It was too lovely a day to die.
Clutching his cloak more tightly around his shoulders, shivering from the cold and loss of blood, Yuuno Scrya stumbled his way through the trees and bushes. He wouldn't have the benefit of this cover for long-it was just a grove of trees planted in a public park. But he didn't believe he was being pursued any longer.
It was unlikely that his attacker had remained behind. He had lost it; she already had obtained what she came for. Yuuno was reasonably certain that she had already escaped back to her base of operations.
His vision started to blur. 'Not again,' thought Yuuno dimly, slowing his pace slightly as he started to weave on his feet.
The battle had been over almost before it began. The glowing scythe blade of the black-clad girl's Intelligent Device had cut a deep gash into his back. It was only due to the protection his Barrier Jacket provided that he was even still breathing. Bright blood flowed freely from the awful wound, soaking his clothing and dripping into the grass below.
If he could only find some shelter, he would be able to heal the wound enough to stabilize his condition. He wouldn't die from this. He couldn't die from this-recovering the Lost Logia was his responsibility. He had discovered them and they had become lost on this non-administrated world while under his care. Recovering them was his duty.
But that was before he knew there was another interested party. The black-clad girl he had run afoul of was obviously from the same world as he-another Midchildan, another mage. Yuuno's skills were insufficient to stand up directly against the interloper. She was quite obviously a combat type-and he was an academic, a researcher. Yuuno wasn't terribly surprised that she managed to get the drop on him and take him completely out of the fight with a single blow.
Yuuno sighed in relief as he stumbled across a small utility shed. It would be a simple task to open the lock. Closing his eyes, Yuuno cast a spell that was designed to sunder barriers and open seals. A green-white magic circle sprang into being beneath his feet, glowing brightly in the cold, clear winter morning.
The lock suddenly snapped open. Exhausted even from the simple casting, Yuuno slumped against the door, fumbling with the latch and opening the shed. He closed the door behind him and conjured a magical light.
A glowing ball of green-white appeared suddenly in the air above his head, illuminating the interior of the shed. There wasn't much inside other than a handful of gardening tools, but it appeared that some of the groundskeepers had kept a folding lawn chair and a few other useful items inside. Yuuno opened the chair up and adjusted it to lay flat, forming a crude cot. He laid facedown on the makeshift bed and closed his eyes, focusing his remaining magical power on healing the wound to his back.
Yuuno felt the tingling sensation of the healing taking effect, speeding the natural regenerative processes in his body. He groaned in relief as the burning pain from the slash slowly faded. The healing spell would continue to slowly repair the wound, but he had run out of stamina. Yuuno's green eyes drooped and finally closed, unable to stave off unconsciousness any longer.
"Please... somebody... help me," murmured Yuuno under his breath as he fell fast asleep, the conjured globe of light slowly fading out of existence.
"Please... somebody... help me..."
Nanoha Takamachi sat up abruptly, her blue eyes wide, glancing around her bedroom, searching for the source of the strange voice. It was the sound of a boy's voice-he couldn't have been much older than she was.
"Must have been a dream," Nanoha said aloud, shaking her head. She laid back down on her bed and picked up her mobile phone. The clock displayed 5:40 am. It was still early yet, but she would need to get up within the next twenty minutes. Nanoha had never been one to sleep in much, so she decided she might as well get on with her day.
Tossing the blankets and sheets back, Nanoha stood up and padded barefoot across her bedroom and through the hall, heading for the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and turned the shower on, stripping her nightshirt off and depositing it in the hamper. The girl stepped under the cascade of steaming water, sighing softly as the intense warmth jolted her into full awareness.
She spent longer than usual in the shower, letting the hot water flow over her body and soak into her muscles. For some reason she felt a little weak, maybe even sick. She didn't know why. But it was hardly enough to keep her down. Nanoha turned the water off and stepped out, patting her skin dry with an enormous plush towel.
She took her time dressing and brushing her hair, pulling the mass of reddish-brown hair back into a tight ponytail. It had grown rather long since she had stopped cutting it; her hair fell nearly to her waist, now.
"Nanoha! Why are you taking so long?"
The thirteen-year-old girl grinned and replied, "Sorry, Miyuki-oneechan. I'll be out in a moment."
"Hurry up, I have to pee," complained Nanoha's sister, Miyuki. Nanoha sighed theatrically and finished up her makeup, opening the door and smiling broadly at her older sister. "There you go."
Miyuki made a rude sound and slammed the door behind her, leaving the younger sibling shaking her head and smiling. Nanoha walked down the hall toward the common room and the kitchen, where her mother was busy fixing breakfast.
"Good morning, Nanoha," said her mother, Momoko. "You're up awfully early today."
"My eyes just decided to open this early is all," Nanoha explained as she sat down at the table. "Where's Dad?"
"Out in the dojo," Momoko replied.
"He seemed pretty lonely ever since Kyou-oniichan moved out," Nanoha mused aloud. "I wonder if he's okay?"
"Well, he still has me and Miyuki still spars with him just about every day," the elder Takamachi pointed out. "We couldn't keep Kyouya here forever, you know. He's his own man now, with his own family to take care of."
"Shinobu's really starting to show," said Miyuki's voice from the hallway. The young woman had already changed into a pair of track pants and a black tank top, her usual training attire. Miyuki sat down next to her sister at the table and waited as Momoko brought each of them a plate piled high with fluffy buttermilk pancakes.
"When's the baby due?" Nanoha inquired.
"Sometime in February is what Shinobu told me last time we spoke," said Miyuki as she popped a forkful of pancake into her mouth. Chewing and swallowing, she continued, "I asked her what it was going to be, but both her and Kyou said they wanted it to be a surprise. So we won't know until the baby's born."
"It feels kind of weird to know I'm going to be an aunt at thirteen," said Nanoha as she started to work on her own plate of pancakes.
"It feels kind of weird to know I'm going to be a grandmother at my age," breathed Momoko exasperatedly. "Anyway, Nanoha, your midterms start soon, don't they?"
"In two weeks," the teenage girl said around a mouthful of pancakes. "Alisa and Suzuka and I are going to start up a study group to make sure we're ready for them."
"Thanks for the meal," said Miyuki, standing up and walking toward the kitchen door leading to the back yard and the small dojo the Takamachi family maintained. Nanoha watched her sister leave while silently finishing her breakfast.
"I'm done also," said Nanoha, standing up and heading down the hall back for her room. She picked up her bookbag and her mobile phone and headed out, stopping by the front door to slip her shoes on before leaving.
"Reciept Number Fourteen," a metallic male voice reported. The yellow central orb of the Intelligent Device responded by absorbing the small shard of blue crystal, sealing it away in some extradimensional pocket.
"Good work, Bardiche," a soft female voice said aloud, just barely audible. She gingerly stepped around the body of a man, careful not to let the dead man's blood soak into her black leather ankle boots. "That makes three. Let's go home."
"Yes, sir," the Device confirmed. A yellow-white magic circle sprang into existence beneath the black-clad girl's feet as she began to recite the spatial coordinates that would activate a translocation spell. Since the distance wasn't much, the spell was quick to cast.
A flash of golden magical power engulfed both mage and Device as the movement magic took effect.
"Nanoha? Earth to Nanoha! Pay attention! Stop zoning out like that!"
Nanoha lifted her gaze and focused on the girl addressing her, a strawberry blonde with a fiery disposition and one of Nanoha's best friends. Alisa Bannings was loud and outspoken, occasionally obnoxious but one of the most fiercely loyal people Nanoha had ever met.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about something," explained Nanoha hastily, holding her hands up in surrender.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, exactly," Nanoha went on. "I've just been thinking a lot... about my brother and the new baby his wife is expecting... being an aunt and all."
"I'm going to be an aunt, too, now that I think about it," said the third teenager, a dark-haired girl with pale skin. "Since my older sister is married to your brother. I suppose that means we're family now and not just friends then, right?"
"That's true, Suzuka," said Nanoha, smiling slightly.
'Please, help me!'
Nanoha stopped suddenly. That voice again! The voice she had heard this morning-it was a dream, wasn't it? Then why was she hearing it again, this time while she was wide awake? Nanoha looked over at her friends, who were both gazing at her with worry in their eyes.
"Did you just hear that?" Nanoha inquired. Both Alisa and Suzuka stared at her for a moment and shook their heads.
"Hear what? I didn't hear anything."
'Help me! Please!'
"That! I just heard a voice calling for help. I think it's coming from this direction," said Nanoha excitedly. Both Alisa and Suzuka looked at her oddly, then at each other as they shrugged and followed Nanoha as she broke into a run, heading off the path through the park and into the wooded area.
"What's going on, Nanoha? Cram school starts in twenty minutes; we really need to get going!"
Nanoha stopped and looked at her friends, sighing. She didn't want to get them into trouble, even if she were perfectly okay with getting herself into it. She nodded slightly.
"Just go on ahead of me," Nanoha said. "I'll meet up with you later, okay?"
"Are you sure?" Suzuka asked worriedly.
"Yes, I'm sure," replied Nanoha a bit impatiently. "I don't know what's going on but I swear I heard someone's voice, and they sounded like they were hurt. I'll go see what happened and call an ambulance if it's bad."
Nanoha turned and ran through the woods, following a sense of urgency she felt but could not quite define. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew the source of the call had come from this direction. It wasn't long until she came across a small utility shed, probably used to hold the gardening tools used for park maintenance.
Nanoha had opened the utility shed's door. Inside the small building a young boy, no older than thirteen or fourteen, lay facedown on a convertable lawn chair that he had formed a makeshift bed out of. Nanoha's eyes widened in shock as her gaze fell across the boy's back. A gruesome scab stretched from one shoulder nearly to his waist, where some extremely sharp blade had cut deeply into his body and dug a wicked gash.
"You... you came..." said the boy weakly, sitting up and gasping from the pain. His wound was healing but it had a long way to go.
"You're hurt badly," Nanoha breathed, stepping forward to take a look at the injury. "Let me call an ambulance." She dug into her pocket, her hand closing around her mobile phone, preparing to make good on her promise when the boy's hand came up and grasped her wrist, stopping her.
"Don't... don't... oh, no... she's coming back! You have to help me or we're both going to die."
"Just what the hell's going on here, anyway?"
"You have the proper nature," the boy murmured weakly. "I can feel it within you. You were able to hear my call." Nanoha looked at the boy curiously as he placed something small and hard in her palm. She opened her hand and stared at a small sphere of red crystal, perfectly smooth.
"It-it's warm," Nanoha stuttered. The crystal felt more than just warm-it felt alive, as if there was something sentient and aware sleeping within the small sphere. Nanoha clutched it in her palm tightly. She could feel something that she'd never felt before, an incredible wellspring of power building within her.
"U-use the Raising Heart," murmured the boy, his voice barely audible. His green eyes drooped, threatening the oblivion of unconsciousness. "Call... to her... and..."
"Hey! Are you all right? Hey, wake up! Wake up!" Nanoha cried, but the boy had already fallen unconscious. His face was ashen and there were large dark circles etched under his eyes. He must've been utterly exhausted, on top of the wound. Nanoha walked closer to the boy, examining the wound to his back critically while she took out her mobile phone. No signal at all. She had made calls in this park before-was this spot, near the maintenance shed, a dead zone?
A massive explosion outside of the small shed shook the earth, knocking Nanoha to the ground. She lost her grip on her mobile phone and watched as it skittered away under a pile of gardening tools, out of reach.
"What the-?" Nanoha came charging out of the maintenance shed and nearly toppled headfirst into a large crater that hadn't been there a moment ago. Heat still rose from the edge of the gaping hole blasted in the ground. The edges of the soil had been turned to glass from the intense heat of the explosion.
A girl, perhaps her own age, maybe slightly younger, stood near the clearing, a long black weapon gripped tightly in her right hand. The girl wore a strange outfit consisting of a long black cloak and a form-fitting black bodysuit. Her legs were encased in thigh-high stockings and her feet were thrust in a pair of black leather ankle boots. A wide red belt and a short, ruffled pink skirt encircled her waist.
"[Scythe Form]."
The girl's weapon suddenly changed forms, the axe-like head of the device changing orientation by ninety degrees. A blazing yellow-white blade of radiant light sprang into being from beneath the weapon's main body.
Nanoha took three steps backward, staring at the brilliantly-glowing weapon leveled in her direction. This must be who the boy was speaking of. What the hell was going on here? Was this a dream?
"If you don't want to die, get out of my way," the black-clad girl said in a soft, melancholy tone.
"Call me, my master," a metallic female voice suddenly said, seemingly from nowhere. Nanoha stared openmouthed at the gemstone in her hand as it flashed with an inner light. "Call me, 'Raising Heart.' Instruct me to [Set Up], my master."
"What in the world... ?"
The gemstone flashed brightly but did not answer. Nanoha closed her eyes and clutched the glowing crystal to her chest, feeling the power raging just under the surface.
It was her power, her own magic. She only had to open her heart to receive it.
"Raising Heart, Set Up!"