(Remove sentences within [] when posting, keep them in the document so you're aware of what they mean)
Amount of hugs needed: 5,259 [(6865+8417+7477+7368+7010+7653+{7846-7-20-21})/10 - Round up]
Amount of hugs found: 2,018
Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original.
… She had a nice, strange dream.
She was in a room made of cobblestone, a single window of stained glass letting in vibrant colored light and a framed bed with white translucent curtains in the complete center of the room. Everything also seemed larger for some reason, like it was made for a giant rather than a human, there was also the fact that there weren't any actual lights aside from the window and she was on a table.
There was a creak, like that of a heavy wooden door being pushed open, and shortly after came happy giggling somewhere behind her as someone entered the room, she couldn't turn around for some reason but that didn't bother her much. She heard… something that sounded like words, but she couldn't make sense of them… it wasn't English or Japanese though that was certain. "- -~ Bist du schon wach? [- -~ Are you up yet?]"
A girl, or at least she assumed it was a girl from the long hair and her size in relation to the grand window and bed, skipped into her field of view and started rummaging around the room for random items. She was wearing a dress, a bright white with an embroidery of red wings on the back, and seemingly nothing else aside from a similarly white bow in her hair that served no purpose other than decoration. The girl herself though was as strange as the place she was in, loose black hair reaching her back, skin pale enough to imply she'd rarely seen the sun and carrying around some… contraption in her arms. "Mutter lässt uns gehen und im Garten spielen für ein bisschen, bevor wir zum Unterricht gehen müssen! [Mother's letting us go out and play in the garden for a bit before we have to go to lessons!]"
After that sentence, whatever it meant, was said, she stopped her rummaging and set down the contraption on the floor and began doing… something to it, the simplest way to put it was 'working on it', like everything else in this dream she had no idea what purpose that served. Upon not receiving any answer after a while, the girl stopped and looked in her direction, stopping her tinkering on the contraption, before placing it on her arm and making her way over to the table she was settled on.
Two different colored eyes, one a strange dull yellow eye and the other a pitch-black eye with a red ring surrounding where the pupil was… like Razing Heart if the Device was an eye instead of a jewel, stared at her, both seemingly sad for some reason as a disappointed frown marred her face. "… - -? Schläfst du noch? ... Wann wirst du aufwachen und mich wieder unterhalten? [… - -? Are you still sleeping? … When are you going to wake up and keep me company again?]" For some reason, she felt herself begin to speak, and the girl's face immediately brightened to the point of rivaling a full moon as a smile blossomed, the first strange word was on the verge of her tongue -
And then the dream ended, and she woke up to a blindingly bright, white ceiling.
Immediately she closed her eyes in the face of the blinding white, and slowly blinked her eyes open and closed until she could actually see and not be blinded by the ceiling that wasn't her own, hers was more muted and didn't have as much light. The second thing she noticed upon waking, was she couldn't move any of her limbs or sit up and each time she tried there was a rattling sound… why was she bound in emerald chains to a table? Oh… that's right, she'd been beaten by the Admiral and the strange teacup-hammer and uppercutted by a hammer directly to her head… there was the reason for her lapse in memory.
After clarifying where she was… somewhat, she turned as best as she could to look around the equally blinding white room, noting a few machines that were apparently plugged into her, something that looked like an IV, and several tables holding medical equipment… wasn't she meant to be in cell or something similar? The fourth thing she noticed after all this was something that bothered her slightly more than the fact that she was in what amounted to jail, her katana and Razing Heart were nowhere in her line of sight, and she was back in her normal attire… she had expected the former to happen, she was under arrest or similar after all, but not the latter…
She was about to continue looking around at what little remained when the single door to the room opened, revealing the Admiral and some man in a labcoat talking to one another, only for the man to stop mid-sentence when he noticed her up. For some reason the man saw fit to point at her with his face set in shock, "You! How are you up? You're not supposed to be awake for another week at the least!" … That didn't make any sense… everyone was supposed to wake up every day regardless of how injured or tired they were, that was what Otou-sama had drilled into her head.
The Admiral… Lindy was her name, was calmly sipping from a teacup as the man darted over to one of the machines with a monitor on it to check something, then moved to another to do the same thing while continually muttering under his breath. The chains rattled again as she adjusted herself slightly to a bit more comfortable, the… 'Doctor' immediately focusing on her with a severe expression on his face, a casual "I was uncomfortable." managing to make his expression tighten… strange.
"Uncomfortable? Uncomfortable?! Most of the muscles in your limbs are torn, your entire skeletal system has cracks through it, and you have a concussion courtesy of the Admiral! And that isn't even including your left leg is shattered into thirteen pieces! You shouldn't be able to stand up or move, let alone fight just from the pain!" … So? She already knew her muscles were torn, she had felt them tear themselves apart, same for her skeleton and left leg especially, though knowing the entire thing was riddled with cracks was a surprise, and the concussion made itself known rather easily… Why was this man just stating things she already knew?
He seemed to be getting frustrated with her lack of response or concern, at least he seemed to until Lindy coughed and brought herself back to his attention, upon which he pinched his nose and seemed to 'calm' down and continue checking the equipment, though he remained annoyed at her for whatever reason he had. And with that she received the full attention of the serenely smiling woman… great.
"It's good to see you awake, even if it's abnormal for you to be up after that kind of injury, you should really know better than to fight when you have no hope of winning." … Why was it good for her to be awake and why were they saying it wasn't normal for her to be up? The woman seemed to notice the confusion she felt, since her smile dimmed a bit before returning to normal, but she continued rather than explain why. "Well, now that you're up, we can get to a few questions for as long as you're able to." … An interrogation, she'd expected that, she could handle that. "First question, what's your name?"
Her name… she'd given her name to Fate and Arf, the Enforcer and Admiral must have heard it with Scrya-san shouting it during the skirmish above the ocean, it wouldn't hurt to give her name, not her titles, just her name. "Takamachi Nanoha." The woman took a sip of her tea after her name was said, seemingly in thought over something before stopping and nodding her head.
"Takamachi Nanoha… the culture here says their family name first and then their given name… I think. I really should have gotten to that chapter in the book before meeting a local." And then she started musing to herself in the middle of an interrogation… and the 'doctor' kept working without a single look… was she really this eccentric all the time that people were used to it? Lindy shook her head lightly after a moment of musing, eventually dragging herself out of her eccentricity and getting back to… drinking more tea… this woman was strange. "Second question, why are you after the Lost Logia?"
… Lost Logia… what was that? This time she schooled her expression to not show her confusion, keeping her smile 'normal' and remaining silent, even if she didn't know what that was, she could guess they were just a different name or classification for the Jewel Seeds, but aside from that she had no idea. Either way she stayed silent for a good minute before the woman's smile started to slip and she moved on to the next question, "Well… if you're not going to answer we'll move on. Do you mind explaining why your Device is set to lethal?"
Once more she didn't know, though this time it was less understanding the question and more she didn't know the answer, so again she remained silent and watched as the woman's left eye twitched twice before she let out a sigh and put a hand to her face. "You were cooperating so nicely when you first woke up, and now you're as still as a statue and not saying anything at all…" … She didn't expect that to sound like a somewhat dignified whine… and then she composed herself almost immediately after… there had to be a word past eccentric for Lindy, this was becoming far too strange.
"… Last question, since I highly doubt you'll cooperate and I have to ask something else to follow protocol, can you explain how you're able to shrug off shooting spells?" This last question she could answer, though she was entirely sure it would be worthless to the woman, so she opened her mouth and gave her one word reply.
"Magic."
The Admiral stared blankly at her the moment the word finished, as did the 'Doctor' the moment he comprehended the word, and then the woman's hand rose and held her face before shaking her head and taking a deep breath. She'd be lying if she said she didn't find Lindy's reaction a bit funny, though she tried her best not to let it show and mostly succeeded aside from a twitch of her smile, something that thankfully went unnoticed.
It took a short minute for the woman to compose herself after that, a sigh uttered before she began shaking her head, "I knew that was going to be said, I knew that would be said and still wasn't prepared for it…" Ceasing her head-shaking, Lindy looked back at her, donned the serene smile she apparently liked to wear once more, and reached and patted her on the head twice. "Well, I have other things to attend to Nanoha… chan… Nanoha-chan, yes. So, I must leave you for now, until this case is over you'll unfortunately be under military arrest. I'll try and get you a cup of tea on my next visit, I'm still trying to get the right mixture together but I know you'll enjoy it."
And with that the Admiral was gone, and she was confused… she might as well start planning an escape, Otou-sama wouldn't be happy that she wasn't home before ten last night, and she was only making the hole deeper the longer she made him wait. And then the 'Doctor' came over with a needle, gauze and far too many bandages… well, it appeared she was getting her injuries treated… that was annoying but helpful.
This would be a long wait, wouldn't it?
Hmm… what could possibly have delayed Nanoha enough that she would break the curfew beat into her by her mother? … Then again that curfew was almost entirely just 'be home and rest before three A.M.', not much else, but still in the four years that'd she'd listen to her mother, Nanoha had never broken that curfew, even now when she went out late at night and came home with injuries. Scrya-san had returned alone with a dejected air surrounding him a bit after dark, he'd been guilty about something and had refused the food Miyuki-chan had tried to give him.
Haa… Of course Nanoha had this kind of employer for her first… it would have been kinder to both Scrya-san and her if she'd had a heartless employer the first time.
A hesitant knock on his door brought him out of his thoughts, the knock itself and the way it was delivered telling him immediately it was the boy he had just thought about, Kyōya-kun knocked more… assuredly while Miyuki-chan and Nanoha never knocked. "Enter." Without even so much as a breath, he gave permission for Scrya-san to enter his room, the boy skittish to be in here along with tension as if he expected something bad to happen. He had no reason for either of those to be directed at him, it was only Nanoha, and before her Momoko, that warranted that reaction.
He picked up his cooling tea and took a sip of it with one hand, the other beckoning Scrya-san to sit with him, which the boy hesitantly did… was he really that unnerving to a stranger? … Momoko-chan and Nanoha must have rubbed off on him without his notice, and there was also the fact that he had to be 'blank' when around Nanoha… that was an idiotic clan tradition he was forced to uphold. "Scrya-san, what brings you to my humble room this evening?"
The boy fidgeted and he felt a twinge of annoyance bubble once, normally reserved for the idiots that thought they knew swordsmanship better than him, before he clamped down on it, there was a reason Scrya-san was here, and he'd be patient with the boy. Finally, after a minute of silence and tea-sipping, Scrya-san brought himself to speak, and though his voice wavered in the beginning, he held onto something and delivered his question, "Are you… Are you worried for your daughter and wondering where she is?"
Was he worried for her? No, not in the slightest, Nanoha was trained in the ways of the 'Royal' branch of the Takamachi clan, she was prepared by her mother and by himself for the outside world, no he wasn't worried for her. Did he wonder where she was, absolutely, however he wouldn't let his thinking distract him from the routine Momoko-chan and himself had, and he still, stuck to. So he said as such without a hint of doubt, "No, I do not worry for her, though I do wonder where she's managed to get herself now."
Scrya-san looked at him with surprise, clearly expecting… something else instead of his answer, perhaps he was treated to overly-worrying parents or family far too much and it seemed to rub off on his expectations. For a short few moments the boy seemed too shocked to speak before he finally brought himself together, a slight amount of anger tainting his voice and visage as he spoke, "Are you really that unconcerned for your daughter's wellbeing?"
Unconcerned, not in the slightest. He worried for her, he worried that one day he was going to have to bury an empty coffin for a girl who never married, he worried that he'd never get a grandchild to spoil, he worried that he'd never get to see Nanoha's smile again, fake as it was it was still a beautiful thing to look at. He worried far more than he should, Nanoha could take care of herself, she'd proved as much when she'd earned the right to be considered a Monster and prodigy in her first spars against Momoko-chan.
"Scrya-san." The boy immediately lost all of his anger when he heard his voice, tension instead welling up as he assumed that he'd said something wrong and was treading on dangerous ground, well at least his 'cold voice' still had the desired effect even after not using it for five years. "I have my reasons for not being worried, and should you know what those reasons are you would share my 'lack of concern'."
His guest appeared hesitant after his… 'loss of composure', as he should for indirectly claiming he didn't care for his daughter, before the boy gave a question he… probably should have expected in response. "Then… please, could you explain why you have so much faith in her?" Explain why? That was a simple enough request… though how to go about it, there was the short version, and then the long, history-filled version. He'd give the choice to the boy.
"There are two ways for me to explain, one is the short way, and the other is the long way. There would also be the very-long version, but that's not something that can be told in a night. Choose and you'll get an explanation Scrya-san." The boy took a moment to register the choice, and then spent a good half-minute deliberating on which to choose, eventually coming to a decision.
"The long version… and could you just call me Yuuno? After everything that's happened because of me I don't deserve to be addressed with respect." Somehow, he had expected the long version would be the one chosen, though he hadn't expected his guest to try and refuse the respect he was due. It wouldn't do to address an employer, even if he wasn't the one employed, without respect… nor would it due to go against their wishes… there was an option.
"As you wish Yuuno-san, this will be a bit long, so make yourself comfortable." The boy twitched at the sound of the honorific being put with his name, but otherwise just nodded and shifted into a more comfortable position. Now then onto story-telling… ha, if only Momoko-chan were still alive, she was so much better when it came to these things. Well he might as well start at where the family became a clan and the man that had prompted that change.
"The Takamachi clan has been around since at least the Sengoku Jidai, roughly five hundred and fifty years ago during the time of civil war, and they have lived and thrived during that century and the centuries since until the second World War, roughly sixty years ago. They are related to a great swordsman of legend, a man named Sasaki Kojirō who was renowned for being the rival of Miyamoto Musashi and for developing a technique that let him cut swallow that was in flight. The clan that would adopt this warrior into their family would be a clan of monsters in human skin, utterly ruthless to their enemies and protective of their secrets and kin."
"In the time since then there have been twelve branches of the family, though only three are alive to this day. I will not speak of the dead branches, for they are entitled to their rest and to name them would wake them from a well-earned sleep, or so the clan laws say. The first of the three is the remains of our branch, the 'Royal' branch or the branch from which all others were born, they are the ones who have kept true to the legacy of Sasaki Kojirō and fight in a style similar to his. None of his descendants have come close to his level of skill, and the only prodigy we have produced that is anywhere near his level is Nanoha, and she's nowhere near his level when he died to Musashi-sama."
"Out of all the branches, theirs is the one with the most claim to Sasaki's legacy, and so the title of 'Heir of Sasaki Kojirō' belongs solely to them, and with that comes the title of clan head. Due to me not being a Takamachi by blood, I merely hold these titles until Nanoha comes of age, a regent of sorts if you will. I won't go into detail on the other two branches, for they aren't relevant to what you have asked, if you want to know more about them and the rest of the branches we'll speak another time."
After that long-winded explanation, he took a deep breath and exhaled, focusing back on the boy to notice him seemingly enraptured with his explanation… far too enraptured for simple interest, but not yet an obsession. Well, he had a little bit left to say before he moved on to why he wasn't worried for Nanoha, not much but enough that it would hopefully sate the boy. "A last thing I can add before I go off-topic is a circumstance that happened only recently, a 'reunion' of sorts occurred roughly… ten years ago between my old clan, the Takamachi clan and the Mikami clan. I will simply say that the end result left two clans dead, and the third lost over a quarter of its members, it was not a pleasant day."
A quick glance showed that Yuuno-san was slightly reeling away from him and had a look of sadness on his face, so he was interested more on the farther history of the clan rather than the clan itself, a good thing to know. Another breath in and an attempt to sip his tea ended with him noticing his was somehow out of tea… he shouldn't have drunk that much tea in during his explanation already… "Shirō-san? Is something wrong?"
The question registered quickly and he shook his head in response, waiting a single beat before giving a reply to ease the 'worry' the boy had, "Oh, just wondering where all the tea went is all, and a bit of reminiscing about the clans and branches. Nothing you need worry about Yuuno-san." His audience didn't look convinced, but nodded anyway in reply before waiting on him again to continue his explanation, now came his Momoko-chan.
"My wife, Takamachi Momoko, heiress of Sasaki Kojirō and 18th clan head of the Takamachi, was a monster that hid her true nature far too well. A gentle smile in place and eyes that were set into serenity that only changed if you managed to surprise her, she was graceful and beautiful, and Nanoha takes after her physically to a somewhat uncanny degree. She was no prodigy of the clan, but she made up for that with honing her skills to the point she was the match of most adults by the time she was only fourteen. She was not set to be the next clan head, her cousin was set to inherit when her uncle passed, but then the incident occurred and left her as the sole survivor of the 'Royal' Branch and the de-facto clan head."
"She held many scars on her body, much like Nanoha does, though none of them marred her beauty… most she received from her hellish training that she imparted on her children and myself, while the rest were obtained from incident and our first meeting. I can proudly say I got four strikes on her before she kicked me and knocked me out, that's more than any non-Takamachi can claim." A chuckle left his lips involuntarily, that had been… an interesting day in his life, and not one he'd like to repeat ever again.
Shaking his head of the somehow fond memory, he went back to speaking of Momoko-chan and reminiscing about the good memories. "Despite hiding the guise of a monster, she loved me and her children, even with the older two not being hers. She was kind and gentle, always knowing how to soothe one's troubles with a gesture or phrase, yet full of rage should something happen to what little of her family remained. My Momoko-chan, she was quite the angel, a shame really that she never could have met you or seen her daughter grow up, I have a feeling she would have enjoyed speaking with you."
He paused for a moment, closing his eyes and breathing calmly as he reigned his emotions in, it wouldn't do for him to cry in front of an employer, even if it was a boy and they were speaking about his wife. Regaining his composure after a short few moments, he opened his eyes again and continued on to Nanoha. "Takamachi Nanoha… my second daughter and clan head the moment she comes of age…" And at that pause he gave a piercing 'glare' at Yuuno-san, an action that made the boy freeze up and wonder what he'd done wrong, well he'd oblige the boy's curiosity.
"Due to a convoluted tradition developed during the Sengoku Jidai or prior, any Takamachi that is handed their life-long weapon is considered an adult, at the time this was considered to be whenever they reached a degree of skill that their guardians deemed good enough. Now however, a Takamachi gains their weapon whenever they complete their first job, and you so happened to stumble upon my Nanoha and gave her a job." And with that the boy took a few seconds for the words to register, realization ad tiny bit of 'horror' stretched across his face… he hated this clan's traditions and laws, they made sense for the age they were made, but they were far too outdated for today's era.
"Seeing as you understand now, I'll continue on. Nanoha is a prodigy among prodigies, even among Takamachi, she has zero self-preservation instincts and is more akin to the eldest branch of the family than the 'Royals'. She doesn't… understand how to interact with others, because she's more Monster than Human, though her fake smile tends to hide most of that ugly truth. Most that encounter her feel that she's wrong, her family and friends included, though they've become accustomed to her 'wrongness'."
"At the age of five, she started to be taught by her mother in the ways of the branch's ways. Two weeks in, she defeated her mother, disarmed her and held her at swordpoint. After that, she somehow became worse at fighting, though I've come to believe through my own training with her that she's limiting herself, for what reason I don't know nor do I think I'd understand. All I do understand is that should she wish to, she will lose herself and become the Monster, and nothing will be safe from her blood-lust, and that is why I do not worry for her safety."
His Nanoha was a monster, more so than Momoko-chan had been, more so than the branch heads he'd met in the past, even a clan of monsters had a Monster that they 'feared' would be made, a Monster like Sasaki and Miyamoto. There were only a few more things to say, and then he'd be able to reminisce without anyone around to notice his tears and laughter. "My wife made Nanoha promise her that she'd always smile, and the only reason she'd ever break that promise was if she'd lost something so important to her that it broke her… she hasn't broken that promise even in her sleep."
He remained silent for a while after that, taking several breaths before calmly looking at the boy who'd contracted with his daughter. "Well, that's enough for an evening Yuuno-san, I imagine you'll have another busy day tomorrow, so go get your rest." Said boy was somewhat in a daze before he collected himself enough and nodded, rising to his feet slowly and turning to leave through the door… wait, there was still a single thing left that the boy should know of before he left.
"One last thing Yuuno-san." The young boy stopped and sent a look back at him, a bit of curiosity and apprehension flitting on his face, a good set when faced with that statement. "Don't believe much of what Nanoha says when it comes to the past, she tends to lie to herself about certain things and believes those lies as the truth. Excepting her completely breaking mentally, I doubt she'll ever be rid of those lies of hers. I've taken enough of your time, and the time is getting older so off to bed with you, there's a storm brewing for the morning and it'd be a shame if you missed it." Yuuno-san looked unsettled by the information but nodded in response before leaving for his room, maybe he would sleep, maybe he would stew over the information he'd received.
What Yuuno-san did didn't matter to him, he wasn't involved, and he had a favor to call in for his Nanoha, a sword needed to be forged and it would be grand and worthy of the Heiress of Sasaki. … Even if he never wished to make this sword be forged, he'd do it just so his daughter would have a beaming smile.
A day spent in chains, a day spent under the ministrations of a man wanting to 'heal' her and an Admiral wanting to 'talk' to her, a day spent in blinding white and dull grey. A single day spent waiting until she was left alone by the doctor, and the 'guard' left her for somewhere else.
Several of the chains rattled as she shifted slightly, pulling the links as far as they would go before letting them relax again. She could work with the distance, she just needed enough mana and a little time, and then she'd be free to run… hopefully. She didn't really know how strong these chains were, not when she only barely strained against them to put up a mask of passivity and keep them less guarded around her.
It was almost time to follow the whispering, almost time to find her sword and Razing Heart and return to Scrya-san and Otou-sama.
Finally, she felt she had spent long enough waiting in emerald chains, and so she began. Mana poured into her right arm, her 'strength' and 'endurance' spells flaring to life in just that arm before she jerked it up and against the chain. The whispers sounded again, a bit clearer, but still not able to be understood… it was a single voice, with a slight echo and it sounded feminine, it sounded nice and soothing, like Okaa-sama. Her arm hit the chain, and without even a single struggle, 'snapped' under the force she put on it… she expected that the chain would be harder to break than that, well out of the two, it was better to overestimate than it was to underestimate.
While that thought processed, her body kept moving on its own, another pouring of mana into her left arm resulting in a similar outcome before both turned the chains keeping her upper body bound to the table, her focus returning as she tore those chains away and sat up. A light stretch worked out the accumulated kinks in her body, before she turned her attention to the last four chains keeping her legs bound, they lasted only a few seconds all together.
Whispering, gentle, serene whispering echoed in her head as she moved off to the side of the table, it sounded like a melody, a melody that only she and the whisperer were privy to. Her mana moved to encompass and embrace all of her bones and muscles, a bracing made for her shattered leg as well before she let her feet touch the ground and hold her again, immediately stumbling a step before catching herself on the bed. Her legs were numb… she should've expected that.
Half a minute was spent waiting for her legs to gain feeling again, and in that she turned to look at the door as best as she could… it had a keypad… which probably meant that the important places she needed to get to were behind the same kind of security measures. Well, stealth certainly wasn't an option today it seemed… time for tentative 'Plan B' then, this would either go horribly wrong, or she'd just make it.
The half-minute was up, she braced herself for impact and charged the door with her 'speed' spell drifting into place alongside her other augments. With a crash, she smashed into the door and dented it with a low groan from the impact, a second charge making a rent in the metal that let her see a bit of whatever lied outside, a third and final charge forcing her through the door and into the dim, near-black hallway lit in red. Ignoring the ache in her body from the repeated bashing, as well as the several cuts dotting her body from the ruptured door, she picked herself up and took off down the left hallway, following the whispering and trusting it would lead her to her blade and Device.
She ran, and ran, turned left, kept running forward, listened to the whispers, kept straight, and turned right. The whispering was growing louder and louder as she kept moving, but never reached above what it was or could be made out. But that was alright, because it was gentle and sounded like Okaa-sama and nothing bad could have Okaa-sama's voice.
One last turn and the whispering was set in front of her, down a long, near-barren hallway lined with a few doors and at the end was yet another door, one with a light and what looked like a sign set outside it. She paid no attention to those little objects, and focused instead on the door as she sprinted towards it, bracing herself and leveling her shoulder for the impact while also flooding her body with mana. Several seconds passed and she neared the door, two steps before she'd make contact with it found her leaping shoulder-first into the door, a second later a crash sounded as she barged into the door and tore off a single side of it.
She landed terribly but managed to pick herself up quickly, meeting a man in clothing similar to the 'Doctor's' cowering in shock a bit farther away in the room and dismissing him as unimportant. She noted the tables filled with equipment, dismissed them just as rapidly as she heard the whisperings pull her gaze away from them and to a table far at the back of the rather large room. There atop it, as she made her way through the plethora of equipment and tables was her treasures and her Device, seemingly untouched, though surrounded by instruments of research.
With haste, she picked up her scabbard and blade, placing the latter back into its home before thinking better and leaving a small bit of metal to show, then picking up her device and listening as the whispering faded away… So close, so very close to understanding it, so close to hearing Okaa-sama's voice again…
Without any warning an alarm went off, startling and sending her darting towards the door and outside, Razing Heart embedded into her blade in a single motion as pink engulfed her and put her in the Barrier Jacket she made. Without any guidance, she had no idea where she was supposed to be going… well she probably should have thought that through first, too late now.
Once more she ran, amidst the blaring red lights and alarm ringing its klaxon she sprinted down the halls in a random direction, vaguely hearing something shouting above the siren that couldn't be understood. Turning the corner, she saw what was she thought the source was, a pair of officers… or combatants, she didn't know the difference between the two, only that they were holding staff-like weapons and stopped the moment they saw her… a stupid mistake on their parts.
A platform was made, eagerly greeting her step with an explosion that sent her hurtling forward, her sword drawn with its sheathe and clicking as she skidded along the metal floor straight at the closest of the two. Without slowing she barreled into the woman of the two, knocking her legs out from under her before immediately pivoting as fast as possible to point herself at the man, a platform manifesting for her with a thought and sending her up to crash into him and lift them both off the ground into the air. Another platform was made against the man and detonated the mana within, sending herself careening downwards back at the woman, while the man continued upwards into the ceiling with a hollow 'bang' before bouncing and beginning to fall back down.
Another bang echoed through hallway as she landed on the woman, driving her into the metal floor before she picked herself up and continued running forward to find a way out. Another group met her at the end of the hallway, and they too paused the moment they caught sight of her… were people really that dumb to stop in surprise? Regardless, she proceeded to handle them with the same ease she'd handled the other two.
The first of the four was rammed into the wall opposite of her, followed by a fist to the woman's head which knocked her out, immediately pivoting around and lashing out with her sheathed blade at the second one… and her sword crushed the stave without any effort at all… apparently these devices were very brittle. Just another thing they really needed to address… this was stupid how much of difference between them and the Enforcer there was. A kick followed her breaking of the weapon, catching her opponent off-guard and sprawling them out on the ground, the third also caught unaware as she let her weapon fly directly at his face.
By the time the last had finally collected herself enough to fight, she was already in front of her driving an elbow into her gut, backing off a step as the woman doubled over, then without any remorse drove her knee into their face. An exchange that lasted barely ten seconds… were people really this weak with magic normally? Despite that wondering her body went and collected her weapon quickly before running off in another direction… eventually she'd find the way out… hopefully.
She only met a single other person in the hallways after… some amount of time, a man without a stave and dressed differently than the rest of the people she'd seen so far today, a blue suit-like clothing instead of the beige-brown uniform the people with staves wore. Barely four seconds passed and the man was down, tripped and flung into the wall after she grabbed his leg and turned, and she kept running down the hallway… it was getting annoying not knowing where to go.
Eventually after many turns and straight hallways, alongside an occasional whispering that soothed her annoyance, she encountered a door in the dim light… and proceeded to barge through it with another crash. The first thing she was greeted to was something she didn't expect to ever hear… Lindy was a strange woman… "Oh my… I didn't expect you to just break out a day after waking up. But did you have to break the door off its frame?" … Yes, yes she did, since that was the only way she'd be able to get through the door in the first place.
Regardless she looked up and to the left at the Admiral, who'd apparently rose from a seat atop a raised platform and was looking at her with a smile, and gave a light nod in reply… why was the woman taking this in stride so well… and where was her teacup? And then the woman decided to speak again as she looked around and noticed all of the glass and consoles littering the room, and beyond the glass… some mass of color that hurt to look at, a bridge of some kind? "Do you have any idea how much that door costs?" … Why was that a question? She gave a shrug in reply, even if she could have a rough estimate, the Bureau probably didn't use yen and she didn't think there was a conversion rate for their currency…
"Neither do I." And with that she heard a series of thumps as something collapsed in response to those words… and she honestly would have joined them if she wasn't in this situation… the Admiral deserved something better than the word eccentric to describe her. Now she looked a bit annoyed for some reason as she turned to look behind her on the opposite side of the platform… there were stairs that led up to the platform… "Well… would any of you like to 'fess up and tell me where you've hidden Bob this time?"
… Lindy didn't have her device… her own crew had hid it from her… for some reason that felt justified just from the titles it had given and the fact that it was a teacup, but even still... that was stupid…
Choosing to just ignore that entire thought process, difficult as it was, she calmly walked up the stairs as Lindy turned back to regard her after some noise rustled as someone or something rushed off to somewhere. A quick glance to the side showed her some strange alcove with several lights lining it, a whisper flitting through her thoughts at the sight which made her 'curious' about the alcove. She turned her head back to the Admiral, casually bringing her right hand up to grip her sheathe and pull it off with a quiet ring, though with the sudden silence it made the sound echoed loudly through the room.
Mana was prodded into the metal with a nudge as she took a step backwards, motes gliding off the metal to surround and comfort her as another step into the alcove was made, the Admiral raising an eye at whatever it was she was doing, but saying nothing. … Whatever this was, it was important, it wouldn't be on the bridge if it wasn't… and everything she'd seen of their technology, meager as that amount was, required mana to use, what it did… well there was no harm in trying since she understood nothing of where she was.
Imagine it working, light filling the chamber and doing something to send her back to her city, pour mana out, fill the chamber with mana to make the light, sparse but enough to cover her from view, and then… launch the motes and a slash at the machine when she was in transit to make it unusable after she was done. And with that, her mana flared and she stumbled lightly as the ground rocked gently in response while her vision swam in pink, then she felt herself… dissolve and disappear right after she sent the slash at one of the walls.
She still got to hear Lindy say something that she found a bit of amusement in before she vanished from wherever she was, "This is why you don't steal the Admiral's device until we're in transit. Now…"
She saw again shortly after, and was immediately blinded by looking into the sun… was it rising or setting now? No, that didn't matter currently, a blink and she opened an eye again and saw complete whiteness everywhere… and noted that she felt like she was falling… Two seconds later she was past the white, and registered them as clouds… wait…
And with that observation she immediately twisted in the air and looked down… why was everything flooded and there were two collapsed skyscrapers, and why were there explosions sounding below her? A moment later she berated herself and started making platforms to try and slow her done, or at the very least ensure she didn't hit the building directly below her. The first one manifested directly above her... the second, third and fourth shattered without slowing her down a bit, and the fifth through twentieth barely slowed her, though thankfully diverted her enough that she wouldn't hit the skyscraper directly in the center… the side though…
A moment later after realizing that with multiple other platforms made in her hopeful trajectory, she crashed through the side of the building, glass shattered, concrete smashed and steel bent in her wake before she bounced off into the ocean below with a plume of water… On one hand she was happy that the building slowed her down, on the other… she was now in a lot of pain, her body ached, and she was seeing dou- no tr-… what was the word for five again?
Anyway, before she drowned due to a lapse in attention, she made a platform… that was above not below like she needed, and proceeded to detonate it and send her back to the surface… no she was right the first time. Roughly a dozen seconds later, and several failures of platforms, she managed to surface and take a breath, gasping briefly before pulling herself onto a platform and looking around the flood city… a barrier was likely. After a few moments searching and listening to rather loud whispering and explosions, she finally managed to spot one of the explosions happening, and the darting figures making them.
Fate and the Enforcer were coming her way… best give them a proper greeting, even if she should be writhing in agony from broken bones and torn muscles from that landing… nothing mana bracing wouldn't fix for the moment, even if it would only be temporary. The platform eagerly awaited her command, she reigned in its desire though and waited patiently, making it siblings to wait with them as she tensed for the pain and rapid movement to follow and the she was off. A detonation up from the ocean brought her into the sky again, her body turning the meet the next before it too sent her flying towards the next, and then again for a third time she flew directly into their midst.
They weren't prepared for a third person to join in on their battle, that was evident by the fact that startled in response to her sudden appearance, the Enforcer barely managing to move enough that she lightly grazed his shoulder, while she merely flew over Fate who promptly ducked the moment she appeared. She landed against a platform hard, cracking the 'surface' before letting it drop and place her on another that wasn't going to let her slip off towards the water below, spinning around to take in the looks of surprise that swiftly turned into seriousness, her smile twitching once in response before she gave them a wave, and promptly noticed she still had her sheathe in her hand.
"Good morning~" And with that both were confused again as she put her sheathe back in its proper place, before she kickstarted the battle again with two statements, "No reason for a truce today, the winner takes the rest's Jewels. I don't plan to lose."
AN: For a clarification on why Bob was taken from Lindy, there are two reasons.
1. Bob likes to 'discipline' the crewmembers that screw up in some manner, which can range from him giving them terrible tea, to 'headpats', to subjecting them to an 'Excalibur' story, normally Lindy will let him run amok as it tends to promote more effectiveness in her crew, though when things get serious she'll put a stop to his antics. In the current case, the seriousness was mostly past seeing as they only had one main combatant left to deal with, so the crew decided to make sure
2. Lindy gets drunk on tea… and Bob makes his own tea for Lindy and almost never runs out of supplies… Lindy also tends to be unproductive when she's tea-drunk in addition to being a 'bad' drunk.
And just so that you all are aware of Nanoha's condition at the time of this fight, roughly 10% of her is perfectly healthy, roughly 65% of her is minor injuries, and the remaining roughly 25% is major wounds. Also after her stunt with the teleporter, her mana reserves are at 37%. 'Good luck to Nanoha' would be appropriate to say, no?