A/N: Sorry for this not being up yesterday. Still writing number four. Anyway, hope everyone enjoys. And let me know if anybody is too out of character. Read and review my friends!

3-Hope

Fate didn't know what to think, really.

Nanoha had sounded calm on the video message, but whenever her eye twitched and her grip started cracking the ceramic tea cups, there was a problem.

They had a guest, and Fate could only surmise that their circumstances were... less than stellar.

Fate smiled to herself. Well. Nothing she couldn't handle. Hopefully after some dinner and a bath, she could sit the guest down and talk.

… Nothing like Nanoha's idea of talking of course. Goodness, no.

"I'm home!" At least for a few days.It was the only bad thing about being an Agent, her insane schedule was not fun to deal with during a crisis. It was a bit hard to get used to.

Fate shook off these thoughts as Vivio came out to greet her. Her goddaughter tugged at a small, greyish hand to follow her and the other girl was pliant, if puzzled. There was a faint splotchy tone to her skin by the eyes. A small smile rose to Fate's lips.

Already, she was thinking of Caro. She would have to talk to those children of hers.

"Welcome home, Fate-mama!" Vivio chirped, running to hug at her other mother's waist. The other girl watched, quietly using the wall to hold her up. Fate smiled and mussed her hair.

"I'm back, Vivio," she hummed, giving the girl inches away a glance of her own. "Neh… what's your name?"

"She's Rae-chan!" Vivio chimed before the girl could think of answering and Fate tutted with amusement. Vivio was really picking up her own self, which was nice, but in this case…

"Vivio, let her talk." Vivio flushed and apologized, earning a chuckle in return. She moved to kneel in front of the other girl. Rae stepped back a little, looking at first glance, unreadable. She saw her expression waver, however, and offered a hand to shake. "My name is Fate, Fate Testarossa Harlaown. So you're called Rae?"

The girl hesitated again before nodding. "Raven," she eventually corrected, instantly flushing pink. Then she paused. "Is it different? Having another name?"

Fate blinked, contemplating the question. At first glance, an odd question, at second, well… not really. So she shook her head."No, it just gets confusing to hear Harlaown when one of my family is in the same room." Raven nodded, turning this in her mind. Fate ushered Vivio out to her mother. Private conversations did need to be private after all. "So… how did you get here?"

Raven blinked at her, expression turning to a wall that she recognized from her own young face, once upon a time. "Someone threw me out here through a tunnel, a very colorful tunnel." The frown on her face deepened, and Fate recognized the logic running through her young mind. It would be better to give them as much information as possible, to think of excellent solutions. That was how Linith had taught her to think, and it was likely whoever had taught her to make a face like that, had schooled her in that way as well.

"And?" She coaxed, deciding to ponder the reasoning and implications of it at another time. None of these tidbits of information were said out of trust, but of pragmatic risk-taking. No matter how much she and Nanoha had spent their youth blasting people to get them to listen, there was no substitution to a therapist.

Nor was murdering whoever was responsible. She hoped she didn't have to convince Nanoha out of that one.

The girl placed a hand to her chest. "There was a lot of pain here during it because…" Now she was shifting, a small change of her stance to one ready for movement out of the room to safer territory, likely under a blanket. "Because it forced something away from me that had been there forever… I believe."

Fate smiled and nodded. To be honest, she was mildly put-off by the going's-on. There was much less emotion than she was used to dealing with from small children. Even in the case of Erio, it was more of a lot of repressed anger and in Caro, a sense of self-fear and worthlessness. According to them, what afflicted Lutecia was loneliness.

She did wonder what affected this child.

The girl waited, thinking, puzzling her out perhaps. Then she nodded to herself. "Then… I don't remember. I woke up on the ground and went to the closest light I could find, and fell asleep again." She made a movement like a shrug and Fate smiled.

"You remember quite a bit for being so young."

The girl almost flushed, almost. Fate smiled. "What are they doing in there?" She gestured to the other room, where the smell of dough was rather strong.

"Making cookies," was the prompt reply. Her mouth remained closed after that and then Fate offered her hand, wearing a mildly mischievous smile.

"Eating the dough too, I bet. Shall we go stop them?"

Raven didn't take the hand, but she did nod, and that was a start. Fate took a few steps toward the living room when thegirl suddenly began, "Miss Fate?"

The woman made a mental note to not laugh, as she was only twenty and the term "miss" was probably barely suited to Signum, let alone her, and turned back. "Yes?"

"Miss Nanoha-" And she really hadto stifle her giggles now. "Said that the doctors could help me be normal." The purple eyes that looked at her reminded her very much of those crying sessions in her mother's arms, telling her of how strange she felt around the other human beings even with Nanoha and Hayate as her treasured friends.

It would be so easy to say yes, let the adults handle it -because she was an adult, now wasn't she?- but it wouldn't be all of the truth. Lying wouldn't reflect well on her, or on anyone involved either.

So she walked back over and knelt there. "I can say this. They can try and they will likely succeed, but… being normal is something up to you. You will need to figure out your definition of that. And, if you want, we'll help you too."

She wasn't sure if this would really do anything to allay the girl's fears, but to bring hope was something she had to try.

Everyone needed hope.