Chapter 1
It has been six years since the Book of Darkness incident, six years since I met her. Over the years we grew closer as friends, up to a point where I feel that we could be something more. She is a rather admirable person with a strong character. Though she may look cold and distant on the outside, she is an entirely different person on the inside, once you get to know her. She has helped me through a lot, helped me face my problems, helped get through hard times, especially the time when Nanoha was hospitalized. Yes, today will be the day I tell Signum what she means to me as a person, today I will tell her how I feel….
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Signum entered the restaurant, a little uneasy with the romantic atmosphere it presented. She wondered why Fate had chosen such a fancy location for the simple dinner she suggested. Signum told the maitre'd Fate's name and she was ushered to a secluded table that was out on the balcony, away from the other couples. Fate was already there and smiled when she saw Signum.
"Why such a fancy location Testarossa when you said it was just a simple dinner?" Signum emphasized on the word.
"Well, this is one of my favourite restaurants so why not?"
"If you would at least have had the decency to tell me about the fancy dress code, then maybe my thoughts would have been different. I feel that I am underdressed."
"Oh well, never mind that. I'm not dressed that fancily either, heck I'm wearing black slacks!"
Signum rolled her eyes and gestured to her outfit. She was wearing a pair of plain white pants and the purple sweater Hayate had given her for Christmas. One would admit it was a lot more embarrassing than Fate's black spaghetti strap top, black slacks and stilettos. What was worse was the fact that Signum was wearing sneakers instead of her usual boots. Fate did say it was a simple dinner.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't think that your outfit was that bad…" Fate said when the realization hit her.
"Thank you for noticing. Now, shall we hurry up and leave as soon as possible? I prefer not to stick out in such a crowd," Signum said with a little exasperation.
Fate nodded and signaled for a waiter to take their food orders. The waiter then came back with some soup, bread sticks and red wine. Signum raised a curious brow at the beverage that was served.
"I expected you to have ordered for champagne."
"Red wine isn't so bad and I thought you preferred, or as you put, liked red wine better than champagne," Fate answered.
"I didn't think you would have remembered my preferences," Signum said with a smile. "Then again, we did have a debate on which was better," Signum chuckled at the memory.
"I would prefer if you don't remind me that I lost that said debate," Fate said with a groan.
"Oh, it was just as well that you ran out of excuses as to why champagne was better than red wine faster than I did. That is what you get when you start throwing your reasons about without waiting for me to have my say," the pink haired knight said with a smirk.
"And by the time your turn came I was already fresh out of ideas."
"A good example of why I beat you most of the time in the first place."
"Now don't get so cocky! I also have my fair share of wins!"
"I didn't say you always lose, just most of the time is all," Signum was trying not to laugh.
"Sure, laugh it off. One day I'll definitely have you down one bar!" Fate said with determination.
"Yes, and until then you will still lose most of the time. I will not let up so easily Testarossa. Where you advance I too gain experience. You don't expect me to be redundant now do you?"
"Shall we now get to the topic I wanted to discuss?" Fate interjected before Signum decided she wanted to reminisce about the other times Fate had bungled up.
"Very well, what was it that you wished to discuss with me about? Your relationship with Nanoha or is it about school and boys?" Signum teased.
"Now don't be like that! It's not always about those things and you know it! Plus, you hate talking about men except when you feel like praising the good ones and criticizing the bad ones."
Signum raised a brow and nodded, taking a sip of her wine. Where Signum knew Fate, Fate also knew Signum but not as well as she wish she did.
"Anyway, what I wanted to talk about was regarding our relationship," Fate stopped there and looked at Signum, waiting for her reaction.
Signum was fast to react, too fast in fact. When the word relationship and her name came about in the sentence, Signum turned left and did a spit take. Fate was surprised by the reaction that she stared at Signum. The fiery general frowned at blonde sitting across her.
"What? I mean, I like you, admire you and well, we know each other well and the sort so I thought that maybe you and I could be, you know, something more, more than just friends and then you know…" Fate started blushing and blurting out her reasons. It's not surprising why she loses to Signum almost half the time. But Signum cut her short.
"Testarossa, stop and breathe," Fate did as told and was soon gasping. "I understand that what you're trying to say is that you harbour feelings for me, correct?" Fate nodded.
"Let me ask you a question, are you serious about it?" the blonde hesitated a second and the nodded. Signum knew the answer.
"Now, allow me to make the situation clear, for both of us. It seems that you are unsure of what you want to do once you've told me, correct? And your expectations on me agreeing with you are high. From there you would be happy but then what's next?" Fate stared blankly at Signum.
"Fate, tell me, what would you do if I didn't agree with the relationship or if I said that I don't feel the same way?" the worry on the lightning mage's face was evident and she was thinking very hard.
"I-I don't know. I mean I like you but after that, I don't know. I know I like you but I thought that if we hung out more I would be sure what kind of like it was."
"I see. Let me tell you what it is then, that I feel. What I see before me now is my rival, a good friend and someone I would look after like a younger sister," Fate looked at Signum with shock.
"Is that what you truly see me as?"
"Yes, and only that is what I see you as. I wish I could share your feelings and maybe make you happy but I am also flawed Testarossa. I don't understand what it means to be in a relationship either. My standards are much higher compared to yours due to certain events and because of my detached relationship with men I understand it even less. Hayate may explain it to me a hundred times but I would still not be able to see it her way. It is difficult for me to adapt working with a group of men sometimes and asking me to be with you in a relationship would be even harder because I am the lesser of two worlds. I understand things less than you do."
"I see. So you don't understand?" Signum nodded.
"I may say things like 'I love you' but I don't understand the meaning beneath those words and I could not possibly love the other without a reason as to why. Then again, most of the time, falling in love rarely has a logical reason."
"So, what you're saying is that you don't really like men and because you don't understand the fundamentals of a relationship you would be left hanging in the middle of nowhere. And when you say you're the lesser of two worlds, you mean you would depend on me more for support than I would be on you."
"It is exactly what I mean. While you, Testarossa, already as you are, someone like me will only burden you further. Though I may seem to be able to handle any situation and may seem dependable I cannot, however, guide you down a road I myself am not familiar with."
"It would catastrophic," Signum nodded some more.
"From my point of view Testarossa, I believe you deserve better and I am sorry that I am not one of those who you can depend on like that. As far as I know, your partner should be able to give you moral support, care for you, worry over you and shout at you as well as make you laugh and smile for as long as you live."
"I understand Signum and thank you for telling me all this. I guess if I didn't tell you how I felt now, I would still be hanging over my billions of unanswered questions. Okasan did try to answer most of them but she said the way to answer those questions is to experience it first hand, to make mistakes and learn from them and then move forward. She said that the more I waited, I was only accumulating more questions than I am gaining answers," Fate said the latter with a laugh.
Signum smiled and they continued their dinner in their usual friendly manner. Fate felt a great weight lifted off her shoulders by talking to Signum. To her, Signum was, as she just realized, was like an older sister. Fate would ask her questions and Signum would always try her best to answer them. It was how they worked, Fate would do most of the talking and Signum would just listen, offering advice where necessary. They do have their differences in opinions but that is normal between sisters. They're good like that.
THREE MONTHS LATER
"I think I'm in love!" Fate said, overjoyed. Signum just rolled her eyes, wondering who it was. The sword knight had paled when Nanoha's name was mentioned.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
I know it has been a long while since i've posted anything but well, I had exams to study for. I hope you can all forgive me for the lateness of this story but i wanted to reread it and make it as good as possible. This story is to be my greatest masterpiece by far and the best of all my Signum fanfictions. It took me a while and I thank a lot of people for helping me with this story. I thank a friend of mine named Red1Justice for his ideas and inspiration as well as his willingness to read and comment on my story while it was in the making. I hope that all of you readers will enjoy this story as much as I had enjoyed writing it.
All the best from this chapter onwards from me, Hignum. ^^