Final chapter time! Remember, this is the 100% true, authentic ending!


Yuuno resolved himself. He knew there was only one option for him.

"You're right, Miyako." He said, slowly walking closer. "No one on that side ever cared about me, so why the hell should I care about them? If you're willing to accept me, I'll gladly serve Hummer."

"You're a smart man, Yuuno." Miyako grinned, lowering the gun. "You're honest with yourself too. I really like that."

"What about her?" Yuuno asked, meeting Shari's gaze. "I doubt she'll just close her eyes to everything."

"Oh I'm sure Master can make her see things differently." Miyako chuckled. "Everyone has a breaking point."

"That's true." Yuuno nodded as he stood directly before the two girls. "You've gone past mine."

Before she could react, Yuuno brought up a hand and opened his fist, an orb of light appearing in his palm. Normally used to light dark areas, this time the spell had a blinding effect, causing Miyako to reflexively withdraw her hand from Shari's neck to shield her vision. Yuuno used that opening to pull away the brunette, who had closed her eyes as instructed. Keeping a firm grip on the younger girl's hand, Yuuno ran, hoping they could reach cover before Miyako recovered.

It was no use, however, as the raven haired girl aimed her gun blindly in their general direction.

"You bastard!" She growled. "That life, return it to God!"

"Full charge." The gun intoned as the trigger was pulled.

Time seemed to move slower in that moment as the large burst of destructive force crept towards them. Thinking quickly, Yuuno projected a barrier, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. He knew it was probably the end of the road for him, but he had something more important to protect.

Yanking Shari forward, he pushed her to the ground and allowed his body to fall on top of hers. He barely registered the look of shock on her face before the immense heat shattered his barrier and passed over him.

The scent of burnt hair and flesh filled the air as the beam dissipated. The searing pain on his back told Yuuno that he was still alive. His barrier had been just powerful enough to deflect the blast and prevent a direct hit.

"Arg!" Miyako rubbed her eyes and blinked many times until she could see again. "You got lucky, but I won't miss this time!" She was about to pull the trigger again, but found her hand to be surprisingly empty. "… Huh?"

"Looking for this?"

Miyako looked to her side to see a certain barrier jacket clad blond haired enforcer looking extremely displeased. Fate gingerly held the Light of God in her hand.

Before Miyako could run to the jeep, gold rings appeared around her body. The driver tried to take off, but Fate blew away the tires of the jeep with a Photon Lancer. He didn't get far on foot before he was also wrapped in a bind.

"You're under arrest." Fate said coolly.

X-X-X

Soon after Yuuno found himself lying face down on an infirmary bed, the burns on his back had been treated and he was told that they were only superficial and would heal cleanly. His hair hadn't been so lucky, however, for his long ponytail had been completely incinerated, the charred ends scratching the back of his neck.

"Isn't that great news?" Fate tried to sound comforting. "You won't have any lasting scars."

"Yeah." He muttered.

"… Y-You should be healed up in no time!" Fate tried again.

"Yeah." He muttered.

"Well, we've managed to find out the location of Hummer's base!" She said. "We're assembling a strike force now! We don't have to worry about the mole anymore either. Apparently he was just a loose end that she tied up…"

"… Did she talk?" He wondered.

"… No, she wouldn't say a thing." Fate sighed. "We've had to restrain her so she wouldn't attempt to kill herself."

"How did you find out the base's location, then?" Yuuno asked.

"The driver spilled everything. The coordinates were loaded into the jeep's GPS too."

"I see."

"I… I'm sorry, Yuuno, this is all my fault." She lowered her head.

"No it isn't, Fate." Yuuno sighed.

"But I'm the one who gave her permission to wander the base, and I helped her get closer to you… It's my fault I fell for her lies…" Fate wiped at her eyes. "It's my fault you're here."

"No, it's not." Yuuno would have sat up if he had the energy, but instead he reached out and took Fate's hand. "In the end I'm the one who let myself get deceived. You were just thinking of me and trying to help so stop beating yourself up over it."

"But…"

"Just… It's okay, Fate." Yuuno's voice wavered a bit. "I'm just mad at myself for being so stupid. I should have known that no girl would show interest in me unless she was lying so she could use me…"

"… Yuuno…" Unable to think of comforting worlds, she just squeezed his hand instead. She wanted so desperately to cheer him up and make him feel better about himself, but she just didn't know how she could do it.

"Excuse me!" A cheerful voice said as the door opened. Shari walked in, only to frown at the atmosphere. "Hey now, the patient can't recover with such a gloomy mood in the room!"

"Shari?" Fate gawked, baffled by her aide's demeanour under the circumstances.

"You're not helping Fate-san, so please shoo for a bit." Shari pulled her superior up and pushed her out of the room. Stunned, Fate just stared at the door as it closed in her face.

"Now then professor." Shari pulled up a chair. "The doctor said it'd be fine for you to sit up, so come here." She pointed at the hair.

"Shari, what are you…?" Since he didn't move, Shari gently pulled him up herself. Seeing there was no point objecting, Yuuno sat in the chair, still unaware of the girl's intentions.

She stood behind him and he felt her hands move through his hair. What felt like a comb followed and he heard the metallic clink of scissors. And thus Shari went to work chopping off the ruined parts of his hair swiftly with skilful hands.

"You're good at this." Yuuno noted after sitting in silence awhile.

"I've had lots of practise." She said simply. "You shouldn't let it get to you, professor."

He said nothing.

"Don't let one bad experience ruin things for you." She went on.

"… Seems I've had nothing but bad experiences…" He muttered.

Shari sighed. "Well then, shall I teach you how to get a girl to genuinely fall in love with you?"

"I don't think that's possible."

"Just hear me out." She smiled softly. "The first step is to have confidence in yourself. Normally you have a lot of that when you're not having a bad day."

Yuuno grunted.

"Being a nice guy earns you major points too." Shari went on. "Next, don't make light of her passion. Then let her see the way your eyes sparkle when you really get into something and let her see you work first hand so she'll have her socks knocked off by just how talented and knowledgeable you really are. Also, show her how much fun it is to just chat with you and match wits with you over a game."

Something clicked and Yuuno tried to turn his head around, but a firm hand stopped him as another lock was cut.

"Finally," she almost whispered. "Selflessly use your own body to protect her from certain death. With all those things I guarantee you'll capture her heart."

Shocked, confused, and a little hopeful, Yuuno spoke. "… But don't you have Griffith?"

"Griffith?" Shari laughed. "I think you're misunderstanding. Like I told you, we've known each other since we were kids. I think I traumatized him, though, so I wasn't surprised he ended up marrying a nice, reserved girl like Lucino."

"Oh." Yuuno suddenly felt extremely dumb. "So… uh… did you mean what you were just saying?"

"Yup." She smiled. "And I hope you don't think that I'm the kind of girl who would lie just so she could use you."

Yuuno reflected on that and saw no reason to doubt her. As long as he had known her, she had always been so straightforward and honest about everything, even if it was something that might get her labelled as a weirdo. Her bright smile was far too pure to be hiding something.

"I don't…" He said.

"Good." She put her scissors down and handed him a mirror. "So then, what do you think?"

He looked into the reflection, but didn't focus on his hair. He could see the girl with the gentle smile behind him and in her normally playful eyes he noted the seriousness in them along with a hint of anxiety. It was clear her intent was genuine.

The thoughts he had during their chess game resurfaced. He had been drawn in by those qualities of hers, hadn't he? Believing she already had some one had blocked him from pursuing those thoughts further, but since he was mistaken…

"I like it." He uttered. "I'll gladly accept."

The face in the mirror brightened considerably after relief washed over it.

"I'm glad." She said. "When we get back to the city I know the perfect restaurant to show it off at!" Grinning from ear to ear, Shari gathered her supplies and went to the door before turning to face him. "There's still a little bit of work that needs to be done first, but be sure to look forward to it, Yuuno!"

Fate just stared as her aide opened the door and pranced down the hallway while humming some tune. She looked to her old friend for answers, but he only smiled at her.

"… What just happened?" Fate asked.

"Looks like I have a date." Yuuno replied.

X-X-X

Checking her inbox, Fate's smile grew larger as she saw a certain name on the list.

"Hey Nanoha!" She called. "We got a picture greeting from Yuuno!"

"Eh?" Nanoha cried as she hurried into the room. "Really? Let me see! Yuuno-kun's only ever sent us text letters during the holidays!"

Chuckling, Fate opened the message, filling the screen with the image of a couple. She had her arms wrapped snugly around his neck while his hands circled her and rested on her hip.

"It's already been a year." Fate mused contently.

"Still keeping his hair short, I see." Nanoha noted.

"Yeah, she likes cutting it for him." Fate nodded. "They truly are quite the pair. Working together, they've really helped the technical division advance by leaps and bounds.

"I'm glad for him." Nanoha smiled. "I've never seen Yuuno-kun so cheerful before.

"You're right." Fate said, putting an arm around her wife's shoulder and drawing her in closer. 'Way to go, Yuuno.' She thought. 'You've finally found your happiness.'


So back in December when I decided to continue this fic, I thought to myself "Okay, so I paired pretty much everyone off, so who could I put Yuuno with?" I instaneously thought of Shari and thus this pairing was born! To raise that flag, I had to get him on a mission with Fate so he could work with Shari. At the same time, I wanted to surprise people, so I had the implication be that Shari was with Griffith, and then introduced Miyako to suggest a CC/OC outcome. I made her eyes red to reflect her status as a red herring. Well, people saw right through it anyways, of course ^^"

Also wanted to avoid a befri-ending to show that it doesn't work on everyone!

Had two more Kamen Rider references in this part: the "full charge" being what the belts in Kamen Rider Den-O say when doing their finishing attacks, and the "that life, return it to God!" part. Nago, aka Kamen Rider IXA, will say that when facing a foe.

That's really all I gotta say! Thanks to everyone who has supported this fic! I hope you enjoyed it!