A/N: This chapter ended up being way longer than I imagined. Long enough that I had to cut it. I was going to put a bit at the end about what happened at the very end of the Legion's fight, but the whole thing ended up being about Nanoha and Fate. So I'll probably have to add that in the next chapter. Maybe I'll put some more in the next chapter because of that, otherwise the pacing of the story might get messed up.
Fate made her way across the wreckage of the tower, helping an exhausted Tiana along with one arm, all too mindful that the sinister light above their heads was not going to go away. The only way up was to fly there, but the restrictive time flow was still preventing anyone from flying, if Oguba's explanations were anything to believe. If she wanted to help Nanoha out, Fate knew she had to find a way to get past that barrier.
That wasn't the only thing that worried her. She had been wanting to tell Nanoha something all week, something very important, but everytime she tried to get the words out something else would happen to make her backtrack, like the safety of their friends, or being thrust into the middle of enemy crossfire. Fate had been on the brink of telling her just yesterday, but then her irrational fear that the two of them might not come back at all from the portal had intervened, and instead she had proposed to Nanoha on the spot. Not that she hadn't wanted to do that at some point anyway, and it was all very romantic, but it wasn't the nameless secret which she had been hiding from her lover.
Even on the way to the tower with Nanoha, Fate had struggled to tell her outright, yet feeling that it wouldn't be right to do so in the middle of a mission. After all, Nanoha had been pre-occupied with Oguba and the threat of Red Scorpion for some time. Yet even when the two of them were finally alone, and Fate had finally mustered the courage to tell her, though she felt that Nanoha might not trust her or even love her any more after that...she still hadn't managed to get it out, because the Ace of Aces had been taken away up to the top of the tower. Her chance had gone.
It might be too late to tell her at all. Once Nanoha started fighting properly, she would notice immediately that something was wrong. Something only Fate and Mariel knew about. If Fate could only reach her first before that happened...
The Enforcer reached the edge of the steep crater which comprised of the bulk of the rubble of the tower. The obelisk's height had championed that of the heavens, almost reaching up into the clouds, and when it fell it left enough rubble to build a few villages. Perhaps partly because of the appearance of the Manticore, the foundations of the tower had ruptured and broken away beneath it.
As a result the crater was piled up with a small mountain of rocks and metal, too unstable for a normal person to climb over safely.
If the ground hadn't given away like that, the tower would have collapsed in a huge radius of the area for over a hundred metres. It would have buried over this rise...and buried us. We were very lucky to get out of there alive.
Even if the cascading tower had threatened to bury the two of them alive, Fate thought about she may have been able to use Bardiche to fight her way to safety, even despite the condition she had been in whilst fighting the Precia-droid. It was still quite possible, but it would be a very close shave – and it would be virtually impossible to save Tiana as well. No, luck had been on their side this time.
Fate stopped just before the edge of the great pit. From the way Tiana was holding on to her shoulder, the sharpshooter would probably end up falling in if she wasn't careful. And if anyone fell in a hole of that size, she really was going to need to fly.
She couldn't see the Manticore at all – the beast had been completely buried under tons of splintered metal, suggesting that even if the Superuser's defences hadn't managed to kill the creature, the force of the entire tower coming down on it would have finished it anyway. However, Fate saw to her surprise that the lightning field which had surrounded the Manticore was still active. She could sense the edge of it tingling across the rim of the crater, although it seemed weak and ineffective. Why was it still there? Shouldn't it have died with the Manticore?
That could mean two things. Either the lightning field is controlled separately, and has to be turned off manually...or the Manticore's still alive down there.
Fate didn't really relish the second option. It didn't seem particularly likely, either. She reached over to prod the perimeter of the lightning field with her boot, and then thought better of it. Swiftly, she came forward with Bardiche in Zanber Mode and slashed downward where the spark of electricity jolted weakly across the pit.
The lightning raced up the hilt of her weapon and stabbed into her hand sharply, giving her a mild electric shock, then fizzled out completely along with the rest of the electric field. Fate shook her hand out for a few moments, unsure whether anything had really happened. This wasn't going to help her get to Nanoha -
Then she felt Tiana stumble behind her, and Fate cried out in alarm as she fell forward right into the crater.
What the -
"Fate!" the forward panicked, rushing forth to try and pull her back, but it was too late. The ground was coming up towards the Enforcer thick and fast. Quickly, Fate forced herself to move upwards, to fly up back to ground to level and -
That was where she received her next surprise, because the blonde mage found herself lifting upwards under her own magic. She was flying. Whatever barrier had been in place to keep everyone on the ground, it was no longer in effect. She was able to fly again.
But how? Was it the lightning field causing it all this time? The Manticore was moving constantly, carrying the lightning field with it. It wouldn't have affected all of us. Besides, it was a destructive magic, not a restricting magic.
No. Fate realised she had a good enough idea about what had happened. The tower itself had been the reason why everyone found themselves unable to use flight magic. Its energy was rooted down into the ground and spread throughout the entire landscape, disabling levitation for everyone who walked upon the surface. When the Manticore destroyed the tower, the lightning field must have reacted with what was left, containing its last remnants. Fate had simply dispelled the last of the power with a simple stroke of her sword.
So I did it. I actually did it! Without knowing! Now I can finally fight at full strength. I don't care if Nanoha thinks she can take care of this by herself. She needs me.
The Enforcer rose gently out of the open crater to float in mid-air before Tiana as the sharpshooter stared at her open-mouthed.
"How did...how did you...?" The forward's eyes were wide in amazement. "How are you able to - "
"I disabled the last of Red Scorpion's power in this area," Fate replied, her cloak and hair rippling as the wind caught against her clothes gently, giving her something of an otherworldly feel. "Levitation magic is no longer suppressed. Tiana, you should stay down here and keep yourself safe. You've done enough, and you're in no shape to push yourself any more."
"Me? I'm fine!" Tiana stammered, coming to her feet too quickly and then staggering over again as she failed to keep her breath. "I'm...Fate, you're the one who I'm worr - "
The blonde mage smiled and shook her head once. "No, Tiana. Please, just stay and rest for a while. I'll be back for you as soon as I can." She lifted her head up towards the sky, where the surreal light was taking on a form of its own. "Right now, I have to help Nanoha."
She propelled herself upwards towards the shining beacon, gaining altitude steadily, her jaw set as she braced herself for whatever she might find waiting for her at the top – her and Nanoha.
The storm had returned, but in a different vein, directing itself downwards as it screamed past her ears, crushing her under the relentless force of gravity as Nanoha was flung from the platform at the top of the tower, the explosion generated by Takamachi's powerful spell pressing against the defences of her Barrier Jacket. She was alive, but not for long. In such a confined area, there was no way to withstand a bombardment spell of that magnitude and still remain standing.
Starlight Breaker Eternal, she thought as the wind roared past her ears, her body gaining speed at a dangerous rate as it plunged down from what must be several thousand metres up in the air. That's a new one.
Nanoha felt light-headed and strangely calm, falling to her death like this. Was it acceptance? Oguba had told her that she had to die, and so here she was. Maybe it even felt right. Maybe she really had resigned herself to her fate. A small part of her was on the verge of releasing Raging Heart from her grasp and watching it smash on the ground below shortly before she did. What's more, she found herself thinking quite clearly.
Starlight Breaker gathers up the magical energy left behind by previous spells used in an area of combat, concentrates it into a sphere of mana and then unleashes it at your enemy. It's one of my most powerful spells. Takamachi's Starlight Breaker Eternal...if it works upon the same lines...would have only gathered up the energy from one spell. The spell I fired at her. Axel Shooter.
She knew that Starlight Breaker was most effective when used near the end of a fight, because it would have absorbed all of the stray energy from multiple spells which had already been used. But here? Takamachi had used it as her first spell. It would be pretty ineffective at most...just as it had been.
That was the reason she was still alive – in fact, Nanoha didn't feel that her Barrier Jacket was too badly damaged at all. She would be perfectly fine, except for the fact that she was going to hit the ground at a death-defying speed in less than a minute. Either Takamachi didn't realise how Starlight Breaker was really supposed to be cast, or...
Or this was how Oguba planned it. Takamachi had made it clear that she didn't want Nanoha to die, at least not before she'd squeezed every last bit of time energy from her. Maybe she didn't want to do any damage, she just wanted -
And then Nanoha saw the small shape descending upon her from above. A young girl in her old school uniform, blue mist streaking from her entire body in a giant contorted spiral. Takamachi. She was coming to finish what she started. Takamachi's eyes were bright as she propelled herself downwards with her own share of Oguba's magic, the colour ebbing from her pupils until they turned jet-black. From this range, it was as if the girl's eye-sockets were completely empty, as if Nanoha was already looking up at her own death.
At the same time, the tower itself was crumbling as the Manticore attacked the Superuser's systems. Nanoha stared uncomprehendingly at the scene, then dismissed it. Red Scorpion's tower, falling down to earth just like she was. Almost as if she'd caused it. A lapse in time, a chain of events coinciding with one another, two worlds colliding...it felt almost as if she wasn't there at all.
"This is how it's done, Nanoha!" Takamachi whispered happily, floating down towards her, her small arms reaching down to clasp onto Nanoha's shoulders as the two of them hurtled downwards faster and faster. The ground felt so close. "If the participant is unwilling to give up their time energy, there is still another way to get it! All of their time energy is released all at once, at the moment just before their life ends! I didn't want it to be this way, Nanoha. The energy goes everywhere, and it's so...messy. It takes generations to clean up. But now you've forced my hand!You had a choice, and you threw away your opportunity to save the universe with me." Her skin glowed bright blue as Oguba began to take over completely. "No one lives forever, Nanoha! No one except me!"
The ground rushed up towards Nanoha's body at several hundred miles an hour, the sheer pressure already powerful enough to bring her near to unconsciousness. The air had been crushed from her stomach, denying her the ability to form words or even spells. Raging Heart had almost been torn from her grasp if not for her fierce desire to cling onto it for dear life, a desire that was about to come to an end.
Takamachi's hands grabbed onto her shoulders, Oguba's magic virtually flooding out of her flesh, and Nanoha stared up into the eyes of her past self which was about to kill her. And she saw that there were no eyes, not any more, only empty sockets which were dead and starved completely of life. She had not been imaging it.
Anger gripped her, and Nanoha decided she was not going to give up to this. She had been scared, so frightened that she could barely breathe, but not any more, not as she felt her dead past drain her own time from her life -
She reached up agonizingly and grabbed hold of the front of Takamachi's clothes, feeling Oguba's force drag her upwards, combating the huge pull that gravity was exerting upon her. She was still falling, but she felt herself decelerating nonetheless. The hands on her shoulders tightened, and the blue mist rose against her face in an ugly visage of ravaging thorns, melting down against her skin.
The touch against her flesh made her want to scream. Nanoha tried to twist Takamachi's unresponsive body beneath her, tried to throw it down before her before she hit the ground, but her speed towards the earth was preventing her from making any such movements. She was falling too fast. A gigantic wave of dust surged over the two of them, obscuring her vision and choking her passageways, though it had no effect on Takamachi at all. It was the cloud of smoke created by the tower's collapse, mere seconds away from the hard merciless earth -
With her heart in her mouth, Nanoha sent a surge of magical power into Raging Heart – and aimed it directly downwards. The lower section of her device extended out into several pink wings filled with mana, spreading out as Raging Heart prepared the spell rapidly.
"Excelion Buster! Break...SHOOT!"
At her last command, a rapidly expanding orb of powerful energy solidified into a beam which struck against the earth not too far from the rubble of Red Scorpion's tower, and then exploded forth with a force which ripped the ground asunder. Nanoha's body was thrown back by the impact of firing the spell without preparing Raging Heart with Barrel Shot first...and then she felt herself lift upwards by the propulsion of the spell as the greater force won out against gravity...
Stealing the opportunity now that her speed had been decreased so suddenly – though her head and shoulders ached terribly with the wild conflict of forces buffeting across her body – Nanoha lunged forward and jerked Takamachi's body down below hers. The ghoulish face grinned up at her with dead eyes, and she shoved Raging Heart's shaft directly into the girl's body.
"Barrel Shot!"
Pink-white magical energy exploded forth as the bombardment spell let loose with a destructive wave, again cast without Raging Heart being prepared in advance with Force Burst. But there wasn't time for that. Any moment now, Nanoha knew that gravity might overcome the small propulsion boost she had managed to obtain, and then she could be in for a nasty fall.
She felt Takamachi's nails grind against her shoulder blades, almost cutting into her skin, and Oguba's mist came out of her mouth to consume her even as Barrel Shot roared against the girl's shimmering robes. Nanoha gritted her teeth and tried not to breathe as Oguba drew up around her, and instead concentrated on increasing the power as best as she could in mid-air.
A glimmer of light emerged in Takamachi's eyes, and then the younger girl was falling, fire rising up around her clothes. Oguba withdrew from Nanoha's face with a hiss, shooting back into Takamachi's body for safety.
Swiftly, Nanoha ripped the spell forward with the rest of the power it possessed and blasted Takamachi and Oguba down into the ground, sending up another minor quake along with a huge cloud of dust.
No. She knew that wouldn't be enough. Takamachi knew all her spells. She had to go all-out – maybe if she managed to get Oguba to leave the girl's body, then she might have a chance...any second now, she was going to fall back down to earth, and even at this lessened height Nanoha knew that her Barrier Jacket might not save her from several broken bones...
"Blaster System," she breathed. "Limit 1 Release!"
She had to do this. Blaster Mode would weaken both her and Raging Heart, but there was nothing for it. She didn't even know if it would be good enough, if Takamachi had knowledge of even more powerful spells -
But then Nanoha was greeted by a shock that she could have done without.
Nothing happened.
"Raging Heart?" she whispered, eyes wide. "What's wrong? Blaster System - "
"Unable to comply, my master," Raging Heart replied in its computerised tone. "Blaster System is no longer available to my systems."
"WHAT?"
Could this have come at a worse possible time? Takamachi wasn't going to stay down. Even if Oguba couldn't be killed, maybe Blaster Mode could help put her opponent out of action for a while. Was Raging Heart affected by something that Oguba had put into her system? Why was it malfunctioning like this? If it was like this, then...
There was no longer any time left to worry about that. Nanoha had lost her only opportunity to strike back with a finishing move. Now she felt the effects of her last spell fade away, and gravity renewed its pull on her body. Near to a hundred metres up, she began to fall again, clouds of dust rolling over her and getting into her lungs as she coughed and choked, trying to form another spell. She could use another powerful spell like Excelion Buster to keep herself airborne, couldn't she?
But Nanoha knew that she couldn't do it forever. Such high-level spells were being cast without preparing Raging Heart in its proper form, almost on the spur of the moment, and that was not what those spells were for. It would damage Raging Heart's internal system and affects it performance. And yet...maybe she would have to put up with that. Just to survive and stop Oguba having his way with taking her time energy like he had done so with so many others...
And then she saw Takamachi flying up towards her, smile stretched lifelessly across her face, a wave of Oguba's time energy of her own summoned at her fingertips, ready to embrace Nanoha forever as the Ace of Aces fell helplessly downwards...
No!
Then a strong arm caught around Nanoha's waist from behind, catching her unawares and taking her away up into the sky, away from Takamachi, away from Oguba, pulling the brown-haired mage around at such a speed that even Oguba couldn't follow...
Wha...? Who...?
Nanoha tried to twist around at the arm around her, trying to see who her rescuer was. She was flying again, not hurtling at a deadly speed towards her grave in the earth, but gliding across the sky and the dead world with a beauty which had the effect of calming her all at once, and taking her breath away with an urgency that brought tears to her eyes...
"Wh...what's going on? How...?"
"Oh, Nanoha," said the woman who was holding her tightly as the two of them flew down to earth at a moderate speed, her long blonde hair brushing over the mage's face. Her voice contained a touch of sadness, but was as gentle and sweet as Nanoha had always remembered. "When will you learn not to leave me behind when you need me the most?"
"Fate?" Her heart leapt as she caught sight of the blonde mage's face, her soft red eyes, Bardiche secure in her other hand, the trace of her cheekbones and the curve of her neck...Questions began to spill out all at the same time. "How are you able to - ? I don't want – how - " Nanoha took a deep breath, unable to take her eyes off her lover's face, seemingly more beautiful than when she'd last seen her, despite the blood staining her hair. "How...how can you fly when I can't?"
"We can both fly now. I got rid of the barrier."
I almost fell to my death without realising I could fly again? Nanoha thought. She was really glad that that hadn't happened. It would have been nothing short of ridiculous. She realised she was virtually clinging onto Fate's arm, but didn't want to let go, her own legs scrabbling against the air as she realised that Fate was right: levitation magic was usable once more. This made things much simpler.
Her eyes hadn't missed the stream of blood across Fate's temple, and she felt a pang in her heart, realising that her lover was similarly injured in several places. "Are you okay? Fate, did someone hurt you?"
The Enforcer smiled as their feet grazed the ground, planting a soft kiss on Nanoha's cheek. "I'm handling myself better than you are." She released her, and then grabbed hold of her again quickly, the worry evident in her face that Nanoha might fall. "Do you think...maybe I should have held you like a princess?"
"A princess?" Nanoha felt her cheeks go hot. "I...I don't know if - "
"Maybe you would prefer that. But I'd have to use both hands." Fate seemed particularly thoughtful about that. Then her voice turned serious, filled with hurt and worry once more. "Nanoha, are you okay? I could hardly bear to watch from down here. I knew you were at the top of the tower, and when it fell, I..." Fate's voice broke and trembled as her eyes filled with tears. "Nanoha, you could have died..."
Yes, I could, Nanoha thought shakily. I was close to giving up completely, without putting up much of a fight. I nearly let Oguba get to me again, and if Fate hadn't taken me away in time...what would have happened? Oguba would have absorbed me completely, but then what? Would we be stuck here, with no way to get back home to Mid-childa now that -
She clamped her hand over her mouth in shock, realising: I don't have Oguba's power any more. I can't use his powers. I can't create time portals. We can't return home!
No, there had to be an alternative. There were others of Red Scorpion who could make portals of their own, if only they could be persuaded to help the Bureau. Was that really it? All she had to do was to chase after the stray members of Red Scorpion who could still create time portals, have them open up a gate to Mid-childa, which probably wouldn't happen unless they were defeated first...and that's if they didn't use the portal to run away and leave Nanoha and her friends stranded in this alien world...
And she also had to somehow defeat Oguba. Considering he possessed every spell of hers that she would ever be able to use in her entire life, that might prove to be impossible. How was she going to accomplish all this? There was no going back: she had to do all of this without fail. Vivio was waiting for her back home along with Hayate, the other half of the Wolkenritter, and everybody else...
"Fate," Nanoha said seriously, clasping one hand against the blond mage's wrist, "I'm sorry. I'm going to need your help."
The Enforcer tugged at her arm in a playful gesture. "I know."
"I mean I really need your help." Nanoha hung her head, resting it on Fate's shoulder as the other woman held her for a moment. She swallowed uneasily, and then the words started spilling out, words that she couldn't tell to anyone else. "I just...there's too many things going on, too many problems, and I can't possibly solve them all on my own. I can't do it, Fate. I'm fighting a losing battle, I don't know if any of us will be able to get back home, I don't know if I'll even see Vivio again - " She choked back a sob, and forced a measure of self-control back into her voice. "Fate, I can't...my Blaster System doesn't work and I don't know why! I can't even fight properly!"
A pang of guilt shot over the blonde mage's face, stricken hurt in her eyes. Standing so close to her, Nanoha didn't miss for a second.
"Fate...?" she said with deep concern. "Why...?"
"That was me," Fate said harshly, gripping onto her arm tightly as a tremor ran across the side of her cheek. "It's my fault, Nanoha. I'm the reason."
She let go of her suddenly, turning away so that she wouldn't have to look at her anymore. Nanoha remained frozen to the spot in the same position, transfixed by her words. What did she...?
"I don't understand," the Ace of Aces said slowly. "Wh...what's your fault?"
"Raging Heart. The Blaster System." Fate sounded like she was struggling to hold back her own tears, her voice pained and restricted. "I wanted to tell you for a long time. But every time I tried to tell you the truth...I couldn't...Nanoha. I felt like you would hate me. I needed to tell you, but I c-could...I could never gather the courage..."
Her voice was breaking up into tears as Nanoha marched forward and turned her lover's face towards her, kissing her passionately. She caught the taller mage in a comforting embrace and held her for several seconds, hugging until she felt Fate calm down, kissing her again to put her feelings forward. She still didn't understand, but it didn't matter.
"Now tell me again," Nanoha said quietly, gazing into her lover's red eyes. "What did you want to tell me? It wasn't about being married after all, was it?"
"No," Fate said in a small voice. "I mean. I still wanted to marry you. I really really wanted to. But...this was different. It's something Mariel did for me a long time ago...I..." She hiccuped through another sob stuck in her throat which died away. "Nanoha...I did it. I'm the one who removed the Blaster System from Raging Heart! I'm sorry!"
Fate? Why would she...how...?
"It was just a few weeks after we defeated Scaglietti and brought Vivio back," the Enforcer said breathlessly, panic rushing her words. "I saw that you had to use Blaster Mode...and that it eats away at your lifeforce everytime you use it. And I thought...what if you have to use it again? What if there are even stronger enemies out there, and you end up being forced to use the Blaster System until you can barely fight any more? I...I didn't want that, Nanoha, I care so much about you, and I couldn't let Vivio suffer when, when she...if you lost yourself completely, I don't know if either of us could even..."
Nanoha felt a calmness spread through her mind, understanding now even as Fate kept on blabbering on in a rush of syllables, going back and repeating parts of what she said until she seemed on the verge of breaking down. The combat instructor held her lover tightly, stroking her long blond hair reassuringly all the way down her back, trying to put her own feelings forward.
It's true that the Blaster System saps the life of its user with every shot fired. That's the price you pay for using such incredible power. But to think Fate would have asked Mariel specially to remove it from Raging Heart altogether...and to keep it a secret from me? She must have been hiding it from me for a long time.
"Fate," she sighed, "you're such a dummy."
The other woman rubbed at her wet eyes and sniffed. "You're angry at me, aren't you? I'm sorry. I just wanted to protect you, Nanoha. If you were going to keep on using - "
"I am not angry at you and I definitely don't hate you. I never could." She meant it, but she wasn't about to let Fate off the hook so easily out of sympathy. "But I am rather annoyed about it."
"But - "
"Fate, I appreciate you looking out for me," the Ace of Aces said seriously, eyeing Raging Heart with ill appraisal. "But you could have just talked to me about it. If the idea of the Blaster System bothered you so much, then we could have worked something out. And if you really had to go and ask Mariel to disable it completely...couldn't you at least have told me?"
"I was going to," Fate said pleadingly, "but then..."
Nanoha sighed. "Yes, I get the picture. You worried about how I would react. And now..." She let go of the other mage, letting her shoulders sag. "Fate, you've disabled all of my most powerful spells and attacks, and now I'm in the middle of fighting Oguba. This isn't doing wonders for my chances of winning." She looked up at her sympathetically. "You really are such a dummy. Fate, what am I ever going to do with you?"
Internally, she knew it was a lot more serious than she was making it out to be, but Nanoha wasn't about to argue with her when Fate had virtually broken down in tears in front of her whilst confessing. Getting angry or mad wasn't going to help matters. As long as she still had Fate with her, her chances of beating Oguba would drastically increase anyway. All she had to do...was find another way round.
She had to admit that Fate did have a point about the danger of using the Blaster System. Constant use of Blaster Mode would certainly have a detrimental affect on her health and Vivio's life would suffer with her. Nanoha hadn't had to rely on Blaster Mode for a long time since the JS Incident, however, and so she hadn't thought such a thing would come to pass...but now...
Oguba's not going to stop. He's still going to come after me. And...what if I was able to use Blaster Mode? What if I really was able to use my most powerful attacks on him? Bearing in mind that Takamachi knows all of my abilities – and even the ones that I haven't learnt yet...would I be able to beat Oguba with Blaster Mode on my own?
The unfortunate truth was no. As far as she knew...Takamachi probably knew to use the Blaster System by herself anyway, since she would certainly have access to it. And if she really did have knowledge of all the spells from Nanoha's future, then the Blaster System would seem like a cheap downgrade compared to what Takamachi had at her fingertips.
Still, with the Blaster System active, Nanoha would at least have been able to give it a shot. Now she had no hope of doing so. She was going to have to cope without it, and deal with the consequences.
It's not all about levels of power, she consoled herself. Fate did what she did because she cared so much about me. I still have many very powerful attacks that I can use, and if Fate fights alongside me then maybe the two of us can stand against Oguba. Maybe it can still be done!
Strategy. She had to think about strategy. It wasn't enough to adopt a plan of firing something more powerful than her enemy threw at her, because that would eventually fail and cripple her. With strategy, the weakest creature in Mid-childa could take on an army. Or at least, that was the concept.
"Fate, forget about the Blaster System," Nanoha said with a smile. "I'm not angry at you and I know why you did it. I can deal without it – for now. But when we get home I'm going to need to ask Mariel for some kind of replacement."
The Enforcer nodded slowly, looking at her with a tender look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Nanoha."
"It's okay. It's fine. Don't worry about it any more." Nanoha twirled Raging Heart in her hands and searched the skies above for any sign of Takamachi. Surely her opponent hadn't just given up, had she? Where was he? "You can make up for it by helping me fight Oguba."
"Oguba?" Fate frowned. "But isn't he - "
A spear of blue mist slammed into the ground at their feet, piercing straight through and curving around flexibly to lunge towards Nanoha's head. The mage swung Raging Heart to guard against it as the spike split up into four more segments, transforming into a huge blue claw which swept towards the two of them. The mist shimmered and solidified, hitting solidly against both of their devices as both women held their ground.
"You didn't die, Nanoha," Takamachi commented, appearing before the two of them amidst the great claw, controlling the movements of the spectral mist with her staff. A second claw appeared at her command, curling round to strike at their backs. The young girl seemed completely unhurt despite receiving the full force of the Barrel Shot from before; there wasn't a single scratch on her body. "Why do you have to make this so difficult for me?"
Nanoha struggled to hold back the first claw with Fate as Oguba's energy grew, all too mindful of the second claw scuttling up behind the two of them like some kind of monstrous crab, raising talons which shed blue light across the ground as they rushed forward to stab at her. She tried to disperse the mist with Raging Heart just like she had done so in the tower, but to no avail; the time energy had taken on a solid, concrete form, living tissue which rolled forward to engulf her as one -
"Sonic Move!"
Eyes on her foe, she didn't even see Fate move until it was over. One moment, Nanoha and Fate were being forced back by the great blue claw: the next, Fate had sliced through both of the claws with Bardiche, both front and behind, in a sideways spinning slash which took her all the way round to the front. When Nanoha blinked again, the Enforcer had Bardiche's blade at Takamachi's throat.
The remnants of both claws reverted back to mist and withdrew once more into Takamachi's body. She didn't seem especially worried about the weapon around her neck. If anything, her expression was one of puzzlement. She wasn't the only one.
"Could someone explain to me," Fate said, her weapon-arm quite steady as she watched Takamachi from behind, ready to act on any sudden movements, "why there are two Nanohas here?"
Takamachi turned round to look up at Fate with a wide-eyed expression. The Enforcer's grip on Bardiche faltered when she saw that the schoolgirl's eyes were empty husks, but she maintained her composure. Oguba's magic twisted in the air and ran from the ends of Takamachi's pigtails, extending into an array of time energy which billowed around her in a fierce wind.
Warily, Fate moved backwards slowly, golden magical energy gleaming at Bardiche's tip. An instant later, the air around Takamachi had reformed into a circle of spinning spears, a giant claw rising from the tip of each to form an impenetrable barrier. Gradually, she rose up in the air, the rotating blue circle of weaponry shifting position.
"This is not your history," the girl said to Fate. "This only concerns Nanoha. You are just a spectator, a bystander. But I will make this simple for you. Oguba lives inside me, and requires the time energy of the fake Nanoha that you see standing before you. As soon as I have absorbed her, the universe will return to normal."
"Fake Nanoha?" Fate repeated. "There is nothing fake about Nanoha. And..." Her eyes narrowed. "I know you, Oguba. I saw you rise from Nanoha's body time and time again whilst she was recovering. You manipulated her into this, didn't you? You weren't going to give her extra powers or time magic – you just wanted her to take away from us forever."
Takamachi's glance away from her was one of dismissal. "You don't "know" me. We have never met before in this universe."
"Yes, we have," the Enforcer countered, magic surging along the length of Bardiche's Zanber Form as she prepared to attack. "Ever since Nanoha nearly died, I have seen you almost every night. In my nightmares."
She flew up towards the massive blue shroud surrounding the schoolgirl, slashing out at the shield of spears and claws, whirling the golden sword round in a circle to create a temporary gap in the barrier. With a bitter yell, Fate stabbed forward with Bardiche – and pierced through Takamachi's body, striking a clean slanted blow across her heart.
The little girl gazed at her, stunned, as Oguba's mist poured out of the wound instead of blood. The cut swiftly disappeared as blue light shone across Takamachi's skin, the shield of claws closing in to cut off any retreat as Fate struggled to pull Bardiche free from the girl's body, tugging at it uselessly as more of Oguba's magic began to creep up the blade.
"Fate!" Nanoha cried, moving up from the ground swiftly to help.
She felt the figure of a wing-like magical field take form around her as she levitated easily through the air. She was flying, airborne under her own abilities without any fear of being dashed to the ground in pieces...It felt so good to be in the air again. Already Nanoha could feel her mobility and reflexes becoming more fluid as they adapting to an environment in which she had trained for so many months and years before. Here, she was in her element, and it felt so wonderful gliding up to greater heights with the wind in her hair...
"Hoop Bind!"
Multiple rings of light blue energy extended from Raging Heart in a loop to wrap tightly around Takamachi's body as the clashing barrier of deadly spears threatened to crush Fate between them. Their opponent's movement was halted, but they hadn't been trying to move in the first place; the barrier continued to close in. Desperately, Nanoha tried to disrupt the barrier completely, feeding several streams of magic into the Binding spell, moving it in several directions.
It partially worked, because Takamachi's body was sent flying in a wide semicircle so that the barrier slowed and shifted back into mist for a moment. Unfortunately, Bardiche was still stuck in Takamachi's chest, and Fate was still holding onto Bardiche.
"Aaaaaaaahhhh!" the Enforcer cried as she was sent in a loop-the-loop at two different angles, bouncing about all over the place as her stomach did a backflip. "Nanohaaaaa! What are you...ahhhhh..."
"I'm sorry!" Nanoha called, trying to cancel the spell. "I...I can't get to you from here..."
Dizzily, Fate grasped hold of Bardiche with both hands.
"Haken Form!"
The device transformed within Takamachi's body and was extracted very easily. Fate kicked back from the surging blue mist, Bardiche free in her hands at last. She lost a few feet of altitude and wobbled down as Nanoha glided towards her with a hopeful expression on her face. The blonde mage gave her an annoyed glare.
"Nanoha, what are you playing at? I am so dizzy right now!"
"I was trying to save you and not many of my spells are working! And she's a difficult target!" Nanoha yelled back. She forced herself to calm down before the stress really did get to her. This time, they really had to be serious, but Nanoha was unwilling to use up too much magic in one go. "All right. Let's pay attention here. We'll take her on from both sides and try to knock her down. If that doesn't work, we'll have to settle for a Capture spell to keep her in check. What do you think, Fate?"
"I'm all for it, but I've just got one question," Fate said with mild distaste. "Where did she go?"
Uh-oh.
A jet of blue mist shot past them in the blink of an eye as Takamachi went whizzing past, time energy shooting from her hands towards them in a maelstrom of suffocation. She kicked out at the air behind, flying around Nanoha and Fate in a complete circle, picking up speed as she completed a second and then a third full circuit, moving too quickly for her to target her properly with their devices. Then at the last moment, she shot all the way up to several metres above their heads, a sparkling power fizzling around her entire body.
"Mountain of Shredded Time."
Oguba's magic spread out in the form of time energy in colossal amounts, revolving around the same circle that Takamachi had raced through, and Nanoha and Fate found themselves surrounded by the choking mist on all sides. The time energy reformed into a wall of pulsating lasers, followed by an onslaught of knife-like purple energy which rippled through the air as it came towards them in a criss-cross of savage aggression.
No time to prepare a spell or counter-attack, even with Fate's incredible speed. A maze of death closed in around them in a bloody cage. There were far too many to dodge, too.
Nanoha and Fate exchanged glances, and then dived below the deadly circle as it snaked in on itself and dispersed. They weren't just up against a young Nanoha with knowledge of all of the present Nanoha's spells in her entire lifetime. They were also up against Oguba himself.
The two mages soared up towards Takamachi from either side, spells forming between each of their devices as they began to close the gap. A yellow glow formed at the edge of Fate's palm, whilst on Nanoha's end a set of four broad energy wings extended across the length of Raging Heart, spreading out as the Accelerate Charge System was activated.
"Plasma Smasher!"
"Accelerate Charge System Drive!"
A set of three magic circles rose into place as Fate circled in from the left and fired the bombardment spell directly their foe. From the right, Nanoha circled round with greater speed to lend power to her own attack, the energy blade of Strike Flame visible at the end of Raging Heart's upgraded form. She flew past Takamachi in a blur as the rocket boosters set in place by the ACS System fired up, deliberately missing her in order to further accelerate and thus bring Strike Flame to maximum power.
As the spell reached its peak, her speed reached optimum level and Strike Flame released a shockwave of huge proportions from all around, obliterating everything in its wake and rendering Nanoha untouchable whilst it was active. Grimly, the Aee of Aces felt the shockwave activate a split second before she charged right into Takamachi.
She saw Takamachi raise Oguba's magic up in front of her like a shield, but the massive wave of energy coming from Raging Heart's tip easily overwhelmed it, pushing the girl back even as another barrier of claws tried to form in front of her. Takamachi's body shuddered as the ACS Drive hit it dead-centre, and then split in two down the middle. The second half melted into blue mist and then re-attached itself to the rest of the girl's body.
What the - ? Is there any way to put her down? It was if nothing could shake their opponent. You could probably launch a nuclear strike upon her and she would just turn to mist and get up again. How were you supposed to deal with an opponent that regenerated itself the instant you hit them? After all, with such an amount of time energy stored inside her, Takamachi had a hugely unfair advantage over them...
Then Nanoha saw Takamachi's lips move, forming words she couldn't hear over the roar of the ACS Drive. A spell.
She didn't hear what was said, and she didn't have time to appraise the magical field that was formed by its passing, but Nanoha could recognise a Divine Buster when she saw it.
What she did know was that her Divine Buster, or even Subaru's version, was not accompanied by a multitude of dripping green mouths which appeared in the sky next to it, fangs drooling as they shot forward like bullets from a gun. The spell that Takamachi was using on her now, however, was exactly that.
"Thunder Blade!" Fate intervened, her weapon changing form rapidly as she swept around at the sinisterly approaching mouths coming at Nanoha even as Takamachi's own Divine Buster powered up for its main attack. A rain of golden swords swept down and speared Takamachi's body in about thirteen different places. "Break!"
The swords all detonated as one, tearing their opponent apart, but not before the Divine Buster's power was released on Nanoha.
It was slow to focus on her at first, and she began to put up a shield before realising how foolhardy an action that would be. Calling on the ACS Drive once more, the Ace of Aces soared around to where Takamachi's body was beginning to come back together again, Oguba's mist connecting broken flesh and bone together like a jigsaw. The Divine Buster fired past her into the ground below with a force that could level more than one city.
To her dismay, the Divine Buster followed her as she moved, shifting around like a tracker beam, honing in on her location. It moved independently on its own and smashed Takamachi's body into a thousand pieces as the girl was almost fully regenerated, and kept going. It was surrounded by an ominous black glow which encompassed the beam in its entirety.
Future powers? Takamachi says that I become capable of this in the future? That's not an attack that I would ever want to use! It's as if she took a future Divine Buster of mine and mixed it up with something else completely, something really bad!
Whatever it was that Takamachi had done to it, it wasn't good news. Luckily, Nanoha didn't have to worry about it any more as the Divine Buster rapidly ran out of energy and gradually died away. Nanoha hoped there hadn't been anyone on the ground when the attack had fired. The sheer scale made her wonder just how much more damage had been to the surface of this world.
She turned to see if Fate was all right, when Takamachi appeared behind her, dead eyes fixating onto her own, the glowing staff in her hands growing into a spiked sceptre as she dashed forward to impale her.
Nanoha put up Round Shield without thinking, easily deflecting the girl away but noting from the light of the impact that Takamachi's staff had been infused with magic of its own. If it struck, it may well have terrible ill-effects, and Nanoha didn't want to wait around to find out what those might be.
"Flash Impact!"
Influenced by her Flash Move, she was able to dart around to Takamachi's blind spot and come in with a powerful melee attack of her own. At the same time, Fate charged in with Bardiche. Their opponent transferred her staff into her mouth and then blocked both of their assaults with her bare hands, time energy shooting from her fingers and eating away at the materials of their devices.
"Sprite Zanber!" Fate cried, bringing Bardiche in a two-handed overhead attack, a golden arc growing to three times the length of the blade and whipping around to close around the schoolgirl.
Takamachi bent her body around and then simply disappeared, turning into specks of blue mist which twisted around to reappear behind Nanoha. The Ace of Aces swung Raging Heart's hilt up to strike across the length of her neck as Takamachi's upper body turned to mist as well, reforming at the end of the attack to blast Nanoha back with a stream of energy. She disappeared again and re-appeared a few metres away, sending purple-white energy streams hurtling towards them.
"Fate, this isn't working!" Nanoha gasped, quickly blocking the projectiles with a defensive spell. "Every time we damage her, she just reforms again because of Oguba inside her! We need to capture her first - "
The two of them whirled around as Takamachi teleported behind them from an opposite angle, firing more projectiles at them, then re-appeared in five more consecutive locations, shooting at them in the same fighting circle, constantly teleporting away before they could focus on her. Within seconds, both of the mages' defensive shields had been destroyed, shattering along with their waning hopes.
"We can't capture her," Fate breathed, panting for breath. "We can barely see her. If it's Oguba inside her..."
Nanoha nodded. "We need to get Oguba out of her. If this keeps up, or if she starts using one of my more powerful spells - "
It occurred to her that Takamachi had not been using a lot of her future spells that she supposedly would learn later in her lifetime. Nanoha had recognised a few of the attacks, but that was all. It seemed that Oguba preferred to use his own time magic, not wishing to utilise the spells of the mage he was trying to absorb. Perhaps they could use that against him.
Then Takamachi teleported one last time, but directly in front of them.
"Axel Shooter Warfare."
In the past, Nanoha had managed to successfully train Axel Shooter to the point where she could fire up to thirty two bolts of devastating energy towards her enemy. She didn't know how many bolts were approaching her from Takamachi's powered-up spell now, but it was a lot more than just thirty-two. It was approaching about a hundred.
She saw Fate disappear to the side, bringing in Sonic Move to aid her, and Nanoha knew that the Enforcer would be able to easily dodge the projectiles, no matter how many of them there were. Her, on the other hand...
How do I get Oguba to leave her body completely? How? It's the only hope we've got of bringing her down!
She tried not to think about what was going to happen even if they did manage to remove Oguba from Takamachi's body. Wouldn't it be even harder to fight him?
"Accelerate Charge System Drive!"
The shockwave kicked into gear as the rocket boosters at Raging Heart's hilt fired up and brought her to dizzying speeds. Maybe she might be able to deflect some of the bolts of Axel Shooter, but no way could she dodge every single one of them, and every single projectile had the potential to do lasting damage to her Barrier Jacket in this form...
As she focused on Strike Flame, Nanoha thought that her eyes might be deceiving her for a moment. She blinked as her current attack brought her up to further breathtaking speeds, but inside her head she was able to slow down and think. For a fraction of a second there...she could have sworn that she had detected some of Oguba's magic flickering at the tip of Strike Flame.
Five more bolts were deflected away from her shockwave as she veered upwards at a steep angle, trying to get Takamachi in her sights. No. How was it possible for a trace of Oguba to remain within Raging Heart? Takamachi had sucked all of Oguba's power from Raging Heart. All of it. There shouldn't be a single trace of the blue mist of time travel remaining.
Could it be that Oguba had left some of its magic in Raging Heart without knowing? Nanoha considered and decided that it seemed pretty unlikely. The way Oguba behaved, every particle of its entire self always knew where every other part of it was. It would not separate from Takamachi unless it did so deliberately.
So if Oguba didn't leave anything behind...that can only mean one thing. It's leaking out somewhere, and returning to Raging Heart. Just by a tiny amount, but it's there.
Nanoha didn't know why it was happening, or why the time energy was specifically returning to Raging Heart – maybe because she was Oguba's most recent contractor, and the magic was just returning to her device as a secondary source? But if Takamachi's powers were leaking out...
Another series of bolts came through the ACS Drive and connected with her Barrier Jacket, blowing her halfway across the sky where she nearly collided with Fate, who was expertly dodging the rest of the projectiles coming her way with frequent use of Sonic Move and Plasma Smasher. Nanoha bit her tongue, swerving down to better avoid the continuing onslaught, knowing she could not afford to be careless...
If Oguba's powers are leaking out, I can track them. But not whilst the ACS Drive is still active. I'll have to cancel the spell to devote all of my concentration to finding the source of the leak in Takamachi's defences, but ACS Drive is the only thing keeping me alive right now...I'm going to have to be extremely quick about it...
She waited patiently for the next five missiles to approach her, and then boosted her speed to bring her around close to Takamachi's back. The bolts connected with the revolving blue shield protecting the schoolgirl and detonated on impact, stunning their opponent momentarily but not enough to interrupt the Axel Shooter Warfare.
Immediately Nanoha cancelled the ACS Drive, now that the timing had come, dropping her defences.
"Wide Area Search!"
It hadn't escaped her notice that the flicker of Oguba's light present within Strike Flame had grown steadily stronger when Takamachi had been hit just then. Quickly, Nanoha programmed Raging Heart to search for the exact energy contained within itself. The essence of Oguba. It probably would not be easy, not when Oguba's magic was overflowing from Takamachi's body at every point on her skin -
Yet she could feel it now, a thin strand of magic stretching between Raging Heart and Takamachi which connected them no matter how much distance was between the two. Through her spell, Nanoha locked onto that one strand of energy, carefully singling it out from the billions of other mana streams interwoven around it in a complicated web of twisted time. She guided Raging Heart across its length, following it as the strand veered and turn through a maze of Oguba's magic, billions of other streams of mana lashing out from every direction as Nanoha began to trace the tiny leakage right to the source...
And then her eyes flicked open as the spell reached its conclusions. Her own blue eyes meeting Takamachi's empty sockets.
Her eyes? That's where Oguba's magic is leaking out from?
It was an extremely tiny rupture in the shell that was now her past self's body, but it made sense that Takamachi would not be able to contain all of Oguba's power on her own. The time magic was a storm inside her, constantly at war with itself as it raged and fought to escape over many, many years. Takamachi's body had been changed, modified to best let Oguba reside within her without tearing her apart every few seconds – which was far worse than Nanoha's previous state of having a small part of Oguba in her head.
Nanoha had discovered something else from tracking the leak of magic. The strand she had followed had split. Split into two, so that Takamachi was letting a miniscule amount of Oguba's power seep out from each of her eyes, or what was left of them.
If I strike out at her eyes, maybe I can make the breach wider. Maybe I can force Oguba out of her body completely. If he doesn't have a body to control, he can't cast any spells or attack us, can he? But then...no, this is going to get messy...which eye should I attack? It's leaking out equally from each one.
"Fate!" she shouted, as the Enforcer flew over to her side, the barrage from Takamachi's spell dragging down behind her. "I need you to do a piercing spell!"
The blonde mage raised her device in response, but without enthusiasm. "It's not going to have any effect, Nanoha," she replied wearily. "Even if we blow her to pieces again, she'll just come back again. We can't destroy her."
"I know we can't. We're going to get Oguba out of her. Listen." Nanoha drew closer to her, ready to re-activate the ACS Drive if needs be to protect herself. "There's a tiny gap in her body where some of Oguba's magic is leaking out. Two of them, actually – one in each eye. You attack her left eye, and I'll attack her right. If we hit at exactly the same time - "
"Are you sure about this?" Fate said, looking worried. "If we open a breach and all of Oguba's power rushes out - "
Nanoha sighed. "What's the alternative? Dodging her impossibly powerful bombardment spells and being unable to do any damage at all? If you've got any better ideas - "
A thundering roar sounded in their ears as Takamachi's Axel Shooter Warfare fired up again, sending another barrage of heavy-power projectiles and concentrated magical bolts right towards them. This time, however, the missiles came from four different locations in the sky above, raining down upon them from every possible angle. Dodging the bolts was no longer an option. The only way out now was to dive as far below as possible and to try and swing around, away from the source of the attacks...
But that would also take the two mages much further away from their opponent, allowing her to employ several more long-range attacks upon them. The advantage would build on her side.
Nanoha and Fate exchanged a knowing look, and raised both of their devices as one.
"I take her left eye, right?" the Enforcer whispered to her, locking her gaze on Takamachi.
"Right," Nanoha replied, beginning to power up Raging Heart.
A mixture of red and golden energy began to envelop the two women. They seemed unheeding of the hundreds of destructive bolts coming down from the sky to obliterate them completely, and calmly began to focus on their two spells, taking careful aim.
Fate cleared her throat mere seconds before they were about to fire. "When you said "right", did you mean that I - "
"You take the left," Nanoha replied, beginning to concentrate on the rising magical circle mounting in front of Raging Heart. "I meant "right" as in "yes, you take the left"."
"And I hit her left eye."
"Right. I'm taking the right." Nanoha glanced at her lover in annoyance. "What's the problem?"
"It's just," Fate said, looking a little confused, "you keep saying "right". And I'm aiming for the left."
"I mean right as in correct! You are aiming for the left!" Nanoha looked up nervously at the missiles approaching them from a great distance. If they didn't attack right now, then..."Fate, we can't both aim for the right. I don't know if it'll work otherwise."
"Okay. I'm aiming for the left. Definitely. Her left eye." The Enforcer suddenly looked even more confused. "Hang on, isn't her left eye going to be our right? Should we swap positions?"
Nanoha was starting to panic now. The missiles were a few seconds away from hitting them. Of all the times to argue, they had to pick now?
"Not her left! Our left!" she insisted in a rushed tone. "You shoot at her left on our left! Fate, we do not have time for this!" She felt Raging Heart react at her command, the ACS activated with the spell on the ready. "Divine Buster!"
"Plasma Smasher!" Fate cried.
Blue and golden magic criss-crossed each other in mid-air and pierced through each of Takamachi's eye-sockets, exploding forth as the missiles from Axel Shooter Warfare made impact. Unable to do anything but hold onto their active spells and put only a minimal shield to protect themselves, the two mages were forced to bore the intense bombardment attack, their Barrier Jackets suffering badly beneath the onslaught. Gritting her teeth, Nanoha put all of her energy into her attack, trying to keep herself upright...
And then the world before them went blind as blue mist poured out of Takamachi's body in an unstoppable torrent. At first it seemed that she was gathering her power for another attack, but then it soon became clear that Oguba's magic was being drained out of her body completely. The mist was raging out of control, pouring from her broken eyes faster and faster until she was just bleeding magic from her face, clutching at her head as she struggled in vain to force the magic to do her bidding...
The missiles from above had stopped as her spell died completely. Takamachi dug her nails into her eyes, trying to stop the flood as Oguba continued to pour out. Her own Barrier Jacket flickered and reverted back to her everyday school uniform. The staff of Oguba in her hands crumbled to dust.
"You fool, Nanoha!" she shrieked. "What good will it do to release Oguba from my body? I'm the only one who can control him!"
As the two mages watched in horror, the blue mist suddenly ran straight upwards and split apart in hundreds of different strands, splitting up like the branches of a gigantic tree, shooting off further down across the planet, up into the sky, down into the ground...everywhere.
And everything that a strand of Oguba touched became a whirling pit of darkness, a revolving vortex of time energy, a gateway sucking away everything in its immediate vicinity...a time portal.
The strands continued to multiply, numbering in the thousands and still increasing. Time portals were created by the splitting of each strand, extending their reach to virtually every point in the world that could be seen, from the dark lifeless earth, to the deserted ruins upon the surface of the planet, to infinite locations in the sky around them stretching across the horizon...
All across the scale of the planet, hundreds of thousands of time portals were appearing, opening up by themselves as Oguba's magic went riot. There was no telling of where they would lead to if you entered one. Even as Nanoha and Fate watched, the portals kept growing and growing, sprouting up all around them and sucking in everything which even got close...
Uh-oh, Nanoha thought tensely. I think we just made everything a lot worse.
A/N: Nanoha being handicapped and not being able to use her full power might be annoying, yes. But if she could use Blaster Mode then she'd probably take out all of Red Scorpion at once anyway. (Though it wouldn't really affect Takamachi or Oguba.) But the way I'm writing the story, is more than just a case of firing more and more powerful attacks until they beat the enemy. I thought I'd do something different so then it wouldn't get all predictable.
Also, when Nanoha and Fate fired at Takamachi's eyes, their attacks criss-crossed each other. Meaning that they both fired at the wrong eye that they said they were going to fire at. :p And yes, they did make out in the middle of an important battle, because they can.
Next chapter: contains everyone.