Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and... You know the rest.

Fate Testarossa grimaced as she attempted to rid herself of the shirt she currently wore. That by far was not a very easy task. Especially not with the bandages and the pain that would occasionally jolt her senses when she moved a tad bit too quickly.

Growling lightly, the blonde finally decided to just give up and flopped down on her bed… Only to regret it as soon as her body touched the supposedly soft mattress. Unable to bear the pain that shot through her body, Fate whimpered and slowly curled up into a ball. Slowly, along with the help of the medicine she had taken right after dinner, the blonde drifted off to sleep.

The sky was a blue. Very, very blue… But it couldn't match the blue that Fate knew by heart. Before her was Nanoha with her back towards her. She wanted to step forward but found that her legs wouldn't move. She wanted to call out to her but her voice didn't seem to work. All she could do was watch helplessly as the brunette leap into the air and fade into the sky.

Eyes snapping open, it took Fate a few moments for her eyes to focus on the ceiling above. Dazed, the blonde slowly moved an arm to cover her eyes and let out a defeated sigh. It was one of the bad ones but all of her dreams lately has had been of one Takamachi Nanoha.

Wiping the sweat that accumulated on her forehead during her nap, Fate slowly sat up and stared at her clock. It was 3:00 am again. It's always the same time too. Swinging her feet off the bed, the blonde was very still afterwards, looking only at the clock as if counting the seconds.

3:01 am.

Fate stood quickly, ignoring the pain that should have shot through her body. Swiftly and quietly, she made her way out of the apartment she lived in with the Harlaowns.

She knew that she won't be falling asleep again.

Groaning lightly, Takamachi Nanoha opened her eyes drowsily and stared at the ceiling. She could tell that it was still dark outside and couldn't figure out just why she is awake at a time like this. Slowly sitting up, Nanoha placed a hand on her head, covering almost half her face and wondered what time it was. Grabbing her cell phone, the brunette stared at the glowing screen as she checked the time.

4:51 am.

In an act of not thinking straight, Nanoha punched in the numbers on her cell phone that she knew by heart.

First ring

Second ring

Third ring… Someone picked it up.

Nanoha couldn't help but smile. She always answered the phone before the end of the third ring.

"Nanoha?" Fate's voice asked tentatively with a bit of worry.

"Fate-chan…"

Nanoha did not know just why she had called the blonde. It had felt like the right thing to do.

"Nanoha, is everything alright?" Fate's voice jolted the brunette out of her pause.

"Yeah… I just wanted to hear your…" She trailed off as she heard the sound of a car going by in the background, "Voice…" A slight pause, "Where are you, Fate-chan?"

"Ah, I'm at-…" Fate started saying but almost as suddenly, the line went dead.

"Hello…? Fate-chan? Fate?" The brunette stared at her phone and growled. Without really thinking, Nanoha took off as soon as she could get her feet into her shoes.

To say that Nanoha was scared was just a small part of what she was feeling. She was not only scared but she was worried, and oh so frightened by the possibility that Fate might be in some kind of danger. Normally working phones do not suddenly cut off like that!

Well if one stopped to think about it, there can be various reasons why a perfectly normal phone would cut off, but Nanoha was certainly not thinking straight at this very moment.

Finally stopping to take a breather on a red light, Nanoha finally spotted what she had been looking for. From across the street, Nanoha can see that her blonde friend was fiddling with something in her hands.

Growing impatient, Nanoha was tempted to cross the street on the red light… Only to find a car coming her way. Honestly who would go for a drive this early in the morning?

It felt like an eternity when the green light finally lit, Nanoha was thinking that maybe the light was broken, and the brunette wasted no time to cross the street. By the time she crossed, it seemed Fate has already seen her. You don't see people walking around this early in the morning after all.

Upon reaching the blonde, Nanoha placed both of her hands on Fate's shoulders and stopped to catch her breath.

"N-Nanoha…? What are you doing here?" The blonde asked after finding her voice again.

"You… You… Fate-chan… You idiot!" Nanoha blurted out. "You scared me, you know that? Why did you suddenly hang up like that? Rather, why are you out here anyway?"

"Nanoha… Nanoha! Calm down!" Fate was surprised by the brunette's sudden outburst but it seemed reasonable. "My phone went dead." The blonde held up her cell phone weakly. "I must've forgotten to charge it… Sorry I worried you, Nanoha."

There was a short silence then a shift and Nanoha was suddenly hugging the taller girl before her. With her arms wrapped lightly around the blonde's neck, Nanoha finally caught her breath and looked up at Fate.

Nanoha was too close. That was probably the only thing that went through Fate's mind as her eyes met with the brunette's.

Broken in an instant, Nanoha pulled away and laughed, "Nyahaha, Fate-chan's been saying that a lot to me lately…" Then as if it was a repeat from earlier, Nanoha leaned up and pecked Fate on the cheek again. Only this time, the brunette didn't simply walk away when she pulled back. There was something in Nanoha's eyes that Fate was familiar with. But she was unsure as it immediately disappeared when the shorter of the two blinked.

"Let's go, Fate-chan." Nanoha took the blonde's hand in her own and pulled her along while the blonde was still stunned.

A/N: And here we have the second chapter of this fic. Really to be honest, I don't exactly know where I'm going with this. Also it seems I have an inability to write longer chapters... Sorry to those looking forward to longer chapters . As to any info on my other story 'Fate' which is still missing it's epilogue (Yeah I remember it), after so many unfortunate events, I no longer remember what the original epilogue was about so to those who wants one for that story, bear with me a bit longer and hopefully I can write something for that. In any case, thanks for reading~ I love this story so far and I hope you do too.