AN: Someone64: I'll admit, my grasp of the specific events of A's is a little shaky by now. Still, I don't think it makes a huge difference to the events I plan to write.
Guest 1: Thank you! I like to think fight scenes are a strength of mine.
Reviewer71: Thank you!
Guest 2: Read and find out ;)
Tabasc0: Yes, that should've been like a five-alarm fire... There will be an explanation for that, but fair warning, it'll likely be a long time coming.
On with the show!
Chrono Harlaown could feel a headache coming on. The twenty-one Jewel Seeds had been sealed, and that was a good thing – but they'd been sealed in a Device rather than a proper containment facility and at least two had somehow gotten out. What a situation. He looked up and down Takamachi. To seal all twenty-one with minimal incident as a complete novice… that spoke to not only power but innate talent and skill. Scary levels of both, frankly, and this completely naturally.
"I don't like to brag, but I like to think I did a good job with the Jewel Seeds," Takamachi was saying. Chrono shook himself out of his thoughts. "Nobody died and only a few people got hurt, after all."
"Y-Yes, a very good job," Chrono got out, strangled. Behind him, Chrono could feel his Enforcers choking on their own tongues.
Thankfully, this was when the tea arrived. Everyone helped themselves to a cup, Chrono adding a dash of cream and two sugarcubes to his cup. His mother, Admiral Lindy Harlaown, had introduced him to the drink – and to the outright sacrilege he had just committed to perfectly innocent green tea. A completely scandalized expression crossed Takamachi's face, though by the time Chrono finished stirring his tea it was hidden by her cup.
"So, where are the Seeds now?" Chrono prompted. "Please tell me they're not still sealed up in your device."
"Oh, definitely not!" Takamachi answered, aghast. "I'm sure you've picked up the ones we're using for active power generation. Thirteen are sealed up in the Castle, and the remaining six at a site Earthside. We check that one periodically; haven't had to shore it up so far, but you can't be too safe with Jewel Seeds."
Well, that was better than he'd feared. Chrono didn't know what measures the castle had, but putting dangerous Lost Logia in orbit away from the planet was a sound idea. Unlikely to help much, but sound.
"Not bad. But we should probably take the sealed ones into custody ASAP," Chrono decided. "The one in your device and the one power the… castle can be negotiated at a later date, I think."
"Nyahahahaha…"
It was only the second time he'd heard that nervous laugh, but its reappearance still sent his heart plummeting into his shoes. Perhaps it was his greater knowledge of Takamachi's abilities, and thus what exactly it took to make her nervous, that provoked the feeling.
"What?" he very carefully did not demand.
"We… kinda need those Earthside Seeds where they are," Takamachi explained, sheepish. "You mentioned the Book of Darkness? Well… five of those Seeds are keeping it sealed."
Chrono's brain seized up at this, unable to decide whether to focus on the fact that the Book was sealed, that it was sealed by five Jewel Seeds, or the terrifying implication that the Book had gotten a hold of one of the Seeds. In the end, it defaulted to a strangle squawk of "What?!"
~o~
Hayate Yagami hummed to herself as she tossed onions into a pan with oil, the sizzle drawing a smile from her. A little further down the kitchen, Shamal was busy chopping up some more vegetables, one of the few kitchen tasks she was trusted to do. The six months since the Wolkenritter had appeared out of nowhere had been easily the happiest of her life. The young girl wasn't stupid; she had watched them gradually unthaw and knew they had suffered greatly in the past, but now they were out of their shells and enjoying life. And nothing could make her more happy.
Hayate herself had settled in as the head of the household. She cooked, directed house chores, and initiated most activities, though Vita was becoming more independent in that regard. The Wolkenritter deferred to her and their Master ruthlessly took advantage of that to enforce a good deal of normalcy.
Case in point, Signum walking in through the front door, clad in a maroon sweatsuit and her light panting and thin sheen of sweat speaking of a few hours of jogging. Signum had probably had the hardest time adjusting to normal life, and a few months ago, the pink-haired woman would've never so much as left Hayate's side for that long. Progress.
"Welcome back, Signum!" Hayate called out. "We were just getting started on lunch. Stir-fried yakisoba this time!"
"Sounds delicious, Hayate," Signum replied. "Are Vita and Zafira-?"
"They're out in the park again. They should be back soon."
Nodding, Signum padded off to take a shower. Smiling, Hayate leaned over the pan and gave the onions a sniff; yes, it was about time.
"Shamal, if you're done could you pour the vegetables into the pan?" she asked as she wheeled over to the fridge. "Just give them a few stirs, it won't take me long to get the noodles."
"Yes, ma'am!" Shamal cheerily replied, saluting.
Chuckling, Hayate opened up the fridge and retrieved the package of noodles – and then heard the fwoosh of igniting oil and a yelp of surprise. She turned around to find the pan on fire and Shamal panicking.
"Cover it, Shamal, cover it!" Hayate ordered, sending the blonde scurrying for a pan lid. She sighed. How Shamal managed to set everything she tried to actually cook on fire was beyond her.
~o~
It was a scene familiar to city parks all over the world: a young girl, about nine or ten, her red hair in a pair of cute braids running around with the neighborhood kids. Or rather, playing the monster and pretend-terrorizing them. From the heavy stomps, clawed arms, and occasional reptilian screeches, it was some sort of dinosaur. On a nearby bench was a tanned, muscular man with a shock of spiky white hair that most would've taken for a relative, or a babysitter. Though his attention was relaxed and seemed affixed on the book he was reading, he occasionally glanced up to see that his charge wasn't going overboard. An observer willing to wait, though, would've noted that he hadn't turned a page in fifteen minutes.
Finally, at some unseen signal, the man closed his book and stood. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he called out, "Vita! Time to go!"
The redheaded girl, Vita, froze mid-stomp, glancing at the man. Putting her foot back down, she turned back to the kids, expression apologetic. "Sorry, kids, looks like today's game of Gojira is over."
"Aww!" the children all chorused. "Will you play it with us again?" one black-haired girl asked.
"Of course!" Vita replied, all sunny smiles. "But for now, I gotta go! Bye-bye!"
Despite many protests, Vita jogged up to the man and followed him out of the park. For a few blocks, the two just walked, silent, Vita with her hands behind her head and a pleased smile on her face, the man with his arms relaxed and swaying at his side. Then…
"Have fun?" he prompted.
"Yup! It's nice to just be childish for a while. Also, we gotta see if Hayate knows how to get those Gojira movies, they sound fun," Vita replied. Abruptly, her smile vanished. "So. Did you pinpoint that mana source, Zafira?"
"I did," Zafira said. "I can track it now wherever it goes."
"Good." So saying, Vita punched her fist into her palm. "Pretty slim pickings lately. It'll be nice to get some pages."
"And maybe a good fight?" the man prompted, one eyebrow raised.
Vita chuckled mirthlessly. "Yeah, I'll cop to that. Haven't had a decent fight since showing up here. That's mostly a good thing, but…"
She trailed off, and Zafira nodded.
"Now!" Vita said, running forward with a smile on her face again. "Let's go see what Hayate's cooked for lunch this time!"
~o~
"98… 99… 100!"
A ball of pink light smacked an empty soda can into the air one last time. It arced, coming down quickly-
And clattered into the trash can Nanoha had kinda sorta been aiming it at.
"Yes! Bonus!" Nanoha cheered, jumping up with her fist pumped in the air.
"Good work, my Master," Raising Heart chimed.
It was six months after the Jewel Seeds had been safely sealed, and life had gotten back to normal for Nanoha. She still trained with her father Shiro, but with no need to drop everything and go seal Jewel Seeds at random hours of the day her grades and free time had both gone up. She'd taken the opportunity to put more time into magic practice, careful to confine her training to those times.
Her current exercise was one she had used for a few months now: summon a ball of magic – without Raising Heart's help, mind – and use it to bounce a can in mid-air. Simple, but it was excellent control practice. When she'd first tried it, she'd only managed five bounces. Now she'd done a hundred, and dunked the can! Maybe two shots at once next time…?
Her phone trilled in her pocket. Fishing it out, she answered, "Hello?"
"Nanoha! How was magic practice?" her mother Momoko asked, cheerful but a little strained. A hubbub of voices chattered in the background.
"It went great!" Nanoha replied. "I finally reached my goal of a hundred reps!"
"Good, that's good! Listen, Nanoha, we've gotten a rush at the bakery. Dinner's going to have to be a bit late, I think."
"That's fine, I wanted to do some flying before dinner anyway," Nanoha replied. "Good luck, Mama!"
"Thanks, Nanoha, I- hey, take your hands out of-!"
The call abruptly died, and Nanoha chuckled at the antics no doubt ongoing at the family bakery Midori-ya. Reaching into her shirt, she pulled out Raising Heart and held the inactive device up to eye level. "Let's go, Raising Heart."
"Stand by, ready."
In a flash of light, Nanoha's magical dress wrapped around her, Raising Heart's staff form settling comfortably in her left hand. The wings of Flier Fin sprouted at her ankles, and lifted her up into the sky.
~o~
Downtown Uminari. The red light of the setting sun mingled with the headlights of the cars streaming out of the city's offices to bathe them in an orange glow. Vita sat against an air-conditioning unit atop one of the skyscrapers, watching the city bustle below. She wore an intense look of concentration, her expression grim, but her whole body was relaxed. Her t-shirt and denim skirt from the park had been replaced by a red dress and a red hat with two rabbit heads on it. A gift, from Hayate.
Her fists clenched. All of this was for Hayate, who had shown them such kindness.
"Vita. The target approaches," Zafira rumbled.
At the telepathic voice, she stood, looking north to where the suburbs sprawled away. A pink glow could be seen silhouetted against the darkening sky.
"Yeah, I can tell. She's a goddamn pink beacon."
"Remember, Vita, you must collect her mana. We've-"
"Had absolutely no fucking luck getting any, yeah, I know," Vita interrupted. "I can check the Book too, Zafira. We don't have many pages filled." She sighed. "Still don't like attacking a person. It was one thing when we were just draining animals…"
Silence. And then…
"I know. And I agree. But Hayate comes first."
Vita sighed and ran a hand up her forehead. "Definitely." Reaching to her chest, she grasped a hammer-shaped pendant and it expanded into a hammer resembling a metallic croquet mallet. "Sorry, whoever you are, but you're going down."
The pink glow grew closer, then descended to another rooftop and winked out.
"She's grounded," Vita reported, taking off. "I'm going in."
"Barrier coming up." The sky washed out into a mottled purple. "You're free to attack, Vita."
Vita grinned. "Finally."
~o~
Nanoha touched down on a skyscraper in downtown Uminari and dispelled her magic. She walked over to the edge of the building, taking in the view. It was spectacular, showing off the glittering buildings and the flow of the car and foot traffic below. This was one of her favorite spots, and one she'd visited many times. The young mage leaned onto her elbows on the concrete ledge. Just taking in the sights and sounds.
However, the quiet moment was shattered by purple creeping across the sky, washing out the color of the surrounding cityscape. "A phase barrier!" Nanoha gasped, quickly transforming and throwing up a wide-area shield.
A good thing, too, because it had barely gone up when a red meteor fell out of the sky and slammed… hammer-first into it? Regardless, the barrier only held up briefly, but reflex kicked in and Nanoha was already rolling out of the way. She hit her feet and took the air, eye and magic taking in her assailant.
It was a redheaded girl about her age, wielding a gleaming hammer and clad all in red. And Nanoha did not like the look of focused violence in her expression.
"Why are you attacking me?" Nanoha shouted.
Her assailant didn't answer, rocketing up again. Nanoha banked to her left and quickly cast a spread of Divine Shooter. The red warrior, who had turned taken off in chase, spun her body and hammer around, batting aside the orbs. What looked like steel ball bearings appeared in her hand, and she tossed them into the air and smashed them with her hammer right at Nanoha.
They came in erratic trajectories, but Nanoha had already been zig-zagging and the ones that didn't miss were caught on a Round Shield. In return, her assailant had to deal with the Divine Shooter bolts coming back around for another pass – which she did by casting a barrier of her own. More Divine Shooter bolts followed in an attempt to box in the enemy mage, but they were met by more steel balls in a burst of pink smoke.
"Seriously, why are you attacking me?" Nanoha shouted in the lull that followed. "I don't understand!"
"Just stand still so I can smash your face in!" the hammer-wielding maniac shouted in response, firing off more steel balls.
They were met by more Divine Shooter bolts, and Nanoha braced for another melee attack. Naturally, her assailant blurred from sight. 'Flash Move!' she realized, throwing up a Round Shield and rapid-casting Restrict Lock. The shield blocked the hammer strike, but the bind wasn't so successful, only grabbing the wrist of her opponent's hammer arm. And she destroyed the binding with alarming speed.
It did, thankfully, allow Nanoha to gain some distance to try a new gambit. She fired off Divine Shooter to attract attention. It worked; the enemy mage evaded and sped towards her, Nanoha turning around and turning it into a stern chase. The steel balls didn't come immediately, so the young mage waited… and waited…
CLANG!
At the sound of more steel balls being fired, Nanoha blurred from sight herself, reappearing in front of her surprised opponent with Raising Heart reared back. "Flash Impact!" she declared, swinging.
Somehow, the enemy mage shifted the shaft of her hammer just enough to catch Raising Heart on it. Still, the explosion of mana at least forced her back, and Nanoha quickly switched to Shooting mode, and charged up and fired an admittedly weak Divine Buster.
The look of surprise on her assailant's face just before it hit was priceless.
SHCHOOM!
Nanoha paused, watching, and her assailant came out of the resulting cloud of smoke a second later. Sadly, little damage had been done, though her hat had gotten blasted off and was floating to the ground, scorched.
"You… knocked off my hat," the enemy mage breathed. Nanoha's stomach dropped down to her shoes at the half-despondent, half-furious tone. "You damaged my hat." She looked up, her expression positively murderous. "Graf Eisen, load cartridge."
"Jawohl."
With the pounding of an industrial piston, the hammer rammed what looked like a bullet in a central, handle-mounted revolver chamber. With a surge of energy, the hammer changed shape, one end becoming a pointed wedge and the other sprouting nozzles for what looked like either rockets or jets. Nanoha, sensing the obvious danger, began to backpedal.
"Racketenform."
Too late.
With a roar of "YOU! HURT! MY! HAT!", the hammer's rocket motor ignited and spun the enemy mage at Nanoha with incredible speed. There was no time to shoot, no time to throw up a shield, not even any time to dodge. Nanoha only barely got Raising Heart's shaft up enough to deflect the point away from a direct hit to her chest. But even a skidding blow still felt like she'd been hit by a car.
Screaming in shock and pain, Nanoha was flung into the nearest building, through the glass façade and into a cubicle. She came to a rest in a heap of paper and cubicle wall, groaning in pain. Her chest ached, her breath came in strained gasps, and Raising Heart's shaft was visibly cracked. Worse, she heard a crunch of glass and looked up to find her assailant standing in the smashed window.
Struggling into a sitting position, Nanoha levelled Raising Heart at the girl. Sadly, her shaking arm took a lot away from the threat.
"W-Why-" Nanoha gasped. "Why are you doing this?"
To her surprise, her attacked grimaced, before pulling out a strange book out of nowhere that veritably dripped magic. "Nothing personal, kid," she said. "But I need your mana."
What that meant wasn't entirely clear, except that it was not a good thing. Nanoha tried to stand, cast a spell, something! But with a cry of pain she simply collapsed, Raising Heart bounced off the ground – and something in their collective control slipped, ever so briefly. Raising Heart's head glowed, and a Jewel Seed, thankfully still inactive, tumbled to the ground.
The enemy mage immediately recoiled, spitting out something in an unfamiliar language. That reaction, plus the mention of needing mana, gave Nanoha an idea.
"Wait!" she called out, hastily grabbing the Seed. "If you n-need mana…" She held up the Seed. "T-This is a battery. Kinda. I'm offering this to you-"
"In exchange for what?" the other mage sneered. "Your life?"
"No," Nanoha replied, getting a look of genuine shock. "You won't kill me. You don't want to hurt anyone, do you? But you think you have to. Well, I want to know why! What's so important that you have to attack people out of the blue?" As an afterthought, "Oh, and I want to make sure whatever your goal is isn't dangerous."
"And what's stopping me from just taking them?" the mage asked.
"That I'm pretty sure that would cause the twenty other Jewel Seeds like this one to unseal and spill out?" A pause. "Which would be bad."
The two stared at each other for a long moment before the enemy mage sighed and relaxed. "Yeah, that would be bad." The redhead ran a hand through her hair, and then pointed out the window. "Alright. Okay, you know that coffee shop a block down? The fancy one with lots of wrought iron and lace?" Nanoha nodded, having flown by it a few times. "Okay, meet me and my… partner there at-"
"Three in the afternoon," Nanoha offered. "I have school tomorrow."
"Three in the afternoon, right. Anyway, meet us there and we'll work out an exchange. The barrier should be down soon; you can leave then." The mage turned and took a step out the broken window. She stopped in the frame, stayed still for a second, and turned around. "By the way, my name's Vita. What's yours?"
"Nanoha Takamachi," Nanoha declared with all the dignity she could muster.
Dignity that was sorely deflated by the response she got.
"Well fought, Nantoka Takamichi. We should spar again sometime."
Vita promptly took off out the window before a sputtering, incredulous Nanoha could shout a correction for her name.
"It's Nanoha! Na-No-Ha!"
Grumbling under her breath, Nanoha slumped down onto the wreckage and heaved a sigh of relief. A sigh of relief that quickly turned into hyperventilating. She hastily re-sealed the Jewel Seed and then levered herself to her feet to find a paper bag.
~o~
"Zafira, lower the barrier," Vita ordered as soon as she got some distance.
She was met with silence. Silence that stretched on until just before she was going to snap back.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"This could fill the rest of the damn Book without hurting anyone else!" Vita snapped back. "I don't know about you, but I'm sick of lying to Hayate about how we're disobeying the one order she's given! If we can end this in a few days instead of a few months, yeah, I'm going to take a risk!"
Vita glanced up; the barrier was still up. Gritting her teeth, she landed on a nearby building.
"And if this doesn't work, I already beat her myself. With the two of us, we can just go back to Plan A, beat her up, and take one of those gems ourselves."
"You've made your point," Zafira replied. Out the corner of her eye, the barrier could be seen receding. "I'll go along with this plan. But you're explaining it to Signum."
Vita gulped, suddenly a lot less confident in her plan. "Yeah, that's fair." Swallowing audibly, she tried to push down the sudden bout of nerves, and actually mostly succeeded. Getting into the air again helped. "Anyway, what's Hayate cooking for dinner tonight?" she asked, a little eager.
"I believe this dish is called 'katsudon'…"