A Samurai's Pledge
A/N: This Extra was probably better suited for my previous story, "Of Assassins, Samurai, and Magic", but seeing as I'm putting up Extras here, I figured it best to keep them all together. Due to the subject matter of this chapter, our characters may be a bit OOC.
For those of you who left unsigned reviews, see my replies below:
trumm12345 – Thanks for the comment. ^^ Vivio may be sweet to them now, but wait until she uses that blackmail material to her advantage. Lol! I could just imagine the shenanigans. XD
Disclaimer: The characters and the worlds I write in do not belong to me. The stories that I write are intended for entertainment purposes. I do not make any money from them.
*** ~ Extra 2: Forgiveness ~ ***
The sun's morning rays cast a gentle glow upon the land, its warmth soft and welcoming.
And Vita hated it.
She wanted it to rain, to hail, to rain fireballs down from the heavens if that were possible. Anything but the brilliant sunlight bathing everywhere she looked.
Today was not supposed to be a happy day. It was a sad day. A depressing day. A hateful day. Yet here she was, standing in the capital city's local graveyard, and the damn sun was shining, as if all was well.
"Kuso..."
Literally sliding around the next corner, she saw light coming from one of the stores at the far end of the roadway. Pumping her short legs as fast as she could, Vita made a beeline for what turned out to be the Midori-ya Café. The small Wolkenritter practically bashed open the wooden doors with her shoulder, spun on her heel and immediately locked the door with shaking hands. The moment she turned around, she was greeted by a very bubbly Takamachi Nanoha.
A small fist clenched tightly, knuckles going white, nails threatening to pierce through the flesh of her palm. In spite of that, Vita stood there, in front of two very familiar graves, ones she couldn't bring herself to visit.
Until now.
"Nanoha" came a voice from the kitchen. "It's time to close up for the night."
"But Okaa-san" Nanoha said looking over her shoulder as her mother emerged from the back room. "We have a customer."
"A customer? At this hour?" Takamachi Momoko wiped her hands on her apron as she approached them. "Ara? I guess we do. Welcome to the Midori-ya Café chibi-chan." The older Takamachi smiled at Vita sweetly.
Three years had passed since that terrible day, the day two innocent people lost their lives and a third was forever scarred. Time and time again Vita chided herself for the events leading up to those agonized screams, those heart piercing tears, those needless deaths. Yet no matter how much she hated herself for what happened, nothing changed the fact that it had happened. And it was all her fault.
Before anything further could be said, Vita tackled both women to the floor as the door to the café exploded, sprinkling them all with wooden splinters.
"What in the-" Momoko was the first of the three to recover, already on her feet in a daze as she tried to figure out what was happening.
"No!"
But Vita called out her warning too late. Momoko cried out, a moment later hitting the floor with an audible thud. Crimson pooled around her still figure, a trickle of red running down her chin from parted lips.
"OKAA-SAN!"
"You don't know me," Vita said, her voice hoarse, her throat dry.
"Hey you!" Vita yelled, catching Shiro's attention. "Catch!"
The girl in red tossed the older Takamachi a sword, the blade belonging to one of the fallen assassins, just as the dead assassin's companions were upon him. Snatching the blade out of the air, he brought up the sword just in time to block both blades surprising his attackers. "You…" Shiro said through clenched teeth. The garbed men were trying to overpower him with their blades. "Will… not… hurt… my daughter!"
"Not really at least..." Vita swallowed thickly.
Shiro's heart ached as tears streaked his daughter's face. Her mouth hung open, but she made no sound. Millions of things ran through his head right now. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was for hiding this from her. He wanted to hold her in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay. He wanted to tell her that he loved her. But he would never get the chance for a bright light from the entrance blinded him before he was completely engulfed in a magical explosion.
"OTOU-SAN!"
"But for what it's worth, I'm-"
"Vita-chan?"
To say the White Devil was surprised would have been putting things mildly. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect company on this day, in this place of all places. Yet here she stood, with another, in front of her parents graves.
"N-N-Nanoha!" Vita squeaked in surprised, immediately covering her mouth with both hands when she realized she had said the assassin's true name a little too loud. Thankfully there was no one else in the graveyard with them, allowing Vita a sigh of relief for that mess up.
"What are you..." The White Devil glanced at the bouquets of white lilies place in front of her parents graves. It didn't escaped the Legendary Weapon Wielder that the grave stones had been freshly washed as well. "... doing here?"
At that question, Vita tensed up, dropping her hands back down to her sides before turning away from the white assassin to stare at the grave stones again. "I..."
Vita gritted her teeth when no other words came out.
What did you say in a situation like this? Saying sorry wasn't good enough. Saying sorry wouldn't bring the elder Takamachis back to life. Saying sorry wouldn't erase the pain Nanoha had to go through all of those years ago. Saying sorry wouldn't turn back time, changing that day so it had a different outcome. Yet in spite of that fact, saying she was sorry was all Vita could do.
"Nanoha..." Vita said in a small voice. Her lips quivered, the hammer wielder quickly shutting her eyes as they began to burn with tears. Scrounging up all the courage she had, Vita turned to face the white assassin.
"I'm... sorry..."
There. She finally said it. After years and years of avoiding this place like the plague, avoiding this topic of conversation with the brunette, she finally said it.
"This was my fault."
It was rather hard to tell what sort of thoughts were going through the White Devil's head, the assassin's expression blank and unreadable. Yet even as the silence threatened to engulf her whole, Vita stayed quiet, waiting for whatever punishment the Legendary Weapon Wielder sought to inflict on her for her transgression.
Violet coloured eyes bore into her, Vita fighting the strongest urge to fidget under them.
It hurt.
It hurt to be looked at right now. By one of her closest friends, one whom she considered a part of her family after all they had been through.
Surely Nanoha hated her. She was responsible for the death of her parents. How she didn't become responsible for Nanoha's death also was a mystery to Vita, but the redhead chalked it up as something to do with Raging Heart. Nanoha never did tell them how she came across her Legendary Weapon, but Vita, along with the others were able to piece things together enough to know it happened sometime after her parents death.
The White Devil looked at her parents graves again before taking a deep breath. She turned back to the anxious redhead.
"It wasn't your fault."
Vita flinched momentarily, as if expecting to be hit, before her brain caught up to her ears. "E-Eh?"
There was supposed to be hellfire. Or tsunamis. Or heck, even a million Divine Busters shooting in her direction right now. Not this, these... words which made her feel even worse than before she apologized.
"But-"
"It wasn't your fault," the White Devil repeated, violet eyes softening. She gave her companion a gentle smile.
No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! This was not supposed to be happening. Nanoha was supposed to yell at her, to scream at her, to beat her up until her fists were stained with blood or to shoot her with so much magic that everything in Al Hazard paled in comparison.
Vita opened her mouth to retort.
"You are not to blame." Another smile.
"Stop it," Vita gritted out through clenched teeth. Her hands were in white knuckled fists, her entire form starting to shake.
"You couldn't stop what happened that night."
Vita was shaking even more. Again! Those damn words!
"Nanoha-" Vita jumped when a hand pressed down on her shoulder, the White Devil crouching down to meet the redhead's gaze at eye level.
"There's nothing to forgive, Vita-chan."
Vita's lip quivered, her resolve steadily crumbling as she looked into those awfully understanding and kind violet eyes.
"If there's anyone to forgive," the White Devil said. "Isn't it about time you forgave yourself, Vita?"
The dam walls broke and tears free spilled down Vita's cheeks. In an anguished cry, Yagami Vita, Knight of the Iron Hammer, Wielder of the Legendary Weapon Graf Eisen, and Crimson Iron Rider of the Wolkenritter, collapsed to her knees and cried.
The White Devil embraced her friend, wrapping the sobbing girl up with her arms, pulling Vita towards her.
"Vita-chan," the assassin said, a watery smile of her own stretching across her lips as she held her smaller companion. "I have never blamed you for what happened all those years ago. And I'm sure my parents don't either."
That revelation only made Vita cry harder, the smallest of the Empress' knights feeling the weight which had been on her shoulders for years since the Takamachis' deaths, finally lifting.
Outside of the local graveyard, two figures stood watch at the entrance.
"Testerossa-san."
"Signum-sama."
They had come here as support, as backup to their companions on this day, knowing all too well the pain which rose up every time this day passed. That was all for naught however, their fears and worries unfounded. Even so, they came anyways, for everyone, no matter how undeserving they felt themselves to be, deserved some forgiveness.
A/N: For those of you unfamiliar with the non-English words, I have translated them below.
Kuso = Damn it
Okaa-san = Mother
Otou-san = Father
Wolkenritter = Cloud Knights (German)
For an explanation of Japanese honorifics (eg. [name]-sama), please check out: wiki/Japanese_honorifics