A Familiar Life…

Chapter 1

What happened?

Nanoha wasn't sure—she was scared. The last thing she remembered was pain, cold pain that made her shudder as she felt her blood pooling out and melting the snow around her.

Where was she? Nanoha felt so strange. She tried to move her hand, and panicked for a moment when she thought that nothing had happened. But then she felt soft sheets under her fingers, and jerkily raised her head to watch her hand brush her covered stomach. She could feel her heartbeat thumping in her ears, oddly echoing as if she was hearing it second-hand from a distance.

Despite feeling oddly out of place, Nanoha felt…fine. Patting at her chest didn't reveal the bulge of bandages, so somehow Nanoha had been healed of the injuries she had gotten on that world with…

"Vita-chan!" Nanoha gasped. Was she alright? What—

"Nanoha!" She became aware of Yuuno holding her other hand, clasping her carefully around the magical sensors attached to her. "Don't move too much yet…you still have to get used to…" His voice wavered. "…to moving again."

"Again…what?" Nanoha's eyes widened and she kicked out, nearly crying with relief when her legs moved. So she wasn't paralyzed… Her foot connected with something hard.

"OW!" Vita sat up from where she had been sleeping on the end of the hospital bed, rubbing her chin where Nanoha had accidentally hit her. "Nanoha, you're finally awake!"

"You're okay, Vita-chan!"

"Nanoha," Yuuno implored, easing her back down onto her pillow, "please, just stay still a little longer until Shamal and I check you over."

"But I feel fine! A little weird, but I'm great!" Nanoha flexed her fingers, still trying to shake that strange feeling that her limbs were only half under her control. "I have to call my family, they must have been worried…and Fate-chan! Everyone…"

"Nanoha," Yuuno spoke so urgently that Nanoha had to turn to face him. His green eyes were deeply serious as he told her, "What's the last thing you remember?"

Blinking, Nanoha furrowed her brow. "The…the accident during the mission. I…I think something stabbed me?" Her eyes widened and she grabbed at her chest again. "But I'm not hurt anymore…how long has it been?"

"It's been two weeks," Yuuno replied, although there was an odd note in his voice.

"Only two weeks?" Nanoha gaped. There was no way she could have healed so fast in such a short amount of time… "Did you and Shamal heal me?"

"No, Nanoha-chan," Shamal said as she hurried in and caught that last sentence. She and Yuuno both called up their magic and started scanning her together. "We didn't. Please stay still for a minute while we look you over, okay?"

"What's going on?" Nanoha asked, starting to shake with a combination of annoyance and fear. They were acting so strange around her…the confusion of not knowing made her want to jump out of bed and do something, instead of just lying there. "Can someone please—"

"Nanoha," a soft, velvety voice spoke nearby. Fate caught onto the bedrail by Nanoha's head, leaning on it as she smiled down at the brunette. The blonde looked terrible—Fate's red eyes stood out in her white face, and she appeared in danger of keeling over any second. "I'm so happy you're alright…"

Shamal caught Fate under the elbow, holding her weight as Fate sagged into her. "Fate, you should still be in bed!"

"Fate-chan, what happened to you?" Nanoha pushed herself upwards, ignoring Yuuno and Shamal's exclamations. "Did you get hurt too?"

Fate held out a hand, and Nanoha took it, clasping Fate's weak grip tightly. For some reason, the moment they touched Nanoha felt much better, more relaxed and strong. "It's nothing Nanoha…I'm just a little tired."

"Shamal?" Yuuno let his magic sigils die out, glancing at Shamal with a mixture of relief and anguish. "Everything looks fine. It was successful."

"What was successful?" Nanoha asked fearfully, staring at all of them. She didn't like the mixed expressions on their faces… "What did you do to me?"

"Nanoha." Grunting slightly from the effort, Fate leaned over and placed Nanoha's hand on her chest. Immediately Nanoha blushed at the sensation of Fate's soft skin under her palm, trying not to shiver at the contact. Fate was warm, her heartbeat light but steady…and Nanoha gasped. She put her other fingers to the pulse on her throat to double check.

"Fate-chan…our heartbeats match."

An orange blur leapt onto Nanoha's bed, and Arf padded over in her puppy form, sitting by Nanoha's ribs. Her blue eyes blinked sleepily as she laid her furry chin on Nanoha's chest. "Mine too, Nanoha."

Nanoha stared at her, feeling realization swamping through her mind but she tried to hold it back, to deny it…it can't be true. Yuuno helped Fate to sit on a stool beside the bed. Fate looked utterly exhausted, dark circles under her eyes from the strain of using lots of magic to…to sustain…

"Nanoha," Yuuno whispered, knowing that he had to tell her aloud. "You were in a coma for a week. But a week ago…you died."

No…

"We…we didn't know what else to do. Then Fate…she saved your life."

Nanoha wanted to cry, to scream…she wanted to make Yuuno stop, but she couldn't…she already knew the truth but he had to say it to her. To make it real.

"Nanoha…Fate made you her familiar."


Author's Note: Okay, before the screaming starts, I just want to go through my reasoning for why this concept doesn't break canon as far as I know:

Familiars are animals. But humans are just another kind of animal.

So while we haven't seen human familiars in Nanoha-verse, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's not possible. I imagine that there might even be laws in the TSAB that forbid it, since part of a familiar's nature is to be dependent on their master, and possibly to be forcibly loyal/subservient, which could give rise to lots of moral and ethical issues.

In case it isn't clear, this takes place right after Nanoha's accident, meaning that the main cast are 12 years old. Some of the little details about familiars are made up by me, but overall I'm trying to keep it within canon (in terms of how the magic works, not the storyline. Storyline is entirely AU).