"How can we be lost?" Tia barked, looking at the trees that looked exactly like the trees from several hours ago. Night had already fallen and she had yet to reach the village like she had planned.
"Master, the composition of the land has more magnetic materials than we thought, so the compass isn't working." Cross Mirage stated the facts.
"I don't care!" Tia grabbed her hair in frustration. "Let's head back to the cave we found about a half a mile back to make camp. That should keep us sheltered from any bad weather."
"Good thinking, Master!"
Tia turned around and began to retrace her steps. She swung her flashlight in large sweeps to deter any animals, as well as to keep an eye out for possible threats. After several hundred feet she stopped her scanning, and held it steady on a freshly beaten path. A piece of blood stained cloth dangling from a nearby branch caught her eye.
She reached out and gingerly pinched it, feeling a cool dampness. "It's fresh..."
She wiped her fingertips on her pants. The narrow light cut though the darkness, illuminating the path. Face grim with determination, Tia followed the beaten trail. Her previous deduction that the person was not too far off was quickly proven wrong as the path simply keep on going. "They must have been making really good time," she concluded. "Running from something maybe, the same thing that injured them?" she mused to herself, increasing the speed of her scans.
A little over a half an hour passed as Tia grew more and more weary. She had found several places she deduced to be rest stops, because of the accumulation of blood spatters on trees or rocks, each sight still fresh. Ahead she could hear the faint roar of a waterfall.
"Whoa!" she stumbled backwards, looking over the cliff that had suddenly appeared. She gulped as rocks clattered down the jagged edge that lined the waterfall. "That forest must have insulated the sound," she peeped over curiously, before kicking a large rock over. She couldn't hear a splash. "That's a long way to fall..."
"What shall we do, master?"
Tia rooted around her survival pack and pulled out a long length of rope. "I'm going to rappel down. Whoever we followed had to of fallen and they might still be alive!"
Securing the rope and a quick release to a sturdy tree, Tia laced the rope through the hops on her parachute harness. Slipping on some thick gloves she positioned herself at the edge and hopped over into the dark abyss. The cliff was slick was moss and wet mold, but Tia made her down its surface without incident. After gathering her rope and stuffing it into her bag-pack she set off along the shoreline, flashlight in tow.
With each step her shoes made a loud squishing sound, sinking into the marshy soil.
Her light caught something white amongst the dark soil. "There!" she scurried over. The person, obviously female, was laying face first on the bank still half submerged in water.
The flashlight clattered to the ground as Tia slipped her arms under the unconscious girl's torso and pulled her further onto shore. Rolling the rather heavy woman onto her side she walked back and grabbed her flashlight.
"Let's see who we have here," she shone the light onto the pale body, cringing at the large cuts and bruises that covered their legs.
The light made its way up, revealing a torn and tattered shirt that was slicked to a shapely body. Then she saw it: the glint of Mach Caliber shining in the pale yellow light, the muddy, blood soaked purple hair, the long streams of red liquid dripping off of a pale chin.
"S-s-Subaru?" she whimpered falling to her knees. "No..." she sobbed reaching out and pressing her fingers against Subaru's neck. She felt a faint pulse.
"Idiot!" Her body wretched violently as loud sobs broke out, both of relief and worry. She wiped the blood off of Subaru's chin with her hand. "Why the hell did you keep running?"
Quickly the med kit that was held in her sack was brought out and opened. Rushing to the river Tia filled a plastic bag full of the crisp liquid to clean up the larger wounds. With the flashlight perched in her mouth she began to dab away blood and mud then sealing the cleaned cuts with large gauze pads. She repeatedly had to stop to clear her vision of tears. Propping Subaru up against a large boulder she peeled the tattered shirt off of Subaru's body, and then covered the shivering woman with her jacket. With soft probes Tia felt across Subaru's scale searching for the wound. After locating the large cut she wrapped her friend's head with a bandage.
"There." Tia stood up and yawned. Marching into the forest a little ways she happened upon a dead tree, and broke off large chunks of wood. Returning to her make-shirt campsite she built a small fire pit and made a fire.
The crackle of dead wood filled the night. Tia sat down across the fire from her friend. "I found you." She smiled lightly, curling up to go to sleep.
The blue-eyed woman woke with a start. She sat up groggily, looking for what brought her out of her slumber. She heard a whimper and small cry come from Subaru. The taller girl was twitching and turning in her sleep. Tia threw a few more logs onto the fire, than scooted over to Subaru. Face glowing a bright pink blush she patted the other girl's shoulder awkwardly. Turning in her sleep Subaru's hand reached up and grabbed Tia's, while her arm snaked out and pulled Tia closer, cuddling the enforcer.
Tia looked up shyly, her face inches from Subaru's. Reaching her free hand up she caressed Subaru's pale cheek with her thumb, a fire burning inside of her body at the contact.
Subaru's head lollopped down, resting against Tia's. "Tia..." she called out in her sleep.
The Enforce swallow hard, mouth gone pasty. Her eyes flickered between peaceful shuteyes, and full soft lips. "Subaru..." she whispered. In the orange light of the fire, she closed the distance between Subaru and herself, pressing a single chaste kiss against unresponsive lips.
Tia felt the arm around her waist tighten, and pulled back startled. Gazing down at her through half open eyes Subaru smiled lazily.
"I knew you couldn't resist me," she joked weakly. Tia tried to jump out of her arms, but Subaru held her in place. "You can't kiss and run like that Tia. It is rude."
"Pretending to be asleep is rude!" Tia growled, wiggling in the iron grip.
"I wasn't pretending. My prince charming's kiss woke me up..."
Tia frazzled. "Idiot, let me go!"
"No."
"Su-ba-ru." Tia fixed her best glare onto her face.
"You're cute when you act all tough and angry." Subaru murmured, tucking a stray strand of orange hair away. "Oh wow." She blushed, realizing she had said that out loud. "That rock must have hit me really hard on the head..." She felt the soft bandage.
"Rock?" Tia asked, glare forgotten.
Subaru shifted so that Tia was lying against her. "Yeah. I was running away from Gilos when I fell over a waterfall. I landed okay, but this big rock came and hit me out of nowhere. I guess it knocked me out." Subaru answered, leaning back against the rock.
Tia winced, and felt a sharp pang of guilt. "Wait a second. What is Gilos?" Tia asked.
"Gilos is one of the elves that lives here," Subaru averted her gaze away from Tia's.
Tia shot her a blank glare, "And why were you running away from her?"
Subaru gulped, "She was trying to battle me..."
"Subaru, what did you do?" Tia asked accusingly.
"It's not like I lead her on or anything!" She denied fervently, than paled. "I meant to say-"
Tia cut her off and demanded, "Explain everything to me. Now."
So Subaru told her long story to her friend, skimming over the embarrassing details of her recuperation, explaining the festival, and telling her about the two others that had ended up on Fungala.
"Gilos said that the moon gives the Galla's the ability to bond for life. I am pretty sure that is an adaptation the Galla's developed. When she came after me I ran and you know the rest." She ended her story.
Tia let out a sigh of relief. "I was worried for a second there that I was bound to you forever," she huffed, trying to sound callous. 'But why do I almost feel disappointed...' she thought to herself.
"We should go looking for Lily tomorrow. When did you say that the ship was leaving?" Subaru asked, missing the forlorn look on Tia's face.
Tia rested her head against Subaru's collar. "The day after tomorrow. If we don't signal before then, the ship will message HQ.
"We have time, that's good." Subaru hummed, wrapping her arms around Tia's waist.
The crackle of the fire filled the night air, casting orange shadows onto the two resting companions. Tia fought back a faint blush as she snuggled closer to Subaru.
"You idiot..." she whispered into the night, clutching onto the jacket that covered Subaru.
Subaru looked down confused, "What Tia?"
"Never scare me like that again!" Tia looked up, her eyes burning with anger.
"Tia..." Subaru gazed into water blue eyes, "I didn't mean to."
Tia huffed and wrapped her arms Subaru's neck, pulling her into a hug. "I am still taking care of you after all these years, you big pain." She whispered gently.
Subaru chuckled softly, "You can't get rid of me that easily!"
Tia pulled back enough to lock eyes with Subaru. "You always tell me to follow my heart, even back when we were training." Tia chuckled a bit, her eyes glazing with tears, "but I don't know if I should this time."
Subaru reached up and rested her hand on Tia's check, gently caressing it with her thumb. "Whatever it is Tia, I am sure that you can do it because...because you're one of the most amazing people I know."
Tia blushed and stammered, "S-subaru stop it."
Subaru gave her a slow smile, "There is just so much about you that I think is amazing," she moved her thumb to Tia's trembling lips, "The way you take command of any situation, your ability to set your mind to one task and get it done, but not only work. You have done so much for me. I would have been lost without you during our academy years, and probably would have never met Nanoha-san again."
With her face glowing Tia looked away. Subaru shifted underneath the pig-tailed woman.
"Tia," Subaru blushed as well, "Let me make you happy. I want to be there for you, like you were for me."
Tia let out a choked sob, wiping her eyes roughly with her arm. "Subaru..."
With blurry vision, Subaru gazed into deep blue eyes, "Tia, I want to be with you. As more than just a friend."
Tia's arms quickly found their way around Subaru's neck, pulling the injured women into a soft, salty kiss. Subaru moaned in response, her hands lacing themselves into soft, orange hair.
Tia pulled back, causing Subaru to pout. "Why didn't you say so sooner?" she asked, flicking Subaru on the shoulder.
Subaru laughed, smiling at the tough-girl mask that Tia wore. "Let's just say that being here opened my eyes!"
"I'm glad." Tia nestled her face in the crock of Subaru's neck, clutching the black enforcers jacket she had used to cover Subaru up.
Subaru cast a withering glance at the horizon. "We should sleep so that we can start searching for Lily tomorrow."
"Mhh." Tia agreed, pulling the thin blanket she had been using over the two of them.
As morning began to dawn, the silence of the woods was broken by the sounds of someone beating through the forest, near the water's edge.
Tia and Subaru both awoke to the rustling noise. Tia quietly extracted herself from Subaru and stalked over to her bag, pulling out a small stun gun.
"Tia be careful." Subaru warned, pushing herself off of the ground slowly.
Taking a calming breath Tia closed her eyes and listened, following the intruder with the small electrical weapon. When the sound was close enough, her eyes snapped open, her gun arm whipping around, pressing against the intruders chest.
"H-hey wai-" Lily sputtered, before screaming out as a large sum of electricity ran through her body.
Subaru limped over and gasped, "Tia! You just electrocuted Lily!"
Tia chuckled nervously before kneeling down next to twitching girl. Pressing her fingers to Lily's throat she confirmed, "Her heart rate and breathing are fine. Oh I am so sorry Lily-san!"
Lily opened her eyes and groaned, flinging her arm over them. "What the hell was that for?" she demanded.
Tia stood up and huffed, "Well if you had announced yourself than I wouldn't have wasted a charge on you!"
"Whoa hold on a second!" Lily sat up, "Your Subaru's crush! What are you doing here?"
Subaru frazzled, "S-shut-up Lily!"
Tia turned to hide her own blush, "I am here to rescue the three missing members of the 245th division. Enforcer Tiana Lanster." Tia finished.
Lily gave a sigh of relief, and then paled. "Oh please tell me you have more weapons than that." She whimpered.
"Lily..." Subaru asked nervously, "Are you being...followed?"
Lily went white as a sheet. "No, not really. At least I don't think they were following me."
Tia looked around nervously, stepping closer to the boulder. "I need to know what we are up against here."
Lily joined the two women against the large boulders. "I saw that girl that was giving you baths Subaru," Tia shot Subaru a death glare, "she was leading about ten other elves towards this river."
Subaru froze, "She was?"
Tia tackled Subaru and pinched her face hard, "What did you do to that girl Subaru! Huh?"
"Naf-fing! I did naf-fing!" Subaru whined, tears pooling in her eyes.
Lily wasn't very amused, "Um, when you two are done flirting, I think we should run." She deadpanned.
All three of them froze and quieted. Several of the shrubs across the river shook violently, and voices wafted out of them. Tia quickly helped Subaru up, and Lily grabbed all of the scattered supplies into her arms before all three of them dove behind the boulders. Backs pressed into the cold stone no one dared to breathe.
Tia reached into the bag, wincing as the pebbles made a crunching noise. Slowly she flipped open the control panel of the emergency transponder and typed in the five digit code. The box started to flash orange, indicating that it was operational.
Looking up she flashed her companion's two fingers followed by a clenched fist, indicating that it would be twenty minutes till the transport arrived. The two rescue mages nodded, settling against the stone.
From what they were able to hear, the elves had decided to check out the other bank of the river first, which meant that they had some time to plan.
"Subaru, Lily." Tia looked them in the eyes. "Neither of you can use your magic, right?"
Both women nodded again. Tia cast a glance at Subaru, "Can you..."
Subaru shook her head sadly, "No can do. Even that can't put out enough energy."
Tia bit her lip in thought. "If we could distract them, change their focus, that should buy us enough time to be picked up."
Subaru rummaged through the bag, and pulled out a sole flash grenade.
Lily silently hit her forehead. "Well a lot of good that does us..."
Tiana reached over and grabbed the grenade. "No, we can use this to get them down river!" Quickly pulling out the rope, Tia tied the pin of the grenade to a small bit of rope.
Without a single 'word' passed, Subaru took the grenade and threw it into the stream, a small plop echoing in their silence. Tia silently counted out how much rope passed through her hands, then at about ten meters stopped the rope.
Loud shouting could be heard as the flash grenade dazzled the troop of elves.
Lily peered stealthy around the boulder, and gave them a thumb up. With a sigh of relief Subaru rested more comfortable against the boulder.
"I am glad Tia was here!" The owner of Mach Caliber exclaimed, laughing off some stress.
Lily nodded in agreement, "We would have been fish food if she weren't here."
Tia growled, "Could we not talk about me in third person? I am right here you know..."
All of the girls froze, as dark shadow joined the shadow cast from the boulder. Creaking her neck around slowly Subaru winced at the sight. Atop the boulder, spear in hand, stood Gilos, who looked like she was ready to kill.
"Oh fuck!" Subaru whined, rolling out of the way of the oncoming spear. "What did I do to deserve this?"
"Language!" Tia warned, taking up a defensive position.
Subaru puffed her bangs out of her eyes, eyeing Gilos wearily. "I don't want to have to fight Gilos!"
The elf scoffed, "Subaru must!"
With a grunt of pain Subaru hit the ground hard, pinned down by the enraged woman. "Stop it please!" Subaru cried out, her eyes lining with tears. "Gilos I care for you, but not the way you want me to!"
Gilos shuddered, shaking her raven locks side to side, "I just want Subaru happy, all Gilos care about!"
Subaru gazed up, tears flowing from her eyes. "Gilos…"
"Subaru," purple eyes, drifted closer and closer, but this time Subaru couldn't find the strength to push the girl back, her body too tired and hurt.
The haze that shrouded Gilos eyes cleared a bit, staring innocently, confused, into teal ones. Her face pulled back, turning her head around the golden skinned woman felt her neck, where a small dart was embedded in her skin. Several feet away stood Tia, a small dart gun in hand.
Subaru hurriedly caught Gilos in her arms as she slumped over, her body going numb. Purple eyes, sweet and childish stared up. Subaru brought her hand up to hold the elf's head up, but the younger woman caught her hand and focused on it.
"Too late…" she whispered, poking the hand gently, "Too late," and she passed out, tears welling up in her eyes.
Tia looked away, the gun rattling in her hands. "It was just a sedative."
Lily walked over and helped move Gilos off of Subaru, and laid her onto a blanket on the gravel. "The copter should be here soon," she commented, the heavy emotions in the air stifling her voice.
Subaru and Tia never met each other's gaze the remaining time they had before the transport arrived. Climbing into the helicopter, Subaru gazed out over the landscape and sighed.
"Enforcer Langster reporting ma'am. Two of the three missing persons were recovered. The third one was unlocatable." Tia reported crisply. The Commander on the side nodded solemnly before cutting off the transmission.
The ride home was silent.
Two weeks later, the two women had not spoken a word to each other. Tia throw herself onto her bunk, glad to back on Mid Childa, even if it was only for a week. The night sky was crisp and clear, and the moon light beaming down warmly unto the room.
Tia crossed her arms over her face, and let out another sigh. "Why did things end that way…?" She winced, the memory of Subaru standing in silence, offering no explanation of what had transpired. Tia reached her slender hands upward, reaching aimlessly at the sky.
The moonlight slide further into the room, resting on her bunk. Tia turned her right hand around then stopped. Sitting up she looked closely at her hand, a faint blue mark rested in the middle of her palm.
"Stupid pens…" she stood up, walking up to the small sink in her room. Scrubbing her hands with soap she rinsed them off, but the mark had only grown darker. Two concentric circles with a starburst coming out of them.
Blue eyes widened and Tiana darted over to her window, staring outside at the full moon. "The moon..." she held her hand out into the moonlight, watching the small mark glow softly.
On the other side of the planet Subaru was in process of digging through rubble, trying to locate some artifacts that had been trapped in a store house during an earth quake. Mach Caliber was fully set-up, giving her additional strength the shift through the cement boulders.
"Mou, this is taking forever!" she cried, wiping her brow with her sleeve. She leaned back to unkink her back, and fell over backwards at what she saw; a swirling blue portal.
"Holy crap!" she cried, digging her Revolver Knuckle covered fingers into the ground, the portal sucking her in a gush of air. With a scream she slide into the portal, and fell into its abyss.
Subaru fell out of the portal and crash landed hard onto something soft.
Rubbing her head she looked around, "Ouch, what in the world?" She felt the ground under her move, and then mumble angrily. "Wah! I am so sorry!" Subaru cried, scuttling off of her 'landing site'. Underneath her was a TSAB agent, a tangled mess of night clothes had slide up and covered her head, revealing a toned stomached.
"Are you okay? I am so sorry, are you hurt at all?" Subaru fussed, releasing her set-up to be in her normal uniform.
The mysterious women finally pulled her shirt back over her head, revealing a very angry, very pissed off Tiana.
"T-t-tia?" Suabru paled.
"Subaru!" Tia grappled with Subaru, dragging her into the light cast into the room. Holding the taller girls hand out she waited. A small stain grew, darkening until it became a dark blue mark.
Subaru watched in amazement, "Huh, what is that?" she asked, pulling her hand back.
Tia shook violently, "How..."
"No way!" Subaru cried, grabbing Tiana's right hand. She looked back and forth between the two for several moments, and then looked up at Tia.
"Is this?"
"I think so."
Subaru stood in silence for a moment, and then let out a choked sob. Tia looked up bewildered. Her heart beat violently, Subaru was upset that this had happened?
"What is wrong, Subaru?" she asked tentatively.
Subaru looked up, a large grin plastered on her face, "Nothing. As a matter of fact, Tia," Subaru pulled the smaller woman against herself, smiling into red hair, "I have never been happier."