Story Title:
Bound by Regret

Genres/'Tags':
Mystery / Supernatural / Romance / Yuri / Alternate Universe / Ghost

Summary:
Walking home from school, Takamachi Nanoha sees a mysterious blonde girl in the park. Entranced by the girl's mysterious air, Nanoha walks up to her and asks her who she is. The response she gets is not quite what she expected: "Y-you can... see me?" ::AU & Nanofate::

Disclaimer:
I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and all related trademarks are owned by Seven Arcs.

Warning:
This chapter might force me to up the rating to 'M'. If you think I should up the rating based on this chapter then please let me know.

Unrelated side note: I've become seriously addicted to Danmaku games over the past few weeks, specifically Touhou 6: EoSD.
I will defeat you one day, Patchouli! Though I am slightly shuddering at the thought of facing Sakuya after that. Oh man… what have I gotten myself into?!

*~-[ Chapter #5: Freak Accident ]-~*

Fate POV:
My breathing stopped, not that it mattered. Was this it then? Was this the moment I had been waiting for? The moment I saw her I swore Lindy-san looked familiar. It was like I knew her and cared for her deeply.

If anyone knew what had happened, it was her.

"Yes, please tell me what happened, Lindy-san." Nanoha said, no hesitation in her voice. Had the question been directed at me, I probably would've hesitated. Because of that, I was even more glad Nanoha was there with me.

"Alright then." Lindy-san said before taking a deep breath.

"I will start from the beginning…"

*~-[ X ]-~*

Lindy POV:
It all started six years ago when I met Fate at the orphanage. While all of the other children were happily playing with each other, she just sat there on a chair, staring blankly in front of her. The moment I saw her I felt the need to help her. What started as me visiting the orphanage in order to fulfil my own selfish desire to have a daughter, became a personal mission to rescue this little blonde girl in front of me. Don't get me wrong; I love my son. But I had always secretly dreamt of having a daughter. Something that became nothing more than a dream after my husband died when Chrono was only three years old.

I took a seat right next to this sad-looking girl. As I sat there I stared off in front of me, like she did. After what seemed like at least fifteen minutes I felt two young curious eyes slowly looking up at me. Careful not to spook her I slowly turned my head and we met eye to eye. Her red eyes filled with confusion and a certain sadness that nearly broke my heart.

I smiled at her. She just kept her eyes focused on my face, utterly lost as if she didn't understand the concept of a smile.

"What is your name?" I asked softly. She averted her gaze, and stared in front of her again. I did the same and we sat there for who knows how long. All I know is that at one point one of the orphanage workers came in, telling me it was getting late.

I nodded back at her and stood up. I was about to walk out the door when I felt a small tug on my coat. I slowly turned around and saw the little blonde girl I had sat next to.

"F-Fate Testarossa. M-my… name…" She stuttered carefully, eyes fixed on the ground.

"Pleased to meet you Fate-san. My name is Lindy Harlaown." I smiled. She looked up at me and again I could see the sadness in those burgundy orbs.

"Would you like to talk, Fate-san?" I felt the eyes of the orphanage worker from earlier prodding me in the back, but I was not about to walk away on this girl now.

Fate stared me directly in the eyes. It was almost as if she was looking for some ulterior motive behind my wanting to talk with her. Finding none, she nodded.

That was the day I met and adopted Fate Testarossa.

*~-[ X ]-~*

Fate was a very reserved person. I knew her mother died of alcohol poisoning but I didn't know any further details. However, I knew that it was not uncommon for children of alcoholic parents to get abused so I had my suspicions. Not that I ever got to confirm them, Fate-san hardly ever spoke of her life with her biological mother. The most she ever told me that her once-loving mother had become very sad.

When I asked her what made her mother so sad all she did was bury her face in her hands and cry. Between her sobs I heard her mumble a name: 'Alicia'.

I decided it was best not to ask again. I figured that if she ever felt inclined to tell me more she would do so when she was ready to.

Fate got along quite well with Chrono, one would almost swear they really were siblings.

Despite everything seemingly going well I didn't think Fate was ready for school yet. She was still such a shy little girl and had a hard time connecting to people.

*~-[ X ]-~*

A year or two back I took Fate to meet one of my colleagues from Tokyo, Leti Lowran-san. In an attempt to teach Fate how to connect with people I left her in Leti-san's care.

Leti-san had a lot of experience with this sort of thing and within half a year Fate had made significant progress. She became good friends with Leti-san's son, Griffith-kun and even made a number of other friends during her stay.

She had improved so much I wanted to have her join high school back here in Uminari. She was to enrol this very year. But then… the accident happened only a week ago.

I came by to visit her in Tokyo. We were to return to Uminari together the next day and decided we might as well go on a small shopping trip.

Who could've thought such a fun day could turn to such tragedy?

We had just finished our shopping and were walking back to Leti-san's house, wondering what we'd have for dinner. Leti-san had told us it'd be a surprise for when we got back.

Our walk back took us past a construction site where construction workers were renovating a building.

Fate looked up at the scaffolding for a second, admiring the work that was being done. I noticed she'd stopped walking a few seconds later.

I turned around. "Come on Fate-san, we can't let Leti-san wait now can we?"

She looked back at me, a most beautiful smile adorned her face. Everything was great. Life was great, but then…

*~-[ X ]-~*

Nanoha POV:
I was holding my breath, incredibly curious to what exactly had happened. I could see tears starting to form in the corners of Lindy-san's eyes. Her breathing became very shallow as she was undoubtedly reliving some very horrid memories.

I reached for her hand and held it in an attempt to comfort her.

She looked up at me. Her expression going from sadness to surprise and then to a small smile.

"You're a good person Nanoha-san." Lindy-san said as she took a deep breath, preparing herself to tell me exactly what happened that day.

*~-[ X ]-~*

Lindy POV:
The moment I noticed it, it was too late. All I could do was scream in horror as a steel pole fell from the scaffolding above and hit the blonde that was smiling at me only a second ago.

The pole pierced through her shoulder and pinned her to the ground. I dropped everything I was carrying and ran for the girl that had only recently started calling me 'Kaasan'.

Her face showed absolute horror and I am sure mine did as well. She screamed and cried as blood kept pouring from her wounds.

The pole had pierced through her shoulder and part of her upper body, coming back out at the hip. A small group of people had gathered, a number of them calling for an emergency ambulance. All I could do was hold the young woman as her every breath became more and more laboured.

With an extreme amount of effort Fate managed to speak.

"Thank you, for being my mother. Lindy-kaasan."

"Ssh, don't speak. Save your strength!" I pleaded.

"I'm sorry for never telling you… about Alicia… I wanted to tell you. But I was afraid you'd hate me…"

"Then tell me once you're healed! Just please, do not die on me Fate-san!"

"There are so many things I regret in my life… But there's one thing I can still do… I love you, Lindy-kaasan."

Tears started flooding down my face. "I love you too, Fate-san…" I managed to choke out. A smile formed on Fate's face, before she closed her eyes and her final breath escaped her.

It felt like an eternity before the ambulance arrived and in all that time, I clung to her body in the futile hope she'd open her eyes.

She never did.

*~-[ X ]-~*

Nanoha POV:
It took me a moment to register the tears running down my face.

"Then, that grave…?" I managed to ask with a cracking voice.

"Yes, that was Fate-san's grave. She was buried a day before the new school year started, next to my late husband, Clyde. She truly was part of the Harlaown family, I don't care what anyone says. She was family."

I felt defeated; secretly, I had hoped Fate-chan wasn't dead. But my final hope was just buried in the Uminari Cemetery.

"Thank you for listening, Nanoha-san. I'm sure you and Fate-san would've been great friends." Lindy-san said before standing up. She placed a small amount of money on the table to pay for the drinks. Then she left. I had wanted to tell her that she was right, that Fate-chan and I had indeed become great friends. But telling her that I met Fate-chan as a ghost? I felt that there was no way that claim would've fallen into good earth.

Once Lindy-san had left I just sat there.

To think, she died such a horrible death… Poor Fa-

Fate-chan!

I quickly turned and saw Fate-chan hadn't moved from her spot next to me ever since Lindy-san began speaking.

I observed her, she was shaking slightly but her face showed no sign of tears. Her eyes looked empty, as if she'd died. Then again, she had. And now, she knew exactly how she died. I couldn't even begin to fathom what she must've been feeling.

I opened my mouth; I wanted to let her know I was there for her, when she spoke up.

"Lindy-kaasan, she was the first person to break down the walls I had built up around me when I was sent to the orphanage." She said, her voice surprisingly steady.

Then, she turned to face me and our eyes made contact. The emptiness was gone, but it was filled with a sadness beyond comprehension.

"I remember now. I remember everything: how I felt when I first met Lindy-kaasan. How I felt that day, looking forward to going to high school in Uminari. I even remember the story I had always wanted to tell Lindy-kaasan. The story of my mother and my sister…"

"Fate-chan…" I whispered.

Fate-chan stood up and floated over to the café door.

"Come on, it's about time we head home." She said softly.

I stood up and walked up to the door as well. Fate-chan moved aside and I opened the door.

*~-[ X ]-~*

On our way home neither of us spoke. I was still processing everything Lindy-san had told us. And I'm sure Fate-chan was struggling with her own memories as they'd seemed to have come back to her, at least in part.

'There are so many things I regret in my life…'

What kind of things? What burden are you carrying Fate-chan?

Whatever it is, please realize you don't have to carry it alone; I am here for you.

Strengthening my resolve I lifted my head up and looked at the sky for a moment. We still had to figure out what was keeping Fate-chan bound to this world. According to Lindy-san she'd said there were a lot of things she regret. If my knowledge on ghosts was correct, then it was her regret that was keeping her bound to the world of the living.

If I were to help her set herself free, then I'd have to get her to tell me what those regrets were.

And then, we'd have to find a way for her to let these regrets go.

*~-[ End of Chapter ]-~*

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*~-[ May we meet again, fare thee well! ]-~*