I'm sorry for the long wait! Here it is. :) I've currently planned up to Chapter 12, so this will still keep going.

Multicoloured lights shone onto the crystal pillar from above. Reflecting off into the distance at every angle, their radiance could only be received indirectly. If there were walls and a ceiling, then they were not visible to the human eye. The twinkling of multiple colours soared across the multitude of space and time wherever you turned to look – north, west, south, east, downwards, up to the peaceful pleasant sky. Everything extended from the one object in this plane of existence – this solitary pillar of crystal, unsupported by anything yet undeniably a key to the support of everything else that lived here.

A dishevelled figure in dark robes stepped out of thin air and collapsed on the ground right next to the pillar, black and green hair tumbling over their face. The lights flickered at their arrival, blinking as they monitored her.

"Exoria," the female voice said, calling out from far above. "It is almost good for you to make an appearance here."

The Time Mage was breathing heavily on the ground, or at least what passed for an invisible floor. The world continued beneath her, rolling on like the tides of time. Her eyes were wild and crazed, exhaustion clouding her judgement as she struggled to get to her feet.

"However," the voice continued, lights flashing consistently around it in small sounds and noises, "it seems that you have a lot to answer for." The woman's tone turned sharp, irate. "I do not recall telling you to execute Yagami Hayate."

Exoria had sufficient breath in her to raise herself to one knee, glaring upwards with hate-filled eyes. "She would have interfered with us even further," she said fiercely. "If I hadn't gone back to eliminate her once and for all, she would have found a way by herself and - "

"If you hadn't gone back so foolishly," the female voice said crisply, "then she would have been trapped in the past, forever. Even present Mid-childa does not possess the power of Oguba, the ability to travel between time periods." The lights dulled black for a split second, momentarily plunging the entire system into darkness before they lit up again. "I do not understand your thought process, Exoria. Why did you go to so much trouble to try and destroy her, when her involvement in her plans was barely minimal? What would that achieve in the long-term?"

The robed girl gave no reply, her breath hissing out through tightly-clenched teeth as she forced herself to contain herself. Far above, the lights seemed to dismiss her.

"In any case, it was a foolish move and one which you should not repeat," the high female voice said coolly. "Not only did you make the grave mistake of trying to take on the Queen of the Night Sky single-handed, but you used up an extensive amount of magical energy in making your escape."

Exoria spat on the ground before her in contempt. "I am recovering as we speak," she snapped. "I'll have all my time spells back before the day's out."

"And yet we do not have time," the voice retorted. "Since you decided to run off on your own so carelessly, one of our more valued members has been stranded in an earlier time era." The lights dimmed once more. "Perhaps you may even remember your error."

Exoria blinked in confusion. "Are you talking about Srethis?" she asked.

The sky was a blaze of indigo-white. "No. Srethis is no longer our concern, being by far the weakest and most insignificant member of this organisation. Their capture by the TSA was expected. Srethis' reliance on certain chemical substances for survival has been costing us, and..." The female voice trailed off for a moment. "No, I am talking about my Legion, who has been altogether more competent in their duties than you have been."

Legion? For a moment Exoria still didn't understand, her mind still filled with Hayate and how she would get back at her when she was fully recovered. But then it came to her in a flash.

"I left the Legion in the past?" she stammered. "But..."

Orange-glow of resentment, flashing at her left and right. "Yes. My Legion did not accept Oguba's powers like you did, and when you transported them to the past to execute Takamachi Nanoha, you left them there. Unable to return to us."

Oops. Exoria cursed inwardly for not taking this in sooner. The Legion was the most esteemed member and personal favourite of her superior. You could tell from how she spoke about them. Especially how she always referred to them as My Legion.

"I'll go back and get them back then," she muttered distractedly, though she still felt weak and woozy from extensive spell use. "It'll only take a - "

"You will do no such thing," the voice commanded. "You will need to cast a Time Slip once to reach my Legion, and a second time to get back. And you have not sufficiently recovered to be able to do that. I will not take any risks with my Legion." Her tone indicated that the decision was final. "Rest and recover. Ungore can take care of this."

The Time Mage nearly choked. "Ungore?" she spluttered. "That...why...Ungore is barely able to cast even one time spell! You would actually - "

"I believe Ungore can manage on their own," the female voice said coldly, "unlike, perhaps, yourself."

Defeated, Exoria slumped back again. She was still angry about being forced to run away from Hayate after having such high hopes for defeating her. Her superior – no, none of the others would be able to understand why her need to rid the world of Hayate was so great. It was essential for her. Oguba's powers had given her that one hope.

She had wondered why none of the others were present right now. Srethis had been captured, the Legion had been trapped in the past thanks to her mistake, Ungore hadn't been called up yet, and Grylmark...

"Wait..." She fought to regain her footing again. "Grylmark should be here. His attack on the Bureau vaults, the decoy, was a success. Why isn't he here?"

The lights returned to their normal shade once more. "Because he has no need to be. Grylmark is not one of us, and thus we cannot trust him. His abilities, however, are useful for our scenarios."

The female voice was back to her calm, ceaseless tone once more, and Exoria felt herself relax despite herself. "Go back and rest, Exoria," her superior said, almost gently, although the robed girl seriously doubted that their leader was capable of such emotion. "Despite your mistakes, this mission has been a success. The TSA is still crippled and will not realise what is missing until it is too late." The lights in the sky began to fade away, the glow of the crystal pillar descending into shadow. "I will have to report our progress to our client, of course. She will undoubtedly be satisfied with the current result."

It was several hours later before order had been completely restored at the Time-Space Administration Bureau. With the retreat of the strange mutant attackers at the vault, the defence line was gradually able to reform as communication channels were re-opened to repair the heavy damage. Mariel and Shari were continually rushing back and forth, bringing into view just how much impact that the attack had had on the Bureau.

Chrono Harlaown had come down to the base in person, treating the entire matter as if Scaglietti and the Numbers had come back again. In a sense, it was somewhat worse. Their internal security had been hacked into expertly, one of their top commanders had been kidnapped and replaced by an imposter, a powerful attack had been launched against the vaults of the Lost Logia themselves...and Nanoha was no longer with them.

By the time Hayate returned to the main control room, it was all over. Chrono had control of the entire situation, issuing commands across the whole base to make sure that their defences were strengthened before any other rival factions could take advantage of their temporary weakness. It had happened before, after all. The wounded were already being treated by Shamal and the other medical teams, with Subaru and Tiana working hard to reinforce the perimeter in every way they could.

The reptile who called itself Srethis had been arrested by Fate and confined to a one-room interrogation cell. Needless to say, everyone had been eager to find out the answers to their questions from this strange creature, their only lead to the events of that day. Yet it would soon prove to only further their disappointment.

Investigations were still continuing as to the motives of those who had attacked the vault of the Lost Logias. Rumours speculated that their adversary had even stolen some of the powerful magical artifacts themselves, but the information in front of them disputed that. The mutants had not made it into the vaults. Whoever had attacked them could not have gained any of the Lost Logias at all...which made their motives for doing so continually more confusing.

To Hayate's dismay, Chrono had not been very sympathetic with her side of the story. Of course, he had worked with the TSA since he had been a young boy, and had become quite set in certain routines and procedures with the Bureau which concerned time travel – the main one being that it could not exist.

"Let me get this straight," he said disbelievingly, once the reinforcing of the perimeter was well under way and the worst seemed to be over with. "You travelled back in time by ten years, then travelled forward to the present again, and then spent the rest of the time chasing a girl who has time-travelling powers."

"I lost her," Hayate said in despair. "I almost had her, but then she managed to create another one of those portals and disappeared through it before I could - "

She became aware that the admiral was looking at her with severe scepticism. Helplessly, she tried to think of another more convincing way to put it, but nothing came to mind.

"Hayate," Chrono said tiredly, "time travel is impossible. It's one of the first things I learned back when I first joined the TSA, when all the talk of Alhazard was floating around. I would like to believe you, but nothing you say makes any sense." He sighed and rubbed sleep out of his eyes. "I still find it strange that you were so convinced that you travelled in time when - "

"Do you think I would make this kind of stuff up?" the short-haired mage cried in protest. "Listen to me. One of the people who attacked the Bureau has the ability to travel through time. This is really important, Chrono. Who knows what else they're capable of?"

Chrono closed his eyes for a moment, looking very much as if he were trying to make a decision that he didn't want to. Eventually, he said, "I only have your word for this."

Hayate's eyes flashed in anger. "And my word isn't good enough?"

"That's not what I meant. I..." Chrono rubbed his forehead achingly, the stress of the last few hours showing clearly in his face. "Hayate, we've been attacked by unknown forces. We barely have anything to go on except this reptile that Fate brought in. I can't get anything out of her because...she keeps crying." His eyes wavered in sadness, troubled. "And now you're going on about theories about time travel, with nothing concrete to go on. I need evidence or some kind of fact-driven research which could give us a real clue. I mean, let's say the impossible did happen and you did go back in time. Let's say time travel is possible. That kind of thought doesn't magically give us the ability to travel through time too. The Bureau has been researching this kind of thing ever since it came into existence. I don't know what you expect me to do, Hayate."

"Surely anything can help," Hayate argued stubbornly. "Because if you believe what I say, then time travel exists. Just knowing that is sufficient reason. Chrono - "

The blue-haired admiral shook his head. "I would like to believe that. I really would, Hayate. But I guess my instincts run deep. And the time and resources we have right now would best be suited to making sure we have our defences and security back at full strength. I don't know if I can risk diverting any of our strength right now."

He stood up from the controls, gathering his papers about him decisively. "Anyway, I want to focus on the one real lead we have right now. Now that we've managed to secure the perimeter for now, there's the matter of the prisoner that Fate captured."

Hayate nodded swiftly. "The reptile that was impersonating me and hacked into our system so easily? I understand. You want me to help interrogate it with you."

"Please," the blue-haired mage said gratefully. "I know your skills may be more suited to keeping control and order in the Bureau, but for some reason you were one of the main targets leading up to the attack." He took a deep breath, not wanting to say what was on his mind. "I would usually ask Nanoha to do this, but…"

A cold, unsettling feeling of unease settled in Hayate's stomach at these words. Nanoha. Nobody had seen her at all since the assault on the Bureau, and rumours had already begun to circulate regarding her disappearance. It wasn't helping the morale of the TSA, especially since Fate had also become unnaturally cold and distant towards any questions about Nanoha. Hayate's return was probably one of the few things keeping everyone's spirits together after they had been shattered by the sudden attack. The break-up of the Three Aces did not speak of better things to come.

Wordlessly, she followed Chrono out of the control room, where Shari and the rest of the staff were issuing updates and reports on the progress in recovery, and crossed down the corridor, taking the lift up to the higher floors of the Bureau. Hayate kept the smile as she saw soldiers and mages that she recognised, people who were genuinely relieved to see that she was back with them again. If they saw just how anxious and worried she was about Nanoha then it wouldn't help matters at all.

It grew increasingly difficult to do so, however, as the two of them passed through several levels of security clearance and ID scans towards the main interrogation cells of the Bureau. They were in more common use than the higher-ups liked to make out; illegal perpetrators of excavation of the Lost Logias were the main occupants of these rooms, and as far back as the JS Incident, the Numbers had temporarily been housed here before many of them were to undergo rehabilitation into the world again.

Signum was waiting for them outside the third door on the left, watching through the transparent screen into the prisoner's chambers. She stood to attention as Chrono approached, her eyes brightening up with a mixture of relief and happiness when she saw Hayate. Hayate smiled sadly, wondering what it must have been like for the Wolkenritter in her absence.

"At ease, Signum," Chrono said, weary of the formal procedure. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting here so long after dragging you away from your other duties."

"It's fine," said the swordswoman placidly. "Watching a shapeshifting lizard in a cell makes a change from the norm." She turned to look at Srethis' hunched-over form in the single empty room. "Fate-san has been in there with it for the past few hours, but she said she wouldn't start interrogating before you came. I don't know what she might have said to it but the lizard hasn't really reacted at all." She stared on through the one-way sheet of glass, her eyes clouded. "It just curls up like that and hisses in the third person occasionally."

"I see." Chrono sighed, straightening his uniform momentarily. "That's why Hayate's going to be here. Srethis, as it calls itself, would know who she was." He cocked his head to the side and looked at the short-haired mage good-naturedly. "Maybe it will be more willing to talk around you, if not the rest of us."

Hayate shrugged. "I'll do my best." But I'm not looking forward to this. I want to know what it knows about Nanoha, but I can't shake this feeling that something's wrong. "Well, let's do this."

Signum stepped forward to unlock the door, but as she did so, the eyes of the two girls met. "Hayate…" she said in a low voice. "I'm…I'm glad you're back."

The former commander of Riot Force 6 came forward and wrapped her friend in a close hug, her arms around her waist. The difference in heights was such that she couldn't reach up much higher, but she could tell Signum was touched by the sentiment. "I guess you missed me," she said happily.

"We all did," the red-haired swordswoman said seriously. "After we found out there was an imposter, we realised just how long we had spent without you. And I…I didn't know if you were going to come back again."

"I was only gone for a day," Hayate teased her. But at the same time, she thought, And I was complaining to Nanoha about being lonely the last time I saw her. How I wanted to be with her and Fate again. Did I forget about Signum and Vita the others? The first friends I ever had, the ones who stood with me from the beginning? Maybe I'm the one who's been abandoning them.

Chrono cleared his throat dramatically as they continued their embrace. "Ladies, please," he said politely. "Fate's waiting for us to join her inside."

Fate? Hayate's face slackened and she quickly released Signum. This isn't going to be easy.

Fate's eyes were semi-closed within the shade of her long blonde hair as she leaned against the opposing wall. She was not in uniform, but was clad in her Barrier Suit and mage's clothes, just like she had been in the middle of the fighting before. She had simply chosen not to transform back into her normal uniform. Her hands were clenched tightly around Bardiche like a lifeline, her muscles tensing and relaxing every now and then as if barely suppressing an inner turmoil.

It broke Hayate's heart to see her like this. Gently, she touched her friend's arm and guided her to sit down with them at the table. Fate's eyes flicked open at the contact, but she complied nonetheless upon seeing the hurt in Hayate's eyes.

Chrono took a seat along with the pair of them, glancing uneasily at Fate. She was broken inside at whatever had happened to Nanoha; anyone could see that. And the best way to help her was to …

"Srethis," he said.

The winged reptile curled up on the floor opened a single eye and fixed him with its emerald gaze.

"I am Chrono Harlaown, admiral of the gunship Asura and board member of the Time-Space Administration Bureau." The blue-haired mage placed his hands openly on the table, unsure about quite how to approach this. Force and persuasion might equally be useless given the way Fate was now. "My companions are Fate Harlaown, Enforcer of the Interstellar Navigation Bureau, and Yagami Hayate of – "

The creature spat on the ground in front of them.

"Srethis knows who you are," it growled.

Hayate dug her fingernails into her hand to calm herself down. She was worried about Fate. The Enforcer hadn't made a sound or shown any kind of emotion since they had entered the room. She reassured herself that Signum was keeping close guard from outside, monitoring what might happen.

Chrono made an attempt at relaxing the tension a little, but he wasn't very successful. "We would like to ask you some questions."

Slowly, the lizard began to uncurl itself out of its semi-foetal position. It stretched its claws out around it, extending its wings to touch the walls of the room and drew itself up until it was sitting upon its haunches. There was no sign of any of its injuries from the fighting before – it must have regenerated hours ago.

"Firstly," Chrono began, "who – or what – are you?" His face deepened into a frown. "Our database has files on every single citizen of every planet that the TSA presides over. You're not on our files. We don't know what you are. We don't even know what species you are."

Srethis regarded him coolly for a moment, flexing its talons.

"Your questionss are foolissh," it said quietly. "Srethis hass no business with your questions."

Chrono kept his voice deliberately calm. "You're not going to answer us?"

"Answer," Srethis repeated mimicly. "Answerss. No. Srethiss answer questions, Bureau hass information, Bureau kill Srethiss. Srethis die. No."

"Nobody's going to kill you," Hayate said swiftly, keeping her gaze away from Fate with an effort. "We'd just like you to tell us what's going on."

The reptile's green eyes shot towards her as she spoke, transfixing her for a second. Its eyes seemed to grow wider and more intense, its claws scraping against its rough scales with a harsh sound that grated on the ears.

"Srethis knows you," it said softly. "Srethis was taught about you for a long long time. How to be you. How to speak like you. How to move like you. How to walk like you. How to be, Yagami Hayate." It bowed its head in a gesture which could have a variety of different meanings. "Srethis knows you."

Hayate raised her head, pushing back the sudden rush invoked inside of her. "Is that so?" she said critically. "But I don't know you." A sense of opportunity caught her at the side of her mind. "Would you care to tell me, Srethis?"

She felt Chrono looking at her in wonder, although there was no real reaction from Fate at the other end of the table. The lizard inclined its head to one side as if to nod, yet mocking them at the same time.

"What would the Queen of the Night Sky ask of Srethis?" it enquired with softened grace.

There was a soft, metallic thud as Bardiche hit the floor.

"Where is Nanoha?" Fate whispered, holding the Zanber at arm's length so that the razor-sharp tip brushed at the reptile's throat. "What have you done with her?"

Hayate went pale, barely able to comprehend what she was seeing. The Fate she knew did not act this way. On the other hand, the Fate she knew had never been without Nanoha at her side.

"Fate, control yourself!" Chrono said angrily, looking furious. "Killing won't achieve anything here!"

The blonde mage ignored him and pushed the Zanber forward, gently. Beads of green fluid – undoubtedly the colour of the reptile's blood – dripped around the side of the prisoner's scaly neck.

"I think I've been very patient," Fate said in that same low tone. "I'm going to count down from ten, and when I get to zero, you, you are going to talk to me." She inclined the blade at an angle, twisting it in the faint wound. "I'm going to count down from ten, and I'm going to count in fives."

Srethis' face had gone quite impassive as it stared up at her. It cocked its head over to one side and said nothing.

"Fate!" Hayate cried, reaching over to restrain her. "This isn't you. Stop this!"

Fate closed her eyes. "Ten."

"Let her kill Srethiss," the lizard said matter-of-factly. "Her lover is long-dead. Srethis understands the need for revenge."

"Five," Fate said in a hardened tone, her hand clenching around the hilt.

Chrono got to his feet. "Fate, we don't kill prisoners here. Put Bardiche down. Now – "

"Zero," she breathed, and ripped Srethis' throat out in one go.

The reptile's body was spun off to the side unceremoniously by the impact of the blow, green fluid gushing from its neck. Gurgling, it grasped at the fatal wound with its claws as if it was being strangled, falling over backwards, its body twitching against the cell walls. The wings bent back into its back again, folding away again as a faint glow stemmed from its talons and into its throat. The wound began to close as the torrent of blood slowed. Gradually, Srethis came back to its feet again, gasping for breath.

Torn between horror and relief, Hayate stared from Fate's dangerously calm features to the prisoner that had almost died. She didn't know what to think.

"I thought that would happen," the blonde mage said, sheathing Bardiche at long last and returning to her normal uniform.

Chrono looked like he was going to explode.

"What are you playing at here?" he demanded. "Fate, you almost destroyed our only lead! What if you were wrong and Srethis had died on the spot?"

Fate closed her eyes as if in thought. "I minimised the amount of magic power I channelled into Bardiche, and nulled the impact range. And the reptile has restorative magic. Nobody was going to die." She pressed her fingers into her right temple as if in pain herself.

Hayate noticed a figure at the door and saw Signum's concerned face ready to help, Leviathan ready in her hands. Mournfully she shook her head, and the red-haired mage returned to her post.

"Fate, you scared me to death," she said seriously. "Don't ever do that kind of thing again. Please."

The Enforcer sighed, her face downcast. "I'm sorry, Hayate. But I need Nanoha back. She made a promise to Vivio. If I'm going to get her back, I need to show that I'm serious." She raised her eyes to the lizard in front of them. "And you know that now, don't you?"

Srethis was eyeing her warily, all trace of mocking now gone from its tone. "Srethis will ansswer your questionss," it said reluctantly. "Though Srethis regretss that it cannot be of much help."

"What do you mean?" Hayate asked worriedly.

The lizard gave a throaty chuckle. "You are unlucky. You captured Srethis becausse Srethis is nothing to them. They let you have Srethis because they know that Srethis knowss nothing." A sad grin stretched out across its face. "And now Srethis is alone and left to die. Away from tomadachi, away from nakama, away from…from medicine…"

They questioned Srethis into the late hours of the night. With every minute that passed, the gravity of their situation became more and more pressing upon them. Hayate didn't need to look at Fate to see that she was getting increasingly agitated as they continued to make no progress. Thanks to her, their prisoner answered each of their questions, but not in the way that they had hoped.

It was nearly midnight when Chrono left them alone to themselves, taking away Srethis to be moved to another cell under heavy guard. Hayate's heart ached as she watched the blonde mage pace up and down, noticing that she still hadn't let go of Bardiche. Without Nanoha, Bardiche was the closest thing she had. Except for Arf, and Arf was far away from here now.

Srethis' answers had become increasingly frustrating. Its knowledge of the attack upon the Bureau was extremely limited. It claimed that the people it worked with gave it the barest of details and told it nothing about the bigger picture so that it knew about as much of the operation as anyone in the TSA did. Srethis explained that its instructions for the mission handed to it were to impersonate Hayate and hack into the TSA network. Escape routes had not been important. From the start, Srethis had known it was a suicide mission.

In addition, it had not been the first of these "missions" that Srethis had been ordered to carry out. When questioned about previous similar arrangements, the lizard's answers grew more slurred and vague. As if it could not remember them very well. Even when quizzed about where it came from and what race it was, what planet it hailed from, Srethis looked confused and dazed at the question. It shook its head and complained about a headache, and about needing its "medicine".

Things went downhill very much from there on.

"Fate, you're exhausted," Hayate said softly, walking over to the Enforcer and wrapping her arms around her. "You need to go home to Vivio."

"I can't," Fate said quietly. "Not until I've brought Nanoha back." She wiped the side of her face, out of view. "Nanoha promised her yesterday that she'd come home for her, without fail. And now...this." Her voice was choked with sobs. "I...I can't face Vivio like this, Hayate...I can't come home to her and tell her that Nanoha might not be coming home at all..."

Hayate brought her face to hers insistently, staring into those tear-streaked red eyes. "That's not true," she said. "You really believe what Srethis said? That she died in the past?"

"I don't know what to believe," Fate breathed, folding into her shoulder. "I saw Nanoha disappear in front of me with my own eyes, Hayate. As if she...as if it really was true. The way it happened, it was if she really was gone forever..."

Hayate cradled her face into her shoulder for several moments, stroking her long hair down the back of her neck. But she isn't gone. She can't be. If I was able to travel back into the past, then why shouldn't we able to save Nanoha from her fate?

"Fate, do you believe in time travel?" she asked, keeping her voice level.

Her blonde friend pulled herself free from her, breathing rapidly. "I wish I did," she said, seeming slightly more recovered now that she had got some of the tears out. "Is it true what Chrono told me?"

"That I went back in time? Yes." Hayate had no doubt in her mind about what had happened. "It sounds crazy and impossible. Chrono doesn't believe me yet, but Rein was with me too." Rein was conveniently asleep now. The two of them might have to persuade him tomorrow. "A girl called Exoria took me back in time ten years so that Srethis could take my place temporarily. Exoria called herself a Time Mage. And now Srethis claims that Nanoha died in the past. Anyone can see that there's a connection, Fate."

The Enforcer gave a short laugh, without humour. "So now you want me to believe in time-travel. And that our opponents used time-travel to take Nanoha away from us forever, like they almost took you away forever." Fate shook her head in wonder, brushing blonde streaks out of her face. "It's a crazy and wonderful idea, Hayate, but it doesn't add up."

The short-haired mage was surprised at that. "Why not?"

"Well, if time-travel were possible at all...people would have used it a long time ago," Fate said sadly. She didn't say so, but the look in her eyes was distant, stretching back to her childhood. To Precia. Alhazard. "And...if someone had gone back in time to erase Nanoha, then why are we standing here now? Nanoha saved lives and changed people, Hayate. The Book of Darkness. The JS Incident. Riot Force 6 wouldn't have come together without her help." She looked at Hayate helplessly. "Do you understand? If you changed the past, there would be huge consequences."

"And nothing has happened," Hayate said slowly, nodding. "The only thing that changed...was that Nanoha isn't here anymore."

She sat back down, more confused than ever. She had been so sure that time travel had been the answer. What about Exoria, then? Srethis' words, that it claimed burned with truth? There was something deeper going on here, but -

"I still think you're onto something, though," Fate said with a smile, reaching down to embrace her. "Time travel. If there's ever a shred of hope, then shouldn't we reach out for it?" She hugged her tightly, the tears on her face forgotten. "I know Chrono is a real sceptic about all of this. But I'll persuade him to at least look into this. And Yuuno-kun would be a great help in finding anything of use."

Hayate smiled back happily. "Thanks, Fate. I knew I could count on you." She kissed her lightly on the forehead. "You should hurry home right no," she whispered. "Vivio needs you more than ever."

An anguished look came into the blonde mage's eyes, but she shook it away quickly. "I know. I'll be there for her until we find Nanoha again." But the sadness in her eyes cautioned, That may not be enough.

"We will find her," Hayate said with conviction. "It's a promise."

Okay, I hope Fate wasn't too OOC there when she went temporarily yandere. Also thinking of making Signum a more main character, since Vita stole all of her screentime in StrikerS. But yeah.