A/N: The story is now also available on AO3. The update schedule remains unchanged.

Thanks to fishsmug for the review - what can I say, Hayate is a busy person!


Out of Time III, Takeover

It was dark outside again by the time I left the ward.

Back in my uniform again, I strode through the relatively empty halls of the TSAB Ground HQ (and prowled those where I risked bumping into Shamal).

Strange times when going to your workplace makes you feel like a criminal.

The late hour showed the most when I passed by an already-empty cafeteria. Seeing no one inside, I cut through it and headed straight toward the teleportation pods. The dark, empty rooms made me feel uneasy on my own. It felt as if the shadows inside were watching my each and every step.

"Ma'am!" one of the guards at the pods saluted me. "We're under orders of-"

"Yes, give Shamal my apologies," I swiped my ID across the reader on my way to the pod.

He let me in with no further protest.

Visiting the Main HQ always felt quite like stepping into a different world. Not restricted by day or night in the cross-dimensional plane, that place operates all year long, holidays included.

I went straight to where my office was, nodding to various people who greeted or saluted me along the way. Some of them appeared as blurry as the nurse from the hospital and spoke in the same, twisted way. No one else seemed to notice, and that crept me out even more.

Some must have heard what happened on Midchilda, too, as a few people looked clearly surprised to see me there, whispering among themselves.

In an attempt to avoid the stares and whispers, I took another shortcut, through the Internal Affairs department, to the upper floor where the main Search and Rescue squads' offices were located.

On the upper floor, I bumped into Subaru ("Fate? I heard you were in the hospital?!"), then went up one more floor, finally reaching my destination, surprisingly empty for a change.

I took the last turn, making a beeline for Hayate's office, when a sudden stab of pain got me clutching my head again. Dull ache exploded in my shoulder. Still on my feet, and now propped against the wall, I shut my eyes to stop the swimming and doubling corridor from making me feel dizzier.

"Maybe I should've listened to Shamal," I muttered, trying to focus on anything other than my headache.

The pain intensified and I slid down the wall to the soft floor, resting on my hands and knees and trying to get my breathing under control.

Suddenly, it was as if I was being pulled out of my body. All sensations disappeared and I was on a spaceship again, watching people in white spacesuits. Scientists? Maybe. Their faces were obscured by their suits' helmets. We all stood in front of the main hatch. It opened and a cloud of sand immediately stormed inside. I realized I was wearing a helmet as well. I was one of them. We stepped outside, onto the desert-like soil, with twin suns blazing over our heads, so bright they were almost blinding.

The me from my memory started looking around; We were on top of a cliff. Behind us and the ship was the ridge. In front of us, a gargantuan pyramid complex, with an even-taller obelisk towering over it, watching the pyramids, watching us, with a giant eye engraved on it.

A sinking feeling appeared in my stomach and I startled awake, with my hands still on the red lining that covered the floor of the corridor leading to my office.

Someone was gently prodding my arm.

"Are you okay, Fate-mama…?" Vivio asked, kneeling next to me with a worried look on her face.

I pulled her into a hug.

"Fate-mama?"

"I'm okay, Sweetheart. I'm sorry for worrying you."

"Should I call for Shamal?"

Upon hearing her name, I immediately pulled back. "N-no, I don't think that'll be necessary. I'm feeling better now, it was just a headache," I said as I stood up slowly, proving my point more to myself than to her.

Vivio eyed me carefully, unconvinced.

She's a smart girl. I offered her my hand. "What are you doing in this section? The Library is quite a walk from here."

She puffed her chest. "I was told to deliver this in person," she showed me a small, black box. "Confidential."

"I see, then I shouldn't keep you from your duties," I mustered a smile, resuming my gait toward Hayate's office.

The memories resurfaced in my mind again, along with a sickening feeling in my stomach.

Vivio caught up to me, walking with me side-by-side.

"Someone in this area?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Can't tell?"

She shook her head.

I stopped, turning to her. "What's the matter?"

Stopping next to me, she pointed her finger at the door in front of us. Hayate's door.

Oh, so that's why.

"Is this for Hayate?" I tried. A part of me wanted to find out just what was keeping her so occupied that she couldn't even contact me. And why, of all times, she was so unreachable now.

Vivio only tilted her head in reply, making me hope that she was just taking her assignment very seriously.

"Cat got your tongue?" I gave her a playful poke on the nose. "Let's go pay her a visit." Musing on ancient ruins could wait until I made sure that my best friend was okay.

I rapped against the metal and pressed the button. The moment the door opened, Vivio hopped past me, disappearing in the white fog that had gathered inside.

"Vivio, wait!" I reached out. The same feeling of being devoid of any sensation enveloped my hand. It seemed to be pulling me in slowly.

In a matter of seconds, Vivio returned, as if she did not just vanish into nothingness. "All done!" she said, then tugged my sleeve impatiently. "Fate-mama, we should go. It's a bad place."

The hair stood up on the back of my neck. "Do you know what this is?"

She shook her head innocently.

"Hayate…?" I called out. Was she really inside…? The lack of reply did not calm me down at all.

Did no one else notice this? Then again, there was no one else around, except for us, and…

Cold, black eyes staring at us from the end of the corridor.

I pulled Vivio down with me in the split second before the claws raked across where we stood. We rolled on the corridor floor when the next attack was blocked by my autoshield.

Before the third came, I was already in my Barrier Jacket. Still on my back, holding Vivio with one hand, I raised the front shield explosively with the other, sending the attacker toward the ceiling.

An alarm sounded in the base.

"Run!" I shouted, getting back on my feet.

Vivio's combat training kicked in and she sprang up, transforming. "Fate-mama, I'll help!"

"No!"

Creeping on all fours, the black creature pounced on me again, rattling its chains. I readied my shield, feeling Vivio still standing behind me. I could not let it touch her.

The claws broke through the first two layers and I once again made the third explode. The monster turned midair.

"Run, that's an order!" I shouted again.

My binds caught the beast's arms and legs right when it was about to catch itself against the wall. It slipped instead, and I dashed forward with Bardiche at the ready, then cut off the monster's arm before it broke the binds.

It parried my second and third strike but I rolled to its side, slipping next to its bleeding arm, then swung again.

The sword grazed the black body, slashing across the wall instead. I brought it up and striked one more time.

My opponent dodged and was about to throw a counter when a kick from above slammed it into the ground.

"Fate-mama, finish it!"

Smart and sweet, but non-compliant.

I loaded a cartridge, then pinned the monster to the floor with binds. "Bardiche, Sealing!"

If we couldn't kill it, I'd lock it up.

The beast roared, then shrunk until it looked like a tiny black ball. With the touch of my device, it was gone.

"The enemy contained, Sir."

"Good work, Bardiche." Vivio shrunk from my gaze. "You too," I ruffled her hair. "We'll talk about disobeying orders of your superior at home."

"Yes, Ma'am…"

I was assessing the damage when a group of security mages stormed into the corridor and asked me for a sitrep.

Having promised the commander of the guard to write a detailed report later, I finally turned toward my office. The fog in Hayate's room needed to be investigated, too.

One of the guards stopped me suddenly, "Ymg' ah'n'ghaor."

"Your brooch, Ma'am…" another one jumped in when I stared at the former with my mouth agape.

In my uniform again, Bardiche was pinned to my chest, and slowly turning from gold to black. Then, almost without a sound, it cracked in two.

I stared in disbelief at the pieces that fell on the floor until an ink-black ball started floating in front of us, growing, like a void in the air.

We tried containing it and sealing it again but it ignored our efforts, growing faster and faster. "Everybody, get out of here!" I commanded, grabbing Vivio's arm and running away with her.

As soon as we took the first corner, a violent explosion shook the base. Debris hit the wall next to us and we ran down the long corridor drowning in flashing red light.

A siren wailed once again, "Enemy on-board. I repeat, enemy on-board. All non-combat personnel must evacuate immediately. This is not a drill."

Behind us, a thud of heavy feet shook the floor.

"Fate-mama, what's going on?! Where are we going?!"

"I'm taking you to the emergency pod!" I shouted over the noise and the telepathic exchanges from other mages overflowing my head.

"Shouldn't we kill that thing?!" Vivio asked.

I didn't reply, dispatching messages on my own. The footsteps picked up. "Go!" I shouted.

"But Mama-!"

"I said, go!"

I gave her a push on the back and spun around, firing several magic bullets at the creature, now running on two feet.

It dodged the first few but one hit it square in the chest. It left a gaping hole, but it kept running, then threw a punch at me.

Enhancing my forearms with magic, I blocked the hits while shielding Vivio and myself from the shockwaves they made. An opening appeared and I cast another spell right in the monster's face. The force ripped the head apart, but it regenerated almost instantly.

"What is your deal?!" I dodged its fist this time, not letting the creature past me, and bound its legs, then spun around again and ran, pulling the stunned Vivio along with me.

"Mama, what-"

"You must get out of here!"

When we finally reached the destination, Vivio ran inside the first pod while I closed the armored door behind us.

"Mama, hurry!"

I stopped just outside the pod and saw genuine fear in her eyes.

Something hit the door, nearly breaking it in half.

"Tell Nanoha-mama that I'll be back soon," I smashed the red button to my right. Before Vivio could say anything in reply, she disappeared into thin air.

I turned around just in time for the massive door to get blown away, with a deafening roar, crashing into the opposite wall as the black beast landed in the middle of the room.

All my melee training was about to be tested.

I directed all my magic to my limbs again. "Let's play a little longer," I muttered, dashing forward and kicking at the creature's knee.

My foot connected with the flesh and the spell cut right through. The leg started to regrow immediately but it took enough to put my opponent out of balance. Staying low to the ground, I swept its other foot from under it too.

Before it fell to the ground, I was already upon it again, throwing another punch below its ribs.

It roared, trying to grab me, but I slipped away with ease before it slammed to the ground with a dull thud.

I was hardly a good fistfighter, and without my device I didn't even know if I stood any real chance, but at least I still had my speed as an advantage. All I needed was to buy more time.

The chains rattled and the creature sprang up to its feet, raking the claws left and right, forcing me toward the wall.

Dodging the first few attacks, I parried the next one with a shield while jumping over the crouching beast. The shield exploded when I was right above, pinning it to the ground while I landed safely.

I spun around and followed up with a Photon Lancer, sending the creature against the wall.

Without a delay, it got back up, regenerating again.

There seemed to be no end to this. Suddenly, a masculine voice sounded in my head, "Enforcer Harlaown, area cleared. You may proceed, over."

That was my cue. Once again I tried binding my opponent, and in the split second it gave me, I dashed back toward my office.

The creature followed suit, rattling its golden chains.

I rounded the last corner and leapt forward just before the giant crater in the floor. Parts of the ceiling and some of the walls were missing too. I flew the rest of the way. Behind me, my enemy took a leap after me.

I passed by what used to be my office, now completely demolished, before reaching the front of the only untouched door in the corridor.

"Over here!" one of the mages shouted, pushing the door open for me and dodging out of the way.

Searing pain exploded in my back before I plunged inside, pushing me forward into a fall. The beast followed, passing above me and quickly disappearing in the fog that still filled Hayate's office.

It appeared for a second, only to drown in the thick vapor again. Not waiting for it to find its way out, I slowly backed toward where I thought the exit was, slamming the door shut when I found myself in the corridor again.

Something hit the door violently from the other side, but it didn't even budge.

Floating over the hole in the corridor, I put more distance between myself and the door. From the other side, the pounding and scratching kept coming.

A group of mages surrounded me.

"Enforcer Harlaown, what is this thing?" the commander of the base guard asked, scratching his balding head while glancing back and forth between me and the locked office.

It was a good question I wished I had an answer to. I shook my head in reply.

The sounds from behind the door ceased completely.

"Ma'am, your back is bleeding."

A blurred hand reached out toward me. "Ereh si cidem eht erofeb, ees em tel." Taking a hold of my arm, they prompted me to descend down to the undamage surface.

Whatever they said. It looked like they tried to help. The pain resurfaced, and I started to feel funny.

Some faces of the soldiers that weren't blurry became twisted and contorted, like paint floating on the water. The colors turned more vibrant at first, and then grew duller and duller. Then there was the white fog again. Did someone open the door to Hayate's office…?

The last thing I remember is a half of my golden brooch lying on the dusty floor.


I was standing in a single hospital room, watching someone sleeping in the bed. She looked like me.

Arf came in for a moment, leaving a vase full of flowers on the nightstand. I couldn't tell their color. She stood by the bed for a while, as if she wasn't aware of me standing next to her.

Soon I was alone again, except for the other me who was still asleep. I tried calling her a few times, but to no avail.

The clock wasn't working and I lost track of time. All I knew was that it was dark outside, and that I wanted the sleeping me to wake up. She had to wake up. Something terrible was about to happen.

I reached out to shake the me on the bed. My hand… wasn't mine.


I jolted awake, looking to the side. There was no one else in the dim, hospital room. The memory from the dream was already fading in my mind.

From my half-sitting position, I fell back weakly on the pillow, with the erratic beeps of the heart rate monitor in the background. It soon began to calm down.

The ceiling of the Cranagan's military hospital felt all-too-familiar while I tried recollecting bit by bit everything that happened before I woke up here again. With each memory came a small pang of frustration and uneasiness.

My body felt funny, sluggish, but there was no pain in my back. No bandages. And as far as my fingers (and then eyes) could tell, there was no scar on my leg. My ring was missing, too, and for a while I freaked out before convincing myself that the hospital staff must have kept it.

What I found instead were multiple electrodes placed all over my body. If I focused enough, I could feel a gentle tingling coming from them.

The tubes were also back in my left forearm. Do they always have to put them in?

I laid back again. A bunch of flowers rested in a vase on my nightstand. Yellow. The dream came back to me, making me feel only more uneasy.

A rapid thomp-ing of quickly approaching footsteps startled me; it wasn't Shamal. Too heavy. My heart started beating faster, echoed by the monitor's beeping, when the footsteps stopped in front of the door and the knob turned.

A male voice said, "Good evening, Miss Harlaown," and a young-looking doctor I didn't recognize entered the room, fixing his square glasses. "Good to see you awake. How are you feeling?"

"Good ev-" I rasped. My throat was dry. A glass of water helped somewhat. "Sorry."

"It's quite understandable. I see you have no problems moving around. Good, this means we managed to stop the muscle atrophy."

That explained the electrodes but something else got me worried.

He continued, "Any difficulty with breathing?"

"None. But why would I have-"

"What about your vision? No trouble focusing your eyes?" He turned on the delicate overhead light.

"I guess it's fine. But-"

"Headache?"

"No headache. Could you tell me-"

"Do you feel any pain?" he asked and I shook my head, biting back a groan, before he added, "How's your abdomen?"

"My abdomen-?" I lifted my shirt up and startled momentarily - a long scar ran all the way from the left below my waist, up to the right breast. I took a deep breath. "What happened to me this time?"

If my wording confused him he didn't show it, saying instead, "You were injured on-duty during a battle with the members of the Hückebein family."

"Negative. The Hückebeins have been in jail, or dead, for several years," I looked him dead in the eye when I said that.

I expected him to admit that he was joking. Or start laughing. Instead, he said, "You're not wrong, Miss Harlaown. That happened almost three years ago."

"Excuse me, Doctor-"

"Siegfried."

"Excuse me, Dr. Siegfried, I don't understand."

"Miss Harlaown, you were in a coma for three years."

His face did not change when he said it.

"This is a joke, right? And why are you calling me miss, Doctor? I'm married, you know."

"Miss Harlaown, it is known that sometimes comatose patients dream their life as if nothing had happened-"

"Please, have Shamal come here. And Nanoha. I need to talk to them."

"I'm afraid I-"

"Please."

He fixed the glasses on his nose. "Miss Takamachi should be here soon. As per her request, we've already notified her that you're awake."

"Thank you. And Shamal? A simple call will suffice."

"I don't think that's possible."

"What do you mean?"

"Miss Harlaown, Dr. Yagami was killed in action."

When I spoke again, my voice was weirdly flat and raspy. "How?"

"Ambushed while assisting in battle. I'm afraid I was never in the loop to know the details."

I listened to him impassively. The words felt scrambled and without meaning. "I'm sorry, could I have a minute to myself?"

"Of course. I'll let you rest for tonight, Miss Harlaown. We'll continue in the morning." He nodded at me and left the room.

The door shut behind him dully.

This was getting ridiculous. The Wolkenritter were programs, they couldn't die. Or so I tried to rationalize, fully aware that critical injuries have already happened among them.

Was all of this another dream? What about everything that happened in the past few days? What about my life before I started waking up here? Did I really spend almost three years in a coma, dreaming dream after dream until now?

That's more or less what plagued my mind, alongside the news of an apparently dead friend.

I sat on the bed, boiling in my own frustration and a more and more profound sense of loss until the sound of someone walking toward my room came from the corridor again. A very distinctive kind of walk.

The door opened slowly and Nanoha stepped in, looking at me with a mixture of joy, relief, and sadness.

"You're really awake…" she said as if she still couldn't believe it.

"I… guess," I replied, attempting a smile.

She edged closer, perching on the side of the bed. She watched me in uneasy silence for a few seconds. There was no ring on her finger. I reached out and, as soon as I touched her hand, she threw her arms around me and broke down.

"I missed you, I missed you so much…" she kept repeating in between her sobs.

I held her while she cried, feeling tears gather in my own eyes. It broke my heart to see her like this, and I couldn't even relate to what she must have gone through if…

If all that actually happened.

Helplessly watching Nanoha's anguish, I hated that a part of me doubted that it was real. At the same time I wanted to hold on to the hope that it wasn't, and that this crying girl in my arms was, for whatever reason, just another creation of my own wicked mind.

"Shh, I'm here, it's okay," I soothed nevertheless, running my fingers through her lush hair tied with a single black ribbon.

She eventually calmed down.

"Sorry for being such a crybaby," she muttered after a while. "And right after you woke up…"

I put my finger on her lips and urged her to get closer, making space for her to lie next to me. She followed, somewhat hesitantly, resting her head next to my shoulder.

Without thinking much about it, I kissed the top of her head, then rested my cheek against it.

"You're so touchy," she gave a nervous chuckle. "I… I hope you weren't feeling… lonely."

For sure I couldn't complain about the lack of entertainment. "I've been… managing, I guess. Were you lonely?"

She raised her head and looked me in the eyes. "Of course. You're my… best friend, and all I could do was wait…"

There was something weird about the way she worded it. Not to mention her overall behavior.

She tilted her head. "Are… you okay?"

"Y-yes, don't worry." I turned away from her piercing gaze, pulling her close to me again.

She felt warm, real, and that was how fear slowly started settling in. Fear that I might lose everything I had if I didn't find the way out. Or worse, that I never had it in the first place.

Another part of me screamed that it was all just a dream.

But what if it wasn't? Who could even tell me that?

"Your heart is racing," Nanoha's voice startled me.

"I'm scared."

"What's wrong?"

I spoke without thinking. "I…" I don't know if what I'm seeing is real - was what I wanted to say. "Hey, Nanoha… What if all of it was a dream?"

"Like, right now?"

"Yes."

She sat up, staying silent for a moment. "If it's a dream, wouldn't it mean you could do things you can't normally do?"

"What's something you can't normally do, Nanoha?"

She looked at me carefully before reaching out to touch my face. Her trembling palm felt hot against my cheek.

She brought her face so close to mine that our noses almost touched. "If it were a dream, I'm sure you'd already know," she whispered and started backing away.

I stopped her with my hand on the back of her head. Her eyes widened in surprise when I pulled her closer and brought our lips together.

They were as soft as always, with a delicate taste of her favorite cherry lip balm.

She slipped her hands around my neck and I pulled her closer, suddenly aware just how much I needed this. Not breaking the kiss, she shifted and straddled me. I suddenly felt her tongue against mine.

"I'm scared too…" I heard her voice in my mind. "I dreamed about it for so long and I'm scared that I'm going to wake up again…"

I caressed her cheek, tightening my hold around her with the other hand. "It's okay, Nanoha," I replied in kind,tracing a line down to her collarbone. "It's okay."

My fingers brushed against a silver chain around her neck and I froze. Then, as gently as I could, I pushed her away.

She looked at me with apprehension and I couldn't help but plant one more kiss on her lips to dispel it. Even though I already suspected what was happening, I still lifted a small pendant from under Nanoha's shirt.

The eye seemed to look back.


A/N: The spell that Fate was using to power up her melee attacks was inspired by her Plasma Arm/Thunder Arm spells.