Once again, six months between updates. I can add to the list of reasons this time that I finally found a way to watch Subbed Anime! Yup, turns out there's a program that can output the subtitle files and get windows' speech program to read it in real time. I am one very happy duck and am currently working my way through StrikerS.

Chapter 3: Beacon in the Dark.

"There is one thing I want you to promise me. That you will never betray your friends nor any of the people that believe in you so fervently..." Fate shook her head as that sentence echoed in her ears again. She wondered, perhaps for the hundredth time, if Admiral Graham had known about the accident with Yuuno or not, and what his request had meant in that context.

That question, as well as thoughts related to the new opponents she had recently fought, were doing a rather good job of distracting her from her studies at the Junior High she was attending with Nanoha and her friends, which was sort of too bad, as she'd originally approached the idea with a bit of fascination at what the physics courses in a world that didn't know about the unified magical energy Mid-Childa practically breathed would be like.

On top of this, things seemed to be getting tense at the TSAB base, but no one would tell her what was going on until Bardiche was repaired. Chrono had laughingly said that he didn't want her or Nanoha charging off right away, though she wasn't entirely sure he'd actually been joking.

What, she wondered, did he think would induce a reaction like that in them? She hoped he thought they'd over-react, otherwise things might just be getting really bad.

HR.

"This is becoming a real problem," Chrono said, as he sat at the communications terminal, the concerned face of Admiral Leti Lowran staring back at him from the other side. "We've lost twelve agents in the last five days, all of them with the same symptoms. By the time we pick up a magical signature, the target is already preparing to leave."

"And no one's gotten a good idea of what's causing it yet?" Leti asked.

"We've gotten some blurry composites. Those, along with the nearly drained linker core in each case lead us to think that it's one of the guardians of the Book of Darkness, and if that's the case..."

"Then we're just feeding it with these patrols," she finished. "We can't just stop looking, though."

Chrono nodded. "I'm thinking of doubling up on patrols, but I'm afraid that just might feed the book faster. My only other idea is to go out myself, look appetizing, and hope the extra shielding I've got over an Armed agent will keep me awake long enough to figure out what's happening."

Leti winced, but rather than forbidding him from trying that plan, she quickly changed the subject. "How long until you can get Nanoha and Fate back out there?"

The boy shrugged. "Their devices are repaired, and Nanoha's coming in for her final check tonight, but... they asked for Belkan Cartridge system upgrades."

"They did?" The admiral raised an eyebrow. "How did Takamachi know about those?"

"Um, not the mages," Chrono scratched his head. "The devices."

The admiral blinked. "That's... interesting."

"Those two really are pretty special," Chrono agreed.

Leti opened her mouth to say something, but bit it back. "The Arthra's undergoing its refit on schedule, but unfortunately it will still take a couple of weeks to be complete. Until then, you're on your own out there, so be careful, all right?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Chrono replied, saluting.

HR.

"So who's this new friend of yours?" Mustang asked, as he wheeled Hayate's chair up the long, winding path to the front door of the large house.

"Her name is Suzuka," Hayate explained. "We met in the library a couple of times, and she invited me over yesterday."

The man nodded. He was relatively sure that Shamal wouldn't have let things get this far if she thought the girl was bad news, and the house looked respectable enough, but something was tickling at the back of his mind, making him feel somewhat uneasy. "She likes reading, then?" He asked, gently lifting the wheelchair up the front steps, before ringing the doorbell.

"Oh, yes," Hayate replied. "She even recommended a new fairy tale for me to read. It's in the basket there, see?"

Mustang nodded, catching a quick glimpse of the book laying in the carrying basket on the back of the chair along with a few other things. "Call us when you want to come home, or if you want to stay for the night," He said, and then jumped when the door in front of him swung open, and a brown haired woman in a maid's outfit stood there.

"Hello? How may I help you?" She asked, politely.

Hayate bowed in her seat. "I'm Hayate Yagami, here to see Suzuka, please!" She exclaimed, happily.

"Suzuka! Hayate-san is here to see you!" The maid called into the house, as something moved around the ground at her feet. Mustang's eyes were drawn to the movement, only to catch on a set of beady blue ones peaking out from behind her leg. "Hey, now you're not supposed to be going out today," The woman said, reaching down and picking up the source of the stare, which turned out to be a light brown cat, black lines running over its back and the top of its head.

"Aww, it's so cute!" Hayate cooed.

"Would you like to hold him for a minute?" The Maid offered, holding her hands out with the little animal cradled in them. Hayate nodded rapidly, and reached her own arms out to accept the cat, which nuzzled into her chest for a moment before placing its paws there and nuzzling her cheek.

"Mustang, isn't he cute?" She asked, grabbing the kitten and holding it up.

"Y...yeah," The pigtailed man muttered, his danger sense screaming at him for no reason he could name. He was half tempted to activate Weissritter and perform an area scan, before he realized that it was the cat that was causing the anxiety. 'Damn, it's just a stupid cat,' he thought, and reached out a hand to pet the animal. His fingers rested on its fur for half a second, before he jolted backwards, almost falling down the steps.

"Are you all right?" Hayate asked, concerned. "Your hand was shaking."

Mustang shook his head, trying to get the strangest thought of fish sausage out of his mind before responding. "I'm fine, just a little cold. Maybe I shouldn't have gone with the silk shirt today. Remember, call us if you need anything, all right?"

"I will," Hayate said.

Mustang nodded, and then turned to leave. "Have fun," he said, wanting to get away from the cat, in spite of knowing how stupid the desire was. As he went, he resolved that he was going to scan the hell out of the mansion once he was out of sight of the place and could activate his device.

HR.

["We checked up on Hayate for you. She's fine, and going to stay the night,"] Vita reported, as Mustang leapt from rooftop to rooftop in suburban Tokyo.

["Why do you sound so pleased?"] He asked, curious about how amused the redhead's mental voice had come across.

["Don't even think about..."] Zafira's irritated voice growled, but Vita cut him off.

["That Suzuka girl thought I had a really cute doggie, and her cats tried to play with him..."]

["Guardian Beasts are not cute,"] Zafira muttered.

["Well, oh Uncute beast, thanks for checking up on Hayate, sorry if I interrupted anything you guys were doing,"] Mustang replied, as he settled on a rooftop near the magical signature he'd been tracking.

["Not a problem. I'd gladly go on another errand if I got to see something like that again,"] Vita giggled, bringing only incoherent muttering from Zafira, which was a neat trick with Telepathic communications. The presence of the two then vanished from Mustang's thoughts, and he crept to the edge of the roof, concentrating to will his presence as small as he could.

On a rooftop across the street, a figure in standardized TSAB combat armor was studying the city around them, the curves of the suit suggesting a female wearer. He waited until the woman was apparently finished her scan, preparing to move on, and leapt, building an aura of tightly focused golden energy around his body, specifically his arms.

He had no idea why he could do this, and the others couldn't, but it served him rather well now as the life-force he controlled didn't set off magical sensing equipment of any sort. In fact, the mage barely noticed the incoming light source in time to turn half around when his first flurry of punches hit, his attacks concentrating on stripping her of her barriers, at least temporarily.

As he felt the surprised mage's resistance flicker and then fall, he was thankful that most of the TSAB's armed agents weren't nearly as powerful as the two enforcers they'd run into a week ago, and ripped off the armored helmet the woman wore to get at the pressure points at the back of her neck. That was when he froze. Scared brown eyes met startled blue, and recognition sparked in both. Images, sounds and impressions deluged him, all somehow having to do with the face of the girl he was looking at. He closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind, only realizing that was a bad idea when a crushing force slammed into his chest and sent him flying back across the rooftop.

The blow had apparently snapped him back to reality, and he sprung to his feet, snapping his eyes open to see the TSAB armed agent standing in a defensive stance, staff-like storage device in hand. "Who are you?" She demanded, a slight quaver in her voice giving way to anger. "Are you the one who's been ambushing the patrols?"

He didn't answer her directly. He knew that she'd almost certainly sent out a distress call, and even if she hadn't the spike of magic would have alerted other mages nearby. Clenching his fist, he called "Weissritter, set up!"

The device acknowledged, and he was clad in his Wolkenritter armor. "Sorry Akane, can't answer that," he said, noting the woman's widened eyes. He was right, he'd spoken the right name, but he had no idea how he'd known it. Still, at the moment that didn't matter. She was the enemy, and he had to defeat her before reinforcements arrived.

Vaulting forward, he easily deflected a hastily thrown energy bolt from his opponent, lashing out with several strong blows aimed at her midsection. Much to his surprise, she actually managed to block a couple of them, but he still drove her back until her barriers flickered again, and this time he didn't stop, several precise strikes on her neck and back rendering her unconscious. He then reached out one hand, summoning the Book of Darkness into it.

'Assimilate.' The book was about half way through its task when Mustang whirled, his free arm blurring to deflect several energy projectiles. He snapped it shut and willed it to vanish.

"Almost got me," He said. "Just a bit too slow, though. He jammed both hands into his coat pockets, suppressing a wince at the icy numbness that was tingling across the fingers of his right. Why the hell had he thought holding the book in the hand he wore Weissritter on was a good idea, exactly?

He shelved those thoughts, looking up to see a boy floating in mid-air holding a staff. His outfit looked rather a lot like Mustang's own, save the spikes, the fact that the coat was a good deal longer and that it was in darker colors. "Like the barrier jacket, I gotta say."

The boy didn't look amused. "I am enforcer Chrono Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. I am now placing you under arrest for the serial mage assaults in this region and possession of a registered Lost Logia. You will come quietly, or I will use force."

"Straight to the chase, huh?" Mustang asked, furtively looking around and taking note of several more TSAB Armed Agents who had already erected a teleportation suppression field and were working on a full barrier. They were efficient, he'd give them that. ["Hey, guys, I might need a little help,"] He projected, hoping that none of the others were in the middle of anything important.

["What's happening?"] Shamal returned, instantly.

["Mighta gotten caught by the TSAB,"] Mustang replied, seeing no way to sugar coat it. ["Entering battle in a few seconds."]

["We're on our way,"] Zafira spoke up. ["Just hold out for a little while."]

Cracking his neck, Mustang nodded at Chrono. "So you went through all the formalities, despite knowin' what I was going to say... though I gotta say attackin' me first was a bit much. Let's see what you've got when I'm payin' attention!"

The Enforcer brought his staff up to a ready position as Mustang flew towards him. The older mage noted in passing that the thing had a pretty nasty spike on the bottom. Did this kid have a thing for them, or something? The two clashed for a few seconds, before Mustang dove away, just barely clearing the path of an orange haired guardian beast with her fist outstretched.

"Huh, and here I thought this was gunna be one on one," he commented, floating back away from the two.

"We're bringing you in, not having a duel," Chrono said, looking over to one side. "Nanoha! Fate!" Mustang tracked his glance, catching sight of two girls standing on a nearby rooftop.

"This just got interesting..." He muttered as they invoked their devices, though something seemed to be going wrong. Both of them were bathed in a blue-white glow from beneath, but their barrier jackets weren't appearing and they seemed to be caught in mid-air. Making a snap decision, he loaded a cartridge into Weissritter, flying towards the two and unleashing several dozen energy bolts.

Chrono blocked his path, as he'd expected, and a shield appeared in front of the two as their barrier jackets finally formed, the bolts splashing harmlessly off of it. "How could you do that?" The spike-encrusted mage growled, glaring hotly at Mustang.

"Look, this either goes by rules, or it doesn't," Mustang replied. "You're bringin' in backup to stop me, and you expected me to let you without a fight? Speaking of which..." there was a loud explosion, and he looked up to see the TSAB containment barrier shuddering violently, before something punched its way through it, resolving into a gigantic hammer, Vita holding onto the handle and Zafira, in his human form, following in the wake of her destruction. ["You guys got here fast..."] Mustang flew up to hover in front of the two arriving Wolkenritter.

["I wasn't going to miss this,"] Vita replied.

Mustang nodded, but was caught off guard as Nanoha and Fate flew into the sky on either side of Chrono, then Nanoha spoke. "Yuuno, Chrono, I don't want you involved in this! I'm going to fight with that girl one on one!" She yelled, pointing at Vita. Mustang raised an eyebrow as, though Fate hadn't spoken, the orange haired guardian beast was pointing at Zafira and giving a bring-it gesture, while Fate was glaring straight at him.

"Huh... guess this is a duel after all," He muttered.

"Fine with me," Vita replied. "But are those..." She gestured at her opponent's device, which had a small new assembly below the head of the staff.

"Cartridge systems," Zafira nodded. "Be careful."

"Of course," Vita said as though being told was an insult, and conspicuously ignoring the pointed looks her two male comrades were giving her. Levitating down to a level with Nanoha as Zafira and Mustang shot off on either side of her, she readied her device, Graf Eisen.

"Wait!" Nanoha called, her own device still resting at her side. "First, I just want to know... why are you trying to complete the Book of Darkness?"

"You're trying to question me in the middle of battle?" Vita asked, somewhat incredulous. "It doesn't matter anyways, you're not going to persuade me to stop, and telling you would be too risky."

"Maybe... Nanoha said, raising her device into position. "But if I win this battle, you've got to tell me!"

"Well that's too bad, because it's not going to happen!" The redhead yelled, her device loading a cartridge and once more growing to about half the size it had been when she'd arrived, a rocket engine forming on the back and propelling her towards the other mage.

"Master, please call for Cartridge load," Raising Heart spoke, and Nanoha nodded.

"Cartridge Load!" She yelled, and the device clicked several times before power seemed to flood into her body. She met Vita's hammer blow with a barrier, though even with her new power, Vita's strength was surprising, and the barrier eventually broke, sending the two of them flying apart. As they moved, Fate flew between them, Bardiche in its Haken form. For a moment, Nanoha's eyes tracked her blonde companion, until she met her opponent in a flurry of strikes and parries.

She seemed to get the upper hand in the exchange, pushing Mustang into a retreat. "Okay, so maybe you do know how to use that system," He admitted, panting slightly. "I hate having to use this... Weissritter!"

""Rifle Form!"" His device announced, loading a cartridge as the white metal of the gauntlet seemed to crawl down his arm, the three barrels over his hand shifting and reforming until there were only two, running down his entire forearm, a small upraised ridge of metal between them. This ridge immediately started glowing, a fiery blade springing from it and clashing against the giant energy scythe's next swing.

The trick was interesting, Fate had to admit, and it explained why he wore his device on his left arm when he appeared to be right handed. Still, the blade was very short despite its width, only meant for parrying enemy blows. That was when she realized that with her device and Mustang's in their current position, the two barrels of what was basically a shotgun were pointed directly at her chest. Her hurriedly thrown up barrier came just before an announcement of ""Armor Fist W"" from the device, and a sharp, bright beam of mixed red-gold energy. The barrier lasted only about half a second, but it was enough time for her to throw herself to the side, the energy grazing her rather than hitting her full in the torso.

As she was recovering from that attack, she felt a tugging sensation on Bardiche's haft. "Not again!" She yelled, and the entire length of the device was engulfed in lightning. Mustang kicked off of her to get away, floating nearby and shaking his right hand.

"I'll admit, you're impressive," He said, nodding towards her. "Learning the Cartridge system and coming up with counters like that..." He smirked. "You might be almost as adaptable as me."

"I'll take that as a compliment," She returned. "You're very strong, too."

"Kinda too bad," He said, his eyes ranging around the battlefield. "If this situation weren't so important, fighting you would be a lot of fun. As it is..." The next time he moved, she braced for another attack, but wasn't prepared for him to shoot right past her, his device reforming into its gauntlet form. She immediately pursued, but he seemed to be almost completely ignoring her, taking a direct path towards where his hammer-wielding team-mate was apparently being boxed in by a barrage of Nanoha's Axel Shooters, trapped inside of a barrier that was beginning to fail.

His gauntlet began spitting out lightning fast bolts which impacted Nanoha's, cutting down the threat to the red haired girl. Fate's eyes narrowed. He was very slightly faster than she was, and would dodge a photon lancer if she tried to use it to catch him, however...

She stopped, switching Bardiche to its assault mode and loading a cartridge. "Plasma Lancer!" She and her device cried at about the same time, sending a flurry of arrow-shaped projectiles at her opponent. As she expected, when they came close he weaved out of the way, but she then immediately clenched her fist. "Turn!"

Mustang attempted to throw himself clear of the new threat, but he was moving too quickly. Most of the Plasma bolts found their mark, and he disappeared in a cloud of dust. Fate immediately switched Bardiche into close combat mode and moved in, careful to keep a shield on standby as she was relatively certain that her attack hadn't taken the Wolkenritter out.

She was right, as when the dust cleared he stood, his hand in front of him holding a flickering ward, though she had definitely done some damage. Part of his barrier jacket had been completely stripped away, the jacket of his blue and white uniform having vanished to reveal a dark grey undershirt, and he was panting heavily. Something about the situation seemed a little disconcerting, however, and that was the fact that he was smiling.

Mustang chuckled as she got into earshot. "Okay, now that hurt..." He straightened up, dispelling the ward as she didn't seem to be ready to attack. "How about I show you another trick?"

Fate lunged at him, but he was still fast, despite the damage he'd taken, and just barely got out of her way before calling "Weissritter, Form F." The TSAB mage watched Mustang's device carefully to see what new abilities it would manifest, but it wasn't the thing that changed. Instead, the man himself was overcome by a flash of white light similar to that seen when a barrier jacket was first formed. The light seemed to shrink in on itself slightly, before fading away.

"So, what do ya think?" The figure revealed asked. Fate blinked in surprise. Whatever she'd been expecting, this wasn't it. The most important detail seemed to be that Mustang's barrier jacket had regenerated, though the uniform pants had apparently transformed into a knee-length skirt. That hadn't been the first thing she'd noticed. That was the fact that the figure before her was now female, only a couple of inches taller than herself, and had bright red hair.

"Huh... wha?" She asked, articulately.

Mustang shrugged. "(It's a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes, since I can't control it unless I've got my barrier jacket active. On the other hand, it's also got a few benefits... but I think I'll let you find out about those yourself!" As the newly formed redhead charged, her device loaded another cartridge, announcing ""Sword Form,"" and reshaping into a short blade that protruded from the fist of her left hand.

Fate tried to defend against the inevitable attack, but Mustang seemed to have gotten much faster. She slid in under the forming shield, and the sword impacted against the blonde mage's barrier jacket directly. This occurred several more times, as Fate desperately backed off, trying to bring Bardiche into play to block blows, though distantly she realized that Mustang was scoring far more hits than she thought her barrier jacket could take, given the ones he'd landed previously, and it hadn't collapsed.

As she managed to gain some distance by ignoring the incoming attacks for just long enough to cast a multi-shot Photon Lancer, she nodded. The Wolkenritter had traded a good deal of her raw power for speed. Though her attacks still did damage, and she was nimbly dancing out of the way of several Photon lancers as the younger mage watched, Fate was relatively sure that she couldn't deliver single, decisive strikes any longer. This had abruptly turned into a battle of attrition, and she wondered which of them had the most stamina.

HR.

Shamal stood outside of the barrier the TSAB had erected, unsure precisely what to do. She could see some of the armed agents who were maintaining the construct, and was relatively sure that she could take them out, but she knew that not all of the higher ranked forces were fighting inside, and that their forces could pretty much pass with impunity through their own barriers.

She didn't want to draw the attention of one of their enforcers, as she was sure she would lose to them. Unfortunately, she was running out of other ideas. ["I think we're going to need to pull back,"] Zafira's voice came into her mind, and she resisted the urge to jump. ["We're stuck in a bit of a stalemate here."]

["I'm not sure how,"] she replied. ["The only things that can pierce that barrier are Vita's Gigant hammer or Mustang's Howling rifle, and..."]

["They don't have time to set up..."] Zafira replied. ["You're going to have to use it."]

["I..."] The weight of the book of darkness under her arm seemed to get heavier as she thought about it, though she had to admit she had no idea what else to do. Unfortunately, using its power meant sacrificing pages. ["Using it seems like the only way, but..."] She was cut off as she heard metal rattling near her right ear, and a spear tip entered her field of vision. Without turning around, she knew that there was a TSAB mage behind her.

"You are here-by under arrest for possession and use of a registered Lost Logia," a young male voice said. "Do not resist and you will not be harmed."

Shamal gulped, and her muscles tensed. Giving up was the last thing on her mind, and she started trying to think of ways to get the spike away from her head so that she could fight back, when its wielder abruptly flew through the space in front of her, slamming into a fence. "What...?" She asked, turning to see a man in a strange white and grey mask standing on the roof behind her.

"Hurry up and use it," The man ordered.

"But I... who?" The blonde asked, blinking at the man in confusion.

"Use it now. You can regenerate the lost pages later, but you can't recover if your friends all die."

"R... right!" ["Everyone, I'm going to use the book, be prepared,"] Shamal stammered, opening the book and beginning to chant. The invocation was shaky, she barely remembered the last time its use was necessary, and it had been several masters ago, she thought. As energy began to build between the book's pages, the mage who had ambushed her recovered from his meeting with the fence and launched himself at her to try and stop the incantation. Fortunately, the mysterious masked man intercepted him, beginning to engage him in hand to hand combat.

Shamal blinked as the second line of the incantation finished, and something began to go wrong. Rather than concentrating dark energy above the dome-shaped barrier to crack it open, the book was building up a bright blue energy source where it was at a very high speed. ["We've got a problem..."] She projected, uncertainly. ["The Book is acting strangely, I'm not sure when it's going to discharge..."]

["What?!"] Vita's disbelieving voice came back.

["I'll try to direct it, but stay below the skyline,"] Shamal returned, the blue light building ever brighter.

HR.

"Well, that ain't good," Mustang muttered, quickly separating from another engagement with Fate. "Look, I know this is hard to believe, but you're really gunna want to get below roof level and build up a personal barrier."

"Why?" Fate asked, suspiciously.

Mustang shrugged, deciding on honesty, especially since she could almost feel the power build-up nearby, now. "We're preparing to crack this shield open, and the blast that does it is gunna be really big," She responded, and then dove down herself.

Fate's eyes widened and she followed, uncertain if she was just chasing her enemy or preparing to duck and cover. Her answer came moments later, as a bright blue energy wave seemed to tear open the sky, and sheer off the very top sections of a few buildings at the edge of the barrier. The shockwave rocked her even with barriers up, and when her vision cleared of the afterimages of the light, Mustang was gone.

["Are any of them still here?"] It was Nanoha's voice, somewhat shaken. ["Vita just teleported away..."]

["The one I was fighting is gone, too,"] Arf responded. ["Did anyone get the licence plate number of that thing that hit us?"]

["It seems impossible but... I think I've got an idea,"] Yuuno replied.

["Sorry guys, but I couldn't track their teleportation. It looks like all of them got away,"] Amy reported, from the command room at headquarters.

["Do a last sweep and return home,"} Admiral Lindy said. ["I think we've got a lot to figure out."]

HR.

"Okay, so what the heck happened out there?" Vita asked, for once somewhat thankful that Hayate wasn't home as she, Zafira, Mustang and Shamal sat around the dining table.

"I'm not sure," Shamal admitted. "That blast... it wasn't much stronger than I expected, but the strange thing is that it didn't use up any pages."

"None at all?" Mustang asked. "How is that possible?"

"I don't know, but it's one hell of a weapon," Vita replied.

"We shouldn't try and use it again, it might have been a fluke," Zafira opined. "It's a good thing we didn't lose any pages this time, but..."

The others nodded. The room became silent for a moment, and then Mustang spoke up. "Look, guys, I'm sorry about tonight. We only ended up in that fight because I screwed up."

"How did they catch you, anyways?" Vita asked, curiously.

The pigtailed redhead rubbed her forehead. "I've been hunting their patrols for the past week or so. It seemed like a good way to get pages quickly and cut down on the forces looking for us."

"So they set up a trap to catch you this time?" Zafira asked.

"Not really," Mustang winced. "I didn't take the target out fast enough and she called in reinforcements."

"And you say I've got dumb ideas," Vita snickered. "But we got out of it, didn't lose any pages and I got a fight with that Takahashi girl, so it's not all bad, I guess."

"Takahashi?" Zafira asked, confused.

"Nanowrimo Takahashi, or whatever her name is," Vita shrugged. "I can't pronounce it... Would have rather fought the one who cheap shotted me and tied me up, but..."

Mustang shook her head. "Yeah, well, that kinda screw up's not gunna happen again," she promised.

Vita was going to say something but decided against it at a look from Shamal. "Well, I think I'm going to head up to bed, unless there's something else we need to do."

"I was planning on calling Hayate in a little while," Shamal replied.

"Then I'll stay up and read until then," Vita said, turning and leaving the room, Zafira switching to his canine form and following her out.

"I need to speak to you for a minute," Mustang said, as the blonde prepared to get some food out of the fridge.

"Hmm?" She asked, turning her head to look at the redhead.

"Um..." Mustang pulled at her pigtail, before deciding on a course of action. "You said you couldn't help me with getting my memories back because you weren't that good at mental manipulation, but... could you seal them away? Make sure they don't try to come back?"

Shamal stepped back in surprise. "...Why?" She finally asked, her expression making it clear that she didn't like the question.

"I wasn't entirely honest with the others about how I got caught," Mustang explained, standing and starting to walk slowly around. "The TSAB mage was able to catch me off guard because I didn't attack her fast enough, yeah, but that was because I recognized her. Her face, her hair color, hell, I even knew her name!" She threw up her hands. "All of those memories suddenly hitting at once stopped me in my tracks, and I wasn't able to shake them off in time."

"Well..." Shamal started, slowly, "To some degree, that's good isn't it? I mean, you gained a large chunk of memories, even if they are about a TSAB mage."

"Well sure, sorta," Mustang admitted, "But me freezing up was the entire reason we got into that fight. Without that... whatever it was the book did, we would have lost a lot of pages, and we just barely got out."

"You want to seal your past away so it won't happen again," Shamal said, quietly. When Mustang nodded, she shook her head. "I won't do it," she said, flatly.

"But if this happens again... If we lose a fight because..."

"Do you really think you're that weak?" Shamal was surprised at how harshly that had come out, but pushed on regardless. "You know it can happen now. It won't blindside you, and we'll be there to help."

"But we've got to protect Hayate, if this puts her in danger..." Mustang tried to explain.

"There are some things we know Hayate would never approve of," Shamal said, gently. "That's why we never kill. We already know she's going to be hurt when she finds out we've been fighting for her, but... do you really believe she would want you to throw away any chance to figure out who you were just to protect her?"

"No..." Mustang admitted, sighing. "It's just these memories were... disturbing. Why do I know someone from the TSAB on a first name basis? I mean, hell,, if Hayate's right then we've been sealed in the book for almost a decade..."

"I don't know," Shamal said, resting a hand on her team-mate's shoulder, "But we'll figure it out."

HR.

"Ka...Captain, we've got something interesting here!" The call across the bridge drew the attention of the person in question, and she looked up from a report to see her communications officer looking over at her in evident surprise.

"What is it?" She asked, standing and moving across to the younger woman's station.

"We just got a message from one of the outer sentry posts," The officer explained. "They detected an energy pattern that was flagged to be reported to this ship immediately." As she tapped a few buttons, a graph appeared on her console.

"All right..." The captain said, confused. "Why did we need to know about it?"

"It says here that the pattern exactly matches the output of a Jewel Seed at full power," the officer explained. "Specifically, one of the batch that was involved in the Book of Darkness incident."

"But if a boarder post spotted it, then does that mean it's outside of our territory?" The captain guessed.

"Yes, Ma'am. The only reason we spotted it is because the output from the Jewel Seed was somehow concentrated. If it'd just gone off as normal we wouldn't have been able to pick it up, with how far away it is both spatially and across dimensional barriers."

The captain nodded, then turned to the back of the room. "Signum, how do you feel about taking on a Jewel Seed?"

"It shouldn't be a problem, Ma'am," A pink haired woman who was sitting in a chair next to the captain's responded.

"Good. Nice catch," Captain Kasumi Tendo said, before returning to her chair. "Helm, plot us a course towards the location of that signal. Comms, inform command of our change of plans and confirm it with them."

"Yes, Ma'am," Both officers replied, as the STAB Scout ship Typhon's engines began to warm up.

END.

...and that would be why I said things would actually start diverging after this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed, and as always even if you didn't I'd love to hear what you thought of the story.

Omake - The Truth...

"Huh... wha?" She asked, articulately.

Mustang shrugged. "Well, ya see, I just figured it out. You're one of the main characters, right? and since this is an improbably female cast, it's obvious that you can only have female badguys really hurt you." She gestured down at her own body. "Now, I qualify for main or high secondary status, too, so the fight's at least gotta be dramatic."

"I... it's not like that," Fate stammered, trying to recover from the assault against the fourth wall.

"Yes it is!" Yuuno's voice came drifting up from nearby.

"Gotta agree with the rat," Chrono chipped in.

Fate hung her head. "Can we just get this over with?"