Caliburn Initiative Chapter 8
Eighth Step: Selfish Bastard
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha belongs to Seven Arcs and Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Soundtrack List
Akeboshi – Wind
BlazBlue OST – Black Onslaught
Groove Addicts – Ashes to Ashes
Kana Ueda – Snow Rain [Another Approach]
Yasuharu Takanashi - My Name
TTGL OST – Happily Ever After
Sambomaster – Seishun Kyousou Kyoku
****Caliburn Initiative****
"Naruto, I'm glad to see you're alright."
The blonde that he had been speaking too gaped at the tall white haired man.
He looked... unchanged.
Exactly the same as the last time Naruto had seen him; the same red vest draped over a forest green kimono, long messy white hair, broad shoulders and stupid wide grin.
His old sensei stood there, larger than life as he enthusiastically slapped the boy's back, "What's wrong brat? Frog got your tongue?"
His protégé failed to answer as his sky blue eyes panned over to the large group of shinobi waiting for him; it looked like the entire village had managed to squash themselves between the large oaken doors of Konoha. Some of them were even sitting or standing on the walls and gates since there wasn't enough space.
Standing at the very front of the large congregation were several special people, all of them waved at him with wide grins.
"Tsunade-baa chan…. Kakashi-sensei..." He breathed out in a tiny whisper, "Sakura-chan… Sasuke…. But you're all…. Dead."
"Dead?" The tall man standing beside him chuckled loudly, "That blow to the head must've really messed you up; you can't have forgotten how badly you beat that stupid man and Madara can you? We were worried when you disappeared all of a sudden, but I knew you'd be back. Nothing keeps you down for long." Jiraiya clapped his back heartily, "C'mon, ramen's on me."
Naruto closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, 'Kurama? Are you seeing this?'
A reply came from deep within his mind, 'Seeing…. Still working on believing. If this is a genjutsu, it's a damn good one.'
'Alright, let's calm down for now and backtrack. I remember fighting that crazy woman and then…..'
'Uh… why are you asking ME? I could barely see anything through that red haze. You were basically moving on autopilot by the time the black haired kid put a couple of holes in you.'
'Fair enough.' Naruto allowed with a reluctant nod, 'It was all a little hazy to me too. All I really remember is a lot of fighting and flashy light shows.' The blonde sighed with some resignation, 'At least I'm not a kid anymore,' the young blonde boy who was nearly as tall as Jiraiya mumbled to himself before he seemed to remember that the Toad Sage was still waiting for an answer. Naruto smirked at the expectant Toad Sage, "You were saying something about an all you can eat ramen buffet?"
"Interesting how getting blasted across the continent made you forget everything except ramen." His teacher deadpanned as the two of them walked towards the welcoming committee.
Naruto only had time to shrug in reply before he was promptly engulfed within a massive hug from a pink haired girl and her busty teacher even as everybody else overwhelmed him with questions and congratulations alike.
"I was so worried, why didn't you come back sooner if you were fine!?" She thumped his chest with a fist.
"I broke a limb or two." Naruto replied with a laconic smirk, though it was somewhat softer than usual, "It took me a while to climb a mountain with only my teeth and three fingers."
Sakura half sobbed before she sniffed and wiped away the snot on the blonde's navy blue shirt much to his chagrin, "Idiot."
"You're washing that for me," Naruto noted before he glanced over at where a dark haired man stood waiting for him with a casual smirk. Extricating himself from the two women, the blonde slowly walked over to Sasuke.
The two of them stared at each other before the Uchiha slowly extended his hand to him, "You're finally back, dobe. It was getting as little hard to stop Sakura from going out there on her own to look for your blasted ass."
"She can't drink." The blonde replied civilly as he grasped the offered hand and they shook on it, "You should have force fed her a bottle or two and you wouldn't have to worry about it for the next week."
"I'm surprised you're taking this so well. I thought you'd be freaking out and cheering like a mad man by now." A cool voice pointed out from above him.
"Oh I am," The blonde smiled and glanced upwards where Kakashi's was sticking to the wooden gates by the soles of his sandals, "That's why I'm being such a smart ass right now. If I wasn't, I'd be blubbering and crying my eyes out. Can't spoil my reputation as the badass Seventh Hokage in front of all the kids now can I?"
Kakashi snorted, "Best thing that ever happened to you I swear. It managed to get you out of that orange jumpsuit when everything else failed."
Naruto glanced downwards and plucked at the navy blue shirt and baggy pants with a small supply bag taped around his right thigh with some bandages. It was the standard Konoha Jounin fatigues, only he wasn't wearing the green forest vest that usually came with it, "Now that you mention it, I should really get some orange shouldn't I?"
What little he could see of the scarecrow's face blanched, "NO! I uh… mean you look fine, perfectly dashing." His head bobbed frantically as he desperately tried to correct his mistake at mentioning orange, "Understated lethality."
Ignoring the man's panicked attempts at assuring him with much fortitude, Naruto pretended to muse to himself, "Maybe after ramen. A little orange here and there would be nice. An orange cloak, stripes and a butt flap would go nicely with everything wouldn't it?"
Chuckling as Kakashi stumbled over his own words, the blonde and his entourage continued talking as they made their way to a familiar side stall where two extremely warm faces greeted him with affection.
Already laid out on the every inch of the counter was every single type of ramen ever created and some that even he hadn't known existed.
It took every ounce of the blonde's hard earned discipline not to just dash over and starting the culinary version of a slaughter.
Play Akeboshi - Wind
A few hours later Naruto found himself sighing in pleasure as he sat down on his own little spot with a bottle of sake in one hand and three saucers in the other.
From his vantage point on the Fourth Hokage's head, he could clearly see the crowded little ramen stall far below him. He could faintly see their lips moving, everyone was chatting quietly in little groups, but he couldn't hear the words. It was a pleasant little buzzing in the background that only added to the mellow atmosphere that seemed to saturate the clearing.
Naruto leaned back onto the tree and patted his bloated stomach in utter satisfaction and contentment, "I had a lot of regrets you know. I never thought I'd be able to taste Teuchi-jii san's ramen ever again."
"Why not?" The tall and slender man beside him asked with one raised eyebrow at the sudden sober topic.
Naruto ignored the question in favour of humming to himself as he poured a cup of sake for the two men who were beside him. "I never thought I'd be able to have one last civil conversation with you, Sasuke or properly say good bye to you, Jiraiya-sensei."
The dark haired man slowly nodded with a confused expression that very clearly said that he thought there was something wrong with Naruto, "I don't understand. Why not? I came back to Konoha after we beat Madara and Tobi didn't we?"
The Toad Sage on his left grunted in affirmation, "He's right. The two of you have been best friends ever since then. He's even kept your house clean, waiting for you to come back. And say good bye? Why would you want to do that?"
The blonde's chuckle had a distinctly dark tint to it as his tone lowered into a deep growl, "Ah… but I KNOW that can't be possible," The blonde observed in a matter of fact tone, "Because I killed him with my own bare hands. The last few words we exchanged consisted mostly of curses and screams." He glanced at the black eyed man in the off white kimono, "Don't you remember?" the Uchiha's eyes widened as the yellow haired Uzumaki's gaze landed on him.
His left pupil had turned red and slitted, "Again and again I kept trying to talk to you. I was so determined, so resolved on saving you that people began to lose faith. The Alliance was broken up because nearly everybody thought I was driven to madness by my loyalty to a certified psychopathic murderer; my presence jeopardized everything because I prioritized you over the mission. Only Konoha remained on my side because they trusted in me, they believed in me after everything I did for them. So did Gaara actually, but he had to put his village before himself. One by one, they all left and I kept hoping you would come back."
There was a manic glint in his blue eyes, as if he just remembered a long forgotten hope, "I thought that was it you know. After you finally talked to Tou-san and the other Hokage's you looked like you were finally starting to listen to reason again. With that settled, I figured that once I explained to everybody that Uke and Sasuke weren't the same person; that you weren't you when you went off on that revenge trip, everything would finally go back to normal," Naruto knew he was rambling almost incoherently but he couldn't help it, "It was the PERFECT HAPPY ENDING!"
He cackled as he stared at Sasuke with a fanatic look in his eyes, "But then you stabbed us in the back and I had to kill you. I plunged my hand into your chest and ripped your heart out before I crushed your eyes. I made sure it was you too, just in case you learned some freaky immortal thing from Snake Sucker or Akatsuki, cut off head, stuff with garlic, burn everything etcetera."
Naruto suddenly laughed whimsically, "By then, I think most everyone already knew I was so far gone that they gave up, so they did the worst thing they could. They sacrificed themselves for me; chuck me into a goddamned Kamui to keep me safe. Last hope my ass. Keep the fires going My. Fucking. Ass."
The saucer slowly melted in Naruto's superheated palms, "I wondered you know. Being thrown into a goddamn Kamui gives you a lot of time to think. You don't even know how much time has passed when you're in there."
The old Toad Sage chuckled hesitantly as he squatted down beside the blonde boy crying with a blank expression and ruffled the blonde's hair with a vague, reassuring smile, "I think you're a little tired. Maybe you should cut back on the sake and rest a little before we continue this conversation."
The blonde Hokage snorted derisively as he slapped away his teacher's attempt to deprive him of his alcohol, "Being stuck in a boring black place with nothing to do for Kami knows how long tends to do that to someone. I stayed there for so long; I must have gone insane a few times. Musing about my doubts was the ONLY thing I could do. I didn't even know how much time had passed, I didn't even know whether they won or…" Naruto hesitated before shaking his head, "Let's just say that suddenly getting sucked into ANOTHER crazy hole and getting frozen violently didn't really help. At least it was something new."
He roughly wiped his tears away with the back of his hand, "I was imprisoned in there with all my doubts. I kept remembering my childhood, everything I had ever done, over and over and over and over again. Should I have stopped chasing you Sasuke?!" He screamed at the silent Uchiha, "Should I have lashed out against those idiots that ignored and treated me like air? No, even worse, I FELT LIKE I DIDN'T EXIST ANYMORE!" the blonde raged impotently while the two men watched on with uncannily blank faces as they were not equipped to deal with the blonde's insane raging.
Something that only caused Naruto to laugh even harder.
Crowbel never knew how right she was when she realized that Naruto had a few mental kinks to work out.
Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, the blonde stopped laughing. Calmly, he tipped the entire bottle and gulped the rest of the liquid down, "So what now?" He regarded the two of them with a shrewd look in his eye, "I imagine that I was meant to stay here in happiness, but that doesn't really work when I'm insane you know. All I see is your faces mocking me. Telling me that I failed."
"I'm just a figment of your imagination made by that girl. I can't really help you that." Jiraiya replied in a monotone as the construct that was supposed to be Sasuke slowly dissolved into a dark mist.
Below him, Konoha slowly melted away into a plain white expanse save the large statue of Minato Namikaze's head.
"Yeah I guess not." Naruto sniffed violently as he clapped his knees with finality and stood up, "Heh, I must look really uncool huh? Going off on a random rant like that."
"Pretty much." Jiraiya smiled reluctantly, "A certain idiot who jumps into the fray without ever thinking looks way cooler than you do now."
"I guess so. I'm going now; I've got something I need to do…." Naruto started to walk away before abruptly running back and hugging the old man who was still sitting on the Yondaime's head tightly, feeling like a 9 year old again.
Naruto heaved one last weak sob into the man's back.
"I'll be seeing you, Jiraiya-sensei."
"Take your time. Seriously. Don't hurry. You've got a few sweet girls waiting for you on the other side after all…" Jiraiya grinned his familiar, ever perverted smile, "You lucky bastard."
Naruto began running, he didn't know where, he just ran.
"Oi, Naruto!"
The blonde stopped and whirled around.
"What is it?!"
"You left something." The old man threw a ragged white bundle that had appeared out of nowhere to him.
As the blonde caught the bundle, he sniffed again and forced the welling tears back. Throwing a thumbs-up at the old man, both of them grinning the same old stupid smile, free of troubles and filled with innocence.
"Thanks sensei."
****Caliburn Initiative****
Play BlazBlue OST – Black Onslaught
A fist burst out of Reinforce's chest, the shock on her face matched those on everybody watching as a head of sunshine blonde hair wrenched his way out of her chest.
The blonde gave an animalistic roar before gravity reasserted itself and the blonde figure fell towards the sea before landing with a massive boom.
A tall figure slowly straightened itself as droplets of water fell around him in a mockery of rain, mixing in with the hot tears that dripped off his whiskered cheeks.
Mismatched eyes, one crimson and the other sapphire stared up at the floating woman defiantly as a golden aura tainted with black streaks flared up around the six feet tall man. With a flick of his wrist, the bundle in his hands unfurled magnificently as he slipped it onto his shoulders.
The white cape edged with gold thread flapped in the wind.
"I am not happy."
The two of them continued crying as they stared at each other with utterly emotionless expressions, "Now you know my pain." She whispered at him as a brace of red daggers formed around the strange man.
He glanced at them dismissively and stomped once, sending a blast of water upwards, catching the daggers before they could even get near him. The wall of water exploded and by the time the mist had settled enough to see, the stranger was no longer there.
He was above her.
"I don't care about your pain." He said quietly, and yet his words reached her over the strong wind as easily his kick shattered her barrier.
The Book of Darkness grunted as she barely managed to bring up her hands in time to block the axe kick as his mismatched eyes looked down on her with cool disdain, "Your pain is useless to me."
A clone appeared behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, immobilizing her as four other clones appeared in tandem, moving in sync as they casually and easily swept her feet out from underneath her before two of them landed massively powerful elbow strikes on her knee caps, brutally shattering them before they all clung to her arms like leeches and exploded like moving bombs.
A small girl watched in horror as the strange newcomer that had appeared out of nowhere began wailing on The Book of Darkness, his familiar striking appearance only increased the worry gnawing at her mind.
"Trying to deal with stubborn, deaf and berserk Mages is getting a little annoying." Nanoha commented quietly, "Raising Heart, initiate Axel Shooter."
Her closest confidante seemed to hesitate, [Are you sure, Master?]
Nanoha drew in a deep calming breath, "Very."
[…. Call me Excelion Mode.]
Her eyes widened, "I can't do that, Raising Heart. Your frame hasn't been reinforced," She pointed out dubiously.
[We need it. Call me Excelion Mode to save everybody.]
"Thank you… Ra.. Raising Heart…." She whispered softly, "Excelion Mode."
The golden sections moved with purpose as Raising Heart pumped a shell into the main frame, discarding a spent shell as its tip shifted into a more spear like formation. Three slowly revolving spell arrays appeared around Raising Heart as Nanoha hefted the staff upwards.
Far above Nanoha, the original Naruto floated calmly, watching dispassionately as his clones systematically broke her body until a bright pink ray of light lanced out of nowhere, briefly causing the man to stumble in mid-air to avoid it before being forced to execute a series of acrobatics in order to dodge the following blasts of magic.
Red and blue eyes briefly gazed at his attacker before they silently went back to the beleaguered Book of Darkness.
Brown hair whipped in the high wind as Nanoha approached him, "Why are you doing this?! Where is Fate-chan!?"
He ignored her demands, relishing in the look of pain on The Book's face as his clones carried out staggered waves of coordinated attacks on her, exploiting every opening to the maximum.
Crimson eyes went wide with pain as the silver haired woman tried to scream, her badly burnt arms flailing limply. Just as she was sucking in the breath required for a scream, a fist buried itself in her gut, driving all the remaining oxygen in her lungs out. Gulping in deep breaths of sweet air, the silver haired woman with red markings on her cheeks angled her body to fly away from the clones since they only seemed to specialize in close range combat.
Whirling around she flung out her arms, "Photon Lancer, Genocide Shift!" Dark orbs of lightning filled the entire sky, decimating an entire army of blondes. But they just kept coming.
Unrelentingly, like driven ants, they surged and used their comrades as shields, slowly but surely overwhelming the continuous output of lightning when the tidal wave of clones seemed to slow down.
Her moment of triumph was short lived as she was promptly met by the sight of a whole group of clones lined up in the horizon, their jaws distended grotesquely and a furiously spinning orb of inky blackness gathering within their bulging oral cavity.
Her wings instantly folded and she dropped out of the sky, barely evading the first blast and immediately realized her mistake when three more rays of sheer black destruction cut off her escape, these particular clones had used the tidal wave as a distraction, allowing themselves to make sure there was no escape from the torrents of pure darkness as they barrelled into her like several dump trucks in a row.
"No cast time?" She muttered to herself as she waded through the unrelenting barrage as her black uniform struggled to slowly repair itself, "That's not possible, what spell is that?! Why don't I know?!"
She knew the blonde. She had seen his mind. She knew his arsenal.
This was NOT that person.
By absorbing him and his core, she should have known every attack pattern he had and yet his fighting style was disgustingly different. This one fought savagely, brutally and spared no quarter, while the other preferred effective and efficient techniques to force a submission.
She had not seen that particular one before either. The only explanation she could think up through the haze of pain was that he came up with it on the spot after his release. Choking and trying to catch her breath, the crimson eyed woman savoured the sweet clean air when she burst free from the cloud of ash, completely failing to notice yet another blonde phasing into existence behind her as she mumbled to herself.
"Your pain is not worth my time." The clone whispered in her ear.
"Black Impact!" She whirled around as fast as possible, when the blonde coldly deflected the fist swathed in blackness. The clone snapped her wrist before he slammed his palm into her elbow, bending it the wrong way with a wet crack.
Jerking upwards, he kneed her armpit and snapped the clavicle mercilessly before his foot collided with her spine, sending her flying like a rag doll.
"Naruto?" A small voice called out to original as a hesitant Nanoha lifted Raising Heart at the strange man who seemed to be floating in mid-air without any assistance from his Device, "That's you isn't it? What are you doing?"
"I am merely subduing the target." The blonde finally replied softly, his eyes flashed across the battlefield, coordinating his clones into tactical formations as they ruthlessly ripped the Book into shreds with his arms crossed.
"You're not subduing the target," Nanoha retorted angrily, "You're just venting your anger!"
Naruto cocked his head as he dabbed at the tear tracks on his cheeks.
"Look at yourself," She said angrily, "Even you know what you are doing is wrong!"
The man woodenly her a brief gaze before he resolved himself again, "Do not interfere."
Violet eyes narrowed at his reply as a blade of light slowly extended from the tip of Raising Heart's Buster Mode. "If you will not listen, I will not hesitate to attack you again. Accel Charger! Activate!"
The symmetrical points of Raising Heart's Excellion mode separated, allowing a small spark to come to life between the two prongs, "Strike Flame."
To emphasize her command, the golden tipped spear like staff loudly discharged a used shell, causing three wings made of a pinkish light to flare open from the staff at Nanoha's growl before it dispensed another spent shell.
The wings and blade began to vibrate with power as extra magic pulsed through them.
The man inclined his head in the direction of the screaming silver haired woman, "And exactly what do you expect to achieve with that if it couldn't even scratch her? Come back with a bigger knife girl."
"Excelion Buster, A.C.S, DRIVE!"
Mismatched eyes tracked the girl's movements with ease, his superior kinetic vision caught her every move as she thrust the staff like a spear.
Naruto snorted dismissively as he easily dodged her boosted Drive attack, the energy blade at the tip just barely grazing his cheek before he lashed out with one hand.
The exhaust rods at the back of the spear point whistled loudly as it discharged the pent up heat to get ready for the next spell.
"This isn't like you!" Using every bit of her experience, Nanoha ducked under the fist and swung Raising Heart around his reach, "Raising Divine Heart Buster!"
The look on his face said everything that needed to be said when he felt something sharp tapping against the bottom of his chin, "Oh Fu-BOOOM!"
The blast knocked him right out of the sky.
Above him, Nanoha chased after the smoking blonde with an angry scowl. Using a burst of speed from Raising Heart, Nanoha propelled herself at the dazed blonde and used the exact same joint lock he had against her by slipping both her smaller arms underneath his before grasping the staff in a reverse crucifix.
Smirking, the blonde was about to break her nose when he heard her whisper something.
"The Naruto I know is stupid; he hates lessons and always sleeps in class but I can tell how hard he tries! He keeps reading the textbooks again and again until the pages tear!"
He immediately froze. Since she was behind him, he couldn't see her, but he could feel droplets of hot liquid splashing on the back of his neck.
"He's a little clumsy and he always tries to argue with me for the dumbest reasons but I know that he really hates to be alone. I know that he wouldn't hurt anybody just because he was ANGRY! You are NOT that Naruto!" Nanoha shouted fiercely, "GIVE HIM BACK!"
Naruto flinched at her words and staggered as they hit him like a brace of bombardment spells.
Rigidly straightening up again with ragged breathing as his confidence wavered, he wriggled out of her grapple easily and backhanded the nine year old girl with a cold expression, sending her shooting away with a painful scream before Signum managed to stop her momentum with her own body just before she hit the cement pavement.
"Something is wrong with him, he's not…. Here."
"He's fighting a ghost." Signum softly replied as she helped Nanoha up, recognizing the look in the blonde's eyes, "We have to stop him before he does something he'll regret."
Up in the sky, the whiskered man glanced at his right fist as blood dripped from the nail marks.
It was beginning to shake uncontrollably again.
"I don't have much time, I have to finish this soon." Angling his body, Naruto propelled himself towards the Book of Darkness as another blonde seamlessly appeared beneath her.
Desperately trying to regroup, she released a point blank shockwave of dark magic that washed over the blonde. In that fraction of a second, she witnessed the deep black aura that was wrapped around the dull eyed clone repelling her spell and it smirked at her before he socked her chin so hard that the force of it created a strong shockwave, sending her flying upwards towards the original.
The silver haired woman gasped painfully, her barriers seemed like nothing but wet paper to the clearly berserk blonde. Her momentum carried her up into the sky before she flew straight into Naruto's grip, his outstretched palm catching her windpipe.
Slowly, he began to crush it with a sneer. Weakly, she began to claw at the fingers holding her aloft by the neck as her vision slowly darkened. She uselessly tried to stab his chest with a Blood Dagger, but its sharp point kept slipping off the gold aura, as if it was repelling her spell.
What was with this man's overwhelming hate and power?
"The pain of someone who can't even bring herself to try to defy her programming before giving up is pathetic."
The harsh words battered at her failing consciousness as she gathered all her remaining strength and punched him, so hard that she heard her knuckles cracking.
It did a grand total of jack.
Why was he so strong?
"Those tears are the tears of a worthless program that is only capable of hating herself as she bows down and lets other people walk all over her own wishes."
A dangerous looking orb began forming in his free arm with an ear bursting screech.
"Neh? If I kill you, can I see them again?" the smile on his lips stretched beyond insanity, "I can, can't I?"
Behind him, she could faintly see her Knight, and the small mage racing towards them with horror in their eyes as her death approached inexorably.
Red, blue, black and gold strands of magic mixed together to form an uncomprehendingly destructive orb surrounded by a four pointed star, "Super Rasen-Shuriken."
Fully intent on killing himself along with the woman, Naruto thrust the truck sized orb into her abdomen.
"STOP!"
****Caliburn Initiative****
Play Groove Addicts – Ashes to Ashes
Chrono sucked in a deep breath as he held his aching side, using the D2U as a walking stick; he limped his way towards the bridge where he knew his father's best friend was currently holding his mother hostage.
Without him needing to say anything, the doors automatically separated with a soft hydraulic hiss to reveal the darkness within. Chrono rolled his eyes, "You really like the dark don't you?"
The man sitting on Lindy's chair chortled quietly though his eyes never left the monitor, "I never took you for the sarcastic type."
"I learnt it from a friend," The dark haired boy countered offhandedly as he limped into the room, his eyes swiftly gazed around the dark room, looking for his mother, "It's a little easier to deal with things when you're staring at the face of absolute terror and commenting on his terrible fashion sense."
"Is the uniform really that bad?"
"It could be better. Wearing black robes and spikes really don't appeal to me all that much." The Enforcer sighed, "I didn't really come here to chat, I'm a little more interested in where my mother happens to be right now." The staff snapped up and a bolt of blue energy raced towards the Admiral before it splashed and fizzled out on a web of blue hexagons.
"That's not very polite, Chrono. I taught you better than that." The chair swung around to reveal a unconscious Lindy sitting on the chair, "At least look before you attack, you might have hurt your mother you know." The voice taunted as Chrono instinctively rolled away scant seconds before he was impaled by a massive spire of ice.
Warily, the young boy stuck to the dark shadows of the room and surreptitiously inched towards his mother in complete silence, his dark coloured robes helping him blend into the darkness.
Sweat rolled down his forehead as his nerves worked on overtime trying to find his mentor.
"I truly do not understand why you are trying to stop me," The older man's voice echoed around the room, "Just look at your friends. If they're not being beaten up by the Book of Darkness, they're trying to kill each other, and I'm supposed to believe that you can find a better alternative? Just look at them."
Almost unwillingly, Chrono found his eyes being drawn to the monitor. A number of screens displayed strategic points all around the battlefield as miasma slowly bled from the cracks in the ground. Large snake like creatures crawling out from the bottom of those cracks screeched and yowled as they attacked anything in sight, "Already the Book is going berserk. In a few minutes when the book finally unleashes everything, it will finally be too late to do anything. The window of opportunity has been lost."
"Window? What window?"
"I mentioned it before didn't I? There is a short gap between its true activation where the Defence Program is inert while the Administrator Program shows its true form."
"Thank you, for that very enlightening information." Chrono muttered under his breath. Squeezing his eyelids shut as tightly as possible, Chrono sucked in a deep breath and slammed the butt of his staff on the ground. The tip of the D2U immediately lit up with a flare as bright as the sun. The glare of the light spell illuminated every dark corner of the room as he heard a strangled yelp from behind his mother was supposed to be.
Reacting to the sound, Chrono released a short burst of spell fire in that direction while the Admiral caught the blast with a blue staff easily despite being partially blinded and returned it with a vengeance. The young officer gasped as he felt his own magnified spell hit his chest, sending him crashing against the cold, metal wall.
The bearded old Mage carefully stepped from his shield and squinted at the downed boy with some triumph when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as someone shot a spell at him from the far side of the bridge. Leaning aside, he dodged by the large blade of blue energy and rolled behind the console to gather his breath. Hissing quietly, he pressed his hand against his side where the blade had grazed him, paralysing his left side. He carefully leaned out to glance in the direction of the second spell when he froze at the touch of cold metal on his neck.
The old man couldn't but smile as he glanced at the panting boy standing behind him, "Illusions? Now I'm REALLY surprised. I didn't even notice you casting that spell."
"There was no illusion," Chrono's breaths came hard and fast as he pressed the D2U against his neck a little harder to discourage his mentor from doing anything, "I'm was never very good at it, but I can cast with my free hand, so I simply cast two spells at once; you only caught one while the other bounced off the wall so you thought I was on the other side of the room."
"Ah, the basics. Learning how to cast without a Device's assistance. So you were behind me the whole time," Graham nodded in understanding, "You win this round."
"Thank you," Chrono replied softly and some anguish, even now he still thought of the older man as his mentor, "Please drop your staff."
"I'm getting too old for this." Graham laughed quietly as he massaged his numb side, "I never expected to be lucky enough to encounter the Book of Darkness thrice in one lifetime you know. You never did know your father very well did you?"
He smirked as the staff pressed itself deeper into his flesh as Chrono refused to respond to his question, "Drop the staff, Admiral." He repeated warily.
"I see now that that was my mistake. I kept trying to protect you from that pain, but as a result you could only chose this route because you have never truly felt the pain of losing someone close to you," Graham continued calmly, "Do you want to know that feels? Will you make that choice?"
"What are you talking about?" Chrono demanded angrily.
"The L'Arc-en-ciel's charge sequence has already started. Its current target is Uminari City. Now, will you choose between your friends and your mother?"
Chrono's eyes widened as Graham flung his hands out in opposite directions. He watched as two bolts of lethal energy fizzled out of the blue staff and the Admiral's other palm, one heading towards his slumbering mother, and the other towards the main console.
Abandoning all sense of decorum, Chrono kneed Graham in the face, breaking his nose, and his staff in the process, as he ran towards the first bolt.
He would never be able to raise a shield to stop it in time.
Closing his eyes, and trusting everything else to luck, Chrono threw himself in front of the Photon Lancer. He heard rather than felt the dull thud as the blade of pure energy sizzled through his Barrier Jacket and pierced his shoulder.
Its glowing tip stopped just short of his mother's heart.
Breathing heavily, the boy dropped to his knees and clutched at the hole in his shoulder as blood poured from the wound as slow clapping echoed around the dark room.
Peering up through foggy eyes, he growled at the old man whose nose was deliciously broken, "I was willing to sacrifice one life for the good of many. You weren't. Without the console to stop the charge sequence, you now you get to watch all your friends slowly die as the Artha's L'Arc-en-ciel burns them all." Graham gave the stunned boy a pitying look, "Maybe then you'll understand everything I've done."
One greyish brown eyebrow slowly rose as he realized Chrono was chortling to himself quietly.
"I fail to see what is so funny."
"They won't die."
He shrugged callously, "Of course they will. Without the Durandal, it's either a quick death from the Book of Darkness or a slow death as the planet is consumed. It wouldn't really have made any difference though. Without my help, the outcome would have been the same. You would have defeated the Book of Darkness, and it would have simply escaped again."
"No it won't," The boy replied resolutely. On the screen, he could see as Yuuno and Arf tackled Grahamn's two rogue familiars.
He could see as Nanoha blasted Naruto in the face, though he did wince at that one.
"Unlike you, I happen to have more faith in my friends."
"You never used to speak about friends." Graham mused quietly at the pictures emblazoned on the screen behind Chrono as pillars of fiery light began burst out from the ground.
****Caliburn Initiative****
Play Kana Ueda – Snow Rain [Another Approach]
Fate yawned lazily as she stretched in bed. She tried to roll around in her blankets, just to absorb all that lovely warmth from the linen, when someone else moaned sadly at the loss of their own share and tugged the blankets away from her.
Frowning, red eyes opened sleepily.
To the AAA ranked nine year old, for whom there was nothing more important than family, she immediately wished she hadn't as a smaller version of herself curled up into a small ball alongside an absolutely tiny Arf. She stared at the sleeping girl until someone opened the door to the sun lit chambers the three of them were in.
"Morning you three, time to wake up."
Fate's head immediately snapped over to the owner of that strangely familiar voice. She watched disbelievingly as a beautiful woman walked to the blinds and threw them open with a warm smile, "Mou, Alicia, you should learn from Fate. She's already awake and wide eyed."
The adorable bundle of yellow hair beside Fate mumbled something unintelligible though Fate hazily suspected that was for the best. Given that the two of them were essentially the same person, she rather doubted that Alicia was anymore of a graceful morning person than she was.
"Alright, alright, the two of you need to get up. Precia is already waiting for the two of you"
Fate gasped.
****Caliburn Initiative****
Sleepy….. She had never felt so tired before, even for her, this was too strange.
The hazy figure of a beautiful white haired woman in a simple black dress slowly swam in vision.
"Who…. Are…. You?" Every word was a struggle for her to even enunciate.
The woman crying on her lap looked up through tear stained eyes, "Master…." She said something that Hayate couldn't hear, "Broken… Tool…. Wish…"
What did she wish for again?
The strange woman answered her mental question, "You wanted to dream. To dream tranquilly, forever. Peacefully, where no one can hurt you ever again." The voice broke a little, "I am sorry."
But…. That is not a wish, Hayate reasoned, pushing through the heavy fog, it is just a dream.
What was the happiness I wanted?
"You wanted a healthy body, to keep living with those you love…. but you must stay here, Master. There are dangerous people outside. If you sleep here, you can have all that in here."
That…..
Is wrong.
She forced her eyes open through sheer determination.
"I didn't wish for this!"
****Caliburn Initiative****
Fate walked through the corridor, her shoes tapping on the marble floor of the high ceilinged building as if she was in a dream. Corridors that she knew extremely well, corridors that belonged to the Garden of Time, only light filtered through stained glass and there was a sweet smell in the air.
Well, she already knew that she was in a dream; she only wanted to know why. Her throat got tighter and tighter as she got nearer to the great chamber where she could hear Alicia's bird like voice chirping in response to Precia's deeper but loving words.
The dark haired woman looked up to see her youngest daughter peeking at them from behind a great pillar, she could see fear, nervousness and most of all desire, warring in those beautiful red orbs, 'Fate-chan? What's wrong?"
"She thinks it's a dream or an illusion." Alicia smiled mischievously as she teased her younger sister, "I think she studied a little too much."
Precia smiled softly as she beckoned for the shaking girl to come closer.
Step by step, Fate moved towards the beautiful lady she called her mother. Every step she took seemed to break her resistance.
The purple haired woman's arms wrapped themselves around Fate, who flinched, expecting pain, but instead of pain, she could only feel love.
Fate cried.
****Caliburn Initiative****
The two of them sat under a tree, not really doing anything, mostly because Fate insisted they just cuddle under the tree.
Alicia stirred in Fate's embrace as she peeked out from under her baby sister, "Fate-chan, it's going to rain. We have to go home!"
Fate bit her lip and smiled sadly, "I can't do that, Alicia…." At the smaller girl's inquiring look, Fate faltered, "I… I just want to sit out here a little longer."
The little blonde girl looked at the castle in the distance a little longingly before she puffed up with some self-perceived duty, "Then I'll wait here too! You're the little sister so I have to take care of you!" Humming a strange a little song to herself, Alicia plopped herself back down beside Fate.
This only made what Fate had to say even harder.
"I love you, Alicia-chan."
The small girl blinked in surprise, "I love Linith, Arf and Precia too… but Precia was never that kind to me." Once she started, it didn't stop much to Fate's thankfulness, "No matter how much I want it to be real, I know that it isn't. I don't want to leave but I know I have to."
"She was really kind…." Alicia murmured softly as she displayed a sudden awareness of the situation, "Because she was so kind, she broke."
"I'm sorry, Alicia," hot tears slowly leaked from her eyes, "I really want to stay. I want to love you, I want to love Precia."
"Do you have a family outside?" Alicia asked softly as the rain began falling around them, "Are they waiting?"
"They… They're very nice. There's Lindy, she's the mother who always cares about us. Chrono is the strange but reliable big brother and Naruto, our annoying little brother. They all care about me. Us."
"Do you think they would like me?" Alicia asked in a tiny voice.
Fate nodded with a small hiccup as she began crying at the small girl's question.
Alicia dug around in her little white dress and pulled out smething tightly clasped in her little palm. Hesitantly, she held the small topaz triangle to Fate, "You have to help them right?"
Fate nodded once, before she engulfed her older sister in a tight hug. Alicia gave her the most loving smile Fate had ever seen before she dissolved into a burst of golden dust, "Take care, Fate."
Fate began walking towards the castle, feeling a little thankful for the heavy rain.
Though she never knew rain was salty.
****Caliburn Initiative****
"My master…. I am sorry. This broken program couldn't even fulfil your last wish before it was too late." The voice echoed around her, it was strangely warped.
The world around them shook violently, "The pain of someone who can't even bring herself to try to defy her programming before giving up is pathetic."
Hayate looked around them before she glanced at the broken woman on her lap.
"He is not a very nice person is he…." Hayate noted softly, "But he has a point. Do you want to fight it?"
The sadness of being unable to live the way you want….
"Why would you want to help the very thing that is corroding your body? Taking away your health and slowly killing you?"
"Did you want to?"
No matter how injured she was, the beautiful woman straightened up with an indignant expression, "Never!"
"Then…. that is reason enough."
"Do you…. Do you think I can really fight back?" There was a sad hope in her question.
"If you can't…. no you can. Even so, you are not alone anymore. I am your Master. Everything you have done, I will bear it all because I am your Master. I will fight with you." She gathered the woman into her weak, frail arms, "I understand a little, a little glimpse of everything all of you have been through."
"I'll give you a name, a name of one who supports others with strength, the tailwind of fortune and the blessed air, I won't let you your name be cursed anymore. From now on… your name will be…." Hayate's weak voice grew louder and louder as she cradled the injured woman to her chest.
The silver haired woman felt hot tears splash down on her, but she couldn't tell if they were hers or her Master's, "Reinforce."
She felt warmth flood her body.
"Reinforce has been registered as a new name for this unit." An ethereal voice echoed around and within Hayate, "Administration is now possible… however, with this, I can no longer restrain the program. The power that was separated from me will be in full possession of its facilities as it begins to rampage shortly."
Hayate grinned, "Don't worry, we'll do something about it."
****Caliburn Initiative****
Fate felt Bardiche's Device form, reassuringly heavy in her grasp as she stood in the middle of the reception hall.
As far as they could tell, there was no visible way out from the labyrinthine halls of the Garden of Time.
Staff form retracted into a reliably sturdy hilt and the cross guard formed with a flash. Fate gave one last resigned heave and the hilt began glowing with power.
[Zanber Form.]
"Shippu Jinrai!" She lifted the lightning sword high above her head as bolts and tendrils of violent static swirled around her and Bardiche Assault as they attacked the force field.
Fate frowned as her attack failed to pierce whatever was keeping her in here.
Pouring even more power into the glowing sword, Fate glared at the wall, "Sprite Zanber!"
****Caliburn Initiative****
Play Yasuharu Takanashi - My Name
Nanoha and Signum blinked in surprise while Naruto coughed and spat out some blood as he pulled his own hand out of his chest with a disgusting crunch of bone and blood.
The scream had come from his own lips as the hand that had been crushing the silver haired woman's neck let her go before it abruptly formed a translucent blade of wind that it used to shear off his other arm with a spray of blood.
The destructive orb instantly dissipated as the lopped off limb fell out of the sky.
The blonde breathed shakily while his rogue limb tore at his own face, "What are you doing you idiot?! I can solve everything for you! Just let me be a little longer and we can be together again!"
"…. I'm sorry for leaning on you for so long; you were my only friend for years in that dark hole…. But I don't need you to solve anything anymore. I made those mistakes and I'll pay for them in my own way, that's my Shinobi way! NOW GIMME THAT STEERING WHEEL!" the words tore themselves from his lips in a reassuringly belligerent and sarcastic tone compared to the monotone he had been using up till now.
"Thank you, for being there for me."
The one armed blonde only grunted to himself before he went limp in mid-air for a while. For one frightening moment, Nanoha thought that the blonde had killed himself when the limp body sudden began to spasm violently before he abruptly straightened up again.
He nonchalantly flashed a cocky smirk at the two dumbfounded females with a lazy wave of the hand.
"Yo. I'm back."
Nanoha smiled.
There was no anger, no resentment, no grudges held for the painful bruise on her cheek, no nothing.
The nine year old just smiled like she had always believed he would find his way back, "What took you so long?"
"I got lost in this really trippy place with a lot of rainbows when somebody saw fit to break my face." Naruto snarked gently before his lips curled downwards, "I'm sorry."
"We'll talk about this later."
The blonde silently nodded as he clutched at the stump of his left arm uncomfortably. A strange crimson aura began to bleed from the open wound as his arm reconstructed itself from pure energy, steam and blood, though the process looked anything but pleasant if the 19 year old's sweaty face was any indication.
Signum raised one eyebrow. She had always thought he had been exaggerating. Turns out he really could regenerate.
"You're just like a cockroach. Unbelievably hard to kill. Do you know that?"
"I don't mind teaching you how to do it. It's really quite simple, just catch a demi god, preferably one that you won't catch licking his balls every morning when you wake up, and stuff it in your guts. Voila, walking tank." The blonde shot back with a strained smile as the gaping wounds in his abdomen began filling up at a ridiculous speed.
The ranting in his head was totally worth it.
In front of the two of them, the blonde man lifted his hand, displaying the gleaming black bracelet on his right wrist, "Caliburn… I have to apologize to you as well. I could hear you calling, but I couldn't answer. I know how paltry my words are right now, but thank you…. and sorry."
[….. Your Orders, Master.]
"Caliburn. Set up." The bracelet shone with an internal light, a warm golden that erupted and enveloped the young warrior.
When the light died down, the blonde stood there in his Barrier Jacket. A customized navy blue uniform while his battered, blood soaked cloak was replaced by a pure white one that flapped around his shoulders, warm golden thread decorated it's edges, lending it a certain regal air.
The bracelet on his right wrist had morphed into a pair of simple metallic black bracers emblazoned with deep orange carvings more suited for combat.
Lights burst up from behind him as a familiar looking person dressed in a black Barrier Jacket with a red cape whipping around her stepped out of the light; bright yellow tressed flowed behind her as she smiled affectionately at the three of them before she realized that the her adopted brother had had a rather sudden growth spurt.
"Glad to see you could make it."
She gave him a strange look.
"You don't look like a fox puppy anymore…."
"You just lost your Nee-chan privileges. No presents for you until you turn twelve." Naruto commented flatly as a familiar figure burst out of the sea water. Water began evaporating from the Book's body in big plumes of steam as her body rapidly repaired itself.
As all four of them tensed, Signum narrowed her eyes at her creator, "Something's wrong with her."
The silver haired woman moved in mechanical jerks as if a cog had been jammed inside of her. Her clear red eyes flashed intermittently as she struggled to move and begin attacking again once her body had completely healed.
"Translation for the idiot?" Naruto asked with a plaintive smile.
"Ummm… the ones outside…. The ones from the Bureau!" all of them shared a look at the Kansai accent as Signum lit up with clear joy at her Master's voice, "Hayate-sama!"
"Si-Signum? You're okay?"
"I'm outside with the Mages from the Bureau." The rose haired woman nodded with clear tears running down her cheeks, "We've been trying to reach you for so long and stop the Book of Darkness from rampaging. Hayate-sama, are you alright?"
The voice echoing in their minds hesitated, "I-Is the bad man gone?"
"For a certain definition of gone." Naruto noted dryly when the three females looked at him, "Can you stop The Book of Darkness from going berserk?"
"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun but I can't do that…." Hayate paused briefly before she continued again, "I know that this is not the best time, but could I ask you're a favour? Can you please do your best to stop her?"
Naruto shrugged and nudged Nanoha, "I'm just the flunky, I can't promise anything."
"Nanoha-chan… please." Hayate pleaded softly, "I've taken away the control from Reinforce, but I can't use my administrative powers the way she is now, this should give you enough time to stop her from causing any more damage.
"What should we do? If Hayate has some control over her, I don't want to hurt her." Nanoha cried out as the four of them scattered. High above them, the automatic defence program had begun to slowly but surely regain control as several groups of clawed tentacles burst out from the sea to support her.
"Just hit her!"
Naruto blinked, "Yuuno? Is that you? Did you ever get down here? Incidentally, can this wait? I'm a little busy trying to dodge beams of destructions from little Ms-I'm-Floating-With-A-Miniskirt-so-I-Can-Show-Off -My-Nice-Legs up there."
"With that kind of description, I'm actually surprised that you have yet to find out what colour her panties are." Yuuno commented dryly.
"Wait, let me check..."
"That was a joke, you don't serio-"
"White and blue tripes….." There was an uncomfortable radio silence as Naruto mused to himself, "Huh... I was kinda expecting something black or even purple with the 'I'm going to destroy everything' vibe she has going..."
"...thud...thud...thud..." Naruto got the impression that Amy who had probably been eavesdropping or something, was banging her head on the nearest wall if the sounds being communicated over the spell array was any indication.
"Oops." The blonde suddenly had to dodge in a hurry as the barrage aimed at him in particular suddenly seemed to triple in size and speed, "I think she might be a little upset."
"Woohooo! Kill him! I'm rooting for you, Miss Book of Darkness!"
"Amy, get off the line!"
Naruto coughed politely as he awkwardly flew around the whipping vines, the other guy made it seem so easy somehow, "You mind telling me what that something important was before I get creamed?"
"We're rushing in your direction now but I've more or less heard everything. Just hit her with everything you've got, there has never been a case of a conscious administrator during its True Awakening. If we can jar the Book of Darkness enough for Hayate-san to reassert control, we might be able to help her get free or just stop the whole thing entirely!"
"Nanoha, Signum, Fate, you heard him!"
He didn't even receive a single word of response as Nanoha, very enthusiastically, accepted the order. A bright spell circle came to life beneath the auburn haired girl while Raising Heart began humming with power again as it rapidly began ejecting shell after shell, "Excelion Buster, Barrel Expansion for Midrange Firing!"
Above her, a yellow bolt of lightning made itself known as Fate sped through the skies, wielding an abnormally large sword made of energy. Whirling it above her head, she suddenly changed directions and surged towards The Book of Darkness, the blade's keen edge making a loud whistling noise against the wind, "Sprite…."
Beneath the Book of Darkness, waves of energy began expanding from Signum, rippling the surface of the sea, "Laevantein, Cartridge Load." She intonated quietly as the noticeably excited Device flared up with crimson flames.
Naruto actually kind of pitied the silver haired woman but he had his own job to do. Holding his palms slightly apart from each other, tendrils of blue energy began shooting back and forth between his palms. A tiny orb of super compressed chakra, spinning fiercely, began forming in the small gap between two palms.
"Uzumaki Jutsu: Ou Tatsumaki!"
He allowed his control over a fixed point of the orb to lapse, causing a torrent of super powered chakra to gush out like a condensed whirlpool that struck the target like a tsunami that caught the silver haired woman in the eye of the storm before he flicked his wrist like a whip. The great whirlpool billowing out of his hands undulated much like an oversized whip before a tiny fleck was violently thrown out of the other end, sending her straight towards Fate.
"Sprite Zanber!" Her blade's brightness went up a notch as she sliced it up and down, breaking her target's protections and cutting deep into her flesh when a flow of fire surging up from below caught her falling body, hidden amongst the flames were Laevantein's blade links as they swirled around her.
Signum flicked her wrist once, and the terrible attack converged onto her.
"Breaaak SHOOOOT!" a brilliant pink ray of light engulfed everything.
****Caliburn Initiative****
Hayate smiled gladly as she felt her authority over the book returning to her.
Three orbs of coloured light began circling around her, "Return Linker Core, rebuild Guardian Knight System." Hayate issued command after command as she materialized in mid-air above the large, black blob with Reinforce in Stand By mode safely held in her arms.
"Come to me, my Knights." The woman said softly, a massive platform made out of a white triangular array revolved beneath them slowly as the Knights were slowly reconstructed according to the Mistress of the Night Sky's wishes.
Naruto let himself breath a quiet sigh of relief as he clapped on hand on Signum's smudged and damaged shoulder pauldron.
The two of them roughly the same height now, allowing him to at least look her in the eye, "I do believe you're being summoned."
Signum gave him a sincere smile, "Thanks."
He watched the Knight of the Sword join the other Wolkenritters, just standing on the platform, he could see the immense amount of magic flowing out of Hayate slowly heal and repair Signum. She stood tall and strong, renewed, "We are the guardian Knights who gather before our Mistress, she of the Night Sky." Her voice rang loud and clear in her customary formal speech.
Beside her, the Knight of the Lake, Shamal spoke up, her soft, motherly voice echoed strongly, "As long as our mistress exists, our souls will never extinguish.
Zafira's voice came next, deep and clear, "As long as we have life in our bodies, we will stand by each other."
Vita, Knight of the Iron Hammer's voice rang out clear and strong, "We will always exist before our mistress, Queen of the Night Sky, Yagami Hayate."
"Reinforce…. Bestow upon my armour and staff."
****Caliburn Initiative****
Naruto sighed with a deep sense of relief at the sight of Hayate and her Knights together again when he felt his spine finally turn to jelly as everything seemed to catch up to the blonde at once. Relax just a little, and bam.
Without a word, he allowed himself to lazily fall from the sky.
He'd worry about the concussion later as a dim glow enveloped his body.
When the light bled away from him, he found himself back in his nine year old form and utterly depleted.
And just as he was about to hit the ground, he heard a feminine yelp as somebody caught his arm, shortly before another girl grabbed his other sleeve in order to slow his descent, "Oh Kami, you need to go on a diet."
Naruto grunted in amusement, "Says the one who stuffs her face with cakes on a regular basis. On a more serious note, how are they doing?"
"At least you're nine again. It was really weird looking at you like an adult." Nanoha muttered to herself before she and Fate shared a smile as they slowly lowered him to the ground, "They're fine. Just a little overwhelmed after everything that has happened I think."
"Good." The blonde grunted quietly as he glanced at the big dome of purple miasma roiling just in the background, the reforming remains of the Automatic Defence Program.
"Do you want to join them?"
Naruto averted his eyes and both of them heard the guilt in his mutter, "I… don't think so."
****Caliburn Initiative****
"Hayate-chan. I like the hair, white suits you." Naruto commented dryly while he kept one eye on a hissing Vita.
If he didn't know any better, he'd think she didn't like him.
"Thank you, Naruto-kun." The two of them greeted each other formally, before the Mistress of the Night Sky smirked at the blonde who happened to be dangling from between Fate and Nanoha like a misbehaving fox pup as she stroked Vita's hair to calm her down, "You look like you're enjoying yourself."
"Your definition of enjoyment needs some tweaking. As in whack it with a hammer kind of tweaking."
"Before we do any tweaking…." She bowed to the three TSAB Mages, "I'm sorry for everything my children has put you through." Placing a palm on all their heads, she forced the disgruntled Knights to bow as well, "They've caused a lot of trouble for everyone."
Nanoha chewed on her bottom lip as she dropped the blonde onto the platform of solid light like a rock, "No… we must take a share of the blame as well. Will you forgive us?"
"Thank you… Nanoha-chan." The cream haired girl said softly, "I do understand that it won't solve everything but at least it's a start. For now…." She glanced at the dome made out of purple miasma, "We have to deal with this naughty child first."
The Knights slowly looked around while Nanoha sheepishly scuffed her foot, "All we're good for is really big explosions. Do those work?" Vita asked plaintitively, obviously speaking for her fellow Knights and Nanoha.
Zafira nodded stoically, "We're not too knowledgeable about when it goes berserk either."
"Uhmm…." Shamal flushed as everyone looked at her, "I-I don't think it will work. Without the Tome of the Night Sky directly controlling it, the Berserk program is essentially a mass of magic without a purpose other than releasing that magic until it runs out. Freezing it wouldn't do anything as long as the core is intact…. The reincarnation cycle will just keep continuing."
"Before that, we have a bigger problem. The L'Arc-en-Ciel was activated. Right now, we can't use the targeting system, so it's going to fire at a point above Uminari City's airspace."
"Run where? If something of that power hits any point on Earth, we'd all be dead anyway." The blonde frowned and calmly responded as he flexed his right fist, "I'm starting to get a little annoyed by how everyone tells me to run anyway."
"….. The Arthra's in outer orbit isn't it? We could try and pool all our teleportation magic together and send it into the atmosphere to intercept the L'arc-en-ciel…. Somewhere where the explosion won't harm Earth or the Arthra." Yuuno pointed out doubtfully.
"I'm not worried about the Arthra, we can get it repaired," Chrono replied urgently, "But is doing what Yuuno said possible?"
"….As long as we can strip away all the barriers and physical protection first then I don't see why not." Signum quietly remarked, "I've seen some of the blue prints for it. Even if it doesn't completely destroy the core, it should damage it long enough for us to think of another way."
"Gaah!" Arf moaned as she felt her brain overheating, "Why can't we just beat that thing up until it shows its core?!"
Naruto winked at Arf, "It's the only plan we've got, so we might as well go for it."
"What are you talking about?"
"Long story short, we're going to shove it into Arthra's canon hole."
"What?" Everyone echoed incredulously.
"Chrono, send us the coordinates of the safest point for the collision. You're about to have a date with a very nice… thing." Naruto reaffirmed, "We'll break down its barriers and the teleporters will send it up the moment its core shows itself."
All of them shared a look, before they invariably shrugged, it was a good a plan as any, and all they needed to do was go all out. As far as most of them were concerned, it was like getting paid to do something they like.
The Arthra's Enforcer nodded, "We're going to begin calculations and move the ship as far away as possible. The coordinates will arrive in 15 minutes at latest. Proceed as planned. Chrono, out."
Pulling back, he collapsed into his chair with a sigh, "Did you see that, Graham? Not only was your Durandal plan completely pointless, every single one of them are willing to risk life and limb, for someone who didn't exist, for something that you classify as nothing more than a program. Do you know what's the difference between this Book of Darkness and the ones you encountered before?" Chrono asked the old man.
When the old man refused to answer, Chrono smiled faintly, "They have some really good friends."
Naruto meditated in mid-air; gathering up as much strength as possible with the 15 minutes that Hayate and the Tome of the Night Sky had apparently bought for them. Fate and Nanoha floated beside him, both of them were doing their own preparations.
"You think it'll work?" Nanoha asked as she absent minded rubbed at the bruise on her cheek.
"Not sure if it'll work, but I know it'll definitely hurt."
"Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan, Naruto-kun!" the three of them regarded the person calling them with a questioning look, "What's wrong, Hayate-chan?"
"The three of you have been fighting for a while now haven't you?" She looked at Shamal pleadingly, "Can you heal them?"
The motherly blonde smiled sweetly, "Of course." She lifted the gold bands on her two fingers to her lips and brushed them gently, "Klarer Wind, it's time to do what you do best."
A soft breeze blew around the woman in the green dress as a healing breath flowed over the three of them, closing up wounds and regenerating their stamina.
"Shamal-san! That was wonderful!"
"Tsk, just a little bit more." Naruto muttered to himself as Fate and Nanoha thanked the sweet woman.
Right beside him, Hayate made some mental notes under her breath, "Gaah, I should have made the skirt a little shorter. Would have been so much more attractive than that long pointless skirt if it showed just a little more…."
The two of them blinked as they registered what the other had said. Slowly they turned to look at each other.
"You think so too?" Hayate and Naruto said simultaneously with identical grins on their faces. Mock saluting, they shook hands firmly.
Instant best friends.
"KYAAAAAH!"
"Ah…. Idiots…."
"Yeah…. idiots."
"Why am I helping her again?" Shamal wondered to herself as the black dome beneath them burst open to reveal a vaguely insectoid beast with the upper body of a wailing woman attached to the forehead of the insectoid.
Vita looked like she was going to start sobbing, "Because she's our Master. Our Master who happens to like stuffing me in a bunny costume." She glared at Nanoha and Fate who were staring at her with complicated, almost pitying, expressions, "Stop looking at me like that! I don't need your half assed sympathy! Waaaa!"
"Vita! Wait up, we're supposed to attack togeetthheeer!" Nanoha called out somewhat lamely.
The two mages sweat dropped as Vita began wailing away on the berserk program with tears and snot running down her face, "Die Darkness of the Book of Darkness! Waaaa!"
"Darkness of the book of…. Darkness?" the blonde man stood there and stared at them with a weird look on his whiskered face, "Who was the genius that came up with that mouthful?"
"That's the corrupted program in Reinforce, the so called cursed part of her that was causing her to do all sorts of terrible thing-"
Play TTGL OST – Happily Ever After
"OI, DEAD MEAT ON LEGS!" Fate's helpful explanation was cut off by Naruto shaking a fist in the half spider, half woman, half something abominable's direction before he turned back to her with a dry look, "See? Much easier. It even feels so much nicer to say and it has four words in it if you happen to be picky." The blonde deadpanned.
"We'll be your support for this battle, Fate-chan!" Arf called out as she began casting a spell, "Chain BIND!" Green chains of light burst forth from the array that
"Don't worry and just give it everything you have while we stop those tentacles on the front line," Yuuno yelled out equally loudly as he cast a Struggle Bind. Green chains hurled themselves at the thick worm like tentacles sprouting around the spider woman, squeezing their thick juicy hides painfully.
Zafira crossed his hands, "Restrict, Steel Yoke!"
The feminine thing atop the beats wailed even louder as the tentacles were cut off by the three support mages in large chunks.
Vita hefted Graf Eisen as she began gathering magic, "You're timing better match mine, Takamachi Nanoha!" She called belligerently as the two of them reached operational height, "I am Vita, the Iron Hammer Knight of the Iron Count, Graf Eisen, there is nothing I cannot break," Graf Eisen chambered a cartridge and ejected the spent shell in sync with his Mage, [Gigant Form.]
Graf Eisen's head immediately began bloating to the size of a football field while his owner swung him around almost effortlessly despite her less than stellar size, "GIGANT CRUSHER!"
The massive hammer's head dropped down like a comet and crashed into a pink barrier of light, cracking it heavily but not shattering it.
Directly behind Vita, Nanoha twirled Raising Heart around and aimed at the weakest point of the web shaped fracture, "Takamachi Nanoha, Rasing Heart Excelion, Zenryoku Zentai!"
[Load Cartridge. ] Raising Heart began rapidly chambering shell after shell, as much stress as it's exhaust rods and frame could handle, "Excelion Buster!" a surge of clear wind collided with the creature, "Break SHOOT!"
The spider-like beast thrashed around as several rays of pink destructions struck its front, shattering the first of four layers.
"Signum, Testarossa-san, it's your turn!" Shamal yelled out loudly.
Naruto watched with a frown as the two speedy fighters began using their strongest attacks.
"What weapons do I have to work with here?" Naruto asked his Device curiously.
[Hyper Molecular Separator.]
Naruto grinned happily, "I have no idea what that means, but it sounds awesome. Activate Hyper Molecular Separator!"
A simmering, half transparent blade materialized out of thin air, extending about half a foot from his wrist.
Naruto stared at his half foot long blade dumbly. Then he squinted at Fate's kilometre long Zeus Zanber.
Waving the glowing blade around limply, the blonde gestured at the 4 storey tall black monstrosity with an angry jab of his new shiny blade, "You can't seriously expect me to go up against that with a can opener, can you?" Naruto spluttered at his Device incredulously, "I might as well go and shake my shrunken penis at it and hope it kills itself from envy!"
Fate coughed politely from beside him, "Just in case you've forgotten, you are currently surrounded by a group of highly trained females wielding some rather sharp and/or dangerous implements. Are you really sure you want to talk about shaking certain things right now?" she shot a pointed look at her adopted brother who currently looked like he couldn't decide whether to he should start throwing a tantrum or mope in a corner.
"When I find out who made Caliburn, I'm going to hyper molecular separator his limbs. That'll teach him to vent his impotence issues on me." He grumbled to himself as he decided to just get on with it, "How many spells do we have stored, Caliburn?"
[Current Storage is Limited to Two Different Spells. Requesting Clearance for Battle Efficiency.]
The blonde blinked, "Approved?"
[Clearance Received. Entering Massacre Form.]
The bracers morphed again, shifting into a pair of metal plated gloves along with a pair of strangely shaped barrels that looked like a cross between a miniature buckler with a forward facing bayonet attached to it on both arms.
The blonde flexed his palms as he tried to remember the trigger words, "Massacre Form, Load Slot One."
He felt the glove jerk as an abnormally large bullet was pushed into the slot.
[Blutiger Dolch Loaded. Ready for Overdrive.]
He crossed his arms, and began growling as he forced every bit of chakra he could muster towards the gloves.
The revolver barrel began spinning rapidly and steaming heavily as the blonde began running at a loping pace that gradually got faster and faster until he was barely a blur that collided with the huge Spider, the blow caused it to rise up a little from the force, when Naruto landed the second massively powerful blow, "Overdrive, Bluttiger Kaizer!"
The obscenely overpowered version of Reinforce's Bloody Dagger was nothing short of awe inspiring as building sized daggers formed out of air, to the point where one dagger was taller than the spider itself.
"Hayate-chan! Special Delivery!" Grunting, the blonde landed and began manipulating them with his hands, one by one, the immense swords began striking at the creature. Each time a blade hit the creature, the tower sized dagger exploded with enough force to send the blonde skidding against the ground through sheer air pressure while Dead Meat got higher and higher into the sky with each explosive strike. The blonde threw out his palm, and clenched it into a fist.
In the sky, the last three immense blades finished it off by skewering it through the abdomen and keeping it there instead of exploding.
Hanging in the air from the momentum of the explosions, Hayate, Nanoha and Fate began gearing up for the strongest attacks.
[Starlight Breaker.] Raising Heart began humming louder and louder as it absorbed the residual magic in the air around Nanoha, "Zenryoku Zentai," A powerful; aura began surrounding all three of them, each of them with their own signature colour, Starlight….."
"Raikou Issen," Fate spun her energy sword around with an expertise that belied her young age as she called down purple thunder from the Heavens. The thunder only added to the power of the Zanber, "Plasma Zanber…."
Hayate looked down the squealing creature as it rapidly regenerated in mid-air. After suffering the obscenely huge explosions from Bluttiger Kaizer, the spider had been mangled into nothing but a lump of flesh that quickly began regenerating into a chimera of various monsters the Knights had defeated before. Sadly, she lifted her golden staff into the air where it began to gather dark orbs of pure energy, "Resound, Horns of Judgement… Ragnarok.
A white triangular array appeared as three cream white orbs of energy gathered around its points.
On the ground, Naruto winced as the burning hot casing was ejected from the revolver bracelet along with a huge amount of steam.
Naruto nodded resolutely, "Let's go for broke. Load Slot Two."
[….]
You could almost feel Caliburn wanting to tell Naruto to stick it somewhere unpleasant.
[….Startlight Breaker Loaded.] Caliburn chambered the final bulletwith a resounding click, [Ready for Overdrive.]
"Hey, furball…. Ready for one last shot?" the blonde bit out as his muscles began screaming under the pressure.
"You're body's gonna break you know." Kyuubi pointed out uncaringly, "You're more injured than that one time you fought Madara toe to toe."
"So you don't want to?"
"Hell yes I want to. I just thought it would be proper courtesy to remind you that you're about to become a paraplegic. Now let's show them how great I am." The voice in his head paused, "I'm almost starting to thank Minato for sticking me in you. It's beginning to seem like no matter where you go, you're going to step the most amusing shit without fail."
The blonde could only smile at the grudging tone before heaving the mass of inky blackness into the air, feeding his energy to the roiling mass above the array.
Orbs of inky blackness, malevolent crimson, serene blue and shining gold began coalescing around the re-aged shinobi before melding into one enormous orb that dwarfed any Starlight Breaker that Nanoha had ever made.
"This is the weight of my mistakes. Can you bear it?"
"EARTH BREAKER!"
Naruto drew a deep breath and let it go; the resulting ray of light broke the sound barrier before ploughing into the Darkness' underside with a huge boom, accelerating the screeching amorphous blob's ascent into the air in a straight line. Just as suddenly, there was another massive explosion of sound and heat as the clouds were blown away by another wave of rainbow coloured destruction that hit the blob from above as the Plasma Zanber Breaker, the Ragnarok and the Starlight Breaker collided with the aptly named Dead Meat.
Trapped between the four obscenely overpowered beams, the amorphous blob could only screech piteously, even without a mouth, as the two beams slowly began grinding away at its tough outer shell.
An exhausted Signum tapped her chin as they watched the destructive beam lance out into the sky in a myriad rainbow of gold, blue, black and red. The huge black mass that was the Darkness in the Tome of the Night Sky was literally disintegrating between the two opposing forces, barrier and all, with an ear rending screech.
"From what I've noticed, most modern magic have a lot of safe guards and redundancies to reduce lethality, ours only has one setting. Our skill is the only thing that determines whether we kill, or simply maim." She gestured at the blond who was breathing raggedly but kept up the assault with almost superhuman willpower, "The way he fights, it's almost Belkan isn't it?""
The most intellectually inclined member of their little group nodded slowly as she stared at the blonde with a new perspective, "Almost. If what I think is true, in a way, that boy is truly a living Lost Logia. Taking his direct manipulation of sheer amounts of magic and the hand signs he uses as clumsy and crude bio matrixes in place of basic spell patterns into account… I'd even go as far as to say it parallels early Alhazredian. Crude and primitive but stupidly effective at what it was meant to do. The youngest member of their group cocked her head at her, "Which is?"
"Wholesale Destruction."
"….What's that?"
Shamal sighed, "Blowing lots of stuff up."
"Ah, ok."
Nanoha simply rolled her eyes as she sat down on her rock comfortably, "Naruto, you done?" She called out tiredly.
Now all that was left was for the teleporters to send it into outer space and let the TSAB deal with it.
"I'm so… satisfied." Moaning, Naruto toppled over onto his back and yawned in satisfaction after a good day's long work.
Then he noticed something extremely wrong with the sky.
"Nanoha?"
"What?"
"Do you have… uh... bandages?"
"Yeah, you want one?" Nanoha noticed that Caliburn was cursing him again.
"I do if they come in Uber Jumbo size."
The auburn haired girl whose pigtails had been undone in the explosion cocked her head at him in confusion, "Uber what now?"
The silent blonde boy looked at Nanoha with a noticeably pinched expression on his face before gesturing at the moon hanging in the sky, "I think I uh…. Went a little overboard."
"Define little."
"Nine Tails of concentrated power with a Starlight Breaker is a bad idea." He laughed nervously, "Who would've known."
"Nope… don't get it. Nine tails? As in you have Tails?"
Naruto who looked like he was currently suffering from constipation, indigestion and an enema all at the same time simply motioned at the moon.
The silver pale orb that hung in the sky was currently proudly showing off its most recent addition to its collection of craters.
A nice, perfectly spherical hole that pierced it completely, showing a nice round patch of starry sky beyond its gleaming surface.
"Do you uh… think the TSAB has anything that can fix that before the gravity goes wonky?"
Nanoha stared at the moon.
Then she stared some more.
Then she cracked.
The nine year old began giggling uncontrollably and she pumped her fist despite her tiredness, "Yesss!" She began dancing a strange little jig, "I'm not the one that has to be scolded for excessive property damage this time! Woohoo!"
She smirked at him victoriously, "Have fun writing THIS report, you're the one that blew a hole in the moon, YOU deal with it."
****Caliburn Initiative****
The Night before Christmas.
Play Sambomaster – Seishun Kyousou Kyoku
"Come in, come in." Naruto said into the comm line as it lit up, signalling someone's presence outside his room.
The door to his quarters opened as the silver haired woman walked in with a slightly nervous twitch. She kept her gaze set squarely on the blonde sitting at his desk, legs crossed as he read through some documents. His eyes were drawn and red shot, as though he had been unable to get any sleep in since their battle a few hours ago.
He looked surprisingly professional for some reason. Or maybe it was the ridiculous pile of documents stacked on his desk, most of which she noticed, required his signature.
"I'm sorry for calling you so late at night," Naruto said with an apologetic smile, "But I was asked to debrief everyone. Please. Sit down." Naruto gestured to the chair in front of him politely.
Silently, Reinforce gracefully slid into the seat and kept her face carefully blank.
"...I've heard that you plan on self-terminating."
The woman nodded slowly, "Although the defence program was stopped, the damage was too much. The underlying structure is completely warped to the point where I couldn't fix it even if I knew what the original program looked like. As sure as time passes, the Defence Program will repair itself, slowly corroding my consciousness before it goes berserk once more."
"So… Dead Meat on Legs can come back?" Naruto asked with one raised eyebrow.
The silver haired woman gave the blonde an uncomfortable look, memories of him breaking her bones with a mad smile were still very fresh in her memories, "You…. could put it that way."
"And the Knights? You would tear them away from Hayate-chan?" Naruto questioned quietly as he poured Reinforce a cup of tea.
"…. The only one to go will be me. They have already been separated from my files as a standalone program. They will keep Hayate safe, only the administration program itself will disappear with a smile, knowing that this way she can ensure her Master's safety. It will be for the best to do this now before the Defense Program quickly recompiles its files."
"I don't think I have any right to talk, especially not with what I did to you," The blonde who was chewing on a pen leaned back on his chair, "But did you know Reinforce? The more you trust them, the more you care for them, and the more power over yourself that person has, the more it hurts when they leave. You leaving will probably mean that she'll be safe. But she won't be happy, she'll probably cry every night." The blonde drawled, "I believe, that even if it meant danger, she would willingly stay by your side."
"…. My Master comes before all." Reinforce maintained firmly, "Her safety is my only concern."
The blonde stared at her shrugged with a helpless smile, "If you're that resolved, there's nothing I can say to you that will change that." Naruto nodded, "That's all I need from you for the after mission debrief. Please have a good night's rest. I am sure you have a lot to think about."
The silver haired woman gave him one last curious look before she quietly left his chamber.
She really didn't get him. He tried to so hard to persuade her, only to just let leave like it didn't concern him.
****Caliburn Initiative****
Reinforce stood at the centre of a ritual array laid out on the snow covered ground. She seemed incomparably calm in contrast with her Knights and the two Mages who were helping her with the ritual.
"I am ready."
Signum looked around with one raised eyebrow, "Where's that irritating idiot? I would have thought he wouldn't want to miss this."
"He wanted to stay with Hayate-chan." Vita mumbled tensely…. Only for her to be proven immediately wrong by a blonde waving at her jauntily as he crested the hill with a wheel chair in front of him.
Almost everyone blanched at the metaphoric storm cloud floating above the scowling girl in aforementioned wheel chair.
"Yo."
"Well…. He's still with Hayate, so that probably counts, doesn't it?" Vita muttered dubiously while Signum face palmed.
The two of them stopped at the very edge of the triangle array, allowing Naruto a prime seat to watch the show.
"What are you doing, Naruto-kun?" Fate asked worriedly, "You were supposed to keep Hayate in the hospital."
The former shinobi shrugged dispassionately, "Well… she asked me where everyone was... and you know how I just can't say no that accent of hers. It's just so… huggable."
The brown haired girl smiled sweetly before speaking in her Kansai accent that the blonde supposedly couldn't resist, "Thanks much, Naruto-chan, I'll have to reward you soon." She turned around to glare at her nervous Knights and a surprisingly calm Reinforce as if she had expected it, "Why didn't anyone tell me what you were planning? Didn't anyone trust me?" She asked weakly, the strength in her voice faltered a little when the blonde behind her clasped her shoulder and squeezed gently.
Hayate breathed deeply and took strength from the blonde, "Well?" She thundered.
"We…." Signum hesitated but Hayate's steely glare prompted the swordswoman to spit it out, "didn't want to see you suffer…"
"And I wouldn't have suffered if Reinforce committed suicide?" She asked penetratingly, "Even voluntarily?" Her eyes pierced the grimacing Reinforce, "Did nothing I say get through to you?! I promised that we'd share this burden."
"You will get hurt if I remain, Master…. As long as I exist, the Defence Program will keep rebuilding itself. This is the only chance that we have, as a magical tome whose foremost duty is ensuring her Master's wellbeing, please let me choose the most efficient way of protecting you." Reinforce defended her choice with a quiet strength while Fate and Nanoha both looked markedly uncertain.
Something that Naruto noticed with another smirk as he launched the next part of his plan as Hayate fell silent.
"Are we all done moping?" He chirped loudly, prompting every one there to glare at him.
A cold blue gaze landed on Reinforce, "You can tell when the Defense Program is waking up can't you?"
Reinforce nodded slowly, "It is certainly something I could not fail to notice."
"And like Hayate has already proved, she has absolutely no problems separating you from it temporarily with some help from yours truly." He bowed in a mockingly casual manner, "So we find some deserted planet….. preferably one without a moon this time," He added sheepishly, "And let Dead Meat flail around a bit before we…. Exterminate it."
"I will not allow that, there is a chance that we might fail!"
Naruto gave her a dry look as he looked around the clearing, "I count three, THREE," He emphasized the number with a jab, "AAA ranked Mages right here, right now. Not including myself and Hayate. Are you saying that all three of them can't do anything with you and us helping them?"
"…." Reinforce who was clearly trying to think up an argument was left dumbfounded as Nanoha and Fate shared a look, "And… you didn't suggest this earlier because?" Nanoha asked as she shot him a fierce look.
The blonde smirked lazily, "It was fun watching all of you mope. I even got a few pictures of Signum crying in the ladies room."
He blanched comically, "Ah…. Wasn't supposed to say that just yet."
Reinforce stared blankly as Nanoha and Signum began pounding the unfortunate blonde into the ground amidst yells of pervert and "Why were you in the LADIES ROOM!?"
Even Fate refrained from helping him, electing to give him an exasperated look.
Nanoha finally sighed tiredly as let the bruised blonde drop to the ground with a pained yelp, "Let's just go home."She said tiredly, she had barely squeezed in a few hours of sleep when Reinforce had contacted her. She just didn't have the energy to deal with all the emotion.
"Yeah, let's all do that."
"What… just happened?" Reinforce asked her Knights with a completely confused expression.
"They basically offered to shoot you in the face if you ever feel like going berserk again." Vita observed in a blasé tone, "Now that it's settled, let's go home as well." She shivered, "It's freezing out here."
One by one they left, leaving a confused Reinforce standing there alone in the snow save a lump of blonde idiot lying face down in the snow.
A crimson gaze landed on said lump of idiot, "What happened?" she repeated her question again with a pleading note hidden deep with the monotone.
the head of yellow hair perked up so Naruto could smirk at the woman. He silently thought over her question before he decided to help her, if only because she looked like she was about burst into tears from confusion.
Tempting but no dice. He would've liked to see her cry, but he didn't want to be the reason for her tears, no matter how hypocritical that sounded.
"You see, it's not really that hard to figure people out." He stood up and dusted off his pants, "No one wants you to leave. Period. As long as someone can give them a reasonable enough argument not to go through with this, it is good enough for them, even if it was bull shit," Naruto cut her off before she could seize the opportunity, "Fortunately for them, it wasn't a lie."
He nodded, "Humans are funny that way. We understand logic but sometimes logic can just go forth and multiply with itself you know."
"I thought we agreed that nothing you could say would change my mind."
"Nothing I could say to you. I never said anything about not asking Hayate the same question. Turns out, she wasn't very pleased about being treated like a caged bird."
"Why are you doing this?" she asked quietly.
The assassin seemed to suddenly sober up and he heaved a quiet sigh as he looked up into the grey snowing skies, "Atonement? Shits and giggles? I don't know. What I do know is that I've made more than enough mistakes. If you don't want to be happy, I'll simply force you to be happy because I'm a selfish bastard like that."
****Caliburn Initiative****
25th December 0065.
Caliburn Initiative First Log; Designated user identified and Locked in.
Advanced Biometric Security Activated.
High Council Data Collection of Subject N.U. Initiated.
…..
…..
….
Prologue End.
….
….
…
****Caliburn Initiative****
Special Preview
Hayate grunted as she entered a dirty looking bar in a part of Mid-Childa that was dingy enough to make Vita blow a vein if she knew. The two of them had never gotten along with each other for some reason.
An old but serviceable sign hung above the old doorway the brown haired woman had just entered; 'The Round Table.'
Heels clicking on the wooden floor, the TSAB officer glanced around at the nearly empty bar before taking a seat at the counter and idly ran one finger along the fine grain of the wooden counter which had been polished until it almost gleamed. Unlike its dirty and shabby looking exterior, the inside of the small bar was surprisingly clean and homey albeit a little gloomy, owing to the dark mahogany fittings, a rarity on modern Mid-Childa.
"The usual please." She ordered curtly.
The bartender quirked one indignant eyebrow at her tone before pulling out a glass from the fridge behind him and smoothly slid it over to her with one practiced gesture.
The brown haired woman smiled as she sipped from the frosted glass, "You already knew I was coming?"
One brown eye drifted over to the blonde bartender who was rubbing at the light stubble covering his angular jawline in a slightly embarassed manner, "I had a feeling." The man admitted, "Fate was rather fidgety all of last night. Which meant that she wanted to ask for a favour but was too embarrassed to do it."
"In other words, you figured I'd be the one she sent to do her dirty work." Hayate concluded with a half-smile.
The bartender fidgeted with his vest with an uncomfortable look on his face, "If only because you have no sense of decency whatsoever."
Hayate smirked, "You mean you just can't say no to my accent don't you?"
Behind her, a customer laughed in a bark like manner at her jab, causing the blonde to glare at him in a disgruntled manner before shooting a grinning Hayate another look, "Just state your case and leave."
The bartender's gruff tone did nothing to dissuade her, mostly because she knew that it was simply in his nature rather than actually disapproving of the idea, "I want to form a new quick response squadron-"
"No deal. I'm retired." That bartender replied curtly as he lightly rubbed his stubble again, a habitual tick he had developed sometime in his teenage years.
"Debatable. Where I come from placing a bag of dog shit on your superior's desk doesn't usually constitute a resignation letter, just a lawsuit. As far as I can tell, you're not actually off the force. Carim-san and Midget-sama like you too much." Hayate pointed out coyly, "But I'm not here to argue semantics. I don't actually need you to join us on the battlefield, just provide some technical support…."
"You don't use formal terms like that unless you're nervous." The rugged looking bartender observed coolly, "Have a little more confidence in your own idea will you?"
"Well… I know Nanoha and Fate would feel a lot better about it if you were watching our backs since things could get a little ugly…." Hayate trailed off with a deliberate look at the gruff blonde.
"And that's what we're here for." The bartender finished with a wry grin as he stretched lazily, the motion pulling back his sleeves to reveal a pair of glinting black bracelets on his wrists, "When everyone is looking to the right, it's our job to look to the left. Isn't that right, GUYS!?"
All around the bar, the unassuming customers she hadn't even given noticed at first roared back happily as they stood up. One by one, their grungy, dirty uniforms that completely blended in with the surroundings came off to reveal a sharp black suit with grey shoulder pads and an orange insignia on their left breast.
Before long, several Mages stood in line, each of them toting gleaming Devices that were heavily customized.
Every single one of them was a dropout from the TSAB program for one reason or another; either lacking the drive or the skills to actually pass as one. The untidy looking bartender was arguably the only one who saw through their facades and gathered them and their unique skills to create a team of the best Mages to ever grace Mid-Childa.
It helped that every single one of them was also more or less insane.
****Caliburn Initiative****
Morganna VS, did we meet your expectations?
Note from Kishi: Writing Caliburn has been… interesting to say the least. I'm not sure why, but structurally, it's been a real challenge, maybe because I respect Nanoha as much as I do Naruto. As far as reviews are concerned, I can't say that I'm very worried. The rate of reviews is very low compared to all the other fandoms because Nanoha has been technically over for quite a while now, but we just love this fandom as a whole so we don't really mind since good Nanoha fics that don't exclusively focus on Fate and Nanoha alone are rather hard to come by.
We also really stretched out in this past three chapters; I think it's rather noticeable no? We've been trying to squash too much in the few chapters so far but since the other alternative was scrapping the whole thing and starting fresh just so that we can add little bits of dialogues and stuff to change the overall tone, we chose squashing.
At any rate we hope you will enjoy this update and wish all our Christian readers a blessed Easter. To those that aren't Christians, we hope you like eggs.
Blutiger Kaizer – Bloody Emperor
