Magical Atoner Lyrical Alicia
Three: Eternal Blaze
Subaru Yagami walked up to the cafe not far from her school, the brown haired girl dressed in a blazer and skirt combo, as all the other girls in her school did. She smiled tentatively as she asked, "Are you the one who left the note in my locker?"
Alicia wondered what the school girl thought of her, standing there dressed in a black one-piece semi-swimsuit, with matching boots and gloves. She had a dramatic cape that swirled around her and gold jewelry highlighting her costume. A leather belt hung around her waist with a large pouch, and a gold raised triangle shone on the back of a glove. Compared to the girl she looked quite outlandish, though on a Crystal Tokyo street it wasn't TOO odd.
'Part of why I'm growing to like this city,' Alicia admitted to herself. "Yes, I am," she smiled gently then gestured to the cafe as she offered, "Why don't we talk inside, it's my treat?"
"Sure," Subaru agreed after looking into the cafe.
The place was crowded with students, one reason Alicia suspected the girl was willing to meet up with her. Once they took a corner table Subaru ordered a double sundae and a bemused Alicia did too. She was rather startled by the size of the treats once they were delivered, but seeing Subaru digging in made her chuckle. A taste of the icy treat made her shiver in pleasure, not having tried it before herself.
Alicia looked up to see Subaru chuckling, and smiled back before she tried to regain her serious poise. "Thank you for agreeing to see me," she bowed slightly in her seat across the private booth as she introduced herself, "my name is Alicia Testarossa."
"Miss Testarossa," Subaru smiled as she noted, "I assume you know who I am, or you wouldn't have asked to see me."
"You are Subaru Yagami," Alicia said agreeably as she ate her ice cream, savoring the cool taste as she called upon the research she had done a few weeks ago, "the several times great-granddaughter of Hayate Yagami, who was the possessor of the Book of the Night Sky and a mage."
Subaru gaped at her, obviously surprised. "You're from Midchilda," she guessed, looking at Alicia much more warily.
"Yes," Alicia agreed, "and no." She hesitated a moment before she added, "It's rather complicated to go into."
Subaru ate more of her ice cream, even as she studied the other woman. "I thought it was illegal for Midchild mages to scout people in our dimension?" she asked.
"Probably," Alicia admitted that point as she confessed, "I haven't been able to keep up with current events."
"But that agreement was made several hundred years ago," Subaru protested .
"As I said, it's complicated," Alicia ate a bit more ice cream as she wondered how to explain to this girl what she wanted. "Did your ancestor leave stories in your family, or journals?" she asked, deciding to lead into it slowly.
"A few," Subaru conceded.
Alicia smiled wryly as she asked the girl, "And did she talk about her allies Fate T. Harlaown and Nanoha Takamachi?"
"Yes, we have recordings of that she liked talking about her friends Nanoha and Fate...," Subaru trailed off as she looked at Alicia, her eyes widening as the put together Alicia's name with what she had heard about Fate's past. "It can't be," she said weakly, "aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"I get that a lot," Alicia lied as she ate some chocolate syrup with vanilla ice cream. In reality there was no one else who knew the whole story of her return and revival, and realizing that fact made her feel... deeply lonely. Shaking off the sensation she looked back up at Subaru and asked, "What do you know about me?"
"Not a lot," Subaru was looking at her with wide eyes, "I understand Fate and Nanoha didn't talk about it much. Apparently your mother Presea went slowly crazy when you died, and dedicated herself to bringing you back. She cloned you to create Fate and learned the myth of El Hazard, a magical place that would grant any wish. She believed it could be accessed by ripping dimensions, but came into conflict with the Time Space Administration Bureau. The TSAB brought in Nanoha, there was a battle, and you and your mother fell into a dimensional rift."
Alicia smiled slightly as she listened to that sad story being summarized so very simply. "A bit weak in detail, but that about covers what I learned," she agreed. "It turns out," she said seriously, "mother was right: the rifts DID lead to El Hazard."
"No way," Subaru said weakly.
"The residents of that island recovered my mother and myself," Alicia explained to her, "healed my mother's body and mind as well as fixed me." She made a face, faded memories between life and death haunting her for a moment, "I was lucky, apparently. Death is not as absolute for those people, but my being preserved by my mother helped immensely. They were able to restore me to life as well as most of my memories."
"But if El Hazard is real, why hasn't anyone heard of it?" Subaru challenged. "I went to Mid a few times, El Hazard is a kid's story."
"Time doesn't pass there the same way it does here," Alicia made herself tell her patiently, "I was only there a decade or less, while out here, over a thousand years have passed by." She smiled grimly as she added, "Anyone who went questing for El Hazard found themselves returning to a world far in the future where they might very well be forgotten, and no one would believe a man was a researcher who was gone for decades."
"It... makes sense," Subaru conceded after a moment's thought. She finished off her own ice cream as she asked, "So why did you come back from El Hazard?"
Alicia shrugged slightly, trying to find a way to sum up all the soul searching she had done. "I wanted to help make up for my mother's crimes," she finally said quietly, knowing it wasn't enough but it was the best she could do, "since she is unable to do so herself."
"Why not?" Subaru asked innocently.
Alicia took a deep breath, feeling a burst of pain deep in her heart. Keeping her voice as steady as she could she told Subaru, "Because my mother committed suicide once she was certain I was old enough to take care of myself."
Subaru was stunned, sitting there with her mouth open and eyes wide. "Why...?!" she finally managed to ask, blinking.
Alicia looked away uncomfortably, "The people of El Hazard restored her mind and body, Subaru. For the first time she could look at her actions unblinded by insanity and what she saw sickened her. She understood how deeply she had abused Fate, how she had hurt and killed innocents in her experiments and she couldn't delude herself about it any more." Alicia shrugged uncomfortably, "She couldn't live with the guilt."
"I'm sorry," Subaru reached out and gently squeezed her hand.
"I've had time to deal with it," Alicia said with a sigh. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She had told herself she had dealt with it, but the pain of those memories still hurt her deeply. She shook her head, "Anyway, I went to Mid first to see what I could do about my mother's actions there. It had been so long that records were spotty, but as far as I could tell the injured were well taken care of."
"So what do you plan to do?" Subaru asked, leaving her hand on Alicia's.
"I can't directly make up for my mother's actions in trying to save me," Alicia shrugged, surprised at how nice it felt to hold her hand like this, "but what I can do is try to help people in general." She touched the gold triangle on her glove, "I regained a family heirloom in Mid, my Bardiche, and I... kind of borrowed another."
"Borrowed?" Subaru asked archly, hearing something in her tone of voice.
Alicia had to smile at her teasing tone. "All right," she admitted, "I stole it."Alicia reached into the pouch on her belt and took out a red, circular gem on a chain.
A voice suddenly came out of the gem as Raising Heart said, "With my full support."
"The gem talked?!" Subaru blinked, startled.
Alicia had nearly been as startled when Raising Heart followed her out of the museum, much less started talking to her. Apparently the Device had been seeking a new user for some time, but the Time Space Administration Bureau had put it in storage instead. It had requested that Alicia help it find a 'appropriate user' and Alicia agreed, rather bemusedly.
"The gem is a device called Raising Heart," Alicia explained to her, "it once belonged to Nanoha herself." Her voice hardened a bit, "It was put on display in a museum, even though it was signaling it wanted a master and to be used."
"Raising Heart," Subaru murmured, "it's beautiful."
"I'm giving it to you, free and clear," Alicia said quietly as she gently pressed the gem into Subaru's hands. Alicia shrugged as the girl looked at her, surprised, and explained, "I can sense you have immense magical potential, Subaru. Raising Heart will help you develop it."
Subaru held Raising Heart almost reverently, looking into the faintly glowing gem with a innocent wonder that Alicia almost envied. "How do I...?" she asked.
"Hold it, and listen to your heart," Alicia said gently, remembering how it had felt to awaken Bardiche, "the words will come to you."
Before anything more could be said, Bardiche itself spoke up from the gold device on Alicia's glove. "Master," he said briskly, "Crystal Tokyo security units are incoming, less than a minute. TSAB forces are accompanying them."
"Damn," Alicia said more mildly than she felt, wishing she could spend more time with this girl. She shrugged as she looked at Subaru and said, "It looks like I took too long." She stood up as she added, "I'm sorry I can't explain more."
"Wait!" Subaru yelped as Alicia started to walk away.
Alicia quickly reached the doors of the cafe then turned to address the crowd, trying to look and sound as confident as she could. "There's probably going to be a fight," she said as she headed outside, "I'd suggest ducking under a table or something."
Out on the sidewalk three figures in hardsuits descended from the blue sky, accompanied by two unarmored figures carrying weapons. The hardsuits were something Alicia had seen from a distance in her relatively short stay in the city, but they were impressive none the less. Using this world's more primitive technology they could do much the same as a Device, attacking, defending and providing other abilities too.
The red hardsuit used a loudspeaker system to call out, "Unknown mage, you are requested to surrender at once."
Beside the three hardsuits a short girl in a ruffled dress and cap, carrying a mallet looked at Alicia in disbelief. "It can't be," Vita said weakly.
"It certainly looks like her," Signum managed, appearing equally stunned as she called out, "Fate! Is that you?!"
"No," Alicia called back. She debated trying to lie, then decided that honesty might be best as she added, "I am Alicia Testarossa."
The woman in the red hardsuit stiffened at that announcement, then looked at Signum and asked, "I thought she was dead?"
"Lady Venus gave you a good briefing," Signum muttered. "Yes, that's what I thought," she said slightly louder.
The armored woman nodded briskly, "Then she's a fake running a con." She addressed her fellow hardsuit pilots and ordered, "Haruhi, break left, Hazuki, go right. I'll engage and see what we're dealing with."
"Wait!" Vita yeled but it was too late, the armored woman throwing her armor at high speed right towards the waiting Alicia.
Alicia moved in a burst of inhuman speed, dodging the attack even as she smoothly popped the golden triangle off her glove. "Bardiche!" she cried, triggering the device's swift transformation in a scythe-like weapon. "Load cartridge!" she ordered as the two other hardsuits opened fire.
Vita looked up at Signum as she asked, "Do you think we should help them?"
"Not yet," Signum said thoughtfully as they watched Alicia gracefully out manouver all three attacking hardsuits, "If she really is Alicia Tesstarosa she can probably handle them. If she isn't, they'll take her down anyway."
Within the now deserted cafe, crouching behind a table Subaru watched in shock as the hardsuits attacked, the encounter swiftly becoming a high speed blur. Even though she knew the suits were likely sent by the Queen, she found herself wanting to help Alicia! Her hand tightened around Raising Heart, then she blinked as words seemed to appear in her mind!
"Incanted, enchanted," Subaru cried as she raised the device up, "set up!" Ribbons of light washed over her body, clothes melting away as they created a battle costume from her imagination. A long skirt split up each side for easy movement, boots, stockings, a armored jacket all materialized on her as a staff assembled itself around the red gem.
"Power spike!" one pilot yelled out a warning as they broke away from Alicia, scanning for a new opponent.
Signum's eyes widened as she felt that power too, then she made a choking sound as the young woman came out of the shop carrying Raising Heart in it's staff mode. "This is not good," she muttered.
"Tell me about it," Vita agreed.
To be continued....