Amount of Hugs needed: 13,622

Amount of Hugs found: 6758

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original.

"Who the hell is that woman, why does she know us, and how do you know her!?"

She expected the questions, they always came after a new Master was chosen by the Tome, it was just a manner of when after the Master was chosen. Honestly, she was slightly surprised it had taken them so long to figure out something was off, the last three times they had asked in the first month, and this time it took them over half a year.

Were she as she was when they were created and the Masters after, she'd be a little amused, as it was she'd long lost amusement, barely managing to keep happiness and sadness after the millennia of pragmatism and pain. The Tome's history… was not one of levity, not since the fourth Master lived.

Her lack of response caused Vita to grow angered and berate her again, not eliciting even a hint of annoyance in her, she'd endured through it time after time before, what was one more added to it? "Answer me Signum! How does she know us, and how do you know her?!" She didn't mind the tone, she was used to it, what she did mind was the volume Vita was speaking at, far too loud for what was supposed to be a private conversation between the Wolkenritter.

"Keep your voice down. You'll wake Hayate." Immediately Vita shrank in response to the words she used, the cold and blank voice given and the implications of waking their Master from her sleep, the only time she wasn't in any true pain. A few moments were taken for Vita to understand before she continued in the same voice, devoid of anything that could be considered alive, "Her name is Lindy Harlaown, she is an Admiral of the Time-Space Administrative Bureau, as well as an S-rank Ace."

"As for how she knows us, and we know her…" She deliberately paused, all three of her fellow Knights, listening attentively, even Vita who still looked dejected for her earlier 'blunder', and waiting for the answer to their collective question. "… her brother-in-law was our prior Master." Immediately all of them moved back, both confused and worried by her little revelation to them.

"We were… we were her friends?" She gave a nod at Shamal's question, truthfully only she was Lindy's friend, the others being more concerned about their last Master and his brother rather than Lindy, but Lindy considered them all friends, at least she had, it was still… uncertain if she saw the others as friends after the long time since.

Zafira was silent, he had been since the beginning of their impromptu meeting, having seen no reason to speak since both Vita and Shamal had asked the questions all of them had from what the Admiral had said. He was silent, until a question was asked without any warning, "How long ago was it. Since we were Knights to that man?"

She was prepared to answer that question, it always came up, sooner or later it always came up. Whether from one of the Wolkenritter, to their Master asking about the past Masters, to some random person arriving and telling them how long it had been, the question always came up, and thus she was prepared. "It takes twelve years for the Tome to reform after the last Master perishes. Twelve years from the exact date of their death."

For a while after that none of them said anything, her because he had nothing to say until one of 'siblings' asked her another question, while the other three digested the information she'd just said in silence. Eventually Zafira spoke up again, this time with an entirely differently question only somewhat related to what they had been talking about. "Can you beat her?"

A nod was her first answer, followed closely by words as she calmly stated a fact that had been 'law' for a long, long time, even if she was the only one to know of it truly. "Without a doubt. Though I'd prefer not to fight her."

"Why not?" Shamal was the one who said that, a few seconds after her own statement, the words processed quickly and the answer coming to mind easily, though the sentence evaded her for the moment, due to how vague the question was.

Before she had a chance to answer, Vita barged in with an addition to the question, making a bit more… 'precise' than Shamal's more general question, something that she didn't even give a reaction to, trivial things like that didn't bother her anymore. A shame really. "What possible reason could you have to not fight her?"

"Some things are far more precious than loyalty to a Master, and it is due to her that I was supposed to experience that." Confusion from the other three came forward, they wouldn't understand no matter how hard they tried or she told them, they were too different from one another despite being 'siblings'. It even showed with Vita putting aside most of her confusion to ask a question, one that she'd heard only once before.

"What could possibly be more 'precious' than Hayate?"

There was no answer, she wouldn't say and even if she did the others wouldn't understand, all they knew was service to a Master, their memories of the past Master discarded upon their summoning… she was different from them. She remembered, from the day they were created to now, with the only holes being her Masters' names and how they died. Every single little thing was a crystal-clear memory, waiting to be remembered, and that was only her memories, the other three's… she had to concentrate.

She was broken out of her reverie when Vita stood up, annoyance littering her posture as she changed into her Knight Clothing, causing her to nearly frown and narrow her eyes as she started walking towards the door, Zafira getting up with a sigh as well. "Whatever, I-"

She interrupted the younger Knight with a stern voice, causing the girl to falter and the other two to switch their attention back to her. "You will not go hunting tonight." Vita whirled around to face her, fury dominating her expression as she nearly stomped back to her and nearly brought out Graf Eisen, hissing out two words at her.

"What! Why!" Narrowing her eyes caused Vita to back down slightly, still furious over being told to stand down and let their Master suffer longer as the Tome slowly made her wither from lack of sustenance. They wouldn't be at this point if the Lanes weren't somehow broken for months, dimensional storms only left the Lanes down for a month at most, normally a week or two instead of... this.

"You're getting too loud again." Once again Vita immediately deflated and looked like she'd been struck, something that barely evoked anything out of her before she actually answered the question. "Because the last several times you've come back empty-handed, and last night you were beaten badly to the point Shamal had to heal you non-stop the entire night for you to get back to normal."

First shame made its way onto Vita's face before she shook it off and replaced it with indignation, face reddening as she ground out a reply. "I found people though, they just ran the moment they caught wind of me and suppressed their mana, I didn't even have time for the barrier. And for last night how am I supposed to know a psycho mage-knight-whatever was able to stand after taking several Raketenhammers and regenerate an arm!"

The last part made her stop and look directly at Vita, causing the girl to flinch, drop the indignation and assume she'd done something to make her angry, given her expression and demeanor it was a reasonable assumption. Regardless, that wasn't what caused her to look over, it was the very last part of what she said, something she hadn't heard or seen in a long, long time. "Regeneration doesn't exist in Humans, not by magic nor by genetics, not even Belka managed that. Whatever you saw wasn't regeneration, it was something else."

"Do you have any idea what it is then?" Shamal was the one who spoke, surprising inquisitive and near-childlike about the matter, until she remembered that while she didn't fight, anything that could be considered support magic, in particular healing, brought out her joy and wonder, no matter the situation. Still, despite the enthusiasm being unexpected, she was ready to answer and did so once Shamal calmed down slightly.

"I'd have to see it for myself, though I have a suspicion I know what it is." She paused, puzzling if what she remembered lined up with what Vita had told her before, before another line of memories caused her to stop and shake her head. It was unlikely that line of Belka survived, she'd ended it personally and all that the kingdom had achieved was considered lost to time without a single record. Regardless of that she continued with a single instruction, addressing all three of them, despite Shamal's unwillingness to go and fight, in her normal voice. "Until we're all prepared to go out, we will not hunt for any more Linker Cores. Am I clear?"

Grudgingly Vita nodded her head with a strained look, while the other two simply nodded, Vita spitting out a single word that told everything she was feeling at the moment. "Yes."

She paid it no mind, and simply continued on, not particularly worried or caring about Vita's attitude, it wasn't that big of a deal and Vita wouldn't go against her orders, she knew better and it was fully ingrained in her consciousness for the millennia past that disobeying was a bad decision. "Good, go get some sleep you three, the sun's up in four hours, and Hayate'll be up an hour after. Shamal will be with her tomorrow alone." Without further ado, she rose from her seat and made her way around all of them, weariness setting in for the first time since she'd been summoned as she made ready for the future.

"And what will you be doing Signum?" Shamal's question had her stop in her tracks for a moment, looking back at the youngest of them all before casting her gaze across the other two and seeing the same question written on their faces.

What would she be doing… The pendant at her neck was slowly removed from her neck, her Armor donned and Laevatein formed in hand. A look of sadness passed over her face for a moment before it settled back into her normal blank face, a sigh leaving her as she turned away and made for the door, her purpose stated just before she left the house.

"Preparing for a fight I have no wish to partake in."

Two days without any action at all quickly wore at her patience.

Harlaown-sama told her to wait, to watch and listen for what their opponents would do… which was a resounding nothing. Not a trace of them, not by sight or by a trail or spike of mana, which meant they were planning or preparing for the next encounter, she did the same.

She experimented with her spells while shifting her mana to fire, first taking the time to bask in the strange, comforting feeling the fire gave off, perhaps that was why Onee-sama was entranced by fire so much. So safe and warm… Uh, going back, the first actual 'experiment' she did was with her shooting spells, Göttlich Streuen Kugel as Razing Heart called the motes, a rather… extravagant name for a lackluster spell, and Welle-Schrägstrich as the wave was called.

The latter held near no promise, as nothing changed whatsoever from the original, aside from moving slower than it normally did and being formed of flames, a waste of a spell with that active. Her other spell though was a different matter, they apparently did a bit more damage, not that she could reliably tell considering she was targeting trees, and had… 'special' properties to them if she put too much mana into them. Namely they exploded if anything decided to run into them, didn't move and wouldn't disappear if she moved away from them.

While not that impressive, it did make that spell more of a threat than it previously was, and would let her make a few 'traps' for any opponent fighting her, especially if she had time to prepare.

Aside from that, all she did was figure out the right amount of mana for the melee explosion, mostly where she didn't get blown back away from her target. There wasn't anything she really needed at the moment, which just left her to prepare for the coming battle, since no matter how much Harlaown-sama wanted there not to be a fight, it would be inevitable. That was how the world worked.

Left with nothing to do yet again, she found herself in the refuge of the forest surrounding the property, basking in the sounds of nature and the comfort of having her mana be flame. There was nothing to distract her, nothing to disturb her… at least there wasn't before some woman from Harlaown-sama's crew came blundering in making far more noise than he should have. Considering she was calling her, she should probably get off the branch she was on and see what they wanted… but she really didn't want to do anything.

Deciding against it, she lounged back onto the blackened branch and waited, if she wanted to speak to her about something, she'd find her eventually.

Even if the sounds were interrupted with the woman below ruining them, she didn't feel annoyed and just let the flame inside burn away the negative things in her, that was what Onee-sama did... or had done rather when she was little. Though… Onee-sama's was unintentional and went way too far, but the thought still stood.

Eventually after several long minutes, maybe a half-hour, the woman started looking up and eventually found her through the foliage, or what remained of it on the burnt tree. The woman had blue-hair, and she vaguely recalled seeing her from somewhere before, where exactly she couldn't remember but she did apparently know her. "Ms. Takamachi! The Admiral wants a word with you!" She felt a bit of confusion litter her, why wouldn't Harlaown-sama come and find her if she needed her for something?

Regardless of that question, she slipped her feet down off the branch, Macht manifesting in just her right hand, as she kept her sword always in her left, before she slammed her hand on the branch holding her, snapping the limb and sending both her and it tumbling down to the ground. Several more branches snapped and fell with her, up until she neared the ground where a platform waited for her and let her stand above the wreckage she'd made.

Honestly, she really didn't want to leave the forest, it was much nicer than home with all her guests around and making noise. Still, after walking back to the ground over the branches, she gave a light stretch without a sound before beginning the trek back to the houses… before immediately stopping as an 'idea' came up. Turning back to the woman, who stiffened slightly when she focused on her, she asked of her a rather simple request. "Would you be willing to tell Harlaown-sama that I'll meet her here, provided it isn't crucial?"

There were a few moments as the request registered before a hesitant yet curt nod was given, the woman passing by her without another word as she herself went over to another tree, platforms made to let her reach the tree branches and allow her to lay down again.

Her thoughts drifted again, going back to Suzuka-chan's quick stay at her home, and the subsequent call to Suzuka-chan's Kaa-sama two nights ago. The call had gone well enough, though she'd been picked up by one of the maids Suzuka's family had rather than her Kaa-sama, but that was fine since the maids normally would immediately go report to Suzuka-chan's Kaa-sama about anything. With that taken care of, and with Suzuka-chan tucked into her bed, she'd chosen an easy way out, rather than pick a new room.

She'd slept in the trees, a slightly uncomfortable experience, but not anything that truly bothered her and it soothed her with the nightlife's sounds. It was actually much better than sleeping in her bed, which was why she had found herself sleeping in the trees the night after.

She'd slept soundly despite the rather odd placement and position she made for herself, still waking up at her normal time and heading back for a new set of clothing, accidently waking up Suzuka-chan in the process. That had been… inconvenient.

Quietly she made her way through the hallway, stopping only once at her door and open it before slipping inside without a sound. Suzuka-chan was sleeping soundly on the bed, the covers barely ruffled as she somehow had barely moved from where she'd tucked her in, only a light breathing that she could barely hear being the single sound in the room.

Without a sound, she slipped out of her clothing, the white kimono and yukata that she always wore falling to the floor, followed by what little she had underneath and her new blade placed on the discarded cloth to avoid it making noise. Again, quickly and quietly she started to pull on new clothes, though she stopped at the yukata when she didn't hear Suzuka-chan's breathing anymore.

Turning slightly and looking over a bare shoulder saw Suzuka-chan up and staring at her, or rather her back, neither looking uncomfortable nor worried about the scars on her back, if anything she was passive, as if she was used to seeing such things. No words were exchanged, so instead she turned back, and slipped on her kimono, tying it off before leaning down, first picking up her sword before following to the bundle of clothing on the ground.

"Does it hurt?" She turned and faced Suzuka-chan, a shake of her head being the only answer she gave, the scars were old, and the only reason they'd bother her again is if they were cut in the exact fashion they'd been made. Suzuka-chan's head tilted to the side, seemingly in thought before it righted itself, an idle musing slipping out before she realized it. "Could you endure the one hundred?"

This time she tilted her head in confusion, wondering exactly what 'the one hundred' meant, before promptly discarding it, if Suzuka-chan wanted to share what that was she would do so. Her thoughts were placed to the side as she made for the door, stopping after two steps as Suzuka-chan called her, "Nanoha-chan?"

She looked over at her friend again, seeing Suzuka-chan look down with her cheeks gaining color in them, a little murmur passing through the room as Suzuka-chan shyly asked a request of her. "I'm still tired… can you sleep with me?" There wasn't a response for a moment, making Suzuka-chan look down even more, at least until she went to door, set down the pile of clothing beside the doorframe, turned back and walked over to her dresser again, opening a random drawer and placing her blade inside.

Once all that was done, she turned back to Suzuka-chan and strode towards her, a hand placed on her head causing Suzuka-chan to jolt and look back up at her and see a gentle smile on her face. Nothing else was said, just her climbing into the bed and getting under the covers, and Suzuka-chan pressing herself into her.

It was nice.

By the time that small memory played she heard someone coming again, her assumption being it was either Harlaown-sama or the woman sent to get her, with the former proving true when the Admiral was seen through the leaves coming into the little grotto she'd claimed as hers. It was so much… 'worse' came to mind but that didn't fit really, 'different' worked better, than the rest of the forest, each tree bore signs that she'd been there practicing fire.

Trunks were burned black, some trees had leaves burnt to ash, there were two piles of ash that were once trees, and some were a mixture of the first two. She'd spent a long while practicing on her own, something that showed clearly as she sat in one of the trees without leaves, propped against the blackened trunk and waiting for her guest to speak.

Eventually after taking in the surroundings after a few moments before looking back at her, barely noticing one of Harlaown-sama's eyes raised, and speaking up at her. "You certainly have a knack for fire… probably too much." After the muse Harlaown-sama shook her head, herself moving to sit on the branch as one would do a normal seat, feet hanging over the side without a single movement or sway to them.

"Anyway… We'll be going out tonight, enough time has passed that our 'friends' will be out again. Though this time we should expect two others to join in at some point." She only nodded from her position on the branch her smile dimming to almost non-existent as she was reminded of the Knight. She was fine, she was fine for the moment at least, but the mere mention was enough to make her less than pleasant, something that Harlaown-sama immediately noticed but didn't comment on.

For a while there was just silence, her still sitting in her black tree, and Harlaown-sama still standing on the ground, teacup absent for the moment with hands behind her back, at least until Harlaown-sama decided to change topics. "I'm curious, you mind showing me a few of the things you used out here?" A thought occupied her for a moment, before she nodded her head and jumped down to the ground, Ausdauer filling her up so that she could land without anything to slow her.

Quickly slotting in Razing Heart, a yawn sounding in her head as she did, presumably due to Razing Heart just waking up from one of her naps, she sent mana down the blade and watched and felt the flame take shape along it. Then came the little motes of flame drifting off, some noticeably larger than the rest, before swaying around her and coming to a stop.

Little dancing flames, hanging in the air, staying still before going off on their own and dancing, aside from the large ones. They weren't anything to be 'proud' of really, not the little ones full of life and warmth anyway, the bigger ones, made of rage and burning were the ones that she was more 'proud' of, they'd reduced trees to ash on their own after all.

Harlaown-sama looked over the flames, an eye raised again before she shook her head and sighed, "Explains the leaves and burned bark, doesn't explain the piles of ash." Her smile came back, and turned a bit impish, something that made her guest confused and a bit worried before she backed away, taking most of the little motes with her and extinguishing all but one of the bigger pink flames. The moment she was at a safe distance, her 'impish' smile faded to her normal smile, her blade stabbed into the ground before she clasped her hands together and gave a giggle.

"Go ahead and touch that one, Harlaown-sama."

Needless to say, Harlaown-sama wisely decided not to trust her and turned away, a light smile given before she quickly followed after Harlaown-sama, she probably still needed her for something after all.

Another dream, another memory.

This time found her again amidst the tribal area near the central firepit, this time though she was older, a year or two older now. Still she had no name to call her own, but today would be different.

She wasn't doing anything at the moment, just staring up into the sky and watching the cloudless sky and hoping to see something new, boredom had set in quickly after the novelty of being outside the first time, and she was far too young now to even think of going out on a hunt. So, here she was, stuck in her thoughts while gazing up at the sky, hoping something came to keep her occupied, because no one would want to talk to the Albino.

She sat there for literal months, with the only times she wasn't there being during the night when there was no literal reason to be out and about, even the beasts they hunted refused to do anything during the night.

Then she was lucky for once in her brief life, as a hunting party came back, 'Sister's' party. She watched them joke, laugh and basically make merry as they brought their prizes home, several Turalen, creatures that had four legs, claws on their feet, narrow eyes, metallic skin and a long thin tail, with the eldest of their kind capable of lighting themselves on fire. They were tough creatures to kill, told easily by the fact that of the seventeen in 'Sister's' party, only eight returned alive covered in wounds.

There were reasons they were typically avoided unless necessary, they could fight Anzen young in their packs and come out on top after all.

She was curious though of the one leading the party though, a girl a few years older than her with a massive black axe on her back, had it been another kind of human, they wouldn't have been able to hold it, let alone use it. 'Sister' had the most common hair color of Calnarog, a pitch black that was nearly the color of the night, and while it was long, it was nowhere near groomed or kept 'nice and pretty', it was a waste of effort after all. And she wore what all of them did, clothing made of the hide of the things they killed, crudely fashioned in a mockery of the clothing of the more 'civilized' worlds

As if they could call themselves civilized as they butchered one another, while they'd been on good terms with themselves since they had made the first tribes.

Besides that… the older girl didn't have anything else to her, she was pale despite always being in the sun, as was normal for their people due to the long nights and lack of a blazing sun. There was nothing to denote her as the chief's daughter, nor would there have been for the chief himself.

Curious about her, as she always had been, and finally having grown bored enough to try something new, she got up from the firepit and walked towards the hunting party, one of them noticing and immediately topping in his revelry, with the others noticing and following suit. She was still too young to understand why no one talked to her, even now she didn't understand why they had, but she kept going until she was in front of the girl.

Then she pointed at the girl and said the word that came up when she took in her yellow eyes rimmed in orange. "Pretty."

There was a moment of silence before a smile stretched across 'Sister's' face, a bright laugh erupting from her and frightening herself back then, before the peals of laughter subsided and she calmly walked forward, one hand still clutching a Turalen's tail while the other stretched out and rubbed her head. "Come on Albino, I'll share my spoils with you for that." Happily she nodded quickly, making another laugh come from the girl as she waved her free hand and apparently dismissed her fellow hunters to go eat, before moving off to the center firepit.

She followed after 'Sister', looking at the Turalen in curiosity for a bit before skipping ahead to sit down first, a light chuckle from behind her making her look back and see the girl smiling at her before sitting down herself. The axe was laid at the girl's side, her head tilting as she tried to understand what it was back then, another chuckle sounded out as she looked back at 'Sister'.

A smaller axe, something the size of her arm, was brought out and was taken to the feline's hide, making a screech as the rock-like head ground against the metal. "Come on you stupid thing, let us have our meal already." It took a lot longer than the girl was expecting, though far faster than anyone else would guess, the sun having only moved to straight up in the sky instead of just a bit off.

The metal hide was discarded to the side, probably to make something from it later, clothes, weapons, shelter, something else, with the meat laid bare for them for the meal to come. The little axe came out again and chopped into the meat, a bit of blood squirting out as the girl hacked away at the meat, the process much faster than taking off the hide, and soon there was fresh food for the both of them.

A canteen was brought out, metal as most things were made from here, and Sahar drank from it, tipping it back enough for a trickle to go out before pulling it back down and handing it to her. "I'd prefer you only drink a little, the river's a long walk away, and I'm not chancing it flowing through my hunting ground."

She nodded in response, taking the canteen after finishing her portion of the meat and having a small sip, before dutifully giving it back, an appreciated nod being given to her before they went back to eating. It was silent, not the kind that she was used to then, but a nice comfortable silence where boredom never arrived. Eventually, the silence broke a few times, a few people wandering by talking with one another giving them strange looks, some other children playing around happily, little things she'd long since ignored, and then finally the older girl said something.

"I'm Sahar, got a name Albino?" She shook her head in response, something that made 'Sister' concentrate for a moment before shrugging helplessly, seemingly not caring too much about the answer. "Well then, guess you're going to have to come up with one on your own. Not like you're going to get one from a parent after all."

A name… she got to come up with a name for herself? "Ah, take your time, finish the meal first kiddo, never know when the next one'll be around, especially when you go out hunting." Again she nodded before continuing to eat… it wasn't that she didn't know how to talk that made her just nod, mostly it was just because she didn't know what to say beyond yes, and saying yes was more energy than just nodding.

They continued to eat in comfortable silence, eventually eating their small fill and leaving the corpse and rest of the meat strung up on a metal wire for some other tribesmen, walking out to the perimeter of the camp. They weren't the biggest tribe on Calnarog, but they were one of the bigger and better ones, around ten thousand or so individuals give or take a thousand…

They hadn't had a census, or whatever the 'civilized' folk called it, at all since they had formed the tribes, far too hard with the nature of Calnarog and the fact that each tribe was normally at least a hundred kilometers away at the least. The rivers were the reason for that, they had to follow the rivers to survive or else they were destined to die of thirst, quite a few tribes had been lost because of that.

Anyway she was digressing, she had a name to think of, or rather her younger self did, so she thought and thought, and thought until her head ached as she walked behind 'Sister', busy herself looking over the plains in the distance and inspecting the tents on the edge. She… she didn't want a normal name, it only made sense for someone born so different to have a vastly different name. So she wouldn't use Kyrtanha to name herself, she'd use something else.

And then she thought of it, and she pulled on 'Sister's' one sleeve, the older girl tilting her head over her shoulder in confusion, a moment spent making sure Sahar was listening before she spoke a single word. "Lindy." The confusion remained for a while before realization dawned on Sahar and she turned around, gave a smile and patted her on the head again, in response she gave a light laugh and smile before hugging the older girl.

The name didn't mean anything, not like the normal names they had in Kyrtanha… well that wasn't all true, it had a meaning to her, just not one that could be put into words. With her name found and said, and having disengaged from the hug, she then asked a question that she wanted to know the answer to considering she would likely be doing it whenever she was a bit older. "When will I learn how to go and hunt?"

"Eh, might as well get you started on learning how to now. The old man would probably try to get you to do it anyway under him or me to begin with, may as well start early and impress him." She nodded twice with a smile plastered on her face, something that got Sahar ruffling her head in amusement before continuing. "Go find something to hit things with, and meet me outside the camp. Prepare to get your ass handed to you Lin-dy~"

She was too ecstatic to do any more than nod quickly, gaining a smile and chuckles from 'Sister' before she wandered off, doing whatever it was that needed her attention. Herself, she went in search of -something that fit the description Sahar had given her, rather hard since everyone made their own apparently and they got buried with them… provided the body was still around.

She had a name!

She was Lindy, the Albino of her tribe, and she was an orphan. And she was happy.

The night came far quicker than it should, at least it seemed too despite her looking forward to it, strange really.

Their preparations had been simple, collect Chrono-san from his working and move into the city, taking only a moment to tell the crew members to get ready for something and be prepared before they went off into the city again. The night was beginning to dawn as they left, few people walking the streets as they passed by and waited for what was likely inevitable.

It was, it just took an hour of movement, followed by a tiny barrier around them courtesy of Chrono-san and a few minutes of climbing stairs. The barrier from before was dropped, smashing apart Chrono's before passing past, it was strange to watch the noise and life below simply cease.

Her smile had slowly and steadily been dropping the longer they had been out, the people on the streets before noticing and immediately moving away from them as quickly as they could, and by the time the barrier formed around them, her face was set into a blank look. Neither Chrono-san nor Harlaown-sama reacted at all to that, not that they were even paying her any mind, Chrono-san was busy going over 'his' arm, checking it for the twelfth time since they got up here, while Harlaown-sama was busying herself looking for their… 'guests'.

Okaa-sama's blade was at her side, it would taste blood again, one more time before being put with her grave.

Chrono-san stopped his 'messing' with 'his' arm when he felt the barrier pass over, looking up and drawing out his device in its standby form, a card in the grey with a blue jewel in the center. Harlaown-sama did the same with a smile, and shortly after one another activated their Devices and donned their proper Jackets. Then they waited for their opponents to arrive.

They waited maybe another minute and the Knight arrived, a scowl in place and hand trembling in 'something'. She didn't care what she felt though, she needed to murder her for what she did. No one noticed her hostility, wrapped up in seeming-apathy as it was, and Lindy immediately spoke with a sad sigh. "You realize this means we have to fight, yes."

While the words would have normally been a question, Lindy's tone and sadness more of a statement, one which the Knight curtly gave a nod to, causing Lindy again to sight before point her warhammer at the smaller girl. "Have anything to say before we start this Vita? Already meet your Master two days ago and saw the condition… it's worse than last time." For a long while 'Vita' was silent, posture unchanging before she shook her head.

"… Fuck it." In that time between the answer and question she'd wondered exactly who the 'Master' of the Knight was, while the person was apparently someone Lindy had met on their trip, she didn't recall meeting anyone. "We wouldn't be here if the lanes were shattered like Belka. Signum doesn't want to fight, which means Shamal doesn't and I really hate that they're being forced into this. Master doesn't even realize we're doing this, which makes it even worse. And on top of that, I don't want to make her worried if one of us dies."

If she were normal, and still not furious about the last time, she would have felt pity for the girl, instead she settled for standing up, clothing ruffling around her as she did. 'Vita' took a moment to think, eyes closed and a breath let out before she looked back with eyes full of steel, even as her body trembled from what she was doing. "But… For her sake, I'll… no, we'll fight you. Regardless of the past."

Lindy seemed upset by the answer, but didn't do anything aside from moving her Device back to her side, gently stamping it into the ground, and breathing out, expecting the answer and still not ready for it to be said likely. Looking down, Lindy placed her free hand on her face, covering it from the world before looking up, hand still on her face as she whispered soft enough that she barely heard. "That dimensional tremor is still having ripples even three-quarters of a year later."

Shaking her head, Lindy took another moment to clear her thoughts before addressing their opponent, sadness tainting the words and making the girl's hand tremble slightly faster than it had been. "I see…" Another moment of silence passed before the Admiral gave a soft smile, something the Knight wasn't expecting in the slightest as she said one last thing to her. "Let's hope then that the lanes fix themselves soon, for your Master's sake."

Another presence made itself known shortly after Lindy was speaking, the Wolf-man from the last time that was scared by Lindy. He dropped out of the sky behind them, Chrono immediately whirling about to face the man as he stood from his crouch, she only gave a glance backwards before turning back to the foe she wanted to murder and tear apart.

The Wolf-man said nothing, the Knight said nothing more, the Enforcer said nothing, the Admiral said nothing more, she said nothing.

She waited for Lindy's signal to start, so simple to say and yet so frustratingly difficult to wait for. Then without a single emotion, she spoke the words that would seal someone's fate, and crushed any hope of a peaceful solution.

"Go wild Nanoha-chan."

She didn't have a weapon out, but that provided her with less focus than Chrono and Lindy, of the three people fighting them, their opponents would look predominantly at the ones brandishing weaponry, they were the ones who looked and appeared more dangerous than herself. With that said, given the last time she expected 'Vita' to be prepared to receive her without a weapon. For the first time Iaijutsu would be of use to her.

Her augments activated themselves without a word, her hand moving to hover near Okaa-sama's sword, but refusing to touch it, bracing herself for the detonation, and slipping her blade into her hand from her sleeve. She detonated the concrete beneath her, startling two people before they quickly brought themselves together as she reached halfway between the roof of the skyscraper and the Knight, she tuned out what happened behind her, it was important and it would be taken care of by Lindy and Chrono.

The Knight cast a shield in front of her, she let the fire consume her mana and start the swing, metal slid into place, and halfway through her attack the Knight realized what was coming and braced herself. It didn't do much good when fire lit the blade and a Sprengenklinge went off.

She didn't notice the tiny black embers amidst the pink flames.

She barely paid attention to Nanoha-chan beyond the first explosion, she really regretted that it came to this, but sometimes she had to do things she didn't want to, leaving home, leaving Chrono, leaving Sahar… Everything came down to she wanted to do something, and the world said, 'FUCK YOU!' straight to her face.

That'd been her life from the moment 'Sister' had left to join the Bureau.

Regardless, she did everything due to a single important yet simple promise passed from her father-in-law to her, she would fight for a place where she wasn't needed anymore, where her kind wasn't needed. And she'd make it a reality even if it cost her everything but her Chrono.

This wasn't any different… well it was but she could pretend it was something it wasn't, it was not as hard as other people tried to make it out. Anyway, with Nanoha-chan taking care of Vita, that left her and Chrono to deal with Zafira, considering how he normally fought, she didn't want Chrono anywhere near him, even if that arm of his could maybe handle the hit. While everything he'd made worked, and worked near perfectly beyond anything else, there were… hiccups that always happened.

Those hiccups normally took a year to address, even if he focused on them and tested them, he hadn't tested his arm to go against someone, only that it worked as an arm.

She didn't waste any more time talking, talking was long past and Zafira only talked when he had something to say, never in reaction, so that left her charging her old friend. It hurt to do that, but she was used to that pain… she was used to that pain…

Her hammer was swung without her paying attention to it, Zafira taking flight to avoid it only to be pestered with an unceasing volley from Chrono's Stinger Ray. The projectiles barely did anything, they were set to be in non-lethal and barely held any power, but Zafira either didn't know or care and brought up his arms to shield his more vulnerable areas. A stupid thing when you block your line of sight of an Ace out to hurt you.

Wordlessly, a Stinger Blade formed at her side and fired, the man dropping out of the sky to avoid it and hurtling to the ground, Stinger Ray's unceasing volley failing to keep up until Chrono stopped firing the spell. She dropped after Zafira, unconcerned as a Stinger Snipe darted past her and slammed straight into a shield before it had a chance to change directions, she took care of it with a single swing and brought her own shield up as her old friend retaliated. Hers held, barely, dissipating to allow her hammer to swing through and catch the 'Familiar' in the arm, a grunt being the only response as he countered.

His fist moved quickly in a heavy jab, she hung herself in the air at a dead stop and watch the blow miss as Zafira expected her to keep with him, surprise barely becoming noticeable for half a second before he was back to seriousness. He had forgotten what it was like to fight Aces, he was assuming she was a Knight or an actual warrior, she didn't feel any sympathy for him.

Aces didn't fight like that, they did what was natural for them and what also defied common tactics. It had worked that way since the Bureau was formed, and it work even after the Bureau fell apart.

Shoot Barrets formed around Bob as she pointed him down at her old friend, a second passing before they shot at him at normal speed, the man darting out of the way as they hit the pavement before looping up and around at her. Almost immediately afterwards he ducked again, four Stinger Snipes and a quick volley of Stinger Ray forcing him to abandon his charge and return to dodging the homing projectiles. Two on one wasn't fair, but that was life.

She hefted Bob back and almost started at the sound of another explosion… Nanoha-chan was still pissed at Vita it seemed, as long as it didn't escalate too quickly, they'd be fine though. Signum and Shamal were creeping ever closer to the battle, and Signum was hard enough to fight without the other three around to support her, especially without even numbers.

They maybe had a minute left, probably less before Signum was here-

A hiss of steam interrupted her thoughts, Chrono taking the time to vent his Device while Zafira was distracted, something she gave a proud nod to, not that he would appreciate or notice it. Making ready to charge again as Zafira got rid of the projectiles with a single well-timed shield, lightly breathing in and out after the excursion, she immediately stopped when what she had been dreading came.

She felt it, the unmistakable mana signature slowly making its way towards them, the one person that even her father-in-law was cautious to face and had barely bested into a stand-still. Understandably she immediately sought to regroup, something Chrono realized and did without asking, a thing she was happy about… her host however was a different matter. One that needed to be addressed now.

"Nanoha! Pull back Now!"

She wasn't done, she hadn't murdered the Knight.

Still she was bound to respond and give her assent to her clients, regardless of her personal feeling. Unfortunately, she was in the middle of a charge, and there was little she could do about it considering her 'flight' was not as amazing as a true flight spell. It wasn't even a few seconds later before Lindy spoke again, just as she was about hit 'Vita'.

"Well… this complicates things." She heard Lindy speak over the flame crackling at her side as she fell towards the younger Knight, a shield and the hammer brought up to block the blow. Even if she had wanted to stop, she had no ability to do so, alongside her body would continue even if she did, so her blade connected with the shield. A groan slowly ground out, before an explosion rocked both of them, shattering the shield and sending the younger Knight flying into a building.

"Nanoha-chan! You want to fight someone new?" She didn't say anything, just looking down at Lindy before moving her gaze to the two newest participants. Both were people she'd seen before, she couldn't remember where exactly, but she knew she'd seen them before. One had blonde hair and was dressed in cloth robes of all manner of green, and some hat in similar colors, from the distance she was at it all blurred together into a mass of color rather than specific details.

The other had hair of pink, and unlike the other three wore actual armor, silver armor tinged in white and pink made of a seemingly thin breastplate, greaves and gauntlets, all with a crest of gold marking them, once again she couldn't tell the specifics, only the color and general shape. While the other woman apparently held no form of weapon, the Knight held a sword in her hand, long, straight and apparently held both backwards and by just above the guard.

She didn't want to fight these new people, but Lindy's orders superseded her desires, and so she complied.

She let herself drop from the sky, landing in a crouch atop the street with an impact that should have jarred her body completely, her blade held behind her with the tip just scraping the ground, quickly straightening to her height and walking towards the new Knight, her blade's tip scraping along the asphalt and carving a furrow in it. The Knight who was to be her opponent strode forward as well, face set in a similar expression to her own.

"I take it you can handle Zafira, Chrono-kun?" She barely heard the affirmative Chrono gave, focused solely on watching the woman for any sudden moves, Lindy continuing after the confirmation. "Alright, I'll be after Vita then. And Nanoha? She looked over when she was addressed, seeing Lindy with an uncharacteristic serious look on her face, eyes half-lidded and near-blank, two more words telling her the last order.

"Don't die."