Chapter 2

Flight from the Battle

Mew Ichigo gasped for her breath as she knelt upon the ground. She had rolled off of what was left of her enemy, who lay silent and still, eyes closed, mouth open. Ichigo wondered if she was dead. The girl's back must have been horribly burned; smoke rose from around the edges. The main burn itself would be hidden on the blonde's back, pressed against the ground. Ichigo gasped a few more times as she thought of what might be the right thing to do. She had been in a fight to the death; that had been clear. She had won, and if that blonde girl was still alive, she thought she should finish her off. If she didn't, either she or some other characters from that infernal Bureau would undoubtedly be back after her again. But she didn't like killing. She had destroyed a lot of monsters, but the only person she had ever killed was Deep Blue, if he could truly be called a person. And that was to save the world.

Ichigo stared at the beaten girl and did not like what she saw. Her outfit was awfully kinky-looking for such a young girl, Ichigo thought. It looked like some kind of dominatrix outfit as much as anything, with all the black leather. And the white skirt was so short that it could hardly hide her panties, especially when she was flying around. And then there were those kinky thigh-high black leather boots! Ichigo shook her head. And the girl's face – the red eyes, now closed, and long blond hair reminded her of Mew Berry, although the eyes were darker than Berry's. To put it mildly, Ichigo had little love for Berry, who had displaced her as the leader of the Mew Mews. So Ichigo found that disgusting, also.

But still, she did not want to kill. So to stall for time, to put the horrid thing off, she looked at the girl's weapon. It was long and deadly-looking, and it lay on the ground between the two girls. Its shaft was white with black trim and a large golden-colored crystal orb near one end. Ichigo reached down and grasped the shaft.

"Master?" the thing said.

"What the hell?" Ichigo blurted out.

"I am Bardiche. You defeated the old master, so now, you are the Master." The voice was masculine, with a distinct foreign accent, but Ichigo could not place it.

"What are you?" Ichigo asked. "Are you alive?"

"I am a machine. I am a computer. But you could say I have a certain magical life, I suppose. I am a magical construct," the weapon responded.

"What can you do?" the girl asked.

"I will teach you," the thing answered. "It will take time."

Ichigo thought a bit before her next question. "Can you… make me fly, like her?"

"That is easy," the weapon said.

An excitement took hold of Ichigo's heart. She had many powers as Mew Ichigo, but flying was not one of them, and she really wanted to try that.

But then suddenly her Masha popped up again in the air above her. "Ichigo! Ichigo! Enemy! Enemy!"

And Ichigo listened; and she heard a girl's voice calling: "Fate-o! Fate-o! Where are you? Fate-o! I'm coming!" And the voice was drawing closer.

So there were more of them, as Ichigo had feared. She thought of hiding and attempting an ambush, using the fallen Fate for bait. But she had no idea of how many there might be; and even if there were only one new one, if that new one had as much power as the one she had beaten, Ichigo knew that she very likely might lose the battle. So she took the weapon and hurried off into what few bushes she could find, limping from her wounds but heading away as quickly as she could. After some distance she looked back, peering around some bushes. She saw her blonde enemy, still lying motionless on the ground. Yes, she's probably dead, Ichigo thought again. Then she saw the other girl arrive: orange-red hair, a white dress that extended below her knees, and a long weapon not unlike the one Ichigo had taken from the blonde in her hand. The new girl looked around, but did not see Ichigo hiding behind her bushes. But she did see the blonde girl on the ground, and she flew down beside her. "Fate-o! Fate-o! Fate-o, say something!" Ichigo could hear the voice choking with fear and with tears. She would stop and take care of the beaten one, Ichigo thought. That would give her time to escape. So she turned her back to her enemies and limped away from the scene as quickly as she could.

Nanoha knelt next to the body of her friend, tears pouring from her eyes. She loved Fate more than she had ever loved anyone, and in so many more ways! "Fate-o! Fate-o! Say something! Please!" she repeated through her tears, over and over. But the blonde girl made no response. She lay still, her mouth open, her face, arms, and legs covered with black marks. Nanoha fell forward, laying her head upon Fate's breast, and wept. It was all her fault, she thought. She should have taken on that accursed cat-girl instead of Fate. She should have been closer during the fight to back up her friend. She should have come more quickly, as soon as Fate's first shot failed to bring down the filthy creature. She had failed the one she loved the most, over and over again. And now she had lost the one she loved.

She wept, barely gasping for air. She knew that there would be revenge. She would hunt down that cat-girl and kill her. There would be no attempt at gaining submission, the next time. To Hades with the Rules of Engagement! To Hades with the whole accursed Bureau! The next time, the cat-girl would die. That was it. But that would not bring her Fate back! Her sobs grew louder, her gasping breaths weaker.

But she was still Nanoha, ever disciplined, ever obedient. Her training came back to her, and she knew that she had to check her friend, to be certain. So she touched her friend's battered neck, just as they had taught her, with one last little shred of hope that she would feel something.

She felt something. It was weak, irregular. But she surely thought she felt a life-beat. She pressed her ear against Fate's breast bone, and listened. Could she hear a heartbeat? She thought she could, a little. But she so wanted to! Was it real?

She didn't care! She had to get Fate home, back to the Asura! Her strength redoubled by her adrenaline rush, she carefully picked up the battered, burned body and started flying upward as fast as she could, the little wings on her boots flapping wildly. When she contacted the ship, they would beam her up; but she had to get up high. She broke though the tree canopy and accelerated upward, flying harder than she ever had before. And as the city began to fall away beneath her, she spoke.

"Raising Heart, contact the Arura."

"All right," the staff responded. But there was no response.

So Nanoha kept flying, ever upward, gasping for breath. "Raising Heart, contact the Asura."

And this time there was a firm response: "Asura here, Agent Takamachi."

Nanoha kept flying upward as she gasped out her words: "Extreme emergency! Agent down, but with me. Beam us up!" And Nanoha, Fate, and Raising Heart all disappeared as the energy beam took them up.