AN: Somehow I managed to pry myself away from Skyrim so that I could type this up. I swear that game has taken over my life recently. The fact that I no longer work two jobs is partly to blame. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. I'm a one job kind of girl now so with this extra free time you would think I'd dedicate it to writing, but when I realized I had this game and hadn't touched it for months…well I'm completely hooked on it now. Still, I decided I needed to get this out before I let it go for too long without an update.

Now for the fighting scenes I'm once again winging it. I love action movies and I love movies that have awesome fighting scenes. This enthusiasm for it though doesn't transfer as well to writing. I did my best and I'm still not very happy with it, but we all have to start somewhere. So apologies ahead of time if it's not as great as you thought it would be.

Now to answer some reviews:

BonesxBreak- I'm glad my lack of knowledge on weapons wasn't as noticeable as I thought. Like I'd said before, I've gone shooting once and that was the only time I've learned anything about guns. The most I deal with knives wise is when I need to cut vegetables or handling a pocket knife. Thank god for the internet though. You can research just about anything.

Bardiche- You know, I've recently noticed that a lot of people like it when Nanoha goes all into jealous mode and threatens to starlight breaker everyone. It's like she's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Can you imagine a story like that? Oh, better not let my imagination run away with that one…

Anon- Fate will be using a katana at some point. She only uses throwing knives at this point because it's more practical for her.

Yukiyuuki- Precia's just having a bit a fun while locked up. Can't blame her, there's nothing much to do while your locked up in a super-secret jail.

Eries326- I still don't know if Arf will appear in the story. We'll see.

Honulicious and Tsuchiyasa- …Yes its Linith. Geez you guys are good at guessing, but I think that one was fairly obvious.

Alright that's it! Enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Nanoha so you know…don't sue or something.

Safe and Sound

The whistle blew. Carim and Suzuka barely had time to get into a defensive position before Alicia and Fate rushed at them with a set of punches. They hadn't been expecting that, but they were able to quickly recover from this sudden attack. Out of everyone in the school, the two blondes more than likely were the only ones who had actual field experience. If they hadn't attended the school, then Carim and Suzuka could boast that they were one of the few who had some form of combat experience. Granted this was in a controlled environment, but combat was combat. It gave them an edge over everyone else. Their training though had not prepared them for what the twins were doing.

The two didn't even talk or glance each other's way. They just acted. It was almost like they could read each other's minds. That was a very scary thought. If they were able to do something like that then it became that much harder for Suzuka and Carim to take them on. They'd hoped to be able to figure out some way to counter attack by deciphering their pattern of attack through their interaction, but that became impossible when they weren't even interacting. They were in a tough spot for sure but they weren't going to be done in so easily.

Carim carefully blocked each and every one of Alicia's punches. She was waiting for the perfect opportunity to tackle Alicia to the ground. Carim was a lot better at close combat, more specific, she was good at grappling. She was quite confident of her abilities. If she was able to get Alicia in a choke hold she'd be able to take down the girl in one go. It didn't matter how much more training she had, once she was in her grasp, it would be nearly impossible to get out of it. It'd only take a couple of seconds on her part to make the blonde lose consciousness. All she had to do was get in the right position and strike. Then she and Suzuka could concentrate on Fate. Together, they could definitely defeat Fate.

Alicia threw a punch, a straight one towards Carim's head. Carim saw this as her chance to counter. She tilted her head just enough for the punch to slightly graze her. With the two close enough she quickly slipped her leg behind one of Alicia's and kicked it out from under her. Alicia lost her balance allowing Carim to throw the rest of her body weight upon her. Alicia and Carim rolled around the ground, Carim trying to get the blonde assassin into a choke hold while Alicia was doing her best to keep out of it.

Carim knew she only had this one chance to do what she needed. She doubted that Alicia would let her get close enough again to wrestle her to the ground. Alicia slammed Carim against the mat, but the other blonde would not let her get the best of her. She locked her legs around Alicia's waist and held on tight. Alicia threw as much force as she could into her hips, attempting to loosen the hold Carim had around her waist. As Alicia was trying to shake the other blonde off, Carim managed to use Alicia's momentum and rolled her over onto her back with as much force as she could. It knocked the wind out of Alicia, impairing her for a moment. That was all Carim needed in order to slip Alicia's head under her right arm pit. Wrapping the rest of her arm under her neck, Carim then rolled onto her back. With her free arm she quickly took hold of Alicia's other arm before she was able to use it to try attack Carim into releasing her hold.

She inwardly smirked. It would only take a few seconds for Alicia to start to lose consciousness. Victory would be hers!

Just as Carim was celebrating a body suddenly slammed into the two girls.

Suzuka cursed herself as she tried to get her bearings straight. She'd let her temper get the best of her, but how could she not? Fate had been playing around with her since the whistle blew. At first it seemed like they were evenly matched as they traded blow for blow. Suddenly though, Fate backed off. She just stopped attacking and instead stood off to the side. She wasn't even taking a defensive position. She just stood there, arms to her side with a looked that said Suzuka wasn't worth the effort. She'd tried to remain calm and chose to attack with caution.

Even when she was so close to striking her, Fate only used the most minimal movements necessary to dodge an attack. Suzuka could feel her irritation grow with each failed punch, on her part; Fate continued to dodge Suzuka's punches while occasionally swatting away the purple haired girl's fists like they were flies. Suzuka could not understand how she kept missing her mark. Fate had no defense what so ever yet she couldn't land a punch even though it seemed liked she had her on the run and when Fate did counter with her…swatting, for a lack of a better word, it felt like the swats did more to throw her off balance than normal punches.

All of this finally burst any bit of patience she had with her opponent. With a mighty yell, she planted her left leg solidly on the ground as she lifted her right to deliver a kick to Fate's head. That was the exact careless mistake Fate had been waiting for. Effortlessly, she caught Suzuka's kick midair with both her hands. Without stopping the momentum of the kick, Fate grabbed on to her leg with both hands and twisted her body to continue the flow of the kick. With the momentum doubled thanks to the Fate's added movements, Suzuka soon found herself hurling into the air in an unknown direction. It wasn't until her body hit something that she realized her mistake.

Fate had realized that Alicia was in danger the moment she stopped her attacks on Suzuka. Instead of trying to help her directly, she used Suzuka as a weapon to free her sister from Carim's sleeper hold.

With the sudden impact caused by Suzuka's body, Carim lost her hold around Alicia's head. Not wanting to lose this opportunity to escape, Alicia quickly regained dominance in their wresting. Carim though, would not let go of her waist. She still needed to get out of it somehow. Thus Alicia only saw one way to get her to let go. She took hold of Carim's shirt, lifted both of them up slightly and slammed her down against the mats. She continued to do this until she felt Carim's death grip begin to loosen.

"Carim!" Suzuka had regained her bearings enough to see her friend being slammed down on the mat like a rag doll. She wasn't about to just sit there and let her get hurt. She'd quickly stood once again attempted her kick on the other twin. She had no better luck since Alicia was able to flip out of the hold with Carim having lost her grip on the older twin. Alicia joined her sister who stood not too far from their two opponents. Carim and Suzuka felt they were reaching their limit. As Suzuka helped her friend stand, it became painfully obvious that Fate and Alicia had been toying with them the entire time. The twins didn't look the slightest bit winded after the fighting they'd done. Was it really that easy for them?

"I think we're at our limit Suzuka-chan." Carim panted out.

"I guess we really were no match for them." Suzuka chuckled. "I should've listened to you when you told me not to underestimate them"

"Well, even if we're going to lose, I certainly don't want to because I gave up."

"To the bitter end?"

"To the bitter end." Carim confirmed.

The two girls were about to rush at the twins, hoping to catch them off guard with their sudden attack when the gym was suddenly plunged into darkness. The automatic blinds on the windows had been activated and blocked out any bit of sunlight while the lights were all shut off.

"W-what's going on?" a frightened student asked.

"Is this part of the test?"

"I bet those murderers have something to do with it."

The students all began to voice their opinions on the sudden turn of events. There were a few in the auditorium though who knew this wasn't the norm. One of those people was Shiro Takamachi. He'd already taken out a flash light from his brief case along with the two men who accompanied him. Something was definitely wrong. He'd been to more than one of these tests and this was never part of it. Was it an attack? And if so against who? Unfortunately, there were plenty of targets if someone was there for a kidnapping. Any child taken from this school was worth a fortune. Things were not in his favor for sure. Still, he needed to take control of the situation and make sure all the students were kept safe, especially his daughter and Hayate Yagami.

"Shiro-san."

He turned to Lindy who joined him in his scouting. It was certainly his luck that Lindy also happened to be at the exams on this day. They'd need all the man power they could get to make sure this situation doesn't escalate further. Nothing like having the head of a secret government branch there to help out, not that everyone knew who she really was. He was one of the privileged few who were privy to that information. Everyone else thought she was just another government employee.

"We need to secure the area and get those lights back on. We're helpless in the dark." Shiro summed up.

"I know. I'll have one of my men head out and find some help."

"Perfect. Once we secure the area we need to make sure that the Prime Ministers granddaughter is safe from any danger." He hated placing his daughter's safety second to the Prime Minister's granddaughter, but his job called for it. If something were to happen to Hayate while he was around then things wouldn't be good for him or his business.

"Understood. Let's get to work then."

Just as Lindy had said that, Shiro and his employee's flashlights exploded.

"Arg! What was that!" Shiro immediately got into a defensive stance. Lindy joined him as they positioned themselves back to back. It would be hard to fight the enemy in the dark, but that just meant they'd have to use their other senses to discern where they were being attacked from.

"I apologize for the surprise." A voice rang out over the PA system. It was distorted so whoever it was did not want to give them a voice track down later. "We promise no harm will come to anyone, all we ask is you hand over two specific students."

"I will not surrender any students to you." Shiro said confidently. It was ridiculous to think that the kidnappers thought he'd negotiate with them especially if it meant losing two kids on his watch. That would never be acceptable.

"Really now? Not even if it was the twin assassins?"

There was an audible gasp in the gym.

"Absolutely not!" Lindy rang out. "They are not a bargaining chip!"

"Hand them over!" someone yelled.

"Better them than us!" another student agreed.

Lindy felt her heart sink. To think they didn't value her daughter's lives on the same level as their own. Is this what they'd been going through this entire time? She should've pushed harder and found out what they were actually going through at school.

"No!" a voice, much louder than all of those wanting to turn in the twins echoed through the gym. "Fate-chan and Alicia-chan are worth more than that! We should be willing to protect them too!"

"C-calm down Nanoha!" Hayate tried to keep her friend from going on a rampage but it was hard seeing as she couldn't really see in the dark. Still she managed to at least grab a hold of her around the waist, although it seemed to be doing little good. It felt like she was trying to keep a hold on a raging bull that was intent on throwing her off. Nanoha was a lot stronger than she appeared to be.

"I will not calm down! Not until Fate-chan and Alicia-chan are safe with us!

Shiro couldn't help but smile at his daughter's strong sense of justice. Even at a young age, she always felt a certain amount of indignation whenever she'd witness someone on TV suffer from a wrong that been committed to them. She had a very pure heart.

"Very interesting." The voice went silent for a few moments. "I was asking nicely before, but if you are unwilling to cooperate then we shall eliminate student, one at a time until they are released to us."

At that point everyone fell into panic. They all feared for their lives and were even more willing to hand over the twins. Mob hysteria was quickly descending upon the students of TSAB Academy. Hayate began to become a bit fearful of what might happen. She could feel as she was being bumped left and right by her classmates as they tried fumbled helplessly in the dark. Possibly though, they were trying to find what direction the twins were in so they could hand them over. Even Nanoha would not be able to stop them should they actually manage to get their hands on them. Nanoha though, wasn't afraid of having to face down her classmates especially if it meant she could protect Fate.

"It's fine." A strong calm voice cut through the panic.

"Fate?" Lindy asked worried.

"Alicia and I will go with them." She confirmed again. It did nothing to ease Lindy's fear. What were they thinking?

"Y-you can't!" Nanoha wished she could see so that she could run to Fate and keep her from doing something so dangerous. "What if something happens to you!"

"I'll be fine."

"You know for sure!" Nanoha felt like crying. What if she never saw her again? After all, who knew what these kidnappers were planning if they were willing to kill students just to get to them. Whatever it was, she knew it couldn't be good.

"We don't, but if we don't go everyone will be in danger." Alicia spoke next. Her voice maintained the same calm tone as her sisters. It certainly served to calm the panicking students.

"Takamachi Nanoha…" Fate began. "You were willing to place yourself in danger for us, I…if we aren't willing to do the same for you then we're no better than those who would willingly throw us to the wolves."

In one fell swoop, everyone felt silent.

"Take us." Alicia spoke. "But do not harm anyone here. If you break your word, my sister and I cannot promise you'll live to see another day."

"Understood. Take them."

"Fate! Alicia!" Lindy reached out blindly in the dark. She couldn't lose them. Not now. Not when they were finally getting their lives on the right track.

The gym was bathed with light once again. In the middle of wrestling mats stood Suzuka and Carim. There was no sign of Fate or Alicia.

"Secure all exits!" Lindy bellowed. She wasn't going to fall apart. It would not do her or her girls any good if she did. In moments like this, she was glad her training let her push aside her feeling in order to concentrate on the task at hand. "Vice!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Inform Zest of the situation and lock down the school. No one get in or out. Whoever is behind this won't be able to sneeze without me finding out where they are."

"I'm on it!" Vice wasted no time running to the shooting test area in order to grab a gun. He left the gym just as a few of Shiro's assistants set to locking the doors.

"How can I help?" Shiro asked. He was feeling slightly shown up by the other woman. He surely didn't want look like he didn't know what he was doing.

Lindy pulled out a laptop and looked at him. "How good are you at hacking?"

"I've been known to infiltrate a secret government system or two."

"Good. Then help me track down these bastards. They had to have broken into the school in order to take control of the gym..."

Shiro's eyes lit up in realization. "Because the school's systems are on a remote server, they had no choice but to break in in order to connect directly."

TSAB's school system was set up on a remoter server as a precaution against kidnappers trying to get information on their targets. They couldn't get in unless they connected directly in the school which was incredibly hard to do. Each building on campus was monitored and controlled in a secret location on the school grounds. From there they could keep a close watch on every building and make sure that nothing odd was going on, however, if no one had noticed yet that the gym had fallen prey to an attack then it meant that the hackers had somehow manipulated it to make the guards think that all was well. Lindy had a feeling it had something to do with the Assassin's Guild. Why else would they target the twins specifically? If they were regular kidnapers, they wouldn't risk killing such potential targets, but these "kidnappers" had no problem with it. It was also a possibility that they were hired assassins out to kill the girls, but again, they wouldn't put on an elaborate show like this. The Assassin's Guild didn't work like that. Regardless of the money they were paid, they'd never take out one of their own unless there was a valid reason behind the hit.

"Exactly, we need to find the trail they left behind. No matter how good they are, there is always a trail."

"Then let's find the trail of bread crumbs they left." Shiro brought out his own laptop and began assisting Lindy in her search. The perpetrators were somewhere in the school and they were going to find them.

-SafeandSound-

Alicia and Fate squinted at the light that bathed on them. After the mysterious leader said for them to be taken, a bag was placed over their heads and their hands bound. They did not resist and allowed themselves lifted into the air. If they had to guess, they were more than likely smuggled out through the ventilation system. It certainly felt like they had anyway. Wherever they were now though, they were sure it was located somewhere on the school's campus. They'd gone down a flight of stairs so it was possible they were in a basement. They couldn't be sure though. Scanning the room, they only spotted one exit. That wasn't good. Their chances of escape were minimized. The room was also bare of any kind of fixtures or furniture preventing them from making any sort of weapons. This wasn't a complete loss though. They'd have to rely on their physical skills alone in this situation, but they were confident of their abilities. It wouldn't be the first time they'd have to use just their hands to get a job done. Depending on how many opponents they would have to face, this could be over quickly or it would take a bit longer.

They couldn't help but find this room very odd. If they were indeed still on campus why was this room so empty? It was a school. They used every space available including basements to store any kind of equipment or supplies for future use. No way would a room just be left like this. If their kidnappers emptied the room just for their use…that seemed like too much effort to put into a room that was being used as a temporary holding cell.

"Well, you girls are as sharp as ever. Already formulating a plan of attack against your kidnappers? You've been taught well."

Alicia and Fate couldn't believe who walked through the door.

"Linith-sensei …"Alicia whispered.

"Come on now, you shouldn't be so shocked. I was going to be paying you a visit sooner or later. As a matter of fact, you are long overdue for one anyway."

"Why like this?" Fate narrowed her eyes at the older woman. "You've made more trouble for us."

"Indeed. We've had enough complications from someone revealing our past. We didn't really need anything like this."

"Oh don't be like that girls. I'm only trying to help."

"How?" they both asked. If anything, their classmates would probably be more reluctant to accept them because of this little fiasco.

"You'll see." She said mysteriously.

"You never change do you Linith-sensei?" Fate sighed.

Without saying anymore, she walked up to the two girls and embraced them. Hesitantly, the twins hugged back.

"I'm truly glad to see you two are doing well. I was worried after you'd been captured that Riot Force 6 would keep you locked up forever."

"Lindy-san wouldn't have allowed that." Fate answered.

"Haha, I didn't give that woman enough credit. If she hadn't done anything I would've gone in and broken you out myself." Linith pulled away from the girls. "Well, let's get this visit done and over with before it gets too late. I want to return you girls to Lindy before she decided to rain down all of RF6's Special Forces on me."

The twins nodded for her to proceed.

"As you know the Guild doesn't like to just let "retired" assassin's go about as they please. Once you join the Guild you join for life. The only way you leave is through death. Do you girls understand this?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Then you also understand that if you are ever called upon by the Guild, you are required to answer the call? If you don't, you shall be considered rogue and a bounty placed on yourselves."

"Understood." Fate answered for the two of them.

"Excellent. Then there is only one more thing I need to make you girls aware of. We have a situation at the Guild right now."

"What kind?" Alicia asked. As far as she'd known, there was never any kind of problem the Guild couldn't handle amongst themselves.

"It involves an ex assassin who'd fallen off the map years ago."

"You actually lost track of someone?" Fate asked in disbelief.

"Yes. About 15 years ago, he fell completely off the radar. All our efforts to track him have completely failed. Recently though, he's made a move. He's killed one of our own."

"What?" Fate said in surprise.

"Who was it?" Alicia asked.

"The Master."

"Impossible!" Alicia said shocked. "No one even knows who the Master is!"

The Guild had a proud line of Masters. Each previous Master selected their successors and never revealed their identities. It was done mainly to keep any sort of coup from taking place. It wouldn't be the first time someone thought that the Guild wasn't being run correctly. Coups had been attempted in the past, but none were ever successful. Yet someone had managed to figure out who the Master was despite all precautions taken.

"How long ago did this happen?" Fate wanted to know what kind of person they were possibly dealing with. Someone who had the ability to kill the Master of the Assassins Guild…this could be a major problem not just for the Guild, but for the general public as well.

"Last night."

"How do we know this person is the Master for sure?" Alicia asked this time. If no one ever knew the true identity of the Master then how were they sure that the body they found was the right person?

"He was found in the headquarters. Our agents took DNA samples to confirm his identity. As you know, those who are chosen as Masters still need to have a file on hand in case something like this happens. We've never thought we'd have to use it, but we opened the vault that keeps records all the previous and current Master's information. Guess whose blood was used to get into the vault?"

That left little room to doubt if the man they found was indeed the Guild Master. The vault that Linith was talking about would only open if the DNA matched the Master's.

"So the Guild has no Master." Alicia stated the simple truth.

Linith sighed. "As far as we can tell we don't for the moment, however, it seems like he may have chosen a successor. We found a file he'd made for the new Master. No other details were in it other than the file number. Everyone should know by now of this event thought so it's only a matter of time before Master number 100 makes his presence known."

The twins doubted that the person who killed the Master hadn't attempted to use the vault as well, but since there was a lack of information on the successor then that was a good then. It meant that the Guild had a chance to recover from this heavy blow.

"Is there anything else we need to know?" Fate didn't want anything else to take them by surprise.

"None, but please keep an eye out for anything. We don't know who this person is, but he was capable of killing our Master. That alone speaks of his skill. Until we know for sure what we're really dealing with, please be careful. If anything else comes up though, I'll get in touch with you."

"Make sure next time it's nothing elaborate like this." Alicia added with a frown. She and Fate really didn't need any more attention placed on them. They got enough of it as it was and none of it was good.

"I'll be more subtle about it next time and if you guys need to get a hold of me…well you know how to get in touch with the Guild if you need anything. You're always welcome with us. Now let's get you back to Lindy shall we?"

The girls nodded.

"I hope you'll forgive me for what I'm about to do…"

"Huh?"

They had no moment to react as the room began to fill with gas. They weren't sure how she managed it, but Linith had somehow acquired a gas mask.

"L-Linith…!" Fate felt her eyes lids grow heavy.

"Sorry girls, but I'm doing you a favor with this. You'll see when you wake up."

Alicia and Fate let their eyes close as they fell into a heavy slumber. Linith waited for a few more minutes for the gas to subside. She proceeded to take off her gas mask and looked at the slumbering girls with a warm smile.

"I can only hope I've prepared you enough for what's about to come."

The door opened behind her revealing her two accomplices.

"Linith-san, we need to hurry and return them. They've already tracked us down to our dummy location." A man with various scars on his face walked in.

"Then we better get going. Voltz-san would you and Lat-san please take them to the location we discussed?"

"Of course." Voltz answered.

The two men proceeded to pick up the twins and walk out of the room.

"I hope Lindy won't be too mad that I gassed them before giving them back."

-SafeandSound-

"Please sit down Nanoha." Hayate whined to the auburn haired girl. She'd been pacing back and forth with worry for the last fifteen minutes. "All we can do is wait for Lindy-san and your dad to find them."

"I know but I don't know what else to do! If I sit down I'll just start fidgeting and end up pacing anyway. I can't help wondering if they're hurt…I'm scared for them."

Hayate understood what her friend was feeling. She'd been keeping a much calmer front, but inside she was also scared for the twin's safety. No matter how many times she'd reminded herself that they were probably use to dealing with dangerous situations such as this, it did nothing to make her feel better about the situation.

"I wish I could go out there and look for them." Nanoha lamented.

"It's too dangerous to do something like that." Carim said as she walked over to them. "These people are professionals. If anyone is going to stand a chance against people like that it'll be them. Have some faith."

"How can you be sure?" Nanoha asked.

Suzuka chuckled as she came to stand next to Carim.

"Take it from the girls who they beat down. They know what they're doing far more than the rest of us. They'll come back in one piece."

"Thank you." Nanoha smiled at the two. She was going to say more to them but she noticed her dad had stood up rather abruptly. He seemed to be talking to someone over the phone. Lindy had also stood and was already making her way to the gun racks in order to pick out a hand gun. Vice, who'd returned after informing Zest of the situation, was also picking a few more weapons. Something must've happened. If they were getting ready to head out, then it meant that they finally found the twins.

Nanoha quickly walked over to her father who had just hung up the phone.

"Daddy?"

"Sorry sweety. I don't have time to talk."

"Did you find them?"

Shiro paused for a moment.

"Yes. We're going after them now." He then fixed her with a pointed stare. "And no you can't come along."

She slightly cursed her father's for predicting what she'd wanted to ask. She'd hoped to somehow sweet talk him into letting her go with him, but there was no way that was happening now.

"I promise I'll let you know as soon as we find them, but do not leave this gym for whatever reason. Understand?"

"Yes, daddy…"

"Good."

He said no more and found a gun for himself. Lindy, Vice and Shiro quickly made their way out. Hayate joined Nanoha as they watched them leave the gym. She took the auburn haired girls hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. All they could do was hope and pray that everyone would be okay.

Lindy, Vice and Shiro were running as fast as they could, weapons drawn, to the building that housed the art department. After all the tracking they did, they managed to pin point the intruder's location to that building. Lindy had been glad that her hunch paid off. They were still on campus so that made recovering her daughters much easier. At least as easy as it could possibly be when facing off against assassin's from the Guild. Lindy had just happened to glance towards the gazebo that sat in the middle of the school when she thought she saw a head of blonde hair.

"Wait!" she directed to her two companions.

"What is it?" Shiro glanced around; thinking she may have spotted the enemy.

"Over there. Follow me."

The two quickly took after Lindy. Whatever she'd spotted, it must've been important enough to halt their journey to the art building.

"Oh my god… Alicia! Fate!"

The two girls were lying unconscious in the gazebo. Lindy holstered her gun and quickly set to checking on them. All thoughts of going after the kidnappers went out of her head. Her first and foremost concern was the well-being of her daughters.

"Lindy." Shiro quickly got her attention. "Vice and I will go ahead, you stay here with the girls. We'll let you know if we find anything."

"Thank you."

The two men continued on to the building. Lindy took a seat between the two girls, looking at them like it was the first time she'd ever seen them. She held back her tears as she gently stroked both of their heads. She'd checked their pulses and they were beating steady. There appeared to be no visible injuries on them and other than them being unconscious, they seemed perfectly fine.

"I'm so glad you're both okay."

"Lindy-san!"

Lindy looked up to see Signum and Shamal, along with a few more guards running towards her. Shamal wasted no time in performing a check up on the two unconscious girls. It wasn't long before two gurneys arrived at the scene. Lindy helped them place the twins onto them so that they could be taken to the infirmary. Shamal wanted to perform more tests to be sure that they really were okay.

"How are they looking doctor?"

"They seem perfectly fine. No injuries of any sort. Although it does seem they were drugged before being dumped in the gazebo."

"Drugged?" Lindy did not like what she was hearing.

Shamal smiled reassuringly. "It seems to be a mild drug sedative, but I wouldn't worry. I can perform more tests, but let me assure you that no harm has come to them."

"Thank god. Now, I just hope that Shiro and Vice were able to catch the ones responsible for this."

"If it's those two, then I'm sure they'd have caught them by now." Signum said from her spot at the door. She was helping work security detail for them. Everyone else was busy keeping all the other students safe. Lindy felt the phone in her pocket buzz. She quickly pulled it out and answered.

"Shiro-san, I hope we have good news."

"I'm afraid it's not. There is no one is the building. We've searched it up and down but no sign that anyone's been in or out since the lockdown took place."

"Damn it. It must have been a dummy." Lindy sighed. It was frustrating that the perpetrators managed to get away even after all the work they did. "At least the girls were returned safely. We might be able to find out the identities of whoever took them once they come to."

"Understood. We'll begin unlocking the school. I think it would do the students good if they could return to their normal school day."

Lindy hung up. She really didn't want to leave the girls behind but she needed to talk to Zest and Shiro about everything that just happened. Not to mention file a report with her superiors. She wished she could just pawn off that work onto someone else…like Vice but she knew in her heart she couldn't do that to her employee.

"If there's any change in their condition, please let me know." She said as she stood up.

"We'll keep them safe. I promise." Shamal smiled.

"Thank you."

With that, she left so she could do her job.

-SafeandSound-

Nanoha and Hayate ran out of the gym the moment Shiro opened the doors for everyone. Shiro had let them know that the twins were sent to the infirmary after they were found. The moment the words infirmary fell from Shiro's lips, Nanoha took off running. Fear gripped her heart. Had the worst happened? Her mind began to wander to the nightmares she'd had about Fate; of her dying in her arms during that terrible battle. Was this a repeat of that?

"Fate-chan!" She screamed in anguish as she burst through the door of the infirmary.

Signum and Shamal were startled for a moment. They hadn't actually thought the twins would be getting any visitors anytime soon.

"Calm down Takamachi-san." Shamal place a reassuring hand on Nanoha's shoulder. "They are fine. Just sleeping."

"A-are you sure?"

"Yes, they should be up in a few hours."

"T-thank god." Nanoha collapsed. Her adrenaline had been pumping none stop since she ran from the gym, but now it all fizzled out.

"Nanoha!" Hayate finally caught up to the auburn haired girl. She breathed heavily as she leaned against the door. That took a lot out of her. She didn't think she was that out of shape but apparently she was wrong. That or there was more to Nanoha than she thought. "Crap…ha…I can't breathe…"

"Hayate-chan, you pushed yourself too hard." Signum carefully picked up her young charge and placed her on the separate bed. "Breathe slowly. You'll be okay."

"Thanks."

Hayate sighed and listened to Signum's advice. Knowing that the girls were more than likely not going anywhere Shamal gave Nanoha a chair to which she quickly placed next to Fate's bedside and promptly planted herself next to the blonde. Hayate couldn't help but chuckle at her friend's behavior. Nanoha was more than likely not going to leave the blonde side until she was forced to. She then looked over at the bed next to her. Alicia looked incredibly different without that constant mask of indifference she always wore. Feeling like she could breathe again, she got up and acquired chair for herself as well. If Nanoha was odd then she was too because she felt like she shouldn't leave Alicia's side no matter what. Reaching out, she slowly took the unconscious girls hands.

"Glad you're back, Alicia-chan."

AN: There you are. Chapter 6 is done! The girls are okay and things are going down at the Assassin's Guild. What will happen next? Well you'll need to wait for the next chapter to find out. Reviews, comments…these are always appreciated. Till next time!