For stylistic reasons there will be no author's notes at the end of the chapter. My answers to any questions posed to me will be included at the bottom of next chapter, but otherwise I am having this speak for itself. But if you keep in mind everything I've said and done so far, you should be able to understand everything.
This chapter begins the morning after the previous episode ends.
Chapter Five: The Light of Al Hazard
For the first time in a couple months, Arf woke up before Fate. Uncurling herself, the wolf took a few moments to appreciate the peaceful look on her master's face before leaping off the bed and transforming. Surprisingly, Fate continued to sleep, which earned a raised eyebrow from the now-human familiar. Fate must have been even more tired than expected. Normally the blond woke easily and early.
Arf smiled as she crept away. Let Fate rest; she had certainly earned it.
Shirou Takamachi was up and about from the moment the sun peaked above the waters of the bay in the east. To be more specific, he was awakened about an hour before then by long-engrained sleep patterns that had served him well in the past.
Waking up early now served primarily to give him time alone in the dojo. Unlike his son Kyouya and daughter Miyuki, he never trained with live steel. He had already had more than enough time to get used to the differences between a real sword and a practice blade. There was always room to improve, but between his old injuries and his aging body Shirou was content to tread water these days. A wooden weapon helped him keep his edge just fine.
Shirou nodded to Kyouya and Miyuki as they passed him on his way out. It was good to see their dedication. With any luck they would never need such skills.
But he didn't count on it.
Precia Testarossa awoke exactly six hours after she went to sleep. As per her self-imposed schedule, she forced herself to take a short shower and shovel down a nutritious but bland breakfast. It was a necessary expenditure of time, especially recently. If she didn't take care of herself, she would likely succumb to her chronic ailments in short order. While she would soon reach Al Hazard, she would need to stay healthy until she could cure her daughter, and, hopefully, herself.
She wanted to raise her daughter, after all. But, as always, she knew what, or rather who, her priority was.
Before she devoted her full attention to her preparations, she spared a thought for her old familiar. Eating pre-packaged food every day almost made her wish the creature was still around.
Watching Kyouya demonstrate for her put Miyuki in conflict with herself.
'Wow, he's hot.'
'He's my brother. Mind out of the gutter.'
'Technically, he's my cousin. Sufficient distance to appreciate the view.'
'He's Shinobu's. Again, mind out of the gutter.'
'Nice! Turning the blade that little extra way on the way out ensures that the arterial spray doesn't obscure his vision! And wow, he's fast! I can't wait until I'm as good as him!'
'…And this is why I don't have a boyfriend.'
Kyouya sighed. Surely he hadn't been as easily distracted as Miyuki when he was that age?
Fate awoke to the smell of burnt toast. Not one to react much, she decided that given the lack of overt danger, it probably was nothing to worry about.
Pulling her sheets off of herself, she noticed that she was wearing a nightgown. Arf must have taken advantage of her half-awake state to make her change into it. There was no other explanation. She didn't do pink, let alone frilly. She liked black, thank you very much.
Shucking the garment, the nine-year-old checked her injuries, using a small mirror to get a glimpse of the ones on her back. She was actually in pretty good shape. Her stitches had come out a couple of days ago, and thanks to Arf's careful cleaning she had avoided any infections in spite of an unwanted plunge into the sewers last week. She wasn't fully recovered from yesterday, but she was well on her way.
Arf came in shortly after Fate had changed into something a bit more practical, in this case a simple skirt and top combination in Fate's usual color. Unsurprisingly, the tray Arf was carrying had on it, among other things, toast. Unburnt toast at that, although some charred crumbs remained as evidence of earlier mistakes.
For once, Fate had an appetite, much to Arf's delight. Fate found herself enjoying the change of pace, and began to look forward to spending some free time with her companion.
Nanoha transitioned from asleep to awake in a heartbeat. Turning off her cell phone's alarm, she forced aside the haze of sleep and performed her morning routine in record time.
"You're certainly energetic this morning." Her mother remarked as Nanoha helped carry breakfast over to the table. "Is something happening at school today?"
"Not that I know of," Nanoha answered after a moment's thought. "I've just figured some things out."
Everyone was glad to hear that, but Momoko wasn't entirely reassured. She wasn't sure what to make of the expression on Nanoha's face when she said that.
Nanoha ate quickly and left the kitchen before she had to answer too many questions.
"The most likely answer we'll get is 'yes'. Then we meet on neutral ground and we talk. And more than likely… well, I'm not feeling too good about our chances of avoiding a fight."
"Arisa! Suzuka!" Nanoha beamed.
"Nanoha! How have you been?" greeted Suzuka.
"Eh… Good, I guess? You make it sound like we haven't seen each other in ages."
"Hmph! We might as well not have! Finally done moping, are you?" Arisa needled.
"Mm-hmm." Nanoha nodded. "Oh, I'll probably be busy for the next couple days, but I'll be done soon enough. I might not be in school tomorrow though."
"What are you doing? And don't change the subject like you always do, inquiring minds want to know!"
"Arisa! Don't be so rude!"
"No, it's fine," assured the mage. "I can't tell you right now, but ask me after it's over, alright?"
"Yeah, alright." Arisa grumbled. "I'll be holding you to that!"
"But even so, there is no real way to predict their decisions. They could give us any response. They could be good or bad. We can speculate all day, but right now it isn't our move. What happens next is up to Fate, Arf, Fate's mother, and anyone else who might be involved. So there isn't a way to plan ahead. So let's make this as simple as possible."
"Are you sure you can't come? I have a new video game." Arisa pleaded. "I'd like to, but I just don't have the time." Nanoha apologized. "Text me later, OK?"
"Fine… Hey, Nanoha?" Arisa averted her eyes. "Come back safe from whatever you're doing. It's annoying how you always forget to look after yourself." [I worry about you.]
"Arisa…" [You really missed me, didn't you?]
"Just why are you looking at me like that?" [Of course I did.] "Don't read too much into it!" [If I didn't, I wouldn't have waited so long.]
Suzuka giggled. Things weren't back to normal, but seeing her friends up to their old antics gave her hope that it would only be a matter of time.
"These are our goals. Save the world. Save Fate and Arf. Recover as many Jewel Seeds as we can. Oh, and avoid getting killed. Am I forgetting anything?"
"So how are you feeling?"
"Dad?"
"Don't be so surprised." Shirou smiled gently. "Your mother and I are hardly blind. You may not have told us anything but we do know that you've been going through a rough patch recently. Now, I'm not here to demand answers, but I wanted to make sure that you know that you can come ask myself or your mother for help. It's what we're here for, after all."
Nanoha avoided his gaze as she took off her schoolbag. She started to speak, but then changed her mind, thinking hard.
"It's complicated." She finally said. "But a friend might need a place to stay for a while. Or maybe not. I… I don't know how it will turn out."
"Who does?" Shirou asked rhetorically. "They are welcome to stay here, at least for a while. I would not turn away a friend in need." He smiled wryly. "I would like an explanation sooner or later in that case though."
"Right." Nanoha cracked a smile. Well, she had been planning on doing that anyway, so she could hardly complain.
"Well we should find a nonviolent solution if at all possible, and if Fate's mother is a criminal we should try to put her under arrest." Yuuno offered.
"Can we do that?"
"If she's trying to cause a dimensional dislocation, then I'm pretty sure we could justify anything reasonable." Yuuno explained. "But officially… I have no clue what the rules are. That's something to worry about later. Save the world first, right?"
Night fell. The children went quietly to rest, their elders happy to be reminded of simpler times. The city streets slowly emptied, until Uminari was as close to asleep as a city in Japan could be. And above and a step to the left from the small blue world, keeping pace with the planet's spiraling, whirling dance through the vastness of space, a scientist rested her forehead on the cool curvature of her daughter's capsule, and dreamed of being a mother.
"I'm telling you, this is not going to end well!"
Fate felt the urge to let loose a sarcastic comeback, but suppressed it, recognizing it as a symptom of her own nerves, much like Arf's tendency to babble when feeling stressed. "Arf, Mother smiling is a good sign. Mother has difficulty expressing herself, but she doesn't lie about her feelings. If she says she believes that the meeting will go well, then it will."
'What could I possibly say to that?' Arf wondered. 'You've been right about a lot of things lately, but where that woman is concerned you can't seem to figure out the truth.'
"I sent a message to my family yesterday, including my notes. I've asked them to contact the TSAB for me, but considering that nobody from the Bureau responded to my first message or followed up on the original accident, I'm not holding my breath." That said, Yuuno smiled at his friend. "You will, however, be happy to know that I've submitted the paperwork to transfer ownership of Raising Heart to one Nanoha Takamachi. Congratulations."
"Thank you!" Nanoha exclaimed, beaming at her friend.
Yuuno blushed. "It was nothing. Raising Heart has been your partner for ages, I just put it in writing. Ready to go?"
"Yeah!"
"Standby, ready."
"Hello, Fate." Nanoha's voice conveyed her pleasure. The rest of her was placid. Calm. Focused.
Yuuno thought that Nanoha was at her most dangerous like this. Inside her shell was a maelstrom of emotions, just waiting to burst out. Nanoha was uncomfortably similar to a dormant volcano right now.
"Mother wishes you to know that she agrees to meet with you and attempt to resolve this situation. If you accept, I will transport all of us to our home, the Garden of Time." The rhythm of rote repetition could be hear d in Fate's words.
Yuuno and Arf exchanged glances, trying to gauge each other's reactions, while Nanoha closed her eyes and heaved a sigh. While the implication was that a peaceful revolution would be sought, the message didn't promise anything. That didn't actually mean anything, of course, but it wasn't exactly a good sign.
"Of course. I would be happy to."
They couldn't waste this chance. For Fate, for Arf, for everyone who would be hurt if the Jewel Seeds were used maliciously or irresponsibly, they had to follow through on this.
Fate smiled, relieved.
Nanoha smiled back. "Whenever you're ready."
The girl nodded. "Very well." Holding Bardiche with both hands, she closed her eyes and focused.
"Dimensional Tranfer. Dimensional Coordinates- 4369 8C54 1243 D705 4628 9914E 33F B9260."
As she chanted, a magic circle formed beneath the four of them. Yuuno gave Nanoha a reassuring nod as he recognized the circle's function.
"Open, O Door of Invitation to the Garden of Time. To the household of the Testarossa family!"
Fate's yellow magic rose up, enclosing them in a dome. Something tugged at Yuuno's memories, but whatever the thought was, it slipped away as he tried to grasp it. Then there was a blur and a shift and they were gone.
"Miyuki, could you wake Nanoha for me?" the Takamachi matriarch asked distractedly before turning her attention back to the lady on the other end of the phone. "Yes, we can do that with no problems, Doctor Ishida. For June 4th, right?"
Miyuki left the kitchen and walked up to Nanoha's door. When knocking failed to cause any audible stirring, the high school student shrugged and opened the door. If her sister didn't want to be woken up the hard way, she should have spoken up.
"Rise and- Huh. Is she in the bathroom or something?"
Nanoha found herself standing on a green stone floor. A massive rocky structure was in front of them, which Nanoha guessed was the Garden of Time, as behind them was nothing. An empty void that somehow had stuff in it and moved. The wide projection that they stood on was lined with columns topped with glowing blue orbs that somehow illuminated the area much better than they should have been able to. Where the path between the columns met the rocky cliff face of the Garden, huge golden double doors were set. The entire area was simplistic, austere, and more than a little creepy.
"Mother awaits us." Fate spoke, her voice sounding small and dampened, as if the emptiness around them absorbed it. Fate walked off towards the doors, the others trailing behind her. Their footfalls were strangely quiet, as though noise was suppressed by their surroundings.
Arf easily opened the door in spite of its size, though whether that was because the door was unnaturally light or because the familiar was unnaturally strong, Nanoha couldn't say. Past the door, they found themselves in a more warmly-lit area. The lighting was yellowish, and seemed to be rather constant in spite of a lack of obvious light sources. Once again, there was nobody else around, which Nanoha thought was odd. A place this big should have many people in it. Maybe they were elsewhere?
Maybe there was no one else. Nanoha focused on her companions. She wasn't alone. She wasn't. There was no reason to worry about that anyway. She wasn't a scared little girl anymore. But the thought was not so easily squashed.
The four of them wound their way further into the extensive complex, mostly going straight, but occasionally going up or down flights of stairs or curving to the right or left. Every couple of minutes they came across something that was decorative (large statues of robed women, gilded wall decorations, elaborate banisters…) but Nanoha's impression was that the Garden of Time was not truly lived in. It might be 'the household of the Testarossa family', but it wasn't a home. It was empty. Lonely.
Nanoha stared at Fate's back. She wanted to pity the blonde for living here, but (alone, all alone, stay out of their way, don't ask for help, when is daddy coming come?) she shook away those thoughts. She had moved on. That was the past. She had friends. She had family. She wasn't alone, not anymore.
And if she had anything to say about it, neither was Fate.
"Where has Nanoha run off to?" Muttered Momoko. "Shirou, have you seen her this morning?"
Shirou frowned. "No, no I haven't… I just hope she hasn't run off to do something rash…"
Due to Fate's slow, methodical walking speed, it took them a good twenty-or-so minutes to arrive at their destination.
As the doors closed behind them, Yuuno's mind kicked into high gear, analyzing his surroundings. He had to force himself to think tactically rather than archeologically as he scanned the room. The space was large and rectangular, with pillars around the sides, a circular open area in the middle with a higher ceiling, and a slightly raised dais on the other side of the room. On the dais was a stone throne, occupied by a purple-haired woman in her 50's or 60's, circled by twelve Jewel Seeds. Once again, Yuuno felt himself on the cusp of remembrance. He knew her from somewhere, didn't he? But from where?
Regardless, she looked a bit too old to be Fate's mother. Was she sick and just looked older than she really was? Yuuno's eyes narrowed. Something here seemed off. But what?
"Good. You came." The woman gave a half-smile to Fate and Arf. "Please wait outside." The 'please' was somewhat strained. Arf looked like she wanted to say something, then thought better of it.
As the two of them turned to walk away, Nanoha spoke up. "If it isn't too much trouble, I'd prefer they stay. After all, they are as involved in this as anyone else." The woman glared at her, but she didn't back down, meeting her gaze levelly.
"Very well. It matters not." She said dismissively, which made Yuuno twitch. What was with her, anyway? Yuuno was a level-headed individual, but it was as though the woman was trying to be as unpleasant as possible without breaking the bounds of propriety. "Let's get down to business. My name is Precia Testarossa." He knew that name, but from where? Yuuno frantically tried to remember, knowing that this was important, but nothing came to mind. "And you have already met Fate and her familiar, Arf."
Nanoha's body language told Yuuno that she wanted to slap Precia, but nobody else picked up on it. Nanoha simply nodded. "I am Nanoha Takamachi. My friend is Yuuno Scrya."
"Then let us waste not more time on pleasantries. You wish to know what my reasons are for collecting the Jewel Seeds. To put it simply, I want to save my daughter's life."
"I want to save my daughter's life."
Arf almost choked. What was that woman saying? She had never given Fate's wellbeing the slightest bit of attention. And Fate was quite healthy, no thanks to Precia. This was probably the most blatant lie Precia could have spouted.
Arf could see that she wasn't the only one surprised. The two mages (Nanoha and Yuuno, she reminded herself) had reactions similar to her own. Fate looked pleased, but was unsure why she needed saving.
"Is something wrong with Fate?" exclaimed Nanoha worriedly.
"No," Precia snorted. "Fate is perfectly fine." You don't have to sound so disappointed, you sorry excuse for a- "My daughter Alicia."
What?
Alicia.
Something was wrong. I am Mother's only daughter. I must have misheard.
Alicia.
Mother must not have wanted me to worry about her. I hope we will get along after we help her. Is she my little sister or my big sister? …Why does this feel so wrong?
Alicia.
Do I know that name? Of course not. There must be an explanation. For some reason my lips move. They spell out:
Alicia.
Why is my heartbeat so loud? Lub-dub. Lub-dub. The crash of valves, the shockwaves of contracting muscle. Lub-dub. Perfectly normal. Perfectly natural. But why so loud? Lub-dub. Lub-dub.
A-li. Ci-a.
Mother's arm rises. Light shines forth. An image of Alicia? She floats, asleep. She must be my sister, she looks so much like me. Why, we have the… same… face…
"Alicia, come here." Mother smiles at me.
What? I don't understand. Why did she call me-
"Alicia, do you want to come to work with me some time? Of course-
-I do but I'm Fate, not-
Ali-Cia.
Who is-
A-li. Ci-a.
"What happened to her?" 'Nanoha'. I grasp onto that name. I know her, not well, but I know her. She makes sense. So do 'Arf' and Yuuno'. But who is 'Alicia'?
Who is 'Fate'?
"An accident. A terrible accident. A mistake was made, and we paid the price, my Alicia and I…"
There was something wrong here, Yuuno sensed.
"…After the reactor…"
Something wrong with this woman.
"…My Alicia was…"
And something… familiar.
"Did Fate get out alright?" Why hadn't she mentioned her? Was she not there with her sister?
"Fate?" Dismissive. Uncaring. "Fate didn't exist." So this was before Fate was born, then? "That thing-" What? "-came about after a failed attempt to cure my Alicia. But even with my Alicia's body, even with my Alicia's precious memories, the result was but a mockery."
"…"
"Fate wasn't useless, I'll admit." Precia threw out magnanimously.
"…"
"And to think, without Jail's advice, I'd have gotten rid of her years ago like I wanted to. I doubt you care about that though."
"…"
"I plan to use the Jewel Seeds to open the path to Al Hazard. By travelling to the heart of the light that springs forth from a dimensional dislocation, the Light of Al Hazard, I will reach that fabled civilization and use its wonders to cure my Alicia."
Precia dragged her gaze from the image of her daughter that had entranced her while she spoke, looking hopefully towards Nanoha. "Will you help me?"
"…That thing…" Mother?
"…Failed attempt…" I- I don't…
"…A mockery…" But- No- Please-
"…have gotten rid of her years ago like I wanted to…" …
Fate collapsed bonelessly to the floor, unaware of Arf catching her.
That woman, how dare she? I am going to destroy her! After all that Fate has done for her?
A snarl worked its way up from deep within Arf's chest. Only devotion beyond thought kept her at the side of her crumpled master rather than at Precia's throat.
"…reactor…"
"…Fate…"
"…Alicia…"
"…Precia…"
"…accident…"
"…Testarossa…"
Yuuno's mind buzzed, puzzle pieces swirling. And suddenly everything slipped into place. A memory of a theory, Hydra. An accident, no, a perfect storm of accidents. A massive controversy. And a name…
"Shut up." Nanoha shook with anger. "Just shut up!"
Precia was taken aback.
"How dare you say that about Fate? She's done so much to help you and, and you say that about her?"
"You're focusing on that doll?" Precia sputtered incredulously. "I'm asking you to hand over the means to save my daughter's life, and you only care about that soulless clone? Stop being so absurd!"
"N-Nanoha-" Yuuno tried futilely to catch his friend's attention.
"As if I could even consider helping you! The coordinates of this place… Raising Heart says they're right next to Earth! I'm not going to let you kill seven billion other people's sons and daughters so that you can bring your daughter back and treat her like you treat Fate! If anyone here is soulless, it's you!"
"You…!"
"Nanoha, stop!" Everyone's attention was drawn to Yuuno. "She's Precia Testarossa! She's an SS-Ranked mage! You can't fight her!"
"I don't care if she's Amaterasu Herself!" Nanoha yelled. "She's threatening to kill everyone I care about! If I let her, I'd never be able to forgive myself! Raising Heart!"
"Shooting Mode."
Raising her device, in one quick wave Precia stored the twelve Jewel Seeds around her. The cyclopean staff began to crackle with purple lightning.
"Divine-"
A purple storm of electrical arcs lunged towards Nanoha.
A 'mana conversion affinity' is essentially what it sounds like. A mage with such an affinity has the ability to create and (to varying degrees) manipulate a 'classical' element such as fire, ice, lightning, air, wood, and so on, in some cases to the point that they would be hard-pressed to use a spell that did not take on any of the characteristics of that element.
This is particularly useful in combat, where the affinity often gives a free 'power-up' to attack spells (fire burning, lightning shocking, ice lowering temperature, and so on). Depending on the usage, a spell can result in, for example, a lightning bolt, obeying the laws of normal, everyday, three-dimensional physics, or it could simply look like it is electrified but not actually exhibit that property when touched, or just about anything in between.
Precia Testarossa's spell was a handful of lightning bolts artificially aimed at her target. So it was (1) purple and (2) not as fast as the real thing.
It was just slow enough for Nanoha, caught completely off-guard, to widen her eyes in horror before it hit her.
"Nanoha!" Yuuno sprinted to her side. "Are you alright?"
Twitching a little, Nanoha shakily tried to stand, her barrier jacket badly scorched. "Yeah, I'm-"
CLUNK.
CLUNK.
CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK .
That golem wasn't there a second ago, Yuuno thought hysterically. Or it's friend. Or all the relatives…
"I need three more Jewel Seeds. I don't care how I have to get them."
They were surrounded, trapped.
"If you won't help me, then I'll make you."
Yuuno helped Nanoha to her feet. Dozens of glowing weapons tracked them.
We're all going to die-
Please… Lend me your strength!
We aren't soldiers! And even if we were, an SS-
I'll repay you, I promise!
No, no, don't even think about it. It was not your fault. Don't-
Nanoha's ashen face as she stared at the remnants of his demonstration of a dimensional dislocation.
Precia sneers at the two of them. Crackling barrels prepare to discharge. Arf cradles Fate in her arms.
I don't care if she's Amaterasu Herself!
No, no, no, no, NO!
I'll tell them later. When this is all over, I'll be able to tell them everything, and it won't be a problem. You and I, we'll tell them everything together, okay? Maybe we'll get Arf and Fate to help us tell the story. Wouldn't that be nice?
Alright. Your planet, your rules, I guess. With any luck, in a few years time we'll be able to look back on this conversation and laugh at how silly I was being.
Think smart!
You're here with me, aren't you?
Of course. Like you, I'm here until the end.
Be rational!
As if I could ever consider helping you!
Find a way to stop this!
She's threatening to kill everyone I care about!
Negotiate! There has to be a way!
If I let her, I'd never be able to forgive myself!
He opened his mouth to speak.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid!'
Nanoha grit her teeth as Yuuno helped her to her feet, angry at herself. Why had she done that? That woman deserved to get a Divine Buster to the face, but starting the fight with a move that needs a few seconds to charge? Without being ready to dodge?
'I'm lucky she didn't splatter me all over the walls. She didn't take more than a second to launch that attack… and now she brings these robot things out of nowhere… she can't be powering them all herself, can she?' Nanoha's eyes darted back and forth, scanning the enemies. 'If she could… it doesn't matter. I have to beat her. If they're like normal robots, they have batteries, wires, motors. I can smash them to pieces.'
Nanoha rose up a few centimeters, buoyed by her flight spell. Raising Heart's soft voice resonated into her mind through her magic:
'Standby, ready.'
The girl's fortitude was impressive, Precia noted. Her barrier jacket had prevented any real damage, but the magical armor was not in the best of conditions. It was, however, intact, and the girl did not seem ready to give up in spite of being surrounded by golems.
Time to fix that.
Precia sneered as the magical cannons she had given her golems reached full charge. The girl looked determined, and the boy nervously raised a hand to ward off the attack. The girl would try to dodge and counter-attack and the boy would likely-
"Ring Bind!"
Precia's encyclopedic mind identified the common MidChildan spell instantly. Highly versatile but weak binding spell. In most common use, restricts movement by ensnaring extremities and applying force to attempt to fix their location relative to the location identified by the caster as the zero coordinate. Designed so that number and location of targets may be modified easily-
Green bands materialized around the muzzles of the glowing weapons, dragging them away from their targets-
The cannons fired-
The magical projectiles flew-
Connected.
Precia and Nanoha both stared on incredulously as the room was cleared of golems by Yuuno's spell. The golems' weapons were forcibly placed nearly muzzle to muzzle, and the attacks explosively impacted each other. The backlash tore up the formerly-threatening cannons, and the resulting shrapnel slammed into the inner workings of the robotic minions, which became useless scrap in seconds.
"I don't suppose you'll come quietly?" Yuuno asked nervously.
Precia scowled, and gestured with her device, whisking away the remains of her golems. Almost immediately thereafter, four obscenely large mecha with massive artillery pieces on their shoulders broke through the throne room's walls, prompting Nanoha and Yuuno to unconsciously back up towards the door behind them.
"Yuuno, get Arf and Fate out of here! If they get caught in the crossfire-"
"I can't leave you here to fight them alone!"
"Please, Yuuno! Remember what we're here to do! I'll keep her busy, you get them out of here so I can cut loose!"
Yuuno's gaze slid to Arf, huddled protectively over Fate, then to the giant golems, around which the air was slightly distorted by strong barriers, then to the monstrously powerful woman opposite Nanoha. His friend was right, if Fate was still here when the battle got into full swing her chances of survival approached zero.
"Don't you dare die on me while I'm gone!" He called out as he ran towards the two noncombatants.
"My new spell will handle this easily." Nanoha assured him mentally. The giant enemies' weapons built up magical blasts, the glowing mana forming orbs larger than she was. She gulped, but only gripped Raising Heart tighter, her eyes glinting with determination. "Try to find a way to make it impossible for her to cause the dimensional dislocation. Just in case." It wouldn't do for her to win, only for Precia to pull off some last-minute back-up plan.
Not waiting for his reply, she cut the telepathic connection so that she could focus on the fight.
Precia's attention was drawn by Yuuno's motion, and the woman scowled at the sight of him speaking with Arf and Fate. How could Nanoha distract- No, don't be stupid. It's easy. You're fighting her, so fight her! She reminded herself.
"Divine…" she muttered "…Shooter."
Precia saw the pink orbs easily and blocked them with no trouble, but Nanoha derived a little satisfaction from her irritation. Well, if at first you don't succeed…
"Divine Shooter!"
"Wake up, Fate, wake up!" Arf hissed as loudly as she dared, afraid to attract attention. Glancing out from behind the column she had carried Fate into the shadow of, Arf kept track of the halting 'fight'. Precia had initially been in control, but somehow Nanha and Yuuno had taken the initiative… and done nothing.
"Come on, do something. Keep her off-" Too late, she realized with a grimace, as Precia's reinforcements arrived. They don't know what they're doing, Arf thought. They're strong and they're talented, but they're trying to fight her like they fought us. And they know that it doesn't work like that, they aren't trying to talk to her, but they don't know what to do instead. They should have taken Precia down hard, fast, and permanently, but now they've lost their chance and are letting her drive the fight. They can't win this.
And after Precia is done with them, she'll do to us what she did to Linith. We aren't useful anymore. And then…
Arf turned her attention back to her catatonic master, but her mind continued to churn. How many people would die? Nanoha had said seven billion and hadn't even seemed to consider how many other worlds might be affected. Seven billion… she couldn't even imagine that many people. How did a planet with that many people on it not have more mages? Why didn't Nanoha and Yuuno have reinforcements?
"Quick, we have to get out of here before those golems fire!" The boy's voice called out, and Arf saw to her surprise that Yuuno was rapidly coming her way. Behind him Nanoha peppered Precia with that small shooting spell of hers.
"How? She sealed the exits when she started talking to you!"
"She just knocked open a few new ones." Yuuno gestured to the holes left in the walls by the entry of the giant golems. "You'll have to carry Fate while I defend us. You lead, I'll be right behind you." He dithered for a second. "And, I understand if you aren't willing to help, but we need to find a way to stop Precia so if anything comes to mind-"
"Move now, talk later!" She yelped, eyes on the golems behind him. Picking Fate up, she hovered off the floor, Yuuno doing the same. Arf took a deep breath, the need to hurry warring with her doubts. This plan was a huge leap of faith. Yuuno wasn't necessarily an ally, in fact minutes ago he had been an enemy, and just because 'stop Precia' sounded good to her didn't mean that Nanoha and Yuuno really had Fate's best interests in mind, and this was assuming that Yuuno's defensive spells were capable of seeing them through safely…
Take these as a sign of good faith.
I'd like you to think of me as your friend.
Remind me to thank that girl.
My door is always open to you two.
"…Have to start trusting someone at some point." Arf muttered. Yuuno looked at her, waiting for some sort of cue. "Follow me."
Nanoha watched with bated breath as her friends flew along the side of the room towards the closest gap in the walls. A grunt from Precia showed that she was not the only one who noticed. Lightning lashed out, but a large green Round Shield protected the three escapees, who disappeared into the depths of the Garden.
"Don't be too pleased with yourself, girl. They won't be getting far." Precia snarled. "And you won't be going anywhere at all!"
The golems opened fire, each canon unleashing a beam of destruction as wide as Nanoha was tall. The golems attempted to predict her movements and cut off her escape routes, and so rather than all intersecting at her current location, the attacks saturated the region of space she occupied.
"Flash Move."
As Raising Heart intoned the name of the magic, Nanoha used the spell to hurl herself towards the closest golem, escaping the field of fire by putting herself in the giant's shadow. The golem attempted to swipe her out of the air with a metallic arm, but Nanoha nimbly flew around it and curved back behind the machine. Scanning for a weak spot, the part of her that was a normal child was disappointed at the lack of an obvious weak spot like in videogames. The part of Nanoha that was in charge was disappointed that she was going to have to destroy the enemies the hard way. But she was far from discouraged.
All she needed was time, and her new spell would level the playing field. Swerving around the fist of the giant golem behind her, Nanoha danced around the hulking machines, looking for an opening.
10 seconds. Ideally 15 or even 20, but 10 seconds was enough. But how to get them?
Nanoha's eyes flickered across the battlefield, and she began to plan.
"You two should go to work," Kyouya suggested to his parents after Miyuki left to catch the bus. "I can stay home today and keep an eye out for Nanoha."
"Don't you have a big test tomorrow?" asked Momoko. "I know you study better if you work with your classmates."
Kyouya shook his head. "Nanoha is much more important than that."
Shirou beamed with pride. He had many regrets, but his children, biological or otherwise, weren't among them.
"Oh, no."
Arf's words were rather apt. Not very descriptive, nor quite able to fully convey the seriousness of the situation, but apt nonetheless.
"So, just how many of these golems are there around this place? And is that a turret?" Yuuno asked as he tried to peer around the corner, almost afraid to know the answer.
"More than enough, and yes." Arf replied, glad they hadn't been spotted yet. "I don't know how to make that woman stop her plans, but I do know that Fate and I weren't allowed access to some areas of the Garden. It stands to reason that those places are the important ones. The closest is through the door at the end of the room. But with security active…" Arf shook her head. "We'd be better off grabbing your friend and getting help. Do you have any other allies?"
"No," Yuuno grimaced. "If I had known who we were up against I would have risked leaving Nanoha alone while I went to the TSAB for help, but I thought it was too risky. And Earth doesn't really have the sort of forces needed to deal with this, and they don't know about magic in any case, so barring kidnapping heavy armor division we're out of luck. And even then we'd still have to deal with Precia…"
"…Well, crap." Arf got a look from Yuuno, but just rolled her eyes at his prudishness. "So do you have any skills that might be useful here? Because I don't fancy my chances of fighting my way through them, especially not while carrying Fate."
"I'm an archaeologist! A historian! My skill set doesn't really match up with this sort of thing! Why would you even-" he paused. He glanced around the corner at the amassed enemy forces. "How long would you need to break down that door?"
"No more than a couple of seconds, unless it's got some kind of special shielding. What do you have in mind?"
"Well, my Uncle has this trick that he uses when dealing with trapped hallways…"
The golems were fast, but their mass kept them from being able to change direction quickly, and they weren't nearly innovative enough to trap her. Unfortunately, they were smart enough to avoid hitting each other, or she would have already tricked them into smashing each other to pieces.
But she still had the same problem. What could she do to get enough time to prepare? Nanoha stared at one of her mechanical opponents intently…
…and smiled.
"There is no way that is good archeological practice."
Yuuno tried to defend himself. "Well, you put up a barrier first-"
Arf cut him off with a grunt. "Does it work?"
"…In theory. I mean, it will," he hurriedly explained after a glare from Arf, "but I've never tried to make so many before. It's pretty much the opposite of my usual strategy. I don't know how much time you'll have."
"…"
"…"
"I hate not being able to think of a better plan than that." Arf growled. "I'd almost rather fight my way through."
Yuuno figured that that was close enough to a 'yes'.
"What is that girl up to?" Precia mumbled. Really, what was the girl trying to achieve here? Flitting about her golems like an insect was pointless, although it did show that her golems were failing to close the tactical gap between 'massive destruction' and 'can be defeated by a simple shooting spell' as she had hoped they would. It wasn't as if Precia lost anything by making Nanoha do acrobatics, in fact it helped tire the girl out. But it was getting to the point where Precia was about ready to start taking potshots, collateral damage and poor health be damned.
Precia narrowed her eyes as pink motes of light started to become visible from behind one of the golems. A thought was all it took to bring the feeds from the cameras into view. Quickly finding an image of Nanoha, her eyes widened at the sight of the girl, perched right between the armored casing of the power supply and the metallic barrel of the shoulder-mounted weaponry.
A pink sphere was growing under the supervision of a large magical circle. Precia crushed the urge to figure out how the girl was doing it, and instead noted the attack's trajectory. Cursing her weak lungs, she gave rapid commands to her golems and threw up a shield-
"Starlight… Breaker!"
It was a simple plan, based on some simple facts.
Yuuno gritted his teeth as he allowed a shield to fade, an axe slicing through the air behind it.
A shield exerts a force counter to the attack it is meant to block.
A dozen small magic 'bullets' from a turret were stalled by a shield, then pushed on through. But they hit nothing.
A powerful shield can block the strongest of attacks under the right conditions.
Arf held Fate close, and kept her eyes fixed on the door they were racing towards. Around her, green light shone, flaring and fading.
But even the weakest shield can slow the strongest attack… for an instant at least. But sometimes an instant is enough.
Flying through the center of a tunnel of interlocking, but separate, shields, the group poured on the speed, not trusting the flimsy, weak constructs to hold up. Yuuno forced back the instinct to flood them with mana, to defend himself and his allies properly, knowing that he could not hold up the hundreds of magic circles that guaranteed their safe passage if he did.
It was a tactic a human opponent could easily defeat. It clearly showed their destination, could not withstand any serious attack, and anyone with a lick of sense would break into the tunnel ahead of them and blast them out of the sky.
"Photon Lancer!" Arf called out, using Fate's spell to damage the swiftly approaching door. However, it remained shut.
But traps, or golems for that matter, are not human. Golems are intelligent, but not smart. They cannot adapt beyond their programming. They see an enemy, they attack it. They can anticipate movement, they can use tactics, they can coordinate with each other… but the idea of purposely attacking a shield that did not protect anything would never occur to them.
Arf shifted Fate to a fireman's carry, mentally apologizing for such rough treatment. Now having a hand free, she blitzed towards the door, putting a couple hundred pounds of shapeshifting wolf into a punch.
With a groan of twisting metal, the door gave way. Their momentum carrying them through the doorway, they skidded to a halt inside a moderately-sized room. Wasting no time, Yuuno threw out a hand towards the open doorway. "Aegis!"
"I can't believe that actually worked," Arf panted as she came down from the adrenalin rush. Carefully laying her master on the floor, she turned her attention to her newest ally. "You alright?"
Yuuno gave Arf a weak grin. "I'm good. That was more mentally straining than anything else. We should get moving. Aegis will hold out against pretty much anything, but if we take too long I'll run out of mana or they'll break through the walls. We have plenty of time, but I'd rather not push it."
Glancing at the doorway, Arf took a moment to examine the magic circle. "…What is this? Seven layers? What is this, a sized-down city defense spell? Why would you even learn this? Were you planning on insulting a clan of dragons at some point in the future?" Yuuno didn't respond, and Arf realized that he was tapping away at a computer. Which was… pretty much the only thing they could do in here, Arf realized, as this was some kind of computer center… or perhaps a control room? There was something that looked like a control panel over there…
Yuuno's typing paused. "Arf, do you know Precia's password?"
Arf leaned over and took a look at the computer screen. She shrugged. "No. Have you checked to see if she taped the password to the underside of the desk?"
Giving Arf a disparaging glare (it was the first thing he had done) Yuuno considered the computer, giving it a funny look. "Hard way it is, then." He muttered, doing some weird hand gestures and closing his eyes. Arf arched an eyebrow at him, but only seconds later a beep from the terminal informed her that he had somehow bypassed the security. Not wasting a moment, Yuuno started browsing the files at top speed, and considering that he was FINALLY doing something his job had prepared him for, that was rather fast. Annoyingly, Precia had not flagged the important files, and had preferred to use letter-number combinations as headers rather than actual words, but it was only a matter of time until he found something.
"Why didn't you just do that to start with?" Arf asked. Yuuno twitched. If she wasn't so obviously stressed by Fate's condition, he would have told her to shut up, but as it was…
"It's illegal to do it without permission. I'm only supposed to do it to access data stored on computers from the civilizations I study."
A distant rumble from elsewhere in the Garden reached their ears, and the floor shook slightly.
"Nanoha…" whispered Yuuno. He turned his attention back to the computer and started searching even faster.
Nanoha observed the results of her attack from the air. The beam had been stalled by the golems, all four of which had moved between it and the target, Precia. Nevertheless, it had smashed through them and dug a respectable trench across the floor before smashing a hole into the lower levels of the Garden.
Precia was nowhere to be seen.
Nanoha slowly descended a little and did a flyover of the wreckage of the machines, hoping to spot Precia but unwilling to take the risk of letting herself be blindsided while casting Wide Area Search. Not finding anything, she flew over to the hole in the floor and peered through. Had Precia been knocked in?
The question was put on hold as the rubble shifted, one of the golems rising shakily to its feet. Nanoha eyed it suspiciously, watching as electricity played across it, reminding her of similar sights in the past. Well, there was an easy way to tell if she was right. A "Divine Buster!" easily ripped through the remnants of the golem's barrier, the pink beam tearing off one of the machine's legs at the hip. Rather than wasting time to watch, Nanoha activated Raising Heart's Sealing Mode, wings of light bursting forth as the machine fell.
Raising Heart spoke up. "Four energy sources detected, master."
Nanoha frowned. Surely she couldn't have missed four Jewel Seeds activating? Well, not dealing with this wasn't an option, so…
"Target all of them."
"Yes, my master."
Pink ribbons of light darted towards the robots, piercing their severely damaged outer casings with ease. Finding their targets, Nanoha pushed a surge of mana to Raising Heart to finish the job. Disappointingly, the jewel-like sealed structures were not Jewel Seeds. They were almost twice as large, bulkier, red, and had knob-like protrusions on their corners. Mentally shrugging, Nanoha had Raising Heart store them under the premise that anything remotely resembling a Jewel Seed was not something Precia could be allowed to hold on to.
Now that the golems were dealt with once-and-for-all, Nanoha surveyed the room, even more on edge than before. Precia was here somewhere, Nanoha felt sure of that. A glimpse of her scorched barrier jacket reminded her to take advantage of the lull, and she set Raising Heart to work repairing her defenses while she waited for Precia to reemerge.
She didn't have to wait long.
Precia emerged from the lower levels of the Garden absolutely furious. Her barrier jacket was badly scraped up, but she looked ready and willing to tear Nanoha apart. Coming to a halt on an undamaged piece of ground, Precia prepared a spell by charging her device with her purplish electrical mana, reminding Nanoha that she should be moving and shooting rather than floating there like an idiot.
Purple lightning lanced towards Nanoha, who dodged and answered with a Divine Shooter, which failed to penetrate the translucent shield that blocked its way. Nanoha allowed the edge of another attack to splash against her barrier jacket in exchange for an extra second to charge up a Divine Buster, which was easily matched by what appeared to be Precia's version of Thunder Smasher, not that the powerful mage actually bothered to say the name.
Nanoha took too long to move afterwards, and found her left leg caught by Precia's device, which had become some sort of plasma whip. Her barrier jacket kept it from tearing her foot off, but did not prevent Precia from dragging her to earth with a powerful yank. The whip became a normal device again before Nanoha impacted the ground, but Nanoha still only barely managed to make the landing 'hard' rather than 'neck-breaking', and the stone floor's ungentle caress knocked the air out of her.
Knowing that she was only a few meters away from her enemy, Nanoha summoned the strongest Round Shield she could on such short notice. Thankfully, it successfully deflected Precia's lightning, and Nanoha put some distance between the two of them by way of an oddly effective combination of rolling, scrambling on hands and knees, and running. Taking to the air again just ahead of another spray of lightning, Nanoha used Flash Move to escape the magical blast Precia tried to use to ground her. A harsh cough wracked Precia's body, and Nanoha was thankful for the chance to catch her breath.
And then battle was joined once more.
"Just how paranoid is she?"
"Properly, apparently, considering what we're doing right now." Yuuno muttered. He sighed. "This isn't going to work. We just don't have the firepower. Nanoha might, but…" He shook his head. "Even if we did manage to destroy every piece of equipment in the entire Garden it would ultimately only be a small setback. The only truly irreplaceable part of her plan is the Jewel Seeds."
"It would give us the opportunity to get help." Arf pointed out. "Which, as much as I really, really hate to admit it, we really, really need."
"Let's try to find a plan that gives us a decent chance of surviving long enough to do that." Yuuno snapped. He winced. "Sorry, it's just…"
Arf's eyes were drawn to Fate. "Yeah. I know what you mean."
"You know, Nanoha asked me to find a way to stop Precia, 'just in case'." Yuuno said, needing to vent and figuring that Arf was as good an audience as any. "That's like a normal person saying 'call an ambulance while I walk through this minefield'. It's the closest I've ever heard her get to admitting out loud that she might fail. I mean, she kind of acknowledges the possibility, but most of the time she treats it like something that won't happen in reality, or something that's just a temporary problem. She asked for a failsafe. A backup plan. She never does that. And the stakes are just so high…"
Yuuno flicked through the file directory again, but nothing new showed up. "The one time she asks me to do something truly important, and I fail." Arf couldn't think of anything to say to that. As harsh as it was, she couldn't really say that he was wrong. "…You should take Fate and leave. I could teleport to MidChilda." Yuuno offered. "It isn't as if you have a reason to stay here anymore. And in her condition staying here is a big risk."
Arf hesitated, but shook her head. "No. I… I couldn't just leave you here to die. It would be the smart thing to do, but… you two have been trying to help us and trying to save the world and… I don't know. I should say yes, but… I couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I did. And I know Fate would never forgive me. I mean, if it really just comes down to running or dying then I'm all for running, but we still have time, right? So I'm not giving up just yet!"
"Look, as glad as I am to hear you say that, Precia has been spending who knows how many years thinking of ways people in my position could try to stop her and finding ways to make my job impossible." Yuuno laid out the painful truth. "I wouldn't even say my odds are one in a million. If Nanoha loses, then staying here with me is nothing more than a particularly painful way to commit suicide."
"Then why are you still here?" pointed out Arf.
"…If I let her destroy Nanoha's world, I could never forgive myself. It might be suicide… but I promised her when we first met that I'd repay her for her help. And if I have to, I'll die trying to do that." Yuuno turned his back on Arf and started looking over the schematics again. "And even if I hadn't made that promise, I can't to turn my back on the people of Earth if there is even the slightest chance I might save them."
"Then how could you expect me to feel differently," protested Arf, drawing his eyes again. "If you ever tell this to anyone, I'll make you pay for it, but… even though Fate is my first priority, that world, Earth, has been more of a home to us than the Garden of Time ever was. I don't think you realize just how much it affected us. Seeing people going about their daily lives, walking among them, experiencing the sheer life on that planet compared to this necropolis…" Arf shook her head. "Nanoha was the first human child Fate ever spoke to. The two of you might be her very first friends, or at least the closest to it she's ever had. Earth has done so much for us, without even trying. It gave us hope. And that's worth protecting."
It wasn't a prepared speech. It rambled. It stumbled. But it came from the heart.
Yuuno smiled, and chuckled. The whole situation was absurd, and yet somehow their almost certainly suicidal path felt like the right one. "Then I guess we'll just have to… protect… it…" He turned back to the computer screen and pulled up several files. "I… think I have an idea. It isn't ideal, and it probably will fail horribly, but…"
"That's worked for us so far, hasn't it? Why ruin a good thing?" Arf snarked.
They exchanged grins. They had hope. After all, all it took was one chance… that was all it took to succeed. Even one chance in a billion was still one chance. They had the beginnings of a plan. They just had to make it work.
Fighting Precia was completely different from fighting Fate, save for the lightning motif.
Fate was fast. Very fast. Nanoha had been forced to adapt, using her natural talent for flying to take advantage of Fate's lack of imagination and improvisation and catch her off-guard. Fate had poor defense, at least compared to Nanoha's above average skills and Yuuno's incredible capabilities. So Nanoha's plan of attack had been to try to get enough room to use her spells, and blast away with shooting and bombardment magic at every opportunity, hopefully getting some good hits in before Fate retook the initiative. Fate could, and did, close the distance between her and her target at every opportunity, and she was able to cross a battlefield in seconds.
Precia, on the other hand, had yet to move so much as a step since they started fighting. The SS-ranked mage (which Nanoha was beginning to suspect stood for 'Seriously Scary') had yet to activate a flight spell. She had yet to dodge. She just stood there and utterly eradicated everything Nanoha attempted. Using a Divine Shooter was like throwing a pillow at a brick wall. Precia could fire a beam capable of matching a Divine Buster with less than a second of charge time. And as for Starlight Breaker…
Another cough racked Precia, and Nanoha took the chance to fire off a Divine Buster. Incredibly, Precia managed to not only match it, but to start to overpower it, and Nanoha cut her attack short in favor of getting out of the way.
…If Nanoha had 10 seconds, she could end this. There was more than enough magic in the air. Nanoha was practically swimming in it. But Precia was fast. Not physically fast like Fate, but fast in casting. She never seemed to stop throwing out those lightning bolts, and Nanoha knew from experience that they hurt.
Nanoha flung herself through the air from one side of the room to the other, she spent mana like water, and she used every trick she had to try to protect herself, but she was only just barely keeping herself from being fried by Precia's lightning, and her attempts to harm Precia amounted to nothing. Worse, Nanoha was scraping the bottom of her reserves and Precia looked as if she was doing some light exercise rather than spamming bombardment spells.
But Nanoha couldn't afford to lose. She knew what she had to do to win, and she would find a way to beat Precia into the ground even if it killed her.
Time to try a new approach.
Aiming Raising Heart at Precia as she barrel-rolled away from an attack, she yelled out the only combat spell she had yet to use against her foe.
"Restrict Lock!"
Essentially a Ring Bind which uses a primitive mana-collection component to form, Restrict Lock was the spell that had told Nanoha that Starlight Breaker was possible. But in this moment, it was important because it did the one thing no other spell had during the fight between Nanoha and Precia.
It succeeded.
Boosted in power by the sheer quantity of mana around Precia, the scientist's limbs were trapped in place, as if her ankles and wrists had been nailed to their locations.
Nanoha had wasted enough opportunities today, and wasn't about to miss another. "Raising Heart! Starlight Breaker!"
"Yes, my master!"
Wings of light sprang forth, and the light of the stars began to gather.
"I think we need to find a different way out."
So they have reinforcements then.
Yuuno fiddled with something on the control panel Arf had spotted earlier, referencing notes and computer screens. "I can try to teleport us to our target, but that would be… risky."
Which was another way of saying 'I can get us there in five seconds if you don't mind materializing with part of your body inside a wall.'
"I could try and fight. Draw some fire, and you could escape with Fate."
Ah, Arf, always forgetting to protect yourself.
"No way. And besides, we need to go up to floors. I wouldn't be able to make it without help."
Yuuno, the quiet boy. Always with… who?
Someone is missing. I feel like someone should be here.
"We'll fight together. You attack, I defend, hopefully we'll make it."
They need help. Someone should help them.
"Do you think she's alright?"
"Precia hasn't shown up yet, so Nanoha must be holding out."
I know those names. There's something important…
"…Do you think we should try to help her? Rather than this?"
"I want to make her pay for what she's done. But how could we help? Could either of us honestly say that we wouldn't be in the way?"
Mother… Nanoha… Alicia…
Finishing the first part of the plan, Yuuno put his hand in the middle of the control panel and slammed what might generously be called a 'magical bullet' into the sensitive equipment. It was an insult to offensive spells everywhere, but it did its job. "We'd better get moving. After all, Nanoha's counting on us. If she loses, and we don't succeed…"
Everybody will die. The office workers I watched walk home after work. The children in the parks. The shopkeepers that we bought food from. The young couples, and the elderly ones, who looked at each other with love. No more sunrises and sunsets. No more birds. No more Arf or Nanoha or Yuuno. No more anything.
If I don't help them…
I'm done feeling sorry for myself.
"Bardiche."
"Get set."
"What?"
"Fate!"
Arf is hugging me tightly. But I don't mind. I've put her through so much…
"I'm back. Don't worry." I reassure her, and I scratch her behind the ear. "We can do this." I gently break the hug short. There is work to be done. "Support me, and we'll break through the enemy and split up. Arf will reach Nanoha and evacuate her to the site of this morning's meeting if she is losing. Yuuno and I will handle the rest. Arf, let us now the situation as soon as possible. Any objections?"
Arf whined a little at being sent away, even for a short period of time but acquiesced. "If you let her get hurt…" Arf eyed Yuuno, who got the message. But there was a little bit of trust there, and Arf's words weren't quite as threatening as they would normally have been. I smiled. At least something good had come out of this.
"You heard our plan?" Yuuno asked, seeing the look on my face. I imagine he really wants to know if I heard everything, but I'm not about to mortify Arf by saying that, so I just nod. "It is risky, but if Nanoha can't… beat Mother then it is our best hope."
Arf couldn't stop grinning, nearly bouncing with joy at her master's return. Yuuno nodded resolutely, but less troubled than before.
"Drop the shield in 3. 3-"
"Photon Lancer Multishot," intoned Bardiche.
"2-"
Arf shifted to wolf form.
"1-"
Yuuno hovered, waiting.
"Now!"
The yellow spheres shot out, one after another, clearing the doorway of enemies. Reforming and firing, reforming and firing, the orbs struck down the mechanical opponents with superb precision. In mere seconds, Fate had done enough damage for leaving cover to be an acceptable risk, and Arf led the charge out into the larger room. Yuuno felt out of place with the slick teamwork that Fate and Arf effortlessly demonstrated. But he quickly picked out the simple method of entangling any golems that got too close for comfort with Chain Binds, allowing Fate and Arf to deal with them at leisure.
Whatever tactical programs the golems had were unable to adapt fast enough to Fate's unexpected revival. Soon enough, there wasn't enough firepower left in the room to be a serious threat, and the three skilled mages left nothing but piles of scrap behind as they bulldozed through their enemies. Where before trying a frontal attack would have been highly risky at best, Fate's return enabled them to cover each other's backs, using their specialties to the fullest.
Tearing the wiring of a golem out with her teeth, Arf removed the last obstacle to leaving. The three of them congregated briefly out in the hallway.
"Stay safe Arf." Fate smiled sadly. "Thank you… for everything."
Arf grinned toothily, her wolf form obscuring any other reaction she may have had. "You too, Fate." With that, Arf raced off towards the distant rumble of battle.
Fate watched her go. "I'm not worthy of such loyalty."
Yuuno awkwardly put his hand on her shoulder, causing Fate to jump slightly. He smiled reassuringly. "It isn't really my place to say this, but… Arf loves you. You don't have to earn her loyalty; it's a gift from her to you. Whether or not you feel you are worthy is unimportant as far as she's concerned. Just follow your heart and try your best, and be honest about your feelings."
Fate stared confusedly at him. "That… doesn't make any sense." There had to be more to it than that, right?
Yuuno shrugged, smiling. "It's love. As far as I've been able to figure out, it isn't supposed to."
Nanoha gritted her teeth, seeing a small crack appear in Precia's binds. The woman looked crazed, practically frothing at the mouth as she struggled against the magic pinning her in place. 8.
Precia screamed in wordless rage, forcing a jagged gash to open in the bind on her right arm. Compartmentalizing, she focused on control, knowing that if she gave in to the desire to annihilate the binds she would damage much more than she intended. If only she had chosen to meet down on that planet. It would have been riskier, but she wouldn't have to hold back for fear of destroying the Garden and Alicia with it. She would have destroyed Nanoha hours ago. 9.
The concentrated power of the spell was much larger than normal, and Raising Heart devoted nearly all of her processing power to dealing with it. The intelligent device managed the tricky task well, and then -10- it was time. And then:
The bind on Precia's right arm shatters. Precia for the first time, calls out her attack's name as Nanoha calls out hers.
"Starlight Breaker!"
"Photon Burst!"
An almighty wave of energy, pink-toned starlight, erupted forth from Nanoha, powerful enough to make her previous Starlight Breaker look like an emaciated shadow. But Precia, staff glowing brightly, hurled her mana at the incoming beam. Rather than a bombardment spell, Precia forcibly contained the explosions of compressed mana that the area-of-effect Photon Burst generated. Forcibly reducing her power output and directing the results, Precia managed to stall the Starlight Breaker with only meters to spare, trying to push back without destroying half of the Garden. Through constantly forming dozens of concussive mana blasts, she stymied Nanoha, who responded by pouring all of the man she could into her attack.
"Break through!" Nanoha cried, and shoved her mana into the spell. Starlight Breaker slowly began to overcome Precia's efforts, but the scientist did not give in.
"I will save Alicia!" Precia roared, and ignoring the splitting pain in her head and the distress of her ailing body she cast a second spell simultaneously. "Thunder Rage!" The pressure and pain Precia was feeling increased exponentially, but she smiled as a lightning storm opened up above Nanoha's head.
Unable to dodge while maintaining Starlight Breaker, Nanoha screamed. Liquid agony rolled across her body as her tattered barrier jacket shredded and evaporated under the prolonged assault. But this was it, all or nothing, so Nanoha used a binding spell to lock her forearms in place and continued, even as her body was wracked by spasms and her vision shuddered and her heart stuttered and the pain…
Both combatants experienced extreme tunnel vision. Their worlds shrunk to each other. Once they won, the pain would stop. Unable to give in, unable to back out, they pushed forward, Precia's body failing and Nanoha's consciousness fading.
And then, in one final explosion of effort, Starlight Breaker crashed through, striking Precia.
And everything went dark.
This was taking too long. That was Yuuno's fear as Fate and he fought their way towards their goal. They could make it, but could they make it in time? In his mind he could see the route they were taking, and while it looked good on paper-
He entangled a half-dozen golems, allowing Fate to eviscerate them with her scythe.
-it was a really long way to go if you had to fight constantly. Yuuno considered his mental map, and looked at the small craters Fate's spells were leaving in the walls. Time for a shortcut.
"Fate! Shoot a hole in the ceiling!"
With only a slight hesitation as she figured out what he had planned, Fate turned to face the roof and blew a small passage into the hallway above with a Thunder Smasher while Yuuno protected her with his shields. Fate led the way through the new 'door', and Yuuno called out directions as he followed his ally. "Third right, second left, second door of the left!"
Nodding her acknowledgement, Fate considered her current partner. He didn't have Arf's intuitive ability to know how to support her, and he wasn't as magnetic or open-hearted as Nanoha, but he was kind and dependable. She wasn't sure exactly where she stood with him (or with Nanoha for that matter) but Fate found herself looking forward to finding out more about what being friends with them might mean.
Arf skidded around a corner, only to stop, puzzled. The noise she had been hearing was gone. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
Starting to run again, the wolf familiar gnawed on her dilemma again. She had lied to Yuuno to ease his conscience, but truthfully she believed that she could make a difference. As strong as Precia's magic was, if Arf could get close enough then tearing out Precia's throat would be easy. Or if not easy, then at least doable. And if it weren't for Fate's condition at the time, Arf would have already attempted that.
Sadly, MidChildans would always insist on staying nonlethal, except for ones like Precia. As far as Arf was concerned, Precia was dangerous, evil, and deserved to die. No matter how you looked at it, someone like her was too risky to leave alive. And there was her promise to Linith to consider… Hopefully Nanoha didn't have the same problems with killing that Fate and Yuuno had.
But what if she did? And, well, that was rather likely, wasn't it? It was easy to forget that Nanoha, Fate, and Yuuno were all little kids, but nonetheless it was true. Of course, she was one to talk, being younger than all of them, but even if she could look human she had grown up as fast as if she were a wolf. If Arf's limited experience with Nanoha held true, then Nanoha would do the 'right thing' rather than the 'smart thing' every time. Arf ground her teeth together, wondering what she was going to do if Nanoha tried to stop her. Or what if Precia had won? Should she attack anyway, probably getting killed and failing Fate? Should she turn and run, meet up with Fate and Yuuno and convince them to leave, allowing Precia to win?
Stop worrying about it, she scolded herself. 'What if' doesn't help. You'll find out the situation soon enough.
That didn't make her feel better.
"That's the one we need." Yuuno pointed. "Cut the power cords, no, make the cut further away from the base, we'll need those later. Alright, stand back."
Fate backed away as green light formed a magic circle below the machine.
"Dimensional Transfer. Dimensional Coordinates…"
As Yuuno chanted, Fate closed her eyes and focused on her familiar.
"Arf…"
"Looks like we'll need that plan after all."
"PuT ouT~"
Precia's device captured the three Jewel Seeds that appeared from the damaged Raising Heart.
"Very cute," said Precia in a tone that made it very clear that she didn't appreciate it. "But I'm not about to let you keep the others. I dislike loose ends." She raised the red orb to eye level. "If you don't want your precious 'Master' to die right here, right now…"
"uSeR noT AcCEpteD. LocKDoWN." The light in the device faded.
"Then I'll just have to unlock you, won't I?" Precia's eyes narrowed. Suddenly spinning around, she blocked a small pink projectile with her shield. "You really are quite incredible, aren't you?" She remarked, walking over to Nanoha's crumpled form. "Very resilient. And rather impressive in your ability to cast such powerful spells without an incantation. But-" CRACK "-I must insist that your displays of talent cease."
Sobbing, Nanoha tried to cradle her broken forearm. Biting through tears of pain, she gasped out a question. "Why- Why do you h-hate Fate so much?"
Precia laughed. "You really are something. Worrying about that thing at a time like this?"
"H-her name is Fate!"
Precia sneered. "Oh, please… You're serious? You're actually serious. You actually care about that thing." The scientist looked honestly shocked. But she sneered again. "I suppose you'll realize the truth eventually, if you by some miracle survive. That thing isn't even worth hating."
Nanoha wasn't entirely sure what happened next, but there was a meaty THUD and suddenly Precia was gone from her field of vision and Arf was there holding Raising Heart.
"She's worth loving!" The familiar snarled, before grimacing as Precia stood up slowly. Since when was that dress of hers a barrier jacket? Did she never stop wearing it, even when just Fate was around? Pushing such thoughts to one side (she really didn't need to reflect on how screwed up Precia's relationship with Fate was) Arf's doubts bubbled up to the fore. Should she have kept up the pressure? The way Precia moved indicated that the woman had gotten a serious beating under that barrier jacket of hers, and the possibility that she might be seriously weakened made Arf freeze up in indecision. Could she beat Precia? Should she fight? Should she run?
"You." Stated Precia coldly. "I suppose the rest of you will come crawling out of your hiding places at some point?"
"Not unless you're planning on getting a new personality in the near future." Arf took half-hearted pleasure in Precia's annoyance. What should she do?
"Give me that device, familiar." A few arcs of purple lightning formed on Precia's device to make it clear that there was a threat attached to the command.
In the end, it was Nanoha that decided it. The situation was the much the same as Nanoha's earlier. If Arf wanted to fight Precia, she had to be willing to let Nanoha get caught in the crossfire.
Arf just wasn't that cold.
"Sorry, Linith." Arf muttered as she picked up Nanoha. Nanoha's eyes widened as a circle formed beneath them. Nanoha painfully turned her head towards Precia.
"I hope… that it's worth it."
And then they were gone.
Precia's attack screamed through the empty space they once occupied and the scientist snarled when she saw they had escaped. Then she stopped, looked at her device, and smiled. After all, she had what she needed.
Even if they had the same magic circle, it would be a stretch to say that Arf's spell was the same Dimensional Transfer spell used by Fate and Yuuno. Rather than a smooth transition, they were wrapped in a bubble of magic and hurled into the correct general area and Arf course corrected as they, for lack of a better description, careened across the yawning void.
Nanoha's landing, at least, was cushioned by Arf's body.
"Arf!"
"Nanoha!" A pause. "Physical Heal!"
As the pain slowly diminished to levels Nanoha could deal with, Nanoha smiled shakily at Yuuno, who looked badly shaken. Her smile faded. "Sorry, Yuuno. Looks like I failed."
"Not yet." Turning to the voice, Nanoha's face lit up. "Fate! Thank goodness! When I saw you collapse…"
"I will be fine." Fate looked a bit unsure, but she was clearly much better than she was earlier so Nanoha figured it was a good sign. "But at the moment there are more pressing matters."
"There are still 6 Jewel Seeds in here-" For a moment, Nanoha felt a brief almost-pain in her chest. "-but the device is in some kind of 'Lockdown' or something."
"Ah! Raising Heart!" Nanoha yelped. Her chest throbbed, but she ignored it. Arf handed over the device. "Are you okay?"
"The damage is mostly superficial, master."
"Wait," Arf said, "what?"
"No such function as 'Lockdown' exists." Raising Heart proclaimed smugly, if that was possible.
Arf snickered, getting it. "You, I like. Okay, Yuuno, tell her the plan, Fate, help me make a sling for that arm of hers."
Alicia's temporary resting chamber sat in the middle of a large room. Precia examined a bank of monitors carefully, ensuring that all was ready for their journey. Finding Yuuno's actions logged, her eyes widened in shock at his success in accessing her files. In rapid sequence, emotions flitted across her face as she tracked his movements. Surprise. Fear. Confusion. Relief. Finally, with an amused shrug at his desperate yet oddly effective plan, she watched him leave with the clone in tow.
It would not change her plans. It would not harm Alicia. And as much as she wanted to make the clone suffer, she didn't particularly care to waste time on it when she finally had everything in place. Alicia was her first priority.
She just had one more thing to do before she began.
Once again regretting not having given Nanoha a solid basis in magical theory and higher lever physics, Yuuno tried to put it as simply as possible. "Everybody grabs a power cord in one hand," Yuuno held up a finger-thick, futuristic-looking tube attached to a weird, tulip-shaped machine, "puts there hand on the activating Jewel Seeds, and wishes really, really hard for the magic to power the machine."
Nanoha snorted, jarring her broken arm and wincing as she did so.
Then she realized he was serious.
"I strongly suggest that you work on your communication skills," Arf commented dryly "because I know what we're doing and that still sounds crazy."
Correctly interpreting that he needed to explain in more detail, Yuuno explained what the goal was. "This machine, to make a long story short, channels magic to… well, I guess you could call them satellites. Satellites that will use that magic to form a sort of defensive screen around Earth by- uh, I'm not actually sure how to put it in layman's terms…"
"It stabilizes a shell of powerful time-space distortions around us." Fate suggested. Arf used Fate's cape as a makeshift sling, ("Fate, remember to keep your barrier jacket active until we get something more permanent, or the cape will disappear.") putting it under Nanoha's arm and tying it in place around her neck.
Yuuno nodded. "It's really complicated, but that's the general gist of it. But since we literally cut it out of Precia's power grid and we're trying to protect something a lot bigger than the Garden we need a huge power source, so… Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Nanoha assured, pulling her hand away from her chest. "You did a good job on the burns. It just feels a little strange. So… you think this will work?"
"If we can power it, I'd say we have a better than even chance." Yuuno said proudly, but then grimaced. "The biggest risk is to us. We've all seen Jewel Seed activations before, so you know the risk. But the other major danger is that we'll be channeling quantities of mana way beyond the natural capacity our linker cores. And I mean several orders of magnitude beyond at that." Yuuno fidgeted. "I mean, it could go fine, or it could kill us instantly, or it could make us lose the ability to cast spells, or it could supercharge us and give us massive mana capacities… People don't experiment with things like this. The opposite problem is the one everyone usually worries about. I- I just don't know."
"I don't really see how it matters," Arf commented dryly, settling Nanoha's forearm into the sling to minimize movement. "Basically, we succeed or we don't."
"All the same, I'd like to give you one last opportunity to leave." Yuuno once again offered. "Assuming we succeed, it could be months or even years before it becomes safe to try to leave this planet. I'm fine with that, but I want to make sure you know what you're getting into."
Fate spoke up. "If it works, then I would be satisfied. I… do not wish to die. But… while I came to this world for Mother's sake, I think that I would like to do this… because I want to, in spite of the risk. And there are worse places to be stranded."
Nanoha smiled. "This is my home. I can't even imagine not trying to save it. And… if it's okay with all of you, I would like to call all of you my friends. I mean, I know friendship isn't that easy to just make happen, but… I'd like to try to be friends with all of you."
"…I would like that." Fate mumbled, but Nanoha heard and swept in to give her a one-armed hug.
"Nanoha, you've been a better friend to me than I really deserve after dropping all this in your lap." Yuuno smiled. "I'm proud to be your friend, and, if Fate is willing, I'd be proud to call her my friend too." Wary of Nanoha's broken arm, he didn't jump in and hug them, but he did step closer and gently put a hand on each of their shoulders to show his support.
Fate smiled shyly, but genuinely, at both of them.
"Yes, my master."
"Yes sir."
Jumping in surprise at the voices, everyone's attention was drawn to Raising Heart and Bardiche.
"You guys…" murmured Nanoha.
"Thank you," whispered Fate.
Yuuno smiled.
Arf sighed heavily. "Man, this feels so corny. But if even the devices are in on it then I can hardly say no, can I? Somebody has to keep an eye on you brats."
Fate giggled at her attempt to stay aloof, an honest-to-goodness giggle. Infectiously, it spread to the other children. Arf deflated a little. "Why do you guys have to be so cute?" she pouted. Opening her arms, she sighed. "Come on, let's get it over with."
Nobody in the ensuing group hug was fooled.
Fifteen Jewel Seeds orbited Precia and Alicia, but Precia only had eyes for her daughter. "Soon…" she whispered. "Soon."
I hope… that it's worth it.
Precia smiled. "Yes. My Alicia… you are worth anything. You are worth everything. And it is time for us to be together again. My sweet, sweet Alicia…"
The Jewel Seeds activated.
Time-space tore apart under from the Lost Logia's power guided by machines controlled by Precia's will for the sake of Alicia-
And light shone out from the cracks in reality. Precia cried out in triumph as the light, the light she knew to be the Light of Al Hazard, engulfed her and her daughter.
Every alarm in TSAB headquarters started blaring.
Six Jewel Seeds hung together in the air between Nanoha, Yuuno, Fate, and Arf. The four of them might not yet be friends, but they had decided that they wanted to be. They just had to survive long enough to make it possible.
Whatever else they might be, they were in this together. And in that there was hope.
Yuuno, sensing the Jewel Seeds activating, nodded to Fate, who activated the Jewel Seeds.
Wishing is the essence of magic. In its simplest form, a spell is a wish. Given energy, given form, given purpose, a miracle results. An analyzable, reproducible miracle, but a miracle all the same. An impossibility given birth by a sentient mind.
And some people wonder why intelligent devices are so useful.
The Jewel Seeds react to wishes. They do not grant them, as such, but their effects are shaped by desires. By hopes. By fears. By dreams. A subconscious wish is as good as a conscious one.
Perhaps the true miracle was that the young mages were sufficiently united in purpose that they actually got what they were looking for.
Three of them had one hand holding a wire and their other on the Jewel Seeds. Nanoha put one hand on the Jewel Seeds and put a bare foot on her wire, not wanting to risk breaking contact with the wire if she used her broken arm and dropped it out of pain. As the Jewel Seeds activated, light and energy surrounded the four mages. It tingled and it jittered and it hurt but they handled it well, shunting the energy through their linker cores, Bardiche and Raising Heart helping as best they could, and into the machine, which began to glow and hum. For a moment, nothing happened.
And then the sky started moving.
Actually, the atmosphere was unaffected, but the incoming light from the sun found itself twisting and turning and looping around as the fabric of reality tied itself in knots. All over the world, eyes raised skyward in confusion, awe, and fear.
But the mages were too busy to appreciate the sight, because that when the dimensional dislocation reached them. The effect of the shield on the incoming 'wave' of distorted space-time was much like what occurs when an ant attempts to cross a fast-flowing river on a leaf. While it eventually gets to the other side, it ends up far downstream, missing the shore it initially aimed for.
Of course 'much like' is at best a gross overstatement. The sheer scale, the applicable physics, the results… such a statement is like saying that pine cones are 'much like' elephants in that both are carbon-based life-forms on the planet Earth that use DNA as a store of genetic data. While far from useless, the analogy is somewhat lacking. But words created to describe a three-dimensional, magicless world are ill-suited to describing this event. A better comparison might be to Earth's magnetic field protecting the world from the solar wind, but once again, it is fundamentally flawed.
But from their vantage point on the ground, the four mages merely felt the movement of magic and a sense of pressure, and they heard the hum of the machinery become a whine as they upped the output in response, striving to maintain their only defense against an unstoppable force through sheer quantity of mana. And it worked.
And then it didn't.
Ignoring her body's warnings, Nanoha had pushed beyond her limits. But in the end what took her out was something none of them could realistically have suspected. Channeling so much power through her body turned a minor arrhythmia, originating from a depolarization of a small section of heart tissue caused by one of the electrical shocks during her fight with Precia, into full-blown ventricular fibrillation. The symptoms were dismissed as unimportant, especially in light of her other injuries, until Nanoha suddenly realized that the world seemed strangely quiet.
She was unconscious before she could realize that her heart had stopped beating.
It was a horrible situation. If any of the other three went to help her, then that left two mages to do all of the work, and realistically they had been pushing it with only four mages in the first place. But if they didn't help her, then for all they knew she would drop dead. They had no way of knowing whether she had collapsed because of something life-threatening or not. And yet they had to make a decision, and fast.
Fortunately, if Fate had inherited one thing from Precia, it was how to make snap decisions in a crisis. "Arf!" She yelled, jerking her head towards Nanoha. Placing her trust in her companions, Arf scrambled over to Nanoha, desperately trying to ignore the pained sounds from her allies as she worked.
Checking Nanoha's vitals quickly revealed the problem, but Arf hesitated to use the first solution that came to mind. A scream from Fate made her put her doubts aside. Putting her hand on Nanoha's chest, Arf used her magic to electrify the girl's chest, thankful that Nanoha had not reformed her barrier jacket. Trying to find a pulse, Arf cried out in frustration as she failed. Thankfully, a second shock did the trick, and Arf only stayed by the girl's side long enough to feel somewhat secure that she wouldn't die in the immediate future. Nanoha, half-conscious but alive, watched blearily as Arf grabbed a cable and dove back in.
The three of them struggled mightily, knowing that they just had to hold on for a little while longer. But Yuuno and Fate were weakened, and time seemed to stretch out forever before them. Even as the source of the dislocation began to decrease the strength of the distortions it caused, their strength flickered. And seconds (hours? minutes?) later they sensed the terrible result. One of the focusing crystal 'satellites' shattered as the dislocation reached it.
Yuuno cried out in horror, but didn't stop feeding mana to the crippled network. His mind felt like it was imploding, but he forced his thoughts to attain greater speed. With a shrill, pained screech, he reached out and teleported the remaining focus crystals to new location, closer to the Earth, sacrificing hundreds of satellites to form an intact defense around the world. But his work was not done. Unable to modify the focus crystals from where he was, Yuuno physically manipulated the insides of the flower-like machine beside him with his movement magic. Modulating the power output to each crystal, he managed to set up an oblong, deformed shield around the Earth. For a time it held.
Then a second crystal imploded.
Once again, Yuuno strove to adapt. Beside him, Fate and Arf shouldered almost the entirety of the burden of channeling the Jewel Seeds' power, but Yuuno's multitasking abilities only barely pulled him through. Nanoha desperately tried to orient herself, but her memories were jumbled and she didn't know what she needed to do to help. Yuuno succeeded, but six focus crystals could not do the work of eight.
Two more crystals shattered in quick succession, and all of the equipment shut down to prevent the literally catastrophic failure that an unstable network would cause. Some sort of recall function returned the remaining crystals to the side of their power source, but nobody paid attention to the now-useless miracles of engineering.
The four stared skyward. It had almost been enough. Just a few more seconds and… But the defensive shield was visibly dissipating, and they could feel that the dislocation was pushing through, weakened but not weak enough.
"No!" Screamed Arf. "This is not happening! Not after all we've been through! I'm not giving up!" Drinking deep of the Jewel Seeds' power, she threw her free arm towards the heavens. "Round Shield!"
Orange tracings filled the sky as Arf attempted a planetary-scale defense. But alone, unaided, it was an exercise in failure.
But she wasn't alone. Fate's small pale hand, Yuuno's calloused one, even Nanoha's broken arm, splinted through the creative use of binding spells, all of them joined hers.
"ROUND SHIELD!"
And the sky was filled with solar fire.
The light of the dislocation splashed upon the shield like water upon a rock. Fueled by the power of the Jewel Seeds, the last desperate defense was made from energy capable of countering the incoming danger. The shield wore down under the onslaught, but it held as long as it needed to. By the time it broke, the danger was almost over, and they knew how to defeat the rest.
Their Round Shield this time was only large enough to protect a city, as that was the size it was when the Jewel Seeds dropped to the ground, completely drained. Linker cores burning, devices badly damaged, they didn't know if they were laughing or crying or screaming as they held back the tide for as long as they could. But they did not despair when their shield faded, powerless. Because when the light engulfed them…
It was nothing more than pressure and light and a dull roar. And in a short time, it faded.
They had won.
