Disclaimer

Familiar of Zero is owned by Noboru Yamaguchi

Fallout 4 is owned by Bethesda


Nate was so glad Guiche and Colbert owed him favors. Getting some of the props for his 'magic' show would have been impossible otherwise. Not in a day, at least.

"And now I shall pull a rabbit from my hat!" Nate held up a top hat Siesta had helped him with. He showed the crowd the empty inside, and after making a gesture with his free hand stuck it in-

KOOM!

Nate frowned, and after a moment he turned around. A red bar, clear as day...

"…Colbert, get the kids out of here!" Nate pointed to the Princess' tent, "You! Go with them!"

As they all started whispering confusedly, Nate ran back into the tent where students prepared-

"What are you doing!?" Louise ran in front of him, "Do you know how embarrassing that was!?"

"Louise, listen to me!" He quickly knelt down and grabbed her by the shoulders, "You go with Colbert, and you don't come back until I say it's safe!"

He got up and went to table holding his bag. He pulled out two extra clips for Deliverer and headed out-

"Mr. Winters," Colbert blocked the entrance, "I don't know what is causing you-"

"What part of 'get out of here' didn't you get!?"

He shoved past the bald man, sprinting to the back of the school. There was another loud 'boom', and Nate stumbled for a second before-

"Halt!"

Nate felt his jaw drop at the sight of a pink-haired girl staring down a massive rock thing. Ignoring the part of his brain asking how the hell she got ahead of him, he grabbed her and started running when he heard the shifting of rock behind him. He tossed Louise away, and he got grabbed by the rock giant. He waited for the crush, but all he got was a bird's eye view as the golem lifted him up. The person on top of the thing was a woman, and he could see green locks of hair underneath her hood.

"Put him down!"

'What is with these kids!?' Nate twisted himself to look at her.

"Louise, run damn it! You can't-"

BurnBlindPAIN-


A lone grey eye opened…


Osmond ran a hand through his beard as he went over Ms. Longueville's reports, "You're certain these witnesses saw the thief run off in that direction?"

Longueville nodded, "Yes, Headmaster."

He hummed, and there were three knocks at the door.

"Enter."

The door swung open to reveal the three people he called… plus one? Bah, he had more important things to worry about now.

"Thank you all for coming. Ms. Valliere and Mr. Winters, you two were the first to see the thief, correct?"

The two nodded, Winters wincing and putting a hand to his bandaged right eye. Osmond pulled out the sketch they had.

"Could you two confirm if this was what the thief looked like?"

Louise nodded, and Nate frowned, "Yeah, that's her alright."

Osmond sighed, "So it was Fouquet, then."

"Who?" Nate asked.

"A thief who has been robbing nobles for some time now, and it appears we've become her newest victims."

The gathered teachers began whispering before one spoke up, "Why don't we have the princess' guards go after her?"

"She's already been escorted back to the castle, any help we ask for will take hours. We must restore our honor ourselves. Raise your wands if you wish to volunteer in apprehending the thief." To his shock, none of the teacher's did so, "What? Do none of you wish to restore the honor of the Academy. To raise your own standing for catching the infamous Fouquet?"

Shikt

Nate held a black wand up, "I want my goddamn hat back."

Ms. Valliere raised her wand, "I volunteer as well!"

"Well, I can't let a Valliere take the glory for herself." Ms. Zerbst raised her wand, and the last student silently raised hers.

"Excellent! You four will-"

"Nonononono, NO." Nate waved his hands, "You three aren't going!"

"Actually, you needn't worry so much," Osmond put a hand on his shoulder, "Ms. Tabitha is already a chevalier knight, and Ms. Zerbst comes from a respected military family! Ms. Valliere… ah, well, she…"

"Is a friendly fire accident waiting to happen." Nate shrugged off the hand, "Whoever's the Earth teacher here better step forward, otherwise everyone in the country is going to know that you all were willing to let children die."

All the teacher's paled, and all but two took a step back. The heavy-set woman and bald man that were left standing looked around in shock.

"Good. Osmond, where the hell are we going?"

Osmond blinked before clearing his throat, "Ms. Longueville will bring you to where Fouquet was last sighted."


The horse-drawn cart rumbled along, Nate sitting with the two teachers as Miss Longueville drove. Every so often we would around, using V.A.T.S. to see what was around them. All just animals, thankfully, but there was one thing that was bothering him. Something was watching them, and despite what the others claimed, he knew better. Still, there was nothing below them, nothing around…

He looked up, and he saw something flying high above them. V.A.T.S. zoomed in, and he turned to Longueville.

"Stop the cart."

The students, upon seeing that they were caught, flew down, and Nate found himself quickly reaching a point of anger he didn't feel often.

"What did I say!? What did I fucking say!?"

"A noble does not run away from the enemy!" Louise shouted.

"And I could hardly call myself a Zerbst if I let a Valliere take all the glory." Kirche chimed in.

Nate looked to Tabitha, who met his gaze.

"Had to keep them out of trouble."

"Then why did you bring them here!?"

She gestured to her friends with her staff, "Would have gone regardless," then to herself, "Duty."

"I don't care if God himself told you to do it! You three are going back to the Academy now!"

"We can help!" Louise stomped.

"Like when you 'helped' me and I almost died!?" Nate pointed at his eye.

"Th-that was an accident!" Everyone looked in shock at Louise.

"And what happens when you have an 'accident' while we're in the middle of a fight!?"

"Everyone, please!" Ms. Longueville got between the two, "We don't have the time for this! You girls head back to the Academy, or I'll contact your parents!"

Kirche looked uncomfortable while Louise paled, but they seemed cowed enough to listen. The teachers started on their way again, and they eventually stopped again.

"Alright, the shack that the thief ran to is a short walk from here. Be careful everyone."


Nate found it funny that the guy in the blue coat and armor was the stealthiest one in the group.

Not enough to offset his annoyance, though.

When they got to the clearing the shack was located in (and absolutely screamed trap), he had the teachers check for any magical traps before sneaking up to the shack. He didn't see anyone on his HUD, but better to be safe than sorry. He opened the door, and when he got inside he decided to do a thorough sear-

His eyes landed on the hat sitting on the table.


She hid among the trees, quietly chanting. Getting away from the others was easy, but she doubted that man would be fooled for long.

That man…

When her golem had exploded, she wasn't sure who was more shocked, the pinkette or her. She had shaken it off quickly enough when she saw the hole the girl's spell had left in the wall, and took the opportunity to fulfill her mission. She was somewhat glad that a murder wasn't about to be pinned on her, but had hoped that he would be out longer. He'd proven more competent in a few short moments than most of the teachers at the Academy, which made him an actual threat.

She finished her chant, and from the ground rose a massive golem. It tore the roof off the shack, but before it could grab the man inside she felt the other mages trying to break it down.

As if she'd make it that easy.

Still, their efforts slowed it down enough that her target was able to flee the shack, a familiar box in his hands. Her golem brought its fist up-

FWOOSH

She frowned as the arm was engulfed in fire. It didn't do any real damage than burning some of the plants on the arm, and igniting the rest.

Ah well. A flaming arm was more intimidating, she supposed.

The golem brought its fist down, and the shockwave sent the man flying, the box tossed from his hands and the prize within flying out. Her golem reached out to the man, but the ground beneath it shifted upward, tossing it off balance. The man sprinted to the Staff of Destruction and he pointed it at her gol-

BOOM

A trail of smoke led from the staff to her now destroyed golem. It crumbled to dirt, and she cursed as the teachers came out of hiding and the students she thought had gone back to the Academy landed in the clearing. Damn it, she didn't have a plan for-


Nate aimed Deliverer into the forest and fired. He was rewarded with a feminine scream of pain. He approached with the 'staff' under his arm, and he found Ms. Longueville clutching her bleeding knee. He saw a stick by her side, and he snapped it in half before crouching and placing a knee on her neck.

"What are you doing!?" Louise ran up to him, and immediately began trying to pull him off. He ignored her, and after a few moments he stood.

"She's the thief."

"What!? What proo-"

"How?" Longueville coughed, "My disguise…"

"Was a hood and a robe." He grabbed her by the collar and started dragging back towards the cart, "Come on, we need to get her back to the Academy before she bleeds out."

After patching up her wound as best he could (like Hell he was wasting a stimpak on her), he and the girls were flying on Tabitha's dragon with a bound Longueville. They arrived shortly before the teachers, and after explaining the situation the six were sat in the Headmaster's office.

"I must once again thank you all for your valiant effort and success in capturing Fouquet." Osmond looked to Nate, who was holding the staff, "Though I am surprised you did so by using the Staff of Destruction."

"It's called a missile launcher." Nate corrected, "And I can use it because it's from my people's military."

"I see," Osmond stroked his beard, "So that is why you were able to use it."

Nate nodded, "And that's why I need to know why you have one, and if anything else like this is in your vault. I'm not taking the risk of this shit happening again with a nuke."

"Stupid familiar! Don't-"

"It's quite alright, Miss. Valliere." Osmond nodded to Nate, "Thirty years ago, I nearly met my end during my wanderings by a wretched beast. However, a man in strange uniform saved me using the staff. However, he was already heavily wounded and spoke a strange language, making helping him difficult. I treated him to the best of my abilities and brought him to the Academy for healing, but it was not enough. I buried him, and kept his staff as an artifact."

"…This man, did he… did he have dog tags? A necklace, like this?" Nate dug into his shirt and pulled out the chain he kept his tags and… his rings.

"Why yes, I do believe he did."

"…Well," Nate sighed, "at least he'll get more than a blank tombstone."

"Pardon?"

"These tags are for identification. His name should be on them."

"I see." Osmond nodded, "Thank you. Sometime, we shall make sure he gets a proper burial. I'll make you sure you can enter the vault, as well." Nate nodded, and Osmond smiled, "Now, I'm sure you'll all want to prepare for the upcoming banquet in your honor…"


Nate looked over each of the artifacts in the vault with Colbert, who seemed to get more and more excited whenever they found something.

"-and you say this device let you speak to people across the world?"

"Not this particular brand, but yeah." Nate looked over the small radio. According to Colbert, most of the items had spells to preserve them, meaning that they were all in working condition. So far they'd found a toaster, a typewriter, a terminal with a cracked screen, an alarm clock, and a microscope… and the radio.

"Amazing." Colbert looked over the storage manifest, "If I may, what exactly do you plan to do with these items?"

"I can't do much, Colbert. The toaster and the alarm clock sure, but everything else?" Nate shrugged, "Useless right now."

"Oh." The disappointment in Colbert's voice was clear, "Well, maybe the last item will be of some use?" He led Nate over to a nondescript crate and opened it, "It's called the 'Egg of Destruction'. Supposedly, it holds a terrible poison. The ones who found it were already poisoned before they managed to safely seal it again."

"…"

Nate grabbed Colbert by the back of his robes and slowly walked backwards from the mini-nuke.


For Louise, the banquet couldn't come fast enough. She'd finally done something worthy of recognition, and what an act it was! Catching a thief that had been plaguing countless nobles would certainly silence her naysayers.

"The daughter of Duke de La Valliere, Louise Francois Le Blanc de La Valliere, has arrived!"

She kept the smile from her face as all eyes turned to her. She could see Zerbst with a crowd of boys around her, Tabitha was at the food table, and…

She couldn't stop the frown as she saw him with a small crowd of people. That ungrateful jerk hadn't even uttered so much as a 'thank you' for coming to help him!

She got closer, ignoring the requests for dances.

"…and on that day, I taught a man how to dropkick deathclaws." He saw her approaching, and his smile shrunk a bit, "Louise."

She curtsied, "Sir… Winters." Calling him 'sir' left a bad taste in her mouth, "May I speak with you for a moment?"

"…Of course." They headed towards the balcony, and she glared at him.

"You still haven't thanked us for coming to help you."

"You didn't help, you made things worse."

She kept her anger in check, "Zerbst is the one who lit the golem on fire."

"Louise, what do you think would've happened if the golem decided to start throwing boulders at you? Or if the clearing caught fire? Two of you aren't soldiers, and one should have known better."

"I got to go with partner on this one," she blinked as his sword started talking, "I've seen a lot of wielders get cut down because they wanted to play the hero."

"Oh hey, you've been quiet for a while."

"Eh, I didn't really have a reason to talk. Anyways, point still stands: you live longer if you know your limits."

"A noble doesn't stand by when others are in danger." She said firmly. It was one of the iron-clad rules her mother had drilled into her.

"She does when her being there puts others in danger."

"T-That was an accident!" She looked to his bandaged eye, "I already told you-"

"You're not a soldier! You have no training for fighting in a group or alone, and the only spell I've seen you use so far is as likely to hit friendlies as it is your target!"

She gripped her dress tightly and scowled at him. She took a deep breath, then another, "No matter what you think, I would've helped."

"I don't want your help, I want you safe."

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She… wasn't sure how to respond to that. The music suddenly changed, and they saw students break off into dancing pairs. After a moment she offered her hand to the man.

"I'm… willing to forgive you if you dance with me."

He stared at her before giving a small sigh, and a smile, "…Pretty sure you would have to stand on my feet…"


Nate had thought the banquet would be the end of it, but to his surprise, he and Louise were called to the palace. Louise got into the palace with no trouble, but he ran into a bit of an issue with the guards.

"Not happening."

"Sir, you cannot approach the princess while armed."

"If I'm trusted enough to get a letter from the princess fora private meeting, I'm trusted enough."

The guards looked to another before one walked away. A few moments later he came back.

"You can go in, sir."

"Thank you."

He found Louise glaring at him with the princess by her side.

"Hello, Sir Winters. Or should I say, General John Doe?"

'…Aw, crap.'


AN: So yeah, Nate kinda forgot that people tend to spread rumors. To be clear, Nate did not lose the eye, it's just bandaged up.

Enchie: I fixed it up a small bit. I... don't think I've gotten ten hours sleep the past week, so sorry if I'm a little off.