Chapter 10: Shining Days

The Ascension of an Otome is considered by most to be the most important day of her life. The day when she sheds the mantle of Pearl (or, rarely, Coral) and takes on an individual title for herself. The day when her name becomes etched on the world stage as a Meister. The day when her life could be said to have begun, or ended, by declaring her open devotion to a Master.

It was also an excuse for a huge party among the elite of the city. Diplomats, nobles from the host nation, the rich and elite of Windbloom itself, and really anybody who could spare the time for the trip was coming, and they expected the finest in both pageantry and partying when they got there. Garderobe might not be able to provide everything everyone wanted, but they promised to try within the bounds of common decency. Of course, with so many important people in one place, it was also a powder keg. Alliances and enmities had to be carefully managed, time arranged for all the Meisters present to go off on their own and socialize, and distances maintained between certain factions. Except it couldn't be too much distance, because some of those rivalries were also traditional. It simply wouldn't be an Ascension if Lutesia Romulus and Lutesia Remus didn't get into a shouting match, for instance.

Really, it was like planning a wedding between a Hatfield and a McCoy, when someone given the patriarchs of both families a nuclear weapon.

When Nanoha had been assigned managing the whole affair as a detention, she hadn't seen why it would qualify as a punishment. Now she was wishing she was polishing the Shinso's Tomb again with Miya.

It was the night before the ceremony, almost one week into the ban on any further magic. With Tomoe gone and enough guards to keep the school safe from anything short of a frontal assault, surrounded by people who would adamantly defend her, Nanoha felt safe, but she didn't feel at all well either. There were about two hundred people to feed, and Nanoha had been told to expect party crashers. Of both the welcome sort and the sort that would need to be expelled with excessive amounts of violence, although the latter had only been implied.

So it was little wonder she was getting a little snappy.

"NO! Arika, I said two hundred pounds, not twenty! You three! Quit chattering and get back to chopping those vegetables! We need to have it all done by midnight so they can marinate in time for the reception! Fate! Check the place-settings again! You can't chop fast enough to get it done in time yet, let Nina handle that! And where the hell is that coffee?!"

The Garderobe kitchens were once again in pandemonium, but this time it was a little more of a controlled chaos than had reigned at the beginning of the year. There was a job for everyone to do, everyone was doing theirs. But even under the best circumstances, a kitchen preparing for a large party was a bit of a controlled tornado of activity.

Not that this was doing anything for Nanoha's temper. "Oh for...WHO stole the champaigne bottle? I know there were seventy here at last check, and now there's only sixty-nine! If I find out it was anyone here, there won't be enough of you left for Miss Maria to punish!" Nanoha was joking, mostly, but she couldn't deny that she was nearing the limits of her paitence.

At that moment, she felt a rose petal brush up against her cheek. "Chie...sorry." She said without even bothering to look. "It's just...this is supposed to be the biggest day in Akane's life. It's sad too, but I don't want to screw this up."

Chie chuckled. "Don't worry so much about that. Oh, have a message from the Queen for-"

"Oh for..I already told her I can't spare Arika right now. Or anyone else." Nanoha groaned out.

Chie smirked. "I think the new Pearl Two can handle things in here for a few minutes while you head out into the dining room. Something about some records she wanted you to look at."

Nanoha sighed. "Thanks Chie."

"No problem." Chie waved her off. "You need a break."

Nanoha smiled and entered the dining room. Mentally she went over the seating arrangements again as she walked to where Mashiro had put some folders on a table. She took a seat and glanced at them. "Sorry to keep you waiting. It's a mess in there."

"Hmph, you should be." Mashiro pouted as she spoke.

Nanoha casually flicked the other girl's nose. "Be nice."

"Right." Mashiro shook her head. "I am sorry..."

"It's okay." Nanoha smiled. "Something specific in mind this time?"

"It's these expense records for the new palace." Mashiro said. "I finally managed to track down the original accountant and got him to summarize things so we don't have to spend weeks going over every line, but it still doesn't make any sense."

Nanoha frowned as she read. "Salary, power, equipment maintenence, everything checks. Not down to the cent, you're a little under on all categories, but it's not a big deal..."

"Until we get to the building materials," Mashiro confirmed. "It's like they bought up the entire exotics market or something."

Nanoha frowned. "Can I see the design? You can't possibly need that many exotics, but I do remember that we got an awful lot of them."

Mashiro pulled out a simple drawing. "This is all I've got. I hired an achitect to do real blueprints, and he came back with something, but I never looked over the final plans..."

Nanoha smiled. "Well, it's very pretty." It was. The new palace wasn't a thing like the quasi-medieval design of the original. Instead it bore a resemblence to a small skyscraper, about twenty stories tall. It would need a much smaller plot of land than the original, and Mashiro had filled in the base with flowers, implying a vast garden. The building's windows, and the palace would be mostly window, were a variety of colors that would no doubt sparkle in the sun. And the top had a giant, golden flower mounted on the roof. "I think it's beautiful, Mashiro. Especially the flower on top."

"It's a sun," Mashiro deadpanned.

"Nyahahaha..." Nanoha scratched the back of her head characteristically. "But where's the architect?"

"....dead." Mashiro said. "They found him the day after I said I wanted to talk to him."

Nanoha gulped. "...this has gone a lot farther than some questionable budget expenditures."

"No kidding," Mashiro deadpanned. "What was the first clue?" She sighed. "I'm sorry, Nanoha, I know I shouldn't take this out on you."

"Right, you shouldn't." Chie said, popping up right behind Mashiro. Both girls, having been too wrapped up in their conversation, jumped. "You know, can I make a suggestion?"

"Right now, we'll take all the help we can get," Nanoha pointed out.

Chie smirked. "Yeah, that's about what I was gonna say. I'll get Aoi to set up a room in the Palace Wing. And I've been checking out some surveilance methods, so I think I can keep it secure. Anybody else you want?"

Nanoha nodded. "Fate, definitely. We'd better bring Arika in too, this is dangerous work and we might need her skills. Nina and Erstin will have to be in on it too, because Arika can't keep a secret too well. Miya's got a room to herself these days too, and I think Irina's science skills might come in handy."

"Got yourself a real dream team with the Corals, don't you?" Chie smirked. "I think I'll bring Nao to the first meeting too. She's got her ear to the ground in the city, and with Miya's gang contacts pretty much all in prison I think we're gonna need that."

"Wait, you're coming?" Nanoha blinked, clearly surprised. "But aren't you promised to Aires?"

"Yeah, well, unlike Nao, I actually care about this world." Chie shrugged. "Windbloom in chaos is bad for everyone."

Mashiro smiled, very relieved. "The more, the better. My cabinet's worthless, or hostile, I can't tell which anymore." She waved as Chie took in a breath. "My fault, I know, but it's going to be months before I can get rid of them and look for politicians who'll actually care about their jobs over lining their own pockets."

"Maybe not even then." Nanoha sighed. "I hate to suggest anything, but I'm not too sure about Sakomizu."

"Wait, what?" Mashiro almost screeched.

Chie glanced around. "Save it, you two. We shouldn't talk about things like that out in the open. Day after tomorrow. There's a supply closet in the palace wing. I think I can empty it out enough to get a table for all the people who'll be coming in there."

"All right. I'll bring along some drinks, this sounds like it could take awhile." Nanoha said. There was a loud clatter from the kitchens. "...I'd better get back to work before they manage to ruin the cake."

The ceremony was everything any Otome-to-be could dream of. The Shinso's Tomb, the traditional place for all such Ascensions, had the skylights opened. It was a beautiful, clear day, the light all focusing on the dais at the center of the hall while leaving the rest of the room bright enough to make out all the people present.

And it was a lot of people. Nanoha hadn't always been paying the best attention to these things, since in theory in a year she wouldn't care much beyond her personal friends anymore. But she recognized representatives from all the Twelve Kingdoms, more from many minor nations, and Nagi dai Artai had made it in person, sitting next to Sergei. She glanced around. "Oh, I'm so nervous..." She was wearing her uniform, and had a bouquet of white flowers along with Erstin. Akane had changed from the Pearl uniform to the Pure Heart Malachite, the title she was going to adopt.

"You're nervous?" Akane laughed. "Oh, that makes me feel so much better."

Nanoha stuck out her tongue. "Well, I was in charge of all the arrangements today...I can't wait for everybody to go home..."

Akane chuckled again. "You're trying to cheer me up, aren't you?"

"Is it working?" Nanoha asked sheepishly.

"Shh, it's starting." Erstin whispered, perhaps a little harshly. Quickly, Nanoha and Akane took their places. With one foot in front of the other, they marched in cadence to where the King of Florince was standing on the dais, waiting. Nanoha bit her lip as Akane stepped in front of her, then took to one knee. Miss Maria stepped up into the light.

"Akane Soir," the matronly woman intoned. "Do you accept that the time has come to give your life in service to another?"

"...I do." Akane replied in the ritual words, after hesitation and with no real feeling behind them.

Miss Maria raised an eyebrow. "Then, if you truly do, place this ring on your Master's hand."

The king held out his hand expectantly. Meanwhile, some of the more knowledgable in the audience muttered. That phrasing hadn't been heard in the chamber for twenty years. Technically, it meant Akane still had a chance to back out. If the ring was never placed...

"I'll take good care of you, Akane." Nanoha shuddered, hearing a hint of what the men who had attacked her a week earlier had in their voices. Not quite that bad, but it was chilling. He doesn't want a servant...he wants a slave, she thought to herself, but didn't say. She couldn't speak, not now. She racked her brain desperately, but she knew the truth of it - she lacked any standing. If she tried to speak, the guards in the room would have every right to shut her up. Akane slowly reached out and took the king's hand...

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" The doors to the Tomb slammed open. Kazuya Krau-zeku, Prince of Cartair, stood in the doorway, framed by light. "Akane! I just wanted to say that...I love you!"

The whole room froze, looking first at Kazuya, then Akane, then the King of Florince expectantly. For several moments, nobody dared move. The Pure Heart Malachite was still in Akane's hands...

Akane slowly turned away from the door. "I...I'm sorry Your Majesty...but I'm afraid I can't become your Otome!" She turned and ran for the door, eyes sparkling. Nanoha smiled...then stared in horror as she saw a man wearing a Florince uniform stand up, his hand going to the sidearm at his waist. He would be right in Akane's path. She turned and looked for something to throw...only to see Sergei smirk and wink at her. A moment later his foot was in the aisle, just out of the soldier's view, and the man went down easily. Akane ran right past him and into the mid-day sun.

Nanoha watched the reception after the ceremony with a mixture of amazement, disgust, and wonder that people would still be interested in the party after the event it was supposed to be celebrating had disintegrated into a diplomatic incident right in front of them. Briefly wondering if she really should, she decided that, just this once, it would probably be all right and grabbed a drink from a passing tray. Sergei walked up to her.

"Thanks," Nanoha smiled at him and sipped her champaigne. "I should have had everyone searched."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up kiddo." Sergei ruffled her hair. "Wouldn't have worked. Half of them would have complained. You did good enough just spotting it."

"Yeah, about that..." Nanoha glanced at him sidelong. "Why didn't you let me take care of it?"

Sergei chuckled. "Me, let a poor, overworked, sick girl do a soldier's job? I still have my pride."

Natsuki frowned as she approached the pair. Nanoha gulped as she realized just what was being frowned at, but it was far too late to hide the glass. "I do hope that's the only drink you've had, Miss Takamachi." Nanoha slowly nodded. "...I suppose that's all right then." Natsuki said after a moment to mentally shake her head. "You're supposedly the hostess for the reception in Shizuru's absence, so you should be seen to be enjoying yourself. But switch to the grape juice after that." Nanoha nodded. "And for right now, come with me, I need to show you something....in private, Major?"

Sergei shrugged. "Should be seeing my daughter, anyway. Later."

Natsuki slowly led Nanoha away and back into the Shinso's tomb. "Nanoha..." She said slowly. "...you know what's beneath this place, don't you?"

"...the Archives, and the honored resting place of the various Otome who died in the wars of the past." Nanoha replied, wondering where this was going.

"Right." Natsuki pulled out the key she had seen before and fitted it into the door. "I'd like you to try to open this path."

Nanoha bit her lip. "Headmaster, I really don't think..."

"Nanoha...just...try." Natsuki held out her hand to take the champagne. Nanoha handed the drink over, then knelt down next to the door.

"Well, let's see..." She started running her fingers along the patterns on the door, looking for whatever mechanism Arika bumped the last time. But before she could find anything, the door reacted and slowly pulled back with a groan of protest.

Natsuki sighed. "I was afraid of that." Nanoha stared at her levelly. "The list of people who are qualified to open this door on their own is actually fairly small. The Columns can do it at will, of course. Any member of Garderobe's faculty has the same power. You don't count on that score, so don't ask please." Natsuki took a deep breath. "Sometimes a descendant of one of the original Twelve Kings has the knack, but those families are all accounted for to the best of our knowledge. The Free Realms' line should be completely dead. But, just in case, I should ask you...do you have any unusual birthmarks or 'tattoos' somewhere on your body? Like a dot encircled by a ring?"

"No....." Nanoha considered edging away from the obviously crazy Headmaster.

Natsuki nodded. "There are two other families that can do this, and they're fairly consistent. First, there's the descendants of the Guardian, a powerful knight who supposedly protected the Twelve Kings on their journey from the Old World. That's probably Arika's family." She took a deep breath. "Since you don't seem to be related to her, that leaves the last. The true Queen of Windbloom."

Nanoha stared at Natsuki for several long seconds, and then she burst into giggles. Natsuki held her head. "I wish I knew why you two keep having that reaction..."

"Headmaster, please...it's just hilarious." Nanoha kept on giggling. "I mean, geez, my parents run a bakery."

"...a bakery in a vacant lot?" Natsuki tried bluntly.

Nanoha choked. "H..how long did you?"

"Pretty much since the second semester started." Natsuki was amused beyond what might be termed reasonable. Well, normally, it was getting pretty rare to catch the Twin Terrors at all off guard and she was enjoying being back in charge of the conversation for once. "Fate's home address is a textile mill, and no one in Sinueiju outside of your sponsors has ever heard of you."

Nanoha gulped. "...so if you knew..."

"Shizuru," Natsuki explained. "Early on she thought you were harmless. It's not unusual for sponsors to try all sorts of things to get candidates onto the list who shouldn't be. It is unusual for them to succeed. So, what happened there? Flunk out of the official testing? Is Nanoha even your real name?"

"YES!" Nanoha shouted, a little louder than she'd intended. "Look, Headmaster, I really am sorry about all the deception, but..."

"Riiight...." Natsuki took Nanoha's champagne and drank it all down in one gulp. "Anyway, you can see where I'm coming from with this. I still don't know who sent you...and right now, I don't care. The important thing is that they lied to you. Nanoha...you are the real Mashiro Blanc de Windbloom. There's simply no other explanation."

Nanoha shook her head. "All right...let's say I believe you...and just for the record, I don't. What do we do now?"

"That depends on you." Natsuki sighed. "I wish Shizuru were here right now, but this can't wait any more. The way I see it, you only have two real choices. One, you can try to take the throne. Two, you can try to forget about this conversation. Of course, since you're the real Queen you can use most of the Old Technology essentially at will. That means a lot of people aren't just going to let you walk away from the throne..."

"...Headmaster, please, be sensible." Nanoha shook her head.

"I am, Nanoha." Natsuki shook her head. "I know you don't want to rule over this city...hell, who would? But it's yours by right, by tradition, and most importantly by the fact that if you decide to use all the power at your disposal no one is going to argue the point."

Nanoha choked again. "Headmaster!"

"I'm just saying..." Natsuki said. "It's your decision, pretty much completely. Now that I've told you this, there is basically nothing stopping you from reviving the Old Technology and conquering the world with it."

"STOP!" Nanoha covered her ears. "Please! You're talking about ruling a world!"

"Exactly! Nanoha, you have to understand what's at stake. People are going to want you to use this for just that!" Natsuki grabbed her by the shoulders, the champagne glass falling to the floor and shattering. "I'm sorry. If there was any other way around it..."

"...we don't tell anyone, not even Fate, not even Shizuru." Nanoha said.

Natsuki shook her head. "Even if we try to keep it a secret, it will get out...if I figured it out, so will the others. But...for now, if that's what you want to do..."

"It is, Headmaster." Nanoha said. "I'll figure something else out when that happens. One step at a time."

Sergei moved easily through the crowd, noting idly the various politicking going on. In a way, it was all pathetic. The people in this room, all supposedly close to the most powerful people on the planet, and they couldn't grasp the simple truth that it was the girls in Pearl and Coral who might wield the true power. Sure, in theory that power was leashed to them, but if everything went as planned.

He turned his trained eye to the girls. He knew what qualities the others were looking for, of course, and he saw that in droves. Grace, style, charm, wit....everything Garderobe wanted people to see. But, in the Pearls, for the most part, that's all there was. There were exceptions. One bound for Aires in particular was a little bit of a worry, and Nao was a fighter in every respect.

The Corals were another matter. Even the most refined of them moved in a way that showed a level of awareness he usually only found in true combat veterans. They were graceful, yes, but it was the grace of a great cat waiting to strike. There was something missing, yet, but they were beginning to become true soldiers.

It wasn't a change he especially welcomed. He didn't like the idea of training girls this age to be like that. Much like the girls in front of him now. He quickly let the mask he used when dealing with the students metaphorically slip back into place.

"Hey, Nina," He smiled at his daughter, who seemed to practically beam back at him as always. "Fate, Antsy..." He greeted her two friends as well, then did a double-take. Arika had one of the champagne glasses in her hand as well, and her eyes had a distant, unfocused look to them. "...how many has Antsy had?"

Arika giggled. "Hi Major...uhh...to answer your question..." she slurred. "Uhhh..one...and one...and one...so...uhh...one!"

Sergei glanced at the other two girls. Nina was silently holding the bridge of her nose while Fate just gave in to the urge and face-palmed completely. Fate spoke first. "Worst part is, she's completely right. That's the first one she's had."

"That's not fair!" Arika half-shouted. "Even if it is completely true!"

Sergei shook his head. "Geez, Antsy, making a fool of yourself again. You'll never be a Meister at this rate."

"Just shows what you know!" Arika grinned. "Mashiro said she'd make me her Meister!"

Fate blinked. "Wow, she actually said that..."

"Yepyepyep!" Arika giggled. "'course she was sleepin' on her desk at the time."

Fate sighed. "Okay, you. One international incident is enough for one day..." She started pulling Arika gently towards the door, a move that lasted all of about ten seconds before Arika saw the dessert tray and started pulling Fate in that direction.

Nina shook her head. "I'm sorry about them, Father."

"Oh, it's all right. It's a party, Nina, let them enjoy themselves." Sergei grinned.

"....I don't think Fate's enjoying that," Nina commented as Fate was dragged from one end of the buffet to the other by Arika. "I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me. I'd better help her out."

"Right, right. We'll speak later." Sergei sent her off with a small gesture.

Nina nodded, almost walked off, then turned back... "Father, you're looking exhausted. Get some sleep tonight, all right?"

Later that night, much later, Nanoha staggered into her room. Once again Fate was waiting up on her, but smiling. "Sorry. I would have helped downstairs, but the Headmaster insisted it was part of your punishment."

"Yeah, no kidding." Nanoha sat down hard on the lower bunk. "That was almost nothing like the restaurant...and the way the Cartair and Florince delgations were looking at each other...I swear, if I hadn't insisted on taking the weapons away when we moved to the reception..." Nanoha laid back on the bed, closing her eyes. "Good night Fate..."

Fate blinked. "But...that's my bunk..."

Nanoha, however, had already gone completely to sleep. Sighing, Fate climbed up into Nanoha's bunk to sleep soon after.

Much later that night, Natsuki had returned to her office to get some work done when her phone rang. Knowing it could only be one person she picked it up. "Shizuru, good, you made it. Please tell me you've got some good news. Akane's ascension ceremony was a disaster. I'll tell you everything when you get ba..." Natsuki just about dropped her tea when she realized Shizuru was actually out of breath.

On the other end of the line, Shizuru finally collected herself. "There's been an attack. Along the Romulus-Remus border. No one knows who started it...it should have just been between their border patrols, but somehow, their Otome got involved."

"WHAT?!" Natsuki groaned. "Shizuru, find out what you can, then get back here pronto. I'll need you on damage control here as soon as possible."

Nanoha was awoken in the morning by a very loud *WHUMP* sound. She looked over the edge of the bed, confused as to why she was still in her uniform.

"...Fate-chan, what are you doing on the floor?"

It didn't take long for the rumor to spread. No one could ever say for sure who had started it, but by the second period the Coral class was in a state of shock. Everyone knew it had been almost fifty years since the last conflict between two country's Otome. Assuming you didn't count the incident where Haruka Armitage had slapped one of her oneesama so hard the poor woman had needed stitches, which no one really did anymore.

So to say the ballroom dancing class was distracted would be a huge understatement. Nanoha had taken Fate in her arms, and while they were dancing well together for some reason they seemed to be improvising a great deal more than the rest of the class, even as Yukariko frowned her disapproval. Arika turning her partner's feet into a thin paste over the course of the class through repeated stomping wasn't exactly unexpected, and Yayoi wasn't appreciating it. As for Nina and Irina....

"Ow! Nina, that's my foot!" Irina complained loudly, in time with a rather obvious 'crunch' sound.

Nina shook her head. "Sorry..."

Irina frowned. "That's the tenth time this class. Maybe we should work on something else?"

"Uhm...yeah." Nina sighed. "Actually, let's take a break. I think I need to look at the step charts again."

A few moments later, both girls were looking over their respective notebooks for the class. Nina narrowed her eyes at hers. "Irina, this is your fault! Look at this!" She shoved her charts into Irina's face. The bespectacled girl blinked. "You're supposed to have your foot out of the way several steps ahead of me!"

"No way, that's not what my chart says!" Irina flipped hers over. Nina studied it carefully.

"...you're right. It's a subtle difference, but it-" Nina's reply was cut off by a clatter and the startled cries of six girls who had all backed into each other and fallen flat on their faces.

Nanoha rubbed at her shoulder while she stood up, the first to recover. "Oh, geez, what happened?"

"Someone..." Nina grumbled "Messed with our notes last night."

Miya winced, coming over from the corner looking contrite. "I...I'm sorry," she said. "I just thought everyone could use a laugh after everything that happened...but things just got worse and then I couldn't change them back and..." Miya blinked and started to chuckle.

Fate's look twisted around into puzzlement. "What? What's so funny?"

"...hehe...sorry." Miya giggled but got herself under control. "The looks on your faces."

Nanoha laughed a bit. "Well, I suppose a little prank now and then is better than someone trying to put us in the hospital..."

"Like HELL!" Yayoi spat out. "I bet you did that on purpose! Your friends are all made of bricks, but I'm not!" She tore away from Arika and started to charge at Miya. "Score one for the home country, is that it?!"

"Yayoi, please, it's not like that!" Miya tried to wave off the other girl, while everyone stared at them in shock for a moment.

Yayoi wasn't having it. "I came to school to be an Otome, and now we're all fighting each other before we even graduate!? I didn't sign up for thi-"

Wha-CRACK! The sudden sound of Nanoha coming out of nowhere to slap the girl was even more startling, as Yukariko slowly lowered her bow, Yayoi looked at her. "....taking her side."

"No." Nanoha said levelly. "But if you got into this without understanding that some day you might be asked to fight, you deserve a HELL of a lot more than just a slap. You too, Miya. I know this is an uncomfortable time for everyone, but please. Don't let what two idiots did off in some border dispute affect what you know and you think, all right? Everyone here is asking someone to place trust in a lot of power in their hands. You absolutely must use your own judgement when wielding that power, whether it's at a dinner party or on the battlefield..." Nanoha coughed, and looked sheepishly to Yukariko. "Is that basically right?"

"Yes...not quite what I was going to say, but close enough..." Yukariko demurred. "Everyone, please return to class..."

Shizuru landed at the spot where she had seen the massive explosion of light the night before. As a Column, she couldn't simply wade into an active combat zone to see what was happening. And now that it was over, most of the evidence was likely obscured by the desert winds. Still, the terrain itself gave some useful clues.

There was nothing for miles around, except a few sandstone cliffs that would barely serve as landmarks. With the shifting dunes, it would be nearly impossible to tell where the border actually lay. With some trepidation, she moved to inspect the Remus side next.

She gasped as she saw the obvious signs around her. Not just soldiers, but armor, both personnel carriers and tanks. If this was a border patrol, she'd hate to see the Lutesian's idea of a full scale war. Another quick check a few miles away revealed that Romulus had been similarly loaded for bear...but then she looked more closely. The armored vehicles had arrived later. She couldn't tell whether they were tanks or personnel carriers. With a little more checking around, she finally had enough to begin a picture. She pulled out a small tape recorder and began dictating into it.

"It appears that neither side went into this looking directly for a fight. Instead, one side saw something that spooked them, and began shooting. The other heard it and immediately assumed they were under attack. By the time reinforcements had arrived it was too late for anyone to realize what had happened. Once enough of the border patrols were active, both sides Otome were sent, likely to investigate. They attacked, whether each other or a third party is unclear. Estimation of casualties....one hundred percent."

Shizuru sighed and took off again. If she flew full-speed, she might make it back to Windbloom by nightfall.

Mashiro wasn't really sure what to expect. Aoi had told her this room had been set aside for special meetings, but wouldn't say what that meant. So when she saw an oblong table, much like the one she met with her cabinet at, set up in the storeroom she was surprised.

The arrangements were simply exquisite. Pastries had been laid out for anyone sitting at the table to take, and fruit juices stolen from the kitchen to round it out. But more importantly, everyone was there. Arika was standing in her place of honor as the Otome of the Queen. Nanoha and Fate were chatting over the records she had given Nanoha before the party. Nina was trying to affect being bored, but she made an occasional side-comment to the girls. Miya and Erstin were discussing a class on the other side of the table, and Aoi, Chie, and Nao rounded out the other end. And Irina was putting up what actually looked like a blueprint of her castle, looking it over carefully.

Mashiro blinked, trying to make sure her eyes weren't decieving her. "Guys..." she started, her voice cracking. After a moment she found her voice. "J..just as long as we aren't playing around here."

Fate smiled. "Not at all. We're disguising this as practice for classes. And you're helping us out, right?"

Mashiro looked at her blankly for a second, then smiled. "Right." She sat down and grabbed a pastry to nibble at. "So, where are we at?"

Nanoha sighed and shook her head. "Well, let's start with what we already know. Someone, or more likely a lot of someones, in the government is massively corrupt. There's money being diverted all over the place."

Fate shook her head. "I can't believe that anyone would count on this much money just...going missing. Surely someone would have noticed."

"Someone did." Mashiro said glumly. "Just not in time."

Arika put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Mashiro. We'll fix it."

"Hmph. Easy for you to say," Nao filed at her nails. "Don't even know why I'm here."

"Because you've got an ear to the ground in the city," Nina pointed out. "We probably won't need that today, but when we do it'll take too much time to catch you up on what's going on."

"Exactly." Chie shook her head. "I don't really get how everything went wrong either, but I think that's our first step."

Irina took over. "There's also the problem of the palace budget. That's where by far most of the money went, and that just doesn't make any sense." She pointed. "You really only need exotic metals at key structural points. I'm no expert, but I'd think you could get it done on a twentieth what was spent. Windbloom is neutral, the last time the palace needed to repel a frontal assault was a thousand years ago."

Nanoha shook her head. "Irina, what would you do with all those exotics, if you had them and were building a palace?"

Irina blinked. "I'd probably use it to turn the walls into thick armor plate. With the amount you've described, it could probably repel a full...Otome...assault...."

Fate eyed the table. "...can anyone here think of any reason for that many Otome to attack something?"

Nanoha gulped. She had really been hoping to avoid this topic. "Do you think someone else has found Windbloom's true heir and is planning to try to take the city?"

"I'm the queen!" Mashiro snapped.

"I'm aware of that," Nanoha said calmly. "But you have to accept the possibility. I'm guessing whoever's doing this doesn't have a lot of people's best interests at heart."

Nina frowned. "What about Garderobe? An armed fortress that close to the school would practically be in control of the campus."

Fate nodded. "That's probably at least part of it. And it's too late to order the reconstruction stopped entirely. Still, I think it's time we inspected the construction site. Don't you agree, Your Highness?"

Mashiro smiled. "I do indeed."

"Absolutely not." Sakomizu looked at the assembled girls in front of him. "It is far too dangerous in the city to be wandering about simply because you want a preview." Mashiro nearly took a step back. Sakomizu never showed a spine, ever. At least not about things like this. He usually pretended to go along and then stabbed her in the ba...bad analogy right now.

Nanoha shook her head. "You know, you can't really stop us. We'd like to get permission to bring Mashiro. I mean, really, she's going to live in it, and she's inspected the site a dozen times now. Would it really be so bad?"

"If she's seen it a dozen times..." Sakomizu said, clearly grasping at straws "...what does one more now matter, over a Schwarz sniper's bullet in her head?"

"That's not fair!" Arika shouted, slamming her hands on the table. "Sakomizu, please, don't be such a -"

Sakomizu cut her off. "Enough! I'm not letting any of you leave the school and that's final. The soldiers will fire on anyone who tries to enter or leave, is that understood?!"

"I'm afraid I have to agree, Miss Harlaown," Natsuki shook her head at the entourage. "This little 'field trip' is much too dangerous. Shizuru's not fast enough to protect anyone from a sniper bullet, and so far as I'm aware no one here can produce a force field on command." She looked at Nanoha next. "As for you, Miss Takamachi, what are you thinking? Especially after our little...talk."

"...I'm thinking..." Nanoha emphasized the word, trying hard not to lose her temper. "...that a good friend of mine needs a lot of help if she's going to get her kindgom back under some kind of control. You've seen the financial reports yourself..."

"...reports you wrote." Natsuki said. "And your basic accounting classes aren't until next year. I know your math grades, Miss Takamachi, but they aren't high enough to convince me that you could actually figure out accounting ledgers on your own. And when did you have time to research it?"

"...I haven't been sleeping much, and Fate-chan has been helping me..." Nanoha admitted.

Natsuki swallowed. "Nanoha....please, just tell me now. Are you trying to make me an alcoholic? Because if so, I'll save you the trouble of fighting it now."

Mashiro groaned. "Look, I'm just looking for some protection to go to inspect my palace. Is that really so much to ask?"

"Especially since I got an angry phone call from the head of your Royal Guard, yes." Natsuki snapped back. "Look, girls, you all have jobs to do, and frankly I think it's about time that you stopped playing around and got back to them. Is that understood?" With a chorus of assent, Natsuki nodded. "Miss Takamachi, please remain here a moment. The rest of you, would you leave now? I wish to speak to her in private."

Once everyone had walked out, Natsuki just looked at Nanoha for a very long time. "You know, you even look a little like she did. Queen Sifr, I mean."

"Headmaster, really, it's just a coincide-" Nanoha jumped as Natsuki slammed her hand on the table.

"Nanoha!" she shouted. "When are you going to start taking this seriously?! You are the princess and rightful heir of Windbloom! And you were about to go out and paint a huge target on your forehead! Do you want to get kidnapped or killed?!"

Nanoha shook her head. "What would you say if I told you I'm really an alien from another world, and Fate and I are here to study the culture of your strange and primitive world before we make a decision on whether to invade and destroy the Otome system...after we've deciphered its' functions and decided whether there are any applications in our own military, and that all of this is really for your own good?"

"..." Natsuki stopped, then started to chuckle. "I'd think you've been talking to Miss Woods too much?"

Nanoha shook her head. "The day you believe that is the day you can start trying to convince me I should be the queen of anything, let alone this country."

"...all right. But could you at least take it seriously that someone might think you are?" Natsuki pleaded.

Nanoha stopped, but nodded. "All right." With that, it seemed like there was nothing more to discuss. Nanoha walked out of the room, and leaned against a wall in relief.

"...sometimes, the truth just works."

Shizuru landed at the foot of the administration building, idly picking a bullet off of her bracelet. Armed guards? The street lamps at full brightness even in the dead of night? What had gotten Natsuki so spooked? It was ludicrous, and time to make sure things really were that bad. She made her way up to Natsuki's office.

Where the Headmaster was laying her head down on the desk. From the faint impression in the wood, it looked like she had slammed her head into it as hard as she could. Shizuru clucked and started to make tea. "Natsuki, you really should be a little calmer about this. Now, what happened?"

Shizuru had a little trouble interpreting the slurring voice mumbled into the table. Anyone else would probably have assumed it was an animal trying to gnaw into the finished wood. "Well, in chronological order, Nanoha's desert plague mysteriously got worse, Tomoe Marguerite was expelled, Mashiro uncovered evidence of at least one conspiracy against her...something to do with her palace construction, she thinks....Akane Soir stole the Pure Heart Malachite and ran off with that Cartairian prince she was infatuated with...oh, Nanoha opened the path to the Shinso's Tomb on her own."

"...oh, is that all?" Shizuru asked deceptively lightly. "Come on, Natsuki. You'll feel better with a nice cup of tea..."

"Did I mention?" Natsuki mumbled some more. "Tomoe was expelled because she tried to have Nanoha raped."

Shizuru dropped the tea set onto Natsuki's desk, her eyes gone wide in shock. She couldn't articulate a reply to that one.

Natsuki finally looked up. "Next time you have a bad feeling like that one, please don't let my convenience override your sense."

Shizuru finally found her voice. "...was she caught?"

"No." Natsuki looked away, unable to meet Shizuru's eyes. "Someone must have warned her she had been caught. She had a bank account to herself here in the city. If she's conservative with it, she could probably live in the canal district for a year. We've got pictures posted at the port, and the police all have her portrait memorized, but..."

"How did Nanoha take it?" Shizuru asked softly.

Natsuki shrugged. "How does she take anything directed at her personally? It's amazing...it probably helps that she had some kind of Old Tech weapon on her that knocked out all her attackers in one go, but I haven't mentioned that part to anyone."

"...then she really is..." Shizuru began, and Natsuki nodded. Shizuru started picking up the remains of the tea service. "And how did she take that?"

Natsuki shook her head. "Worse than her own assault, frankly. I think she's compensating by trying to turn Mashiro into a competent Queen so no one will try to force the issue."

"So the best we could have hoped for, since it's her." Shizuru smiled. "Now, why are you trying to snack on this nice desk your predecessor left you? Really?"

"She wants to lead a procession out to inspect the palace site." Natsuki explained. "And with Schwarz still prowling the city...oh, plus the conference on the attack is tomorrow."

"All the more reason you should sleep...I'm sorry, Natsuki, but I couldn't draw any conclusions. And the Otome involved are protected by Master's Privilige, they don't have to say anything. It doesn't look like any laws were definitively broken, so..." Shizuru placed a hand on Natsuki's shoulder. "It's fortunate I have a spare tea service."

"I'm grateful." Natsuki smiled. "I fear I'll be drinking a lot of it."

"I'll order more honey."

It wasn't supposed to happen like this!

By this point almost every Coral who had started the year was thinking that same thing, but none of them for quite the same reasons as Tomoe Marguerite.

She was supposed to be preparing for her triumph in the upcoming tournament at the end of the Coral year, the moment she would finally claim victory over the country bumpkin and her two pet harlots who dared to claim her Shizuru's attentions.

Instead, she had been found out, and they had actually pitied her. Sent her running with her tail between her legs and nary another thought. Well, she wouldn't make it that easy for them.

The little hovel she was temporarily forced to live in was filthy, run down, and disgusting, but it was also the only place she could afford for any length of time. The touristy hotels were just too expensive right now...Tomoe reflected on the fact that she'd have to find a way to get money. She still had her uniforms, but the irony of selling those was just too much to take. So, she paced in the moonlight of the late evening, until finally the tenants above her stamped on the ceiling, sending dust and a few bits of plaster raining down on her head.

Really, she hadn't been speaking that loudly. With a sigh she sat at the very small nightstand the flophouse provided her with and looked down at the arena map from her notes. If she could just find the right position...

A hand brushed up against her earring, removing the Coral that was still lodged there, she spun around. "H-How DARE you!" For a moment, she realized she was staring at the air, and looked down slightly.

A young man with cold eyes smiled at her. "I heard about your troubles...I think, maybe, we have something to offer each other." A blood red Gem container, the two parts of a Meister Gem floating in it, was held out before her.

"The meeting is in two hours..." Mashiro put her head on the table. The private meeting room was set up, but today it was only the Corals in attendance, the two Pearls being busy preparing for a big test that night. "I'm regretting promising to bring you in, Arika."

"It's not entirely her fault..." Fate said softly. "This seems to be a little confusing to Nanoha too."

Nanoha pouted. "I just didn't pay as much attention in class as I should have, I guess. Can we just go over it again?"

"...honestly, Nanoha." Fate shook her head. "What were you studying instead?"

"...well, the biology homework actually." Nanoha replied. "I wasn't quite sure about the stuff on page 482."

Mashiro shook her head. "I guess that I can believe. Okay, let's go over it. Do you at least remember what's on the table today?"

Arika frowned in deep concentration. "Uhm...something about Romulus and Remus. I think everybody's talking about it."

"Right," Mashiro smiled. "You were paying attention. Lutesia Romulus and Lutesia Remus are descendants of the same Throne...capital letter sense."

"Okay, that's the part I don't get." Arika stopped her. "I know about the War of the Twelve Kings, and it's somehow related to that, but..."

Fate sighed. "Sorry, Mashiro. Nanoha and I just learned it this year."

Erstin coughed. "Allow me, please. The Twelve Kings were the leaders of the Immigration from our homeworld. Everyone on this planet, plus most of the livestock and crops we use, are descended from their followers and their posessions. They left to avoid some terrible war, but the specifics were lost. Their greatest champions also came from that time, a Knight who was stalwart and brave, and a Vizier, wise and cunning.

When they landed here, Earl was a wasteland, a desert. They made this world come to life, green everywhere, with forests and plains and oceans..." Erstin smiled, as if just imagining it. "But within a few generations, things weren't working so well...and that set off the War. There's a lot of history from that time that was lost, but what we do know is that the Kings turned terrible weapons on each other.

"The Kingdom of Lutesia was one of the worst hit, and they split, their royal family unable to decide if the men or women should rule. The women won, and exiled their men to the new desert, who eventually found a terraformed region and settled it as Lutesia Romulus, named after the King at that time. The Queen renamed her country after herself, becoming Lutesia Remus." Erstin shook her head. "There were lots of other consequneces too...but in most cases the decline was slow. Now, most of the Twelve Kingdoms don't even bother with their Council seats for the most part."

"Right," Mashiro said. "Romulus and Remus share a border, and they just had a dispute that got out of hand." She looked at Arika. "That's the first thing. Please tell me you at least understand the second."

Nina shook her head. "Probably not."

Nanoha smiled. "Akane was my oneesama, she explained it to me. Cardair's become aggressively expansionistic in the past generation. They've reclaimed most of their territory and their seat on the Council by being the big winners in the War of the Dragon King fifty years ago, mostly on the strength of a dedicated Otome force. Akane is...was...from Florince, the largest country that shares a border with Cardair."

Fate nodded. "So when a prince from Cardair shows up, even a minor one, and steals not only Florince's latest Otome, but their best Gem..."

Arika winced. "This is all so complicated. My head's really starting to hurt."

Mashiro chuckled. "You'll get used to it, Arika."

Fate smiled. "Are you sure you don't want me to go with you instead?"

Mashiro shook her head. "I work better with Arika..."

Nina nodded. "Anyway, that brings us to the two neutral parties in this case. Aires and Artai. Father should be at the meeting...I know the Archduke is in town, but this is still technically a minor matter. It would be odd for a ruler to get directly involved."

Mashiro looked at her. "Nina, I know it's not appropriate, but can I ask you how you think your father will respond today?"

Nina shook her head. "There's no reason for Artai to be involved here. We don't want a major war breaking out. He'll probably be on your side."

"Right." Mashiro smiled. "And Aires doesn't want one either...neither does Florince so if it comes to a vote my tie-breaker should be able to force through any resolutions needed to prevent one."

Nanoha sighed in relief. "That's good...this could get nasty, though. Mashiro, please don't do anything rash."

Nagi dai Artai had, in fact, chosen to leave the meeting to Sergei. Instead he was crawling, almost literally, through a tiny sewer. In deference to the secret nature of his approach, he had thrown on a simple jumpsuit instead of his usual rich attire. Good thing, too, because he would likely never be able to use this thing again. The way was dark, cramped, and probably dangerous. But the results would be worth it once he got to the end.

It took surprisingly little time. He found the etchings in the wall that marked the old secret passage and pushed in the button. When he stepped out, he was amazed. Long hallways of brushed metal, black-colored exotics with glowing inlays...oh, and Smith was there too. "How do you like your new home, Highness?" she asked, smiling. "Of course it's not finished yet, but the lab level is operational. Would you like a tour?"

Nagi laughed and shook his head. "I really wouldn't understand anything I'm seeing. I trust you to be managing this part quite well on your own. I'm a little more interested in a change of clothes."

"Of course," Smith handed him a package. "There's a bathing chamber that way. We'll arrange a cleaner exit for you, but you have to understand security-wise we do need to rotate our routes."

"Oh, I'm not complaining." He took the package. "Oh, and after my shower, we'll have to get to the real reason I'm here."

Smith smiled. "I'll go warm up the projectors."

Mashiro held her head in her hands. Why, why did I pick now to try to become a responsible Queen?

In all truth, everyone in the room who wasn't part of the argument was seriously wondering something similar. There were two issues on the agenda. One wasn't really a council issue at all, but since Otome had apparently taken to brawling over border disputes they wanted a chance to shout at each other too. But that would probably have to wait for tomorrow.

Romulus and Remus were currently engaged in the adult equivalent of holding one's breath until people begin listening.

"I demand action!" the Romulus representative yelled out, for about the tenth time. "We have been the victims of a vicious attack!"

"I think it's very clear who attacked first!" the Remus representative shot back.

"Yes! It is!" Romulus, as Mashiro was coming to think of him, agreed while vehemently disagreeing. "This is why a nation ruled by an evil matriarchy shouldn't be allowed to have Otome!"

"Fine words coming from the descendants of ex-" Remus tried to respond, but was suddenly interrupted by the loud clanging of metal hitting the floor. Arika almost jumped to her defense, but Sergei stood up.

"Forgive me, gentlemen..." he said, shaking his head. "But I'm afraid I felt myself being drawn into your...passionate debate." Sergei sat back down. "The fact remains that this is a very serious matter, far too serious for us to let our emotions rule the day. Now, I believe the headmaster may have some evidence to present..."

Natsuki coughed and gave Sergei a look, but stood. "Correct. As it so happens, the Bewitching Smile Amethyst was close enough to put together a detailed after-action report. While the Otome strike wiped out much of the evidence, there were some signs that a third party may have been involved. With most of the soldiers involved currently indisposed and unavailable, would you gentlemen please at least consider the possibility that neither party opened fire on the other?"

"Preposterous! No one else would have a reason to be in the area!" Remus declared with certainty.

Romulus nodded. "There's only one explanation."

Mashiro finally had had enough. "Headmaster!" She slammed her hands on the table. "This is preposterous. There's absolutely no reason to think that a Column of Garderobe would lie about a situation this important. If all these two insist on doing is trying to blame each other, then I move we reprimand both of the sitting governments of Lutesia and recess until tomorrow, and maybe let cooler heads prevail."

Everyone stopped and stared at the girl that they'd all come to know as, at best, a hanger-on and a nuisance at worst. A few had new respect, including Sergei and Natsuki, but most just seemed irritated. Finally, Sergei raised his hand. "Frankly, Artai is forced to second. This council shouldn't be held hostage to petty bickering."

Natsuki shook her head. "With your permission, you Highness, I'd like to recess now and have a hearing for full censure tomorrow instead."

Mashiro nodded. "Motion to reprimand withdrawn, motion to censure."

The Florince representative stood up. "Second motion to censure, this is a waste of time."

Natsuki nodded. "Motion carries, we'll reconvene tomorrow with discussion of the censure."

Nagi sat in a chair, the only occupied seat in the entire theater. On his left was Smith, on his right was some wispy young girl, probably no older than he looked, holding a glass of wine on a tray for him. He glanced at her, then waved her off. With a half-bow, she departed. "I appreciate the gesture, of course, but it's not even noon yet. Let's see what we have."

"Of course, Archduke." The lights dimmed and the projector fired up. The footage that rolled was, to the Archduke's eyes, nothing short of beautiful. At least a dozen Slaves, of the same armored type that had attacked the dock commons in Windbloom, rolling across the desert in formation. They ignored everything thrown at them from the conventional firearms, instead going about their scouting maneuvers. "This is from the field test on the Lutesia border. Unfortunately we weren't able to get any footage of the Otome battle, we had to withdraw once it became clear we had provoked something of an incident."

"I see, I see." Nagi smiled. "Still, quite remarkable. I see the data has produced viable results. This was more a test of their ability to coordinate, and you certainly passed that...yes, with these, we can proceed to the next phase." Nagi paused for a moment. "Oh, right, those specifications for Project Valkyrie? I think we'll need to tweak them a bit, you assumed ordinary Otome. That won't do at all in light of...recent developments."

"Do you have any suggestions?" If Ms. John Smith was irritated, she didn't show it.

Nagi smirked. "Oh, plenty, but for right now let's just start with some minor modifications to the base model."

Natsuki took a seat on a bench as the council filed out and towards the exits. Leaving would take them some time thanks to the new security procedures, but they'd live. Arika whewed and slumped down next to her, as Mashiro exited the chamber. "If I had to stand there and listen to them another minute I thought I was going to go nuts..."

"Not that that's much of a trip." Mashiro grinned at Arika. "That only bought us a day, though."

Sergei shrugged. "I think they'll back down, facing a full censure from Garderobe with the graduation coming up."

Arika nodded. "uhm...what's a full censure mean?" she asked curiously.

Natsuki chuckled. "It means they can't apply to recieve new Otome for a full year. Even in an emergency. That should teach them to be careless with their accusations..."

Mashiro nodded. "Do you think we've got enough votes to make it pass?"

Sergei thought for a moment. "I don't see why not. Even if Cardair is against it, Florince doesn't want a shooting war in their back yard, and the Headmaster here has the tie-breaker vote."

Mashiro smiled. "I'd better get back to work...and Arika, don't you have classes?"

"Oh!" Arika bowed. "I appologize for sitting in on your meeting. Thanks for having me!" And then she turned and ran off at full speed. Mashiro adopted a more sedate pace, leaving Natsuki and Sergei alone.

"So, Artai is really going to support me on this?" Natsuki asked after a moment.

"Of course. What reason would we have to start a war?" Sergei smiled. "Besides, I didn't exactly send Nao and Nina here to fight."

"...forgetting a few, aren't you?" Natsuki asked idly.

Sergei coughed. "No idea what you're talking about." He glanced at her. "Incidentally, are you still planning on holding the graduation ceremony?"

"Of course." Natsuki sighed. "Even at a time like this...no, especially at times like this, we all need something to hold on to. The Test of the Pillar is in a week. Hoping Nao gets it?"

"Well, yes." Sergei admitted, totally without shame. "What we were both hoping with her didn't come to pass, and there's an empty Column spot she'd be good for."

"Right." Natsuki shook her head. "You're incredible."

Nanoha knocked on the door to the room shared by Nina, Arika, and Erstin before letting herself in. She was stopped dead by Nina snapping her pocketwatch closed and giving her a slightly accusatory look. "Oh...sorry, I just wanted to remind Erstin and Arika about the meeting tomorrow morning before the council session. Fate's supposed to be at that one."

"Good thing that's all she needs to pass this year," Nina noted wryly. "Assuming she doesn't manage second in the tournament."

Nanoha chuckled. "That confident of first place, are you?" She sighed. "Uhm...it's none of my business, but everyone's curious...why do you spend so much time looking in that watch of yours?"

Nina stared, totally incredulously. "Nanoha, are you really that blind? I mean, Fate was only doing it at you for what must have been years..."

Nanoha stopped, and slowly turned red. "Oh...sorry."

"..it's nothing." Nina nodded. "It's just...you see everything going on when you walk into a room, but it's like love can stare you in the face close enough to bite your nose and you see right through it. Something that's not normal about that."

Nanoha blinked. "I don't know what you mean. I love my family...I always loved Fate, and Yuuno, Hayate, Chrono...even Arf, and she kinda scared me at first."

Nina made a face. "Nanoha, when you put it like that I can't tell if you're talking about your cousins or putting together a harem." Nanoha turned beet red. "....oooookay." Nina shook her head. "You're hopeless, you know that?"

"....oh, really?" Nanoha grinned. "Then who's in the locket? Erstin? Someone back home, maybe? Or did you switch in a picture of Arika..."

"Hmph, as if," Nina sniffed. "It's not as if being a lesbian is a requirement to get in this school. I think it helps, but it's definitely not a requirement."

Nanoha grinned. "Well, maybe I just wanted to return that favor you did. It was really a romantic setting. It was just...perfect. So I guess I know where it came from. You want something like it with whoever's in that watch."

"...yeah, I guess so." Nina shook her head. "And if you think I'm telling you after I admitted that, you're crazy. Care to give me any previews on the next wargame?"

Nanoha paused. "I think Miya's team will do very well. We'll be drawing teams out of a hat this time. Right in front of everybody, since someone accused me of rigging the teams last game."

"...didn't you? That team makeup was a little too convenient." Nina decided to just point out.

Nanoha smirked again. "I never said it wasn't true."

"Anyway, why would Miya make a big difference?" Nina asked.

Nanoha thought about it for a minute. "Eh, what's the harm? You probably picked up on at least half of it already. That girl's smarter than she acts a lot of the time. She's got some good ideas, so listen to her..."

"...and the other half?" Nina's eyes narrowed to slits as she spoke.

"Nyahahaha...let's just say she's had a lot of practice at the new exercise this year..."

Later that afternoon, Fate found herself cornered in the locker room by a shadow. Looking up, she realized she was looking at a student, although Fate was pretty sure the altered uniform would at least draw disapproving glances from Miss Maria later. When she finally brought her eyes up to Miya's, she sighed. The other girl held an expression of determination. Here it comes...

"I'm not giving her up, you know," Miya leaned forward. "Just remember that..." Fate couldn't help it. She started to giggle uncontrollably. Miya frowned. "And just what's so funny? I'm going to take her from you, you understand that right?"

Fate bit her lip to get herself under control. "Is that what this is about? Miya, please, sit down." Miya hmphed, but decided that her rival probably wouldn't stab her in the back. At least not yet. Fate put her hands on Miya's shoulders. "Nanoha is a very special person. You know that, of course, but what you seem to have missed is that she already loves the both of us. Nothing you can do is ever going to change that."

"...but she's your girlfriend..." Miya was plainly, confused.

After a moment, Fate reached out and pulled the girl into a hug. "Wow, I think Tomoe did a real number on you..."

"DON'T TALK ABOut...her..." Miya stopped herself. "Oh God...after what she did..."

Fate shook her head sadly. "Miya...it's going ot take time. Really. Just try to be yourself again. Take it a day at a ti-" *BOOM!* Suddenly, the locker room was fulled with a lurid pink smoke. Fate quickly assessed that it was neither toxic nor was the explosion big enough to cause any real damage. Therefore, it was likely that...

Yep, Miya was giggling. "...okay, which locker did you just bomb?" Fate asked, somehow already knowing the answer. She got up and quickly walked towards the source of the smoke.

"...Arika." Miya giggled. "It was easy, really, the girl just doesn't pay enough attention..."

Fate shook her head as she rounded the corner. Sure enough, Arika and Nina had been at ground zero, and now resembled nothing so much as giant pink powder puffs with wide, stunned eyes. "...you really should have used the 'bombs' Nanoha provided, Miya, but this once I'll let it stand. Sorry, Arika, Nina, you're out of the game this time."

Shizuru set down the tea service, easily handing Natsuki a cup before taking one herself. To anyone outside, it would look like just another day, but Shizuru was...annoyed. "I finally got around to putting Tomoe's things together."

"I guess that's important. A member of her household is in the city, and insists they won't want the belongings. Told me to put them in the incinerator." Natsuki pinched the bridge of her nose. "Of course, anything that's of use to the police goes to them first..."

"Pity," Shizuru replied. "Some of this stuff really should be burned. I found a journal...mostly ordinary jealousies, but if you read between the lines, her plans are...disturbing."

Natsuki let an eyebrow quirk. "You mean beyond having one of our most prominent students chased down and raped, Shizuru?"

"Well, let me think..." Shizuru said thoughtfully. "I believe her exact words for what she wanted to happen to you were 'roasted over an open pit...for a start.'" She shook her head again. "I can't believe I missed this."

Natsuki sighed. "You didn't, you just didn't realize the whole significance. The important thing is that we managed to catch her before any permanent harm was done."

"I wish that were true, Natsuki." Shizuru shook her head. "Miss Marguerite was, directly or indirectly, involved in many of the more minor incidents last semester. It looks like she may have been manipulating the class order for Miss Chocolat's benefit, to keep a tighter rein on her. It's hard to tell who was doing the lion's share of the work, since Tomoe takes credit for all of it here."

"That's good enough for me." Natsuki shrugged. "Shizuru, please, don't get yourself too worked up over this. The reason we missed this was that we were both looking at the bigger picture. We both assumed everything going on had a political motive, something sane. Not the work of one delusional Coral and her captive roommate."

"That's no excuse, Natsuki. It was our job, and we let them down." Shizuru shook her head. "Well, let's do this the easy way, then. Clothing, school uniforms, books, and family items are returned to the family...we'll send the diary to the police...as for the rest.." She made a rather obvious face. "I'll burn it personally and then go take a very, very long bath."

"That bad?" Natsuki tried not to look ill. It actually almost worked.

"Miss Marguerite has quite an imagination." Shizuru didn't bother to hide her ill look in the slightest. "Let's be glad she'll soon have no scope to inflict it on others any more."

Natsuki shuddered. "A fifteen year old girl...I'd have to ask Miss Maria, but I don't think this has happened in a thousand years at this school."

"Let's hope we make it another thousand without a similar incident."

Nina gulped. In all truth, nobody had ever actually gone through this door before that she'd heard of.

Shizuru Viola's office.

Nina knew discipline problems were always handled in the Headmaster's office, or in the appropriate teacher's office. But Shizuru barely taught any classes, usually as a substitute or for special occasions like the first combat class.

She was also always out with the students when she wasn't away on Column business, too. If you wanted to talk to her, usually you'd just...go up and talk to her. But this required discretion and tact. Which was why Arika, Nanoha, and Fate had been ruled out.

She reached up and knocked. When that didn't produce any results, she gently opened the door.

The lights were out, in fact, they had been completely removed. Shizuru apparently favored candlelight, because all of the usual electric fixtures were instead candelabra. There was only one narrow window allowing in the noonday sun. There was a very thin layer of dust, no doubt because Shizuru had been away until so recently. There was really very little else to it, just a solid wooden desk and a flining cabinet in one corner, but the chairs were very nice. Cramped in, though. Nina guessed it was because it was never used.

But there was nobody in. Nina sighed.

"Miss Wong, what an unexpected pleasure." Nina jumped at the whisper in her ear. "It's so rare for students to brave my office..."

Nina looked at Shizuru. "I'm sorry, oneesama." She glanced around furtively. "I was here to ask about - "

"I'm afraid the answer is 'no' Miss Wong," Shizuru cut her off.

Nina stared. "You didn't even wait for me to ask the question."

Shizuru smiled. "You're here about that little excursion the Queen wants to set up. I'm afraid the answer is the same. No one is allowed to leave the campus. Natsuki is right, it's much too dangerous for you to go."

"But," Nina tried again, but Shizuru shook her head.

"It's far too risky for any of you to go." Shizuru smiled. "So I think I'll check it out myself."

Nina thought about that for a second. "Nanoha won't like that. She said we're not supposed to trust anyone outside the group..."

Shizuru chuckled. "She's learning...but in this case, I think it's safe."

Nanoha sighed and put her head on the table. Nina winced, but Nanoha looked up and said "It's not your fault," The meeting room had taken a decidedly somber note.

Nina coughed. "I don't suppose you'd like to tell me why we're not trusting the Headmaster and Shizuru-oneesama with this."

Nanoha winced and rubbed her head. The whole crew was here, and suddenly they were all looking at her expectantly.

Nao smirked. "Yeah, thought this would come up. Really, dummy, this is the adult's job."

Nanoha sighed again. "Because the Headmaster thinks I'm Windbloom's heir." The room practically exploded, with people screaming at her, laughing, and overall going nuts. Nanoha let it continue for a few moments, then shouted "QUIET!" Everyone shut up. "Mashiro, first of all, no, I don't have any intention of taking your job, so please calm down. No, Arika, it's not cool and I have no desire to do the job. Miya...please, stop laughing okay?"

Miya quieted her giggles and looked up sheepishly.

"Does everybody see why I want to keep the 'adults,' as Nao so kindly put it, out of the loop?" Nanoha asked the crowd. They all nodded. "Good. Now, I suggest we start working on finding a way in and out of the school. Maybe the sewer system?"

Nao shook her head. "Thought of that already. The entrances have all been barred. For a city that's supposed to be bankrupt, they sure got that up in a hurry."

Fate frowned. "Well, maybe it'll still work. If they were barred up that quickly, the masonry's probably shoddy. I'll bet Nanoha can kick through them."

"Nyahaha..." Nanoha blushed. "I'm not a monster..."

Fate kissed her cheek spontaneously. "No, just an Otome..."

Nanoha gulped as everyone glared at her. "I'll try it..."

Shizuru flew high over the city, looking down at the palace. Much of the old grounds had been demolished and leveled, supposedly in preparation for new construction in the city. Shizuru frowned as she realized it also created a great deal of open ground for conventional troops to cross, making them sitting ducks. The new palace itself was a tall tower, hidden completely behind an interlocking series of holo-panels. The idea was that they would illuminate the work-site while hiding the Queen's new tower-shaped home from public view until the reveal in less than five weeks, timed to coincide with the Garderobe graduation.

She frowned as she realized the top had also been paneled off, preventing an aerial inspection. Silently, she flew towards the holographic panels.

The report of fully automatic rifles was nearly enough to stun her clear out of the sky, and she looked down to see the Royal Guard of Windbloom taking aim at her. She twisted around and landed in front of them, taking the rounds to her chest with a wince. Sure, the Robe was better than the thickest body armor, but these rounds were still enough to smart. She stepped over calmly and took the weapons. "Gentlemen, would you mind explaining what this is about?"

The guards looked down at their empty hands, and then drew their sidearms. "No one aside from the crew is allowed on the palace grounds, Ma'am. No exceptions, by order of Queen Mashiro. We'll have to ask you to leave or be arrested."

Shizuru smiled, holding up her hands. "Going to arrest little old me?"

The guard who had spoken gulped. "...we would prefer if you just walked away, but if you keep going we'll have to."

Shizuru quickly ran the odds. She knew Mashiro had never given such an order, but faking her signature or simply putting it down in front of her and getting her to rubber stamp it wouldn't have been difficult. By the time that could be sorted out, she could be stripped of her Otome priviliges. "...all right, I'm going. No need for any more violence." She carefull placed the two rifles on the ground and walked away.

Fate bent her knees slowly, the meeting already starting to run long again. And once again, despite the fact that the representatives were technically only present to witness the outcome and cast their votes, Lutesia had somehow allowed things to degenerate into a shouting match again.

"Rebel!"

"Son of a whore!"

"Lunatic!"

Fate nudged Mashiro's shoulder gently and leaned down. "We should get on with the vote."

Mashiro looked up and nodded at her, then slammed her hand down on the table. "Both of you, just shut up!" Once again the whole room stopped and stared at the Queen of Windbloom in silence. "If the Romulus and Remus representatives don't cease this childishness at once, I will ask my Otome to clear you from the room!"

"HAH!" The Romulus representative looked at her with contempt. "Authorizing your Otome in the middle of a council meeting, just a shade hypocritical don't you think?"

Fate smiled gently at him. "Sir, I don't need to Materialize to knock out everyone in this room, the Headmaster possibly aside."

Slowly, the Romulus and Remus representatives took their seats. Mashiro nodded to Natsuki, who stood. "I think it's about time we begin the vote...all in favor of Censure?" Mashiro and Sergei murmured "Aye" along with the Florince and Aires representatives. "Opposed?" Only the Lutesia representatives voted 'nay.' "Does Cardair abstain?"

"Yes, Headmaster. This is an obvious internal affair within the nation of Lutesia. The Council has no place getting involved, and it's a little insulting that our greatest weapon has been stolen and we need to discuss this...side show."

"So noted, Representative. Regardless, the motion passes. Lutesia Romulus and Lutesia Remus may not apply for Otome replacement Otome this year. Now, finally, the matter of the Pure Heart Malachite..."

Fate suddenly realized the day wasn't over yet.

Nina sniffed. "When Nanoha said that we had to get out of the school and to the palace, somehow, I don't think this is quite what she had in mind."

The limosine was drawn from Mashiro's personal motorcade, one of five heavily armored vehicles that had been co-opted for the purpose. It had been stocked with snacks, a tiny, state-of-the-art entertainment center, a phone, and even a fridge and a small thermos of heated coffee.

None of which changed the fact that, after Mashiro's latest escape attempt, somoene had gone to the trouble of removing the interior paneling and replacing all of it. Sure, it was still luxurious, but short of shattering the windows there was absolutely no escape.

Erstin frowned, looking at it. "This isn't a coincidence. It's not safe. And the way Miss Maria talked about these 'special arrangements'..."

"It's obviously a ploy." Nina shook her head. "Someone got wind we were working for the Queen and insisted the rules be changed. The government owns the arena, so they can dictate the terms Garderobe uses it under. Nanoha was definitely right."

Erstin nodded. "We have a major leak somewhere."

Nina winced. "And it looks like it might be in Garderobe...The only person from Windbloom we told was Sakomizu. And the head of Windbloom's Royal Guard doesn't have a reputation for overzealousness like this."

"...Nina, are you seriously suggesting that the Headmaster may actually be working against the Queen?" Erstin's jaw didn't drop, but it was certainly threatening to.

"Why not?" Nina shrugged. "It's pretty obvious now that Nanoha was right. Garderobe wants her on the throne. What better way than to get Mashiro deposed, then produce Nanoha as the heir. I've heard stories that it wouldn't be the first time Garderobe played in politics."

Erstin laughed. "Nanoha wouldn't cooperate, not for a second."

"What do you think this is about? Nina sighed. "It centers on that palace. Mind if I run something by you, Erstin?"

Erstin smiled. "As long as we get to cuddle on the ride back. You're going to beat me anyway, so I'm gonna need comforting..."

Nina chuckled. "Okay. I think I know what the plan is. That palace is going to be ludicrously expensive-looking. I think that the form will also be meant to be offensive in some way. And Mashiro's still set to take the fall..."

"...and then someone takes over in the chaos." Erstin winced. "That sounds about right."

"...damn. We've got evidence that it wasn't her fault, but not enough to convince the public unless we put a stop to that construction." Nina bit her lip. "And if we just do that, it'll tip off the conspiracy that we know something's going on."

Nanoha crawled on her hands and knees through the dry tunnel, the hard hat from her old job still perched on her head. "Ugh. Nao, I'm grateful you managed to find an out-of-service tunnel, but I can hardly breathe in here."

"Well, what do you expect?" the Pearl shrugged, even through she was even more cramped than Nanoha. "It's not like this place ever gets any visitors. If you want I can try to scrounge up some oxygen from the science classroom."

"Might not be a bad idea." Nanoha said, trying not to breathe. "Oh, here we are..." She stopped. "Wait, what the heck?" She looked. "This isn't just barred over, it looks like they melded it to the stone somehow..."

"What?" Nao blinked. "That can't be right. Last time I was down here they were just drilled into the wall."

Nanoha frowned. "Give me that pen-knife. I'll buy you a new one if this doesn't work..." Nao handed up the requested implement, and Nanoha very carefully reached out and tried to shave off a piece. "Wow...this stuff is tough. Really shiny too." In a moment of frustration, she pushed in and the blade bent backwards.

"Dammit, Nanoha! That was my best knife!" Nao exclaimed.

"Thought that was your switchblade."

"...it's the principle of the thing." Nao said defensively.

Nanoha sighed. "Exotic metals. Lovely. Looks like they have plenty to spare, all right."

"So now what do we do?" Nao asked.

"We get out of here before we suffocate."

Arika pouted, laying on her bed. "Why did I have to stay out this time?"

"Because Fate's better at reading people than you, Arika." A slightly bruised Erstin said. "And it'd be weird if Mashiro was giving the same person council meetings all the time."

"Yeah, I know." Arika pouted some more and rolled over onto her back. "I just miss her. She hates these meetings."

Erstin giggled. "And you don't care about her."

"Not a bit," Arika confirmed, missing Erstin's gentle ribbing entirely. "She's a stuck up, insensitive little brat."

Erstin turned around to her desk, pulling out stationary and a black cover. "Whatever...I need to write home."

"Oh?" Arika blinked. "Come to think of it, you're doing that a lot lately."

"I know...but so much is going on now." Erstin had most of her attention on the paper. "I just need to tell everyone about it."

Arika frowned. "We're supposed to be keeping the meetings a secret, even from our home countries. Actually, especially from our home countries, now that I think about it."

Erstin blinked. "Why especially from them?"

Arika looked at her funny. "The whole point of this is that Mashiro's a bad queen and Nanoha wants to make her a good one, right?"

"...uhm, right, I guess."

"Well...don't a lot of people want to make Nanoha the queen? Wouldn't that maybe include people back from where you're from?" Arika turned herself so she was balanced precariously over the side of the bunk, looking at Erstin.

Erstin blushed. "Uhh...yeah, I guess, but what could they do from all the way back home?"

"Don't know, don't wanna know," Arika groaned. "This is getting hard enough without people making it more complicated."

Erstin chuckled. "Okay, I'll keep the letter short." She turned back to begin working on it, but there was suddenly a rotund feline in the way.

"Meerrrrrooooow!" Mikoto's cry was half yawn, half warning. Erstin thudded her head off the table next to her, then looked to Arika to interpret.

Only to be sorely disappointed. "Mikoto, that's rude!" Arika said, prompting another 'mrrr' of discontent from the cat. "No, Mikoto, let her write." More displeased noises followed, and Arika groaned in exasperation. "Mikoto, mail call is in forty-five minutes. If I rub your tummy, will you leave Ersty alone?" Mikoto seemed to think it over for a second, then pounced off the desk and clambered up onto Arika's bunk. "I'm sorry about him, but he's been following me around whenever Mashiro's in meetings lately. I think he's mad she won't bring him anymore."

Erstin giggled softly. "See, even he can tell you're good with Mashiro."

"Shut up." Arika groused, but didn't didn't sound like she meant it.

Nanoha wheeled a cart towards the conference hall, loaded down with trays from the cafeteria. "In any other school, this would be an insult," she reflected, before she approached the guards. "Is the meeting still ongoing?"

"Yes, ma'am," one of them replied.

"I see. It's nearing five o'clock, I thought they could use a break and perhaps a meal," Nanoha said again, in her most formal voice.

The door was opened to her. "Go right on in," Nanoha smiled and went past, and quickly took in the situation. Really, it didn't look like too much had changed, except the players. The Lutesians were all but pouting in their chairs, while Cardair's man slammed his hands on the desk in front of him as he stood up.

"This is OUTRAGEOUS!" he began, or more likely repeated for the tenth time. "I am telling you, we have no more idea what happened to the prince or the Malachite than you do!"

Nanoha looked over at Fate for confirmation of her worst suspicions. Fate just nodded. She decided to intervene briefly with a slight cough.

All at once, she felt rather small as all eyes turned towards her. "I'm sorry, but it's very nearly dinner time and I had heard the meeting was running extremely long today. I thought dinner might be in order."

Natsuki chuckled. "That will be fine, Miss Takamachi. Perhaps a ten minute break is called for to get everyone situated." And their heads cooled, which was not stated. Nanoha started to efficently hand out the trays, while she listened carefully to the chatter that was still going on.

She saved Mashiro and Fate for last, and when she reached them she leaned over and murmured "What's going on here?"

Fate sighed. "Cardair seems to feel that Florince stole their prince, and Florince feels Cardair stole their Otome and Gem. About the only thing they can agree on is that Akane's not too relevant, they just want Kazuya and the Pure Heart Malachite back."

Nanoha winced. "So what's the problem?"

"Well, Florince doesn't really want all of Kazuya back," Mashiro pointed out. "Just his head will do. Silver platter optional."

Nanoha paled. "That's...that's..."

"Politics," Mashiro said, shaking her head. "They can't agree on who should actually be doing the investigating because Cardair doesn't want to hand over an Heir, even a minor one, for a death sentence. Then there's the problem that he really is complicit in the Malachite's theft."

Nanoha sighed. "Any idea where he is?"

"It sounds like they might be taking the Green Corridor on foot," Fate said. "It's a terraformed road that somehow survived the big disaster. It leads from here to Cardair, and then beyond to Aires. But without the right kind of vehicle it's still pretty treacherous, even if there's no Desert Plague to worry about. That's why there's no border patrols."

"But plenty of other problems, like bandits?" Nanoha guessed. Fate nodded. "They're probably making for Aires," Nanoha said. "Or maybe even as far as Zipang."

"It's the only safe angle for them to play," Mashiro said. "We'll need to work out a compromise. Do either of you have any suggestions?"

Fate smiled. "Give Florince Shiho Huit as a Meister," She held up a hand. "Wait. She came from Cardair, so both sides lose an Otome, and Shiho would come with her own Gem so Cardair would get a new Gem out of the deal too."

Mashiro nodded. "It could work. It's a starting point anyway. There will probably be reparations to pay, but Florince can deal with it."

"Nanoha, we've been at this for six hours. It's one in the morning," Chie said calmly, taking apart the tea service for the fourth time. "And don't you have studying to do? I think it's time to face facts. We have a leak on the team."

Nanoha flipped up a chair, peering into the screw-holes in the legs for the seventh time with a flashlight. "No, there has to be some other explanation. I just can't accept that one of us would try to sabotage this, knowing what's at stake."

Irina fiddled around with some gadget. "Well, we'll know in a few minutes, so you can stop running around frantically like that. I've got this analog feedback generator almost ready to go."

Chie shook her head. "Yeah, I'm glad you're on our side. Of course, now it's useless for detecting bugs which is what Aires Intelligence Agency wanted it to be for in the first place, but I'll see if I can get another one."

Nanoha blinked. "If we can just destroy them, why would we want to detect any?" she asked.

Fate clucked softly, setting down a glass. "Nanoha, I know you haven't had much fieldwork, but you really do need more sleep. It would be nice to feed the people spying on us misinformation..."

"Got it!" Irina grinned maniacally, tilting her head so the light flashed off her glasses. "Everybody ready? Cuz here it comes....three..two...one..." The room was filled with a hideously loud screech that drowned out all thorught.

Nanoha slammed her hands over her ears and shouted "TURN IT OFF!"

"WHAT?" Irina seemed dumbfounded, playing with the controls. The screech didn't get louder exactly, but it was certainly more dissonant.

"SHE SAID 'TURN IT OFF'!" Fate tried to shout.

Irina responded "I'M NOT BURNING ANYTHING, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! IT'S WORKING FINE!"

"DAMMIT IRINA!" Chie tried to snatch the device away from her. "YOU'LL BRING MISS MARIA"

Whatever Miss Maria would be brought to do was to be lost to antiquity. The room suddenly filled with smoke as the lone light panel set into the ceiling exploded, bringing down a small rain of electronics components, easily the size of a stereo center. Irina snatched the device back and shut it off.

"...that's a big bug," Nanoha commented.

Irina started sorting through the wreckage while everyone waited. "I don't think we can rule out a leak just yet, Nanoha. Speakers, amp, synthesizer...most of this is just standard stuff you could find in any pawn shop in the city, or if you were really desperate cobble it together by going through the trash when people threw out their stuff from the dorms...we barely get enough power for it, but that doesn't stop some people from trying, especially Pearls."

Nanoha sighed. "Great...and whoever threw it together had to know we were using this room, and what for, which just limits us to the group still." Fate put a hand on her shoulder.

"There's more." Irina held up a small black box. "This is the only thing I don't get. I've never seen anything like it before, but it took the overload and I think it's still working."

"...Schwarz." Fate said grimly.

Chie leaned back against the wall. "Which means they know everything we're up to."

"So, what do we do about it?" Mashiro asked the next morning, holding up the box. She was sitting in her bed, the sun just barely coming up over the horizon.

Nanoha sighed. "That's up to you. I only have one idea left, and it's risky as Hell."

Mashiro sighed. "Let's hear it."

"Irina's got several cameras and can cobble together some other basic recording equipment from the remains of the bug." Nanoha said, laying out a map of the school. "Fate learned the patrol routes of the guards. If we strike one hour before the shift changes, we've got a good chance to get some people out and across town without raising an alarm. From there we can find another sewer entrance and follow Nao's maps in."

"That sounds good!" Mashiro smiled. "Let's do it."

Nanoha held up her hand. "Not so fast, Mashiro. There's two problems. One, free Materializations are being heavily tracked. I helped set it up. If anyone uses one and attempts to leave school grounds, alarms will go off in the Headmaster's office, her quarters, Shizuru's quarters, Miss Maria's quarters...well, let's just say we don't want this to turn into an Otome battle between us and the Headmaster and Shizuru if we can help it."

"What's the other problem?" Mashiro groaned.

Nanoha scratched the back of her head. "Well, it's not so much another problem as a workaround. That's only for the game-related Authorizations. If a legitimate Master activates us, it'll only trigger the usual alarms in the nurse's offices."

Mashiro frowned. "But that means that you'll be linked to me. If the strike team gets hurt, it'll show up on my body and it will be obvious, even if you can stop everyone from noticing the alarms."

"I know." Nanoha sighed. "Look, there's five weeks left until the graduation ceremony. It will take some time to see if we can get Yohko to help us out anyway. I get the feeling she's not...entirely with the rest of the school staff. So you don't have to make a call on this right now."

Mashiro nodded. "I know. The best time for the enemy to strike is the ceremony. Everyone will be there, they'll all see 'I' built a war fortress."

"Exactly."

Mashiro smiled. "Thank you Nanoha, for everything you've done. Maybe, if this Queen thing doesn't work out, I can take up with whoever you work for?"

"I'd be honored," Nanoha smiled. "I'd love having you at my back in the control room, Mashiro, but let's not give up just yet."

"So, that's it? We're just giving up?!" Arika's shouts were loud enough to be heard down the hall.

"No, Arika," Fate said calmly. "We're just getting started. But this is exactly what an investigation can be like, especially when you're out of new leads and all the leads you do have point to one thing," She shrugged. "Waiting for the right moment."

Erstin frowned. "So what do we do in the meantime?"

"Keep up with your studies," Nanoha said. "Those of you who still have parts to play, you know who you are. We'll meet here every day, and do actual study sessions and help Mashiro out just like before, but until we're ready to move just focus on school and trying to relax."

Nao sniffed. "So this was all a waste of my time."

Nanoha chuckled nervously. "Nao, no it wasn't. The plan makes extensive use of those maps you found for us...we just need to get past the bars the old fashioned way first." She paused. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be a favorite to win the Test of the Pillar next week?"

"Psheah, right," Nao smirked. "That's mostly just 'cuz I don't care about Artai, but who said I care anything about this place either. Already got my first date lined up after I graduate, and I'd hate to disappoint."

Erstin actually breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, I'm glad it's over with..."

Miya pouted and flicked her ear. "What are you talking about? We're just getting started, just like Fate said."

Irina grinned. "And I get to make all sorts of stuff without anyone telling me 'no.'"

Erstin chuckled nervously. "Didn't your last extra-credit project blow up?"

"An accident, an accident..."

"So, that's what we're proposing," Mashiro sat seriously across from the men from Florince. They slowly looked at each other, as if wondering if this was real. Finally, their lead coughed and turned back to her.

"Your Highness," he said. "I realize that you're genuinely trying. Please, don't misunderstand, nothing pleases me more than being proven wrong about you. But this deal would be totally unacceptable to Florince,"

"What?" Mashiro looked at him, shocked. "Why, what's the problem? She's a member of the Torias, a top student."

He chuckled. "I take it you didn't read Miss Huit's school history, then?" When Mashiro shook her head, he continued. "She's a member of the Torias now, but this isn't the first time she was promoted to it. She was kicked off in favor of Miss Zhang due to...behavior issues. Frankly, my dear, while it was a good try Miss Huit is just too unstable."

"I...see. Is there any way I could convince you to change your mind?" Mashiro looked him squarely in the eyes.

"...if you can convince Cardair to surrender the Pure Heart Malachite when it is recovered," he said, very hesitantly "We might be able to consider the matter settled."

"And the matter of trial for . . . the thieves in Windbloom?"

"Oh, that's quite all right with us," he smiled. "So long as justice is done."

Nanoha laid down on the medical scanner for what felt like the hundredth time. "Nurse?"

"Almost done, Nanoha. I'm not quite sure about these readings," Nurse Yohko frowned at the console. "This is...this is amazing!"

Nanoha hopped up and pulled the sheet around her body. "What?"

Yohko smiled. "I don't know how you're doing it, but it looks like your body is somehow fighting off the Plague."

"So I can start Materializing again?!" Nanoha practically jumped in the air, but Yohko shook her head.

"Not yet. Something happened on your little trip out, so you're still in pretty bad shape." She shrugged. "It's just that the nanomachines aren't the only thing holding you together. You're still a very sick girl."

"I feel fine." Nanoha insisted.

Yohko gave her a Look. "Fine enough to be up at all hours. I'd say you haven't slept in, oh, two days." She pulled out a pad. "This is the only time I'm going to do this, Here's a note excusing you from classes and duties for the day. Go back to you-" Yohko looked up to see Nanoha had already slumped back down on the medical scanner. "Amazing girl. Wonder how much better she'd be doing if she actually stopped to recover."

"I'm afraid these terms are completely unacceptable. The loss of the Spiral Heart Spinnel and the Pure Heart Malachite would be a significant blow to Cardair's national interests." Mashiro found herself sitting in front of a stone wall, in the form of Cardair's delegation.

She stared at them for a few moments, before it hit her. "...why would the loss of the Pure Heart Malachite, considered a national treasure of Florince, impact your interests? Any replacement Otome drawn for Shiho from this year's class would come with her own Gem."

"I...well, that is..." The man started to wilt under Mashiro's intense stare.

But she wasn't done, oh no. "In fact, I can only think of a few reasons....and don't most of them violate the terms of the Windbloom Treaty?" Mashiro grinned viciously "Are you seriously trying to suggest to me that Cardair wants to threaten the treaty that it's my sworn duty to uphold?"

"Now now, be reasonable Your Highness." The diplomats in front of her were all sweating profusely.

Mashiro went in for the kill. "Oh, I am being reasonable here. In the end, you'll be down one very minor prince, but he's very definitely complicit in the crime, helping the fugitive flee justice. He won't be killed if he's tried in Windbloom, we'll probably just keep him as a guest here for a few years. You're the ones attempting to turn an incident caused by one of your citizens into your gain."

"It...it....I will take this under advisement. Good day, your Highness." With that, Cardair's delegation retreated from her office with more speed than she would have thought possible.

"Thanks, Nanoha." Mashiro said to the empty room. "I've got them. I can do this."

"Your Highness?" Nagi all but groaned as Smith came into his new office. "Your Highness, I realize that our new guest is an important contingency plan, but I have to admit to being, well, confused."

"Confused about what?" Nagi tilted his head in a purposeful attempt to evoke the 'lost puppy' look. Of course, he knew full well what this was most likely about.

Ms Smith coughed. "It's the requisition for her personal quarters. The new structure is finished, and we can begin furnishing at any time. I know you directed us to set up her quarters any way she requested, but her Otome priviliges are paramount. I can't believe some of this is really...appropriate."

Nagi laughed. "Oh, dear. Trust me, Tomoe won't be losing her priviliges on account of what's in her room, let me assure you of that. It'll keep her entertained."

"I...suppose." Smith said dubiously. "Still, at least some of it is very difficult to even determine a purpose for. I mean, the restraint-hooks on the poster bed are pretty standard, and I suppose the thick, plush rugs could be useful if one were inclined that way..."

Nagi cut her off "Will any of it be a problem?"

Ms. Smith shook her head. "A few of the more exotic requests will need to be crafted custom, but we have fabrication tools on site now. As long as she won't be needing it for a few days..."

"Very good then...oh, right. I need you to set up the agent's triggers ahead of schedule." Nagi smirked. "We may have been found out early. We can finish setting up floral arrangements later, right now we need to be ready to make our move."

"We had come to the same conclusion. The attack can begin at any time."

Nagi smiled. "Excellent. We'll hold off until they make their move."

Nanoha leaned in close to Fate, as if they were about to do something forbidden. The sunlight was dying, but they had pulled the curtains shut anyway. Nanoha was stripped down to her school-issue underwear, but Fate was still fully clothed....

"Condition stable," Bardiche said in his softest voice, the little crystal triangle glowing as he rested in Fate's hand. "Subject able to perform limited magical activities."

"That's good, right? So I can use Raising Heart again?" Nanoha's eyes widened.

"No, my Master," Raising Heart scolded.

Fate laughed. "Wow, even Raising Heart thinks you're trying to push too fast."

"Nyahahahaha...." Nanoha blushed as she started getting dressed again. "I just...I'm tired of worrying about there being an attack, and I can't do anything about it."

Bardiche chimed in again. "Estimated recovery time, one week."

Fate smiled and gave Nanoha a kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry, Nanoha. I'm sure nothing will happen in one week..."

The next morning, everyone was seated around the table again. Mashiro was smiling. "Cardair backed down on almost everything."

"Then..." Arika asked.

"The conference is over and we can get back to business as usual." Fate explained to her. "That's great news."

"They wouldn't accept very much oversight," Mashiro explained. "But the Column assigned to it has been allowed into the country, and they've promised to turn over all the results of their investigation so far. Doesn't stop them from trying to hide Kazuya on their own...."

Nanoha nodded. "But it does guarantee that trying it will land them in front of the council for violating the Treaty."

"Right...now...about the other thing....I thought about this a lot last night." Mashiro sighed. "I think that once we expose the problems with the palace, everything else will just come crashing down." Another deep breath. "How soon can you do it?"

Nanoha blinked. "Uhm...how about if we wait a week. I should be better by then, so I wouldn't have to stay here."

Irina nodded. "I could probably distract the nurse, so we don't need her to actually cooperate."

Nanoha nodded. "All right. Give me and Fate a few days to plan this out."

Arika went through the entire day in a daze. Even moreso than usual, she recognized what they were about to do was beyond simple rulebreaking. It had been drilled into her head very carefully. You Do Not Use Otome Powers Against Civilians. The evidence was overwhelming, but on the slightest chance that they were wrong...she would definitely be giving up her dream, and quite possibly more.

When classes were over, she looked into her bag to realize she hadn't even eaten lunch. Without saying a word to anyone, she went off to the Shinso's tomb. Sitting on the steps, she looked over the entire campus as she chewed silently on a celery stick.

In fact, she was so lost in thought that she almost missed it when Erstin came up from behind her. Almost. "Hey, Ersty. How'd you get up here?"

"Three staircases lead up here, you know," Erstin pointed out. "Still, you're getting better."

Arika shook her head. "Just hope I'm good enough....I don't want to let Mashiro down." Without thinking, she reached down into her blouse and pulled out her mother's pendant, looking into it. Almost as if she could see the woman she had never met in its' surface.

Erstin smiled. "You really are attached to the Azure Sky Sapphire, aren't you?"

"Yeah..." Arika smiled for a moment, before she nearly jumped out of her uniform. "Ersty!? You know what this is?!"

"Uhm, yeah." Erstin looked puzzled for a moment, then hit her palm with her fist. "Oh, that's right! You weren't there. It's a story from, oh, fourteen, fifteen years ago. She was the last Otome to serve the King and Queen of Windbloom. Miss Maria told us. She said she was a famous and powerful Otome, who served a long and happy term with her King before she retired to become a mother...but then there was an attack..."

Arika frowned. "Major Wong mentioned that, but he didn't say anything about my mother...All I really know about her is that this was hers. That's why I came to this school, to find out more....but why didn't Nanoha, Fate, or Nina say anything?"

Erstin gulped. "Well, you know Fate and Nanoha...if it's about specifics, they seem like they're off in their own universe. Maybe Nina just didn't recognize it?"

"...maybe." Arika shrugged. "Guess it doesn't matter. I've got a few days to look up more."

Nanoha leaned back in her seat on the couch in the Headmaster's office, flipping open her folder. "Let's see....it looks like the only thing of note today was Miss Adean was eliminated by challenge. The Pearls said she put up a good fight but she was cornered. America will probably win this round." She smiled. "I think next game we'll be ready to introduce the OpFor, with your permission."

Natuski nodded. "All right. This is your assignment so far. I've had to deflect private complaints from...well, most of the sponsoring nations, but in the end I think they'll like the results."

"Headmaster..." Nanoha shook her head. "Listen, I know it's not my place, but why am I doing this? It seems like courses on strategy and tactics should be standard curriculum here. Instead, Chie's the only one who has even a most basic grasp on the ideas, everyone else just wants to be told who to fight."

Natsuki frowned. "There are a lot of reasons, Nanoha. It was like you said once, a long time ago, but the curriculum was...whittled down, over the years. The last time was...well, because of a sealed incident before I took over as Headmaster. About twenty years ago."

"...Don't suppose you'd care to tell me?" Nanoha asked on sudden impulse.

Natsuki smirked. "Promise to tell me something about your mysterious past in return?"

Nanoha considered this for a moment, then decided on something. "It's Fate...she's an artificial life form. Not a cyborg, like Miyu either, but a real, flesh and blood human created through the Old Technology," Well, close enough. "It was done by her mother. We don't know...too much about the specifics, but Fate's mother was trying to bring her original daughter back to life. She was....well, Fate's life before we rescued her wasn't pleasant. She was..all but a slave."

Natsuki raised an eyebrow. "That's quite a revelation, if it's true. Not even Schwarz can do that."

"Nyahahaha....well, it doesn't matter much anyway. But I thought you might like an explanation for why I was so worried about Fate when her nanomachine injection didn't go so well..."

"Indeed....and that's enough of a tidbit that I suppose you earned this. In fact, now that I know that I'm surprised Miss Harlaown is handling this place as well as she is. Normally, abuse victims would be rejected by the psych profiles. My story's a bit longer, but then, a lot of the details don't matter anymore," Natsuki took a deep breath, but Nanoha interrupted.

"What about Tomoe, then?" she asked.

"Honestly, we're still not sure," Natsuki shrugged. "Everyone involved in her examinations is cooperating, but these things take time. I suspect we'll find a bribe somewhere along the way, and if we can prove it we'll need to have the person jailed. Interfering with the Otome evaluations can't be tolerated. Imagine if Miss Marguerite had actually managed to fool us long enough to get her own Meister Gem."

Nanoha shuddered. "Good point. I've had to train hard to fight well enough that I could probably survive against a Meister with a Coral, but even then..."

"Exactly," Natsuki took a deep breath again. "I believe I owe you a story. It was twenty years ago....

"Sifr wasn't the Queen yet, and in fact her mother had taken her far away from Windbloom to try to isolate her from politics. A lot like a certain other Queen we know, in fact. But this time, they kept in touch. And when Windbloom was fast running out of heirs due to various plots and attacks by Schwarz, the decision was made to send for her. The Prince of the kingdom, a very distant relative of Sifr's, took two representatives of the Church, a Column, and his own personal Otome, the Lofty Crimson Jade, to meet her. The after-action reports were very heavily censored, even after being sealed, but here's what I do know.

"The Lofty Crimson Jade was destroyed. The Gem, not it's owner. And Rena Searrs, also known as Rena Yumemiya, became the Azure Sky Sapphire."

Nanoha interjected at this point. "Headmaster...are you saying that Arika's mother was -"

"Exactly. Oh, but there's more. Schwarz eventually successfully kidnapped Sifr in the middle of this...and that's when the order that changed everything came down from my predecessor.

"Sifr Fran de Windbloom was to be executed rather than let her fall into enemy hands." Natsuki waited for Nanoha to object, but the girl swallowed. "It was a mistake, but made for all the right reasons. What's the life of one girl compared to allowing Schwarz free access to the weapons that destroyed the world?

"Only Rena Searrs was more powerful and resourceful than anyone ever gave her credit for. She rescued Sifr, but my predecessor stood by her order. And then, something that should have been impossible happened. With neither a Materilalized Robe nor her Master within several miles, The Azure Sky Sapphire was used to defeat...no, not just defeat, utterly humiliate four of the five Columns. Then King Bruce went to work. He wanted the Columns punished, and they were. For the better part of a generation, Garderobe's authority over the school was practically gutted."

Natsuki shook her head. "That's when I took over. Practically the first thing that was shoved into my hands was a new curriculum, and I was told I could sign off on it or be forced out of my job within a year. Oh, this had been a long time in coming, if it hadn't happened on my watch, maybe in a few years after I retire. The erosion was slow, and had been ongoing for a thousand years, but this sealed the deal. I didn't even realize how much damage was caused until two members of my first graduating class were caught...in flagrante delecto with their Masters as a condition for their retirement. They just...didn't think. Only did what they were told."

Nanoha swallows. "So....Fate was right all along."

"Basically, yes." Natsuki nodded. "It's not some sinister mind-controlling chip we put in your head or whatever the hell Schwarz does, but strong-willed candidates are rarely selected to become Meisters, and the school produces enough who are acceptable that the few like Nao and Fate, and, well, you who aren't are just seen as leftovers. So...thank you, Nanoha. You've already done far more for this school than you can possibly imagine."

Nao looked down at the large pendant that had been placed into her hands a few hours before. The rumors hadn't made the rounds yet, and she'd told the Headmaster in no uncertain terms that she didn't want her placing announced until she'd made a decision. Hence, taking refuge in the gardens. "Thanks, Headmaster. Just make my life harder. Maybe I'm the idiot after all..."

Irina tapped her on the shoulder, sending her leaping up over a nearby hedge. "Hey!" Nao shouted back at her. "Don't DO that?!"

"Thinking of recreating the Legend of the Fire String Ruby?" Irina smirked. "What are you complaining about, from what I hear you didn't want to be under a Master, right?"

Nao came back around the hedge. "Doesn't mean I wanted to work for the glory of the Shinso, either."

"Oh, what's a date, Nao? You're bi anyway." Irina was still smirking. "You could go anywhere you want, and do almost anything. The Columns don't have a Master, they're only beholden to the school and the Council, and most of the time you can draw a salary and barely have to work."

Nao glanced sidelong at the Coral girl. "This wouldn't have anything to do with that little suicide mission we're planning, would it?"

Irina shrugged. "That's up to you. But just 'cuz Shizuru gave up doesn't mean you'd have to."

"Eh..." Nao shrugged. "Okay, fine, but you get to help me get this Pearl Gem out. I'll tell the Headmaster I've accepted after we clean up the Queen's mess."

Chie had been leaning back in the hot tub in the Pearl bathroom when Fate dropped her bombshell. "You want what?"

Fate shook her head. "Oneesama, I just said I think you should start sitting out the strategy meetings in the mornings. You know way too much already..."

"...what are you planning, Harlaown?" Chie's eyes narrowed.

Fate sighed. "Look, you're already in pretty deep, but what we're about to do...you're risking a lot more than being kicked off the Torias now."

"And if I think it's worthwhile?" Chie grinned.

Fate smiled. "I'd say you're thinking more about your girlfriend than any altruism."

"...touche, Fate."

Fate shook her head. "But anyway, you have a career already lined up that could be put in jeapordy by what we're about to do. Nanoha and I can handle the heavy lifting here, and between Miya and Irina if we can't come up with enough distractions to keep people occupied for a week we should just turn ourselves in now. You don't have to do this."

Chie shook her head. "Don't you presume to lecture me about who has a job after graduation, little miss. I've got a few ideas lined up even if I don't get to keep my nanomachines."

"....I've got a bad feeling about this," Fate admitted. "I keep going over the plan, I know we're taking every reasonable precaution, but..."

Chie shrugged. "Fine, Fate. You win. I guess someone needs to know the score if things go to hell."

"...right." Fate sighed in relief. "Thanks, Chie."

"You really want to thank me, you'll take that towel off," Chie grinned, right through the pitcher of cold water being dumped on her head.

Nanoha was impressed. It had been awhile since she had been under any pressure in a fight, or even a sparring match. The Corals may have been catching up, but it wouldn't be until the end of their Pearl year that she'd consider them ready to handle anything on a level an "elite" should eat for breakfast.

"Ersty, you're overextending yourself! Miya, watch your hip! You'll get tossed around if I catch you doing that again." She conveniently ignored, for the moment, that it was two on one. "I want you two girls to be ready in case something happens."

"Like what?" Miya took a quick swing at Nanoha's head, which was quickly blocked. "We're on the distraction team."

Nanoha quickly forced Miya back and spun her own staff around, tapping Erstin on the ribs just hard enough to let the girl know she had been tagged. "Yeah, but we're definitely going in to stir up the hornet's nest. If we get caught, there's a chance whoever's building the new palace will set off whatever they're planning early."

Erstin tried to sweep Nanoha's legs out from under her, only to nearly fall over herself when Nanoha neatly jumped over the clumsy swing. "Nanoha, you're worrying too much! I'm sure you'll do just fine."

"Hope for the best..." Nanoha said, casually giving Miya a poke to the solar plexus "...but plan for the worst. Miya's got some tricks up her sleeve, but in a straight up fight both of you are next to hopeless right now."

"Hey! That's not fair!" Miya reared back for a wild swing...and swiftly found Nanoha inside her guard, ramming a shoulder into her chest and sending her sprawling to the ground.

"Fair is for those jokes of a ceremonial fight called 'Mai-Battles,'" Nanoha said to her, a little more coldly than might be warranted, but then she smiled. "I just don't want you to get hurt if you get caught up in things, that's all." She jumped as Erstin took a swing at her. "...very good. I didn't say this was over yet, did I?"

Mashiro sat on her bed, with Arika in her nightshirt sleeping on a cot in the room. "I swear," she smiled and shook her head fondly as she said it. "Never thought you'd take this Otome thing this seriously."

"Mashiro's important to me." Arika smiled. "All of my friends are."

Mashiro chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you said that. After spending a night staring at me I thought you might've taken to the Otome thing a little more than I'm comfortable with..." she trailed off as she realized Arika was looking crestfallen. "...oh."

"..." Arika stood there. Mashiro could see all the responses flicker across her face. Denial, passion, disappointment....so she was a little surprised when the girl with the stunning blue eyes turned away for a moment, then looked back at her with a smile. "Doesn't matter. Prince Takumi, right?" Mashiro nodded, dumbstruck for a moment. "I'm your Otome, Mashiro. It may have just been sudden, maybe at first we were just stuck with it, but right now I wouldn't have it any other way."

"...you're different." Mashiro admitted. "A lot different from that girl who came from the Free Realms six months ago. But you're also still Arika." She grinned. "Don't know when to quit."

"I had some good teachers." Arika grinned right back. "I'll become your Otome for real, Mashiro, if that's what it takes to stay with you."

"Thank you, Arika Yumemiya." Mashiro turned away to look out the window for a moment. "But first, we have to survive tomorrow."

It was often speculated, by those both inside and outside, what went on behind closed doors at Garderobe. There were rumors, spurred on by carefully censored photographs, of wild lesbian orgies.

That was where the tame stuff ended.

Secret rites of passage, takes of intrigue and treachery on a level that would make most years look tame, and things not fit to be mentioned in this accounting were all included in the rumors, and when those rumors included two known girlfriends of unknown origin, the level things could be taken to would reach a fever pitch.

They would have been sorely disappointed by what was going on in the room shared by Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Testarosa Harlaown that night.

To be certain, Nanoha and Fate had stripped down to the barest essentials, as they did most evenings. It was getting better, but the deserts of Earl were still too hot for girls more used to the temperate regions of Mid-Childa and Japan to ever really be used to. But that was where any real similarity to the rumors ended. To start with, the 'bare essentials' still included a school-issued nightgown, almost floor-length.

Nanoha sat on the edge of Fate's bunk, letting her hair out carefully while Fate sat behind her with a fancy brush made from the bones of some indigenous creature. She leaned her head back, almost falling asleep at the attention. "Fate-chan...I was just thinking. It's been such an....eventful year."

"That's a good way to put it," Fate replied, very gently coaxing one particularly stubborn tangle out. "Eventful."

Nanoha giggled. "When we first got here I almost thought you were dying from the nanomachine treatment..."

"Yeah, and you had to face down everyone, even Miss Maria, just to make sure I got what you thought was 'proper care,'" Fate ribbed gently.

Nanoha chuckled. "Oh, don't pretend you weren't trouble. The number of times you almost told the teachers where to stick their Gems...I almost thought we were going to get kicked out."

Fate nodded. "But then...things turned serious."

Nanoha blinked and turned herself around. "Fate?"

"I know...I should have told you this, but at the time it seemed right." Fate bit her lip. "I did a side-job here, for Nagi. In exchange for data from the Old Era. It wasn't justified, but at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. We couldn't get into the Archive, and nearly any data would be helpful. But...that's not why I did it."

Nanoha pulled Fate into a gentle embrace. "It's okay, Fate. I know why you did it. I didn't then, but the Headmaster told me. You were right about this place...just not how it got there."

Fate let Nanoha hold her. "I'm sorry, Nanoha. I got us caught up in this, and now..."

"Hush." Nanoha smiled. "Do you really think I'd have ever agreed to stay out of it?"

Fate shook her head. "I guess not. But Nanoha...we're probably about to get thrown out of Garderobe, and maybe earn ourselves a court-martial. If you could do anything differently, would you?"

Nanoha shook her head. "No, Fate. Because...for at least a few days, I knew what you were really feeling all this time. I love you, Fate."

"...do you mean that, Nanoha?" Fate's eyes shone in the fading light.

"Of course," Nanoha smiled. "I don't know how long it would have taken me to admit it without this place. It's so different from home..."

Fate smiled. "It's not as different from Mid-Childa. I...well, you know." Her early memories from growing up on that world were artificial, but real enough since they belonged to an actual girl. "I never thought I'd say this, but you're too restrained, Nanoha."

"Nyahaha....just because I'm not used to people kissing and hugging in the hallways..." Nanoha gently scratched at the back of her head.

"Garderobe's hardly that bad," Fate pointed out. "...they at least go around a corner."

Nanoha lightly smacked her shoulder. "Fate, you're awful. And you've been getting into the act yourself too!"

"....sorry," Fate blushed heavily, but Nanoha put a finder on her lips.

"Don't be sorry," Nanoha looked into Fate's gentle red eyes. "Just wait until we're in private,"

Fate smirked. "And if I can't wait."

"Control yourself," Nanoha said simply.

"Well, we're in private now..." Fate said leadingly.

Nanoha leaned in and gave Fate a kiss as the light of the sun died.

The next morning, even as the teams roused themselves for a final briefing, a shadow fell over Garderobe Academy. It wasn't anything so ominous as what they faced. But regardless, it leaped over the fence in one go, startling two guards who weren't quite certain what they saw. The shadow was careful to stay out of sight, making its' way across the campus while avoiding the watchful eyes of the students and guards, until it had reached the Palace Wing. Then, throwing all caution to the wind, it ran straight up the wall, a distinctive trenchcoat trailing behind it even as it reached the roof.

After that, picking a lock and gaining entry was child's play. It began to search for the room it was looking for.

Mashiro leaned back in her chair. "I suppose that's it for the daily routine stuff. With any luck, this will be the last time we'll have to meet in the mornings like this. Once we've got proof that something is going on in there I can get the Headmaster to act without going through the Council. I'm just glad that this is Windbloom and not anywhere else." She sighed. "Nanoha, you have the floor."

"Right." Nanoha stood up. "All right everyone. This will be your final briefing. We've been planning this for awhile now, and I know everyone knows their role, but let's go over it one more time. Equipment check?"

"I've got everything," Irina confirmed, placing the items out on the table. "I've rigged up these recorder harnesses. You'll have to Materialize before you put them on, but once they're in place they'll record everything said within fifteen feet of you, with no chance of feedback. One of my better creations," She gestured. "Two cameras...Fate, Nanoha, Arika, you know how to handle the film?" Fate and Arika shook their heads, but Nanoha nodded. "Oh, that's right, I showed it to you."

"Right. Nao and I will have to handle the cameras." Nanoha confirmed, then she continued. "Distraction team. Nina's in command. She's got the best grade out of the wargames. Irina, did you have some short-range radios?" When the redhead nodded, Nanoha smiled. "Good. I'd suggest you start with a practice injury and work up from there. Who do you want to use for that?"

Erstin raised her hand. "It's most believable coming from me...and whoever it is, is really going to have to be hurt,"

Nanoha winced. "I was hoping to gloss over that, or maybe get around it. But thank you Erstin,"

Nina smiled warmly. "I'll do my best to make it as painless as possible, but to be a plausible distraction it's going to hurt."

Erstin winced. "I know...thank you."

Arika frowned. "Isn't there some other way?"

Fate shook her head. "We're saving a lot of stuff for when that's run its' course, but it'll keep the nurse off of us for the longest. By the time we have to reach into Miya's bag of tricks, it'll get pretty obvious what we're doing." Arika looked at Fate for a long time, then sat back down.

"As for the rest...honestly, keeping up a chain of distractions isn't going to be something we can readily plan for. If you think of something, do it." Nanoha finished. "So, I guess that's it. Recon team...I want to go over this, and I'd like everyone else to leave. Except you, Mashiro."

A few minutes and hesitant goodbyes, and the room was significantly emptier. "Okay....we'll need to fly over the walls and get to the sewer entrance on the map...here." She pointed. "Nao and I already checked out the sewers...it's a nastily confined space."

Fate sighed. "Well, that puts most of our powers out."

Nao shrugged. "We'll make do. We'll Materialize in the alley, put on Irina's stuff, and crawl our way there. It'll be a few miles, but we can scramble it fast enough."

Nanoha nodded. "I think we can count on two hours, maybe a little more, and then we'll have the Headmaster on us. Nao, I want you opposing them. You may get some help, circumstances depending, but I'd prefer not to say more, just in case it can't come."

Nao glanced sidelong at Nanoha. "Idiot. Fine, I trust you. The Headmaster's not gonna fire on a Column without good reason."

At that moment, the door opened and Miyu Greer quietly slipped into the room. Everyone stopped and stared at the tall, silver-haired woman in shock. In return, Miyu just fixed Nanoha with a level stare. "This plan will not work," she said. "Circumstances have changed. The guard has doubled, and many of the sewers have been wired with sensors."

Nanoha stared in shock, then her head hit the table. "...the leak. Dammit, we took out the recorder and there's still someone reporting our every move. But if we delay any more, there's a chance we'll get caught with the equipment."

Miyu nodded. "Quite right," She smiled towards Arika. "Are you sure about this?" she asked.

Arika nodded. "I won't let Mashiro down,"

"All right. I would suggest changing the plan. Right now, you're still restricted to the ground. Allow me to replace your Gems, and that will change," Miyu nodded to Nao.

Nanoha frowned. "Shizuru-oneesama got caught trying to do that..."

Miyu nodded. "That's why I will provide you with a distraction. I can set off several of the sensors before they can track me, and even if they do normal Commandos are not an issue for me. This will give you the time to get the photographic evidence you need."

Fate smiled. "Miyu, was it? Thank you."

Mashiro was also smiling. "Yes, thank you Miyu."

Nina stood over her chopping board, slicing onions and blinking back her tears. Someone a bit less given to self-reflection might have denied that it was anything other than the offending vegetable bringing those tears, but Nina knew better. She wouldn't tell anyone else, but she knew the truth of it. After all, she'd spoken to her father in the woods by the school just earlier that day.

Sergei smiled and waved at his daughter. The trees provided all the cover needed, you could practically discuss anything out here. Nina walked up calmly and looked over her shoulder. "Father," she acknowledged him with a slight smile.

"Nina," He smiled at her. "We didn't get a chance to talk at the party. I just wanted to know if everything was okay..." He stopped as he read the look on Nina's face. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"...it's nothing," Nina said. "I'm sorry I haven't written much, but there isn't really anything going on. I mean, with the emergency council sessions over it's just giving Mashiro her lessons in statesmanship as best we can. She's doing better..."

Sergei laughed. "Well, that's good news all around. Makes my job easier if she stops having childish outbursts every time she doesn't get her way."

"I guess." Nina's voice didn't quite crack. "Other than that, just the usual rumors."

Sergei smiled. "Nina, I'm proud of you. Whatever happens, you've accomplished a lot. And I hear you're favored for one of the top spots in the tournament, so you don't have to worry about your grades. Just do your best and everything else will fall into place."

"...I won't fail you, father."

And yet, here she was. What the hell am I doing? she asked herself, but she knew the answers wouldn't come. She was comitted now, even if she wanted to back out, all she'd probably manage was screwing up the rest of the plan to no benefit. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She set aside her onion and muttered something about needing fresh air before she stepped out of the kitchen and started down the path to the gardens.

She didn't know how long she had been wandering the paths of the small area, but the sun slowly set on her as she finally found her way to the Gazebo. She flipped open her small pocket-watch, looking at the picture of her father lovingly placed within it. I...I lied to you, Father. I don't even know why, but I did it...

For a very long time, she stood there, but finally, overcome with melancholy, she started to hum that silly nursery song...followed by singing softly. "Mezame wo matsu kuni no mukashi no hanashi," The words to the ancient song resonated, even though she couldn't truly understand them. Too much time, too many changes in the language.

But she was still surprised when Arika stepped out from behind a bush, the next lines on her lips. "Sasagemashou mune ni yadoru hikari," Arika grinned, but it wasn't until Mashiro appeared behind her that Nina felt encouraged to join in again. "hoshi ni naru kibou ashita ga mieru, aisuru hito yo mattete okure."

Nina let her voice take over again. The next stanzas were hers, and were the most meaningful, since she had been taught them by Sergei.

"Kokoro no mado ni tatsu sadame no yokogao /
Tomoshimashou yume wo mamoru hikari /
Hoshi wa tada hitori erabe to tsugeru /
Aisuru hito ga watashi wo yobeba kawaru."

However, it didn't seem like the surprises were over for the evening. Erstin approached from down another path, with Irina and Miya at her side, while Fate and Nanoha stepped out from behind some nearby bushes, looking a little embarassed. But Fate and Erstin had decided to lead into the last verse.

"Uruwashiku tachimau kegarenaki hane /
Seoimashou miko no inochi no hikari /
Hoshi ni naru tame ni umarete wa naranu /
Aisuru hito ni dakarete nemure."

As the last notes died, nobody could speak for several moments. Then, Nanoha smiled. "How long has that song been going around the school?"

"All year," Nina admitted. "It's kind of funny that we all started off knowing different verses of the same long song, though."

"Well, not all of us." Fate said. "I learned mine from Erstin."

Nanoha shook her head. "Well, it looks like most of us are here. Just waiting on..."

"Made it!" Nao sprinted up to the group, then started to pant. "...what's everybody giving me that look for."

Fate just smiled. "We're all here. I don't know what this night holds for us...but we have one mission. Everybody knows what to do."

"All we have to do is work together, and we'll get it done." Nanoha smiled and held her hand out. Almost everybody looked at it puzzled for a moment, before Fate put her hand on top of it. Arika's eyes brightened, and she repeated the gesture. Soon, everybody was standing in a circle. "Let's roll."

Irina paced back and forth. "Ersty, you really sure you want to do this?"

"It's too late to back out now." Erstin stood there, in the middle of the athletic field. Nina was holding one of the practice staves ready, while Miya went through her bag of practical joke supplies one last time. "If I don't, then the nurse will pick up on the other team the moment they Materialize."

Nina shrugged. "We knew this would be a problem. Soft tissue damage just won't hold her attention long enough. If we don't bring her broken bones at the least, it'll all be for nothing,"

Irina threw up her hands. "Fine, I give up."

Nina turned back to Erstin. "Get in a ready stance. Where do you want it?"

Erstin complied with the order, then said, slowly, "The leg, I think. I'll need both my hands for exams, but my phys ed grades are so awful it'll be better if I can't run."

Nina nodded, careful schooling her face into an unemotional mask. "I'm sorry." Then she wound back and took a swing. Erstin fell to the ground with a sickening crack.

The team waited outside, behind some bushes and just in view of the gate. Arika glanced down at her wristwatch nervously. "How much longer until we make our move?" she whispered.

Fate frowned. "Should be another minute at most...what's keeping them?"

"Probably just someone late for his shift," Nao pointed out.

"Really hope that's all it is..." Fate whispered back, glancing once again out the gates of the school.

Nanoha was the first to notice the change. "Look, he's here...." The guard in question was running up the main road leading to the school, rifle jostling around on his back. "Okay....while they're giving the password..." The man in question did come up, and the guards he was relieving both started to yell at him. Nanoha signaled, and they moved out from cover during the distraction. They made it to the wall with no particular problems, then Nanoha nodded. Arika and Fate made the jump onto the top of the gate easily enough, then silently came down on the pair of guards already standing in place.

"What the -" The newcomer barely had time to express his astonishment before Fate silenced him with a roundhouse kick. Nanoha and Nao jumped into place and helped drag the guards away into the nearby alleyway. Nao pulled a ball of twine out of her pack and started to bind and gag the men.

"Well, so far so good," Fate said, glancing towards the alleyway where they had come in. "Check in is in one hour, so we've got maybe an hour and a half to get this done."

"Right." Nao lifted up the nearby manhole cover. "Follow the maps the creepy emotionless woman gave us?"

Arika stamped one foot and hissed "She's not creepy!"

Nanoha rubbed her forehead. "Save it, you two. Down the sewer."

Arika frowned. "Something smells off down there, and I don't mean because it's a sewer. Why can't we just fly?"

Fate shook her head. "We'd be spotted on the way over. Especially Nanoha, her Flyer Fin spell isn't what you'd call stealthy."

Nanoha opened her mouth to protest, but shut it again. This was made all the more humiliating by what Nao said next. "Oh, that's what that was."

"...what the heck?" Nanoha groaned. "When did you..."

"The night you were attacked," Nao admitted, actually looking guilty. "I thought you could handle yourself...if I'd known you were in bad shape I'd have brought you back to school,"

"Nyahahaha...." Nanoha started down the ladder. "Well, it all worked out I guess. That saves time...yes, me and Fate know magic. Lots of it, actually. That's why we're out here, we won't actually be using Gems, and now Arika's got her Meister Gem back in her earring and you've got yours...we'll catch hell for this plan later, but a lot less if it actually works."

"...yeah, I'd been meaning to ask." Nao quickly started down after her. "It's none of my business, but you're going to an awful lot of trouble to avoid living a life of luxury where you can do a lot of good to help people. Seems to me like being queen's practically your dream job."

"Nyahahaha....it's complicated," Nanoha said. "But really, I'd rather just have Mashiro doing a good job."

Nurse Yohko had really appreciated the quiet time these past few weeks. Ever since the Coral combat classes had been replaced with the wargames, practice injuries were basically non-existent. Nobody wanted to be the one accused of sabotaging the competition outside the rules, even though Nanoha hadn't actually forbidden that.

Nanoha and Fate not taking every cheap shot in an effort to tighten the student's defenses had helped too.

So when Nina came in literally carrying Erstin Ho, Yohko could only sigh. "Practice outside class, or was this a game thing?"

"...game thing?" Erstin looked up, obviously not totally present.

Nina's reaction was a little more animated. "Grr....I'll kill those two." She coughed. "I'm sorry, this was just a practice session. Erstin left herself open to a trip and I...got a little enthusiastic."

Yohko stared at them for a moment. "Miss Wong, please don't make a habit of this next year. I'm having a hard enough time dealing with the injuries caused by Takamachi and Testarosa."

"Of course not," Nina frowned. "Anyway, can you help her?"

"Yes, of course." Yohko gestured to the nearby medical scanner as she started up the plaster mixture. "That break doesn't look too bad, but just in case I want a hard bandage so you don't walk on it, Miss Ho."

"How long will this take?" Nina asked. "I should stay to make sure she gets back to our dorm room."

Yohko shrugged. "Not long. Twenty minutes or so..."

"Are you absolutely sure about this, Nanoha," Fate said. "You still might be sick."

"...oh, fine. Have Bardiche scan me one more time." Nanoha said, totally exasperated, as the four hunched in a sewer junction beneath the manhole cover they were supposed to use. "Miyu needs another few minutes to draw their attention anyway."

Fate nodded and pulled out Bardiche. Without an order, the Device knew what was needed and intoned "Scanning," Nanoha once again found herself bathing in yellow light.

"Oh, wow, those things are so cool!" Arika squealed. Though she managed to keep it quiet enough. "Where do I get one,"

"Sorry, Arika," Nanoha said. "I doubt you'd get much use out of one."

"Scan complete" Bardiche said. "No current symptoms of mana poisoning present. Advise continued caution regarding magical activity. Advise caution using ambient mana spells."

"See, Fate?" Nanoha smiled. "Same report as last time. I promise not to use Starlight Breakers, and this should be easy and fast."

Fate sighed. "I'm just worried, Nanoha,"

"Oh, don't be." Nanoha leaned in and gave her a quick hug. "We'll be fine."

Nao rolled her eyes. "Now, if you two are ready..."

Nanoha blushed. "Right...sorry."

"MATERIALIZE!" Arika's outfit appeared quickly, the pink and white dress, almost puffy, being exactly the same as before. But Nao...her Robe was skin-tight and green, with only three of the distinctive 'power rings' extending from one wrist and two ankles. The reason for this was that her right hand ended in wicked four-inch claws on each finger, and a large shield with another power-inset ring set into the edges that flowed back and up her arm. The entire thing was green and yellow, in lines that almost resembled an exotic wasp or spider.

Fate cocked her head slowly. "Seems appropriate, somehow. What Gem is that?"

"The Break-String Spinel." Nao shrugged. "I didn't pick it."

Nanoha shook her head. "Not the time girls. Fate, you ready?" She nodded, and then...

"Set Up!"

Yohko was just finished applying the bandage to Erstin when the entire room was filled with an ear-splitting alarm. Nina jumped and looked around as the room was filled up with red lights. Yohko hustled quickly to a nearby computer console and hit a few buttons, then went pale. "You girls go, get out of here!" Without waiting for their response, she silenced the alarms and picked up her internal phone, dialing the Headmaster's office.

Natsuki was about to sip from her tea when her phone rang. She picked it up with an apologetic glance at Shizuru, since there was only one person who would call it at this hour on the internal lines. "Yohko,"

"I've got two of those energy signatures, they're almost on top of the palace."

"WHAT?!" Natsuki dropped the tea. "Shizuru, Materialize, we've got to hurry. Thanks, Yohko!"

Once Natsuki had hung up, Yohko looked at the two girls who were staring at her. "Nothing you need to be concerned with. Go, now." Nina and Erstin quickly hobbled out of the office. Yohko went from the medical rooms down into the basement, near her control room. The decor in here gave way to brushed steel walls and high-tech computers, all the equipment needed to manage every Otome on the planet. She brought up a map of the city, then gasped. She quickly opened comms to Natsuki and Shizuru.

"Headmaster, Shizuru. Be advised. In addition to the energy signatures I'm showing the Break-String Spinel and Azure Sky Sapphire en route to the palace. ETA, one minute!"

Meanwhile, a manhole cover in the city suddenly blew off. Four shapes flew up into the sky, but anybody watching wouldn't have been able to make out much more than blurs. Fate had chosen to use her cyborg form, while Nanoha...

Her 'Disguise Form' was covered, head-to-toe, in a white costume that concealed most of her features, skin-tight. Raising Heart itself had become a naginata, with a golden, single-edged blade curved back with the red sphere appearing in it. Only her eyes were visible to give her away.

Fate just groaned at this. "...a ninja, Nanoha?"

"Nyahaha....I couldn't think of anything else..."

Nina shook her head. "Now who's getting distracted?"

"LOOK OUT!" Of all the people, it was Arika who noticed the two incoming Otome, peeling off in her flight as Natsuki and Shizuru tore right through the middle of their group, splitting Nanoha and Nao off from Arika and Fate.

Natsuki found herself facing off with Nao, the girl in white floating off to one side. She leveled her weapon at the student. "Hell of a way for you to sign up to be a Column, Nao. A letter would have been enough."

"Eh, never one to play by the rules. That's why you wanted me, isn't it Headmaster?" Nao grinned and licked one of her talons.

The other girl just entered a ready stance, pink wings extending from her feet. "Axel Fin!" Natsuki heard a weird doppler effect that made the voice hard to identify, but it sounded a bit older than Nanoha. It didn't matter anyway, she had to block that blade from slicing her head off! Her canon came up to deflect the blade, then she pushed the girl off with barely any effort.

"Are you kidding me?" Natsuki looked at her incredulously. "You look dangerous in that getup, but you're barely any stronger than a Coral."

Then the woman shifted stances to point the weapon at her. "Divine...BUSTER!"

Natsuki found herself being blasted back a good hundred feet away from the palace, stunned by the pink light that had emerged from the girl's weapon. She took several moments to woozily shake it off. "...okay, that's a little more like what I was expecting."

Nina ran through the palace wing, shoving guards who tried to stop her aside with barely any effort at all. She ignored the cries of pain and surprise echoing behind her, with only one thought in her head. I have to tell Mashiro.

She slammed open the door to Mashiro's office, and the Queen of Windbloom stopped stamping papers to stare at her in shock. "Ni-Nina! What's going on!" It was only then that she noticed Sakomizu was also in here.

"Nanoha and Fate...they did something! It set off ten kinds of hell down in the Nurse's office. We couldn't stop her! The Headmaster and Shizuru are already on their way." Nina recovered her breath quickly.

Mashiro nodded. "Sakomizu, get a car ready fo..." She trailed off, realizing that Sakomizu had no intention of getting a car ready. At least, not if the sidearm he was suddenly pointing at her was any indication.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness. But I'm afraid you have to stay here. Miss Wong too." He looked genuinely regretful.

Mashiro gulped. "Sakomizu...why?"

"Because they said..." He gulped. "They said they'd kill my family. They'd make me watch. I'm so sorry..."

Mashiro nodded. "I...I understand. So, what happens now?"

"...we wait, and hope I get to stand trial for this."

Shizuru quirked her lip up as she realized what she was facing. "So, you two working for Aswald now?"

The black cyborg boy twisted his axe menacingly, but Arika shouted out "Oneesama, we're here because Mashiro needs someone to check this out and she can't leave the palace!"

"You should have gone through proper channels, Arika," Shizuru shook her head.

The cyborg flew in, fast, but not as fast as Shizuru remembered. The axe came down at her head, and she lifted her double-sword to block it. The boy spoke in the same deep voice. "Proper channels were closed. This was the only way open."

"You can't be serious. You're nothing but a terrorist...or are you?" Shizuru's smile never wavered. "Fate?" She pushed off the boy, then spun blocked Arika's attempt to sneak around behind her with a flying kick easily.

The boy was on top of her in an instant, swinging his improbable weapon several times before most Otome could properly swing theirs once - probably a benefit of being mostly projected energy, Shizuru quietly mused. She wasn't most Otome, however, and kept up with the attacks easily, until the boy appeared to swing a little wide. She was about to take advantage of the opening, when he shouted "Arc Saber!" The axe's energy blade spun off.

At point blank range, there was no way to dodge. Shizuru went flying right back into Natsuki, who was still recovering from her own encounter with pink death.

"Hey, Shizuru, watch it!" Natsuki said, a little irritated.

Shizuru shook off her daze quickly. "Long-range attacks, Natsuki."

Natsuki glanced over her shoulder at her best friend. "And I can't fire off inside the city. Good way to make sure someone has a bad day, and the black one's way too fast."

"Hate to admit this," Shizuru said. "But I think we need to ask the teachers to help."

While this little conversation was going on, Fate and Nanoha weren't idle. Fate activated her telepathy first. *Nanoha, we've got to get to the palace.*

*I know. We can hold them off all night, but sooner or later they'll catch on to Miyu, then we're hosed!* Nanoha's reply came swiftly. *Can you hold them off by yourself?*

*By myself, no.* Fate admitted. *But with Nao and Arika, probably.*

Nanoha hefted the camera at her hip. She spoke in Raising Heart's voice again. "Nao, Arika, stay here." Then she was flying off. Natsuki thought she saw her chance, but Arika suddenly appeared in front of her.

"I'm really sorry, Headmaster." Arika held out her hand, and the blue crystal staff Element appeared in it. "But this is what I'm supposed to do, right?"

Natsuki chuckled at her. "Guess it is. But you have to know that I can't just let you Materialize right in the city."

"Why not?" Nao took up a position next to her. "You got a point with me, since I never got officially made a Column, but Arika's all but been accepted as Mashiro's Otome,"

"And the fact that you're working with a known Aswald associate?" Shizuru's smile never wavered. "Really, Fate, how long did you expect to keep up that deception?"

Fate didn't answer directly, but she did hold out her weapon and, with an act of will, ordered it to change. Bardiche ceased using its' axe form, the handle thinning and lengthening, the axe blade at the end turning and a scythe blade popping out.

Nanoha barely spared a glance over her shoulder as she flew towards the palace, intending to get the mission done and hopefully get back. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Even as she heard Shizuru's accusations fade in the background, the holograms shielding the palace from sight dropped. It was only barely like Mashiro's plans. Where the walls of Mashiro's palace were shining windows, the panels of the palace were a matte black glass, suspended by silvery supports and only gold highlights suggesting wealth in a rather understated fashion. It was still a monolithic tower, though, and it looked as though the exterior construction had been completed ahead of schedule.

But the most striking feature, however, was a complicated structure at the top, a cresent moon of solid gold suspended in instrumentation. Nanoha only needed a moment, however, to deduce the truth of it. "Where the hell did Schwarz get a MANA CANON!?" She even forgot to whisper and let Raising Heart repeat for her in shock.

She wasn't given much time to be shocked, however. She felt it charging up. "CLEAR OUT!"

Otome and mage alike were forced to scatter as the canon fired, cutting a line right down the main throughfare of the city, from the palace to the Shinso's Tomb, tearing up the street and no doubt killing a number of people. Nanoha stared, then gripped her staff. "...Raising Heart?"

"Shooting Mode!" The Device sounded as gleeful as a monotone can be as the naginata blade restored itself to the more familiar uneven bident.

Nagi saw the destruction from one of the windows and blanched. Without a word, or even a sound, he turned and ran calmly for the control room. Once he was there, he saw Smith in the middle of coordinating the attack. He walked over and, without even being out of breath, hissed at her "What are you doing?"

"They had discovered our plans," Smith was calm and tried to sound reasonable. "We had to move early."

"You are lucky I have my troops ready to go," Nagi said back. "But really, this was far from the optimal time. Mashiro would have needed to hold a press conference, we could have timed the strike perfectly." He threw up his hands. "Oh well. I'd better go wake my ace in the hole up." Then he paused to think about it for a moment. "On second thought, this is going to be dicey, since I'd really hoped to have more time with her. Might be best to just let her sleep."

In Mashiro's office, nobody had said anything for several moments when the canon fired. When it did, the ground shook and the plaster broke from the ceiling. Mashiro barely managed to stay upright, but Nina took the opportunity given and charged forward. In barely two steps she had crossed half the room and gave Sakomizu a headbutt. The head of the Royal Guard found his breath forced from his body, then Nina's knee impacted against his groin, and the gun hit the ground. Nina quickly picked it up and broke it with one hand, but Sakomizu was already out cold.

Mashiro gulped. "I guess it's just one more thing I missed."

"Your Highness," Nina said. "We do not have time. I have to get you to the Nurse's office. The comms system is down there. If we can explain that everyone is up there on your authorization, maybe we can get everyone's act together and stop this before it goes totally mad."

"..right...Nina, please, carry me there. I'm not fast enough."

Nina nodded. "It's less than dignified, but all right."

Fate looked at the two instructors. With a sigh of resignation, she finally allowed her Bardiche-covered voice to drop. "We don't have time for this fight now. Please, just trust us one more time. We have to stop Schwarz."

Shizuru seemed to think it over. "Agreed, Harlaown. You wouldn't have put this much effort into this just to trigger the attack if you were working with them."

Nao glanced over her shoulder, then readied her Element. "Hate to cut this short, but we've got problems." It was hard to make out, but the silvery moonlight reflected off the giant moth wings of hundreds of metalic Slaves, each one carrying a quadrupedal Slave underneath it.

Arika pointed down towards the ground. "What's up with them?!" From several nearby buildings, the mages and Otome alike could see people in black, form-concealing robes stepping from the buildings. Many had none, a few several, most only one. But it was still a portion of the population that seemed impossible.

Natsuki cursed under her breath. "I'm authorizing Robes. Fate, Nanoha, get out of those ridiculous getups!"

Nanoha turned back to Natsuki. "No! I need to use Raising Heart! I can't protect this city as an Otome!"

"Dammit, Takamachi! I can't protect you if you won't do things the right way!" Natsuki decided to force the issue. She reached up to pinch her Gem, activating its' emergency functions. "As Second Column, I, Natsuki Kruger, appeal to our Lady. In our time of crisis, please grant your servants the use of their Robes."

She was startled when Fate let out a blood-curdling scream. Nearby, Nanoha did the same. All of the Otome stared as lightning seemed to dance over the pair's bodies and Devices. While the Devices were issuing barely-comprehensible warnings, their voices badly scrambled, their Barrier Jackets and Robes were flickering partially in and out of existence, as if each was somehow trying to overwrite the other, leaving a tableau of black, white, and pearl-gray trying vainly to cover bare skin, none of it succeeding. By the way Fate's back was arched, and the fact that neither could move, it was also clear that the process was leaving them in agony. Arika swooped in to catch Nanoha as she dropped out of the sky first, Nao cursing and holding Fate up.

"Shut it off, Headmaster!" Nao growled at her. "I don't think they can take too much of this!"

Natuski paled. "I can't from here. I'll get Yohko to de-Authorize them!"

Nina held Mashiro in her arms, sprinting away from the main offices. Her glance turned to the right, assessing the damage done to the Shinso's tomb. It's looked fairly superficial, in contrast to the huge gouge torn through the city by the beam. Then her gaze turned to the Slaves being airdropped into the city. "Lovely. I'm sorry, Your Highness, that we weren't able to prevent this..."

"...we just need to get to the Nurse's office, and everything will be fine from there," Mashiro tried to sound confident, but it wasn't really working.

Nina suddenly skidded to a halt, nearly dropping Mashiro in the process. Erstin was standing in the middle of the yard, leaning heavily on her crutch. "Erstin, you shouldn't be out of bed! Oh, come on, we have to get you to the Nurse's office. It's the safest place, other than the Shinso's Tomb, and we shouldn't open that just yet."

Erstin slowly shook her head. "I...I'm sorry, Nina. I ca-can't let you do that." Tears started to run down her face. "I...I didn't want it to come to this...didn't want to have to tell you...the Ho family, they....my parents...."

Nina's eyes widened. "Oh no...you're not..."

"...I got the Black Letter a few days ago. Please, just give me Mashiro." Erstin bit her lip. "John Smith wants her alive. A fake Queen is better than no Queen at all."

Nina set Mashiro down, then stepped protectively in front of her. "Erstin, listen to me. Nanoha and Fate are strong. If we just get to the Nurse's office, we can try to pull some Meister Gems for them from the archives. It's just like the Azure Sky Sapphire. I'm sure if you're Schwarz you've heard the full version of that tale." Nina glanced at the chaos in the city, noting pink and yellow flashes. "You see? I bet their faction's already acting out there. You don't have to do this."

Erstin shuddered. "I...I know what you're saying...the words make sense...but...I...you don't understand! My parents, John Smith, all the people who are dead because the Old Technology stayed sealed! They're in my head Nina!"

Mashiro bit her lip, but tried to keep her talking. "Erstin, there's nothing we can do for them. But we can do something for you. Please..." Her breath caught in her throat as Erstin let a black crystal drop from a chain as the Coral dropped to her knees.

"Under the contract of darkness, I fulfil my oath. God of ancient light, knowledge, and wisdom, grant me a loyal servant," Nina could only stand, horrified, as Erstin's face twisted in a mixture of self-loathing and reverence. The blonde closed her eyes, and pricked her finger with the crystal. As soon as her blood ran the length of the ancient device, a portal opened in the sky above her head and the same Slave as had attacked the marketplace leaped out, landing between them. Erstin looked up. "Please, Nina, Mashiro, don't move. They'll be here soon. You'll be fine, just don't fight them."

Nina was about to respond, when suddenly, her body glowed and her Coral Robe snapped into place. "...at least the Headmaster saw reason." Nina smiled sadly. "It's a stand-off, Erstin. I can't beat your Slave...but I can stop it. Your Highness, RUN!"

Sergei ran down from his office on the top floor of the embassy. Eschewing the elevators, he simply opted to vault over each handrail, landing hard on the stairs below. "Damn, damn, damn! A Schwarz attack in-force? There hasn't been anything like this in fifteen years! Why the hell tonight?" He quickly ran out the front door of the embassy, barely noting that it was down to a skeleton crew for the evening.

As he ran through the streets, chaos reigned. He checked his sidearm, clicking off the safety and returning it to its' holster. Not the safest practice, but who knew if he would need it tonight.

The streets were in a panic. People in dark cloaks moved easily among the crowds of screaming people, occasionally grabbing one and spiriting them off. Sergei knew of the Windbloom Catacombs, wide tunnels that ran paralell to the sewers. Once they had been part of the planet's mass transit system, but as nations had grown apart it had fallen into disuse and finally been sealed. It seemed Schwarz was now using these tunnels as a place to kidnap and hold anyone who was loyal to the Queen. "Can't go that way," he muttered, looking up towards the Otome were still battling. "Have to take the high route."

It was slow going. Schwarz had apparently bought into the belief that completely black cloaks were the best way to hide in the city at night. Rather false, since he could clearly make them out when he saw their dark forms silhouetted against the deep blue light of the moon, but he still had to wait for them to pass. It took agonizing minutes to cross the city this way, until he was almost at the palace.

He knew he was close when he heard Nanoha's soul-rending screech. "Dammit, that's not a combat injury." He did know when someone was being tortured, after all. He threw caution to the wind and stepped out into the street.

This was a move that would henceforth be known as 'Mistake Number One,' when he found himself face-to-claw with a Royal Slave. The beast was doing its' best to tear apart a section of boulevard, and judging by the bodies it was going for civilian casualties. Sergei gulped as the beast slowly turned to face him. For several seconds, man and eldritch mechanation stared at one another. Then the Slave calmly went back to what it was doing. "....okay, new plan." Very carefully, he edged around the Slave, and was astonished when it stopped its' rampage for just long enough to let him by. "What the Hell?" Another scream reminded him of the need for action, and he started running.

Nina was in severe trouble. Mashiro may have managed to get away, presumably into the nurse's office, but Erstin wasn't letting her retreat either. The girl's Slave was fast, managing to hedge her in and prevent any movement. In the meantime, the other students, who no doubt had been woken up, seemed to be taking an eternity to arrive.

But the worst part was that every time Nina struck a blow, Erstin visibly winced. "Erstin, please, stop this! I don't want to hurt you!"

"I don't want to hurt YOU!" Erstin screamed back. "I don't want to fight! I don't want there to be any more wars! That's why we have to win, don't you see?"

Nina stopped dead cold. It was true, wasn't it?

Erstin's eyes widened hopefully. "You do understand, right?! As long as people are envious of the technology here, there will be fighting and wars! That's why Schwarz needs to do this!"

Nina paused for a moment, then frowned. "Even if that's true, there are better ways. Erstin, please, call off the Slave. I mean, I'm sure Fate will work with you, but not as long as you're working for people who do stuff like this."

It was Erstin's turn to pause, but only for a moment before she gripped her head. "I...I can't!" The slave took another swipe at Nina, who tried to block it. She was flung into the class building, leaving an impact crater in the wall. She forced herself back to one knee.

Erstin blinked, then smiled. "You're...you're not a threat! I don't have to fight you anymore!" The glee on her face was almost childlike, and Nina shuddered, her eyes wide and staring at the girl she thought she knew in front of her.

"Nina!" Suddenly, she was looking up at two girls in Coral uniforms standing in front of her. Irina and Miya looked down at her. "Don't worry, we've got your back, Nina." Irina grinned confidently.

Miya looked quite a bit more serious. "We've got some of the other students waiting with Mashiro already. The rest went around and out into the city to help."

Irina frowned, turning back to the fight. "Nanoha's helped a lot, but two Corals can't beat one of those Slaves down. Erstin may not stop any time soon, either. But three Corals, when one of them is number one in the class, may have a chance. We'll let you use this time to recover, Nina Wong, so don't leave us hanging."

"Yohko, shut Takamachi and Harlaown down now!" Natsuki shouted, pinching her ear hard enough for the piercing to draw blood. "No! Just those two! Their weapons aren't compatible with their Gems!"

Nao growled "Hurry up," as Fate screamed into her ear again. Everyone had landed on a nearby roof, helpless to watch the fighting as they knew they couldn't leave the pair in their current state.

Finally, the screaming stopped, both Robe and Barrier Jacket fading out of existence. Nanoha slowly sat up. Arika threw her arms around her. "You're all right."

"That...." Nanoha groaned. "That was worse than the time Shamal stuck her hand through my chest. By a lot."

Fate shook her head. "It felt like my blood was on fire and cutting through my veins at the same time..."

For a few moments, no one ventured to answer that. "Who the heck's Shamal, and how'd you survive getting a hand shoved through your chest?" Nao finally decided to ask the question on everyone's minds.

"Long story," Nanoha stood up as she spoke. "Wh..where are we at?"

"Are you sure you should be moving around?" Arika made sure to stay under Nanoha's shoulder, supporting her.

Nao shook her head as she supported Fate's own rising up. "Tough girls," she remarked to no one.

Shizuru shook her head. "We should try to retreat to the school. The city doesn't matter, in the long run, if they get to Mashiro it's all over."

Fate gave her a glare, but sighed. "As long as the rest of the school is defending the city, I can see that. Heavy guns on the most important objective."

Natsuki nodded. "Why don't you two Materialize your weapons and follow us?"

It was the first time Mashiro had been underneath the medical facilities at Garderobe. The chaotic mess of instrumentation made absolutely no sense to her, so she just walked to the map of the city being projected as a screen over one particular apparatus. For the longest time, she stopped and stared blankly as little dots moved all over the place, but slowly she began to piece things together.

"...why are they coming back here?" she asked Yohko, almost numbly.

Yohko smiled. "They're probably worried about you, you know."

Mashiro nodded. "Can I ask them?"

"You could, but maybe you shouldn't," Yohko responded. "You don't want to distract them."

Mashiro nodded again. "...can we use this thing to track down Aoi?"

"I'm sorry." Yohko sighed. "I have a cot for when I have to pull a long night down here. Maybe you'd rather lay down? You've been through a lot."

"Arika's out there," Mashiro said. "I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway."

Yohko shrugged. "I'll pull it out anyway, in case you change your mind."

For another few moments, Mashiro watched the screen. "What is that gold dot?"

"I'm not sure. Combat cyborg, maybe?" Yohko frowned, but relaxed at Mashiro's next words.

"That's probably Arika's friend, then. It looks like she's helping keep things under control in that part of the city." The Queen's voice was still dull and lifeless, but at least she seemed engaged. "What about the red ones?"

"Slaves." Yohko frowned a bit, as she had noticed the same thing Mashiro had. The dots were moving towards the school gates in force.

"Dammit! Get me a gun or a knife or -" Mashiro was cur off as she noticed a coat of arms hanging at the top of the stairs. "That'll do!" She took off running up the stairs.

Yohko picked up the microphone. "Dammit! Mashiro's gone off to fight something! I need to stay here and coordinate the defense, but I'll try to direct you to her,"

"Appreciated, Yohko," Natsuki said, then she shouted. "Nanoha, Fate, Mashiro's done something rash! She probably won't get past the courtyard, but we need you two to - "

The world would never find out exactly what the pair was needed to do. The new Palace chose that moment to show off a new trick. The crescent moon began to glow and crackle with electricity. Throughout the city, Otome began to lose their powers, their Robes turning back to Coral and Pearl uniforms. Natsuki herself yelped in surprise as she, Nao, and Shizuru all reverted as well and dropped from the sky with screams of surprise and fear.

They needn't have worried. Arika caught Natsuki easily. Fate twisted to intercept Nao's fall from the skies while Nanoha caught Shizuru around the waist.

Shizuru smiled at her rescuer. "I'm afraid I'm spoken for, but I appreciate the...catch."

Nanoha growled. "I told you to cut that out!" She took a moment to look around. "What just happened?"

Natsuki shook her head. "I don't know, but it looks like something just interfered with our Authorization signal. Probably the students and teachers were affected too...but why not Arika?"

Fate looked worriedly at the tower, as if it might start firing again, but nothing happened. After a moment, she suggested "Maybe because she's acting under a proper contract, the signal isn't strong enough to break their connection."

Arika nodded. "That makes sense...so now what?"

Nao grinned ferally. "That's obvious....we cut our losses and get the hell out of this deathtrap while the getting's good!"

Nanoha nearly dropped Shizuru in shock, but Shizuru actually surprised her. "That's actually not a bad plan. With some modifications, of course. The public transports aren't safe..."

Three shots rang out, surprising them all. Fate looked around. "Who's sending off an emergency beacon in this kind of mess?"

Arika looked down. "Over there! It's Major Wong, and it looks like nothing's going on around him!"

Shizuru frowned. "That's not right...let's go see what he wants." Everybody flew down to the Major's side.

Sergei didn't keep them waiting. "Before you ask, I'm as in the dark about exactly what's happening here as the rest of you, but I know Artai's military is somehow involved here. The Slaves are ignoring anyone in either a Garderobe school uniform or an Artai military uniform, unless they're directed otherwise."

Natsuki looked around. "So what do we do about it?"

"What's your plan?" Sergei countered. "Get out of the city, try to gather your allies?"

Shizuru smirked. "You know us pretty well, but we've got something to do first."

Sergei nodded. "Mashiro's at the school, right? If you stay close to me, my uniform should keep you safe. We'll decide what to do after that. It should only take five minutes to get to the school if we run from here."

"Wait," Fate narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What else do you know about what's going on?"

Sergei frowned. "I swear, not much more than you do. Schwarz is rounding up people in the government, and I think they're offering bounties. You probably missed that much while you were up there fighting."

Nanoha stood between the two. "Please, this is no time to be squabbling...but Sergei, if I find out you're lying, I'll arrest you myself."

"Right!" Arika said, nodding. "We need to work together to get through this!"

Nina just stared at Erstin. Ever since their robes had collapsed, she had been afraid that the girl would go to town on them, but Erstin had just...stood there, eyes shut, face relaxed, almost as if she were waiting for something. Miya and Irina hadn't dared to move either, and the Royal Slave was content to wait for direction. A step up from the older model, really, by now it would have probably decided to tear the place to pieces.

Finally, Erstin opened her eyes. "Please don't try anything else to stop me. I have to get Mashiro now..."

"NINA!" Mashiro stepped out of the hospital, eyes going wide at the Royal Slave just standing there. "What's going on?!" The sword she had retrieved from the wall hung limp in her shocked hand.

Erstin's eyes lit up like a child at Christmastime. "Oh! Mashiro! I'm so glad you came! Now I don't have to kill anyone! Please, just put the sword down, okay?" Mashiro lifted up the blade and got into a defensive pose, shakily. Erstin frowned. "Do you even know how to use that? I promise they won't hurt you, this is best for everyone."

Miya frowned. "There's something wrong with her. Schwarz really did something to mess with her head!"

"...It wasn't supposed to be this long," Erstin admitted, sounding a lot more like herself. "They told me I'd just be out of control for a few minutes, if I really needed to. I can't stop it, I tried. It will be so much easier if you just stop fighting it..."

"Erstin Ho, there you are!" A feminine voice called out from the gardens, as Ms. Smith stepped out. "Glad to see you're already hard at work, but why are you going to soft on them?"

Erstin blinked in confusion. "Wh..who are you?"

"Oh, right, we've never been introduced. I'm John Smith." The woman smiled ferally.

Erstin's confusion only grew. "No...you're not Smith. I..I'd know him."

The new Smith's eyes narrowed. "My name is John Smith and you will follow my orders, Miss Ho."

Mashiro went back and forth between her former captor and Erstin. Realizing they were distracted, she started to edge to one side. When neither of the pair noticed, she took off in a sprint.

"NO! SMITH TOLD ME NOT TO LET YOU GET AWAY!" Erstin screamed in a mix of terror and anger. The Slave reared back to swipe with its' claw...

Nanoha heard the screams as they reached the gates. She sprinted out ahead of the group, before taking off and flying up the stairs to the main courtyard. When she got there, time seemed to have stopped for everyone participating. She would never be certain whether that was actually the case or it was just the adrenalin rush.

It only took a few moments for her eyes to take it in, but quite a bit longer for her mind to truly understand it. There was a woman dressed in a sharp business suit, who looked supremely self-satisfied. Nanoha immediately labeled her as a gloating leader and moved on.

Irina and Miya were both looking battered and bruised, but that was expected. They were actually doing rather well, but they had been completely distracted. The part of Nanoha that was labeled 'instructor' realized she'd have to talk with them once things settled down.

Nina was in much worse shape, apparently having tried to take on the giant monster in the courtyard by herself and barely holding her own. VERY impressive.

Erstin was leaning on a crutch, with a fresh bandage about her leg. She had a bloody Slave Crystal dangling from her hands.

Mashiro was holding a sword, but the look on her face indicated she hadn't used it, plus it was clean. Despite that, she was on her back next to own maid, Aoi Sinoh, who was collapsed on the ground, blood pouring out of a long slice through her stomach where a blade had sliced through it. Only another microsecond, and Nanoha had deduced the blade belonged to the Slave, not Mashiro. Nanoha flew across the courtyard and tried to turn Aoi over. Time seemed to resume.

"Come on, Aoi..." Nanoha held her hand over the wound. A pink glow emerged. "Dammit, why did I never listen to Yuuno! I'm no good at this..."

"Aoi?" Mashiro stared, almost unbelieving. "AOI!!!!!" She screamed and scrambled onto her hands and knees. "Nanoha! What are you doing! We have to get her out of here!"

"I'm trying to stop the bleeding." Nanoha began to sweat with the intense concentration of the complicated spell. A complex magic circle appeared around the three of them. "Oh, this was always Shamal's thing, I wish she were here..."

"Ma...Mashiro...." Aoi raised her hand up to try to clasp the girls. Mashiro grabbed it and hung on for deal life as her maid continued. "Good...you got out of the way. I'm so glad..."

"D..don't talk like that, dummy. Your hand's just cold." Mashiro clearly didn't mean the insult, her eyes watering. The rest of Nanoha's companions made it up to the top of the hill in time to take in the scene right about then, but Mashiro could barely register their appearance. "You can't be dying."

"It's..all right, Mashiro." Aoi's eyes slowly began to close. "I just...want you to be happy. Please."

"...all right, Aoi." Mashiro swallowed the lump in her throat painfully. "Nanoha..."

"It's not good." The wound had started to slowly - too slowly - close. "She lost too much blood. If this were back home I'd have a trauma team already on the way, but I don't know how much Yohko can do for her."

"But...but..you're a witch!" Mashiro tried desperately to grope for something, anything to hold to, but Nanoha was forced to dash her hopes before they'd formed.

"I...I'm sorry." Nanoha started to tear up herself. "Magic...it's not something that can just fix everything..."

Mashiro grabbed the lapels of Nanoha's jacket. "What do you mean?! You're healing her right now! You can fix it! You CAN! You can do anything Nanoha! PLEASE!"

Nao appeared right behind Mashiro, a hand on her shoulder. "Kiddo..."

Mashiro looked like she might start sobbing for a moment, but then she looked up at Erstin. Nanoha didn't dare look up from her healing spell, even when Mashiro lifted a finger to point at Erstin. "Arika. Kill that girl."

"WHAT?!" Fate grabbed Mashiro's hand. "Are you crazy!? You don't mean that Mashiro!"

Mashiro strugged against Fate's grip. "She did it! She killed Aoi!" She kept violently shaking. "Do it, Arika! Let me go!" Arika lifted her lance hesitantly.

Smith smiled. "You see, Erstin! They're not your friends! Kill them all, but leave the Queen and her Otome!" Erstin's eyes widened as it seemed the crowd was turning against her, and the Slave under her command slowly pulled its' claw back to take a swing.

Several shots rang out, and Smith's body twitched with the impact of the rounds. Nagi dai Artai was standing in a doorway, walking casually out into the courtyard as Smith fell to the ground. "Whew. Thank God she finally shut up," he casually holstered his weapon. "You have no idea what the past few weeks have been like, listening to her ranting and demands."

"Scythe Form!" Bardiche extended its' energy blade while Fate looked at him incredulously.

"Nagi, you were working with her?" she asked.

Nagi shrugged. "Well, let's see. The old Smith seemed like an eminently reasonable man. Of course, someone captured him and he killed himself." Fate blinked, and gulped a little bit. Nagi smiled. "Oh, you could hardly have known he'd do that, but it left a bit of a vacuum that an ambitious idiot could fill since Schwarz needed a negotiator now. That woman managed it when she took an opportunity during the botched assassination attempt on the Zipang delegation."

Nanoha shook her head. "Wait, Sergei?!" Nina blinked, as if realizing for the first time that Nanoha was on a first-name basis with her adoptive father. Oblivious, Nanoha continued. "How much of this did you know?"

"Oh, I hadn't quite gotten around to filling the major in on everything," Nagi interjected calmly. "He knew about negotiations with Schwarz, but nothing of the particulars yet. Too sensitive to trust to a diplomatic pouch and I haven't been able to get away before now,"

Mashiro screamed "I don't care! She killed Aoi! I want justice."

"Oh, right, her." Nagi snapped his fingers. "Erstin Ho. Jing," With the single word, Erstin's head jerkily turned towards him. "You've done enough. Why don't you sleep now?" Erstin's eyes slipped closed and she fell to the ground. The Slave dissolved into green sparkles. "Good thing I bothered to steal the old Smith's notes when I saw them."

Natsuki looked around. "So, what happens now?"

"Well, let's see...." Nagi ticked off his fingers. "I had my army mostly in place, so by now they'll probably have started moving in and pushing Schwarz out of the city. Mashiro's government is, at best, scattered, and probably mostly dead or in custody thanks to that bounty. I have John Smith's notes...and let's be honest here. I've always had a problem with the way Garderobe does things. So, Mashiro, guess you've got a bit of a choice to make.

"You could come quietly with me, and I can get you all set up as the Queen again...probably my Queen, but I've been hearing you're pretty chummy with Arika, so that's all right too." Nagi continued right on as Arika blushed. "Or...well, it probably would be best for you to cooperate."

Mashiro thought about it for two or three nanoseconds. "Trust you? Are you crazy? I want you out of my city!"

"That's a shame...." Nagi smiled and raised his hand. "I guess I'll just have to forcibly take you into custody. Of course, if you're killed resisting arrest, I can work with that too, but I'd really prefer you alive. You see, while we were talking I had a platoon of soldiers taking sniper positions...and if you'll all look down." Everybody suddenly glanced down at their chests, to see the bright red marker of a laser sight centered right over their hearts. The only exception was Sergei, who immediately glanced at Nanoha.

"Highness, wait!" Sergei waved frantically. "You can't kill her."

"Well, probably not," Nagi admitted. "Don't know how strong that strange armor of hers is."

"You don't understand!" Segei shouted. "She's the real Mashiro Blan de Windbloom!"

Nagi stopped for a moment, actually surprised, but then his eyes narrowed. "Hmm....you know, Sergei, if you'd told me that earlier I might have had a bit more bargaining power. We could have avoided all this. I wonder why you would...ah, I see. You were going to betray me." He smiled. "Well, I suppose it's far too late to cry over spilled milk. Nanoha? Same offer as I made Mashiro."

Nanoha gulped. "...I...don't think so."

"Right. About what I expected, but it doesn't matter," Nagi shrugged, as if he'd expected that. "So, Major, why did you do it?" He paused for a moment in mock-thought. "Oh! I see! The first-name basis, the rumors you were recruiting her for your Otome when I hadn't authorized you for one yet....you've fallen for her, haven't you?"

Nina blinked, then screamed "FATHER! Is this true?"

Nagi cut off Sergei's protests. "Oh, I don't see how it could be anything else."

"...you're really not being fair, you know..." Nina stood up wobbily. "I know I was always supposed to be Nagi's Otome...but really, you know I did it all for you. All of it, Father..."

"Nina, I..." Sergei gulped at the very strange look he was also getting from Nanoha.

Nanoha couldn't stop herself. "That night you took me to your office...was that?"

Sergei's voice caught. He couldn't exactly deny the unvoiced accusation, even if he hadn't gone through with it.

Nagi shook his head. "Major, Major, Major....what will I ever do with you." He smiled as a small black gemstone flew out of his coat pocket and slammed into Nina's ear, displacing the existing Coral stone. "That's interesting, the Ultimate Black Diamond acted on its' own. Nina? Do you want me to spare your father?" Nina nodded. "I see...I'll need you to capture Nanoha and Mashiro then." Nina nodded again, her face an expressionless mask.

"Nina!" Arika called out. "You can't!"

"Nina Wong, Otome of the Black Diamond...." Nagi intoned. "Do you accept me as your Master?" Another nod, and Nagi walked up behind her and casually kissed her ear. "Then I release your power under our contract."

Shizuru sucked in a sharp breath. "The Cursed Gem...Nina Wong! Don't authorize that contract!"

"You're not thinking straight!" Natsuki added. "You have to calm down!"

Nina brushed her new accessory. "....Materialize."

Instead of the customary flash of light, Nina was shrouded in dark clouds that seemed to form from the ground and wrap around her body. When they vanished, she was left clothed in a very different Robe from the normal. Skin-tight leggings that hugged the curves of her calves were visible, but not up much past that. This was because of a long garment that seemed to be a cross between a dress and a robe, with a small mantle that hung down her body, that suggested more than revealed a feminine form beneath. The cloak drifted off into two long sleeves that almost hovered off of Nina's arms. Her armament was two wickedly curved daggers, heavy and decidedly dangerous looking, with an eye symbol etched into the pommels around a ruby 'iris'.

"Arika?" Nina smiled, a little hopefully. "We don't have to do this."

Mashiro shook her head. "I won't let him do this."

Nanoha nodded, but she was starting to sweat from the strain of keeping up the unfamiliar spell.

Nina nodded, her expression returning to crestfallen. "...I understand." Then her expression twisted into a snarling mask. "En Garde!"

Arika found herself besieged by Nina's best assault yet. In all the contests and Mai-Battles at school, Nina could never bring herself to truly fight with her all, whether out of fear of hurting someone or of making a mistake. But now lives were on the line. Her father's life was on the line. She had no choice, she had to win. Arika tried desperately to use her staff to repel the endless whirling storm of stabs and brushing strikes, but it was useless. Her robe actually began to flicker slightly under the onslaught, and she fell back several steps in the first few seconds. In barely thirty seconds, it seemed to be over, Arika panting and driven to one knee. Nina brought up her hand to deliver a hammer-hand strike, intending to knock her friend out.

"Zanber Form!"

Nina was startled to find her final strike intercepted by a giant sword of lightning. She looked into Fate's eyes, and smiled again. "I see you kept a few tricks up your sleeve."

Fate nodded. "Nina, are you sure?"

"If I don't do this, he'll have Father killed right now." Nina responded quietly.

Fate blinked, scared at how sure Nina sounded, but then she began the fight in earnest. This time it was much more even, Nina's speed made up for with Fate's skill - and the fact that Bardiche weighed barely more than the daggers. Nina quickly realized she would have to try something more sophisticated to win this, and quickly locked Fate's sword between her own blades. "Yield?"

"Hardly." Fate smiled as Bardiche's blade vanished, leaving Nina to stumble while holding nothing.

Suddenly, Smith coughed. "Ha...hahaha...you fools." She clicked a button. "Schwarz will have this day, in the end! Fire on my position, now!"

The Palace's main canon began to glow. Nanoha's eyes widened. Fate flew to the front of the courtyard and held Bardiche up. "WIDE AREA PROTECTION!" The whole area was bathed in the light of the yellow sphere just in time. The beam of light lanced straight out and across the city, slamming into Fate's protection spell. The barrier started strong, but began to waver almost immediately.

Smith chuckled shakily again. Irina muttered something about 'fruitcake' but her eyes were still wide and terrified.

Nanoha looked down at Aoi. "I...I'm sorry Mashiro..."

Mashiro stopped dead, realizing what she was saying. "...if you leave, she really will die..." Arika heard that and suddenly jumped out, rushing to the barrier and placing her hands on it. Streaks of brilliant blue reinforced the golden lightning. The barrier stabilized. "Thanks, Arika!"

Nanoha frowned in concentration. "I...this really isn't good!" Aoi started to turn paler. "NO! I'm losing her!"

The barrier was pushed back another few, precious inches. Smith grinned right through a hacking cough.

Mashiro looked between Aoi and the collapsing shield spell. "....yo..you can't!"

"I have to, Mashiro." Nanoha started to pull back, but Mashiro spoke one last time.

"Please...thirty seconds..." Nanoha thought it over for a moment, then nodded.

Mashiro looked down at her dying maid. "Aoi...I'm so sorry. For all those times I was mean to you, for all the things I said I didn't mean. Thank you for putting up with me...for...for taking care of me all this time. I love you....goodbye, Aoi."

Nanoha blinked a tear out of her eye, and then let the healing spell end. Aoi smiled, and took her last breath.

There wasn't any more time to grieve. Nanoha's Flier Fins sprang out and she skidded to a halt instantly next to Fate. Raising Heart added a pink shield to the yellow one already in place, the protective light changing to a blue-green.

"....do you think we can hold out?" Fate asked.

Nanoha smiled. "Yes...is what I'd like to say, but without our cartridges..."

Nagi looked at Nina. "What are you waiting for? Mashiro's wide open."

Nina frowned, looking between Nagi and her friends. Finally, she looked to her Master. "If that barrier collapses, both Queen Mashiros die, along with you." She flew up and placed her own hands on the Protection spell, leaving Nagi flabbergasted.

"....I suppose she is right. Wonder why I didn't think of that," he mused.

Tendrils of black wove themselves effortlessly through the spells and Arika's force grid. The overall effect seemed to dim the light given off, but a few moments later, the four girls started pushing the laser back. "We're doing it!" Nina shouted triumphantly.

Nanoha started to feel it first. "No! My Protection spell...I'm losing control of it!"

The white light of the laser started to crawl across the protective grid set up to stop it, infecting and twisting all of it. Fate cried out in a panic. "What the - ?" Fate's surprise quickly turned to terror. "Dimensional Distortion!" she warned.

"Time to distortion, twenty seconds." Raising Heart confirmed.

Arika looked around wildly. "What do we do?!"

Nanoha shook her head sadly. "...pray."

Then there was a single flash of light. When his eyes cleared, Nagi found he and Sergei were the only people left in the square.

A/N: Wow, that was a wild ride. I'll admit that I was damn near ready to stop writing after I penned that last scene, nearly a month ago. It was emotionally wrenching, and I'm glad that I won't have to go through anything that painful again.

I thank everyone who's stuck with the story to this point. For the "Mai-Otome" arc, I'd wager a guess that we're between half and two thirds done. Feel free to review, comment, or even drop a PM if you have an account here. As for future plans...well, I'm starting to think I might like to try my hand at actual professional writing once this is done, but I also have ideas to take it up to a trilogy. Of course, that would probably also bring the word count up to damn near a million, which I'm not really sure I'm totally up for yet. So, we'll have to see.

Work may be a bit of trouble this month, but I'll do my best to keep on the ball about updates. If need be, I'll post the next chapter during the first week of June if I start to fall behind.

As for a preview of upcoming attractions:

Reflections on a Maiden's Star: Six people, torn apart, tell their stories of the first days of the Shinso War
Alliances: The remaining Columns, the TSAB, and the Schwarz all try to move their pieces into position
Journeys/Reflections 2: The first moves are not of armies, but single players....