A/N: Whew, writing that first chapter was tough! Fanfic is more taxing than I'd thought it be, but the satisfaction of posting it and seeing people read it might just be worth it in the end. Anyways, here goes another one! Wish me luck.
Chapter 2: Discussion Enforced by Starlight Breaker
Just because Fate made a speech neatly summing up one of the main ideas of the Nanoha universe did not mean that they became instant friends. And unfortunately, the Wolkenritter and the others still had to eat dinner together.
To be honest, most of them were abysmal at pretending to be friendly. All in all, the sheer farce was impressive. This comedy had at least two players for each role: Nanoha and Shamal, smiling awkwardly and trying to be friendly. Vita and Chrono, barely hiding their glares and anger. Signum and Fate, calm and stern. Suzuka and Hayate, very confused. Arisa and Kyouya, grumpy at being so clearly out of the loop. Noel and Faline more or less did their best to serve the food and stay out of the conflict.
Even the vibrance of Arisa couldn't liven up this meaningless small talk. The thing that brought the table to some semblance of ease turned out to be Nanoha reaching out to Hayate telepathically. Before, she had been kept out of the loop of the mental discussions that had gone on.
[Um...Hayate?]
[...y-yes? Nanoha?]
[Yeah. You're the master of the Book of Darkness, right?]
Hayate gulped out loud, further annoying Kyouya. The dinner would have hushed again if Signum and Fate hadn't started talking. It was a good thing they did. If they hadn't, Kyouya might have broken the table.
[Ah...yes, I suppose I a-am. I d-don't mean any harm! Please-]
[ :) Now now, Hayate-chan. I'm sure you didn't. We just had a little scuffle with your knights earlier, and, well...]
Chrono took this time to add his two cents. [They were draining people of magic to finish the Book of Darkness. If you cooperate, the charges against you and them will be lessened, I'm sure.]
[They...were doing that? ...Signum, is this true?]
[...It's true. Your... condition is actually an effect of the Book of Darkness leeching off of your energy. We thought if we finished it, then maybe you would-]
The black-clothed Enforcer's mental shake of his head resounded through the chamber. He had a personal part in this...though most of those around him did not know it.[ No. Finishing the Book of Darkness never results in anything good. I doubt it'd help Hayate.]
Hayate and her Wolkenritter seemed to respond with a combined [Is that so...] Hayate would have scolded them for troubling other people with her problems, of course, but the revelation as to the cause of her paralysis was a more disturbing thought.
Chrono started thinking, something he did not always do that much. The troublesome thing about the Book of Darkness was how it ended. It gathered up magical energy from people, turning it into pages. When it reached page 666, the book would activate, usually with enormously destructive results. Afterward, it would vanish and find a new master, starting the process anew. Similarly, destroying it would regenerate it elsewhere. The Book of Darkness was a Lost Logia that kept on being dangerous no matter what had been done in the past. But...
The activation hadn't yet occurred, and the Master seemed to bear no ill intentions. An idea came to his mind on how maybe, just maybe, he could put the scourge that killed his father to rest.
[Hayate Yagami.]
[Yes?]
The boy smiled.
[If you cooperate with the Time-Space Administration Bureau, we can examine the Book of Darkness more closely. It may be possible to modify it to seal off its more dangerous abilities. At the very least, if nothing else we can store it somewhere safe where it cannot harm anyone. If your paralysis is indeed because of its influence, that should help you recover, too. I... have a personal connection to this book. It caused the death of my own father, not so long ago. I don't want it to harm anyone else, not even you.]
Hayate frowned, thinking over this proposal.
[… As long as me and my family can live together, I don't mind what you do. I don't want anyone to get hurt either. So... I guess I'm under arrest, huh?]
[I prefer ' taken into custody'.]
And then, Hayate smiled. With that, the ice that had been chilling the dinner shattered and melted away. Even if the Wolkenritter didn't completely trust Chrono, they agreed with him that sealing the book securely would keep it from hurting Hayate, and as their master, they only naturally put her safety and happiness first.
Thus, with a single arrest, they were on the path to being friends.
In related news, a certain big brother was determined to get to the bottom of this.
Kyouya Takamachi had already been down once he heard that Shinobu was out. The onslaught of bizarre that the dinner had brought did not help. The way everyone had acted was completely inexplicable, and they all seemed to know it. They all made excuses for why people who'd never met before seemingly had a silent conversation with each other, but it was to no avail. He didn't consider himself superstitious, but the incident struck him as almost paranormal in nature. It didn't help that one of the perpetrators was his own younger sister, who was a rather terrible actor. Arisa, Suzuka and the maids tried to brush it off, but they all would have agreed with his assessment: something was going on. Still, if it was big enough to hide from him in the first place, just asking really would-
Wait, hold on. Arisa and Suzuka and the maids were probably interested too, right?
A plan formed in his mind...
Despite their slight improvement in acting, making real friendships between the two groups of mages was still no easy feat. The Yagamis really had no particular reason to trust Nanoha and friends, as Vita said (clearly annoyed to be talking to her former opponent). The one thing that definitely bound them together was a common interest- neutralizing the Book of Darkness. Nanoha's general insistence that everyone really could get along helped, but without so much as Raising Heart there was only so much she could do. She wasn't quite used to making friends peacefully.
However, she had and quickly deployed a secret weapon: the story of how she became friends with Fate. Since Nanoha enjoys narrating, it went a little like this...
A few months ago, Nanoha had heard a distress call from one Yuuno Scyra. Yuuno, a young archaeologist, had uncovered powerful magic relics he called Jewel Seeds, and was sending them back when the transport vessel had an accident, scattering the relics across Earth. He took it upon himself to recover them, but the task soon proved too great for him, and only the timely intervention of a confused third grader saved him from what might well have been death.
After a crash course in magic, Nanoha got to work on recovering the Jewel Seeds, only to find herself fighting one Fate Tessterosa for them. At first, they didn't exactly talk much, but Nanoha liked Fate, and made a concerted effort to talk to her, battle after battle. Those battles brought her into contact with Chrono and the rest of the Bureau people, and eventually... well, one need only look at the way Fate leaned on Nanoha from time to time to see how it worked.
[So what you're saying is we should beat each other up until we become friends?]
Nanoha hadn't really expected that from Vita. Or anyone, for that matter. That was not quite what she had intended her secret weapon to accomplish. That said, she relished the thought of training, whether she consciously understood that or not.
She let out a nervous mental giggle. [Er...maybe?]
[Awesome!]
...okay, that she was a bit more prepared for. She'd take that as success, for now.
While everyone was off in their own private conversations, the dinner eventually came to a close, along with the more or less meaningless public conversations. After a few more words of thanks, the various parties all went their separate ways... or so one might have imagined, but in reality the Yagamis and Nanofate – plus Chrono – all left together.
...or so one might have imagined, except as they went to leave the mansion with happy faces and a promise to meet each other again soon and begin working on the paperwork and all that, they were blocked by Kyouya, Arisa, Suzuka, Noel and Faline, all with rather stern expressions.
"We need to talk," Kyouya began.
"Ehhhhhhh?" Nanoha utterly failed to hide her nervousness.
Arisa was next to accuse them, trademark fire in her eyes."You're obviously hiding something from us! Something big!"
"So it has come to this," Chrono muttered.
Hayate frowned. [You people are horrible at acting. I'm surprised we went on this long without them having enough of it!]
[I'm surprised we managed to fool you this long, to be honest.]
Hayate shut up at Vita's mental retort.
"Were I superstitious, I might think you were having a telepathic conversation, but your initial shock and awkwardness suggested that you were strangers or even enemies," Noel murmured. The 'mother' of the Tsukimura household was quiet, but calm and forceful. Nanoha wondered if Fate would talk like that when she grew up.
Many people scratched their heads, smiled sheepishly, and tried to excuse themselves. The chorus of "Yeah...a-about that.." was completely unintelligible.
Suzuka just seemed... hurt. Nanoha knew that face. "N-nano...ha..."
...Faline declined to comment.
The expressions on everyone's faces all pointed to various levels of 'busted.' None of them were used to revealing the existence of magic to others, but it was obvious what was about to happen.
Shamal took the initiative. "Well... first, magic exists."
They all (even Hayate) made shows of their magic, little balls of energy or small magic circles around their feet. Their audience stood silent and transfixed.
While the mages had attention, they decided to explain everything. Nanoha explained the basics of her own experiences with magic, from when she met Yuuno to how she finally befriended Fate. Fate corroborated her story. Chrono explained the interstellar nature of the Time-Space Administration Bureau, as well as some of their policies and how they would handle Earth as far as he knew, which basically boiled down to "They're watching us and are prepared to step in for disaster relief, but otherwise aren't terribly interested" The Wolkenritter explained themselves, their relationship with Hayate, and their own recent actions which were about to put them on trial. And provided several apologies for not telling anyone.
It took a few minutes to sink in. The mages were more than willing to give their audience a few minutes.
Arisa and Kyouya were angry at having not heard about this from their friend and family, respectively... But they were also intrigued. Suzuka, on the other hand, was struck silent even longer, and Faline looked ready to faint. Only Noel took it in stride, a small smile crossing her face. Not only was she delighted to learn – being a maid taught you to soak up every bit of information and chatter like a sponge – but she figured that if she could learn this magic, perhaps it would let her do her job a bit better.
"...So now that you've told us this, what do we do?" Arisa finally asked.
"Well.. First, you don't go telling everyone. As a matter of fact, you're not supposed to tell anyone. Though with our current track record of keeping secrecy..." Chrono shuddered. "... it's probably alright for you to tell the rest of your families. They'd find out soon enough anyways."
"Okay. So we know where Nanoha's really been off to. What else? Do we get to do magic stuff?"
Chrono shrugged.
"Who knows? Most people here on... Earth are unaware of magic entirely, but as we saw from your friend Nanoha here, it seems there are at least a few who take well to it for whatever reason. While I don't have the equipment or knowledge to examine your Linker Cores or otherwise look at your potential, I'd imagine that if you set your minds to it at least one of you would most likely prove themselves a decent mage.
Aside from that? Not a whole lot changes unless you want it to. You can continue your lives here, or you can enter the worlds of the TSAB. Either way, so long as you agree to basic secrecy, I don't think you have many obligations otherwise, though we'll have to check with some...superior officers first."
The quintet took it in again. So their lives didn't have to change too much. But they could. Okay, not bad. Kyouya wasn't sure he wanted to get involved with this, yet was torn with his devotion to his sister, while Arisa was in the 'So coool!' category and Suzuka and Faline seemed neutral at most. There was one person who was most definitely interested in a substantial way.
"When can we see these superior officers?"
"Noel?" Suzuka asked, obviously surprised.
The head maid smiled a bit, bowing her head.
"Serving you is an enjoyable experience, but no one wants such a position for life. You're quickly growing up, Suzuka. So is Faline. One day, you won't need me. I'll be happy to continue living with you, but I wish to obtain a job of my own, lady Suzuka. You could say I'm a bit sheltered myself, and I want to change that. This may be my chance."
Suzuka promptly glomped Noel, much to the latter's amusement, and making everyone around them smile.
"Aww, you're all grown up," the little girl teased.
"You flatter me, lady Suzuka. I have to grow up some day."
The group chattered into the night. How could they not? There was so much to talk about.
The next few days went by without too much incident. While the Tsukimura's took it upon themselves to educate Shinobu of what had happened, the Takamachis similarly learned of the magical reality of Nanoha rather quickly. And possibly a bit too dramatically...
...Nanoha had to drag Miyuki to the couch, for she had fainted when she demonstrated her Barrier Jacket. Her parents handled it a bit better, namely by hugging her tightly once Nanoha was done. They were simply happy to know what their child had been up to, no matter how exotic or dangerous that stuff seemed to be. In the end, Nanoha was content.
Meanwhile, Chrono and Admiral Lindy – more on her courtesy of Nanoha Takamachi in a bit – were busy filing paperwork and preparing for an honest talk with members of all of the families. They wanted to knock it all out in one shot – the charges and arrests for the Yagami's, the various oaths of secrecy that needed to be taken, all of it.
Honestly, it was quite an audacious plan, but it was also the most efficient way to get everything on track. It would, however, require still more exposition and long-winded discussion. At least it would only have to happen this once. Right? Riiight.
The Yagamis just prepared to face trial for the attacks they'd done. It was lucky that they stopped this early – their sentence would be lighter that way, and they would be able to be with Hayate more quickly and more often. Hayate herself was not entirely free, but seeing as she knew little to nothing about the contraband nature of the Book of Darkness and the dangerous activities her knights had been up to, it was very doubtful she'd receive much punishment, if any.
And thus it was that a week later, they all met in what was now Fate's house – the place where the Time-Space Administration Bureau had set up shop to conduct the investigation into the Book of Darkness.
They could barely fit everyone into one room. The impromptu base was roomy, sure, but it was not exactly built for such a large gathering. Just going over the named characters...
The entire Tsukimura and Takamachi families were there. The former now included Shinobu, Suzuka's older sister who had been absent at the dinner last week. She sat suspiciously close to Kyouya – it was no secret the two were more or less a couple and had been for a while. The Takamachis, on the other hand, had already had this talk before, albeit censored of magic.
Arisa was there, of course, albeit without her family – they didn't ask too much about her personal life, and she didn't really feel like telling them. Secrets were supposed to be kept here.
Fate was there, and it was only natural that Chrono was there.
And then there was the star of a show – a well-dressed, green-haired woman. Admiral Lindy Harlaown. Chrono's mother and commanding officer. A kind, empathetic, but somewhat strict woman who had treated Nanoha and Fate well in their time serving with her.
A small army of bureaucrats was also in attendance to help fill out the mountains of paperwork, but they weren't so important.
"Well then. Now that everyone is here, shall we begin?"
Nods went around.
"I understand that you all have the basic idea of what's going on here from one source or another."
Another round of nods.
"Good. Since we're up to speed, this should be quick. Most of this is just a formality, but that said, I am interested to see who here is interested in our society and who would like to remain more...earth bound?"
"...That's a good word for it. Anyways, please do continue~"
Perhaps for the sake of simplicity, or maybe for more obvious reasons, most of the attendants did not want to leave the world they knew. They had friends and family and no matter how wondrous this new reality sounded, they weren't going off to explore it and leaving their relations behind.
Still, all of them were interested in learning at least the basics of magic. Arisa and Suzuka in particular wanted to study the TSAB and its culture a bit more. Nanoha had grown a bit distant recently, and now that they knew why, they hoped that sharing in her magical knowledge might bring them closer again. Shinobu, Kyouya and Miyuki were curious what magic could add to their sparring, but that was about it for now. The Takamachi parents were happy with their current lives and occupation and didn't feel the need to shake things up.
Only Noel was really considering signing up for Bureau service, perhaps as a part-time mage if she found herself capable enough. The head maid felt old, even though she wasn't really that old. Above all, she wished silently for something new, and with Suzuka's consent...well, she didn't show too much emotion, but she was delighted at what the future might hold. Whatever she would end up doing, it would be completely different from what she had done before.
When all was said and done...
"...Whew. Well, that's some paperwork we can never look at again."
"Admiral, if I may... the paperwork is endless. It just goes with the job."
"...That was low, Amy, using my words against me!"
Chuckles went around as Lindy chatted with a subordinate. That finally made them realize that the hours-long ordeal was over.
The crowd dispersed in record time.
A/N: I thiiink I bit off a bit more than I can chew with talking about all of the side characters, and I haven't even mentioned Arf at all! So I'm most certainly pulling back on this. Even though everyone knows about magic now, they won't get too involved in Nanoha's adventures. Except for Noel. Why Noel? Because rule of cool. Noel is kind of awesome and also seems the most plausible candidate for magery out of the various supporting characters on Earth. I could conceivably have Shinobu and Kyouya be a Battle Couple at some point, but...
_ spare meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Let's not even get into that I don't really know where to go from here...
good writing is hard. Even decent writing is hard.