A/N: Now this particular story takes place after The Book of Darkness incident. Breaking with my usual romantic theme I have kept in mind the fact that they're only 9 years old, so there is no romance. Don't worry though we'll get there. I'll cover that at the end. If you don't like that kind of thing though then please just enjoy a cute story about two best friends. And we go.

Disclaimer: I do not own MGLN or any events from the actual anime.

A Friend Among Enemies

Whap!

There it was.

Whap!

And again, harder this time.

Whap!

She wasn't holding anything back.

Whap!

The blows were drawing blood now and Fate's eyes were watering from the pain.

Whap!

She didn't deserve this. Surely she didn't deserve this?

Whap!

She had collected 8 of the jewel seeds. She was trying her hardest, wasn't that good enough?

Whap!

Clearly not, nothing was ever good enough for her mother.

Said mother, one Precia Testarossa, now took a moment to admire her work. Whip in hand, she looked on at the sight before her.

There before her was her daughter Fate, spread-eagled and bound in mid-air by chains on either of her arms and legs. Her long blonde hair was mangled and her already ruby eyes were now bloodshot from the torture. Her outfit was in shambles, much of it now revealing bare flesh which had in turn been attacked as well. Fate's body was covered in lashes and some of them had begun to trickle drops of scarlet blood.

Panting heavily now, Fate painfully lifted her head to look her mother in the eye, searching for even the slightest sign of remorse.

She found none.

Why? It wasn't her fault.

"Oh my dear Fate," Precia cooed mockingly "you are the biggest disappointment of my life! I simply asked you to collect the jewel seeds and you can't even do that!" And with that she began to raise her whip again.

"NO!" Fate called out through mind, because she didn't have the breath to speak, and this caused Precia to pause for a moment.

"I couldn't help it!" Fate pleaded, "It was that other girl. That, Nanoha Takamachi. She's been collecting the jewel seeds too; she keeps taking them before I can!"

"Then you should have destroyed her and taken the ones she had!" her mother shouted and brought her whip down as hard as she could clean across Fate's back.

WHAP!

Pain.

Shear agony.

Words couldn't begin to describe how she felt. Not just from the physical pain, but from the rejection and abuse by her own mother. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, but at the moment she felt she didn't even have the strength to breath. Her head slumped forward and her body hung motionless.

Fate delved into her mind, searching for something, anything to ease the pain. And then she thought of that girl. Not an enemy, but a friend. The girl who had reached out to her, who had wanted to help her. The only person, besides her familiar Arf, who had cared about her, about how she felt. She found her breath again and one word began to form on her lips.

"N…Na…no…ha."

"What?" Precia questioned with a nasty look on her face.

"Na…no…ha."

"Silence."

"Nano…ha."

"I said be quiet!"

Whap!

"Nanoha."

"She's not going to help you!"

Whap!

"Nanoha."

"She doesn't care about you!"

Whap!

"Nanoha!"

"Fate-chan!"

"Nanoha!"

"Wake up, Fate-chan!"

"Nanoha…what?"

"Fate-chan, wake up. You're dreaming, wake up!"

Sure enough her eyes slowly began to open and before her was an entirely different scene.

She was safe and sound in a warm bed. The room was dimly lit, a night-light on the wall being the source of the glow. Beside her sat Nanoha who had gently shaken her awake. Nanoha's hair was down for the night and her face was full of worry for her friend who had started to call out her name in her sleep. Her bright sapphire eyes looked into Fate's dark ruby ones and they stayed this way for a few seconds until Fate dropped her gaze.

"I…I'm sorry for waking you." Fate stammered eventually.

"Forget about that, Fate-chan what…"

She was cut off as Fate pulled her into a hug wanting to make sure she was there, that this was real.

Nanoha didn't act surprised or try to shrug her off, she returned the embrace and pulled Fate in closer, wanting to do everything she could to comfort her best friend.

00000

Not long after their initial battles and Nanoha's attempt to befriend Fate they had learned of her real relationship with Precia Testarossa. Fate had simply been a clone of Precia's daughter Alicia. She was only using Fate to collect the jewel seeds and harness their power to resurrect her now deceased daughter. She hadn't once thought of Fate as anything more than a puppet. Upon hearing this news Fate had been left an empty shell with no will at all, but Nanoha didn't give up on her.

They fought together along with the Time-Space Administration Bureau against the evil sorceress Precia and ended up becoming best friends.

A few months later Nanoha, Fate, Admiral Lindy, Chrono, Amy, and the TSAB began work on the Book of Darkness incident. Nanoha and Fate battled alongside each other once more and in the end Hayate was saved and Lindy adopted Fate as her daughter. Fate went to work with the TSAB full time and Nanoha remained on Earth.

Because of Fate's missions the two of them didn't see each other much, so it was on Fate's vacation that the Takamachis invited her to stay with them for a few days. Being that they had no guest bedroom, Nanoha was more than happy to have Fate sleep in her room. The kind person she was though Nanoha had refused to allow Fate to sleep on the floor, Fate had in turn refused to take Nanoha's bed from her. In the end they had simply decided to sleep in it together and they had peacefully drifted off to sleep.

00000

Fate rested her head on Nanoha's shoulder and began to sob, partially from the horrible nightmare she had and partially from the realization that Nanoha was really there.

Nanoha held the sobbing girl tightly and brushed a hand through her long, golden hair.

"You had another nightmare didn't you?" Nanoha asked the concern evident in her voice.

She felt Fate nod weakly against her shoulder.

"Was it about her?" she continued.

Another nod.

"Fate-chan…"

Fate didn't move, but her sobbing had started to lessen.

"Fate-chan?"

Still no response.

"Fate…please look at me."

Slowly Fate raised her head to meet Nanoha's gaze. Her crying had stopped, but she was still teary eyed and a few drops began to streak down her cheek.

Nanoha placed a hand on Fate's cheek and carefully wiped the tears away.

"Nanoha, do you care about me?" she asked quietly.

"Of course I do." She replied reassuringly.

Fate was about to open her mouth to say something, but she was cut off.

"It doesn't matter what Precia said." She responded as if reading Fate's mind. "She's gone…,but even if she were to come back I would never let her hurt you."

"I'll protect you." Nanoha said with a smile. A smile so warm that Fate couldn't help, but smile too and in seconds she had cheered up considerably.

"Now…" Nanoha said, wrapping on arm around Fate's waist and pulling her in close while using the other one to pull the covers over them both. "You need to get some sleep." She pressed her forehead gently against Fate's. "And don't worry; I'll always be there for you."

Fate brought her own arms up to wrap Nanoha in a hug and keep her by her side.

"Thank you Nanoha, for everything."

And they fell asleep in each other's arms.

So cute.

Hey it's me again, but this time it was something a little different. Did you enjoy it? I hope you did. I had a lot of fun writing it. Typing it though, that wasn't fun. Anyways, I kinda felt the middle part got a little dry, but at the same time it's a necessary piece of how their relationship came to be… and where it's going.

But that would be yuri… so if you don't like that kinda thing stop reading now and I hope you had fun.

If you do like yuri then I would encourage you to keep going down.

Further.

Further.

Further.

A little more.

Okay you're there.

So if you don't already know or if you didn't figure it out yet this story is a NanoFate pairing. But you probably already know that. More than likely it's the only reason you read this story. Moving on, this is only part one. It's the first in a three story series I'm doing, because I freakin love this anime, especially this pairing. This was the first one were they're 9. In the second one they're 14 (and there's more romance). In the third one they will be 19 (guess what happens in that one ;). Anybody see a pattern? You guys who watch the anime? I'm doing one for every time frame. Aren't I clever? Not really, but it should be a fun project and I hope there will be a few people waiting for part two. Till next time.