A/N: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone! (Well, more New Year now anyway). It's also been over a year since I started this fic, so woo.
Slightly later update than usual due to Christmas, but here it is. And a big thank you to everyone still reading!
It was just after sunrise of the same day when Scrya found his way downstairs to the dining room, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Many months of living rough on the streets of Uminari City had caused his body to adapt to a sleeping pattern which might seem unnecessarily extreme, in comparison to many other members of the Family. He had spent a fitful night in the servant's quarters, affording himself the privilege of sleeping within a non-hostile environment for the first time in very long. Out of habit, Scrya had kept wearing the Yagami Bracelet that Arisa had given them at their first meeting, keeping it on even whilst sleeping. The device brought him such comfort to his soul, though he could not quite explain why.
Within the space of five minutes, Scrya had dressed himself accordingly in the formal uniform of the House of Yagami that Noriko had assigned to him just hours before, washed his face thoroughly and prepared to take breakfast with the other servants. He was surprised to discover that he was the only one up, and that everyone else in the servant's quarters was still fast asleep. Even the guards on watch eyed him suspiciously, wondering why a lesser member of the Family would be up at this hour.
Scrya wondered if he had been a little too hasty – perhaps he should have slept for a few more hours just to fit in? He was already fully awake by now, however, and had already made his presence known. Shrugging it off, he headed to the ground floor to start his schedule for the day nonetheless. Maybe one of the maids would be up by now.
He ended up virtually tiptoeing throughout the mansion, for it seemed that the guards really were the only people awake at all. There were a few other officials hanging about the reception area, but they were talking in hushed voices and didn't look very happy to be there. As he drew nearer to the dining room, however, Scyra caught the faint aroma of cooked food drifting out from the kitchen. Evidently breakfast was still being prepared at this hour, despite there being nobody awake to eat it.
The guards grudgingly admitted him into the dining room after a moment's notice – they obviously didn't recognise his face, but the presence of the Yagami Bracelet on his wrist was all the assurance they needed. Upon walking in, Scrya thought at first that the table was empty of anyone else and that he would end up eating alone. As the lights shifted across to the back of the room, however, a sweep of green hair announced the presence of another member of the House.
"You're up early," Dr Kaizen said with mild apathy, looking across at him over her glasses. "Your face is unfamiliar. Are you a new addition to the Family?"
"Y-yes, ma'am," Scrya responded, automatically reverting to a stammer as he always did whenever he was talking to somebody new. "I – I joined yesterday. I'm to be working in the library with Lideri..."
The doctor closed her eyes as she chewed her food. "Ah yes, yes," she murmured. "Arisa did introduce you to me at one point, though I regret I wasn't really listening at the time. Your name is...Scrya, is it not? I am Dr Kaizen, medical practitioner of the House of Yagami." She gestured to the chair opposite. "Breakfast isn't to be properly prepared for a few more hours yet, but our cook has kindly agreed to warm up the left-overs of the feast from last night. Scrya, please feel free to help yourself. There is plenty to go around still, and it would be a shame to waste it."
The sandy-haired teenager moved towards the chair, hovering doubtfully. "Are you – are you sure it's okay for me to...?"
"Of course. I insist, Scrya." Dr Kaizen nudged a plate of stew in his direction. "After all, somebody has to eat it."
As Scrya sat down opposite to her, he felt a strange pain cut sharply through his head. It had seemingly come from nowhere and quickly dimmed to a dull ache as he reached for his cutlery. For a second, Scrya could see stars swimming before his eyes. He rubbed at his forehead with two fingers in an attempt to dampen the pain, but it still remained throbbing constantly around his temples.
"It's so good to have someone to speak to at this time of the morning," the doctor was saying, more focused on her food. "I admit that after last night, I had great trouble sleeping despite the best of my medication. Are you well rested, Scrya?"
He opened his mouth to reply and felt something stab through the inside of his mind, more violently than before. The plate dropped from his hands, agony piercing his head from all sides as the pinpricks of light turned into black dots which start to grow in size. Sharp jolts penetrated from the base of his skull, twisting around in electric-like spasms.
"Scrya?" Dr Kaizen said, her voice filled with deep concern when she saw his face. "Scrya, are you all right? Is there something wrong?"
"H...headache," he managed, clutching the side of his head. The pain was getting worse by every second, washing over him in waves. Suddenly the lights of the dining room seemed like blazing suns, scorching the inside of his eyelids as he fought in vain to block them out. What was happening to him? "I'm – I'm fine, Dr Kaizen, I'm just feeling a little - "
The pressure inside his head became unbearable as Scrya was forced to his knees, choked gasps coming from his throat as the black dots in his eyes threatened to render him blind completely. He felt the beginnings of a scream coming from within as his entire world exploded in a whirling of liquid agony and harsh monochrome -
He awoke in the same position as reality shifted around him by the tiniest degree. The dining room of the House of Yagami hadn't changed, but now there were people around him, lots of them, filling up the seats at the table where previously there had been virtually none. Scrya blinked away the pain, feeling it recede from his body with surprising ease as he struggled to his feet. What had happened? The colours of the room...had been drained...
The boy turned and looked up fearfully to see that the bright lights of the chandeliers were now only in black and white. Everything here had a monochrome feel to it, so that it seemed to Scrya as if he were hovering in an unstable void, poised on the brink of destruction. The lack of colour reminded him of his dreams, always drifting around one single spot, never ready to look to the future...
There was no sign of Dr Kaizen or even any of the food that Scrya had seen before. Instead, somebody else was sitting in the doctor's seat, someone who seemed startlingly familiar to the boy. There was someone in his chair, too...
Scrya held his head again, confused at what had just happened. He found that he wasn't able to move his body forwards or backwards – there were no restraints of any kind, but summoning the willpower to force himself into motion was like pushing through quicksand. Even stranger still was that even though he could still see, Scrya's eyes were tightly shut. He could feel them, and yet he was still able to blink and focus on faraway objects. Was something connecting to him through his mind?
What happened to me? he thought wildly. What's going on?
"Yuuno?" said one of the people at the table in a friendly tone.
Who are all these people? Did they bring me here? Is this...is this another universe like Lideri told me about? The first I knew was when I had that blinding headache, and then when I opened my eyes again...
"Not Yuuno," he whispered in response, his voice dry in his throat. "Only...Scrya..."
What happened to the House of Yagami? Where did Dr Kaizen go? Was this all just a dream – maybe he had passed out on the floor and was just hallucinating all of this? It didn't make sense, though. He had been in perfect health until he had walked into the dining room...
His mind spinning, Scrya tried to look at the other people seated at the table. Each of them seemed to be glued to their chairs, staring forward unseeingly without a single sound passing through their lips. Shrouded in shadow, they were all turned away from him so that he was unable to make out their faces. Despite their mysterious nature, however, Scrya felt a kinship with the people that he could not explain. He felt...as if he had met all of them before. How could that be?
"Scrya," said the man who had spoken. "You must be the one from the alternate universe. I have something to ask of you, Scrya."
Abruptly, the other people whirled around to face boy, their features all vividly painted in his memory. If he could have, Scrya would have backed away in horror.
They were all him.
They were all Scryas, each and every one of them. The same sandy hair and green eyes was present in almost all of the people, up to the older men seated at the very end. Yes, they were all young and old versions of himself with a different story etched out on each face, seemingly depicting each stage of a life that he had yet to live...One of them was Scrya as a little kid with a childish and inquisitive look in their eyes; another was a grown-up Scrya in their late thirties with their hair flowing freely down in his back; the one at the far end of the table was an old man with knowledge and intellect marked clearly across his weathered skin. For some reason, the last one reminded Scrya a little of Lideri. A Scrya that was reaching the end of his life...
To see his future marked out right in front of him like this was terrifying. Looking into the faces of these people was like looking at his reflection over the a long period of time...the period of a lifetime. His lifetime.
What's going on? Scrya thought in a panic. Have I died and gone to heaven? Is this my judgement, to show me all of my past lives? No, that can't be it. I'm still in the House of Yagami, and yet everything feels like it's breaking up around me...
The man who had spoken before to him leaned forward, the one who had been sitting in Dr Kaizen's seat. The boy saw that he, too, was yet another Scrya, one who came closer to him in terms of age. One who seemed more at peace than the others, with clear spectacles resting on the rim of his nose and the coat of an academic researcher drawn about him.
A researcher? If I had been able to pursue my studies in Uminari City...would I have excelled and become just like him? Is he the ideal Scrya that I used to dream of becoming?
"Who...who are you?" Scrya said in a small voice. "What do you want with me?"
"My name is Yuuno," the man replied, a calmness and tranquillity present in his face which Scrya was unaccustomed to seeing. "I am a researcher at the Time-Space Administration Bureau, but I am not from the same universe as you. I have reason to believe that some good friends of mine have become trapped in your universe." The urgency in his green eyes was quite evident. "Scrya. I need to make contact with a woman called Nanoha. It is very important that I do so as soon as possible!"
Nanoha? Scrya repeated the name in his mind uncomprehendingly. He had never heard of such a person. Who was she? Besides, hadn't the TSAB already been demolished? None of this made any sense at all. How was he supposed to -
With a start, Scrya felt the harsh black dots from before stray back into his vision again, and the world started breaking apart around him into jagged fragments as if it had been made of brittle glass. The multiple Scryas at the dinner table turned away from him, their disregard almost seeming to contribute to the process. Scrya cried out aloud as the whole scene of black-and-white began to swim out of focus and fade away completely, leading him to wonder if all this was just a hallucination or just a well-constructed illusion...
"Scrya! Scrya!" The voice of the doctor of the House of Yagami was rushed and anxious in his ears. "Can you hear me, Scrya? Are you all right?"
He opened his eyes again as the light of the chandeliers came into view, feeling the soft carpet against his back as he gulped in deep breaths to clear his mind. As his surroundings became more familiar, Scrya became aware that he was now lying on the floor of the dining room of the House of Yagami, and that Dr Kaizen was leaning over him with an expression of great concern. Yuuno and the multiple Scryas from the semi-dream sequence had vanished completely – everything was as it was before, before the savage pains had dragged him down into oblivion...
What happened? Was any of that even real?
Still a little disorientated, Scrya started to get to his feet. All traces of the crippling headache had departed his body, so that only the after-effects remained. How much time had passed since he had blacked out? The residents of the house still seemed to be sound asleep, so it couldn't have been very long at all...
"Scrya?" the doctor said, surprised to see him moving about so soon. "Are you sure you're feeling all right? You just collapsed and fainted less than a minute ago, right in the middle of eating..."
The boy nodded weakly, easing himself back into his chair where he had been about to start breakfast before the headache had struck. "I think I'm fine now," he said truthfully. The black dots from before had long disappeared, and Scrya felt surprisingly stable and secure as he was. "I'm sorry to worry you, Dr Kaizen. I just had a bit of a scare for a moment."
He hadn't any idea what had just happened to him, not the unexplained agony in his head, nor the mysterious vision of all the different Scryas of his life, and especially not the man who called himself Yuuno. For some reason, Yuuno's parting words to him had made Scrya anxious. The man had been looking someone called Nanoha. Had he been serious about what he had said? Did he really want Scrya to assist in some way? How was Scrya supposed to know that Yuuno was even real, and not just another part of the dream...?
"If you are not feeling well," Dr Kaizen was saying, looking very worried indeed, "then I can ask Lideri to excuse you from your duties for part of the morning, Scrya. Lady Yagami would not want you working whilst sick, and if you're not in a stable condition...The least I can do is give you a medical check-up."
Yuuno wants me to find a woman named Nanoha. I have no idea who she is, or why he wants me to find her, or if she even exists...Well, I suppose I could ask Lideri. She claims to know so much. But on the other hand, what is the point? Searching for a woman because of a vision I had when I passed out? That's not the kind of thing I should be spending my time doing, not when I've only just been admitted into the House of Yagami...
"I think that's a good idea," Scrya said out loud, starting on his first plate of meat. "It's...it's very nice of you to offer, Dr Kaizen."
No. I'm not going to search for this "Nanoha", he decided. For me to start tracking down strange women who may not even exist, just because of a weird hallucination I had...No, it isn't worth it. It was just a short dream I had born of some of the theories that Lideri talked to me about before, that's all. There is no reason why Yuuno would ask my help of all people, when I'm a nobody who has offered virtually nothing to the world. Even if he has, then he must have the wrong person.
In the House of Yagami, I definitely can't afford to deviate to such matters.
Nanoha paced up and down anxiously as Chrono continued to search for Fate on the strange interface which connected into the database of the Harlaown Program. How much longer was he going to take? It had been nearly ten minutes now, and anything could have happened to her. Deep down, she knew that the Enforcer was resourceful enough to be able to handle herself in a tight situation, but the Ace of Aces couldn't help worrying about her lover. To be trapped by yourself in a world like this, without any help to hand, would not be something she would wish on any of her friends.
"I found her," Chrono said suddenly, his eyes still on the interface as he continued to type. "Fate Testarossa." He moved onto the next screen, and a perplexed expression crossed his face. "That's strange," the Commander murmured. "I...I haven't seen something like this happen before..."
The combat instructor whirled around, controlling herself with an effort. It was about time. "What do you mean?" she said sharply, in no mood for him to start sidetracking her efforts again. The sooner she found Fate and the rest of their friends and left this world, the better. "Have you found her or not? Where is she?"
"That's the problem. There's...two Fates on the system." The Commander stared at the screen in complete amazement, unsure if what he was seeing was real. "Is this a glitch? The Program has never done something like this before. I...I don't know what it's doing, Nanoha. The results have come up with two different Fate Testarossas." Chrono stared hard at the information coming down on the left holographic screen, becoming increasingly baffled with each new revelation. "Exactly the same names, almost identical personal details, but marked differences in their appearances and age groups. As overseer of the Harlaown Program, it is my duty to investigate this."
Nanoha felt a new wave of pressure rush over her. If Fate was on the system, then the Program may have scheduled for her to be executed. At the same time, it was the only real way of tracking her at all, aside from flying randomly over Mid-childa. She needed to know now and act immediately, because if the executors were about to take Fate away from her...
"Let me see..." Chrono brought up the personal details of the top item. "The first one is a seven-year old Fate who died long ago. The previous heir to the House of Testarossa in Uminari City – that's the one I told you about, Nanoha. But...the second..."
He scrolled down to the next entry, his eyes widening.
"This is impossible," he whispered. "A...a grown-up Fate? How?"
A familiar blonde face appeared on the central screen, zooming in onto soft, kind features that Nanoha knew only too well. She almost snatched the interface away from him completely, her heart pounding hard in her chest.
"That's her! That's my Fate!" Tears shone in Nanoha's eyes as she grabbed Chrono by the arm in a panic. Lines of encrypted code were filling the screen on the right, but she didn't know what any of it meant. "Chrono, tell me!" she cried. "What is it saying? Where is she?"
The blue-haired Commander froze as he focused on the words coming up next to Fate's name, his lips pressing together tightly as he realised the impact of the codes being used. They were not an encryption that he saw used very often. A fast-track...somebody had marked this woman as being highly dangerous. He couldn't imagine what had happened for an executor to resort to that, but if he told Nanoha the truth of what was showing on the screen now...
Uminari City. Detention facility. Fast-tracked. Scheduled for morning execution.
Morning execution? Chrono thought, a chill running down his spine. That's today's date shown on the screen. If an early morning execution was planned, then that woman is already dead. If it's scheduled for late morning, then she has still less than an hour left. Can it be cancelled?
No, he realised, his sense of dread growing. It's a fast-track, so I can't reverse the execution without going there in person. Uminari City is too far away from Cranagan - I wouldn't be able to make it in time before her sentence was carried out. It's not possible to save her.
"Nanoha?" he said in a low voice. "You're not going to want to hear this - "
She could already tell by the grim expression on his face what he was going to say. There were only two reasons why someone would be listed on the database of the Harlaown Program, the lesser of the two being that it was for monitoring purposes. Nanoha was fairly certain by now that Fate's presence on the list was nothing to do with monitoring.
"So you're going to kill her," the Ace of Aces said thickly. "You're going to end the life of my Fate."
Taking a step back, Chrono held up his hands in open surrender. "Nanoha, I didn't know that the executors had – I would have - "
Nanoha brushed his excuses aside as the tension in heart mounted. Because of him, because of this stupid Harlaown Program which was supposed to save people, Fate was going to be..."Call your men off," she ordered him, her voice rising. "Call them off now! Cancel the execution!"
"I – I can't!" The Commander seemed petrified as she rounded on him. "It's a fast track – I can only cancel is by going to the facility in person! I don't know why, but somebody pushed her right to the top of the list, and there isn't enough time before she - "
Behind her, the Ace of Aces felt an unfamiliar presence sweep across the whole of the ground floor of the palace. A wave of unease spread throughout the hundreds of people gathered at the party as something sinister approached. With the whole of her mind concentrated on Chrono and what could be happening to Fate, however, Nanoha barely paid it any heed...
"Call them off right now, Chrono!" she shouted, gripping Raging Heart tightly in her hand. She was just moments away from transforming and resorting to more physical measures, actions that she would not have even considered doing before. Now, however, she was prepared to do almost anything if she had to. Fate was in danger. They're going to take her away from me. "I don't care how you do it! Just stop the execution or you'll have me to deal with!"
"Nanoha, I'm telling the truth, I swear – I - I don't know how I can - "
He never got to finish his sentence. There was a sudden rush of energy behind Nanoha, developing into a surge of rocket propulsion as she turned around at the overwhelming presence of danger. With her mind initially focused on Fate's plight, she was already too late to stop what was coming, even as she pushed Chrono to the ground and dived down to cover him...
In the next second, a missile screamed overhead and plunged into the balcony just above the stage in a massive explosion of wood and fire which rained down onto the hundreds of people below. Screams of panic and terror went up as the partygoers ran for their lives, turning the area into a deadly crushing stampede as everyone fought to get away from the area. A second missile crashed into the other side of the balcony, and the combat cyborgs who had been stationed there were wiped out in an instant, falling to their deaths as they burned.
Quickly, Nanoha pulled Chrono onto the top of the stage so as to not be crushed by the uncontrollable rush of crowds fleeing out of the palace. The Commander was white as a sheet, barely able to carry himself from the shock of the moment. What was going on? Nanoha thought, casting about with her magic in a wide radius. Was the palace under attack?
She could sense the movements of several squads of combat cyborgs, all elite guards who were determinedly heading in their direction to defend Chrono. Before Nanoha could do anything more, the unknown attacker released another deadly missile – this time aiming towards the upper floors of the palace. When the Ace of Aces was able to concentrate again, she realised that there were far fewer palace guards than there were before. Many of them were being eliminated with each new attack.
They're deliberately taking out Chrono's guards before they target him? she thought. The first attack was to create chaos and pandemonium in the palace. It's effective, too – with so many people, I can't use any of my more powerful attacks in case I hit an innocent bystander. I could try and use shield magic to protect any spectators from being injured, but covering such a vast area would drain a lot of Raging Heart's resources. I know Chrono said that somebody wanted him dead, but I didn't think they would act so quickly! How many of them are there?
She couldn't detect any magic-users aside from the combat cyborgs in the palace, and even they were beginning to rapidly decrease in number under the repeated barrage of attacks. The guards were frantically scrambling about for cover to try and take down the unknown shooter, but another missile found its mark every time without any of them being able to locate the enemy's position.
"Am I going to die?" Chrono whispered fearfully. He held onto Nanoha's arm, squeezing tightly. "Nanoha...help me...if I fall, then the Blood Oath will be shattered, the Harlaown Program will collapse, and life for everyone on Mid-childa as we know it...everything will..."
The ground level was nearly empty of people by now, making it safe for the two of them to start moving again without being trampled (or at least as safe as they could be whilst being pelted with explosive missiles). However, there were still great masses of crowds rushing down from the upper floors of the palace, allowing the attacker to keep themselves concealed with ease.
Frustrated at not being unable to pinpoint the sniper's location, Nanoha tried to concentrate on where the missiles were coming from, since she wasn't able to track them by magic in the normal dashion. Every additional attack sent shockwaves rolling through the whole palace and claimed the lives of another squad of guards, always seeming to strike them where they were unprotected. To take down dozens of elite combat cyborgs was no simple feat, meaning that the shooter was surely a trained professional...
Nanoha couldn't sense anyone else in the palace who might be helping the sniper, but then again she was still having trouble finding the sniper themselves. Could it be that the attacker was acting alone? That was crazy – who would try to assassinate Chrono and all of his palace guards all by themselves? Somebody very confident, certainly, someone who was very sure of their own abilities...
It's hard for me to stick around here when I know that somewhere out there, Fate's in trouble. At the same time, I can't just leave Chrono here. He may be a Chrono from a different world, one who's made far too many mistakes along the way, but that's no excuse to abandon him. Besides, I still need his help to find out where Fate is being kept.
The Harlaown Program would continue to function as long as Chrono was still alive. And the stability of this world depended on the continued existence of the Harlaown Program. If that one crucial support was shattered, causing everything else to collapse...Nanoha didn't know what would happen then. The way of life that the people of Mid-childa had been accustomed to for centuries would be destroyed, though that way of life may be far from ideal – and then what? Since the Program affected every single person, family, and corporation on Mid-childa, the consequences could undoubtedly be catastrophic. What would happen to the executors, for example? Would they lose their purpose for existing altogether?
This world is barely holding together already, the Ace of Aces thought darkly, rising up to transform. The highest floors of the palace were already beginning to crumble and fall apart from the constant onslaught of explosions, though fortunately there were no spectators remaining at such a height. I'm having a hard enough time finding the rest of the Bureau in this mess without some sniper going rogue and making it worse!
She flew up in the air, casting around to see how many of the palace guards were still alive. Since their opponent was deliberately targeting the cyborgs, perhaps to make it easier to take on Chrono himself once he was completely undefended, Nanoha would be able to judge where the next missile would hit. She realised now that the sniper really was acting alone. With the guards distracted, it would be simple enough for a second person to take down Chrono in a similar fashion. At such close proximity to Chrono, however, Nanoha could tell that the style of the attacks had not changed. Whoever was destroying the palace was doing this with no help from anyone else.
With a shock, the Ace of Aces realised that all but one squad of the palace guards had been wiped out. This last bedraggled group of cyborgs wasn't even trying to defend Chrono anymore – they were just trying to make it out of the palace alive. The missiles kept coming from multiple directions, meaning that the shooter was constantly changing position...
Where are they?
She initiated the Area Search spell to speed up her efforts, looking for the last squad of cyborgs instead. Second floor balcony. Forty, forty five, ninety...one hundred and eighty degrees...
Nanoha whirled around as the last missile catapulted at her from directly behind, imploding on impact. Her hands went up instinctively as the explosion wrenched at Raging Heart, blasting her several metres through the air as smoke poured from her Barrier Jacket. Pain shot through her body as the Ace of Aces tightened her grip on her magical device, seething. She'd never known a non-magical attack to do that amount of damage before...
And then she saw her. The shadow of a young woman with red hair shot out from between two pillars, dashing into a sprint as her body almost seemed to blur with the sheer speed at which she was moving. A heavy bazooka fell from her arms with a clatter, and two heavy-duty firearms came up from her belt to fire at Nanoha as she ran.
The combat mage raised her hand to deflect the oncoming tide of bullets with little effort. So this was the mysterious assassin. Switching to ordinary weapons like that wasn't going to get her anywhere, so why -
What the...?
The red-haired girl in front of her wasn't even looking in her direction as she fired from the hip of her tight army uniform. Her shots were running askew, missing deliberately as a feint to draw Nanoha's attention. A sadistic grin wrapped around the woman's face as she scaled the balcony with ease, levering herself up with one hand, her body crouching on the very edge with feline elegance. Her thighs clenched tightly, and then in a single bound...she leaped all the way down to the ground, eyes narrowing as she sighted Chrono...
The Bureau mage brought Raging Heart up in grim determination.
"Hoop Bind!"
Her opponent was moving at a ridiculous speed, zipping back and forth and making it virtually impossible to lock onto her. A spell like Axel Shooter would probably be very effective, but Nanoha didn't dare employ such a powerful attack for fear that she'd hit Chrono. At the same time, the red-haired girl was going incredibly fast for someone who didn't use magic, and she didn't want to take any chances. How on earth had her opponent managed to jump down two entire floors unharmed without the use of any magic, anyway?
"Divine Shooter!" she cried, reverting to a weaker spell which wouldn't destroy absolutely everyone in a hundred-metre radius. The attack knocked her opponent back for a split second, but that was all. Long-range spells weren't going to work here, it seemed. "Flash Move!"
Nanoha swung down towards the ground, but the red-haired girl was no longer there. Instead, the assassin had already dashed forward, skipping between shadows as if part of the darkness herself, guns raised high with a fatal grin painted on her face.
The next few seconds seemed to go by in slow motion. In the distance, the sound of the supports collapsing on the north side could be heard. With nothing else to hold it up, and the walls already terribly weakened by the previous explosions, the roof of the great palace began to cave in from that point. The huge rumbling which followed could be likened to the sound of an avalanche, and the grand winding staircase was majestically crushed under tons and tons of rock.
Two gunshots pierced through the air with the effect of a pin breaking the surface of a perfectly still patch of water, shots that Nanoha would never forget. The bullets weren't aimed at her, and they would never hope to make it past her Barrier Jacket anyway, but she felt the impact of their passing as surely as they had punctured her own heart.
Someone was calling her name from a great distance away, somewhere she couldn't see, but the combat mage barely heard them. She could see Chrono standing, a look of utmost shock on his face as the dark red stain quickly spread over his chest.
No, Nanoha whispered in her mind, reaching out far too late. No, Chrono...!
The figure of Kagura Labinnac stood before him, her weapons smoking as the predatory smile on her face remained. The blue-haired Commander's hands were touching the wound delicately as if he still didn't know what had happened to him. His cracked lips moved, but no words would come.
"Assignment," Kagura whispered triumphantly, "complete."
Time seemed to snap back to normal all at once for Nanoha. The shock of what she was seeing suddenly hit her head on, numbing her instincts and reflexes. She had to remind herself that this wasn't her world, that this wasn't the same Chrono who had fought side by side with her in the earlier years of the TSAB, that she wasn't seeing this happen to someone who had been a close friend from as far back as she could remember...
But it didn't matter what Nanoha tried to tell herself, not when the evidence of your own eyes was a greater poison than any illusion. The deed had already been done, and there was no changing it. She was powerless to alter what had already passed.
Without another sound, Chrono, the last remaining Harlaown of the changed Mid-childa, crumpled in a heap at the base of the ruined stage. His body slid down into a cold and dusty puddle of death as his vital signs rapidly approached zero.
Chrono?! No!
Nanoha ran to his side, desperate to try and save him despite being inexperienced in any high-level restorative magic. He couldn't die like this. She told herself again that the real Chrono, the Chrono she knew in her universe was most likely still alive, but it didn't help her much.
In their present situation, the Harlaown Program and stability of Mid-childa depended on the Commander's life-force. She still needed him to tell her where Fate was being held, meaning that she could have precious seconds remaining before she lost him completely. Chrono's fingers were locked around the hard interface of the Harlaown Program that he had been working on before, unwilling to let go of it even in his present state.
No, she refused to think of him as dead. It didn't matter what universe he was from. She had to stop the bleeding, and quickly. Think, Nanoha. Think!
"Nanoha!"
The Ace of Aces turned to see the orange-haired sharpshooter crouched fearfully behind the railings on the floor above. Tiana? She was slow to react at first, still struggling with what to do as Chrono lay dying in her arms. No. This was what she needed. With an enemy at her back and the palace gradually falling apart around them...she couldn't do this on her own.
"Nanoha," Tiana said breathlessly, already transformed with Cross Mirage held in both hands. Her eyes were wide with fear amidst the destruction that had befallen the scene. "Nanoha, I came to warn you...I was too late..."
"Of course you were," the red-haired army girl purred unexpectedly, replying instead as she stepped out of the shadows of the stage. She stroked the thick barrel of a semi-automatic that crossed her thigh, and her red hair cascaded down her shoulders as she spat dust out onto the floor. "I'm a working girl, sweetie. I do this for a living."
The orange-haired Bureau mage whirled around in surprise, seeing the Labinnac assassin for the first time. "Kagura?" she said. "You're the one who did this? After everything you said?"
Kagura sighed, spinning around on the toe of her boot. "Here to watch the government burn, Tia. Just like you."
"But you promised you wouldn't kill him!" Tiana said in horror. Her gun was pointed towards the army girl now, but her hands were shaking a little. "You said – you said you'd let Chrono live as long as I agreed to - "
"Yeah, yeah, the date," the red-haired assassin yawned. "So what? I changed my mind. The touch of an angel doesn't compare to the blood of a tyrant. He deserved to die." A baleful glare lit her dark green eyes, accompanied by a sneer. "Don't tell me you want to fucking protect him after everything the Harlaown Program did, Tia! He was asking for it! No proper fucking body armour, lazy security, his guards' reflexes were pumped full of shit and anyone could get through those doors! Yagami should have ended him a long time ago!" Kagura lifted the rifle up to shoulder level, her face lighting up. "You want to be next, sweetie?"
The sharpshooter swerved to the side as a swathe of bullets cut through the middle of the balcony. Her Barrier Jacket would possibly protect her from such normal attacks, but she wasn't about to risk it.
"Tiana?" Nanoha called out to her, deep in concentration. She had torn several strips off Chrono's robes and was attempting to bandage his wound as best as she could. "Do you know that girl?"
"No!" Tiana ducked down and rolled onto the remains of the staircase, her breathing coming thick and fast. "I don't know her. Not any more." She aimed high towards Kagura's position and fired twice, but the army girl had already dashed away into the shadows again. "Nanoha, tell me what to do! I can take her on right now if you need me to!"
Nanoha closed her eyes slightly, cupping Chrono's wound gently. She could sense a very faint heartbeat, but he wasn't going to last for much longer if she didn't do something. Knowledge of basic first aid was part of standard training procedure in the TSAB, but Chrono needed something much more than that now. He needed treatment on the scale of Shamal's restorative magic, and there was no telling where the medical mage could be...
He's really going to die at this rate. What's going to happen after that? What am I supposed to do? I can't just leave him here, not when the Program's on the brink of collapse and he still has information that I need. But with no one else around to help him except me...and knowing that Tiana isn't any more qualified in healing magic than I am...
"I'll stay here to help Chrono," she said, forcing calm into her voice. "Tiana...are you sure you can handle that enemy?"
I'm sure I can keep Chrono holding on just a bit longer, Nanoha thought. Every second more is another moment that I can keep him alive. I feel almost as if as soon as I let him go, he'll never open his eyes again.
The orange-haired forward nodded, itching to shoot down her opponent already. For Kagura to kiss her so passionately just minutes ago, and then go back on her promise not to shoot Chrono as if it were nothing...Because of her, Chrono's life hung by a thread. Because of her, all of Mid-childa could be on the brink of falling apart...
"I can take her," she said in an aggressive tone, ducking down as another shot of artillery fire went over her head. "Don't...don't worry about me..."
Nanoha gazed at her for a few moments more, then nodded swiftly, putting her trust in the sharpshooter. "Watch out, Tiana," she said. "She's faster than an ordinary human, and yet she doesn't use any magic. I don't know if she's secretly a combat cyborg on the inside, or if someone's applied a lot of enhancements onto her body, or if she's something else completely. Don't let your guard down." The combat instructor turned her attention back to Chrono's suffering body, trying to bring him back to some semblance of consciousness. "You don't have to defeat her, but if you can get her away from here and stop her from doing any more damage, that would be a great help. I still have to find out from Chrono where Fate and the others are,."
"I can heaaaar you!" Kagura sang, emerging from cover briefly to aim her rifle at Nanoha's back. "You're trying to keep him alive? Fucking waste of time, you know that? He won't last five minutes! And now..." Her finger edged towards the trigger as she adjusted her target to the dying blue-haired man on the floor. "Now he won't even last one!"
Without even looking at her, Nanoha raised one hand in Kagura's direction, feeling a massive surge of magical power rise across the length of Raging Heart. She swung the magical device towards the red-haired assassin even as they withdrew back into the shadows once more -
"Axel Shooter!"
She heard Kagura cry out as multiple concentrated bolts of purple-white energy blasted through the whole of the banister and staircase that the assassin had been using for cover, along with the remains of the stage and virtually every area of ground leading down to the entrance of the palace. It didn't matter how fast the enemy was when you had a spell which could hit them at almost any location. Still, Nanoha would be very surprised if Kagura had been taken down just like that.
"I don't have time for this," she said mildly. "Tiana, if you could please...?"
The forward sprang to her feet and raced down to the ground to pursue the assassin, Cross Mirage readied in her hands. "I'm on it!"
"Thank you."
Landing lightly on her feet, Tiana ran towards the area around the palace entrance doors where Kagura was lying motionless. Quickly, she slowed to a stop in front of her. Blood dripped from the army girl's chin where she had hit the ground; her red hair was spread over the side of her face in a bedraggled fashion, and the muscles of her arms had locked up into a taut position even whilst unconscious. The semi-automatic rifle had fallen onto the floor to rest next to the assassin's left hand.
She appeared to have been knocked out by Nanoha's powerful spell, but Tiana wasn't about to take any chances. The forward kept her gun trained on the woman, ready to act at the slightest sign of movement. Aside from Nanoha (and Chrono, if he was even still alive), Tiana and Kagura were the only two left in the palace. The crowds of people from before had all been evacuated just minutes ago, and all of the palace guards had either run away or had been killed by Kagura herself. There was no one else around to get in the way.
Tiana watched Kagura's unconscious form for nearly a full minute, biding her time. The woman wasn't moving at all. The sharpshooter breathed a sigh of relief at this, feeling that she could relax a little. She had been worried that she might not have been able to handle Kagura, but it seemed that a single spell from Nanoha had been all that was needed.
"Not so smart after all, are you?" Tiana murmured, lowering her gun and stepping over to the redhead's body.
That was a mistake. Like a death-trap being set off by a tiny motion, the fingers of Kagura's left hand curled around and gripped the butt of her rifle between her thumb and forefinger. The weapon whirled around towards Tiana's face as the red-haired assassin lashed out with her foot at the same time, sending the Bureau mage down to the ground in a hard impact which forced the wind from her lungs. Stunned by the sudden attack, Tiana tried to release a shot towards the girl whilst struggling to keep her distance to prevent possible physical attacks -
Kagura's hand slid up across the base of her firearm as she rolled round to the right, easily avoiding Cross Mirage's scattered energy bullets that came at her, and tightened her finger around the trigger of her weapon. A burst of fire cut towards the orange-haired forward as she got to her feet just in time to be able to dash out of the way. Several stray bullets cut against her Barrier Jacket, dashing against her skin painfully, and Tiana realised with a start that her armour was offering only minor protection from Kagura's attacks. A full frontal assault at close range would probably rip through her body and kill her in no time...
She threw herself to the side as another swathe of bullets came at her head, and fired Cross Mirage at her enemy several times in a deliberate criss-cross pattern, trying to maximise accuracy. The assassin sprang from her current position to dodge the first few shots, but in doing so put herself in the line of fire for the energy bullets coming from the other side. A look of worry passed over Kagura's faces as she realised there was no time to get out of the way.
Got you! Tiana thought triumphantly, raising Cross Mirage for a concentrated shot to finish her.
With a single contraction of her muscles, Kagura's threw the heavy rifle right at her. It spun through the air, taking the brunt of all of the other energy bullets in mid-trajectory, and whirled dangerously towards Tiana's head.
For a split second, her mind went into total meltdown. The rifle was almost as big as she was, hurtling towards her in an unpredictable pattern. Her opponent wasn't even waiting for it to hit her: Kagura was already running towards her and pulling yet more deadly weapons from her belt in a follow-up attack -
"Mode Two!" Tiana shouted. "Dagger Mode!"
She threw her head backwards, arching her back as the tip of the rifle almost chopped right through her neck, still spinning in mid-air. Long blades of orange energy extended from Cross Mirage as Tiana whipped her wrists around and sliced through the deadly projectile several times. The rifle collapsed into multiple scraps of black burning metal, smoking as it fell to the ground. The Bureau mage felt at her slightly-bruised collar, breathing hard from her narrow escape. She seemed to be okay -
There wasn't time to even catch her breath for a second. Kagura came at her from the right in blind determination, wielding two small silver scythes decorated by jagged pieces of blood-encrusted glass which she whirled around in a savage circle to cut the girl down. Instinctively, Tiana defended herself with Cross Mirage's blades, clashing against the assassin's blows in a rush of white and orange. Sweat ran down her forehead as she fought to hold her ground, coupled with fear that she might be out of her league. She concentrated on parrying the deadly scythes, managing to holding off the majority of the attacks, though soon Tiara found herself bleeding from nicks and cuts from several near misses.
Nanoha was right to worry about my capabilities, she thought as she fought on. Kagura must be a trained professional. I could match her when we were shooting at each other, because long range is my speciality, but at close quarters like this?...I'm not going to last. Just like with the Manticore, I'm out of my league!
Calm down, Tiana told herself, wincing as another blow glanced across her shoulder. Remember what Nanoha said. You don't have to defeat her, just keep her busy until -
Her opponent suddenly changed tactics without warning, crossing her arms and circling one scythe across each of Cross Mirage's blades. Kagura reversed direction, dragging her weapons outwards and catching the edge of the magical device at both ends. The curves of the scythes were effectively binding Tiana's blades of orange energy to each other, preventing her from making any further moves...
I should be able to cut through her weapons, Tiana thought desperately, trying in vain to break the other woman's hold. She's not using magic! Why isn't it working?
With an evil grin, the assassin wrenched the scythes out all the way, ripping Cross Mirage away from the Bureau mage's hands completely to clatter against the ground some distance away. As Tiana's eyes widened in fear, Kagura slammed a hard metal boot against the girl's chest to send her flying backwards. The sharpshooter hit the floor with a hard impact which brought tears to her eyes.
"You're not worth killing," the red-haired army girl whispered, stalking forward towards her slowly. "So stupid for one so pretty. It's a shame. To think that you could actually take on a Labinnac like myself, when it is already common knowledge that we of the House of Labinnac do not have to follow the same fucking rules..."
Tiana spat blood out of her mouth. She was disarmed and alone by the entrance doors of the palace. Nanoha, she breathed. I have...to call...for Nanoha...
"Do you know what will happen, sweetie?" Kagura slid one scythe slowly against the other, making a chilling metallic sound which resounded in her ears. "With the death of Chrono Harlaown, that is. The world knew that this would happen someday. What do you think happens when the Harlaown Program is destroyed, sweetie? What happens when the executors lose their purpose and they can't keep control anymore?" She smiled contentedly. "What do you think, Tia?"
She knew Cross Mirage was far beyond her reach. Kagura was standing between her and the only weapon which could help her. Refusing to give up, Tiana ran her hands across the ground, searching at the very least for some kind of weapon to defend herself with...
"The government will lose control, of course," the assassin purred, just inches away from her now. "The people will taste a strange kind of freedom. Do you want to know something about freedom, Tia? Freedom can get you killed. That's the kind of freedom I like, because I like living on the edge, sweetie. I fucking love it!"
The hard kick struck her just underneath the chin as Tiana was still scrambling about on the ground, and she cried out in pain as she was booted back into the dirt. Her brain rattled in her head from the blow, and it took a few seconds to get her bearings back again.
"Without the Harlaown Program to keep the people in their place..." Kagura rested the tip of one scythe on Tiana's cheek, dragging it ever so slowly down to her throat. The sharpshooter swallowed, not daring to move. "What do you get then, sweetie? What happens to any kind of nation without a government?"
The orange-haired forward stiffened as the blade cut into her skin slightly, feeling her chin forcibly raised upwards. Kagura's dark green eyes stared coldly into hers, her intents largely unknown. Is she just playing with me? Tiana thought. Is she just going to kill me slowly? Nanoha...if I can just call out for Nanoha...
"You get...something we call anarchy," Kagura said softly. She reached forward and stroked the hair of the Bureau mage, though the forward tensed at her touch. "But not just in Cranagan, or in Uminari City. The Harlaown Program affects everyone on all of Mid-childa, sweetie. Everyone is beginning to wake up to the truth." She pulled the scythe away from Tiana's neck and shoved her back onto the ground with her foot. "Don't you see? The rebellion of the people is already beginning! And I made it happen. I made it possible! Me!"
Rebellion of the people? Tiana thought in alarm. What's she talking about? She can't be serious, can she...?
"I've played with you enough, alien girl," the assassin said suddenly. She whirled around and, to Tiana's surprise, walked on past her towards the entrance doors of the palace, sliding her weapons back into her belt. "The date's off. Enjoy the last day of Mid-childa whilst you still can."
The sharpshooter froze to the spot, sure that at any moment Kagura would suddenly turn around and finish her for good. All she could hear, however, were the fading footsteps of the army girl as she casually made her way out of Chrono's ruined citadel. Slowly, Tiana crawled back into a sitting position, her body aching all over.
When she was able to look up again, she saw that Kagura was gone. Why hadn't the assassin killed her? She had had Tiana at her mercy, defenceless and disarmed, and yet...The Bureau mage didn't understand her at all. Kagura had been actively gloating over her victory and what she had achieved by her attack on Chrono, and yet...why? Did she think that their fight had been just part of "playing" with her?
Tiana held one hand to her head, groaning in pain. Her wounds weren't too serious: all she needed was a bit of rest and she'd be relatively fine again. It was the constant battle that could really get you down, ebbing away at your energy over time until you didn't realise that your body wasn't responding to you anymore.
House of Labinnac. Harlaown Program...Rebellion. How can there be a rebellion? Kagura wasn't making any sense. Why did she call this the last day of Mid-childa?
Struggling to her feet, Tiana eased herself forward to gather up Cross Mirage in her hands again. It already made her felt better just having the device back in her possession. She'd lost the fight, but somehow succeeded in what Nanoha had told her to do, though she still wasn't sure how. As quickly as she dared, the sharpshooter began to make her way back towards where the Ace of Aces was tending to a dying Chrono...
She was floating, suspended by invisible cords which went deeper than the naked human eye could see, a tingling numbness which spread throughout her entire body. Though she could still breathe, it was only through a mask clamped onto the lower half of her face which fed her the oxygen she needed. The rest of the girl's body was completely submerged in green-blue fluid, bubbles rising slowly to the surface.
Vita's eyes opened slowly as she returned to consciousness, the only part of her which still retained any real feeling. Where was she? What had happened? The last thing she remembered was being knocked out by the Legion, whilst Exoria prepared to kill Hayate right before her...
Hayate! Is she all right? Where am I?
With a growing sense of dread, the Velka Knight realised that her surroundings were chillingly familiar. Her body was floating in a cylindrical tank filled with strange-coloured liquid. Multiple tubes were connected to various points on her skin, leading out through the thick glass to beyond. The crude mask on her face allowed her to breathe in air from another device completely...
I...I can't move my body at all. I recognise this set-up. This tank of liquid is very similar to what the TSAB uses in the research laboratories to keep the magical devices preserved...and almost identical to what Jail Scaglietti used with his own creations, the Numbers...
"Welcome back, Vita," Grylmark said, a faint smile on his face as he approached her from beyond the glass.
This had to be the first time that she had seen the summoner in person before, but Vita already knew enough about the old man to make her hackles rise at the mention of his name. It just had to lead all the way back to him, didn't it? Back then, even the members of Red Scorpion had not been approving of Grylmark in any way whatsoever. It was easy to see why.
Vita's heart sank as she realised exactly where she was being held captive. The mask and the tubes that she had seen clamped onto Hayate, Subaru and Caro only last night, along with countless other people...they were both now hooked into her own body. She was in the worst place imaginable – the hospital filled with hordes of raging monsters, mutated beasts and nightmarish horrors that would rend you in two with a single blow. A facility that was overseen by Grylmark himself.
She and Hayate had barely escaped this hellish place last night, doing so by the skin of their teeth and only because Grylmark had actually decided to let them leave. Right now, held prisoner in this tank of oozing liquid with some strange force immobilising her completely, Vita could see that a second escape would be practically impossible on her own...
"I told you that you would soon find yourself back here again, Vita," the old man said, gazing coldly at her. "Really, you have accomplished nothing but a lot of running around in circles. I was a little worried when you blundered right into the House of Yagami, though I can not think for the life of me why you would ever want to go into such a terrible place." He sighed. "Fortunately, Felicity Labinnac saw fit to deliver you back here to me. We wouldn't want you to die just yet, would we, Vita? Not after I've invested such a lot of time and effort in you personally..."
The Guardian Knight wasn't really listening. Instead, her eyes were darting around for possible avenues of escape. If she could only transform...Graf Eisen! The device had disappeared from her possession just seconds before her capture. To her utter astonishment, Vita realised that it was actually hanging from her neck right now. She was still armed! Had Grylmark really overlooked it?
"There are a few things I should explain to you, Vita," Grylmark was saying, pacing up and down the room a few times. "And...you really should listen to me, you see. Because this concerns you, yourself and your future. I believe a few explanations are in order."
Graf Eisen, Set Up! No. Her lips weren't able to move at all to give the vital command. Even so, Vita knew that it should be possible to activate Graf Eisen mentally, if the circumstances called for it. She tried this as well, but still nothing happened. Graf Eisen's magical power seemed strangely dampened and subdued, as if its abilities had somehow been sealed...
She blinked with a start as Grylmark reached forward and suddenly tapped on the glass loudly, grabbing at her attention.
"Do you remember being sick?" the summoner asked. "Before all of this happened. Physically sick, throwing up...very human-like behaviour for someone like you, wouldn't you say? Do you remember feeling like that?"
Vita stared at him in real surprise. She recalled the experience all too well, being stuck in a hospital bed under Shamal's care at the Bureau, being powerless to do anything whilst the action started up all around her. How...how did Grylmark know about that when he wasn't even there?...
"It's strange, isn't it?" said the old man lightly, with a friendly smile. "You, a Velka Knight, a living program...being plagued by a human illness. You see, despite all of your connections with other humans of the Bureau, your emotions, your feelings, your mortality...you Guardian Knights are not actually human, no matter how close you may become. In the end, the four of you are still living programs. You were created to be like that by the Tome of the Night Sky." He interlocked his hands together and grinned. "Yes, I believe I have done enough research on that."
She looked at him warily, feeling uncomfortable about where he was going with all of this. Yes, it was true that not even Shamal had been able to explain why she had become so ill all of a sudden, but still...
"Here's a theory that I've come up with," Grylmark said. "It's a nice little theory, and it goes like this. A living program can't be affected by an illness or disease, not in the way that a human is affected. Humans have immune systems, blood vessels, functioning body tissue...and you're just a program, Vita. I'm sure it's not in your programming to suddenly get a stomach ache, is it? Humans and programs are completely different on the inside, after all, though there are certain similarities.
"But here's what's interesting. If a living program is somehow being affected by a human disease...then surely, there's something wrong with them. Something wrong with their programming, in fact. And what, I thought, could interfere with the programming of a Velka Knight? What could disrupt the entire consistency of you, Vita?"
What is he saying? Vita thought wildly. How on earth would he know all of this?
"I'll tell you," the summoner said with a thin-lipped grin. "The answer is...a virus. A virus inside of you, Vita. It would have to be very intricately-constructed, just like many programs are, but it would certainly be possible. Why, imagine that! A virus which would simulate a human-like illness and lower your capabilities, a virus which somehow made that delightful weapon of yours stop working..."
She went cold inside, remembering how she had been unable to transform at vital moments in the past when Srethis and Ungore had appeared within the perimeters of the Bureau. It had only been a small part of the sequence of events which had led to Red Scorpion capturing her, and her long ordeal in that damned ice crystal. The Legion, telling her that she had a life-threatening disease when Vita didn't feel anything out of the ordinary at that point...Srethis, giving her their "medicine" to her in an attempt to help her...
A virus? There was a virus inside me the whole time? Is this what Grylmark is telling me now? Is this what he did to me?!
"Now, I am aware of the events that have passed since then," Grylmark said confidently, seeming to enjoy the anger in her eyes. "Red Scorpion interpreted the virus inside you as something similar to Srethis' disease, and took the appropriate measures. However, after running several tests on your Linker Core, Vita, I am convinced that all they managed to do to you was decrease the effects of the virus on your body. In other words, they succeeded in doing practically nothing." He snorted. "Not that it matters, because that's just about everything I ever expected from those idiots.
"However!" The old man clapped his hands together, edging closer to the glass to stare at her. "Is the virus still inside you now? Is that what you want to know? In a word...yes! Yes, it is, and it will continue to be. There isn't much you can do about that.
"But I assure you that there is no cause for you to worry about the virus in question. Your Linker Core, Vita, has been suppressing the effects of the virus over time, much like how the immune system of a human would minimise the effects of harmful bacteria. Though it remains lodged in your brain – if you'll excuse my use of human organ terminology for the moment – it might as well not be there at all. It's just a piece of rogue data which is bypassed by your own programming." He chucked wryly. "Why, if I hadn't told you it was there, you wouldn't even have noticed it at all!"
Somehow, none of this was making Vita feel any better. From what she understood, there was a virus stuck in her brain, and even if it really was currently harmless she wasn't going to feel normal again until it was taken out of her system completely. Shamal had run constant checks on her back at the Bureau and had been unable to detect anything wrong with her Linker Core, so not even a trained professional had been able to sense the virus. And if they couldn't detect it, then...
Why is he telling me all this anyway? Does he just want to gloat over me? None of this explains why he's keeping me in this tank in the first place, unless he wants to make me like all of the other people in the hospital. Or like Subaru and Caro, who could still be suffering in here...
"I would like to emphasise that in no way was any of this easy," Grylmark continued, circling around the tank from the other side. "Creating the virus took incredible patience, a high degree of skill and far too many years, though in retrospect the sacrifice of time is nothing when you have Oguba's powers on your side. Implanting the virus into you wasn't quite as difficult as I'd imagined. Perhaps you might ask: why you? Why not any of the others of the Wolkenritter?"
The summoner continued to pace up and down, not even looking in her direction as he continued talking. "Well, let me see here. The swordswoman, Signum, would not be easy to use methods of stealth against. The Guardian Beast, Zafira, has an annoying ability that allows him to change between beast and human forms, and so I would need to modify the entire virus to allow for that, which would easily take me at least three times as long. The medical mage, Shamal, would soon put the entire Bureau on even higher alert in advance, as well as raise suspicion, once they found out that their strongest healer was being affected in such a way. And so it is you, Vita, that I made it for!
"I'm sure you didn't notice that once you were captured by Red Scorpion, I saved your life at every turn. You didn't notice, did you, Vita?" The old man whirled around, his fingertips connecting delicately with the thick glass. She would have flinched from the sudden touch, but her body remained as immobile as ever. "They wanted to kill you on the spot. But I needed you alive, Vita. Under my insistence, Oguba posed as the client of Red Scorpion and ordered all of them – even the superior program – to keep you alive. I wasn't about to waste years and money on something which brought me nothing!
"Thankfully, the payment I received from Lady Yagami for their termination was enough to keep me going. But it could have been so much worse..." The old man laughed out loud, turning his back on her as he walked towards a console situated in front of the tank of liquid. "I'm just glad that everything is going to plan once more! You were supposed to be taken into the Metaworld, but you turned Srethis away from me and made them disobey. In the end, however, everything will run to the same conclusion."
So Red Scorpion had been indulging Grylmark's every whim and desire without even knowing it. They had been carrying out Oguba's requests, unaware that Oguba was also assisting Grylmark. Vita had suspected something like this, but now she had definitive proof. It didn't mean anything now that there Red Scorpion had been literally dismantled, but it could be useful for future reference.
But why Grylmark doing any of this at all? Vita wanted to ask, confused about his central motive. What's the point? Why make the virus in the first place? So I ended up landing in hospital and feeling sick for nearly a week, but that would any of that achieve? There's no reason to do any of this at all!
"Let me tell you a little bit about this virus inside you," the old man said breathlessly, leaning against the console. "Let me tell you what it looks like. It's very, very small, and it looks just like a chip." He pinched a small gap of air between his thumb and forefinger. "Like this, you see? In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it is a chip." His eyes seemed to glow from within. "A HX chip, Vita. Inside you.
"It's wonderful, isn't it? Under the Harlaown Program, the citizens of Mid-childa are bound to have all of their personal HX chips embedded into their wrist. It's proof of their identity and their status on the waiting list of the Program. But I suppose you wouldn't know much about that, would you? In any case, the virus inside you is a modified HX chip. Not only does it interfere with the processes of the program it is released into...but it takes something back." He stared at her for a few moments, shaking his head again. "You don't understand, do you?
"There's a chip inside you, Vita. A chip which has been gathering the residue of your Linker Core, the magic you've been using, your life-force itself...and combining it with the digital infrastructure of the Harlaown Program!" Grylmark's face was excited, almost fanatical as he explained it all with an obsessive light in his eyes. "There's no cost to you at all, because only the residue is collected, but this spectacular chip is my greatest invention! The virus, this chip, it has been maturing inside you over time and building up into one of the core ingredients that I need! Do you understand, Vita? Once the chip inside you matures, I can extract it from you and use its secrets to further my research. That is why I have been keeping you alive, so that you keep the HX chip alive for me!"
Is he serious? Vita thought in disgust, watching the spark in his eyes spread throughout his entire being. Is this the whole reason behind his plan? The virus, my ordeals, my imprisonment and the cost to my friends and the rest of the Bureau...just to be part of his little science experiment? Who does he think he is to play around with people like that? And why is Oguba siding with him in particular, when the only thing that all this is really achieving is adding to Grylmark's thirst for knowledge? I don't care that he thinks it for "science". Subaru and I almost died!
Despite all of this, however, the Velka Knight spied a tiny beacon of hope. Grylmark had openly admitted that he was keeping her alive, at least until after this chip had "matured" and he'd managed to extract it. She couldn't know when that might be, but it was a good estimate of the amount of time she had left until things might start to turn nasty. What would happen afterwards? Vita had more than a good hunch that the people imprisoned in this hospital, the countless patients held down on the beds with tubes coming out of their bodies, numbered at least as many as the number of mutants that roamed the halls...
I'm not going to be able to escape here by myself. I have to accept that. But if Nanoha's still out there, or anyone else, then I know they're going to break me out of here sooner or later. There's still time left for me: I've just got to keep my head above water until then...
"Well, that's that," Grylmark said at last, leaning on a console in front of the fluid-filled tank. His face had returned to normal now that his moment of excitement had passed, and he seemed to be back to his usual self. "I have enjoyed this little chat between us, Vita, though it has been rather one-sided. But I guess you can't really help that, can you?" He began to type away merrily at the keys. "Before you leave this conversation, I should explain to you why escape is quite impossible. When it comes to constructing prisons, I'm not quite as old-fashioned as the Legion. Ice crystals? Did they really think that would work? I'm not surprised you broke out of that one.
"You're in a stasis tube, Vita." Grylmark looked up at her one last time, ready to hit the last crucial button. "There's nothing holding your body down or preventing you from moving. The real reason you can't move is because you're locked in stasis – frozen in a moment of time itself. I unfroze a single window around your eyelids so that you would understand the situation you're in, but that will soon end."
Stasis? I'm going to be frozen in time? I won't be able to escape at all that way! She was beginning to panic. The next time I wake up won't be until someone turns the machine off or until after I'm dead! If I don't receive outside help -
"I really can't afford to take any chances any more, Vita," the summoner said. "The extraction of your HX chip can only be achieved via forcible means. It will require breaking into your Linker Core directly, and unfortunately your body will not survive the process. Thankfully, however, such pain will be beyond you by that point. Goodbye, Vita."
He slammed his hand down on the last panel, and the Guardian Knight knew no more as time froze for her in an eternity of pitch black...