Author's Note: Another short chapter, might stick to these kinds from now on. Anyway, thus begins the second half of this story. I have several endings in mind, some sad, some bittersweet, some absolutely miserable; I'm not sure which one I'll choose yet, but I think I have a good idea. Like always, enjoy, and I'll try to update this thing as quickly as possible. Thanks for all the nice reviews, I appreciate it.

The Red Strings Encompassing Fate's Flower

Keiko Yanagiri

Chapter 6: The Blue-Eyed Flower Strangled By Fate

Nanoha Takamachi was always destined to die quickly, to not live long enough to even see herself become an adult. Her heart was faulty, and her body weak; Even her brain had started to fail her in later years.

But there was once a time when she had hope, hope for her survival, and hope for the future. Her father was working hard, sometimes even taking up 3 jobs at a time in order to raise the money needed to get her a new heart.

But then he died, and with him, her hopes were also buried. And now, with no more hope, she lives day by day, waiting for the moment of her death, unable to stop it, or even slow it down. Waiting, until the black and red grip of death wrapped its fingers around her throat.

I sat at a table, with Nanoha on one side of me, and Momoko on the other. They'd just finished explaining the situation to me, and I didn't want to believe it, that Nanoha was really going to die.

I didn't understand most of the specifics, just that her heart was bad and needed to be replaced. Either way, she didn't have a lot of time left, a year at most according to the doctors.

"That's too short . . . ." Nanoha smiled, and her tears had long stopped. She held my hand.

"Mom could you leave us alone for a moment?"

Momoko nodded and left, and the two of us were alone again.

"Fate-chan." She called my name and I was forced to look her in the eyes, painful as it was. "Thank you, but its enough now. You don't have to come here anymore."

"What . . . are you saying, Nanoha?" She squeezed my hand, her grip was so hard that it felt like my hand would break.

"If you keep seeing me like this, its only going to hurt you, and I don't want that. It would be better if we stopped seeing each other, for you, and for me."

I understood what she was saying now, but because I understood I couldn't accept it.

"Nanoha." I cupped her face in my hands, and drew close to her, kissing her just like she did to me before. She didn't resist, or move, she just accepted my affection and waited for me to pull away. "Nanoha, its too late for that. Before I realized it, you were already in my heart. I can't just pretend that none of this happened, I can't forget about you. I love you."

"I see. I don't know whether to be happy to sad now." My hand was still on her face, and she placed her own hand over it. More tears finally came, and rolled down her cheeks. "If you're sure, then I wont stop you. I don't want to let you go, so if you're fine with it, don't let me go, not until my heart stops beating."

"I promise that even afterward, I wont let go, Nanoha." She nodded and pushed her face into my chest, and shook as small cries came from her lips. No one interrupted us, and for a long time, an eternity, I sat there, holding her closer than ever.

"I see, so its like that." Hayate's voice filtered through my cell phone. "I don't like this; watching her die, you shouldn't have to do something like that."

"Thank you Hayate." I said, and fell down beside Nanoha, who was sleeping. "But I'm not going to change my mind. I wont leave her alone, I'll always be by her side, because that's what lovers do."

"Eh?" She was surprised, though less so than Mother was when I told her. "So you even went that far huh? All right, if that's really what you want, I'll support you all the way to the end. That's what best friends are for after all."

"Thanks."

"No problem. But when the . . . time comes, I hope you're prepared."

"I don't that will be possible, I did make a promise to her, so I wont break it."

"Thought so." And she sighed. "Good luck then, Fate-chan. I'll see you at school."

"Okay, thank you. Goodbye." I hung up and peaked over at Nanoha, who was still sleeping peacefully. I poked her face a few times, enjoying her cute reactions. Finally, I moved in close, and put my arms around her. And together, the two of us fell asleep side by side.