Undercover, a Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Fanfiction

Chapter One, "Discovery"

Late February, Seven Years after the Book of Darkness incident and Reinforce's death

Unmonitored and under-developed worlds were, in general, left alone by the Time and Space Administration Bureau. Normally, someone - usually a cadet trained to recognize warning signs and little else - would run a routine check on the planets once every six months central time to make sure that there were no out of the ordinary magical spikes upon them. It was a force of habit that kept them even aware of some of the minor worlds with no prominent technology or magical prowess that they were supposed to supervise. The problem was that everyone who worked for the TSAB knew that it was the minor worlds that oftentimes created the most powerful magical beings that the Bureau had to deal with. They were the breading grounds of the high-ranking mages that slipped easily through the ranks of the inter-dimensional organizations and soon became the most powerful people to work within the TSAB.

Still, the ever-vigilant agency kept their guard up around the minor planets, especially in more recent years when a series of incidents involving Lost Logia, the technological marvels from long-forgotten civilizations had found their way onto one of the unmonitored planets. Enforcer Fate Testarossa Harlaown of the Time and Space Administration Bureau knew better than most the power that unregistered relics of that forgotten time could hold on a non magical world. While she was still only starting her career as an Enforcer, Fate was an old veteran when it came to understanding what went on behind the scenes of the bureaucracy that created the inter-dimensional governmental and military structure. The TSAB was a slow creature, one that could not be moved very quickly at all when it came to change; for they were in charge of regulating countless worlds and keeping a close watch over the lost technology that could destroy their very way of life.

Despite the fact that the Bureau was as vigilant as it could be, there were still rows and rows of old data cards with information about the unmonitored planets stored onboard every ship that flew out of Mid-Childa on a scheduled patrol. No one ever really knew when one of the planets would suddenly find itself playing host to the destructive power of the Lost Logia.

While her work generally tended to keep her on-world, Fate had started to find herself, once again, calling the small private cabin rank allowed her on her adopted brother's ship home. She liked it better there, away from the chaos and highly modern cities on Mid-Childa. There was enough quiet that she could do the more boring parts of her job - the long tedious hours spent staring at the dim glow of her intelligent device, Bardiche's, monitor display screen, pouring through data as she tried to solve off-world crime her work as quickly and as efficiently as she could.

She was too powerful, she knew, to actually hold the rank that her power and skill as a mage demanded within the Bureau at such a young age. They resented her for her skill; her mage ranking and the fact that after every single ranking she'd ever held were the words 'first class' signifying that she was the best of the best. Fate had given up long ago trying to explain herself to every would-be junior officer who tried to question her authority. She simply allowed them to believe what they wanted about her, but at the same time she knew how desperately the Bureau needed highly skilled and ranked mages of her generation. There were so few powerful children any more, for magic was going out of worlds like Mid-Childa and into the unmonitored worlds. This shift was enough to make even Fate worry about the safety of those worlds that the TSAB didn't pay much attention to, for a child of magical power who was left on their own could only cause havoc. That was the reason that she spent so much of her free time pawing through the data of many years, just to make sure that no child of magical ability would be alone in the world ever again.

When she was not active on a case, Fate's direct superiors gave her the most menial tasks they could find. They had her scroll through years of back-data on many unmonitored worlds that she herself had never even heard of. While Fate was not above checking on Nanoha's world – Non-Administered Planet Number Ninety Seven - the world that she had been given the gift of a childhood upon, the world that the TSAB simply assigned the number 'ninety-seven' to - her world; she found the constant stress of having a backlog of nearly ten years worth of data that needed to be examined a little menacing at the best of times, and downright frustrating most of the time.

She was a full agent now, an Enforcer! Sixteen years old and already she'd achieved her dream, she could not have been happier. Yet everyone she worked with treated her like a child with no real experience. While Fate could take their belittlement with a smile and a nod, she resented being treated as somehow less that her direct equals simply because of her past involvement with the TSAB. She'd dealt with far more complicated and dangerous situations than many of her superiors. She should not have to deal with this level of juvenile actions from her direct superiors. It just seemed foolish and a waste of time.

She pushed her chair away from her desk and used a flick of her wrist and an almost trivial amount of magical energy to pull up another window of her desk's computer. While Bardiche functioned as a hub for all the technology that Fate had ever needed to use on the job; it was up to her to provide the magical power to bring the technological marvel to life and the magic was far more draining at this late hour when she was running on several cups of strong coffee and dinner for nearly five hours before. She sighed and peered at the second screen. The whirr of the ship's engines were enough to make her eyelids droop and the clock at the bottom of the screen told her that she should have been asleep hours ago.

"Sir," Bardiche's mechanical voice said from where she'd set him down on the desk, "These data can wait until morning before you examine them. Your wake up call is at 0600, four and a half hours from now."

Fate ignored him. She knew that Bardiche knew her better than she perhaps knew herself, and that she should heed his words. Still, however, she pressed on. She needed to look through the data and be able to report that it was, in fact, simply boring data with nothing interesting hidden within their depths. So far, it seemed as though she could do just that.

Fate closed the second computer window with a dismissive flick of her fingers and turned her attention back the first screen once more. She'd finish reading up on this final planet, number ninety-seven, and then she'd go to bed.

It might have been the late hour, or perhaps the fact that she couldn't really remember the last time that she'd slept, but Fate barely registered the fact that she was reading through data on her home world once more. After a few minutes of reading uninteresting data on the most recent wars that had broken out, she pressed a button to bring up the next screen only to find herself looking at a report on her own actions while on Earth. Fate bit back a laugh and flicked through the screens. Nothing seemed out of place, but given the fact that she'd missed that she was reading about a familiar world in the first place suggested that even the most threatening of data would seem fine to her at this late hour. This was surely a sign that she'd pushed herself too far again and that sleep was in order.

"Bardiche, power down the computers please," Fate said tiredly, pulling at her tie and shrugging off her jacket. The gentle glow of the screen faded into blackness and Bardiche made no more comments about the late hour, for which Fate was very grateful. She didn't need another reminder that she was really trying too hard for a job that really wasn't worth it. She knew that her superiors, the ones who bothered to open her file before they judged her, knew of her skills. Soon, she would be free of all of this extra work that really should have been left to someone who was ranked lower than a Triple A mage.

She stripped in short order and fell into bed clad only in her underwear. It was not protocol to do such a thing – not to mention the fact that her brother and direct superior would kill her if he ever discovered such a thing; she knew that she really should be sleeping in something in case there was some crisis before Bardiche gave her the first of his staggered wake-up calls at six the following morning. Fate couldn't bring herself to care, however. Her eyes closed and sleep claimed her, ferrying her away to a world of dreams and happiness with those she loved.

Enforcer Fate T. Harlaown's quarters, the Warship Asura – 0747 Mid-Childa Time

The power spike should not have been there. Fate was sure of that as she enlarged the chart just to make sure that it was not an analogy or a glitch in Bardiche's display. It was neither, a full and clear spike in magical power coming from the city where she'd attended elementary and middle school – her best friend Nanoha's town. Fate closed her eyes and concentrated hard on forcing all thoughts of Nanoha out of her mind. It would not do for her to be distracted right now, especially if this turned out to be something as serious as she thought it might be. She didn't want to risk the distraction of those pretty blue eyes and charming smile.

Damn it, there I go again. Fate sighed. She really had no control over her thoughts when it came to her best friend, and she was never really sure how she felt them in the first place. They were just ill timed and distracting when her concentration was crucial.

This power spike was nothing to be entertaining frivolous thoughts about. This was new, different, and most certainly powerful. Something ancient and shockingly powerful had fallen onto Earth and it seemed as though it was just sitting and waiting to make its move. Fate's brow furrowed as she stared at the screen before her. She had to get in touch with her superiors, for this sort of information would not do well if left alone, for the gods above only knew what had landed on Earth this time.

She pulled up a window on the computer and opened up a communications channel with her sergeant. She had to do this properly or else it would go unnoticed.

"Enforcer Harlaown," the older man said, sounding quite surprised. On the gentle glow of Bardiche's screen, Fate could see him setting down a mug of coffee. He looked wholly unprepared for the bomb that she was about to drop on him. She sighed, for it really couldn't be helped. "What can I do for you?"

Fate launched into the most precise description of what she'd noticed, carefully tailoring her language so that the level of panic that had settled in the pit of her stomach was all but unnoticeable. She knew that this man knew her history, and he would soon pick up on her concern for her home world, but she had to be honest and state her findings without bias. This report had to go through without a hitch.

Early March, the Bridge, the Warship Asura – 1543 Mid-Childa Time

It had become increasingly more and more evident to everyone involved in the investigation of Non-Administered Planet Ninety Seven that the mid-level planet would be a hard place to investigate. The world was full of hundreds of different nations and thousands of languages that not even the most advanced translator spells could penetrate. The mages and enforcers that the Time and Space Administration Bureau had sent into the field had returned quickly, stating that it was next to impossible for them to get by in such a society. They could not function undercover because they had no previous training on how to meld into such a society.

Admiral Chrono Harlaown chewed thoughtfully on the tip of his thumb as he poured over the limited results that his enforcers had managed to produce. They could not handle the strain of working in such a place, and their skills, however great as enforcers, were simply not enough to handle the complex cultural structure of getting around in that particular region of the unmonitored planet. What they needed, Chrono realized, was a small, efficient force that had spent time on the planet before and knew how to blend in.

He couldn't have any more of his staff potentially arrested by the Earth's authorities. They stuck out like sore thumbs with their alien hair colors and odd accents that no one could place. He knew that he should just sacrifice some of his creditability and go himself, for he at least had the language skills to recognize the potential problems with the planet – and his contacts on Earth had told him quite clearly that there was nothing wrong. It was only the power readings that his sister had found and the continued failure of his personnel that made Chrono feel as though there were a major problem in the way that he was conducting this investigation. His people were fools, thinking that they could simply integrate themselves into Earth – even he'd never been able to pull it off, and he'd lived there for nearly four years. He didn't have the power or the influence to fix their mistakes any more than he had the ability to fix this most recent problem.

The power spikes were becoming more and more frequent and they were no closer to figuring out their cause. The data that they'd collected suggested that there was a concentration of power and chaos around a certain area. Chrono knew the area quite well, for it was near where his mother had staked out her base of operations during the Book of Darkness incident and on into Fate's time in school. He couldn't help but worry for the friends that he'd made while he'd bee there. Having a Lost Logia that had unknown capabilities lose near where you lived was not a fate that Chrono would wish on anyone.

He wished that he wasn't so powerless to stop the constant power spikes and strange instances on Earth, and he knew that the rest of his crew was feeling the frustration as well. There was a level of tension aboard the Asura caused by their continued failure that Chrono could not stand. It did little to the morale of his crew and the level of annoyance that he personally felt over even the smallest details was almost too much for him to bear at times. He had to find some way of resolving this problem with people who could actually work within the constraints of the world they were investigating.

He needed his sister - and perhaps her best friend.

Chrono's frown deepened. He would be accused of favoritism and so much more if he hand picked his sister from the ranks of the junior enforcers to go in on a potentially long-term, solo mission where the TSAB would have very little ability to influence her actions while on the ground. He didn't even think that he could find a way to explain the fact that he thought that he needed two unofficially single S ranked mages on such a mid-level technology planet. There was no rhyme or reason to it, if one looked at the situation objectively. Chrono supposed that he could make an argument, as he usually did, for Fate's continued excellence in both the field and on the home front. He always had to cover his ass when it came to her, even though her work and skill did not merit the treatment she received from the rest of the TSAB staff. He hated that no one thought that he could be objective when it came to his sister, and that her judgment and skill as a mage were second only to her best friend.

Perhaps, however, if he laid out his fears and his reasons behind his actions in clear enough terms to a sympathetic ear, he'd actually manage to get somewhere in this investigation. Short of going to Earth himself, he couldn't really think of another solution. It'd been close to two weeks since Fate had first noticed the power surges, and since then he'd somehow managed to become a running joke among the officers at headquarters. Chrono did not appreciate that, and he was starting to feel the pressure to do something, anything really, to make the situation remedy itself.

He opened up a computer window and smiled at the old man that swam into vision before him. "Sir," he said, keeping his tone clipped and official. Ever since he'd become an admiral, he'd been learning how to play the part of a bureaucrat, to force himself to seem unfeeling and uncaring for anything but his mission. He just shut off his personal life whenever it seemed as though he didn't have a choice but to be the unfeeling bastard that he'd sworn he'd never become. "I'd like to make a recommendation regarding the situation on Non-Administered Planet Ninety-Seven."

Letter to Takamachi Nanoha, Private First Class, Instructor Training School, Mid-Childa

March 14, 072

Nanoha,

How are you? I heard tell of your latest exploits through my brother, and he seems to think that someday you and Hayate will be running the entire TSAB. Good for you – although I'm a little afraid of the idea of Hayate-chan in that much power. She'll take over the universe if we're not careful...

I have some troubling news, as is usually the case when I write these sorts of letters. We talk so often that it seems almost pointless to write this down and send it to you, but I know that no one on Mid-Childa speaks Japanese except for you and Hayate. It is our own secret code that not even the most skilled code-breakers at headquarters would be able to break. This is classified information, which is why I couldn't simply tell you about it during out chats.

I discovered a power spike about three weeks ago on Earth, more specifically in Japan, about fifty kilometers north from your hometown. We think that a powerful and old relic of some sort has fallen to earth as a result of the Bureau's most recent attack on that fringe maniac that was collecting the Lost Logia for his own gain. The power spike has never been recorded before, and since the final confrontation and resolution of that unfortunate bit of business took place within free time-space, the chances that this Lost Logia is both infected with ill will towards humanity, along with a hatred for the TSAB are very high. I'm really hoping that nothing bad happens because of this, I don't think that I could ever forgive myself for not catching it sooner if anyone gets hurt.

Chrono's been put in charge of the investigation, and so far the TSAB enforcers have made a rather large mess of things. They simply cannot blend in with the Japanese people they're supposed to be protecting, and the translator spell that they're using is one of the ones that Chrono came up with when he and my mother first started to venture out into Japan. I think that you'll remember a few rather entertaining instances where that spell backfired spectacularly.

Apparently, with time, the spell has become far less effective and is basically like sending someone speaking English into Japan. They cannot communicate at all, and their investigations have done little other than to pinpoint what a potential location of the Lost Logia is.

Chrono has suggested to me in that way that he does things when he's unsure of himself, that perhaps it would be better if I were to head up the investigation task force.

Nanoha, I'm not sure I'm ready to do something like this. I'm by far not the most powerful mage working for the Bureau and I'm scared of what might happen if I overstep my bounds too early in my service. If I do get the post, Chrono wants to see if he can talk to the Tactical Instructor's School and see if he can get you to be on the mission as well. It's unorthodox, but I think that it just might be our best idea at the moment. The power levels that we're detecting from Earth are almost past our scales, it's like the Book of Darkness incident all over again, only this time there's no clear enemy for us to go up against.

Until we know more, however, I'd ask that you keep this to yourself and not say anything to anyone. Chrono's worried that somehow this will come back to haunt us and I don't want to take any chances.

Until we speak next,

Fate

Letter to Enforcer Fate T. Harlaown, stationed on the warship Asura

March 16th, 072

Fate-chan,

I'm doing well. Things are really good here, and I'm really enjoying the work that I've gotten to do with the new cadets. It's so different now that we're all doing what we've wished for all of our lives; I can't think of a time that I've been more happy, and yet more lonesome. I miss you, it's like we never get to see each other any more, save for when we're both dead tired. I hate those times, for I feel as though I'm not doing enough to make our friendship work. We've know each other for so long, and I did promise to be your friend. More than anything else, I'd like to keep that promise.

I've used Hayate-chan's clearance to go through the data that you were looking at, and you're right the sudden spikes of magical power are quite alarming when one thinks about them in the context of Earth. I'm worried for those people, Fate-chan. What do we do to stop this? Has Chrono come to a decision about what he's going to do yet?

Please let me know as soon as you know.

Nanoha

Letter to Takamachi Nanoha, Private First Class, Instructor Training School, Mid-Childa

March 19, 072

Dear Ms. Takamachi,

I hope that this letter finds you in good health. As it is not the custom of the Time and Space Administration Bureau to follow the course of actions that I am about to explain, I would hope that you will keep the details to yourself until this can be cleared through the proper channels and proposed to you in a more formal setting. More than anything, I wanted to give you a warning before I actually went ahead and proposed this plan to your superiors – for it is your decision as to whether or not you want to be involved in this mission.

As I'm sure my sister has mentioned to you, we've been noticing some unusually high power spikes from Unmonitored Planet Ninety-Seven, your home planet. We've had some difficulty successfully inserting an enforcer squad into the area as the planet's numerous languages and other cultural simplicities have made such an act very difficult.

In spite of these problems, I have proposed to some sympathetic ears that perhaps it would be better to simply insert you and my sister into Earth society once more. From what I can gather, the power spikes are concentrated around what appears to be a school not too far from where your parents live. We could very easily alter the paperwork to have you start at the beginning of the new school year, which would help to provide a good cover for you and Fate to investigate under.

I'm not sure exactly how the details would work out, but since you've been out of middle school for a year now, I'd imagine that you'd need to make excuses for yourself. I don't know exactly what that entails for you, but you might want to consider the social ramifications of such an action before you sign on for such a mission.

I wish you the best,

Admiral Chrono Harlaown

Early April, the Warship Asura

Takamachi Nanoha had not expected to find herself back on Earth after such a short period of time had passed since her rather abrupt departure from the planet upon her completion of middle school. The Time and Space Administration Bureau had decided that it was unwise for someone already so deeply entrenched in the military to continue her education on such a 'backwards' planet and had moved her to one of their central planets, Mid-Childa. While Nanoha understood their reasons, she was not above feeling a little let down that she was back before she'd made a name for herself as a combat and tactical instructor for the TSAB. Still, this mission was of the utmost importance, and she'd explained her parents the circumstances as best she could in the form of a video letter almost two weeks ago. She knew that it was a bad idea to be open with them about the exact details of why she'd returned to earth, but she tried to be as honest as she could. They were understanding, as they always were, about the things that Nanoha had to do in order to make her magical abilities useful to the world. Still, they were as concerned as she was about the prospect of returning to Earth.

Takamachi Nanoha was sixteen and about to start high school. She shuddered at the thought, for these were the very years where she'd known that she would be the most challenged if she stayed on Earth. She was smart and very good at doing what needed to be done in order to blend into a school environment, for she'd been doing that since elementary school; but now she was back on Earth after being away on Mid-Childa for nearly a year and she already knew that she would be hard pressed to actually manage to fit in once more.

The Lost Logia power level readings seemed to be concentrated around a school in a different neighborhood than the one where Nanoha and her childhood friends had grown up. She would have to take the train into school every day and make do with the little time allowed outside of classes to investigate. It was not something that Nanoha was particularly looking forward to.

Still, she was ready to go back to Earth. As ready as she'd ever be.

The low whirr of the Asura's engines made Nanoha sleepy as she carried the small duffle of things that she'd decided to bring back with her towards the teleportation alcove at the far end of the ship. She didn't sleep well at all on Mid-Childa, and she blamed it on the fact that she was constantly surrounded by strangers that she had trouble feeling comfortable around. She was only sixteen, which some people seemed to forget; and she had all the insecurities of a girl of that age. She just wanted to go home some times, to eat her mother's cooking and sleep in her own bed. These were things that a Combat Instructor could not feasibly do on a regular basis, she'd been enlisted in the military since she was eleven - she couldn't go home when she wanted to, and her life was dictated by an almost impossible schedule.

Still, Nanoha pressed on down the brightly lit hallways. The teleportation alcove that was used for long-range teleportation spells was located far away for a reason, as the magical power used on a good transport spell was enough to usually throw the Asura's navigation systems completely off for a good five seconds after the spell was executed. When traveling through dimensional time-space, it was better to not risk losing those precious seconds unless it was a real emergency. Still, the walk was a long way from anything worthwhile and Nanoha was glad of the few minutes alone she had been given to gather her thoughts together and start to think about putting together a story to tell Arisa and Suzuka about why she'd suddenly come back. She wouldn't see Arisa, most like, as the blond had gone to the United States for high school, to live with her relatives; but if Suzuka saw her, Nanoha had no idea what she'd say. It was just so complicated, and Nanoha hated to let anyone down.

Fate was waiting for her at the head of the final hallway that lead them back to the teleportation alcove, a sad and pensive smile on her face. It had been nearly three months since they'd seen each other, for their work kept them apart and the TSAB was not exactly known for allowing the Air and Naval forces to interact on a casual or regular basis. Nanoha had missed her friend greatly, for they talked almost daily over Bardiche and Raising Heart's telecommunications link, but it was never really the same as seeing Fate in person.

The last time that they'd seen each other had been during The Fire Festival, when they'd been granted leave during Mid-Childa's summer three week holiday. It was the dead of winter back on Earth, and Nanoha's parents had been busy with the Christmas season. Visiting then would have been far too complicated, as Nanoha had explained in a video letter that she'd sent in her place. They'd wanted her to come anyway, but Nanoha had felt as though she would have just wound up being a burden to everyone had she been there.

"Fate-chan," Nanoha said happily as she approached her friend. Fate had Bardiche's monitor mode on and was calculating the coordinates of their transport. Nanoha looked at the clock on the base of Bardiche's screen and winced. When she'd teleported onto the Asura, it had been two thirty in the afternoon, but the clock now read twenty-three forty-two. They'd be lucky to get to Earth before three in the morning at the rate they were going. Nanoha stopped just short of Bardiche's screen and smiled at Fate, "Are we cleared for departure?"

Fate nodded, "We can leave at midnight." She snapped her fingers and the screen vanished from in front of her. She paused, looking far more awkward that Nanoha remembered Fate being when the two of them were alone after not seeing each other for a long time. "It's been a long time."

Nanoha made an affirmative noise, and set down her duffle and grabbed Fate and pulled her into a hug. Fate was always so hesitant to ask for companionship and welcome after being apart for so long. They stood together like that for a few long minutes, their breath mingling as they grew once again used to being in each other's company. "I miss seeing you, Fate-chan," she said quietly into the large blond curtain of Fate's hair.

They separated, their hands still clasped. The teleportation wards had been lifted somewhere during the time that they'd been distracted with their reunion. Nanoha picked up her duffle and the small suitcase that was sitting off to one side as Fate turned her attention back to managing the high level of magic that they'd have to use in order to actually get to Earth in the first place. There was gentle pink tinge across Fate's cheeks as she worked through the data that Nanoha had not noticed a moment before and she frowned, wondering if Fate was pushing herself too hard in order to do well on this mission.

Chrono - Admiral Harlaown - she corrected herself, had explained the details of their mission to them separately, as the TSAB had wanted them working for as long as possible at their current posts before they relocated to a Non-Administered planet. Nanoha had been grading papers as he'd explained just what they knew about the missing Lost Logia in question, and the fact that there could very well be civilian involvement in this case that could not be remedied the way that Fate or Hayate's situations had been fixed. They were to go to Earth and conduct their investigation under cover and hopefully return as soon as the school's summer holiday began in July. The time period gave them just under four months to get settled and complete the mission before their planned extraction.

Nanoha smiled slightly at Chrono's 'brilliant' plan for getting them out of the high school that they'd been enrolled in. Fate, who was playing the part of an international-exchange student, would simply return home over the summer and not return; perhaps citing the fact that an illness in the family made her want to stay close to home. As her records as Fate Testarossa had been completely erased, Fate had a clean slate in Japan, and therefore she could very easily create a new persona for herself while she was there.

Nanoha's case was more complicated. She was clearly Japanese and very intelligent for her age, and she could not think of a particular good excuse as to why she would have taken a year off between middle and high school. She'd tossed some ideas around in her head, but each sounded ludicrous and foolish. She couldn't logically say that her parents had asked her to stay out of school for a year to help with the coffee shop, because both her bother and sister worked there part time and her parents employed a lot of other university-aged kids to work there as well. She also couldn't really say that she'd failed the entrance exams, because that wouldn't have made any sense. Her middle school grades reflected her intelligence, and as long as she still existed in Japan, she couldn't really get away with faking her records to indicate a different cover story.

Nanoha exhaled and stepped forward, taking Fate's hand once more. "We're going to get in very early in the morning," She muttered. "I'm already tired from the three world jumps that it took to teleport here." Nanoha smirked, an idea - a bad idea - hitting her. "Hey Fate-chan, can I spent the night at your apartment tonight? My parents aren't technically expecting me until tomorrow, so I don't want to just show up in the middle of the night. They might think I was a burglar or something!" She laughed, feeling suddenly awkward for what she was asking.

When they were younger, it had never felt this strange to ask for something like this.

"I'd like that," Fate said quietly. She raised her free hand and the yellow teleportation circle of magic formed under her fingers, spreading outward until it filled the entire alcove with a soft yellow glow that Nanoha had long ago started to associate with Fate's magic. While Raising Heart tended towards a brighter, pinkish glow; Bardiche and Fate seemed to favor a muted yellow color that reminded Nanoha of stormy summer nights under the glow of streetlamps. It was a nice color, something that she found herself completely at peace with.

Fate clenched her fist, channeling more power into the teleportation spell. "Bardiche," she ordered, "Long-Range Teleportation Spell, Coordinates: Alpha: 12:46:05.492, Beta: -41:01:21.03, Planet Earth Commence."

"Yes Sir," Bardiche's mechanical voice spoke as Fate unleashed her full power. The gentle yellow glow grew in intensity, filling the teleportation alcove with a blinding golden swell of magical power. Nanoha closed her eyes against the bright light and waited for the inevitable feeling of being pulled by her navel across millions and millions of light years through time and space. She hated the sensation of teleportation, but necessity had made her used to the feeling of having her insides churn as she made every effort she could to maintain her life on Earth and with the TSAB.

Nanoha squeezed Fate's hand tightly as they vanished.