Broken Freedom
Chapter One: Darkness and pain
The winds were strong; they whipped the waves beneath me into tattered shreds and frigid froth. In nothing but my sleeveless barrier jacket I felt cold as my golden yellow hair flew behind me, I also felt pain.
Pain is like a disease, a parasite that feeds upon one's body, and like any other disease, it can kill. A slow agonizing death; a swift painless one, those were the two choices awaiting me.
I could continue to resist, to fight against the pain that threatened to consume me, my red-stained arms were numb and hanging at my side, all that kept me up was the iron-hard determination I felt, the longing to return home was the one thing that kept me conscious.
The other option was to give in, to surrender myself to the darkness that flickered around the edges of my vision. I could let myself go and plunge down into the infinite depth of the ocean beneath me.
No! I had responsibilities, I had to return, I could deal with this "This is nothing." I thought to myself again and again, to no avail. The darkness, albeit slowly was getting closer, crawling across my sight like some kind of insect.
As pain and weakness started to grip my failing body, I couldn't help but thing back on how I wound up in this situation.
I, Fate Testarossa Harlaown, an enforcer for the Time Space Administration Bureau, was sent here to deal with a terrorist group that had attacked a local marine settlement. It was supposed to be a routine neutralization mission, but the blood from numerous wounds trickling down my arms and legs tell otherwise.
I was ambushed in mid-air. My attackers used unidentified weapons of an unknown make, capable of firing strange projectiles reminiscent of Teana Lanster's Cross Mirage. For some reason, Bardiche couldn't sense them and I was pierced through several times, I fear that one may have damaged my heart.
Now, on the verge of death and miles from the nearest human inhabited area, I could do little more than desperately cling for life. I had dispatched an emergency request for assistance to Section Six HQ, but even at maximum speed, they were still hours away.
I clung on to my life through nothing but my own will. The cold felt like iron bands around my chest, constricting my lungs, each shuddering breath was harder to draw than the last.
I gripped Bardiche's handle tighter to support myself, my hands shook as I scanned the dark horizons for any sign of movement, if my mysterious attackers returned I would really be done for.
I knew it was only a matter of time before I succumbed to my wounds. Faces flashed through my mind, Erio, Caro, Vivio, Nanoha! All of Section Six seemed to be looking at me and on every face was the same expression of sadness. One by one the faces vanished until I was all alone again.
Next thing I knew I was falling, falling through a void of infinite nothingness. Above me there shone a pale light, getting fainter as I fell, maybe this was what people who had suffered from near-fatal accidents said they saw.
As I gazed up at that rapidly shrinking pinprick of light, my mind slipped into darkness and I fell away.
A/N: I don't own MGLN, or anything else for that matter.