That sweet ecstasy of war, how I love it!

Watching rows of frigate charge the planetary defense only be ripped apart by the orbital cannons was a sight to see. Cruisers and battleships wiping out fighters wings in droves filled space with the sparkle of debris. The all consuming might of the capital ships cannons that crushed the enemy into dust. The screams and cries over open channels were music to my ears.

"The western flank is bending! Fighter squads are depleted! They're requesting support!"

"Send the Inferno battle group to reinforce the Del battle group. Then move the Remembrance and Alpha battle groups to the front. Tell them to blast those orbital cannons!" I commanded. "The moment the cannons fall, send in the aerial drones and clear a path for the dropships. Have all dropships stay hot and tell the engineers on the bay doors to stand ready!"

"Aye Lady Inquisitor!"

As fun as watching the carnage build was I needed to get my men on the ground. We had to finish the battle quickly and achieve orbital superiority before any of the Princess's allies came.

Besides the ground fights were always the most bloody and fun! I hadn't been told how to take the planet, just to take it. Perhaps a well paced bombardment over her capital would soften them up…


Frozen halls hid his madness. Bitter winds concealed the sound of screams. Shadows bowed before him as the spill stained the floor. Fire knew its master's whims as he wandered the frozen hall as the midnight hour fell.

Down the endless hallways he strode. The lab coat he wore whipped at his ankles as the wind heralded his coming. In his wake ancient specters watched with deathless gazes. The look of the dead judged his every action, yet Jail Scagliette barley gave them a passing glance.

Golden eyes saw the specters as mere shells of magic bound to this frozen fortress. They were useful tools for the time being, but nothing else. He had studied one upon his arrival, but had lost interest. That specimen was now sealed in the depths of the fortress behind many barriers. The other specters would never learn of the fate of their comrade or the insanity he had forced upon it.

He had discovered it was possible to drag the magical soul of specter back into the real world, but it was impractical for wide scale resurrection. The soul had to be tied to a place and the environment had to have enough ambient magic to power it. Then with the proper application of cloning technology one could force the soul into the body. The result was less that pretty.

The flesh rotted and grew back with equal speed. The being was locked in an eternal cycle of death and birth as limbs were lost and regrown. As organs failed and burst, only to be develop anew, yet still the creature lived and suffered in agony. The specter had begun screaming as soon as he had finished the experiment and to that day he knew that the specter still screamed in endless life and death.

But his goal this night lay not with the damned, but his children. Tonight his firstborn would be brought into the world. His funders had been quiet clear that they were getting impatient. They wanted results and the zero generation was the closest to combat ready. Even so it would be years before they would be ready for the missions his benefactors had in mind.

They were content to wait until his experiments bore fruit. "After all what was time to them? Or to me?" Jail cackled. He had back up system in place in case he did die one day. He would return from the grave, he was beyond the grave, beyond the petty mortals.

"Yes, beyond those pesky mortals, beyond ethics and morals, beyond life and death, infinite, all but immortal and even that will be rectified in time!" he cackled again as he pushed the door open.

The room he steeped into was white and sterile. No windows to the outside or ventilation shafts were laid in the walls. He had created this room for a sole purpose, one that couldn't be touched by external factors. The air was dead as he walked to the two beds in the center of the room.

Once each bed laid a girl, one was slightly younger than the other, and he knelt beside the older of the two. "Ginga, let's take a peak in you mind…" He activated his device and the claw like device responded.

"Preparations are complete master," the device intoned, its voice was very deep.

"Good! So then Verdammnis shall we? My daughter's pretty little mind needs some work. Can't have her blabbing anything too important, too soon." Jail raised Verdammnis over the girl's head and a solitary red thread unrolled form the Deceive and into the girl's head.

"Ya master. Dive commencing: Three…Two…One."


Many strange sights could be found in the city. Many odd people and places, sights and sounds could be found is one knew where to look. The alleys, back roads, and dingy places in the city were her stomping grounds. Here she could be among the rebels and lost, especially the lost.

Arf wandered the back alleys with a certain swagger. Her normal clothes were far from decent, but the lost knew her well enough to stay away. Her long jacket concealed some, yet hinted at more, a tool to be properly applied at times. Beside the weather was turning and soon winter would be upon them.

When Fate had brought her to this world to help find the Jewel Seeds she had sought out information. Information that was harder to find in the safe streets and only the underworld knew what she wanted. That had first brought her to the back alleys, but now her purpose was different. The Jewel Seeds were gone, the Book of Darkness was gone, but another mystery had arisen. The wizard.

Fate was strong. She could fight any enemy that came at her head on and she didn't need her for support anymore. Yet, Fate had a weakness. She could fight the threats that charged her head on, but the shadows held many dangers. During the Jewel Seed days Arf had spent her days in the underground suppressing any information on Fate or her actions. At night she would return and wait for Fate.

For a largely non-magical world, Earth had a number of good spies and intelligence gatherers. That was the greatest fall in the dimensional barriers the TSAB and the Knights used. They thought Earth was largely void of magic, but they only saw the surface. There existed men and women with slightly stronger Linker Cores, incapable of magic, but able to slip into the barriers with the greatest of ease.

Most worked for crime organizations across the globe, but a few moved in the highest branches of the intelligence community. Her contact was one such man that moved in both worlds. He was a high ranking officer in the Japanese Self Defense Force and a member of the Kabal of the Silver Night.

The Kabal was a newcomer to Japan, but already had forced its way into the underground. A pile of corpses, shootings, bombs, and assassinations had force the door open for them some two years before she came to Earth. Within their ranks were the Ghosts, the Kabal's name for their magical spies, that she needed to speak with. If they knew about the TSAB then the chances were good that they knew about the wizards.

She stopped at a rundown warehouse and nodded to the bouncers. The two burly, bare-chested men pushed the door open for her. The sound of music roared out and she smiled. The beat was pounding it was only early evening.

"Something good happen?" she asked the bouncers. She slipped off her jacket and handed it to one of the men, who put it in a small closet knew the door.

"Ya could say, da boss said he wants ta talk with ya Miss Arf. Said it was important too," one bouncer said, his accent betraying his non-native roots.

"He's in the da back," the second bouncer informed her.

'Thank you boys." She added an extra swing to hips as she walked in. They were good boys and deserved to be rewarded.

Inside the music was raging. The dance floor, large and nearly empty most of the time, was filled with dirty dancing. The scent of sweat, sex, and booze reached her sensitive nose. Arf gave the barkeepers a wide smile as she headed for the bar. "Hello boys! What happened?"

"Miss Arf, its been some time. I'm glad to see you in one piece, what with all the battles that have been talking place," the oldest of the three barkeepers greeted her with a friendly wave.

"Seb, tell Junior to give get my usual." She sat down at the bar and leaned forward to talk with her friend. Sebastian was a good man, but how he came to run with the Kabal was something he had never told her.

"What brings you around here on this fine evening?" Sebastian asked with a jovial smile.

"First why don't you tell me what happened to you lot? What's with the party?" she asked back as Junior slid her drink down the bar.

"You haven't heard? I would think that someone like you would already know this. You do have all those contacts…" the barkeeper trialed with a troubled look. "Something big happened to you."

Arf looked sadly into her drink. That golden brown liquid was so friendly, so familiar, so needy… "You could say…"

"Is this about your girl?" Sebastian asked gently. "How's she doing?"

"Yeah…recently events…ya know I've been thinking too much. I should have expected this to happen sooner or later."

"Ah, parental woes. I know them well." He said theatrical. "I raised two boys of my own you know. There both in American these days doing who knows what. Let me guess, you've just realized that your girl doesn't need your support as much. Am I right?"

"Unfortunately," Arf said miserably. "She doesn't need me. She's got her friends and her power and the will to succeed. I'm just a burden, a useless accessory of her childhood. An artifact of her earliest days, nothing that matters in the present or has any value beyond old memories from the past. I'm that dusty picture she'll back fondly at and then put it down and forget. I'll be put on the bus and sent into No-Where land, referenced, but never seen. Lost and forgotten never to rise again. To be a drain on her until I die and nothing more. Destined to slowly fade in the background. To become the lost, forgotten and damned…"

She lifted the glass and drained it in one. Sebastian already had another one in hand and handed it to her. "You know who it s feels. You're the past, the thing that holds em down. While they move forward you what to stay the same. You just what the days to go back to what they were. Memories are better than reality because the simple truth is she doesn't need you. An anchor when that ship wants to sail. How long until she cuts the line and leaves you at the bottom of the sea like some crusty relic? Tell be Seb! Please tell me!"

He looked her and they locked eyes. His gray eyes shone with unshed tears. "I know how it feels, Arf. I know…the pain…" He forced back a sob. "My wife…my darling wife… she died you know."

"I'm sorry, have a beer. On me," Arf sorrowfully said. "Misery loves company."

"I think I'll take you up on that." He turned and hailed the other two barkeepers. "Junior, Roger cover for me." The two young men nodded as Sebastian grabbed a cold beer and joined Arf on the other side of the bar. "As I was saying, my wife died a number of years back. My boys, they were fourteen and twelve at the time, took he death hard, maybe even harder than I did. At the time we were living in Rome," he took a long swing of his beer then continued, "My older boy began to run with gangs. Before I knew it he was deep in their ranks, a full fledged member of this gang. It wasn't the mafia or anything, but he got into a number of fights and shootouts before I found out. It was his gang that stormed the bank was I waiting in line at when I first learned about his…career choice."

He took another long swing. Setting his beer down, he cupped Arf's chin and looked in the eyes. "It broke me. I fell to the ground sobbing because I realized my little boy, who had held so tenderly, had become a man when I wasn't even looking. He had chosen a path I would have never recommended, but it was his choice. I understand your pain. All I can say is watch over her, watch as she goes from girl to woman. See her change, don't be the absent father like me. Enjoy what days you have with her, before she's gone." The old barkeeper let go of her and gave her a tight smile.

Arf looked at her friend in wonder. His words rang true and settled in her mind. "Thanks," she said softly.

"Anytime, boss says we're suppose to help you as much as we can. After all, the Kabal owes you for that intel on the last case," Sebastian rose, finished his beer and returned to his post behind the bar.

Arf took her leave of the bar with a small wave towards Sebastian. She threaded her way through the crowds around the dance floor, her mind on other matters. The stench of sweat and sex was overpowering as she threaded deeper into the warehouse.

At last she broke free of the crowds. Two men in black suits and sunglasses wordlessly flanked her. The few remaining people melted way before the sight of the two suited men. The Kabal members knew of the blacksuits role and none were daring or drunk enough to challenge the Cleaners.

She stopped before a door leading to a glass enclosed office. The Cleaner at the door, a thin, wiry older man frisked her gently. A matter of necessary security, she reminded herself. Six months earlier two Chinese Triad assassins had tried off the leader of the Kabal's Japanese branch. Several Cleaners had been killed in the fight and Cleaners never forgot.

The wiry man nodded to her once he was done then opened the door. He beckoned her in and before Arf could take a step inside, a man greeted her.

"Ah! Come in! Come in!"

She hurried in and the door was pulled shut behind her. "It's been a while Jonathan."

"Too long. You haven't stopped by to visit us in a few months. Here I was thinking you'd forgotten about us!" he replied jovially. "Come sit down!"

The office was sparse as always. Jonathan's desk was clear of papers, the non glass walls were bare expect for a portrait of his wife near the door and a simple red shag rug on the floor. A mall cabinet sat in the corner that contained his private stash of alcoholic beverages. Four chairs were arrayed in front of the desk. They were a simple design with leather seats and armrest.

The man himself was of European descent. Blue eyes and black hair combed in the latest fashion, a designer suit and it was a farce. He did everything he could to impress his guest and building his charisma, yet even without it all he had a presence. He was the sort of man that could walk into a crowded room in rags and have every eye on him in a word. He was silver tongued and could twist words in every which way and make anyone agree to anything he said. He was a thoroughly dangerous man for Fate to fight, the worst sort of enemy for her to face. Arf had done everything in her power to keep the two from ever meeting.

"How can I help you?" he said sitting and folding his arms across his desk. "I'd offer you a drink, but my wife found out about my little habit. Turns out these Cleaners are more loyal to her than me," he said conspiratorially.

"Your wife found out about your…job," Arf said flatly. She wondered for a moment what his last name was. In all the time she had known the man he had never let slip his last name. She chalked it up to apart of the job and a man trying to protect his family from the dangerous underworld he worked in.

"Yes, and believe me it was quiet a fight. Why my children even commented on it next day. Then my son as the audacity to make snide remark about the next morning! In front of his sister too! High schoolers these days!" Jonathan huffed playfully with a charming smile.

"How is he doing these days? Last I heard his grades were slipping."

"My boy has been hanging out with odd people lately and letting a girl drag him around! Making him pay for everything by the look of his bank account!"

"Oh? He's finally noticing girls then?"

"I think so. After what happened last year with that girl who killed his imagination…well he's doing better…I think. Well enough about my Kyon- What about your Fate? Is she well?" His smile was disarming, but his tone hinted at a deeper knowledge.

"She's…growing up." Sebastian's words rang in her head like bells over the valley. "It's not about Fate though. I'm sure you're aware of the recent…incidents around the city."

"Yes, I have some knowledge of these events." His smile vanished and his face turned emotionless.

Arf knew the best way to deal with him was to be direct. "Harry Potter. Wizard. Hollows. Here."

Jonathan rose to his feet and turned to look at the dance floor. He clasped his hands behind his back and began to speak. "I know him. Stay away from him if you know whats good for you. But…if he's here then… What do you know about him?"

"Not much," Arf said with a shrug.

"Seventeen years ago a war was raging in Britain. The magical world there was fighting a bloody civil war between blood purist and the rest. Britain is the home to the largest percentage of wizards and witches in the entire world. One could say it's the home of the wizards and witches. No other magical community comes close to its size or wealth in magical creatures. Anyway, this war ended with the defeat of the blood purist leader being felled by a baby, Harry Potter. How it happened eludes me to this day.

Long story short, he grew up became a wizard and fought the purist leader almost every single year of his school life. He's no stranger to combat, death, violence or killing. At the age of fifteen he watched the purist leader be resurrected. Within a year and a half magical Brittan was at war again. As the purist leader rampaged across Brittan, Harry was sent into training. He returned a year later just as the war got the worst.

The next two years were dark days for Brittan. Death and war reigned supreme, but Harry led the charge against the purists. He killed many and by the end of the war he was among the few who survived. He is a killer, trained and bred for war, nothing else. Keep your Fate away from a monster like that at all cost."

"Just how old is he? He looks seventeen, but your information would make him at least eighteen," Arf asked confused.

"To answer that we have to reach the next part of the story, the Hollows." Jonathan still didn't look back at her as he spoke. "I'm telling you this as a friend and because I happen to like you. During the war Harry Potter came into the possession of three objects of great power. One he was given early in his schooling, an heirloom from his father. The second he took from his mentor's tomb after the purist leaders stole it. The last he acquired shortly after he killed the purist leader.

The Cloak of Death, the Elder Wand, and the Resurrection Stone. These three artifacts are know as the Hollows and are amongst the greatest magical artifacts of wizard kind. Why had took them is a mystery to me, but it's my belief that he never knew what he was getting into before the last part, the Stone, fell into his hands.

With these artifacts in hand he gained a new title. A title that only the wisest amongst the wizards would understand, Master of the Hollows or Master of Death depending upon which you prefer. Either way his power had by this point far exceeded any normal wizard and my agents began to report minor changes in his power levels.

If, as you say, he appears to be seventeen then I think he may be slowing, er… How to put it? Time is flowing slower for him. Someone his power is pushing time away from him while the rest of the world and us age. By this theory it's possible that he would be eighteen or nineteen yet appear to be seventeen."

"That's impossible! No magic can slow time!" Arf objected, jumping to her feet. "I lived with one of the greatest magical researchers of the modern age and she never could control time!" She said it was impossible no matter what magic or spell she used!"

"All of man is united in a single fact; we want to preserve these bodies, to live forever be we ancient earthling or magekind. We all fear the reaper's scythe descending upon us…" his philosophical wanderings trailed off into mutters. "Yes, such a thing is beyond us mortals. Death is our curse and our gift. An end and a beginning. The ultimate release and ultimate fear. To think that someone might overcome it…"

"Many have wasted their lives trying to find that, but I don't see the point. It doesn't exist. Just like aliens," she sated resolutely.

Jonathan turned around and quirked an eyebrow at her. He looked at her with a small grin. "How dreadfully ironic. By the current Earth definition you are an alien. You were not born on this planet, or even born in this solar system. To the best of my knowledge you have no applied for or received citizenship in any Earth based nation, therefore you would be classified as an illegal alien in addition to being an alien. An alien telling me that aliens don't exist. Ha!"

Arf blushed in embarrassment, but stood her ground. Her words had been turned against her and they were far from the original reason she had come to see him. "Yay, yay, yay go for you. Turn my words against me. Now we get back the topic at hand? Harry Potter?"

He snickered one last time before returning to his chair. "Yes, back to business. Harrison James Potter, better known by his nickname Harry. What do you want to know about him?"

"Anything," she knew Jonathan was all business now. There was a certain intensity in his eyes that had replaced mirth. "Can he move against Fate? What's his power level? Dangerous or not? I need anything you can give me. That man…something about him is unsettling."

"Dangerous? Yes, very much. He's a war veteran. He's killed many and maimed many more. The wizard governments fear and love him. Some want him controlled and others what him dead. As for a threat to your Fate… I have no idea. I'd assume that so long as she stays out his path, that she'll be fine. But as with all assumptions, that makes me an ass," he said with a grin. "The rest I cannot help you with, but I'll have the file on him transfer to you day after tomorrow. That's the best I can do at the time."

"Thank you," she studied the man for a moment and made a decision. "Your men, the ones that tail us…"

"Yes?"

"Double them."

"Why?"

Arf rose and headed for the door. "Call it a feeling…" She left a thoughtful Jonathan at his desk, one hand on his chin, as the door swung shut behind her. She had done it. Her role was ending. Soon fate would no longer need her. Fate would be watched by good men and she, the magical familiar Arf, would step off stage as fate decreed. It would be her final action to safeguard Fate and bow before fate and its whims. "To fade into the background… a side character in a land of giants… Perhaps…perhaps…it's not such a bad fate after all. Hell, I can make it my finest hour if I try…"

All that answered her was the pounding music as she threw herself into the crowded dance floor. She would live her life freely, just once before the ends. It was one last time to drink in the pleasures of life and her adult body, before fate caught up to her.

"A little indiscretion never hurt…" she muttered before the music stole her away into the night.


"This might be a problem," Jonathan murmured to himself. "I was going to pass on that message and tell her the reason for the early party… No matter. I look forward to seeing how the dice fall." A cruel smirk crossed his face.

Standing up, he walked over to the filing cabinet. Placing his thumb under the handle the door popped open with a beep. The thumb scanner had accepted its master once more. "I really must stop giving these things human traits…" he said to himself as he reached for the sole file in the cabinet

File in hand he returned to chair. A quick press of a button under his desk darkened the windows. He flipped the file open and removed the topmost paper, stamped with a red TOP SECERT stamp. Below that lay a dozen photos taken by his Ghosts. Some dated back over twenty years and were from all around the world.

Some were of the TSAB mages in action and dealing aid or cleaning up messes. Those had been harder to get due to the rarity of TSAB operations on his planet. The rest were photos of the Wizards and their world. Magical beasts like dragons and unicorns, demons and werewolves, and witches and wizards were but a handful of the photos. Below those lay blueprints of the wizards so-called 'hidden areas', their alleys and shopping centers.

But his mind was set on the last nine papers. Strange runes and symbols decorated the pages, scribbled writing and formulas filled in the blank areas. Here were the papers that could undo the wizard's magic. It would shatter their wards that had hidden them so long. It would lift the veil from the rest of the world.

Dragons and wizards would be forcibly dragged into the modern age. They would be broken and made to bleed by technology. They would face the sun they had hidden away from. Judgment would be rendered on them and he would be the one who gave them over to the world.

"Let the nation's of this world judge them! They judged us so long ago! Turn abouts fair play after all!" he cackled. "They will pay for their sins! They will aid the new world or perish in nuclear fire! Atonement or agony eternal! I declare this to be so. This is the judgment, the geas, I pronounce!"

He stood and pushed the desk and chair against the wall. Then he pulled the carpet up and rolled it up. The entire office was covered in runes and arcane symbols that he nothing about. They had been in his family's grimore since time immemorial, a legacy of magic from his forefathers to he who had no magic. The runes he had painstaking transferred to the room were old, but his research had shone that they were summoning runes of a fashion. With these runes anyone who knew the proper words would summon the sealed creatures.

"I call upon the powers that be to make it so! Endless walkers, hear my cry! Eternal masters, answer my plea! World Builders, craft this in the world itself! I who stand between heaven and hell, walker of the void, villain and savior in one, call upon these powers!" He rose to his feet and cackled madly. Blue eyes shone with unholy light and the lights in the room seemingly dimmed.

"Upon this hallowed earth I call you! Let the gates of the void be torn asunder! Certainty, Miracles, Creation, Endless, all the powers beyond come to this world! This I implore you, as the heir of the Throne of Red, I call upon thee to answer the contract written in my forefathers blood at the dawn of creation!"

White lighting burst out of nowhere and crackled across the ceiling. The file and the papers were scattered by an unseen wind. The earth trembled beneath the office, yet the party goers felt none of it. The walls groaned in agony. The temperature rose and fell, from the depths of absolute zero to the raging inferno of a molten core.

Yet he stood and cried aloud. "Let the end begin! Let the door be thrown open! Out of the blackest of years let the lost come forth! Sealed in fear and hate, I offer praise and love! Golden chains I tear asunder, blacken wounds I heal, sanity I restore, so says I, the Child of Man!"

The ceiling vanished. Inky blackness covered the ceiling and spread. Soon the walls and doors were gone. In the blackness he heard the rustling of cloth, the creaks and groans of wood and bone, and the steady footfalls.

They had come.

They had awoken.

A pair of hungry eyes watched him and Jonathan looked back. More eyes joined in watching him, red, white, blue, purple, gold, and a dozen others. Yet his sight never left the first pair, the most dangerous of all.

They measured his worth.

They peeled back his mind layer by layer. Every secret, every lie, every truth was laid bare before them.

They judged his soul.

His soul was a black thing, wretched and twisted by a lifetime of double dealing and lies.

They found him wanting.

Inferior… Inadequate… Failure…

They judged him.

His final sight was his black soul burning into ash, before unspeakable agony consumed him.

They were free.

Jonathan's body fell to the floor, sightless eyes still asking why.


"She hasn't called."

"She's fine Fate. Arf can take care of herself," Nanoha reassured the blonde.

"But-"

"No," Nanoha cut her friend off. "She's fine."

The two girls sat on Nanoha's bed dressed in their pajamas. On the desk their Devices silently waited, perhaps talking in the way such things might. The lights were on and a large bowl of popcorn sat near a small TV from the attic.

"Do think they can communicate?" Fate asked. "Our Devices I mean."

Nanoha rolled on her belly and looked over at the desk. "I like to think so. They've complimented each other before. It's not too much of stretch. Then there's Azriel who's a chatter box next to my Raging Heart. Opps! Sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned that!" She looked her blonde friend sitting against the wall, a pillow between her knees.

Fate hid her face behind the pillow. Vainly, she tried to contain her shuddering. Nanoha crawled over and sat beside her. The brown haired girl smiled and pulled Fate into a loose hug.

"Fate," she asked quietly. "What's wrong? You've been like this every time I mentioned…that man or his tool." She chose her words carefully, but dug deeper. "Com'on Fate, you can tell me anything. Anything!" she repeated with as much conviction as she could muster.

Fate leaned into the hug and began to slowly speak. "Have you ever walked by someone…and felt…ill? …or uneasy?"

"Yes, but does this have to do with him?" Nanoha asked bewildered.

"Arf calls them auras…a manifestation of magic…"

"And magic comes from the heart," Nanoha supplied.

"Basically…"

"So…what are you getting at?"

"M-Mother…she had…" Fate's shudders was greater now.

"Oh Fate!" Nanoha tightened her hug. Fate mother, Precia Testarossa, had hardly been a kind and loving mother. Abusive, and needlessly cruel described her. Once she had whipped Fate for failing to bring enough Jewel Seeds to her. Nanoha never meet the woman personally, but the scars on Fate's back, legs, and arms told volumes about the woman that had created Fate.

Nanoha could see one of the small, faint scars from the angle her had was at. Fate began to sob into the other girl as horrible memories flooded back. Nanoha gently rubbed her friend's back and let her cry. It was long over due for her to break down like this. As her friend Nanoha said nothing, but comforted her.

She began to hum a nameless tune. Sobs began to slow, but Nanoha never stopped rubbing her back. The soothing rhythm of that nameless hum and gentle motions worked the dark memories away. She lost all track of time. All that mattered was helping her friend.

"…thank you…" Fate murmured softly, her voice was cracked by sobbing.

"That's what friends do." Nanoha never stopped rubbing Fate's back.

Fate mumbled something that Nanoha missed.

"What? Can you repeat that?"

Fate pulled her head from Nanoha's chest. A faint blush decorated her face. Their faces were mere inches away from each other. They felt each other's gentle breaths. "…keep rubbing…please." Her blush expanded tenfold. "Sorry! I…It's embarrassing I-"

"Shut up," Nanoha gently chided. "What did I say? I'm your friend. This is what friends do. We're alone and there's no one to see us, so tell me what's wrong."

Fate looked down, not wanted to meet Nanoha's eyes. "The wizard… He…has a similar aura… like…m-m-mothers," she confessed softly, with many pauses. The early winter moon had risen and shone in through the window. "Dark…evil…malice, hate. It was nearly the same. A-At first I thought it was…nothing, but…inside the defense program…"

Nanoha noted that her light had been turned off as Fate let loose a small sob. She made sure to rub her back firmer. The red eyed blonde grabbed at her and clung even harder to her.

"When…when the attack began…I felt his power flare and…and…and it was like mothers! Almost exactly like hers! Only his was stronger! Str-stronger than…mothers ever was. I scared me, but I ignored it."

Nanoha considered this new information. She honestly liked the older boy. There was something about him that made her want to trust him, something that told her that he was a good person. Yet, Fate's information shed new light on that idea. In the games and movies it was always the most charming or handsome person who was the villain. Did that apply to real life too? Could Harry Potter be a new villain in their story? Those questions danced in her mind as Fate started talking again.

"It was until earlier today that I…that I put it together. And his device… It's even worse. It puts both mother and him to shame! It's evil, pure evil! Blood stained! Yet so much more powerful…than them or us! It's a danger to everyone!"

"It's okay Fate. I don't think he's a bad person. He just been through a lot in life I think. Probably hasn't had the easiest life either, but that doesn't mean he's bad. Darker, yes, but evil? I don't think so. As for the Device, Azriel… I don't know. Her words when he was out cold are worrisome, but I think Harry can control her and keep her in check." She stopped rubbing Fate's back and lifted her friend's head. "See, I told you there's nothing to worry about," she said with a brilliant smile.

Moonlight hid Fate's face, she shuddered in Nanoha's arms. "I…I can accept that for the time." She let out a yawn. "Why is crying so tiring? I'm going to bed now… 'night Nanoha…" Her head fell into Nanoha's lap as sleep claimed her.

The burnette smiled and stroked Fate hair. She was rather cute when asleep. Nanoha didn't move, any movement might wake Fate and her best friend needed sleep. She let out a yawn of her own and tried to adjust her body, but Fate had her pinned good. Sighing she settled in for a long night of sleeping with her back to the wall.

"Goodnight Fate," Nanoha whispered as she shut her eyes. It would hard, it would be uncomfortable, it would painful in the morning, but she would stay as Fate's pillow. That's what a good friend would do and she was Fate's good friend.


"Orbital superiority will be achieved in ten minutes m'lady."

"Good, and the dropships?" I asked.

"They have reached the surface without much incident. Apparently the Princess kept a few of those aircraft and those relics dropped three or four of our ships before they were annihilated."

Interesting, aircraft had been rendered obsolete, then returned to service and finally decommissioned five thousand years ago. She must have had a wing or two in storage that escaped the TSAB purge…or where overlooked.

What else could have been overlooked? The Princess had always had close ties to the TSAB. What was to say that she had some of the 'dangerous' or forbidden technology? What would we see on and face on the surface? I secretly dreaded the question.

There were some powers in this world that should have remained sealed. Some were weapons that should never be used. Some were ideas that should never be brought into play. Even my lady refused to use them. The Warlords, no matter how desperate the battle, would not use those weapons. They were threats, swords to waved around and used in negotiations and nothing more.

They had no official name that I knew, if they did have one then only my lady and the Warlords would know it, but among my people we called them the Morsgor. In our tongue it meant the Void Bringers. Life without death, death without life, light without dark, dark without light, to be forever trapped between life and death. A fate no mortal or immortal, not even I would wish for on my greatest enemy, could survive.

"Tell all ships to open deep core scanners. I want to know every thing about this planet! Prepare my dropship as well! Order my retinue to prepare for battle and met me in hangar BR-43!" I stood and left the bridge.

I headed to my room. My current garments were unsuited for war. I would need battle armor if the Princess was using those weapons.


A/N: Here's the Nanoha/Fate moment from the poll. The Harry/Signum, the clear winner atm with 9 votes, will get a scene in part III. Part III will be the end of this arc. I'm getting bored with it, but several subplots had to be put into motion.

And for those that are worried this will turn into a mega crossover…DON"T PANIC. Seriously. No mega crossovers, just shout-outs. This never be an 'all fictional worlds are truth' type of story.

The current poll will close within a day of this chapter being posted, so get your votes in.

Remember to R&R!