WARNING: This fanfiction is NanoFate and it is rated M for strong and/or violent content and situations, as well as intimate scenes between two women. If this type of content is not to your liking, please do not read it.
DISCLAIMER: MSLN Characters belong to their rightful owners. All the situations and characters presented in this work are fictitious, any similarity with real, historical, or present situations or individuals, it is not intentional.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTES: Okay, it seems FF has returned to normal. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks all for reading!
Anyways... on to the story now...
"Till the End of Times" by Aleksei Volken
Chapter 13. DISCOVERIES
The cold air pierced through the two cloaked horse riders. They had been riding for two days and had barely stopped to rest or take turns to sleep. That sunset would mark the third day of their journey.
During the night it had snowed heavily and in those first moments of the morning, everything was covered by a white blanket. Snowfalls like that one at the end of the fall could only augur a winter harsher than usual. Even though they had crossed part of the mountain range that surrounded the Belkan capital, that amount of snow was too much even for the higher altitudes.
Cautiously but also swiftly they entered the Black Forest, an enormous and dense forest mass that extended for several hundred acres, and that determined the end of the territory comprising the Belkan capital. The Black Forest consisted of trees with thick and wide trunks, which were also high and leafy. It had earned its name because the trees inhabiting it had a shade of green so dark and intense it was almost black; and under such foliage, very little light managed to leak even on a bright, diaphanous day. During the winter it was almost a perpetual night, but the riders had no time to lose so they rode for hours in silence in the middle of the thicket. There was no discernible road in the middle of the forest or any indication that anyone ever passed through there.
"Are you sure you know where we are headed to, Testarossa?" Signum asked, continuously surveying their surroundings in alert ever since they had entered the forest.
That was a place Belkans never got in. Least of all in winter. There was no easy way to pass through and it was the ideal place to be ambushed at any moment. As the day went by, Fate's captain worried more about how they were going to get out of that place.
"Even if it doesn't look like it, yes I do," Fate answered and halted her horse.
For the first time, she showed Signum the parchment her aunt Olivie had given her.
It was a map with detailed instructions. Signum examined it carefully but remained skeptical.
"Even if we are following the path, there is no way to tell how much time is left to arrive. It will be dark soon," the warrior pointed out. "What are we looking for here, after all?"
"You will see when we find it," Fate said, restarting their way.
Signum frowned but rode behind the blonde while suspiciously inspecting the surroundings one more time.
The bare sunlight under the trees became more scarce as the sun made its descent behind the light gray clouds that covered the sky and very slight snowflakes began to fall.
In that threshold of time between day and night, when everything is gray and it is difficult to distinguish the true shape of things, Fate and Signum heard the unmistakable swoosh of arrows and startled they got ready for battle.
Four flaming arrows pierced through the snow at a safe distance from them forcing them to stop.
The two warriors looked around them with their hands in the handle of their swords.
"Wait Signum…" Fate ordered before her partner could make a move. "If they wanted to kill us, they would have already done so very easily."
"That's right, intruders are not welcome here, but we will at least give you the chance to say who you are and what brings you here," a voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, said.
Signum and Fate scrutinized the trees around them but the shadows coming from the night that was falling rapidly over them made it difficult to see where their attackers were coming from.
Fate decided to go all or nothing.
"I am Fate Testarossa and I am looking for someone… that I believe might be in this place."
The silence was the only answer for several and very long seconds.
"That is quite vague… Fate Testarossa," the voice finally answered.
"I have identified myself, I believe we deserve, at least, the same consideration."
"You still have not said who you are looking for," the voice insisted.
Fate pondered the situation. The voice belonged to a man who might as well be the one they were looking for. Or not, in which case, the best one, would mean they would be in great problems.
She could feel Signum by her side ready to leap off her horse and confront whatever was there.
"Zest Grangaitz," Fate said at last.
An even longer silence followed her words.
A shadow slid from behind one of the trees in front of them. Fate was able to easily notice it was a tall sturdy figure, covered with a long and thick dark cloak and who was holding a huge crossbow with his left hand. Fate could make the point of the arrow that has locked and loaded in the weapon.
"The man you are looking for is dead… Belkan heiress," the figure said without making any additional movement.
As the only answer, Fate uncovered her head, got off her horse slowly, and kept her hands raised and in plain view while she approached the dark silhouette.
"You really are Fate Testarossa."
"And you really are Zest Grangaitz," Fate said. "I was fifteen when you disappeared but I remember you."
"I did not disappear," Zest mimicked Fate, uncovering his head. His face expressed neither surprise, nor pleasure, or discomfort at seeing the heiress to the Belkan Throne in front of him. "I was killed."
— X —
Almost three days had gone by since Fate had left for her mission.
Alicia had not revealed any details regarding what Fate was going to do. In fact, she had not told her where exactly her twin was going or when exactly when would she be back. Actually, she had not said anything at all.
Nanoha tried hard practicing the slashes and movements that Saber had indicated for her training session that day, but she could not help wondering what would be going on with Fate.
Shamal had not been able to get much information from Signum either before she left, although Nanoha seriously doubted she had even tried. The physician had other preoccupations in her mind at the time.
"It's not enough to mechanically make the movements," Saber's voice behind her brought her back to reality, to her training. For some reason that was not very clear to her yet, she did not want to acknowledge in front of Saber who she was thinking about.
Smiling a little embarrassed, she turned to face her teacher.
"My Lady Nanoha is a fast learner but the art of the sword requires concentration, focus…" the warrior said seriously before launching a slightly fast attack that Nanoha managed to block making Saber smile, "... and practice."
Both women started a series of movements, offensive and defensive based on the exercises Nanoha had been practicing that morning for hours.
The sun would set soon and ever since Fate had left, the days had been gray and very cold.
Nanoha had thrown herself into her training and spent much of her time with Vita, Zafira… and Saber.
More than one member of the court had expressed their discontent towards Nanoha's behavior but they had also refrained from openly expressing their opinion. There was a single reason for that.
Precia Testarossa.
The three days Precia Testarossa had been silently observing her daughter-in-law and the Warrior of Albion, and those three days she had remained silent. No one wanted to express an opinion that would irk the volatile leader, so even while disagreeing, they all remained silent.
From her standing position behind one of the windows of the upper floors of Stier Castle, she observed the movements of the women.
There was a moment when Nanoha finally let herself fall to the snow, exhausted and laughing. Saber leaned in next to her. For a while they were just like that, one lying in the snow, the other squatting next to her, talking until Vita approached them to say something, and then Saber stood up and extended her hand for Nanoha to get up.
After shaking the snow from their clothes they walked towards the warmth that the inside of the castle promised.
As she watched them getting closer, a soft voice whispered behind Precia. "You have been very quiet these days since Fate left… and you seem to be giving Saber a lot of free time."
Precia did not even turn to look at Olivie. With her eyes set on both women she answered with an expressionless face, "No, Saber is not unoccupied at all."
— X —
That night, unlike the previous nights when Nanoha almost always had dinner in her or Alicia's room, Saber insisted they had dinner in the main dining room and then to walk around the arches of the main patio.
Vita kept at a reasonable distance from them. Long enough so they could talk without having her looking over their shoulders, but close enough as to not lose sight of them for a second.
Zafira insisted that Vita's precautions were a little extreme but the warrior was not willing to tolerate any surprise when it came to Nanoha and her duty to protect her. Especially if Fate was not around.
She also did not like one bit the way the foreign warrior looked at her ladyship's wife and even less the looks that members of the court of the Hegemon shot at them.
"These two idiots are putting me in a very difficult position," she mumbled when Saber and Nanoha, who were walking in front of them stopped and she did the same.
Nanoha enjoyed the company of the Warrior of Albion but she could not completely relax the way she did the first day they met.
Ever since Fate had left, every single time that Hayate saw them together outside their training sessions, she shot at her inquisitive looks and as soon as she got the chance, she would remind her that the Belkans had extraordinarily severe punishments for adultery.
Nanoha, of course, protested vigorously but turned red to her ears. Especially when after that reminder, Hayate also reminded her how Fate had bid farewell to her before leaving. The red-haired had not been able to get that kiss out of her head even if she would not admit that to anyone.
"You are very absorbed with your thoughts tonight."
Saber's voice, again, brought her back to reality, and she realized it had been several minutes since she had said anything.
"Just as in today's practice," Saber added.
Nanoha avoided looking at her because she did not want the warrior to notice how her comments had caused her to blush.
"Are you worried about her?" Saber finally asked looking straight ahead.
The night was cold and even near the torches, under the arches, the cold pierced through them. Saber could handle it better than Nanoha. It was never that cold in Nihon's capital as it was in Dinsmark.
"Not worried," Nanoha answered without knowing if that was entirely true. "I am intrigued by so many secrets around what F… the Belkans are doing… and I suppose you are not going to tell me anything either, isn't that so?"
Saber remained quiet for a few seconds before answering with some sadness, "I don't think it's my position to say things that your political family… or your wife should tell you… I would tell you even if that was the case, but that would mean to betray my oath as a knight."
"Oh yes… I know…" Nanoha replied with equal sadness. "Some things I know about that warrior's honor you refer to."
Saber took her by the shoulders firmly to turn her and face her. "No, I do not mean that type of honor. I do not refer to the honor of the one that conquests and dominates but the honor of the one that protects and respects. The knight's honor is very different from the warrior's honor."
Nanoha was left speechless for a few seconds at the intensity shining in Saber's green eyes.
"And I am always going to protect you… and respect you."
That last words from Saber and the intensity with which they were said made the both of them blush as they looked at each other.
They were both startled when they heard Vita's voice next to them, a little too close to them.
"Is everything all right… Lady Nanoha?" The warrior asked addressing Nanoha but looking menacingly at the Warrior of Albion, especially because even after looking at her, she had not let go of the grip on her ladyship's wife.
"Of course everything is fine!" Nanoha almost yelled exasperated. Vita had surprised her but not as much as Saber with her declaration. "Saber is an ally, Wolkenritter-san; I thought even you would be able to see there is quite a difference between her and the Huckebeins."
Vita was almost fuming from her ears but did not stop looking at Saber's hand still on Nanoha's arm, who following the direction of her look, freed herself from the blonde's grasp only to stand next to her and take a hold of her left arm before casually commenting.
"Let's walk some more, Warrior of Albion."
"As the lady wishes," Saber answered in the same tone playing along with Nanoha to Vita's deep annoyance, who just followed them even closer than usual until they returned inside the castle and Saber walked Nanoha to her room.
Vita looked with her eyebrows arched as Saber chivalrously said goodbye and Nanoha promised to be at the first hour the next morning to practice. The Warrior of Albion did not even say good night to Vita after Nanoha closed her door, and she walked to her own room on another floor of the castle.
After breathing deeply, Vita told herself she could finally have some peace and quiet.
— X —
That was not Nanoha's case.
Once Saber left her in her room, she sat on the bed and closed her eyes.
"Provoking a Belkan is not exactly the wisest and most sensible decision, but apparently it is something you just excel at, you know? Combining your lack of wisdom and common sense with that quality, can turn to be extremely dangerous to all of us."
Hayate.
Nanoha had not heard her come in, so she surely had left the door half-opened to come in as soon as she did.
"I was not provoking anyone," Nanoha said, opening her eyes and standing up to start undressing. Hayate was standing up in the middle of the room with her arms crossed and contrary to her usual self, she kept in silence.
Finally, Nanoha conceded. "Okay, maybe I was trying to provoke the little one, but it's just that… ahhhrggg… these Belkans are... insufferable."
"Fate did not seem very insufferable when she said goodbye to you before leaving, and yet all these days you have done nothing but spend time with Saber. And many people have been observing you, by the way."
"Is that so?" Nanoha asked defiantly, finally breaking loose the tension that she had accumulated for the past days. "Well, I am glad! … Maybe that way they can see that NOTHING wrong has happened to me all this time. That might be the problem, right? Saber treats me decently and respectfully. No one was this scandalized when that damn Huckebein attacked me! ... Unlike the Belkans, Saber is not trying to rape me."
Hayate got closer to her friend and taking her by the arm led her back to the bed to sit down.
When Nanoha calmed down, she apologized. "I am sorry Hayate-chan… I am not angry at you… it's just this situation… everything that has happened…"
Hayate made her look at her to ask.
"Are you confused? About your feelings, I mean."
"Yes… No...! I mean…" Nanoha placed her hands in her temples. "By the Gods… yes… I am confused… I… I do not want to feel anything for her, Hayate-chan."
"You would be in serious trouble if you feel anything for Saber, Nanoha-chan."
Nanoha shook her head. "I am not talking about Saber."
"Oh… dear Gods… Nanoha-chan! If you feel something for Fate-san that would be wonderful, even better than we ever hoped for… and I believe that would make Fate-san very happy by the way… I believe deep down she really…"
"Hayate...! Did you even listen to anything I said? I do not want to feel anything for her… I cannot feel anything for her."
Hayate looked at her without trying to explain to her again everything she had already told her many times.
"I do not want to keep talking about this, Hayate-chan, please," Nanoha asked standing up and getting closer to the window. Every time she wanted to avoid Fate, she did that, getting close to the window. And for as long as Fate was with her, Fate would always follow her. Until things had gotten out of hand and Fate had abandoned their matrimonial room.
"Regardless of what you cannot or do not want to feel for Fate-san… it would not be fair for you to involve the Warrior of Albion in a conflict that could go far beyond the two of you," Hayate said, standing up like Nanoha and heading to the door that connected their rooms. With a last look that her red-haired friend did not acknowledge, she left closing the door behind her.
Nanoha sighed in relief when she was finally able to be alone. What she had told Hayate was the absolute truth, she did not want to continue talking about how she was feeling. In fact, she did not even want to think about how she was feeling.
Especially considering that goodbye kiss from Fate insisted on returning again and again to her mind in the least expected… or appropriate… moments.
When she was going to bed, for example, and she was missing the proximity and warmth of Fate's body next to hers. The sound of her breathing. Her scent. Or even worse, her relaxed and serene expression while she was sleeping.
"I cannot be missing her like this," she thought in the middle of the darkness of her room. She had lost count of how many times she had repeated that to herself.
It was at moments like that when the memory of the last two last kisses Fate had given her, left her feverish and with her heart racing.
And despite her best efforts, she was unable to think of anything else but the feeling of those soft lips, moist and warm, over hers.
The previous nights she had been able to stop that memory; but maybe due to the conversation with Hayate, or maybe due to the embarrassment Saber had caused her, or simply because she was longing for Fate almost physically, that night she let herself get carried away imagining those lips not only on her lips but also traveling down her neck and her shoulders.
Nanoha felt like a blaze igniting between her legs when she went further and imagined Fate's hands opening her nightgown and her wet lips brushing her nipples while her own hands opened her nightgown and brushed her hardened nipples.
Feverish, she uncovered herself from the white bedsheets and her hands slid down her stomach and her abdomen; letting out a moan, she imagined it was Fate's fingers and not hers the ones leaving heated strokes on her skin; the ones exploring the soft hair of her pubis, then barely grazing the wet button between her legs.
She opened her legs almost without realizing it to gain better access to the deepest most intimate wetness and with a shudder running through her, completely flushed and ashamed with herself, Nanoha finally realized while feeling the warm moisture flowing from her sex, how aroused she was just by the thought of Fate touching her like that.
She had never willingly given herself to Fate but at that moment she craved for her wife to be there touching her like that, making her feel in that way.
Breathing in deeply, she closed her eyes, and let the fingers of her hand slide and get covered in the wetness of her arousal to then reach her clitoris, again and again in slow strokes. Nanoha panted while her fingers moved in a slow circular motion around her button and she imagined Fate's golden head descending between her legs and her mouth capturing her.
The panting turned into moans as the rhythm of her hand became harder and vigorous, much faster. She arched her back and all her muscles tensed when she felt the explosions releasing in her one after the other until she finished stretched out and exhausted over the sheets.
She could hear the rumbling of her heart almost as if it was filling her entire room.
Her forehead shined with little pearls of sweat, despite the cold. She opened her eyes to find her bed still empty and felt her fingers completely covered with the juices of her fantasy.
When she was able to breathe normally, she realized the relief she had self-provided was going to be more of a curse rather than a comfort.
She had transgressed her last barrier.
Despite what she had told Fate on their wedding night and even though it had not been in person, she had given herself to her wife in the most intimate way she could imagine; deep within her most inner self. Now that she had let herself be carried away by her desire, she felt even more feverish than before. And she sensed there was only one way to suffocate the fire that was consuming her from within.
Even if she would never accept it before Hayate or before Fate herself, she could not keep fooling herself: she wanted her wife.
And she was burning with the desire for Fate to passionately make love to her
She could not tell what she felt for her. She did not have the slightest idea of what it meant to be in love with someone. She did not want to even think about that possibility. But her whole body felt on fire just from the mere thought of her.
That night, more than any other before, her dreams were flooded with disturbing images of intertwined bodies, of moans and touching.
In the last and most disturbing one, the one that made her wake up and abruptly sit up in the bed breathing unevenly, Fate was between her legs, taking her just as she had fantasized that night, but when she climbed back to lay on top of her, it was not Fate anymore, but Saber who looked at her with adoration and desire in her green eyes.
Nanoha was startled, not only for the vividness of the dream but to the ferocity of her emotions and her heart was again racing uncontrollably.
She did not need to touch that place in between her legs to know how wet she was.
The first rays of the sun filtered through the window. Soon she would have to get dressed and go to her training session with Saber.
The red-haired pulled her legs, and hugged them, almost pressing them to her chest, and hid her head between them.
"By the Gods, why does this have to happen to me?"
— X —
Fate and Signum had spent all night at the hidden cabin of Zest Grangaitz and at that time, by noon of the following day, they were exiting the Black Forest towards the destination the man had indicated to them.
Both women rode in silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts the meeting with Zest had caused in them and the doubts his story had generated. They had barely slept but Fate felt like a fire boiling in her. She did not feel tired but anxious to arrive at the place and corroborate what Zest had told them.
Zest's cabin was strategically located in a wide enough crack of a ridge, a small natural rock formation that was not distinguishable from the forest until it was almost in front of one's nose. It was large enough to work as a natural barrier and an unassailable shelter and small enough to go unnoticed.
According to what Zest had told them, he had spent eight years hidden in that forest. Between the ridge and the thicket of the forest which, although it was not forbidden it was scarcely traveled especially during the winter and also considering how roads were far from it; he had not had many problems staying hidden and away from prying, dangerous eyes.
Although it had not been as if he had never gone out at all.
After leading the two warriors through the snow-covered dark forest as if they were under direct sunlight towards his cabin, he had welcomed them in, offered them a hot beverage and a meal, and talked all night long; although it would be more accurate to say that Signum had not said a word at all and Fate just opened her mouth on several moments to make a question.
For the most part, Zest Grangaitz told them his story. How he had been a comrade in arms of Enzo Testarossa, his friend even before he had been appointed as the Hegemon, how he had helped him consolidate the empire. And how he had fallen with him when Enzo died.
According to what Zest had said, there were many influential people in Dinsmark, who after the suspicion of Enzo's death, the last thing they wanted was someone loyal to the late Hegemon asking questions and snooping around where it was least convenient.
Fate and Alicia were barely fifteen years old when their father died and with the impact of the news, as well as the political commotion the event caused as well the ascension of their mother and her own official appointment as the heiress, Fate could barely remember anything about Zest at all. He had been friends with his father, yes… but not as close as he had been other times since the Hegemon had officially married Precia of the Segbrecht family, After Enzo's death, Precia had started the Belkan expansionist campaign, and a short while after, Zest Grangaitz had died in an accident on a campaign.
Except he did not die.
And except he claimed it had not been an accident.
It had been a harsh winter, as harsh as they were expecting to have it that year, and Zest was returning from one of his first campaigns in Yukto, one of the first provinces conquered. His carriage and reduced escort had been ambushed in a rocky passageway near Dinsmark. None of the guards of the passage came in his help.
The attack had been so violent and unexpected that in the middle of the snowfall, his carriage had fallen down the cliffs. There was no way to reach the bottom of the river.
Everyone assumed he had died.
And he preferred to keep it that way. At least for a short period of time. One that had extended for ten years.
Fate could not yet believe many things Zest had said.
She would have to see it with her own eyes.
Due to that, after exiting the Black Forest, Fate and Signum had kept away from the main roads and Fate had imposed a relentless pace towards the place.
From their location where they exited the Black Forest, they would still have to ride for four days towards Kestrel but Fate decided to not waste a second before corroborating the information Zest had given them. From their location, there was barely a day of distance towards the princedom of Glatisan, home to Sieglinde Jeremiah, one of Fate's most trusted warriors in the Imperial Guard.
It was barely an hour before dawn when Fate and Signum were near the dark contour of Glatisan's Castle and home of the Jeremiah family.
Leaving the horses well hidden behind trees, the two warriors continued their journey on foot.
Glatisan, unlike Dinsmark, did not have a natural barrier as efficient as the mountains and untraversable forests that surrounded the Belkan capital.
The princedom of Glatisan was an area of fertile and productive crops. They had areas with kinder and warmer forests around them as well as rivers. It was an abundant and rich land that had belonged to the Belkan Empire for generations.
The Castle of Glatisan was located in the highest area of the wavy terrain, and behind it, the highest ridge they had and that was used both as protection and as a lookout post. It was a heavy and strong construction, so much that it resembled more a fort rather than a castle, which was the reason that it was known as the Fortress of Glatisan instead of a castle. The name, as Fate well knew, also referenced the predominant role the Jeremiah family had as a defender of the Belkan Empire.
The city was walled but it had been long since it had suffered a war siege. With surveillance, the doors were never fully closed. Konrad Jeremiah, Sieglinde's father, was beloved and respected by the inhabitants. Without having an iron fist like Hegemon Testarossa, he was ruthless with the crime. And his army was as feared as the Imperial Guard.
It could have been an excess in confidence that had made it easy for Fate and Signum to enter inconspicuously to the city. Fate, as heiress to the Empire, could arrive without previous announcement to any place and be treated according to her rank, but in this case, the least she wanted was to be identified as the heiress.
So, hiding among the shadows and pretending to be common soldiers finishing a turn, the warriors approached the castle-fortress. Konrad did not have an inner wall like Stier Castle, only a green area with trees separating the castle from the city.
From that position, hiding in the shadows, Fate and Signum noticed how despite the unusual time, a frantic activity was taking place in one of the lateral exits of the fortress. The exit that was closer to the wall that surrounded the city.
There were a lot of men moving in and out carrying what seemed large wooden boxes.
What attracted the attention of the Belkan warriors, even more, was that all the activity was performed in complete darkness, only with the faint light of the stars and a crescent moon. Because of the darkness, it was difficult for them to distinguish the men and determine how many they were and what uniforms they were wearing. All of the imperial soldiers wore the same uniform even in princedoms and provinces, what changed were the emblems in them.
Even with little light, they should be able to distinguish the armor's shining. But there were no glows.
After getting a little closer, they both noticed the men were wearing the same kind of clothes, dark and without any emblems. All had their faces covered, except for an opening around the eyes. If they were wearing any armor, it had to be underneath the dark clothes they were wearing.
"They look like the men the Warrior of Albion described," Signum whispered.
Fate did not say anything thinking about the questions she would have to make to Konrad the next day and how she would ask them.
However, she did not get much chance to continue her line of thoughts, as Signum pointed straight ahead of them.
Finally, a torch had appeared.
Fate frowned.
The man carrying the torch was Bruno Jeremiah, Sieglinde's brother, giving orders and indications to all the cloaked men. After doing that, he reached for one of the boxes, and quickly, one of his men opened it.
Under the light of the torch, Fate could see how Bruno took something out of the box and after examining, returned it to the box, satisfied.
"Why is Bruno Jeremiah taking those boxes out of his father's fortress at this hour?" Signum asked in a whisper. "Besides, it's the shift change of the guards, it's when the castle has more people moving but it's also when the guard is busiest."
"There are many more questions than that, Signum," Fate answered in the same low voice. "Where is he taking them? What is he planning to do with them? Why…?"
There was one question that had thrust like a stake to Fate's heart during the minutes she had been observing the situation. Although they did not know who the traitor was, all the clues pointed towards someone in Dinsmark, someone very close to Stier Castle that was helping the conspirators and rebels. A traitor.
"Even more important than that… Is Sieglinde aware of this? Is she… involved?"
Suddenly, Fate realized she was not going to be able to pay a cordial visit to Konrad to ask him all those questions.
— X —