A/N: So, it could all have ended there. Red Scorpion was defeated and all of its members were scattered. Maybe Nanoha and the others could have gotten home some other way...but it didn't, and otherwise you wouldn't know more about Exoria and Grylmark and some other stuff that comes into play. Plus only half of Nanoha's friends are even around, so it wasn't about to end there.
Finally I can start Part 2. Now I don't have to go on about time portals any more. There will be a slight change of pace/setting/atmosphere from previously, which is how I'm writing it this far. I've also been looking forward to writing this part for, well, a few months.
Oh, and from here on the story will be getting considerably darker in the long term. And explicit language maybe, though not for a while.
Thank you for all my readers who've helped me continue this far, whether you've been reviewing or following or simply viewing. And enjoy! =)
PART 2 - THE HOUSE OF YAGAMI
Uminari City was almost devoid of people at sunset as the approaching night cast a bleak shadow across the eastern regions of Mid-childa, reminding its citizens of the time left remaining to them. Just half an hour earlier, businesses had been bustling with activity, children had been laughing and playing in the street like the world would never cease, people had been chatting away to each other as they passed the rest of the day away in whichever way they pleased. The roads had been active with the sounds and smells of traffic, countless shops and entertainment venues open to the public across the whole of Mid-childa.
Now, however, not a single person remained on the street. No one was willing to risk it. Soon the executors would be out on the road, patrolling at every corner, watching and waiting as the night rolled in and Mid-childa's two moons sweeping their own reflected light across the planet. All but a few shops had closed up, and not a vehicle was left on the road. The people of Mid-childa were always given plenty of warning when curfew was nearly upon them.
Ninety minutes before curfew, Scrya thought, stepping out of the shadow of a sealed shop window. I can make it.
He knew he was pushing his luck, doing this so close to curfew. The HX chip on his wrist would help him get by, but that didn't meant the executors wouldn't leave him alone. They could be a vicious bunch sometimes, and he was now the only vulnerable person outside in the whole of Uminari City. It was natural to be nervous.
Scrya felt something more than just nerves creeping up at him. "Nerves" was what made him adjust his tie and shift around in his smart shoes and shirt, made his heart skip a beat at the prospect of what awaited him at his destination. Getting there before curfew slammed down on him was the harder part. He didn't want to fall to the Harlaown Program like so many of his family had before. So many loved ones, taken away before his eyes.
I can't remember when it all changed because it was always like this, for hundreds of years. Vivio Harlaown did it, they say. They say she stopped the war and saved the universe, all by herself. They said we don't need money anymore, we don't need possessions, we don't need anything but the legacy she left behind. And still everyone continues to die. They're dying...but they're happy with living like this? If she really saved us all, why am I so afraid? Why do I feel like I might be next to disappear?
He brushed aside a trail of his light brown hair, his green eyes wide as Scrya saw how far the evening had progressed. There was no time to mope around. The executors would be drawn to an unarmed sixteen-year old boy like himself, especially one dressed in a suit like this. The clothes hadn't been cheap; Scrya had been forced to sell the majority of his family's possessions to get them.
I can do this. Commander Chrono gave out his recommendation and vouched for me personally. If anything happens, he'll protect me. I don't need to be afraid. If the interview goes badly, I can get to a safe house in no time.
Wiping a drop of sweat from his brow, Scrya hurried out into the waning light, going at a fast pace across the route he had memorised before. There was little point in memorising it in advance, really, since everyone knew where Lady Yagami's mansion was situated. But you never really wanted to be late for a job interview.
He made it across the first street, turning the corner at the end and passing rows of darkened houses with their doors locked and their windows shut. Scrya knew that there were still families inside who were wide awake, but nobody wanted to draw attention to themselves so close to curfew. You could light up a room without turning the entire house into a blazing signal flare.
Eyes followed him from the dark, innocent eyes every much as petrified as he was. He barely felt the presence of an old woman huddled within the alcove of a doorway, a muted cry for help as jagged yellow nails clawed at his name, reaching for his wrist. A desperate soul who had reached the end of their rope, their credit reaching danger level. The amount of credit on your HX chip was more important than your daily income; if it ever passed the threshold, you would be condemned by that little mark on your wrist. The executors would come looking for you.
Scrya felt the unknown woman's small voice drag past his ear, but when he turned to look again, she had disappeared completely. Another ghost, another victim succumbed inevitably to Vivio Harlaown's legacy. Already the faint touch of her nails against his skin was beginning to fade away in his mind. It did nothing but quench the fear that he, too, would be taken away by the tide.
Maybe, once upon a time, someone would have found something wrong with this way of living. Maybe someone would have tried to fight back. Maybe someone had, once upon a time, and maybe they had died like so many others had before them. But now two hundred years had passed, and no one batted an eyelid. It became normality. Just another sacrifice for world salvation.
Scrya found the next street empty – completely empty of both people and executors alike, which was a huge relief. He could already hear their footsteps coming from far-off, almost hear their voices. They were close, but he was already halfway to Yagami's mansion. They weren't going to find him now -
"Hey, kid," a gruff voice sounded right in front of him.
He almost walked right into the towering form of an executor, and Scrya thought he would have a heart attack. His voice came out as a weak stammer, and his legs turned to jelly as he looked up at the hulk of a man who had just apprehended him. The executor was the real deal – heavy battle armour, a steely gaze that burned right through you, the firearm strapped to his hip applicable for one purpose and one purpose only – and it wasn't for what you might think.
"P-please, sir," Scrya pleaded, unable to back away as the executor advanced towards him with grim intent. He was a dead man standing, he knew that. He might as well just give up. They'd take him away to a detention centre like all the other poor souls, victims of the dreaded Harlaown Program, and then... "I...I haven't...it's not curfew yet a-and..."
As if things couldn't get any worse, a second executor stepped out into the light. They were of a leaner build and not as heavily muscled, but that only made them more intimidating from Scrya's point of view. The duo surrounded the boy on both sides, and Scrya wanted to bury himself in a hole underground rather than bear their gaze on him for any longer.
"HX, please," grunted the first executor, raising the firearm.
Scrya was so scared that he could barely stand up straight. The other man noticed this and clasped hold of the boy's left wrist, exposing the mark of his HX chip. Working systematically, the bigger executor laid the side of the firearm against the chip, waiting for a moment whilst the device scanned against Scrya's wrist much like a shopkeeper would scan an item's bar code at a supermarket.
Seconds later, the first man squinted at the reading on the device and nodded. The second executor released Scrya's wrist so suddenly that the boy lost his balance and almost fell onto the pavement.
"He's not on the list," said the heavier-built executor. "Yet." His gaze on Scrya was no longer one of a predator sighting a prey waiting to be ensnared, but one of mellow sympathy. "Kid, what're you doing out here at this time of night? Curfew's in seventy-five minutes. You get caught outside by then, you really will be on the list."
The second man sighed. "He's scared to death. We've scared him to death. Another one." Unexpectedly, he reached out to pull Scrya to his feet; the boy readily accepted, though with a shade of wariness in his green eyes. "We're not here to scare you, boy. Someone has to enforce the law. You think we like doing this to people?" He waited until Scrya seemed a bit more stable, and then adapted his tone into a slightly more friendly one. "I take it you're not out for a suicidal tour of Mid-childa, boy. Dressed up smart and all that. You heading somewhere? Somewhere close?"
"Lady Yagami's mansion," Scrya muttered, shaking his hand away self-consciously. "I...I have to go there now."
The two executors exchanged glances, with a mixture of horror and respect from each.
"You can't be serious," the first man said in a low voice, bending forward to speak. "Don't be taking offence here, kid, but...you don't seem the type."
The second was shaking his head again sadly. "You take my advice, boy. Turn back round the way you came and go home for the rest of your life. Stay away from that mansion. Whatever reason you have for wanting to go there is not worth the price for her lifelong protection."
Scrya looked up at the two of them with desperation in his eyes. He had to go; he didn't have any choice. And if he didn't convince them of that somehow, then the two executors would probably delay him until the real curfew was upon them. It was his only chance to get away from the Harlaown Program.
Quickly, he fumbled round in the pockets of his jacket until he found the folded letter from Arisa, thankful that he had packed it away with him just in case. There was just enough light to read it as Scrya wordlessly handed it to the second executor.
The two men gathered round to read it by themselves, but Scrya already knew what it said:
Dear Mr Scrya,
Thank you for submitting your application to the House of Yagami. Having reviewed your accomplishments, merit of character, previous experiences and your notable recommendation from Commander Chrono, I would like to offer you an interview for your chosen position. Please note that failure to attend will result in the withdrawal of your application from our database, as we receive a large number of applicants at each intake.
Your interview is scheduled at the following time and date: Wednesday 17th, one hour prior to Harlaown Curfew Time.
Instructions for all applicants with regards to attendance:
Please comply with the dress code regulations as detailed on the form attached. Remove all weapons and metal objects to avoid any initial conflicts prior to the interview which could potentially delay the processing of the later stages of your application. It is advised to be in possession of a healthy credit level on your TX chip – if you are successful in gaining the position, of course, this will no longer be an obstruction.
Please ensure you are punctual. Lateness will reflect on your bearing and character as an applicant and will not be tolerated. If you are unable to attend at the exact time, please do not bother to turn up.
Please enter by the northernmost gate and speak to the North Keeper on duty. They will know to look out for you – simply ask for me or the Head Maid (Noriko Saikouji) and they will allow you entry following the appropriate security checks. Alternatively you can have your HX chip registered manually on the grounds to confirm your identity.
Do not enter by the southern or western gates. The Keepers there have not been given any notice of your coming and may attack on sight if you try to gain entry via either of those routes. Please also do not attempt to enter the House through the eastern gate – as I constantly remind our applicants each year, the eastern gate does not exist and never has. If you persist in trying to enter in this fashion, you will only become very confused.
Enclosed is a map of the surrounding area of the House of Yagami, a brief recap of the position you have applied for, and an overview of the history of the House itself, all purely for your own reference.
Once again let me thank you on behalf of Lady Yagami for registering your interest in acquiring a position at her residence. I look forward to meeting with you.
Yours Sincerely,
Arisa Bannings
Head of Security
The House of Yagami
Scrya wasn't aware that he was holding his breath and praying very slightly until he felt the neatly-folded letter being placed back into his hands. Warily, he glanced up at the two executors, and was surprised to see an extraordinary change within them. The two men were looking at him in a completely new light, a new measure of respect and seriousness shifting across their faces, though not without a trace of sadness and alarm.
"We didn't know about this," the first executor said, unable to hide the awe in his voice. "If you are under Commander Chrono's protection, kid...you probably know what you're doing." he took a respectful step backwards. "We're sorry for delaying you, Yuuno Scrya."
Yuuno? Scrya didn't recognise the name. "Sir, my name is Scrya," he said timidly. "Not Yuuno. It's just Scrya."
The other man frowned and held up the HX reader, shaking it from side to side. "Says here your name is Yuuno, boy. It's all down in your chip."
"No, sir. I've always been called Scrya. I...I don't know anyone called Yuuno." Inwardly, Scrya wondered who "Yuuno" was supposed to be. The name sounded vaguely familiar, caught up in the fragments of his childhood from years ago. Where had he heard it before? Scrya thought. Had one of his friends mentioned it once, maybe?
The heavier-built executor muttered something under his breath about malfunctioning technology, and shook his head. "Scrya, then. Kid. You're in a very unique position, there. Still, I can't think why in the world you'd ever want a position with one of Lady Yagami's lot. You seem a very down-to-earth lad."
Scrya didn't answer, his eyes wandering down to his watch. He only had ten minutes to get to Lady Yagami's mansion. If these two would just stop talking to him and let him pass...
"It's the sign of the times, isn't it?" the second executor commented. "Everyone needs a House to belong to. A lifetime of servitude, but you'll never be taken by the Harlaown Program again. Hey, don't you be too hard on the boy," he said, motioning towards the first executor casually. "He's got a right to make his own decisions in life. There are worse places to be than the House of Yagami."
"Yeah," the other man said darkly. "But only one. No one wants to wind up in the House of Testarossa." He shivered visibly. "Terrible case, it was. The mother and her daughter both committed suicide, one after the other. I was just starting out as an executor myself on the day. Place was crawling with Chrono's men for months afterwards. I feel sorry for whoever ends up chained to that House."
"It all just goes wrong nowadays," sighed the other. "Two hundred years since the death of Vivio Harlaown, can you imagine it? If she were here, she would surely know what to do. She'd know how to fix everything that was wrong with Chrono's Blood Oath and keep Mid-childa stable. You mark my words, boy, this country'll be on the verge of collapse if someone upsets the balance now. Anarchy, pandemonium, chaos..." He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Well, what can you do but keep going? You've just got to keep going." The executor seemed about to move off, but then his eyes flicked back towards Scrya. "You, boy. Have you prayed at the statue today?"
"S-statue?" Scrya said nervously. "No, sir, I - "
"The statue of Vivio Harlaown that's been up in the square for the past century or so. I swear they've got a shrine to her in every city in Mid-childa by now. This is what they spend the taxpayer's money on, I tell you." The executor spat on the ground distastefully. "You got any time, boy, you might want to pray there at some point. It's not too far from where you're going. People these days, they'll be less likely to root you out if they see you're the devout type. Marks you out as a supporter of the Program, you know what I mean?"
"Sorry for us keeping you waiting like this, kid," the first man rumbled, as the duo began to move out, back along the darkening street. "The House is just round the corner. If you go at a run, you'll be there with plenty of time to spare." His voice lowered into a faint murmur as the two executors began to fade away out of sight. "Good luck, Scrya. You'll need it."
Scrya didn't stop to let their advice sink in. If he met even one more executor on the road then he wasn't going to make it to the interview. Fortunately, the rest of the street seemed to be as deserted as he'd hoped; the executors were sweeping the previous quarter tonight, and it seemed that they were somewhat uneasy about conducting their shift too near to Yagami's Mansion.
The executors didn't understand why someone like me would want to work at the House of Yagami. I know their reputation only too well. I know what they do there. But...I don't have any choice. The Harlaown Program has taken away all of the family and friends that I have ever known. One by one, they all began to disappear. If I don't get out of here...I'm going to disappear too, and nobody is even going to notice.
The ironic thing, however, is that he needn't have worried about being late. At the rise of the next street, Scrya could already see the gates of the mansion. He hastily checked that he was approaching the correct entrance – it would probably take half an hour just to circle around to one of the other gateways, after which he could kiss goodbye to getting an audience there at all – but fortunately he was at the north post, just as required. Memorising the route day-in day-out had been worth it after all.
The gates towered up before him, a blend of gold-tipped silver down to the ground as a row of mechanically armed turrets swung around from the top at his approach. Scrya couldn't see all the way up, but he heard the whining sound of a set of guns being aimed towards him before he was even within a dozen feet of the entrance. No wonder the executors avoided crossing here – anyone would get jumpy at being confronted like this just by walking too close.
Motion sensors, maybe? Scrya had heard of it before, from his limited knowledge of other privileged Houses. To be honest, he didn't know what to expect. The place was armed to the teeth like some kind of military base – and this was just one of the three entrances. What would it be like once he actually set foot inside? There was a manned sentry tower just within the northern gate, however, which was a relief. Someone human to speak to.
Scrya's gaze was caught by something shimmering to his right as he approached the gates. Something separate from Yagami's mansion complete – a sculpture of some sort, shining high above the rooftops of Uminari City.
He stopped in his tracks for a moment, recognising the marble statue of Vivio Harlaown. There wasn't enough time to go over to inspect it more closely, but viewing it from a distance would be enough.
The saviour of our world. Vivio Harlaown. It's said that she appeared almost out of the blue, an accomplished mage that no one had ever heard before. The Harlaown Program was her legacy, what she passed down to us after her death, centuries ago. But they say it's gone downhill since then. Too many people are disappearing. The curfew has become more and more strict.
To Scrya, the image of Vivio seemed to be like a shining goddess. It was probably the way that the statue was designed; the figure of a golden warrior, blonde hair cascading down her back as she lifted up her staff to open up the heavens. Her body was clothed in a mage's uniform, yet the passion in her stance gave the impression that Vivio was wrapped up within the armour of a magical knight. The strength and determination in her face was inspiring, even to Scrya. It made him question whether he was truly without hope or choice in the world.
A voice suddenly called out to him from the sentry tower, interrupting his thoughts.
"Can I help you?"
It was a gruff voice, used to the ways of military yet forced into politeness. Remembering the words on the letter, Scrya quickly stood into attention, understanding. According to the letter, this should be...the North Keeper? Was that right?
"I, um..." He faltered, trying to gather the words to explain himself. Scrya always panicked in the most basic of social situations. He adjusted his tie nervously and made the mistake of glancing at his watch. One minute left. "I'm...I..."
Fortunately, the North Keeper was equipped with sufficient information.
"You are the interviewee?" A hatch opened up in the top of the tower, revealing a pair of beady eyes, but nothing more that could be made out in the darkness. "Scrya-kun?"
Relief filled the boy's face, and he nodded frantically.
"Y-yes!" His face was flushed and hot as Scrya forced down the panic. Pull yourself together, he reminded himself. This is your break. Don't make a fool of yourself. "I, I've been asked to report to, um...Arisa Bannings. She is expecti - "
The gates began to open with an ominous creaking sound, drowning out the rest of what Scrya had been working on saying. The automated turrets were no longer aiming towards him; perhaps the North Keeper had had them deactivated.
"Come in," said the sentry. "Go straight through. The security droids will want to scan your HX chip to confirm your identity, after which you can take a seat in the main reception area. Arisa should be with you shortly."
Scrya re-arranged the sides of his suit, his eyes shifting from side to side, and managed to push himself through the opening. He felt like someone was going to shoot him if he stayed too long here, even though the North Keeper's tone of voice had been relatively friendly. No, Scrya told himself. He had to keep it together. At least there weren't any guns being aimed at him anymore.
He made an attempt to thank the gatekeeper. "Th-thank..." The rest of the sentence caught in his mouth, and Scrya gave up. Should he do a thumbs-up? No, stop standing there like an idiot. Move. Even Lady Yagami won't want you if you stand there all night. They'll think you're, they'll think you're too weird. Get inside before the executors come running. Move.
"Thank you," Scrya muttered under his breath, able to get the words out now that there were no eyes on him. He knew no one could hear him anymore. Pulling his jacket about him a second time to calm his nerves, Scrya hurried forward at last into the House of Yagami.
Spending your entire life blinded by intense dazzling light was no different than spending the same amount of time in darkness, Nanoha thought. It was the same no matter where you stood on the timeline, much like the extremes between when you woke up crying into the world for the first time and when you breathed for the last time as you perished on your death-bed. Good and evil; geniuses and psychopaths; love and hate; the boundary between someone who could be brought back from despair, and someone who had already gone too far to be saved. The line between such things was incredibly minute.
These thoughts came to her as the wormhole pulled her and Tiana through for what seemed an eternity, inspired by images racing across her mind. Some were of the past that she had experienced with her friend, and others were of people that she did not know or recognise. She saw herself a thousand times in very different ways, infinite possibilities that looped within one another and created a completely different universe of existence. Many, many different universes of so many Nanohas that could have existed. Perhaps they really did exist already. There was no way to be certain.
She remembered experiencing similar visions when Oguba had taken her on a trip through a dream-like world, showing her fragments and portions of futures that could have existed. Wars raging within Mid-childa, friends turning against one another...
Maybe I'm in the dream world again now. Maybe I'm asleep. After all, what is dreaming, if not this? Drifting away in a timeless existence, imagining things that could happen to you but never will...
Nanoha didn't feel the light of the wormhole fading away from her. She didn't hear the voices drift away into a gradual diminuendo and she didn't realise the images had stopped appearing, not until the last second when the entire experience had come to an end. You didn't know the exact moment that you fell asleep, because if you did then it simply wouldn't happen. Maybe the same thing was true with how the wormhole functioned, especially in light of the fact that time and space played a vital part.
But Nanoha was aware of waking up when the absence of light rushed at her from all sides, bringing her body's senses into sharp focus. Solid ground beneath her feet. A cool hand clasped within her own. The smell of dirt and smoke. An uncomfortable breeze against her face. Footsteps in the distance. A sense of familiarity, but not necessarily the pleasant kind.
She could have spent years of their life in the wormhole and never aged, or she could have spent just five minutes. It wasn't important: now they had arrived on the other side.
Nanoha squeezed the small hand slipped within her own, remembering that Fate had pushed Tiana towards her to ensure the forward's safety. Yes, it was Tiana holding onto her right now. It wasn't Fate. The thought made her sick to her stomach, and the combat mage refused to open her eyes, keeping them sealed shut despite the danger that blindness could pose to her in what could be a brand new universe.
Fate's gone. One moment I was in her arms, and we were fighting together. We were winning, too. And now...she's gone. I've lost her.
Her lower lip clenched as tears streamed down her cheek, and she shoved Raging Heart down into the ground. The soil was soft, unyielding, evidence that the wormhole hadn't taken them to another completely dead planet, but Nanoha didn't care. Her heart welled up inside as she cried quietly, thinking of how she was now separated from both Fate and Vivio now.
She had promised Vivio, whilst waving goodbye from the threshold of the first portal, that she would be back immediately. She'd now managed to break that promise. Maybe time had accelerated since then. Maybe she'd arrived so far ahead in the future that Vivio had lived her entire life waiting for her, waiting for the mother that never came back. Both mothers. Just the thought of it was heartbreaking.
With Vivio I had time to say goodbye. But Fate...No. I can't bear this. She was torn away from me before we could keep ourselves together. The wormhole could have taken her anywhere in time and space. Anywhere. I can't...I can't just...
But she could, Nanoha realised, her eyes opening slowly, red with tears. A wormhole would take you to another possible universe, through time and space. And combined with Oguba's magic, and with her own knowledge from what she had gleaned form the Lost Logia...Fate might not be as separated from her as she might think. They would definitely be in the same universe, but...
Time and space. Tiana's at my side right now because we hung onto each other, but time travel would still have entered into it...and yet we're still standing next to each other on the other side. Maybe the same is true for Fate, too! Maybe she hasn't been moved in time. She could just have been moved in space alone!
Which meant that Fate was out there somewhere, somewhere out there on one of the many planets in their universe...perhaps even Mid-childa. Nanoha wiped away the last of her tears, inspiration coming back to her. The TSAB had authorisation over a significant amount of known planets, didn't it? She was a high-ranking Bureau mage – all she had to do was to gain access to a terminal within the Time-Space Administration Bureau and find Fate from there. It shouldn't take too long at all.
Yes. I can do this. I can do this! Triumph forced a smile on her face as she pulled Raging Heart back out of the ground again. I haven't lost Fate yet. Even now, she could be thinking the exact same thing as me. She might be on her own, but Fate's a resourceful girl. We could be back together in no time if all goes well...
Another thought occurred to Nanoha – the fate of Signum, Vita and the others of their group. Surely they must have been swallowed up by the wormhole as well. If that was the case, then she would have to search for them in a similar fashion.
Satisfied with this for the moment, and eager to find Fate as soon as possible, Nanoha opened her eyes fully to survey her surroundings and find out exactly where they were.
The first thing that hit her eyes was the rubble of a destroyed building. A hospital, by the looks of it. The remains of several burned-down houses could be sighted not too far away, and as Nanoha turned her head, more and more rubble seemed to spread out for miles. There had been a thriving community in this area at some point, but not any more.
Did the wormhole take us to another destroyed civilisation? A dead planet, just like the last one? If this is true, and if there are no other signs of life on this world, then there will be no way of contacting the TSAB for help. We'll be stranded here...
"Nanoha?" Tiana murmured at her side. The forward was waking up, slower to shake off the effects of the journey through the wormhole. "Wh...where are we? Where's...where's Fate?"
Nanoha felt her neck muscles tighten at the mention of Fate's name, but took care not to show it. "We're on the other side of the wormhole, Tiana. I don't know where we are..."
The world around them was certainly a contrast with the experience inside the wormhole. It was nightfall here – the beauty of the starlit sky shining down on them from above. That was already a difference from the land of limbo that they had left behind – this world actually had a proper, natural sky. But if there was no one living on it...
There has to be life here. It doesn't make sense. I can smell smoke, so maybe these buildings were destroyed recently. And...footsteps. I definitely heard something. There have to be people here.
Nanoha tapped one foot against the ground impatiently, and felt something rustle underneath her boot. Not dead rock: grass. Living grass. In fact, now that her eyes had adjusted properly to the light of the two moons shining in the night sky, she could see that Tiana and her were standing in an open clearing of some kind. Trees surrounded them, alongside vegetation that thrived and lived. Nanoha breathed a sigh of relief; there was life on this planet after all. Where there was life, there would surely be people, unless of course the two of them had stumbled onto a world filled with nothing but plants and wild beasts.
"Tiana, put your training to good use," she suggested, taking her hand away from the forward as the teenage mage blinked herself awake woozily. "Use some of your tracking skills to find out where we are. What do you see?"
Tiana rubbed her eyes tiredly, squinting up ahead. She was in her standard Bureau uniform and not yet had the opportunity to transform with everything that had happened so far. As such, she peered forward without the aid of Cross Mirage. "Um...I see..." She blinked again and came into a crouch. "We're in a clearing...there are buildings destroyed everywhere around us. They...they must have been destroyed recently, because I can smell smoke..."
"Very good," Nanoha commented. "Go on."
"The rubble's hard to make out, but..." Tiana stifled a yawn, realising how tired she was from the previous battles. Sleep would have to wait, however. "Local residences, I think? And...that could be a hospital. A battleground. That's what the rubble is. That other place looks like..." Her eyes narrowed. "The remains of that other building looks like...no, it looks a sentry tower. I can tell because some of the supports are still left standing. And...that huge building used to have several floors. A balcony, maybe? As if it was connecting one part of the compound to another - "
Nanoha felt as if a sliver of ice had been driven into her heart.
"What did you just say?" she said quietly.
"I said..." Tiana looked at her curiously. "I said that the building over there looks like it could connect the compound together. The base, or whatever it is."
"Why do you call it a compound?" Nanoha pursued her, feeling the dread mount within her throat. No, please don't let my intuition be right. It couldn't be true. How could any of this be true? "The only compound you know is the compound of the TSAB, right? Long Arch?"
"Y...yes, Nanoha," the forward said shyly. "I'm sorry to say this, but the rubble that we're seeing, all the destroyed buildings...it just reminds me a lot of where we trained together at the TSAB with Subaru and the others. At...at Long Arch."
With panic rising in her eyes and her pulse accelerating, the Ace of Aces whirled around as several thoughts hit her one after the other. The two moons in the night sky. Mid-childa had two moons.
When she had gathered with Fate and the others to mount a rescue mission to bring Vita back from the portal, when she had waved goodbye to Vivio and Hayate...she had used Oguba's power to create a new portal within a clearing of trees. The same clearing in which Srethis and Ungore had initially escaped through a portal of their own, which had led to Vita's capture by Red Scorpion.
The clearing that she was standing in now was very, very similar to what existed in Nanoha's memory.
The rubble of destroyed buildings all around them, one of which bore the likeness of a hospital. There had been a hospital very close to the clearing – Nanoha knew this because Vita had been kept in the same hospital, until the moment when the Velka Knight had run out and been taken away by their adversaries.
And now the similarity of the other buildings – the similarity to the TSAB itself. The residential housing was that of Subaru and Tiana's living quarters. The sentry towers marked the borders of the Bureau compound.
We're not in any alien world, Nanoha thought. Not this time. We're on Mid-childa...and we're standing in what's left of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. In fact...we're even standing in the exact same place where we left. This is the same place where I made the portal into the land of limbo. This is where I waved goodbye to my daughter before we all disappeared.
What in the world had happened here after they left? Had Mid-childa been engulfed by a terrible catastrophe? Was...was everyone dead? Nanoha couldn't make out any bodies, but...
"Nanoha?" the forward asked in a shaky voice. "I have to know. Is this...is this the future?"
Was it, indeed? It was entirely probably that the wormhole had taken them into an apocalyptic future in which all life upon Mid-childa had been destroyed, along with the TSAB. And yet...it didn't make sense. A wormhole worked by transporting you in time and space to another universe. It wasn't supposed to take you back to your own universe, not unless something had really gone horribly wrong...
"Why don't we find out?" Nanoha asked, stepping forward with formidable purpose.
The instant she stepped out of the clearing, the air was filled with the sound of sirens blaring far and wide across the entire scale of where the Bureau had once stood. Alarms rose at a screeching pit, voices yelling towards them as flashlights switched on from within the shadows, searching in their direction...
What the...? What's going on?
The two mages shrank back into the comfort of the clearing as the march of soldiers grew louder and louder. Nanoha could hear orders being yelled, commands being issued through telecommunications. The Bureau? Was the Bureau still alive and well after all? A sudden sound from overhead caught her attention, and both she and Tiana stared upwards to see a helicopter's searchlight moving down towards their position to root them out...
"Freeze!" came the pilot's voice on loudspeaker. "You are under arrest for trespassing on a volatile and dangerous area under the possession of the Harlaown Government! Drop your weapons and keep your hands in plain sight!"
Seconds later, the clearing was surrounded by around twenty soldiers, each of them fully armed with the muzzle of their firearm aimed directly at Nanoha and Tiana. Awkwardly, Nanoha made a second attempt at stepping out from behind the trees.
A round of shock-induced bullets went off, almost like an impulsive reaction, and the mage yelped in startled surprise as the projectiles bounced harmlessly off her Barrier Jacket. Fuming, she waved Raging Heart at the guards who had just shot at her.
"What was that for?" she cried angrily. "Is this any way for Bureau soldiers to act? What's going on?"
"I said, FREEZE!" the pilot repeated from the helicopter. "The two of you are unregistered aliens of Mid-childa and are to be brought to Commander Chrono for interrogation! Do not attempt to resist!"
"I'm not resisting, but if you could please stop shooting at me - " Nanoha suddenly realised the impact of the man's words. "What do you mean, "aliens"? I'm Takamachi Nanoha. You're from the Time-Space Administration Bureau, aren't you? Shouldn't you be able to recognise me?"
"The Time-Space Administration Bureau was demolished after it was deemed no longer necessary by the Harlaown Government," the pilot responded. "The two of you do not possess HX chips, and are therefore not ordinary residents of Mid-childa. You will be brought in for questioning with Commander Chrono. Now drop your weapons!"
"Chrono's a commander now?" Tiana enquired with interest. "When did this happen?"
"Tiana," Nanoha said irritably, "I'm a little more worried about why the Bureau has been completely eradicated. Who's in charge here, anyway?"
She planted Raging Heart's staff on the ground in annoyance, and the soldiers in front of her let loose several more rounds of bullets. Again, each of them was deflected by her powerful Barrier Jacket as if they were no more than rubber pellets, and Nanoha waited patiently until they had stopped.
"Lieutenant, the guns aren't working!" one of the soldiers shouted fearfully. "The bullets aren't hurting her! What do we do?"
At this range, Nanoha could see the soldiers clearly now. A strange assortment of green and red uniforms, with crudely-built helmets and armour that didn't look too hard to penetrate. The weapons they held seemed fairly dangerous and were certain evidence of modern technology, but they were nothing she couldn't handle.
I've been a combat instructor for enough years to know that no real soldier or mage in the Bureau would ever wear such poorly-made equipment. Their weapons don't look too bad, but these guards don't even seem that well-trained. They only know how to follow orders.
Nanoha knew one thing for sure, however: these were not soldiers of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. With a sinking feeling, she felt sure that they were telling the truth. The real Bureau had been demolished, as they called it. But why? What was this "Harlaown Government" and why on earth was Chrono in charge of it? What in the world were HX chips supposed to be? If this government had really gone and destroyed the Bureau, Nanoha thought darkly, they had better not have burned her house down with it.
"Miss Nanoha, if that is your name," the pilot yelled down, starting to sound a bit panicky, "I order you to surrender and allow yourself to be escorted to Commander Chrono for questioning!"
Nanoha turned to Tiana and beckoned with a finger. The forward warily hid behind her in case any more shots were fired.
"Okay," Nanoha said simply. "I surrender."
The soldiers had been in the act of retreating, but stopped when they heard her.
"What?" the pilot said, unsure if he'd heard right. "You agree to come with us?"
"Sure. I'd like to ask Chrono some questions of my own. Lead on."
A nervous guard's gun went off, sending one more stray bullet towards Nanoha. She ignored it and stepped out of the clearing completely as the three dozen soldiers in front of her yelled out and got out of her way as quickly as they could.
"Very well!" the pilot declared from above, mustering a final air of bravado. "Then we have captured you, Miss Nanoha, and I order you now to put down your weapon and - "
"Oh, shut up." Nanoha waved Raging Heart around her, twirling it across her hand expertly and pointed it at the soldier who had accidentally fired the last shot. "You there. I would be most honoured if you could escort Tiana and I to Chrono as quickly as possible."
The soldier stared at her in abject terror, and then keeled over backwards and fainted. He must have thought that Raging Heart was a destructive firearm of some sort, which wasn't too far from the truth.
"Nanoha, are you sure this is a good idea?" Tiana whispered in her ear. "I don't want to be shot. You could just take all of them out with one spell..."
"I guess so," the Ace of Aces replied easily, "but why waste all that effort when they're wiling to show me where Chrono is? In fact..." She raised her head upwards and shouted up to the pilot. "Pilot-san! Do you think we could have a ride in your helicopter?"
The pilot yelled down something intelligible and started steering the craft down towards the ground with a strenuous effort. Nanoha beamed and turned back to the sharpshooter watching in stunned silence beside her.
"There you go," she said brightly. "Now we get a free ride."
"Nanoha, you can already fly," Tiana protested. "This is all going to go really badly. I can just tell."
The helicopter landed giddily in the middle of the clearing, the rotor blades cutting out at stray pieces of branches that came too close. It was not a very steady landing, but Tiana could see the pilot wiping sweat from his brow even from here. The poor man seemed scared to death of Nanoha after less than a minute of meeting her.
"They just seemed so eager to help us," the Ace of Aces shrugged. "And you know how much I like helping people." She offered her hand to the forward. "Shall we go and see Chrono, then?" Nanoha's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I have a lot of questions for him."
Time travel and parallel worlds. Antimatter universes and the crossing of someone's path in life with another depending on exactly who they were, what made their mind ticked and whether they were in the right place in the right time. Luck played a part in the encounter as well, but the whole process seemed fascinating and romantic to Exoria. To meet the one person who would give you the reason to smile and breathe throughout your entire life...it was both a blessing and a curse.
She was still smiling happily as she emerged from her portal and headed towards the House of Yagami. It felt good to be back in her own universe again – being in the land of limbo all the time with Red Scorpion had given her severe blinding headaches, one after the other. In a place where time seemed to last forever, such pain was completely unbearable.
Here, I can think clearly again. All the hatred inside me, all the resentment I had for Hayate...it feels so empty and useless. As if it was never really there. What was I doing? I remember a desperate urge to lash out and kill, so many times, but...not out of hatred. No.
Exoria wondered if she really knew what hatred was. For years it seemed that she had devoted herself, mind and body, to ridding the world of Hayate. Now that she was standing in a world where Hayate no longer existed, the constant war inside her head had calmed down and drifted to a standstill. Were such feelings so easily negated?
Yagami-sama told me to travel to the other world and kill her other self, an individual who would be named Hayate. It was a private mission that she arranged with me specially, not to be shared with anyone else. I would travel under the guise of working with the others of Red Scorpion, but in truth I had no wish to remain in the organisation if Yagami-sama was no longer part of it any more.
Exoria had always loved Lady Yagami, passionately, fiercely, for as long as she could remember. Lately, the mistress of the House had become more withdrawn and moody, lashing out at anything which annoyed her by the slightest amount. She had hurt people. In more ways than one, she had been hurting Exoria, and not by any small degree or frequency.
But I didn't mind. I didn't mind, because I remembered what she used to be like. I remembered how the sight of her face used to make me light up inside and how the briefest smile from her could make me happy for days on end. I just wanted her to acknowledge me again. She didn't talk to me for so long...she only called me to punish me, hurt me, torture me...or to send me down to Felicity, which was the worst of it...
And then Lady Yagami had called her to issue this special assignment to her. A secret mission involving Hayate's assassination. Exoria had leaped at the chance – acquiring Oguba's powers had not impressed the mistress as she had hoped, and so she had eagerly sought to please her.
Yes, that was it. I had to learn to hate. I had never hated anyone before, but Yagami-sama told me that the only way I was going to finish the mission was if I hated Hayate – hated her so much that the feeling would fill me up and burn through my blood and make me want to die. Make me want to kill her more than anything in the world. A girl that I had never even met before.
But that hadn't worked, had it? Exoria had not succeeded in destroying Hayate, despite coming so close. Fear and panic had coincided at the crucial moment and the Time Mage had ended up fleeing. She could have made another attempt on the mage's life. She could have used the same method again to finish her off – the eyes of the TSAB had been turned towards the threat towards Nanoha, after all, and would not be expecting another direct attack upon Hayate.
And yet...she hadn't. Instead, the artificial feelings implanted inside her became stirred up almost to the point of madness, with Exoria growing more and more resentful the longer she remained in Red Scorpion, yet unwilling to act on it. Events had run to their inevitable conclusion, and now she was on her way back to Lady Yagami, despite having failed in her mission.
Unwilling? Exoria thought. Was I unwilling? I would not hesitate to kill someone for Yagami-sama, no matter who they were. I love no one else, after all. Why would I be unwilling to kill Hayate?
The seed of doubt was planted within her, leaving Exoria confused and unsettled. Truth to be told, she had never actually ended anyone's life before, but she knew she was more than capable enough. What was wrong with her? Even what she was doing now was virtually suicide – returning to Lady Yagami with news of her own failure. But surely Lady Yagami would acknowledge the efforts she had me. Reward her. Maybe smile at her. As long as she didn't hurt her again -
"I have found you, Exoria," came the Legion's voice from behind her.
The Time Mage stopped dead and suppressed the urge to tear her hair out on the spot. She hated having her thoughts interrupted like this. No wonder she had felt so pressured and starved of her own space in Red Scorpion; people like this were the reason.
"Go away," she snapped without turning her around. "I don't care who you are or what you are, but any reason you could have for wanting to talk to me is an incredibly bad one. Do not bother me."
The Legion chose to ignore her. "Exoria," it stated, "you are on your way to meet with Yagami-sama. I, too, will be seeking an audience with our mistress."
Despite her attitude, the sound of this piqued the girl's interest. The Legion had been extremely loyal to the superior program of Red Scorpion. The only reason why it would return to the House of Yagami if it was under orders...
"Why?" she sneered. "Yagami-sama doesn't care about you and your petty little affairs. She'll only talk to those she trusts most, like me. Has your superior sent you along to play messenger?"
"The superior," the cyborg replied in a voice of steel, "is dead."
A few seconds passed in which Exoria waited to feel some kind of remorse or sympathy upon hearing this. It soon became apparent to her, however, that such feelings were never going to reach her because she had never really cared about the superior program from the beginning. They were just a shell created by Lady Yagami, after all, just another emotionless machine. It was as if the Legion had informed her that somebody had gone and switched her computer off.
"We were betrayed from within," the Legion went on, bitterness curdling its words. Exoria had rarely heard emotion from the cyborg before, and it surprised her. "Oguba and Grylmark have been working together. The termination of the superior program, coinciding with the arrival of the Bureau, meant that Grylmark was able to take advantage and kill - "
Exoria raised a hand to stop the cyborg, biting into her lip as she did so.
"Before you tell me all of this," the dark-haired girl said quietly, "maybe you'd like to take into account the fact that I actually don't care in the slightest. Don't tell me any of this, because I'm not going to be listening." She blinked and looked at the Legion's body startled. "Where the hell are your arms? Did you drop them on the way here, or did they spontaneously combust when you tried to think too hard?"
"I was caught in a battle with the Bureau," the cyborg seethed, glaring at her. "Do not speak of it. You cannot say you have no concern with the fate of Red Scorpion, Exoria. The person who sent Grylmark to kill the superior program was Lady Yagami-sama herself. This implies, Exoria, that Yagami-sama secretly wants both of us dead as well. That is why you should care."
"Yagami-sama would never want me dead," Exoria retorted in a bored tone. Her sense of apathy had returned to her, and she had never thought much of the Legion in the first place. With the cyborg now incapacitated and deprived of most of its weapons, what little respect she had still retained for the creature had drained away almost instantaneously. "I sustain her. Additionally, I am a member of the House of Yagami, meaning that I am protected from harm from other members of the House." She regarded the cyborg with an air of smug loathing that she didn't bother to hide. "You, on the other hand, had become quite pathetic. Yagami-sama made you for your strength as an artificial soldier. Now that you've lost such power, she'll have no need of you anymore. If you go back to her, don't be surprised if she has you terminated on the spot!"
The Legion seemed undeterred by this. "I am returning to Yagami-sama merely to discover her motives for destroying Red Scorpion. As for any penalties that are incurred thereafter...I am ready to bear them. It is you who should be more wary about your actions, Exoria. You failed in your mission to end Hayate's life. Do you really think that Yagami-sama will be happy to see you come back?"
Exoria didn't answer, her face drained of colour. Deep down, she knew she was probably walking to her doom, but she no longer cared about her own fate. It didn't matter what Lady Yagami thought of her. Exoria just wanted to see her face again and talk to her in the same room, just one more time. Let he hurt her. Let her do whatever she wanted to her...but there was still the chance that the mistress would offer some small measure of compassion, some small sign of acknowledgement. Just once...
"I'm not changing my mind," she said quickly, turning her face away. "You do what you want, Legion. If you're going to follow me back to Yagami-sama's mansion, then just shut up and walk so I can pretend you're not there."
The cyborg brought itself up to attention. "Affirmative," it replied, following closely on the heels of the Time Mage as the two remaining members of Red Scorpion began to travel in the direction of the House of Yagami. Though they took care not to show it, the duo had equally strong feelings about how they wanted this to go, temporarily united in their determination as they marched along the same path together. The end result, however, would be very different for each of them.