AN: And here's chapter 3! Thank you all for reading! I know it has seemed like I've been taking great pleasure in tormenting Fate…and in a way I guess I have. But don't get me wrong, she's actually my favourite character in Lyrical Nanoha, and I love her to death-

NANOHA! PUT DOWN RAISING HEART! I DIDN'T MEAN IT THAT WAY!

*Raising Heart is lowered, although the White Devil death glare remains*

...Thank you…

Anyway, I tend to tease the characters I lo- *ahem* like, but it's all in good fun.

Alright enough ranting, enjoy chapter 3!

Oh, and one more thing:

Disclaimer: I do not own Fate-chan, she belongs to Nanoha. Fate-chan is trademarked Takamachi property. Those who think otherwise will suffer the wrath of the White Devil, and will be sentenced to ten consecutive, full power Starlight Breakers.

That is all.

…..

Chapter 3

Al-Hazard

To me, pink has always been an interesting colour.

At the same time as it is a soothing, beautiful and 'feminine' colour that has always reminded me of my beloved. When Nanoha wields it, it becomes one of the most powerful, and dangerous forces that I have ever seen. I have also associated pink with the biggest turning point in my life. Despite the pain I had to go through to get to that turning point, I wouldn't change it for the world.

Right now, with my eyes shut tight, pink was all I could see. I could feel Nanoha's energy all around me, kind of like being bathed in her colour. Instead of the expected excruciating pain of being hit with a Starlight Breaker at point blank range, I felt nothing at all. Perhaps I was already dead, and merely having an out of body experience. That would explain the wonderful vision of pink that was currently surrounding me. If it meant that I could spend eternity floating in this sea of pink, then maybe death wouldn't be so bad.

'Absorption.'

I opened my eyes at the voice, and a sudden flash of gold interrupted my perfect world of pink. Slowly the golden light began to overtake and absorb Nanoha's energy.

"Holy Crap Woman!" a voice above me grunted. "How Much Power Do You Have To Put Into These Damn Things!" I looked up in surprise to see a girl about my age, blocking me and the young girl from the Starlight Breaker. A feat that I had previously thought to be impossible. Taking a closer look I could see that she was not blocking the blast, rather she was absorbing it into her own body.

'Absorption capacity at fifty percent My Lady.' a male mechanical voice; presumably her device, warned. I took a closer look at the girl, and saw a large golden pendant that was attached to the back of the hand she was using to absorb the blast.

"Crap! Already?" The girl cursed, the strain of what she was doing showing clearly on her face. "Alright Al-Hazard, keep me posted!"

I froze.

What did she just say?

'Capacity at seventy five percent.'

Al-Hazard; just that world alone brought back unpleasant memories, never mind the implications of hearing it being referred to as a device.

'Eighty percent. My Lady, please begin Redirection to avoid further harm.'

"Come on!" The girl said through clenched teeth, ignoring the warnings of her device. "Realize who you're shooting at damn it!"

My gaze turned to Nanoha, whom I could just barely see through the blaze of golden and pink energy. Her usually vibrant blue eyes were glazed over in rage.

'Ninety percent. Automatic Redirection will begin shortly.'

"Shit! Not Now!"

"NANOHA!" I yelled, hoping my voice could get through to the White Devil. The very instant her name left my mouth, I saw her eyes clear.

"F- Fate-chan?"

'Ninety nine percent.'

"Oh my god!" Nanoha exclaimed, cutting the blast short. "Fate-chan! What am I doing?" The remaining Starlight Breaker vanished into the girls body, effectively keeping all of us from harm.

"Finally." The girl coughed, collapsing to the ground in a smoking heap. "Geeze, talk about overkill."

"Shirley!" My young charge shouted as she bolted out from behind me, running to bury her face in her redheaded companion's chest. "That was so scary!"

"Lucchini!" Shirley half scolded, half comforted, as she cuddled the shaking girl. "What have I told you about groping strangers? This isn't even the first time today that it's gotten you into trouble!"

"She's even scarier than the lady with the giant snake!" Lucchini sniffed pitifully.

"That is what a naughty Lucchini gets if she tries to feel up my Natsuki" A lilting Kyoto-Ben injected. I looked up to see two new groups of girls approaching us. "As long as Lucchini keeps her hands off my Natsuki's breasts, Kyohime will leave you alone."

"Oi!" A girl with long dark blue hair snapped at her chestnut haired companion, a blatantly obvious blush dusting her face. "Shizuru!"

Shizuru gasped in what was clearly mock hurt.

I was beginning to think that I was straighter than this woman, and as ninety nine percent of the people on this base knew; I was about as straight as your average rainbow on gay pride day.

"You mean Natsuki would rather be groped by relative strangers, than by me?" she asked, burying her face in her hands. "Natsuki isn't mine? Natsuki Ikezu!" her shoulders began to shake in fake sobs. Natsuki's face contorted in panic.

"N-no!" Natsuki stammered immediately. The speed of her attitude switch in reaction to this performance was quite shocking. "I didn't mean it that way! Don't cry Shizuru! Of course I'm yours!"

An exaggerated sniff.

"Does Natsuki really mean it?" Shizuru asked, her voice hopeful as she looked up at her friend. Her crimson eyes, (which were a colour very similar to mine.) shining with expertly summoned tears. This woman was clearly a master manipulator. Although I guessed that she didn't really have to be to pull one over on Natsuki.

"Of course I mean it." Natsuki replied in a startlingly soft and caring voice. "You're my precious person, after all."

Shizuru's face instantly lit up in genuine happiness.

"NATSUKI!" she shouted happily, jumping to hang off of Natsuki's neck.

Watching those two interact seemed very familiar to me for some reason, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it

Natsuki's brain finally seemed to catch up with her mouth, as her shoulders suddenly sagged. She turned to a girl with bright orange hair.

"She got me again didn't she?" She asked, Shizuru still hanging blissfully off her neck. I had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"Hook." The orange haired girl began.

"Line." Continued an older woman with darker orange hair.

"And Sucker." Finished a girl with short reddish pink hair. "Honestly Mutt, it's quite pathetic how easily she can make you lay down and roll over."

"You stuff it Spider!" Natsuki retorted nastily. However her intimidation factor was greatly reduced, thanks in part to her bright red face, and giggling luggage.

I finally noticed that Nanoha had been very quiet through all this, I turned to see her rooted to the spot. She was holding Raising Heart in one shaking hand, while staring at her other hand with a mixture of fear and disgust.

"What did I just do?" she was asked herself over and over again, her voice trembling.

I instantly got to my feet, I hated hearing the insecurity and fear in her voice. I needed to take it away as soon as possible.

"Nanoha?" I called in my most soothing voice that said 'I love you Nanoha' with every word. My voice seemed to snap her out of her self-destructive thoughts.

"Fate-chan!" Nanoha exclaimed, tossing Raising Heart to the ground and sprinting to my side, tears in her eyes.

She stepped right over the still smoking body of the girl who had saved my life and tackled me. The next thing I knew; my butt was, you guessed it, back on the ground, with Nanoha clinging to me for dear life.

"I am so sorry Fate-chan!" She wailed into my shirt. "Are you all right?"

I gently lifted her chin with my knuckle so I could look straight into her watery eyes. Using my thumb, I brushed away some of her tears.

"I'm fine." I reassured her softly. "Are you OK?"

Nanoha let out a noise that was something between a laugh and a sob.

"Fate-Chan is an idiot!" she managed before she threw herself into my arms, sobbing apologies into my neck. I could feel the expression of pure bliss creep its way onto my face, as Nanoha buried her face further into my shirt. This expression was occasionally accompanied by drool, but luckily this was not the case this time.

"I'm fine too, by the way." an annoyed and strained voice injected. "You know, just in case anyone was worried. Since, contrary to popular belief; getting blasted head on with an insanely powerful focus attack is not beneficial to anyone's physical well being."

I had almost completely forgotten about her.

I heard footsteps behind me, all three groups of new recruits had come to join us.

A fiery redheaded girl from the final group separated from her friends, and casually made her way up to the smoldering heap. She regarded the girl with an amused smile. A small fang glinted in the sunlight, barely concealed by her lip. The girl pulled a box of Pocky from her shorts, she then opened the box, and stuck one in her mouth. With a rather evil grin, she pulled out another stick of Pocky, and held it just out of reach of her friend on the ground.

"Want one?" she asked playfully, dangling the chocolaty treat in a very teasing fashion. Her friend glared darkly at her.

"Thank you for your generosity Kyouko," The girl replied sarcastically. "But you know I can't move, so how about helping me up instead?"

Kyouko merely shrugged, and stuck the other Pocky in her mouth as well.

"Suit yourself." she said as she walked back to her group, where she was immediately chastised by a girl with short blue hair.

"Does anyone else want to help me up?" the girl asked with a heavy sigh.

"I would love to help poor Kiseki up."Shizuru offered, making her way to her fallen friend. "Perhaps she will even reward me with a kiss!" I could literally feel the atmosphere change over by Natsuki, The bluenette shot a frightening death glare at the poor girl.

Kiseki shuddered.

"Alright, let me rephrase that." she revised. "Would someone (who's aid will not result in me yanking ice needles out of my ass for a week.) care to help me up?"

A few of her friends looked like they were about to volunteer, when-

'Automatic Redirection in thirty seconds.'

Kiseki's eyes widened in panic.

"Okay, scratch that." she blurted hastily. "Instead, I need everyone to get as far away from me as they possibly can!"

I noticed that her face seemed to be turning pink. As a matter of fact, her entire body seemed to be glowing pink... a very Starlight Breaker kind of pink.

This did not bode well.

Without another word, Kiseki's friends took off in all different directions. But if what was happening was what I thought was happening, no amount of distance could save them.

'Twenty seconds.' Her device warned.

"Don't you guys have some sort of Starlight Breaker bunker or something?" Kiseki demanded, her voice laced with pain. I guessed that she was trying her best to 'hold it in'. Her arm twitched and I realized she was trying to raise her right arm instead.

I guess 'holding it in' just wasn't an option any more.

'Fifteen seconds'

"A what?" I demanded. tightly clutching Nanoha, and once again preparing to play the role of human shield.

"You mean to tell me," Kiseki began incredulously. "that you have a S+ ranked mage with an itchy trigger finger, and you don't have some kind of certified magic proof bunker in case of a misfire!"

"Uh...no." I replied dumbly. I had less than fifteen seconds to admit that in hindsight, a Starlight Breaker-proof bunker would have been a wise investment years ago, let alone now.

'Ten seconds.'

With another grunt of effort, Kiseki managed to lift her right arm, so that her palm was facing the sky.

'Nine.'

"What are you doing?" I asked, holding Nanoha tightly, and covering her with as much of my body as I could. She was struggling against me, but my grip held firm.

'Eight.'

"Aiming." came the quick reply.

'Seven.'

"What good will that do?"

'Six.'

"It'll keep me from vaporizing everyone on this base."

'Five.'

"Fair enough."

'Four'

"My name is Kiseki." she went on, keeping her arm as steady as she could. "I am the human that TSAB classifies as Lost Logia. Nice to meet you."

'Three'

"I'm-"

"Fate Tesstarossa." Kiseki interrupted. "I know. Your mother; Precia told me all about you."

'Two.'

"What?"

'One.'

"She wanted me to tell you that she finally made it to Al-Hazard."

Once again pink became the marker for a turning point in my life.

...

AN: Welcome back to SET UP! The story where every chapter ends in a Starlight Breaker!... Well, they all won't, buuut... hey look, some plot! I told you it would come out somewhere. The whole Al-Hazard thing just kinda popped into my head, so I decided to run with it. This fic is centered around Fate after all.

I am not in fact putting myself in this story, although my pen name may suggest otherwise. Kiseki is the name of the OC who has been in my fan fictions since I was writing crossovers about the Teen Titans, Inuyasha, and Avatar The Last Airbender. (which will probably never see publication.) To me, she has represented the evolution of my writing skills, and hence my pen name. I was actually planning to use a new OC, but considering that Al-hazard is supposed to be where miracles take place, I though Kiseki would actually be appropriate. (Kiseki is one Japanese word for miracle.)

I know it probably seems like not a lot happened in this chapter. but hopefully I can make up for it in chapter 4. Thanks for reading, and keep the reviews coming!