Chronicle X: Mother and Son Part III

Beep... Beep... Beep...

Yuusei stirred irritably, stretching slowly as he attempted to sit up. He looked around- eventually realizing that his eyes were closed. Managing to grab hold of his head, he muttered, "God damn that hurt."

"Nyahaha, sorry about that. I guess I hit you harder than I thought I did. Then again, that spell's still being perfected so I might still have the output a little wrong," replied a playful voice.

Struggling to open his eyes, Yuusei cringed as the bright lights of what was apparently a hospital room flooded his vision. "Gah, too bright." Looking around, he eventually found Nanoha sitting beside his hospital bed. Looking down, he soon realized that he had an IV attached to his arm. "Wh-Why are you here?" he asked defensively. "Don't you have to go to work or something?"

Nanoha shook her head. "That can wait," answered the white devil. "What I do want to know is what you and Koga are doing attacking Mid-Childa."

The auburn-haired boy sighed. Indeed, this was his mother- straightforward and too the point. "I honestly don't know," replied Yuusei. "The doctor who's been raising me simply dropped me off with some woman under the name of Precia Testarossa. After that, my orders were to assist Prometheus and Pandora in attacking Mid-Childa and causing dimensional tremors." Glaring at his mother, Yuusei added, "Of course, I probably wouldn't be doing stuff like this had I not been abandoned."

The boy's words cut viciously into Nanoha's heart. What had they told him? What horrible lies had they told her little boy to turn him against her like this? Nanoha didn't know, but it was tearing her apart inside. Then, the name Precia rang out in Nanoha's in mind. The cause of Fate's suffering, now the cause of her own son's suffering- if Nanoha hadn't been holding back her rage, she probably would have destroyed the very room she sat in at this particular moment. Holding her tears, the auburn-haired woman asked, "Is that what they told you?" Unintentionally, her mana began to flare, so much so that Yuusei began to pale from fear. "Is that the lie they told you? WELL?"

Yuusei nodded nervously. "Y-Yeah," he answered weakly. The auburn-haired mage struggled to stand, but cringed with pain. "I-I can't move."

The white devil ignored her son's complaint and stood from her chair. "I want you to stay here. Fate-chan will be coming to check in on you soon, so don't anywhere. I need to talk about this with everyone else." As she walked away, the mechanical door slid open. Before stepping full stepping out into the hallway, Nanoha said, "Please, just stay there. Okay?" Her voice was hoarse- almost lost in tone. With that, the white devil journeyed down the hallway and out of sight as the door closed behind her.

Yuusei was left alone in his hospital room. Figuring it was worth a shot, he tried to send Koga a telepathic message. Koga, are you there?

There was a moment's delay before Koga finally replied. Ah, Yuusei, you're up! Thank god, I thought your mom killed you the other day with how hard she railed you!

The auburn-haired boy tilted his head. What do you mean Koga? It's morning now, so that means I've only been out for a few hours.

Sorry man, it's been a bit longer than that. You've been out of it for about a month.

"What?" Yuusei nearly managed to get out of his hospital bed, but alas his body was still in far too much pain to move. "Tch, d-damn it all!" Staring at a bonsai tree left for him on a counter, Yuusei sent yet another message to his best friend. How is that even possible? My injuries couldn't possible have been that severe!

Koga hummed to himself. Well, you see, began the blue-eyed boy, The Elysian System started acting up with your linker core again. When that was discovered, they took some time to do some research on it and see if there was a way to reverse it; however, while they were doing so, they found a problem.

Cocking his eyebrow, Yuusei asked, Which was?

The dark-brown-haired boy remained silent for a while. Your linker core was being destroyed by the Elysian System. Upon inspection, Olivia and Aerith were shown to have unnecessary strain on their bodies as well. According to the data, it seems as if this may have been intentional in the event that any of us went rogue. By forcing us to be under constant maintenance, they could ensure that we couldn't disobey the higher-ups for too long without kicking the bucket.

Yuusei sighed and leaned against the wall of his hospital bed. Well haven't you been busy, he began sarcastically. How the heck did you get them to let you see the data?

Well, began Koga, It wasn't hard really. I just asked that they let me watch them when they checked up on you and they just let me sit in on everything. Only thing is- I bet you're having trouble moving right now, right?

Cringing, Yuusei asked, Gee, how did you know?

There was silence.

Finally, Koga answered, When they were checking up on you, they did find a way to restore our magic systems; but, when they did, your linker core had finally reached its breaking point. You began to go into heart failure and they had to quickly put together a theoretical surgery to fix your linker core and re-convert it from the Elysian Magic System to the magic system codes used today. They didn't even have time to test it. I was pretty worried man! Anyway, most of your spells probably won't work anymore and you'll have to relearn them with the Mid-Childan and/or Belkan Magic Systems.

Yuusei's eye went wide. "You're kidding me! Are you serious Koga?" he yelled aloud.

Koga sighed. Dude, no need to shout, he said lazily. Yeah, it's true. Your body was in critical condition by the time they had begun, so you were left in a mild coma. Your mom's been coming to visit you every morning and every evening since they put you under. So has Captain Fate for that matter. Aerith's already undergone surgery and is up and running with Olivia and I. Supposedly, Olivia and I are supposed to come for the adjustment surgery ourselves sometime this week.

Looking down at his hand, Yuusei replied, ...I see. Staring at his hospital wall, he said, I need to think about all of this. Mind giving me a minute?

Yeah, answered Koga, you just take it easy-

"Kyah!" screamed a girlish voice. Crash! Faster than light, whoever had made that scream was down and on the floor in the small hospital room.

Yuusei tried to rise from his bed, but he soon cringed with pain. "Gah! Damned surgery!"

Yu-Yuusei? Something wrong? asked Koga worriedly.

Staring at the ground, Yuusei caught sight of who had caused all of the ruckus. A familiar little girl with long blonde hair. He could barely recognize her without her barrier jacket, but there was no mistaking that this was the girl. "Y-You," said Yuusei slowly.

Squirming and groaning, Alicia picked herself up from the floor. Once she had done so, she immediately began to bow to Yuusei and began to apologize profusely for her barging in. "I-I'm sorry!" she yelled, "You just looked kind of angry and I didn't want to bother you!" Bowing once more, she shouted, "I'm sorry!"

"Huh? Alicia-chan? Why are you here?" asked Fate as she made her way through the still-open door. Looking at the sitting up Yuusei, she said, "Oh, good. You're awake!" Without a moment's delay, the blonde swordswoman immediately made her way to the auburn-haired boy and offered him a small bar of candy. "It's a bit unhealthy, but I'm sure you're hungry after being asleep for so long."

Yuusei eyed the woman nervously before slowly accepting her gift. "Th-Thank you," he said before immediately checking the wrapper for any kind of tampering. "Hmm, looks safe," he muttered as he began to open the wrapper. A chuckle caught his attention. Looking up, he saw Fate giggling at his antics. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Uh, did I do something funny?"

Shaking her head, Fate replied, "No, not at all. It was just a little refreshing, that's all." Watching him hold the candy bar in his hands, Fate thought to herself, How distrustful. He made sure to check something as small as a candy bar for poison. Narrowing her eyes, she thought to herself, Just what did they do to this child?

Seeing the intense stare he was getting, Yuusei said, "A lot's happened. Back at the training barracks, we lived under two rules- live or die. If you wanted to live, you had to do your best to survive. If you didn't," Yuusei paused to take out a piece of his candy bar before squeezing the now-vacant part of the wrapper. "You met an incredibly slow and painful death."

Alicia nervously walked up to Yuusei, staring him in the eye. U-Um, she began over telepathy.

Noting that the message was directed at him, Yuusei took the young girl's words as meaning that she didn't want Fate to hear her. Grinning wryly, he teased, So I was right. You aren't a real TSAB agent, are you?

The shorter blonde shook her head. Nope. My mom's the person next to me. From what I hear, Nanoha-mama's your mother. Smiling a little, she said, So that makes you my older brother doesn't it?

Yuusei rose an eyebrow. Last I recall, only Ivory shares a biological parent with me. You on the other hand only have Fate as a mother. I see no reason to call me that, replied the auburn-haired knight densely.

Alicia shook her head. It's okay! Vivio-Onee isn't my biological sister and we're still sisters; therefore, if you're Vivio-Onee's little brother, than you're my Onii-san.

Feeling his left eyebrow twitching, Yuusei thought to himself, What a carefree kid. Staring at Alicia intently, he said, I advise that you give up on that notion. Motioning with his eyes to his hands, he added, I still have a job to finish if you catch my drift.

Seeing how intently the two children were staring at each other, Fate giggled as she asked, "I see that the two of you are having quite the conversation. You two remind me a lot of Nanoha and myself when we were younger." Looking at them again, she added, "Though, I feel things have gotten reversed a little."

The auburn-haired boy sighed. "Look, I've heard a bit from Koga. I'm grateful that you guys apparently saved my backside, but we really have to leave." Finally managing to stand and remove his IV, Yuusei bit through the pain as he said, "Even if Koga and I can't go back to Precia, we're only causing trouble by staying here."

Fate blanched and dropped the clipboard she was holding. Yuusei flinched at the sudden reaction, backing up a few steps and staring at her from a distance. A moment later, Fate asked, "Did you just say, Precia?"

While Fate was talking with Yuusei, Nanoha was in the middle of meeting up with Koga, Erio, and Caro. Waving as she ran up to them, Nanoha yelled, "Hi everyone! Sorry that I'm late. Yuusei finally woke up."

Erio chuckled a little as he waved back. "We heard from Koga a few moments ago. I guess he and Yuusei were talking a little."

Caro smiled as she patted a seat beside her. "Anyway, sit down. We've got plenty to talk about!"

Nanoha excitedly took a seat beside Caro. Everything seemed fine until Koga caught sight of how red Nanoha's eyes were. "I-I guess he gave you a hard time, huh?" asked Koga nervously. When Nanoha turned his way to reply, he quickly put up his hands and said, "S-Sorry, I-I just... Well..." Sighing, he said, "Try to give him some space, alright? He's never exactly been a cuddly kind of guy."

There was silence.

Seeing how Koga had effectively killed the conversation, Caro chimed, "A-Anyway, how about we order? I'm totally famished-"

"How do you do it?" asked Nanoha with a near desperate tone of voice.

Koga tilted his head. "How do I do what? Talk with Yuusei? It's simple. He's kind of robotic, so if you talk to him like normal, he has a tendency to at least give a one-word reply."

Looking away, Nanoha asked, "What did they do to him?" Looking at Koga intently, she asked, "What did they do to my son?"

The dark-haired boy looked around nervously as all eyes fell upon him. "W-Well, um," he paused. "It's kind of a touchy story. Yuusei'll get really mad if I tell you guys without asking."

"I think it's important that we know Koga," urged Erio. "We won't be able to help either of you if we don't understand what's actually going on."

Caro nodded. "That's right. If we don't talk to each other, no one'll understand anything and we won't get anywhere." Motioning to Nanoha, she added, "Yuusei's mom taught us that when we were not that much older than the two of you."

"Well," Koga said no more. Staring at Nanoha, he noticed the desperation in her eyes. Guilt overtook him, causing the dark-brown-haired boy to reply, "Fine. I guess a little wouldn't hurt." Everyone leaned in as Koga began, "Yuusei only started acting like this after an incident two years ago..."

Author's Notes:

It's something hated in most fanfiction, but since this fic is particularly OC-drive plot-wise, I feel it necessary to do a short backstory arc on the Photon children before we proceed. It'll help with understanding the characters a lot more and getting a better feel of how everyone's connected.

In other news, I live again! I apologize profusely for how long this took to get out. I had to regain my passion for the series while deciding what would be the best way to utilize the thirteen Photon children OCs that are obviously going to have roles throughout the story (Yuusei, Alicia, Prometheus, Pandora, Koga, the-not-yet-shown Sora, and the seven remaining Photon children that have not yet been introduced) as well as how to best use the two Resonator devices that I've created. Well, thanks to that conversion, I guess Aerith's more of a special Unison Device now. Moving on-

I thank everyone for their reviews and comments. As I get more time after I graduate High School, I promise to go back and fix up these chapters. Phew, it's hard to believe I started this as a Sophomore.