A/N: At last, after weeks on Fate, that's one's finished, and we're back here. I believe that's all that needs to be said.

Takamachi Nanoha of 2818… Begins now…

...

Takamachi Nanoha of 2814

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Chapter 22: The Linker Cores War, Part 12: Christmas Eve: The Beginning Of The End

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story. If I did… well, this would all be canon. WARNING: MAY CAUSE HEAD EXPLOSION!

...

It was such a strange time…

So many simple wishes coming together…

Dreams of happiness, of joy, of smiles…

How could they all lead to this?

The soldier of emerald, defending her charge…

The red knight, seeking her beloved's eternal smile…

The black one of the blades, who has seen the wheels of fate turning…

The princesses of the celestial lights, guarding their home…

The wings of white, with their little courage…

The key of stars, the wolf and the madwoman, bound by ties light as silk, strong as steel…

My queen most beloved, who wished for so little, and must pay so much…

Let our story be told…

...

In Uminari University Hospital, three people chatted.

"–and then Green Lantern-chan helped Rising Sun-san to burn out the algae growth out of Tokyo Bay!" Nanoha finished.

Hayate was nothing if not an appreciative audience, clapping her hands. "Oh, wow! You sure know a lot about Green Lantern-chan, Nanoha-chan!"

Nanoha shrugged bashfully, a small, self-conscious smile on her face. "Well, you know… I'm a bit of a Green Lantern otaku. I'm not ashamed of it!" she declared defiantly, clenching her fist and looking sternly upwards at some invisible audience. Hayate just laughed.

Shamal's laughter was a bit more hesitant. While she was glad the Nanoha seemed to have taken a shine to Hayate, spending many hours with the other girl, she really wished she talked about something other than Green Lantern. The knight found it uncomfortable, though she hid it from Nanoha.

Since that 'incident' at Fuyuki, Nanoha had been spending more time with Hayate, partly because she found the girl to be genuinely nice and she never passed up an opportunity to make friends with someone, and partly give her ring more opportunities to perform scans. Perhaps a general quick field-surgery scan wasn't enough. After all, if she'd accidentally brought extra terrestrial bacteria, there might be microscopic nerve damage, advanced nano-civilizations colonizing Hayate's spinal cord, or possibly multi-prion organisms strip-mining her mitochondria! It had been known to happen.

There was a knock on the door, and a pink-haired nurse entered. "Visiting hours are almost over, Nanoha-chan," she said, smiling kindly. "It'll be dark soon."

"All right, Tsukino-san!" Nanoha chirped, smiling at Hayate apologetically. "Sorry, Hayate-chan, but I need to leave if I'm to get home in time for dinner."

Hayate smiled, though there was a bittersweet sadness to her eyes, and it took all Nanoha's considerable Willpower not to break down right then and give her a big hug. "I understand. Go. I wouldn't want to make you miss dinner with your family."

Oh, what the heck.

Hayate blinked in surprise as Nanoha gave her a hug. Smiling, she hugged back, and Nanoha pretended not to notice the tension in the others girl's chest, tried not to let on she knew Hayate was in pain…

...

23/12

Vita panted on the surface of the alien world. Blood dripped from her hands, her gloves torn, the skin beneath rubbed raw. All about her, enormous worm-like creatures lay fallen, unmoving. Behind her, the Book of Darkness floated, hovering on its own power. That was convenient at least.

After… after the battle against the strange man who had called himself Archer, after they'd been shocked back into sensibility, the Wolkenritter had changed tactics yet again. For one, they'd resolved to stay well away from the local mages. The damage they'd taken during the fight had been extensive. It was actually amazing they hadn't been vaporized at least twice during the battle. Vita's subsequent trawls through the internet had revealed at least two flashes of light that had been visible from space at the time and location of their encounter.

They'd fallen back on this earlier idea of 'farming' from creatures with active linker cores, on the quite sound basis that this meant they were far, far from that loony bin filled to the gills with ridiculously overpowered yet somehow unacknowledged mages. Vita found this quite a good upshot.

So far, they'd managed, between the three of them, to harness a grand total of 89 pages. The now massively slower rate was aggravating, but given the heightened state of alert Earth's mages seemed to have moved into after their attack on Fuyuki, any attempt to harness from them would have now led to potential defeat and likely diminishing returns. They were all now moving in groups, as if daring the knights to attack. Naturally, they hadn't.

Sighing, Vita launched herself into the air in search of more prey, the Book following her, its lines glowing a pale red…

...

Amy knocked, making the two boys working at the computer jerk in surprise. "Hey. I was wondering if you two wanted dinner."

Yuuno and Chrono looked up from the computer displays they were perusing, the librarian with his own set of emerald displays hovering around him. "Um, I'm good, Amy-san," Yuuno said, moving a couple of displays aside.

Chrono didn't answer, turning back, scanning rapidly. Amy didn't take offense, walking up to them. "The evidence for the warrant?"

Yuuno nodded. "Admiral Graham has been searching for the Book of Darkness these past few years, since the last incident. When I went through the Infinity Library, I noticed that many of the books on the Bo–, er, the subject in question had previously been checked out by the Lieze twins."

Next to him, Chrono tensed, but didn't respond.

"It made me suspicious, especially since they claimed to know nothing about it," Yuuno continued. "I had my suspicions, so during the following visits to the Headquarters, I accessed their systems."

"With my authorization codes," Chrono growled. He glared at Yuuno. "That's impersonating an officer, Scrya! I should have you arrested!"

"You can't prove it wasn't you," Yuuno said , and Amy giggled. "Besides, you're looking at the same stuff now!"

Chrono made a derisive sound. Actually, it was a full on sentence, and had 'archaeologists' in it somewhere.

"Anyway, I found some minor fiscal anomalies. They're small, ranging from 5 to a hundred credits, but they're been spread out over the last eleven years," Yuuno continued. "All together, they come up to a decent sum. There was also something called 'Project: Durandal' stared a few years ago that, strangely, had no budget to support it. I suspect that's where all the money's been going. There have also been legal money transfers from the Admiral's account to an account I managed to trace to Japan, though I haven't been able to pinpoint exactly where."

Amy frowned. "Why is that suspicious?"

"All his family lives in England. Who'd he be sending money to?" Yuuno pointed out. "I think he might be paying for surveillance. He might be tracking the Book of Darkness–"

"In which case he has a lot to answer for," Chrono said.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"We'll be able to find out more once we get the warrant," Yuuno said. "If he has been tracking the Book, he'd likely have the logs somewhere."

Another uncomfortable silence.

"Oh, yeah, I've been meaning to ask," Yuuno said, now sounding a bit too perky. "The civilian who was attacked in Fuyuki, I forget his name... How's he doing?"

Amy tapped her chin. "Oh, Shinji Matou-san! He's still unconscious, though the doctors say his Linker Core seems to be healing up well. It's quite fortunate it's undeveloped, otherwise it might have been seriously damaged. As it is, they believe the attack might actually have awakened his latent talent." Amy cringed slightly, as if hearing herself speak. "I know I shouldn't sound so glad, but to find a gifted mage like him…"

"It's not like Earth isn't seemingly overflowing with 'gifted' mages," Yuuno pointed out. "I'm still wondering how you missed it all."

"Maybe someone decided they didn't want all these crazy Earth people in our ranks," Chrono said. He was still glaring at the displays.

"Hey!" Yuuno protested. "Those are some of my good friends you're talking about!"

...

Berserker watched, silent, invisible and intangible, as the Einzbern household made preparations for Christmas.

This had mainly involved Sella running around everywhere like a madwoman and trying to put up all the decorations herself while yelling at Leysritt to move her lazy ass, all the while bemoaning how behind they'd become because of "THAT STUPID WAR!", Shiro trying to help and being berated by the homunculus maid for "not behaving as the eldest son of the household should", Illya and Kuro in rabid competition to bake the best cake, since Kuro was in one of her competitive moods as opposed to her lustful moods, Kiritsugu trying his best to stay out of the way and Iris getting underfoot as she did her thing.

The only other zone of peace was the blonde-haired woman who sat by the window, staring out into space. She'd taken to wearing the dark suits Iris had kept for her rather than the more feminine blouses and skirts that had later been bought and which she'd seemed to favor near the end of the war. Most of the time she was listless, though she was helpful enough when someone gave her a direct order to do something. Shiro spent a lot of time with her, trying to pull her out of her shell, but except for monosyllabic responses that ranged from listless to barely polite, he wasn't getting anywhere.

The door burst open, and Rin and Luvia stomped in, looking barely civil, both bearing a gifts. Said gifts looked like they'd only been recently wrapped, and two were labeled for Shiro. The other one Rin carried had the card turned over. Lancer and Assassin followed close behind, each bearing more gifts of dubious thoughtfulness, the technically-Irish Servant muttering about Roman Holidays that made no sense. Sakura and Rider followed behind at a more sedate pace, the load more evenly distributed among them. "Onee-chan, behave! We're guests here!"

Rin ignored her sister as she and Luvia both shoved a present into Shiro's face. "Merry Christmas!" they both shouted, glaring at each other. Shiro looked between them nervously, then jumped as they directed their glares at him when he didn't take the gifts. He gingerly accepted them, looking frazzled.

"Um, thank you," he said, moving to take them under the tree.

"Ohohohohoho!" Luvia laughed, daintily laughing behind the back of her hand. "I'm sure you'll appreciate it more than Rin's. Only the best for my Minister Magi!"

"So speaks the virgin," Rin sniped.

As Shiro reddened and tried to slink off, Luvia and Rin got into a hair-pulling fight. They'd learned their lesson about using magic to argue in the Emiya house after Iris had given them a time-out with her alchemy. Apparently the marks still haven't disappeared.

Sakura just sighed, and helped the three Servants– or whatever they were now– put the presents under the tree. She could still feel Rider, feel the woman tethered to her, but somehow, she knew that tether wasn't needed. After the battle at Ryuudou…

It had been confusing. They'd all awoken to find the 4th Caster, Kuro and Archer gone, splattered all over with some white fluid that had screamed at her senses for their sheer power. In a way, it felt as wrong viscous liquid that had exuded from the corrupted Grail had, but it hadn't felt malevolent. It had just… been. And then they'd found Saber, disconnected from any Master, bereft of mana… yet still there. Shiro hadn't asked any questions, had just been glad she'd been all right, but others had wondered. Even now, they still didn't know what happened to the woman, but it had later become apparent that it had also happened to all the other Servants. Lancer and Rider had found they could no longer change to spiritual form. They still connected to their Masters, they no longer seemed to need an anchor to this existence.

All Servants…save one. Berserker had somehow avoided whatever it a s that had changed them, or perhaps hadn't been included in it. Attempts to interrogate the hulking Servant had been unproductive, at best, and had risked cardiac arrest at worst.

In the end, the end of the War had led to still more questions. Kuro had reappeared later that night, claiming she had watched the sunset with Archer and had bidden him goodbye. She'd been crying as she said it, though she hadn't seemed to notice. Any attempts to get her to talk hadn't worked out too well either. She had commented on their Servant's condition however, offering the theory that they had somehow been 'infused' in the same way as Gilgamesh had been at the end of the last war, somehow granting them material existence.

It was partially this reticence that was the cause of the current competitiveness between the two 'twins'. Gilgamesh had disappeared, though comments from Miyu said the man was still keeping in touch with her for some reason. It was unlikely he would sill be able to stay at the Church with Kirei gone.

As Sakura sat, watching as her sister and Luvia glared at each other and tried to insinuate themselves into the Einzbern sisters' bake-off, she wondered when they would all start trying to answer these questions. And whether the answers were even available to be found. She was sure that, once Luvia and Rin had settled back down to normalcy that they would begin trying to learn what all this meant. Both had managed to obtain a sample of the white liquid, sealed and preserved. And probably Caster would try to do so as well, might even be doing so even then. After all, until Ryuudou was repaired, she didn't exactly have much to do in the way of wedding plans. Many people tended to underestimate the power of boredom as a motivator.

She could feel the emptiness inside her, wanting, needing to be filled. Yes. She would have her own research to do as well. She'd never needed to, before. What would it be like, needing to actually learn your magic for the rest of your life? Beneath her, the shadows shivered.

And silent, invisible and intangible, Berserker watched…

...

Negi held the phone to his ear, wincing at the barrage of words. "Anya, it's not that I don't want to go home, but we're really busy here!" There was a barrage of louder words, and he drew the phone from his ear slightly. "Anya, it has nothing to do with breasts! What do breasts have to do with anything anyway?"

Sitting cross-legged on at the table reading an Overmaster doujin about 31 psychotic clowns and their dad, Asuna snickered slightly, reflecting that for all his maturity, Negi was still clueless enough to get his foot caught in his mouth in casual conversation. She watched in amusement as Negi held the phone a little bit farther from his ear. Even at this distance, Asuna could hear the red-haired girl at the other end of the line ranting.

Abruptly, the voice cut off, and Negi carefully held it closer to his ear… only for a different voice to come in through the line, just as loudly as the first. Even from all the way where she was sitting, Asuna recognized it. "Hey, Nagi!" she called.

"Um…" Negi said, awkwardly trying to talk. "Hello, father. Asuna says hi…" He listened for a moment, and blushed. "I can't say that!" More listening. Finally, he reluctantly turned to Asuna. "He wants to know if you've had your nappies changed for today."

She rolled her eyes. While she was glad they'd finally found him in the pulse-pounding adventure that she wouldn't get into here, she was also glad he didn't live anywhere near Mahora. "Has your mother slapped him yet?"

Negi listened. "Yes," he said.

"Give me the phone," Asuna said, putting down her doujin and bouncing towards him. Negi handed her the phone. "Hey, Nagi, can you put me on speaker phone? Okay, good. The reason Negi can't come home right now is because we're involved in another magical incident. Wizard knights from space are going around ripping out people's magic, and we have to help stop them. Oh, only four, but they managed to take down Negi, so they're tough. No, they didn't strip naked and use his shock to kick him in the crotch. Arika-neechan, could you?" SLAP! "Thanks! Anyway, we need to stay on call because they could strike again at any moment. Plus there's this Nasurian magus we know who somehow managed to form a Pactio, and Negi's promised to help them sort it out, since the guy's Artifact seems pretty powerful. Sorry." She listened as Negi boggled at her, and she nodded. "All right Arika-nee-chan." She handed the phone back to him. "Your mother wants to talk to you."

Negi nervously took back the phone, hesitantly putting it to his ear. "Hello, mother?"

Asuna sighed as Negi began talking to Arika in the slightly stilted, a touch overly formal way they did. While there was no doubt that the woman loved the boy and Negi practically worshipped the ground she walked on, Asuna and most of the people that knew them really wanted to slap sense into their heads.

Cocone stuck her head into the room, wearing an apron that read "Kiss the Loli Chef". "Dinner will be ready soon," she said, voice soft.

"Thanks Cocone-chan!" Asuna said. "Sorry for barging in like this, but we needed a place to hide. We'll leave when it gets dark enough to jump from roof to roof."

The dark-skinned girl nodded. "Are they still looking for him?"

Right on cue, the hunting cry of the Yukihiro Ayaka echoed in from outside. "Ne-gi-senseiiiiii! "

"Never mind," Cocone said.

Negi put down the phone wistfully, looking up at the cry. "I don't feel right hiding like this. What if Iincho realy needs me?"

"Negi, do you really want to risk losing your job because you let people find you to ask you for a date on Christmas?" Asuna said.

Negi thought about it. "So, how long before dark?"

...

"Hmm…" Makoto said, staring at the blond man who was talking to Mamoru and Usagi a few tables away.

"What?" Minako asked.

"Astonishingly…" Makoto said. "I think I've finally met a hot guy who doesn't look like my old sempai."

"Well, statistical probability says it had to happen eventually," Ami said.

Rei was frowning. "He kinda looks familiar… I swear he looks like someone I know. I just can't remember who."

"Haruka?" Minako suggested.

Michiru peered at him. "No… he's not pretty enough."

Haruka smiled, nuzzling her lover's ear. "That's always nice to hear…"

"Haruka-papa, as I'm sitting here, can you give me a moment to move over so you don't accidentally grope my ass again?" Hotaru said.

Haruka blushed, moving slightly back as Michiru looked at their housemate. "You know, I'm perfectly capable of whipping my girl all by myself, thank you."

"I know, Michiru-mama, but I really don't want Haruka-papa accidentally cited for molesting a minor."

"Gilgamesh…" Rei kept on musing, having learned from long experience it was best to just keep her own train of thought chugging in this sort of mixed company. "What kind of a name is 'Gilgamesh'?"

"It sounds American," Minako suggested.

"Mesopotamian," Haruka corrected. "Gilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk who supposedly ruled for 126 years. He's the central character in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the greatest surviving work of early Mesopotamian literature. In the epic his father was Lugalbanda and his mother was the goddess Ninsun. In Mesopotamian mythology, Gilgamesh was a demigod of superhuman strength who built the city walls of Uruk to defend his people from threats, and traveled to meet the sage Utnapishtim, who had survived the Great Deluge."

Everyone turned to Haruka in surprise, Ami's mouth hanging open, probably about to provide the same information.

Haruka shrugged. "What? I pick up random things. I heard this from one of the writers on the set of Kamen Rider, that time they asked me to do a cameo as 'Kamen Rider Sora'."

Makoto patted Ami as the girl closed her mouth, pouting. "Don't worry Ami-chan. You're still primary exposition girl around here."

Minako frowned. "Wait, Ami-chan goes around naked?"

"No, that's 'exhibition'," Michiru corrected. "'Exposition' is telling people plot-relevant information."

Beneath the table, Artemis and Luna exchanged looks over their newspaper.

"I'd say our girls are growing up…" Artemis said hesitantly. "But I don't want to jinx it."

Luna nodded in agreement. "So, did you find anything more on Supergirl?"

Artemis tugged a page, flipping it with practiced difficulty to foreign news. A slightly grainy black and white picture of a girl in a skirt short enough to make the Senshi proud and a top tight enough to make them jealous. They both stared at the image.

"Kryptonian," Luna mused. "The last living female Kryptonian…"

...

"Here we are, everyone!" Momoko announced.

Nanoha's father peered at the food. "It sure looks good," he said, pride in his wife's cooking skills radiating from his voice. There were salads, soups, breads baked in their own ovens, and other such tasty treats. After enduring the slightly bland and wilted fare that was the best Amy, who in her own words wasn't much of a cook, could make, interspersed with instant food from the supermarket that always seemed either too spicy, too salty, or some strange seafood flavor, and various brands of takeout and delivery, the sight of all that expertly prepared food had Fate's mouth watering.

"Fate-chan, please help yourself as much as you'd like," Momoko said.

I've died, Fate thought. I've died, and this is paradise… "Y-yes… THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

Still Fate's mother had raised her… no wait, wrong-o. Er, Fate's mother's familiar had taught her to be a polite girl, which was the only thing keeping her from grabbing bowl of soup and stuffing her face. Nanoha handed her a plate, and with all the restraint she could muster, Fate served herself and began to eat.

…

She immediately came to the conclusion that Nanoha was really weird. This stemmed from the resolution that if Fate had food like this every day, she'd already weight 200 pounds. She could hear Arf under the table, chewing the meat she'd been given with satisfaction.

"So, Fate-chan," Shiro said, being a polite host. "Will you be spending Christmas with your family this year?"

"Yes," Fate said, taking a sip of her soup. Oh, Sankt Kaiser… "I guess you can say that. In fact, my cousin Yuuno is arriving tomorrow. I'll introduce you to him."

"Yuuno?" Miyuki said, blinking. "He has the same name as Yuuno-kun?"

"Yes," Fate nodded, taking a small bite of bread. Take me now, so I go happy… "It was something of a joke."

"Well, I'm glad you'll be able to be with your cousin, Fate-chan," Kyouya said.

"It'll be another brutal Christmas Eve for us," Shiro said, sighing slightly, though it was the sigh of a man expecting a load of work he nonetheless found worthwhile.

"I'll make the price tags and put together the pop-up boxes tonight!" Nanoha said enthusiastically.

"Please," Miyuki said, her fists clenching in enthusiasm. "We'll need a good night's sleep tonight to prepare for the rush."

At Fate's clueless look, Nanoha explained. "Christmas Cakes at the Midori-ya. They're really popular, so we always have lots of customers on Christmas Eve."

"And for those who spend Christmas Eve with their lovers or friends, we stay open a lot later than usual," Miyuki added. She smiled sideways at her brother. "It must be nice for you, Kyou-chan! Since you'll be working together with Shinobu-san all day at the store!"

"That has nothing to do with anything," Kyouya said, looking sideways right back at her. "Besides, you'll be there too!"

"Aw!" Miyuki purred, glomping onto Kyouya's arm. "Doesn't onii-chan want me?"

"Now, now you two," Momoka chided, laughing.

...

"No! We're running out of time!

"It won't stop regenerating!"

"Freezing it isn't enough!"

"It's using Negica Magia Erebea! Switch to mass attacks! Someone disrupt the circle!"

Bind it! Bind it! Green Lantern-chan, keep it in place!

"I'm trying!"

"Need… more… Mana! Can't… use Unlimited…"

"Kuro! Some catcher her"

"I've got her Illya-chan!"

"Hit it with everything we've got! More Dakka!"

"I'm out of ordinance! I knew I should have put in more of the nukes!"

"No! We're so close! My Berserker will have JUSTICE!"

"KURO! STOP MOLESTING MIYU-CHAN!"

"This is for Archer nii-sama, bitch!"

"We need more time!"

"Princess…"

"NO! Don't you dare!"

"As you all say, we need more time…"

"NO! I'm ordering you, NO!"

"Good bye…"

"Stop her!"

"Time… Stop…"

"PLUTO!"

The dream again. She tried to wake, tried to push the images away, but they held her gaze, as they always did when she did not dream of the robed man who sounded and felt strangely familiar.

An enormous sphere of blackness, descending upon a dead city…

A monstrous creature, wielding power, facing a boy that crackled like lightning itself.

Three girls, trapped in a void of darkness, dreaming…

A single, shining star, blazing with endless light, shining over an utterly devastated world.

A little girl smiled at her, her blonde pigtails shining, clad in a green dress, an oversized hooded cloak on her shoulders, the cape trailing down her back and pooling on the floor. The hood hung lopsided on her head.

"Sakura-san… please… be there… save my little sister. Save my precious Fate-chan…"

She snapped awake.

For a moment, she lay there, staring at the ceiling. This dream had been the strongest yet. She had felt the fear, the sweat, felt her hand tightening almost painfully as she'd tried to stay out of people's way. The tickling on her face as her hair flapped, both from the wind and the backdraft from the helicopter.

The helicopter…

She sat up, rubbing her eyes at the tears that stung her. In the dream, she'd felt so helpless, unable– and in a strange way, unwilling– to fight. This hadn't been anything like what she'd gone through. Only one incident could be comparable to the nightmare scenario that now graced her nights, and even then, she'd felt useless, a weight unable to contribute.

The dream had a sense of immediacy now. She'd realized at some point that her dreams warned her of things, but if they were warning her of this…

She shuddered.

Soon, the dreams were saying. Soon.

She had to ask. She had to know…

...

24/12

Illya gave a yelp as she suddenly appeared on top of a roof, the wind catching the many frills and flaps of her Magical Girl dress. "Whoa! YES! I knew I could do that instant teleporting thing again!" She could feel Berserker had also made the crossing with her, invisible as always, a comforting presence. It was like having her very own scary guardian angel. As she lowered herself to ground level and de-transformed, she rifled through her pockets, pulling out the scrap of cake box she'd managed to salvage. Everyone had liked the cake when her parents had picked some up before the war had gone to hell, and she could imagine how happy onii-chan would be to have it again. Plus it would definitely put her one-up on Kuro.

She checked out the address, turning to make her way to the location listed on the scrap. The train station wasn't hard to find, but the little café she was looking for, the Midori-ya, was surprisingly crowded. Tables had been set outside, and a girl who looked about Illya's age was waitressing. She supposed her family owned it. The inside was crowded, though mainly from people on their way out, and the tables were full. The line to the cake counter was blessedly short, however, and Illya stood in line, her wallet with its hard-earned money clutched tight in her hands.

"Illya-san?"

Illya jumped, startled at the unexpected mention of her name. She turned, meeting surprised wine-colored eyes. "Oh, hey! Haven't I met you before? Oh, you're Fate-san, right? We met when–"

Fate moved like a blur, one hand clamping on Illya's mouth. "Shh!" she hissed, eyeing the customer next to Ilya on he line. Thankfully, they didn't seem to find anything suspicious, which goes to show adults severely underestimate children. "What are you doing here, Illya-san? Aren't you supposed to be in Fuyuki city?"

Illya scratched her cheek cutely. "Well, you see, um, I'm here to buy a cake. My parents bought a cake from this store and everyone loved it, so I thought I'd surprise everyone by coming home with one."

Fate snapped her fingers. "Oh, that's right, I remember them. Is your mother always so…?" She hesitated, the subject of mothers naturally being a delicate one for her.

"Nuts? Yes," Illya confirmed. "What did she do?"

Fate blushed. "She, uh, wanted to take me home."

Illya sighed. "Ugh. Mom…"

The little girl who'd been waitressing outside passed them, taking an order to the man behind the counter. "Here dad. That's the last order. Can I take a break now?"

"Sure Nanoha-chan," the man, obviously her father said, finishing with the last man's order. "Your turn next, sir." The one in front of Illya stepped forward.

The girl took off her apron, heading for Fate. "Come on Fate-chan. Aliza and Suzuka will be here soon." She caught sight of Illya, and suddenly smiled widely. "Oh, hello, Illya-chan. Can you please tell your friends to get back to me about what happened at Mount Enzo? I still have some blanks in my report."

Illya blinked, staring. "Huh?" she said, not getting what the girl was talking about.

Fate face-palmed.

Realization came near simultaneously. Both girls stared at each other with widening eyes.

"Er, that is, I mean–" Nanoha gibbered.

Illya pointed dramatically. "Oh my gosh! YOU'RE GREE–"

Both Fate and Nanoha slapped their hands over the girl's mouth. "SHHHH!" Fate hissed.

"Please don't break my cover!" Nanoha pleaded.

Illya made HMPHMPHMH noises, pointing at her mouth, nodding at Nanoha's words. Cautiously, they took their hands away. "S-sorry," she said. Then she reached out and grabbed Nanoha's left hand. Nanoha yelped in surprise at the sudden move, but Illya only bought the hand up to her eye, peering at it intently. "You're not wearing your ring?" the pale-haired girl asked.

Nanoha blushed, pulling back her hand. "Let's talk outside," she muttered. "Alisa and Suzuka aren't here yet."

Illya looked reluctantly towards the line, but followed the two as they stepped outside. They moved a little ways from the storefront, Fate and Nanoha keeping an eye out. Illya realized they were watching for people close enough to listen in, and she looked around too.

"There," Nanoha said. "I've put up a sound-dampening field around us. If anyone listens in, they'll here us talking about homework." Illya shuddered at the thought.

Nanoha looked at her nervously, Fate behind her as if in support. "So, Illya-san… I guess you realize…"

"You ARE Green Lantern-chan, aren't you?" Illya interrupted, pointing. "Oh my gosh, it makes sense! That's why Fate-san is here! I didn't recognize you without your mask on, but your question gave you away. Only Green Lantern-chan obsesses over her paperwork like that!"

Nanoha frowned. "Why do people think paperwork is such a bad thing? Doing it is relaxing!"

Both girls looked at her and subtly stepped back.

"What are you doing here, Illya-san?" Fate asked, changing the subject. "Aren't you a little far from Fuyuki?"

Illya scratched the back of her head. "Well, you see, I was planning to buy a chocolate cake from that store. My parents bought one a few days ago and everyone loved it, so I thought I'd surprise everyone by buying another one for Christmas."

"A cake?" Nanoha said, blinking. "You came all the way here to buy one of our cakes?"

"It was really good cake…" Illya said, drooling slightly.

"They usually are…" Fate sighed in agreement.

Nanoha stared at the two curiously, confused.

The two coughed, pulling themselves out from whatever cake-filled fantasies they'd been in. Fate came together first. "Still, this was a close one, Nanoha-chan. You should be more careful. You keep telling me about how magical Girls need to keep their identities secret, and then you betray yourself like that. It's a good thing Illya-san is an ally. "

Illya's eyebrows rose. "Your name is Nanoha?"

Fate froze, and facepalmed again.

Nanoha patted her consolingly. "It's all right, Fate-chan," she said, not a trace of smugness or anything of the sort. "I forgive you."

"Nanoha-chan! Fate-chan!"

The girls turned, Nanoha dropping the sound-dampening field. She'd been smart enough to make it let sound in, but not out. Two girls were waving at them, obviously known to Nanoha.

"Oh, Fate-chan, Nanoha-chan, who's your friend?" the purple-haired one asked, looking at Illya curiously.

"Oh, this is Illya-chan," Fate said. "She's a forum friend of ours. We met at a Magical Girl forum."

"You and you Magical Girls," the other blonde said, shaking her head. "Nice to meet you, Illya-chan!"

"Um, likewise," Illya said, a bit nervous. "You're friends of… Nanoha-chan?" She managed to get out the name almost naturally.

"Sure are," the blonde said. "I'm Alisa Bannings, and this is Tsukimura Suzuka."

"Hasn't she told you about us?" Suzuka said.

"Well, the subject of friends doesn't often come up online," Fate said. "We only met Illya-chan today because she and her parents were passing through town and we rognized her user picture when she came into the Mirori-ya to buy a cake!"

"Oh my!" Suzuka said. "You really should use your real picture for forum IDs. It's very dangerous!"

"I'll remember to change it," Illya said, staring at the rapid-fire lies Fate was spewing out. She was good at this.

"Well, this is interesting and all, but we're running late," Alisa said. She turned to Illya and explained. "Sorry, but we're kind of planning to visit a friend who's in the hospital."

"Oh!" Illya exclaimed. "Is she all right?"

"Oh, nothing bad," Alisa said. "She's just getting treatment for an illness of hers."

"Do you want to come along, Illya-san?" Suzuka invited. "I'm sure she'll be glad to meet someone new."

Illya blinked, a bit confused by the sudden turn of events. "Um, well, I really only came to buy a cake…"

"Oh…" Suzuka said, looking like she thought she might have insulted Illya.

Illya turned to Nanoha and Fate. The former looked at her soulfully while the latter shrugged. "But… ah, I suppose I could come along? Any friend of Nanoha-san and Fate-san is a friend of mine!" Illya said.

Nanoha brightened. "Great! And I'll ask dad to keep a cake in reserve for you, so you can come back for it! My treat! What kind of cake were you planning to buy?"

"Well, I was actually going to buy two of the chocolate cakes," Illya said.

"Done!" Nanoha cried. "Let me just run in and tell my dad. I'll meet you at the car!"

She turned and ran, leaving a slightly befuddled Illya staring at her. "What just happened.?"

Fate sighed, also watching her go. "You go Nanoha-ed."

"Fate-chan, stop staring at Nanoha-chan's ass," Suzuka said.

"I wasn't staring!"

...

Sakura had been staring at her all day. She'd done it on the way to school, and when she'd denied it the one time Tomoyo had asked about it, she'd pretended to let it go. Sakura had kept staring at her all day. It wasn't, unfortunately, the kind of stare Tomoyo sometimes– all right, quite regularly actually– dreamed of. It was an intense look, as if Sakura was trying to answer a question, and the only way to do so was to keep on looking at Tomoyo until the question was resolved.

At the end of the day, Tomoyo, who was beginning to find the stare too creepy even for her, finally said, "Sakura-chan? What's wrong?"

Sakura stared at her grimly. "Tomoyo," she said, serious as only Sakura could be serious: looking absolutely adorable doing it. "I need to know. Do you own a big black helicopter? With something called… ordinance?"

Tomoyo frowned innocently as Lee and Meilin both looked at her weird. "Why do you ask, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura took a deep breath. "Because… I need to ask you to use it to take me to fight a giant monster…"

...

"Hayate, I'm sorry about not being able to visit you a lot…"

"That's all right, Vita-chan," Hayate said, patting the kneeling girl on the head. "Have you been well?"

"Yup!" Vita chirped.

Signum and Shamal exchanged a look and a smile. 'Chirped' was not often a word that could be associated with the red knight.

There was a knock on the door. "Hello?"

Hayate turned towards the door. "That sounded like Suzuka-chan… Please come in!"

The Wolkenritter tensed as the door slid open, and five young girls walked in. Well, that is to say, one rushed in, and two others followed sedately after her. One stopped dead in her tracks, ad the last bumped into her.

"Hayate-chan!" Nanoha cried, rushing to Hayate, stopping just short of barreling into Vita kneeling by her Master's side. "How are you? Are you feeling better? Has there been any good news? Did the doctor say anything? When will you be able to get out?"

Hayate laughed. "Nanoha-chan, take a breath! You nearly ran into poor Vita-chan here."

"Ah!" Nanoha cried, stepping back and finally seeing the red-haired girl who'd been kneeling by Hayate's bed. . "Sorry Vita-chan," she said, bowing in apology, and turned back to Hayate, before she paused and did a double take.

Vita didn't notice, however glaring as she was at a stunned Fate, who stood paralyzed at the door, Illya next to her. Shamal and Signum had both also subtly tensed, their eyes locked on Fate as Alisa and Suzuka, oblivious to the byplay, presented their presents to Hayate.

When Fate wouldn't move from the door, however, Hayate looked at her with concern. "Fate-chan? Is something wrong?"

"O-oh, it's nothing!" Fate said, as waving a hand dismissively. "I just wasn't expecting so see so many people here."

"Ah…" Signum said with casual coolness as Shamal's eyes flicked sideways to her. "Is that so."

Fate managed a disarming smile. "Y-yes. That's so."

"Oh, Hayate!" Suzuka said. "This is Illya-chan. She's a friend of Fate and Nanoha's. We met her at the Midori-ya."

"H-hey," Illya greeted, waving at the girl, feeling the slow tension building up in the room as she sloly recognized Signum and Vita from the fated first night. "It's nice to meet you, Hayate-san!"

"Ah, well…" Shamal said, trying to sound normal. "We'll take everyone's coats, shall we?"

Fate followed behind, holding her coat ash Shamal opened the room's closet. She gingerly took the coat from Fate as Signum took the other's coats, and hung it on one of the wire hangers.

"I can't use my phone and my telepathy is being jammed," Fate said softly. "Did you put up a Faraday Cage?"

"Shamal is our support magic expert," Signum said, folding a coat into another hanger. "It's a simple matter to create such a short-range barrier."

Fate looked sideways at Shamal, who was hanging another coat. "So… you're the fourth knight Sa– one of us detected at extreme range. You are the one who took Green Lantern-chan's Linker Core."

Shamal didn't flinch. "Yes," she said softly.

Nanoha, meanwhile, was weirding Vita out. "Do I have something on my face?" she asked, touching the corner of her mouth, wondering if she'd missed some ice-cream.

"N-no it's just that you look very familiar," Nanoha said. For once, she managed to keep her face straight. "Have we met somewhere before?"

"Maybe you've seen each other in the street or something?" Hayate said. "Nanoha-chan, this is Vita-chan. She's a relative of mine from overseas."

"Oh? How interesting," Nanoha said. "Have you been taking care of our Hayate-chan, Vita-chan?"

"Yeah!" Vita said, before turning to glare at Fate.

Hayate frowned. "Vita-chan! Stop scowling at Fate-chan!"

"I'm not scowling!" Vita said, and Nanoha nearly giggled as the knight pouted. "This is how I always look!"

Hayate frowned further, and grabbed her nose. "Vita-chan… this is what bad girls get. Behave! Honestly, what do you have against Fate-chan?"

Fate stared at Hayate, then turned to Signum. "Is it all right if we hang out with her for a bit?" she asked.

Signum didn't look at her. "I believe she would like that…"

...

Night fell.

"Sayonara!" Alisa, Suzuka and Nanoha chorused, waving at the forms of Signum and Shamal outlined against the Hospital's lit doors. Fate could see Shamal waving back, though Signum's gaze never left her. Fate stared right back, then looked up significantly at the hospital roof, adding a further look of challenge. Signum tilted her head and nodded.

As they walked away, Nanoha and Illya fell in behind Fate. "Roof," she said.

Illya pursed her lips. She looked to the side. "Berserker?" she said.

There was a brief ripple of darkness as if in reply.

"My telepathy is still blocked," Fate said. "I can't even contact Arf."

Nanoha smiled grimly. "A good thing I'm here, then." She raised her ring to her lips. "Attention, this is Green Lantern-chan. Wolkenritter found. Repeat, Wolkenritter found. Moving in to confront…"

...

Admiral Gil Graham and his familiars turned as the door to his private office, ostensibly locked, slid open. Framed at the door was Chrone, Yuuno and a mass of armed guards.

"Admiral Gil Graham," Chrono said. "You and your familiars are under arrest for withholding vital information to the Book of Darkness investigation."

Yuuno held up a file. "Have long have you known about Yagami Hayate?"

...

Hidden in Shamal's shoulder bag, the Book of Darkness pulsed with crimson light.

...

On a roof overlooking the Uminari University hospital– overlooking it, that is, from several miles away– Chao Lingshen smiled grimly as she put down the binoculars she'd been using to watch the six figures facing off on the hospital roof. "It's starting…" she said.

"This is wrong," Chibi-Usa said, now shed of her nurse uniform. "They shouldn't be fighting… they're friends!"

"Will be friends," the martian corrected. "There is an essential difference"

Chibi-Usa glared at her, then turned away again. "This is wrong…"

"It will hurt," Chao corrected again. "It will bring pain. But doing the right thing usually does."

Chibi-Usa shook her head. "This is wrong…"

...

The stage is set. The dice are cast.

Let it begin.

...

- To be continued...

...

A/N: People keep calling this a Crack fic. I don't see why. So it has a lot of crossovers and the characters tend to be funny. So? It was just a simple idea: Nanoha with a Power Ring. And then it escalated. And escalated. And at heart, I want to be able to tell a good story. I am also a firm believer in Earning Your Happy Ending. How else to make someone with a Power Ring earn a happy ending?

Make them SUFFER!

I find Fate and Nanoha not eating during the Christmas Eve episode to be sinful. Did you SEE that food?

Nanoha never met Shamal face to face. This Nanoha also always wears a mask, and later so does Shamal. That's all that's needed under DC-verse rules.

I'm positing a good end where they finally find Nagi and Arika before the end of the series and magic doesn't get revealed. Otherwise, I already have an idea for how to justify making this AU: Blame Akemi Homura! Nagi will not be appearing much in this continuity. Like Rakan, he's semi-retired, and willing to let the new generation handle things. He nad his wife spend time in Africa helping people in war torn areas or something, dealing with vampires preying on the unprotected people there, hanging out with talking gorillas, anything but be a solve everything button. If you want, they could be busy churning out little siblings for Negi.

On a side note, a crossover between this series and Overmaster's Unequally Rational and Emotional is forthcoming. Check the series out in the meantime. It's a megacrossover in the old tradition, from back in the nineties when being on the internet was harder, so only mostly literate people posted fanfics. It's great! It has the SCM stamp of plugging!

By the way, this series now has a Wiki. Check out "2814universe dot wikia dot com".

Please review, C&C welcome.

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.