First sentence of the story comes from the first sentence of the following book:

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

Original sentence from the book:

Greg watched and listened as the children sang Pakistan's national anthem to start their school day.

{~ MGLN~MGLN~}

Chapter 10: On The Edge And About To Fall Off

Myuki watched and listened as the children sang the national anthem to start their school day.

As the last slightly off-key note sounded the second graders turned to face their teacher bowing to her in greeting. Then a quietude fell upon the class. The children waited to be told to sit, but their teacher, Takamachi-sensei said nothing. She stood still facing the flag with her hand still over her heart and a worried, dazed expression on her face, not realizing that the singing had ended till the classroom of 8 year olds began to fidget and murmur in their discomfort, unsure how to behave.

"T-Takamachi-sensei?" Several of her students called out to her in slightly hesitant voices.

Myuki Takamachi, second grade teacher at Uminari Tokaido Elementary School, blinked her eyes and gave her head a shake to clear her thoughts.

"I-I'm sorry children, please be seated." She pushed up her round wire rimmed glasses that had slid down her nose and gently smiled at her class.

Myuki looked down at her day's notes and began giving out the daily announcements and instructions, but in the back of her mind she continued to worry about her little sister Nanoha who had not come home last night, and never called to say where she was. Her mother had called last night unexpectedly around 10 pm asking if she had heard from Nanoha. Over the phone lines she heard her mother's voice quivering. Hearing the strong woman's voice break like that had sent a tendril of fear for her little sister deep into Myuki's breast.

And so, last night while her father drove around to places that they all thought Nanoha might be, places she often visited, her mother began to make calls to the area hospitals, while Myuki got on the phone calling Nanoha's friends. Her brother was away on a business trip, due back tomorrow, so they thought it best not to tell him what was happening because, as they kept telling each other, it may be just a false alarm; Nanoha would be back safe and sound by the time he returned home. They kept assuring each other that Nanoha was just out late with some friends or working on a school project and had simply forgot to call. But underneath the charade they knew the truth, Nanoha was too considerate to let anyone worry about her; being a burden to others was what she hated most.

After Myuki finally reached Dr. Scaglietti, Nanoha's math professor, they had learned that she had missed an appointment with him earlier in the day. Dr. Scaglietti was upset to think that Nanoha was missing and volunteered to contact the University police to look for her. He even insisted that he personally would head over to the math department on campus and check every nock and cranny of the building. Myuki had thanked the professor.

Sometime after midnight they decided to call the police who had been very sympathetic and took down the information on Nanoha, but then they informed the family that there was nothing they could do for at least 24 hours. If Nanoha was still missing at that time they could then file a missing persons report. Myuki's mother had broken down crying at that point, leaning into her haggard faced husband's shoulder. He quietly wrapped his arm around her, then extended his other arm to his eldest daughter.

Now, as Myuki began the first mornings lesson, she could not stop thinking, 'Nanoha, where are you? Please, be safe and come home soon.'

{~MGLN~MGLN~}

Fate, Arf and Chrono stood in a recessed doorway of the building across the street from the train station in downtown Uminari City. A light drizzle fell from the sky, the dampness upon her skin causing Fate to tremble as much as her fear did. They watched the people going in and out of the terminal, each looking for signs that the people they were watching might be the enemy.

The three had barely escaped their predicament in the old abandoned port area of the city and had spent several hours making their way to the station. During their escape Chrono had been in contact with his partner, Vice and learned that he had traced the tracking device Arf had placed in Nanoha's bag at the scene of the car accident from yesterday, to a building just outside the campus of Uminari University and had set up surveillance near by. They had agreed to rendezvous with him as soon as they retrieved the device left in the locker at the station by TSAB special agent Lanster.

Fate was anxious. She just wanted to get to Nanoha as fast as possible, making sure she was safe, and didn't really care about the idiotic device except she recalled, with a shiver, the intensity and urgency of the voice on the phone telling her it was the key to saving the world. Arf and Chrono had insisted they needed to retrieve it from the station locker.

"Lanster would not have risked everything if this device wasn't crucial." Chrono told Fate with a serious look on his face - not that he had shown her any other expression since they had met.

"That's right Fate," Arf confirmed trying to look just as serious. " Lanster and I were the first to follow the Aliens to Earth. He worked for two months undercover. One week ago he requested backup saying he was on the verge of securing a device that could cripple the Aliens' plan."

"So what did he learn about the aliens? Just what is this device?" Fate asked Arf in a hopeful voice. Fate knew knowledge was power, and she would use that power to help save Nanoha.

"I wish I knew, Fate." Arf replied shaking her head. "Lanster was deep undercover when he signaled for back up. Prior to that his contacts with me were few and very brief in fear of being intercepted by the enemy. In his last contact with me he indicated that the aliens had a device that if we could acquire it, we could use against them and save this planet."

"What you are talking about is the thing he told me of during the phone call I received from him, right? The thing in the locker."

"That's right. He planned to steal it and get it to TSAB, but something went wrong."

Fate quirked one of her eyebrows. "Yeah, he ended up calling me! I still don't understand why I got that call." Her burgundy eyes were filled with confusion.

"Well..." Arf scratched the back of her head and looked away. "You see, he couldn't give me a precise time of when he would make his move, the aliens were suspicious of him. We made a plan for him to call me using your Earth telephone system incase the aliens were watching for TSAB activity. I waited by the phone for his call but, you already know how that went. It was just chance that he dialed the wrong number Fate."

Fate took in what Arf said but a nagging thought still plaqued her mind.

"Just chance huh? How then did you know Arf that it was me that Lanster had called by mistake? I mean he told me there would be a sign in the morning, and there you were, a t-t-talking dog for heaven's sake." Fate still had some trouble getting her mind around the idea of Arf in her four legged furry form talking to her.

"What time was it that you received the phone call Fate?" Arf asked

"A little after 3am."

"I thought so. That was the moment I felt it. I felt a bond connecting you and I."

Fate looked puzzled. "Wha - What do you mean Arf?"

"I'm really not sure myself, Fate. I don't know what is causing this but from the moment you answered Lanster's phone call I have known about you. I don't mean I am in your mind or anything, but I do feel like I have a homing sense that is drawing me to you.

"Did he put a GPS device on me?"

"No," Arf replied. "Its not a device, its more like an inner connection between the two of us. I also feel that I can sense how you are feeling and I get a strong sense that you are a good person Fate, someone I feel protective of. I think my connection to you is something Lanster did when he called you. Maybe it is one of the features of this mysterious device."

"It's weird and I can't believe I am saying this, but I think I understand what you mean, Arf. I think I have been feeling a bond too." The two looked each other in the eye for a moment feeling their special connection before two grins, the blonde's shy the redhead's broad and open, spread across their faces.

"hmmm-hmmmm," Chrono cleared his throat interrupting their moment. "Okay girls, I think its time we focus on the task at hand. Because we have no idea if hostiles are present, Fate give us the locker number and then stay here and wait while Arf and I recover the device."

"No"

"... What do you mean no?" If possible, Chrono gave an even sterner look then usual. "You're a civilian. We have no idea what we are walking into when we go into that station. There could be a fight ahead. This is not a suggestion. Give us the locker number and wait for us here where it is relatively safe."

"No. Sorry but the voice..ah, Lanster said to trust no one, and I am not going to hide and do nothing when Nanoha is still in danger."

Chrono took one angry step forward toward the tall blonde, his frustration showing on his face. He was determined to keep the young Earth woman out of the conflict as much as possible, but his chivalry was being rejected by the very person he wanted to keep from harm. Just as he was standing almost nose to nose with Fate he received a hip check throwing him off balance. Chrono stumbled and almost fell but Fate reached out just in time and caught his arm, pulling him back up right.

"What the fuck?" Chrono cursed his cheeks reddening slightly as he turned to a guilty looking Arf.

"Sorry Chrono." Arf put her hands together in front of her chest and bowed her head towards the dark blue haired man. "I don't think you are going to win this argument. I can feel Fate's resolve. Don't worry though, I'll watch her back."

"..."

"Fine." Chrono answered gruffly. "Just keep your head down and do what ever I say Testarossa-san. Is that understood?"

Fate smiled, but her burgundy eyes took on a steely look. "I can do that."

"What's the locker number."

"N6203"

Chrono opened up a communication device and quickly typed in the information Fate had just provided them.

"Its towards the back of the station on the left side of the ticket counter. There is an exit onto the north bound train platform near it, and a staircase, number 12N to the underground parking garage is four meters in front of it." Chrono showed Arf and Fate the schematic on his viewer.

"Okay, here is how we will handle this," he continued. "Arf, you and Fate will make your way around to the underground parking lot and come up the staircase near the locker. I will head in through the front entrance. I doubt the hostiles will be on the lookout for me so I should have a chance to scout out the situation in the station. When you get to the top of the stairs, wait for my command to come in. Got it?"

"Roger that, Chrono" Arf nodded her head in agreement.

"...ah, ok." was Fates reply.

{~MGLN~MGLN~}

Nanoha had awoken several hours ago to find her wrists and ankles strapped down to a hard metal chair. A strap tightly running across her throat preventing her from leaning forward. The small 10x10 room was hot and humid, sweat dripped down her temples sticking her hair to her forehead and the back of her neck. A bare bulb floor lamp placed in front of her glared into her eyes making it hard to see beyond, and only through a teary squint could she detect a latched door in front of her, the only entrance to the room. Her eyes began to glaze over as she waited.

A hard slap across her cheek brought her round to the realization that she had at some point blacked out.

"Ugh..." A coppery taste invaded Nanoha's mouth, and she felt blood drool from the corner of her lips.

"Well, well, well sleepy head its time to rise and shine. Ahhahaha, it won't do to have the little princes look out of sorts before meeting our supreme leader." The words were mocking and venomous and the monotone tenor of the woman's voice nettled Nanoha like fingernails scratched along a chalkboard. Nanoha silently berated herself as an uncontrolled shudder passed through her body.

The woman reached out her hand and gently cupped Nanoha's bruised cheek, a thumb brushing lightly across her lips, wiping away the line of blood running down her chin. Nanoha blinked her eyes into focus to see a female figure wearing a white lab coat standing before her. The woman's blank expression in her golden eyes almost hidden behind her round glasses, and long punk like bangs of light brown hair. Nanoha tried to turn her head away, to ignore the woman, but the strap around her throat constricted cutting off her airway. Coughing and sputtering she was forced to turn her head back. Nanoha refused to be defeated, putting a glare on her face .

"What. Do. You. Want. With. Me." Nanoha's voice, angry, conveyed the emotion that the other could not.

"I do not want anything of you my deary, but the good doctor seems to have become enamored with our little princess."

"The doctor? Do you mean Dr Scaglietti?" Nanoha questioned.

"Why of course. You are his special pet."

"I'm no pet of that man!"

"My, my, my our princess seems to be upset. We can't have any of that since you will be meeting the good doctor very soon, now can we."

The woman's hand glided gently down Nanoha's cheek, down past her jaw and across her slender neck feeling the rough leather of the strap. Once the hand found the strap buckle and tongue, the woman grasped it and gave a yank, pulling the strap one notch tighter around Nanoha's throat. The brunette, breathless, choked and sputtered as black spots began to consume her vision.

"Hmmmm, that's right, we can't have you acting all bratty in front of our supreme leader. He so adores you!. Let's see..." the woman reached into the pocket of the lab coat she was wearing, and pulled something out of her pocket. The last thing Nanoha's blue eyes saw was the number IV on the woman's collar and a syringe in the woman's hand.

{~MGLN~MGLN~}

A/N Sorry my friends to take so long and then to drag it out yet another chapter - but I promise in the next chapter there is a lot happening as Fate and crew retrieve the mysterious device from the locker. I really had hoped to include it in this chapter but all depends on the sentence I get, and this one from Three Cups of Tea led me in this direction. Three Cups of Tea by the way is a wonderful book about a man who creates an organization to promote peace by building schools and bringing education to those who had little to no access, especially girls.

Thank you to all my reviewers - and for putting me over my goal of 50 reviews for my first story! You guys keep me committed to see this project to the end - but remind me to never do a challenge like this - (random first sentence) again. It has taken this story down twists and turns I never expected nor can control!

Disclaimer: Just a reminder that I do not own any part of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and am receiving no compensation for being a fan who is silly enough to make up stories about cartoon characters!