Of Assassins, Samurai, and Magic

A/N: And the next chapter is up! I've tried to keep everyone as close as possible to their characters in the anime though I'm sure there will be a few OOC moments. Comments and reviews are much appreciated. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The characters and the worlds I write in do not belong to me. The stories that I write are intended for entertainment purposes. I do not make any money from them.

*** ~ Chapter 9: Resolve of the Empress ~ ***

CRASH!

Vita jolted awake. Her hand immediately darted for Graf Eisen, which was propped up next to the bed. Were they under attack? Who was attacking them? How did the intruders-

"GET OUT!"

Vita blinked. Okay, so maybe they weren't under attack. But from the sounds of things, Hayate was not in a very good mood right now. What time was it?

Sliding out of bed, Vita trudged over to door with her weapon in tow. Graf Eisen dragged behind her as she rubbed her eyes. The red head's bedroom was connected to Hayate's bedroom. And despite Vita's room being half the size of the Empress' room, it was no less comfortable. Being family had its perks, even if you were someone's grandfather's mother's brother's cousin's uncle's sister's daughter twice removed on the fifth side. Or something like that. Gil Graham had tried to explain her heritage to her once before, just how she was linked to Hayate by blood, but Vita pretty much gave up after he went through the fifth link in the family tree. Everything looked the same to her.

The hammer knight lazily pushed the door connecting hers and Hayate's room open. She was immediately blinded by the sunlight shining through the drawn curtains. "Haya-"

"I SAID GET OUT!"

Vita blinked again, her vision a bunch of white dots before it cleared and forms took shape. Squinting, the red head could just make out the blurred form of a servant dashing out of the Empress' chambers, the door slamming shut behind them.

"Vita-chan…"

Looking to her right, Vita found the small guardian of the Empress' tome floating next to her. "Rein?"

The silver haired sprite looked at Vita frowning. Vita didn't like that look. "What's wrong?" The padding of feet on the carpeted floor alerted the hammer knight to Zafira's presence as well.

Rein turned to look at her master. "She's been like this since yesterday."

Blue eyes followed Rein's gaze. Hayate was on the far end of her room, pulling book upon book upon book from one of her bookshelves. Books were discarded as quickly as she pulled them, the ancient tomes being unceremoniously dropped to the floor or tossed a short ways behind her. Each successive thump made Vita frown more.

"Why can't I find it! These are all useless!" Hayate hissed in frustration, tossing yet another antiquated book over her shoulder.

"She hasn't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon" Rein said quietly.

Zafira whined softly, Vita turning to look at the broken plate of scattered food on the ground before the demon wolf. Vita's eyes went back to the door again, where the servant had disappeared just before.

"Did she sleep?"

Rein shook her head. Vita bit her lip. The moment Vita returned to the palace yesterday, Hayate immediately pulled her aside and asked her about the explosion in the middle district. With the palace having a panoramic view of the city and Hayate's bedroom having the best view of the middle district, where all of her friends lived, there was no way the Empress wouldn't know about the incident.

To say Hayate was distressed after hearing it was the Takamachi dojo which exploded, would be putting it mildly. When Vita finished her report, Hayate immediately dismissed her, her relative's face unreadable. Signum and Shamal had stayed behind in the middle district to deal with the aftermath. Rein too, at least for a little bit. Which left Vita and Zafira to keep Hayate company. Though it was quite clear the Empress was in no mood to be social.

By the time the rest of them had returned to the palace, Hayate still hadn't come out of her room, not even for dinner. Vita went to sleep thinking Hayate just needed time to herself to sort out her thoughts. But now she saw how wrong she was. It seemed some tough love was in order.

"Why do I have these things in the first place! Pieces of junk!"

Vita sighed. What a way to start the morning. "I take it Hayate is not listening to either of you?"

Rein lowered her head. "I don't think she even realizes we're here."

Vita rubbed her face. The red head was so not in the mood to be dealing with this right now. Vita was NOT a morning person, first of all. Not to mention this was usually something Signum or Shamal handled. This wasn't the first time Hayate had lost her patience after all. Speaking of which…

"Shouldn't Signum-san or Shamal-san be with her at a time like this?" It surprised the hammer knight that neither of the two were here trying to calm the Empress down.

"They're checking on Nanoha's onii-san and onee-san."

Vita made a fist. Nanoha… The red head scowled before sighing for the umpteenth time since she woke up this morning. It looked like it was up to Vita now to slap some sense into their leader.

"Hayate." Vita walked up to the Empress, her Graf Eisen left with Rein and Zafira. The smaller Wolkenritter had no intention of using her weapon on her blood relative. She also had no intention of allowing it to become something Hayate could grab and smack her with either. Contrary to her typical smiles and kindness, when the Empress was pissed off, she was very mean to be around. And scary.

"Not this one either!"

Vita ducked, inhaling sharply as a particularly heavy tome came flying in her direction. At her head. When the tome landed behind her, she could have sworn it made a dent in the floor. Vita growled. "Hayate!" she said louder, just short of yelling.

"Not now Vita-chan! I'm busy!" Hayate continued to rummage around the bookshelf.

Vita's eyebrow twitched. At least Hayate kept up the honorifics. That was a good sign. Maybe. But still, the only thing that saved Hayate from a slap upside the head was the fact that Hayate was the Empress. Vita hated being ignored.

The red head grabbed Hayate's wrist and spun her around. "Hayate! Would you just stop a moment?"

The hammer knight quickly swallowed, her throat suddenly dry as she fell under Hayate's hateful glare. Vita had never seen such anger and rage in her relative's eyes before. The darkness within those blue eyes was scaring her. It took all of Vita's will power just to remain rooted in her spot. The hammer knight never retreated, from anyone or anything. And the fact that all she wanted to do that right now was to run away and hide under her blanket, said a lot about the Empress' dark look.

"What part of I'm busy did you not understand, Vita-chan?" Hayate's words came out forced, her jaw clenched.

Vita shivered, feeling very much like the kid she was. Small. "H-have you e-eaten?" Vita mentally cursed herself for the stutter. It couldn't be helped though. Hayate was just plain scary when she was angry.

"I'm not hungry" was Hayate's quick reply.

The Empress turned to go back to the bookshelf but Vita held onto her firmly. "You need to eat something." The smallest of the Wolkenritter quickly got her wits about her and steeled herself for the backlash she was about to receive.

"I said I'm not hungry." Hayate almost growled those words, her blue eyes darkening further, and narrowing. She was in no mood to put up with Vita's current antics, family or not. There was work to be done. People were dying!

Rein whimpered softly. She didn't like this. She didn't like this at all.

"You may not be hungry, but you're getting something to eat. With me. Now." Vita returned the glare Hayate was shooting at her.

"I don't have time for this Vita-chan!" Hayate said hissing. She was boiling with rage and anger and hate. She needed an outlet. She needed a solution to her peoples' pain. But most importantly, she needed to avenge the wrongs done against her friends. Sadly however, you couldn't just blow up half the city and be done with it. That would have been too easy.

"You will make time" Vita said, unmoving. The grip on Hayate's wrist tightened.

"If you are so insistent on me getting something to eat, send up a servant with a tray."

"So you can smack it to the ground and chase them off like you did the first one this morning?" Hayate was being stubborn, Vita knew. But Vita could be even more stubborn when she was ready.

"Vita." This time Hayate actually growled, menacingly and predator-like in nature. Zafira tensed on his feet, ears up and eyes alert.

"People are worried about you Hayate" Vita said unflinching. "I am worried about you. You can't keep doing this!"

"I can and I must!"

"Why!"

"People are dying out there Vita-chan!"

Hayate's yell echoed down the hallway outside of her room. Signum and Shamal, having just returned to the imperial palace and now on their way to Hayate's room, looked at each other before silently dashing down the carpeted floor to the Empress' chamber.

"Every moment I waste, more of my people get hurt! I have to stop it!" Hayate was shaking. Just the thought of her people suffering tore at her heart. But what hurt even worse was when it happened to one of her beloved friends.

"What good are you to your people if you collapse!" Vita gritted her teeth. What she was about to say disgusted her. She didn't want to resort to this, but if it snapped some sense into Hayate without Vita having to hit her, all the better.

"Do you really think Nanoha would want you to kill yourself like this? What do you think she'd do if she saw you like this right now!"

The red head took a deep breath in preparation of Hayate's next outburst. But it never came. Instead, the tears flooded the brunette's cheeks and Hayate collapsed to her knees, hands covering her face as he sobbed. Vita took a step back in complete and utter helplessness, the hammer knight not knowing what to do. This was not what was supposed to happen! Or was it?

"No…" Hayate said between sobs. "She'd h-hate me…" The Empress hiccupped, her body shuddering more as she cried. "I couldn't stop it… *sob* … I couldn't save them. I couldn't do anything like I promised I would!"

Rein brought her hands up to her mouth, tears rolling down her own cheeks. The little guardian flinched when the door to Hayate's chamber bolted open with Signum and Shamal freezing in the doorway. Zafira whined sadly, looking at the two newcomers.

"Nanoha… Fate… the others… *sob* … they're hurting so much…" Hayate said continuing to weep. "And I couldn't do anything… Just like before…"

Vita ignored her own tears, hugging Hayate gently. The Empress clutched at Vita's night shirt, her exhausted body shuddering as she buried her tearful face in Vita's shoulder.

Signum made a fist before spinning around and storming away.

"Signum-san!" Shamal chased after the pink haired samurai a few steps but then stopped. Signum had already disappeared around the corner. "Signum-san…"

The blonde attendant turned back towards the Empress.

"Why can't I help them…"

"Shamal."

"Hai Hayate-sama?" The green robed attendant moved from her spot by the door over to the Empress' bedside.

Evening was upon them, the stars starting to sparkle in the night sky. Zafira snoozed at the foot of Hayate's bed, with Vita curled up next to the brunette also sleeping peacefully. All of them had had a pretty long day.

"Please get a messenger to deliver this for me."

Shamal took the sealed envelope from the Empress, looking at it curiously.

"It's my reply to Jail Scaglietti" Hayate replied. She ran her fingers through Vita's hair. "He's a foreigner from the west who's offered to help us with our current state of unrest. I've decided to see him."

Blue eyes gaze out towards the balcony where the lights of the city shone below. "I think it's time to get some outside help on this matter."

"Hai Hayate-sama." Shamal bowed before leaving the Empress' chambers to find a messenger.

A/N: For those of you unfamiliar with the non-English words, I have translated them below.

Hai = Yes

Onii-san = Big Brother

Onee-san = Big Sister

Wolkenritter = Cloud Knights (German)

For an explanation of Japanese honorifics (eg. [name]-sama), please check out: http:/en[dot]wikipedia[dot]org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics