Quick A/N at the Top; Longer one at the bottom

This is a sequel to a previous story called Raze The Stray, and this story will end up using several OCs and continuing the plot from that. I tried to 'hint' at what happened in that for the start of this though so you don't have to read it, and honestly I think this story is much better. If anyone would like me to summarize RtS for them, message me and I can give you a plot summary to that.

Also, yes, this story has OCs. I've tried hard not to make them groan-worthy, and I'm staying far away from the pitfalls associated with them. There won't be any OCxMain Cast romance. Wouldn't touch that with a 10-foot pole, etc. I touch on this in the longer author's notes, but this will be a bit of a 'subdued' story - no galaxy-destroying dimensional forces or ancient evils or anything like that.

So here's the beginning, and if you like it, you can read the longer explanation at the bottom. If not, then I'm just glad you checked it out.

In the story:

"Dialogue like this" - normal spoken

"Entire line in italics" - telepathic

[WORDS LIKE THIS] - said by a device or other system

For the gate is wide
And the way is broad
That delivered me
(Insufferable in-between)
From the fleeting dawn
To this endless night
In the labyrinth
Of the Iron Kings.

Circle Takes The Square - Enter By The Narrow Gates

Chapter 1: For the Gate is Wide

Planet: Administrated World #1: Midchilda
City: Cranagan
Date: July 23, 0076
Time: 10:33 AM Midchildian Time

If his limiter hadn't fallen off the last two hundred times he pulled on it, it probably wouldn't come off the next time either. Still, that didn't stop the mage from slowly reaching down to the device that was locked on him above his right ankle, getting as good a grip on it as he could, and trying again. At the same time, he watched the door to the room he was in, waiting for it to open.

In the grand scheme of things, limiters could hardly be considered that bad a punishment. On their own, they couldn't actually confine or keep the wearer anywhere, and if simply left alone, they provided little to no physical discomfort. However, if one attempted to subvert or remove a limiter without proper authorization, things could get very problematic very quickly - as the young man, currently a patient of the TSAB rehabilitation program, knew well by this point. This wasn't all that serious an attempt though, more just something to pass the time, and he stopped after a few seconds when the limiter jolted him with its first countermeasure. Again, it was more of a reflexive thing - something to do while he waited for his next appointment.

Bathory Kardenis looked around the room impatiently, finally settling on his device which was hanging by his right hand, tied to his arm by a string that looped around several times before running through the top of the dark green gem. Swinging his arm slightly, he carried the device up and into his hand, gripping it by the edges.

"Aphelion, what time is it?"

[DOCTOR SHAMAL IS CURRENTLY RUNNING THREE MINUTES AND FORTY FIVE SECONDS LATE]

Bathory had already opened his mouth to speak again, but his device's answer made him pause and smile.

"You, uh... you kinda knew what I was really asking there, didn't you?"

[ALL PREVIOUS APPOINTMENTS HAVE STARTED AT THE LATEST ONE MINUTE AFTER THE APPOINTED TIME - APOLOGIES - I HAD NOT BEEN RECORDING MORE ACTIVE DETAIL THAN THAT]

"That's fine. I just wanted to know about right now."

Any minute now, the doctor would arrive, gather his information once again, check his progress in the program, and authorize his limiter to be powered down by another rank. Hopefully. At least being a B rank felt better than what came before it, but while the young man's power was coming back, it was coming back slowly. Alone in the small office, it was quiet enough for him to dwell on that, compared to everything happening outside in the halls. It was a very busy time for the TSAB, with many new recruits and classes meeting for the first time, other classes graduating, and everything happening one after another. In fact, Bathory only had about six more minutes for this meeting to happen before he had to report back to his position and help, so with a little more worry, he continued to look around the room.

Just like that, the doorknob turned, Bathory sat up straight, and a blond haired woman entered the room, closing the door behind her. Now, whether it was the woman he expected to see was a different story, as doctors didn't usually wear black outfits, and Shamal certainly didn't have long hair. Bathory gulped.

"Fate?" he asked, and the Enforcer turned around.

"Good morning" she said. Across the small room, Bathory was still a little surprised by her arrival, and his head slowly turned away from her as he returned her greeting.

"M...morning..."

"Shamal is running a little behind, but she says that she can still make it." Fate walked over to where Bathory was, causing him to get more nervous, and his response trailed off before it ever really started.

"...yeahicanseethat..."

"And if things go too long, I'll make sure you're clear to stay. Don't worry about the time."

Bathory moved over to the edge of the bed, letting Fate stand next to him. Things seemed alright, but he was still a little on edge. She was the one who brought him to Midchilda in the first place and entered him in the program, and she would be the one to approve his release, and so there couldn't be any small reason she would be here for this appointment.

"Well," he tried to ask, "what's...uhh...why are you..."

"This appointment is for an A minus rank on your limiter, correct?" she asked. "And so you would be halfway towards your current rank. It's simply a formality that I need to be here."

Bathory sighed in relief and looked over at the Enforcer as she continued.

"Also, if you're still thinking of transferring back to Siba at the end of the program, they want to see you in person before you complete it. Again, I'll need to be there for that. Is that still what you want to do?"

"Of course" he said, though he obviously had a few worries on his mind. "I've tried calling my dad a couple of times - just telling him when I'm coming back and such. I'd like to talk to him, but the call keeps breaking up." He laughed nervously and brought one of his hands up, holding his head against it while he ran his fingers through his brown hair. "But Siba's really far away, so maybe there's nothing to it-"

The door swung open again, and Shamal quickly entered, closing the door on the rush of voices outside. Holding her device up, she wasted almost no time beginning the appointment.

"Sorry for being late" she said, already bringing up the forms on her patient. She headed over to the desk across from the other two mages, eyes on the screen in front of her the entire time. "Day's hardly begun and I've been getting stopped at every opportunity. I'd say things are beginning to get hectic, but it started off that way. Well, now that I'm here, how are you doing?" she asked, looking up at her patient.

Bathory smiled lightly. "I'm fine, thank you."

Shamal returned the smile before looking right back down at her documents. "Good to hear. Now, I don't think this should take much longer than normal, so you should be out within the time given."

"Understood" Bathory said. He looked over at Fate, who had also brought up a screen from her device and was reading along.

Shamal began reading. "This is an appointment for Bathory Kardenis for the unlocking of his limiter from rank B to rank A minus, and for his advancement in the program. He has currently served six weeks out of an eight week program, and is currently considered a low-threat member by the Time Space Administration Bureau. At the moment, there are zero transgressions on your report, and all comments made have been positive." Finishing that, Shamal looked up at her patient. "So, in other words, everything looks fine. You've done everything well so far, it looks like. I don't see any reason to keep you back."

Fate looked up from her device as well. "Agreed. Go ahead, Shamal."

Shamal looked back at her device as she got to signing what she had to. "Just give me a minute, then, and I'll get about unlocking you."

Bathory was happy about how things went, but he still had some lingering thoughts about his home planet. After a few seconds, he resumed his previous conversation.

"Fate, about Siba... I'd like to go back there, really, but I don't know what others are going to think. I mean, again, everyone thought one thing for so long, and you were the only one to really try and find out if I...I...if...why I did it." He tried his best to word things vaguely, not wanting to think of the incident too directly or all that had happened after it.

"Well," replied Fate, "the Midchildian TSAB cleared you, and on that, the Siban TSAB had to clear you, so I'd hold out hope. Some people may not have heard what they wanted to hear, but they've had time to settle down."

"Yeah" Bathory muttered again. "Hopefully."

As he said that, Shamal finished signing everything she had to, and she closed her device. "There," she said pleasantly, walking over to her patient, "You are all cleared for today." She knelt down and Bathory held out his leg to her, watching as she began to interact with the device. Facing outwards was a touchscreen that Shamal used to navigate the limiter, entering everything needed for the change to begin.

Bathory knew exactly when the order went through, as afterwards he immediately began to feel more of his linker core presented to him. He wanted to use his magic right away, but again, he couldn't. The continued wave of voices outside reminded him of his current duties.

Shamal got back up and leaned against her desk opposite of the other two. "Fate may have said this, but if you're going off planet at the end of this, she'll need to go with you once before the end of the program. Special request from them."

Fate nodded. "I'm setting that up for the twenty fifth. We'll see how things are when we go back there, but again, things should be fine."

Shamal folded her arms. "And so that's it," she said, "unless there's anything else you want to ask."

"Yeah, just something about this" said Bathory, looking down at his limiter again. "Right now, I'm further along in the program than I am on my limiter. I mean, I'm only halfway back up to AA. I don't want to doubt you, but am I going to be released with this still on? I don't need it on for too much longer, do I?"

Shamal was quick to answer. "Often, the limiter will stay on after release as one last safety precaution, especially for those who have never worked for the bureau before or need to be placed. You have prior experience and are going right back to where you left off, so we should be able to either speed up the process or jump multiple ranks at once. For example, if you continue without any problems, you could go from A straight to AA."

"And how about A minus to AA?" Bathory asked. "Any way for that to happen?"

"Not that much" Shamal responded. "But, again, it's likely we can speed you up at the end. That's how these normally go anyways. My experience was that it took ages for any of us to make progress at the start, and then suddenly, we were right back up to normal. I think it just took a while for the bureau to get used to us rather than the other way around."

"Not to mention," said Fate, "the very, VERY public campaign Hayate started when she figured out what was going on."

Shamal and Fate shared a laugh together, which told Bathory that it was probably time for him to go. He thanked the two again for their efforts and stepped back out into the crowded halls.

Bathory found the purple haired knight right on time, right as she was busy dealing with a wave of brown uniforms that had probably gotten turned around. On days like this, everyone had a part, and Signum was busy pointing in five directions at once and trying to keep things moving. After a little bit, the mages had wandered off, and Bathory could approach her.

"Excuse me, Signum-"

The knight noticed Bathory and immediately set about sending him off somewhere. "Well, Nanoha's new class is about to meet," she said looking off down the hallway, "and that's always a huge event. We could use as much help as we can get over there."

"Oh," replied the helper, dragging his feet at the idea. "I was sort of hoping there was something more ground-mage based, or maybe even a class using Modern Belkan. I could help out quite a bit-"

Signum's head shot back to stare Bathory down, freezing him mid-sentence. "Again," she repeated, going slower and more forceful than before, "we could use as much help as we can get for that."

Bathory gulped, and something told him that this was more than just a request. "Of...of course" he stammered, still rooted to the ground and trapped in her forceful stare. "I...I'll get right on that."

Signum closed her eyes momentarily and sighed, and that was all it took to get Bathory moving again. It wasn't hard to find the way to Nanoha, since he only had to follow a crowd of young mages that were no doubt excited to meet their inspiration and role model. Somehow, Bathory knew he'd be arriving soon when he could hear Vita's voice booming from around the corner.

"Keep moving, everyone! Come on - keep moving!"

Bathory turned the corner to find the hammer knight single-handedly trying to corral everyone into the large room next to her. Behind her, Nanoha and Hayate were trying to talk to each other over the noise, and most of the crowd was doing their best to introduce themselves to their future instructor. Bathory pushed his way through the mass and got over to Vita.

"Excuse me, I'm here to help-"

"Alright," said Vita, grabbing Bathory's shirt and spinning him around, "here's what ya do. If every single kid who wants to meet Nanoha gets to meet Nanoha, we aren't starting this assembly till tomorrow. Keep moving them along, okay?"

Vita didn't even wait for a response before heading back to the two Aces, and Bathory was left in the middle of the hallway to try to guide the kids in the right direction. He held his right arm out and pushed kids along with his left.

"Okay, keep moving - no, no, go on - go on - maybe later - maybe later."

After a while, the mass had cleared, and the hallway was almost empty again. In this new stillness, he could hear the conversation behind him.

"Nanoha, please," said Hayate. "All I'm saying is that this might still be a bit early-"

"But Hayate, look at how excited they are! I can't back out a minute before it starts. And it's the only class I'm doing-"

"The only class I let you do" Hayate interrupted. She crossed her arms and sighed. "I'm worried that it might start to hurt again."

Hearing this, Bathory's head slowly began to turn to look behind him, intrigued by the conversation.

Nanoha laughed. "Hayate, it hasn't hurt in a couple weeks now. It shouldn't come back from an introduction session."

"But you haven't been using any magic recently! You can't say that."

"And besides," said Vita, "we all know what your classes go through, even the first time."

Nanoha laughed again, scratching the back of her head. "Ahh, Vita..."

"Look, Nanoha..." Hayate rested her hands on the instructor's shoulders. "If it hurts at all, even just a little bit, I want you to stop. Vita can handle it for you."

"And if that happens," said Vita, "you better tell me. I can't help you if you don't show it."

"Understood." Nanoha sighed, and a mischievous smile crept across her lips. In one motion, she reached down and pulled Vita up into a big hug.

"H...Hey now!" the flustered knight yelled, squirming in Nanoha's grasp. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Because you're the best helper I could ask for."

"And," mentioned Hayate, "you look pretty cute now."

"Hayate," cried the little knight, "you set me up, didn't you?"

The two aces laughed together, and Vita continue trying to break free as her master was called into the stage doors of the auditorium. Meanwhile, Bathory had turned around entirely by now, transfixed by the scene in front of him.

"Midchildians don't have any concept of 'personal space', do they?" he wondered. Immediately, his train of thought was broken by a high pitched shout coming from behind him.

"NANOHAAAAAAAAAA!"

Vita and Nanoha turned their heads to see what was going on, and then Vita shot Bathory a glare of 'do-your-damn-job'. Bathory spun around, expecting another fangirl, and he got exactly what he expected. A young girl was running down the hall, and it was almost scary how much she tried to resemble the ace of aces. Her brown hair was done up like how Nanoha's used to look, and she had decided to go into her barrier jacket, which - surprise, surprise - looked just like how Nanoha's used to look. Bathory made eye contact with the girl and he saw that her eyes, as well, matched Nanoha's - as blue as the sky, and sparkling with anticipation.

It was only as they looked at each other that Bathory realized he'd met this girl before, and had done something terrible to her.

Siba. Somewhere in the long months that he was on the run.

She had found him out. He had panicked.

The flashback shot across his vision, with everything he did burning itself into his brain. Every attack he made, and every time she was struck by them.

Her device, shattered on the sand. Her futile struggles to escape.

His device to her head, and her resignation.

In the present, the young girl slowed to a halt. It was obvious that she realized the exact same thing about him, and the same memory ran through her mind. Tears began to well up in her eyes, and she began to back away. Across from her, Bathory forced himself to do something, and he slowly held his left hand out.

"Wait...wait...I..."

She flinched, as if he'd returned to finish the job - as if he could hurt her from there. Backing up faster, she turned and sprinted away.

"No!" Bathory shouted. "No, please, I'm not...I'm not..."

He trailed off as the girl disappeared, and his hand slowly lowered again. Behind him, Nanoha and Vita stared off down the hall as well. None of the three made a sound for a few seconds. Finally, Vita spoke up.

"I...I can go get her if you want."

"No" said Nanoha, putting Vita down and heading after the girl. "I'll do it."

As Nanoha walked off, Vita looked back and forth between the Ace and the stage doors where she was expected any second now.

"Na-Nanoha, you can't just run off! Nanoha!"

She ran until she found an empty room with an open door, and buried herself in the back corner of it. Her clothing transformed from her barrier jacket back into the standard ground forces uniform. Laying low, knees folded up to her chest, she sobbed and cried out between deep breaths. She'd been terrified for so long at the thought that he'd come back, but slowly she had gotten past that, driven by the thought of transferring to Midchilda, meeting Nanoha, and growing stronger. But he was here as well, and the footsteps she could hear were assuredly Bathory coming to deliver the final shot. Her eyes closed, she cried again as she felt someone's hands wrap around her and pull her in.

Nanoha held the girl close. "It's okay," she whispered. "Nothing is going to happen to you."

The girl looked up at Nanoha and wrapped her own arms tightly around the Ace.

The instructor smiled. "Minasa, isn't it?"

Minasa Kimisho nodded her head. "I...y...yes..."

"I'm glad I could see you again. A big girl such as yourself, who helped Fate with her investigation so much - I knew you'd be picked to transfer here."

The young girl giggled and she pulled away so she could look into her idol's eyes. Blue met blue, but Minasa doubted herself and looked away. She wanted so much to be like Nanoha, but again she realized how far behind she was.

"I'm sorry I got scared. I...I...An Ace doesn't get scared. I shouldn't have..."

"Don't think that" said Nanoha, guiding the young girl back to her. "I'm scared. You ran off, and I was scared for you. I want to make sure everything's alright."

"O...okay..."

Bathory stood in the entrance of the room and reached his hand over to knock on the wall. Minasa heard the sound, looked up, and immediately buried herself in Nanoha again with a loud gasp. Nanoha looked behind her as Bathory cautiously made his way over to the two of them.

"Um, I'm not...not trying to do anything bad here. I...well..."

Though he couldn't find anything to say, he continued to slowly approach the other mages. He knelt down in front of Nanoha, who slowly turned to reveal the girl.

"Minasa," she said as she rubbed the girl's head, "he's not going to hurt you."

"What if he is?" Minasa asked, her eyes still shut.

Bathory tried to answer, but he still had trouble. "I'm...I'm not. Really. Just...just-"

"I won't let him" said Nanoha, looking straight at Bathory.

Still, Minasa looked away. "A...are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"R...really?"

Bathory and Nanoha stared at each other for a second, both frozen in place. Nanoha smiled, and rubbed Minasa's head one more time.

"Really."

Bathory looked away and laughed nervously. When he looked back, the girl's blue eyes were open, and ready to give him a chance. Still, he never quite had to do damage control on this level before.

He took a deep breath. "Minasa," he said timidly, "I...I don't have an excuse. Didn't have one then, don't have one now. I went too far, and I completely understand why you're scared of me. Since then, I've wanted to apologize, but I never thought I'd get the opportunity to. But somehow, we're both together - on Midchilda of all places - so here; I'm sorry. For hurting you and for wanting to hurt you. And I won't do anything like that to you again."

The room was quiet again, and Bathory's face slowly drooped more and more. Finally, he looked away shamefully.

"No, I'm sorry, that was really bad...I...I mean..."

Minasa struggled just as much trying to console Bathory. "No, no, it...it..."

Vita came running into the room. "Nanoha," she yelled rapidly, "you have to get going! Hayate's been stalling for you long enough."

Nanoha looked down at the young girl. "Are you ready to go?" she asked, holding on to her hand as they stood up.

Minasa nodded, and Nanoha walked them across the room, hurried along by Vita. Minasa looked back once more at Bathory, but it wasn't a fearful gaze anymore. Bathory couldn't really tell what emotion it was.

Alone in the room, he released all the tension and awkwardness that had been building up, and he collapsed against the wall.

"Aphelion, I'm such a liar."

[WHY DO YOU SAY THAT, MASTER - YOUR REACTIONS WERE GENUINE AND FIT ACCORDINGLY TO PREVIOUS THOUGHTS ON THE MATTER]

"No, no, not about that. I'm very glad that she's alive, and I'm alive, and we could get this settled. That was more about how I said I wanted to apologize. Really, I hoped I'd never see her again. Just like the rest of everything - It all happened, it's all finished, and I just want to keep going. Go back to Siba, talk to Arin and Dad again, get a new position, and just...go. Just go on."

[I DISAGREE WITH THAT STATEMENT - I BELIEVE YOU OFFERED HER A SENSE OF CLOSURE THAT SHE WOULD NOT HAVE EXPERIENCED OTHERWISE]

Bathory laughed. "She seemed just fine while she was running down the hall in her Nanoha outfit. But maybe you're right."

After another few seconds of silence, the mage continued. "She looked like Nanoha then as well, didn't she? And she came all the way here, too." His opinions slowly shifting with the topic, he held his hand up and looked right at his device. "She's a Siban. She should have her own identity, but instead she's being led entirely by example. You know this, and we've seen this. Girls running around with their hair like Nanoha's, barrier jacket like Nanoha's, device like Nanoha's - everything like someone else. Maybe while I'm still here, I should help her."

[WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT]

"I'll talk to her some more. Show her that I'm not a threat." Bathory looked at the opposite wall and smiled. "And if she can reconcile with me, the rest of Siba can."

[YOUR WORDING ON THE SUBJECT LEAVES ME WITH QUESTIONS, MASTER - YOU SHOULD TAKE CAUTION WITH YOUR METHODS]

Bathory stood up. "Aphelion, you've been my device for a long time. I don't think you should worry."

He waited outside the room until all the kids began to leave and head off to their training. When Minasa left, she saw him standing across the hall, and he beckoned her over. She hesitated a bit, but moved forward with more confidence than before.

"Um, Bathory?"

"Hey, I hope you're better now. Ready to go out and train?"

Minasa perked up again. "Yeah! Nanoha even said she'd pick me for a demonstration. I don't know what she'll be demonstrating, but still."

Bathory's eye twitched a bit, but he recovered. He took a breath and responded to her.

"Well, I know we don't really know each other, and it still might be hard to accept me."

"No, no, I understand" said Minasa, shaking her head. "I understand that you-"

"And that's why I think we should get to know each other a bit more. I want to make it up to you. I don't want this...what happened...hanging over us any more than you do. Tomorrow, why don't you come with me for a bit of extra training? You'll get some things that you definitely won't get from Nanoha. From a Siban to a Siban."

Minasa was slightly confused by Bathory's minor insult, but, like her idol, she tried to see the best in people. "Okay," she replied, with only a hint of worry in her voice. As the last of the students headed off, Minasa spun around and followed them outside.

Longer A/N:

So hey guys. Like I said in the previous story, I think the whole universe of the Nanoha series is pretty good for exploration. A universe where mostly everyone is magic, and it's just...part of life. Where as many things could happen on each individual planet as could happen on any city in the real world. Like I said before, I think they could take the magic system and put it in a game like City Of Heroes and it would be pretty good.

So RtS (Raze the Stray) was an attempt to show something happening on a world far off in the universe, with a more isolated branch of the bureau with a different worldview than the Midchildian one. Admittedly, it was more an action story than a character drama, but at least a couple people stayed through to the end and liked it. RtD (Raise the Dawn), now, is me trying to show those character conflicts a little more. But back on topic, Bathory is a Siban on Midchilda. He, and the other Sibans that will show up, have different views on things than a Midchildian might have (and are still different among each other), and, thus, trouble might occur.

It sounds a little strange, yes, but hey, it's still found an audience. I'd love for you to keep reading.