Up
Written by Shaun Garin
01
When Nanoha was little, she wanted to fly. So she once took a pile of balloons home and grasped them tightly, making a wish.
Miyuki found her that evening with her looking at the balloons and inquired what she was trying to do. Nanoha told her what she was attempting and Miyuki told her something she'd never forget:
"When you look to the sky, there are never any impossibilities."
02
Nanoha's first taste of flight was intoxicating.
Better than any high she had experienced, she took a tenacious step forward, the Axel Fin supporting her movements.
Then it was the rush of adrenaline, and the power thrumming through her veins.
But she never forgot that first feeling of flight.
03
When Nanoha fell hard, she fell hard.
Her powers had given up the ghost and a drone snuck up on her.
She thought it was impossible to fly again.
Her friends helped her regain that dream.
04
Even as an instructor, Nanoha loved to fly on leisurely cruises above the waves of Crannagan's main port. She would see people she knew, some she didn't. Even the clouds were different.
It was the same feeling, high and intoxicating.
Sometimes Fate would join her, and the pair would kiss under a brilliant cloud cover.
05
When Nanoha was 23, she met a young man who was leading a troop of scouts along and noticed that he was carrying a huge bouquet of balloons with him. She followed, curious to see what he was doing when he arrived at a huge balloon that was parked overhead.
He looked at her and smiled, shrugging to the woman on vacation before giving it to a little boy.
The little boy held it up, as it being pulled into the sky.
Nanoha knew then, that going up into the sky, that first feeling, never went away.