Fate stood outside the door to her room, where the girl she had rescued had been left, for several long moments.

Not long after she had admitted to Lindy what she suspected Nanoha was up to, and received a whole new lecture from the woman, she had been sent up here. Lindy had asked her to speak with the girl she had rescued, to find out what sort of things she had told Nanoha and more importantly what she hadn'ttold the trigger-happy girl.

No doubt, Lindy had said, her friend had heard about how mean Akiko's opposition were and left then and there without sticking around to find out what said opposition actually did.

Sadly that was... probably true. Nanoha did have a tendency to think more with her heart than her brain and hearts, as she had been taught, usually didn't think of consequences.

But that was what friends and allies were for, right? To support one another where they were weak and to let their strengths become others strengths and... and...

And Akiko hadn't had that until now.

Knowing this meant Fate had found herself stuck outside her own room as she didn't know how to approach the situation at all. She knew what Akiko needed, sort of, she needed what Fate herself had needed almost a year ago... Someone who could pull her out of the darkness, give her hope and maybe help her find herself.

In Fate's case that someone had been Nanoha... and Fate was acutely aware that she wasn'tNanoha. She wasn't as kind, she wasn't as forgiving or as caring or anything like the kind of person Nanoha had been when she had saved her!

How was someone like that expected to approach the seemingly broken girl?

What was she supposed to say? What was the supposed to do?

Nanoha, earlier, had just rushed in to talk with Akiko without thinking - but she couldn't do that as all she could see was all the hundreds of ways in which things could go wrong. What if she scared the girl? What if she said something that made her freak out or relapse or any one of those other things Amy had warned her to be careful of? What would she even talk about? It wasn't like she could just up and ask the questions Lindy wanted answered right off the bat, right?

Maybe she should talk about something simple? Like... like the weather? Except she probably didn't care about that... School maybe? Except Akiko was old enough to be in high school and Fate wasn't, so she didn't really know what to say about the subject...

Fate grimaced as every option she came up with seemed to reach a dead-end in her mind. Boys? No, aside from Yuuno and Chrono she didn't really know much on such a subject - especially not if Akiko was anything like Nanoha's sister, who could go on for hours about boys at her school when prompted. Magic perhaps? Or not, she doubted Akiko would want to hear anythingabout magic after what she'd apparently been through...

The blond girl's head thumped against the door in front of her. She had no idea what to talk about at all! She didn't want to go in without a plan but every plan she had was wrong!

If only she could be more like Nanoha and just...

Her head rose as a thought occurred.

Why couldn'tshe be more like Nanoha?

All she had to do was ask herself: What Would Nanoha Do?

Apparently it turned out that 'What Nanoha Would Do' was to simply stride straight into the room loaded for bear with snacks and tea.

Admittedly Nanoha would probably have forgone the snacks but Fate had been spotted fretting by Amy, who had casually stated to herself that she didn't know if Akiko had eaten at all today. The fact that she had done it quite deliberately within earshot of Fate hadn't been missed by the girl, who had given the older girl a muttered thanks on her way to the kitchen.

She also didn't miss the fact that there had been a far too convenient tray, loaded with food, already sitting ready for her to collect. For that Fate had already promised herself to buy Amy some cake the next time she visited Nanoha's parent's bakery.

When she returned with the tray she had simply made herself not even thinkof stopping outside her room. Instead she simply pulled the door open and stepped right in. "Hello!" She called out, "I have some sna-"

She trailed off at the sight of the older girl sitting up on her bed, looking through a thick binder which Fate knew contained her own school homework. She was wearing what looked like one of Amy's nightshirts and given that her old clothes had recently been put in to wash she was probably wearing some of Amy's underwear too.

Fate waved her free hand at the girl. "Um... hello?" she tried again, causing the girl to look up and show a pair of heavily reddened eyes. Not all that surprising given how hysterical she had been until recently... But it was still rather heart-wrenching to see evidence of the fact that the girl had been crying almost non-stop since Fate had caught her yesterday.

The girl seemed to flinch slightly before looking away, the binder coming up like a shield between her and Fate.

Smiling in what she hoped was a reassuring manner Fate stepped further into the room, making sure to keep her movements calm and non-threatening. The girl on her bed now seemed much, much calmer than the one she and Nanoha had brought to the house that morning. At that time she had been pretty hysterical still, a fact that probably hadn't been helped by the several nightmares she had woken up from during the night.

Not that Fate could really blame her for those as she had just tried to kill herself and according to Nanoha's father nightmares were the least someone would walk away from such an event with. Unfortunately they had left the girl an absolute wreck throughout the journey from Tokyo to Uminari and she hadn't improved much at all until Amy and Lindy had returned home. Even then she had been babbling, in between bouts of crying, and she assumed that Nanoha had learned what she knew simply by listening to that.

How her friend had been able to make anything intelligible out of Akiko's hysteria was a mystery to Fate... but in the end she had just chalked it up to the fact that Nanoha was better at understanding people than she was. Amy had learned a few things too, but clearly not as much as Nanoha had done since while the technician knew where to look for the so-called 'Nightmare Factory' she had admitted that the location was about the only clear thing she had understood. Nanoha on the other hand had sounded as if she'd heard most of the girl's life story already.

After Nanoha had left Amy had come downstairs claiming that Akiko had fallen asleep and from the way she had said it Fate was pretty sure it had not been without some assistance from Mid-Childan medical technology. Given that the now awake girl wasn't babbling of crying anymore it seemed as if the nap had done her a proverbial world of good.

"I have some snacks here," Fate explained as she walked over to the little side-table that sat beside her bed and carefully deposited the tray of food atop it. "Some tea and biscuits mostly, though there's some cake fro-" She cut off suddenly as something sharp poked into her side.

"Who are you?" Came a quiet hiss from the bed. Fate began to turn towards the speaker before another sharp poke stopped her. "Don't move!" The voice added. "Who are you - and where am I?"

"Fate Testa-" The blond mage paused, "I-I mean, Fate Testarossa Harlaown." She winced slightly when the object poking her pushed a little harder. "My name changed a while ago," she explained quickly. "I'm still... still getting used to it." The pressure receded and the young mage allowed herself to glance over at her attacker - who she knew for sure was Akiko herself.

The older girl had rolled over on the bed in order to threaten Fate with what seemed to be a makeshift weapon of some kind. Only the heavens knew where she had got the materials to make it from though. Especially since Fate knew the contents of her room were pretty sparse still, only school supplies and clothing really.

Right now the girl was staring at her with suspicious eyes as she appeared to be murmuring to herself. "Fate... Fate... Fate and... Nanoha?" she muttered finally, her tone part way between a statement and a question.

Suddenly her eyes widened and Fate felt the weapon poking into her side pull away quickly.

"I... I'm sorry!" Akiko wailed, drawing away from the blond girl and pressing herself against the far wall. "I'm sorry! I-I didn't think... I thought that... I-I mean-!"

"I didn't know you were real!"

"Miss Yamaguchi..." Fate began before immediately trailing off as she struggled to think of a diplomatic way to ask what she wanted to ask. After a few moments she was forced to simply give up and forge ahead anyway. "Why... why did you try to kill yourself?"

The silence that followed her question was almost suffocating in it's intensity. Even the background sounds of everyday life, passing traffic, distant conversations, birdsong... all of it seemed to fade away as Akiko turned to regard the younger girl.

Fate shrank back despite herself as the older girl just stared at her with eyes that, if she had to describe them, could only be called 'dead'.

"How old are you?" She asked after a while, her voice quiet. "Eight? Nine?"

"N-Nine." Came the reply as the younger mage attempted to recover her composure. "Ten in a few months."

"Ah." Akiko leaned back against the wall on the far side of Fate's bed and closed her eyes. "When I was ten..." she began softly, "...I beat my best friend to death with a barbell."

"Wh-what!" Fate paled at the statement.

The older girl simply continued as if she either didn't notice or didn't care about Fate's reaction.

"She... she ran away to the circus, or at least that's what they used to call it." One of Akiko's eyes opened slightly and she stared at Fate with a vague, unfocused look.. "My best friend got turned into a monster that I had to beat to death by hand - and that's one of my bettermemories."

Fate remained silent as she quite honestly had no idea what to say - though she was a little worried that Akiko didn't seem upset by what she was saying and the fact she seemed to be staring vaguely off into space instead didn't help.

She'd heard the term 'thousand yard stare' once or twice when overhearing conversation about herself aboard the Athra... and she wondered if this was what it meant. Had she looked like that to Nanoha? No wonder the girl had known she was in such need of help back then...

"And yet," the older girl continued as she suddenly turned to look away from the younger mage, "memories like that were not really why I did it at all. Isn't that strange?"

"You said you couldn't take it anymore." Fate pointed out, "Ah, when we saw you on the television - you said you wanted to be saved."

"Seven years is a long time to be alone." muttered Akiko. "In the end it came down to one thing." The dark-haired girl turned to stare at Fate, who almost instantly flinched away from the haunted look the girl wore. "I just couldn't take being alone anymore. Either someone would save me or... or I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. That's all."

She looked down and Fate watched as the girl pulled her legs up and hunched forward to hug her knees. There was a muffled sniffing, sobbing noise for a moment before Akiko looked up again - the mask of seeming calm she'd managed to maintain throughout the conversation finally breaking down to reveal the hysterical girl from earlier.

"Thank you for saving me." she managed to choke out. "But... I... I don't want you involved anymore."

'I don't want you involved'

That sounded suspiciously familiar. Perhaps not the wording but the intent behind the statement most certainly did. It sounded like the warnings she had given Nanoha back when she had first met the girl almost a year ago. Warnings to stay away, warning to leave her alone, warnings that Nanoha had ignored entirely.

And now... now she knew why. Just like Akiko now she, back then, had been saying 'stay away' with her words and actions while screaming 'help me' with her eyes and heart.

"Half a year ago," she begin in a quiet voice, "I lived with my mother. Not Lindy but my real mother, the woman who... who made me." It had taken weeks of therapy on Mid before she had been able to come to terms with the truth of her origin. Even now it was still a subject which she didn't like to bring up without good reason. But right now she needed a way to connect with the girl in front of her - she knew that unlike Nanoha simply being enthusiastic and friendly wouldn't work. Her personality was too isolated, too withdrawn for something like that... or at least according to her therapist it was as she had repeatedly commented on Fate's normally non-communicative nature.

Fate swallowed slightly. "I... I am, was, a clone." Was. Wasa clone. Now she wasn't, now she was just herself, her own person - Fate T Harlaown. Not 'the clone of Alicia Testarossa' anymore.

It was still difficult to say though.

She saw Akiko stiffen and narrow her eyes - not the reaction she had expected but one that implied certain things. Did the older girl have prior experience with clones perhaps? If so then they hadn't been good ones if the way she was attempting to stealthily reach for her weapon was any indication.

"My mother created me to replace her daughter." Fate continued, one of her hands dropping down and twitching slightly as she pre-prepared a shield spell just in case. "A perfect replica - her age, her voice, her memories and her personality were all copied exactly... just like she had intended she had her daughter back." She swallowed after she said that, talking about it was... harder than she thought. Explaining everything was the only way she could see to win Akiko over however. Where Nanoha used simple enthusiasm and sheer stubbornness to get through to people Fate was going to use something else, the truth of her own past, to convince the older girl.

"You weren't." The mage blinked when Akiko spoke up, though her voice was almost whisper quiet. The older girl had her face buried against her knees in such a way that her eyes were just about visible above them and underneath her hair. Fate frowned slightly as she considered the response. From the sound of it perhaps someone important to the other girl had been cloned? She filed that point of information away for later questioning as right now it was more important that she get Akiko to trust her rather than to interrogate her.

"No," she replied. "I wasn't. But to me I was her daughter, her only daughter, and she loved me as such." It hurt Fate to be talking about this, to be airing some of the things that she had never fully admitted to anyone outside her therapist to someone who was effectively a stranger. It didn't help that this stranger was really the second person she had ever spoken to at any real length about this either. While she had talked to both Nanoha and Lindy about it she had never really gotten into any details of how she felt about it all. Possibly, according to her therapist, out of a sense of embarrassment or inadequacy compared to them both - after all they had fully functioning families and she... didn't. "My memories were those belonging to my... to my sister... they were filled with the love and trust of and for my mother. To me, she could do no wrong."

Fate took a breath and paused, biting her lower lip for a few moments as she looked at the approaching conversational hurdle. After another deep breath she simply closed her eyes and went for it.

"So when she started beating me I thought it was all my fault." As soon as she said it she winced slightly but quickly forced herself to look at Akiko's reaction. It was hard to tell thanks to how red they were but the older girl's eyes appeared to dim slightly and Fate was sure they drifted downwards for a moment.

"What..." The girl began, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Fate shifted uncomfortably in her seat at that response. She wasn't by nature a violent person but that question came awfully close to making her one. Evidently Akiko picked up on this as she almost immediately turned away from the younger girl.

"It has everything to do with you," the younger mage stated while doing her best to keep her voice calm and level. "Because one day my mother found out about a collection of... items... that she thought she could use to bring back... bring her daughter back."

"She sent you to get them." Akiko's response wasn't a question but Fate answered it with a nod anyway. She also filed it away as interesting - not many would have made that connection so quickly, maybe it meant that a similar scheme had been used against her? That, or so the mage felt, could explain why Akiko reacted badly to the earlier reveal that she was a clone.

"I thought - if I just did well enough, it would make her happy," she admitted, "maybe she would love me again." That had been a hard thing to admit, though it was easier than when she first admitted it during her therapy sessions. Mainly because to say it meant admitting to herself that no, her mother hadn't really loved her - and of course that led to the suggestion that she had never truly loved Fateat all.

The dark-haired girl's head shook from side to side. "It doesn't work that way. Once they hate you, they hate you."

The blonde winced. From the sound of that Akiko had parental issues too - that could explain her reaction to the admission of her own abuse. Heck, if it wasn't for the earlier admission of murdering her friend then Fate would have been willing to guess the older girl had been abused herself. As it was the girl seemed so traumatized in general that it would be impossible to make an educated judgment on the matter. Still, it was something to bring to Lindy's attention later and discovering this was a good sign that her decision to explain her own circumstances had been a worthwhile one.

"... She always said she loved me. Until the very end, I -." Fate paused and thought for a moment. "... I hadto try. I thought that if I was able to bring her the items - jewel seeds - then things would work out." She smiled slightly then as the memories of that time and the events that followed came into focus within her mind. "But someone stopped me. A naive girl who didn't know the meaning of 'moderation'. We fought... She tried to reach out me and I fought to keep her away - maybe even tried to kill her."

She wasn't too sure on that last point herself really. Certainly she had done things which couldhave killed Nanoha but back then she had been such a mess that even now she had trouble sorting out what she had intended at the time. Her therapist had helped some on that score but the confusion was still there.

Or perhaps she just didn't want to admit the truth to herself - she honestly didn't know.

"That girl spent every fight trying to make me listen to her, trying to make me talkto her. But all I could say was 'don't talk to me' and 'don't get involved'." The young mage was slightly pleased to see Akiko perk up ever so slightly at the use of the phrase she had thrown in Fate's face earlier. "But that girl didn't listen. She kept trying to be involved, kept asking to talk, to help... because she knew I was lying."

Akiko made a soft grunting sound as she shifted where she sat, her entire body turning away as if in denial of the unspoken end to Fate's statement. For the moment the younger girl simply ignored her and carried on.

"That girl, Nanoha, saved me. I said 'go away' and she ignored that. She only heard what I meant in my heart. - it was 'I don't want to be alone'." Fate's eyes closed as, for a moment, she simply basked in the memory of back then - the time when she found her first friend. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she pinned Akiko with a gaze that was absolutely unyielding. "For me to live up to her example... It's too late to tell me to go away. Even if you scream for me to leave, even if you cry for me to go, even if you beg me to be silent... I'll just say - 'I'm here'."

Fate nodded towards the older girl. ""I may not have 'Devilish tools' like Nanoha, but I'm sure... if I tell you honestly enough and keep trying, you'll listen to me just like I listened to her."

Thick clouds of steam wafted up from the trio of pots that gently bubbled away on the kitchen stove. Miso in one, thick sweet sauce in another and in the third boiling water within which floated a number of still-cooking dango dumplings. Underneath all that, sizzling under the oven's grill, was enough fish for everyone in the house – plus a bit extra in case anyone was really hungry that day.

As Hayate fussed over the oven Signum stood beside her ready to do all those things the wheelchair bound girl needed doing but couldn't do very easily herself. At a quiet gesture from her master, a girl closer to her than family, the knight picked up a small slotted ladle and started to scoop the ready dumplings out onto a drying rack.

Since her nightmare she had been sticking closer than normal to her young master. Despite Hayate's reassurance the knight had found it... difficult... to let go of the feelings that her recent nightmare had evoked. Being reminded of her previous lives... her previous murderous existence... had been painful. That pain had made Hayate, the master who had saved her and the other knights from such an existence, all the more valuable to her.

The idea of being drawn back to that life of becoming the murderershe now feared herself to be... Signum honestly couldn't express how much that thought frightened her.

If she slipped back into being such a killer then that would simply validate everything the courts on Mid-Childa had already said about her... and not just her but Shamal, Vita and Zafira too. If it was only herself who would have to live with the consequences of such a thing then perhaps she could possibly bear it... but she knew that if shewere proven a ruthless killer then their opponents on Mid-Childa would leap upon the chance to not only execute her but also her fellow knights as well.

The mere thought of what that would do to Hayate was just unthinkable.

The fact that the girl was a person so very close to her heart aside, such a result would also be a betrayal of everythingwhich made her the knight she claimed to be. What kind of knight, really, was one that committed murder in cold blood? For her to return to that kind of existence simply meant that her honor and her loyalty would be only the first of the many casualties it would entail.

Not for the first time Signum was made uncomfortable by the question of what, if anything, she had to her name except her knighthood. Perhaps, she had wondered, this was what she truly feared? If she had nothing but her knighthood and her ability to fight then... then wasn't she just a killing machine as the Mid-Childan courts had tried to argue? Vita at least had her croquet, Shamal her research and love of gossip and even Zafira enjoyed going on fishing trips now and again. But herself? What did she ever do except fight and train?

How hard was it to avoid becoming a killer when all she ever did was prepare herself to be the best killer she could be?

Whatever answer Signum may have had to that rather philosophical issue was instantly forgotten when the wall behind her exploded inwards in a shower of brick fragments and clouds of dust. Without even stopping to think the knight threw herself between her master and whatever it was that had broken through the wall. Just as instantly one hand whipped up to clasp the pendant that was her devices storage mode and with a quickly hissed command she had gone from wearing a plain dress and apron to the full armored regalia of a Belkan knight.

Levantine rose up in her hand as she pointed it the direction of the hole and a shadow, likely the fool who had dared to attack the Yagami household, that she could see through the dust.

She growled ever so slightly

"Who dares?"

"It should be around here..." Vita murmured as she peered at the latest wall the duo had come across. Somewhere on the other side of it she was sure she could sense Signum. Close too – maybe even literally on the other side of this wall. Which of course meant she would have to be careful when she smashed her way through since while she could detect Signum she couldn't tell what kind of condition the other knight was in.

Hell, if Signum's situation was anything like Nanoha's had been then she could be in a bad way indeed – a bad way that wouldn't be improved were she to be hit by flying rubble. Even if she wasn't Vita was pretty sure her friend wouldn't appreciate being pelted with flying masonry.

"Over there should be good." She mumbled to herself as she half dragged Nanoha a short distance along the wall. Once there she hefted her weapon and eyed the wall critically... then paused and waved Nanoha back slightly before taking a gentle practice swing at the brickwork. If she hit it just right the shrapnel from the impact would be sent flying hopefully in a direction away from where she could sense her fellow knight. If she hit it slightly higher up then the amount of dust produced would almost double, providing a perfect screen in case there were hostiles Signum needed rescuing from... And wouldn't just just be a great thing to hold over the older knight's head? If she saved Signum from an actual threat then Vita knew she'd be able to win every argument with her comrade for the next few months at least.

Grinning to herself over that pleasant little thought the knight adjusted her aim slightly and then swung. Her aim was perfect – anyone else hitting the wall, even with the same strength as her, would be lucky to knock a couple of bricks out. Vita's strike instead blew out a hole the size of a small bus thanks to her having specifically aimed at a weakened point in the wall that she had spotted thanks to her pre-eminant skill and experience at demolition.

Breaking stuff was, after all, her specialty.

Within moments she was clambering over the broken brickwork that marked the base of the hole.

"Who dares?"

Vita blinked at the sound of Signum's voice before she grinned happily at having found the swordswoman. "Yo!" She called out, "Signum! You okay in there?"

"You shall not step closer, fiend!"

That... wasn't the response she was expecting. Hell, it wasn't a response that even made sense really. What it was however was a response that caused the iron knight's heart to speed up, her eyes to narrow and her linker core to pulse with what little strength it had remaining. Whoever it was that Signum was yelling at there could be no mistake that they were an enemy and while Vita doubted there was anyone on Earth who could match Signum going all out she knew that it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially with a defenseless Nanoha around.

Inwardly she was cursing the decision to aim for a bigger dust-screen when she demolished the wall behind her as right now she couldn't see who Signum was talking to.

Carefully she edged in the direction of Signum, making sure to angle herself in such a way that the wall was at her back to prevent an ambush.

Which was why, when Signum tried to cut her in half, she was only barelyable to get Graf Eisen in the path of Levantine's swing.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" She yelled out as she shifted her footing and pushed back against the older knight's weapon. Looking up she hissed in annoyance at the look of rage on Signum's face... then flinched as she caught sight if the blanknessin her eyes. Whatever was going on it was obvious that Signum was being manipulated or controlled in some way. Given how violently the swordswoman had just attacked it was also pretty obvious that she wasn't going to be holding back. This was a point further proven when the taller woman suddenly stepped backwards and swung a great sweeping blow intended to slice through Vita's legs.

Swearing loudly Vita managed to recognize her opponent's move just in time to hop up and over the purple-and-steel device as it threatened to cut her legs out from under her. Immediately her mind was filled with thoughts as her body started to react automatically, the experience of long hours of sparring with Signum in the past having just become vital to her continued survival.

What exactly was going on? Who was controlling Signum? What the hell was she going to do about it?

Slipping to one side of an overhead swing Vita pushed those thoughts out of her mind in favor of a far more pressing one: How do I survive the next few minutes?

Vita didn't have any great illusions about how this fight was liable to end up. Not only was Signum the knight who focused the most on one-on-one combat but the older woman was also fresh and seemed uninjured... a rather worrying contrast to her own exhausted and battered frame. No, Vita knewshe was going to lose this fight and she felt no shame in admitting that – were she at full strength then like hell would she have conceded defeat. In her current state it was a different story however.

But if she couldn't beat Signum...

Something was terribly wrong with the older knight and it was becoming rapidly obvious that unless that 'something' was dealt with then Signum was going to defeat her and then possibly do the same to Nanoha.

That... could not be allowed to happen.

Grunting with effort Vita swung Eisen in a wide arc at hip height that would force Signum to either block or dodge. Even with her current lack of power a direct hit from the Baron would be enough to injure Signum considerably, though it would be nothing she couldn't shake off after a minute or two.

Signum blocked, holding Levantine in a reverse grip with it's tip pointing towards the ground. It was, quite simply, using the one advantage Vita still held. She was short enough that most of her attacks would strike low on her opponent where they would be somewhat more difficult to block. Each time Signum blocked low, especially around the hips, she was forced to take a more unwieldy stance that was just a fraction or two slower to counter-attack from than normal.

In that fraction of a moment was Vita's chance to make a move.

She swung, Graf Eisen practically twisting around Signum's attempt to block. While her blade was able to catch Eisen's haft the positioning was simply so close to the knight's own body that Eisen's head was still able to impact against her shoulder... or at least it would have had Signum not stepped backwards at the last second. While the hammer still managed to clip her shoulder and would no doubt bruise the flesh of such horrendously it was not the arm-crippling hit that Vita had hoped for.

Worse, with her weapon extended in such a way the younger knight was wide open for when Signum counterattacked not with her weapon but instead with one of her armored boots. Vita's body simply doubled over around the kick and she all but choked as her breath was violently forced out of her by the blow. Like that she simply had no way to defend herself as something solid, Levantine's pommel most likely, smashed into the back of her skull. Stars filled her vision as she tumbled forwards.

How stupid had that been? She should have knownthat Signum would know of the weaknesses in her own style and how to defend them properly!

But she wasn't dead yet – and she knew Signum would know it. Which meant her fellow knight was inevitably going to try to fix that problem since, for whatever reason, she apparently thought Vita to be her enemy.

As she fell Vita threw both arms out to break her fall... but the moment they touched the ground she deliberately allowed one to simply collapse under her. This in turn caused her straight fall to almost instantly be turned into a sideways roll just in time for Signum's downward stab to miss her by mere inches. Though her head still ached and her vision seemed to swim in and out of focus Vita was able, though simple pure determination, to hook her own weapon around the purple and steel blade.

"Oi," she hissed, "Signum... watch this. Eisen!"

"Jawohl! Racketenform!"

The hammer transformed in a split second before newly formed rockets at the back of it's head ignited and blasted the weapon across the room. Above Vita, Signum swore as Levantine was simply ripped from her grasp thanks to the hammer having been caught onto the sword when it went shooting off.

Vita smirked at the successful disarming of her opponent... only to curse in pain as Signum immediately tried to smash her skull into the floor by stomping on it with one armor-clad boot. Fortunately she got her arms up to block just in time but still the force behind the blow left her in agony, one that only increased when the boot came down again.

Across the room where she stood all but cowering away from the fight, something within Nanoha seemed to twitch slightly at the sight of Signum kicking at the downed Vita.

How unfriendly...

She stiffened at the sound of the voice – her voice – as it spoke to her from somewhere over behind her shoulder. Immediately she twisted to look but saw nothing other than the ruined brickwork from Vita's earlier entry method. A grunt of pain from Vita, and the solid sound of boot on flesh, caused Nanoha to turn back to the scene of one of her-

belongings

-one of her friendsbeing beaten on by another. Slowly one of her hands reached up to where Raising Heart hung at her neck... only for it to freeze half way there. What was she going to do? Shoot them? Would she once again simply resort to violence like... like she always did? Isn't that what got everyone into this in the first place? She had been so intent on going out and dealing with the Factory that she hadn't even thought to find out what it could do. She'd just rushed in guns blazing thinking that enough firepower would solve everything.

Of course she had also pulled both Vita and Signum along for the ride... and just looking at the state the two were in now made Nanoha keenly aware that it was all herfault they were here. She should have held back! She should have let Lindy do her job, should have let her examined the whole situation first! At least then she, Vita and Signum wouldn't have gone into the factory blind and without support!

It's our fault. All our fault.

Nanoha hissed slightly as she heard her own voice whisper in her ear once more.

Lindy told us not to come here but we didn't listen, did we?

It was true... Lindy had told her to go home and not go on the offensive. But the only thing that had been on her mind at the time was the sound of Akiko's hysterical voice as she had... had told Nanoha how terrible the Nightmare Factory was. Akiko had toldher that this place was a house of horrors – but she'd simply ignored it because... because...

Because we decided that we knew best, just like we always do. Isn't that why we make everyone listen to us?

"Th-that's not-!" Though she protested, loudly, Nanoha knew it was meaningless. The voice was right – that was why it's words, and the words of her earlier double, hurt so much. No matter how much Nanoha denied them she knew that they were true. She was a bully. She didn't listen. She did believe she knew better. She wasat fault. "That's..."

A yell from Vita made her look up, her eyes widening slightly as she realized that Signum was looking directly at her. Her vocal protest had obviously caught the attention of the disarmed sword knight who even now was stepping over her downed opponent in order to approach. The tall woman only made it a few steps towards Nanoha before she stumbled slightly and looked back in annoyance – back at where Vita, despite her injuries, had stretched out to wrap her arms around Signum's legs.

"Nanoha!" The red-head yelled, her voice somewhat slurred from the beating she had been receiving moments ago. "Run!" Summoning what energy she could the young-seeming knight tried to tighten her grip on Signum's legs in the hope of completely pulling the older woman to the ground. Unfortunately the sword knight had the advantage in height, strength and in simply not having been both exhausted and beaten to hell like Vita was.

Nanoha simply froze, staring at the sight of Vita ordering her to run as Signum moved to break free. "Why?" She whispered. "Why would you... I-I'm not someone you should be sav-"

"Master, Control Please"

Raising Heart's voice simply cut Nanoha's words of self-loathing off almost completely.

"Enemy vocal action detected" The device stated as it's master looked down in shock at where it hung, in standby mode, from her neck. "Enemy in error. Disregard. Please call to return 'set up'"

"R-raising Heart..." Nanoha began, her voice hesitant - it wasn't often that her device spoke up entirely of it's own accord after all.

"Enemy statements deceptive."

"B-but... but they're true!" The orange-haired girl all but wailed. "I am a horrible person! I am a bully! What I did... to Fate... I... I..." Eyes, filled with tears, rose up to stare out at where Vita was valiently holding the berserk Signum back. "Why would anyonewant to help someone like me!"

"Because." Raising Heart began, "My master is not in error."

"Wh... wha-" Nanoha started, only to be cut off as her device flared with pinkish-red light.

"It is okay." It declared, it's semi-mechanical voice seemign to raise in volume as it spoke. "Master is a devil when need be. Master is a friend from the beginning. Vita has observed both sides and calls both 'friend'."

Nanoha's eyes widened at her device's speech and at the way it struck home in her mind. "Raising Heart..."

"I also call My Master 'My Friend'." The device paused for a moment, it's light pulsing rapidly before it began speaking again. "Master's kindness, master's courage, master's wisdom are from a good person. Please trust yourself Master."

"But... The things I've done... It's all my fault..."

"If so, we have responsibility to make things better."

For several long moments Nanoha seemed to stare into space as Raising Heart's words echoed around her head. Finally she seemed to return to the present and, for the first time since meeting her double, a small smile passed across her face. "Take responsibility..." She murmured. "... Is it really that simple?"

"Does the complication matter?"

"No..." The girl smiled slightly as she rose up, no longer looking like the beaten girl she had been a few moments ago. "I suppose it doesn't." Her face took on a determined look as she glared out as Signum and Vita. "I guess I should take responsibility for this first. For bringing everyone here without thinking ahead or listening to everyone else as I should have done." Quickly her eyes drifted away from the two struggling knights and over to where the one other figure in the room, the one Signum has referred to as 'Hayate', lay. It was clear, to her, that this was most likely the thing responsible for Signum's current crazed actions.

"Raising Heart!" Nanoha declared, tugging the red jewel and it's necklace mount away from her neck – the rear of the necklace simply breaking apart to let it free. "Set up!"

"Call of 'Set up' is accepted." Raising Heart acknowledged, and as the light of her magic rose around her, added, "Glad to be back, My Master."

Signum swore under her breath as the other intruder, the one not currently wrapped around her legs, suddenly exploded with power. A familiar power too – one that set her heart racing as, on some level, she knew she had experienced this power before... and she knew it had been as an enemy.

Strange.

While she knew that power had the feel of someone she knew she had fought before she couldn't seem to remember who. Her memories of the time before Hayate were foggy at best, if not outright missing, as a result of the memory wipe the Book of Darkness had inflicted on herself and her fellow knights. That meant, she was sure, that for her to even remember this enemy it must have been someone she had fought after Hayate had called upon herself and the Wolkenritter.

But she couldn't remember fighting anyonewho felt like this.

Come to that... she couldn't remember anyone she had fought at all.

She knew she had fought people since she knew that was the only way to get pages for the book before... before...

Before what?

She remembered a time when she needed to recover pages for the Book of Darkness and she remembered a time when she didn't need to do the same for the Tome of the Night Sky... But she couldn't seem to remember anything in between such as why pages were no longer needed or why the name of the book had changed.

It was dawning on Signum that something was wrong. Really wrong even – parts of her memory seemed to be actively missing for no reason she could determine...

Was someone messing with her mind?

While such things were really more Shamal's expertise than her own , Signum was growing more and more certain that her conclusion was correct. Someone, or something, was playing tricks on her mi-

"Si-signum... he-help..."

For a moment Signum's mind blanked out as the sound of Hayate's clearly pained plea reached her ears. Her head snapped instinctively towards the direction the cry had come from and the moment her eyes caught sight of where Hayate lay they widened in horror.

Hayate was bleeding.

Her master, her queen, was injured.

A tiny part of her mind screamed out at this. Screamed that Hayate's injuries didn't make sense. That neither of the two monsters she believed herself to be fighting had so much as drawn close enough to even touch Hayate, let alone injure her! That there was something wrong, some kind of trickery or deception or...

But it didn't matter what that part of her mind thought. No matter how hard it screamed it was easily drowned out by the single minded ragethat the mere sight of an injured Hayate caused to bloom within Signum. Fresh energy, fed by her anger, flooded through the knight's body and with it she simply ripped her legs free of the arms that held them immobile. She paused for a moment only to stamp harshly down on one of the arms, the clear crack of snapping bone indicating that this opponent wouldn't be pinning her again.

Magic flooded out around her body and anchored itself to the surrounding space before slinging her, catapult-like, in the direction of where her weapon lay. As she shot past her weapon one hand reached out to snatch the silver and purple device up and almost instantly Signum both skidded to a halt and spun in place to face the direction Hayate was in. Another flash of magic sent her shooting off to end up standing just in front of Hayate, between her master and the monster that musthave been responsible for hurting her!

"Levantine," The knight hissed as she glared at her opponent. "No mercy."

"Schlagenform!"

Signum was fast. Insanelyfast.

Before this fight Nanoha had never quite understood why Fate had needed to redesign her barrier jacket for speed. Now, however, it was clear to her that even to someone as fast as Fate... well... Signum was in a whole different league.

Fortunately it was quickly apparent that while Signum possessed all her strength and speed her actual skill was being hampered by whatever force was affecting her mind. There were points where the knight had possessed a clear advantage and rather than pressing it for all it was worth she had fallen back into a defensive position. She also didn't seem willing to move too far away from the black figure she kept referring to as 'Hayate'. Given that it wasn't hard for Nanoha to guess that, in Signum's mind, the figure actually was Hayate. Being the only other thing in the room it was also the only real suspect as to who or what was messing with Signum's mind.

Clearly it had to go.

Unfortunately with Signum fully under the belief that the figure was Hayate that was going to easier said than done. There was no way that the knight would simply let Nanoha take it out given these circumstances.

Were she against almost any other combatant Nanoha would have been content to sit back and simply shell the area from afar with bombardment-class spells. She knew that Signum couldn't actually block a Divine Busterfor instance... but the knight didn't need to as every time Nanoha tried to set herself up to fire she found herself under immediate attack from Signum's whip-like sword. This inevitably forced her to cancel her preparation in favor of frantic casting of shields and barriers in order to avoid being sliced to ribbons.

Mentally she made a note to practice those later – if she ever needed to fight Signum again then shaving even a second off of her casting time would be invaluable. Physically she set up a quick brace of divine shooter shots and unleashed them in a wide pattern except for two which she angled up in order to drop them down on the fake Hayate while the rest distracted her opponent.

As she had expected Signum didn't rise to the bait of the spread and instead dropped back to slice both high-angle shots out of the air with her device. Without thinking further Nanoha jinked to the left as her remaining shots hit the ground and threw up clouds of dust and debris that obscured the knight. A split second later, before Nanoha was even completely out of the way, the end of Levantine shot from out of the dust and slashed through the space she had vacated. Luckily for her the only thing the weapon caught was a trailing edge of her barrier jacket's skirt, which the blade cut through without stopping... Nanoha had no illusions about what would happen it the weapon caught her dead on. The strength of her barrier jacket was impressive but she was keenly aware that it was simply not good enough to stop the power Signum was currently putting into her attacks.

If only she could hold Signum down for a bit! Long enough to set up a divine buster at least! Even if Signum blocked it then the backwash from the attack would hopefully be enough to damage the figure messing with her mind!

The only way Nanoha could see to get the time for that was to bind the knight. The problem was that Signum was simply too fast to catch in a Restrict Lock... which had been a rather nasty surprise as she wasn't exactly used to people simply dodging her binds. Worse was that while her other main binding technique, Hoop Bind, was fast enough to catch Signum it wasn't strong enough to hold the knight long enough to do anythingbefore she broke out.

How she wished Yuuno or Shamal were here right now! Both excelled in binding techniques and surely would have had something that combined strength and speed enough to catch and hold Signum. Even Chrono would be a good person to see as he had quite the range of binding techniques himself. If only she had some kind of suppo-

"Nanoha?"

The young girl jerked slightly in surprise at the unexpected telepathic message before immediately cutting her flight for a brief moment. That moment resulted in a sharp and sudden fall which prevented, barely, her from being skewered on the end of Levantine as Signum attempted to take advantage of her surprised distraction.

Nanoha was rather beginning to suspect that Signum had been holding back during the Book of Darkness incident. Given that back then the knight had been trying notto kill anyone... this was probably true.

"Shamal?" Nanoha responded, reactivating her flight magic and darting off to circle around where Signum stood guard. "I... I didn't think you could get through..."

"Well... we have the Athra relaying communications now, but it took them a while to break through the interference in there." Shamal's mental voice responded, a vague feeling of apology making itself known along with it. Telepathy often betrayed people's feelings like that, much in a similar way to how a person's tone of voice did the same in normal speech. After a moment the feeling of apology morphed into one of unease. The sense of unease quickly increased as Shamal, on the other end of the telepathic communication line, let some of her worry seep into her projected thoughts. "Is everything... What's going on in there? I tried to contact Vita and Signum but..."

"Vita is injured." Nanoha's response was quick and to the point – mostly because she simply didn't have enough attention to spare on explaining further. For someone who wasn't really a ranged fighter Signum was doing a damn good job of keeping her at bay from a distance. "Signum is... She's under mind control or something I think, I'm fighting her now." There was a slight pause as the young made was forced to do a quick barrel roll to avoid an arrow of light that almost speared her. "I'm... I'm not winning."

Admitting that was a little difficult but it was also the truth. Signum was using lethal attacks and Nanoha hadn't exactly been in the best state when she went into this battle. It didn't help that Signum simply wasn't tiring while she herself was – with Signum's skill keeping her from setting up a decisive blow or two the battle had become one of attrition, one that Nanoha knew she would lose eventually.

"Hold on," Shamal fell silent for several long moments before her mental voice continued, "I think I can send some help... but you'll need to hold still long enough for the Athra to lock your position for me!"

Hold still?

Hold still!

That... was a tall order indeed as staying still for even a few moments was an incredibly risky prospect right now. Were she any other young girl then perhaps Nanoha would have complained or asked Shamal to come up with a different plan. Instead she merely sighed slightly, squared her shoulders and began mentally preparing a plan of defense. If staying still in the face of Signum's wrath was what Shamal needed her to do in order to save herself and her friends... then staying still was what Nanoha was going to do.

A quick burst of magic pushed her up and over the area Signum was defending where she was able to take a quick moment to scan for where Vita was before an arrow of energy forced her to roll away. Some artful dodging after that soon led her towards her fallen friend where she simply dropped to the ground, turned to face Signum and then threw up a shield.

Then another. And another.

By the time she was finished a string of seven maximum power shields, the most she could manage, sat between her and the swordswoman. Nanoha's arms shook quite violently from the strain – defensive techniques weren't exactly her specialty to begin with and in her current condition that many of them was enough to push her almost beyond her limits.

Moments later the end shield simply exploded as Levantine, thrown forward in an overpowered thrust by it's wielder, smashed through it without so much as slowing down. The same happened to the second shield... and the third... then the fourth... Nanoha gritted her teeth and tried to drag up more power to pump into the remaining shields. Even with this effort the remaining shields didn't even seem to register to Signum as the power behind her thrust simply pierced through them. In response Nanoha grit her teeth, held her ground and as Levantine made contact with her final shield layer she dug deep within herself and poured everything she had into preventing Signum from breaking through.

She failed.

The terrible blade that belonged to the knight of swords slowed and ground to a halt as it hit Nanoha's final shield... but only for a few moments as it was then that Nanoha was reminded of the fear she had felt back when she had first encountered the Belkan knights... and the power of their cartridge systems. The rear of Levantine exploded, a spent cartridge case being ejected just as the weapon and it's owner surged forwards thanks to the sudden boost of magical power. Instantly Nanoha responded in kind only to feel a brand new spark of terror at the dull click that met her order rather than the expected explosion and rush of power.

She... She'd run out of cartridges?

Impossible!

She knew she had been keeping track of them! She'd used a few during her initial search of the factory, and... and... and she couldn't remember exactly what had happened after her duplicate had showed up...

Had she used some cartridges then? She couldn't recall.

Not that it mattered now. Signum had just penetrated her final barrier and that left only her barrier jacket standing between herself and a messy impalement and if she had to be honest... her jacket didn't stand a chance. Thankfully her jacket had a response for this kind of problem. The moment it hit it's limit then the inbuilt purge protocol would kick in and cause it to explode like reactive armor. If nothing else the explosion would push her out of the way at the last second. The only problem was that such an act would also disrupt the lock the Athrawas trying to make on her.

If that happened then she would need to start the whole process all over... and she didn't think she was capable of doing so.

With a thought Nanoha turned the reactor purge protocol off, screwed her eyes shut, and hoped that Shamal and the Athrawere going to be fast enough.

A few moments later, when certain death failed to occur, Nanoha opened her eyes. Her vision was instantly filled with a wall of navy blue – a wall that she soon realized was actually someone's back. Surprise at it's proximity made her take a step backwards, which moved her viewpoint enough to take in more of the back's owner. Messy white hair, bronzed skin, muscles upon muscles...

"Zafira...?" She began, realizing that yes it was indeed the male Wolkenritter standing before her right now. Nanoha normally had little interaction with the man – or the wolf she knew him better as – beyond standard pleasantries whenever she visited Hayate but... right now she couldn't have been more glad to see him if she tried.

The man grunted, causing a wet squelching sound that made Nanoha glance down... to where a good hand's width of Levantine's blade protruded from Zafira's lower back.

She gasped.

Zafira's ear twitched slightly at the noise before he shrugged. "It's not so bad," he murmured to the girl behind him, "just a flesh wound, it will heal." That was all the man said before he turned his attention back to Signum via the simple act of punching her in the chest. The swordswoman recoiled from the heavy blow and staggered backwards, her sword pulling free from Zafira's body in the process. If it hurt then the wolf knight didn't show it as the moment the sword was free he stepped forwards, batted the bloody blade to one side, and kicked Signum in the stomach.

Moments later she bounced off the far wall of the room, the force of Zafira's kick having simply launched her into it like a living missile.

Nanoha, to put it mildly, was stunned. In the space of only a few seconds Zafira had done to Signum what she had been unable to do throughout her entire fight with the woman. Still, she was thankful for the man's appearance and even more thankful for his strength. If nothing else then his appearance was enough to let her catch her breath and consider the situation for a moment without distraction.

She fell back towards where Vita lay while doing her best to keep her eyes on the fight as it unfolded. Signum was already back on her feet and defending herself as Zafira closed the gap and pressed his attack. It didn't take long for Nanoha to pick out the method Zafira was using to fight his opponent – a method she began to file away in the back of her head just in case she needed to face Signum again. The wolfman was simply forcing his way in close, too close for Signum to properly strike him with the blade of Levantine. Instead she was forced to use her own strike arts as well as a variety of pommel strikes to respond and it was clear that she was at a disadvantage when fighting that way. It was an effective method to use against the knight but it was not exactly one that Nanoha felt she would be able to use herself.

Worse... The longer Nanoha watched the more she began to see that, despite Zafira's apparent advantage, the fight was going to be close. Close enough that she wasn't sure who would win. Even with the disadvantage and fatigue she faced Signum was a monsterof a combatant capable of simply taking Zafira's strikes head on and replying to them almost as harshly.

No, it was obvious that leaving their fight to reach it's own conclusion would be a chancy thing at best. If that was the case then the only reasonable course of action would be to make the results of the fight a non-issue... and on that matter Nanoha already knew what to do.

Raising Heart snapped down to point at the dark figure in the center of the room - the one Signum believed to be Hayate. With Zafira keeping the swordswoman busy there was nothing to stop Nanoha from simply dealing with the root cause of the problem.

"Lock on target." Magic flared around Nanoha's feet as she drew on what reserves she had left. "Set ring barrel to minimum, maximum range fifteen meters." That would be more than enough range to take out the target. A longer range would perhaps create an escape route... but given she wasn't sure if Shamal still had barriers up outside to stop any collateral damage it was probably safer to er on the side of caution. Besides, she didn't know if she had the power left for anything much larger.

"Target Set. Barrel Set. Range Set. All Clear For Buster."

"Ah." The girl took a deep breath. Over on the far side of the room Signum picked up on what she was about to do and broke away from Zafira only to come to a crashing halt as the man simply transformed and sank his teeth into the back of one leg. There was no way for her to stop Nanoha now. "Full power! Divine Buster!"

The pink-haired knight screamed.

For a moment, one glorious and blessed moment, Signum's mind shut down completely as she watched the wave of pink magic simply roll over where Hayate lay. In that single moment there was no pain. There was no anger. There was no despair. Quite simply her mind had no idea what it was supposed to feel having been shocked so badly by the sight before her.

Had she the choice then perhaps the knight would have wished that her mind remain in that state. Sadly the moment of emptiness was just a moment and it was one that ended as quickly as it had come. The void in Signum's mind was replaced with horror. Horror and despair and pain and everything else negative simply flooded into her spirit within the barest fraction of a second.

She didn't even notice that she was screaming.

All she could take in was the sight in front of her eyes.

Hayate.

Dead.

Hayate.

Dead.

Hayate was dead!

Hayate was dead and it was all her fault for not protecting her! Hayate had been relyingon Signum to protect her and she had failed!

Slowly her eyes tracked across the room away from where Hayate had been vaporized and over to the one that had been behind the magic that did it. Horror was replaced by rage as she rose to her feet, heedless of the injury to her leg, and surged forward with an inarticulate scream of anger.

Something heavy landed on her back then, forcing her to the ground even as she did her best to hack and slash away at the monsterthat has taken Hayate from her. She screamed, she swore, she hurled abuse in Belkan, Japanese, Mid-Childan and every other language she knew. As best she could she tried to stab the thing on her back only to find a large hand grabbing her sword-arm by the wrist and pinning to down.

She screamed some more.

She felt a pain in the back of her head.

And then, thankfully, nothing.

Nanoha let out a breath she hadn't been aware of holding as Zafira landed on Signum's back, pinned her sword arm to the ground with one hand and then slammed his other elbow into the back of her head. The swordswoman's struggling ceased then as, no doubt, the guardian beast had just knocked her unconscious. Nanoha never thought she would have felt so glad to see one of her friends taken down but the crazed Signum had been terrifyingand now that she was out cold she was much less so.

She watched as Zafira slid off of Signum's back and, with barely a grunt of effort, lifted the comatose woman up in order to position her over one of his massive shoulders. As she watched a little bell went off in the back of her head – she had forgotten about Vita! Almost immediately her head whipped around to look in the direction of where Vita was... not laying...

"Yo." The short knight was sitting a little out of the way where she'd apparently dragged herself out of the way as soon as Signum had started fighting Nanoha. She nodded to the young ace when the girl turned to look and she probably would have waved if it wasn't for her being forced to cradle her broken arm with her still good one. Vita smiled slightly, though it was a little strained, "Glad to have you back."

Nanoha smiled back in an equally strained way – it was hard to look at the redhead and not think about the fact that Vita was only injured because of her. It was hard to remember exactly what had happened after she had... had given into the monster that wore her face but she could at least remember that it was Vita who had rescued and protected her.

Of course she did. She's such a good friend that way.

The treacherous thought flitted across Nanoha's mind and she winced in response. It made her think back to all the things the other-her had said that she... she just couldn't seem to deny. Not to mention that it also made her think of all the other thoughts she had earlier as well as the guilt those thoughts filled her with.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled, looking away from Vita as she spoke. Moments later she felt a large hand place itself on her shoulder. Surprised by the contact she spun in place and found herself looking up at Zafira who, somehow, had come up behind her without her noticing.

"Do not worry." The white-haired stated as he nodded towards Vita. "She is one of the Wolkenritter, and we are..." He paused for a moment and looked as if he was trying to think of how to phrase what he wanted to say. "... more durable than humans. Her arm will not bother her long." Then he smirked slightly. "Though she may whine about it later."

Nanoha blinked, then frowned. "But that's not-"

"I don't whine" Groused the shorter knight as she shifted her broken arm until she could hook her thumb into one of the pockets on the front of her armor's outer coat. That done she was able to use her good arm to help her stand up – though it was clear by the way she both winced and muttered curses under her breath that the movement hurt like hell. By the time she was standing Zafira was giving her a look of mild amusement while Nanoha's look was that of horror. Vita looked at the young Ace and shrugged. "It's not too bad," she stated before she caught Zafira's expression and scowled at the man, "and that was notwhining!"

The man smirked slightly, much to Vita's annoyance, before his expression turned serious. "We should leave now. There seems to be nothing more to learn here other than our own folly."

"You know the way out?" Vita glanced around as she asked, "I haven't been able to get my bearings at all in here."

Zafira shrugged, "dimensional transfer. I will contact Shamal then she will contact the Athra for assistance." The man paused and both Nanoha and Vita waited as his eyes glazed over slightly – one of the more obvious signs of heavy telepathic communication – for a moment before he blinked and his eyes returned to normal. "Stand close and I shall set up a target for a remote transfer."

Even as Zafira spoke a ring of pale blue light formed at his feet before it resolved itself into the familiar triangular shape of a Belkan style magic circle. Both Nanoha and Vita shuffled slightly so that they were both within the bounds of the circle. Once they were there Zafira nodded once and let his magic flare up, the mystic circle brightening until it almost hurt to look at. Then, without warning, it simply vanished and was instantly replaced with a larger and far more complex circle outlined in pale green.

This too flared... and then the factory around them vanished.

The world lurched violently and Nanoha felt herself stumble and stagger as she appeared outside the Factory only a few feet away from where she had blown a hole in the outer wall to gain entry earlier. Her head spun and she soon found herself on her knees and rather violently emptying her stomach over the floor. She'd been teleported before, several times in fact, but each of those instances had been quick and easy. This time she felt like she had just been violently swung around and around as if on some crazy carnival ride. Coughing at the foul taste left in her mouth the young girl glanced back to where Zafira and Vita both stood looking as if they had both barely noticed the turbulence. Nearby were both Shamal and Signum, the former kneeling kneeling over and examining where the latter was now laid out on the floor.

A momentary flicker of annoyance passed through Nanoha's head. Zafira, or Shamal, could have at least warned her that it was going to be a rough ride! Either of them should have known about that from Shamal's teleporting of Zafira intothe Factory earlier!

They need to learn a good hard lesson about friendshi-

Nanoha's eyes widened in shock before they screwed themselves shut as she clamped down hard on that thought. It wasn't really either of their faults that they hadn't told her the transport would be turbulent – Zafira looked as if he had barely noticed it after all. Maybe neither had realized that it was as bad as it was because of that?

Yes. That was... that was reasonable. Neither Zafira nor Shamal had done it on purpose. It was just a mistake, an oversight of theirs, that was all. Nothing worth getting annoyed over and definitely nothing unfriendly on their parts.

When a hand brushed against her back Nanoha almost jumped in fight. She'd been so absorbed in arguing against herself that she hadn't even noticed someone approaching! Fortunately a quick glance confirmed that someone to be Shamal, who had finished with Signum for the moment and even now was crouching down to get a better look at Nanoha instead.

"Are you alright?" The blonde woman asked, concern clear over her face, "I... that transfer was... there was just so much interference..." Nanoha shook her head slightly as the taller woman helped her up and, thankfully, gave her something to wipe her mouth with.

She smiled slightly at the green knight. "It's okay. I'm okay." As she reassured Shamal she felt a pleasant tingling feeling sweep over her, a feeling she recognized as the that of healing magic. Along with it came a wave of relief as all the cuts, scrapes and bruises she had picked up all faded away under the spell's effect. There was still some lingering muscle pain and general exhaustion but those were nothing that a good rest wouldn't fix.

Except she couldn't rest quite yet, not while there was still something that needed doing. Turning to look back at the Factory building, and the hole she and Vita had blown in the side of it earlier, Nanoha frowned. Like it was there was nothing stopping anyone from simply wandering in to investigate the damage and if anyone else were to find themselves facing the... the thingswithin then Nanoha knew she would never be able to forgive herself for letting it happen.

"We need to level this place." Vita's sudden statement, one that echoed her own feelings on the matter, made Nanoha nod in agreement. The Factory as well as the traps and monsters within needed to be taken down to ensure the safety of the locals... and the safety of the girl back at Fate's home.

Lying to ourself again. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You're just afraid of going back inside.

"I... we should do it from outside." Nanoha said after a moment. Though she was ignoring the voice in her head it's accusation had struck a nerve – she really was afraid. Afraid of how the Factory, or the monsters inside it at least, had managed to get inside her head so easily. It was hard for her to imagine that Akiko could have been fighting these things for so long if just oneencounter was enough to leave her feeling like this.

Then again, given the state of the older girl... perhaps it wasn't so hard after all.

"Is that so." When Vita spoke up Nanoha was surprised to find the girl looking at her oddly but she quickly turned away to look at the Factory instead. "It's a good idea though. Isure as hell don't want to go back inside, not in this condition." She paused, then grunted in annoyance. "Can't do much from out here like this either. I don't really have anything suited to taking the place down. Nothing I can use one-handed anyway."

Nanoha felt within herself for a moment, essentially flexing her linker core in order to test it. The sharp spike of pain that this resulted in made her wince slightly before she shook her head. "I... I don't think I could manage anything big enough right now either."

"Well... uh..." Vita floundered for a bit before she looked up at the man the other side of her. "Zafira?"

"Maybe." The large knight folded his arms over his chest as he considered the situation. "Steel Yoke, full propagation, maximum expansion. Should take out walls, floors and ceilings... major structural supports or reinforced rooms might be resistant." he shrugged in apology. "It's not really an anti-structure spell."

"It will have to do." Shamal cut in as she came up behind the trio, "I've been looking over Signum and I really would rather get her home as soon as possible. That goes for everyone else too – I don't know about you all but keeping up these barriers and needing to push through all that interference has almost worn me out."

The shortest of the three knights considered this for a moment before she nodded. "Fine." She stated, motioning with her good hand for Zafira to get on with things. "Me and Eisen can knock down anything left standing after you wreck the place. We can do that much at least."

As the wolfman stepped forwards Nanoha perked up slightly in order to watch him at work. She had only seen Zafira casting actual spellsa handful of times – most of which had been during the fight against the Book of Darkness's defense program some time ago. Casually she leaned forward slightly to better see as Zafira summoned up a light blue Belkan style magic circle, lifted one foot, then stamped down hard.

As soon as his foot touched the ground the pavement in front of him exploded upwards as a solid white spike burst out from underneath it. Not even a moment later another spike did the same then another and another until they formed a clustered trail of spikes which made its way from Zafira to the open hole in the Factory wall. The moment they passed the threshold of the building their behavior changed as the trail of spikes immediately spread outwards in all directions. They also grew larger and it quickly became apparent that further spikes were starting to burst out of the original spikes like branches and leaves on some kind of demented, and deadly, plantlife.

It wasn't long before Nanoha spotted cracks spreading along the outside walls as spikes began to push their way through the brickwork. The effect was more obvious in other places where windows, vents and other weaker spots exploded outwards thanks to the spell. Even higher up she could see where chunks of the roof were dislodged by the growing mass of impaling magic that presumably was now filling every scrap of space within the building.

She vaguely wondered what the spell had done to anything left inside the building.

It disturbed her slightly to realize how difficult she found it to care.

The sound of falling masonry drew her attention back to the Factory building just in time to see one of the walls and a good chunk of the roof sag inwards. Nanoha noted immediately that the spikes were all fading away now, leaving the structure riddled with holes and unable to support it's own weight properly. Clouds of dust and debris billowed out of the building and filled the air as it collapsed in on itself. Fortunately none of the debris hit anyone there thanks to a protection field Shamal put up to deflect it all at the last moment. The field remained up for a good while until the dust had more or less settled. When it fell the group was treated to the welcome sight of what was essentially now just a very large pile of rubble dotted here and there by the odd pillar or section of wall that had been resistant enough to remain standing.

Vita stared at the rubble for a while.

"Huh." She eventually murmured, "not bad."