Hayate let out a pleased yawn as she quickly scribbled down on the final piece of paperwork. It had taken quite a while, and were it not for Chrono and Fate helping out as much as they did, she probably wouldn't even be a fourth done by now! Verossa also helped quite a bit, keeping morale high with both his rather bright personality and the various types of sweets he had taken along. It didn't take all too long before the boredom and strain of work completely faded and a light and happy atmosphere filled the air. It would've probably gone a lot faster were they to have stayed completely focused; but that wouldn't have been half as fun! It would've probably been unbearable, to do all of this in such a state of endless boredom...
Sadly, a happy atmosphere couldn't really alleviate the pains that came with continuously signing piece of paper after paper. While Chrono and Hayate were definitely more than just a tad used to the strain, Fate faired a little worse. Her hand had shot to her wrist, rubbing it lightly in pain. With a triumphant cheer, Hayate stacked the final piece of paper onto the stack. Her face lit up with a vibrant smile, and she almost jumped out of her chair. Her arms moved to the sky, stretching herself to rid of the annoying feeling that had started to lightly clog her muscles. "Thank you, everyone!" Hayate happily exclaimed, dropping herself back into her chair. But, upon seeing her friends stand up and prepare to move away, Hayate awkwardly scuttled herself back up.
"Really, there's no need to thank us, Hayate. We're your friends, we're happy to help." Fate moved her hand up to dismissively wave at her Commander, not seeing a need for her thanks. "You need to learn to reach out for help with things like this." the blonde Enforcer made a quick, playful wink as she said that, being surprisingly teasing towards Hayate, causing the brunette to let out a soft huff. The playful teasing wasn't too unpleasant, especially coming from Fate.
"Yeah... Hayate, you've always been like this. You need really need to understand that loads are not your own to carry. Ten years ago, seven years ago, three years ago, the JS incident and now this..." Chrono said, leaving Hayate wincing as Chrono seemed to eagerly list off every time she had failed, causing him to stop his rather ruthless assault and speak in a more friendly tone instead. "Nobody will think any worse of you if you call out for help, okay?" Chrono finished, showing the slightly bothered commander a happy smile.
"Ah, Chrono, it's getting late! Ha~ya~te~! We definitely want to spend more time with you and reminiscence about everything, but..." Verossa said, putting his hands on the shoulders of his two companions, and giving them a gentle pull. "...We should get to finishing the preperations." Verossa realised that this conversation would go nowhere too fast, and leaving while they were ahead was probably the best they could do. Going any further about this, and bringing up past incidents wouldn't do much more than just sadden the poor Commander. "Now, Hayate, you go and rest while we handle the rest of the work, okay? Help yourself to the last bits of cake left, if you need!"
"B-but..." Hayate let out a soft objection, before being quickly silenced by a gentle push from Verossa. Realising that this was a battle she definitely couldn't win, she sat herself down, a bit gloomy from Chrono's earlier comments. But, instead of letting her feel too sad, Verossa lowered his palm onto Hayate's head, giving her a soft pat.
"Hayate. Don't be so worried. We'll make sure something like that never happens again." Verossa said, doing his best to be as encouraging as possible. With how long they've known each other, he definitely knew the things that set her off, as well as the things that calmed her down. "But! This is no time to put on such a long face. You can be gloomy after your special party is over, Hayate."
"All you have to do is reach out to us more, okay? You don't have to keep your pain and tears in around us all, you don't need to keep yourself tough." Fate's words echoed something she and Nanoha had told Hayate ages ago, but it was an advice that she never really followed. Hayate just couldn't let her close friends be burdened with the load she alone was supposed to carry! "I'll drag everything out of you tomorrow, okay?"
"Seriously, Hayate. We're all here for you. Not just us; Nanoha, Carim. Everyone. We all hurt when we see you like this, understand?" As always, Chrono was a bit rougher about his choice of words... but that definitely caused him to hit deeper into her heart. Chrono tended to not sugar coat reality all that much, and while that could occasionally cause some painful conversations, it did drive his point much deeper.
Hayate was not even given the chance to object as the three left with those words and a wave. "I'll go pick you up when the preparations are done. Rest well, okay?" Fate said, taking the other two with her and leaving Hayate alone. She let out a soft, mopey sound, and dropped her face onto the desk, her arms crossing onto it to serve as a makeshift pillow before gently digging her head into it. She wanted to help her friends in any way she could, and being unable to do so and only burdening them instead was extremely unpleasant.
And, really... why did Chrono think it was appropriate to bring up all those past incidents? Even though some of these things happened so long ago, they were still quite fresh and painful in her mind. Closing her eyes, Hayate did the best she could to clear her mind of all these frustrations. But, instead of simply emptying her mind, she quickly fell off into a deep sleep.
"...fast asleep. Wake up!" Hayate's eyes slowly opened, and she was greeted by the face of a worried Reinforce Zwei. The young unison device had her tiny palms pressed against Hayate's forehead and was gently shaking her in an attempt to wake her up. "Oh, you're finally awake!" her worry faded the instant she realised Hayate's eyes hadopened wide. She floated down, grabbing onto her master's shoulder and gently starting to force her upright, quickly giving her a gentle pat as she did. Hayate let out a loud and rather long yawn... realising midway through the yawn that she had not only fallen asleep, but had rested far more blissfully than she had all year!
Hayate hopped up from her chair, quickly standing up, fixing her uniform and her hair in a few quickmovements "Ah, what time is it, Rein! Did I miss anyt-"
Hayate's slight panic was quickly interrupted by Rein, who flew up and gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze, quickly cutting her off with a reply. "There's 15 minutes left until you're up, Hayate." Rein said, sounding even cheerier than she usually did, the slightest of humming in her voice. "Fate tried to wake you up an hour or so ago, but decided to let you sleep because you had a goofy smile on your face~"
While Hayate felt a tad guilty for sleeping this entire time, especially considering the fact that a quick gaze at her desk showed that what little administrative work that she had left had already been done for her, she couldn't deny that her slumber was blissful. While Riot Force 6 was a dream come true, keeping it alive was extremely stressful. She could count the times she had slept like this ever since on one hand! Being sent off to bed with such a relaxed state of mind had caused all of her worries to simply scatter.
"Ahahaha..." Hayate's feelings of guilt had already started mostly slip away, and her hands dashed forward to the her tiny unison device and grabbing her tightly. Before she even had the time to react, Reinforce would be forced into a quick embrace and held tight against Hayate's chest. Rein let out a soft squeak in surprise, but seemed to make herself comfortable soon after and just weakly nestled herself into her master's body. "I think I'll have to thank Fate for letting me sleep, then~" she cooed out softly, cheerfully hopping towards the door, her device in arms.
"...But I have to punish you for letting me sleep in when you know I didn't want to~" But without any warning, Hayate's hands jumped to Rein's sides and she mercilessly started to tickle her. "A-aa~aah! Hayate, noo!"
"Then don't disobey me ever again, Reeein~!"
A large crowd had gathered in the auditorium of the Long Arch; not only was the sheer majority of Riot Force 6 there for the celebrations, various high ranking officers from different divisions and companies had also shown up. Most of them wanted to show their support to the Riot Force for it's amazing accomplishments, but some were there for less than pure reasons. While the majority of the distrust had long faded, some officers in the Ground Forces, Air Force and even some in the Navy still weren't pleased about not only giving a single division this much power. Even after saving Mid-Childa from the threat of Jail Scagletti and his Numbers, the division, and especially their young Commander was still seen as a potential threat. These distrusting individuals came with the sole intention of collecting information, as a seemingly casual event told more about the parties involved than their work did.
"Hello, everyone~" the sounds of bickering that previously filled the large hall had quickly come to a halt. The lights were dimmed, and a large screen was projected in front of the tiny little podium Hayate was standing on. "It's been two months since the Jail Scagletti incident has been resolved and I'd like to thank everyone for their hard work!" Hayate's voice was filled with confidence and a motherly type of authority. While her tone was definitely of someone who in a commanding position, it sounded more like someone commanding a household than an army.
The young Commander fell silent for a short moment as she gazed across the room, as if giving everyone a short pause between parts of a speech. But that was quite opposite of what she was doing; not only was the idea of speaking to so many people at once quite frightening in itself, Hayate knew about the few special guests that were visiting. A single error in her use of words could cause her already strained reputation to dwindle even further, and could definitely be fatal to advancing her career in the TSAB. The thought of this was beyond frightening, a slight of nausea had even stricken Hayate, and while the slight tinting of the projected screen hid it quite well, her skin had paled a tad, seeming like that of a ghost.
Suddenly, the silence was broken again, and Hayate started speaking yet once again "Um, as you all know... Our division won't be able to function too much longer." she said, her left foot tapping on the ground as a means to vent her frustration. "But, every single one of you has been an asset!" a bright smile appeared on the Commander's face, not just to ease the many members of her division, but to hide her own stage fright as well. "Captain Takamachi, Captain Harlaown and I have all read through every one of your files, and filled in the appropriate recommendations for the divisions of the TSAB you want to continue your career in."
Again, there was a short period of silence to give Hayate the time she needed to collect herself. Her anxiety was joined by another emotion, one quite a bit more powerful than her fear. One of overwhelming sadness. The hundreds of soldiers under her command were going to continue down their own paths, and she'd never see the face of many of them ever again, it'd be lucky to see one of their reports pass by. "I trust that each and every single one of you will be able to make your dreams come true, just like I did by starting Riot Force 6." her tone had gone audibly shaky and her emotions were slipping out more than she wanted them to. The slightest of tears started to swell up in her eyes, her eyes visibly gleaming on camera.
To Hayate, this entire division was her family, and nothing could compare to losing it. While she didn't know the majority on an individual level, Hayate made the greatest effort she could to be as close to all under her as she could. She knew the name of every single soldier in this room, and had spoken to them, all of them, at least once. She had heard about their dreams from others, themselves, and their reports. She knew about all of their pasts, all of their families. Some soldiers wanted to taste the romance of war, while others wanted to simply protect the world they loved. But everyone, everyone, had unique goals and dreams. But, even after putting her absolute best effort in to aid them to the best of her ability, she knew she wouldn't be able to see any one of her soldiers accomplish their dreams.
"Ahaha..." Hayate let out a soft laugh as her hand moved upwards, rubbing the newly formed tears out of her eyes. "...Even I'm getting a bit emotional~ It's so hard to know that I'm going to have to say goodbye to everyone soon. You'll all be chasing your dreams to the best of your capabilities, and I won't be able to watch you succeed like I could now." her hands moved back to the tiny desk in front of her, softly fiddling with the edges to vent her emotions. "You might run into some hefty obstacles before you can accomplish your dreams, but it won't stop any of you, I'm sure!" again, Hayate had taken a soft break, her hand moving to the middle of her chest, closing her eyes and focusing on her breathing.
"I have faith in all of you! So, please trust in yourselves as well!" Hayate knew like few others the joy of fulfilling her dreams, and only because of her extreme dedication to making her dream a reality. "Because the only way you'll fail on accomplishing your dreams... is if you give up! Don't ever give up on them!" she showed the brightest smile she could as her eyes gleamed once more.
"I want to thank all of you for the lovely year you've given me, even with some of my failures as your commander... You helped me fulfil my dream... and... thank you." The screens disappeared with those last words, and the lights were turned back on. After a few moments of silence, as if to confirm that there wasn't anything else that Hayate had to say, applause had started to fill the room, echoing loudly through the large hall. But, Hayate didn't quite seem to be at her desk anymore.
Hayate had collapsed, onto her knees. The flurry of emotions had become too much for her, and all she could do was let her tears run free. Emotions she had repressed up until then, sadness she didn't even knew she had, it had just all started to flow out instantly! She didn't know what to do anymore, other than sit down and cry into her palms.
"Hayate." the young Commander felt a pair of hands suddenly touch her left shoulder, before she felt those same hands lift her back onto her feet. Still sobbing, Hayate looked away from her hands to see that Nanoha and Fate had came to comfort her, Nanoha having taken the initiative of speaking up and lifting her to her feet. "You did really well." and with those words, Hayate completely forgot about the rules she had given herself for her behaviour towards her friends in front of her subjects. Her arms suddenly, tightly wrapped around Nanoha's body and she dug her face into the other's chest, sobbing softly.
"Aaah. It was so scary, it was so saaad!" the girl softly wailed out, having clearly reached the breaking point of her emotions and simply needing someone to cry on now. Nanoha's hands softly ran over Hayate's back, giving her a comforting and soothing rub, while Fate's hand moved to her head, gently patting her in an attempt to assist in calming her down. "You did an amazing job, Hayate... please, just let your emotions out for now."
And that she did, for minutes straight, Hayate weakly released her emotions in the tight, warm embrace of her two closest friends.
After Hayate's little speech had ended, Long Arch exploded into celebrations. Hayate and her two friends didn't join the celebration for just a short while. After all, Hayate still needed to calm herself down. While her emotions had partially seceded, she was still clearly quite shaken. "Nyahaha~ You know what, Hayate~?" Nanoha cooed out softly, grabbing Hayate's arm gently and starting to drag her with. "Let's see how everyone is doing! That'll cheer you right up." The Commander didn't quite reply just yet, being dragged around by Nanoha was a bit embarrassing, especially with how Fate was just calmly pacing around after them!
"W-wait, Nanoha!" Hayate had to skip a few steps, nearly falling flat on her face from how suddenly Nanoha started dragging her along. Before long, they arrived at Teana, who was conversing with a few other soldiers that wanted to become Enforcers after their jobs here end. She was quickly shoved forward, right into the group of four. "A-ah, hi, Teana..." Hayate awkwardly gazed around the group, her still heightened emotional state making it harder to start a conversation than it should've been "Hello, Commander. Your speech was really nice, I really enjoyed it. I was just talking to these guys about how we all want to be Enforcers and-"
Hayate quickly interrupted Teana's little rant. She seemed off compared to normal, her voice was a bit shaky and she was a lot more talkative than normal! Plus, her eyes had gotten a little unfocused and red. "Have you been drinking?" Hayate stepped closer towards her taller subordinate, zooming her eyes closer to her face.
Teana reacted by dodging her glare and softly muttering "I'm a soldier, so I'm allowed!" Teana objected, but Hayate stepped forward once more, hands moving to her sides and ready to scold someone as young as her for drinking alcohol. But, Nanoha interfered once more, distracting Hayate by gently squeezing her shoulder and speaking up. "Come on, it's fine~ Just for today, we can have everyone let go. That's exactly what you wanted with this party, right?"
Hayate knew she had lost this battle and stepped back slightly, shifting her attention towards Nanoha and giving her a quick nod. Wiggling her legs around in the discomfort of defeat, Hayate focused back on Teana. "Um, okay... but just for today! Don't let me catch you drinking again..." and once more, Hayate was interrupted by her shoulders being softly squeezed.
Even if it was just for a moment, scolding Teana had allowed her to focus on how all of the Riot Force was a family and forget how it's end was nigh. Hayate's arms shuffled, and she forced them crossed over her belly. Awkwardly, she tried to think of a way to continue the conversation... but she couldn't quite think of anything! "Um, errr..." Hayate let out a few thoughtful noises, squirming her arms around as she did.
Thankfully, this awkward moment was quickly interrupted by a loud and cheerful yell. "Ah, hey, everyone!" Subaru had come skating in on her device, quickly circling around Teana and embracing her from behind. "I'm happy to see you're having fun with everyone for once!" Subaru cooed out, her face sneaking closer to Teana's, resting softly on her shoulder before smelling a weird air coming from her mouth. Sniffing once more to be sure, Subaru moved her hands towards Teana's sides and started to tickle her. There was no response, other than a strangely happy and satisfied giggle "Aw, you're drunk! Teana's letting herself go for onceee~!"
Hayate couldn't help but giggle at the spectacle, a wide smile forming on her face as she was quickly pulled away again. passing by many familiar faces as she went. She had short little conversations with some of the regular foot soldiers, exchanged a few words with the officer that came here to join in the celebration, before being pulled to a table to the far side of the hall and being forced to sit down in a chair. Nanoha and Fate quickly sat down as well, Fate raising her hand to call a waiter "Three red wines, please."
"Ah, just tw-Oww, okay, three is fine..." Hayate wasn't much of a drinker herself, but it seemed like Fate insisted she took something. Her objections were interrupted with a very gentle kick at her shin, causing her to wince slightly and stomp the ground in pain. She looked across her friends, a bit bothered by what they might be planning but realising it should be okay, especially just for today. As the waiter left, her gaze faded away, back towards the large crowd of people. "I'll really miss everyone..." Hayate said, leading to Nanoha planting a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezing her to comfort her. "It's fine, we all will. But, we'll surely all be back together if another incident that needs us occurs." That was definitely true, and the thought of everyone returning when the need arises was a little comforting, but it somehow felt it'd simply be different.
"But..." Hayate's eyes stayed fixed on the crowd, noticing that Shamal and Zafira had completely joined in on the party, while Signum and Vita seemed to awkwardly watch, obviously dragged along by the two "It feels like it'll never be the same." a soft sigh came from her lips, reaffirming her thoughts. Even if the Riot Force returned, she felt like the pleasant atmosphere would just never be the same, which was part of why the division was so special!
"Come on, Hayate, don't be such a downer!" Nanoha said, the waiter returning and poured the three girls their wines, but before he could leave, Fate spoke up once more "Could you leave the bottle here?" the blonde Enforcer asked, quickly taking the wine from his grip and setting it down on the table. Nanoha and Fate both quickly grabbed onto their glasses, bringing it to their lips before noticing Hayate wasn't doing the same. "Come on, drink." While she didn't want to, Hayate couldn't simply reject Nanoha's request and shot her hands off to the glass, quickly bringing it to her lips and chugging it down in one quick movement. While Fate and Nanoha were originally just lightly sipping it, they mimicked her and quickly worked the entire glass down.
While Nanoha and Fate seemed unfazed, Hayate's hand moved up to her throat, rubbing it in pain as the alcohol set her throat ablaze. A few coughs came from her lips and she quickly set the glass down, moving the now-free hand to her lips to cover her coughs. Ah, she felt like she could vomit! While the taste wasn't that horrible, it was a bit too strong for the inexperienced Hayate. "It... ew... my throat!" but her pleads of pain and disgust were ignored as Fate poured everyone a second helping of wine. "Ah, no, I've had enough..."
"One more glass, Hayate." Fate and Nanoha said in sync. As if driven by fear, Hayate's hand quickly moved to snatch the glass and placed it against her lips once again. She gulped, and started to tilt the glass slightly, not pouring it down as eagerly as she did before. Her throat still burned horribly as she drank, but her slowed consumption made it feel far less painful than it before.
"There, well done, Hayate. Congratulations on your first glasses of alcohol~" Nanoha said in a teasing tone, setting down her glass and pouring another round for the three. Hayate's expression turned slightly nauseous as she saw her glass filled up once more, but Nanoha quickly calmed her worries by talking and giving her a gentle, comforting smile "You don't have to rush this one down." she said, nodding gently at Hayate, who's disgusted expression quickly faded.
"You need to loosen up a bit before you can enjoy the party, Hayate." Fate said, giving her a gentle pat on the shoulder as Nanoha gave her a soft push. The way that Hayate swayed from the push and took a few moments to reposition herself properly back on her chair made it quite obvious that the alcohol was already starting to settle in;. "I don't need alcohol for thaat!" Hayate reacted rather late to Fate's comment, making it even clearer that she was already starting to get ever-so-slightly tipsy. Nanoha and Fate giggled softly, knowing that that was the case but figuring that she might need the extra push with how she was currently feeling.
"I can party just fine! I can stand up, dance with everyone and have a lot of fun! I know how to have fun! I know how to..." Hayate suddenly fell silent in the midst of her sentence, a slightly confused expression forming on her face, before it quickly turned to one of sadness. "...what was I saying!" her tone was sad and she almost sounded like a young girl that was about to cry. The effects of alcohol were setting in on her at a rather unrealistic pace, which brought a soft laugh from Nanoha's lips. She was mildly amused by how low Hayate's alcohol tolerance was!
"Don't worry, it was nothing. Just calm down, Hayate." the chestnut-haired Captain rose up and stepped towards her Commander, softly patting her head. She didn't expect the alcohol to have this much of an effect on her, and she knew that sadness fuelled by intoxication could be very harsh! She did her best to calm her down as quick as she could, and the soft pat did indeed seem to snap Hayate out of her melancholic state. A smile appeared on her face and she rose up, grabbing onto Nanoha's sides and pushing herself tightly against the other. "Nanoha! I want to dance with you! So dance with me!" a childish pout even formed on Hayate's face as she spoke, earning her an awkward giggle from Nanoha's lips. "Maybe in a short bit, you'll trip like this!"
"Ah, I knew it! You just want to dance with Fate instead and leave me out!" Hayate quickly sat herself down, her voice filled with sadness once more, before her limited attention span shifted to Fate once again, a slightly huffy form of anger popping up on her face "You have no right to just hog Nanoha to yourself! We're all best friends, and just because you two used to go out-" once again, Hayate stopped mid sentence. Her anger quickly turned into worry and she rose up once again, stepping forward, around the table, and next to Fate.
"Eh? Hayate?" Fate was confused, and rightfully so, because Hayate had started to push her and her chair back slightly, away from the table. before quickly setting herself in Fate's lap, zooming her face closer to the blonde enforcer to the point where their faces were almost touching. "Hayate?" both Nanoha and Fate echoed out, slightly confused by what was happening. "What's wrong?" Fate asked, but Hayate didn't respond in the slightest. Instead, tears started to well up in her eyes as her hands moved to rest on Fate's cheeks, softly touching her face and gently gliding her fingers across her cheek.
"Fate... Fate!" Hayate's tone had shifted to one of extreme sadness, matching her expression. Her tears multiplied, and it became quite obvious that it wasn't merely caused by the alcohol. "I'm so sorry, Fate, I'm so sorry! I'm so, so, so sorry...!" Hayate's apologies were met by a confused "Eh...?" coming from Fate's lips, who quickly moved her hands to embrace her panicking commander. "It's fine, Hayate... but what exactly are you talking about?"
"Seven years ago! What happened seven years ago... I'm so sorry, Fate! What if it happens again, and what if you're not around to stop me! You barely managed to, three years ago..."