Out of Time
A tightening grasp around my arm jolted me awake. My eyes shot open but there was no one around. The sensation also was gone.
Beep, beep, - a heart-rate monitor was beeping rhythmically somewhere in the background.
All the while having an immense sense of déjà vu, I stared at the gloomy hospital ceiling, trying to piece my scattered memories together.
All I could vaguely remember was that there was someone in our house. The image of Nanoha sliding helplessly to the floor came back to my mind, and next thing I knew, I was sitting up, fumbling with the damn tubes stuck again in my left forearm.
The beep, beep, beep, kept going off furiously. I ripped the sensors off my chest and it turned into a flat, constant noise.
Holding on to my bleeding forearm, I scrambled off the bed and staggered toward the door just as it burst open, missing my face by inches.
"Fate- What in the world are you doing?!"
I was pushed back onto the bed by Shamal.
"Have you lost your mind?!" she wheezed out, clutching my shoulders painfully.
The cold overhead light blinded me suddenly. Someone yanked my left arm before wrapping a bandage around it and the noise in the background finally stopped. Silence rang in my ears.
"Wh- where's Nanoha?" I demanded, getting over my initial shock.
"What- Why are you worried about Nanoha? You just spent three days in a coma, what made you get out of bed like that?"
"I have to see her. Please, take me to her."
Shamal gaped at me like I was speaking in tongues. "Please lie down."
"But-"
"Fate, Nanoha is fine. Now, I need you to lie down."
Finally hearing what I needed to hear, I complied. At that, Shamal had her usual gentle expression back in place.
"Now," she soothed, "Could you tell me why you wanted to see Nanoha so badly?"
Her question baffled me at first. "She fainted, right? We both did. I thought- Someone broke into our house, I woke up here and I'm scared that she might be hurt…"
"Tell me more? What happened?"
"I… We heard some noise in the bathroom. The perfume bottles broke. There was something on the mirror and Nanoha started feeling bad. That's when I…" I trailed off. The memory still felt somewhat blurry.
Shamal looked at me worriedly. "Fate, you were in a coma for the past three days. You lost consciousness while being on duty."
"... But that was…"
She continued, "You were on-board the Ambassador. Your body was exposed to high amounts of cosmic radiation after a-"
"-massive solar flare eruption," I finished for her. "I know."
She looked surprised at first, then relieved. "Do you remember now?"
"No," I said frankly. "We just had this conversation before."
"We… did? What else did I tell you?"
"What you said just now. Then you asked me all sorts of random stuff. Nanoha came when we were done, you kept me here for two more nights… I mean, it did happen, right…?"
"Fate, I don't think I'm following you. Yes, I messaged Nanoha when I noticed that you're awake, and yes, I was planning to examine you, but that's just the standard procedure."
And not too hard to guess in the first place. Not that I thought she was accusing me of making this up. What am I saying, at that point I wasn't even sure myself what these memories really were and where they came from.
"When did all of that happen?" she asked.
"Uh… it feels like just a while ago, really. I was awake for at least two days."
I relayed to her the details of my "first" awakening. I guess she didn't take my word for it because we went through the whole medical procedure all over again anyway.
"Why didn't you tell me that Nanoha was on the Ambassador with me?" I asked as neutrally as I could after a while.
The look that Shamal gave me seemed to say, bold of you to ask that after your stunt earlier, but she did not otherwise deny what I said.
We were almost done (according to my memory) when a fast-paced click, click, click of heels came toward us from the hospital corridor.
"That must be Nanoha," I muttered. Memories or not, I'd recognize the sound of her boots anywhere.
Seconds later, the door burst open the second time that night.
"Fate-chan, thank goodness you're awake!"
Nanoha stood in the doorway, panting. Another déjà vu.
"I swear, what am I gonna do if you don't wake up one day?!"
I felt a strange mixture of relief and uneasiness as she strode past puzzled Shamal and dropped next to me on the bed, wrapping her arms around me.
Shamal cleared her throat. "Nanoha, dear, we're in the middle of an examination." Her eyebrow was twitching dangerously.
"Oh, sorry, hahaha," Nanoha gave a nervous chuckle and let go (although not immediately).
The air felt uncomfortably cold against the spots she just touched.
"I'm just so happy that Fate-chan is awake. I'll wait outside for you to finish," she said, glancing at me one more time. Her eyes then moved to the already-dried red stains on my white bed sheets, then my bandaged arm.
I jumped into explaining, "Don't worry, Nanoha, everything is-"
"She was just too eager to see you," Shamal interjected casually.
I sighed. Okay, she had the right to be mad after the near-heart attack I must have given her.
Nanoha fidgeted, looking bashfully to the side before mumbling, "I'm flattered that Fate-chan wanted me around that bad, but next time she should give me a booty call instead of causing problems for the staff."
"Nanoha…"
By the time she left the room, my face was red all the way up to my ears.
"Did that go as you remember it?" Shamal asked without a trait of mockery.
"Not quite. You were about to leave when Nanoha arrived, but you also started your checkup earlier."
It felt strange to even consider the scenario of both events actually taking place. Even stranger, considering not so long ago, I believed that what I remembered was really just the past. Now, I didn't know what to think.
"Is this some sort of glitch in my brain?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. We'll probably need to take a closer look at your brain activity, and even then I don't know if we can say anything for certain," she paused. "There's also the fact that some types of dreams can be perceived by your brain as real memories."
"So it could be that all of it was just an incredibly vivid comatose dream?"
"Until we find something that proves otherwise, I'd say that it is a possibility."
As much as I wanted to argue that it felt too real to be a dream, I had to admit that she had a point.
And assuming that what I remembered really did happen, how could I even prove it?
Nanoha recalled neither fainting in our bathroom, nor bloody letters on the mirror.
"It sounds like Fate-chan had a really spooky dream," she said when I summarized my memories to her.
Considering how many events so far seemingly matched one another between now and that dream, such an explanation felt uncomfortably insufficient.
Then again, remembering the "ghost" from the living room and the letters really made me wish it was just a nightmare, end of story.
"Fate-chan seems so lost in thought," Nanoha muttered suddenly, finger-combing my hair lazily.
"Maybe it was just a dream… It really feels like a déjà vu." As I was saying that, the silver pendant on her neck dangled once again in the rhythm of her movement. Just as in my memory, she had it here, too. "An incredibly real one."
"So could it be that Fate-chan has really been here before?"
"I don't know. It feels like I have."
"What else happened back then? Here in the hospital?"
"Same thing as now," I shrugged. "I woke up, you came to visit, we snuggled up under the covers until I fell asleep."
Nanoha moved her hand casually from my hair to my collar bone. "We snuggled and slept?"
"Yes, why?"
"How boring."
"Huh? What-"
She kissed me, shifting to straddle me under the sheets.
"Surely I must've at least tried something like this," she communicated telepathically with her lips still on mine.
The hand that was resting on my collar crept down to my chest.
"Nanoha, we're in the hospital, someone could walk in on us…" I reminded her but didn't resist otherwise.
She nibbled on my lower lip for a little longer before pulling back. Her eyes had a mischievous glint to them. "There, the butterfly has fluttered its wings," she said, nesting once again by my side.
There were butterflies in my stomach for sure.
Nanoha left a little past midnight. Unlike the previous time, I managed to stay awake long enough to witness a nurse eventually chasing her out.
That also gave me a vague idea of what time it was. The electronic clock hanging above the door seemed to be broken, showing a different hour almost each time I looked at it in no particular pattern.
Despite my overall tiredness, I couldn't sleep. Nevermind that my gears kept grinding; each time I managed to doze off, the same weird dream would start in which I was standing in the very same hospital room I was in, looking down at my own sleeping body.
Sometimes, I would reach out and try to shake it but my arms always just passed through, waking me up for real. It crept me out.
I welcomed the first rays of light from the outside with relief and baggy eyes. The clock was showing "06:11", making me wonder if it was correct for once. I soon scratched that idea out when the numbers remained unchanged.
The sun was well out by the time Shamal came for the morning visitation, followed by a nondescript nurse with a tray of food. I restrained a grimace at the idea of eating anything.
"You look like you barely got any sleep," Shamal said before checking the readings of the machines they reattached to me (fortunately, they spared me another IV). "Did Nanoha keep you entertained?"
"Shamal…" I groaned, red in the face, taking the tray from the nurse's blurred hands.
Blinking a few times, I tried to focus my eyes on her but she looked like she was seen through the wrong glasses.
"Ahor Y' tharanak nilgh'ri ahog llll ymg'?" she asked in an unexpectedly bassy voice.
"Um-" I faltered. Shamal was still casually going through the displays, looking positively normal. "Shamal? I'm not sure I…"
"Oh, don't worry, she's always like that," Shamal said, then turned to the still-blurry nurse, "No, you may leave now, I'll handle the rest."
The nurse bowed (probably) and left without another word. I was still gaping at the whole scene when the smell of food from the tray on my lap reached my nose.
Blaming what I just witnessed on lack of sleep and low blood sugar, I picked up something resembling an earthly croissant, along with a cup of hot tea.
In the meantime, Shamal finished her inspection. "I scheduled some additional tests for you around noon, we'll try to look for any potential damage the radiation could have caused. Try to rest until then. Ideally, get some sleep. Remote work is not resting," she added with her hand already on the doorknob.
A muffled rumble sounded suddenly in the distance and the walls trembled from the tremors.
"Does Midchilda have quakes?" I asked but she looked at me questioningly when a signal of an incoming call startled us both.
Shamal picked up and a very much panicked-looking hospital guard appeared next to her on a see-through screen. "Dr. Yagami, -evah ew-... a situation!"
The rumbling was getting louder.
"Er'ew- under attack, -htiw deecorp- evacuation of the patients!" he continued.
The glitches made it hard to understand him but the rest gave me an idea, so I started scrambling off my bed. "Do we have an ID on the enemy?" I asked. My device was nowhere to be found. Bardiche? I mouthed to Shamal.
The floor was now practically shaking.
"Unknown!" the guard said. "S'noitacinummoc- down, we can't contact the HQ!"
Shamal answered me with what I believed to be "My office".
Suddenly, everything fell quiet.
I managed to get away from my bed just in time when the wall to my left burst with a roar. A chunk of concrete smashed the bed to pieces.
"Fate!" Shamal screamed. Green light filled the room.
"I'm okay!" I wasn't. The explosion threw me at the outer wall made of glass. Tempered, it stopped me from flying outside and gave me a massive back ache.
In the clouds of dust and debris, Shamal's green chains glistened, wrapped around something large, something moving.
Before I could get a better look, the chains broke and the thing with a black arm the size of my leg reached out for me with a growl.
I dodged out of the way and the broken pieces of glass showered my back. "Shamal, we need a force field!"
"AMF! I'm blocked!" Shamal shouted from the other side of the room.
"Then evacuate the patients!" I shouted back, putting my legs over the edge where the glass wall used to be. "I'll lead it away from the hospital!"
Not waiting for her reply, I slipped down the outer wall, landing barefoot on the balcony directly one floor below and wincing at the tiny pieces of glass covering the concrete.
"Of all floors, the seventh?!" I groaned, making a jump at the neighboring room's balcony and trying to find a way down.
Below, I could see at least another 3 floors drop with nothing in-between before reaching the next floor with a balcony, and I couldn't even fly.
The glass crunched behind me. Fantastic.
I turned around just in time to finally see the creature's giant body, covered in black fur and golden chains, as it dropped down on the floor with a ground-shaking thud.
Its outstretched claws shot toward me once more, grabbing the railing in front of me and effortlessly ripping it out of the concrete.
Not waiting for it to join me on my balcony, I dashed to the railing behind, making another jump.
The chains rattled behind me.
It seemed that leading it along the hospital balconies was my best bet for now, at least until I found another way down.
I was about to make another hop when the sounds of chase ceased. A shadow flew over me.
Instinctively, I jumped back, just as the black mass fell from the sky and crashed into the wall right in front of me, sending me on my back and raising another cloud of dust.
The thing roared, struggling with the concrete around and several metal reinforcing rods stuck in its body.
This was my chance. Scrambling up, I picked up a piece of broken railing lying next to me and jammed it with all my might into the exposed muscle of the beast, then grabbed one of its golden chains with my other hand and channeled the biggest electric shock I could muster right through it.
The lights inside the building flickered and died, the monster kept twitching, howling in rage. I gagged at the smell of burning fur and, seconds later, the howling stopped.
The metal was so hot now it was burning my hands. I let go, dropping down to my knees from exhaustion.
Slowly, the pain in my back and feet started resurfacing. I groaned, looking at the cuts and scratches all over my body, and the ripped hospital shirt I was wearing.
The AMF was gone.
"Shamal?" I tried telepathy.
"Thank goodness, Fate, are you okay?"
"Managing. What's the situation? Was anyone hurt?"
"Several people got heavily injured when that thing broke inside. We're getting it under control."
I rested my back against what was left of the railing, keeping the charred mass within my eyesight. The glass wall in front of me was shattered to pieces, but I felt so tired I couldn't find the energy to move any further.
"Fate, is everything okay?" Shamal asked. "That blackout was your doing, I take it?"
"Yes. Sorry, I just need a moment to rest."
"Where are you?"
"One floor down, a couple balconies to the left."
"Hang on, we're going to get you."
"I'll try not to go anywhere."
I tried my best to keep my eyes open instead. A sudden movement in my peripheral vision sent my adrenaline spiking again. My jaw fell as what I thought to be now just a burnt pile of flesh twitched again into life. Then, with another ear-splitting roar, it broke out of its concrete trap.
"How-!" I shouted, dragging myself up to my feet.
Before I could dodge this time round, it grabbed me in its claws and, for the first time, perhaps, I could take a good look at it.
Standing over three meters tall, it resembled a human only in overall shape. Black fur, now charred and still smoking, covered the creature's pulsing muscles. A wolf-like pair of black, lifeless eyes rimmed with gold stared at me.
The pressure around my ribs increased suddenly with a sickening crack, before fire flashed right before my eyes and I was slammed helplessly against the floor, the clawed fingers still clenched around me.
"Testarossa, what is this thing?!" Signum landed in front of me with her sword drawn. She didn't wait for me to answer and swung Laevatein at the monster instead, drawing its attention away from me. It jumped swiftly down the building.
"Don't ask me, I've never seen it before!" I uttered, struggling to take a breath.
Seconds later Shamal appeared next to me, Bardiche glistened in her hand.
I gasped for air when her chains pried the stiffened claws open.
She handed me my device back, casting a healing spell.
Somewhere below us, there was another howl and a rumble, then everything fell quiet.
"Tch, it teleported," Signum said, landing next to us. "Testarossa, did someone have a bone to pick with you?"
I looked at her but didn't reply. I didn't know how to. There were many criminals who ended up in jail because of me, but at that point I couldn't imagine anyone who could go to such lengths just to get back at me.
"Let's go back inside," Shamal prompted, done with the most serious of my cuts. "Your ribcage needs medical attention ASAP."
We stood up, her arm was wrapped around my shoulders for support.
I took one last look at the huge arm Signum had cut off. "Wait," I said.
On the glass-littered floor, next to the hand, a glitter of gold caught my eye.
Spotting what I was looking at, Signum poked at the spot with her armored boot, then picked up a piece of a cleanly cut-off gold chain with a part of a gold-cast eye hanging from one of the links.
The golden version of Nanoha's pendant, now cut in half, dangled left and right on the wind, piercing me with the remnant of its black pupil.
"Do you know what this is?" Signum gave me a questioning look.
"I… I only know the symbol."
With a scoff, she put the broken item into her Barrier Jacket. "We should move inside and regroup. It may come back."
"Fate, you can't just leave!" Shamal shouted, gripping my shoulders. "I just healed your broken rib, you're barely standing!"
The irony of getting hurt at the hospital wasn't lost on me.
"I can't stay here," I said, meeting her stern look. "That monster was clearly after me, I can't endanger other patients."
For only one enemy, the damage to the hospital was much larger than we would expect, and with the communication still down, we couldn't even call for backup. And what if it came back?
"... Then where are you planning to go?"
"To the HQ. I'll relay the situation, and I need to find out what that thing is."
Signum, who all this time was sitting quietly in the corner, spoke up, "I'm going with you, Testarossa."
"But-"
"You're in no condition to fight on your own. I'll escort you."
"Signum is right," Shamal joined in. "If she wasn't here today, you wouldn't have survived that fight."
I raised my hands in defeat and continued putting on my Enforcer uniform. "If- if you somehow manage to contact Nanoha, while I'm unable to, please tell her to get Vivio and stay at the HQ. I'll meet her there."
Our house didn't feel like a safe place any more. The fact that this monster survived my electric shock did not portend well either. The idea of it possibly going after Nanoha because of that pendant filled me with dread.
"Ready?" Signum asked after I pinned Bardiche to my jacket.
With a nod, we walked out of Shamal's office.
As soon as we were out of earshot, Signum picked up, "You can't fly, can you?"
"I'd rather conserve my energy for now."
"I can carry you piggyback."
It flustered me how casually she offered it. "D- don't be ridiculous."
"Got it, we'll take the car. Cartridges?"
I found a few spares in my uniform pocket.
"Here," she handed me another six. That made twelve in total. If worse came to worst, I could at least defend myself.
With all the elevators out of service due to the emergency, we took the stairs down. On several floors along the way we saw the extent of damage caused by the beast.
It looked like it made a beeline right through the whole building just to get to where I was.
The underground parking lot was relatively undamaged, save for one of the exits on the opposite side. Probably where that thing came from.
We made our way in silence toward a familiar-looking black sports car.
"That brings back memories," I commented, getting into the passenger's seat.
Signum smirked to my right. "Ah, I told you I'd take good care of it," she said and turned on the ignition. The engine roared to life.
She skillfully backed out of her spot, driving toward the other, undamaged exit.
"Any ideas on where to go from here?" she bantered.
"I… have one lead I'd like to check."
I squinted my eyes when we drove out into the early afternoon sun. For all that had just taken place, the streets of Cranagan looked all-too-peaceful.
We rode in silence, with only the purr of my old V12 behind us as Signum led us smoothly down the main road. The towers of the TSAB GHQ stretched out toward the sky in the distance.
"Looks like we're still being jammed," I said when another attempt at calling anyone failed. The hospital was also out of reach now.
We were about to take another left turn when a fast-moving black shape caught my eye.
"9 o'clock!" I shouted.
Signum reacted immediately, pulling the wheel to the right and choking the gas down to the floor.
We got pushed into our seats as the car shot forward, missing by inches a truck incoming from the opposite lane.
"Bardiche, deploy a force field!"
"Unable. Enemy jamming active, Sir."
A screech and a crash sounded behind us and in the side mirror I saw clouds of dust and smoke rising from the spot we were at not so long ago.
"That came sooner than I expected!" Signum shouted over the roar of the engine, maneuvering us back on our lane.
"We need to get it away from the city!"
"I know, hang on!"
I grabbed the door handle as the car veered suddenly to the right with a screech, and into an empty street.
The beast was chasing us relentlessly on all fours like a giant anthropomorphic dog.
"It's gaining on us!" I gasped.
The speedometer showed blazing 164 kilometers per hour and I was just glad there was no other traffic around.
I turned back to look again but the street behind us was empty. My stomach sank. "Stop the car, it'll fall on us!"
I got suddenly yanked toward the console when Signum pushed on the brakes.
We came to a standstill among clouds of smoke, right when something crashed into the road not too far in front of us. Pieces of asphalt bumped off the car, leaving cracks in the windshield.
Among all of the dust, a black shape slowly rose up to its feet, turning its pointy muzzle toward us.
"I should have taken you up on that piggyback offer," I muttered.
"Agreed."
With an ear-splitting howl, the beast began its charge.
A/N: 06:11 on the clock is a reference to an Italian superstition regarding number 17. And speaking of Italy, I know, Ferrari Testarossa is a flat-twelve, not a V-12... but it's Midchilda, goddammit!
