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!
For those of you who have left unsigned reviews, see my replies below:
Love thus story - Thanks for the review. ^^ Hehe, I'm glad to hear you like reading this piece. I always worry that my chapters won't be up to reader's likings or something. I guess I'm just worrying too much. :P Hopefully this chapter is just as great as the last one. :)
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 36: The Key to Al Hazard ~ ***
"Where is she!"
Fate was startled awake when someone grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and roughly yanked her up to sitting position. "Wha-what?" the blonde said bleary eyed and confused.
"Vita-chan!" a tiny voice exclaimed. "Fate-chan is still hurt!"
Fate blinked, gradually getting her bearings back, the fog of sleep lifting from her mind. Pain quickly made its presence known, as the one shaking her, the redhead she had yet to learn the name of, continued to scream at her.
"Where is she!" Vita shouted again, her small hands clenching tighter at Fate's shirt collar. A small silver haired form tugged at Vita's shoulder to no avail.
"That's enough Vita." Signum came striding through the bedroom door with another in tow. Fate didn't even have time to register who the other was as the samurai quickly came up to her bedside and separated Vita from her.
"But Signum!" Vita exclaimed. "She-
"Vita-chan."
That voice was soft and gentle, yet firm at the same time. Both Vita and Fate looked at Signum, the swordswoman blocking the owner of the voice from view.
"How about you go check on Zafira and Shamal, ne?"
Vita opened and closed her mouth a few times before visibly deflating. "Hai, Hayate." The redhead crawled off of Fate's bed and left the room without incident, but not before she sent the blonde a scowl. Fate didn't even notice it. Her attention was somewhere else at the moment.
"Hayate...?"
It was then Signum moved out of the way, revealing the one who had followed her into the room. The Empress smiled at Fate, tucking a lock of her short brown hair behind her ear.
"Rein-san," Signum said, glancing between the blonde and the brunette. "Can I speak to you for a moment... outside?"
The tiny sprite giggled, following the pinkette outside, shutting the door behind them. The room was silent after the door closed, neither occupant moving. It would be the Empress who made the first move, Hayate walking up to Fate's bedside, putting her hand on Fate's.
"Hi Fate-chan," Hayate said with a shy smile. "Long time no see."
"Fate!" Arf exclaimed, jumping onto the bed, immediately licking Fate's face.
"A-Arf!" Fate said in surprise, laughing. "P-please be gentle. I haven't healed up completely yet."
By now, everyone had gathered in Fate's bedroom, everyone being Hayate and her knights, Yunno, Arf, Lindy, Chrono and even Agito. There was still a noticeable limp in Zafira's walk and a wince of pain when Shamal sat down, but otherwise the pair was recovering rather well considering their state just hours ago.
"Easy there Arf-san," Chrono said with a smile. He pulled the demon fox off his step sister. Arf whined. "I know you're happy to see Fate-chan, but if you're not careful, you could hurt her more."
Arf pouted. Then her head perked up and the demon fox grinned. "Then how about this!"
Everyone in the room was startled when Arf suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke, Chrono staggering backwards, letting the fox go when that happened. When the smoke dissipated, they all stared in shock.
"Puppy power!" the now tiny demon fox said. She sat on Fate's lap, on the bed.
Burgundy coloured eyes went wide. "A-Arf?" Arf was now a quarter of her original size, a small demon fox pup no bigger than a cat.
Puppy Arf grinned. "Hai Fate?"
"Kawaii!" Lindy squealed before snatching Arf off the bed. She immediately cuddled the puppy demon fox to her chest.
"Gah!" Puppy Arf exclaimed. "K-Kaa-san! Not so tight!"
Everyone laughed.
"Getting back to the topic at hand," Hayate said, drawing everyone's attention to her. Rein hovered near the Empress' shoulder. Hayate's smile faded as she turned her gaze back to Fate. "Can you tell us what happened Fate-chan? With Jail Scaglietti and the doorway to Al Hazard?"
Fate looked down at her hands, ones which clenched at the blanket pooling on her lap. Taking a deep breath, Fate recounted what happened.
"I asked Arf to show me the door to Al Hazard," Fate began.
"Precia thought she was resurrecting her dead daughter," Jail continued in his ramblings. "But what she was really doing was creating a key, a very special key."
"After that meeting," Fate said, referring to the one Yunno headed days ago, "I had to see it for myself, to see if what Yunno-kun had said was true."
Puppy Arf whimpered, having escaped from Lindy's clutches to sit on Fate's blanketed lap again. The puppy demon fox nuzzled the blonde's hand. "When I led Fate there, we were attacked by the Numbers," Puppy Arf growled. "Fate held them back while I escaped to warn you."
"That fool of a woman, in her haste, messed things up and instead created a failed clone in the image of her daughter."
Fate stroked Puppy Arf's head. "I was quickly overwhelmed by the Numbers," Fate said, gritting her teeth. "Even with Bardiche."
"Sorry Sir," Bardiche chimed. "There were just too many."
Vita glared at the blonde and would have retorted with a snarky remark had it not been for Signum putting a hand on her shoulder in warning. Agito, sitting on Signum's shoulder, looked between the two in confusion
"When I woke up again, Nanoha was..." Fate felt tears gather at the corner of her eyes. She swallowed back the lump in her throat. "Nanoha was already bleeding on the floor next to me and everything was just... different."
Vita made a fist, her knuckles white.
"Scaglietti-san was there too," Fate said, her free hand gripping at her blanket tightly.
"This is just too much," he said. "Just hours ago, you were at each other's throats, and now, you're all protective of each other. How touching!"
Lindy and Chrono frowned, both of them having told the others of Jail's visit to Fate weeks before all of this happened. Hayate and her knights were shocked to hear this fact, but Rein quickly filled in the blanks for that conversation as it happened just before she was abducted.
"He kept going on and on about Al Hazard," Fate continued. "About Precia-san, and me."
"What did he say specifically, Fate-san?" Yunno asked reluctantly. It was obviously painful for the blonde to recount such things, but they had to know. If there was any hope of stopping this madness, they had to know the truth.
"So gullible," Jail said, shaking his head with a smile. "Just like your mother."
"The Garden of Time Incident," Fate said.
Everyone listened intently.
"Precia-san thought she was bringing her musume back to life by opening the doors to Al Hazard. But what she was really doing was creating a key to open the doors."
Fate looked up at everyone. "That key was me."
Audible gasps escaped the group, some of them paling.
"But she failed," Fate said looking down at her hands again.
"That fool of a woman, in her haste, messed things up and instead created a failed clone in the image of her daughter."
"I was incomplete or something happened and things just went wrong." Tears now fell freely from Fate's eyes. "If I hadn't been created ten years ago..." Fate's hand went up to her face, trying to stop the tears. Burgundy coloured eyes then looked up at Vita, the red head swallowing uncomfortably under her gaze. "Then no one would have been hurt, right?"
Fate forced a strained smile. "You lost someone precious that day, didn't you?" Fate said to Vita. "That's why you keep looking at me like that."
What Fate had said was true. Vita had lost someone precious to her, her whole family except for Hayate in fact. The redhead was old enough to understand death and loss despite being a mere babe at the time. Vita sat frozen under Fate's sorrowful, heart wrenching look. She didn't have the will to give the blonde a mean look or bitter retort like she usually would, so instead, she looked away shamefully.
"I'm sorry," Fate said sobbing. "I should have never been created!"
"Fate-" Lindy began only to be cut off.
"Fate-chan." Hayate was next to the blonde in an instant, pulling her into an embrace. Fate sobbed into her shoulder. "Never once have I regretted knowing you Fate-chan," Hayate said in a gentle voice. She stroked Fate's hair soothingly.
"You may hate yourself, but I don't."
"B-b-b-but I'm not even human," Fate's muffled words said.
Hayate shook her head. "But you are human Fate-chan." Hayate smiled as Fate looked up at her. "When you're happy, you smile. And when you're sad, you cry."
"Fate is more human than anyone I have ever known." The hand on Fate's arm, squeezed tighter. "When she's happy, she laughs," Nanoha said with a small smile. "And when she's sad, she cries."
Fate's eyes widened in realization.
"You couldn't do anything like that if you weren't human Fate-chan," Hayate continued. "So please," the brunette said. "Please don't think you're not worth it or that you would have been better off not being born. Because you are worth it. And had it not been for you and Nanoha-"
"And me!" Puppy Arf barked.
Hayate laughed. "And Arf-chan all those years ago, I wouldn't be here. So don't think that, alright?"
Fate slowly nodded.
Vita looked at the floor, clenching her jaw. Signum looked at the redhead but said nothing.
"That in itself may not be enough proof, but I'll tell you this." Nanoha's stare bored into Jail. "I have never loved a person more than I have Fate."
"Where is Nanoha?" Fate said, only now realizing that the brunette was not among them. Neither Vivio. "And Vivio," Fate added. She pulled back from Hayate to look at the others. "Were they taken to another room?"
Chrono pursed his lips together. "Fate-chan..." How was he going to explain this? "Fate-chan," Chrono repeated. "Nanoha-san and Vivio-san were..."
"Vivio-san was taken by the Numbers, Fate-san," Yunno said grimly. "After you had fallen back asleep."
"Wha-what?"
"And we think Takamachi-san went after Scaglietti-san to get her back," Signum added, also a grimness to her voice.
"But she..." Fate was finding it hard to speak. "She was right here! She was right here with me! And Vivio..." Fate looked to her left where Nanoha's pillow lay.
"I'm sorry Fate-san," Shamal said, her head bowed in shame. Her hands clenched into fists on her lap. "On our way to the imperial kitchens, the Numbers attacked and Vivio-chan was taken." Shamal was in tears. "I'm so sorry. I couldn't protect her."
Signum grimaced, visibly distressed at how Shamal was putting all the blame on herself for Vivio's abduction. Hesitantly, the samurai put an arm around the attendant's shoulders, Shamal immediately turning towards her and burying her face in Signum's shoulder. Agito tumbled off of the samurai's shoulder in the motion, quickly righting herself in the air with her wings. She looked at Shamal sadly. Signum, on the other hand, flinched in surprise at the blonde's reaction, but soon awkwardly wrapped her arms around the crying attendant in the hopes of soothing her.
"I too, am to blame," Zafira said, unable to meet Fate's gaze. "I wasn't strong enough to stop them."
"But... but why did they take her?" Fate said in confusion. "She-"
"I have reason to believe she was the new key," Yunno said. "To replace you Fate-san."
"Wha-what?"
"You said it yourself," Yunno continued. "For some reason, you failed as the key. Scaglietti-san needed a perfect key, which is why he had sacrifices gathered, you and Nanoha included, along with the Spirit Seeds."
The scholar paused a moment, running a hand through his hair. "According to my research, I originally thought the Spirit Seeds provided the power to open the doors to Al Hazard. Taking into account this new information about the key, it is most likely they instead act as a source of power in creating the key itself. We had always wondered why sacrifices were needed, and now we know why. With you and Nanoha-san being powerful magic wielders, his original sacrifices were not needed."
Fate's jaw hung loose. If what Yunno was saying was correct, that meant- "W-we have to save them!" She exclaimed, pale as a sheet. "Bardiche!"
"Yes Sir!"
"No Fate-san!" Shamal exclaimed in horror, pulling away from Signum.
Fate opened her mouth to say something else when an immense pain exploded outwards from her chest. The blonde clutched at her shirt tightly, struggling to breathe. The room was suddenly spinning, and all of the voices blurred into one around her.
"Fate-chan!"
Lindy and Chrono were immediately on their feet with worry, hovering near Fate's beside. Hayate held her shuddering friend, gently easing Fate back into bed as she wheezed for breath.
"Shamal!"
"She'll be alright Hayate-sama," Shamal said, already at Fate's bedside examining the blonde. "Her Linker Core is still a bit unstable from when Scaglietti-san used her and Nanoha-san to create the key."
"Her name... is Vivio..." Fate said weakly.
"So that's how Vivio-san got those powers," Signum said, frowning at Fate's weakened state.
"Hai," Shamal said. "Vivio-chan..."
The Empress nodded at her attendant.
"... inherited both Fate-san's and Nanoha-san's magic as the Thunder Reaper and the White Devil through the ceremony to create the key." Shamal paused. "I guess you could say, in some ways, she's Nanoha-san's and Fate-san's musume."
"Linker... Core...?" Fate murmured, sweat rolling down the side of her face. Exhausted burgundy coloured eyes looked at Shamal.
"Hai," the blonde attendant said. "A long time ago, we finally realized what produced magical reactions in some people and none in others."
"The Linker Core," Yunno said, continuing on for Shamal. "Everyone is born with one. Think of it as a type of organ. As people mature and grow old, sometimes the Linker Core becomes active, drawing on life experiences to make it grow. In most cases, people's Linker Core's stay dormant until death. But in a few cases, like you and Nanoha-san, sometimes a certain event triggers the awakening of the Linker Core, allowing you to use magic and the Legendary Weapons."
"Bardiche..."
"Hai," Yunno nodded.
"But because of the ceremony to create the new key, your Linker Core has been injured and is unstable right now," Shamal said. "That's one thing my healing magics could not fix. If you tried to use any heavy magical ability now, the strain of it will most likely kill you."
"But Nanoha..." Fate protested, despite the dropping of her eyes.
"We will find her, Testerossa-san," Signum said appearing next to Fate's bedside opposite Lindy and Chrono. "Just gets some rest now."
Nanoha panted, sweat drizzling her brow as she stumbled behind Lutecia. The smaller assassin kept looking back over her shoulder at her, crimson coloured eyes filled with concern. But the girl said nothing, continuing forward, leading the brunette to wherever her master was.
"Welcome! Welcome!" Jail exclaimed, upon Nanoha entering his secret base. They had been forced to retreat here until they regrouped, but that was of no concern to the alchemist. He knew things would be back in his favor soon enough.
Nanoha gritted her teeth, exhausted violet coloured eyes glaring at the man. She could feel a dozen eyes on her, from the time she step foot within a hundred meters of this place, up until now. Raging Heart hung around her neck in its dormant form. "What... do you want?" she said huffing.
"Straight to the point I see." Jail laughed.
Nanoha clenched her jaw.
"I'm here to make you a deal," the man said, smirking.
Nanoha's eyes narrowed further.
"Oh?" the alchemist commented. "Not talkative today? Here, let me see if I can change your mind." Jail snapped his fingers.
"Mama!"
Nanoha's eyes widened as one of the Numbers assassins came out from a back room with Vivio struggling in their grasp.
"Vivio!" Nanoha took a step towards the small child, only to be ensnared a second later. Her arm was twisted painfully behind her back while a strong arm curled around her throat.
"Not another step," Tre said.
"Mama!" Vivio screamed again, squirming more. The assassin holding Vivio grunted, trying to keep the child from flailing her limbs wildly. The alchemist wanted her left unharmed, no matter the circumstance.
"You see," Jail began. "It seems the key here has imprinted on you," he said. "And probably Fate as well," Jail added. "Unlike my beloved daughter, this thing can still open the door to Al Hazard, a bi-product of my many years refining Precia's cloning technique."
"Fate-chan does not belong to you!" Nanoha hissed. "Nor does Vivio!" Nanoha was immediately silenced when the arm around her throat pressed harder, cutting off half of her air supply.
Jail chuckled, unfazed. "No matter what I do to it, it refuses to open the door to Al Hazard for me." Jail walked up to Nanoha and peered down at her. "But for you, it would do anything."
To illustrate his point, Jail withdrew a hidden knife from his pocket and moved to stab Nanoha with it.
"MAMA!"
Before he could even touch her, the blade was blasted out of his hand by a pink bolt of magic, the alchemist quickly backtracking before another orb of magic, yellow this time, blew off his arm. Nanoha's eyes widened in surprise, but she quickly recovered.
"Vivio, it's alright!" the brunette said, hoping to ease the small child. "Mama is alright."
That seemed to calm the little girl down somewhat, Nanoha breathing in relief. The Numbers assassin restraining Vivio looked ready to snap her neck. Nanoha gritted her teeth, turning her gaze back to Jail. "Why do you want to go to Al Hazard so badly?" she asked.
"Go to Al Hazard?" Jail said incredulously. "My girl, you mistake my intentions."
Nanoha growled at the nickname he gave her.
"I never wanted to go to Al Hazard," Jail continued. "The ceremony to open the doors was never meant to take me to Al Hazard. No, it was to make this world into Al Hazard itself."
Nanoha's eyes widened. "But that would-"
"Destroy the world?" Jail finished for her. "I know!" he exclaimed proudly. "And I can't wait for that to happen!"
A maniacal laugh.
"Great power can only be formed from great sacrifice," the violet haired man continued to ramble. "The very Spirit Seeds themselves, while imbued with the magic from the ancient technologies of Al Hazard, they are also infused with the fallen souls of that world."
"Wha-what?" Nanoha's thoughts were reeling.
"Now do you understand why they are so volatile?" Jail sneered at the brunette. "That's because they are the very souls of those who lost themselves in the destruction of their world. They destroyed themselves with the very power they used against each other only to end up as that very power source!"
Nanoha could only stare at Jail in horror.
"There's nothing more potent than human emotions, don't you agree?"
"You're crazy!" Nanoha exclaimed.
"All revolutionaries are called crazy, my dear White Devil," Jail said, his grin widening. "That's because their ideas are before their time. Fear not. Soon enough, people will realize that I was not crazy, but a god!"
Nanoha struggled against Tre's hold to no avail.
"A god with a deal for you," Jail said coming back to his senses. "While that runt over there won't listen to me, I have... ways of forcing it to obey. Though," Jail paused. "I can't say it won't kill it if I go that route."
"You will not touch her!" Nanoha exclaimed.
"No, of course not," Jail said, a lopsided smile on his face. "That's where you come in. Bring me my beloved Fate, and the key can go free."
"What?" Nanoha could not hide the shock in her voice. "But-"
"Don't I need a key?" Jail said. He shook his head. "If I have Fate, I can make as many keys as I want." Jail laughed. "Despite her inability to open the door to Al Hazard, she's still an excellent sample for my... experiments..."
Nanoha wanted to murder the alchemist named Jail Scaglietti.
"So you have a choice," Jail said, oblivious to Nanoha's murderous intentions. "Either you give me Fate. Or you watch the key die."
A/N: For those of you unfamiliar with the non-English words, I have translated them below.
Hai = Yes
Ne = A term typically used at the end of sentences as a sort of confirmation
Kawaii = Cute
Musume = daugther
For an explanation of Japanese honorifics (eg. [name]-sama), please check out: http:/en[dot]wikipedia[dot]org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics