Undercover, a Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Fanfiction

Chapter Four, "Complications"

AN - This chapter was harder than I thought it would be to write, but now that I've got it out, I'm really happy with it. You guys all seem to really like this story, so it makes me happy. And now we have an enemy, to some extent, and some serious drama. Plus Yuuno and Arf to make everything better.

Admiral's Quarters, The Warship Asura, April 23rd, 1854 Earth Time

Admiral Chrono Harlaown was not used to seeing his sister in the state that she'd been in since her first reported encounter with the Lost Logia infected human three days ago. She was frantic, desperate to get the details fleshed out on how exactly he'd been able to clone an Anti-Magical-Field so well and how he'd managed to nearly launch a very successful attack on her linker core without her even noticing. Fate was afraid that Nanoha would have to encounter this mage at some point and risk losing her already fragile health once again. It was a concern that Chrono himself shared with her, but he would probably not go as far as Fate would when it came to protecting Takamachi Nanoha. The girl was more than capable of protecting herself, and Chrono had sworn long ago that he would never end up on the bad side of that little girl from Earth.

I value my skin far too much to involve myself in the precarious politics of Fate and Nanoha's relationship, Chrono mused, bridging his fingers and resting his chin on them. He smiled one of those private smiles that he kept locked away most of the time – the ones that he reserved for his family and his beloved wife, and clicked through the next page of his adopted sister's report. Still, it is really adorable that Fate cares so much for Nanoha. I wonder if Nanoha returns the sentiment?

Chrono's musings were cut short by the next page of data that he had pulled up; a live feed of video as recorded by Bardiche, showing how quickly his sister had gone down in that fight – even if she'd been faking it to save her own skin. The text on the bottom of the screen detailed the past few days' events according to Fate's very careful and impartial observations.

Chrono leaned forward, this was bad. Nanoha had somehow gotten caught with the only high-leveled sealing round that the team had brought in with them; and had had it confiscated by the school. The consequences of that action were not something that Chrono felt that he had to enforce, as it sounded as though the mission could still run smoothly, if a little bit uncomfortably from their end. That being said, however, the loss of the sealing round was a problem, as the only way for either Fate or Nanoha to power up enough to seal a relic of the sort of power that was in question for this mission was to go through far more cartridges than was healthy. He would have to try and get Yagami Hayate to create another SSS+ level round and somehow send it to Fate and Nanoha before they confronted their enemy again.

With the rate of confrontation, however, that was not an option. Chrono frowned as he stared at the screen before him; there was something oddly unsettling about this case – the way that the magic was structured seemed to suggest that the level of evil that the Lost Logia they were searching for was for more evil than they'd originally thought.

Chrono could see the blood red magic that had attacked Fate clearly on the screen, cutting through the relative darkness of his office as though he were actually standing beside his sister. For magic to be that color meant a corruption in heart, something that could not be easily repaired – if it could be fixed at all. Chrono frowned, knowing that his sister and her best friend had no frame of reference for how to handle something like this. They were innocent, mostly, and would not be able to accept the harsh reality of what the easiest course of action was when it came to taking care of these sorts of enemies was. Killing was not wired into these girls yet.

Chrono pushed his chair away from his desk and walked away from the glowing monitor, trying to drive the color of the magic out of his mind. He couldn't bear to see his sister in such danger, but he knew that she was strong enough to handle it. She was a big girl with powerful allies and a skill in magic that Chrono had not seen in many of the TSAB's employees. Chrono still liked to think that he could protect her from the world, as he was her older brother and that was his part to play in the grand scheme of things, but he knew that it was getting to the point where he had to start to let go of Fate and let her grow up on her own.

Gesturing in the air, he pulled up another screen and spoke quietly into it, requesting a long range telecom communication with one Yuuno Scrya, librarian to the TSAB's massive collection of books within the Infinite Library. His request was granted and Chrono waited patiently for the link to be established.

After a few minutes of waiting, Yuuno's bespectacled face appeared on the screen. "Ah, Admiral Harlaown!" he exclaimed, looking happy to see Chrono. "What can I do for you?"

Chrono leaned forward and grinned, "Well, Ferret-boy, I need you to take some time off."

Yuuno balked, looking suddenly indignant and a little angry. "Don't call me that!" he protested.

"Then call me Chrono, we've been friends for close to eight years now – you'd think that calling me by my name would be easier for you." Chrono grinned. "Admiral Harlaown is my mother." It wasn't really true, as Lindy Harlaown had mostly retired from the public eye at this point, but Chrono was still trying to find his 'sea legs' when it came to functioning as an admiral and constantly being reminded that he was carrying on his mother and father's legacies was never something that he appreciated.

"Alright, Chrono." Yuuno pushed his glasses up his nose and looked at Chrono seriously. "What's going on?"

Chrono explained in short, almost coded sentences his fears for the mission that Fate and Nanoha were on. They were going to need a support mage sooner rather than later and Chrono could not spare anyone on his ship at the moment. Chrono didn't go into the details of how being a new admiral with someone such as his mother's reputation to live up to did little to bolster his standing in the long waiting lists for Bureau-trained mages to assist in the missions that he was charged with carrying out. He'd had to jump though so many hoops just to ensure that Nanoha would be allowed to help Fate out on this mission and he didn't want to risk ruining his reputation again so quickly. Yuuno was a civilian collaborator, and one that Chrono could simply pass off as simply 'being there' in his official reports on the situation. Besides, he knew that with Yuuno would come Arf, and Arf was a force to be reckoned with when she was fighting in close proximity to Fate. He wanted his sister to have back up, but he could not actually appear to favor his sister as the potential fall-out of that action would be far more than either of their careers could handle at the moment.

"I want to you to go to Earth and help Fate and Nanoha out," Chrono explained quietly. He glanced towards his desk and the video that was still playing on the computer screen there. "I'm worried about this mission. I think that it might become a lot harder than we've anticipated for those girls to actually succeed."

Yuuno nodded, silent in his consent to do whatever it took to help Chrono out.

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TSAB Safe House (Fate's Apartment), Uminari City, April 23rd, 2332 Earth Time

Fate flopped down on the bed beside Nanoha and sighed loudly, annoyed at the world. After the attack three days ago they'd been frantic to try and make a connection between the lone assailant that had attacked Fate in the park and the magically reanimated corpses that they'd been encountering at the school. With their most recent conference call with Chrono, it seemed as though they would finally get some back up in the form of Fate's familiar Arf and perhaps Yuuno Scrya if Chrono could manage to wrestle both them away from the great project of finally cataloguing the Bureau's Infinite Library that they'd been assigned. Fate didn't want Yuuno or Arf on Earth right now, for their presence would only make the situation more complicated. She sighed again, loosening her tie and staring at the ceiling.

"Fate-chan," Nanoha said, rolling over so that she was curled up against Fate, her hair tickling the underside of Fate's chin and her fingers tracing the patterns in Fate's shirt. "Why are you huffing? You never huff."

Fate shook her head slightly. She didn't know how Nanoha managed to see through her every action as though she was not even trying to be subtle; it was some sort of hidden talent that Fate herself did not possess. The idea that she lacked that skill, however, made her insanely jealous. It would be so nice to simply look at Nanoha and know what she was thinking – there were times when Nanoha's face was easier to read than an open book, but recently it seemed as though Nanoha had finally managed to learn how to close herself off to the rest of the world and keep her thoughts to herself. It was a shame that Nanoha had finally learned the soldier's way of looking at the world, just as Fate wanted a way into her subconscious so that she could finally figure out what was going on inside her friend's mind. Still, Fate guessed that she owed it to Nanoha to be honest and actually tell her friend what was brothering her, for it concerned Nanoha as well. "I'm tired Nanoha, and I've gotten used to you sleeping over."

Nanoha frowned, looking pensive and pouting her lips in a way that Fate found completely adorable. "Oh," she said. She smiled brightly at Fate, "What does that have to do anything, Fate-chan?" There were so many things about her friend that were just so endearing to her that there were times when Fate wondered if she'd ever marry and live a life like her adopted mother. She couldn't see herself as a wife, but a mother she could see quite clearly. All Fate did know was that she wanted – no she needed – to continue to be with Nanoha for as long as she could. They'd promised long ago to stay together forever, and Fate had never been one to break her promises. Still, it bothered Fate that she was still stuck in this rut, trying to sort out just what, exactly, it was that she felt for Nanoha.

"When Arf and Yuuno are here, you're not going to be able to sleep over," Fate's cheeks burned as she admitted what was bothering her. "At least, not like you're doing now." She couldn't look at Nanoha, couldn't meet those expectant eyes and sad smile. This was her shame, her attachment to her best friend – she could not admit it to anyone save Nanoha.

"Why?" Nanoha looked almost hurt and Fate desperately wanted to reach out and touch her to say that she was sorry for implying that she didn't like sleeping with Nanoha. It wasn't that. It never was. Fate knew that Nanoha would ask that question, and she doesn't really have an answer. They'd slept in the same bed before, but never as regularly and intimately as they've been doing for the past month. Arf was bound to say something, as she still functioned, to some extent, as Fate's surrogate mother.

Fate shook her head, rolling over and facing away from Nanoha. "I can't explain it, but I have a feeling that Arf would not appreciate you and I being so intimate with each other. She's like a big brother and an overprotective father rolled into one." She laughed, trying to alleviate some of the awkwardness of the situation – she knew that her words hurt Nanoha and she couldn't stop herself. She had to explain herself now, or she never would. "Knowing Arf, she'd think that you were having your wicked way with me every night and that was why we're dead on our feet all the time. She'd try and separate us forcibly and I don't think that that would be fun for any of us."

Nanoha didn't say anything for a while, and Fate rolled over to face her friend once again. Their eyes met and suddenly everything felt right again. No matter what, Fate knew that Nanoha would be there for her. Perhaps that was enough.

Nanoha nodded, after a while of simply staring at Fate's face with a pensive look on her face that suggested her mind was working quite hard under the peacefully exhausted look that was currently gracing her features. They've been up for hours now and they finally have a chance to sleep. "Let's sleep now, Fate-chan." Nanoha pulled on Fate's shirtsleeve and Fate allowed herself to be pulled into the hug easily. It was so easy to simply indulge herself and the feelings that she had for Nanoha – and there were times when Fate hated herself for taking the easy way out and just letting Nanoha be all over her with no questions asked. "We can talk about what to do in the morning." Nanoha clearly felt the same sense of loss over being suddenly, and quite inexplicably having her bed partner taken away.

They fell into the motions of getting ready for bed, Fate slowly putting away her school things and pulling on the long t-shirt that she'd stolen from Chrono when he'd decided that he was too mature for shirts depicting Mid-Childa's beloved childhood hero. It barely covered everything that it was supposed to these days, but Fate still liked to wear it because it reminded her that she had a family now that cared about her very much and would go to great lengths to protect her.

Fate chanced a glance over at Nanoha, curious what her friend was going to wear to bed. Usually, Nanoha's pajamas were cute and functional, not sexy at all. Fate wondered if being brought up in the Takamachi put an emphasis on partiality and not visual stimulation – as Nanoha was always wearing clothes that did little to show off her figure and simply functioned as just that, clothes. Fate had been working to get her friend to buy something nice to wear for herself, but so far, Nanoha had flat-out refused even the offer of going out shopping.

Nanoha's pajamas were red with little white hearts all over them and positively adorable. Fate turned away from her friend before she was caught peeking and pulled the ribbon out of her hair. She'd been wearing it in a high ponytail for the past few days to try and alleviate some of the hassle that came from simply having it down or held back with a lone ribbon towards the base. So far, all it had done was succeeded in making Fate look far too much like Signum, much to Nanoha's amusement. Fate had decided that she would simply go back to her old hairstyle and tell Nanoha that if she ever told the Balka Knight about her brief foray into her trademark hairstyle that Fate would not be responsible for her actions.

Still, it was worth it to see Nanoha smile.

Fate crawled into bed and closed her eyes, waiting for Nanoha to crawl in beside her. They would figure this out in the morning, as they always did; running across the park at ungodly hours of the morning.

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Aeronautics Club, Shinkuru Academy, April 24th, 1647 Earth Time

Takamachi Nanoha played with the paperclips in front of her as she and the rest of the Aeronautics Club discussed different ways to build the hot-air balloon that they'd all finally decided on for their first semester project. They needed a location to build it, and the club did not have an allotted room where it could simply start a construction project like that. They were tossing ideas out on where to build it, each being shot down for different reasons – mostly because this was a city and no one had a garage and parents who would let them completely take it over for an indeterminate amount of time while the club struggled to build it.

"What about asking the school for a room?" One of the second year students asked, scratching his nose with a grubby-looking fingernail.

"We already tried that, Maeno, remember?" The club president shot back. "They told us that we could make do with what we were given since we're such a small club."

Nanoha nodded her agreement, wondering if they would ever come to a decision or if she should just start talking battle strategy with Fate mentally again. The past three meetings of the club had been most productive in their efforts to hone their battle strategy so that they could take care of whatever enemies they encountered and get home with enough time to actually get a decent night's sleep. Nanoha wished that these boys were not so argumentative and obnoxious, as she really did want to sit here for another hour and debate the finer points of Axel Shooter and Photon Lancer's ability to kill reanimated already dead things with Fate.

"We could use the basement." The boy that had first set off Raising Heart's sensors, the quiet and ever enigmatic Takeshi Hazuno, spoke up. "My older brother did construction there over the school break before he started university because there was something wrong with one of foundations. He told me that there's tons of space down there – definitely enough to build this thing so that we can show it off at the summer festival!"

Nanoha's brow furrowed as the room erupted into noise once more. Takeshi Hazuno had an older bother that he clearly spent a lot of time with. That fact might explain why he seemed to have the Lost Logia's magical signature all over him when Nanoha had first met him, if his brother had somehow been connected to the relic in the first place. She couldn't help but think that this development was something that she would have to talk to Fate and possibly Chrono about before she could form an honest opinion on the chances of it actually being true.

But if it was true, then they had their man and it was just a matter of catching him and bringing him in.

What do you think, Raising Heart? Nanoha asked her device mentally.

It could be possible, my master. I do not have the ability to scan that deeply or thoroughly in this form, so you will need to scan your enemy at a later time. Raising Heart responded promptly.

Nanoha smiled and nodded, Alright then, Raising Heart, I will figure out a way to confirm this theory.

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TSAB Safe House (Fate's Apartment), Uminari City, April 24th, 1956 Earth Time

The air in the apartment was stifling as Fate and Nanoha sat shoulder to shoulder at the dinner table with fake-looking smiles plastered on their faces. Their conversations over the past twenty-four hours as to what to do in this situation had not been fruitful, and Nanoha had already called her parents and told them that she would be coming home later that night. Now all they had to do was play hostess to Yuuno and Arf and hope that neither of them noticed the obvious tension in the room over the sleeping arrangements.

Nanoha picked at her food, not really feeling the urge to eat at all while watching Arf in her child-form chewing happily on a large plate of microwaved dog food. There were some things that Nanoha really could have gone without seeing in her life, and she'd decided that watching anyone who was remotely human-shaped eating something that came out of a can and was marketed to dogs was one of them. At least Yuuno was there, and he was always fun to talk to.

"So how goes your project at the Infinite Library?" Nanoha asked after a few minutes of chewing and the quiet click of chopsticks and forks on plates.

Yuuno looked up and smiled, his hair falling into his eyes as he fiddled with his glasses. Nanoha knew that it was a nervous habit of his to fiddle with his glasses, but she couldn't figure out why he was nervous. They'd been friends for ages, and this was just a meal between friends who hadn't seen each other in a while. "Alright. We've gotten through a lot of the manuscripts that are just loose and floating around the library now. The next step is to start a catalogue system that will make the library more manageable."

Arf stopped chewing for a moment and piped up, "We're thinking that magic will be the best way to sort the books."

Fate smiled and Nanoha cast a sidelong glance at her. The blond, at least, seemed to be having a good time in seeing her familiar again. Arf was like Fate's child some of the time, and Fate's incredibly loyal and overprotective elder sister. It was a strange balance for Nanoha to maintain appearances for, because she never knew just how she should act around Arf. "Let me know before you do it so that I can feed you more magic, alright Arf?"

Arf's childlike face fell. "Fate, you don't have to do that! We'll be fine." Nanoha wondered how 'fine' they would be, for the amount of magic that it would take to reorganize something as massive as the Infinite Library was not something to be trifled with. They understood better than most people what it meant to flirt with high powered spells like that, and without Fate's help, Arf was likely to completely exhaust her magic and cease to exist all together.

Fate laughed. "It's alright; I want to help you out however I can. It's a big project." She was covering for the general feeling of insecurity in the room. Nanoha was grateful that Fate was on top of the situation enough to not burst out something potentially offensive to Arf about how she should be careful with Fate's magic – as Fate would be devastated if anything were to happen to Arf.

The dinner progressed nicely and soon the evening was winding down to the point where Nanoha knew that soon they would be heading to bed and she was going to have to leave soon. As they started to wash the dishes, Nanoha could feel Arf's eyes on her and soon she excused herself to go into the bedroom that she'd shared with Fate for the past few weeks to collect a day's worth of clothes and her school things.

She wanted to say something to Fate, to tell her that she was sorry that they had to try and avoid the conflict between their house guests and the routine that they'd fallen into over the past few weeks. She wanted to tell Fate how she would not sleep tonight because she doesn't think that she will able to sleep without something warm and comfortable to sleep curled up around. It's awkward, to think that she might not be able to deal with something like this on her own. Nanoha can't help but feel foolish for wanting to stay with Fate, because she'd really grown used to sleeping with someone else and it would not be fun to sleep alone.

Nanoha sighed. She would probably stay up all night working with Raising Heart on getting close to Takeshi Hazuno and his older brother to see if they finally had a face to put to the blood red glow of the magic that had attacked Fate last week. Perhaps she would risk an off-planet telecom link and try and get in touch with Hayate and Vita, just to see what they were up to.

A delicate-sounding cough from the doorway interrupted Nanoha's thoughts and she turned to see Fate in the doorway, leaning against the frame. Nanoha shoved the last of her clothes into her school bag and pulled it onto her shoulder. She looked up at Fate then, her eyes full of the emotion that she could not express in words. She didn't have the words to say what she wanted to Fate, to reassure her that everything was sure to work out in the end, the way that it always did when it came to the two of them.

Nanoha adjusted the shoulder strap on her bag one more time and started to gather the magical energy needed to create Flyer Fin without Raising Heart being materialized into device mode. The magical circle appeared under her feet and the spell was very quickly set into full motion. The pale pink wings made purely of her magic appeared a split second later. "I'm going to fly home," She announced, walking over to the window and giving Fate what she hoped was her best smile.

"Are you sure?" Fate asked, looking suddenly concerned.

Nanoha looked away, knowing that Fate was worried about her using magic, again. She didn't know what she had to do to convince Fate that it was fine for her to use magic like any other person. That injury was three years ago, and she'd spent the better part of a year recovering from it – only to discover that she was just as fit to perform her duties as before. Nanoha frowned slightly, knowing that Fate's concern for her well-being was genuine. She really shouldn't be flying when she could just as well be walking, especially while on Earth – but still, Nanoha had been aching to be in the sky all day. They'd been stuck to the earth for far too long on this mission and Nanoha knew that she was bound to go crazy if she didn't have some sort of sky battle soon.

They were, after all, what she was best at.

"Yeah. I need to think for a few minutes, Fate-chan." Nanoha finally looked back at her friend to meet those sad eyes. She plastered a smile on her face, putting on the brave outwards appearance that so many people associated with Takamachi Nanoha, flight instructor extraordinaire. "I have to try and clear my head. There's so much going on now – and we need to figure out what we're going to do about the fact that my club wants to hang out in the school's basement with those creatures."

"Alright." Nanoha knew that Fate wasn't going to argue with her, for the reasoning was sound and Nanoha's love of the sky was one of the few things that Fate knew never to question. It had been that drive to get back into the sky that had pushed Nanoha through those six months of painful recovery in order to walk after her accident.

Fate smiled at her, and walked over to the bed, pulling her pillow out from under the tangled pile of comforter and sheets that they'd been too distracted that morning to take care of. She held it out to Nanoha with a slight blush crossing her cheeks. Nanoha supposed that it was justified, as offering something like that was the action of a lover and not a best friend. Again, they were blurring the line between what exactly their relationship was. "Take this with you. It'll help."

"How do you know?" Nanoha asked, taking the pillow with slightly wide eyes. Fate was always so wise when it came to knowing how things were going to happen when it came to Nanoha's subconscious. Nanoha wondered how she did it, sometimes, but Fate had always been the quiet, observant type.

"Because I know you, Nanoha. Try and get some sleep tonight." Fate grinned and allowed her hand to brush Nanoha's cheek as she reached around her friend to shove open the window behind Nanoha.

"I will." Nanoha promised. She had no idea how she was going to keep that promise, but she allowed herself to entertain the notion that she might actually be able to get away with what she was promising to do. Fate's pillow, an incredibly intimate gesture, was not something that anyone would take lightly.

Nanoha allowed herself to fall backwards out of the window before she allowed the magic to take hold once more. The sensation of falling was neither unique nor new, but rather something that she had grown used to over the years. Perhaps it was the sensation of falling, rather than taking to the skies, that Nanoha was really addicted to.

With a quiet sigh, Nanoha sped off into the night towards her parent's house and a bed that would not hold the comforts of a good night's sleep.

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"Are you alright?" Arf looked worriedly at her master as Fate numbly went about the motions of getting ready for bed. They had to do this, for Fate didn't want to admit to herself that she'd grown used to having Nanoha around at night, and sleeping alone was going to be something of an awful experience.

"No, not really Arf." Fate said quietly, climbing into bed and pulling Nanoha's pillow into a tight hug. It smelled like her, which was strange considering that Nanoha spent most of the night slobbering on Fate's shoulder or breasts. She smiled fondly and buried her face in the pillow, intent to ignore Arf for as long as she could. It wasn't that she wasn't happy to see her familiar, quite the opposite, really; but she didn't know how to react to the ache in her heart as she watched Nanoha fly off into the night.

"Why can't you sleep?" Arf sat on the side of the bed and shifted from her child form to her adult form – the pull on Fate's magic and the bed's sudden dip telling Fate that her familiar must be quite concerned for her well being. Arf leaned over, her body pressing up against Fate's back as their eyes met. Fate tried to ignore Arf's expectant eyes.

Arf, as if sensing that Fate did not want to talk, prodded her just under her ribs on the small of her back - the one place that Nanoha had never discovered that she was ticklish. Fate shrieked and arched her back to get away from the touch, but Arf persisted. "It can't be that bad a reason, Fate," Arf said with a wicked smile on her face. Fate closed her eyes so that she wouldn't have to see that look and tried to roll over onto her back so at least she would be protected from the tickling onslaught.

Gods above, this was embarrassing. She was putty in Arf's hands, for all. This was such low way to get information out of anyone and Arf knew it. Fate would have just respected her own wish to keep the information to herself - but no - Arf was resorting to the tactics of a five year old child. Fate wondered if perhaps she should just have Nanoha become Arf's co-master so that the could both be feeding the familiar magic so that Arf could stay in adult form most of the time - as being in child form was very clearly effecting her judgment.

"I-I…" Fate knew that she was blushing, that this was awkward and that Arf would probably laugh at her when this was over. She hated feeling so insecure about her feelings towards Nanoha, but they were almost too close to her own heart for her to be able to admit them to herself. It was just an honest attraction that she'd never really been able to explain before. The recent weeks had been very clear indicators of just how deep Fate's feelings ran.

She rolled over, groaning and knowing that her blush was furious at this point. She had to answer Arf, or the teasing and tickling would get worse. She grit her teeth and ground out the response, silently vowing to find some way of getting Arf back at the soonest opportunity. "I miss Nanoha."

"Nanoha? You see her everyday, why?"

Fate's cheeks burned even brighter, if that was possible. She wanted to be somewhere - anywhere - but here. Arf's curiously expectant gaze and nonchalant question carried far more meaning than her familiar knew. Fate didn't know how to answer that question without wanting to die of embarrassment. Perhaps Arf would understand, and just leave her in her humiliation once she found out her answer.

"She's nice… to sleep with." Fate wanted the bed to simply swallow her whole, to avoid the embarrassment of a very amused looking Arf leaning over her with a wicked grin on her face.

"Oh?" Arf asked, her smile growing wider. Damn, she wasn't going to be nice about it, and if that smile was anything to go by, it would only be a matter of time before Yuuno, Chrono and the rest of the TSAB knew.

Fate sighed, reaching out and grabbing the collar of Arf's shirt. "You tell anyone and I will cut off your magic supply," she threatened. She knew that she would never actually do that, but the threat was a very real one and she knew that this was something that she had to reveal on her own time to the people that she cared about within the TSAB. She supposed that she actually go through and explain to Arf why exactly this was a change in the norm, because Arf had been teasing Fate about her attachment to Nanoha for years - this current moment was just one of many incidents in a long chain of events that Arf had witnessed that pushed Fate's carefully guarded feelings for her best friend to the forefront of conversation and consciousness once more. "Arf, you guys showing up made the both of us very worried and so we decided to sleep apart for the first time in weeks. I miss her." Fate admitted.

"I kicked her out, huh?" Arf looked pensive for a moment.

"Mn." Fate grunted.

"I'm sorry Fate, I had no idea that you were that way." Arf's wicked smile grew wider as she said every word and Fate groaned loudly. Of course Arf would have to mock her about this. Of course.

It was bad enough that Fate didn't even know herself what she felt about the entire situation.

"We're not!" Fate buried her face in the pillow once more and tried to calm the furious blush that had turned her cheeks bright red once more.

"Whatever you say…" Arf shook her head and curled up at the foot of the bed. Fate smiled, knowing that Arf would try and protect her, even when she didn't really need protecting. She would just have to die of embarrassment in the process.

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Student Shoe Lockers, Shinkuru Academy, April 25th, 0745 Earth Time

That morning Nanoha was in a foul mood. She'd slept for maybe three hours the night before and wanted nothing to do with her classmates and the teachers thinking that she was some sort of delinquent. The night away from Fate had made her think, and realize that there was something lurking in her subconscious with regards to her best friend.

She'd known for a while now that she wanted more than just friendship from Fate, but she didn't know how exactly to go about telling Fate that. It would be awkward and Nanoha valued her friendship with Fate so much more than she valued the feelings that she'd only recently uncovered.

She saw Fate by her shoe locker and slowly Nanoha pulled on her own shoes and headed over to stand by her friend. The last of the chattering upperclassmen left the locker room just as Nanoha approached Fate and the two of them were suddenly very much alone. Nanoha didn't know what she was going to do, for all she wanted to do was fall into Fate's arms and tell her exactly how awful it was to have to sleep alone No one else was around and suddenly Nanoha found herself unable to resist touching Fate.

She was in Fate's arms in seconds, her face buried in the crook of Fate's neck and her breath hot against the exposed skin there.

"Nanoha?" Fate asked, obviously taken aback. Nanoha didn't move, however, and simply pushed herself even closer to Fate. This was entirely inappropriate, but Fate was not objecting and Nanoha was not going to move. It felt so right, so comfortable and so wonderful just to stay like this, and Nanoha did not want to pull away from this feeling.

She knew that she should find the words to tell Fate of her attachment soon, or the chance would slip through her fingers and they would be done with this mission and thousands of light years apart once more.

Yet the words would not come. Nanoha stood there, unable to move, breathing heavily on Fate's neck. She brought her lips up to brush lightly against Fate's ear. The bright red flush on Fate's ear told Nanoha that her friend was blushing, and badly. "That can't happen again. I need to sleep." Nanoha pulled back to smile brightly at Fate. She was right; the flush across Fate's face was quite adorable.

Fate grinned back at her, "I'll tell Arf tonight after we patrol."

"Alright," Nanoha grinned. She threw her cautions to the wind and added, "I've got something to tell you, then."

Fate nodded. "Alright."

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Over the City of Uminari, April 26th, 0323 Earth Time

Fate blew through three cartridges in quick succession as she struggled to maintain the shield that was the only barrier between herself and the raging magical storm before her. Their faceless enemy was back, and his anti-magical force was running at full strength as he engaged both Fate and Nanoha in aerial combat – it was hard enough for Fate to stay in the air, let alone keep fighting. Nanoha wasn't fairing too much better, but she had fallen back to a range where she might be able to pull off Divine Buster if they found themselves with an attack window.

Raising Heart had protested to her master and Fate's insistence that they not power up to Exceed Mode and attempt to pull off Starlight Breaker against such a foe. While the attack was by far one of the most powerful that Fate had ever seen, there was nothing distinctly magical about the destruction it caused. Unlike many of Fate's magical attacks – Starlight Breaker caused destruction of both magical and physical beings. And they wanted this guy alive if at all possible.

The Lost Logia made their foe powerful, and the sickening glow of his blood red magic was enough to send Fate's stomach into a pitch battle with the rest of her body as it threatened to expel her dinner all over Uminari City. No one's magic should be that color – for it signaled the ultimate corruption of the soul and the decay of morality to the point where the corrupted would kill without discrimination or hesitation.

Fate swallowed the bile that had risen in her throat and pushed forward with all her might, sending her shields ahead of her as she charged their faceless attacker with Bardiche in Zamber form. Her attacks fell off his shields as though she was not even hitting him with every ounce of power she possessed.

"Damn," she skidded off through the air, bouncing his shields harmlessly as he turned his attention to the constant hail of Axel Shooter bullets that Nanoha was sending in his direction. They were not doing well at all, and it seemed as though not even having Arf and Yuuno around to act as support was helping them at all.

"Leave me alone!" The man with the blood red magic shouted angrily, power building around him.

Fate loaded two more cartridges into Bardiche's waiting chamber and then pulled the clip out, reloading in record time as she heard her device's mechanical voice in her head, "Photon Lancer, Get Set."

Bardiche had taken, during the battle, to keeping their attacks as wildcards so that their foe could not predict their movements. He could only judge their actions on how many cartridges Fate loaded into Bardiche at any particular moment – if he even understood the Balka cartridge system at all.

Fate didn't think that this mage possessed a powerful linker core to begin with. The relic that had infected him was somehow amplifying his magical power to the point of almost insanity – for his levels were off the chart for every scan that they ran on him. "Shoot," she said quietly, giving Bardiche the command to launch the attack and finally see if the combined firepower of both herself and Nanoha would be enough pull them though this battle and defeat their foe.

"Why won't you just leave!?" The man bellowed, his shields amplifying ten fold as he wrapped his arms around himself. His whole body began to glow with that eerie, blood red magical light.

Fate braced herself, but her shields were not enough to stand up against the onslaught of the attack. They crumbled in a matter of seconds and Fate felt something warm well up on her chest as she watched with horror as her linker core suddenly flickered to life before her. She couldn't move, but she struggled against the bind anyway, fighting with all her strength to get free and to get away.

"If I take this, you won't attack me any more." Their enemy proclaimed happily. He was suddenly right in front of her, his eyes narrowed and pupil-less. He reached down and closed his hand around her linker core.

Fate screamed. The pain of having her linker core crushed like that was nothing like she'd ever felt before. She had no frame of reference to the pain of having her magic slowly pulled from her body – only a white hot burning sensation all across her body that was amplified by the fact that she could not struggle against her attacker at all.

Her eyes closed, tears streaming down from them as she tried to force all other thoughts from her mind, save the want to break away from the bind she was trapped in. Nanoha…

"Get away from her!" Nanoha's voice, god, it seemed so far away. Fate struggled to open her eyes long enough to see a blinding blast of light hit the man square in the back. His hand released her linker core and suddenly the world went black.