Of Assassins, Samurai, and Magic
A/N: And the next chapter is up! I've tried to keep everyone as close as possible to their characters in the anime though I'm sure there will be a few OOC moments. Comments and reviews are much appreciated. Enjoy!
For those of you who left unsigned reviews, see my replies below:
Love thus story - Thanks for the review! ^^ You're my number one anonymous reviewer huh? Cool! :) I'm glad you like the story as much as you do. Be warned though, this is just the beginning of things to come in the story. Hehe. Be prepared for a lot more to come! XD
[nameless reviewer] - Thanks for the review! :) I think you may have mixed up names. Erio didn't attack Nanoha in the chapter. Nevertheless, I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. :) This is only the beginning though. Just wait until you see what's to come. :P
Anonymous - Hehe, I think I'm a littl bit different compared to other MGLN writers. I don't have Nanoha and Fate together right away, but don't worry, they'll hook up eventually. You'll see what I mean as the chapters go by. :) Until then, I hope you keep reading. ^^
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.
*** ~ Chapter 30: Domino Effect ~ ***
"This can't be happening..."
Signum winced at the despair evident in Hayate's voice. Just moments ago, she had returned to the Imperial Palace from the Middle District, carrying news she knew the Empress would not want to hear.
"Hayate-sama," Signum began, swallowing uncomfortably. "I-"
"When?" came the question.
The Harlaown family had been successfully moved from the Middle District into the Imperial Palace over night. Until their new home could be arranged in the Upper District, they took up residence in the empty West Wing of the Imperial Palace.
"I'm not sure," Signum replied, the samurai inwardly cursing herself for the lack of foresight on this matter. "It couldn't have been too long after they tried to kidnap Harlaown-sama and Testerossa-san."
The Harlaowns took up a total of three rooms, including the extras Signum had not expected, that being Arf the demon fox and the two orphans Erio Mondial and Caro Ru Lushe whom Lindy had taken under her wing at Fate's behest. Chrono refused the move, citing he would be well enough protected by the City Guards should the assailants try another kidnapping attempt on him. While Signum was hesitant to agree, she trusted the man and the City Guards, and left it be.
"But they were supposed to be safe!" Hayate exclaimed.
Shamal gave Signum a worried glance, the blonde feeling just as uneasy with the situation as the pinkette. Hayate was currently pale faced and shaking, her voice near cracking as she almost screamed in protest. Neither of them had ever seen the brunette this hysterical before, even when news of the attack on the Takamachi Dojo came months ago.
"You said she would be safe! You said Nanoha would be safe!"
Fate froze in her motions, her hand raised and ready to knock against the massive cherry wood doors leading to the Empress' personal chambers. Vice Granscenic, Signum's Lieutenant, also stood with her. Fate had been particularly insistant on thanking the Empress for her kindness in sheltering her and her family here in the Imperial Palace, due to the latest turn of events. While she knew the Empress was a busy woman, and that she probably should have just sent a letter thanking her, Fate wanted to do it in person as it was the most courteous thing to do. But then came that shout, and Fate quickly forgot about thanking anyone.
Something happened to Nanoha?
Fate couldn't but panic at that thought. She had been so caught up in the attempted kidnapping of her adopted mother, that she had completely forgotten about Nanoha. Signum had said the kidnapping attempt was most likely because she cooked for the Empress that one day, with Nanoha, and the assailants were trying to get to the Empress by using them as leverage. Even knowing that, Fate's first thoughts were of her own family, Signum having taken on the responsibility herself to protect the youngest Takamachi. And now something happened to Nanoha.
Fate cursed inwardly.
Vice frowned. While he was reluctant to bring Fate to the Empress, he had to admit, the blonde was persistent. It didn't help that her adopted mother was just as persistent and the former City Guards Captain's widow. The samurai lieutenant could do nothing but cave to both women's requests. That was half an hour ago. Now, standing in front of the Empress' room, having heard something they probably shouldn't have, Vice was starting to regret his decision. Fate, who had been quite talkative (yet polite) during the entire walk over here, had gone deathly silent at the Empress' shout, the girl immediately paling when she heard it. But before he could do or say anything to rectify the situation, the door to the Empress' chambers swung open and Signum came striding through.
"T-Testerossa-san?" The Samurai Captain almost knocked over the blonde, having not expected to see Fate here, right in front of Hayate's door.
"Taii-san?"
Signum immediately shut the door behind her once she recovered from her surprise, ensuring Hayate's secret identity remained a secret. Not that Fate would have seen anything past Signum's armor, but still, she couldn't be too careful. Hayate had been adamant about her friends not knowing she was still alive. If that happened, the ramifications would be enormous.
"What's happened to Nanoha?" Fate asked, her voice trembling and cracking. She looked at Signum almost level, the pinkette being just an inch taller than her.
Signum clenched her jaw, clearly angered with her second-in-command for bringing Fate here, now of all times. But what was done was done, and nothing could be done to undo it now. Signum glared at her Lieutenant, Vice shrinking back incredibly under her gaze, before she placed her hands on the shaking blonde's shoulders.
"Go back to your room for the time being, Testerossa-san," Signum said, trying to keep her tone even. "Once things are sorted out-"
Fate's hands gripped at Signum's armored wrists with surprising strength. The samurai couldn't but widen her eyes in surprise when she felt her gauntlets digging into her skin.
"Where is she, Signum?"
Signum didn't miss the lack of honorifics, nor did she miss the dark fury in blood coloured eyes. The Captain of the Samurai couldn't but stare at the blonde, having never seen this part of Fate before. Fate was always a kind, soft spoken women. But the woman standing in front of her now was anything but that. If looks could kill, Signum would have died a few times already.
"Testerossa-san, please-"
BOOM!
The ground trembled under their feet, the trio looking at each other in startled shock. Signum was the first to take off, Vice and Fate hot on her heels as the pinkette made her way to the closest balcony overlooking the Upper District. A pillar of smoke rose into the sky, the faint sounds of shouts and the clashing of blades heard as another explosion rocked the noble court. Everyone's eyes widened at the sight of a pink magical blast tearing through a noble's house. All of them couldn't believe what they were seeing, yet there was no denying what was happening right now.
The White Devil was attacking the Upper District.
"I'm sorry."
Regret and sadness lingered heavily in violet coloured eyes. The White Devil said a silent prayer, her head bowed as she looked down at her latest victim.
"Sealing."
She tried not using brute force. She tried turning her weapon elsewhere, anywhere but at these innocent people. Her powers were meant for protecting people, not hurting them. But she had no choice. The Spirit Seed activated the moment she got close to it, and the only way for her to save these people and her brother was to do it the hard way. She could only hope these good people would survive their injuries. More than regular citizens had been hurt today. Amongst the injured were samurai who had come to investigate the disturbance.
The now sealed Spirit Seed drifted through the air towards Raging Heart, disappearing in a flash of blue the moment it connected with the red fist sized magatama gem. The White Devil turned her face away and sighed. Two down. Three more to go.
"Fly, my falcon!"
The white assassin's head snapped up at the sound of Signum's voice, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Sturmfalken!"
A bolt of purple flew towards her almost faster than she could see.
"Flier Fin!"
The White Devil instinctively leapt backwards, Raging Heart's magic allowing the assassin to almost literally fly backwards a great distance to get away from the attack narrowing in on her. Or so she thought. Just when the arrow of purple magic was about to hit the floor where she previously stood, it made an impossible u-turn upwards and bolted straight at her.
"Multiple Defenser!"
A string of five Round Shields materialized in front of the White Devil, the assassin still airborne as Signum's magically enhanced arrow connected with the first of the shields seconds later. The explosion that followed was clearly seen from every district as well as from the Imperial Palace.
Shamal and Hayate could only watch, frozen, where there stood on the balcony connected to the Empress' chambers. Smoke layered the air for a good few seconds, shrouding the battlefield. A moment later, the White Devil breached the wall of smoke and landed on the nearest rooftop with a stumble. The moment she stabilized her stance into a crouch, she found Signun's Levantine touching her neck. One wrong move and she'd have her throat slashed.
"Surrender now, and you will not be harmed," Signum said coldly.
Shimatta. She'd gotten careless.
Sadly, that happened when one ran on little to no sleep. And injury.
Since the confrontation with the Thunder Reaper's apprentice late last night, the White Devil had been searching for Spirit Seeds without respite. She was given the deadline of tomorrow night, ordered to bring those five Spirit Seeds to a location which would be revealed to her closer to that time. If that didn't happen, Kyouya would be as good as dead, with a new civilian taking his place until she did what she was told. For every day that went by without delivery, someone else would die only to be replaced by another innocent, that process repeating over and over again.
"You have to let me go," the White Devil said to the samurai.
"I can't do that," Signum replied.
The pinkette was a bit startled to hear how feminine sounding the White Devil's voice was right now, unaware the Hctip Root had long worn off at this point. She had originally mistook the assassin for a male the first time she met them, but having a better look at them now, Signum was starting to reconsider her first impression. There was something very unsettling about the White Devil. Something so familiar.
The White Devil couldn't afford to linger here for much longer. The longer she was delayed, the less time she would have to search for Spirit Seeds. Contrary to popular belief, ever since Signum increased the number of samurai patrolling the streets, along with the White Devil and the Thunder Reaper doing the same, the number of Spirit Seed incidents had dropped considerably. No longer were they a nightly event, sometimes the White Devil finding no Spirit Seeds for nights on end.
On the other end of the spectrum, there were a few times where she found two or three in a night, but those were too far and too few as of late. She'd been lucky to get two of them only after a night of searching. As it was, the White Devil feared she wouldn't find anymore before the deadline came and went, and Kyouya would pay the price because of that.
"You don't understand," the White Devil said. "I never wanted to hurt anyone."
"You actions say otherwise," Signum retorted. She shifted uneasily on her feet.
For some reason, the longer Signum kept the White Devil here, waiting for back up, the more she felt something was horribly wrong. The White Devil had made no move to attack her, nor had they ever done so in the past. Any attack that may have been directed her way previously was merely a distraction to let the White Devil get away. But why? Why do any of the things they did if they didn't want to hurt anyone? If they didn't want to fight?
"There's more at stake here than you realize," the White Devil said in desperation. Violet coloured eyes darted all over the place, the White Devil trying her darndest to figure out an escape route. She had never been much of a close combat fighter. Even as her siblings and father tried to teach her in the dojo, the White Devil still never got the hang of it. But give her range and a ranged weapon, she was almost invincible.
"If you don't let me go, more people will die."
Signum narrowed her eyes at the White Devil. "Is that a threat?" The White Devil looked up at her, pleadingly.
"Please let me go, Signum-sama," the White Devil said. "Kyouya Nii-san will die if you don't. And me too."
Signum stared at the White Devil, stunned. "What did you just say?"
A crackle of electricity.
"Panzerschild!"
The Captain of the Samurai flipped backwards hastily, her magical shield absorbing most of the electrical bolt flung her way before it exploded outwards like shattering glass. The moment her feet touched the rooftop three buildings away, Signum looked up to find herself face to face with a bug humanoid creature. The creature itself donned black and purple armor. Or maybe that was its natural shell, Signum wasn't sure. Around its neck was a pink scarf-like adornment. And from its elbows and forearms extended sheathe blade-like weapons.
The White Devil looked on in surprise, her gaze turning to her right, immediately finding the Thunder Reaper's apprentice standing next to her. And on either side of them both were large, carriage-sized beetle creatures which spurned electrical attacks from their antennas.
"I will cover your retreat," the Thunder Reaper's apprentice said.
"But-"
"You still have Spirit Seeds to collect."
The White Devil clenched her jaw and closed her eyes in defeat. She made a fist. "Hai." Rising to her feet shakily, she paused at the sound of Signum's shout.
"Wait!"
The samurai was locked in deadly combat with the bug creature the White Devil had faced prior. But even as their blades crossed, the pinkette couldn't but seek the White Devil out with her eyes.
The White Devil looked at Signum sadly. "I'm sorry," she said.
The Thunder Reaper cursed. It had taken her forever to escape from her personal body guards, the incident from the night before doing her no favors when it came to freedom and privacy. Once she had finally escaped from the Imperial Palace, the battle between the White Devil and Signum had long shifted to Signum fighting some bug creature things, along with the rest of Samurais and the City Guards. The White Devil was no where in sight.
The Thunder Reaper cursed again.
Despite knowing she should probably help Signum defeat these new foes, the Samurai and the City Guards were holding their own well enough for the Thunder Reaper to flit by their mini battles. All the while, she kept thinking about Nanoha. And the White Devil.
Something must have gone terribly wrong. She may not have known the White Devil too well, but in all the times she met the other assassin, never had they done something like this. Either the White Devil was showing their true colours now or something else was in play here. But she'd think about that later. Right now, she had to get to Midori-ya.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Upon entering the Midori-ya through Miyuki's bedroom window, no words could describe how the the Thunder Reaper felt as she looked over the wreckage inside. Paper doors were sliced in half. Clothes were torn and ripped. Furniture was in pieces. But most surprisingly of all, the White Devil was in the remnants of Nanoha's bedroom, wheezing as they held their sides while using the wall to keep themself upright.
At the sound of the voice, the White Devil clumsily spun around on her spot, Raging Heart pointed at the owner of the voice. The legendary staff shook in the white assassin's outstretched hand, her other hand clenching painfully at their ribs. When the apprentice assassin said to run, the first place she thought of was here. And so she ran here, making her still healing injuries worse. Combine that with her lack of sleep for the past two days, and the White Devil was ready to pass out at this point. It didn't help that she expended so much magic in such a short period of time. But then her eyes fell upon the one she hated the most and everything else was temporarily forgotten.
"Kisama!"
"Divine Shooter."
"Wha-wait a minute!"
"Sonic Move!"
How she found herself on the receiving end of pink fury, the black assassin didn't know. The Thunder Reaper just managed to evade the four bolts of magic bombardment sent in her direction, stopping in a defensive stance just behind the White Devil with Bardiche drawn. The Thunder Reaper cringed as the blast of pink power demolished half of Miyuki's room across the hallway. The white assassin soon faced her again, panting heavily and obviously in a great deal of pain.
"I'm not here to fight you," the Thunder Reaper quickly said. "I just-"
"Where is he!"
"What?" The Thunder Reaper blinked in confusion.
"Have you come here to mock me? Don't pretend you have no idea what I'm talking about!" The White Devil yelled. "Where is he!" Raging Heart shook in her grasp, yet as threatening as she tried to appear, she didn't have much strength left in her to keep this fight going on for long.
"Where is Nii-san!"
The Thunder Reaper hadn't the foggiest clue as to what the White Devil was rambling on about. It was quite evident the white assassin had mistaken her for someone else entirely, thinking she had taken their brother for whatever reason.
"Listen," the Thunder Reaper said, lowering Bardiche. If she had any hope of getting through to the other assassin, she had to show them she wasn't going to hurt him. Though, with a voice like that, the black assassin wasn't entirely sure the White Devil was a him anymore.
"I honestly don't know who this Nii-san is or what happened to him." The White Devil showed no signs of believing her, but she still had to try. "But if you explain the situation to me, maybe I can help."
When the Thunder Reaper first came here, looking for Nanoha, the last person she expected to see was the White Devil. Then again, she did remember that one time the white garbed assassin had snuck into Nanoha's house, but that turned out to be the Thunder Reaper seeing things. Or had she? To meet the White Devil here, again (so to speak), she could only wonder how they and Nanoha were connected in the first place. Did Nanoha hire them for protection? Did they know what happened to her best friend?
"Liar!" The White Devil spat out. "Raging Heart!"
"Shooting Mode."
The Thunder Reaper's eyes widened.
"Divine..."
And then she was falling.
"Watch out!"
The Thunder Reaper lurched forward in the nick of time to catch the collapsing White Devil. One moment they were about to attack her, and in the next, she was stopping them from face planting on the floor. What in the world was going on here?
"Hey. Hey! Stay with me!"
Pain filled violet eyes looked up at concerned and fearful burgundy ones. "Wha...?" Then the White Devil blinked and realized the position she was in. "Illlllllllleeeeeeeee!"
The Thunder Reaper was roughly shoved backwards in an instant. Flailing to kept her balance, her right hand grabbed at the first thing it touched. The White Devil's face mask. Off came the white material as the Thunder Reaper tumbled to the ground and landed on her backside. Quickly getting her wits about her, and fearing another magical attack, the Thunder Reaper immediately looked up to meet the shocked gaze of her best friend.
"Nanoha...?"
Nanoha's eyes widened in horror, the brunette raising a hand to her now uncovered face. In a blur of movement, the brunette bolted in the opposite direction.
"Nanoha wait!"
By the time the Thunder Reaper was on her feet, Nanoha was long gone.
"I call her... Agito." A maniacal laugh.
Agito awoke on a cold steel table top, to the sound of a man's voice. How she got there, naked, she wasn't really sure. All she knew was that she was cold, hungry, and lacking any memories of before she woke up here. Looking up, she was startled to find a man with violet coloured hair and amber coloured eyes towering over her. He was massive, bigger than her.
Jail could only laugh more. The experiment he'd been so feverishly working on since coming to Japan had finally borne fruit, in the form of this tiny guardian. This tiny fire sprite. Similar to her original, the newly named Agito was born of magic. Though opposite to her original, the redheaded mini wielded fire instead of ice. His tests had already proved that.
"Isn't she wonderful?" Another maniacal laugh.
Agito cringed at the man's laughter, looking everywhere but at him. In doing so, she found another of her size next to her, restrained to the table, also naked. The silver haired one seemed to be alive, her chest moving up and down for every breath she took.
"Excellent work, my Lord."
At the sound of this new voice, Agito looked up again, to find two others with the crazy man. A tall woman and a shorter, black garbed figure.
"With this, we can now start Phase Three of my plan." A grin. "And you know what that means, don't you, Uno?"
"Yes, my Lord," Uno replied. "I shall see to it at once."
"Very good," Jail said, another face splitting grin on his face. "I shall accompany you." He hooked his arm around the arm of his second-in-command.
"And what of the guardian and her clone?" Uno questioned.
Jail turned back to look at Agito, the fire sprite shuffling closer to the silver haired guardian.
"Oh Lutecia," Jail said in a sing song voice.
"Yes, Doctor?" The black garbed figure took a step closer to the table.
"Dispose of them, would you?"
Agito's eyes widened in fear, the colour draining out of the little sprite's face. While she may have been missing memories, she knew exactly what the man named Jail meant. The black garbed figure, the one named Lutecia, looked from Jail to Agito.
"As you wish, Doctor," Lutecia said.
A/N: For those of you unfamiliar with the non-English words, I have translated them below.
Hai = Yes
Ile = No
Nii-san/Onii-san = Big Brother
Taii = Lieutenant
Shimatta = Damn it
Kisama = You (usually used to show the speaker's extreme hostility / outrage towards the addressee)
Sturmfalken = Storm Falcons (German)
Panzerschild = Armor Shield or Tank Shield (German)
For an explanation of Japanese honorifics (eg. [name]-sama), please check out: http:/en[dot]wikipedia[dot]org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics