Amount of Hugs needed: 12,007
Amount of Hugs found: 6,086
Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original.
AN: Nanoha's much more graceful with a sword. That is all.
It wasn't right. It wasn't right for her to be angry. It wasn't right for her to make this personal when she was done, it was only an item after all…
No… it wasn't just an item, it was her treasure, one of only two. It was her gift, one of only two, given to her by her Okaa-sama. Takamachi never celebrated birthdays, nor did they give gifts for no reason, so whatever they did get as gifts were worth more to them than family. It was worth feeling rage. It was worth breaking the promise.
Sonnenlicht-Tanz. It wasn't fully ready, but she didn't care at all, she needed speed to keep pace with the Knight. It didn't matter if it broke her body, Razing Heart would fix her up. That's what she did.
"How… How the hell did you regenerate your damn arm!?" No answer was given, she didn't know nor care about something like that. All she wanted was to strangle the Knight for breaking it, and then she'd be able to let go.
With a hard push and a detonation, she closed the distance between them in seconds without any warning, the Knight's eyes widening again as she tried to bring up her hammer. She hit the other girl square in the chest just after the hammer made it halfway to where it was supposed to be, a gasp sounding before the Knight went flying into the building's wall.
No hesitation was in her as she immediately followed after the girl, the fist holding Razing Hear rearing back for when the Knight stopped and smashed her again through the wall. Alarms started wailing as she strode through the breach, barely hearing Razing Heart over the angry whispers. "Schwarze Wirkung. Genießen Sie die Schlachtung, meine Seraph."
She felt something blossom on her hands and climb further to her elbows, something gleeful and hungry. She didn't like it. She didn't care about it though, anything to murder the Knight was welcome to aid her.
Continuing to walk forward, she found the Knight lifting herself back onto her feet, hammer used to prop her up. "Alright, Bitch. You wanna play rough?" "Alle tödlichen Funktionen sind aktiv." "Let's play fucking rough!" The voice grated on her nerves, she'd silence it eventually.
Launching forward again, she pulled back her fist and punched forward as she neared the girl, noting with disinterest that her arm was on fire, black flames, and she wasn't feeling heat. A red, triangular shield met her fist, cracking on impact almost to the point of shattering, but it held, barely.
The Knight pulled back her hammer, tossing up a large metal sphere in front of her before smashing the hammer into it and sending it through the now-shattered shield. The sphere plowed into her chest and sent her a few steps back before she threw her left hand out and the projectile with it, sending it through a car.
Charging again caught the Knight off-guard, somehow unexpected despite her being in full view, delivering a punch to the girl's chest that raised her off the ground for a moment before she was decked in the face again and sent flying. Nothing hurt. Nothing hurt. Nothing hurt but her heart.
Rushing forward again as the girl quickly tried to pick herself up before she got there, an action that failed as she kneed the girl in the face to send her up a bit stunned, punched her in the face back down, and finally kicked her out of the building through a shower of concrete and dust.
Stalking out of the building through the new hole, she quickly lost where her opponent was, immediately looking to the sky and searching. Something struck her in the back of the head, and made her step forward twice before turning back around.
Catching another blow to her cheek sent her another step back, an uppercut from the hammer missing as she took yet another step. The Knight managed to compensate enough that she didn't overextend, but by that point she was just sent flying down the road before scrabbling to a stop.
She was on the girl before she fully came to a stop, punching down only for her to dodge out of the way and swing the hammer again. Swatting the weapon up as it neared with her free hand, nearly making the girl lose it from the unexpected, she pulled her other hand from the ground and swung at the unbalanced girl.
The girl fell to the ground as she held the hammer until all of its momentum was lost, just fast enough that she missed and hit nothing but air, the Knight recovering quickly and swinging the hammer again to hit her in the chin. A step back and nothing more before she retaliated, smashing her foe back into the ground before kicking her into the side of a building hard enough to crack it.
A grunt in pain was all the Knight gave before falling to the ground, by that point she was steadily moving forward towards her, while the Knight slowly raised herself to her feet again. Break her, maim her, destroy. Three little thoughts all connected in purpose sent her into action, leaping from the middle of the street straight at the Knight.
The Knight managed to drop to the ground before she managed to hit her, flying over the girl and burying her fist in the cracked concrete, only to immediately pull it out in a cascade of rubble and whirl about again. A hit from the hammer struck her chest, a bit harder than the before hits and enough to send her into the ruined house, a low growl almost coming out before she calmed herself.
She was angry, she wasn't in madness. There was no reason to behave like an animal.
With a detonation at her feet, she flew out of the quickly deteriorating house and rammed directly into the girl, getting a gasp for her trouble and ending up with both of them on the road near the other sidewalk, her on top of the Knight. She got three punches, once in the nose, and twice to the jaw, before she got thrown off with something similar to an explosion, getting sent to what would have been the opposite side of the street.
Quickly she got back to her feet, and started stalking forward again, watching as the Knight got back to her feet with staggering feet, the clothing she had been wearing replaced with more 'normal' wear. She didn't care enough to take them in, barely caring to listen to what the girl said. "All I did… was break your Device… It'll repair itself…"
Okaa-sama was no mage, she had no Device. It wouldn't get repaired on its own, and it wouldn't be remade with mana. The Knight wouldn't know, but she still was at fault, and ignorance was not something that could forgive. The Knight caught her breath just as she bounded at her again, the girl leaping into the air quickly the moment the move registered and flying up as she stopped and prepared to go up after her.
At least, she did until a mass of mana vaguely resembling fire formed above the Knight and was quickly shot down at her. A moment of 'hesitation' passed before she went up to meet the projectile with aid from a platform, charging headfirst into the thing before it decided to explode in her face.
It barely slowed her down, a few lingering flames catching onto her Jacket and skin as she emerged from the smoke cloud, another platform of mana awaiting her before helping her continue up. "Oh, come on!" She didn't know why the Knight shouted that, nor did she care, but the action costed the other girl slightly as she reached her before the Knight had time to get away.
The hammer swung in tune with her fist, both somehow managing to arc directly into each other without actual aim from either of them. They both impacted with one another for a second, then two as they both tried desperately to overpower the other, before both launched back, with neither of them prepared to compensate.
Due to her type of 'flying', she was sent backwards with a slight turn while her opponent simply backed away slightly before catching herself. A platform greeted her, cracking under her for some reason, before she got her balance back, 'instinct', or whatever it could be called, warning her of something behind her that was trying to hurt her.
Whirling around, she grabbed the Knight's hammer with a hand and held firm as her foe tried in vain to complete the swing. The Knight's eyes widened in fear for a moment before she turned back around, taking the hammer and Knight with her, and sent the girl hurtling down into a building. She continued looking down for a moment before looking at her hand and the still-held hammer.
Not even bothering to listen to it as it said something in Belkan, she tossed it up, caught it by the handle and threw it down after the girl. She didn't wait for it to land, instead following after it to deal one more blow. The hammer landed first, burying itself next to the startled Knight, a few seconds later she was there, fist buried into the Knight's chest as the girl coughed blood.
The roof collapsed shortly after, three heavy impacts too much for it. She let the Knight fall, and slowly left her that way. She was tired now… full of rage, but tired, even the flames on her arms were dimmer and flickering, yet there was still something to do.
Her gift… one of the two things precious and dear… given by her Okaa-sama as she died… She needed to pick up the pieces, they'd fix it. She'd fix it for Okaa-sama.
Okaa-sama… Okaa-sama…
She didn't mean for it to break, it needed to be fixed, it needed to be fixed. She'd pick every piece up and repair it, she'd remake it for Okaa-sama, it needed to go back to her, for when the ashes would go to their proper place.
The hilt was over there, a bit in ahead where she'd dropped it, the metal was scattered like leaves. She'd pick them up, remake the sword and sheathe it again one more time. Her blade was almost here, there wasn't a need for Okaa-sama's blade to continue fighting anymore.
Engines were firing behind her, she didn't care enough to look around, too absorbed in her actions of picking up the remains Okaa-sama's gift. Steadily the noise grew closer, still she didn't look up, still picking up shards of metal as gently as she could.
A roar, one of desperation, anger and a bit of fear reached her ears, causing her to pause and listen. "RAKETENHAMMER!" Something hit the back of her head a second later, forcing her face-first down into the pavement with a thunderous crash, and an almost pain. She heard metal shattering over the engines screaming, before both eventually quieted. Something wet and another hard fell from the back of her head, the wet dripping through her hair and onto her face before piling on the ground.
The pain subsided, and she heard heavy breathing and footsteps from behind her. "Take… that… bitch…"
…
… That had been stupid of the Knight. Interrupting her when the Knight should have fled. Punishment was necessary.
Slowly she picked herself off the ground, uncaring that she felt nothing even though she should have, uncaring that her vision dipped from clear to blurred. "W-What the hell are you!? Why won't you fucking die!?" Fear. She heard Fear. Good.
"Die Zahl ist auf siebzig eingestellt. Man wird subtrahiert, die Zahl ist auf neunundsechzig eingestellt." Razing Heart gleefully said that, muffled as it was with her hand covering the Device.
For the second time since Okaa-sama's sword broke she spoke directly to the Knight, voice devoid of all but the barest hint of rage. "I am a Monster. You are not my Hero." That was all that needed to be said, everything was easy to understand.
Before she gave the girl a chance, she whirled around, grabbed her by the face, kneed her in the stomach and finally tossed her into another building. She wasn't tired any more, the flames weren't tired anymore.
There was still rage and hatred in her heart for this Knight.
Concrete fell from the wall, clattering against the ground as she stalked forward again while the Knight pried herself from the wall, hammer turning back to normal. "Well… Fuck." Even if she was furious with the girl, she agreed with the sentiment behind those words.
The flames flared back to wrathful life, eager to continue the fight after the further desecration of her treasure. This time a growl did emerge out of her throat, immediately snapping the Knight in place at the sheer rage the sound emitted, where before she'd spoken emotionlessly like a base machine.
The growl froze the girl for two seconds before regaining her bearings, she was already in front of her with a fist reared back. A shield tried to be made, she shattered it before it could properly form, the hammer tried to block her fist, she went faster than it. And again, the Knight was sent flying away, unfortunately, not into a building.
She raced after her opponent, ignoring the small metal spheres sent her way, even as they hit her, stopping only to make a platform as the girl again rose into the air to put distance. Another round of spheres came at her, a few shields sprouted up in front of her and deflected the ones aimed directly at her, turning them from direct hits to only glancing at best.
A few seconds before she was in front of the Knight, the girl brought back her hammer, red mana coating its head before it was swung forward yet again. She didn't attempt to block the hit, or even match it, instead she ignored it and went for a punch towards the Knight's chest.
It failed, pure and simple.
The hammer hit first, and like every other hit so far, excepting the rocket-hammer, she shrugged off what little pain there was, the only issue came from the force behind the blow. She was not prepared for the force, and so was sent flying back towards the ground, flipping once to land in a crouch before skidding along the street.
Another of the flaming projectiles was sent down shortly after, this time she chose to go around with two platforms rather than charge straight through. A single large sphere was poised to meet her, only to find itself punched down to the ground with little more thought than getting around in the air, after that, she was back in the same position that had occurred not even fifteen seconds prior.
A similar situation played out, the only difference being the hammer being swung from the left this time rather than the right. A platform was readied just as the hammer reached halfway to her, another detonation taking her up into another Luftschritt as the hammer missed her completely, the Knight had a moment to brace before she slammed into her and took both of them towards the concrete.
They landed in a plume of rubble, dust and rock, a pained sound coming from the girl before she hauled her up, punched her once in the gut and threw her out of the cloud into the street. The dust settled and she started to walk up and out of the crater they'd formed on landing, finding the girl trying and failing to get up after her treatment of her, finally deciding to use her hammer to prop herself up with an occasional stumble.
She was about to continue forward, only to stop as her 'instinct' warned her of something coming, prepared for something to come, but not moving otherwise.
Something felt wrong. Something new. There was relief on the Knight's face, as if hope had finally arrived, looking back yielded only a glimpse of a metal-covered fist before she was lying down on the ground again.
"Zafira!" Immediately following the Knight's relieved shout, she got turned over and met the red-eyed gaze of another person.
A tanned man in a blue tabard with blue wolf ears and a tail looked down at her, face set in a steely frown as he looked down at her. "I'd appreciate it if you would kindly stay down."
Stay down? Not a chance.
She was about to get back up, sweep the man's legs out from under him and pummel him until she was thrown off by him or the Knight. There never was a chance as he immediately jumped over her and got into a stance beside the other girl, seemingly wary about something new.
"Good Morning~" Lindy. It made sense that he would be afraid of Lindy, she was much weaker than Lindy right now. "I didn't expect you two to be here of all places, I'd have guessed you'd be at somewhere else in administrated space."
"How did you get in here?" The wolf-man was the one who spoke, calm and authoritative despite the situation, staying tense in the event either of them decided to run forward.
There was amusement in Lindy's voice, as if laughter was only a step away as she calmly walked up to her body. "Easy, I broke in with a bit of mana, explosives and a hammer."
She got up, bones cracking as they set themselves right again, none of they were broken from what she could feel. The wolf-man was the one to speak again, still tensed and ready for a fight to inevitably break out. "And you are?"
"Lindy. Nice to see you again, Vita, Zafira. The new Jackets look good on you." Both the wolf-man and Knight immediately stiffened at the names. She didn't care why, it just meant there was more time to get ready for another attack.
"H-How do you know our names?" The girl stuttered, off-guard from the names with the wolf-man just a little bit less stunned. Lindy knew them from somewhere before, that didn't matter right now.
Laughter, bright and light sounded from Lindy, as if she was enjoying the little banter with their enemy. "That's my little secret~" Sing-song. That was what the tone sounded like, emphasizing each word as if they all had important meaning.
There was no point in wasting time talking, the girl needed to die for breaking her gift, her treasure. That was the only compensation she'd take.
She took a step forward towards the two, hands clenching tighter, another ste-
Nanoha-chan crumpled to the ground, a sigh let out of her mouth as she twisted Bob back around to his normal position when he was active, most of the pole behind her back, the rest and head at her side. Both her old friends stared at her in shock, Vita much more noticeably than Zafira,
"What… What the hell!" Vita caught her attention with the somewhat pained shout, Nanoha must have done a number on the littlest Wolkenritter "Why'd you knock her out!?"
She gave another, longer sigh, and gave the same response that her 'Sister' gave her when she left to join the Bureau, just a few words different… at least she thought so, it'd been so long since then. "I'd rather not have her killing herself trying to kill you. Taught her too much to just have her die, and she has a lot more potential that I'd like to use elsewhere for… reasons Signum would know." The name of the third Knight, made both of them flinch and go silent, probably trying to figure out where she knew them from. As her father-in-law knew though, they wouldn't be able to remember, only Signum did for whatever reason.
"You couldn't have allowed us a little more fun Human?" She laughed at the words Nanoha-chan's rather strange Device said, not because of the actual question but from how 'she' addressed her, it'd been a long time since someone had called her that, and even longer since she stopped being one. Quickly settling down and growing calmer, she answered the question "Wouldn't you like it more if you got to fight as well rather than just your wielder?"
Not even a second passed after that before the small, likely Belkan device answered her, a note of annoyance in its voice. "Why would you assume I care if I'm involved or not Human? So long as blood is spilled and my wielder wants to fight I am satisfied." … That was surprising, she hadn't met a single unique device that didn't get extremely agitated whenever they weren't doing the fighting… haa… she didn't have any real response to give to that.
"Fine, fine. I won't get in the way again, as long as you don't let her kill herself." "Acceptable." … This… This thing made no sense at all… but it agreed to her proposal, so she'd drop the issue. Besides, this wasn't even the place to even have the conversation, considering two of the four Wolkenritter were here, and who knew if the other two would be near enough to drop by.
With that thought firmly in her head, she decided now was the time to leave, and quickly started talking to distract the two. "Well, I'll be taking her…" Doing as she said after the pause, with the young girl slumped over her left shoulder after a bit of positioning, as well as pick up the handle of Nanoha's ruined weapon, she continued with the rest of the sentence with a cheer that didn't belong. "… and we'll be leaving now."
Little Vita, in all her innocence and naivety decided to be rude and keep her a while longer, angrily demanding, "What's stopping us from attacking you right now." Oh? A challenge to her, well, she'd oblige this once, not like she had the chance anymore to other Aces, those had been so much fun.
"Well, from past experience, two A-rank threats are incapable of beating an S-rank. Simple as that." She let a pause fester for a few moments before continuing as she counted over, "If Signum were here, you'd have a chance, a good one at that." A shrug was given without a care, not like it really mattered right now, or even at all when they likely wouldn't be fighting.
Vita looked a bit annoyed and a bit more angered with that, just like last time she'd said that some… seventeen years ago when they first met. Clyde and his brother had been so amused with the littlest of the Knights much to her immediate embarrassment after that outburst. Though to be fair, they did know that she was a rank above the two of them, and the Wolkenritter barring Signum, and she'd been raised on Calnarog.
Good times never lasted long...
She was actually a bit surprised there wasn't any outburst from little Vita, instead looking torn between anger and uncertainty for a moment as Zafira held her by the arm and said something only to her, before reluctantly standing down. Well, whatever the cause was didn't concern her just yet, so she'd worry about it later.
"I'll see you two around another time." Starting to turn around, she stopped herself as she recalled something important, immediately changing her voice and making the Knights stop their own movement. "That said, this is your one let off. Go after me, any of my crew or this girl, and you'll wish you could die a proper death." With the threat delivered, she immediately reverted back to 'normal', voice becoming cheerful again as she gave a chuckle and continued on with the farewell.
"Now, bye! Tell Signum and Shamal hello for me, alright!" And with that, she started humming and began the walk back 'home'… she really should go back some time, it had been a long time since she'd been there… Maybe she'd take her Chrono, Nanoha and the crew and go visit for a few days when the lanes came back up and the Wolkenritter were dealt with.
It'd be nice to see 'Father' and the rest of the tribe again, if only 'Sister' could come with.
Her Chrono-kun caught up with her on the road 'home' shortly after one of the two Knights dropped the barrier, taking one look at Nanoha in something close to confusion before immediately looking at her with a questioning glance. She humored him this time, and answered the question without him having to ask, she was in a good mood after seeing Vita and Zafira. "She found our quarry, said quarry managed to anger her by breaking her sword."
A nod was given, before the questioning look was given again, this time she stayed silent and made him let out a sigh, a giggle leaving her mouth causing him to give her a dirty look before he decided to voice his question out loud. "Alright, now please explain why she's unconscious."
"Simple, I hit her in the face with Bob." Another look from Chrono had her sighing, seriously, she could do without all of the questions, especially since she knew exactly where this would end up if he kept this up. "Considering she was going to throw herself until she or her opponent was dead, I decided to intervene."
For a short moment he took in the answer before his mouth turned into a frown, obviously displeased by something with her answer, as was normally the case when he got involved with her methods. "And why didn't you just help Nanoha and take the person trying to hurt your enforcers down instead?" Why? That… that was personal, really among the reasons, aside from not wanting Nanoha to kill herself, she'd been waiting on her friends to come back for twelve years now.
For once she wanted to be selfish, to do what she wanted rather than what was expected of her, and meeting with her old friends, or Signum rather due to the 'memory loss' the other three had, and just… talk. With that said, she had no justifiable excuse, to Chrono, for why she did her actions, but frankly, she didn't care and at this point the conversation would end as almost every work-related conversation between them went. "Well… Sentiments and having known the person since before you were born."
Yet again, there was the questioning look, as if such a reason didn't make sense to him and given what little she actually did know personally, it was. The only friend he had was another Ace a few years younger than him, and 'friend' was a strong word, with the girl having only used him as a training partner… She couldn't remember the girl's name off the top of her head, nor the title she gave her when she sent her off to go work under General Regius, really the only things she remembered was she had a kitten with her and no Device, two rare things.
Surprisingly she was done with her thoughts before Chrono asked his question, usually she was still in the middle of one by then. "And that makes any difference?"
"Well… I'm actually attached to friends I haven't seen in over a decade." It was a low blow to Chrono-kun considering what had happened in the past, but it put an end to the conversation far faster than any other statement would have, which given they were outside Nanoha's property, with Miyuki-chan at the gate waiting for them. Without so much as a noise or question, the young woman came forward, and held out her hands with the same gentle smile she always wore… it was, far more unnerving than Nanoha-chan's constant fake smile or even when she didn't have it.
She didn't waste any time thinking anything else, shrugging off Nanoha-chan from her shoulder, and into Miyuki-chan's waiting arms, before handing over the handle as well, the older of the two sisters immediately turning on her heel and heading inside without a word. After a few moments, they both headed in as well, passing by an Enforcer stationed at the entrance just on the off-chance someone tried to come after them here, before entering the 'main house'.
They reached what could be considered the living room of the house, after a straight walk from the entrance after a few moments, and took seats at the table, an eye raised momentarily at seeing the Takamachi head walking out of the room before her attention went back to Chrono. His face was cold, to the point of being emotionless, with the only bit of anger present in his eyes telling her that he was in the exact same mindset as he was whenever the topic came up. "Was that comment really necessary, Admiral?"
She didn't react in any way, not even to drink tea from Bob, considering the nature of what she said and what was going to be said, it'd be rude, especially after what she'd already said. "Considering I wanted the conversation done with, yes it was." The only reaction to that was Chrono narrowing both eyes and an unpleasant frown forming across his face.
Obviously displeased with her answer, Chrono's voice became much colder than before as he challenged her stated words. "And you had to dredge up the past, rather than just tell me to stop?" She said nothing for a while, letting his anger stew for a while before it started to fade away, before finally deciding to speak as his eyes went back to normal and he took a breath to calm himself.
"As you're probably forgetting, you don't stop your pestering until that event comes up or I threaten to 'train' you, and considering I'm in a good mood, I'd rather not bring out Bob." He gave a nod after several seconds of tense silence before they both nearly jumped in tune at the chime of a clock, nearly pulling out their weapons before realizing it was nothing. She took one moment to look at the time, seeing one hand point to a three, and the other, longer one point to directly up at the twelve.
It was certainly late then, if the clock was correct… which somewhat made sense as to why Shiro-san was up, he was normally up a bit before three.
Silence engulfed them for a seemingly long time, before she gave a sigh. Really, she was terrible at speaking to people, she knew it and didn't even try to rectify it, preferring to just fight and hunt the people she was told to go after. What it came down to most however, was a simple little fact that had been found all the way back to when the Bureau was just founded, 'An Ace cannot understand a Human, a Human cannot understand an Ace'.
Another sigh left her, a hand meeting her cheek as she leaned on it, eyes half-closed as she tried to at least make sure they didn't end on a bad note as they always did, they may not get along well, or at all, but they were still family. "I know you have no desire to be an Ace, Chrono. I didn't either, I'd rather be back home hunting and playing with my 'Sister'. Life said otherwise and here we are in a situation neither of us want to be in."
"Sometimes though, we have to do things we don't want to, become things we don't want to without a choice. Sometimes we have to give up more than just our lives and futures for the sake of something we want." A pause as she took a short breath, straightening out in her seat and letting her back crack silently, before continuing on with her little speech. "Why do you think, despite every single instance we've been in, I've always tried to do it myself when everything goes bad?" There was short period of silence as Chrono stewed over her words before shaking his head slowly, looking directly into her eyes before casually stating a single fact.
"… You're a terrible parent." She let out a snort at the blunt statement, laughing more at the truth of it than anything else really, out of everyone she knew, she was the worst parent, having no good role models by the Bureau's standards, nor having even known who her parents had been, or raised by a semi-decent parent figure.
Really, she was probably one of the worst people to so much as even think about having a kid, short only from her 'Sister', there were better chances for Rain on Calnarog than 'Sister' having a child. That said, she felt the need to give a reply to Chrono, and considering it was the truth, she may as well justify it as best as she could, as well as a little hope for him in the inevitable case he did become an Ace. It was in his blood after all.
"Comes with being an Ace unfortunately, at least it does for me. Who knows, if you become an Ace, despite your wishes otherwise, you might prove that 'tradition' wrong. For sure though, you'd be-" Directly following the last word, she let out a yawn, blearily blinking away the sleep from her eyes before stretching. Well, looked like it was time to go to sleep, despite everything happening, she'd probably stayed up too late again anyway.
"Well, I'm going to sleep. Chrono-kun, wake me up if something happens alright?" Getting a curt affirmative from him, she let out another yawn before rubbing one of her eyes and began walking off before stopping herself. "Oh Chrono-kun?" Her Chrono stopped his own movement towards the outside and looked back, a bit of confusion written into his face at her call, abnormal as this was. "Don't stay up too late Tinkering, and please don't fall asleep out there again. You need sleep more than I do." A hesitant nod was given before returned it with one of her own and a smile, another hesitant nod given before he quickly vacated the room, a light giggle let out after he was gone before she quieted and let a soft smile settled.
And with that she turned around and resumed her journey to her room and get some sleep and rest up for a likely annoying night tomorrow. Yes, sleep sounded like a good idea… last time she slept was somewhere between forty and sixty hours ago, bad for an average human, uncomfortable for her and her people.
She didn't even recall reaching her room before sleep found her.
She dreamed of home… no it wasn't really a 'dream', more of a memory that she could recall vividly and interact with as if she were reliving it. Not as if she really even knew the difference between a 'dream' and a memory, she'd never had a dream before, life on Calnarog didn't afford that luxury, and even now she didn't have effort to spare to try.
'Sister' had told her about a few she had experienced, each one different from the other, with only the fact that they were memories of their childhood being the thing in common. Some were simple little things like sitting with 'Father' and herself and watching the stars before sleeping, others were hunting and learning magic. There was always something important to them though that made 'Sister' remember them, even if it was nothing more than a simple activity that would be forgotten by anyone else.
Life and its many moments of beauty and kindness. They were treasured on the harsh world of Calnarog.
Her 'dream', it had her standing amidst the violet plains, where her tribe had settled down for the moment as they followed the river back to the meeting grounds, she felt smaller, far smaller than she had since she'd left for the Bureau… She must have been only three years old by the Mid-Childan calendar at that time, nowhere near a year by Calnarog's calendar.
It was the first time she'd been let out from her dwelling, the plains weren't a place for a child to wander, not with the amount of danger present, and she'd been captivated by everything outside, her tribesmen, the cloudless sky, the violet grass that crunched underfoot. She saw the dwellings, little… 'tents' made of loose metal sheets, materials that acted just the same as hide from another world, she saw the firepits, stacked with rock and red crystals for the night.
She saw home again, and it was as perfect as it had been back then.
There weren't many people moving around, most were gone and those that were left were protectors of the young today, or the young themselves. 'Sister' had just gone on her hunt, the first that she got to lead into the vast plains, and 'Father' had gone on his own solitary hunt before the other parties went off. Of course, they weren't 'Sister' and 'Father' yet, she hadn't met them until she was five.
She'd just been a nameless orphan, kept around only because she was albino, and albinos on Calnarog meant strength. The Anzen had proved that time after time.
Yet, even though she was fed, given water and clothing, no one in the tribe had given her anything that wasn't given to others, she had no trinkets, no things made with love. All she had was a lonely tent, and two bowls for food and water.
She didn't know better then, she still really didn't, but it didn't matter. She saw Calnarog, she saw home. She saw her people, her tribe. And she laughed a happy tune and went out to play amidst the tents, ignoring each and every other person she wandered across.
Calnarog was her home, and she'd always return there, preferably when she was done fighting… she wanted to hunt another Anzen.
She drifted off to sleep, content for once since she'd left home. Even if they were just memories, they made her weary mind feel safe again. It was so much simpler back then, with not a single heartbreak or wrathful rage… it was so much simpler being the little girl without a name.
It was raining outside.
She felt sad as she cradled the broken handle between her hands. A single word left her lips, hollow without a single thing in it.
"Okaa-sama…"
A grudge was made, the only one since the ending days of the Shoguns. She didn't care about the traditions she broke by doing so, nor the fact that she'd end this only in the murder of that Knight.
She was sad, she was angry. Okaa-sama's sword would taste blood one more time before going to sleep.
AN: It's not regeneration, that implies there's no cost involved. It's all a matter of perspective, not everyone knows everything about a person they just met, not even if they had information on them beforehand.