Chapter 2

Fate could not get to sleep that night; she tossed and turned for a few hours, before getting up and going towards Shamal's office again. Again she was refused entry, but unlike before, when she pounded the door and shouted at Shamal to let her in, she was in a much calmer state and sat down on a bench outside the office. Hayate was doing much the same, pacing around the whole of Section 6 headquarters before eventually rounding a corner to find Fate sitting on a bench.

"You're not getting any sleep?" She asked, knowing the answer already, but thinking that it was essential to get Fate to talk and keep her mind from going crazy and doing something over the top. Last time Nanoha was injured she nearly blasted off the door to the medical office just to see her.

"I can't sleep" Fate replied calmly. Hayate considered her for a moment and decided she looked visibly calmer than she was a few hours earlier, but she knew that her friend was in turmoil inside herself. She slowly sat down besides her, putting her hand around Fate. Fate did not react to her touch immediately, but after a few minutes, lent against Hayate.

"She'll get through this" Hayate told her "She's managed to pull off spectacular feats that are much more amazing than this. Remember when I was under the spell of the Tome of the Night Sky? She managed to hold off the defence program? Any other mage would have been blown away immediately." Hayate began softly stoking her hair, calming the young woman down further.

"But this time I was there…" Fate sobbed gently "I was with her, I should have protected her!" Hayate hugged the young women even closer to her, whispering softly.

"It's not your fault" Hayate paused to think of what to say to her. "No one knew what the enemy was. You weren't prepared." She knew it didn't sound very convincing to Fate, but she knew that nothing she said would stop her for blaming herself for what had happened. Just then the light above the door of the medical office blinked from red to green. The door slid open as Shamal emerged, her face not betraying any emotion.

"Shamal!" Fate jumped up from her seat immediately, Shamal held up her hands to slow her down. "How is she?" Hayate also stood up and looked her knight in the eye, a serious look no her face.

"She's…stable" Shamal started off. "The damage caused is no longer life threatening. With the medical technology available to TSAB, I can also heal her spinal cord, although she will take some time to get used to the changes."

"What changes?" Fate asked anxiously.

"Don't worry, she will make a full recovery. But when the spinal cord is repaired, the way you control your actions differs from previously. In simple terms, her hand eye coordination will take a few months to recover to her original state. However…" Shamal looked concerned at Hayate.

"However!?!" Fate practically shouted at Shamal. Hayate nodded to Shamal to continue.

"She has something inside her." Shamal began, leading them into her office, where models of Nanoha were displayed on the screens around her. She pointed at a round shape which was around 20 centimetres below her neck.

"This has implanted itself into her, and in her current condition, it's dangerous to remove it. However, if we leave it any longer, removing it will be life threatening as well."

Fate looked shocked, whilst Hayate considered their options calmly. Removing it in Nanoha's current condition would be too dangerous, but leaving it to be? "It's won't be life threatening if we leave it?"

"So far as I can tell, it won't affect her health at all…but…." Shamal looked concerned at Fate again, who had staggered over to an examination table and sat down.

"Go on" Hayate encouraged, knowing that Fate would rather hear everything.

"I don't know how this will affect her linker core. Her magic may be unstable due to the closeness of the object to her linker core. The artefact…seems to be affecting her linker core."

"What do you mean?" Hayate asked puzzled as to how anything could affect the linker core. In TSAB history, linker cores were extremely un-reactive in their normal state. The only way to get them to react to something was to rip them out of a person, which normally caused a coma to the patient. A hologram of Nanoha's linker core appeared in the middle of the room. The bright pink sphere was slightly dimmer than usual, but it seemed to be pulsating.

"What's happened to it?" Fate asked as she got up from the examination table, starting towards the middle of the room.

"It appears to be fluctuating, ranging from 2000 to 3000 mags."

"But that's a whole two classes!" Fate shouted out loud. "No, wait, that's going above SSS!"

Shamal tried to get Fate to calm down as she continued to explain "Normally a fluctuating linker core is a sign of growth, but for Nanoha's linker core to continue to grow at her age. That hasn't been heard of. That's why I'm worried about the effects on her magic."

Fate let out a deep sigh of relief. Things hadn't been as bad as she had thought. Nanoha would make a complete physical recovery at least. As for her linker core, she was sure Nanoha would heal. Hayate looked much more cheerful now that she knew her team member was not in any immediate danger.

"Can we see her?" Fate asked after a while. Shamal frowned.

"It's been mere hours since Nanoha received a critical injury! Of course you can't! Besides, what kind of an hour do you call this?" She waved her hand as she spoke and a digital clock came up, showing the time of 04:30 hours. Shamal had always been grumpy when it came to forceful visitors.

"We understand Shamal" Hayate spoke quickly, pushing Fate towards the door "We'll be back tomorrow!" she told her as they walked out and the door closed behind them. Hayate, having lived with the woman for more than half her life, knew when not to annoy her any further.

Hayate accompanied Fate to the cafeteria where they got themselves a coffee. They sat down together at a small table. None of them spoke; they just enjoyed each others company. The sun slowly began to rise above the horizon and their duties called for them. Hayate had to sort out the new officers and assign them to their duties, whilst Fate opted to fill in for Nanoha.

Soon officers began to file into the hall. When they saw Fate and Nanoha they either saluted or bowed, before proceeding with what they were doing before. Everyone had heard of what had happened to Nanoha the night before, but all were sensible enough to not talk about such matters in the vicinity of Fate.

"I had better be going" Hayate announced as the second round of officers entered the hall for breakfast "I have to supervise everything." Fate nodded, finishing off her coffee and standing up to accompany her.

"I have to take the new cadets out for training" Fate said as they walked out of the mess hall. "Though I suppose Vita will do a much better job than me." She managed a weak smile and Hayate felt her body's temperature fall by a few degrees.

"Tell you what" Hayate said loudly, eager to change the subject "Lets meet back here at 1800 with the cadets. We can talk about how they've done, and we'll go see Shamal afterwards. She told me that she's going to consult some of the best doctors on Mid-Childa.

Fate smiled, genuinely this time and replied "Sure that sounds good." The two split with Hayate going up to her office and Fate going down to the training grounds. Although the cadets weren't due for another hour, she wanted some time on her own. This was not to be though, as she spotted Signum on the training platform, practicing her movements as usual.

"Morning Signum" Fate called as she approached. Signum finished her set of moves before turning to respond. As she turned around, her ponytail swung across her shoulder, glistening in the morning sunlight.

"Good morning Fate" she spoke, with no emotion showing in her voice, nor on her face. The knight had a knack for being cold to everyone, although those who got to know her knew that this was not the case. She merely didn't let her affection show. Signum knew better than to talk of last night, and promptly followed through with a challenge. "Would you like to duel with me Fate? It has been a long time since our blades have crossed."

Fate knew that Signum's objective was to distract her, but that was her objective as well, to try and keep her mind off last night. She quickly accepted and Signum set up a new training simulation. Skyscrapers shot up from the ground and solidified as their training ground was set up. Signum had a distinct liking for fighting in cities Fate had discovered over the years.

As the two descended into the city, Fate activated Bardiche and put on her barrier jacket. Over the last 9 years she had only changed it once to find something more suitable for an officer. However, Nanoha had a period where she changed the look once a week, trying all sorts of weird outfits. Eventually, she came back to her old design as she couldn't find anything better.

The two split and Fate headed east whilst Signum headed west. They had an agreement that once they lost sight of each other the battle would begin. As Signum faded from Fate's view she cast Plasma Lancer and sent them flying backwards. She then cast it again, this time sending the 8 lances towards the sky. This had been they new strategy she had wanted to try out, by having attacks already cast the enemy would be caught off guard as attacks appeared from nowhere. She doubted that this would work for Signum though.

Fate scanned the area patiently as she flew towards the centre of the city. She knew that Signum normally attacked head on, but recently she had been learning from Hayate who set up traps as she went along. Self automated spells which fired a small shot at the target. This would not be enough to affect the target, but it would provide distraction. Fate's senses suddenly tingled and she lent back as a shot fired from her left hit the building opposite. More flew towards her, from her right and below and Fate took towards the skies.

She heard a yell from above as Signum descended upon her, Laevantine in her hands. Fate blocked with Bardiche and sent her lancers towards Signum, forcing her to back off and giving time for Fate to cast a shield to block the shots flying towards her from the ground.

"Bogenform"

Fate looked up to see Laevatine in his bow form and arrows flying towards her. She dodged and moved in closer to attack with a simple swing, which Signum blocked using Laevatine in his bow form.

"Arc Saber"

As Bardiche revealed an energy scythe Signum fell back to change Laevatine back into sword form, giving Fate time to cast several offensive bolts which shot towards Signum, following her as she sped upwards.

From a distance the new recruits were standing there with eyes wide. Subaru had a mouth wide open before Tia noticed and poked Subaru in the cheek. As they watched the battle erupting in the sky Vita walked in behind them.

"Hey! Signum! Fate! Stop scaring the newbie's already!" She shouted across the training ground. Subaru and Tia turned around in surprise, whilst Elio and Carol were still enjoying the explosions that flashed above them. Vita pointed a finger at Subaru.

"You!" Subaru flinched before realising she was outranked and stood to attention. Tia stepped to the side as Vita walked towards Subaru. "You're too easily distracted! Did you notice me sneak up on you?"

"Umm…"

"No! Were you even listening?" Vita continued to rant on as Fate and Signum landed behind Subaru and attempted to calm her down. Subaru, not knowing what to do, stood at attention like a wooden plank, not daring to move less Vita decided to blast her. After around 5 minutes, Vita finally calmed down enough to start the lesson.

"Now, as you know Nanoha suffered a injury last night, so she won't be teaching you for a few weeks." As Vita spoke Signum glanced at Fate, who was keeping her emotions hidden. Whilst she wasn't showing any sadness, her face didn't convey any other emotion either, it was just…blank. Subaru and Tia looked at Fate as well, but quickly reverted back to Vita in case she noticed.

"I will be teaching you the basics for today. My name is Sub Commander Vita, just Vita. Do you have any questions?"

Subaru raised her hand but Vita recognised the concerned look on her face, one that she knew all too well. She was going to ask about Nanoha. Vita was trying desperately to keep her off her mind so she ignored her.

"None? Good, let's get started then. Today you will be practicing evasion…" Subaru looked at Tia with a puzzled look on her face, but Tia just shook her head and walked off. Subaru shrugged and decided to ask Tia about it later. Meanwhile Fate had pulled Elio and Carol to one side and started talking to them about what they were going to do for training. As Elio and Carol chatted happily away Fate's mind wandered as she thought back to her high school times.

"Commander Fate?" Carol asked politely and Fate came rushing back from her thoughts and cleared her throat.

"Yes, today we'll also be practicing evasion techniques." As she spoke she pulled up a screen and started to organise a course for the two cadets. A straight path with large buildings on either side, city landscape with bridges darted in here and there, a terrain which they had to become proficient at fighting in.

Turrets were set up in the buildings and on the streets and their objective was to get to the end of the street without being hit, casting only defensive spells. Fate demonstrated to them as she walked at a brisk pace towards the end of the street. A turret suddenly powered up and fired a blue bolt towards Fate, who continued to walk as if she hadn't noticed.

Carol gasped as the bolt appeared to hit Fate, but instead it seemed to go through her. A few seconds later her body blurred and disappeared. Elio spotted Fate around 20 metres down the street on the left. Confused, he brought up a camera recording and played it back. He saw exactly the same thing playing the clip through at ¼ speed. More turrets splashed energy bolts at Fate as she progressed down the street.

There were suddenly several images of Fate on the street, all walking forwards and all being hit by blue bolts, which caused the image to bend slightly before reverting back. Elio couldn't detect any magic being cast and tried to play the recordings back even slower. Finally, he saw Fate, moving as a blur to another position on the street, followed by several bolts micro seconds afterwards. His eyes expanded as he stared in awe at several Fates moving down the street. He didn't have a clue which one was the real one, since all of them seemed to be moving and being hit with bolts.

Fate reached the end and turned around and started back, speeding up into a run as the turrets started their bombardment again. Elio this time saw her blur before appearing on the other side of the street. A few seconds later she stopped in front of the two cadets, not breaking breath at all.

"So, do you understand what to do now?" she asked, enjoying the gaping mouths the two cadets had on their faces. Faces of disbelief and awe.

"How…how did you do that?" Carol asked in a squeal, with her arms brought up to her chest and she jumped up and down. "That was sooo cool!". Fate started grinning as she explained what she did to Elio and Carol.

"Constant repetition leads to great dexterity. In short, practice makes perfect. I'm not casting any magic, but I can direct the flow of magic to help me run faster. Much faster." As she explained how to channel the energy through their bodies, several explosions sounded from the second training simulator. Vita was obviously showing the cadets her version of evasion.

"The aim is not to run!" Vita shouted at Subaru and Tia, who were flailing about madly as Graf Eisen's 'Swallow Flier' blew up the artificial soil around them. "Block it! They're not that powerful!" Subaru turned around in an attempt to block, but quickly turned around again and started to run as she realised that her shield would most likely shatter under the stress of the shot.

Tia leaped forward and turned around in mid air, trying to shoot the flaming ceramic sphere but the wasn't accurate enough as the shots flew to the right of her target. She landed on her back and rolled to the side, followed promptly afterwards by a loud explosion and soil raining down from the air as Vita's attack hit the ground.

Vita was becoming progressively more annoyed at the lack of training the two had had as she cast more Swallow Fliers in the air. As one approached Subaru, who was exhausted from the running and couldn't keep up, she decided to cast a shield with her left hand. As the sphere impacted she could feel her shield giving away, she tried to concentrate more power into it, but she wasn't fast enough and her shield shattered and the shot went shot forward.

A sudden gleam of white came from Subaru's right and she watched as if in slow motion as the sphere that was flying towards her disintegrated and lost its enchantment. She felt the debris hit her like little pebbles as she shut her eyes and brought her hands up to shield her face. As she opened her eyes slowly she could see Signum standing in front of her, cutting through the enchanted balls with ease and grace.

"Vita!" she shouted as 4 more came flying towards her. She cut two of them in one smooth stroke, grazed the third lightly and stabbed the fourth, shattering it around her.

"Vita damn it! Calm down! That attack was far too strong and you know it!" She cut two more, before falling back to shield Subaru from the faster debris. When she looked up again, she could see that Vita had loss control. Her eyes were no longer seeing, they were blank. Her body moved in a robotic motion, casting repeatedly her 'Swallow Flier', four at a time. Blood was slowly dripping from her mouth. She had bitten herself in anguish, in hate, hate for herself not being able to help Nanoha.

Just like before. Just like 5 years ago, where her arrogance had caused a fatal injury. Where her arrogance had nearly cost her friend's life. Where her arrogance meant that Nanoha spent 4 months in rehabilitation. It was all happening again, and she could do nothing about it.

"VITA!" Signum shouted as a battle cry as she lunged towards the girl at full speed, Levantine moving as a blur through the air, ceramic flying in all directions.

"Schlange Form" Lavantine announced as links appeared on the blade before a heavy swing by Signum sent them flying around, decimating the spheres that remained in the sky. As she approached Vita she grabbed Lavantine and hit Vita with the hilt. The blow caught Vita square on and sent her flying back a few metres, landing with a loud thud on the artificial grass. It was not enough to knock her out, but she lost her grip on Eisen.

"Shamal, Vita just lost it" Signum said telepathically, whilst laying her on her back and making sure she was breathing correctly. "I had to force her to stop."

"Understood, I'm coming down now" Shamal announced. Signum turned around and looked at the two cadets, who were shaken and worn out, but otherwise unharmed. Subaru even attempted to give her a thumbs up, but she couldn't sustain it and her arm fell towards the ground.

The training ground was a mess, whilst the artificial terrain remained, some areas had metal showing with bare wires. Signum deactivated the simulation and put in a call to the repair team. The damage wasn't extensive, but it would be a few days before the grounds could be safely operational again.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Shamal floating down from the entrance and turned to meet her. Shamal approached without a word and knelt down next to Vita, she checked her vitals and stood up again.

"She'll be fine, she just needs to rest." Shamal announced, before turning towards Subaru. "You on the other hand, will need a energy boost." Shamal held her hands out and a faint glow appeared around Subaru. A wave of cold air came over her and she felt herself being pumped with energy. Soon, she was back to near normal.

As Signum and Shamal went over the details of what had happened, Tia supported Subaru back up to the base to get changed and to get some rest.

"She lost it. Completely, she was firing AA spells at the recruits."

"She must be under a lot of stress"

"I can imagine, but still, for a Wolkenritter to lose control like that"

"Oh stop it Signum. Anyone can lose it, even you." Quietness swept over the two as a cool breeze blew. Vita stirred.

"Ei…eisen" Vita tried to speak as she opened her eyes.

"Take it easy Vita" Shamal told the girl as she helped her sit up.

"I…I lost it didn't I?" Vita asked, looking at Shamal. No one said a word as her gaze shifted to Signum. But she knew what had happened. She knew that she had lost control as she tried to train Subaru and Tia. She knew that she should never have lost control in the first place.

As tears rolled down her cheeks Shamal tried to comfort her. Signum even knelt down and held her hand, as she spoke softly.

"It's all my fault. When I rushed in…I was over confident. She got hurt. Everybody got hurt, and it's because of me." More tears trickled down as she sobbed gently, "Nanoha got hurt because of me. If I hadn't been so stupid it wouldn't have happened."

"Vita, calm down" gently whispered to no avail as Vita continued.

"If she didn't get…injured, she wouldn't have been…hurt…last night. She never has recovered…completely, I caused that injury, but I…can't heal it. And the injury…just got worse."

"What are you talking about?" Signum said boldly "I can't even understand you. Takamachi made a full recovery. What happened last night had nothing to do with her ability. Didn't you hear Fate's report; an unknown enemy caught them completely off guard. Don't you even think for a second you're responsible!"

"But….it was"

"No buts! Takamachi would not blame you for a second, so do not even dare think about it!"

Stunned silence filled the air as Signum's words sank in. A few seconds later, Vita began to cry and howl as Signum showed a rare act of compassion by hugging her. Vita's tears rolled freely down her cheek and onto Signum's shoulder as Signum herself kept back her tears as she remembered the first time they had met the two mages in the Book of Darkness incident.

Fate watched with a broad smile as Elio performed her evasion techniques as he made his way down the simulated street. Whilst he couldn't keep up more than 2 silhouettes at a time, he was no doubt improving. He was using minimal shields and dodging most of the attacks as Fate had told him to. "Dodging an attack uses less power, leaving you with more to perform spells with".

As the sunlight shone down and a gentle wind blew, Fate could, for a moment, forget about last night's incidents. Her two cadets worked hard and Fate felt a deep sense of happiness as she watched the two perform their training. Elio was following her training perfectly as he dodged the attacks with Strada in his hand. Carol on the other hand…she wasn't doing as well.

"Ahh!" Carol screamed as another shot flew towards her. She brought her hands together and formed a light pink shield. As the shot impacted Carol turned away and shut her eyes tightly. Fate shook her head. The girl had no stamina at all. She was already breathing heavily just from trying to block the attacks, much less dodge them.

"Ah well" she thought to herself "Nanoha will sort them out…" She blinked back tears as the memories of last night came back, images flooding through her mind as she watched over and over again Nanoha being pierced by the feathers. As she watched in agony she noticed something strange. The lance entered Nanoha's body, but she didn't see it exit. She gasped as she put two and two together. The object they had been attacked by last night had embedded itself into Nanoha's body.

She tried to bring up a screen to contact Shamal but before she could Shamal appeared on a display. Her face was one of deep concern and guilt as she spoke quickly and urgently in a high pitch.

"Fate! I'm sorry, I jus-"

"Nanoha! What's happened" Fate broke into a sprint before soaring up into the air as she flew a direct root to the infirmary. It was on the south side of Section 6's headquarters on the top floor. The infirmary was accessible to those who could fly or levitate via a small balcony. As Fate flew round the building Shamal continued her hurried explanation.

"I stepped outside for a few minutes and when I returned Nanoha had disappeared"

"She was abducted?!?" Fate nearly screamed in rage as she flew up to match herself with the balcony and landed. The doors were already open and she saw Shamal in the corner standing besides Nanoha's bed.

"Fate!"

"Was she abducted?" Fate questioned as she looked around for a sign of an attacker.

"It doesn't look like it, nothing at all registered on our systems. That, and the doors were still locked when I came back. It would be impossible to get through the infirmary's security in such a short time."

"Then what the hell happened? Are you telling me Nanoha got up and walked out?!"

"Fate, calm down."

"How can I be calm? My partner has just disappeared from right under my nose!"

"Fate, please. I've got a recording of the incidence. Please, calm down."

"So? Tell me what happened."

"I'm afraid I can't explain." Shamal said as she brought up a screen. She noticed the look on Fate's face and continued on quickly, less she suffer Fate's wrath. "You'd better look for yourself."

As the recording began to play, it showed Nanoha in her bed, eyes closed and not moving. Her heart rate showed on the monitor showing stable. The time was 10.15am. 10 minutes ago.

Nanoha started to glow brightly though her heart rate and other medical recordings remained stable, not showing any sign of distress. After a few moments the light was to bright to make out what was happening. Then, as it started to fade, Fate could not see Nanoha. She had just disappeared. She took a few steps backwards in shock and sat down.

"Are you alright?" Shamal asked with a concerned look. She had known Fate for nearly 10 years now and she knew how attached Fate was to Nanoha.

"Shamal, I've just remembered something. Last night you said there was a foreign object you could not remove."

"Yes, it would have been too dangerous to remove it at that time. Are you saying that it was that caused the disappearance?"

"Last night, we fought against the unknown enemy. Nanoha finally subdued it using 'Starlight Breaker'. We both let our guards down."

"I know what happened; I've read your report of the situation"

"When that attack pierced Nanoha…that image keeps running through my head."

"Do you want me to get you some-"

"No, that's not what I mean. When I think about what happened last night, I can see Nanoha being pierced by the attack. The lance went in, but…but I didn't see it come back out."

"So you think that the attacker left some kind of attack in Nanoha?"

"I couldn't see anything after the attack, nor sense anything. I think…that the enemy embedded itself into…into Nanoha." Fate looked up at Shamal for a response, but the doctor didn't have one. They sat there in silence whilst Hayate came from the control room to arrange a search protocol.

"Fate, Shamal. We've done a wide area scan but we can't find a trace of Nanoha. We've requested that all other TSAB offices also do a scan and we've given them Nanoha's details to them."

"I don't think its going to be of much use." Fate solemnly spoke up, as she looked at Hayate. "That thing was not of this world. The powers it possessed were not of Midchilda or Belka magic."

"What are you saying?" Hayate was puzzled. It was not like Fate at all to be speaking like that, especially about Nanoha.

"I think…if it has taken her, it's gone off world. Any teleportation spell can easily be detected, especially with TSAB technology. Casting any type of spell would cause a residual energy to be left around the area it was cast in. But…theres nothing. Can we get Yuuno to search the infinity library for us for anything about the attacker?"

"I contacted him yesterday. He got back to me this morning, saying that he had to come speak with me in person cause it's classified data."

Fate but on a puzzled face. "We've got clearance though…"

"I mean classified classified. As in…really classified. Top brass stuff." Hayate looked worried as she looked at Fate. "Yuuno is coming to see me this evening, but he left me a hint about what was involved."

"What is it?" Fate's eyes were wide open, attention completely focused on Hayate.

Hayate took a deep breath, paused and spoke in a whisper. "The forbidden capital. Alhazard."

Billy: Sorry bout the wait! I've been really busy lately...like, really really busy. I've also got the chapter thingy to work as well, so its just a short chapter. I'll be working on the next one though! Any ideas or thoughts, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks for reading!