Crimson Phoenix
This story contains very minor spoiler(s) to those who haven't watched StrikerS 09 yet (or read the manga), so consider yourself warned. Although it's nothing much, anyway.
So, why did I decide to start writing this story? Ever since I watched StrikerS 09 I've wanted to know more about that incident where Nanoha very nearly died (2 years after A's). I'm hoping there will be more of it in the future episodes, but while waiting, I thought I might as well write about it myself.
Oh, and since this is my first fanfic, feedback along the way would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Nanoha series nor any of it's characters.
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Prologue:
It should've been just another easy mission for both Nanoha and Vita. There shouldn't have been any problems, yet something...went terribly wrong. How could something so simple turn into something so nightmarish in the flash of a single moment?
On their way back to the Bureau from a reconnaissance mission, Nanoha's and Vita's group was ambushed by a group of renegade mages. They had been flying for an extended period of time and everyone was getting a bit tired, so Vita soon came up with a plan to quickly handle the situation. "Nanoha, we'll get them packed together, so blast them with everything you've got left, okay?" "Okay, Vita-chan." A quick exchange of mental messages and everything would be over soon. Or it should've been.
It didn't take long for Vita and her team to gather the renegade mages more or less together and all that was left was for Nanoha to shoot them all down. She had already positioned herself far above the renegades and was just waiting for Vita's mental message to reach her. "Okay, we're ready here, shoot them down!"
That was her cue. "Starlight..." Huge amounts of magical energy started amassing at the tip of Raising Heart. It didn't take long for the mass of sizzling magical energy to grow large enough to be able to take down the whole enemy unit. "Vita-chan, I'm going to shoot, get everyone out of the way, please." "Okay." After giving a mental warning to Vita she then proceeded to release all of the gathered magical energy.
"...Break-" THUMP Before she could finish the command, an unimaginable pain shot through her body causing her to yelp in both suprise and agony. It only lasted for an instant, but even that was enough to disrupt the flow of magical energy through her body, resulting in a devastating explosion of magical energy as the unfinished "Starlight Breaker" backfired on the young mage sending her plummeting towards the ground at alarming speed.
Hearing the sudden explosion Vita turned towards the direction of the sound to find bloody Nanoha falling towards the ground, her clothes in tatters. At first she was too suprised by the unexpected sight to even react, but as soon as she recovered from the initial shock, Vita started speeding up towards the falling Nanoha, mentally ordering the rest of her team to take care of the renegades as well as call the medics. It was a close call, but she managed to catch up to Nanoha just in time to save the young girl from crashing into the ground.
"Nanoha! What happened? Nanoha!! Answer me, Nanoha!! Don't you dare die on me!" Tears started forming on the little girl's eyes. "Vita...chan?" Nanoha's eyes opened just a little. "It seems like I...screwed up a little. Are you...alright...Vita-chan?" She tried to put up a smile, but ended up grimacing because of the pain. "Nanoha! Hang in there!! The medics...Where the hell are the medics?!?" Vita was clearly starting to panic as Nanoha's eyes closed again and she drifted into a blissful state of unconsciousness.
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