Disclamer: All Nanoha characters belong to their rightful creators. Although I do apologize for their OOCness.
CHAPTER 1
This place isn't bad. Fate thought, closing her eyes. The sound of rainfall beat steadily outside. It's warm.
Yet, in the back of her mind she knew that she would not wake up in this place again.
Dusk light poured through the blinds onto the single person sized bed. Fate slowly opened her eyes and put up a hand to block a beam of ray that was blinding her. She shifted slightly and instantly pain shot throughout her body. I'm injured. Where am I? What happened…?
From tiredness and pain she closed eyes again. Memories flooded back.
Clunk! Sparks flew. Clunk! Clunk!
A knight rushing at her with a sword. Repeated blows aimed at her. She defending herself with her scythe.
A burst of flame shot past her. A red haired flame user.
Another elemental user standing coldly at the side, watching.
A sharp icicle flying at her in slow motion.
A splash of blood.
A crack of thunder.
The sky was grey.
A crow croaked and flew up into the evening sky.
It was drizzling.
There was blood, there was pain.
She lying on the wet ground staring up at the rain falling from the sunless sky.
A pair of clear sapphire eyes looking at her in concern.
Fate reopened her eyes. She remembered. It had started out like any other boring day of her life. She had woken up that morning at another unfamiliar place, a situation that she was already used to. It was a flaw in her power that she couldn't control.
She went to a cosplay pub and drank there, fooling around with the hostesses and hosts. Around nightfall, a group of trio entered the pub. She sensed hostility and quietly slipped outside into the back alley but they had followed. She knew she was powerful but she was also smart enough to know that the trio were around the same level as her. She wouldn't be able to handle all three at once. She willed herself to transfer to another dimension. The trio had appeared suddenly behind her without warning and attacked.
She had done her best to defend herself. But she had underestimated her opponents. The knight was much stronger than the other two and her. It had taken all her efforts just to avoid being hit fatally while dodging the flame blasts sent by the flamed-haired companion.
Fate intercepted another blow.
The two hold their weapons in a standoff. "Testarossa Fate, you are charged with the slaughtering of Members of Time," the knight had said in a low but powerful demanding voice. "I, the Grand Keeper, Signum, am here to bring you before the High Counsel. I suggest you to come with us quietly."
"I believe it was you guys who attacked me first." Fate smirked, pushed her attack back and swiped her scythe hard at Signum.
"I know you wouldn't come quietly without a fight." She blocked the scythe with a counterstroke.
"Playing the 'I'm your best-friend, I understand you' game now, aren't we?" Another lazy smirk from Fate, although a bit strained because of the effort used to stop Signum's vertical slash. She pried the sword off while dodging another flame throw.
"You are annoying." Fate sent a lightning arrow toward the flame user.
The elemental user was surprised. She wasn't expecting an offense and barely dodged in time. However, she didn't escape totally unharmed. The arrow had made a deep cut in her forearm.
"Haha. Gotcha! That should stop you from sending more of those glowing balls at me."
The user glared at her, infuriated and eyes ablaze.
Fate laughed, but her mirth was cut short when a blow from Signum sent her crashing into the alley wall.
"You should never have your eyes wander in a battle," said Signum. "Always keep your opponents in sight, never unchecked. That goes for you too, Agito. You were careless." She gave Agito a meaningful side glance before shifting her gaze back to Fate. "Now Testarossa, please come with us obediently. If you go with us peacefully now, I'll overlook this little disagreement we were having and put in a good word for you before the Counsel."
"No thanks, I don't want to die yet," Fate jokingly replied. She silently cursed under her breath when she felt pain in her chest. I was careless. No, she was just too powerful. She struggled to stand up on her feet, an arm around her ribcage. Um, a couple of broken ribs. I need time to recover. At that moment, the pocket watch in her jacket ticked. Great Timing. Perfect.
Light started glowing around her body. She looked up at Signum and forced a small smile. "Sorry gals, looks like I'm lucky this time. Dimension…Transfer." A magical circle immediately formed under her, engulfing her in a white ray of light.
But just as she was fading away, a long icicle was shot toward her at super speed. Time seemed to have slowed down in that instant for her. She could see it zooming towards her perfectly, yet she was unable to do anything to prevent it. And in the background, she could see the shooter, the ice user that was only watching the fight from aside before now standing there looking as cold as ever but with one arm still outstretched in a spell casting pose. The next instant, splash! Blood sprayed, and then she felt intense pain. It pierced cleanly into Fate's abdomen, sticking out her back.
Fate stared at the pool of red blood forming rapidly at her feet.
My blood. Funny how it is still so pure red…
Thunder cracked overhead.
Fate's world faded into darkness just as the magic circle's light intensified to its maximum brightness.
--
Signum looked up at the night sky and sighed. "It would have been better if you have cooperated," She said silently to herself. "Agito, Reinforce, let's go back."
"But Lord Signum, we should pursue her!"
"You need to heal that wound Agito."
"But…"
"We don't know where she went. Besides, with such a fatal wound, I don't know if she could even make it to another world in one piece, let alone surviving long afterwards." As an afterthought, Signum added, "Reinforce, that was a bit too much. Control you powers a little more next time."
"Sorry, Lord Signum. I was only doing my duty."
"I know you think I'm too lenient on her, but the order was to capture her. It is up to the Counsel to decide her fate." Now, how should I report this to Chrono-sama? He would not be pleased with this news…
--
The next time she regained consciousness, she remembered that she had somehow managed to arrive in a different world. The sky was grey and drizzling. She was leaning against a lamp post. A crow nearby croaked and flew off. She tried to get up but only spewed more blood out from her wound. With a rapid jerk and twist, Fate pulled out the icicle and crushed it in her hand. More blood pooled at her feet.
Using the neighbourhood fence as support, she moved along the suburban residential street, leaving bloody fingerprints along the wall and a trail of blood behind. Even so she kept going because she knew it wasn't safe to stay out in the open in an unknown world. No one to trust. No one to help her. No one she can depend on.
She tripped and fell onto the cold and wet concrete ground. She feebly turned onto her back and gazed up at the sky and the falling rain drops. She was in terrible shape. She wasn't sure if her body could recover on its own. No one to turn to. Fate thought bitterly.
Maybe dying during Dimension Transfer would have been better. Then no one would have to see a dead black stray cat on the street. Fate chuckled to herself and coughed up blood, a thin line of blood trailing down from her mouth. So, is this the end for me then? Dying here alone, in a place God knows where. No home to go back to.
Did I even have a home? What was it like back then? I don't remember…
Were there people back home, wherever I came from, who cared about me? I don't know. But, would they cry for me, would they?
Nah, that was 700 years ago. I'm long forgotten, in the long, distant past...
Geez, since when did I care about such thing? I've turned into a sentimentalist .It must be because I'm dying. Yes, that must be it. Ha, funny!
Is this what being on Death's doorstep makes you feel?
A distant noise brought her back from her absent muse. She refocused her sight and saw worried deep blue eyes looking at her. The brunette was saying something, she could see her mouth moving but Fate couldn't hear a thing, only the painfully weak thumping of her own heart. Great, my body is so weak and numb. I'm losing my life and the last thing I want is to have a puny human pity me. Fate reached up a hand and grabbed the hand trying to stop her bleeding wound. She put up a smile, at most a slight upward curve at the corners of her lips and said in a much too coarse and weak voice, "I'm…fine…"
And then all strength left Fate and she closed her eyes. Her touch is warm…
--
So I didn't die after all. Lucky! Currently, sitting up on the small bed, Fate looked around her surroundings. She was in a new world, but this must be a different one from the world she escaped to. She couldn't possibly be still at the same place after a whole night of oblivious.
After wincing multiple times, she finally managed to get off bed and stand on her feet. She almost fell when she tried to take a step but steadied herself in time. I still don't feel any strength in my body, but I guess it's doing it recover job nicely. Fate slowly walked around the room, adjusting to the aches of her wounds and strengthless body while taking in the sight. Um…slightly messy but still okay.
She walked out of the room into the living room. Okay, scratch that. This place is a garbage dump. She kept wandering around. But the kitchen is quiet clean and tidy. Weird.
Overall Fate found that the place to be a moderate sized apartment and that the kitchen was the only fresh looking part of living space.
Standing in a clean part in the middle of the living room, Fate stared hard at the floor. Something was amiss and then it clicked. There is no trace of blood anywhere, not even a scent of it is in the bedroom where I had slept. Besides the scent of blood from myself there isn't…
Click. Slam. Sounds at the front door interrupted her pondering.
"Mou! Are you trying to reopen your wound?" The young lady left the grocery bags in the doorway and stormed into the room arms on her waist, a disapproval frown on her face. "You should be in bed!"
Fate stared at the brunette with sapphire eyes, eyes widening in shock at the same time.
It couldn't be... I'm still in the same world.
To Be Cont'd…