A/N: Hey guys, sorry I took so long. It's been a busy past few months. Anyway, here is the update, and the darkness is creeping in. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

7-Angels

As it turned out, the snow was not sticky enough to build a snowman, but it was snowing enough that when Vivio fell over more than once, it didn't do more than be very cold and wet. And make Rae laugh, though the girl flushed every time she did.

That was fine, everyone needed to laugh.

It wasn't like she didn't start giggling herself. The snow had fallen in a pile on Rae's head at one point and her face and cheeks had turned red until her nose was pink and that was fun!

It was even more fun when Nanoha-mama actually found them and, instead of scolding them, dropped snow piles from the trees with the power of Raising Heart. By the time it all stopped, they were all drenched and cold, with red-flushed faces and smiles. Rae's sadness was not gone, not exactly, but it didn't matter quite so much. She seemed better now that she was actually in a fluffy white coat and earmuffs and shivering less but now all Vivio wanted to do was get a nice bath. And sleep the whole drive home.

The best part of today was: she was holding Rae's hand, and Rae wasn't stopping her. She didn't even think Rae had noticed.

Well, no one was going to let her know about either, not if Vivio had anything to say about it.

...Wait. What if you were supposed to tell people things like that? Oh well, she didn't care. She laid her head and Rae's shoulder and didn't remember falling asleep until the next day.

Nanoha watched Rae jerk in surprise,almost rolling to the other side of the car. She caught the girl's eye from the rearview mirror and winked. With a small flush, she seemed to make the decision to stay still, and Nanoha took the control of the car from Raising Heart for the rest of the drive.

She had to muffle her giggles when Rae fell asleep against the window. "Raising Heart, can you pass a message to Fate-chan? We're going to need two sets of hands in about ten minutes."

[All right.]

Fate was standing outside when she pulled in, dressed warmly but with pink cheeks and rubbing her mitten-covered hands together. At the sight of the children asleep in the backseat, she giggled, reaching to unbuckle the seatbelts. Vivio made a noise in her sleep as Rae was pulled away. Nanoha laughed a little, locking their car.

"I guess we can't let these two be apart for very long." She shivered at a brush of wind. "Or in this cold!"

Later, when the two girls were asleep, Fate and Nanoha lounged together on the couch. "How was it?"

Nanoha sighed a little. "Could have been worse. She had a small burst of magic towards the end and ran off to prevent it from getting worse. broke a machine."

"Magic leakage?" Fate asked, thinking to meeting a little redheaded boy with electric hands. "Shouldn't that be unintentional?"

"The sister said it was likely that it was, only…" Nanoha twiddled her thumbs. "Rae-chan practices a heavy type of emotional regulation… to the point that it backfires on her."

"So it's unintentionally intentional?" Fate licked her lips. "Or… it's been twisted to make her think it's intentional."

"That was the guess. During the examination, they found her Linker tied to something. Another source, rather like…, well," Nanoha fidgeted and Fate waited for the anger clouding over her dear friend's eyes to fade. "Like the Book of Darkness incident."

"Is she still connected to it?" Was there a Reinforce device they could talk to? A girl they could save?

"Barely, but the drain is powerful. Her magic has always been directed towards that whatever it may be. The suggestion they had was to redirect it through something else. Reteach magic."

"Through a Device?"

Nanoha nodded. "I hope so."

"In any case, there's no way we can send her back," Fate said, rising from the couch. Not into an unhealthy environment like that one.

"Well, for one thing, we don't even know where to start. The Bureau hasn't reported anything."

"They'd like to see her, just in case," Nanoha murmured. "But there wasn't much of a magical imprint left when she appeared. That alone is…"

"Disquieting," Fate finished. "But for now, she's one of us."

"Forever if we can help it!" Nanoha agreed with a giggle. "Mah, we just keep finding our share of crying children, don't we?"

"Including each other," Fate teased, smiling.

They went up to bed, neither hearing the soft alerts of Raising Heart and Bardiche go off from the table. A few minutes later, the warnings went away, as the possible intruder left the steps of their home.

For the rest of the night, the air was still.