saw you, I thought you were beautiful. And as you grew up, you started to amaze me even more. I can never get tired of calling you beautiful. Your loyalty is simply unmatched, that's invaluable. I love you, Fate-chan." The brunette finished with a smile.
The blonde's eyes glimmered and her face was blushing, beaming at Hayate with a shy but radiant smile.
The brunette then turned towards Nanoha, blue meeting blue. "Nanoha-chan... you are one in a million. Your smile shines as bright as your eyes when you fly. Your unwavering determination, your desire for people to hear your voice and reasons for fighting, and to listen in return, and most importantly, your desire for peace, friendship and love is so noble everybody else should be like that." Hayate continued with passion in her eyes. "And also, your power to befriend people has no equal, hasn't it?" She tilted her head to the side and giggled.
Nanoha blushed scarlet and smiled sheepishly, letting out her trademark "Nyahaha" laugh.
After the laughter had died down a moment later, Hayate let out a content sigh. She was relieved, so relieved, to finally speak her piece, to finally say all those things out loud to her beloved friends. She looked down to her feet and shuffled some snow around with them.
"So… well, I guess I am destined to grow old, grey and cranky, am I not?" Hayate said jokingly, putting on a sad smile. Being ready for a gentle but outright rejection, she gasped with surprise when the response came as completely different.
Nanoha leaned in, wrapped her arms around Hayate's shoulders and nuzzled her soft brown locks. Nudging the shorter woman's face towards her own with a gentle move of her fingers, she planted a gentle kiss straight on her lips. Hayate melted into her touch, and in no time at all, she was responding to her first kiss with Nanoha, with years' worth of pent-up love and desire bursting in her heart.
Fate was still hesitating, watching her girlfriend and her best friend kissing like long-time lovers. But the feeling in her heart was far from jealousy. It was warm and pleasant, and when Nanoha pulled back, Fate immediately took Hayate in an embrace and pulled the love-struck woman close to her, putting her hand on the shorter brunette's cheek and stroking it softly. Cupping her friend's chin, Fate took Hayate's second kiss in her life.
This time, the touch of Fate's luscious lips made Hayate's vision spin pleasantly around her. So she closed her eyes and leaned in, enjoying the moment to the fullest, feeling Nanoha's warm hands pulling her and Fate in a hug.
After the longer while, Hayate broke the kiss, releasing a content sigh. Looking around, the three saw they were standing in the middle of a bed of black and white feathers. Soft, inviting warmth surrounded them while snow and feathers softly fluttered around them.
"Reinforce..." Hayate looked up to the sky, feeling tears of joy coming slowly to her eyes. "Thank you..." She smiled and leaned into the close hug with her friends. "Thank you… everyone. Nanoha, Fate, I love you. So much."
Both Fate and Nanoha smiled widely and hugged the shorter brunette back, patting her reassuringly.
"We love you, too." Nanoha said gently.
"Together, forever." Fate finished with a smile.
There was nothing to keep them there now, when all was said and so much to be done.
And together, the three flew to the skies, their love stronger than ever.
FIN
Team:
Yui Moonlight
Silber-1 aka Major Mike Powell III
Caelion
A/N: And that's it. I hope you liked this little piece, writing it in a group was certainly fun and meaningful experience.
Last but not least, have some suggestions that would help us with improving our writing? Don't be afraid to voice them, constructive criticism, as well as any other kind of feedback, is always appreciated.
See you next time~