Internet Friends

A/N: This is a work of fanfiction. Businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. I do not own any of the characters from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.

I know… This is sooo stolen… but not so that I can earn any cash out of it. I am hoping to promote my love, especially for this set of characters. They need more screen time. They are awesome too! (Just hope I didn't kill the scene!)

Chapter 20

Fate POV

"Time check. Its 2030 now. We all got 10 minutes to get into position. Signum and I will enter the building at 2100 from the east entrance, Reinforce and Vita from the west. Zafira, the outer compound is all yours. Hayate, I don't want you to give away your position before we start the party. Shamal…"

"I will just watch over everyone and hope that none of you will require my services." Shamal said.

None of us said anything for a moment.

"Testarossa, please give us a moment…" Signum said as they gathered around Hayate and went down on one knee.

Hayate just lets out a long sigh, smiled and looked endearingly at them.

Signum affirmed, "We are the guardian knights who gather before our mistress, she of the Night Sky."

Shamal affirmed, "As long as our mistress exists, our souls will never extinguish."

Zafira affirmed, "As long as we have life in our bodies, we will stand by each other."

Vita affirmed, "We will always exist before our mistress, Queen of the Night Sky, Yagami Hayate."

Hayate pronounced, "Rein, bestow me my weapon and armour. (Reinforce helps Hayate put on her armour and handed Hayate her weapon) Lights of the Night Sky, come to my hand. (Everyone raised their fist towards Hayate's out stretched hand) Godspeed, my children."

And they all replied in accord, "Yes Mistress!" and they stood up.

"Mistress Hayate, please take care of yourself. Just call and I will be at your aid." Reinforce said with a bow.

"Rein, we talked about this… There's nothing I can do about the oath… But for you to…" Hayate replied.

"Then… Please take care of yourself, Hayate-chan" Reinforce replied with a slight blush, then leaned in and gave Hayate a kiss. The rest just smiled.

"Okay. Radio silence until necessary. Break!" And we all headed off to our designated area.

-0-

"Signum, if anything is to happen to me…" I said as we waited for the time to strike.

"I don't want to hear any nonsense from you, Testarossa." Signum cuts in.

I just looked at her with pleading eyes.

"You take care of your own girlfriend, yourself." Signum replied firmly.

"By the way, what just happened back there?" I asked.

"By tradition, Hayate is our mistress. She is the last descendent of Yagami from the main family. Vita and I are from the branch family of Yagami. We serve the main family. The Wolkenritter had served the Yagami main family for many generations. If we were to head out into battle, and our Lord or in this case, Mistress, is present, we are required to pledge our oath." Signum explained.

"But… you and Shamal…" I asked curiously.

"After the accident, Vita and I went to serve Hayate, to take care of her. She said that as long as she is the mistress, we all should just live as one big family. She is the kindest mistress we ever had. She recognises and respects us as individuals, not as tools and servants…"

"Time. Take care of yourself, Signum." "You too, Testarossa" Signum replied.

-0-

When we entered the building, there was an eerie chillness in the air. As we got closer to the centre of the building, I heard some growling… And some footsteps, coming in this direction…

Signum and I got ready and as we were about to strike, "Stars" someone called.

"Lighting" I replied as we eased up. And we met up.

"We weren't supposed to meet up here…." I said, trying to make sense of this.

"There was only one path, and it leads to here." Reinforce replied.

"Damn. The layout of the compound must have been changed!" I cursed under my breath.

"We've been played for a fool!" I bawled.

*Gunshots* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

"Shite! That's too early!" I cursed.

"I think that's not what you need to worry about…" Vita said.

Suddenly, the floodlights came on. We were all blinded for a moment. Once our sight returned, we were surrounded with beasts… They looked like a mix of animals, but they were all deformed…

"Shite!" I cursed.

A hologram appeared out of nowhere. Jail… That bastard!

"Welcome, my daughter. I see that you brought some friends home." Jail smirked.

"I'm coming for you, you bastard!" I bellowed.

"Language, my dear. Language." Jail laughed fakely.

-0-

The beasts tightened the circle. Boy, they all looked really hungry…

*Bang* *Bang* *Screams over the intercom*

"We will open a hole for you, Rein" Vita said as she ran towards a few of the beasts and swung her hammer.

"Go Rein, we will be fine here." Signum followed.

"Go to Hayate!" I said as I fired my machine gun.

"Once again, I'm sorry, Fate" Reinforce said and ran towards the small gap that we managed to open up. As we carried on fighting those beasts, Jail continued, "Now… Where were we? Ahh. Let's play a little game… A homecoming game, just for you. You have 5 minutes to make it to the second floor."

"As if I will comply!" I shouted as the fight continues.

"Temper, my daughter. If you don't make it here in time, well, this explains it all." Jail said with an evil laugh.

I looked over to the hologram and froze.

Nanoha was bound to a wheelchair, "Fate-chan" she cried as Jail held a syringe to her neck.

"Exciting, isn't it? You have four and a half minutes left..." Jail laughed hysterically.

Reasoning went out the window. Fear. Fear for the love of my life. Anger. I am beyond angry.

"Nanoha… NANOHAAA!" I roared. I threw my machine gun away and took out Bardiche, my scythe, hacked and sliced anything and everything in front of me.

-0-

Reinforce POV

'Hayate… Please be safe…' I thought to myself as I ran out of the building.

Zafira was fighting some of the beasts. I halted and looked around anxiously, trying to find out Hayate's location.

*Bang* *Bang*

Two beasts from behind me dropped like flies.

Muzzle flash, there.

I ran as fast as I could.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Three more beasts that were chasing me dropped dead.

When I reached the location, Hayate was nowhere to be found… All I could see was a pool of blood.

'NO!' Blood drained from my head.

'Where is she?' I looked around desperately.

*Bang* *Bang*

Two beasts that were behind Zafira dropped dead.

'Where are you?!'

"Hayate!" I shouted in desperation.

And I heard a cricket sound in return. *Chirp* *Chirp*

That way!

I ran and ran. And when I finally saw Hayate, I ran and tackled her with a hug.

"I thought I lost you!" I cried. Hayate shoved me away, aimed her gun straight at me and fired!

-0-

Fate POV

'Nanoha… Nanoha… Please wait for me. I'm coming to get you…!' was all I could think about as I ran. My lungs burned but it didn't matter. All I need now is to get to Nanoha!

Finally, I found the stairwell and headed upstairs. At the far end, I could barely make out a figure… But that figure was lying on the floor.

'NO! It can't be!'

As I ran towards it, something hit me from the right. I felt at least one of my ribs break.

I flew a few meters and slammed against a pillar. All the air was knocked out of me and I was struggling to breath.

"Na… no… ha…" I groaned as I tried to get up from my knees.

*Cling*

"Fate, are you alright? Told you not to run off blindly!" Signum yelled.

"I'll take care of her, you go ahead!" She shouted.

-0-

Signum POV

I'm so glad I got here in time. If I was even one second later, Fate would have been…

*Cling* *Cling* *Cling* *Cling*

Strike after strike, both of us could not land a clean blow. Her stance is good. There isn't much opening for me to strike.

I aimed to strike high, she easily evaded with a 180 degrees turn and using her momentum to thrust her sword towards me. I was forced to break form and sidestepped backwards.

"Not bad. Why is someone as skilled as you working for someone like him?" I asked.

"Well, I was made to fight." She replied.

"Yagami Signum, and my sword, Laevatein." I said and pointed my sword at her.

"Due" she replied. "You are going down, Due"

"Likewise" Due replied. And our swords clashed.

-0-

Vita POV

I finally took care of those beasts downstairs. There is nothing me and Graf Eisen cannot break! I just hope everyone is alright.

As I got up the stairs, I saw Fate making her way to a figure near the end of the floor. Fate seemed to be holding on to the side of her chest. Hope she's not too injured.

That figure was lying on the floor. 'No good!'

I turned to my side to find Signum fighting someone. Signum will be fine. She is the strongest!

I began making my way towards Fate. Wait… There's a shadow lurking behind that pillar. And as Signum had her back facing that direction, the shadow then stepped out from behind the pillar.

'Quattro!' "Like hell I would let you stab another of my family!" I roared as I ran towards her.

She turned to face me, smiled and said, "Ohh… It's you again. You might not be able to protect them again…" And she threw her knife towards Signum who was busy fighting the other figure.